I have to say, though, I saw this coming...

I was afraid this day would come.

Wish I'd gotten DSL a few months earlier, instead of waiting until September of this year.

Well, yes, I guess we all knew this day was coming but it still sucks just the same.

I don't blame them for doing this(pulling the plug) I surprised they didn't do this years ago. I mean the Deadheads were able to get almost the entire contents of the Vault digitized and available for free download YEARS before GDM was ever able to do it.

But changing their policy at this point after allowing digital trading for the past 8 to 10 years seems a little shortsighted to me. They can't put the genie back in the bottle at this point. Yes, it will be a little hard to get the music but not impossible. Phish has never allowed their music to be made available on the LMA but you can find just about any show you want w/ a little effort. People will just have to go back to having private ftp servers like they did in the days before LMA. And for people w/out passwords to the ftp servers they will go back to trading cds by snail mail.

I think they went overboard on just allowing the audience tape to be streamed and not downloadable. Free trading of GD audience recordings has been the Dead's policy for 20 years. As it has been discussed in another forum on this board, the free exchange of audience recordings helped promote the band and broiught in scores of new fans. I wonder what kind of ripple effect(pun intended) this will have through out the music biz.

What worries me though is that GDM will continue to make the digital downloads available at the same snail's pace as in the past. At that rate we will never see(hear) the bulk of the Vault in our lifetime. I hope that they are planning to make the entire contents availble for download soon. It would be a shame to deny people the access to all of that glorious(and some not so glorious) music.

This is not really surprising--although soundboards were available as far back as 1971 (at least), and there were over a dozen FM live shows in the Fall of 1972 alone. Around five or so years ago, the remaining members got into a serious fight over the archives. There was the faction that wanted to get a corporate entity such as microsoft to make the archives available on a pay as you go basis. Phil wanted to avoid what he considered as crass commercialism and split from the others for several years. All of his gigs are downloadable for free; Weir's are pay for play, as are The Dead's. Now, we have DPs, Downloads, Vault and DVD releases.
Can you blame a band for realizing that they are sitting on a gold mine? With so many soundboards in circulation, what's left to surprise the buying public? Take the new DP from Philly '72--it's been available for years and years as a nice soundboard. Sure, I bought the upgrade--because I was at that show. Otherwise--I'm not sure I would have. I almost passed on the Fillmore set--I'm glad I didn't.

And by the way, hurry up to gdlive.com,, and Furthernet.org before they get the news. And, what the hell: the vault releases are priceless anyway.

Remember: "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert."

As far as I know there's no change in the trading of soundboards policy. Sure trading can take more work, sometimes even requiring 2 or 3 tries to get a good copy of a show, but I always enjoyed the human touch.

The speed at which the net & bit torrenting can spread shows is so much faster compared to old fashioned trading I can't blame them at all for the policy change. Several other groups that allow taping are anti-torrent, such as the Allman Bros. & Jorma.

I was great while it lasted, but it looks like the old fashioned way of trading shows & B&Ps still lives on.

Here's the full story via Etree:


" Folks,
Grateful Dead has come up with the following statement and guidelines regarding the use of our music on MP3. We want to make sure that the artists' rights as well as your privacy are not compromised. We have tried to address all those issues in the statement.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



STATEMENT TO MP3 SITE OPERATORS


The Grateful Dead and our managing organizations have long encouraged the purely noncommercial exchange of music taped at our concerts and those of our individual members. That a new medium of distribution has arisen - digital audio files being traded over the Internet - does not change our policy in this regard.

Our stipulations regarding digital distribution are merely extensions of those long-standing principles and they are as follow:

• No commercial gain may be sought by websites offering digital files of our music, whether through advertising, exploiting databases compiled from their traffic, or any other means.

• All participants in such digital exchange acknowledge and respect the copyrights of the performers, writers and publishers of the music.

• This notice should be clearly posted on all sites engaged in this activity.

• We reserve the ability to withdraw our sanction of noncommercial digital music should circumstances arise that compromise our ability to protect and steward the integrity of our work.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grateful Dead Sanctions Free MP3 Music Format

Decision Follows Action Against Commercial Web Site

MILL VALLEY, Calif., May 11 /PRNewswire/ --

In a major policy initiative by one of the nation's most enduring musical groups, the Grateful Dead will, under strict guidelines prohibiting commercial use, allow free Internet downloads of live performances taped by their fans via the popular but controversial MP3 format, the group's attorney, Eric Doney, announced today.

Doney, a partner in the firm of Donahue, Gallagher, Woods & Wood, said the Grateful Dead is believed to be one of the first major bands to adopt a policy that essentially endorses free MP3 music, a format some members of the recording industry have strongly condemned.

The decision follows several weeks of discussion and review by the surviving members of the Grateful Dead and includes strict and non negotiable guidelines, Doney said. Furthermore, the announcement follows recent dispute with the owners of a web site that posted MP3 files of Grateful Dead live recordings for free download but received revenues from banner advertisements.

"The members of the Grateful Dead feel this decision is important and far reaching for both the band and their fans," Doney said. "This MP3 policy continues the band's long tradition of allowing free access to and trading of live recordings of their music and ensures that fans are not left with outmoded technology.

"At the same time, the strict guidelines protect the Grateful Dead against the very real threat of pirated intellectual property posed by the trading and possible sale of MP3 files via the Internet."

Under the guidelines, any web site owner is free to post copies of the group's live recordings made by fans as MP3 encoded files but may not derive any form of revenues from the endeavor, Doney said. This means web site operators may not charge for downloads, may not solicit any form of advertising, may not post any type of banner advertisements and may not sell email addresses or other data about fans downloading Grateful Dead music.

Only live recordings are sanctioned by this initiative, Doney said. The Grateful Dead will continue to aggressively prosecute any web site operators or any other businesses trafficking in Grateful Dead studio recordings, which are protected under U.S. copyright laws, Doney said."


Nothing here about private trading of what is already available. I can't imagine them kicking in anyone's door over a few b&ps.

Plenty of Fillmore sets on ebay, and - good news for those who missed out - the prices seem to be dropping through competition.

well, all this makes sense and is not really surprising.

I just wish I had not postponed burning the six cds of Acid Test material that was on line last weekend! That's really the last of the material I wanted to download that I hadn't yet!

Saw this photo while listening to "You Don't Know the Shape I'm In" from the Last Waltz four cd set. . .

Seemed oddly appropriate!

"The dirtiest dog sucking man in show business."---Bob Weir, 1970

"Hmmm. . . I wonder if I resemble that remark. . . ."

"Fix the damn sound, Mr. soundman, or I'll chop off your head and shit in it."--Ron McKernan, 1970.

Yes that's the one. That's him, officer, I swear.


Where are you finding those great pictures?

I just do a google search for images. . . . I put in "Pigpen" and got those!

As for the big box on Ebay, I think we are seeing accidental/amateur scalpers right now selling their one or two extra sets, and a lot of bidding for the holidays. I believe there are dealers who bought 5 or more sets and they won't offer them for sale for awhile, after scarcity really takes hold in peoples' minds. Although January sales are usually a good time to shop, I wouldn't be too sure of it with this thing, prices might not sink below $200-300 after this next month. At very high price points, I have to believe (because I missed my shot!!!!) incremental utility/enjoyment beyond hearing Live Dead and the 3CD set, plus the previously available boards, is going to be slim.

Whiling away my time waiting for delivery of the Fillmore set, and note that 4 sets are shown on E Bay, 1 is at 300 bucks (minus 1 cent) with 3 days to go. Still some interest out there...

I'm still hoping to pick one of these off for somewhere in the $200-250 range. I keep telling myself to just shut up, buy the 3 CD compilation and be done with it, but the 10 CD, full-meal deal continues to whistle quite the siren song.

Up over and out.

Rumor has it that they (GDM) are going to be releasing the box as individual shows sometime next year. They done this already for the Golden Road and Garcia solo boxes. So I would just save your money and wait a few months.

Unlikely, as these were sold under a when we run out we run out. The pressing was limited to 10,000 copies. With all the added interest from those who missed it and those who didn't want to fork over the bucks for the full set, they did the 3cd special. Doesn't make sense that they'd release this again. The other material you mention is still available as boxed sets and will be indefinitely.


Why do I suspect that if someone can beat the encryption on these cds that cdr copies will become availible
through back channels.

1. Considering how fast the box sold out it doesn't make ANY sense that GDM doesn't re-release these shows. They won't re-release the box but the shows will either be released CDs or as downloads. If GDM figuress that there is still money to be made of this run(and they do) you know they will try to squeeze every dollar they can out of them.


2. The discs are not encrypted. I just copied/burned the first two discs for the car.

Coooool on the encryption. I hadn't tried yet, so it is great to know. Free copies for everyone (note to G.D. attorneys: that's a joke, okay?).


But I would be surprised if they re-released this specifically numbered limited edition on disc. You might be right about a possible download. After all, there are those golf balls. Frankly I hope I'm wrong about a reissue. I wish they would do it NOW to mess with all those capitalist pig lackeys of the hangdog imperialist money hungry power structure on E-bay, although it's been rumored the Bob Weir is the brains and supplyer behind the ebay operation. And it might explain all of those Pigpen sightings in Vegas as of late.


I would imagine that it would piss off a lot of folks--especially those who bought it for a million and half dollars on ebay, or those who "settled" for the sampler--if it were rereleased although it wouldn't bother me a bit. Everyone should have the opportunity to hear this stuff.

Maybe they could contribute the additional revenue to the Rex Foundation or the Katrina relief fund to mollify the detractors. Even if they were once "busted, down on Bourbon Street."

That would be nice

It's very sweet of you to rumor that Bobby is the brains. Probably a first!

Some bad news I found somewhere:




There's been a lot of talk lately about the legendary fake show on 5/8/77. I've kept my silence on the subject for 28 years ... now it's finally time to come clean on the whole subject.

The whole idea began back in late 1969/early 1970. The Department of Defense and the CIA were very disappointed by the way the Vietnam War was progressing. Not only were we losing but, more importantly, the US public did not approve of the war and, worse yet, weren't believing everything the military said about what was happening. This was an unprecidented event. Every other recent war was viewed positively by the public ... or at least with apathy in the case of Korea. Something had to be done. They decided to take a page from the Soviets and experiment with mind control.

Together with Disney and a fledgling computer company called Microsoft, they set out to prove that brainwashing could really work on the very people who opposed them: the hippies.

It isn't widely known but Cornell was actually the second test of these mind control procedures. The first occurred in mid-1975 and was a dismal failure. 2 major mistakes were made. First, they picked the one time that the Dead were not touring. This created all sorts of problems with the subject audience. The more serious mistake was in not updating the criteria of the experiment. Due to typical government inefficiency, they used the 1969 version of the Dead that was playing when the program was conceived. The sudden appearance of Pigpen, who had died 2 years earlier, literally blew the minds of those in attendance. 6 months were spent erasing all traces of the "show" and carefully rebuilding as much of their minds as possible. The subjects were eventually released and most of them became evangelists, their only lingering memory of the whole experiment being an unshakable belief that they'd witnessed a true miracle.

Unfortunatly, no tapes have been found from this first experiment. That's a real shame because the version of Dark Star->St Stephen->Eleven->Lovelight used was supposedly the best ever. After a few drinks, the original scientists still speak in awe about the music heard that day.

By Nov 1977, everyone was ready for the second test. This time, they learned from their mistakes. A small group of college students (including yours truely) were hired to attend shows from 1976 through 1977. Our job was to collect tapes of the Dead's performances, select which tunes to use, and to help identify subjects for the upcomming experiment. The location and date were chosen with equal care. It was a off-day during the tour and the location close enough to the real concerts to be believed. Of more importance was the late snowfall that day. That unusual and easily confirmed event provided the glue that would hold the implanted memories together. Even now 28 years later, people "remembering" that concert use almost
identical words to discribe leaving the show.

Overall, the experiment was a great success. Of course, some people were given slightly different memories. Some, like Teddy Goodbear, "remember" taping the show and were even provided "Audience" tapes to further cement the hoax. Still others remember getting "horribly smashed" up front. None of this actually occured.

A week after the "concert" experiment, a 2nd test was done on the town of Cornell itself. In order to perfect this hoax, the town itself must also be convinced that the concert took place. Disney had acquired ownership of all the local TV and radio stations through dummy corporations. Using special software developed by Microsoft, they played subliminal messages to every man, woman and child in a 100 mile radius of Barton Hall. For the most part, this programming still holds today although some people did prove resistant to the message.

As far as the source of the music, for the most part the list posted by "brew ziggins" is correct. The only mystery remaining is the Scarlet-> Fire. That was actually performed by the Dead specifically for this experiment. Since Jerry secretly worked for the CIA, it was easy to convince him and the rest of the band to go along. Plus he liked the idea of "pranking" a large group of people like this. The fabled 2/6/77 "take a step back" rehearsal tape is allso from material taped for these experiments.

The soundboard tapes in circulation were leaked by Betty O'Connell who edited the orginal tapes. I don't know if it was just a coincidence or not, but they were leaked at about the same time as the tapes recorded by Betty Cantor were found. In any event, they became part of the so-called "Betty Boards". Leaking these tapes also provided the first cracks in the hoax to appear since the tapes were distributed to people who were not in the experiment and who knew that no show was performed that day. It was necessary to obtain their silence through blackmail, bribery and in extreme cases, mind control itself. That's also how this "show" came to be listed in all the popular Dead show guides like DeadBase.

So what's happened to these mind control techniques used in this experiment? I got out of the program in 1978 but it's obvious that they are still being used today. Microsoft has used this power to become one of the biggest, most influencial companies in history. They sure didn't become that big by providing quality products. It was used to shape public reaction to the Gulf War. It's also clear that George Bush never understood the full power of these methods. After the Gulf War, the technology was leaked to a young governer who used them to be successfully elected to 2 terms as president and remain in power despite facing numerous charges that should have seen him removed from office or even thrown in prision. There are also indications that this technology might explain the otherwise unbelievable popularity of rap music.

That's the whole story. I'll probably end up in jail (or worse) for revealing this but it feels good to finally get the whole thing off my chest.

DID ANYBODY attend this show? Can anybody confirm or deny the authenticity of this information? If this has been discussed previously, forgive me.

Thanks, due to some really bad news last week, I really really needed that good big laugh!

Laugh, Jazzbo, laugh? You think this is funny? Finding out that the Dead were a part of the biggest mass hoax in history? Do you have any idea how many guys (and girls!) think they got laid that night? Do you realize the position that I have placed myself in by coming clean? If you think my post is a prank, I suggest you check the folders of all those concerts you downloaded from etree: they are empty--just part of the mass hallucination that was the Grateful Dead.

Oh, if any of you narcs are still looking for me, my address is still 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20202.

I'm laughing still!

Fine. You just wait until they kick in YOUR front door and carry off YOUR dogs.

You'll see.

And, yes, Bobby was secretly "Mr. Big."

No dogs here. I dare them to find my cat. Plenty of times I CAN'T.

Ah. .. still laughing. . . because I need to!

I imagine that much of their bandwidth was GD show downloads. There were WAY more Dead shows than anything else, and by far the most appealing band on that list.

Glad I got some gems while I was able.

I never downloaded anything from Archive, always listened to SBDs in streaming audio. Had I known before... I don't even have a copy of that famous 5/8/77 fake show.

I may as well note that the last show I downloaded from the archive, two weeks ago, was 1973/03/24, Philadelphia. Very fine indeed...And there will be no more.

Bad for me, but I can't blame the Dead. A quick perusal of the discussion boards at the archive reveals a depressing number of temper tantrums, flying accusations, primal screams, calls for boycott, cries of abandonment and betrayal, vicious damnations, vows of vengence...you'd think you were in Bedlam, or one of Dante's lower circles.

Disappointing, sure. But really, does the situation warrant comments like this?

Blank cds with that alleged show on them are readily available. Besides, it'll probably be Dick's Picks 00.

If you go onto Furthernet and punch in concerts before 1977-05-09 you should be able to download it in either MP3 or SHN. format. It doesn't make a difference since it doesn't exist anyway. Still the best damn fake show you never heard--next to their famous performance at Altamont--the one where Bobby punched out a whole bunch of Hell's Angels.

Must be LSD in the water supply again.

Now Playing...



The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack

Yes Orchid, the Angels had more on their hands than they could handle, what with Bobby and Marty!
Also , speaking of fakes and Altamont, it was there that members of Moby Grape chanced apon a fake Grape playing, not on the main stage tho, part of their longstanding dispute with Mathew Katz.

All of those bands were fakes. The real Marty Balin was killed in a car crash in 1967, along with Paul McCartney of the Beatles. Hence at the end of "Little Piggies" on the double White Album (which, if held up properly to the light has a 3D photo of Paul, George, and Ringo sexually assaulting Yoko) you can hear John say, "Paul and Marty are dead, miss them, miss them, miss them." The real Grace Slick had moved on to become the replacement for Marilyn Chambers on the Ivory Snow boxes, as she thought Ivory Snow was a euphemism for Peruvian flake. Speaking of flakes, Jorma Kaukonen had already moved to Athens, Ohio to raise goldfish, and Jack Cassady went fly fishing in Idaho, never to be heard from again. While the official party line maintained that Spencer Dryden was an alcoholic, he was actually leading a double life as an elementary school math teacher. Unfortunately, Paul Kantner didn't disappear but remained behind to record several critically flamed l.p.s about dope smuggling aliens. As to the fake Grape(who were already fake by then, making the fake Grape actually double fake): and you are surprised? Matthew Katz--now there's a nice guy. Wasn't it eight singles released from the first l.p? Or was there ever a first l.p. at all. Ever notice how that extended middle finger on the poster mysteriously disappeared? That's a thread in and of itself.

Bless it's pointed little head anyway.

I've been thinking about this, and something in there just doesn't sound quite right. I think it's this bit: "Based on discussions with many involved, the Internet Archive has been asked to change how the Grateful Dead concert recordings are being distributed on the Archive site for the time being. Who are the "many involved," exactly? And who has asked the Archive to make the change?

A further statement from brewster, the "digital librarian and founder," only deepens the mystery:





Attempts at interpretation are welcome.

Seems fairly obvious to me. Even though the Dead's concert library is quite large, it is finite. Why give away what you can sell? I for one have no problem with it and am amazed their extremely liberal trading policy lasted as long as it did.

Understood. I have no problem with it either - more like an anthropological curiosity. But this may be a little more complicated than it seems. Note a few things:

1. The Dead's trading policy has not changed, and probably won't. Folks can still trade concert recordings as much as they like, as long as no money changes hands in the process. The only change is that one web site, the Internet Archive - an independent, non-profit repository - has complied with a request from a conscientiously unnamed someone or something to remove their 1,000+ Grateful Dead soundboards from free public availability.

2. It may be that Grateful Dead Productions made the request. If so, why does the Archive not say so, and explain why the request was made in the context of the trading policy? It's all pretty mysterious.

3. My call wasn't really for interpretations of the general situation, which may turn out to be fairly obvious, but instead for interpretations of the cryptic language in the comment from brewster; again,



Just intrigued by all the intrigue...

According to David Gans, for all the golf balls and Dick's Picks, the money isn't enough to keep all the "family members" employed. Suppsedly they laid off Ramrod, who was a quippie since 1969. This is an example. Again, supposedly. They always saw the vault as their retirement account; the availability on etree threatened that. The issue I think is that the cow has been giving the milk away for free for so long that the farmer is going broke. The original idea was that trading tapes was a friendly, quiet, semi-underground thing. Now half the vault was on one site, downloadable by thousands of potential buyers. Who needs Dick's Picks? The latest DP was still on Etree when they shut it down.

To many users this is all heresy--where's that old dead spirit? Hey--they never had to let a single thing escape and they could have gone on cutting mic cords like they did in the early seventies. They were being
very generous, but things got out of hand.

Can you really blame them for finally retaking control of their own product? Besides, if you want a show, go to a dead trading site and ask for a b&p. That's how it all got started anyway. And I don't think the dead have any issue with that. If they did, gdlive, nugs, and all the other smaller sites would also be told to remove live shows. Be grateful for what did exist for so long. And buy the cd releases.

If they want to sell me a complete 1969 Fillmore Concerts 10 cd set, I would gladly shell out.

]

If they want to sell me a complete 1969 Fillmore Concerts 10 cd set, I would gladly shell out.
[/quote]


I'll bet they wished they made 25,000 copies! but meantime, I saw 3/28 on Furthernet while surfing it the other day--and I downloaded one of the 1972 Paris concerts -- which had already been removed from etree last year.

Anyone figure out how to make the downloads on nugs.net work? They have the other Paris concert and the infamous "Field Trip" 8-27-72 concert up.

Oh, and they have that phoney Cornell thing up too.

All part of the conspiracy. If you listen closely to the beginning of the tape, you will hear Jerry say, "this oughta fool the little fuckers."

I don't see anything but the commercially available releases up on nugs.net - am I looking in the right place?

I don't see anything but the commercially available releases up on nugs.net - am I looking in the right place?
[/quote]

Nope. Look in the upper right "Free Stash." Click that and all of your dreams will come through.

Try Furthernet.org. What they are is a connective service of sorts. If someone has a show and his/her computer is available for uploading to yours, you can download what they show as available. Just go to Grateful Dead and choose your format and date. Try each format, as each offers different shows.

Good hunting!

Oh--I can't get the download to work--just the stream. This may be a firewall issue.

Another Bit Torrent site that currently has soundboards is at:

http://www.tmnsp.net/useragreement.php

Now, if only some kid would drop by and open my firewall ports!

Have you seen the tempest on etree's forum? You'd think these downloads were a birthright. I guess if one didn't collect them all, well, then . . . .

Deadheads Boycott Dead (www.rollingstone.com)

Fans object to band's live recordings being pulled from Web

Grateful Dead fans, perhaps rock's most dedicated bunch, are taking a stand against the band they love. Until recently, Deadheads could download countless live recordings of the band for free from third-party sites, including the popular Live Music Archive (archive.org), which once hosted nearly 3,000 Grateful Dead shows. All of the downloads were pulled last week at the request of Grateful Dead Merchandising (GDM), the group that handles official products for the band and is overseen by its surviving members.

Deadheads have answered in protest. In an online petition, fans have pledged to boycott GDM -- including CDs and concert tickets -- until the decision is reversed. (The band itself broke up in the wake of leader Jerry Garcia's 1995 death, but in recent years guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have toured simply as "the Dead.")

GDM recently began selling live music downloads through its online store. The sudden lockdown could be a simple non-compete strike, or it could foreshadow a long-rumored deal with iTunes that will make the entire Grateful Dead live vault available for purchase.

Fans were incensed that the policy change applies not only to official soundboards but audience recordings as well. Throughout their four-decade career, the Grateful Dead actively encouraged fans to trade live recordings and even designated a special "taper's section" at the concerts. In return, Deadheads largely respected the band's wishes that the concert recordings weren't sold for profit.

The petition states: "Now it appears doing the right thing, for the fans, has given way to greed . . . We've lost all respect for this organization . . . We refuse to support any aspect of GDM until we see change." The petition has already picked up thousands of signatures. A kindler, gentler petition is also circulating, with nearly an additional thousand signatures.

On his blog, David Gans -- host of the syndicated radio show Grateful Dead Hour, which has drawn on the Live Music Archive for its broadcasts -- criticized the petition: "The howling has begun, and the sense of entitlement that has always concerned me is in full flower." Countering claims that the Dead are doing this to maintain "champagne-and-Porsche lifestyles," Gans mentioned that Grateful Dead Productions, the band's business wing, was recently forced to downsize. Meanwhile, fans are still permitted to trade shows, and Live Music Archive is developing a special section for streaming thousands of the band's audience recordings. "I think it's worthwhile to ask ourselves if there isn't some greed on the other side of the equation," wrote Gans, pointing to the fans.

An official statement from the Grateful Dead camp is expected in the next few days. In the meantime, longtime band publicist and spokesperson, Dennis McNally, told Rolling Stone that he thinks "David Gans' comments were dead -- you'll pardon the expression -- on."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/29/barlo...death_of_g.html

Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Barlow on death of Grateful Dead music sharing, fans protest
Recently, Cory blogged this news:

"Archive.org has been forced to take down over 1000 soundboard recordings of the Grateful Dead by Jerry's wife and a few (perhaps one) remaining member of the band."

John Perry Barlow, EFF co-founder and former Grateful Dead lyricist, tells Boing Boing:

You have no idea how sad I am about this. I fought it hammer and tong, but the drummers had inoperable bricks in their head about it.

What's worse is that they now want to remove all Dead music from the Web. They might as easily put a teaspoon of food coloring in a swimming pool and then tell the pool owner to get it back to them.

It's like finding out that your brother is a child molester. And then, worse, having everyone then assume that you're a child molester too. I've been called a hypocrite in three languages already.

How magnificently counter-productive of them. It's as if the goose who laid the golden egg had decided to commit suicide so that he could get more golden eggs.

This is just the beginning of the backlash, I promise you.

This is worse than the RIAA suing their customers.

Here's Barlow's blog. Today, news that Deadheads are boycotting the Dead, according to this Rolling Stone article:

All of the downloads were pulled last week at the request of Grateful Dead Merchandising (GDM), the group that handles official products for the band and is overseen by its surviving members.

Deadheads have answered in protest. In an online petition, fans have pledged to boycott GDM -- including CDs and concert tickets -- until the decision is reversed. (The band itself broke up in the wake of leader Jerry Garcia's 1995 death, but in recent years guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have toured simply as "the Dead.")

---------------------------

The sense of entitlement that some of these deadheads have is incredible.

Perhaps one of them will be so furious as to send me their copy of The Complete 1969 Fillmore Concerts 10 CD set, with bonus disc.

Hey I'm bummed out about the loss of the LMA but I'm not THAT bummed!!

I'm currently stuck on 12/6/73. It's a little bit out of whack vocally (not Donna's fault -- she wasn't even there), but it's just about everything you ever wanted instrumentally. Also in the deal, maybe my favorite China > Rider.

I can't help but think how ineffective the boycott will be considering the closest thing to an official purchase in many of the "entitleds'" collections is burned copies of Dick's Picks.