Pubdate: Mon, 05 Aug 2002
Source: Capital Times, The  (WI)
Copyright: 2002 The Capital Times
Contact:  http://www.captimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73
Author: Samara Kalk Derby

DEADHEADS REVEL IN DAYS OF MEMORIES

Ticket Rules And Tight Security Leave Bad Taste For Some Fans

The dead have risen.

Tens of thousands of Grateful Dead fans were there for the sance.

They didn't exactly conjure up Jerry Garcia, the soul of the band, but they 
came close this weekend during two sold-out shows at Alpine Valley Music 
Theatre in East Troy.

"Terrapin Station: A Grateful Dead Family Reunion" Saturday and Sunday was 
a national event and drew fans from across the country. It marked the first 
time the surviving members of the legendary jam band played an official 
show since front man Jerry Garcia's death in 1995.

The seven-piece band - which includes original members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, 
Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart - goes by the name The Other Ones. They 
played an 80-minute set, followed by a two-hour set.

The event went from 1 p.m. to midnight each day. Weir's band RatDog opened 
up Sunday, along with one of the Dead's main lyricists, Robert Hunter. A 
second stage featured three smaller acts.

Lines for restrooms and food were long - especially between acts - but not 
as long as Saturday's, when fans complained of waiting more than an hour 
for a $6 grilled cheese sandwich with fries, or a $3 bottle of water. 
Burritos were $10. Fans were not allow to sell food and drink in the 
parking lot as they have for past shows.

Rudy Acosta, 44, came from New Orleans with his "free kitchen," from which 
he feeds young travelers, including those who follow the Grateful Dead and 
attend similarly styled Rainbow gatherings.

Acosta also ministers to young people and does face painting at shows.

He calls himself an "original hippie," since he grew up in California in 
the 1960s and 1970s.

"Hippies are American gypsies. They travel in tribes, in clans, and in 
kitchens. They go from show to show, city to city," he said. "An event like 
this is a reunion and all the tribes gather."

The reunion almost didn't happen. Earlier this summer Walworth County 
officials denied a permit to promoter Clear Channel Entertainment and 
nearly killed the event at Alpine Valley, a popular concert venue and ski 
resort 90 miles south east of Madison.

They cited concerns about security, crime, drugs, traffic and the ill 
effects of Deadhead counterculture on the normally quiet resort community. 
Fans have been known to turn a portion of the town into a Grateful Dead 
village, camping and hitchhiking and selling their wares. It's a scene that 
locals remember from the last time the band played the venue 13 years ago.

But after Clear Channel presented a revised security plan, county officials 
reversed their decision a couple of weeks later and the show was back on.

Clear Channel, Alpine Valley and the band itself launched a huge media 
campaign, which included large ads in local publications, warning that no 
one would be admitted on the grounds without a ticket. They would be better 
off staying home and watching the show's webcast at www.dead.net, the ads 
warned.

They were serious. Dead serious.

Huge signs greeted the carloads of Dead fans: "Have tickets ready to show 
attendant" and "no entry without a ticket." Drivers and passengers had to 
show tickets for everyone in their vehicle.

There was a separate lane to usher those without tickets off the premises. 
The "will call" area was located outside a hotel about three miles away.

About 150 cars were turned away over the weekend because at least one of 
the people inside didn't have a ticket, said Walworth County Sheriff David 
Graves .

He added that his department had more deputies than normal on hand all 
weekend. A total of 201 citations and 50 arrests were made Sunday, mostly 
for drug use, the sheriff's department said today. On Saturday, 121 were 
cited and 43 were arrested.

Tickets sold out as fast as some fans dance and were hard to come by. A 
Nashville woman was selling two seventh row tickets for $1,500 on ebay.

Those without tickets apparently got the message and stayed away. People 
selling tickets on the highways leading to Alpine Valley far outnumbered 
fans needing them. At show time they were going for $50 - or face value - 
which is a deal considering that each ticket included an $8 "convenience 
charge" and $3 for parking.

Inside the parking lot, dozens of people were stuck with tickets they 
couldn't give away.

"Free tickets!" was a common refrain.

Schwillbillies, a four-piece Madison bluegrass band that formed less than 
two months ago, performed outside the main gate. While the band members 
already had tickets, someone donated two free tickets, which the band laid 
out in front of their instrument cases. Fifteen minutes later, two teenage 
girls snapped up the tickets for their friends.

Later, they explained that their friends got into the parking lot with 
counterfeit tickets they had made up. But because all tickets are read by a 
scanner coming into the theater, they needed to exchange the phony tickets 
for legitimate ones.

Meanwhile, the band's bass player, Zach Chisholm, 24, bought his tickets 
through Ticketmaster and his bandmates bought theirs through a friend of 
his mother's in Stevens Point.

Sunday was an especially expensive day for Dwayne Janak, 54, of Chicago, 
who said police officers came to his Volkswagen microbus and gave him a 
$408.50 fine for possession of marijuana. Janak said he and two friends 
were sharing half a joint. His friends were also slapped with the same 
fine, bringing the total to $1,225.50.

"It doesn't have a neon sign that I was smoking pot inside," he said.

"I am not a happy camper," said Janak, who intends to travel back to East 
Troy to fight the charge.

Al Walker and his friend Pete Gardner flew in from San Francisco for the show.

"It's nice to see them again and hear the sound," said Walker, 37. "It's 
nice to see the spinners all happy and twirling. They're busting out of 
their shell. It's great."

Like many others, Walker was disappointed that local officials wouldn't 
allow concert-goers to camp out in the parking lot between the two shows.

Walker said he and Gardner left the grounds at 4 a.m. Saturday morning and 
had to return the next day for the afternoon concert. They pitched their 
tent in the back of a Pick N Save and woke up four hours later after 
hearing a truck.

He understands the concerns of the locals but said it's too bad a few 
unruly Deadheads ruin it for everyone.

"There are always bad apples in every group. You can't have good apples 
without bad apples."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom