On May 24, 1964, Garcia and Rothman arrived in Bloomington, Indiana and went to Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom nearby to see a performance by Monroe. The duo stayed with Neil Rosenberg while in the Bloomington area and also visited Marvin Hedrick who owned the record store, Mr. Tapes.

“Jerry and I played at Neil Rosenberg's house and on the front porch and early-psychedelic living room of a guy named Ron Kurtz. There was another porch in Bloomington where Jerry and I spent most of our time playing, a few blocks from Neil & Ann's house...the porch of Ron Kurtz, a guy who later moved to Boulder. The inside was dark and lighted with colored lights and other psychedelic things. Ron liked the music, and we picked out there for hours, usually while Neil was away at classes during the days. Then we'd go back over to Neil's and play more music with him,” recalled Sandy Rothman.