Andrew in CA Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I just like the music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPDontletthedoorhityourars Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I just like the music. Not a huge fan, but always admired their harmonies. Only second to Mamas and Papas, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RkFast Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 My lawyer just got tickets for April...I guess here. He reminded me that we hadn't gone to a Dead show together in 10 friggin years. Man I feel old. I have always loved the music with great passion, but I developed over a time a great hatred for the politics. It was while on one of my many mini-tours that I first developed a real understanding of why hippie politics/socialism is BS. In fact "The Dead" as a concept, is the perfect analogy for exactly why these ideas suck, and that fact that they are utterly hypocritical. Going to a single show is great, you feel connected with the audience, you are going out of your way to do things to help others have a good time, and they are doing the same, it can be a real eye-opening experience of what is possible if everyone really works for "the collective". But then reality sets in. Everybody wants to get to the next show so they can feel that again, just like a drug. But, everybody doesn't want to contribute equally, or can't contribute equally, to get there. Same is true for food, "treats", all the rest. Worse, the longer you are on tour, and especially if you planned properly, the more you find yourself doing most of the contributing, and the more you find out that what's really going on is perhaps the most damning example of pure selfishness you have ever seen. Even in your own "family", and that's the part that really sucks. Not to mention that the minute people need money for the next ticket, hit, etc., the parking lot turns into the most acute display of tax-free, unregulated capitalism you have ever seen. It would make a pharmaceutical executive blush. (i.e. selling beer to 16 year olds for $5 a bottle, t-shirts for $30, and veggie-burritos that cost 30 cents to make for $4...talk about exploitation!) After my 30th Dead/Phish show, I started thinking how funny it would be if somebody was to go around charging the same taxes and enforcing the same regulations that are applied to legit businesses. Talk about an eye-opening experience!!! You'd have open rebellion...burritos and didgeridoos flying everywhere. Suffice it to say: the average hippie's entire ethos is based on convenience...meaning they will say whatever is convenient for them at the time, as long as they get what they want next. You will not find a purer form selfish behavior anywhere. Ive been to a lot of shows. More than 30. Not a huge number, but enough to get an understanding of how the hippie culture works. And GOD.....you !@#$ing NAILED IT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Ive been to a lot of shows. More than 30. Not a huge number, but enough to get an understanding of how the hippie culture works. And GOD.....you !@#$ing NAILED IT. You went to 30+dead shows and are still coherent? Man you got ripped off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RkFast Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 You went to 30+dead shows and are still coherent? Man you got ripped off. I stayed away from the acid. Dont get me wrong. Lots of good people who are "former" hippies and actually got jobs and have a life, but still enjoy the band. They are fine. Its the other pseudo-vagrant culture that follows this band that is just disgusting and pretty messed up. Were talking BUMS here. Panhandlers. Total BUMS with ho home, no food, no money, no nothing. I dont even think the band likes these people. But there they are. They beg borrow, steal their way from show to show. They are the ones who crash the venue gates when they can, and leave the parking lot looking like WW3 when they leave. One of the reasons I wont go to shows anymore. If I want to see this many !@#$ing bums, Ill go to San Francisco and have a walk around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 I stayed away from the acid. Dont get me wrong. Lots of good people who are "former" hippies and actually got jobs and have a life, but still enjoy the band. They are fine. Its the other pseudo-vagrant culture that follows this band that is just disgusting and pretty messed up. Were talking BUMS here. Panhandlers. Total BUMS with ho home, no food, no money, no nothing. I dont even think the band likes these people. But there they are. One of the reasons I wont go to shows anymore. If I want to see this many !@#$ing bums, Ill go to San Francisco and have a walk around. I went to one dead show in I don't know 79 or there abouts at Rich stadium and the open drug selling amazed me even at that age,and I was no saint. It was one time fun but to make that a full time life style is well-a dead end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts