Dead is you had a group of highly talented musicians who were able to get a sense of the audience , '' Goldfarb said . `` When the audience was off , the band would be off . There was a lot of back-and-forth energy . '' Back in the late '70s and well into the '80s , Goldfarb traveled the West Coast in a Volkswagen van playing music for a belly-dancing troupe at Renaissance festivals . Along the way , he went to Grateful Dead concerts whenever he could . He sent a photo of his now short-haired self to show the `` then and now '' contrast . Though he lives now in Woodstock , New York , he missed the two large music festivals in his town . A businessman now , Goldfarb says he feels he 's grown up in a lot of ways . The old bus is gone , but he dreams of getting another . iReport.com : See the before-and-after contrast of this Deadhead `` I was a huge fan , I still love the music , but like I said times change . Interests change , '' he says . Readers across
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- He had a 1966 Volkswagen bus , scraggly beard and a penchant for the arts . She had blonde hair and liked the Grateful Dead . That was all they needed . Craig Rutman poses poolside with the Grateful Dead 's Bob Weir before a 1997 show in Reno , Nevada . `` I knew right away she was not like other girls , other girls , '' muses Mark Goldfarb of Woodstock , New York , quoting the Grateful Dead song , `` Scarlet Begonias . '' On a fateful day 28 years ago , Goldfarb began a shaggy odyssey of love at a Grateful Dead concert when he literally bumped into his future wife , Diane . Over the years , he has been to more than 125 Grateful Dead concerts . The band literally changed his life . Goldfarb , who now makes moccasins for a living , is excited about the Grateful Dead 's new tour . The surviving members of the band will be reuniting for 19 shows this year . He went to see them during their last organized tour five years ago . `` What was special about the