Tag Archives: Peter Shapiro

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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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Fresh off the highs of Lockn’, the preinstalled Health app on my phone informed me for the 5th time in a week that I had exceeded the fitness goals given to me by some programmer in Japan. Apparently I have doubled the number of steps that some unknown entity feels I should walk in a day and was awarded a gold coin on my phone that I’m certain is good for absolutely nothing, much like me after 5 of the last 7 days swimming in the Psychedelic Soup. Surprisingly enough, with all the health related goals I was apparently crushing, I returned from Lockn’ with a Wook Flu the size of Chewbacca. Voice is totally shot, the whole nine yards. After getting a text about some comp seats for the Central Park Show, I decided to go even though, as a working stiff, I knew I’d only make the second set. Nothing like a little hair of the dog that bit ya to get the immune system jump started. I finished up at the office and headed into The Big Apple to see Phil for the third time in the past week. I’ve never been to Central Park’s Summer Stage, mostly due to the early start times, but here we go again…

It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous, warm Summer night under the stars in Central Park. We picked up our tix and got to the stage just as the band came out. Phil’s pack of wolves included Chris Robinson, Neal Casal, Eric Krasnow, Adam MacDougall and Tony Leone. The one great thing about living in the NYC area is that bands always seem to push a little harder when they’re here. The Metropolitan area may not be one of the kindest places you can play but WE show up BIG every night. The energy is always fever pitched and the musicians always deliver the goods. They opened the second set with He’s Gone which isn’t the quickest route to Valhalla but it did possess a tasty tempo and eased us all into the groove. Once it was done all melting and falling apart, Next Time You See Me emerged and upped the ante as we all began lifting off to that place you go when everything is just right. The first notes of St. Stephen always create a visceral response that goes way past our ears. It’s the musical equivalent of walking through the gates at Disney World. The impending magic grabs you before you’ve even experienced it. The tempo was fast all night, yet another thing that New York City tends to do to you. I can’t help but think to myself when I hear this stuff, “Why the fuck didn’t they play this Garcia’s last decade?” Getting on the bus in 85, I missed hearing a bunch of stuff with Garcia that I still think about to this day.

Up next was Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and I’ll never forget the night The Dead busted that out. March 17, 1993 at the Capital Centre in Landover. I was a twisted pile of a mess that tour. I started looking like the last chapter of a book called, “What’s The Use?” Heavy into the bad stuff. The entire scene was going down the drain but there were a few last glimpses of glory that were left. This was definitely a BIG one for me. I can remember how happily we all shook our bones as Jerry’s voice came over us like warm syrup singing such an epic tune. The first lick that Garcia shot off during the chorus is still etched in my brain forever. Regardless of what anyone says, the best version of any bustout is the night they busted it out! Even when it wasn’t… Central Park bloomed into an Electric Wonderland as L.S.D. kicked into high gear and all 5,000 folks couldn’t help but sing along with each chorus(QUIETLY PLEASE)!

The opening notes of Lovelight kept all the energy heading in the proper direction and Chris Robinson was having a night and a half. I thought for a minute he might get to breakin out some of those old dance moves I talked about yesterday. He was animated and right in the pocket all night long. Sugaree helped us all continue to shake it and was always among my favorite Garcia tunes. There’s so many ways to approach that groove from a perspective of getting your boogie on! I rocked it double time, I rocked it half time, we rocked it THE WHOLE DAMN TIME!

The feelings associated with the memories of seeing Garcia dropping the first notes of tunes you traveled thousands of miles and saw hundreds of shows hoping to hear will never go away. Having seen hundreds of shows by the time I got to the New Year’s run in 1990, 12/27 is another show I’ll never forget. Blazing Hot Scarlet-> Fire, great Estimated that dribbled down into complete jelly at its finish when the first notes of Comes a Time stepped forward. I remember that feeling as well as I remember the birth of my 4 year old and it gave me the same sense of euphoria. The only difference is that Comes a Time didn’t continue to destroy all my shit and deprive me of sleep for the 4 years that followed… While we’re talking about babies, The Phil and Friends family seems to either be making a bunch of ’em or renting them. There’s always a beautiful blonde baby on stage and it seems like it has been that way for a while now. Strange to think when I got on the bus those babies were Phil and Jill’s kids and now they’re grand babies. Time is flying… The older I get the quicker it goes. Maybe its not going so fast and there’s not as many babies as I think… Anyway, Comes a Time was great and a wonderful time to grab the one you love and just live through the song together.

It seems like The Franklin’s that Phil and Friends have been playing picked up a Crystal Meth addiction. Franklin’s came burning outta Comes a Time like a rabbit that was on fire. I’m not sure there’s a better tune to dance to than Franklin’s. That one just brings out the very best in US and last night was no exception. We were all stamping it out like kids at an ant hill! Sweat flying, smiles galore!!! That song is a total sprinkler of Joy and we were all getting soaked by it! What a set! Great sound, great venue, great tunes! What the hell else could you want out of it all? How about a double encore bitches! Mr. Charlie rekindled the flame left behind by Franklin’s and the joint was back to a blazing inferno in seconds! Tons of Chuba-chuba and Wooley-booley plenty of
“Well you take a silver dollar, Take a silver dime, Mix em both together in some alligator wine!” I don’t know exactly what the fuck Alligator wine is but that tune makes me sing about it like it’s my favorite thing on earth! LOVE Mr. Charlie! Then the rare double encore in Dead Land as the hook in U.S. Blues rocks us deep to our core as we acknowledge, “Summertime done, come and gone, my, oh, my!!!” The jubilation experienced by the tune mixed with the realization that the Summer of 2015 has brought us more to be Grateful for musically than we’ve had in a long, long time. I know The Summer of 2015 will be remembered a lot like The Summer of ’89 for me. The Summer of ’89 was my own personal Summer Of Love. The year I broke through and conquered the Acid tests, ran the tables at every venue I entered without missing a show and became so much of the human being that I am today. There’s a lot that’s changed since then… My cars don’t run out of gas anymore but my body sure does… Regardless, this Summer has done more to infuse new life into me and to reawaken old dreams than any I’ve experienced in a long time. I’ve reconnected with my tribe as opposed to just dashing in and out of shows like I’ve done for the past couple of decades. A part of me that I thought had severely aged or possibly died has come back to life. The Summer of 2015 has been a Summer I’ll cherish forever… Se y’all down the road!

Love You Long Time!

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)
Twitter @gd50th