CN and I were going to see the Grateful Dead in Nassau one time. His Dad, a corporate president for a Fortune 500 company, had a meeting in Long Island. We needed a ride because we were just 15. Transportation to Nassau from NYC sucked. Se we had no choice. (footnote: we decided NOT to take LSD).
It was the Grateful Dead and Nassau shows were amazing because Jerry <Garcia> did a long space jam after the drums. It’s a big place, like MSG, and had an erie echo to it. Bob <Weir> was scratching his pick on the strings and it sounded like someone was moaning in a tunnel. It made it all fun. And we were stoned.
Who the fuck new where are seats were? It was the Grateful Dead. But we were sitting in the lodge somewhere like half way back. We were smoking a lot of pot. CN may have heisted some from his Mom’s. She was from Harlem you know. This is a story in of itself. Another post.
When the show was over, neither of us had a watch (or a cell phone as it was like 1978). Oh but first CN had to go to the bathroom and take out his contacts. Why? He was always taking them out or putting them in. When he was stoned, his eyes dried out and sometimes he would drop them into the sink or wherever. I think he did not do it this time-lose them I mean.
So what did we do? We needed to meet his Dad at a certain place at like 11 PM (the show was scheduled to start at 7:30 PM). Everything was good. So we asked someone what time it was and they said like 10:15 PM – the show just ended so CN wanted to buy a shirt and some other crap. In those days, it was customary to wear the concert shirt from the night before to public school-on Monday if it were a weekend show. Like a badge of honor. A conversation piece. At least it was with us. And CN wanted to look at like every shirt.
At what seemed to be 30 minutes later, we asked another guy what time it was and he said like 10:45 PM so we new we needed to head over to the meeting place. And we did. When we go there though, his Dad, dressed in a suit, was standing there. He did not look like a deadhead, stoned, or like Jerry Garcia. He looked like an executive (the president) who just found out that the VP told the press that the president needed to “mellow out”! This was not a good thing and we were stoned.
He asked in a stern voice where we were and CN said cheerfully that we were looking for shirts and it was about 11 PM. He showed us his $2000 watch – it said more like 11:45 (or maybe 12:15 AM). Definitely NOT 11 PM! I could see that from both his face and the face on the watch.
“CN, you were supposed to be here at 11 PM what happened?” I think CN said something like, “Dad, we asked two different people for the time and one said 10:15 and the other, about a half hour later, said it was like 10:45. We asked two people! How was I supposed to know…”
His respond in a sarcastic, stoned hippy voice, “I am not into time man.” I think he repeated that more than once on our way home. I slept and snored. We, CN and I, laughed about it for many days. I think even his Mom laughed when his Dad wasn’t around-I don’t remember.
Stoned Sober 