Jam – 2011-04-06 – Carroll’s

08 Apr 2011 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: , , , , , ,

This week was Deadstein’s ode to the 29th anniversary of one of my favorite shows; Philadelphia Spectrum, April 6, 1982, or 4-6-82 as we affectionately refer to it.  It’s been fun that we have played  several complete shows recently.  It’s an homage to some of the greatness the Grateful Dead provided us as well as a chance for us to reflect back at being at specific shows or listening to specific tapes.   Lots of good memories.

In my case, 4-6-82 was a set of high quality soundboard tapes my friend Bruce Levine somehow obtained just weeks after the show.  He was enrolled in University of Pennsylvania at the time, Brotpen’s alma mater, and stumbled upon the soundboards.  My first Dead show was the Nassau Coliseum, Easter Sunday 4-11-82, a week after the 4-6-82 Spectrum show,  so this tape was early in my Deadhead life and my first really high quality current board.  I grew to know this show like the back of my hand and some of the moments are classic.  They include the Shakedown jam with the keyboard/Jerry interchange and the post space from trucking through the Morning Dew, which still may be one of the best Dews ever!

We didn’t do the Dew quite justice but the Shakdedown was pretty cool.  I studied a bit of the show and write-ups for specific songs leading up to the jam.  The Cold Rain, Candyman and Sailor/Saint all have new updated PDF tabs associated with them.  Check them out below:

The Sailor Saint has been tough, and will probably always be tough, but hopefully the new writeup will be better for us.  The significance of the Candyman change is not stepping up chromatically between the and F and G throughout the song.  This actually isn’t reflected in the new tabs but is a good thing to remember. The tabs were just clarified a bit and helped us as we played.

Though we pooped out a bit toward the end of the night, we did the entire show with room for an additional song so it was a satisfying night.  There was a lot of good playing going on, especially in the first set.  The good thing about following a real set list is that it keeps you in focus and in your role so you can settle down and execute because for the most part, the songs are standards with an occasional one to keep you wanting to come back for more so you can do better; hello Sailor-Saint.

It looks like next week we maybe be playing Binghamton ’83,  Kevin’s first show so get that Help on the Way under your belt and look forward to another crack at the Sailor Saint.  Lots of good stuff from that show.  Until we freak again.

To hear the MP3s of what we played go to the following links:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/04-06-11/

 

Jam – 2011-03-30 – Carroll’s

31 Mar 2011 3 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: , , , , , ,

A Wednesday night that was looking as if it would be Core-4 turned out to be a nice surprise when Larry Brent walked in pulling his brand new Fender Mustang modeling amp behind him.  With Larry jamming with us and Alan not available, it brought me back to my comfort zone of playing Bob all night.

With several of us, not me, fresh off a Furthur tour where the band celebrated the Beatles Abbey Road by playing the album,  we got energized to play the Medley after listening to Furthur’s version before we got going.  We did jam a little with it during the pre-jam hang out which was a big help when we tackled it for real.  We first warmed up with the Let the Good Times Roll and that got us ready for the Medley.  My new transcription in a 3-page PDF was also a big help, we were lucky we found so many copies of them.  It was kind of shocking how not sucky that was.

Doing that album side got us to jump into the next album side, which was the Terrapin Station with the entire at a siding jam.  We practiced that a bit beforehand which also helped when we got to it.  That was also pretty darn good.  It was good to have Larry there who new how to comprehend our attempt to get through that whole thing.  I also had a new transcription of this song.

We also played a three-man Wake Up Little Susie with my new write-up.  I played drums on a couple of songs.  We played the old-school, classic Deadstein Scarlet –> Estimated.  We kept our composure and stamina for the most part through the night so we had a whole big night of lots of great songs.  Good to play Bob, nice to play with LLB, the Beatles thing was a nice surprise and a lot more to come.  Who knows there may be more classic Deadstein to come, the scent of Dave Schwartz is wafting over the horizon.

To hear what we did, listen to the MP3s made on the little recorder plopped down in the room.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/03-30-11/

 

Jam – 2011-03-23 – Carroll’s

24 Mar 2011 8 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: , , , , , ,

Spring is here and so is the snow, but it wasn’t falling hard enough to stop the train wreck we call Deadstein.  We got there kind of early, got into some iPad based Youtube jams through the PA, how things have changed in 20 years.  While listening to a Dancing in the Streets we somehow got inspired and pulled into playing it right out of YouTube version.  It was Furthur I believe.  It was a good technique to get us going for the rest of the night’s music.  We didn’t have a set-list or a plan this week, so that stalled us a bit.  I think I’m going to try to walk into every jam with a strategy from here on to keep us focused and moving in a positive direction.

Alan walked into the studio during the end of Dancing in the Streets and we were set to go on for the rest of the night. We worked a tad on the Wake Up Little Susie this week, which we introduced last week, and that was a nice surprise. We did the same thing with the entire Terrapin Suite and that also showed some improvement and level of comfort. The Terrapin was a big end to the first set that included a big Let It Grow into the Terrapin.

Always tough to get the same results in the second set after pooping out after the first.  In any case, we played with tenacity all the way through midnight.  Trying to keep the song selection short and fast.

May be it was the never ending mouth of Scott Bayer that showed up at 11:30 to play his new beaded coconut, or what ever he has, that kept us going through the finish line.  One thing he did have was a big bag of Bachman’s popcorn which was a major distraction toward the end of the night.  Let us not forget the Tequila and limes Scott brought and the large value cookies now available in the vending machines.  In the world of Deadstein, these are high value benefits.

To listen to the music that we made on this night go to the MP3 links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/03-23-11/

 

Until we freak again.

Jam -2011-03-16 – Carroll’s

17 Mar 2011 3 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: , , , , , ,

With the Allmans, Furthur and Langfest in town, Scott decided to skip a week with Deadstein.  This gave us the opportunity to put Coffee on the throne.  He hadn’t played with us since August and he said he hadn’t played drums since that time either.  Too bad, because I was gonna need him for the challenge of the night, which was playing the Terrapin Station in it’s album version format.  The part that includes the At a Siding segment with all the drums and everything.  This was Deadstein’s 1st attempt at this and Coffee was there to do it with us.

Before that all started, and as a way to commemorate the passing of Owsley this week, we played Bear’s Choice in it’s entirety to start the night.  Rich sang the Katie Mae to get us going and we did a nice Wake Up Little Susie, which I also newly charted out like the At a Siding in preparation for the jam.  It’s good that we now have those two new songs under our belts or at least in our quivers.  I thought we did the album justice.  Alan played the harp at the appropriate places and the whole experience had an authentic feel including the ways we did the Peter, Smokestack and Hard To Handle.

The Terrapin was also as good as I could have expected.  There is a lot of tough stuff going on, and just a lot of stuff but the whole big Terrapin Experience has been expanded in a big was and for the better.  We also played lots of big songs and the night continued including the Single versions of Shakedown, Scarlet, Help On the Way. The big Garband songs included the Lucky Old Sun and Rhapsody in Red.  For the second week in a row we had the energy and will to play well past the 12:00 quiting hour.  It’s a good sign, a good sign we are playing well, having fun and don’t want to quit.  Coffee don’t make it 6 months to get back in the throne.

To Listen to the MP#s from the music from this jam go to the links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/03-16-11/

 

Jam -2011-03-09 – Carroll’s

12 Mar 2011 2 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: , , , , , , ,

It was Wednesday night in the big studio at Carroll’s and we had more than our typical crew of 5.  This night we had Larry Brent join us and an additional entourage of other folks thatat least they seemed to really dig the music at times.  There is always a saving grace as well as a strong, positive energy in the room.

It being March 9, 2011 in New York City I was leading the charge to commemorate the jam for being the 30th anniversary of the 3/9/81 show from Madison Square Garden.  That was an epic show on tape in that Jerry’s guitar and attitude were so over-driven that many of the leads from that concert remain some of my all time favorites.  They include the Stranger, Althea, CC Rider, Minglewood and I Know Rider. The links to the MP3s from this show on http://www.archive.org are provided blow from the following link: http://www.archive.org/details/gd1981-03-09.nak700.glassberg.wise.328.shnf.  Check out some of these great moments from Jerry rocking New York City.

3-9-81 MSG, NY VBR MP3
Stranger 14.2 MB
Althea-> 10.8 MB
CC Rider 15.0 MB
Ramble On Rose-> 10.5 MB
El Paso 8.5 MB
Deep Elem 9.7 MB
BIODTL 5.7 MB
Bird Song 16.9 MB
Minglewood 10.2 MB
China -> Rider-> 24.3 MB
Samson 12.9 MB
Ship of Fools 11.7 MB
Estimated Prophet-> 20.1 MB
Uncle John’s Band-> 16.3 MB
Drums-> 13.5 MB
Space> 10.4 MB
The Other One-> 10.9 MB
Stella Blue-> 14.0 MB
Good Lovin’, 9.5 MB
E: U.S. Blues 7.3 MB

While Deadstein obviously cannot compared to the Grateful Dead, and placing the links above is just going to over-shadow our playing, we made a nice run at the show.  Scott was more alive  than usual and survived  the entire jam with a few fumes left in in his tank at the end of the night.  It was a great use of resources.  Having a predefined setlist pushes us through the night with much less wasted time.  I find that hard to believe.  In any case, we finished the first set by 9:30 and played a few fillers before embarking on set number 2.  We played several gozintas, it’s origin is a Spanish fruit, in the first set which was part of putting the pedal to the metal?  At other times, we took advantage of the links at http://www.archive.org from 3-9-81 and listen to the real version, setting a tempo and transitioning into the jam/song from the sample.  That was quite helpful.

All in all it was really a fun filled night, lots of music and lots of energy.  It wasn’t the type of jam that you wanted to end and as such, we played a good 15 minutes past the midnight hour.  I was promised a U.S. Blues encore, to complete the setlist, and I got it after the Playing in the Band that was started just before midnight.  Who starts a Playing in the Band just before midnight, a charged-up Deadstein, that’s who.  To check Deadstein out and our MP3s, go to the links below.  That’s why you go to every show, cause you never know when the earthquake is gonna hit and when you survive it and life looks like it’s on easy street the tsunami’s at your door; so pick up your guitars and play, we don’t know how lucky we are!!!

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/03-09-11/

 

Jam -2011-03-01 – Carroll’s

05 Mar 2011 4 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: , , , , , ,

We jammed last Tuesday night and it isn’t until Saturday morning when I finally get around to write this post.  If it was Tuesday night, immediately after the jam that I wrote this posting , it would have been a blur.  If I waited until Wednesday to write the posting, it would have been a dizzy-blur.  Being Saturday morning, almost 4 days after the jam, the memories of it are only memories as the blur of the jam has been wiped off the screen.  Thank goodness for Rich’s work in recording the goings-on, or the jams would just vanish into nothing more than scheduled items in an old calendar.

By the way, the graphic was quickly created using Google SketchUp, 3D modeling for everyone.  It’s free, fun and kind of easy and has a lot of cool potential.  Check it out if you care, another great free product provided by our not-so-evil and creepy friends at Google. (http://sketchup.google.com/)

In one of the large studio we had a standard setup this week, the Dead and Alive-5, I don’t think that going have any legs. We only had one guest, Scott Bayer; and a Bayer is what you need after hearing his bongo playing.  Some how we have to manage to pull the plug on that thing.  Not that I should be one to talk. in that I had real troubles getting comfortable this week and don’t feel as if it was one of my better efforts.  The good thing  is that even having a bad effort is an effort and a good one at that.  Sometimes your good efforts are effortless and not an effort at all, and what good is that? – Zenstein.

There was a full percussion section placed on the side so I took hold of a nice pair of maracas and that got us going into a long spacey Dark Star; one in which I did don my guitar for a good 10 minutes into it as I was enjoying banging on a wide variety of vibraXylophonic types of instruments.  Alan was particularly interested in the work we did on the Cassidy finding that to be an extraordinary endeavorer in the human condition.  One thing you can say about Deadstein is is at least an adventure.  Sometimes you can take the highway and get there fast and easy or you can four-wheel it through the desert and you come to realize it wasn’t the destination but the journey that was the trip – Zenstein.

To hear what we did go to the links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/03-01-11/

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