Home | Arts And Entertainment | Music
The Dead are taking a stand-against ticket scalpers. The veteran jam band is auctioning off primo seats for its upcoming tour to raise money for its Rex Foundation, an arts charity The Dead founded in 1983, in efforts to ensure that fans-not scalpers-get their hands on tickets. Percussionist Mickey Hart recently told Billboard online, "We want to keep away from all of that. You always keep your fingers crossed that the bad guys don't get in there and turn profits for themselves." Guitarist Bob Weir echoed Hart, saying the he has always felt any kind of scalping "should be illegal. Nobody benefits but a few people. The band doesn't get any of that money. The people have to pay more money for what they should rightfully be getting for way less. It's immensely frustrating." Charity Folks is operating The Dead's ticketing plan and will be auctioning off the first five rows center for the highest bidders. The Dead hopes the auction, which also offers band memorabilia and meet-and-greet opportunities, will raise $250,000 for the Rex Foundation as well as for the Unbroken Chain Foundation, the Further Foundation and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Percussionist Bill Kreutzmann told Billboard.com the band decided to donate the money to worthy causes because, "Charities need money. They need help, especially these days. This puts those seats into the hands of our fans, who are not only getting great seats and good music but also know the money is going to charitable organizations." Weir also revealed, "The first gig as the Grateful Dead was a benefit. It always seemed to us that you get some, you give some back. It makes good sense. It's just something we've always done, and this latest round is, I think a well-conceived, somewhat newer version of it." Also featuring fellow Grateful Dead founder Phil Lesh on bass, guitarist Warren Haynes and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, The Dead will embark on their first tour since 2004 April 12 in Greensboro, N.C. During twelve days of rehearsal The Dead prepared an astounding total of 150 songs and have another rehearsal run scheduled before their opening date. "We're trying to bring out as many tunes as we can. We're going tunes I haven't played in 35 years or so, but that said there'll be all the old time favorites..." explained Weir. "It's kind of a big task to pull the band out of mothballs. The impetus to bring the Dead back around just had to grow until it made sense to all of us. We've got a fair bit of unfinished business, and we all know that. At some point it just made sense for us to get back to it." The Dead is schedule to perform on the Late Show with David Letterman on April 23 and will also be interviewed by the ladies of The View at an as-yet-to-be-announced date. Check out The Dead tickets online to see the band live!
Article Source: http://blogticles.com
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
