_______________ TRUCKIN' DOWN TO DEADLAND, INC. BY SARAH VOWELL (01/09/98)

Sarah Vowell is obviously a deeply disturbed individual. I don't understand why she hates me so much. I don't force bongs in anyone's faces; I bathe every day; I've got two college degrees; I'm a highly paid software engineer; and I'm a Deadhead. I don't see why Ms. Vowell feels so threatened by me. Her article is full of cheap shots (the refuge of those who refuse or are unable to think things through) about the Grateful Dead and those who like their music and their message. Sure, there are some sheeplike elements to Deadheads. Just like there are to Rush Limbaugh's audience, to Baptists, to politicians, to journalists, to any group that cares to label itself. Similarities are what make labels apply to us as groups. It's our differences that make us interesting as individuals. Sure, the band wanted to make money. They were and are a for-profit business. We all know that. (They were the first rock band to give their employees job security and pensions, too.) We're not Communists. Perhaps Ms. Vowell disapproves of capitalism? I paid money to attend shows and buy albums because I like the atmosphere and I like the music. I did so voluntarily, unimpaired by legal or illegal substances, fully cognizant of the fact that the money was going to the band. I think Terrapin Station is a great idea and I support it wholeheartedly. Ms. Vowell doesn't think it sounds like fun? OK, I won't see her there. But I'll see many old friends. Ms. Vowell doesn't like Deadheads? Fine, she need not associate with us. As I need not associate with her. But that doesn't mean I'll say terrible things about her based on some broad generalized stereotype. I can do much better than that by being glad that there are differences between people. If there weren't, it'd be a boring world. I suggest to Ms. Vowell that she attempt, as a starting point, to understand the simple sentence "Celebrate Diversity" on her journey into a larger world of tolerance, understanding, hope and love. That world, after all, is the one most Deadheads attempt to inhabit. We'll welcome her when she arrives. -- Emily Bristor So, I'm listenin' to "From The Mars Hotel" and readin' Sarah Vowell's very funny exposé on the planned Grateful Dead "Disneyland" in San Francisco (which ironically just said NO to a giant peace sign that had been proposed as an expensive commission for the Haight Street entrance to Golden Gate Park). I think it would have been some funny shit, man. Anyway, check this out! ... When I get to the end of the article, I run smack into a banner ad that begins: "Protect the rain forest, not destroy it!" The link, by the way, points to a Web site for a business named "Song Bird Shade Grown Coffee." My point? I don't know. You figure it out. It struck me funny, that's all. Now I happen to know that these paid ads are served up in some random fashion from within a kick-ass PC dedicated to the task. And I certainly know that Sarah Vowell has no way in hell of having anything to do with it -- but you gotta admit ... If you know anything about the Dead, well, I just had to make a note of the fact that at approximately 7:35 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Jan. 8, 1998, a feature that trashed the band as guilty of "hypocrisy" for making a shitload of money appeared simultaneously with a PAID ad for a politically correct coffee company, whose apparent favorite cause is also one that some of the Dead's proceeds supported. I know that they would have been cooler had they been ripped off like Little Richard, but so what? You had to be there, I guess. Just like you had to be there at a Dead show. -- Mike Britten Berkeley, Calif. Wow, thanks, I've never heard any stereotypes about Grateful Dead fans before, so your piece was very enlightening. The idea of a Grateful Dead museum is in many ways an upsetting one, but you point this out with the wit and insight of a drunk frat boy rippin' on his "stoner" roommate. It is when you move past the museum that ignorance is revealed. In again reiterating the blind stupidity of millions of music fans, I think you missed one point. The opera, ballet, theater, etc. are all wonderful things, but when I meet one person that has driven 15 hours, through the night, stopping halfway to sleep in the dirt or the sand or whatever, just to follow the New York Philharmonic somewhere ... Does that make you brainwashed? The fact is touring was/is a way of life. You've never done it, you don't understand it, you know nothing about it, it's easy to make fun of and you had an article due. I'm no kind of fanatic and it's not criticism I object to, it is your offensive lack of insight of any kind. Please try harder. -- David Bienenstock

N E X T+P A G E+| More vitriol!