deadstein

Jam – 2010-01-18 – Carroll’s

20 Jan 2010 4 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, Wikler

Monday night jam and we continue forging into the new year with reckless abandon. While me and my right leg were feeling pretty good heading into the evening, after standing and jamming for four hours, I left as a wimp, a gimp with a limp. By the way, as an aside, GIMP is a free open-source software that is an excellent Photoshop replacement. I have been using it in part for the past 2 months and is a worthwhile download for those that do image editing and don’t have modern software to modify the images. Check it out at: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/. Back to the story, so I was hurting by the end of the night but feeling good about the jam. I felt we had good sounds and I personally felt tonally competent and dexterous for the first half of the night. We all lost a bit of energy by the end to the point that it was difficult to keep some stuff together.

The only guest we had this evening was Scott Bayer who wacked some bongos and that was it. While I didn’t ask him to video record any jam for posting to UStream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/deadstein), I did record a few seconds of the room as well as a few moments of self-recollection on my way home. Nothing really worth watching, but a bit of historical reference nevertheless. So I was playing lead and Alan was playing rhythm this week. He was sporting a Strat, which we hadn’t seen from him. Kev was still drooping but with some hopeful movements to the north.

I’m writing this on Wednesday night as the jam was Monday so some of it is fuzzy. Some firsts we did included a successful rendition of a 1974 Eyes of the World into the China Doll. I charted out that jam after Alan taught it to me the previous week and we pulled it off and it was good. I did a little practice on the Helter Skelter earlier in the day, I was off for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, and gave it a go during the jam. It is in the new Deadstein Fakebook, supplement, so we all had the music to it, so it wasn’t too bad. Could be a lot better but a good effort. Based on Scott’s request we tried the Savoy Truffle which came off being fun, but I’m sure we messed up the timing on that.

We went to the Spin-o-rama toward the end of the night and it called up a That’s it for the Other One which I think we did well. We played the Cryptical last week and it was late, so that lacked a little something, the the That It For the Other One part was pretty solid. I got us to do the Comfortably Numb toward the end of the night. It had potential but I tripped on my guitar cord while going to hit an effects switch right at the start of the lead and killed my already painful leg. The lead barely survived and I was ;imping in pain for the rest of the night. I’m a tragedy waiting to happen. Teach me to elevate my effects board so I didn’t have t bend. Oh well. There is always next week.

To hear the 20 songs we played go to the following:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/01-18-10/

Jam – 2010-01-12 – Carroll’s

13 Jan 2010 1 Comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, Wikler

Well, it was the second jam of the year and for the most part we were in better shape this week than the previous week, so that was a positive trend. It was just us 5 with Alan on Bob and me on Jerry. The only guest we had was Scott Bayer who showed up for 3 or four songs toward the end of the evening, playing Bongos to the music when he could. For one song I asked him to use my iPhone to video us playing a Come Together. While the music was ok and the recording of the song was marginal, using the iPhone’s camera, it did mark a significant milestone in Deadstein history. For through the iPhone and a streaming service called Ustream were we able to record and broadcast the Deadstein jam live, as it happened. This means that we can alert friends of when we are about to start broadcasting so they can tune in and join I the fun.

Look for the streams at:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/deadstein

or follow Deadstein on Twitter.

We kind of had this ability in the Pseudo days, but the Internet was much less mature and everything was much more complicated. With this we just point the iPhone and it captures what is happening is terrible sight and sound. Nevertheless, it does capture us. Tell your friends to follow Deadstein on Twitter to find out when a jam is being broadcast. An additional benefit of the live broadcast is that it provides a means to record and store these recordings on the USteam.tv network, all quickly and in real time. This way it is done once we hit stop. I don’t have to take video home download, convert and upload. What a wild world 2010 is! One final benefit is that I can also make recordings outside of the jam so look for my commentary spoken in the car after the jam to get the real deal with respect to how I felt about a specific jam.

All this new technology doesn’t do squat for making us better as we still play through 1965 reissue Fender Twin Reverb amplifiers. We opened with a Scott suggestion of the I’ll Take a Melody which I thought was pretty good. Other Garbands that we managed to sneak by during the night included a Love in the Afternoon and I Shall Be Released. We also did a couple of new songs for Deadstein out of the Fakebook including The Weight, which we all sang verses on, including Alan following the text exactly as it refers to “Scraps” my dog as opposed to “Jack” my dog. It was good to hear him sing that line. We also did a bassless Wild Horses with Scott singing during one of Kevin’s many breaks.

We played a China Cat where Alan played the Jerry China Cat riff with me doing the Bob riff while I did the Jerry parts for the rest of it. We had a substantial singular Playing in the Band and we delivered on a Truckin’ à Morning Dew where the Truckin’ was selected by the iPhone spin-o-rama. That iPhone is an amazing little gadget as I used it throughout the night to find answers to the several factual questions we discussed, such as who invented chewing gum.

Dark Hollow and Ripple were amongst the semi-acoustic styled songs that we did for the night. Ballad of a Thin Man was a first for Alan. The spin-o-rama called for a Queen Jane following the Thin Man but we rejected it based on the fact we just completed another long Dylan song. The weight came as a result of the spin-o-rama also. We didn’t use it too much, but it did come in handy.

Some of the classic Rich songs we performed were the You Win Again and Mister Charlie. Neither of which I was too comfortable during, but they weren’t bad either. I felt much more at ease this week than last and was feeling much better also. Kevin was still sporting a face that should be the cover of a Peter Gabriel solo album as well as ear plugs. His aural isolation gave us the opportunity to play softer than usual at some points, but me and my distortion rig broke through that sound barrier when I had the confidence to do so. This happened for the most part during the Morning Dew lead and maybe the Deal which closed out the night.

Plenty of good moments this week, lots of “pos” to enjoy and a feeling as if there are still many good times to come. That is why you need to make a commitment to show up to every jam. If now there, follow us on Twitter and UStream.tv, the Deadstein channel to get a glimpse of what is going on. Until we meet again, same freak time, same freak channel.

To hear what we did this week go to:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/01-12-10/

We saw silloettes of Jerry in here.

Jam – 2010-01-07 – Carroll’s

09 Jan 2010 4 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, Wikler

What goes up must come down.

First jam of the new year, the new decade and it had an ominous beginning. A few weeks ago we reported on a new book and for 2010 Kevin is sporting a new look. A bout with bell’s paulsey gave him an asymetric countenance that didn’t bother him as as much as it bothered us. In any case, like a trooper he was there to jam come hell or high water. The funny thing about the picture is that his bad side looks better than his good side.

Me on the other hand was bouting an onslaught of gout and my right ankle was swollen and asking for mercy which I wasn’t really giving it. Hobbling in on crutches from a block away, Levon Helm was at Terminal 5 next door, didn’t help the matter any bit. I was distracted with fallout from it all night, finding it difficult to loosen it’s grip on me. It took the Dark Star jam to do that. Unfortunately, I stood for that whole thing and I was jelly for the rest of the night. Well worth the agony as it’s Saturday as I write this posting and I am almost able to walk again and should be fine for the next jam, which I eagerly look forward to.

Alan was playing Bobby this week once again, stepping up through the decade’s gate, and also percerveering after fighting his own illness to get to the Deadstein jam which was beckoning. Fortunately Scott had excess energy and excitement to get the jam after missing several while relaxing in beautiful Hawaii. Rich also seemed fine, as did Scott Bayer, our only guest. So three up and three down I guess that averages it all out. The bongo playing by Scott was exceptional this week.

So you see the song list below and 17 songs or so is pretty good considering the circumstances. I recall the first 5 being a disaster for me personally, I was having significant stomach issues which I don’t want to get into to goory details, so I dread listening to them but I did give the middle of the set a listen and while there were some lost opportunities, minor details in the overall scope of it all, I have to be happy with what I heard. I look forward to playing when we are healthy. As long as we all recover, which will happen, the opportunities will blossum, the details will take care of themselves and this decade will open up a new beginning. So I say and hope.

The songs are down below, give them a listen, if you must.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/01-07-10/

One final thing, I really suggest the Adam Carolla podcast and all his other endevours, which are many and entertaining, for anyone interested in a good time. Check it out and Get It On! Subscribe in iTunes or give a listen at your desk. Funny Stuff!!!! I can’t recommend it enough. Mahalo.

Jam – 2009-12-23 – Carroll’s

24 Dec 2009 1 Comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Al D, Bayside Mitch, Bayside Russ, Carroll's, Coffee, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Wikler

It was one of the biggest nights of Deadstein ever. We had lots of everything. To start with Scott was on vacation in Hawaii so that enticed us haul Coffee-Boy’s ass in and sit him down on a drum throne. On his coattails came the contingent of other Baysiders including Mitch who was slinging his new Epiphone 335 (”Dot”) as well as his new Canon 5D DSLR, both being quite impressive. If he only purchased the Gibson 335 and a shitty camera in 10 years his guitar would be worth what his new camera is worth instead of vice-versa. In any case, a guitar can’t record memories and won’t make Mitch money the way a camera can.

To continues, we had Bayside Al on guitar and Bayside Russell on the other drumset. Finally, Alan Wikler was able to make it in time from his Florida trip and also made the jam. This left us with a whole bunch of bunches including 2 Alans, 4 guitarists, 2 drummers, 2 DSLR cameras and a whole bunch of sound. The wall of sound wasn’t enough to describe the music. We should have called it the “Room of Sound.” Ironic, as Coffee pointed out, was the fact that in this whole big room of musicians there wasn’t a sip of alcohol anywhere to be found. That was until Adam showed up who was accompanied by a slim silver flask of high quality Scotch.

Sensing the density of the aura before me, and the pre-song sounds in the room sounding like a 100-piece orchestra warming and tuning up I decided to call for the Dark Star opener which got us sounding and jamming for a while until I wrestled down the mess and brought it into a Feel Like a Stranger. The whole trip was a long one and definitely set us on the path that was our jam for the evening.

Our only guests for the night were Bayside acquaintance, Adam who was using this opportunity to have some fun away from his family. Pretty cool how Adam has seen us at a Short Hills gig since he is friends with those guys and in addition, he is also friends with John and Mitchell Spitz. It’s a small freaky world. He really seemed to have a good time relaxing in the Deadstein spirit of Hanukkahs past. In addition, their friend Jason with long, curly, brown locks was also there.

I can’t say there was a first set, vs. a second set, all I know is that the nigh ended about 30 minutes early as Coffee didn’t seem to have enough caffeine in his midst to keep the mother rolling and he was driving Rich home, not have Scott for a ride, the jam ended at 11:30, but with all the talk and post-mortem, we weren’t out any earlier and we could have gotten in a few more songs.

I also had some new equipment which was a Boss OD-20 distortion box which I enjoyed throughout the night, enabling myself to cut through the morass. I also had new strings on my Strat which also helped my tone. I liked it for the most part as I teamed up the new OD-20 with my pedal board including a compressor, chorus and Alan’s MXR envelope filter which I used and liked. I used it for the Stranger, Ramble on Rose and Catfish John. I then quieted down the masses with a less intensive Friend of the Devil which had a plethora of leads associated with it. Other items of note include mixing up the selection a bit with a surprise Walking Blues which was pretty good. We also had, in no particular order an Althea, Ramble on Rose, All Along the Watch Tower, China/Rider, Tore Up, Lovelight, Brokedown Palace and we closed with a Music Never Stopped that was initiated by Coffee Boy. It must be some of those Scottisms rubbing off on him.

To listen to the music go to the following link or click on the songs below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/12-23-09/

T’was a big night before Christmas and at the Deadstein jam, everything was smoking, except for a ham. Let’s try to get one more jam in for 2009 and start 2010 with a bang.

Jam – 2009-12-14 – Carroll’s

20 Dec 2009 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Jams

Quick iPhone Snap, I assume Scott has the opposite angle.

After missing a week of jamming, since Scott was in the middle of a concert run, Deadstein was back for a Monday night of jamming at Carroll’s. This week, once again, I was taking on Jerry guitar duties and Bob vocals while Alan was playing the Bob guitar. It definitely has been a fun challenge for me to really get into the Jerry thing and look forward to continuing to work on it into the future. I’ve been working on it at home, trying to learn some of those standard licks that I should know but didn’t have to tackle during my years of playing Bob. I feel as if I’ve been making lots of progress in the last few months as I educate myself more in the ways of Jerry. In an effort to get a bit more tone and versatility out of my sound, I didn’t lug the ART SGX 2000, or whatever that thing is, and my Epiphone Les Paul and got some good tones at times, though I mostly played clean. It’s tough to adjust the SGX mid-song. In addition, Alan lent me his MXR envelop filter and a-wah we go. I had it going for the Fire on the Mountain, but I think it put Scotty to sleep during it. Scarlet Fire is a long hard battle after the 11:00 hour.

I’m posting this several days after the actual jam so I don’t recall too much but the Brotman recording are already done so glancing at them should help jog my memory. What I do recall, as referenced above, is the band running out of steam precipitously toward the end of the night. We probably only made it to 11:45 as Scott was falling asleep on the thrown and and rolling his shoulders in anguish after a long nights worth of Deadstein jamming.

With the week off I was also able to complete the supplemental packet of Deadstein Fakebook, version 1.0 music and got it printed as a handout to the band. We played a few songs from this packet, 2 were good, one wasn’t and I was mocked for it. The Gimme Some Lovin was right on and good and a Deadstein first. The Two of Us was surprisingly good although Kevin frustratingly never got the off-time break at the end of the verses. next time it will be perfect. The Ring of Fire I was excoriated for and asked how cheap the Fakebook would have been without it. Kevin was not happy about the Ring of Fire but we will see, it will be a good song one day because it is a good song. It has the same type of Mexican flare as Mexicali Blues.

Rich commented in his emails how he liked the Big Boss Man and Aiko-Aiko. I do recall the Aiko-Aiko flowing out of my fingers automatically at the end of the Uncle John’s/Playing jam. It felt good when I started it for the first 10 seconds but I quickly lost confidence in it shortly thereafter so I’m glad it turned out good.

If you want to listen to the songs from the night go to the following link or just click the song below. Wow we played 20 songs or so, no wonder Scott didn’t endure.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/12-14-09/

New Song Book is Printed – Version 7

05 Dec 2009 8 Comments

by deadstein in Grateful Dead, Music, Songs Tags: Deadstein, Grateful Dead, News, Songs

At the December 3, 2009 jam I distributed the newest version of the Jerry Garcia Song Book which I recently updated and printed. While I call this version 7, to keep up with the recent Microsoft Windows release, it really is the 5th major release of this song book. This song book has been a multi-decade effort on my part starting in my early days of guitar playing as a means to remember how to play the songs. The song book has remained such ever since.

It must have been around 1990 that I found a text file of many Grateful Dead lyrics which I then copied and used as a foundation on which I added my chord charts. Many of those I transfered from the official Grateful Dead song books and others I just knew from playing with others. Then again, there are many that I have figured out on my own since I started playing the Grateful Dead. As those who have used my books in the past, I’m not going to claim they are totally accurate, I wish they were better and will accept any recommendations, but they are as good as I can do in the time I dedicate. Take a look at the books at the links below in both PDF and Word format, so make you own damn book if you don’t like mine.

The reason I was able to get this release out at this time is the new exciting world of working on the web. Kinkos now has an online printing service where you can upload a Word document and print and bind it directly on Kinkos copiers/printers. There is no need for me to print out the documents myself. This is a great convenience. In addition, the quality is much better being a much more direct route to paper. I printed up 9 copies, of which 6 have been spoken for, so I have 3 left so if anyone want an already printed version let me know. First come first server at $35/book. Printing at Kinkos online was so easy that I now look forward to the release of a Deadstein Song Book Packet V1 in the near future that includes all those other songs that we may play that aren’t in the JGSB-V7.

It has always been my intention to make the charts usable during a jam and to fit the entire song and its structure on one page. Eventually as the Internet became a resource I found the clutch Ed Bick library of Grateful Dead text files and tabs and I took a lot from that. Of course there were lots of mistakes in the music along the way and this Version 7 represents a new version that incorporates most of the corrections discovered to the songs over the past 10 years or so. While there aren’t many new songs in the book, from version 4, there are plenty of fixes and subtle corrections. The only real new songs are a few that were included from the Pizza Tapes. To the right is the cover from my home version of the Release 4 of the song book. My jam copy of the song book was missing the front cover and a few songs at the end. Few others still had there release 4 books. Scott lost his and Kev’s blew apart and he was working off a half-ass mid-term release in 2 volumes. Yuck! For history’s sake, below is a link to a link to the Release 4 of the song book.

There is still a lifetime of improvement to make to the book and our playing, but a new printable release marks an important stepping stone in at least my playing and probably those who play in and around me.