I’d just like to use this platform a moment to say thank you to the makers of Yoga Pants!

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, the rest is all Phish’s fault. We should know by now, when in doubt, blame Phish. There’s one guy that has to be relieved that everybody has now moved on to being disgusted by someone or something other than him and that’s Trey. When asked about his feelings regarding ticketing Trey said, “2 Words, Big Cypress.” If there’s anything the Dead could’ve learned from Phish this time around, it’s how to put on a show that guarantees admission to everyone. Like them or not, the crew behind Phish know how to throw a huge party that includes every single person that wants to go. With many huge festivals under their belts, all run incredibly well and filled with creative events and surprises throughout the course of a weekend, the Phish camp would’ve been the ideal party planners for this one. Trey must just be relieved the fan base has turned on their own band and staff for the past few weeks and he’s been out of the conversation.

Speaking of out of the conversation, Jeff Chimenti has to be the luckiest guy of the bunch. You know why everybody loves Jeff? Aside from being a long time contributor to numerous Dead related configurations and playing the sweet Hammond sounds we all long for since Brent’s passing, he’s also the most likely to candidate to be seated next to you, flying Southwest airlines, seat 18C. I think the closer a musician is to sharing our status in life, the more we tend to like them. I’m thrilled he’s part of this. If you have anything bad to say about a guy like him, you’re probably a prick.

On the subject of pricks, you’d probably think the Grateful Dead Family Tree was a cactus with the number of pricks that have littered message boards everywhere. Fans in incredibly high numbers are showing their asses all over the internet this week. The comments that adorn the official Grateful Dead Facebook pages would lead you to believe this band has an asshole farm somewhere that has produced a enormous crop over the last 50 years. Fans once known for their kindness have sounded like the world’s largest army of douche bags as they’ve found reasons to complain about nearly everything under the sun. I went undercover into some other popular band’s pages to see if talking shit about your favorite band was widespread or just us. I’ll just say, it isn’t widespread. We’re clearly as good as it gets and as bad as it gets all rolled into one big highly dysfunctional family.

An interview with Peter Shapiro surfaced this week and provided me with a huge amount of respect for him once I got to thinking about it. I was obviously at the same show Peter attended at Rosemont in the early 90s. I know because I didn’t miss any shows at all back then. We both had an amazing night that night. He took the experience and twenty something years later is the promoter of this event. I’m a hack writing this make believe news piece and still hitting the Ticketmaster website 10 times a day. That’s sobering… Peter is really bringing us all the bands we dig at as many venues as he can purchase. It’s impressive if you can detach from your emotions long enough to acknowledge what he’s accomplished. Awe Inspiring really… The potential existed for any one of us to do what he’s done. He did it…

It’s obvious that multiple streaming options will be available for this event and everybody involved sincerely wants all of us to be able to share in it. Once the stream is officially announced, those that will view it for free on somebody else’s U Stream channel will complain about the price of the official stream most often.

Scalpers are being reminded for the first time in 20 years what an enormous pain in the ass we can be. Movements to flag every ticket related post on every ticket selling site in the world have officially begun. Many fans are spending nearly 40 hours a week doing so as well as mobilizing armies to do the same. When I asked her about ticket availability, Marlee Ann from Michigan said, “If tickets were easy, they’d be your mama!” Apparently she’s still holding a grudge because I never made it back to that tent after leaving to get some water in Hampton, 87.

There’s a lot of hustlers cashing in on the desperation of Dead Heads. Nobody will have tickets in their possession until June. Right now you’re buying a promise from somebody you don’t know. Remember, Western Union is how we got paid on Tour many years ago for large mail order purchases from folks back home. We did that because it’s the preferred method of payment for criminals everywhere. DO NOT buy promises from strangers. If you can’t help yourself, DO NOT pay in ways that offer you no protection. If everybody waited until June to search for tickets, they’d be EXTREMELY cheaper on the secondary market by then. If you look at seating chart availability on StubHub, there’s a vast majority of the stadium sections with no available tickets in them. Some are mail order sections I’m sure but what about the others? Are there still large blocks of tickets that will be released in the future? I think so… We’ll see…

I was fortunate enough to score a package from CID. My VIP Package seems like a much better deal now than it did a month ago. My luck with Ticketmaster for big shows has always been awful at best. Was my good fortune the result of my efforts over the years to be a conscious contributor or just by chance? I guess that depends who you ask. I have my own brother and a lot of friends that are still waiting…

I bought a cool dye from Matt Weber, check him out on FB! He makes some great stuff!!!

Gratefully Deadicated,

Dean Sottile (pronounced SoTilly)

www.gratefuldean.com

Grateful Dean on Facebook

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