More commentary on the sad situation

Peter Braverman pointed me at a blog called Cullen Sweeney, American Dreamer. In an entry titled “Requiem for the Dead,” Sweeney writes:

In a lot of ways, the Grateful Dead were more of an idea than a band. Which is a clumsy way of saying that the fact they played musical instruments really, really well was far less important than the shared intuition that they were actually instruments themselves: master craftsmen in whom a holy fire found its rightful vessel. Which is an elaborate way of saying that the Dead as musicians were greater than the sum of their parts, that it wasn’t just fingers and strings and drumsticks but rather, somehow, a collective of seekers aiming their arrows at the Infinite, just beyond the pale of our usual understanding.
Which is all a lengthy preface to a bleak finale, because the Dead have died, at their own hands. As far as deaths go, it was a quiet and mundane affair. The passing was, in a word, businesslike. And, indeed, no word but that could ever describe their demise, because it is the ultimate negation of their entire journey. It is the darkness at the end of the tunnel.

Later in the piece:

…if we accept the premise that life is but a series of moments, to be performed in as we are able, then the Dead’s long train of action-in-time was more powerful, more awe-inspiring and just more totally fulfilled than almost anything else you could compress into the narrow historical document of a musical recording. It was all there, all free, all open – and just as the Dead wanted it.

And:

The surviving members don’t much play like they used to, at least not with each other. The day-to-day operations of the Grateful Dead organization have been pawned off on hired corporate jockeys who pronounce “music business” with a silent “m-u-s-i-c.” The Dead’s “scene” long ago atrophied from lack of exercise, meaning that there just wasn’t much left for the band to keep in touch with outside of their ever-narrowing world. The band members gradually disappeared behind a faceless conglomerate. And there is no accountability – no address to write to, no sympathetic ear to speak to.

Every day has delivered a new twist to this sad story, and along with it a new adjustment to my attitude about it. Hearing Weir’s KBCO interview yesterday broke my heart; he may be right about the archive’s legal exposure with regard to publishing rights, but the nastiness of his tone at the end of the interview – sneering “information wants to be free” the way he did, and kissing off the boycott-petitioners with a curt “seeya” – put an end to Bobby’s long streak of being a decent and classy voice in the middle of all the bickering among the ex-brothers.
There is some merit to the concern about the archive putting the GD at risk of lawsuits over the use of cover songs on this free archive. But the GD organization’s handling of this mess rivals that of the Bush administration regarding Iraq: one rationale after another, any of which might have been convincing if it had been delivered with some respect for the people it was addressed to, and if it hadn’t been replaced the next day by another.
Back to Cullen Sweeney:

The good ol’ Grateful Dead carved out a sizeable homestead on the frontier of human possibility. While it lasted, it was a good place. It was worked and tended in their image and those who had eyes to see, saw that it was good. After Reagan, even after Jerry, it still stood.
But they have grown old now, those who remain. In large part, I can’t even really blame “the boys” for seeking some easy financial solace in their waning years. And, in truth, there wasn’t much left for them to wash their hands of.

I’ve known all along that this weird little world of ours isn’t anywhere near as wonderful as the myths would have you believe. Doing business with the Grateful Dead will do that to you. But my job in Deadland is to put the best music on the air, and that is what has kept me inspired and productive throughout the journey. There had always been rivers of shit to cross on The Golden Road, but the ecstatic and aesthetic payoff has always been worth it.
When I started doing the Grateful Dead Hour nationally, I thought it would be great if I could say at the ened of each show, “And if you like what you heard, call this number to order a copy.” Now you can do that, and I have a new commercial release to deal with at least once a month. I still manage to feature a lot of unreleased GD (and related) music, and I will continue to put the Dead’s best foot forward on the air every week.
I’m staying for the music, goddammit.
Addendum: A friend of mine, a longtime GD employee who has been (wisely) staying out of this debacle for the most part, sent me this and granted my plea for permission to post it. It helps to explain where Weir has been at through all this shit:

No one – and I mean NO one – fought harder than Bob for the people who worked so hard to keep the Grateful Dead thriving and who stepped up to hold things together after the touring gold mine caved in. No one fought harder to keep the merchandising operation in-house instead of farming it out to Coran Capshaw’s empire. No one fought harder to honor the loyalty of long-time employees in kind. No one took a more hands-on interest in creating new possibilities for the company (including the ahead-of-the-industry vision of digitizing and making available the entire contents of the Vault, and the never-to-be-realized business alliances with other bands, in which such major acts as U2 and Pearl Jam expressed an interest). When Phil’s my-way-or-else conditions for reuniting the Dead spelled doom for GDP/GDM as an independent, viable business, no one took it harder than Bobby, who was near tears during the company meeting at which the layoffs of 2/3 of the workforce was announced.

Hence my shock and disappointment at the thoughtlessness of Bob’s utterances in Boulder this week.

13 thoughts on “More commentary on the sad situation”

  1. Thanks David, for continuing to post such valuable information on these fascinating events. I’m glad to see something positive about Bob posted here near the end, because I was completely boggled by his actions and that terrible interview from the other day. I always had a disdainful feeling about Phil over what I heard of his blocking the proposed Dead reunions, but he certainly seemed to have earned himself some goodwill in the past week hasn’t he? Posting a free soundboard recording of his 11/22/05 show (the day the music disappeared from archive.org) on Phillesh.net makes his opinion of this whole issue clear to all.

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  2. thanks for bringing, as always some perspective to all this.
    It seems at this time of Stress Phil is producing some of his best work post GD
    and thanks phil for the 22nd

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  3. Could someone point me in the right direction re: Phil’s viewpoint (and also the others’) on continuing to tour as The Dead? I hadn’t heard a thing and had been wondering why there were no more gigs. Thank you for any help…
    craigeyler@yahoo.com

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  4. That Sweeney piece is deep. Thanks for finding it, David. The biggest benefit of the doubt we could give Weir here is that he really has no clue about the tape trading community. As for copyright issues vis ˆ vis covers, that’s a red herring Ñ publishing licenses don’t take sound quality into account. If they’re taking a big risk with soundboards, they’re taking just as big a risk with AUDs. The fact that archive is free and that LMA doesn’t make $$ makes any lawsuit the most remote of possibilities. What, the estate of Warren Zevon is gonna sue the GD because a recording of 10/31/91 sits on LMA? I believe Weir to be a good hearted man Ñ because it comes through in his music and because he seems to have taken the high road amid much of the unseemly post-Jerry goings on. But I think he’s terribly out of touch with his own business and the space in which it operates. It’s sad, really. Sweeney hits it on the head.

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  5. Grateful Dead/Archive.org Brouhaha Roundup

    If you haven’t heard the news, it seems that there’s been a partial reversal of GDM’s (Grateful Dead Merchandising) decision to pull all of the live Grateful Dead concert recordings that had been posted at archive.org’s Live Mu…

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  6. This Weir comment thing … information wants to be free …
    it just occurs to me that
    maybe there’s a little brotherly headbutting
    happening here? Consider the later career
    of one John Perry Barlow, like:
    http://homes.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html
    and other copyright musings nearby.
    Hope it all works out. Attributed to Brendan Behan, “There’s no such thing
    as bad publicity, except your own obit” and he should know.
    Loved the Irving Berlin
    show on KPFA – sucked me right in and I went back
    for the podcast to finish it.

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  7. I appreciate you posting comments from your friend who works for the GD in support of Bob. However, I donÕt see how this adds a whole lot to the situation. I donÕt think many folks around here deny that the band (including Bob) fought hard to support the organization. The statement your friend makes regarding ÒÉPhil’s my-way-or-else conditionsÉÓ is one I think that folks should take with a grain of salt. I too have heard from folks close to the organization and there are several sides to the story.
    Regardless of all this childish Òblame gameÓ now going on, the bottom-line is that these guys are first and foremost musicians and not professional business managers. Since JerryÕs death, things have been run pretty loose (OK, even when he was alive), so it isnÕt surprising to see what is now happening. When money was not an issue, business decisions were not as critical as they now are. The real question is who now is steering this ship of fools.

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  8. Well Well Well we found out who the real Bob Weir really is. I am saddened by the turn of events but for us “Entitled” few it was great to find out the truth. Thats why information needs to be free. The thing that really makes me sad are the values that Bob has passed down to his children. Now I now why Phil is not speaking to Bobby. For all of you at GDM – I hope there are new layoffs because of this you need to pay for what you did. but guess what that could all change -how – issue an apology and make the Soundboards downloadable again!

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  9. It isn’t kind to call names, however repugnant we may find someone’s words, however clueless we may consider someone. Bob Weir made some good points re: the rights to cover songs — I completely understand why soundboard recordings can’t be available gratis. But Mr. Weir went way too far and communicated probably more truth than he had intended. His sneering at fans disappointed, hurt and/or turned off many people (including me). I will support Dead music as always — for Jerry’s memory and for the music and ideas themselves, of course — and naturally I will continue my attempt to live the ethos honestly and authentically. But I’m done with Bob Weir for at least a while; next time Ratdog comes ’round, I will skip it.

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  10. Bob Weir is a self-centered wanna-be Super Rock Star. After 30-odd years, I’m done with him. He can spend the rest of his myopic life listening to Dick’s Picks 1,003. As for me, Dick’s 34 was the last. My money would be better spent on the latest Madonna — at least I understand her ethics.

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  11. Gee after all these year the hippies are catching on it is a MUSIC INDUSTRY
    and “are you going to the next show?” is just a way to get money off a bunch of spoiled mindless American idiots.
    All of our “change the world feelings: were taken advantage of and floundered by these guys in the first place….Garcia was no different..the movemnent got squandered when focus in this country changed from the Beatles to the Dead…
    You know in other parts of the world people don’t have the money, time ,or inclination for any of this good time – get drugged up sh*t!
    I am amazed after all these years some of the hippies have started to pull their heads out of that dark place up there..
    I don’t like Weir – never have – on a personal level..
    but on a business and reality sense he is right.
    you know..
    music was written by people who need to feed and clothe themselves and their families..
    only a bunch of spoiled little American could come up with this attitude..
    funny i hate Weir but he is right..

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  12. All twits will be killed at the end of their lives and not before. Wow what a ride them boys took us on, thanks fella’s. Now look at us…okay look at something else. As far as I can see the music was theirs to give away and now its theirs to take back for a while. Let ’em shuffle the house o’cards as they see fit. And it might not hurt us to patronize other artist with our super fan powers.

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