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Last week I posted an article
called “Deadheads On Parade” which was an expanded excerpt from my book “MyBiPolar Reality; How Life Goes On…” but, at the end of the article, I put forth
this proposal for a really groovy alternative to high priced downtown hotels or
the pipe dream of getting the city of Chicago to allow camping in the parks or
parking lots and I called it “Split/Apple 2015 Deadheads On Parade”. I tried to
propagate the story/idea/concept with the hashtag “#splitapple2015”, but all I
got was a ton of hits on my blog (which is cool, but…), nobody really started a
dialogue about putting something like this idea in motion. Perhaps, I think, I
didn’t make clear enough or I might have “buried” the idea with the opening
excerpt from the book, so before I let it go and the idea becomes nothing more
than another one of my great whims, I’m going to explain this concept one more
time, dig?
Given that Chicago and Soldier’s
Field (the venue) are the 3rd largest city in America, there is not
a campsite within 50 miles of the city and the hotels downtown near the venue
start at the $300/night range (and limited to four people per room), this is indisputable,
agreed? Okay, directly across the parking lot to the south of Soldier’s Field,
there is the world’s largest convention center, it’s called McCormick Place and
although it’s quadrupled in size and has a hotel attached to it since it was
first built in 1960, the original part of McCormick place, on the east side of
Lake Shore Drive (LSD), is the part of the building across the parking lot,
less than a ½ mile from the stage, it’s right next to Lake Michigan and houses
the renown “Arie Crown Theater”.
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| The Lakeside Center (r) and LSD just south of venue... |
This building, The Lakeside Center, has two
available levels, providing 580,000 square feet together and both levels have
rest rooms, food courts and other amenities. Back in the day, the last time The
Grateful Dead played Chicago, we hosted about 600 people a night in a space of
about 6,000 square feet. According to my basic research, the average square
footage of a hotel room is roughly about 400 square feet. This means the two
levels of The Lakeside Center at McCormick Place is equal to about 1,450 hotel
rooms worth of space. If we limited the space to one person per 100 square
feet, we could comfortable host almost 6,000 people at this venue. Being
hippies and all, however, we can live even more cozy than most, so there is
maybe space for about 2,000 other people, that’s 8,000 deadhead living, sleeping,
dreaming and enjoying this one last Fare Thee Well experience together!
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| The Venue...south is parking lot...the Lakeside Center! |
Okay, d’Philip, you might be
wondering, this really sounds cool, but how the fuck can you make it happen and
if you do, how fucking much is going to cost each of us, right? Truth is, I am
waiting for the McCormick Place management to get back to me with an exact
amount, but based on inquiries I’ve made to some Chicago based event planners,
the typical cost at McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center is between $1.30 to $1.90
per square foot, let me do the math and that works out to about $50/person if
we sell 6,000 tickets for each night; so, even if we needed to jack up the cost
of the pass to $75/person per night, or offer a three day pass for $175, it’s a
very fair and reasonable price for a place to stay, especially in a world class
city like Chicago, during Independence Day weekend and The Grateful Dead’s “Fare
Thee Well” shows across the parking lot, hell yeah, man, I’d say that fucking
great deal, wouldn’t you?
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| JGB played this venue in 1983... |
As well, if we have access to The Arie Crown Theater,
a venue that seats about 4,200 people, we could offer an “alternative show” for
those who did not have tickets for “The Big Show” (you know there will be a
shit ton of hippies without tickets but going for the miracle anyway) ((I know
I would, if I haven’t already done it dozens of times before))! The entire
operation would function as a “non-profit” event and any profit made by the
organization after the event should be donated to a mutually agreed upon charitable
group (I’m thinking the homeless), because like back in the day when we used
trade boot/tapes, we are not trying to make a profit, just a difference.
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| This vintage shot shows the proximity of the venue to McCormick Place |
YOU PEOPLE WHO PLAN ON GOING TO CHICAGO, if you have tickets or not, we have
to work together to make this reality legendary. I have experience doing this,
The Split/Apple was the perfect laboratory for this kind of event, but one
thing I learned very well was that no matter how hard I worked at it, it could
not and would not ever have worked without the help of many other people.
This
is the way it’s always been in The Grateful Dead community, for those of you
who are either too young to have been there or you who have been there and done
that, when we traveled across the country following the band, we took care of
each other. The band did their thing, they focused on making the show happen,
making it special, pulling us together in the same place at the same time…strangers
stopping strangers just to shake their hands, right? But it was each of us,
strangers among friends, we would take care of ourselves and each other. That’s
one of the elements that contributed to the Grateful Dead community, one of the
essential elements to foster in future generations. The Grateful Dead always
came through to provide the shows, but it was on us to come through with where
to stay, how to get there, what happens if you need help and so forth. Jerry or
Bobby didn’t help us secure safe places to crash, although it would’ve been
groovy cool, it was always because some kind, kindred souls helped us along,
helped you, helped me, helped each other along. It has ALWAYS BEEN the helpful
friendly person, the one on the side of the road who gives a hand to the
traveling soul…The Grateful Dead man!
So don’t look to The Grateful
Dead, The City of Chicago or anyone else to help us out with making this event
work entirely in our favor…it’s on us, people, this is OUR COLLECTIVE
RESPONSIBILITY to find a way for everyone to have a safe place to stay, at a
reasonable rate, close to the venue and with the ability to create memories
together in a most unique and special way. So that’s it, my friends, that’s my
overall sales pitch…sorry I’m not the marketing dude I once was, but then
again, that’s a pretty good thing. I do know Chicago very well. I was born
there, I made something of a mark (more like a stain) on that city and I know
The Grateful Dead experience, I’ve been living it for over 40 years. I have the
ability and willingness to devote some time and effort to put together a very
formal, professional proposal for “The Split/Apple 2015 Deadheads on Parade”
event. I will not do anything, however, until I feel reasonably certain I CAN GET
HELP FROM ALL OF YOU and to demonstrate this to me, I NEED YOU GUYS TO START
TALKING ABOUT IT! Last week, when I first put forth this idea, I got a ton of “1+”
and every time I or somebody else re-posted the article, there was a lot of
approval but nobody was saying very much…SPEAK UP AND BE HEARD NOW or forever
hold your peace and best wishes for finding accommodations in Chicago, dig?
This is the last time I’m flying
this flag, I hope the right people see it and take the intrepid steps to move
forward on this…what are the next steps?
Here’s my short list:
- SPREAD THE WORD! We need to gauge an interest in this idea and if we can get 1,000 people on-line to be into the idea, if we build it, they will come. There is a limited time frame in place, so we need to get about 1,000 hippies to “sign-up” for the idea before March 1st and the best way to do this accurately, as well as build a “core database”, is to have an on-line petition that requires the participant to include an e-mail address. To create THE PETITION, I am pleading for ONE PERSON to step and get it done, please!
- THE MASTERMIND GROUP- Presuming we get the 1,000 people and it’s decided we’re moving forward on March 1st, we need to organize a develop a MASTERMIND GROUP to function in a (mostly) volunteer capacity to start planning, gathering funding and other resources, market and sell tickets, build and lead a ground team to get the facility prepped, as well as other key functions. The best management structure is a committee led by a group of five, each with a particular role (President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Sergeant at Arms) and could include as many as 10 others in supporting roles. I prefer “majority rules” over “unanimous decisions” when it comes to key decision, but I’m not in charge so I can dig anything that works in getting the circus happening!
- · THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS – once the group has come together to establish itself the next step is to formulate a significant and viable plan. This is difficult with people spread across time zones, but it’s possible with the aid of technology. Working with on-line collaborative tools, we create the plan and start the process of funding the project. We first appeal to our core database, those 1,000 hippies who said yes and politely ask them to pony up some cash for us via a crowd funding process. This seed money is used to attract larger investors, perhaps The Grateful Dead, WXRT (Chicago’s Finest Rock Station and very long time friends to The Dead), a camping goods company, some kind of “hippie friendly” organization with some deep pockets to help us secure the space, promote the event and have exclusive access to our 6,000 closest friends!
Okay, well I’ve already said and
done more than I intended, but I wanted to put forth as much as I can into this
idea because, like I mentioned, this the last time I’m going to fly this flag
and see if we can pull it together…IT’S ALL ON YOU GUYS NOW, if you want it,
you can have it, you just have to take it and that’s not easy for a lot of
people to do, I understand. It seems unreal, but I am learning to make my
dreams into a reality, I’ve been doing it all my life and I would happy to show
you how we can make this too a very real event that NOBODY WILL EVER FORGET!
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| The infamous "Open Canvass Wall", 7/6/95 |
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| Everybody had a swell time! |
Ask
anyone who remembers The Split/Apple…and if you don’t know anyone, ask somebody
else, what they think of this plan. They’ll say it sounds kind of crazy, but
very cool. If you would kindly just keep re-sharing this post all week, I’ve
spent several hours over two days writing it, gathering information, checking
my facts and finding some images to help you best visualize this “Deadheads OnParade” event…if you could please take a moment to click re-share, add you
thoughts and share it within your circles, on twitter, facebook, wherever you
know people who are thinking/talking about going to Chicago this summer…otherwise,
I hope everyone has groovy good week! We have an out of town guest visiting
this week and we’re planning another scouting trip to the mountains to look for
a new abode, so I’ll be rather busy. I am most Grateful for your time and
attention, two of life’s most valuable commodities, thank you for reading me
and stay in touch, be well and take care of each other!
UPDATE: Here's the link to sign the petition!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/splitapple2015
UPDATE: Here's the link to sign the petition!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/splitapple2015
Peace & Love,
d’Philip
09 February 2015
San Joaquin Valley, Republic of
California
