Tom Ribe Hanging with the Dead in Santa Fe

Heads' Tales

In this episode, we spend some time with Tom Ribe, a long-time Head who grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and now makes his home in Santa Fe. In between, he lived across the West and saw the Grateful Dead throughout the region. Tom talks about hanging with the band before the 1983 run at Santa Fe Downs, braving a nasty blizzard to get to a show in Arizona, and first turning on to the music by way of the early studio albums and some of Bear’s finest in the Jemez Mountains.

Today, Tom and his partner run Great Southwest Adventures, an outdoor tour company based in Santa Fe running trips throughout Northern New Mexico. If you find yourself in the Land of Enchantment, book a tour with a fellow Deadhead!

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Some of the shows mentioned in this episode:

11-17-1971 - Albuquerque Civic Auditorium - Albuquerque, New Mexico

01-18-1978 - Stockton Civic Auditorium - Stockton, California - The Sugar Magnolia is from a partial audience recording via Raoul Duke and encoded by Matt Vernon.

09-11-1983 - Santa Fe Downs - Santa Fe, New Mexico - The Me and My Uncle, Greatest Story Ever Told, Althea, and Franklin’s Tower are all from a front of the board recording, transferred by Larry Sellers & the Philly Crew along with Joe Noel.

08-19-1989 - Greek Theater, University of California - Berkeley, California - The Let the Good Times Roll and I Know You Rider are from an audience recording transferred by D5scott.

12-06-1992 - Compton Terrace Amphitheater - Tempe, Arizona - The Here Comes Sunshine and Throwing Stones are from another FOB recording transferred by Pete Ebel.

06-18-1994 - Autzen Stadium, University of Oregon - Eugene, Oregon - The Jack Straw and Days Between are from a tape by Greg Clark that was transferred by Charlie Miller and Joe Noel.

Other music in the episode:

Alligator from 04-29-1971 - Fillmore East - New York, New York, comes from an audience recording by Marty Weinberg that was transferred and worked over by Dr. Michael Parrish, Steven Martin, and Jack Warner.

Caution from 03-22-1972 - Academy of Music - New York, New York, is from a partial audience recording that came to us via David Hollister.

Dancin’ in the Streets is from 05-08-1977 - Barton Hall, Cornell University - Ithaca, New York, taped by Jerry Moore and transferred by Rob Berger and Chris Larson.