Seat 2A

Back in the early 1980s (July of 1982 if I recall) a few of us splurged and scored us a room at the Holiday Inn in Ventura, California. We were there for the Grateful Dead's two day gig at the Ventura County Fairgrounds and believe me, having a hotel room was a welcome treat after having spent the previous week and a half backpacking through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Keep in mind that under normal circumstances, the Ventura Holiday Inn was a fairly Tory place, where well heeled folks from the hot and smoggy Los Angeles basin would come up for a pleasant weekend escape. Not this weekend...

Now here's the rub - see, we weren't the only heads staying at the Holiday Inn. I'd guestimate there were at least a couple hundred other colorfully clad, bushy haired happy wide eyed (or was it red eyed?) guests (plus their friends, acquaintances, sidekicks, mascots, etc) wandering through the hotel both before and after the shows (which back then were played at a civilized hour - 2:30pm start time). Many of these "new" weekend guests were high, some of them really HIGH. I mean, people were piling into the hotel elevators with no idea what floor they were on much less if they were even in the right hotel, so every button was pushed in the hope that maybe something might be recognized. Uh huh... The dining room was anything but its usual reserved and refined atmosphere and I do recall a dog or two wandering through the lobby as well. It was just crazy! But generally good crazy.

I am suddenly reminded of an older friend of mine's summation of it all after I'd purchased him and his wife tickets to a Eugene, Oregon show for their 20th wedding anniversary:

"The strangest collection of white people I have ever seen!"

Certainly, this had to rank amongst the strangest assemblage of guests that the Holiday Inn Ventura had ever hosted.

From my experience, staying at a hotel for a Dead concert - much less any concert - is like being upgraded to First Class on Singapore Airlines. We had a fantastic time that weekend! The weather was great and the band churned out some great sets that definitely lived up to the old saying "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert!". I might add that those of us in my party were pretty well behaved. We were high but not too high and respectful of our fellow guests regardless of their stripe. That said, I should imagine that any of the Holiday Inn's more traditional guests who stayed that weekend (assuming they didn't quickly check out first!) would have an entirely different take on their experience.