Grateful Dead

Its sad, but ultimately this WILL tarnish their image permanently. Something us fans know that the band might not.......... Deadheads have spent their ENTIRE grateful dead lives defending ourselves and the band from the general public the fact that we like the band.........................The general public laughs at, rolls their eyes at, dislikes/hates, passes judgement, and basically mocks the entirety of it. In the past people like me would stand up, tell those people were they can stick it............fast forward to today. The next time(which is quite often) i hear someone bashing the dead i will simply add to the end of their conversation" AND THEN THEY FUCKED US". This may seem simple and insignificant now, but trust me, in the long run, the amount of us that have been scorned will come back to bite them in the ass. This show will go on, it will be a huge success as far as numbers, and that is where it starts..........the public once again will be speaking of the dead, and those of us who where scorned, far far far more than weren't, will start to tell these people who are amazed that the dead could pull this off our stories. Once they realize what they did to their fans it will further their disgust with the band....but have nobody to stick up for them. Its kinda like the kid who is bullied at school but luckily, is protected by his older brother........now the bully is looking for a fight and big brother has moved on to high school...good luck After all, all celebrities ultimately care A LOT what the public remembers them as.... and like i said....they'll end up paying in the long run......such a shame.

There will be dancin', dancin' in the streets of Chicago. Keep the peaceful vibes going - that's what it's all about. The Music Never Stopped... I wonder what would have been said 20+ years ago if the internet was available when folks didn't get their tickets then. Were they mad at the band? I wasn't! The times I didn't get tickets at the moment of sale did happen back then yet I still managed to find a miracle somewhere. Everyone seems to be mad at the band, what's up with that? They are mad at ticket prices (all ticket prices are different than 20 years ago). They are mad at Bears fans - all major venues give season ticket holders the right of first refusal, that's the way it is. I know plenty of my Brothers and Sisters that got tickets through Bears fans so they didn't ALL go to scalpers. They are mad at Ticketmaster yet how can you be more fair than Ticketmaster? They do all the shows for everyone and is the best way today to get tickets out for any concert. Just how would you have provided tickets for people for an event like this? Provide them only for "true" deadheads? How would you quantify that? Perhaps you're mad at me because I got tickets and am talking about it. Well just maybe it wasn't luck at all for me but karma. Be Kind. Be Grateful. Be the kind of DeadHead that Bobby talks about. Be the Jerry to everyone that sees you. Be the organ donor for Phil. This darkness got to give...

A Stranger in the Parking Lot One day, a short time after Jerry died, a man came up to me in the parking lot @ the Great Woods concert venue in Mansfield, Massachusetts to talk to me about my T-shirt. My T-shirt had Jerry's face on it with his birth date and the death of his passing. The shirt stated, "We're Grateful!" I was GIVEN this T-shirt in the parking lot @ the RatDog show @ the Club Casino concert venue in New Hampshire as a gift. This is relevant because it was Wednesday, August 9th, 1995, that was the day that Jerry died and I drove up to New Hampshire to be with my people because I was so upset that Jerry had died. I remember thinking how strange it was that I was so overwhelmed at the death of someone that I had never met. The stranger @ Great Woods parking lot needed to speak to another member of our community the same way that I did that night when Jerry passed. The stranger in the parking lot was devastated. He was devastated because he was a little lost. Where would we ever be able to experience this phenomenon that was a Grateful Dead concert? Where would we be able to feel so comfortable amongst so many like minded people? Where could you share a safe night of music and perhaps psychedelics, if that was your pleasure? Where else would someone else apologize for spilling your drink? Where else would we see all those smiles, smiles, smiles...:) :)? The stranger in the parking lot felt this loss and I had needed to talk to someone also, especially with another DeadHead. We both talked, even acknowledged the fanaticism of the whole "scene." We were both strangers to each other, but not really. We were connected by this weird and wonderful music, but more importantly, to an idea and a concept to live in peace and acceptance. Yeah, it's pie in the sky and all that, but DeadHeads were able to go to a nice, comfortable world for short periods of time to conscientiously open ourselves up to be happy. In this crazy ass world, there was no better place to go! So, to my stranger in the parking lot> Thanks for saying hello and sharing and helping me when there was nothing cooking in this "scene" in the period right after Jerry died. Thanks to the HUNDREDS of DeadHeads that I have spoken to, danced with, smiled to and at, passed one to, passed me one, sold me a "chocolate", begged me for a beer, showed me your "blotter," sang Terrapin w/ me, sang the silocybin song next to me, but most of all for sharing something that I really can not find the right adjective to describe...I have loved the ride so far :) :).... Owen McElhinney Quincy, Ma DeadHead since 1980/ 1st show Lewiston, Maine