Tag Archives: Soldier Field

20150705_171352

Just when you think you have a new pal, things can change in a hurry. After a few months of interesting and pleasant interactions with the people that make up my community, I returned to regular life once again with a reminder that not everyone was in Chicago and everyone is not necessarily very nice. Apparently, the rest of the world didn’t hear Mickey’s marching orders to go out and spread the kindness. While I was out and about this past weekend, Joe Shapiro, while sitting on his stoop eating sausage and peppers in Nutley, NJ, screamed, “Your mama eats bat shit off cave walls!!!” Welcome back to the real world… Totally not kind…
FB_IMG_1433879247389
Joe Shapiro – Nutley, NJ

I hope you didn’t think I meant Peter, That brother is great! Love him!

As credit card statements from the GD 50 experience are arriving in the mail, thousands of people around the world are discovering how much their Priceless experience actually cost them. When your statement requires over 2 dollars of additional postage and is an inch and a half thick you got some bills to pay. This begins the third phase of PSD (Post Show Depression). After about a month, people start wondering why the hell they purchased one of absolutely everything at the merchandise stands. In over 350 Grateful Dead Shows and over 100 JGB Shows, between 85 to 95, I can tell you exactly how many official Dead items I purchased at the merch stands. ONE… I bought the official shirt from JGB at Squaw Valley. The grey one… I’m not even sure I ever checked out a booth between 85 & 95. I think it’s safe to say, sales of official merchandise at the Fare Thee Well Shows probably exceeded all combined sales from 77 to 95. Not only did people act like fiends at the shows, we also waited at the GD 50 Merchandise website, clicking refresh, waiting for it to open so we could continue to buy into the obsession.

While people post pictures of themselves at U2 and Who concerts now, It’s hard for me to look at those pics without saying, quietly and to myself, “Who gives a shit???” After having 20 years clean from Dead experiences, the addictive nature of my behavior has become fully activated. The monkey, that I thought was off my back, is back on it and has turned into a guerrilla with what seems like an endless supply of bananas. 20 years of being dormant and my drug of choice, Live Grateful Dead Music, unleashed the beast all over again.

Even with 22 years clean from sticking needles in my arm and all other drugs, I still like watching movies about drugs. They are still exciting to me but have no real impact on my psyche nor do they make me want to do drugs again. I’m Grateful to be clean every day and could never do what I do getting high like I did. In the same way, I’ve consumed the Grateful Dead pretty much daily, in some form, my entire adult life. Mostly, It’s been through the usual forms of media. Tapes, videos, hard drive, etc. While all those forms of media still provide incredible stimulation and satisfaction, they haven’t had the impact on my psyche any more than watching movies about drugs.

After getting dipped in the complete 4 Dimensional Experience of actually being there again, The guerrilla is stronger than ever. The Live Dead detox that happened when we were forced to kick it 20 years ago is happening all over again. I personally think kicking dope was much easier other than maybe the first few days. While I DEFINITELY don’t miss dope, I’ll ALWAYS miss Live Dead… Counterfeits and configurations don’t cut it anymore than wine comforts a junkie…

In the early days of attempting to kick heroin, I thought I could do it with substitutes. You know, smoking more buds, taking pills, drinking, etc. In the same way, I’ve tried over the years to kick my Live Dead addiction with other shows and musicians. There’s a problem with that however… Once you’ve had the horse, there’s really no replacement. There’s a lot of effort that might go into trying to find a substitute but rarely is that very effective. The Blessing of being free from the curse will always have to endure facing the challenges of maintaining that freedom over and over again. The one that consistently gets the most attention will always win. I’ll continue to keep focusing on The Blessing…

The sobering realities of daily life have kicked in full throttle, I got to spend last weekend with an awful toothache. It started Friday and I figured I could meditate my way to a complete and total healing. By Monday morning, I realized I wasn’t spiritual enough… I clearly didn’t have enough Faith to manifest it… On Monday afternoon I spent an hour in Hell getting ONE tooth fixed at a cost similar to one of the best tickets for ALL 5 FTW Shows. I thought about people that complained about the prices of attending the Fare Thee Well Shows. In the case of my tooth, there was ZERO fun, I don’t take nitrous, the experience was terrible and the music absolutely sucked. Kenny G or some shit like that… That dentist treated me like I screwed his wife… Absolutely beat the shit outta me… I realized how grateful I was for a few things. Number one, I was grateful this didn’t happen in Chicago. That could’ve messed up one of the best weekends of my life. Number two, The value of what I experienced in Chicago was indeed a very small price to pay in comparison. For those of you upset by $200 ticket prices, I hope you don’t get a bad tooth any time down the road…

Phil played a couple of shows at his joint, TXR, paying homage to the late 70s. So far I’ve read one less review about that as Official Merchandise Items I purchased between 85 to 95. I’m sure it was outstanding, it’s just that nobody seems to care very much… Same songs… Same bassist… Small Venue… Interesting… Make music and sing songs or participate in experiences that alter humanity right down to the molecular level… The choices couldn’t be any more apparent to our favorite musicians than they are right now… Should we move forward singing songs or acknowledge and accept we’re still capable of much more? Only time will tell…

Conversely, 3-4 weeks later I’m still seeing people attempting to become relevant by reviewing Chicago. People that only went to Santa Clara are increasingly more upset that Chicago gets nearly all of the attention. They act kinda like an ugly kid with a gorgeous sister. For those people, I’m gonna throw you a hug. After listening to the shows thoroughly, The first night in Santa Clara might have been the best of them all. While watching it that night, it didn’t appear as though the band was nearly as comfortable as it has sounded without seeing what was going on. When focusing exclusively on the music, it was stellar! Even better if you were there, I’m sure. The first night may very well have been the best of the bunch.

I hope by now we’re all willing, ready and able to be a positive force in our environments. It’s funny, to me, to watch people get sucked into the bullshit of others so easily. Why do we function like the burden lifters and joy dispensers and a total solution to the world’s hostilities while we’re in stadiums and arenas and get sucked into all the other crap when we’re not? While I know this doesn’t apply to The whole, some parts that make up our whole also seem to make up the hole of the whole. Those are really the folks we should throw more love at than anybody. Imagine if every troll post was followed by 1000 comments that all said, “Love You!!!!” The solution is really that simple. Why don’t folks see it or practice it??? I personally enjoy intelligent trolling. It leads to great opportunities for comedy as well as personal growth. It’s a great barometer to see where people stand on the ladder of unconditional love and acceptance…

In closing, The event schedule at Madison Square Garden is pretty open from November 10th to about December 9th… That’s all I’m gonna say about that… I send you comfort as we detox together… Love you long time!!!

Dead To The Core,

Dean Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)

First, Last, Everything

Just a heads up, Partial Refund info will be found on Dead.net today or tomorrow. If the window for returns is small, don’t come bitching to me. The window to mail them in was much smaller and you had no problems with that at all… I’ll be sure to stay engaged in the issue until everyone that wants their refund gets their refund… I foresee ZERO problems with any of it…

Well, The first Throwback Thursday following the Fare Thee Well Weekends… What better way to celebrate than revisiting the first piece that appeared on my blog on January 13th? This one started it all and it’s funny to remember how much shit I caught from various folks after I published it. I don’t quite remember exactly when a lot of those folks turned into friends but somewhere along the way, most of them did. I hadn’t looked at it since January and and it definitely brought back some memories… Enjoy!!! Love Y’all MUCHO!!! This is officially my final post related to GD 50. I like when things come full circle so it seemed best to make the first one the last one and TBT seemed to make it an incredibly appropriate opportunity. We’ll see what happens in the future. Maybe Weir will hire me to write his book or I’ll get a job with Phish… Maybe I’ll just play shuffleboard in Sarasota for the rest of my days eating at early bird specials and mediocre buffets… Who knows???

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Interwebs are aglow this week after sparks of a Grateful Dead 50th Anniversary Tour or set of shows were just looking for enough gasoline to create a fire. It seems as though the rumors were once again given the traction they needed when unofficial Grateful Dead writer, Scott Allen, was the first on the scene pretending to know something about the future. Scott, whose most recent publication, AB2B has sold nearly 2,000 copies, reported last year from The Capitol Theater, in Port Chester, NY, that Phil was the last member of the Band to sign a contract agreeing to play The Lockn’ Festival for the reunion. Interestingly enough, Lockn tickets were scheduled to go on sale within weeks. Apparently the talk backstage that night involved drummer, Joe Russo, saying to some of the guys after meeting a middle aged female fan, “I’ll be Lockin that ass in my room later.”

It’s also been rumored that Scott is receiving a five figure salary from the Grand Poobah of today’s psychedelic scene, Peter Shapiro, for sniffing the strychnine and Metamucil farts out of the seats in the balcony following Phil and Friends’ performances. To Furthur accelerate the anticipation of things to come, Bob Weir was overheard at one of Sammy Hagar’s holiday parties saying, “If she asks me to do one more damn project around the house, I’m going back on the road. Doesn’t she know I’m Bob fuckin’ Weir?”

In his most recent post, the anniversary shows are now headed to Soldier Field in Chicago on 4th of July weekend and will feature a longtime fan favorite on guitar, Ginger from Gilligan’s Island.

As the reports began to spread faster than venereal diseases at Rainbow Gatherings, social network moderators policing the band’s devout fan base were attempting to calm the insanity and maintain some semblance of order. It seems as though the rumor mill turned into a ferris wheel regarding the guitarist that would sit in with the band. The word on the street is that guitar players will be rotating through the band quicker than blowjobs in the 80s.

While everybody began to know somebody that knows somebody it seems as though nobody knows anybody including this somebody. When I attempted to contact Bill Kreutzmann regarding the rumors he answered briefly by saying, “Who the fuck are you and how did you get my number? Go Fuck yourself you nobody, I’m Bill Kreutzmann DAMMIT!!!”

I attempted to reach Mickey as well but his representatives told me he was putting an end to global hunger through drumming or some kind of shit like that. When I asked if she could be more specific she replied, “Sure, call back after you go fuck yourself.”

The news created a shakeup on Wall Street as cheese futures made a dramatic upturn. When asked why he failed to get on board, Warren Buffett, no relation to Jimmy, stated he was unsure of the “juice” the Core 4 had within the jamming community and feared that aging fans most likely developed varying sensitivities to products containing lactose. Sales of Coleman camping stoves rose in direct proportion to cheese futures.

Problems continue to circulate about insurance policies which seems to be a wonderful scapegoat for what promises to be high dollar tickets. A large portion of the fan base, still living in their now deceased parents’ basements and wearing the same concert T they purchased at Barton Hall in ’77 call this move “unkind.” They also find it totally uncool that their Barton Hall shirt can now be purchased new at Walmart for under $8. When Phil was asked about ticket prices he replied, “Brutha gotta eat! And Jill don’t wear no Payless shoes, you hear me, honky?!”

With all the guessing and speculation, only one thing is certain, Phish fan and rail rider, Antelope Greg is already waiting on line to get in as we speak. Three elderly women and a maintenance worker have been elbowed already for infringing on his “space.”

Highly opinionated Dead Heads are calling for the death of anyone who attempts to even think about playing guitar. Bob is… still resting. Phil continues to give his donor rap to the exact same 1,800 people from the past decade. Internet message board police are removing antagonistic members quicker than Lindane shampoo removes pubic lice and me, Dean Sottile, I don’t know shit. The only member of the entire fan base to readily admit, I have no connections at all. Not a single damn one.

Stay Grateful My Friends… Love You Forever!!!

Sincerely,
Dead Sottile (pronounced So Tilly)
Scott Allen’s Unofficial Biographer