09-18-87: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (FRI)Set 1:Set 2:E:https://archive.org/details/gd1987-09-18.126165.mtx-redo.eichorn.sbeok.t-flac16“When Life Looks Like Easy Street” rd(which he calls “hooch”)(Oscar)Special guest Kevin Beamen shares his account from here:By the time I neared Jeff’s. I knew the guys were probably already on the bus so I continued down Rt. 17 like a bat out of hell toward the city weaving in and out of traffic. I mistakenly had my beautiful handmade Alvarez guitar in tow, which I normally would not have brought into New York City. I wound up finding the crew in an Irish bar across the street from the Garden. I was so happy to see them and said “Ok…who’s got my ticket?” That’s when Jeff gave me the bad news. Apparently, Jeff had taped my concert ticket to the front door of his house with a note that read, “We left for the city, here’s your ticket”. “WHA, WHA, WHAT” I exclaimed”. My ticket was taped to a door in New Jersey? “What the Fuck!!” I yelled. There was no time to drive to Jeff’s house and back. But I could only be so mad at Jeff for leaving the ticket since I was late. I guess he was right, but I was still mad because he was just such a stickler with rules and punctuality. I asked George to remind me where the seats were on the outside chance that I would see them inside then left to go find another ticket. The search was on for my miracle. I was in this position before and certainly no stranger to scalping. I figured, “How hard could it be?” Only thiswas no ordinary night. This was a beautiful Friday night at the Garden in 1987, arguably at the peak of the Dead’s popularity, and absolutely NO miracles were to be had. Everywhere you looked the entire area was overrun with deadheads! I was not a hard-core head either and would receive no sympathy from the insiders. If there were a ticket to be had, and believe me there wasn’t, they would most likely have gone to some broke dedicated hipster who was worthy. On top of that the Garden is also a particularly difficult venue to sneak your way into. “In and out of the Garden he does NOT go!” After what seemed like hours of begging, as a last resort with sheer determination I desperately try to break into the formidable Madison Square Garden. It’s heavily fortified with ticket punchers and NYPD everywhere. I felt like a cockroach sniffing out the slightest crack in their security. Like a cyborg scanning every opportunity to infiltrate with computer-like speed. With no luck and about to give up and go to Jeff’s front door, I saw out of the corner of my eye this maintenance guy who looked like Scatman Crothers, you know the guy from Chico and The Man, The Shining and Hong Kong Phooey.I thought, “This may be it!” I follow him as he made his way to a service elevator. As he opened the elevator with his key, I ask, “Dude, can you get me in man? Please, all I got is this 20 bucks” holding up the bill. He looked around cautiously, gives me a smirk and says, “Ok kid, let’s go”. I couldn’t believe it. We rode the elevator to the fourth level. The elevator doors open up and I see that the place is empty. Cool… I was in the theater before most. Well, not only did this guy get me in but he brought me past the ushers and right down to the exact seats my friends and I had tickets for. After several minutes the place starts filling up then my friends show up. You should have seen the look on their faces when they saw me already sitting in my seat. “Holy Shit Beamen, how the hell did you get in?” They said. I was particularly happy too because I already had this reputation of gaining access to inaccessible shows and this adventure only added to the legend. I told them the story and we all laughed our asses off and went on to enjoy an incredible late 80’s dead show. ndstHey now, wait a minute! It’s Beamen again and I still have a few things to say. When we got back to the car my Alvarez guitar was fucking gone. Oh well, in the long run it doesn’t matter because that night wound up being one of the best me and guys ever had and hats off to George for writing it all down, so we’ll never forget. Sadly though, we lost our buddy Jeff in 2015 after a long and very brave fight. Jeff had a great career with IBM, two great sons and a very loving wife and even became a musical artist himself and would play out in Raleigh, North Carolina often. He really taught me lot and we’ll all miss him very much. And one last thing before I go, remember that girl that we saw pass by during “Sugaree”? Well George finally does catch up to her in 1990 at Central Station in Stockholm Sweden, at the start of the Dead’s European tour. Her name is Tori and her first show was on 12-30-1978 at the Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA, the show right before the closing of Winterland. He really meets his match in Tori, but that’s a tale I’m sure he’ll want to tell, so keep reading.
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