Bob Weir Explains Why The Grateful Dead Implemented Special Tickets for Deadheads Who Taped Their Shows

During an interview with veteran reporter Dan Rather of The Big Interview, the great Bob Weir spoke about The Grateful Dead‘s unique strategy of taper ticketing, putting the Deadheads who wanted to record the show into a specific area of the concert venue so that their equipment would bother or block the audience views. They were the first band to do this and, much to the record company’s dismay, allowed the tapers to capture the shows as they felt that they promoted the band.

Way back in the 70s when uh when people started recording our shows. …the tapes went out and they they just promoted what what we did, but there were a lot of people who resented having to peer around microphone stands to see the band so we figured okay let’s put all the tapers in one section.

Weir also spoke about meeting his biological mother after his adoptive parents died. He learned that he had a dozen biological siblings, but he was the only one put up for adoption.

The telephone rings it’s the morning it’s my office they’re saying there’s a lady on the on the line who says she’s her name is Phyllis and she says she’s your mother. she also used the last name that was on my birth certificate and no one would know that but me. And so I said well put her through and so we we met and I had 12 other siblings… 

He also found out and later met his very surprised biological father.

I called him …I said “Well sir, did you did you know and were you perhaps romantically involved with a young lady by the name of Phyllis at that time?” and he said, “well yes “and I , “Well sir , I don’t know how many kids you have but there’s a strong likelihood that you have one more than you know”… we arranged to meet the next day for lunch… both of us very acutely interested in what this other guy’s all about and after about 20 minutes we became very very close friends and stayed that way. He was my dad.