Tag Archives: Levi’s Stadium

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Just when you think you have a new pal, things can change in a hurry. After a few months of interesting and pleasant interactions with the people that make up my community, I returned to regular life once again with a reminder that not everyone was in Chicago and everyone is not necessarily very nice. Apparently, the rest of the world didn’t hear Mickey’s marching orders to go out and spread the kindness. While I was out and about this past weekend, Joe Shapiro, while sitting on his stoop eating sausage and peppers in Nutley, NJ, screamed, “Your mama eats bat shit off cave walls!!!” Welcome back to the real world… Totally not kind…
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Joe Shapiro – Nutley, NJ

I hope you didn’t think I meant Peter, That brother is great! Love him!

As credit card statements from the GD 50 experience are arriving in the mail, thousands of people around the world are discovering how much their Priceless experience actually cost them. When your statement requires over 2 dollars of additional postage and is an inch and a half thick you got some bills to pay. This begins the third phase of PSD (Post Show Depression). After about a month, people start wondering why the hell they purchased one of absolutely everything at the merchandise stands. In over 350 Grateful Dead Shows and over 100 JGB Shows, between 85 to 95, I can tell you exactly how many official Dead items I purchased at the merch stands. ONE… I bought the official shirt from JGB at Squaw Valley. The grey one… I’m not even sure I ever checked out a booth between 85 & 95. I think it’s safe to say, sales of official merchandise at the Fare Thee Well Shows probably exceeded all combined sales from 77 to 95. Not only did people act like fiends at the shows, we also waited at the GD 50 Merchandise website, clicking refresh, waiting for it to open so we could continue to buy into the obsession.

While people post pictures of themselves at U2 and Who concerts now, It’s hard for me to look at those pics without saying, quietly and to myself, “Who gives a shit???” After having 20 years clean from Dead experiences, the addictive nature of my behavior has become fully activated. The monkey, that I thought was off my back, is back on it and has turned into a guerrilla with what seems like an endless supply of bananas. 20 years of being dormant and my drug of choice, Live Grateful Dead Music, unleashed the beast all over again.

Even with 22 years clean from sticking needles in my arm and all other drugs, I still like watching movies about drugs. They are still exciting to me but have no real impact on my psyche nor do they make me want to do drugs again. I’m Grateful to be clean every day and could never do what I do getting high like I did. In the same way, I’ve consumed the Grateful Dead pretty much daily, in some form, my entire adult life. Mostly, It’s been through the usual forms of media. Tapes, videos, hard drive, etc. While all those forms of media still provide incredible stimulation and satisfaction, they haven’t had the impact on my psyche any more than watching movies about drugs.

After getting dipped in the complete 4 Dimensional Experience of actually being there again, The guerrilla is stronger than ever. The Live Dead detox that happened when we were forced to kick it 20 years ago is happening all over again. I personally think kicking dope was much easier other than maybe the first few days. While I DEFINITELY don’t miss dope, I’ll ALWAYS miss Live Dead… Counterfeits and configurations don’t cut it anymore than wine comforts a junkie…

In the early days of attempting to kick heroin, I thought I could do it with substitutes. You know, smoking more buds, taking pills, drinking, etc. In the same way, I’ve tried over the years to kick my Live Dead addiction with other shows and musicians. There’s a problem with that however… Once you’ve had the horse, there’s really no replacement. There’s a lot of effort that might go into trying to find a substitute but rarely is that very effective. The Blessing of being free from the curse will always have to endure facing the challenges of maintaining that freedom over and over again. The one that consistently gets the most attention will always win. I’ll continue to keep focusing on The Blessing…

The sobering realities of daily life have kicked in full throttle, I got to spend last weekend with an awful toothache. It started Friday and I figured I could meditate my way to a complete and total healing. By Monday morning, I realized I wasn’t spiritual enough… I clearly didn’t have enough Faith to manifest it… On Monday afternoon I spent an hour in Hell getting ONE tooth fixed at a cost similar to one of the best tickets for ALL 5 FTW Shows. I thought about people that complained about the prices of attending the Fare Thee Well Shows. In the case of my tooth, there was ZERO fun, I don’t take nitrous, the experience was terrible and the music absolutely sucked. Kenny G or some shit like that… That dentist treated me like I screwed his wife… Absolutely beat the shit outta me… I realized how grateful I was for a few things. Number one, I was grateful this didn’t happen in Chicago. That could’ve messed up one of the best weekends of my life. Number two, The value of what I experienced in Chicago was indeed a very small price to pay in comparison. For those of you upset by $200 ticket prices, I hope you don’t get a bad tooth any time down the road…

Phil played a couple of shows at his joint, TXR, paying homage to the late 70s. So far I’ve read one less review about that as Official Merchandise Items I purchased between 85 to 95. I’m sure it was outstanding, it’s just that nobody seems to care very much… Same songs… Same bassist… Small Venue… Interesting… Make music and sing songs or participate in experiences that alter humanity right down to the molecular level… The choices couldn’t be any more apparent to our favorite musicians than they are right now… Should we move forward singing songs or acknowledge and accept we’re still capable of much more? Only time will tell…

Conversely, 3-4 weeks later I’m still seeing people attempting to become relevant by reviewing Chicago. People that only went to Santa Clara are increasingly more upset that Chicago gets nearly all of the attention. They act kinda like an ugly kid with a gorgeous sister. For those people, I’m gonna throw you a hug. After listening to the shows thoroughly, The first night in Santa Clara might have been the best of them all. While watching it that night, it didn’t appear as though the band was nearly as comfortable as it has sounded without seeing what was going on. When focusing exclusively on the music, it was stellar! Even better if you were there, I’m sure. The first night may very well have been the best of the bunch.

I hope by now we’re all willing, ready and able to be a positive force in our environments. It’s funny, to me, to watch people get sucked into the bullshit of others so easily. Why do we function like the burden lifters and joy dispensers and a total solution to the world’s hostilities while we’re in stadiums and arenas and get sucked into all the other crap when we’re not? While I know this doesn’t apply to The whole, some parts that make up our whole also seem to make up the hole of the whole. Those are really the folks we should throw more love at than anybody. Imagine if every troll post was followed by 1000 comments that all said, “Love You!!!!” The solution is really that simple. Why don’t folks see it or practice it??? I personally enjoy intelligent trolling. It leads to great opportunities for comedy as well as personal growth. It’s a great barometer to see where people stand on the ladder of unconditional love and acceptance…

In closing, The event schedule at Madison Square Garden is pretty open from November 10th to about December 9th… That’s all I’m gonna say about that… I send you comfort as we detox together… Love you long time!!!

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)

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As journalists and pop up bloggers continue to write reviews for shows that happened 2 weeks ago, The forces behind GD 50 are looking forward. Since pulling off the greatest celebrations the Dead Community has seen since Bill Graham served breakfast following New Year Shows way back in the day, Peter Shapiro has had more sunshine blown up his ass than a burrowing groundhog. He deserves the props! The best thing anyone involved with The Dead Community has in their favor is a fan base with essentially little to no memory at all. Unless of course you ask about a show that happened 40 years ago in which case the song list, including any intricacies of the songs played or special guests, can be recalled in an instant. As for what happened last month… No friggin clue… I’m grateful at times for the damage that was done to my grey matter throughout the years because it helps me forget who I was supposed to be pissed at most of the time. The absence of memory has served me tremendously over the years. Except in certain cases… One of the longest things I’ve ever participated in was playing a game of Concentration with another friend from Tour… Lasted for nearly 2 days before we called it a draw… What the hell was I just talking about???

While newly emerging writers are busy throwing their 2 cents into the pile of the past, GD 50 is already looking towards the future. According to Officially Unofficial Sources, Carlos Santana said a bunch of shit in Spanish ending with the words “Grateful Dead”. He booked flights into NYC for November on Orbitz because he got an email that boasted about Flight Deals and Specials that were for “this week only”. When asked about the possibilities of more shows, Peter Shapiro looked at me from atop a newly purchased Throne of Royalty in his office and, like Mel Brooks, said, “It’s good to be da King!” That was all… The one prevailing hurdle to jump is finding a way to erase all written and audio files containing statements about this being the last time these guys will take the stage together. Billy was overheard at a bar saying, “All we have to do is replace Ginger with Carlos and BAM! Problem solved!!! Totally different guys…” When people asked Mickey what he thought, he just said, “I think more people should read about The Beam, baby!!!” It’s clear that something special took place over those 5 nights and it seems like the band is rethinking the possibilities of a few more. My newly upgraded status has elevated me from an Absolute Nobody to just a regular Nobody on the verge of becoming almost a Somebody. Because of this, I was able to get in touch with people who say they know people inside the Lesh Camp… Apparently the conversation there revolves around removing Jeff and Bruce since that would get rid of 2 paychecks and nobody could hear a damn thing they played anyway… When I brought this up to Hornsby, who was still upset that his accordion was intentionally “misplaced” for 2 weeks, and asked how the band might be able to play more shows given the situation, he threw another member under the bus by saying, “Nobody heard a thing Mickey was playing either with those rubber spatulas… We can get rid of him maybe. There’s a solution.” The plot is thickening… I tried to get a word from Scott Allen, The Dead’s Unofficial biographer, but he was unable to speak due to swelling on his lips after having them surgically removed from Phil’s ass… One thing is certain, the bond these guys have formed is remarkable!

The tension of deciding whether or not to announce more shows is now up against the strategy of dealing with all possible reactions from the Faithful. While one might imagine the majority to be extremely happy, the behavior of the Deadicated is never easy to predict. People have returned to arguing about shit that happened in 1984 this week as conversations have begun to return to where they were prior to Fare Thee Well. For many, the emotional hangover still lingers. Doing things like picking up Dry Cleaning and dealing with kids that never listen to a damn thing they say is often enough to make the average Deadhead begin packing up the car and threatening to hit the road. The only problem at the moment is having nowhere to go just yet… The sole comfort that comes with any given day is the opportunity to tell somebody you don’t even know that you were in Santa Clara and/or Chicago. While I’m at it, am I the only one that occasionally walks up to somebody wearing a Steal Your Face on their shirt and makes a comment about The Dead that gets returned by that look that says, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Apparently, people have purchased shirts from Kohls without any damn clue that there’s a band and a community centered around the clothing. That’s a ridiculous shame… How ya gonna go around wearing a Stealie and not have a clue who the Grateful Dead are??? Happened to me twice last week trying to tell people I didn’t know about being in Chicago…

Phish is kicking off their Summer Tour in Oregon next week which will bring their version of the traveling circus through a town near you. For those that got to know Trey a little better during the Fare Thee Well Shows, maybe you’ll take your heads out of your asses long enough to listen to what they’re putting out nowadays. When those brothers are in sync, they provide an experience that’s second to one(Not a typo)! I’m interested to see if all the work Trey put into preparing for the Fare Thee Well Shows translates over into his sound this Tour. I don’t necessarily expect Dead Tunes, although Trey and Mike have both been playing a lot with our favorite musicians, but I do wonder if Trey’s overall sound will be a little different than what we’ve heard in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of our Phish favorites get some Dead treatments. Regardless, I look forward to Trey getting back to that “Staring Into Space” Zone. He came with his head down and nose to the grindstone during the past few weeks. I never saw him look at his guitar so much while he played. Y’all better look out when Trey starts squinting with that face on like he’s squeezing out some gas, looking up into the sky and playin the hell outta some shit! Didn’t see that in SC or Chicago but it’s coming right up!!! Also, With all the credit Caitlyn Jenner has been getting for being so brave, I’m a little pissed that Jon Fishman never got the credit he deserves. He’s been wearing a dress in public for decades. It’s clear the media is prejudiced against hippies. Jon is a pioneer for transgender awareness in the music community and has done as much for that segment of the scene as Phil has done for people who need Organs. Maybe if Jon wore Versace things would be different… If Caitlyn Jenner got the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs, I nominate Fishman to get some kind of Courage Award at the Jammies. That’s all I’m gonna say about that…

The folks at the GDTSTOO are currently dealing with partial refunds and have said that refund requests are coming in at the same rate RatDog mail order requests used to come. Not too many at all… When asked if there would be anything for them to do in the near future, employees at the ticket office were told that they would begin sewing sneakers for New Balance and Puma as soon as refunds were processed. This may lead to a slower return than most were hoping for… Keep your eyes out for more news as it arrives! Lockn will be making some cool announcements in the weeks to come and there’s a whole bunch of Magic just brewing!!! I might be full of shit but I also might not!!! Talk to y’all soon!!!

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)