my Steal Your Space book

10-Year Anniversay Skull

It was October 9, 1990that was the first time Deadstein got together and jammed. While it was only Kevin and I from the current line-up that was there that night, yet it started something special that would touch hundreds of musicians, guests and friends over the years. Tonight being October 14, 2008 we are celebrating our 18th anniversary as we embark in our 19th year of Deadstein.  Deadstein’s perseverance is no Little Feet but more like the Grateful Dead where we let our free-loving attitude guide us through a long strange trip. 

2008-10-14 Brotpen Live From Hells Kitchen

Put the puns and play on words aside, Deadstein and a place to jam the music you love on a regular basis is worth the far more than the price of admission.  I’m sure for many that a have been a part of our family and left for whatever reasons, there comes a feeling on a Tuesday night that they wonder what if I was there playing guitar, hanging with the guys and living the Grateful Dead in my conciousness for a few more beloved moments.  Deadstein brings you there and it’s a great place to be.  You can buy that type of fun at Best Buy, no matter how many reward points they give you. It has been quite a trip through the years. A journey which had a beginning is bound to have and end but right now we are in the middle of the trek. I knew Brotpen from the Dead Batteries, a band I played in with him as well as Larry Menaker another Deadstein original, in the late 80’s but he didn’t arrive back into Deadstein for 4-5 years after we started.

Larry gets his recycling stickers installed at Carrolls

We played with a variety of Keyboardists in the early days, trying them out to see if they would survive. Craig Jackers (sp?) a friend of Larry Brent’s from SUNY Albany played keyboards on the first few jams but he was the first leave and we really haven’t heard from him since. We got so desperate we even put advertisements in the Village Voice seeking keyboardists and tried out a few from that endeavor. We found Jeremy that way who quickly found out the rule that if you pass out during a Deadstein jam, don’t count on us to stop for you. It was a hot night in a claustrophobic Stickworks studio and we were playing for a good 30 minutes without break and during the Other One, Jeremy was resting his head on his Keyboard and then resting on the floor. We looked and went on. Eventually we found Brotpen who had a much stronger inner drive and was able to trip and then get up. He needed no help from any one else.

Larry takes a great autumn photo on his bike ride home from work prior to the jam.

Scott Bayer proves Deadstein has not lost its knack to attract freaks.

Well there is so much to write about and so little time to write about it all. Thankfully, Deadstein and company was one of the early bloggers in the world of the Internet and much of our collective experience is on http://www.Deadstein.com for all to read and for some to reminisce to. Enjoy it and remark about it, because no matter how crappy our music may be, and it isn’t all that bad, the journey has been remarkable and I expect the next 19 years to continue to be a journey though likely to be less remarkable. After all, there are no more jams that will take place during Dead tours, there are likely to be no more midgets, it’s not even politically correct to call them midgets anymore, and there will be nothing like Dennis again.

Larry and Scott Biking on the GWB on Columbus Day 2008

Scott setting up for the night

The last few days have been gorgeous here in the New York City area and Scott and I took advantage of the first Deadstein healthy related activity I could think of by taking a bike ride from his house to NJ and back.  I played tennis with LLB once and he kicked my ass, but that is the only other sporting activity I recall with band members.  So it was beautiful on Sunday and we cruised 25 miles up and down the Island.  A geat day.  Take a look at the composite picture above from the Geaorge Washington Bridge.  Kathy and Andy Klein joined us on the ride.  We rode right past Carroll’s.      Maybe we should form a Deadstein basketball team.  Who play’s center?

Andy Harcup wishes us peace

I got there expecting to see Kevin’s friend Ken Levine there to celebrate his 56th birthday but instead and in lieu we had Deadstein’s own little runaway, Andy Harcup.  He came with his Hagstrom es-335esque guitar and his exhuberant attitude and he was ready to go.

Jason was on lead for the night and I think we are breaking him down a bit and getting him to play some J-Garband songs.  Let us not forget that Scott Bayer who showed up for a song or two and we once again we played to Carol over the cell phone.  Not much talk of the anniversary but there ususally isn’t too much talk on anything.

Another closeup from the Piano

We played a lot of songs for the night.  I started it all off by wrestling a bluesy intro jam in E into a Wang Dang Doodle.  Wasn’t the best thing in the world, but it wasn’t the worst.  If you want to hear the jam it is available at the link below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/10-14-08/

We actually have 20 MP3s provided at this link.  While there were a few small quickies, there were other double combos, and with the presences of Andy, we had some first timers.  It was over 20 songs.  That is a lot for us.