
Frequently Asked Questions:



    1)  What are the Official Grateful Dead Hotline numbers?
    2)  How did the Grateful Dead get their name?
    3)  How did Jerry lose his finger ?
    4)  Where did the Dancing Bears come from?
    5)  What is a Tape Tree and how does it work?
    6)  What is Dead-Flames?
    7)  What is the Well?
    8)  What is that weird thing that Mickey plays during Space?
    9)  Which are some classic shows for tape collectors?
   10)  What does BIODTL mean (and other abbreviations or FQA's)?
   11)  Whatever happened to Owsley?
   12)  What are mailing lists, and how do I subscribe to them?
   13)  How can I spot a fake ticket?




1)  What are the Official Grateful Dead Hotline numbers?
     ----------------------------------------------------
    West Coast: 415-457-6388 Mail Order:  415-457-TIKS
    East Coast: 201-SHIPS00       415-457-8457
          201-744-7700

    Ticket Problems:      415-457-8034  M-F 11am - 5pm PST
    Merchandise Info:     415-898-4453
    To order merchandise: 800-CAL-DEAD
   
    Additional GD Organization Info:

    USnail Mail: (Band Member c/o) Grateful Dead



2)  How did they get the name?
    --------------------------
    In Blair Jackson's book on the Dead, Garcia is quoted as saying:
    "One day we were over at Phil's house...He had a big dictionary. I 
     opened it and there was 'Grateful Dead', those words juxtaposed.
     It was one of those moments, you know, like everything else went
     blank, diffuse,just sort of oozed away, and there was GRATEFUL
     DEAD in big, black letters edged all around in gold, man,
     blasting out at me, such a stunning combination.  So I said, 'How
     about Grateful Dead?' And that
     was it."   The dictionary entry reads along these lines:

     GRATEFUL DEAD: The motif of a cycle of folk tales which begin
     with the hero coming upon a group of people ill-treating or
     refusing to bury thecorpse of a man who had died without paying
     his debts.  He gives his last penny, either to pay the man's
     debts or to give him a decent burial.Within a few hours he meets
     with a travelling companion who aids him in some impossible task,
     gets him a fortune or saves his life.  The story ends with the
     companion disclosing himself as the man whose corpse the hero had
     befriended.(Funk & Wagnall's Dictionary).  
     The name has also been attributed to this quote, though it's
     generally believed that they came across this one later..
     "We now return our souls to the creator,
     as we stand on the edge of eternal darkness.
     Let our chant fill the void
     in order that others may know.
     In the land of the night
     the ship of the sun
     is drawn by the grateful dead."          
  
     -- Egyptian Book of the Dead


3)  How did Jerry lose his finger ?
    -------------------------------------------------------
    While they were chopping wood as children, his brother Tiff 
    accidentally chopped it off with an axe.

4)  Where did the Dancing Bears come from?
    --------------------------------------
    The bears were used on blotter acid produced by Owsley.  Owsley's
    nickname was Bear, the logo is a (registered?) trademark, and it
    appears in the Bear's Choice cover art.


5)  What is a Tape Tree and how does it work?
    -----------------------------------------
     Somebody offers a tape(seed).  Someone volunteers to be the
     administrator of the tree, and thus "run" it. If the
     administrator is not going to be the "root", it's a good idea to
     know who will be ahead of time, or find someone who is willing to
     be. After consultation with the seed, the administrator posts a
     message to the net soliciting applications to be on the tree. The
     first person(root) (maybe the offerer, maybe the administrator,
     maybe not) who actually gets the seed tape makes up to 5 copies
     and sends them out to 5 people (branches), each of those people
     make up to 5 copies and send them out to either other branches,
     or to leaves (who make no copies), etc., until everybody who
     signed up gets a copy.  The person structuring the tree
     ("administrator") may or may not be the person who provides the
     original tape ("seed") or the person who makes the initial 5
     copies ("root").  To get on, you send mail to the administrator
     following a posting.  When on, you make up to 5 tapes for people
     below you (if you're a "branch"), or none (if you're a "leaf"). 
     You send the person above you either other tapes in trade, or
     blanks if you can't trade.  IMHO, if trading, each person pays
     postage one way.  If sending blanks, you pay postage both ways.
     For most current or recent shows, the seed usually provides a DAT
     tape, and therefore it's a good idea for the root to have DAT
     capabilities as well, thus enabling most people to get high
     quality, low-generation analogs.

    There is no payment for this service, ever.  Don't do business
     with anyone who wants payment for taping.  Most heads are only
     too happy to make copies for anyone who asks.
 
    Q:  I don't have two decks (or a dual deck).  Can I still be on
     the tape tree without making copies for other people?

    A:  If you cannot make copies for others you are considered a
     "leaf" on the tree, and will be assigned to a "branch" of the
     tree, that is, someone who can make copies.

    Q:  Does it matter if I have a dubbing cassette deck instead of
     two separate decks for making copies?

    A:  Many dubbing decks are cheap and do not do a good job on
     quality when making a copy of a tape, partly because the consumer
     companies don't think people will notice the difference...NOT. 
     Deadheads are audiophiles.  The reason you are on a tree is:  1)
     You REALLY want the shows and, 2) You want the best possible
     quality tape you can get for a free recording.  There ARE dubbing
     decks out there that do a good job, but cost more and are usually
     worth it (both Sony and Denon make good high-end dubbing decks). 
     If you have a dubbing deck, NEVER, repeat, NEVER use the high
     speed dub when you are making a copy for someone.  Why?  You will
     reduce the quality of the tape, for the person you are making it
     for and any copies they will make.  Always make the best quality
     tapes you can with the equipment you have on hand.
     When a tree is started the administrator will want to know what 
     equipment you have (brand, type, number of heads, etc...).  This 
     information is needed so that when the administrator sets up the
     tree everyone gets the best possible recording they can get, no
     matter what    type of equipment you may have.

    Q:  What should I set my recording levels at?

    A:  Recording levels are really a function of the deck and the
     type of tape being used.  For instance, you can probably
     set the peaks at +5 dB for metal tapes, but at +3 dB for
     high bias tapes.  The key here is to KNOW YOUR DECK. The
     suggestion is to try different tapes and choose the one that
     works best with your deck.  My preference for recording tapes
     (depending on the source) are the new Maxell XLIIS tapes.

    Q:  If you miss the request cuttoff date for the tree, is there
     any way to get on the tree?

    A:  In general, no.  You can try sending mail to somebody who's
     making fewer than 5 copies, and ask if he'll make you one.
     Often, the tree administrator will indicate people who've
     offered to make more copies than they've been assigned.
     You'll probably have better luck doing this if you offer to
     trade.

    Q:  When everybody trades tapes on the net, what is the customary
     way everybody does this?

    A:  Generally, by trade.  You offer a tape to somebody and ask
     for a list of what you can get in return, and choose something.
     If you are going to be doing a lot of trading, you should get
     on the tapehead mailing list (send mail to
     tape-heads-request@fuggles.acc.virginia.edu and ask to be added
     to that list).
     Also common on the net is a posting requesting a tape of a
     particular show, and offering to trade from your collection of 
     ### hours of tapes, or offering blanks if you cant make tapes.


6)  What is Dead-Flames?
    --------------------
    A mailing list that is the equivalent of rec.music.gdead.
    Everything read in dead-flames is also read in rec.music.gdead and
    vice-versa (except for those things posted to rec.music.gdead with
     a restricted distribution that prevents them from reaching the
     node that dead-flames originates from).  Dead-flames is
     digestified, each mail message may contain many postings.  Each
     message is about 600-700 lines long (about 24K characters).

    Even if you don't receive dead-flames, you can post to both
     dead-flames and rec.music.gdead using email.  Dead-flames is
     handy for those who do not get usenet.news, for those who do get
     usenet.news but have a slow feed, or even for those who have
     reading, but not posting, privleges for usenet.news.
 
    The following is the standard info that's always tacked on to each
    dead-flames digest:
 
    ** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **
 
    The service addresses, to which questions about the list itself
     and requests to be added to or deleted from it should be
     directed, areas follows:
 
    Internet: Dead-Flames-Request@Virginia.EDU
           Dead-Flames-Request@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU
    BITNET:   DF-Req@Virginia
    UUCP:     ...!uunet!virginia!dead-flames-request
 
    You can send mail to the entire list (and rec.music.gdead) via one
    of these addresses:
 
    Internet: Dead-Flames@Virginia.EDU
           Dead-Flames@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU
    BITNET:   D-Flames@Virginia
    UUCP:     ...!uunet!virginia!dead-flames
 

7)  What is the Well?
    -----------------
    The Well is the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, a public access
     computer network based in Sausalito, California.  David Gans
     hosts several Grateful Dead related conferences on the Well.


8) What is that weird thing that Mickey plays during Space?
    --------------------------------------------------------
    It is called "The Beam", a long aluminum I-beam with twelve piano
    strings streched along its length; the vibration of the strings is
    sensed by a very large magnetic pickup.  The sound is amplified
    through Myers speakers and sub-woofers, whose loudness can be
     varied with a foot-pedal allowing a controlled degree of acoustic
     feedback. The best example of the Beam is on the Rythm Devil's
     "The Apocalypse Now Sessions".  The Beam is used heavily, but
     most notably on the track, "Napalm for Breakfast".  Pittsburgh
     06/26/88, Shoreline 06/16/90, and Buffalo 06/06/92 are good
     examples of the Beam in concert.


9) Which are some classic shows for tape collectors?
    -------------------------------------------------
    How about (these are just suggestions):

    03/25/66 - Trouper's Hall           11/19/66 - Fillmore Aud.
    11/29/66 - The Matrix               02/14/68 - Carousel Ballroom
    08/24/68 - Shrine Aud.              10/30/68 - Mickey & The
                                                   Hartbeats
    03/01/69 - Fillmore West            12/12/69 - Thelma Theatre
    02/11/70 - Fillmore East            02/13/70 - Fillmore East
    02/14/70 - Fillmore East            05/02/70 - Harpur College
    05/06/70 - M.I.T.                   09/20/70 - Fillmore East
    02/18/71 - Portchester              04/08/71 - Boston Music Hall
    04/28/71 - Fillmore East            04/29/71 - Fillmore East
    07/02/71 - Fillmore West            12/10/71 - Fox Theatre
    12/14/71 - Ann Arbor                07/26/72 - Portland
    08/21/72 - BCT                      08/27/72 - Veneta
    02/09/73 - Maples Pavilion          05/26/73 - Kezar Stadium
    06/10/73 - RFK                      11/10/73 - Winterland
    12/02/73 - Boston                   02/24/74 - Winterland
    05/19/74 - Portland, OR             06/18/74 - Louisville  
    06/26/74 - Providence               06/28/74 - Boston  
    10/19/74 - Winterland               10/20/74 - Winterland   
    06/03/76 - Portland                 10/09/76 - Oakland  
    02/26/77 - San Bernardino           03/18/77 - Winterland  
    04/27/77 - Passaic, NJ              05/08/77 - Cornell
    05/09/77 - Buffalo                  06/09/77 - Winterland
    10/02/77 - Portland, OR             12/29/77 - Winterland  
    01/22/78 - Eugene, OR               07/08/78 - Red Rocks
    10/21/78 - Winterland               11/24/78 - Passaic, NJ
    12/31/78 - Winterland               10/27/79 - Cape Cod
    11/01/79 - Nassau                   12/01/79 - Pittsburgh
    12/26/79 - Oakland                  05/11/80 - Portland, ME
    09/02/80 - Rocheste                 05/06/81 - Nassau
    05/16/81 - Cornell                  09/26/81 - Buffalo
    10/16/81 - Milk Weg                 12/31/81 - Oakland Auditorium
    04/06/82 - Philly                   04/18/82 - Hartford
    04/19/82 - Baltimore                04/16/83 - Brendan Byrne 
    04/17/83 - Brendan Byrne            06/18/83 - Saratoga
    09/06/83 - Red Rocks                09/11/83 - Santa Fe
    10/11/83 - MSG                      07/13/84 - Greek Theatre
    07/22/84 - Ventura                  10/12/84 - Augusta
    10/20/84 - Syracuse                 11/02/84 - BCT
    06/14/85 - Greek Theatre            06/24/85 - Cincinnati
    09/07/85 - Red Rocks                09/15/85 - Chula Vista
    11/01/85 - Richmond                 03/20/86 - Hampton
    12/27/86 - Oakland                  04/04/87 - Worcester
    06/20/87 - Greek                    06/26/87 - Alpine Valley
    07/06/87 - Pittsburgh               07/08/87 - Roanoke
    09/18/87 - MSG                      12/31/87 - Oakland
    03/17/88 - HJ Kaiser                03/27/88 - Hampton
    06/30/88 - Rochester                07/02/88 - Oxford Plains
    09/03/88 - Cap Centre               04/02/89 - Pittsburgh
    06/21/89 - Shoreline                07/12/89 - RFK
    07/17/89 - Alpine Valley            10/09/89 - Hampton
    10/16/89 - Brendan Byrne            03/29/90 - Nassau
    07/12/90 - RFK                      09/16/90 - MSG
    09/19/90 - MSG                      09/20/90 - MSG
    10/27/90 - Paris                    12/12/90 - Denver
    12/31/90 - Oakland                  03/21/91 - Cap Centre
    04/01/91 - Greensboro               05/12/91 - Shoreline           
    06/14/91 - RFK                      06/17/91 - Giants Stadium      
    08/16/91 - Shoreline                09/10/91 - MSG                 
    09/26/91 - Boston                   10/31/91 - Oakland             
    12/28/91 - Oakland                  03/09/92 - Cap Centre  
    03/20/92 - Hamilton                 05/31/92 - Las Vegas  
    06/20/92 - RFK                      12/13/92 - Oakland?

10) What does BIODTL mean (and other common abbreviations or FQA's)?
    -------------------------------------------------------
    Here are a few:

    AKA:  Also Known As (sometimes written "a/k/a") 
    AWBYGN:     And We Bid You Good Night
    BCT: Berkeley Community Theatre
    BG:  Bill Graham
         Boston Garden
    BGP:        Bill Graham Presents 
    BIODTL: Beat It On Down The Line
    BTW: Black Throated Wind
         By The Way
    DDN: Dupree's Diamond News
    FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions 
    FOTD: Friend of the Devil
    FQA: Frequently Questioned Acronyms
    FTR:        For The Record
    FTP:        File Transfer Protocol
    FWIW:       For What It's Worth
    FYI: For Your Information
    GD:  Grateful Dead (of course;-)
    GDH: Grateful Dead Hour
    GDM: Grateful Dead Merchandising
    GDTRFB:     Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad 
    GDTS: Grateful Dead Ticket Sales
    IJWTS: I Just Want To Say
    IKYR: I Know You Rider
    ITALTLITATTC: 
    It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
    IMHO:       In My H{umble, onest} Opinion
    IMNSHM: In My Not So Humble Opinion
    IMO: In My Opinion
    JAPD:       Just Another Picky Deadhead
    JBG:        Johnny B. Goode
    JGAB: Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band
    JGB:        Jerry Garcia Band 
    LDR: Long Distance Relationship
    LJBF: Let's Just Be Friends
    LLR: Looks Like Rain
    LSD: LySergic acid Diethylamide
    LTGTR:      Let The Good Times Roll
    MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface
    MO:  Mail Order
    MSG: Madison Square Garden
    MonoSodium Glutamate
    MSWS:       Man Smart, Woman Smarter   
    NFA:        Not Fade Away
    NSB: New Speedway Boogie
    NYE: New Year's Eve
    ODC:        Obligatory Dead Content
    OFTV: One From The Vault
    OMSN:       One More Saturday Night
    OTOH: On The Other Hand
    PITB:       Playing In The Band 
    PPPS:       Peace
    RSVP: Repondez, S'il Vous Plait (French for "please reply")
    SASE: Self Addressed Stamped Envelope
    SIOFWTMBA: Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
    SO:  Significant Other
    SOTM:       Standing On The Moon
    SPAC: Saratoga Performing Arts Center
    SSAE: Stamped, Self-Addressed Envelope
    SYF:        Steal Your Face, Space Your Face
    TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
    TLEO:       They Love Each Other
    TOC:        Table of Contents :)
    TWLWMYD:    That's What Love Will Make Ya Do
    TWYDTTYD:   The Way Ya Do The Things Ya Do
    UJB: Uncle John's Band
    VLDR: Very Long Distance Relationship
    VOTC:       Victim Or The Crime
    WALSTIB:    What A Long Strange Trip It's Been
    WELL: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
    WRT: With Regard To (sometimes written "w/r/t")
    YATG: Yet Another Ticket Grovel


11) Whatever happened to Owsley?
    ----------------------------
    He can often be found backstage selling interesting, expensive
     jewelry. If you meet him outside you could always talk to him and
     ask him yourself.  An interview with Bear appears in David Gans'
     book, CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DEAD.


12) What are mailing lists and how do I subscribe to them?
    ------------------------------------------------------
    Mailing lists are for people who do not have regular net access,
    or wish to concentrate on a specific topic.  The mailings on each
    topic are collected in groups and then mailed to you, usually
    containing anywhere from 10-20 messages each.  The difference is
    that mailing lists are not interactive as the newsboards.  If
    you have only email access and not news access, the mailing list
    is the only way to receive rec.music.gdead.
 
    Dead-Flames is a digestified version of rec.music.gdead, and
    Dead-Heads is a low-volume "important-info-only" list
     (tickets/setlists mainly).  

    If you'd like to subscribe to any of the lists, here are their   
    addresses.  For each list choose only ONE address:

    Internet: Dead-Flames-Request@fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU
           Dead-Flames-Request%fuggles.acc@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU
    BITNET:   DF-Req@VIRGINIA
    UUCP:     ...!uunet!virginia!dead-flames-request

    Internet: Dead-Heads-Request@fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU
           Dead-Heads-Request%fuggles.acc@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU
    BITNET:   DH-Req@VIRGINIA
    UUCP:     ...!uunet!virginia!dead-heads-request

    Internet: DAT-Heads-Request@fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU
           DAT-Heads-Request%fuggles.acc@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU
    BITNET:   DATH-Req@VIRGINIA
    UUCP:     ...!uunet!virginia!dat-heads-request

    Internet: Tape-Heads-Request@fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU
           Tape-Heads-Request%fuggles.acc@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU
    BITNET:   TH-Req@VIRGINIA
    UUCP:     ...!uunet!virginia!tape-heads-request

    Internet: Hot-Tuna-Request@fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU
           Hot-Tuna-Request%fuggles.acc@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU
    BITNET:   HT-Req@VIRGINIA
    UUCP:     ...!uunet!virginia!hot-tuna-request

    Internet: Boston-Music-Request@fuggles.acc.Virginia.EDU
           Boston-Music-Request%fuggles.acc@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU
    BITNET:   BM-Req@VIRGINIA
    UUCP:     ...!uunet!virginia!boston-music-request


13) How Can I Spot A Fake Ticket? 
    ----------------------------
For starters, there's no reason you should ever have to, as buying
tickets from scalpers or in the lot is frowned upon strongly, but
lectures aside, your best bet is to take it to the ticket-takers and
ask them if its legit.For GDTS tix, you can make a small tear at the
edge of the ticket, and if it's good it will have what appears to be
red paper in the center of the ticket (between the front and back).
You can also do the old comparison to others GDTS tix. For TixMaster
(and assumedly Bass) tix, you can give 'em the cigarette burn test,
which is basically ya touch the lit end of a cig to the ticket, and a)
it doesn't burn all the way through b) leaves a purplish mark on the
tix.  This, however, is not a failsafe method either, as all it
confirms is that the tix were printed on thermal paper, and are most
likely TicketMaster stock.  The problem being, that TM stock
occaisonally has a funny way o dissapearin', so fake tix could be
printed on legit paper, and ya won't know 'til ya get to the door. 
The best way to know is to buy them yourself :-), and the next best is
to take 'em to the door and have a venue-person take a look.

