Dead No-Show

Well, we didn't get tickets to the Dead shows in Chicago.  I am disappointed.  It's been twenty years, and I miss going.  Miss Mox could have seen what it was like, and she loves Chicago anyway so it would have been a fun trip.  And it would've been a chance to see old friends.

Maybe we can all go see Dark Star Orchestra sometime.  They're a Dead tribute band; it sounds corny but I've seen them a couple of times, and musically it's a reasonable facsimile.  You can't replicate the scene around a show, but even the shows in Chicago probably won't recapture that.

There's a lot of depth in the Grateful Dead, which gets glossed over in popular culture- hippies, drugs, peace, right?  But they were around for a long time, and have such a devoted following, because that is just a fraction of what they were about.  Oh, all three are there, all right.  But the Dead are excellent musicians, exploring all kinds of music.  The stories in the songs are varied and archetypal.  Is that a word?  Who cares, they touch on common themes with an elegant poetry.  They weren't in it to be fabulously rich, and always gave back, a lot.  And it was just fun to go to a show- the energy of the band and the crowd, a full day experience.

I'll miss them.  I listen on the radio but it's not the same.  I'll still hang out with friends, and go to Chicago with Miss Mox sometime soon, but the end of the Dead era is coming, which is a bummer.