Howdy brothers and sisters, Marty Freeman here. This journey started for me a couple of weeks ago in Boulder when Oteil Burbridge and The Devil’s Lettuce played Folsom Field.  I quit my job without notice and have seen every show since then. I decided at SPAC, during a lucid trip, to change my name to River. Please call me River from now on. According to Dean, several people asked about me, wondering what happened to Marty. Well, Marty is the man I used to be, River is the man I am today. I learned a lot of things on the road, if you have a few minutes, I’ll tell you all about it…

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On this day 2 years ago, I was getting off of the plane in Chicago instead of getting on a plane out of Chicago. In the time between then and now, my life has changed dramatically. I got in touch with my pal, Peter Shapiro last night during intermission and gave him a hug right on the infield of one of the most special places in the world, Wrigley Field. It was at the most special event in the world, which is anywhere my favorite musicians are assembled.  Why he ever kept in touch with me, I’ll never know. Must be my magnetic personality… Shapiro was like the wick in this stick of dynamite. FTW was the biggest band reunion in Chicago since The Blues Brothers. The scale of GD50 was massive.  It was like the entire city got dosed. Every establishment in the city, every hotel, bar and restaurant played Dead all weekend long. If you ever hang out with Peter, you’re aware that one of the more common things people say to him is, “Thank You for FTW”. We were having a few laughs and high fives and the brother takes out his wallet, opens it up, and pulls out a cigarette. You ever see somebody pull an undamaged cigarette out of their wallet? I’m not sure why, but that shit was hysterical to me. I’m still laughing about it! Fuckin Shapiro…

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