Reading over the piece of silliness I just wrote... man, it doesn't matter what I'm writing about, my first drafts are always too wordy! That was just a dashed-off bit of a goof and I still had to restrain myself from over-explaining and adding in extra words that dragged down whatever humour there was. And the posted version is still too wordy with too many characters.

In my own defense I thought it was a good idea to have the whole band present for the vampire revelation. But as you can see, it doesn't really work--the extra characters are distracting. If this was a real story it would work better to only have Jerry, Bobby, and Phil onstage, and there would be another scene in which the housemates gather and vote on the bloodsucking signup sheet, then discuss what to do about the afternoon show Jerry can't possibly play. And come to think of it, that second scene would work best if Phil ran the meeting with interjections from Jerry, plus at least one line for one other housemate to represent everyone else who's there. (And possibly one more "He bit me!" refrain from Bobby, before he's reconciled to the new plan.)

And this reminds me: the vampire Lestat apparently became a rock star in one of the Anne Rice books I haven't read. And the vampire in The Making Of A Monster was a rock musician as well. (The woman who wrote the second book was active on the LA club scene for years as a musician so her portrayal rings true. Lestat--I dunno.)

Vampire rock stars are an obvious choice, but that choice implies something not only about vampires, but also about rock stars. Which is not always a safe or fair assumption, as is demonstrated by this video from the outtakes of Festival Express, showing Phil Lesh's favourite kind of show: outdoors, in the sunshine. And we'll let Pigpen sing it: