The Grateful Useless’s offshoot band, Useless and Firm, concluded its last tour in California on Sunday. For followers and distributors who’ve been following the bands for many years, it is the top of an period.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
The Grateful Useless’s offshoot band, Useless and Firm, performed its last exhibits in San Francisco over the weekend. It is the top of an period for followers like Colorado Public Radio’s Vic Vela, who’ve been following the Useless’s music for many years. It is also an enormous change for distributors and retailers who journey with the band and thrived on a scene referred to as Shakedown.
VIC VELA, BYLINE: When the pandemic shutdowns have been lifted and stay concert events returned, Tony Seigh did one thing downright loopy. He left a profession at Tesla to promote Grateful Useless bumper stickers in parking heaps. However should you’re a Deadhead, you completely get it.
TONY SEIGH: It nearly was like for, like, two years, once you’re pondering, like, oh my gosh; it is the top of the world; we’re all going to die – like, we higher go on tour with the Grateful Useless earlier than it is over, you realize?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “UNCLE JOHN’S BAND”)
DEAD AND COMPANY: (Singing) Properly, the primary days are the toughest days. Do not you are worried anymore.
VELA: Useless and Firm has been essentially the most profitable Grateful Useless spinoff since Jerry Garcia died nearly three many years in the past. Now that the band is looking it quits, numerous of us whose livelihoods actually rely upon Useless exhibits are questioning what is going on to occur to a spot referred to as Shakedown.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SHAKEDOWN STREET”)
GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Nothing shaking on Shakedown Road.
VELA: Named after the Grateful Useless music “Shakedown Road,” the epic touring emporium of merchandise, music and insanity is just generally known as the Shakedown lot.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I received marigolds.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
VELA: It is slightly bit farmers market, slightly bit county truthful, slightly bit “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” It is the place a fan should buy a Grateful Useless hoodie, a grilled cheese sandwich and, sure, even LSD. With this band’s demise, distributors on Shakedown have some nervousness over what’s subsequent for the music they love and their very own financial institution accounts. Seigh says a major chunk of his earnings is from promoting merchandise on Useless excursions.
SEIGH: I do not know – possibly, like, half.
VELA: That is quite a bit.
SEIGH: Oh yeah, yeah. Oh no, it is a whole gamble. However, you realize, it takes quite a bit to win, however much more to lose.
VELA: Coleus Langer of Los Angeles sells clothes on Shakedown. He says shedding that buyer base goes to harm.
COLEUS LANGER: It undoubtedly makes me very unhappy as a result of there is not any different place like a Grateful Useless Shakedown lot. You already know, so far as merchandising and simply assembly individuals and networking and hanging, you realize, there’s simply – it is such a particular place.
VELA: These days, numerous distributors promote their items on-line, so their incomes aren’t completely depending on Useless exhibits. However for a lot of, there’s nothing like that non-public reference to different Deadheads. Stephen McMennamy is the proprietor of Grateful Fred, an organization named after his canine. He sells metallic stickers with Useless imagery.
STEPHEN MCMENNAMY: It’s extremely totally different once you’re standing throughout from any individual and so they have tears of their eyes speaking about how a lot this factor meant to them as a result of it was the title of a pet or a beloved one or a grandmother or one thing like that.
VELA: Some distributors say they will proceed to promote outdoors Phish exhibits or different jam bands the place there’s numerous crossover enchantment. And here is the factor. Lots of of us on Shakedown firmly imagine there will be a brand new Grateful Useless offshoot to comply with post-Useless and Firm. In spite of everything, there’s been a number of variations of the Useless over the past couple many years. So the hope is that the music of Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir will proceed to thrive alongside contemporary faces, or within the phrases of the Grateful Useless, the music by no means stops. For NPR Information, I am Vic Vela in San Francisco.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content is probably not in its last type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could range. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
