“Sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own…”

And sometimes we share them with 75,000 other folks (in person) and hundreds of thousands more via simulcasts…

Back from vacation following Fare Thee Well in Chicago. It was marvelous on many counts. My role in all of it (aside from just absorbing it all and savoring the moment) was to edit the official program. As part of that I sought out and landed a message to the band from President Obama. What I didn’t realize until a week later was that mainstream media outlets including People and USA Today would take notice.

Anyhow, here’s a Relix news story that talks a bit about it and how you can pick up your copies of all three programs.

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Relix editor-in-chief Dean Budnick also served as the editor-in-chief of the special daily programs that Relix created for the Fare The Well shows in Chicago. Each of the three programs opened with a special introductory message (Bill Walton’s essay “We Are Here, We Were There, We Are Everywhere” from the July 4 program, appears here).

On opening night in Chicago, President Obama himself shared salutations. His message reads as follows, ““Here’s to fifty years of the Grateful Dead, an iconic American band that embodies the creativity, passion and ability to bring people together that makes American music so great. Enjoy this weekend’s celebration of your fans and legacy. And as Jerry would say, ‘Let there be songs to fill the air.’”

Budnick explains, “The whole thing was a surprise. I wanted to keep it from the band members until they saw it in the program.” He approached the White House and found that the President was quite willing to lend his voice. Budnick adds, “It all happened rather quickly. It made perfect sense to me since Chicago is the President’s town and the ‘Core Four’ had been supportive of his initial campaign. Back in October 2008 Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart reunited to perform at the Change Rocks event for then-candidate Barack Obama. They later took the stage at the Mid-Atlantic Inaugural ball in January 2009. So I contacted the White House, described the event, although they seemed quite aware of it, and received the message a day later. They even sent along the official image to run with the President’s words.”

Relix is offering fans the chance to pick up copies of the official program from each of the three Chicago Fare Thee Well shows with the full details right here.