Tradition

Last night I went berserk and shaved my head again this year for the summer. What a clean fresh feeling, but sometimes at night it gets cold... (LOL) so I wear a nightcap after drinking one.

This was a tradition that started back in '95 with the passing of Jerry Garcia. He was always like a member of the family to me, and after the countless Grateful Dead Concerts I'd seen over the years - it was like the passing of an era... I am glad that THE DEAD have finally picked up the banner again, but I'll never forget the Jerry Era...

When I'd heard of Jerry's Death, I was deeply saddened and - I'd gone to the bar and had a countless number of shots of Old Grand Dad in his honor. When I got home after that (about 3am, a bit sloppy) I decided to shave my long hair... with a straight razor! Never do that! My dark red curly hair was almost waist length at that time (August 1995).

The next day, the bathroom was full of blood and hair - and I couldn't remember much - until I touched my head... LOL. My poor Grandmother didn't know what the hell happened - and she was worried. Man did she laugh at me after I showed her my naked skull... She called me "Baldy Sours". I always wear a bandana, and the first time I put it on afterwards it felt pretty strange.



Now "the shaving" has kind of become a tradition, except that I've moved it to the end of spring... Go Ahead - Have a laugh.

I still miss my Jerry...

The following quote is from "SKELETON KEY":

"To be a Deadhead is to live at the boundaries of social convention, and the status of homosexuals in American culture has likewise been that of outlaws. Both Deadheads and queers assert the sovereignty of the individual over society's idea of what it means to be a man or woman, and both are privy to insights about oneself as an evolving spiritual being that come only from viewing one's own culture from the *outside in.* The values which appear fixed and rigid to an unquestioning member of the mainstream culture appear fixed and relative to an outsider. In the instant of seizing the opportunity for personal autonomy, growth, and self- exploration, Deadheads and queers share the transcendent experience of "being in the world but not of it."

-- from 'Skeleton Key/A Dictionary for Deadheads' by David Shenk and Steve Silberman

...Now, if you're a queer deadhead like me - that's two strikes... PAGAN makes three. I guess I'm "OUT" ;o)