secondtube Posted August 6, 2002 Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 Deadheads roll into East Troy Police expect chaos, but fans promise to be on best behavior By TOM HELD of the Journal Sentinel staff Last Updated: Aug. 2, 2002 The first Deadhead looking for the Terrapin Station concert turned up in the bushes outside the Amoco station in East Troy - on July 3. Terrapin Station Photo/Gary Porter Signs in a car window thank Walworth County for hosting the concert. The other sign displays lyrics from a Grateful Dead song. Vince Robel and Melissa Gethin, of Bisbee, Ariz., walk down a road to their camp. They've both been attending Grateful Dead shows since the early 1980s. Big Foot Beach State Park campgrounds near Lake Geneva is host to a packed house of mostly Grateful Dead fans, including Jordan Isgriggs, 11, of Columbia, Mo., who is attending her first Terrapin Station concert with her father, Darryl, today. Zoe Lynn, 7 weeks, from Maine, will be attending her first Dead concert with her mother, Amanda. Related Coverage The Dead: A-Z guide Video: Today's TMJ4 If You Go FYI: Event details "I just told him he was a month early, and he couldn't be sleeping in the bushes," East Troy Police Chief David Fox said. "He hitched into Milwaukee. "I imagine he's camping there waiting for this weekend." Fox chuckled when he recounted the encounter with the calendar-challenged Deadhead. But he sees no humor in the chaos he expects to encounter when thousands of others join the early-bird from Oregon for the Grateful Dead reunion show at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre. Deadheads around the country have been mobilized and energized for the first official show featuring the four surviving members of the seminal jam band. Fans bought up all 70,000 tickets for the two-day event, even before the promoter, Clear Channel Entertainment, received a permit for the concert. More than 20,000 people hold tickets for both shows. Fox acknowledges that most fans of the Dead and their recent reincarnations - the Other Ones, Ratdog, Phil Lesh & Friends and the Trichromes - live up to their legend as peaceful, joyful and happy concert-goers. It's their sheer numbers that frighten him and others in this pastoral area. Fox has been the police chief in East Troy for more than 17 years, and he saw the village nearly overrun when more than 60,000 Deadheads rolled into Walworth County for Grateful Dead concerts in 1988 and 1989. People stood naked in yards, washing themselves with garden hoses, and reportedly looted several grocery stores looking for food, Fox said. With those memories, he has a pessimistic view of what's going to happen this weekend. "They asked me if I could adequately protect the citizens of the village of East Troy, and if we get 100,000 people, no I cannot," Fox said. Precautions being taken His skepticism is matched by the optimism of the show's promoters, who adamantly dispute the speculation that even 50,000 fans will surge toward Alpine Valley over the weekend. "I think there's going to be one heck of a traffic jam, and other than that, we're going to do just fine," said Dennis McNally, the Grateful Dead publicist. "The long and colorful history of the Grateful Dead and its various angles will continue." Fans who gathered near Alpine Valley on Friday shared McNally's sentiments. "This can continue if we allow it to. A lot of us have adopted a 'Police ourselves so they don't have to police us' attitude," said Jody Kronberger, 40, of Wisconsin Rapids. Kronberger was among dozens of Grateful Dead fans who arrived Friday at Hoppe Homestead, a farm campground in Waterford, near the theater. Others responded more strongly to criticisms by local authorities and threats to cancel Sunday's show if problems erupt tonight. quote: "You're going to have no trouble, unless they cancel that show. Then you'll see some trouble," Steve Schmelzle, 22, said. He drove from Ontario, Canada, with his girlfriend, Theresa Whittaker, 23, for their first Grateful Dead show. "Plus, they've posted the rules all over the Internet. Everybody knows you can't get in without a ticket," Hamilton said.As part of its concert plan, Clear Channel launched an aggressive campaign through the Internet, radio and print ads and word-of-mouth to keep fans without tickets from coming to Alpine Valley. Under the beefed-up security plan presented to win a permit for the show, everyone in a car heading into Alpine Valley will be required to present a ticket before getting to the parking entrance. Those without tickets will be sent away, along with everyone else in their vehicle. Clear Channel also has arranged to offer the shows on a video Webcast and for a live broadcast of the Saturday night concert on Chicago radio station WXRT-FM (93.1). As added incentive for Dead fans, Phil Lesh and the other band members have put out public statements saying the fate of their other fall tour dates hinges on the success of the Alpine Valley shows. "They've all agreed that the dates are dependent on a reasonable outcome at Alpine," McNally said. "What is that? I don't know," he said. "They'll sit down and discuss that in the immediate aftermath of the show." the story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondtube Posted August 6, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 that quote was taken out of context.... the journalist asked the question: "what would, if anything, cause a problem here at alpine valley?" and that was my answer...and followed with, "and by problems i mean a lot of pissed of concert goers, not physical confrontations..." still kinda funny though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancingfool Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 Heh. That's one reason why you need to repeat the question in the answer and never answer vaguely, so that they can't use it out of context to fit any sort of rewrite the editors want; the question is in the answer. It certainly made it sound like you expected a riot if the Sunday show was cancelled, 'from the supposedly peaceful fan'... But it's not easy to quickly think to answer something like "The only problem which might come up would be understandably annoyed fans at the cancellation of the Sunday show". Even I couldn't think this up at first. And then they wouldn't use it anyway since they couldn't spin it properly. I'm not one who ever wants to be quoted... not with my name anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieDon'tSurf Posted August 8, 2002 Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 quote: Originally posted by dancingfool: Heh. That's one reason...to... riot if the Sunday show was cancelled... I could... think this up... It's... easy to quickly...be... annoyed fans at the cancellation of the Sunday show...I'm one who...wants to be quoted... one bad apple spoils the whole bunch - specially with an attitude like that!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancingfool Posted August 8, 2002 Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 Point taken and perfectly illustrated. I was tired when I read that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondtube Posted August 8, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 yeh it was kinda weird. they asked if i could be quoted. i guess i should have asked how... even still...i know what i said...and i do still hold true, if they cancelled the second night for NO reason, yes, i'm sure there would be trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieDon'tSurf Posted August 8, 2002 Report Share Posted August 8, 2002 that's the worst thing when you state what is likely the obvious (cancelling a show + lots of anxious fans = trouble, no matter what band it is, or what venue) and its made to look like a threat... i call it the "Entertainment Tonite Effect" which is directly proportional to the inverse of the average IQ of the demographic most likely to listen to the crap wannabe journalism... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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