my Steal Your Space book

Jam – 2013-06-13 – Carroll’s

13 Jun 2013 3 Comments

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

This was a tough week to get everyone together but we managed to get a version of a Core-4 jam with Lee on drums and Alan on guitar. This has a whole bunch of implications on the evening including no guests and a much smaller and tighter experience. Not only is it one less drum kit in the air, but it also limits the number of live microphones to two, leaving the ambient air relatively free of reverberating feedback generated by all the open microphones.

Kevin’s iPod was playing a 74 Eyes of the World while we were gathering for the night and being that we skipped out on the Eyes last week, I thought it would be a good idea to open with the Eyes to get us going into a good big jammy direction for the night. Figuring we would try to take it all the way out in the final jam like they did in 1973-1974. Maybe this decision showed why we typically start off slow and easy, because this opening 23-minute Eyes of the World sprint at the opening of the night left Kevin gasping for air before we reached Deadstein 12-midnight finish line. Nevertheless, it was a epic adventure. I know Kevin will blame his downfall on the Apricot Newtons, but I will blame it on this giant Eyes of the World to open and all the big music to follow. Starting off as we did in Core-4 format with such a large and enduring jam is quite a mental and physical task and it does take its toll.

I found myself struggling from the first moment on and was doing my best to tot move ahead, thinking sooner or later it would click for me and get comfortable. It never really did and I wasn’t too comfortable with my hand/mind/guitar/tonal combination all evening long. This was too bad and as I always think, a lost opportunity since I was close and the rest of the band was playing well. I hardly played at all in the preceding days leading up to the jam and just wasn’t really on my game, mentally or physically. Time to practice, it makes things much more comfortable and easy during the jam.

From the Eyes, Lee suggested going right into a Greatest Story Ever Told. In an of itself and at that time, also a challenge, but we embarked on it and at least and it provided an ultimate stopping point with its abrupt ending. I was having split personality syndrome (Jerry/Bob) and was losing my focus but at times it had it moment. So 30 minutes into the night’s music, we got our first break to tune up, make and few adjustments and get a sip of water.

You would think the Althea and Little Red Rooster would get us into an easy gate which we could use to trot to the finish line and for the most part these songs accomplished that task. It didn’t help my comfort level any but at least it was song then stop, song then stop. Maybe it was the Jack-A-Roe which we did next. Lee kicked it into high gear and we were able to sustain that frantic sprint through the entire song. It felt good and right at that speed and I was amazed we could sustain it. Well done on our part. From there I thought it was a good time to throw some meat on the fire and play the Sailor Saint. Always a favorite of Kevin’s and it was due. Could have been better but it had it moments.

Thinking a nice relaxing, easy GarBand song could help us out so we did the Gomorrah, and it was nice and relaxing and put us in a better mindset. With this in mind I decided to try the Morning Dew to close the set. Not a favorite of Kevin’s but he can’t avoid it forever. With the small format we had fewer stray elements to lead us astray and we were able the maintain focus and integrity of the song leading to building the momentum throughout the verses, coming down after the first lead and then building up the final lead in a deliberate manner. T’was probably Deadstein’s best effort in this respect of the song.

After a small break we did a couple of Beatles songs I had been working on. The I Me Mine we played twice and the recording in the setlist is the 2nd version. We took one more small break and tried to do a Deadstein classic, one which Kevin always likes, Help Slip Estimated. The transition was not to be as I messed up some of the foundations of the end of Slipknot! leading Lee astray resulting in a crash and burn at the end of the Slipknot. It was my fault as I was playing the before Slipknot double Am scales at the end of the Slipknot when they required single Am scales alternating with drumming fills. I mended the recording together and we did go into the Estimated Prophet which was also well executed by all. What the heck, we were playing big so I decided to do the Core-4 Terrapin, which we were also able to pull off and we ended this long combination of songs with the Terrapin. This combo was also draining and took its toll.

Once again I turned to Garband to get us back in stride and hopefully to the finish line and the Run For the Roses was the elixir the doctor ordered and we seemed good. The Queen Jane was also another nice little shot in the arm getting us successfully back in stride aiming for the finish line. To break things up a bit with a little variety to get our minds off of the extent of the playing we had already done we did the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed followed by Dylan’s Slow Train Coming. Seemed like no biggie but Kevin needed a breather with only a few more songs to go to the finish. We gave him that breather as I noodled on the piano and like a champion he got up off the mat to play a final number to get us over the finish line. I decided that song should be Feel Like a Stranger which is ingrained in Kevin’s mind, one he could play in his sleep. I guess I was right because the Stranger woke Kevin up enough so we could conclude the Core-4 evening with a gentile Brokedown Palace. Woo!

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/06-13-13

Until we freak again.

Jam – 2013-06-06 – Carroll’s

06 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

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

We knew this was going to be a MegaByte big circus from the start and we had everyone in the band there to to participate while the freaks came in and out. It started off simply enough as we were blowing through a few songs that don’t have any harmonies in them until Donna arrived by around the 3rd song. From there we continued with a relatively normal but nice first set ending with the High-Time Let It Grow. We did throw in the Till the Morning Come capper just for the hell of it to keep the riotous masses quiet.

For the second set we had an unusual opener of Brother Esau, providing Donna a opportunity to start fresh with this number that she has been working on the lead vocal. The Women I pulled out of my a$$ was a lot of fun and typically doesn’t disappoint as much as the initial reaction to the song would suggest. Out of the He’s Gone I selected the If I had the World to Give instead of the Other One which was default path we could has selected, but the If I had the World to Give was a nice change of pace and a way of keeping it in relative rotation. Donna left us on a really well executed Oh Darling. With that we ended the night with 3 Jerry Garcia Band songs including a fairly epic Positively 4th Street.

Till the Freak Out Comes.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/06-06-13

Jam – 2013-05-29 – Carroll’s

29 May 2013 Leave a comment

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

It was Wednesday night and the entire band was back in Studio 2 of Carroll’s for another freaky adventure in Deadstein. Actually it wasn’t too freaky, just another night of jamming. The only item I had on the agenda to address this week was to play two Beatles songs I had worked on during the week, I me Mine and Helter Skelter. Fortunately for us, Kevin and I got there very early and were able to work on the licks of I Me Mine prior to anyone else arriving. This did help us a bit by the time the song came up to be played.
To open the evening, we decided to tackle the Music Never Stopped into Sugaree and back into Music Never Stopped that we discussed the week before. Though we have been playing Music Never Stopped quite a bit lately, this gave us a chance to change it up a bit and remember the great Alpine Valley show from August 7, 1982 that gave this combination its validity. From there we went into a Walking Blues which we haven’t done for months, so it was a pretty good feeling walking into the blues early on into the night.

Donna showed us that she has been working on Black Throated Wind has she gave us her first crack at that song. The Oh Darling was my positive foray into the Beatles segment and it did get us off in the right direction. I think the two songs I wanted to try, I Me Mine and Helter Skelter were worthwhile, and I look forward to doing them again.

We got a Weight early in the night and it was probably our best execution on that song to date. The Looks Like Rain –> Deal was a good close to the first set. To open the second set we started with a double dose of openers but settled down with the Hurts Me Too. The Casey Jones followed and then we got into a medley that led us into a Black Muddy River to close the night.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/05-29-13

Jam – 2013-05-23 – Carroll’s

23 May 2013 3 Comments

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

Although I’m writing the blog post a week late, it doesn’t take away from the goodness that happened during the jam. It was just the standard six members coming together for a jam and we had no agenda to sway us one way or the other. The set therefore, took on an organic life of its own, but organic is not synonymous with vegetarian and this jam was filled with protein.

A Jack Straw -> Devil C.C. Rider is a good indication that we were off to a good setlist but it can turn two ways from there, up or down. Fortunately for us, the jam turned up as we attacked the Halfstep in the middle of the set while also incorporating a mid-set Sailor Saint. Cap it all off with a Birdsong Music to close and you have a setlist that would make a Rodizio restaurant proud.

We kept up the momentum with the second set by attacking a Help -> Slip -> Franklins to open which keeps getting better each week. Rich got in a It’s No Use blues number before we embarked on the 2nd set combo which ended with the set ending Playing in the Band reprise. To close we threw in a nice quick and fun You Never Can tell and we were out of there waiting for the next week to approach. Until then, freak out.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/05-23-13

Jam – 2013-05-14 – Carroll’s

14 May 2013 3 Comments

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

This was a week with conflict amongst our schedules and Scott was this week’s odd-man out, leaving Lee to do all the drumming by himself. You wouldn’t know it by walking into the Studio because there were two drum kits setup when we arrived. Kevin took care of that controversy with the front office and we survived with the extra kit without having to pay for it. While we survived, Lee thrived with that extra kit as he took each and every symbol he could from it and encircled his thrones with a lot of hardware.

Speaking of encircling, Alan setup next to Kevin’s by placing his amp right next to Kevin’s in an attempt to get better stereo separation in the recording. Time will tell if it improved the recording. I had hopes of using one of the great Fuchs Fender Twin Reverb amps that Carroll’s had in the studio, but when I plugged my guitar into it, the amp had a crackling sound which made me abandon it for one of the more traditional reissue Twin Reverbs. Not a big deal as the amp I ended up using had a nice chirpy tone and it sounded good throughout the night.

Donna was there for the entire first set with the exception of the Scarlet Begonias opener. Too bad because she actually worked on Scarlet yet didn’t get to play it with us. These days, you have to get to the jam right on time in order not to be left out of the opening numbers. She was able to join us thereafter starting with the It’s All Over Now all the way through the Dancing in the Streets which ended the first set. I think our Looks Like Rain was our best version of that song together to date. On the other hand, the Deep Elem Blue devolved into a really bad dirge before we knew it and represented one of the low points of the first set.

For the second set I wanted to work on some songs, specifically the Help on the Way and the Sailor Saint. To accomplish this I somehow created a nice opening combination for the second set that included the Help–>Slipknot! to open but instead of the Franklin’s Tower, we opted to throw caution into the wind and play a Dark Star out of the Slipknot! It worked out really well in it gave us some time to enjoy a spacy jam and a transitional opportunity to head into a Sailor Saint. We did the first half of the Dark Star and headed into the Sailor Saint from there. That was good stuff and somehow naturally at the end of the Saint of Circumstance, we were in good position to flow right back into the Dark Star to complete it. Once completed, the Dark Star was yearning for a capper and the Around and Around was such a song. An excellent way to put a ribbon an this significant piece of music we just played.

We were able to get in a few more songs before calling it a night which was a pretty good one. As far as guests we had Mike and Mindy and one additional person for the last part of the second set. Freakin’ Out once again.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/05-14-13

Jam – 2013-05-09 – Carroll’s

09 May 2013 2 Comments

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

In the world of the Grateful Dead, the month of May is to be celebrated for all the great music that was generated in May 1977. The Grateful Dead know how to honor this month in that they just released of a 5-show box set of several May 1977 shows. Deastein also knows how to honor the month by playing a show when we happen upon an anniversary date. Many in the Grateful Dead family reflexively look back at the May 1977 and believe the May 8, 1977 Cornell show is the show to end all shows. Obviously the Grateful Dead didn’t rest on their laurels as they responded to that great performance on May 8 and drove west to Buffalo the following day to blow the roof off that arena in what I consider a hotter show than they infamous Cornell 77 show. Let the arguments begin.

It being Thursday, May 9, 2013 gave Deadstein the opportunity to pay homage to this great Buffalo show and we did. This was not a poultry show, foul from having its wings clipped, as a matter of fact I don’t even this Buffalo wings were invented at the time of this show. All there was to chew on at time was pure iron enriched red Buffalo meat, no chicken, no blue cheese and G-d knows, no celery.

The beefiness of the show is apparent in its high powered first set, book-ended by the hottest parts of Blues for Allah. Help-Slip Franklins to open and a Music Never Stopped to close the first set. Additionally, you follow the opener with a Cassidy and you sprinkle in a bunch of other classic Jerry and Bob songs and you have a great first set.

Realizing that we were playing this week on May 9 gave me the foresight to call for the Buffalo show to be played. I got a setlist with MP3s out to everyone early on so they could give it a listen and hopefully practice a bit. I doubt anyone did any practicing but I personally took the opportunity to really try to get some of my Help on the Ways chops in my repertoire. I spent a lot of time in the days leading up to the jam trying to figure out most of the Help on the Way lead and I got that pretty much under my belt by the time the jam rolled around. When it was time to play it, I was able to recall what I had practiced and gave a pretty good effort. Since we were playing the May 9, 1977 version, I was provided two bites at the apple in this was a rare Help on the Way with a double-rounded lead. Additionally, I tried to point out to everyone that we were going to try to perform the Help on the Way and Slipknot! in the manner they played it in 1977. This was a little different than the Deadstein norm. Sure notes were missed and flubbed all over the place, but for the most part, this was one of our most coherent Help-Slip Franklins.

Not only did my home practice get me to play a semi-legitimate version of the Help on the Way, but it got my fingers working well in that my dexterity and musical thinking were on track all night long making playing an easy and fun experience for me. Even the Franklins Tower was greatly aided by a little practice I had been doing with the mixolydian modes earlier in the week. This gave me a whole new perspective on the song. I also learned the intro and outro of the Franklins which I had not addressed since first learning it 25 years ago. I think we also had a cool ending of the Franklin’s Tower, mellowing our after the final lead to come back with a little vocal “roll away the dew” before finishing up with the outro.

Donna joined us just in time for the Franklin’s Tower and stayed with us through the Ship of Fools in the second set. The Help-Slip-Franklins was a tremendous warm-up and got us ready for the Cassidy to follow. I think Donna and I did well to sing the song, our best version to date, and the jam was also nice and strong. While I failed to remind everyone that the ’77 version didn’t have a Ab minor whip in it, I forcefully ended the jam to the song and snuffed out any thoughts of the Ab minor whip before it manifested itself.

There were several parts of the 1977 feel that made songs more abbreviated than typical. The stand alone Mexicali Blues was fast and the two leads only got to experience one round per lead. This was short to the point. The Brown-Eyed Women which preceded the Mexicali also enjoyed a nice relaxed 1977 tempo, it wasn’t the slow 1972 tempo nor was it the high paced tempo from 1982. It was reminiscent of a 1977 Brown-Eyed Women and it was just right. Like the Mexicali Blues, the stand-alone Big River was also very quick. Not that the leads were short, just that the tempo was very fast. I worked on some of the Jerry tempos prior to the jam at home and when it came to sustaining that tempo, we didn’t have too much of an issue. This was one of a more peppy Big Rivers to date and it felt pretty good. The Tennessee Jed was also very well played as we were in a grove by that time in the evening.

Since Deadstein and Donna don’t really know how to play Sunrise we skipped that song from the setlist when it came time to play it, no big deal. Additionally, Donna didn’t really know her part to the Music Never Stopped, so I played the actual version a few times prior to use jamming it to help her get it. Music Never Stopped is one the great opportunities for Donna to shine and Donna did a great job of it when her time came. This was a Deadstein first to have Donna based Music Never Stopped and it was great to hear. I kind of surprised people with the quick turnover from the first part of the Music Never Stopped jam to the second part of the jam, but that is the way it was played in 1977. What I couldn’t emulate was the greatness that is this jam from May 9, 1977 in that Jerry really rocked the world with that version. One of the best.

Amazingly enough, we played that first set and found ourselves 30 minutes ahead of the game at 9:30 with a first set behind us. At that “pernt” we decided to do the rhyme and then headed right into the opening of the second set which was a slow Bertha into a Good Lovin’. I went over the transition that they did to get from the Bertha to the Good Lovin’ in 1977 and we hit it right on. The only problem is that our entrance into the actual Good Lovin’ was terrible immediately following the transition and it took us a few measures to get into synchronicity. Since that was our only real issue with the opening combo, I still consider it a success.

Following another min-break we began the second set in earnest including the Ship of Fools in Bb. This too was well performed, considering that Bb is not our traditional key for that song. The Ship of Fools also represented Donna’s last song with us as 10:30 was her midnight. This left us with the Estimated –> Other One –> Drums to complete the first half of the Second Set. The playing of the Estimated was well done up to the jam. Once the jam hit, I got the sense everyone was into a long drawn-out transition into the Other One as opposed to taking the time to play and enjoy the Estimated jam. Transitions should only take seconds and only a few measures and not minutes, I find we often take way too much time trying to transition into something as opposed to just playing the jam in front of us. With this stated, Kevin was oblivious to the pending Other One, no matter how obvious the long transition was, as he was sitting on the sidelines when it was his turn to begin the Other One. I felt as if I had to grab the Other One by the horns and get it going because I felt the night slipping from us at that moment. People were fading and losing focus and desire to play with any intention. It ’twas a shame.

A drum solo was followed by a min-space into a Not Fade Away. I thought the Not Fade was pretty good but Scott and Kevin were fading quickly were having trouble finding the groove of what should be some of the easiest of grooves for a Grateful Dead band to play. The following Comes a Time had a terrible entrance where we were all on different pages, literally as Kevin couldn’t figure out how to turn to a proper page in his song book. Fortunately there were only a couple of songs to go for the setlist at that point and the Sugar Magnolia whipped back into shape. The show’s encore of Uncle John’s Band was played in a comfortable fashion tying up a few loose ends generated by our typical late-night inabilities.

We found ourselves with a good 30-40 minutes of music to play when we completed the Uncle John’s Band so we decided to try to hit up some good non-Dead lead guitar types of songs. Alan thought the lead-G-ds were watching my back on this night, so he thought it was a good opportunity to take advantage of what was going on. The While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Comfortably Numb were the results of these feeling. I hadn’t practiced either one in preparation for the week’s music, so when lead time came, I was really flying by the seat of my pants. I may have had a few good notes, but for the most part, I didn’t like how I performed during these two songs.

Afterwards it was time to get back to some good old Grateful Dead to close the night. I was yearning for something mellow and a Black Peter was suggested. I think it was a good choice because we did pretty well on it and our playing of the break in the middle of the song was one of Deadstein’s best that I recall in our long, drawn-out history. At the conclusion of the Peter I called for the One More Saturday Night to close and that was a great cap to an excellent evening of music as this song was also pretty well performed considering we started it just after midnight.

It was definitely a satisfying night of music and it was a great tribute to a great show in a great month by a great band. While we had no guests to enjoy the music being made, at least Rich’s two MP3 recorders were there to capture the experience, one picking up the room sounds while the other picking up the music going through the mixing board. Now it is up to me to try my best to get these two recordings into sync so we can enjoy the best of both worlds why trying to avoid the worst of them all. May the Freak be with You.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/05-09-13