Tag Archives: Phil Lesh

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Following a wet and treacherous beginning, the cast and crew, lead by Peter Shapiro, pulled of an enormous task by reconstructing the damage left behind following some super cells of storms that passed through Arrington and put a beating on the property much like the thousands of folks in Virginia are putting on their rented RVs. Unfortunately, after making a Rainbow in California and stopping all wind in Chicago for 4 days, Shapiro ran out of money and was blackmailed by Mother Nature. When he failed to come up with the rumored 7 figure ransom, Mother Nature busted out a wooden spoon and took it to the ass of Arrington like a child that stole something. Father Time wasn’t on our side either and watched from a rocking chair as the whooping took place.

After being forced to postpone entry into the grounds and cancel Thursday’s performances, every demon in Hell laughed as the leader and descendant from the Tribe of The Chosen People appeared to be tied up like a groupie in Steven Tyler’s hotel room. One thing’s for sure, adversity and resistance are the things that either cause people to crumble or become much more than they could’ve been prior. The staff here at Lockn’ were given that choice and proved they could accomplish much more than they were previously aware. With all the cards and forces of nature that were stacked against them, the crews worked around the clock to make it possible for a safe albeit sluggish entry Friday morning.

After transferring funds from various accounts, Shapiro came up with a respectable ransom and Mother Nature accepted the offer providing abundant sunshine and ideal conditions for the start of the postponed event. As the sun baked the moisture out of the ground, the lines moving into Lockn’ moved like old folks screw… Slowly, if at all. Congratulations to the fans and crew are in order as both did everything possible to maintain an atmosphere of Love and understanding as the procession moved along. From my vantage point, cool heads and warm hearts made the best of the challenges we were faced with.

For those that aren’t familiar with Lockn’, this is my first, the staging is absolutely incredible. There’s two enormous and complete stages on the main field, right next to each other, that allow the music to basically run continuously throughout the entire day. The timing was remarkable as bands would play their last note and the following band’s first notes would begin only moments later. This continued throughout the entire day, without a single noticeable technical glitch for 12 hours straight. Anybody that knows how many people and moving parts, as well as all of the artists that have to be on the same page for that to take place realizes the magnitude of that accomplishment alone. From the opening notes of John Popper’s National Anthem followed by The Doobie Incident all the way to the closing notes of Mad Dogs and Englishmen, nearly 12 hours later, the music truly NEVER stopped.

I don’t have time to review everybody at the moment but the sets were all inspired and full of the energy and vibe we all live for. The staff and people in charge of operations worked overtime trying to insure the comfort and satisfaction of everyone in attendance. With all the challenges that were faced, I’d like to personally thank Chris Kovach and Brad Tucker who did a lot to help me personally with the various challenges associated with getting in and settled. I appreciate it guys, Thank You!

If you’ve never been, I can tell you that Lockn’ is like Disney World for Music Lovers. If you have been before or are here now, you already know. There are things happening constantly and nearly 24 hours a day. While there may have been some there, I personally didn’t see a single police officer or a single fan hassled. If there’s a place for fans of all ages to gather peacefully and enjoy almost more music than they can handle, Lockn’ is certainly that place. Once I crawl out of the psychedelic soup here in Virginia, I’ll write a more detailed and complete review. For now, it’s off to a day of nonstop jams with our musical family and friends. See y’all out there!

I understand there’s some extremely special surprises coming tonight! Maybe Mickey joining Billy and The Kids and who knows what else…
Get your popcorn ready! It’s about to get turned up to 11 again!!!

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)

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The Amex presale was fun! Somebody, somewhere got something. It wasn’t me. We’re off again on the incredible journey that has been the resurrection of All Things Dead! The strategies employed by those in charge of strategies are always brilliant. First create and build a frenzy, then release some food a little at a time. In the case of Dead & Co, what better place to unleash the marketing machine than NYC? One show announced in the most visible city in the world to kick off the hysteria of this new adventure. We’re all sucked back into the vortex we escaped from 20 years ago.

I had some interesting conversations that came from unlikely sources located in unlikely places over the weekend. “Once in a while…” You know how it goes. I was told that Dead & Co have scheduled 21 shows across the country that wouldn’t be announced until after the on sales for MSG shows are completed. Maybe get ready for Hampton once again! Don’t hate on anybody for their strategies, just learn how to read them and don’t get too sucked into the madness that ensues. I was even told that Trey would be part of the Company for some of it. Not too hard to believe since his schedule is pretty open this Fall and he spent 6 months learning a ton of material recently. Trey obviously won’t be at Halloween since he’s playing at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas but we might see him again real soon. Phish is KILLIN IT on their Summer Tour! Trey is obviously having the Summer of his life. Only time will tell if the info is legit.

The interviews released regarding the upcoming shows have been great and it’s hard not to get excited about the renewal of the bonds between our favorite musicians minus Phil. I don’t blame our favorite bassist for having no desire to live on the road at this time in his life. He’s got his own thing happening and that’s just fine by me. While you’re coming to NYC anyway, you can catch Phil and Friends at the Cap on the 30th or the 1st of November. While some shows are sold out, I’ve never had a big problem securing tix and with the announcement of Dead & Co I’d imagine tickets will loosen up a bunch. He’s there the following weekend as well and the Cap is a great place to visit if you’ve never been.

Billboard’s interviews with the guys that make up Dead & Company were great. It’s great to think of how little things in life make such a huge difference. John Mayer is swimming in his pool and catches Garcia’s lick on Althea. That’s all it took… One lick from the Master was powerful enough to cause the brother to get out of the pool and investigate what he was hearing. Not only investigate, but go full blown obsession. A hundred other things could’ve distracted him from that moment but nothing did. That’s the kind of shit that may have passed right by someone else that simply wasn’t called by the universe for the duty. He heard the call and answered it in a BIG way. We can all learn from that. It made me wonder how many times in life I may have received a similar call and did nothing about it. It’s probably happened for you as well. Not that our calls involved being part of The Dead but the calls that are made throughout our lives in an attempt to guide our actions if we only could get quiet enough internally and listen then have the presence of mind to act accordingly. Interesting thought… Some folks seemed upset by Mayer because he’s said some dumbass things through the media in the past. I have a question. At this point in our lives, who hasn’t said some dumbass things? Some of y’all do that every damn day on Facebook or Twitter. We all know how guilty I am… Regardless, JM answered questions in his interview with statements that came from a much deeper place. Be sure to read that if you haven’t already.

Mickey’s comments amused me the most by far. While legions of fans call for Garcia clones to step into the role of guitarist, Mickey said he’d rather drink 5 gallons of Clorox than play with them. That was some funny shit! Our favorite musicians are well acquainted with selecting talent and judging the type of characters they’ll choose to associate with. They’ve been through enough the past 50 years to make wise choices in the present as well as the future. We should all know that by now. I absolutely trust the judgement of this community’s leadership at this point. Weir’s comments about it being a little late but they’ll “try to put something together” were just as funny. What a Poker face! This stuff has been booked for a long time. I couldn’t be more excited to have a home town show with all of our favorite Music Makers throughout the NYC area this Fall as well as revisiting many of our old stomping grounds!

Don’t sweat the tickets my friends! They’ll be plenty out there and even more once the complete Tour is announced. Next stop will be Jazz Is Dead in NJ followed by Lockn that’s only a month away! This will probably be the greatest Lockn in history and will most likely be talked about for decades. I know I’m making the trip, Hope to see ya there!!! < That's for you Michael Dead To The Core, Dean