Tag Archives: GDTS TOO

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The majority of those who sent in for partial refunds have temporarily stopped saying, “FUCK SHAPIRO!” for now, but there’s others that haven’t given up their mantra yet. The vast majority of people have received their check in the mail and have reported that their refunds were correct and their tickets were returned in the same condition they were sent. While the process took a little longer than anticipated, I’m glad it’s mostly behind us. If you still haven’t received your refund at this point, you can find contact info here to have your problem resolved-> “Refund Issues”.

In the meantime, the gear has been loaded up and is heading east as Dead and Company are set to illuminate the country. Scalpers are getting screwed like Perez Hilton at a Gay Pride Parade after party. I’m not sure if our favorite musicians thought that since the demand for the Fare Thee Well Shows greatly exceeded their expectations, they would sell out arenas across the country on this tour but that obviously isn’t happening. Tickets are still available for damn near everything and prices on StubHub are below face in many cases and dropping daily. This one is shaping up to be the perfect storm for US as not only are WE ALL GETTIN IN but if you waited to buy tickets, it’s likely you’re getting in for free. Cash or Trade is looking like a Flea Market for Dead and Company tix with many ads nearly begging people to take their tickets. There’s gonna be plenty of room to dance at these shows!

Where the hell are all of John Mayer’s fans? He’s supposed to be popular, right? Didn’t they buy any tickets? Maybe they should have had Taylor Swift singing Donna’s parts. I wonder what ticket sales would be like if Trey was playing? I’m looking forward to what John will be bringing to these shows musically but one thing he’s obviously not bringing is fans. This goes to show why playing 3 shows, that ultimately became 5 shows, for the 50th Anniversary was a brilliant idea. If Dead and Co were only playing 3 shows at MSG the demand would be ridiculous. Scale that out to an entire 22 show tour and the results aren’t nearly as impressive. For those that have talked about the rumors of more shows being added, I’m not so sure about that. I heard someone mention New Mexico. You can’t sell out Philly or Mass and you’re gonna play a smaller market like New Mexico? I guess ya never know…

Fans who registered are discovering their fate on the lottery for tickets to the free show on November 7th at Madison Square Garden. Victory posts by winners have been circulating all over social media. Being that the 10,000 seats is just a little more than half capacity for MSG, I’m sure other opportunities for tickets that are “Less free” are on the way. Imagine if they hit folks with the service and handling charge on the free tickets pushing up the cost to $18. All hell would break loose. I don’t try to guess what Jerry would say or do often unless he actually has said it and he DID say, “It all rolls into one and NOTHING comes for free”. Gotta be some money being exchanged somewhere before long. I don’t imagine auctions will bring in big money for seats but I bet there’s gonna be a chance to give some loot to The Robin Hood Foundation and get your tickets. I struck out on the lotto but regardless, I know I’ll be in the Garden on November 7th and if you choose to be there, you will be also!

An enormous wave of freshly divorced 40 and 50 somethings are set to embark on another chapter of reaching for the Gold Ring. As the band readies for an epic musical voyage from Coast to Coast, for the first time in a long time, more salty genetic confetti will be tossed around the hotel rooms of the fans than the members of the band. Folks being reintroduced into the single world along with 10,000- 20,000 others in the same boat during a tour like this is a recipe for one helluva an orgy. If you’re reading this, you might be one of em. This has truly been a year of incredible come backs for the people in our circles. Sights, sounds and things from the past have returned with increasing intensity. I wonder if crabs will make the same kind of comeback into the community. Does anybody get crabs anymore? I think they vanished when folks started gardening their undercarriages. It’s amazing to think that all those years, all you had to do was shave your pubes and your chances of crabs would’ve been close to zero. Sometimes things like that amaze me. Why the hell did it take so long for companies to make underwear for men in a color other than white? Could there have been been a worse choice in color for a man’s underwear in the first place? 100 years later some genius at Fruit Of The Loom recognizes that maybe making them in black would be a good idea. 100 years of the single brown pinstripe before somebody handled that problem. How many other problems exist in this world that are that easy to correct but nobody has done a damn thing about it yet? Makes ya wonder…

The sports world felt the effects that Grateful Dead members have on the universe when the Chicago Cubs made it to the NLCS solely because The Fare Thee Well Shows happened in Chicago. The remaining members of The Dead not named Garcia definitely had something to do with it. Unfortunately for Cubs fans, the same members that left enough magic behind in Chicago to fuel them to the NLCS will be playing in New York during the week of The World Series. The writing was on the wall all along. Where is the band playing this fall? Is Dead and Co playing in Canada? Are they playing in Kansas City? How about Chicago? Nope… It’s perfectly clear that based on the influence our favorite musicians have on everything that happens in the world that The Mets are destined to win The World Series Many will think it was because of their incredible pitching led by starters with hair like Fabio or because of the play of their second baseman, Daniel Murphy. Most people will totally fail to realize that it’s all because of Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart and Phil Lesh. Those that have eyes to see, let them see… It’s all very clear to me…

News surfaced of a couple of spots of cancer on Phil’s bladder that were removed recently. I would encourage everybody to take just ONE minute from your day, every day for the next month, to visualize Phil in perfect health. The power of the Hive Mind is remarkable! Focused attention with specific intention in intercession for others has a powerful impact. 60 seconds of focused attention with intention for Phil by all of US will go a long way. I see every cell is his body completely healthy and whole with nothing missing and nothing broken! He must be feeling OK because he popped in to play at TXR with The Terrapin Family Band last night! We Love you Phil!

I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m as happy as a midget at a mini skirt convention. We’re less than a week away from another large scale musical experience featuring our favorite musicians and John Mayer also. This time next week the first show will be grafted into our neurology and we’ll all be gathering together in The greatest city on earth! We’re just about there again! Can’t wait to see you all on the road!

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)