This month’s fan site is Otherones.net. Here is what site founder Dave Rosenberg has to have about the resource, which began more than a decade ago…
In 1998, with the Dead community still reeling, Bobby, Phil, Mickey, and Bruce announced they would tour that summer as The Other Ones. Following a warm-up show in SF, the band headed out for its Furthur Festival tour. I caught the first two shows of the tour, in Atlanta and Charlotte. Blown away by the Charlotte show, I planned trips to several other stops along the tour but was surprised there was no Web site with setlists or any other tour news. So I used the tiny bit of Web knowledge I had to put together an Other Ones site on my University of Georgia account, and it began getting a bit of traffic.
The Other Ones next tour wouldn’t take place until fall of 2000, and during that downtime the site moved to OtherOnes.Net and served info on both The Other Ones 98 tour and the solo efforts of Other Ones members. It also spun off RatDog.Org, which had become a greater focus for me given that bands rapid ascent. By the time fall rolled around, OtherOnes.Net was a well-trafficked site. It carried the news of The Other Ones underappreciated Furthur 2000 tour as well as its New Years run.
With The Other Ones again on hiatus through 2001 and the first half of 2002, the site shifted to cover the efforts of various musicians in the Grateful Dead universe, in addition to linking to definitive fan sites like RatDog.Org and Philzone. OtherOnes.Net again took flight with the 2002 Terrapin Station reunion and subsequent Other Ones and The Dead tours before during the 4-year period (late 04-late 08) where Bob focused solely on RatDog and no Other Ones/Dead stuff took place.
Now, with the latest incarnation of The Dead on a highly publicized tour, OtherOnes.Net has again become a very active site containing tour information including setlists, news, reviews, photos, and press coverage. While RatDog.Org remains my primary focus and RatDog remains the band Ill travel far and wide to see, after eleven years OtherOnes.Net is still going strong.