Date:         Fri, 5 Apr 1996 14:08:53 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         ehintz@mail.utexas.edu (Edmund A. Hintz)
Subject:      Re: List Stickers

Sez James:
>Oh, I'm sorry, I guess drug use isn't part of the Dead Head culture.  I
>guess that all the people I've ever known who were "into the Dead" lied
>when they talked about all the drugs they took.  Nor did kids who wanted to
>be part of the the "Dead family" take drugs to really enjoy the experience.
>And I guess several close friends of mine from high school didn't screw
>their lives up because of their drug influenced invlovement with being dead
>heads. I apologize, my mistake.  Maybe they drive type IIs down in
>Medelline.

        Sez Capn. Kirk:
>>Sorry to disagree, but this is complete bullshit. Jerry made some of the
>>sweetest music I've ever heard and I'd be thrilled with a vanagon list with
>>his image on it being on my bus.
>>
>>I've listened the the Dead since 1969. I am not now, nor have I ever been
>>"hooked" on drugs. I believe there are lots of addicts on the streetrs that
>>have never even heard of the Grateful Dead. The Deadheads have been
>>responsible for resurrecting many a bus from an early grave, fixing them up
>>and driving them from one show to another. For the purposes of this group, I
>>think this is a beautiful thing. Isn't that what we're all about here? The
>>perpetuation of VW busses?

And sez I:
        Yes, drugs are/were widely used in the Dead community. Yes, many
busses were saved from the junkyard by deadheads. As to your friends from
high school, et. al.,-whatever. I used drugs heavily, and lived on the
streets rather than quit using them. I listened to Metallica, Iron Maiden,
and Queensryche (and others of this type) during this time. I do not blame
any of these bands for my personal choices. I stopped using drugs after
about 6 years. I started going to Grateful Dead concerts. My dream car
changed from a '69 Camaro to a VW bus, which I drive to this day. I went to
around 50 Dead shows, didn't drink or do drugs at any of them. Ever. None.
Zip. Nada. I was not alone. The people I was with did not use/drink. We
were there for the music and fellowship, period. So maybe the problem here
is that your sample of deadheads is not representative of the entire
community. We probably were a minority, but that is immaterial. I have
known many who never even attended a show, and yet enjoyed the music of the
Dead via 'bootleg' cassettes, and were drug-free graduate students. So to
state that all deadheads are druggies is not only incorrect, but insulting
to those of us who are not in that sample. Would you perhaps be pleased
with some Ford driver (no offense, Steve) saying that all VW drivers were
prostitutes and mentally retarded, because all the limited # of VW drivers
he knew met these criteria?
        Flame me privately if you must, this list is devoted to busses and
this is only loosly related to busses. And ease up on the generalizations.
And take a chill pill. And most importantly, don't blame the Dead, or
anyone else but your friends, for their personal choices.

Peace,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edmund A. "Eddie"  Hintz     **|**     "You may say I'm a dreamer,
Voice Major, UT Austin      *  |  *      But I'm not the only one...
<ehintz@mail.utexas.edu    *  /|\  *     I hope someday you'll join us,
'70 Primered Transporter    */ | \*      And the world will live as one.
'73 Orange Super Beetle      *****      Imagine."
              Web page: http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~ehintz
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