My Day with Bobby

My wild mission with The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir

Owning a business is one long, strange trip. No one knows that better than Bob Weir, whose legacy in music spans decades. So when he first asked to swing by our old Torrance studio via a friend, my wife and I thought we were being pranked. A quick Google search confirmed that it was actually him.

He showed up with his friend and bodyguard and spent time in the shop, equal parts curious and kind. It almost felt surreal to have someone so legendary inside the workshop’s walls.

Several years (and a cross-country move) later, he messaged me again. He was visiting Nashville for some writing work, and he wanted to take me to visit something very special. Of course, I said yes. I would gladly rework my day for whatever adventure this was bound to be.

He asked to meet up at Welcome to 1979, and I put the cloche on the watch I was working on to head out the door. I figured I’d meet him there as mentioned, but about 15 minutes before we were due to meet, I got a text that said: “You should probably just pick me up.”

I panicked a little and looked at the 3 vehicles sitting outside the workshop doors. It was a little hot to ride in the Beetle, plus I remembered he travels with a bodyguard, and it’s a tight squeeze. The International Harvester also lacks AC and is an extremely tight squeeze for 3. That meant it had to be our Mercedes Sprinter Camper van instead.

Bennet loves the front seat, so I had to take a vacuum to the dog hair, remove the car seats from the jump seat (which is also our dining area when we camp), and I hit the road over to the hotel.

I rolled up to the hotel, and they loaded into the van. Bob sat up front with the bodyguard sitting on the bench seat in our dining area. We went straight to Welcome to 1979, a studio in Nashville that handles everything from live recording to cutting vinyl masters, which is extremely unique. The lathe they have is out of this world. They have all sorts of vintage recording equipment you really won’t find anywhere else. The tour was amazing, and what they do is really worth seeing. As an analog aficinado, it was something really admirable to watch.

I mentioned to Bob that I always wanted to get a vinyl setup for the workshop but never had looked into where to start, so he said, ”Well then, we’re going to Third Man.”

His bodyguard called ahead, and a guy waved at us (in the giant Sprinter) into a private spot out front. We picked up a bright yellow turntable and brought it back to the workshop.

We started to get everything set up and realized we needed additional cables. I thought Bob was going to at any point say, “I really don’t have time for this. I need to return to writing music.”, but he was a man on a mission. We promptly all loaded back up into the van.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have what we needed, so we left that shop for Guitar Center. And I have to say, walking through that store with Bob Weir in real life was an experience. I noticed everyone was doing double takes, wide-eyed and shocked to see him wandering around Nashville’s own Guitar Center. People definitely recognized him there. We figured out and grabbed what we needed at Guitar Center, picked up a few records, came back, and we picked out The Beatles and Bob Marley for my first vinyl records to spin once we set everything up.

Back at the shop, when we realized we still didn’t have a receiver, he told me he could grab a receiver. He travels with his own music setup, and he lent me one just so we could hear something together that day.

I kept thinking he probably had more important things to do. But he was totally content, just soaking in the music, and helping me dial in the setup. It was the kind of day you don’t plan on and certainly can’t recreate.