Red Rocks Riot - The Real Story (a published eyewitness account)
Dave McCallum
Here's an [apparently] accurate telling of what
actually went down in Morrison before the "Phish
Riot". I think it's a good article, but I'm
bemused by the attitudes that "our hero" Pat
Gerace obviously holds...the last paragraph
contains the most condescending statement about
his perception of the average Phish fan -
"daddy's money" INDEED! Much too much...
This article came out in the "Feedback" section of
Westword [vol. 19, #51 8/15-21/96]. It was written
by Michael Roberts, and appears here without
permission:
In May, I derided Denver's electronic media and
the folks at our fair city's daily newspapers for
their hysterical coverage of an altercation
between kids and cops during a punk-rock show
at an area Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. Well, the
coverage of the ruckus in Morrison on August 5,
which took place against the backdrop of the second
of four sold out Red Rocks appearances by
Vermont-based Phish, puts me in mind of Yogi
Berra's immortal phrase, "It's deja vu all over
again." Yep, reporters did their best to turn the
incident into a skankier version of _Riot on Sunset
Strip_, pitting hippies against the police in a drug-
fueled tag-team match. That makes for an entertaining
story, sure - but reliable sources on the scene insist
that it has little to do with reality.
Ana DeJesus, the owner of Morrison's Red Rocks Grill,
near where the action started, is especially critical
of articles about the episode in the _Rocky Mountain
News_. That publication claimed officers were
attacked by so-called Phish-heads trying to "heal" an
injured woman through holistic means. In response to
this statement, DeJesus snorts, "I'm sure. I don't
know where they got that from. I was right there, and
that never happened. It never happened." DeJesus's
words are echoed by other Grill staffers, including Pat
Gerace, a onetime art director for Westword who's found
more honest work as a waiter. "Based on what I saw," he
says, "everything in the papers was fiction."
According to DeJesus and Gerace, two unruly Phish-heads
amid a sea of otherwise mellow devotees are to blame
for the entire situation. After 8 pm on the evening in
question, Gerace expelled an out-of-control Phanatic
from the eatery. A friend of his, Kari Prassack, who
hails from Pennsylvania, followed him out of the Grill
and walked into the side of a moving pickup truck. The
_News_ initially reported that the vehicle's driver,
who was not ticketed for the accident, fled the scene,
but this was untrue; he stopped and immediately rushed
to Prassack's aid. So, too, did DeJesus, an emergency
medical technician who's training to become a
paramedic. "A guy was with her when I got there," she
recalls, "and I told him, 'Move over. I'm an EMT.' And
he said, "Excuse me, I'm a doctor.' And he was - and
not some 'holistic' doctor or anything like that. He
was a real medical doctor.
DeJesus and the physician immediately determined that
the injury sustained by Prassack was minor - a
fractured wrist. Nevertheless, concerned Phish-heads
began to gather around. When the two caregivers asked
them to move back and give Prassack some space, nearly
all of an complied. However, two men - the ruffian
kicked out by Gerace and one of his friends - responded
by beating on the nearby truck. "I told them to
chill," Gerace reports. "Whereupon both of them took
forceful swings at me."
"Then the two guys jumped into the back of the truck
and started stomping up and down. The police pulled
them down and arrested them, at which point somebody
from the crowd hit the arresting officer with a beer
bottle. It was an isolated incident." He continues,
"That's when the police shut down the street and
started marching everyone toward Bandimere Speedway.
A few minutes later we heard the crowd starting to
chant, 'Hell no, we won't go.' And from that point
on, it was more fun to watch on TV."
Although witnesses at the VFW scrap fingered police
for abusive behavior, DeJesus insists that this time
around the law handled things appropriately. "We had
a town meeting the day after everything happened," she
says, "and I stood up and told everyone at Channels 2,
4, 7 and 9 that they owed the police an apology."
Gerace and DeJesus differ on who is to blame for the
matter. In Gerace's view, the town of Morrison was not
ready for the onslaught of Phish-heads."They say
they've been planning things since February, but the
only preparation I saw was about five trash bags," he
says. By contrast, DeJesus feels that Morrison
shouldn't have been made to bear the burden and expense
of dealing with such a mass migration." Barry Fey
[whose Fey Concerts promoted the Phish dates] is making
all this money from these shows," she says. "Why can't
he provide for these kids? They could have opened up
Red Rocks early, like they used to do for the Grateful
Dead, and we would have been fine down here. I think
Mr. Barry Fey should come down here and spend a little
of the money he's making off us."
Fey's response? The promoter points out that Red Rocks
Park was open during last years Phish concerts-"and
there was confrontation after confrontation, there was
Mace, there was one guy who was stabbed." In an attempt
to prevent a recurrence of these difficulties,
representatives from Fey Concerts, Phish and the City
of Denver came up with a plan to keep people out of the
park. Fey says, "We were instructed to put up more
lights and fencing to keep the crowd in control, which
cost many thousands of dollars. And it worked - there
were no problems at Red Rocks at all." He adds, "I
sympathize with the people in Morrison - I wouldn't
want to be living there with all of this going on. But
there's only so much we can do. I can't control the
way these kids act."
As for future visits by Phish, Fey feels the band has
grown too large for Red Rocks and may have to play
larger Denver-area venues (such as Mile High Stadium)
from now on. If that comes to pass, Gerace will be
among the few Morrison residents who'll be sad to see
the Phish-heads go. "Everybody says all of them are
broke," he says, "but that's not entirely true; there
are a lot of kids spending daddy's money. When they
were here, I made some of the best tips I've ever gotten."
*end of article*
Cheers! DMcC
j. tayloe emery
well done. thanks for clearing all that up...amazing, it was seen
nationally i think? well at least a lot of people heard about it all
over...sucks.
anway thanks.
jte
Jannette Wing Pazer
| Here's an [apparently] accurate telling of what
| actually went down in Morrison before the "Phish
| Riot". I think it's a good article, but I'm
| bemused by the attitudes that "our hero" Pat
| Gerace obviously holds...the last paragraph
| contains the most condescending statement about
| his perception of the average Phish fan -
| "daddy's money" INDEED! Much too much...
According to my friend who spoke to Fishman, one of the major problems
was that a parking lot owner contracted with Phish to charge $15 per
car for parking. However, after seeing the huge amount of people
coming in, he decided to change it to $15 per person, making it
unaffordable for many. They didn't have anywhere to park or to go,
so they ended up in Morrison, and flooded the town. Phish was not
happy about this, since they had a contract with the parking lot, and
this guy was out to screw the phans.
Jannette
j...@fpk.hp.com