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Jam – 2013-03-21 – Carroll’s

21 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

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

After the extended span of a Monday to the following Thursday, Deadstein was ready for action. It was Kevin’s birthday and you wouldn’t have know it. At least I didn’t, so happy birthday Kevin.

I just got back from my RV trip to South Carolina and back and still had the feelings of the Virginia Mountains and driving down south occupying my mind. We were again lucky enough to have the six of us there to play but found out Donna was sick so she wasn’t going to join us. This coupled with my trip, thanks for asking, influenced the song selection a bit. Saving some songs for when Donna gets better while selecting some that are good to get done because they don’t have any harmonies and don’t involve her for the most part.

The resulting setlists had a real first set/second set feel to them; exhibiting flow, dynamics and surprises. In the end, Alan proclaimed it to be his best jam to date while playing with Deadstein. That was quite a lofty statement and I am glad for him from his perspective, but I would go quite that far. Nevertheless, it was a real solid night of playing that was quite satisfying to the soul.

As far as guests, Steve was there and we congratulate him and Lindsay on their baby. Maggie and Ryan were also there and he sat in for a song or two. Scott had the kick drum that played itself and Kevin had some ultra-low sonic stuff going on. I don’t think I had anything special going on.

Rich has a backlog of recording to get through, so check back for the MP3s to come. Nope, it looks like Rich handed them off to me and I uploaded them on 4/21/13.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/03-21-13

Jam – 2013-03-11 – Carroll’s

11 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

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

A Monday night jam was on call for this week as I was scheduled to begin my inaugural RV vacation the following morning. It was perfect timing for me as I was also able to get everyone to agree to play the following Thursday, the night I get home. As I was already on vacation as of this jam, I was eager and ready to jam and I think this feeling permeated the band. I didn’t do any of the write up following the jam so there is little to recall. I do remember everyone being there and being on mark but more than that is difficult. I would just like to thank everyone for making the Deadstein book-ending my vacation a reality. See you on the Freakin’ rebound.

Rich has a nice backlog of music to get to, so I guess we need to keep checking back to listen to the MP3s from the even’s music.

Jam – 2013-03-07 – Carroll’s

07 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

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

Deadstein got back into its hunker-down mentality on this Thursday night as it was just the six of us ready to deliver a good meaty night of music. I think we succeeded for the most part, providing a real legitimate first and second set. It was a good feeling week of security compared to the pandemonium that was presented to us the week before. Not that Deadstein isn’t nimble on its feet and doesn’t enjoy a little surprise every no and then, but this week felt comfortable in the lack of having to care about anything else but ourselves.

I think Ryan and Maggie were our only guests for the night, so we had no but ourselves to blame if things didn’t work out. There was the threat of snow, nor-Easter in in the air but the few flurries that impacted us were only for the good. It got us off the mark with a default Cold Rain and Snow and that just led to better and better things as the night progressed.

The China Rider was a powerful one for us to close the first set. While the botched opening of the Saint Stephen for the second set could have spelled doom, it was the only downer of the second set as the rest felt pretty good. The Scarlet Fire following the Stephen got us right back on track and brought us right back to the station at 12 midnight to end the evening. Another great night of music, which I look forward to giving a listen. Freakin’ woo.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/03-07-13

Jam – 2013-02-28 – Carroll’s

28 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

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

It was a little more “Wow” that “Woo” in the wacky, wide, woo of freak that is Deadstein. Alan called out sick earlier in the morning so Scott’s friend, who was scheduled to make his Deadstein debut that night on guitar for a few songs, was called in for the long haul. Not everyone, not even Scott on most nights, can survive a full night of Deadstein, let’s see how he would fare.

As an Albany Alum, like several of us, he fit in with the music pretty well as he was doing a admirable job of recalling how to jam these songs from his time of playing in bands in Albany in the mid-1970’s. He came with a nice Gibson with a whammy bar and a big bottle of Irish whiskey. The whammy bar provide a nice subtle touch while the Irish whiskey delivered the knock-out blow just after 11pm. All that was left by the end of the jam was an ever expanding ring around the collar passed out in a chair. Not a pretty sight. Somehow Scott had to scoop his fat a$$ out of Carroll’s and get him back home. For all I know he is still passed out in Studio 3.

With all that going on, we still had music to play and Donna was there to see the good, the bad and she left before the real ugly. We therefore got some good stuff in with her. The I Shall Be Released, Jack Straw, Tomorrow is Forever was probably the highlight of the first set as Donna is getting more and more comfortable with singing with us. Jack Straw is almost second nature so we are getting more familiar with each other with each passing jam.

Speaking of familiar with each other, just after Donna left and as we were about to embark on second set of the night, getting a sense of where the rest of the night was heading, a Playing in the Band was just called for. We were getting the 10-count in and then to the surprise of everyone, in comes Mini-T giant Kiss boot and all.

During a jam, Kevin called her two weeks ago on a lark to see if she was around, and two week later she shows up. I guess Terez responds to phone messages in the two ways I respond to email, either in two seconds or two weeks. In any case it was a great surprise, giving us a great boost for the second set which otherwise, was destined for a great fall.

In lieu of the Playing in the Band, Terez insisted she was ready to go, so she grabbed the microphone as soon as her coat came off and lead us into a Tore-Up. Thereafter we ripped through 10 Mini-T songs in a row with some good momentum and sound. It carried us forward with a take no prisoner’s attitude and we only left one behind, oh well. It was a lot of fun and such a ying to the yang that was there in the second set. Always great to have the ying counter the yang. From the looks of it all you would not think the ying could counter-balance the yang but in the game of ying-yang, it is all about where you place the fulcrum.

The second set was long and tough, but with the revitalizing energy of Mini-T we made some good of it. Ryan jumped in a for a couple of songs for both Scott and Lee and Ryan and Steve were our only guests until a few others showed up late night to enjoy the sultry sounds of Deadstein. As the night ended we played a real nice, under control Sitting Here in Limbo that ended at 12-midnight. Thinking we didn’t want to end on the Sitting Here in Limbo we played a Deal to close, but it was pretty ugly as we obviously overstayed our welcome. All there was to do was to haul yang into the elevator and get home and get set whatever may be next on the Deadstein’ freakin’ horizon. Whoa! Time to get back to the mighty “Woo.”

To hear what we did, go to the MP3links below:

http://deadstein.com/audio/02-28-13/

Set 1

Set 2

Jam – 2013-02-19 – Carroll’s

19 Feb 2013 4 Comments

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

After a week on the road and with Rich sick, it was great to have us all back together again in good health and back in our comfortable Studio 2 at Carroll’s. We had no agenda for the night, but Donna was there with us for the first set and we had several big songs on tap to perform with her.

I decided to go into an Uncle John’s opener to try to get us into a bit of a jamming mode considering we had lots of normal songs to play later on. This was good, it was a great way to start, from there I got us into the Hey Pockey Way in pretty good fashion and we were off to the races. We then proceeded with some good Donna songs including several Bobby/Donna Duets and several forays into the Graband. I think this is where Donna really shined as her Brothers and Sisters, Love Each Other and Like a Road with us gave a a great boost in the legitimacy realm.

We got an ample 15-songs first set in with Donna, ending on the Tangled Up in Blue to close her night. It was an excellent 1st set. I don’t know where the concept of opening the second set with the Come Together came from but we did it and felt pretty good. Kevin the suggested out of the blue that we go A-Z in order in the Beatles section. That’s not the type of thing he suggests but we did end up staying with the Beatles stuff for the rest of the night, often playing songs we rarely had done previously. I thought it was fun and a nice opportunity to do some new things.

As far as guests, I don’t recall any, but I assume Steve was there. I appreciate the work Rich does on posting these recordings, so you might want to give them a listen. Then again, I couldn’t blame you if you didn’t, nevertheless, they are listed below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/02-19-13/

Set 1

Set 2

Jam – 2013-02-12 – Smash Studios

12 Feb 2013 5 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Jam, Kevin, Larry, MartyGood?, Scott, Smash, StaggerLee, Wikler

With Carroll’s booked for whatever day our schedules were synchronized, we were on our own to find a home away from home for the week. We found our home and now we to find our way back. Having two drummers presents a problems for most normal rehearsal studios, and as such, it lead us back to our own stomping grounds, Smash Studios on 36^th street. G-d help us! It was their Studio A where they were able to accommodate Deadstein with most of our needs.

Smash Studios was our regular jamming location for a while in the Terez days back at the beginning of the millennium when we reluctantly resort to it when needed. This week we had such a need. It’s not that the place is awful. I happened to find free parking on the street, getting there was quick this evening and the room was fairly spacious and sounded OK. In many respects, with its deadness, Smash Studios sounds better than Carroll’s, but the vibe and the instruments just don’t hold up to what Carroll’s offers us.

Actually, I had a pretty good, brown-faced Twin reverb which suited my needs just fine. I was still playing my Made in America Roland Ready Start, but this week without all the MIDI stuff. The sound of that guitar is a bit sterile compared to my ’79-Strat, so it was tough for me to lay any blame on the amp versus my guitar. In most respects, my setup was about as good as it gets. I do appreciate Alan making the sacrifice and leaving me the lone Twin while he had to struggle with the Ampeg amp he used all night. Kevin had this big rig which I assume he didn’t like but I thought I sounded pretty good, maybe a bit too tinny.

We will never know about the sound because the recording of the night onto Smash’s provided CD recorder was an abject failure. While sound came out of the CDs it was with constant jitter and was unlistenable. It was probably a good thing because from what I could gather through the jitter, it sounded like the CD would have primarily vocals as it recorded the mix of the soundboard with the addition of one ambient mic in the room. Probably overall, a good thing that the music isn’t available. Nevertheless, I was able to coax a setlist from the rubble so the setlist provided is probably pretty accurate.

It’s not that we played too badly. I think the drummers had a pretty good sound going through the night and Marty on keys was able to find balance at certain times during the night, though he had struggles with it early on in the night. Rich was a late cancellation, coming down with the flu and Marty was right there when called upon. This time sans-zip drive. Finally, the PA seemed dull and flat for the first song or two but after a little adjustment we got it sounding good enough for us.

We were able to get Donna to join in effectively with us providing the good background vocals until she had to leave at 11pm to catch a train back to Brooklyn, I didn’t provide a practice setlist earlier so she was on her own and having to latch onto a few songs she never heard before. It’s good practice for the reality which is Deadstein and Donna’s a good sport about going with the flow, ebb and tide of Deadstein.

With the change in location we had no guests and very little to do but play our merry hearts out. While it is good to be on the road and explore different places, “NOT”, it will be tremendous to be back in the warm comforting environment of Carroll’s. Can’t freakin’ wait to be there, I just hope we can find our way back home.

We don’t have music to listen to, but this is what was played.

Set 1