Let me make my disclaimer up front that I’m not looking to support any political party or candidate with this. As I look through my news feeds, politics have taken over much like GD50 did a year ago. I’ve always taken an interest in talking points that involve our great country and as I watch the theater roll on, images from my youth seem to pass through my mind regularly. I wonder to myself if a country containing 5% of the world’s population has an over inflated sense of importance or if this tiny segment of all people really have the influence and power to alter global matters in a way that would appear as if we made up the majority of the world’s population.

The politics of Grateful Dead Land are very interesting and go hand in hand with what has happened on the global stage. This time around, there’s some characters that remind me of how much profound foreshadowing took place in my childhood. The candidate for the vast majority of Deadheads is this guy.

He’s extremely concerned about scientific communities that say the earth can get 5 degrees warmer in a short period of time. He wants some shit to cool off as of yesterday. It’s clear to see why this should be a real concern to him. He takes the climate very seriously and wants to declare 4:20 PM a daily time of reflection similar to a Mexican Siesta. Everyone gets free college too! For anyone that’s thought it’s expensive to send your own kid to college, wait until the bill comes to send everyone else’s also. Everybody from the northeast has a Jewish buddy with a grandpa like him. Bitches all the time about the money and who has it… It was a blast to get stoned and go listen to Ira’s grandpa rant about shit.

On the other side, you have this guy…

He doesn’t wanna hear about it… He thinks things get hot then things get cold then things get hot then things get cold again. Kinda like seasons only on a slower moving and more grandiose global scale. It’s clear why he doesn’t give a shit about the temperature. He thinks it’s all gonna be great, just beautiful. Beautiful and great he says, just great, believe me. He says he likes Mexicans but thinks they should siesta in Mexico. All I know is if he deports all the illegal ones, I don’t know who the hell is gonna cut all the damn grass we have here. He’s making Pink Floyd look like Nostradamus and The Wall album seem like an incredible prophecy written decades ago. While many have previously thought he’s incredibly intelligent, he’s yet to back that up with anything he’s said. There’s a chance he came from this tribe…

It made me reflect a little. What was the politics of Grateful Dead Land? I know the elite 1% was made up of guys named Garcia, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Hart. In the years they were together as a band, 99% of the overall wealth of the community moved rather rapidly and repetitively into their hands. This typically began every season once the magical message appeared on the GD Hotline. The instantaneous transfer of all of my wealth has been going to the Grateful Dead since 1985. In lots across America, spare changers were hungry and needed a damn burrito. It was pretty clear that Garcia, Phil, Mickey, Bill or Bob should buy some dude named Shaggy the burrito, after all, they had 99% of the loot. In reality, they were at The Ritz-Carlton and weren’t paying any attention to Shaggy. The truth is, Shaggy might look like a skeleton on a Grateful Dead album cover if he was waiting for the band to buy him a burrito. Shaggy tried to get into The Ritz a few times to make his case but was handled pretty roughly by security. He was peaceful in his approach to the Ritz but the guys there weren’t having it. We learned through that experience that when thrown high enough, guys named Shaggy bounce after hitting the ground. Totally unkind brah…

If Shaggy was gonna get a burrito, chances are he was gonna get it from one of US that was much closer to Shaggy on the lot’s economical scale. The chances of getting fed by someone that has recently been hungry were always better than getting fed by someone that was always full. I’m not saying our favorite musicians aren’t charitable human beings, I’m just saying that I bought a lot more burritos for Shaggy than Weir did. If any of you 1% belonging musicians are out there reading this, throw a banana or something at a spare changer out of the window of your 2 million dollar bus when you drive past. A lot of Rock stars love to get behind the Robin Hood talking motherfuckers but at the end of the day, they’re still sitting backstage eating manuka honey and caviar off of a groupie’s nipples and washing it down with water that comes from the purest glaciers as per their riders. If elected, I would transfer the wealth from Grateful Dead Inc to spare changers everywhere! Give Shaggy a chance! He’s got his own drum…

Regardless of what has happened in the many elections since our community has existed, one thing has remained. WE have always taken care of US. Our psychedelic experiences with The Great Equalizer(LSD) erased the invisible barriers between races and classes and took us all to the reality of our connectedness. The Music erased any perceptions of separation and put all of US on the same stage. In the light of absolute truth, our souls were continually examined and all spiritual tumors were removed. We often sat in a puddle of our own thoughts and tears as The Great Equalizer removed the dark spots that were attempting to dim our Love Light. Hopefully, we’ve all used those lessons and allowed them to become permanent fixtures that have shaped our hearts and continue to guide our lives.

In other news, John Mayer recently revealed a new tattoo he got after his recent breakup. Following interviews on Tales From The Golden Road, John shared his new ink with the guys. He gave an elaborate and detailed description of its meaning but everybody was inwardly laughing too hard to remember what the fuck he said. Something about it being representative of recent developments in his life and how they took place…

Then there’s the Urinal Boycotts of 2016. Remember when government suits did stupid things and artists wrote kick ass tunes that have lived forever in protest? What the fuck happened to that idea? Instead of creating great music from the challenges of the day, Rock Stars nowadays refuse to play there. This is almost as bad as the “Everyone gets a trophy” stuff. So now, music lovers in North Carolina are getting screwed like Porn Stars at an Ecstacy Festival because some stiffs in their state made a dumbass law in opposition to a fair one. I’m completely in favor of equality for all and understand the passion some folks put behind their causes but let’s think about this one. Did the Dead boycott states with zero tolerance drug laws that impacted far more people than this urinal thing? No! There’s some of US still in jail on dumbass charges in States like Nevada for possessing some buds or a little powder or paper. Do most states still have shitty laws regarding pot? Maybe we should boycott playing there too. All of a sudden Rock Stars are spearheading the movement for a dude dressed up like a woman to legally pee sitting down in the lady’s room. Since this impacts such a huge percentage of the population, I see why we should all be outraged. I think it would be a much better idea for all artists to meet with their fans and spend the afternoon protesting at the appropriate government buildings.

Apparently Porta Johns have been solving this problem for years. Everyone has an equally disgusting opportunity to drop some rapidly traveling lot food in any available shitter they can get into. Urinals are so prejudiced. Not Porta Johns tho… Porta Johns treat everyone equally. I apologize in advance to everybody that will be appalled I have something to say about this. I hope this all gets resolved so the folks in NC can get the only thing that makes the bullshit that surrounds US on a daily basis heal for a few hours… Live Music… I’m completely in favor of all people being treated equally and with Love. I prove that by loving and serving all people in my world equally and with Love, not by refusing to show up where it’s needed most…

Supposedly there’s gonna be a surprise free show at The Fillmore for Dead & Co. I don’t know when it is exactly or I wouldn’t have called it a surprise… Some time at the end of May. Nobody tells me a damn thing until somebody tells me something. It’s usually like that. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to be back in front of my favorite musicians again. Summer Tour is just around the corner so it’s a good time to start working out and getting in shape for musical marathons in the hot sun. Before ya know it, we’ll all be together again! Love You Long Time and Forever!

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)
The Official Home of Unofficial Grateful Dead and Music News & Grateful Dean on Facebook
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