DeadbaseXI

Millionaires do come in handy when you're a struggling rock band...

The Grateful Dead maintained their fan base to some extent as a result of more-or-less sanctioned bootleg tapers; was this ever an issue with ABB, and what was their attitude towards it?

I'm thinking of how bookings, management, ticket sales etc were run by friends (which became a problem later). On the sound side, they had Bear and his experiments, but they also had Alembic fiddling with equipment and instruments, they founded Round Records and Grateful Dead Records... I gather that the ABB was using "Out of Town Tours" for a while, founded by Sam Cutler when he managed the GD. Was management and PR done by independent companies, by the record company...?

The era I had in mind was the 70s; the GD only allowed it officially in 1984, but there was a vibrant trading community beforehand. Good to know, though I heard from a New York area taper that ABB shows (Beacon Runs in the 2000s) were still pretty harsh on it. Maybe he was trying to make a big deal of getting a tape anyway!

Next question: how much of the ABB's operation was "in-house," ie run by friends and acquaintances, and how much of it was done more professionally?

(Question prompted by by a Louis CK bit) Are duck vaginas really a thing?