A Monkey with an iPhone and a New Year's Show

Many of my friends, and even some of my colleagues and clients, know that I have seen a few Grateful Dead shows in my time. Okay, I admit, just a little over a hundred shows. Yes, that makes me an official Deadhead. The past few years I have been going down to the the Bay Area with my wife Susan to spend Christmas with her family. Usually we stick around until a few days after Christmas. This year my brother-in-law Ben, another dedicated soul to the band like me , said he had extra tickets for the Phil Lesh & Friends/RatDog shows on the 30th and 31st (NYE) in San Franciso, and asked me if I wanted to go. Ben and Will, thanks for the tickets by the way. In case you don't know, Phil Lesh was the bass player for the Dead, and Bob Weir, who heads up RatDog, was the rhythm guitarist for the Dead. I wanted to take my nice pro camera to the show just to shoot a few pictures in and around the venue, but they were not letting anyone into the show with these types of cameras. Since I have always said to others that it is not the camera, but the monkey behind it. I decided that if I was a good enough monkey, that the tiny little camera on my iPhone should be just fine. I must admit, it was hard to get use to shooting with it, but a few clicks and I was feeling fine. So here you have it. A few shots to give you folks a little look at what was going on in a small part of San Francisco on New Year's Eve.

Happy 2009 to you all. I hope you all have a safe a prosperous new year! And as some of us Deadheads say "AIKO!"

The balloon drop

A little too much NYE partying

Dancing in the hall with the Birdman of Alcatraz