Jam – 2013-04-02 – Carroll’s

02 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds130402It was Tuesday night and all of Deadstein, including Donna D, were scheduled to jam for the night.  A major departure from all the guests we had the previous week.  Kevin was back from vacation and ready to go after missing a week.  Alan on the other hand, was scheduled to play but had to cancel at the last moment.  This left Rich to his own devices to try to find a replacement for Alan, come hell or high water.  Trister almost was able to make it, but in the end couldn’t join us.  This left Fred to fill in for Alan, or me, or both, who knows.  Fred showed up by the 3rd or 4th song and played with us for the rest of the night.  Our only other guest was Steve who enjoyed most of the jam with us.

Carroll’s had the studio set up for a session and they needed to perform a quick turn around on for the morning, so the PA was set up in a strange way and squealed throughout the evening, never giving us a strong reliable PA system.

At the beginning of the night there were only five of us there but I decided to go with a traditional Feel Like a Stranger Grateful Dead opening.  I think it felt a bit hollow to begin with but by the end of the song it felt good and comfortable.  I tried adjust the PA a bit during the beginning of the second song and for the most part missed out on the opening segments of the Loser, only getting back in position to play the lead.  We played a mellow C.C. Rider as the 3rd song trying to keep the legitimacy of the setlist and that is when Donna joined us ready for a fun night of music.

Donna was there for only a song or two until Fred sauntered in with his rig while we were completing the Cats Down Under the Stars.  While Rich desired to wait for Fred to play that song, I jumped in and grabbed the Cats Down by the horns and rocked it.  It was a good time to do that song while we still had only 1 guitar player.  I was looking to work on classic Donna songs, but she insisted on testing her by introducing new songs that she didn’t know.  We obliged her and kept her on her toes with a wide variety of new songs.

I recall an Estimated that was good and some ever improving Looks Like Rains and Passengers.  Tough to remember too much a week after the melee especially without the aid of the MP3s.  Until we can listen to them, all we can do is play and freak out.

Jam – 2013-03-27 – Carroll’s

27 Mar 2013 1 Comment

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

ds130327With Kevin out of town celebrating his parent’s 50th wedding anniversary, we called upon Bill Sloan to fill his shoes. Bill was totally expected and I was looking forward to playing with him, keeping the SUNY Albany spirit alive. While I knew Bill was playing bass, Carroll’s evidently didn’t know, so I got Jules to change out Kevin’s normal monster bass rig for a standard Hatke amp and cab setup. I’m sure Bill appreciated the switch, although Jules was offering to get the necessary splitter box Bill would have needed. Bill was set for the night and rolled with the flow, thinking he was loud, but to us a respite from the pounding we usually get from Kevin’s rig.

While we had no guest spectators for the night, the band’s lineup was filled with them. I was the there first and then in walks Mark. He was a friend of Rich’s, as well as other’s, who was a surprise sit-in guitarist for the night. He plays with Rich and Coffee-Boy in Brooklyn and was making his Deadstein debut.

Trying to make it easy, open and jammy for the Bill and Mark combo at the beginning of the night I decided to open with an 18-minute Eyes of the World, reminiscent of the 6-17-91 Giant’s Stadium show. From that we did the whole 1974 Eyes of the World jam at the end which left us in Dm leading me to a bold decision to play Morning Dew when I noticed Donna had entered the studio by the end of the Eyes. Donna’s good a Morning Dew and got her into the flow right away. A good decision and the intro to the night was a great springboard for things to come.

Donna was making her return after her week off eager just be like one of the boys. Alan got there earlier than expected and was raring to go. Lee was psyched as always as a night of Deadstein is better than virtually anything else. Then, Scott and Rich rolled in with news that Terez was going to be our second big, or should I say “Mini”, surprise of the night.

All of this was surprising good news, too bad Kevy was there to join in on the fun. We got going pretty much on time and from the first few moment I at least felt good. I think the band had a nice aura to it. We got Alan from Carroll’s to tweak the board a bit after Donna’s first song and after that, the PA sounded better than usual for the rest of the night. That helped us as Terez arrived a little later, and for a Deadstein first, we had a true set of Jerryettes to sing with us. How exciting is that?

With our Jerryettes in tow, we focused on a lot of Garcia Band music , to take advantage of the situation. Terez and Donna worked through singing backup harmonies for us and at times was inspiring to think we had a Jerryette thing going on. Some was good like the Harder They Come and I think Rich choked on the Night They Drove ‘ol Dixie Down as he was a tad anxious.

Eventually, Deadstein’s sad reality set in when we had indecision about the time signature in Comes A Time. Though we started the song with trepidation and a lack of confidence, it actually felt pretty good in the end. Tot bad due to Deadstein’s own internal issues we kind of robbed Donna from enjoying singing Comes a Time.

Mini T’s time ended too quickly at 11pm, but it was great while it lasted. I had a lot of fun trying to conduct the Jerryettes and it was lots of fun playing with this lineup. I really hope we have additional opportunities to do it again. With Donna singing solo we did play a nice New Speedway Boogie which took advantage of our two harmonica players (Mark and Alan) whose harp solos sandwiched by guitar lead. This is probably the only song with two harmonica solos in it and I guess we took advantage of it.

We played the Good Lovin through midnight and everyone yet clambering for more. That’s how you know you like a night of music. Time to try it again and thanks to everyone involved.

To listen tosome of the music, go to the links below
http://deadstein.com/audio/03-27-13

Jam – 2013-02-28 – Carroll’s

28 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds130228It 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: , , , , , , , ,

ds130219After 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 – 2013-02-06 – Carroll’s

06 Feb 2013 5 Comments

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

ds130206It was another “Woo-sday” (Wednesday) night for Deadstein and we were all looking forward to the jam leading up to the 8pm start-time.  We were scheduled to have the whole band their in addition to Donna.  As such, I prepared a 1st set that would take advantage of the time we had with Donna and circulated to the band members during the week

I decided to work on a Built To Last during the week, I grew tired of always declining to play it, claiming I couldn’t do it, so I grabbed the song by the horns and learned it.  During my listening to it, I remembered Jerry would often use his MIDI trumpet sounds during, so I decided to emulated Jerry.  I took out my Roland-ready MIDI guitar setup out of storage in my basement, changed strings and practiced and with it on the Built To Last.  I incorporated all the MIDI equipment in my gig-bag and I was ready to go.

Below is a link to an article discussing MIDI turning 30 this past January.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20425376

We were in the big room in Carroll’s and when I got there I got Jules to get me a Roland keyboard amp, this coupled with my Fuchs Twin Reverb, I was wired and ready to go.  With all this craps at my right foot, I decided to place Donna to my left, which Kevin mocked me for, but it did work out well for me during the jam.

Just as we were about to embark on the evening and begin the Feel Like a Stranger in came the big surprise for the night, Andy Trister.  We almost waited for him to begin, which delayed us a good 20 minutes or so.  Delay-Schlemay, the Stranger really smoked.  The serendipity of Trister showing up and me having my MIDI setup was a big bonus for the night since it meant I would play more organ sounds and no interfere with both Andy and Alan on the guitar sounds.  I guess I can spew out the canned cheese for one night and not only not get to bored by it, but enjoy the mix.  There were moments during the What a Wonderful World and the Midnight Moonlight where I felt the MIDI keyboard sounds were right on.

After the Feel Like a Stranger opener I decided to modify the planned setlist a bit to accommodate Trister’s unanticipated presence and some potential synergies with Donna.  I therefore threw an I Shall be Released gauntlet for Trister to sing leads on.  When Donna came in on the background vocals on that it proved to be pretty special and that GarBand stuff really works with her.

Donna and I also continue to work on some of our Bob/Donna duets and they showed some nice improvements including the Passenger and Beat It On Down the Line.  We also tried to work on a Looks Like Rain during a min-break but the whole band ended up joining in by the end of the song.

Donna had to leave by around 10:30 and Andy by around 11:00.  Our close with Andy included an excellent What a Wonderful World and Midnight Moonlight.   It was a really good Trister set.  After another little break we started the final part of the night.  I wanted to play some of the songs we skipped in the planned first set. We did the Next Time You See Me and I got to do the Built to Last.  It was pretty good, but that late in the night, the focusability of my eyes on the fine print of that song is questionable.  I kept it together.

We then tries to accomplish Saint Stephen into Hard to Handle and we had issues but we also showed some promise.  I think our Stephen has improved quite a bit.  With about 5 minutes before the 12 o’clock quitting time, we decided to go big and long with a Terrapin.  I thought it had a good groove and we executed it well with the exception of the major collapse in the middle.  It was a great way to end a great evening.  Oops, almost forgot, Steve was our only guest for the night.

To listen to what we did, go to the files below.

http://deadstein.com/audio/02-06-13

Jam – 2013-01-30 – Carroll’s

30 Jan 2013 1 Comment

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

ds013013Wednesday night, or “Woo’sday” night as we have been euphemistically calling it, and the entire band was back together, including Donna D. for a portion of the first set.  I we were there early and ready to jam.  Kevin was itching to go by 7:40 and Lee had gotten to Carroll’s hours earlier so no one wanted to wait for 8:00 pm to start.   It should be noted that Lee came toting a giant frozen apple pie which we began to woof-down by halftime.

Lee suggested a Halfstep. He kind of was challenging me saying I really didn’t like to play it; he’s right you know, so we played it and it was really strong.  From the first few notes we knew it was going to be a pretty good jam. The sound was good in the room and this lead to some well played music.  The Halfstep had a good long powerful Rio Grande-O lead and felt good.  We then went to a 2nd set mode in the first with an Estimated –> Eyes with the whole 1974 Eyes ending.  That was pretty good.  Sure there were rough spots, but there were comforting sweet spots.  The Eyes jam ends in Dm and naturally segued us into a Shakedown Street.  At the close of the Shakedown, Donna came in and we went into a nice set working with her until the end of the first set.  We did some songs she really didn’t know but easy ones to try to jump in on the harmonies.  Row Jimmy was a good example of such a song as was the Forever Young. I think we did pretty well  on that one.

We took a standard halftime break, saying good-bye to Donna, eating the apple pie, making our obligatory phone calls,etc.  Then we got going again shortly after 10:30  For the second set Ryan jumped in and sat in for Lee and Scott for a song a piece, so we got some of that going with the Candyman and something else.  As a matter of fact, Ryan was our only guest, with the exception of Scott Bayer who came in later on in the night and video taped a song or two?

Midnight hit us pretty quickly as the passage of time cannot be stopped, either in music or life.  We were about to leave at the last song and Ryan goaded us into playing one last song,  You can say an encore and we gave him a Quin the Eskimo to go home with.

I look forward to being able to listen to it, until then all we can do is smile, smile, smile.

Now we have it, listen the the MP3s below:

http://deadstein.com/audio/01-30-13

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries