Tag Archives: Robert Hunter

CrazyFingers

We’re at the end of this hellacious Victim jam…. I probably shouldn’t have taken that second palm sized puddle at the end of the first set… I think I was trying to show off… Bad idea… Victim has creeped the living shit out of me and I’ve seen at least three people, obviously feeling just like me, walk away briskly with that too high and terrorized face… Like they just saw a ghost or somethin’… That same demon was trying to get me to leave this place too… I wonder if people that aren’t junkies are equally as freaked out by this tune… If the Boogey Man owned a Country, Victim would be the National Anthem… It’s like the Chariots of Fire for early freaked out runs towards the exits… I’m just glad it’s ending and I was able to stay put… For now at least… The introductory notes of Crazy Fingers begin and they sound to me like the four fingered Hand of Hope is winding the crank of a gigantic Music Box to full tension… The pressure builds and builds and builds and once it’s released this incredibly slow moving piece seems to unwind at a snail’s pace against the incredible tension that was wound into it’s initial ascent… Crazy Fingers was definitely not one of my top choices for the moment but tonight it feels like an entirely new experience… Tonight it feels like a Life Raft that was sent to me from Garcia… It feels as though I’m looking through a psychedelic high school yearbook… Incredible imagery throughout with Deep and Redeeming quotes that seem to infuse New Life into every segment of the experience… The Victim left me in this state of mental and spiritual depravity and despair as I self analyzed my current condition… Victim is like a magnifying glass that enables you to look through the crowd and spot every junkie quickly and easily… Crazy Fingers is completely restoring the small idea deep within me that I may get out of this mess one day… There is some Hope… Initially the hope is a bit muted…. Life May Be Sweeeeeter for this I don’t know… Seeeeeeeeee how it feels in the end… In my state of absolute LSD induced psychosis I realize that if they were ever gonna make a documentary film on the mating rituals of a slug, Crazy Fingers could by all means be the intercourse music… I begin to discover the absolute beauty of it all in an instant… While I struggle to make sense of the lyrics I look to Garcia’s face and he’s singing it as a Father would sing a lullaby to a newborn baby girl… The depth of his expression and apparent emotion tell me that I should be looking far deeper into it all… Billy is in deep meditation… Wouldn’t be surprised if he got some sleep during this one… Mickey has had the evil face on since Victim and seems as if he may be somewhat responsible for pushing the whole thing just fast enough that it doesn’t stop completely… It constantly seems like the rest of the band won’t make it to the beat yet regardless of how far they lag back they seem able to take the last step or two to the beat as rapidly as is required to arrive on time… I’m beginning to appreciate this tune like I never have before… As Jerry solos it’s as if his notes run out ahead of the band before finding a place to rest as the procession catches up… It’s a musical game of tag and I don’t think I ever heard it that way until this very moment… As Garcia goes reaching for The Gold Ring…. And he tries… Phil begins to absolutely pummel my mind with an amazing series of notes that seem to be winding up the Music Box all over again… The tension is ratcheted up to full capacity… The space between the notes seem to say as much as the notes themselves… I can clearly see the various forms of Something New just waiting… To be born… There is a quality to the jam that causes me to feel as though the things of life that have been awaiting me are in the birth canal of the universe and currently struggling through a long and challenging labor… I’m starting to feel like the second puddle was definitely the right thing to do… The hope goes from a once muted thought to a confident proclamation…. Feeeeeeeeeeels like it might be alright!!!

May Lady Lullaby sing plainly for you soft, strong, sweet and true…

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)

I’m really looking forward to getting to Chicago! Frank Zappa gets almost as much play at my house as The Dead so a band I’m definitely going to see while I’m there is Roister! Not only do they have one of the best Show Posters I’ve seen for Chicago but they have some serious talent including two veterans of Zappa’s touring band, guitarist/vocalist Ray White and bassist Tom Fowler, Ike Willis not to mention Brian “Honky Fubu” Swizlo on keys! There’s a host of other musicians that will be showing up from Zappa’s bands and I’ll meet you there for sure!!! Show starts at 10 but they’ll be playing until the wee morning hours I believe. Tickets are a steal at $20 and it’s at The Abbey Pub.

Roister

Rant On Hump Day and What Would Jerry Say

POTruck

On this Hump Day Edition of The Official Home Of Unofficial Grateful Dead News, I’m hoping we’re over the Mail Order Hump. The kind souls at the GDTS TOO office have been churning out heartbreak like ten seasons of The Bachelor. Computer keyboards have been salted like Dodge Durangos in Boston this month as tears fall down the faces of once hopeful fans. All I’ve been seeing for weeks is pictures of thousands of dollars of money orders and the dreaded letter that’s become the equivalent of bad test results at the free clinic following Summer Tour, 88. All of the groveling is a little confusing to me. Any time I got my money back from a Dead Head, it was a major fuckin victory, totally unexpected as well. Last time I sent that dude, “Moon Beam” $2500 in the Spring of 90, he disappeared quicker than virginity at High School Proms. Everyone getting your money back, Be very grateful!

Meanwhile, thousands of fans have already declared themselves as not being able to get tickets 2 weeks BEFORE they even go on sale. Guess what? NOBODY has any tickets yet. I see one more screen shot of StubHub and I’m breaking the internet. The best way to have a lot of cheap tickets enter the marketplace eventually would be for everyone to stay away from StubHub altogether until June 30th. If nobody went back there until June 30th, all the tickets there would be half price.

A great article appeared in Rolling Stone that made a few things really clear. The first and most obvious thing being, if you have a problem with Trey, you might be a douche. He certainly isn’t. Nobody is required to enjoy any particular type of music but it’s clear his respect for his current duty far outweighs the respect he’s been given my many in the community he’s preparing to serve. Take the Phish stick out of your ass and lighten up. This isn’t about Phish… Your favorite musicians unanimously chose him. Treyoncé is truly Destiny’s Child!

I’ve seen a bunch of posts about the safety of Chicago. Are you kidding me??? Didn’t we spend decades of our lives passing through every major city in the world at least 2 or 3 times a year? Is it just me or was I FAR more likely to put my life in jeopardy 25 years ago than I do today? Not only did I visit every major city in the world but for a decade I made it a point to visit every major city’s darkest and most dangerous damn neighborhoods intentionally. I stayed in dive hotels and places I wouldn’t have to consider staying today. At times I slept in my car or in Parks.  Am I the only one that walked the streets of Oakland in an absolute stupor all hours of the night and well into the morning? Have people really become that soft all of a sudden? What the hell happened to the people I traveled the country with all those years? Weren’t you one of them?

All too often I see the posts declaring all the things that Jerry would do and say if he was still with us. They all come from people that don’t know Garcia at all. You can go to the circus all you want but it doesn’t mean you have a clue how any of the animals really feel about it. The kids seem happy though. We don’t have to wonder what Garcia would say, he spent 30 years telling us what he had to say. He said it all rolls into one and nothing comes for free. He said everybody wants something they might not get. He said that the more that you give the more it will take. He knew regardless of what he gave, everybody always demanded more. He said it’s even worse than it appears but it’s alright. Sometimes he’d let you know, there’s just the pavement left, and broken dreams.  When you really wanted to know what Garcia had to say you’d spend a week at The Warfield and he’d tell you what he had to say in a deeply profound way. He’d let you know he’s done more for you than your daddy ever done. He’d open up his soul and let you know about being a hunter that gets captured by the game. He realized at times it was Money Honey if you wanna get along with me. You know what Jerry might say? He might say, “I know you’re dissatisfied with your position and your place. Don’t you understand, It’s not my problem?!?!?!” He very well might see what’s out there and say, “I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes…. You’d know what a drag it is to see you!” That’s back before you could google song lyrics to find their supposed intellectual meaning and instead they meant exactly what they were supposed to mean to us at the time they were delivered.

Anybody that’s been around this scene for any length of time should understand that those that continuously contribute to the community in a meaningful and positive way spend show time inside the venue. Those that give for the sake of giving without any preconceived expectation of return, always receive far beyond their level of expectation according to default settings placed in the universe long ago. Those that always want something for nothing often receive nothing because nothing is certainly the something they contribute and nothing is what they deserve. In roughly 450 Shows I attended between The Grateful Dead and JGB over the years, I had tickets in advance for about 4 of them. Not only am I certain I’ll spend 3 nights inside of Soldier Field celebrating the community that helped shape my life, I’m certain I’ll find at least a couple of extras to give to the winners of my dance competition.

C’mon, Lets Boogie Y’all!!! Enter my “Oh Think You Can Dance?” Competition for a chance to win a ticket to one of the shows in Chicago. Send a 1 minute clip showcasing your best dance moves to [email protected] for your chance to win!

You can follow the competiton and vote for your favorites here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR3u0e7WM2-UW2v0yFAt4WA

Your best chance of being on the inside in Chicago is by being the person you’d give a ticket to if you had one. Ask yourself, Would you give a ticket to you if you had one to give based on your daily contributions to the scene?

End of rant… More Comedy Next time… Stay tuned…

Gratefully Deadicated,
Dean Sottile (pronounced SoTilly)

www.gratefuldean.com
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