Distance: 3 miles
Nota Bene: Do Not give up on Furthur tickets! Actually getting your mitts on one of their tickets can be/usually is quite an adventure - initiated by a continuation of The Grateful Dead's unorthodox ticketing process. They 'drop' surprise announcements then have byzantine ways to contact them - with tonight's show at Sweetwater (where Bob Weir is a co-owner) hitting new heights.
The announcement was sudden and quite close to the concert dates. Four concerts. You were given one day only to FAX (!?) your requests in, and told you would hear the next day if your request had been honored. Fax! Luckily I didn't have to rely on a company fax and could just put my request form in the machine at home then go out and have a life while it re-dialed and re-dialed. Came home to find it had actually gone through. People come to these concerts from all around the world so I can't even imagine how jammed those lines were or how many countries were represented.
But the next day was a letdown when I got my email saying "Sorry; we had more requests than we have space." I'll say - supposedly the room holds 300. So I was hardly surprised. Until yesterday that is when I got another email saying if I was still interested, they had a ticket. This too is not completely uncommon and always lurching in Furthur/Grateful Dead land; some bizarre situation where at the very last moment a ticket drops out into the world. It's very possible that the 'Head from Tokyo I stood in line with one NYE is hopping on a non-Dreamliner airplane at full fare right now to take advantage of his 'windfall.'
So off I go tonight to a beautiful, small venue in Mill Valley where a band that often plays stadiums and concert halls for 8,000+ people will play for 300. According to my 'letter of confirmation' which I must show in person with ID to get in (and cannot hand off to anyone else), I am ticket 508, so not sure how that comes down. Such is the world of Furthur.
PS - They also announced yesterday (the day before) they will be live streaming three of the four concerts. If you want to tune in, here's some information: http://sananselmofairfax.patch.com/articles/sweetwater-yahoo-music-to-stream-furthurs-jan-16-19-shows-in-mill-valley#photo-12972226
PPS: Kind of an interesting article about the logistics and sensitivity of bringing the "psychedylic circus" of Furthur that travels with multiple tractor trailers of sound equipment and any number of 'Heads into a small community and venue. Basically, good luck. Think I better go over really early to see if I can find parking. If not, goodbye ticket expense and I'll be watching the stream.
..http://sananselmofairfax.patch.com/articles/ex-grateful-dead-members-weir-lesh-to-bring-furthur-to-sweetwater-in-mill-valley
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