Night Of The Living Dead
Ever feel like you were the hapless victim, ensnared in some dysfunctional family drama? The formerly Grateful Dead, which served as a surrogate, loving family for so many for so long, is now a cesspool of competing, greedy people fighting over a very lucrative….yes, brand.
The Deadheads are the most loyal group of fans, they know Jerry, or feel they do, they will be heard…. and, they were. Fan recorded concerts are now back in the Archive to be freely traded again. According to an outraged and saddened John Perry Barlow, it was the drummers. Mickey can’t even fucking keep time. His poor bass players just stand by helplessly as he slows down.
Jerry died intestate and married. The woman he was married to for the last few years of his life went after his guitars, his kids…. It was a nightmare. Now Phil can’t even go near Bob… The whole thing makes me want to cry. What was he too artistic and drugged out to foresee what would happen when he died?
It shows you how tenuous and shallow all that love became as the original dreams turned into a merchandising megalith. As long as Jerry was alive people adhered. As soon as he was gone, everyone scavenged for assets. Manasha, who loved him well, and their daughter ,Keelin, were left with little. Deborah, who lived with him last, owns almost everything the band couldn’t nail down. Mountain Girl and their girls also got relatively little.
Wow, the CBS morning show just carried this story, congrats, guys. Too bad you reported only that the band asked for the fan concerts to be taken down and the outraged fans threatened a boycott. The point here is, in the end, the boys got it together. The thankless morons relented, but, what a slap in the face.
Do you really think your formerly devoted fans are just going to forget this, as you guys bicker now about putting your stuff on iTunes.? Maybe we could understand you putting the soundboard recordings up for sale there, but why take down the fan recordings?! Too much competition for you? Hey, if your records don’t offer anything more than your fans, well, maybe you shouldn’t have set up separate recoding sections and took all that ticket money.
The band needs to consider the fact, and apparently did, that the brand was built up on the ideas of freedom from label tyranny. You were the one fucking alternative, the last hold out. This is what we loved about you guys. We built you. We made you millions upon millions, for increasing minions, and if you want that loyalty and ethos to continue don’t become the embodiment of the antithesis of the message you built up on…. OK?
This is one of the largest music libraries in the world. Certainly the largest devoted to a single band. For God’s sake, how many thousands of concerts did they play, how many recordings were made? Maybe I should look up that Capitol Theater Show I mentioned earlier, where I met Manasha. That would stir up some great memories. Turns out she did remember our meeting and even invited me to Keelin’s birthday party. Don’t even ask how we reconnected.
Let’s just say, when it comes to the Dead and their fans, all things are possible because we, the fans are what your fucking organization is all about and when bands and record companies and distributors and nine-figure executives finally get that…. we’ll finally see the dreams of music and community and personal creativity, that you stood for and truly believed in at one time, (I hope!) come true.
The Deadheads are the most loyal group of fans, they know Jerry, or feel they do, they will be heard…. and, they were. Fan recorded concerts are now back in the Archive to be freely traded again. According to an outraged and saddened John Perry Barlow, it was the drummers. Mickey can’t even fucking keep time. His poor bass players just stand by helplessly as he slows down.
Jerry died intestate and married. The woman he was married to for the last few years of his life went after his guitars, his kids…. It was a nightmare. Now Phil can’t even go near Bob… The whole thing makes me want to cry. What was he too artistic and drugged out to foresee what would happen when he died?
It shows you how tenuous and shallow all that love became as the original dreams turned into a merchandising megalith. As long as Jerry was alive people adhered. As soon as he was gone, everyone scavenged for assets. Manasha, who loved him well, and their daughter ,Keelin, were left with little. Deborah, who lived with him last, owns almost everything the band couldn’t nail down. Mountain Girl and their girls also got relatively little.
Wow, the CBS morning show just carried this story, congrats, guys. Too bad you reported only that the band asked for the fan concerts to be taken down and the outraged fans threatened a boycott. The point here is, in the end, the boys got it together. The thankless morons relented, but, what a slap in the face.
Do you really think your formerly devoted fans are just going to forget this, as you guys bicker now about putting your stuff on iTunes.? Maybe we could understand you putting the soundboard recordings up for sale there, but why take down the fan recordings?! Too much competition for you? Hey, if your records don’t offer anything more than your fans, well, maybe you shouldn’t have set up separate recoding sections and took all that ticket money.
The band needs to consider the fact, and apparently did, that the brand was built up on the ideas of freedom from label tyranny. You were the one fucking alternative, the last hold out. This is what we loved about you guys. We built you. We made you millions upon millions, for increasing minions, and if you want that loyalty and ethos to continue don’t become the embodiment of the antithesis of the message you built up on…. OK?
This is one of the largest music libraries in the world. Certainly the largest devoted to a single band. For God’s sake, how many thousands of concerts did they play, how many recordings were made? Maybe I should look up that Capitol Theater Show I mentioned earlier, where I met Manasha. That would stir up some great memories. Turns out she did remember our meeting and even invited me to Keelin’s birthday party. Don’t even ask how we reconnected.
Let’s just say, when it comes to the Dead and their fans, all things are possible because we, the fans are what your fucking organization is all about and when bands and record companies and distributors and nine-figure executives finally get that…. we’ll finally see the dreams of music and community and personal creativity, that you stood for and truly believed in at one time, (I hope!) come true.
posted by Intervision at 8:36 AM
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