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/

Jam -2011-02-22 – Carroll’s

24 Feb 2011 1 Comment

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

On a night that Trey A. was playing next door to us at Terminal-5, Deadstein-5 rocked Carroll’s on 6 on 55-08633.  While parking was at a premium, song selection wasn’t.  Rich came into the jam pulling a printed setlist out of his a$$ so we decided to play what was on the paper.  It appeared as if the setlist was from a couple of years ago when Trister played with us and planned out the night with Kevin before hand, enabling Kevin to print out a list.

It almost appeared as if the night was doomed for failure.  The PA system had gremlins in it and it took us 4 attempts at the first song, Let the Good Times Roll, and 2 PA systems to get that under our belt.  Eventually the “I get no respect” Mackie got us through the night without an issue.  From this technical difficulty, we let the setlist steer us to the end of the night.  It was positive, guidance to say the least.

Many of the songs of the night came from the 80’s and 90’s era of the Grateful Dead, so the were a bit unfamiliar Alan, and many I hadn’t try to play from a Jerry perspective.  This presented itself as a challenge, but I think we played confidently enough to work our way through these waters with much more ease than we expected.  All the anticipated difficult moments seem to fly past us before we could mess them up too badly.  It was a fun and rewarding experience.  I found the Shakedown and Estimated particularly relaxing.

The presence of the setlist got us through a night’s worth of music with time to spare, much to the agony of Scott but he and Kevin were going pretty strong.  We threw together a few non-Dead songs to close the night, made a mockery and travesty of them all, but had a great time doing it.

To hear what we did, go to the Rich recordings below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/02-22-11/

Jam – 2011-02-16 – Carroll’s

17 Feb 2011 1 Comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: , , , , ,

With a last minute cancellation from Alan, Deadstein was down with Core-4 all night long.  That is with the exception of when Scott Bayer showed up with his bongo.  Then it was Core-4 with the annoying guy with the bongo.  Short of that, and I do mean “that,” we had no guests.

It felt physically tough jamming with just us four.  We did a Reuben & Cherise and that took its toll on all our arms.  Maybe not Rich’s.  Having the Core-4 we decided to do focus on some Garband to start.  The Tore Up opener was solid but I have to say I never felt totally comfortable during the entire jam.  I remember being a little disheartened at the Hard to Handle and my inability to perform.  I did get the Lucky Old Sun in early in the night when I had people focus.  It was ehhh.

We took a long break at the vending machines between sets and getting motivated for the second set was difficult.  I think I finally woke Scotty up and he finished strong but Kevy ended on the floor, TKO.  To bad because the Shady Grove that initially knocked him out was going nicely and he was there for the taking if he wanted to take a part of it.  The Crazy Love to finish the night was one Kevin wasn’t getting off the canvas for.

We had a small Beatles segment in it including a rare I Want to tell You and the When My Guitar Gently Weeps.  They were a little satisfying as well as disappointing.  On the Highlight reel were the That’s All Right Mama which we got the lyrics for on the iPad.

For the second set I decided to sit on a chair in an effort to keep a close eye on the inevitably fading rhythm section.   In addition I tried to get back to some Grateful Dead that kept going.  This included the Uncle John’s –> Wheel –> Miracle –> Bertha combo.  That was OK but the Bertha became an endurance battle but it was a good segment.

To hear the music we played go to the following links:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/02-16-11/

 

Jam – 2011-02-10 – Carroll’s

12 Feb 2011 3 Comments

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

The first week in February showed no mercy on the cold front as ice and snow still dominate the landscape.  Fortunately, there was nothing going on at Terminal 5 so we were able to get the good parking spots for an easy entry into Carroll’s.  Scott, Rich, Kevin and I all arrived at the same time.  We were playing in one of the larger studios and our caring little Carroll’s techie hooked Rich up with his own monitor this week.  I’m sure that made a big difference to Rich’s take on the situation.

Fettuccine Alfredo Wikler, was having trouble with his delay and the spaghetti that was his effects setup so he eventually yanked the delay out of the loop.  Also joining us was Jeff Blues or Chocolate Boy wielding two leather guitar gig bags toting an ES-335 and a 63 Strat that was beat up and played like nothing else.  I was able to check it out during the Birdsong.  One word that would describe the experience to me was, “intimate,”  and that may have been solely based on his recently refretted neck which wasn’t original so who knows? There were no other guests that showed up during the night.  Just us chickens.

Alan suggested the China Cat –> Hey Pocky Way which is a great alternate to Rider since we don’t do it well and typically drags, so that was cool and unusual.  Speaking of dragging, we played the Cumberland for the second week in a row and tried to keep it peppie.  Likewise, the Big River was also a better than usual attempt.  Can’t say the same about the Terrapin, which with all its rust could get out of the box, the lateness of the night may have had something to do with it.  Kind of the same thing with the Music.  Still it’s nothing to revolt over since there are bigger fish to fry.

In the world, the Egyptian Revolution just about turned a corner this week so what is to transpire is still a well connect Grateful Dead mystery.

To hear what went on in our little corner of the globe go to:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/02-10-11/

Jam – 2011-02-01 – Carroll’s

04 Feb 2011 1 Comment

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

Deadstein was back together on this Wednesday night for a full and ordinary night of Deadstein.  While ordinary for Deadstein, the normality of it all gave resulted in a really nice jam, as it should.  Kevin got his dream bass rig, with a dedicated amp for the sub with a simple high pass filter switch on it.  The remaining highs were sent to the Roland and it was low and powerful.  Thank G-d for that new tech we have in the room, he’s looking after us!

There was a giant ice storm in the country and our area the day before so it was questionable whether the jam would take place or pushed to Thursday.  The storm was a serious morning event, but by the afternoon, the sun came out it warmed up and Deadstein was on.  The roads were not a problem and didn’t freeze up on the way home either.

The night’s music can be described as a Grateful Dead sandwich on very thin Beatles toast, with a whole lot of cheese.  It was fun to be playing Jerry again after last weeks jam with Jason when I played Bob.  I’ve been practicing a lot at home recently being stuck at home with all the snow, but I hadn’t done anything between last week and this week.  It didn’t seem to matter as I felt pretty fresh and relatively competent.  The Taxman –> Aiko transition could have been good if I communicated it to anyone.  In the Minglewood I ad-libbed a little about the Egyptian revolution which was in full force during the times of our jam.  We lost a lot of energy by the time the midnight hour rolled around but there was plenty of good stuff in between.  And that’s what she said.

To hear what we played for the night go to the links below.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/02-02-11/

Jam – 2011-01-27 – Carroll’s

30 Jan 2011 1 Comment

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

The Return of Jason It sounds like a horror show but it was anything but a horror show.  We haven’t played with Jason for over a year,     but with Alan enjoying the sunshine of the Caribbean, it gave us an opportunity to plug him into his Jerry slot.  More importantly, it threw me back into my more natural Bobby slot from which I took the opportunity to break out the Heritage Hollow-Body and emulate that Early 1970’s sound and feel.  I liked the sound of the clean Hertage throughout the night.

We had some great jams the five of us.  The Same Thing strayed  from our late Dead manner of playing the song to more of the late 60’s way of playing.  This included a jam in the middle of the song instead of a lead.  That was pretty good.  We only captured half the night and I recall also playing the Help –> Fire but we also played several additional songs that I do not recall.  If any one remembers any of the additional songs, speak it up, before it leaves our existence forever.

To hear what we did for the first half of the night go to the links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/01-27-11/

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