Kaiser
Convention Center, or better known in Deadhead circles, Kaiser or Kaiser Auditorium
from Grateful Dead days gone by, was the scene of the Unbroken Chain Foundation's
benefit sixtieth birthday celebration for good 'ol Phil Lesh. Proceeds from
the benefit support Hepatitis C research.
After
several months of rainy day after rainy day in California, this Friday, March
10 was a full-tilt Sunshine Daydream. The stormy skies cleared by ten am offering
up a bright blue sunny sky. The temperature at its peak was like our friend
of the devil, in the low sixties. A bevy of... no, a long line of tye-died
in the wool Deadhead, Phil Zoned, What's Next on this strange trip people
stood on the sidewalk beside the magnificent concrete Kaiser with it's vast
concave porticos sculpted with dreamy figures. The view across the road is
Lake Merritt preceeding the Berkeley and Oakland Hills in the distance. 
Once
the sun set on this most welcome day, the scene inside was set for a four
hour repast of Phil & Friends.
Standing
in line is an exercise in schmoozing with friends, some of whom you have never
met before, but have known since you were first turned on to this experiment.
Many of the people only see each other here. Some of us come searching for
the holy grail, others are riding the cosmic giggle. We relish in the vibe
and seek the music. We are tribes of varying degrees, some only two or three
deep, some extensive with wide reaches. Light Pole #7 is a replica icon representing
the gathering point for a virtual tribe of seekers from the online community
known as The Well. Well Deadheads who see the dayglo number seven know from
where they hail. Like a headlight on a south bound train, Light Pole #7 provides
the illumination to allow a brief face to face encounter.
While
Phil & Friends were entertaining the troups, a hearty core of Art Police
and BGP krewes were preparing the Ballroom above the concert for an apres-concert
presentation of a proclamation in honor of the sixty year old Phil. The beautiful
Kaiser Ballroom was about to become the surreal scene of the proclamation.
Decomposition was the theme as his Wavemeister transformed into Wolfie Mozart.
He was led by 
The
Golden One while the Wooden One, sitting atop the Box of Rain fiddled the
tune Box of Rain accompanied by the string quartet seated onstage. The large
box was pulled into the Ballroom by the High Countess with help by two MadHatters.
The female string quartet from the San Francisco Symphony were taught the
tune by Woody shortly before the event. Rain indeed did fall from the Box
as it rolled into the Ballroom.
As
1:45am rolled around, Phil was seated at the foot of the stage in front of
the quartet who had been playing Bach, and Beethoven before Phil arrived.
Emerging from the Box, Wolfie and the High Countess cajoled the birthday boy
with retorts about his life and its effect on this particular segment of humanity.
Wolfie extoled
the virtues of decomposing himself for two centuries as the High Countess
let out a whoop of "Ohhhh Woolfieeee" from time to time. 
Phil
graciously accepted the congratulations, acclamations and proclamation as
he proceeded to cut a large birthday cake with the precision of execution
he doles out on his music.
Wolfie
Mozart and the High Countess, affectionally referred to by Wolfie as the Pomp
of Circumstance, layed on Phil a scroll proclaiming this auspicious celebration
to be or not to be as it were and it certainly was! Wolfie proclaimed LET
THEM EAT CAKE... LET THEM EAT CAKE!!! They replied... LET PHIL
EAT THE CAKE... LET PHIL EAT THE CAKE.
And that's the way it
was... or at least as much as we remember it.
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Several of the photos are from photographer extraordinnaire, Susana Millman
http://www.mamarazi.com
