nm34@sdcc12.UUCP (nm34) (03/22/85)
> > So you want to start a net.music.dead huh? Who would you talk about? > John Lennon, Jim Croce, John Bonham, Marc Bolan seem to be a few that would > be appropriate. > > -- > Paul Kirsch St. Joseph's Univ. Real funny Paul. But seriously folks I want to relate a most fantastic event, even for Dead circles. I dont know if anyone read my longwinded song and dance about how there was more to life than a Grateful Dead concert but in it I said that I wished I could go to all the Dead concerts, because I love the Dead and all they stand for. Anyway, I described my life's story and indicated that I couldn't go to the upcomming concerts in Irvine ( I live in San Diego, about 1 hour away. The reasons I gave for why I couldn't go were that I have a very young family and out finances were tight. I also said that I wasn't putting this on the net to get sympathy but to indicate that there is more to life than Dead concerts. I said that I wouldn't trade the happyness, fun, security and love of my family for all of the concerts in creation, and there have been some fantastic concerts. As a joke (I think it was a joke), I put a p.s. with my name and address saying that if anyone wanted to send me tickets, I would be glad to accept them. Two weeks later, I had completely forgotten about the article I had put on net.music, I got a letter in my mailbox. I couldn't imagine who I knew in New Mexico. As I was opening the letter I had a flash about my request for tickets and sure enough out dropped 4 tickets to the concert I had given up on being able to attend. Not only were they 4 tickets, but two tickets to each show. Not only two tickets to each show, but two taper tickets to each show. ( Short digression: The Dead are the only group that I know of that encourages the taping of their shows. The 'laid back' philosophy behind this is that if there are many tapes of each show and if they are available to everyone, which they are, through the Dead Over and Underground, then no one can make money off of bootleg albums, no one will buy them [an example of the unique way in which the Dead bring their 'hippy' way of life into their business]. Since there are so many people taping the shows, sometimes the elaborate mikes and stands can get in the way of viewing the concert. Thus the taping section was born. If you want to tape the show, you have to have tapers tickets and sit in the taping section.) So now, do to the extreme kindness of someone who didn't sign their name except as "A Friend" (of the Devil?) and left no return address, I and my wife ( who is also into the Dead) will get to go to both concerts and we will be out only the cost of babysitting. To my kind benefactor, I want to reassure him/her (the handwritting did look masculine) that I will tape the concert myself, or find someone that wants to. I will go to both concerts or find a worthy Deader that also couldn't find their way to the concert and give them the tickets and make sure they understand about the taper section. I want to end by saying that I think Deadheads are some of the best people in the world and the reason that "There is nothing like a Dead Concert" is the Deadheads themselves. We Deadheads make the Grateful Dead experience what it is, a gathering of the tribes and a truly religious experience every time (especially if you are in the right frame of mind). My love to all, Andy Bindman
jeffw@tekecs.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) (03/28/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR NEWSGROUP *** From the tone of recent postings, I would say that all you dead freaks out there would be happy to be part of a new subgroup about to be created, net.music.religious. With a :-) and a thumb on the nose to whoever, Jeff Winslow
larryg@teklds.UUCP (Larry Gardner) (04/03/85)
I am curious. What exactly do the Greatful Dead stand for and how are their concerts a religious experience? karen
nm34@sdcc12.UUCP (nm34) (04/08/85)
> > I am curious. What exactly do the Greatful Dead stand for and > how are their concerts a religious experience? > > karen It is very difficult to explain, as is any "transendental" experience. The best way to "understand" what it is all about, is to experience a Dead concert. Short of that you cannot really know what its all about. But I will, to the best of my limited ability, try to explain. To start, I should explain that I am devout atheist. I do not believe in any god, or in any thing, force, spirit or experience that is not born out of the human mind or the "real" world. A Dead concert can be called, "religious experience" in the same way that love, art, music, and caring can be called religious. At a Dead concert, these elements are concentrated and mixed until they acquire an intensity that is greater than the sum of the parts. This intensity is derived, I think, from the ability of the actors, ie. concert goers, to forget themselves, and become in touch, at least get closer to their "true" selves. The "true" self is the one that exists when you are not aware of it. It is the self that is capable of the most extreme forms of sensual and mental awareness. It is like love. Or when you get lost in a book. The key word is lost. When you lose your self-perception, you are able to truely feel. And it is only when this selfness is lost do we approach this oft sought after state. In the Dead experience, we come close, some closer than others to this state. IT differs from a trancendental experience, in that there are thousands with you. That is what makes it religious. The numbers of people on the same wavelength. It is very similar to a revival meeting in a church down south. There the people (without the aid of drugs) are able to lose ones-self and experience what they could only describe as bliss. It is religious, because they are with many others. This communal bliss seems to them to be only explanable by some kind of devine intervension. But we dont need a god to get to this experience, it can be found through drugs, or music, or love or just through the proper concentration of the mind (ie. meditaion). The Dead experience is just one way to get there, and it sure is a fun way. Andy Bindman