I was hoping to have a happy ending to coordinate with the tale of my mail ordering for Dead tickets for the upcoming Winter Jam but sadly, my money order was returned- we are embarassingly enough "the unchosen"...I checked-double checked-triple checked and beyond to be sure every detail was per GDTSTOO standards...It all looked fine - okay so, I didnt state a preference for floor or balcony- we were willing to take anything- was that the fatal flaw or were we just unlucky? I had the whole saga- how I decorated at least 12 envelopes, how we got the wrong kind of money order and had to exchange it then get the desired type...how we had the middle schooler tear her backpack apart in search of a 3x5 index card....

It's hard not to feel rejected...all my local Deadnet friends seem to get not just GDTS tickets- but really nice seats. Aw, well then again, they've been mail ordering forever and certainly deserve such for their loyalty there...

Here in the Bay Area lots of long time heads we knew-know, get tickets in mode that could be thought of as a spin on the parlour game called "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" -Here it would be called "6 degrees of the Grateful Dead" ...Til lately, we were players...It goes like this- the longer one has been living in the area, the more likely it is that one will have some connection to someone who is in the Dead or associated with them...Example- A collector of old pocket watches comes into the shop where Scotto works, Scott developes an acquaintence with the collector-the collector turns out to be a powerbroker for a company that works with the Grateful Dead. He/She can get us tix/passes to just about any Dead show- just ring him/her up! He or she is only 2 degrees away from the grateful dead...One pal was always able to get tickets via his chiropractor-the chiropractor was also the chiropractor to a member of the band. Someone else was friendly with someone related to Bill Graham. A Rabbi we know somehow grew up knowing someone 1 degree away from the Dead and we see him in the good seats at most shows(when the show doesnt fall on Shabbat that is) and so it goes/went...
Meanwhile, our "friend" has moved on and others with connections are wary to trouble their people as this is going to be a rare and crazy night- the first hometown glimpse of Warren Haynes (another wonderful singer) as a member of the Dead...
Meanwhile, our next step in the quest for Dead Tix is to try Ticketmaster. One possible plan is to go down the hill and be the first one in line at the Tower Record TM outlet...or try online or via telephone...or try all 3 methods...if we end up with extras- we will make a few other unconnected folks really happy!
And if we don't get tickets thru today's efforts, it might work the other way round!
And if we can't find tickets- we will survive- Two nights of RatDog at the Fillmore is coming up next- and I could never stand to miss that!!!