Happy Monday morning, Columbus.
A couple of observations from my first big* concert in two years.
My daughter Caroline and I saw Dead and Company play to about 20,000 at Deer Creek Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana, last week. We had forgotten what it was like to attend a huge show with throngs of real people.
- Most of the people who attend Dead shows are kind, funny and super accommodating.
- Too many people want to get chatty at the urinals in the men's restroom. Nope. Never.
- Too many people talk during the show. I really want to get a T-shirt that says, "I'm sorry, is the music interrupting your conversation?"
- For some reason, gravity is a bit more intense at a Dead show. You will inevitably (and literally) catch two or three people taking a tumble during the show. And you will inevitably miss two or three people falling, but help them up all the same.
- Nothing tastes better than a parking lot grilled cheese sandwich after the show. Nothing.
For more on this experience, check out The Last Word below.
(*We just saw Jorma Kaukonen play in Pomeroy, Ohio, but the intimate theater at his Fur Peace Ranch holds but a couple hundred seats.)
Here’s what else you need to know today and then some:
Arts Festival moves again
After a two-year unplanned hiatus because of Covid-19, the Columbus Arts Festival is coming back in 2022. But this time it will be in a new location: the Arena District. Here's why.
Waste not, want not
The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio has filed a rezoning application with Grove City to develop a 350-acre Green Economy Business Park, advancing plans it pitched last year. Here are the new details.
Project update No. 1: Bronzeville residential tower
Arch City Development's $15 million project is on Broad Street – one of several underway near the historic King-Lincoln Bronzeville area – is nearly finished. Here's what's new and when residents can expect to move in.
Project update No. 2: Beer Barn site
Developer Kevin Lykens wants to bring new life to the old Mid-America Beer Barn store at that corner of 4th Street and 5th Avenue with a mixed-use project. Here are the details.
This Day in History
1859, a big day in modern cooking.
On this day, the patent for the electric range was issued.
Fire is so overrated.
The range was invented by Washington D.C. resident George Simpson.
1963, a big day in bold proposals (that end up going nowhere).
On this day, President John F. Kennedy suggested that the Soviet Union and the United States cooperate on a moon mission.
The Soviets never committed to the idea and after Kennedy was assassinated two months later, President Lyndon Johnson dumped it altogether.
Oh, by the way, we got their first. Take that Khrushchev!
1986, a big day in rollercoaster football.
On this day, the Wichita State Shockers went up 35-3 against the Morehead State Eagles.
That lead, however, didn't last.
In fact, Morehead State came back and won the game 36-35.
Let There Be Songs To Fill The Air
On Wednesday, Dead and Company played a nice trio of songs at the Deer Creek Music Center in Indiana: Dark Star>Saint Stephen>The Eleven>Dark Star (reprise).
That string of songs – often stretching to 40 minutes or longer – was a mainstay of the Grateful Dead in 1968/1969.
To hear this trio performed again live was a real treat.
This is the latter part of Saint Stephen:
"Speeding arrow, sharp and narrow. What a lot of fleeting matters you have spurned.
"Several seasons with their treasons. Wrap the babe in scarlet covers call it your own.
"Did he doubt or did he try? Answers aplenty in the bye and bye.
"Talk about your plenty, talk about your ills. One man gathers what another man spills.
"Saint Stephen will remain, all he's lost he shall regain.
"Seashore washed by the suds and the foam, been here so long he's got to calling it home.
"Fortune comes a crawlin', calliope woman, spinning that curious sense of your own.
"Can you answer? Yes I can, but what would be the answer to the answer man?"
Weather Report Suite
Look for a high of 84 degrees today, partly cloudy skies and a 20% chance of rain.
For more on your daily and weeklong forecast, check out NBC4, where the weather experts know what your Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are going to look like, too.
The Last word
Let me tell you this: Privilege has its perks.
Let me set the scene for you.
It was shortly after 6 p.m. and the line to enter Deer Creek Music Center snaked around the grounds for about a half mile.
My daughter Caroline and I had been joyously milling around the festive parking lot scene – called Shakedown Street, after a 1978 album and song – outside the amphitheater before Wednesday night's Dead and Company concert, sipping cocktails sold from tents, chatting with vendors and buying T-shirts, patches and pins.
The atmosphere was circus-like and super chill. Everyone was having a ball.
But it was getting late and it was time to go inside to see the show.
As soon as we left the lot scene, we saw the line of people.
Whoa.
Normally, that would be a long wait. Especially since security was checking Covid vaccine cards (or negative test results). We're talking an hour at least.
Not for us.
I had purchased VIP tickets for Caroline's birthday and knew that somewhere in front of this throng of humanity, there was an entrance for, well, VIPs.
The two of us walked right past that long, long line of people sweating in the late afternoon sun, glancing every now at Deadheads whose eyes said: Where do you think you're going? The line starts waaaaaay back there, dude.
Even Caroline was looking at me like I was a crazy person cutting in line. But at the top of the hill, to the left of the general entrance, there was a sign that said VIP Entrance. Voila.
We got in line at a card table outside the entrance. It was short; only one couple ahead of us.
We gave our names, got laminated commemorative tickets, two tour posters signed by the artist and were shown to the entrance, where they checked our vaccination cards, wanded us and told us to have a great show.
I bought a corndog and a beer to commemorate our fortune and we went looking for our seats.
Oh, the seats.
We were a couple dozen rows from the stage – the closest for me to the stage at any Grateful Dead or Dead and Company show.
In fact, I have only ever sat on the lawn at every outdoor Grateful Dead and Dead and Company show I have attended since 1984.
This was pretty great.
Although I like the lawn experience, it's nice not having to look up a giant screen to watch the band perform because you are so far back from the stage.
We could see the band perfectly well from our seats. Here's our view ....
Another nice thing was not getting lost on the huge lawn after returning from a concession stand or restroom.
The concert was a lot of fun. The band did a lot of long, exploratory jams – which I like – and featured some far-out songs that are among my favorites, but haven't been played live in a long time.
When the show ended shortly after 11 p.m., Caroline and I exited with the throngs and went back to Shakedown Street, where we shared a grilled cheese sandwich some dudes made and sold for $3.
It was amazing.
I'm not sure I will ever go the VIP route again, but it was a nice for once to be that guy who skips the long lines.
Have a fantastic Friday.