The Virginian-Pilot
©
HAMPTON
Thousands of fans from around the world descended on Hampton on Friday to participate in a three-day love fest with Phish, the cult-favorite jam band that chose Hampton Coliseum for its first shows in nearly five years.
A view of the parking lot several hours before concert time revealed a lot of corduroy, hemp and dreadlocks; people selling food and greeting strangers as if they were old friends; and a line forming at the entrance because there were no reserved seats for the sold-out show set to play to nearly 14,000 people.
But there was one big thing missing from the scene: Shakedown Street.
Shakedown Street is what Phish fans call the row of vendors' tables and booths that are set up outside concert halls and are a well-known part of the psychedelic jam-band experience.
Although a federal judge in Norfolk ruled twice this week - Thursday and Friday - against allowing band representatives to seize suspected bootleggers' property during the three-night concert weekend, there was a separate, larger crackdown by Hampton police and coliseum security guards on the selling of just about anything.
"They won't let us vend," said Sarah Rose, a 34-year-old who'd come from Portland, Ore., with five of her handmade dresses - one featured a big, smiling sun - as well as gems and jewelry. "They won't let us set up anywhere. I've been to, like, 100 shows, and I've never had this happen. This is a community. They told us they were 'expecting the worst.' Expecting the worst of what - peace, love and happiness?"
With the village of peddlers gone, the parking lots at the Mothership - the nickname the band once gave the coliseum - were decidedly ordinary, with people simply drinking beers from the backs of their SUVs or sitting on coolers. (Except for the people wearing wings, and the guy in the ape suit holding the sign that read he was ape-you-know-what to get a ticket.)
The lots opened at 2 p.m. for the 7:30 show. City officials had warned that undercover police officers would be patrolling the lots, and they were. Two men were arrested for selling beer, a misdemeanor that meant no handcuffs, less than an hour after the lots opened.
Adam Katz came from Manhattan with nearly $15,000 in gemstones, hoping to sell $5,000 worth. Friday he was just worried about his merchandise getting confiscated. "If we'd had a spot, I'd have easily done $10,000 in sales."
Vendors had been pushed to an overflow lot, but even then they were required to have permits, and police on bikes were checking for them. Coliseum security guards patrolled the lots in golf carts.
Bicycle officers rolled up on a vendor who said he was from Charlottesville and asked for his permit. He didn't have one for the stones and hemp necklaces he was selling, but he said he wasn't going to pack up immediately. The permits, an officer said, cost $500 and could have been purchased in advance.
Did the vendor, who's been to countless Phish shows, know he would need a permit to sell shells and such here?
"Come on, man," he said. "What do you think? I don't need the hassle, man; I'm just trying to make a living, feed my kids. It's a depression going on."
Malcolm Venable, (757) 446-2662, malcolm.venable@pilotonline.com
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legal vendor
I was one of the few people who followed the rule of law, went through the long process of getting a peddlers license from the City of Hampton, only to get shut down by Phish and their hired private security idiots in golfcarts.
I have followed Phish since since 1993, and been a fan since 1989. I am deeply disappointed in the City of Hampton for not making things more clear when I wrote them a check for $500 to purchase my license. I am a longtime Phish fan and a businessman. To have Phish's private security shut me down because the city of Hampton couldn't figure out what was going on is ridiculous. I want my $500 Hampton fee back. Get in my side, and contact the Commissioner of the Ross Mugler. I deserve a refund. The cops were frustrated because they couldn't tell me what was what, even though they were briefed that I had a license.
I call disorganized Shenanigans on the City of Hampton, though I give major kudos to the Police Department. I have been to a lot of shows, and I found the police to be the most respectful and polite as anywhere else I had ever been.
For the Record
This sort of vending crackdown happened often with the Dead. I personally witnessed it on many, many occasions throughout the 80's. I know it happened in Richmond, DC, New Jersey, Hampton, Charlotte, Philly, NYC...all over the place. I have seen t-shirts and coolers of beer taken...a good friend of mine had about 300 stickers he designed confiscated at the "Warlocks" shows in Hampton for vending without a permit. I had another friend threatened with Federal racketeering charges for bringing several cartons of Virginia cigarettes to sell in and around Madison Square Garden.
As much fun as it is to pine for the good old days, the simple truth is that at just about every East Coast venue where the Dead played, there was always heavy security looking for a variety of crimes from drugs, to counterfeit merchandise, to health code violations for people grilling cheese.
I agree that it is a shame and the "scene" was always as much fun as the show on Tour...but the Man trying to break it up certainly isn't any thing new. (I am just glad they didn't have ticket scanners back then. I know that more than a few times, I got in with fake tickets.)
"Do you think the scabs
"Do you think the scabs selling knock-off merchandise have the same quality t-shirts as Phish is selling?" Actually, if you haven't seen concert T-Shirts, they generally are very expensive and printed on pretty low grade shirts. Blank shirts go for what, $3 in bulk? There are different grades from different companies. It very well could be that the small guy pays $4 or $5 for a better quality shirt than the one they are selling for $25-$30. A hacker conference I go to in DC, they actually sell their shirts for $10 (giving all profits to a charity). Because the shirts are cheaper, there is much more volume sold, and then more people end up wearing their name around. I think it's fascinating. Sure they could be leaving money on the table, but it seems to work out fairly well.
Phish deserves the Phinger
As someone with fond memories of my own old "hippie" days, someone who not only read Abbie Hoffman's "Steal This Book!" but actually did so, I gotta say Jerry Garcia must be twirling in his grave.
And gosh, what a "coincidence" that after the judge shot down the Phish-machine's requested injunction permitting its corporate stooges to bodily confiscate any vendor's personal property that said stooges deemed "bootleg", the Hampton police also then "just happened" to decide to deploy undercover parking lot patrols to bust unlicensed vendors selling anything at all. Gee, you don't suppose the Phish attorneys called the cops, to get Hampton cops to do what the judge refused to let Phish's personal wewantourroyalties-police to do?
I hope you young'uns learn something from this. Do not make personal heros out of bands that are as processed & packaged as Hannah Montana.
What a waste......
Working in one of then MANY downtown hotels I have had to experience the Phish "fans" firsthand. What a bunch of unappreciative people. I guess that common RESPECT for others is totally lost on most of these folks. The TOTAL lack of respect for anyone OTHER than a fellow PHISH fan is rampant. I, for one, will be EXTREMELY happy when they are finally checked out a get out of town.
Deadheads have a better fan base and a LOT more respect for others.
Whatever
This is the most important and lead story for the past two days? C'mon V-P. It was pretty funny though when the dude who claimed to be Phil Lesh got one over on your reporter.
What???? I need a permit to sell goods at a concert???
Some people are just plain ignorant about capitalism. Of course you need a permit. How do you think the town generates revenue to pay for shows at the coluseum? To pay for the people who work there? The cleanup involved after the show is over? Vendors who swarm into the area for one day are robbing the citizens of the town thier tax money, if they don't buy a permit. And vendors who sell non-licensed products are robbing the consumer. Do you think the scabs selling knock-off merchandise have the same quality t-shirts as Phish is selling? LOL, is a knock-off Rolex as good as a real Rolex? Think of it like this, genius......You work hard to patent and copywrite an idea. You spend big money on research and development. Finally, you start selling your product, and some thief steals your idea, taking money out of your pocket. How do you feel now?
A band cant survive on good intentions alone
With bootleg products including CD's destroying the record industry along with file sharing and digital downloads I dont blame Phish for going this route. Counterfiet merchandise along with file sharing and digital downloads has really hurt the industry across the board and turned it into a thing of the past, heck you cant even find music video's on mtv anymore which was the second big push for the industry back in the 80's and 90's.
Having been to GD concerts and worked at them the big diference is GD vendors rarely sold bootlegg and instead sold vendor made items where as Phish vendors in the past sold alot of bootlegg stuff and in the past this was a reported issue with Phish.
phish
The man behind this is a (former) dead head and tidewater native. I guess money does change you. I hope mr.anistasio makes it through this recetion. I'm not sure about the vendors that aren't standing in some government line with there hand out. Shame on you cc!!
What’s the big deal?
They are just another Greatful Dead cover band.