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Related: Culture Forums, Support Forums‘Deafheads’ Marked a Milestone of Their Own at Final Grateful Dead Shows
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/07/08/deafheads-marked-a-milestone-of-their-own-at-final-grateful-dead-shows/Jeff Rosen went to his first Grateful Dead concert in 1982 just to experience the vibesdeaf since birth, he didnt know what songs the band was playing, or what lyrics Jerry Garcia and company were singing. Yet he plunged himself into the experience, absorbing the physical vibrations from the music and soaking up the atmosphere in an arena packed with dancing fans.
This past weekend at Soldier Field stadium in Chicago, Rosen and about 40 other deaf and hard of hearing fans experienced the Grateful Dead live in a more enhanced way. In a Deaf Zone that concert organizers had gated off on the stadium floor about 60 yards from the stage, three sign language interpreters worked in rotation, translating the meaning of songs from China Cat Sunflower to Truckin.
Facing the audience, some of whom held balloons that helped catch the sound pulses in the air, the interpreters took turns standing on a lighted platform, moving their hands and arms with fluid messages. They glanced down at song lyrics on a tablet computer and wore headphones plugged directly into a vocal mix from the bands soundboard. Next to the interpreters podium was a 55-inch video screen featuring close-up views of the musicians, allowing the Deaf Zone fans to better see their faces and, for some, to read their lips....
This experience has been amazing. Just a major double thumbs up, Mark Dorsey said before Sundays concert, using American Sign Language during an interview in which a hearing friend translated. When the shows were first announced last January, Dorsey, a counselor at a school for the deaf in Riverside, Calif., immediately contacted concert promoter Peter Shapiro to rally for access.
This past weekend at Soldier Field stadium in Chicago, Rosen and about 40 other deaf and hard of hearing fans experienced the Grateful Dead live in a more enhanced way. In a Deaf Zone that concert organizers had gated off on the stadium floor about 60 yards from the stage, three sign language interpreters worked in rotation, translating the meaning of songs from China Cat Sunflower to Truckin.
Facing the audience, some of whom held balloons that helped catch the sound pulses in the air, the interpreters took turns standing on a lighted platform, moving their hands and arms with fluid messages. They glanced down at song lyrics on a tablet computer and wore headphones plugged directly into a vocal mix from the bands soundboard. Next to the interpreters podium was a 55-inch video screen featuring close-up views of the musicians, allowing the Deaf Zone fans to better see their faces and, for some, to read their lips....
This experience has been amazing. Just a major double thumbs up, Mark Dorsey said before Sundays concert, using American Sign Language during an interview in which a hearing friend translated. When the shows were first announced last January, Dorsey, a counselor at a school for the deaf in Riverside, Calif., immediately contacted concert promoter Peter Shapiro to rally for access.
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‘Deafheads’ Marked a Milestone of Their Own at Final Grateful Dead Shows (Original Post)
KamaAina
Jul 2015
OP
The Deafheads appreciation ramped up a bit when Hard Truckers™ created the Wall of Sound in 1974
Brother Buzz
Jul 2015
#4
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)1. K&R! How completely awesome!
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)2. I love the balloon idea!
Beethoven's Nightmare, the world's only Deaf rock band (believe it!), could use that! And I know the frontman, Ed Chevy, from my Hawai'i days.
DFW
(54,465 posts)3. I saw the Dead in 1970 or 1971 at the Fillmore East in New York City
Those WERE the days!
By they way, "Deafheads?" How much fun could a deaf person have at a Grateful Dead concert anyway?
Brother Buzz
(36,487 posts)4. The Deafheads appreciation ramped up a bit when Hard Truckers™ created the Wall of Sound in 1974
The Second Stone
(2,900 posts)5. Watching the crowd at a Dead concert is an experience in itself
and probably the main experience and thrill of their live shows. They release very good recordings of their live shows (I have well over 100 official concert releases) and it is wonderful sound, much better than at the show, but the people enjoying themselves dancing, twirling and so on is the most amazing thing.