Brokedown House Broken Computer

Not sure how to start or say this. For the last 15 years, I've been working on producing Grateful Dead videos with the idea that since the their live shows could no longer be seen at a Brokedown Palace, the shows could come instead to a Brokedown House on your big screen TV and stereo. It would never be the same as being there, but I have put my best efforts to make these various shows look and sound as good as they can. Either they can bring back memories for those who might have been there or help show a new generation that were not old enough to catch the energy found at a live Grateful Dead show. In this time, I have been lucky enough to work on over 300 videos and audio projects. These I have offered freely to whoever wanted them through trade, blanks & postage, ftp sites and lately torrent sites. I not only have a library of my work, I also have almost every other GD/Jerry Band audience video that have circulated that I have made available to all.  As this music was freely given to us by the band, I have never and would never think of asking for anything in return for my efforts.

For the last 3 years, I have been a surviving cancer patient who was lucky enough to qualify for disability. I have to appreciate the various video projects because during the worse of my illness, they along with my family gave me purpose so I didn't just lay in bed and be miserable. I am blessed that I have 5 healthy kids still living at home but that means there is not much left over out of the monthly disability check. We are luckier than most people in our position and my kids are wonderful in not asking for much knowing that times are rough all over.

In other words, while things are tight, we have been making it. I'm not doing this because of bills or a sick love one. We are surviving and really don't need more for day to day living.

For 15 years, I've supplied my own equipment for capturing video, computers for processing said videos and cable or fios for making those videos available for whoever wanted. I would never have thought of asking for anything in return as I enjoy the results of my work and every Saturday night have friends come over so we can watch whatever I worked on during the week. That said, I hope you can understand why it is hard for me to ask for help. My computer, a 5 year old Dell is fried leaving me with a dilemma. I don't have any extra money in my budget to afford a new computer and I have at least 5 uncirculated Grateful Dead show sitting waiting for me to finish working on them. I do have an 8 years old HP running XP so I can still access the internet and offer some torrents, but there is no way this computer can handle processing video. I was sitting here the last couple of days wondering what to do and a friend told me that if I set up this page he would donate some money as he has enjoyed my work in the past and would like to help me along. It's worth a try, so I hope you don't think less of me. I know that this is not life threatening or to help a sick loved one and I can completely understand any of you blowing this off.  The Grateful Dead community has been my home for the last 40 years since I went to my first show and all the work that I have done has been to return the love and kindness that a only a lifetime of listening to Jerry can bring.

Here is a list of the various GD shows out there with links to a torrent site where they can be found. Any of the shows that say BHP or Brokedown House are ones that are there because of my efforts.

Video List

Thank You
Kevin Tobin