I was the fortunate winner of a contest sponsored by Headcount, Fandiem, D’Angelico and Live-ly. The prize was the Virtual Lesson, a gorgeous signed special D’Angelico with a unique grayscaled American flag, two tickets to a Dead and Company show of my choosing. Some information I can share. Some information I am unable to at the moment. I can share that the virtual meeting was so much fun. A big thrill! We played a bit. Bobby wanted to retune himself in the middle. To try to fill the time I played a little of the Band’s Stagefright. We talked a bit, because in my mind I was doing my own little variety show in my head so we talked about politics and music. There were some guidelines of topics to stay away from which was easy enough because I had spent almost my whole life involved with his music in one form or another.

When I was preparing for the virtual lesson I enlisted two amazing guitar players to warm me up to doing a virtual lesson so I wouldn’t be so freaked out. Marcus Rezak, Jay Layne and Nate LaPointe were so much help and gave me that familiarity that builds confidence. I truly am thankful for their support.

My hope is to get as many dead band guitarists to sign the back and give them (and you if you ask nicely and your hands are clean) a photo and fiddle opp! I realize how lucky I’ve been and if some of that luck runs off on you by reading or seeing this beautiful guitar in person! That makes me a happier person!

GratefulWeb Link

Fandiem Link

Facebook Link

Facebook Link (recap)

YouTube Link

List of Signatures – Signatures are carefully curated to preserve the guitar’s core value as a Bob Weir-signed piece.

Front

Bobby Weir

Back

Nate LaPointe

Bella Rayne

Neil Levin

AI Recap

“The HeadCount Bob Weir D’Angelico: A One-of-a-Kind Piece of Dead History”

The Story

In 2020, I won an unprecedented sweepstakes hosted by HeadCount, the non-profit voter registration organization, for a private virtual guitar lesson with Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir. The grand prize included:

• A custom-painted D’Angelico Premier acoustic guitar, featuring a black-and-white American flag design, signed solely by Bob Weir (making it distinct from other group-signed contest guitars).
• Two tickets to a future Dead & Company show. I chose Red Rocks and went with my brother
• A 30-minute one-on-one lesson with Bobby himself.

This guitar is one of only three in existence from the contest, and the only one signed exclusively by Weir.