Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 3, 1993 TAG: 9307030267
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CELESTE KATZ STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sorry, folks. The Grateful Dead are NOT coming to town.
"At the beginning of the week people started calling, asking `Are the Dead playing at Victory Stadium?' " said Stephen Warren of the Roanoke City Parks and Recreation Department, "and our answer was absolutely not."
In the past few weeks, radio stations, stores, and city officials have received hundreds of calls from everywhere between North Carolina and Maryland, asking if the tie-dye clad band, which played the Roanoke Civic Center in 1987, was going to be at Victory Stadium this weekend. When would tickets be available? For how much?
After fielding up to 30 calls a day at work and being pestered at home by curious fans, Roanoke officials released a statement announcing that "contrary to popular rumor," the band would not be performing a surprise concert in the Star city. The stadium is reserved for tonight's Music for Americans concert and fireworks display, featuring musician Stan Kingma.
WROV-FM disc jockey Dave O'Brien received more than 50 calls about the Dead in a three-hour period Friday. "It's bunk; they're not coming," he said.
"I had people telling me that tickets for the show were going on sale at Ticketmaster at 10 a.m. Wednesday," laughed R.J. Morrison of The Tie Dye Guy at the Towers Mall in Roanoke. Morrison, a dedicated Deadhead, said he knew weeks ago that the rumors were not true and has also fielded dozens of phone calls.
"I've been telling people that I talked to Elvis and he told me the Dead are playing tonight at the Iroquois," he joked.
The Grateful Dead, which recently completed their summer tour with two shows at Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium, are actually now in San Francisco. The proximity of the band to Roanoke at the end of their tour may have fueled hopes and rumors that they would stop by over the long weekend.
"We usually don't try to quell rumors," said Special Events Coordinator Laban Johnson, "but this one is getting out of hand. We don't want people waiting for tickets to a show that simply is not going to happen, unless they want to see Stan Kingma and his group for free!"
by CNB