Printed in the Tinley Junction - November 3
Does anyone remember when The Grateful Dead appeared at the venue that I still call 1-80 World but I think is now owned by First Midwest Bank? This was back in the early 1990s when Jerry Garcia was still alive (obviously, or it would have not been much of a concert) and people, called “Deadheads” followed the band around from town to town.
The Deadheads came to town and were pretty much camped out everywhere. I remember my mom and dad going to the grocery store and coming back all excited at seeing so many “hippies,” they said it was like going back in time to the 1960s, even though they never joined the hippie movement. It was an exciting time because these folks were bringing something new to town, a blast from the past, and there was more than just a little excitement in the air.
Some folks in the village allowed them to camp on their property. The Deadheads were pretty nice people and caused no trouble in Tinley Park. Basically, they were just looking to hang out with other aging hippies and put the Volkswagon vans back into action. Some of them were looking for tickets and anyone who had tickets and wanted to make a buck could have done so easily even though ticket scalping is illegal. I never quite understood that concept - I mean, if you buy a ticket, you own the ticket. Who cares if you want to sell it to someone else to make a profit? Isn’t that what ticket brokers do?
But I digress. Back to the Deadheads. One day, I was at the grocery store to do some shopping and some hippie guy came up to me and asked if I could spare a few cans of the pop I was buying. I was never much of a soda drinker but was buying it for some party that was going to cost me a ton of money anyway, so I just gave him one of the six packs of pop and even a bag of chips.
He and his hippie girlfriend, or “old lady” as I think they were called, were very grateful but not dead. So they proceeded to help me to my car with my groceries. And no, they did not attempt to take them nor ask for anything else. They just saw that I was alone, had a ton of stuff and decided to help a fellow human being in need. They were a little different, but good people.
The Deadheads were a lot of fun. I was a little kid back in the 1960s when the hippie movement was in full force and had little interaction with them, unless you count the time my uncle grew his hair a bit longer than usual. So my first encounter with hippies was also my last because shortly after that, Jerry Garcia died and the whole movement went up in smoke. No pun intended.
The Deadheads came to town and were pretty much camped out everywhere. I remember my mom and dad going to the grocery store and coming back all excited at seeing so many “hippies,” they said it was like going back in time to the 1960s, even though they never joined the hippie movement. It was an exciting time because these folks were bringing something new to town, a blast from the past, and there was more than just a little excitement in the air.
Some folks in the village allowed them to camp on their property. The Deadheads were pretty nice people and caused no trouble in Tinley Park. Basically, they were just looking to hang out with other aging hippies and put the Volkswagon vans back into action. Some of them were looking for tickets and anyone who had tickets and wanted to make a buck could have done so easily even though ticket scalping is illegal. I never quite understood that concept - I mean, if you buy a ticket, you own the ticket. Who cares if you want to sell it to someone else to make a profit? Isn’t that what ticket brokers do?
But I digress. Back to the Deadheads. One day, I was at the grocery store to do some shopping and some hippie guy came up to me and asked if I could spare a few cans of the pop I was buying. I was never much of a soda drinker but was buying it for some party that was going to cost me a ton of money anyway, so I just gave him one of the six packs of pop and even a bag of chips.
He and his hippie girlfriend, or “old lady” as I think they were called, were very grateful but not dead. So they proceeded to help me to my car with my groceries. And no, they did not attempt to take them nor ask for anything else. They just saw that I was alone, had a ton of stuff and decided to help a fellow human being in need. They were a little different, but good people.
The Deadheads were a lot of fun. I was a little kid back in the 1960s when the hippie movement was in full force and had little interaction with them, unless you count the time my uncle grew his hair a bit longer than usual. So my first encounter with hippies was also my last because shortly after that, Jerry Garcia died and the whole movement went up in smoke. No pun intended.
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