Comments

sort by
Recent
Reset
  • morning drew
    Joined:
    Chicago Meetings
    Looking forward to Chicago Fare Thee Well! When are the meetings?
  • AzNiner
    Joined:
    Table locations have been posted on Dead50.net
    Santa Clara: Where can I find the Wharf Rats at the show? The Wharf Rats will have a table near the Participation Row area, on the main concourse close to the Intel Gate A. _____________________________________________________________________ Chicago.. Where can I find the Wharf Rats at the show? The Wharf Rats will have a table near the Participation Row area, in the South Courtyard inside the South Gates, near Gate 0.
  • Spaceman Spiff
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Newbee
    Going to SC 6/27, and a bit nervous that I will be the only one around me not using. I'm younger than most of you folks from what I have gathered, as I only got into the Dead as a high schooler in the early 90's, and have followed mostly by trading music and watching as a bit of an "outsider". Saw Phil a few times. Loved the music and people were kind. But I always felt out of place since it seemed like I was the only one not smoking, dosing or drinking that wine. (Never used. Seen too much life wasted to be attracted to any of it. That, and my relationship with God, the real influence, would be so scrambled up if I was under the other influence.) Would like to find the yellow balloons during set break and say how do you do. Plus, I'll need the reassurance that there are more like me out there. Real name's Eric. I'll see you there!
  • mona
    Joined:
    Will be tables
    At both both Chicago and Santa Clara. Look for the yellow ballons or bring one and you will be found. Maybe a meeting on Friday afternoon or night at a Park near the Stadium SC.
  • cwlane
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Helping Hand
    I am a lone drunk. I agree with you though.
  • cwlane
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Thanks. Much appreciated.
    Thanks. Much appreciated.
  • mona
    Joined:
    cwlane of corse you can still love the GD! Why there is wharfrat
    "a group of friends sharing a common bond, providing support, information and some traction in an otherwise slippery environment." Look for the yellow ballons and meetings are at set break. You don't have to be perfect. Just take it one show at a time (~);-)
  • mona
    Joined:
    Wharf Rats Description:
    The Wharf Rats are a group of concert-goers who have chosen to live drug and alcohol free. Our primary purpose at the shows is to make ourselves available to anyone who feels we may have something they want. We offer support, strength, fellowship and hope. Look for the yellow balloons, signs and the Wharf Rats information table. We are not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous nor any other twelve-step group. We are a group of friends sharing a common bond, providing support, information and some traction in an otherwise slippery environment. The Wharf Rats began during the 1980s as a group of Deadheads under the name "The Wharf Rat Group of Alcoholics Anonymous". The Wharf Rats originally came from a small group of Narcotics Anonymous members who went to a Grateful Dead concert in Philadelphia and located each other by their Yellow balloons with the NA symbol drawn on in Magic Marker. However due to operational differences they soon split off from Alcoholics Anonymous, and are not affiliated with them, NA, or any other twelve-step program, though many of members of the Wharf Rats are members of AA, NA or other 12 step programs. The Wharf Rats see themselves as "a group of friends sharing a common bond, providing support, information and some traction in an otherwise slippery environment." The unusual name of this group comes from the Grateful Dead song "Wharf Rat", which contains the self-told story of August West, a down-and-out dockside wino.
  • paulyp
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Helping Hand
    Hey CW....First thing I noticed that you joined the site in 2010...whatta ya been doing for the past 4 and a half years if your trying to get sober now?? The first thing I did to get sober: Change People, Places and Things!! You gotta lose all your "using friends" start hanging out with positive, healthy, sober people. Try that for starters and get to a meeting!!
  • cwlane
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    Help Me!
    I'm trying to get sober, but I'm sacred. Can I still love the GD? Please help.
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
Forums
Welcome, Wharf-Rats.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 7 months
Permalink

I'll be sittin' in the " No Alcohol " section at Wrigley Field 5/5.Cubs vs Giants.........Game time 1:20 pm Tickets still available :o) It would be so cool to have a whole WharfRat section at Wrigley. See you there. November and more as I wait for the score. They're tellin' me forgivness is the key to every door.
user picture

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

I will be at the DCU 4/18...this will be my first show w/ out being "chemically" inconveienced...will there be a wharfrat meeting there? And how ill I know they are there and where ? Also I haven't recieved my tix yet...has anyone out there recieved there's? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
user picture

Member for

15 years 7 months
Permalink

thank you... i am so grateful to be here.. when ratdog.org went down, i wondered where i would find some kind fellowship... WHARF RAT: 8 years; 9 months; 5 days... glad to be here...
user picture

Member for

17 years
Permalink

Are you the other Charlie I met in PA? If so, Welcome friend! If not, Welcome friend anyway!Peace, Love and Recovery,lefty
user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

tj crowley traditionally the 'table' is identified w/ 'yellow ballons' usually there's a banner (wharf-rats)attached to the wall inside milieu(s) will have table on main floor directly behind drums/stage above all..if even staying w/ the wharf-rat folk is un-comfortable, the same two feet that brought you dancin in can bring you to the exit sign(s)
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 4 months
Permalink

Hello friends, Haven't visited the forum for a couple of months now, but very happy to announce that I recently celebrated my 1 year birthday - hoping to get to a show or two out west in May. If I can make it, I will certainly be on the lookout for fellow wharfrats - would sure love to meet some of you! Kym
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Hey people, DC and Charlottesville are just a couple of weeks away! I'll be doing my 1st shows sober. My last shows were in NC 89 right before getting sober. I'll be on the lookout for the table and yellow balloons-can't wait to see you there!
user picture

Member for

16 years 8 months
Permalink

Hey y'all. I'm going to Greensboro and the 5/5 Chicago shows. It's just me, one ticket. I'm super-excited but also a little wary because of the cunning, baffling nature of this disease. Any folks here I could meet up with before/after these shows? (Can't wait to look for the yellow balloons!) I want to really have a good, carefree time, and not feel weird if there are triggers, y'know? I've been clean for a few years now but haven't been to hardly any shows. I went to tons of meetings the first few years, got a strong foundation I guess. But for the past five or so – the familiar story – I've gotten "busy" with life: having a kid, work etc. I'm grateful to have remained clean during this time. Actually, since getting my ticket for Greensboro, I've been to more meetings than in the the last five years. But still not in the middle of the boat as I was when first clean. I was so excited when I found archive.org a few years ago. I got back into the Dead without getting tangled in the scene. But it's just been me and the music. My wife – who I met in recovery – unfortunately doesn't get the "dead". Thank god for this forum. Once again, I realize I'm not alone; there are people out there just like me! Peace. ---- I was blind all the time I was learning to see.
user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

tj crowley not sure if i'll be at any show(s) due to price of tckt's BUT march 28th will be my anni
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

RODGER ALLINSON alas yet being clean and sober now for the past six years i can really apreciate and respect what being a wharf rat is all about when i was on tour all those years i could'nt even begin to imagine the concept but now i,m glad that as i go to shows this spring ill have a network to plug into
user picture

Member for

15 years 8 months
Permalink

Hey Jimmie C and all wharf,sI'll be at Wrigley 4/18, with 11 years clean and sober. I'll let you know how cold it was. -PEACE-
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 7 months
Permalink

I've got 8 yrs and L.A., May 9th is my first Dead show, is any one else going??
user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

Celebrating the resurrection of The Dead on Easter Sunday in Greensboro. Yellow balloons/tables on the premises?
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

I'll be there, Lord willin'.
user picture

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Well the final weekend before the tour has come and gone, and no west coast freebie, warmup, sendoff, nothin, zilch (I was hopin). Guess the days of the unanounced free show in Golden Gate Park are over. Oh well, see all of you west coast rats @ Shoreline. Hope I don't go into DTs between now and then (deadlirium tremuns) "I'll get up and fly away"
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

I have looked for WR groups around chicagoland to no avail.Nobody seems to feel like typing.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

Hi, I am looking for a kind soul in NYC to sell me 3 tix for the 042509 MSG DEAD show for $200 total. I realize this is CRAZY-BELOW the price on the tix. To compensate for this I am offering you a FREE 3 NIGHT stay in San Francisco. I have a lovely studio apt located 3 blocks from the Powell Cable Car turnaround and would love to share my space w/ you for free. SHORELINE May 10th, SHORELINE May 14th, and you've got a free place, heck, I'll let ya stay at my place from the 9th till the 15th!! (Shoreline stay ONLY offered for Wharfrats, and I pay only $150 for the 3 tix) If this works for us, I have a relative in Manhattan that will pick up the tix and pay you, Of course, I am sure we will speak prior. search words to pull up my post quicker: SF NYC MSG Mountain View CA 05/10/09 05/14/09 051009 051409 0510 0514 042409 0424 04/24/09 04/24 $200 $150
user picture

Member for

16 years
Permalink

Sorry I havent posted in a while.....life on lifes terms. IM SO EXCITED-its been hard to work, think, eat, sleep, I know you guys understand! April 12 will only be my second show sober but I CANT WAIT!!! I am gonna be doing the family thing most of the time but will be hanging with the Rats too!!!! Did I mention IM SO EXCITED?????!!!!! c u guys sooooooooooon!
user picture

Member for

16 years 8 months
Permalink

Anyone know of good meetings in Greensboro or Winston-Salem Saturday night or Sunday morning? I'd love to get a meeting in before the show.
user picture

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

Greensboro, NC I'll be there. 15 yrs clean. See you guys under the yellow balloon. It will be my first WharfRats experience.
user picture

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

I am just discovering this Wharf Rats thing. Feels like comin home all over again. I have been to lots and lots of shows but hopefully(if I can find a ticket to buy!) May 9 in L.A. will be my first sober show. I have 7 yrs of good trudgin here in L.A. but I'm really excited to see the dead when I'm sober I am REALLY EXCITED!!!!!! LIFE IS GOOD!! May the four winds blow you safely home
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

just 2 nights and a wakeup Wife and I are taking our 18 & 20 yr olds to their first show... they grew up listening to The Dead and they are as stoked as their ole man. It was my 20 yr old son that noticed it would be the 38th anniversary of my first show... pretty special and will be my first with my children (double special) See everyone at the Meeting between sets ... Been clean n sober 26 years and gonna shake these ole bones one more time... :-)
user picture

Member for

16 years 10 months
Permalink

What time will the wharfrats gather at the Greensboro show? Any good Narcotics Anonymous meetings in the area?
user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

I found out about them 2 years ago at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, TN. This past 17 March 2009 I celebrated 23 years clean and sober. I thank God I survived the 15 years before that. Let your life procede by its own design.
user picture

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Hey All,Can't wait until you come up to NJ/NYC. My name is Jason and have been a wharfrat since 2002. Looking forward to seeing you up here! Have fun tonight :) Can find me on aol Notfadeaway18, give me a text when you get to NJ. Jason
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

Hey All, Tammy from Philly, PA here, 78 days sober, my 1st sober show will be in Philly Sat May 2nd and i'm nervous, looking for wharfrats to help me stay sober and dance the night away. Please contact me so i don't have to sell my ticket out of fear, i had to give up all of my ppl, places and things. JazzKittenPoet@yahoo.com
user picture

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

tj crowley meetings usuaaly are during the break but the table is attended to throughout the show
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Looked high and looked low ... No Wharfrat table at the Greensboro show Couldn't find table nor meeting between sets ... Glad I wasn't Jones'n
user picture

Member for

15 years 7 months
Permalink

I hope to see the yellow balloons at the show tomorrow in Albany. There's nothing like a Dead concert sober!
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

Wow, we ended by loudly singing a line from "Black Peter" starting with "See how everything leads up to this day" and people were stopping and staring and taking pics. Big Daddy Don said Jerry sang that at the WR first show. Thanks to the guys at the table for being there when I took a break from the freaky Space stuff the Dead are doing now. I'm SO GRATEFUL for my WR fam and wouldn't have made it these three shows without you!
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Yea, I couldn't find the rats at the greensboro show either. But I had a great time. Thats 6 clean shows for me and looking forward to many more. The boys sound great I hope they start touring more often. This summer or next fall would be killer.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Made my shows in DC & UVA clean and sober. Thanks for the yellow ballons at both shows. It was a comfort to know you were there, if I needed you. My brother rode shot gun for me. Miracles in sobriety never cease.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

Hello family,Going to the Mountain View show, 6 of us Clean, not Dead Heads. Hope to get to meet some of you there. Anybody going? Janice
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

MSG SHOW... WOW!!!! I went with my 69year old Dad, My Brother in Law and a friend. We had section 401, but MIRACLED floor seats, both sets! Cosmic Charlie, U J Band, He's Gone, Gimme Shelter all SUPER DUPER!! Mid Set break Wharf Rat mtng, very nice, extra special. The meeting was so packed, "normies" in the hallway couldn't get by! Hahaha. I shared, said I was Wharfrat from SF. Very warm, good vibes. Sobriety countdown, beautifull. Confetti was thrown and my thick hair soaked it up. I think some of it remains. St. Stephen w/ confetti, in and out of my hair, like spaggetti... I will be at Shoreline both shows, Call me up, my name is Lew. (415) HOLY-GUY Wharf Rat AA mtngs on Thursdays at 8:15, Noe Valley SFCA, hope to see y'all there...
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

FYIOn this site's video page, the video of Greensboro featured Big Daddy Don on the floor dancin with his crazy hat! When I met him in G'boro I didn't know who he was, but I found out at the other shows. He was a valuable asset to me at the shows and generous to my driver, gifting her some "Cats Down Under the Stars" jewelry.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

Hi Everyone, Sounds like the shows are amazing and everyone is havin' fun doin' it sober. I live in Carlsbad, CA and was wondering if anyone from San Diego is heading up to the show on May 9th. I'm newly sober and would love to go to the show. I need to go with some wharf rats otherwise I won't be going. I'm leavin' it up to my higher power. I'm puttin' it out there and seein' what comes back. Cuz I no that the life I was livin' was no good but I'm gettin' a new start to live the I should. please email me at phreeang@yahoo.com if you have any info, would like to chat or are goin' to the show and you have room for one more sober head. Lots of Love, Ang
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 8 months
Permalink

I see no one has posted to this in a few years so I am reaching out in hopes that someone will respond...any wharf rat action at the 2009 shows?
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 8 months
Permalink

Ok, now the site is acting funny..as soon as I posted my question the 2009 comments came up LOL. Hugzzz
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

16 years 4 months
Permalink

Coming out from Arizona for my first SOBER show on 5/14 and hoping to put some faces to the names I read here. Where should I look for the table and balloons - somewhere inside the venue would be my guess. Will be visiting with friends in the area, but will be on my own at the show and hoping for support! Love y'all - see ya soon!
user picture

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Gettin close to showtime folks...would love to get together with other clean and sober rats before show and share experience strength and hope. I went to the NYE Phil/Ratdog shows and my sobriety was in jeopordy for a while. Need to make sure I'm plugged in for this. I plan on getting there very early (lawn seats). Shoot me an email here or rhollis80@yahoo.com ♪♪♪ "I'll get up and fly away" ♪♪♪
user picture

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Thanks for the table in Hartford! My 5 years and my buddies 1 year sure did appreciate you being there.
user picture

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

Meadowlands was great!! Looking for a safe place to meet on lot in Philly?? I'm doing a few shows with Louie, and am always happy to give out a one show sticker and a hug. His Falafal/ Jerry Roll booth is impossible to miss on shakedown. Also looking for an extra ticket both nights.. Haps/ Flaps/ 7 Laps
user picture

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Original Wharf Rat from the East coast now living in Wyoming. 24 years clean and looking for Wharf Rats to hang out with at the Denver Show. HP provided a clean rider by "coincidence" when I posted on a local board. Email me at lonesomejohnnie@hotmail.com or call me at 307-248-3117 (cell). Some folks trust in reason, others trust in might, I don't trust in nothing, but I know it'll turn out right.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 5 months
Permalink

Haven't seen any version of The Dead since I sobered up in 2000 and am heading to Shoreline on Sunday... can't wait to feel the music again. Will be with a solid buddy but am hoping to find a meeting at set break... any suggestions from those in the know?Enjoy the shows, take care of each other and be well. Thanks for any help you can hoffer. "once in awhile you get shown the light"
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 6 months
Permalink

Just wondering if there will be a booth at the Forum for us? Didn't see one in Philly.....
user picture

Member for

16 years
Permalink

wow! what an amazing trip-ya a little strange too I guess!!! Hit up tables in Greensboro, D.C. and Charlottesville-which was AMAZING might I add-Black Peter is so powerful-great shows-great sobriety-I even got some great bumper stickers for my car! Now people can come up to me and ask who August West is-or what a Wharf Rat is for that matter-lol!!! I love all of you my brothers n sisters-thankx for being part of my family!!!peace, love, n sobriety-hcm
user picture

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I count 19 shows and no Wharf Rat. Maybe Shoreline?...
user picture

Member for

15 years 9 months
Permalink

Phil and Friends: 50 times, Ratdog: 45 times, Other Ones: 12 times, The Dead: 1 time ♪♪♪ "I'll get up and fly away" ♪♪♪