Dark Star Crashes

June 23, 2006 8:06 PM

Ann Coulter discusses her love of The Grateful Dead with Jambands.com.
posted by aburd (95 comments total)

I'm a Christian so there's nothing anyone can ever do to me.

Guess she's never read "Lives of the Saints," then.
posted by Biblio at 8:15 PM on June 23, 2006 [1 favorite]

delmoi: It is an interview in an unlikely venue with a very "colorful" character in politics that gives an unusual perspective on The Grateful Dead's often discussed community. The interviewer's questions are fairly bland but her answers get interesting as the discussion progresses. Plus it gives some humanizing perspective to one of the most discussed humans in American politics today.

I don't think the recurrence of Coulter on Metafilter is any reason to kill a link that is interesting on a few different levels.
posted by aburd at 8:17 PM on June 23, 2006

If it's real, and I suspect it is, it is a very interesting insight.
posted by rollbiz at 8:21 PM on June 23, 2006

who is this woman on the bus and why does she keep telling us a vote for barry is a vote for fun?
posted by pyramid termite at 8:22 PM on June 23, 2006

Ann's hair is *so* 1968 Bob Weir.
posted by rdone at 8:22 PM on June 23, 2006 [1 favorite]

I was skeptical that it was real, but the answers read like how she speaks and show deep knowledge of both the Dead and political figures. Ann Coulter knows her stuff; I especially liked her recommendations for where a country-music lover could get into the Dead.

By the way, and I've been waiting for the right time to admit this, I think Ann Coulter is H-O-double-T. Until she talks about politics. But she's a hot Deadhead. I'd love to see her in a tie-dyed shirt and nothing else...well, besides duct tape over her mouth.

p.s. aburd: don't defend your post so quickly. Let others do that for you. Thanks for posting it.
posted by msacheson at 8:30 PM on June 23, 2006

don't defend your post so quickly. Let others do that for you. Thanks for posting it.

Hell, I can't stand Ann Coulter -- or posts about her on MeFi -- but this beats the everlovin' crap out of that asinine quiz from yesterday. I still feel dumber for having read that.
posted by spiderwire at 8:39 PM on June 23, 2006

however, i'm calling fake
posted by spiderwire at 8:43 PM on June 23, 2006

No, this is totally real! I remember the first time I ever heard of Coulter was on The View, and they were sure to bring up the Deadhead rumor. She gets so defensive about her (lack of) drug taking when that subject comes up.
posted by piratebowling at 8:46 PM on June 23, 2006

If this is real, this is insane, and very interesting. I hate all the Ann Coulter troll crap that gets posted here, but my god, this is something truly different and good (if it's really her). It will not be deleted unless proven to be false.
posted by mathowie at 8:47 PM on June 23, 2006

Although I am sick of reading her ridiculously insane and often insane ranting(s), I did appreciate the link which at least humanized an otherwise characatured figure. I think the more we can do that with those not of our political persuation the better we can learn to at least listen to them without wanting to throw things at them. Doesn't change my opinions of her political beliefs, but at least I could see a human part of her, which is good for a change...
posted by rmm at 8:50 PM on June 23, 2006

Selected verses......

"Blues For Allah"
The thousand stories have
come round to one again
Arabian Night
our gods pursue their fight
What fatal flowers of
darkness spring from
seeds of light
Bird of Paradise - Fly
In white sky
Blues for ALLAH
In'sh'ALLAH

Liberty
If I was an eagle I'd dress like a duck
Crawl like a lizard and honk like a truck
If I get a notion I'll climb this tree
or chop it down and you can't stop me
Chop it down and you can't stop me
Ooo, freedom
Ooo, liberty
Ooo, leave me alone
To find my own way home
To find my own way home

My Brother Esau
I would say that the blame is mine
But I suspect it's something worse.
The more my brother looks like me,
The less I understand
The silent war that bloodied both our hands.
Sometimes at night, I think I understand.

Throwing Stones
Commissars and pin-stripe bosses
Roll the dice.
Any way they fall,
Guess who gets to pay the price.
Money green or proletarian gray,
Selling guns 'stead of food today.
So the kids they dance
And shake their bones,
And the politicians throwin' stones,
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.


...

I can only assume she loves the music but ignores the words.
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:56 PM on June 23, 2006 [1 favorite]

I doubt it's false matt, It's well known that Coulter is a Dead-Head. I thought everyone knew that. (of course it's still possible that it's false)
posted by delmoi at 8:57 PM on June 23, 2006

Further link about Ann's Dead love.
posted by Kickstart70 at 9:01 PM on June 23, 2006

Kickstart70: The "Liberty" song actually backs up her assertion that deadheads "lover liberty". She says they're all "right thinking." She's promulgating the "right wing = libertarian" myth while at the same time supporting warrentless wiretaps, indefinite detention and so on. It doesn't really make any sense.
posted by delmoi at 9:01 PM on June 23, 2006

In the interview Coulter says:

I have about fifty Dead tapes, including the original rap song - Mickey Hart rapping “Fire on the Mountain” - I think at my alma mater, Cornell, before I was even born. It's fantastic.

Before she was born?! She's no true deadhead if she doesn't even realize how implausible that is.
posted by nixxon at 9:12 PM on June 23, 2006

She didn't say she was the one who taped them.
posted by smackfu at 9:43 PM on June 23, 2006

nixxon - Before she was born?!

well, there is some question as to when exactly that was.

* Coulter's Connecticut driver's license lists her birth as December 1961.

* Her D.C. driver's license, acquired many years later, says she was born in December 1963.

* The birth date on file at the New Canaan, Conn., voter registration office is Dec. 8, 1961.
posted by pruner at 9:57 PM on June 23, 2006

Taste in music, movies, literature, televisions, etc. do not a decent human being make. I'm with Kickstart70, she may like the music, but she's never listened to the lyrics.

I have a few people in my life I don't feel too bad about not liking even though I don't know them, and she's one of them.

Publicly stated idiocy vs one interview that she likes one thing associated with drug culture... eh. A lot of frat boys end up being fucked up, misogynistic conservative jerks, yet they spent a huge amount of their early years immersed in drugs. Big whoop.
posted by smallerdemon at 10:05 PM on June 23, 2006

She was on one of those VH1 shows, the one about the different kinds of people in high school (nerds, b-boys, etc) confessing her love for the Dead and her allegiance to the Deadheads.

Wait, I found it. My Coolest Years: The Dirty Hippies. There's no reference to her, so you have to take my word for it, but she popped up on this episode.
posted by dw at 10:07 PM on June 23, 2006

*head explodes*

Seriously, this was quite a find. Thanks for posting this, aburd. It's been a long time since I've visited jambands.com.

My own jamband phase ended about 3 years ago, when I finally realized that the Disco Biscuits would never hire on a decent vocalist. A real shame, that.

Still, I shall always nurture an abiding love for the Grateful Dead. They're the only one who really stuck. Can't even listen to Bisco anymore.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:25 PM on June 23, 2006

Also, although I can't believe I'm agreeing with Coulter on something, she has a point about the Deadheads. They really *are* what most liberals claim to be. I would also argue that they are what most libertarian-minded conservatives claim to be.

I suppose that once in a while, even Ann Coulter gets shown the light, in the strangest of places, if she looks at it right.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:31 PM on June 23, 2006

File this under "Hitler was a vegetarian."
posted by Navelgazer at 10:35 PM on June 23, 2006

I can't help but feel that band is somewhat an emblematic symbol of a generation of hippies turning into soulless, corporate, yuppy greedheads. I'm not surprised Ann is a fan.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:41 PM on June 23, 2006 [1 favorite]

when I finally realized that the Disco Biscuits would never hire on a decent vocalist.

Sammy, the drummer, left to go to medical school and they have a new guy now. I don't believe he has sung yet, but it couldn't be worse than what they were doing before. It is definitely sad that one of the most talented bands in the scene is hampered by such horrendous vocals.

If you get bored one day, go to etree or archive.org and check out Umphrey's Mcgee. You may enjoy them as the vocals aren't awful while the playing and writing is quite nice.
posted by aburd at 10:45 PM on June 23, 2006

The Dead played the Grove
posted by hortense at 10:49 PM on June 23, 2006

It is definitely sad that one of the most talented bands in the scene is hampered by such horrendous vocals

Isn't it, though? They truly bucked the rule for jambands - it seems like most jambands were either like Widespread (great songwriting, boring music) or String Cheese (great music, terrible songwriting). Bisco had great music and awesome songwriting, but damn - its like none of their friends had the heart to sit them down and tell them, "Look. Barber, Brownie - let's just face it, you guys can't sing. Find someone who can."

If you get bored one day, go to etree or archive.org and check out Umphrey's Mcgee.

Umphrey's is a good band. My friends' band, Bockman's Euphio, would always open for them when they came to MO. Nice guys, all of them. I enjoyed their music, but found it to be too "hard-edged" at times. I would probably appreciate it more now that I've expanded my horizons a bit.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:57 PM on June 23, 2006

See, I don't know. Deadheads tend to talk mostly about, y'know, the dead. And while Deadheads do tend to be kind, etc. all the things she mentioned the one thing they're not is elitist. Well, some are, and they're assholes who ruin the show for people who are just digging the music.
She strikes me as one of those. A hanger on, a poseur, a fetishist.
Perhaps she genuinely does like them. Perhaps the guy who sat behind me at Alpine Valley and talked about how much he loved the Dead through the whole show and talked about minutae about the band members and such is SOO much more than a Deadhead than I am. I don't know. I just liked going and listening. I didn't collect anything from it, just nice memories. They broke into some just improvisation and the guy behind me went nuts about how they didn't play this or that. Best part of the show for me.

And what's with bringing the Clinton thing into it?
Some people are so blinded by their own egos they can only enjoy things by proxy, as part of a hoarde - even if it's their own experiance.
Damned dragons is what they are.

Watch a spagehtti dancer man, zero ego. Just into it. And you can tell the ones doing it to be watched. They "get" it so much more than you.

Deadheads aren't all (true scotsmen) kind, they're just people like any other kind of people who happen to like a kind of music and scene, etc. and serve that purpose - and so tend towards accomodation there.
The band likes playing, some people like listening. Everything else is something else.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:09 PM on June 23, 2006

I'm sure I could end up eating crow on this one, but I'll go for it anyway.

TH: Are there any other jambands you like?

AC: All the usual – String Cheese Incident, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler, New Potato Caboose.

Implausible at best.

I can't really tell you all the groups I like because have an iPod so have a lot of songs my friends send me and I never really know who I'm listening to.

Wonder what Ann thinks of the RIAA.

There’s Jet, Cake, Outkast, 50 Cent, Black-Eyed Peas, Lord Alge, Beck, Kanye West (I like his Jesus song),

I cannot imagine anyone saying "I like his Jesus song," no matter how crazy a fundie. Not even in an email.

I fondly remember seeing the Dead when I was at Cornell. It was the day of the fabulous Fiji Island party on the driveway “island” of the Phi Gamma Delta House. We'd cover ourselves in purple Crisco and drink purple Kool-Aid mixed with grain alcohol and dance on the front yard. Wait – I think got the order reversed there: We'd drink purple Kool-Aid mixed with grain alcohol and then cover ourselves in purple Crisco – then the dancing. You probably had to be there to grasp how utterly fantastic this was.

...

No surprise that she's a big fan of Bernie Goetz, though.
posted by spiderwire at 11:11 PM on June 23, 2006

One more reason to hate her....
posted by photoslob at 11:15 PM on June 23, 2006

She hangs around with Matt Drudge, who also freaks me out with his pandering to homophobia despite his own sexual orientation.

Huh? Drudge is gay?
posted by xmutex at 11:55 PM on June 23, 2006

Drudge has been outed by gay Republicans, to indicate how despised he is even among his ilk.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:00 AM on June 24, 2006

Actually, my last Dead show wasn't quite a Dead show since Jerry wasn't there, but I flew out to the Jerry Garcia memorial in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco with a fellow Deadhead from D.C. the weekend after Jerry went to the great psychedelic rock concert in the sky. The rest of the band played and it was great to be with my fellow Deadheads...

The "Rest of the Band" did not play at Jerry's Memorial. They played at the Bill Graham Memorial, but not the Jerry Memorial. I was at both...
posted by tatnasty at 12:26 AM on June 24, 2006

I've always thought of Coulter as a professional wrestler. She's faking, she knows she's faking, and she makes good money off of it.
posted by jefbla at 1:45 AM on June 24, 2006

"An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it."

--Don Marquis
posted by telstar at 1:57 AM on June 24, 2006 [1 favorite]

Oddly enough, I like the music. No one believes that I never took drugs at Dead shows..

I do. A few hits of windowpane would have given her a different outlook on life. Pity she never "really" experienced the music and what it was all about.
posted by three blind mice at 2:11 AM on June 24, 2006

*deadhead bursts into fine red mist*
posted by loquacious at 2:30 AM on June 24, 2006

Pity she never "really" experienced the music and what it was all about.

You white people might 'listen' to Jimi, but you can't really hear Jimi.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:52 AM on June 24, 2006

You white people might 'listen' to Jimi, but you can't really hear Jimi.

Dumbass. You "straight as in not under the influence of decent drugs" people might "listen to the Dead," but you can't really hear them.

And I stand by that statement.

Definition: "Windowpane" was slang for LSD sold on thin translucent wafers.
posted by three blind mice at 4:14 AM on June 24, 2006

wow. annn coulter is a grateful dead fan? that's so crazy.

oh, wait. i hate the grateful dead too.
posted by brevator at 4:30 AM on June 24, 2006

yeah, this is like that one where the one guy gets his chocolate in the other guy's peanut butter -- and then they go home and give each other bro jobs.

no, wait, it's like the one where the one broad gets her jellied otter loaf in the other broad's brussel sprout casserole -- two horrible fucking tastes that go fucking horribly together.

the mere thought of ann coulter at a dead show is scientifically designed to kill me via trans-corporeal skin migration -- my skin quite literally crawls the fuck off my body -- because, what could be a worse combination of things than coulter and the dead? maybe if they had a three-way admiration society with karl rove or something, maybe! but coulter and the dead multiply their evil in combination. what dread synergy!

*shudders uncontrollably and whimpers "goodbye, world..."*
posted by Hat Maui at 4:52 AM on June 24, 2006 [1 favorite]

Hey, what's this pile of crispy meat on the floor? Bacon? *munchmunch*
posted by loquacious at 5:26 AM on June 24, 2006

She's Lotte Lenya

more like suzie tawdry ...
posted by pyramid termite at 6:03 AM on June 24, 2006

That's got to be a prank. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
posted by Jatayu das at 6:42 AM on June 24, 2006

When I have a flame-out, I am definitely coming back as Pudenda Shenanigans.
posted by emelenjr at 6:52 AM on June 24, 2006

Conversation I just had with my g/f:

me: Wow, I just read something really deperessing.

her: What?

me: Ann Coulter is a huge deadhead.

her: Well, that makes it more ways than one.

Hey-O!
posted by mkultra at 7:09 AM on June 24, 2006

Er, am I the only one who actually thinks less of both Coulter and the Deadhead scene after reading this?
posted by Ricky_gr10 at 7:49 AM on June 24, 2006

Satan's a pretty nice guy, too, once you get to know him.
posted by fungible at 7:51 AM on June 24, 2006

So she doesn't shower?
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:56 AM on June 24, 2006

Perhaps this revelation explains the suicide of bassist Vince Welnick.
posted by Neiltupper at 8:50 AM on June 24, 2006

Neil, he was the keys player.

Has anyone heard from digaman on this issue?

Someone, upthread, mentioned this, but I'll repeat (for my own comfort). The dead scene, like any collection of humans, included a percentage of assholes.

Among all men, 10% are assholes. Among all women. 10% are assholes. Among white folks? 10%. Black folks? 10% Gays? 10%. Straights? 10%

There will always be assholes.
posted by mmahaffie at 9:51 AM on June 24, 2006

Er, am I the only one who actually thinks less of both Coulter and the Deadhead scene after reading this?

Well, don't count me in. As a veteran of a couple of hundred Dead shows over a 20-year span and the author of a book on the Deadhead community published more than ten years ago, I didn't have any illusions about the alleged peace-love-granola homogeneity of Deadheads. There were always proud Red State Deadheads, attracted to the 'Don't Tread on Me' spirit running through the music and the scene, and I've known about Coulter's past for a long time. As far as the inevitable jokes about "they don't shower" go, they belong in the same category as racist cracks about hip-hop fans.

The Deadhead community, for better and worse, was always extremely diverse. Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo went to many dozens of Dead shows in the 1970s, Elvis Costello was a huge fan, David Byrne very much enjoyed a show at the Greek Theater in the '80s, and even Walter Cronkhite and Tipper Gore attended multiple shows. What can you say? It was a big tent.

(P.S., If any MeFi Deadheads -- however you define yourself -- want a signed copy of my now out-of-print book, just email me and I'll send you a freebie.)
posted by digaman at 9:53 AM on June 24, 2006

Eeek, sorry, I mistyped the link.
posted by digaman at 9:55 AM on June 24, 2006

You can't make this stuff up!

My collection of Dead tapes, by the way, was the reason I heard one of the Linda Tripp tapes before Ken Starr did. Tripp's lawyer obviously needed to hear the tape before turning it over to the prosecutor, but he only had an old 1950's tape player and couldn't get it to work and Ken Starr wanted the tape the next morning. He was terrified he'd hit the wrong button and erase the evidence. In the wee hours of the morning, it occurred him, a Deadhead himself, that he knew one person in D.C. who definitely had a tape machine. So, at around 2 AM, he called me and asked to come over to use my tape deck.
posted by digaman at 10:09 AM on June 24, 2006 [1 favorite]

She's even worse than she appears. But it's all right. We will get by.
posted by fandango_matt at 10:30 AM on June 24, 2006

As far as the inevitable jokes about "they don't shower" go, they belong in the same category as racist cracks about hip-hop fans

sorry, digaman, but you're not even close here.

it's fucking true that a huge part of the dead subculture de-emphasizes personal cleanliness in favor of other values. of course you know this as someone that has participated enough in the subculture to write a book about it.

to pretend otherwise is chuckleworthy. to compare it to racism against the hip-hop culture? absurd.

if you said "they belong in the same category as bling jokes about hip-hop fans," well, then i could have agreed with you.

yeah, it's a stereotype, yeah it doesn't apply to everybody or even most, but there's a significant portion of members of the dead culture that simply don't prioritize personal hygiene. so "they don't shower" jokes? not surprising in the least, and not even really inappropriate, for that matter.
posted by Hat Maui at 10:46 AM on June 24, 2006

Just so you know: she demonstrates essentially no knowledge whatsoever of Dead culture/music in this interview, if the interview's real. (I know this is becoming a refrain with me, but: I doubt it.)

I put $5 on it being fake, and the person faking it knowing absolutely nothing about the Dead. Really startlingly dumb.
posted by waxbanks at 11:08 AM on June 24, 2006

I'll go along with the "bling" thing if that makes you happy.
The vast majority of Deadheads I knew were college students who took as many showers as any other college students. When we all got older, we had families and jobs, and persisted in our relentlessly normal attention to hygiene. Yes, of course I also knew hardcore tour rats who lived in vans and sold veggie burritos and went weeks without a shower. Chalk my slight overreaction up to utter boredom over jokes like this -- How do you hide something from a Deadhead? Under a bar of soap! What did the Deadhead say when the drugs ran out? This band sucks!!! -- which pop up like mushrooms (not those kind of mushrooms, you fuckin' hippie) wherever the words "Grateful Dead" are uttered on the Interweb, and always told by people who seem to think the jokes are both new and funny.
posted by digaman at 11:14 AM on June 24, 2006

Um, Hat Maui:

it's fucking true that a huge part of the dead subculture de-emphasizes personal cleanliness in favor of other values.

Nope!

Rather, it's true that a small part of the 'Dead subculture' did what you say, when you take 'Dead subculture' to mean 'people who went to see the Dead.' You're not too wide of the mark but let's not overstate here. Of course it's hard to shower regularly and whatnot if you're touring and sleeping in a van, but I think you're taking it too far to say 'de-emphasizes personal cleanliness' as a cardinal virtue. Most Deadheads - and this is true as well of people who followed Phish, for instance - just popped in and out of typical lives when the bus came through town. People who do/did 'mini-tours' - say, four or five shows in a row, in a region of the country - were common, but the average such person didn't just light out with nothing but a grilled cheese sandwich and a dimebag to their name.

Then again my perspective is skewed by my late arrival on the 'jamband' scene, such as it is/was, and the vibe changed over the years as the scenesters got more financially well-off in the aggregate. But while I don't share digaman's sensitivity about this namecalling, I can understand why he feels it. Deadheads' activities and proclivities are as boring as everyone else's, always have been.
posted by waxbanks at 11:16 AM on June 24, 2006

Just so you know: she demonstrates essentially no knowledge whatsoever of Dead culture/music in this interview, if the interview's real.

That's not true. She's wrong about Mickey rapping on Fire on the Mountain at Cornell, but how many non-Heads even know about the existence of that tape? And she's obviously conflating Mickey's rap with 5/8/77 in her mind -- typical Coulterian sloppiness with the facts, but a far cry from "essentially no knowledge."

She says:

"we were also supposed to say 'Phil makes the band.'"

Argue that point all you want, but it's a very insidery thing to refute.


She says:

"Why don't you ever play 'Pride of Cucamonga' in concert?"

Again, only a Deadhead would know this.

She says:

"Also there was a big Deadhead Christian group that handed out terrific pamphlets at Dead shows."

They were a creepazoid cult that got a whole entry in my book -- Ann would have gotten into trouble with them for leaving the kitchen -- but again, more insider knowledge.

That $5 is not going to be with you long, wax.
posted by digaman at 11:25 AM on June 24, 2006

Most Deadheads - and this is true as well of people who followed Phish, for instance - just popped in and out of typical lives when the bus came through town. People who do/did 'mini-tours' - say, four or five shows in a row, in a region of the country - were common, but the average such person didn't just light out with nothing but a grilled cheese sandwich and a dimebag to their name.

Very true.
posted by digaman at 11:26 AM on June 24, 2006

i'll back away from "huge" if it makes you happy.

i suppose i was referring to the hardcore follower scene rather than the cleaner-cut element that became more prevalent toward the end of the dead and the rise of other jambands.

yeah, i'm not talking about the casual deadhead who brokers stock by day and rocks the tie-dye by night. but that doesn't seem to me to be "the scene" anyway, other than in the sense that it's, as you put it, a big tent.

but what makes the subculture unique? i posit that it's the hardcore followers that are living on grilled cheese and baloney and selling trinkets or gewgaws or weed to get by to the next show, always looking for miracles.

and those people? well, let's put it this way: bathing is probably further down on their to-do list than necktie-shopping, is all i'm saying.
posted by Hat Maui at 11:29 AM on June 24, 2006

Dude, did someone delete my comment on this page? It's weird, since somebody quoted it, but now my comment's gone.

wtf?
posted by washburn at 11:36 AM on June 24, 2006

Sorry, but this is a historical inaccuracy:

rather than the cleaner-cut element that became more prevalent toward the end of the dead and the rise of other jambands.

I started seeing Dead shows in 1974, and that "cleaner-cut element" was a major part of the scene back then too. Not quite "the end of the Dead," unless you were a hardcore Pigpen fan [grin].

yeah, i'm not talking about the casual deadhead who brokers stock by day and rocks the tie-dye by night. but that doesn't seem to me to be "the scene" anyway

Well OK, but that's like saying "I'm not talking about gay people who walk around in normal clothes and don't swish around -- I'm talking about the real gay scene of drag queens and leather, the ones you see at parades!"

what makes the subculture unique? i posit that it's the hardcore followers that are living on grilled cheese and baloney

I posit that what made the subculture unique was the fact that it accommodated both hardcore dirt-surfers, Ann Coulter, and millions of people you wouldn't immediately identify as Deadheads.

The day Jerry died, I was interviewed by some journalist who asked me if I "dressed like a Deadhead." I said, "Yes -- I wear whatever I want."
posted by digaman at 11:39 AM on June 24, 2006

The cleanliness thing is a stereotype, like any other. There's no correlation between not bathing and any music that I'm aware of.

I just got back from the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee. Did my hygiene suffer over the 4 days I was there? You bet it did. Half hour waits for running water spigots will do that. However, I didn't forgo bathing because a Phil Lesh set was coming up, and I didn't see or hear anyone else doing so either.

Equally off-topic from the Coulter thing, the Vince Welnick story is a pretty sad one. The second paragraph link from following NeilTupper's link fleshes it out some, although Vince played keys and not bass as Neil wrote. I was aware of the Ratdog rumors, in which Vince OD'ed and they sent him in a cab to the hospital as a John Doe while they went on to play the show. Sad stuff at any rate.
posted by rollbiz at 11:39 AM on June 24, 2006

I was aware of the Ratdog rumors, in which Vince OD'ed and they sent him in a cab to the hospital as a John Doe while they went on to play the show

For the record, while the OD story is true, the "John Doe" part is unsubstantiated rumor. And I would agree that any musician who would intentionally OD on his own band's bus while on tour was living out a sad story indeed -- but not necessarily the story that was told loudly on Vince's website by a friend of his in the wake of his death.
posted by digaman at 11:45 AM on June 24, 2006

Oh I definitely hear you, Digaman. I don't follow the spinoffs too closely, and I won't pretend to know the whole story. That's why I qualified it as rumor. Truth is, my festival interests are more of the Medeski Martin and Wood, Steve Kimock, Bela Fleck type than the Ratdog or Lesh type. I didn't even see Lesh's Bonnaroo set, to be honest with you.

What I meant is that wherever the truth lies in that story, it's a sad one.
posted by rollbiz at 11:53 AM on June 24, 2006

For sure, RB.
posted by digaman at 11:54 AM on June 24, 2006

For Vince fans, David Gans' extensive radio tribute, with interviews with Vince, Todd Rundgren, Weir, etc.
posted by digaman at 11:58 AM on June 24, 2006

Well OK, but that's like saying "I'm not talking about gay people who walk around in normal clothes and don't swish around -- I'm talking about the real gay scene of drag queens and leather, the ones you see at parades!"

Jesus H. Grateful Dead fans are not a race nor any other easily categorized group based on some unique trait, such as you seem to want to argue. They are just generally a bunch of smelly, dirty losers with bad taste in music. Other than that, they come from all walks of life so to say that singularly insulting them is somehow akin to racism or homophobia- well, you're just off the mark.

People really dilute the true danger in racism and homophobia and similar sorts of prejudices when they say things like hating Dead fans is somehow just like being a racist.
posted by xmutex at 12:43 PM on June 24, 2006

They are just generally a bunch of smelly, dirty losers with bad taste in music.

Yes, yes, xmutex, I've been reading you for a long time and know where you're coming from. You're terribly boring, on any number of subjects.
posted by digaman at 12:52 PM on June 24, 2006

Actually, xmutex, forgive me, let me take that back. Your FPPs are good, and I've enjoyed many of them. You're boring on this subject.
posted by digaman at 1:01 PM on June 24, 2006

They are just generally a bunch of smelly, dirty losers with bad taste in music.

it's all those rock and rollers, i tell you, ALL of them ... why can't they listen to lawrence welk and bing crosby like DECENT people?
posted by pyramid termite at 1:24 PM on June 24, 2006

You're boring on this subject.

I don't know. We threw eggs at smelly Deadheads telling bad stories around a bonfire in a city park. It didn't seem boring to us at all.
posted by xmutex at 1:35 PM on June 24, 2006

"... this beats the everlovin' crap out of that asinine quiz from yesterday. I still feel dumber for having read that."

I thought the quiz was great.

It proved that the people who admire and support Ann Coulter are the same kind of people who admired and supported Adolf Hitler.
posted by rougy at 1:43 PM on June 24, 2006

"People really dilute the true danger in racism and homophobia and similar sorts of prejudices when they say things like hating Dead fans is somehow just like being a racist."

Except that in your case it happens to be true.
posted by rougy at 1:45 PM on June 24, 2006

We threw eggs at smelly Deadheads telling bad stories around a bonfire in a city park. It didn't seem boring to us at all.

You left out the part about the egg-throwing event being a memorial for Jerry Garcia. Har har! You must love Fred Phelps' antics too. But there I go again, equating one form of vileness with another.
posted by digaman at 1:57 PM on June 24, 2006

I just realized that my comment upthread about "Pudenda Shenanigans" makes no sense now, although for the record I am completely in favor of pudenda shenanigans. Since Matt removed all of the LOL ADAMS APPLE comments, that took care of a link where Ann's previous stage name was revealed...
posted by emelenjr at 2:14 PM on June 24, 2006

People make fun of Deadheads for the same reason they make fun of any identifiable group - because they're different. I don't think that idiotic Deadhead jokes or stereotypes have ever stopped a Deadhead from enjoying their music and culture. However, I do think that these stereotypes have prevented people from getting into the music in the first place. I can't tell you how many times I've played the Dead for people and had them ask, "Wow, this is really good. Who is this?" only to see them express total dismay when I tell them who it is.
posted by Afroblanco at 2:20 PM on June 24, 2006

Just for my information, can Matt selectively edit comments and leave no trace?
posted by digaman at 2:20 PM on June 24, 2006

What was edited?
posted by rollbiz at 2:23 PM on June 24, 2006

what afrobianco said.
posted by digaman at 2:25 PM on June 24, 2006

I was referring to this:

Since Matt removed all of the LOL ADAMS APPLE comments, that took care of a link where Ann's previous stage name was revealed...
posted by digaman at 2:26 PM on June 24, 2006

heh sorry -- slipped posts. what afrobianco said was not edited -- I just meant, right on, afrobianco.

I was referring to emelenjr's statement.
posted by digaman at 2:34 PM on June 24, 2006

To each his own. And I'd never throw eggs at deadheads. But I hate going to shows that have nothing to do with jam bands or whatnot and seeing tie-died dudes and dudettes doing their horrible, meanwhile dancing and smoking joints whilst oblivious to getting smoke all in the eyes of the people behind them. (See: Certain New Orleans JazzFest hanger-outers, who think having a tie-die and a pole with some rainbow flag or whatever automatically makes them all loving, rather than oblivious to anyone's sensitives than their own. At least it was this way the last time I went, which was almost a decade ago.) I really, really hate that shit. Those particular people deserve ever bad joke aimed their way.
posted by raysmj at 2:54 PM on June 24, 2006

Note to Coulter and others: Deadhead dancing might look really beautiful when used with Grateful Dead music. To virtually every other kind of music, the dancing looks insanely goofy and whiter than Paris Hilton's nose on a Saturday night. At least show some restraint when with in a crowd with those not in your subculture. Thanks.
posted by raysmj at 2:59 PM on June 24, 2006

The day Jerry died, I was interviewed by some journalist who asked me if I "dressed like a Deadhead." I said, "Yes -- I wear whatever I want."

Excellent comeback.

I can't tell you how many times I've played the Dead for people and had them ask, "Wow, this is really good. Who is this?"

Yup. The Dead, at their best, made damn good music. It would never have occurred to me to go to a concert or buy a bootleg, but I never get tired of "Uncle John's Band."
posted by languagehat at 3:02 PM on June 24, 2006

I thought everybody knew about her? Another closeted head.

Anyway, here's the scene: Me, at a show in '94 or so. Supposedly non-judgmental white folks with dreads in parking lot spying my gray hoodie and clean head. "Hello, officer." Hee, hee, are not stereotypes funny?
posted by fixedgear at 3:37 PM on June 24, 2006

i hope ann notices this thread ... i especially hope she notices that we got bored with discussing her and whether she sucks and are now discussing the dead and whether they suck
posted by pyramid termite at 5:27 PM on June 24, 2006

This reminds me of the school board meeting in "Field of Dreams", where Ray Kinsella's wife, Annie, is arguing with the ringleader of the book-banners:

Annie: And I think if you had experienced even a little bit of the Sixties, you might feel the same way too.

Beulah: I "experienced" the Sixties.

Annie: No, I think you had two Fifties and moved right on into the Seventies.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:58 PM on June 24, 2006

I posted a comment suggesting that some aspects of Ann C.'s personality--hanging out with Drudge (who's oppritunistic gay bashing is a put-on) & Mahr (a cynical vaguely left dude), not attending church, and dating well outside the Tucker Carlson type guy-pool suggest a possible insincerity in some of her remarks, or a personality that's less "conservative" per se, than just interested in making a painful commotion.

My comment was deleted.

Perhaps because I noted in my comment that I didn't read the article on Coulter's (pretty well known) enthusiasm for the Dead? Was I supposed to refrain altogether from criticizing Coulter, or considering her apparent pathologies? It's a little disturbing to have one's comment vanish without even knowing why. Anyone who flagged or deleted my comment care to explain? While my comment was not a work of genius, I was genuinely surprised to see it simply vanish.
posted by washburn at 7:58 PM on June 24, 2006

Metafilter: While my comment was not a work of genius, I was genuinely surprised to see it simply vanish.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:05 PM on June 24, 2006

washburn- I didn't flag your comment, and in fact I thought it added to the thread quite nicely.

On that note, I think it sucks when comments just disappear with no trace or explanation. Particularly in this context, where the comment belonged and wasn't a fuck you letter to another user or something else delete-worthy.
posted by rollbiz at 2:48 PM on June 25, 2006

no way as funny as Condoleeza Rice recounting her love for "acid rock" see
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/51678

Q: What did one deadhead say to the other when they ran out of pot?

A: "woah man , this music sucks!!!"
posted by celerystick at 9:14 PM on June 25, 2006

"goddamn well i declare, have you seen the like?
their walls are built of cannon balls,
their motto is don't tread on me."

weir's buddy barlow is a pal of cheney's...the dead died with jerry, lesh had a good band for about 18 months, the Q.

i still want a buddhist monk to immolate her...now more than ever!
posted by aiq at 9:04 AM on June 26, 2006