Grateful Dean

In news that was a benefit to many, after construction of the stage was completed in Santa Clara, it became apparent that more room than previously anticipated would be available in the Pit. It’s been called the Pit because over the next 5 shows it will smell like a mixture of 80% Arm Pit, 20% Patchouli. Prior to the stage actually being up, additional space had to be reserved to prevent any mishaps or adjustments that may have been required once the stage was constructed. The discovery of more available room than previously thought allowed for the creation of more Pit tickets than previously thought for both Santa Clara as well as Chicago. Pit Tickets for 4 of the 5 shows were released through TicketMaster this morning and continued to sporadically leak out of the system into early afternoon. I think that as we get closer to Chicago, tickets are going to be everywhere! We’re ALL getting in folks!!! Every night and all of us!!! Kick back, relax and know that shit for a fact!!! Tickets for Santa Clara are now cheaper than what it costs for a beer and a pretzel once you get inside… Chicago is next… This time next week we’ll see the bottom fall out of Chicago prices on the secondary market as TicketMaster develops a slow and steady leak of tickets for all shows. If you’re holding on to extra Chicago tickets, you better dump them now before you can’t even get face for them. Can’t wait to see y’all out there!!!

In honor of the day we celebrate the birth of the greatest songwriter ever to lay a pen to paper, I leave you with something I wrote in honor of Robert Hunter not too long ago. Happy B Day Mr. Hunter!!!

Your pen has graced the pages of our lives in every way
You reached inside and spoke of things we hide from day to day
You saw inside the insides of our lives and hearts and souls
Where many powers, great and small, all fight for the controls

A mighty ship has mighty parts and many can’t be seen
You have been the rudder in the days that lied between
Your hands have crafted many parts that led us out to sea
Stormy nights and Sunny days, I know you spoke for me

Often times The Hunter may get captured by the game
The one that captured all of it has Hunter as his name
You painted pictures of our future with oils from the past
Your mind connected somehow to the one thing Built to Last

You write about tomorrow like it happened yesterday
You found a way to speak the words we all would love to say
The soundtrack of my life took flight before I came to hear it
The words I’d need in years to come delivered through your spirit

There’s no way we could measure what you’ve brought throughout the years
Many million smiles, I know, and just as many tears
I’m sure that you’ve been honored more than many on the earth
I wonder if you know at all, what your treasure’s worth

If you did I wonder If you’d care for it at all
I know you’ve seen the rising tide, I know you’ve seen it fall
With every step along the path your lyric lead the way
As valid 50 years ago as they are this very day

There are those that bake the bread and others that will eat it
You brought the flour and the glory fell on those who got to knead it
You found the words that gave a man the tools to make them stick
With all the power in dynamite, it’s nothing without a wick

The spark that came from up above the wick that caught the spark
You took us to the light until you brought us In The Dark
I often sit and wonder what it’s like inside your mind
The man who grabbed the future from so many years behind

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced SoTilly)