Shifting Powders Back And Forth

by | Dec 1, 2005

Bobby, Mickey and Billy went way out on a limb last week. And for no good reason. No matter what they decide from here, they’ve lost serious face, possibly forvever. And it’s far from over. We don’t know yet how many more stupid shenanigans they’re likely to pull.

Dennis McNally in yesterday’s New York Times:

“One-to-one community building, tape trading, is something we’ve always been about,” Mr. McNally said. “The idea of a massive one-stop Web site that does not build community is not what we had in mind. Our conclusion has been that it doesn’t represent Grateful Dead values.”

Most fans, he continued, “understand they were being granted an extraordinary privilege, and they responded by taking it very seriously” by respecting the band’s wishes not to sell their live recordings. “This is not the same situation,” he added.

Dennis McNally is a scholar and author, in addition to being the band’s longtime publicist. He’s the guy who used to say things like, “Jerry has an enlarged heart.” Well, we already knew that.

Barlow says it’s like “these guys” just discovered “this was going on.” And for sure, McNally knows squat about Archive.org. That site, and Nugs.net certainly do foster community. They’re not pirate ships.

Let’s remember that this is happening in a community where there are literally thousands of coder geeks who listen to the band. And marketing execs, writers, journalists, mayors, you name it, who listen to the Dead and consider themselves Deadheads, in one form or another.

Ask! Communicate with the people. Get off your thrones and mingle.

Who knows, maybe we can all learn to trust again.