Back when he was a teenager, before he was even a fan of the band, he found himself at a Dead concert in Berkeley in the 1980s, and soon, in 1989, started selling T-shirts. He followed the band on tour until “the demise of Jerry,” when the lead singer died in 1995 of a heart attack.

Fans of the Grateful Dead are pouring into San Francisco for three days of concerts and festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the scruffy jam band that came to embody a city where people wore flowers in their hair and made love,