| 1983 3/29 | "Grateful Dead Ticket Sales" first mail order concert |
According to Steven Marcus:
"GDTS first mail order concert was March 29, 1983 at The Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. I was hired in February of 1983 by Danny Rifkin and Eddie Washington. Eddie left about 6 months later and I took over as general manager of GDTS. Frankie Accardi was hired in early 1984 as a ticketer and made office manager in 1986."
"Also, Grateful Dead Ticket Sales was officially formed in February 1983 to sell tickets directly to long time Dead Heads who had supported the band. It was then manager Danny Rifkin's idea. Eddie Washington (producer of The Grateful Dead Movie) volunteered to run it and then promptly called me for help. He did this because I was in charge of the Mail Order sale of tickets for The Dead's 15 night stand at The Warfield in 1980 and he remembered that I knew about tickets and he didn't. I was offered a "part-time job for 6 weeks" at the most. That job lasted for me from February 1983 until March 1996 when Grateful Dead Ticket Sales (GDTS) was officially closed down. At that time 4 of us from GDTS formed GDTSTOO, Inc. I left GDTSTOO, Inc in late 1997 to form Bob Dylan Ticket Sales for BobDylan.com. That ended in 1999."
"Grateful Dead were the first major band to set up a ticket sales program for their fans. Another point about GDTS was that we were NOT allowed to advertise ANYWHERE. The information was originally posted on the official Grateful Dead Hotlines on both the East and West coast. The phone number was and is not listed! We sold tickets by word of mouth only! In 1983 we sold over 24,000 tickets. In 1984 we sold over 115,000 tickets, and by 1994 (the last full year of shows by Grateful Dead) we sold over 600,000 tickets!"
"GDTS first mail order concert was March 29, 1983 at The Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. I was hired in February of 1983 by Danny Rifkin and Eddie Washington. Eddie left about 6 months later and I took over as general manager of GDTS. Frankie Accardi was hired in early 1984 as a ticketer and made office manager in 1986."
"Also, Grateful Dead Ticket Sales was officially formed in February 1983 to sell tickets directly to long time Dead Heads who had supported the band. It was then manager Danny Rifkin's idea. Eddie Washington (producer of The Grateful Dead Movie) volunteered to run it and then promptly called me for help. He did this because I was in charge of the Mail Order sale of tickets for The Dead's 15 night stand at The Warfield in 1980 and he remembered that I knew about tickets and he didn't. I was offered a "part-time job for 6 weeks" at the most. That job lasted for me from February 1983 until March 1996 when Grateful Dead Ticket Sales (GDTS) was officially closed down. At that time 4 of us from GDTS formed GDTSTOO, Inc. I left GDTSTOO, Inc in late 1997 to form Bob Dylan Ticket Sales for BobDylan.com. That ended in 1999."
"Grateful Dead were the first major band to set up a ticket sales program for their fans. Another point about GDTS was that we were NOT allowed to advertise ANYWHERE. The information was originally posted on the official Grateful Dead Hotlines on both the East and West coast. The phone number was and is not listed! We sold tickets by word of mouth only! In 1983 we sold over 24,000 tickets. In 1984 we sold over 115,000 tickets, and by 1994 (the last full year of shows by Grateful Dead) we sold over 600,000 tickets!"