Tag Archives: GD 50

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Welcome to the Valentine’s Edition of The Officially Unofficial Week In Review. Valentine’s marked the first day in weeks that thousands of Dead Heads were all screwed by someone other than the Grateful Dead Ticket Office. Since today is Sunday and Tomorrow is a Holiday for the Post Office, the next 2 days will be the equivalent of a menstrual cycle in Grateful Dead Land as nobody will be getting screwed again until Tuesday at the earliest. This should provide a welcomed relief for those that have grown weary of seeing the same letter posted over 25,000 times.

A quick look around social media will remind you that the attitudes and outlook of the people in our community range somewhere between the excitement and exhilaration found in last night’s sexy Valentine’s activities and the character of this morning’s undercarriage aroma. For those that are still in the mail order lottery game, some having reported their money orders being cashed this week, Love is abundant and Not Fade Away. For others, the saltiness that rejection has left behind matches that of their sheets this morning. There’s just the pavement left, and broken dreams…

As 50 Shades Of Grey pulled in as much money as the Stinson Beach Ticket Office had to return, reruns of 50 Complaints On Trey were just as widespread. Apparently, Grateful Dead fans are appalled that another Dead Head, that loved Garcia as much as we do, had the audacity to create a band that sounds nothing like the Dead. Why would they choose a uniquely talented individual that completely developed his own style of innately inspired improvisational wizardry? The only thing that seems to aggravate Dead Heads more than that is the band’s extremely die hard fan base that travels the country to see every show they play. All of this takes place in large sold out venues without any commercial appeal at all. At first glance, this very well may appear as though Dead Heads actually can’t stand themselves or a community based around music that provides another generation of kids the chance to experience what every single one of us got to experience at their age.

In a gesture of unprecedented kindness, The Official Home Of Unofficial Grateful Dead News announced a way for at least one lucky fan to win a ticket to The 50th Anniversary Shows in Chicago. An exciting internet dance competition, “Oh You Think You Can Dance”, could score you a seat to one of the 50th Anniversary Shows. Many have been afraid to enter after the initial video from “Swivel Hips” SoTilly proved I have more moves than a Rubik’s Cube. Many others thought this was just another joke from the Perennial Prankster. Friends and Family, This is no joke!! I will personally Miracle the winner of this competition. Make a one minute video of your best moves and email it to [email protected]. Future plans to produce Jerobics and Zumba In The Rain videos are underway for our Google+ Home.

Regardless of the costs or challenges associated with securing a lucky winner a ticket, The Official Home Of Unofficial Grateful Dead News is stepping up!!! Submit those entries for your chance to win!!!

That does it for another week my friends. Stay tuned…

Gratefully Deadicated,
Dean Sottile (pronounced SoTilly)

www.gratefuldean.com
Grateful Dean on Facebook
The Official Home of Unofficial Grateful Dead and Music News Facebook Group

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GarciaWolf

Space has been a little creepy… Weird energy all over the arena… Seems like everywhere I go people are in some kind of rush to get somewhere… I don’t know why… We’re all staying right here… Almost like watching people on the streets on Manhattan… Not too many faces seem at ease… Is it me??? I don’t think so… Could be… Garcia’s notes are rolling out of Space like we’re about to get some music again… The Energy in the room is shifting… It’s cool to feel 14,000 people become attentive all at once… What’s it gonna be??? Black Peter??? Stella??? Strange to hear notes that sound like a Garcia Ballad out of Space… The fat strings of Jerry’s guitar begin to form the frame of an incredibly powerful, albeit somewhat eerie march… The drummers fall into place following his lead… The room begins to glow in it’s darkness… Jerry, Bob and Phil are framed in Blue Light… The tempo matches the pace of the steps you might take walking through a graveyard as Garcia approaches his mic from 4 steps back… Death Don’t Have No Mercy… That’s what the fuck I’m talking about!!! The mood created is Pure Magic mixed with Pure Emotion… It’s like a high speed collision where Magic collides with Sorrow… We’re all experiencing this from the Inside Out… Garcia’s line is delivered from deep within his core while the 3 deep creases are fully activated on his forehead… Weir’s line comes through absolutely clear and without any hesitation or doubt… His eyes shadowed like a Skull even when he faces the lights… I don’t how that shit happens… He leans back hard and sharp as if he’s squeezing everything he can out of the moment… 14,000 people are simultaneously having their insides rearranged at will by it all… The first solos begin to take flight… Brent’s Church Organ seems to form some kind of audible hands that appear to lift the music higher and higher… It becomes a completely visceral experience as Garcia’s solo ferociously climbs up and down a stairway of sonic emotion that seems to be made out of the chills that are formed within my spine… Each note penetrates far deeper than our ears as we can literally feel the guitar pick make contact with our hearts… Jerry bends his knees 4 inches… That brings the whole experience way over the top… This Ballad of Death and it’s failure to show Mercy has created a vivid mood, emotion and experience within all of us as it’s completely directed the thoughts of thousands of people in a single direction and all at once… Brent takes his turn completely possessed by the spirit of the song… He Jolts… Shoulders swinging… Looks like The Song is Playing Him… His voice cuts through all of us like a chainsaw through the sternum as he begins open heart surgery on the entire room all at once… We Feel every word… As Brent hammers into his keyboard it appears as if the keyboard hammers back… It sends him into a euphoric looking yet somewhat spastic state… The look in his eyes is like that of someone on a ride they have no hope of controlling in any way… Every cylinder is firing on this one and Jerry has the look on his face that makes us all aware of how special the moment is… The Look that says, “SHIT Is Going Down RIGHT NOW!!!!” He takes his solo with an undeniable fire and and as animated as is possible for the Boss… He’s in perfect command of the moment and with a few deep bends and a strong throw of the final notes into the air brings it all home… Everyone seems to be Paddling as hard as they possibly can as the efforts are generating an energy that seems to have caused the building to lift off… Our Hearts were opened wide… Some Dark Spots were exposed, Romanced and Then Ripped Out… The Feeling of Pure Ecstasy And Pure Sorrow All at the same time is way more than our carnal minds were created to endure… We’ve been forever changed in this moment… We smile as we cry… We Cry as we Laugh… We hug those nearest to us… We acknowledge that we were just part of something that was never available prior to that moment and won’t be completely available ever again… It’s All too much…