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Jam – 2012-07-12 – Carroll’s

13 Jul 2012 5 Comments

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

This week Deadstein found itself celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the great July 12, 1987 Dead/Dylan show at Giants Stadium. It was good that all of Deadstein was there to celebrate and try to recreate this great show which all of us, with the exception of Kevin, attended. We all had great memories of the show and having the privilege to try to play it was and honor.

I had prepared for the week nicely in that I broke out my cassette master from the show and digitized and mastered it for distribution to the band. It was one of the great sounding tape I had ever made. Patching out of my friend Tom’s Sennheiser 441’s located close to the stage in front of the board gave the tape great energy, presence and sound. From second 1 of the Hell in a Bucket, you could tell both the Grateful Dead and the Giants Stadium crowd was in for something epic.

In addition to distributing the music to everyone I also had to chart out several new songs to Deadstein that we never played before. Of the 31-song 3-set show, we would have a nice handful of songs that were new to us. In the Grateful Dead world we had the Tons of Steel and it was really a nice experience to play. It worked for us. In the Dylan world we had Tomorrow is Such a Long Time, Highway 61, John Brown, Wicked Messenger and Chimes of Freedom. These were all new songs for us and even when we got to these Dylan songs late into the night they were played with gusto; much better than I would have expected; a really nice night of music.

Having to attempt to play 31 songs in three sets, excluding drums and space, is a bit more than can realistically be done in 4 hours of studio time but I was determined to try. I was rushing in and out of songs throughout the night, much to the detriment to the beginning of many of them, but a bit a urgency was needed. I thought that was the energy of the night 25 years ago anyway. The Bucket was a mess at the beginning due to this but by the end of it I think we got it as a band. So not to digress into self-loathing and as the show dictated, we went right into theWest LAwhich set us straight for the night and was a good Deadstein effort. We went old-school with the Greatest Story which Donna D, one of our guests seemed to enjoy.

Other guests from the night included Steve and Lindsey who caught our 2^nd set and part of the 3^rd sets. By the time they left it was time ever-so annoying Scott Bayer to show up.

The room sound seemed especially good this night, I was able to hear Rich’s piano much better than usual and the vocals were even coming through short of a very infrequent squeal.

We continued to ram through the first set finishing the 10 song powerhouse in about an hour. It felt good and was a nice sprint through 10 songs that almost felt like one big one. We took the quick break and started the 2^nd set with the Morning Dew and had a meaningful Playing, drums, space Other One that represented the extend of our real jamming for the night. The Stella Blue, Throwing Stones, Not Fade Away were the close to the classic quick set getting us prepared for Dylan set.

As had to be the case, we did have enough time to complete the entire Dylan set, with double encore in the allotted time. We made a great attempt though as we played hard and fast; not wasting anytime between songs. I did cut a verse or two from the songs here and there and the leads were all short, but besides that, these Dylan songs were all pretty beefy and took a lot to play.

Slow Train has been in the Deadstein repertoire for years and so has Memphis Blues, so that got us going with the Dylan stuff and the momentum from this start got us through the two new songs to come next. Tomorrow’s Such and Long Time and Highway 61 were really a lot of fun to do. I got to give Kevin credit for holding up nicely through all these Dylan songs that he did really know. As I stated before, he was the only one that wasn’t at this show

Baby Blue and Ballad of a Thin Man are also songs we do which also helped get us through, the simple and groovy new songs to follow; John brown and Wicked messenger. Again, I was kind of surprised how good these were for us to play. I was kind of shocked how we got it and played it with the type of feeling I sensed from the show 25 years ago. Queen Jane seemed funny to do at that time of the night, but that is what was on tap and we went into the last of the new songs, Chimes of Freedom at about 11:55 which carried us through the 12-midnight deadline. Like all the other new songs of the night, the freshness and fun of the Chimes of Freedom was flashing. This song had quick chord changes and kept us on out toes and almost had a little Reggae beat to it. There were lots of words to spit out and I got most of them. This was a real challenge as the eyes really begin to blur by that time of the night. I many respects I was amazed how well I was able to get through all the words and they came upon me in the book at breakneck speeds in the time of music.

Alan and I looked at each other after the Chimes of Freedom and thinking how could we abandon the Watchtower which was such an epic moment of the concert. With that we decided to extend the am into the next day as we played the Watchtower and the Times They Are a Changing to end the night. Even at this late hour both renditions were worthy of the effort.

July 12, 1987 was an epic show and recreating its vibe 25 years later was an epic challenge and one I was very happy to undertake. It got me to break out the cassette, crank some great sounding Grateful Dead, master the cassette with my great new tools and enjoy learning how to play these songs. With the 5 new songs I now have established a new working version of the Jerry Garcia Song Book version 9, to one-day replace the existing version 8, sooner than later. Iteration in the 21^st century is quick. Before I put my box of cassettes away and put the old Sony D5 back into basic storage, I saw a nice little cassette from Madison Square Garden 9-18-87 that I think I’m going to give my mastering treatment to my master.

To listen to the MP3s of Deadstein playing the tribute the the 7-12-87 show, use the links below.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/07-12-12/

Jam – 2012-07-03 – Carroll’s

07 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Jams

It being the Tuesday before July 4th meant we all had the following day off from work following our Deadstein jam. This is a super-rare occurrence and one that was dreamed about by many leading up to the jam. What would we do with this additional time? Play until morning, go to Wo Hop afterwards? It turned out to be neither as all we did was to play a few minutes late realizing doing anything more was pointless and the concept of unlimited playing would remain an elusive dream.

What we did have was the band back together this week for the full six-man compliment. As far as guests we had Rob and Miriam who brought a friend of their’s, Kathy to the jam. They seemed as if they were out for a good time before the jam and they continued it in Studio 2 with Deadstein, cheering us on at the end of each song. Additionally we also had Meg Ryan and Willow take in the jam. Willow happen to have the same cassette iPhone case as me except in pink as opposed to my D90 red. That was a surprise. We also had the artist painting the wall-scape in the hallway join us for a song or two. These were our only guests and the room was feeling a bit tight filled with a spark of energy from all the on-lookers.. Ryan even came up and rocked a Victim or the Crime with us to end a set.

We didn’t have a plan for the night or setlist so we let Scott for the most part blurt out a song a we played it, at least to start. The thought of the night was to play songs for the 4th of July so we played songs of America including the Beat It on Down the Line, Bobby McGee, US Blues, Victim or the Crime, Goin Down the Road and the ending of the night leaving Texas 4th day of July with Jack Straw; experienced the Crimson White and Indigo while Standing On the Moon, and back on earth we were selling guns instead of food today while Throwing Stones. Fortunately we realized We Will Get By as we develop a Touch of Grey. Lots of thoughts about the living in America.

One grand thought about this country of ours is abundance, and that is what we have been enjoying with respect to songs in the recent past. Our consistent reach past 20 songs week after week has been the great bounty of Deadstein recently, and with all of us now settling comfortably into our roles, we do get better and better each week. I think our Big River this week was a perfect example of this as we sustained a nice lively tempo throughout that tune.

That’s all I can think of at this point as I am focused on next week when we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 7-12-1987 Giants Stadium Dead Dylan show.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/07-03-12/

Jam – 2012-06-27 – Carroll’s

01 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

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

For another week, Deadstein was without its full compliment as Rich was out of town. This left the five of us to our own devices to move the momentum forward. Our own devices were limited to iPhones to record the jam as none of us have a simple MP3 recorder to capture the evening’s music. I captured the first 13 songs on my phone before I ran out of space, but at least it is something. As I am typing this on Sunday morning following the show, I have no idea what we played except the 13 songs listed, but I know we played several more. I don’t think we go past 20 but we probably came pretty close.

With respect to guests, we had none. We therefore welcome Lee’s key lime pie, with graham-cracker crust as the guest for the night. I think we are all together once again next week on Tuesday, with no work on Wednesday, so look for a fun on.

If you want to hear and see the first part of the night click on the links below, assuming they eventually get uploaded to YouTube.

Jam – 2012-06-19 – Carroll’s

26 Jun 2012 1 Comment

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

Without a plan leaves Deadstein thinking on its feet which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. This Tuesday night, it seemed to work for us. Scott suggested opening with the Here Comes Sunshine which made a lot of sense and that sent us down a path that got us going for the night. The Sunshine enlightened us to go for the Viola Lee and without and worry about the song we were in it and playing our hearts out of it. The cool thing about that transition was I turned to the page in Kevin’s book for him from an upside down position and turned right to the page and off we went. Remarkably, I then went to my book to turn to the Viola Lee and also turned to the page on first swipe. It was destiny in a good way. We transitioned out of the Viola Lee into a easy Bertha and before we knew it were were on our weekly Deadstein journey far away from home base.

By the time the 4th song hit some of our guests came in to watch us including Ryan Steve and Maggie and they brought a friend of theirs, Willow to experience the Deadstein experience. Scott Bayer and another couple of friends of Rich showed up by the end of the night and that was it for guests. As far a band members, all 6 of us were there this week inside Studio #2 with the refinished Piano. Scott and Lee were is reversed positions for the week, but it didn’t feel too different.

With respect to instruments, my Fuchs Fender twin I started with felt weak and under the weather. I swapped it out after the Bertha and was good to go for the rest of the jam. As soon as the amp swap was done there was no time to waste and away we continued. I selected Jack-a-Roe next which has always been tough for Deadstein but we did it early and kept up a good pace with it so that song was more enjoyable than usual.

We successfully navigated our ways through a bunch of first set songs ending the first half of the night with the One More Saturday Night which featured Ryan on drums, being thrown into the fire without any warmup. Its the best way to go forward.

The nice feature of the second set was the Miracle, Wheel, Gimme Some Loving Dear Mr. Fantasy combination. That we performed from the seat of our pants without a plan, but it felt like we had been preparing for it all along. These are rarely played songs for us and to do them where they feel good gives us a boost of confidence. I think Kevin was at the vending machine for Thrill is Gone but he was back for the closing.

Kevin always hates when we brutalize Beatles songs so he wasn’t psyched about trying the Across the Universe just before the end of the night. People we doubting if there was even a drum line to the song, but I got it going and it felt pretty natural for us to do. To close the night at song listed as #25 was the Getaway, not easy to do when you are tired after midnight, but it was a great closer and a great way to send you home stuffed from an evening of digesting unlimited Deadstein.

What a Freakstival.

To hear what we did , you can go to the MP3 links provided below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/06-19-12/

Jam – 2012-06-13 – Carroll’s

18 Jun 2012 Leave a comment

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

We finally go the entire band together for a full jam, over 20 songs once again. I think the only guest was Steve, short of that, it was just us six. We didn’t have a plan, but we weren’t taking any prisoners as we launched into a Help Slip Franklins to open. I know I messed up the Slipknot! royally, but most of it was fun. From there we played a significant night of music. Kevin asked for the Foolish heart, but it was a foolish request as we weren’t quite up to that task. nevertheless, we tried any challenge that was in front of us, which was everything.

I recall in many respects getting a nice mix of music between the instruments during som of our jams. There was some good listening and playing off of each other. That dominated much of the night and hopefully got us to play some good music, maybe the MP3s will reveal the goodness that the night felt.

Over the weekend, I saw on few minutes of a show on PBS that featured the La Floroent, across from our old stomping grounds on Ganesvoort Street. I utilized the new Google search that is incorporated as part of Deadstein.com and found a few juicy morsels of Deadstein history regarding that restaurant. We play 20 songs regularly these days,with a Florent burger, we were lucky to get 8 in for the night. You can find some good stuff with that search feature.

To hear what we did, go to the MP3 links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/06-13-12/

Jam – 2012-06-04 – Carroll’s

10 Jun 2012 3 Comments

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

With everyone having busy schedules, these week would be an impossible to one have the entire band there. We couldn’t get all 6 of us together, even 5 was tough and Core-4 wasn’t gonna happen. Having a week without a Deadstein was not an option so what were we to do? We did a Monday night jam as a Hardcore-3 with Lee. There haven’t ben too many times that jams have collapsed into a 3-man Freakshow with Kevin, me and a drummer. but this week was such a week Never-the-matter, Lee, Kevin and I were happy to give it a try. And try we did, and we didn’t shy away from the big, opening up with a Terrapin. Maybe the Terrapin was a bit much to tackle right off the bat, but it got us going and from the start we knew the jam would be far more normal than abnormal.

Something abnormal for me was breaking a B-string during Run for the Roses. It was one of the few string I have broken in my life while playing. It is a very rare occurrence. Too bad, because it was going well. We attempted the Brokedown, at the request of Lindsey, but we had a lot of trouble getting into it. The Birdsong achieved some fun to it as we explored our inner-abilities during it. We started the second set with the help on the Way, and it was a valiant effort. As we strayed into the non-Dead stuff it started well with the Let It Bleed but slowly eroded as we did some of the Who stuff. In any case, we came running through the finish line a 12 o’clock midnight and got in a really good jam. At the end of the night we were all spent fearing what a full week of work facing us after a Monday jam would bring. I know I survived as I am writing this on Sunday morning waiting for this week’s Wednesday night jam when we should have the whole band back together for the 3-ring Freakshow.

Amazingly enough, we had our Core-4 of guests including Lindsey, Steve and Meg Ryan and they hung for most of the night. I think Lee gave Maggie and Ryan a ride home to NJ at the end. Without Rich being there we didn’t have an MP3 recorder but I did capture a few moments on my iPhone4S as a security camera on Lee. Nevertheless, you do get the flavor of the night.

In the world, we lost Doc Watson this week and his soothing soulful music will be missed.