Jam – 2013-07-18 – Carroll’s

18 Jul 2013 3 Comments

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

ds130718In the middle of an extended heat wave, Deadstein was able to able to survive with a big band in Studio 2 at Carroll’s. Musical guests for the night included long time friend Bill Siegel, who came with his little organ to accompany us on our tunes. Also joining us for the first set was Donna who graced us with singing lead on a mellow Candyman and who also knock our socks off when she whaled through a Sugaree earlier in the set.

It was almost 100 degree outside while we were playing and with 8 people in the band , most toting amplifiers, the air conditioning was having trouble getting out of the upper 70’s. The lead to a hot, sweaty jam.

Initially we had a bunch of trouble with the PA system, not really able to get the Piano sounded adequate for the room. Additionally, I had trouble finding how to pickup the piano by itself in the PA recorder, so who knows how the recording for the night will work? I also had some technical difficulties during the first song of Shakedown when I discovered a gremlin in either my Fuchs Twin Reverb or my pedal board, so I switch out the amp and used a Silverface for the rest of the night, which had its tonal challenges in and of itself. Too bad, because this caused some struggles for me for the first part of the night , not really finding my comfort zone until late into the jam.

While shaky, the Shakedown Street at least got us started and we were able to hear the benefit of the funkiness Bill’s keyboard brought us. Trying to think of a good 2nd song that drew Donna into the mix, I selected the Sugar Magnolia and out of the jam we went into a Suagree where Donna was able to provide us some of her Orca-esque bellowing. This is to say that she whaled during that song. We never did get back to the Sunshine Daydream, but that is not a big deal.

The Masterpiece that followed was a better than usual one for us and we were tight and concise on it feeling and sounding good. The cautionary tale, as Rich put it, of the Duprees was a good time and the Cassidy that followed had Donna and I working well together on the vocals. Having Bill there, I thought it would be best to challenge him and take advantage of some of his sounds and play the Sailor Saint. Once again, this keeps getting better and better as we hone our skills and get more comfortable with the changes in the songs. When you finally finish the combo and let that final A chord ring out, you really do get a sense of accomplishment wash over your being. This was Bill’s swan song as he left us after the Sailor Saint and we took a quick short break, earlier than usual.

We slowly worked our way into the Candyman, with Donna singing, initially with just Rich, Lee and I accompanying her, but everyone joined in by the end. I think that was the last song for Donna leaving Deadstein to its core constituency for the rest of the night.

Following another short break, it was damn hot in the studio, we embarked on the next segment of the night which was the pre-drum type of second set. This started with a pretty reasonable feeling Terrapin out of no where into a Woman Are Smarter. Both songs felt pretty good. We then played the rarely played To Lay Me Down with the patience for the most part such a subtly sophisticated songs demands. I thought this was a really good version for us. For some reason I associate a second set To Lay Me Down with a second set Let it Grow, so I decided to head right into the Let It Grow out of the To Lay Me Down. I decided to try to play and sing the Let It Grow from memory without turning to the music in the book, which worked for me on this occasion. I was able to focus more on playing than reading which free up my mind a bit, even though I had constant anxiety as to whether or not the quickly approaching next part of the song would come to me in time to play it. This Let It Grow felt good and even experienced a relatively competent ending to the jams portions of the song.

After another small break we ended playing all over the place. A little Wish You Were Here and Little I’m Free from Tommy which fell apart when it was time to leave the lyrical portion of the song. With Kevin using the tile floor as a heat exchange to get some cooling into his body, I figured I might as well play a little Good Night Irene which seemed to wake him up and get him back into the game. The Midnight Moonlight to close ended at 12:01, just past midnight and sent us packing into the 90 plus degree temperatures that greeted us when we opened the door on 55th Street. Usually getting out of the hot, sticky elevator with all six of us crammed into it and opening the door on West 55th Street, with the river just to our west, is a cool and refreshing experience, but this night the outside was just as hot as in the inside of the building. This works for us as Deadstein is always seeking both a hotter and cooler experience, so not matter which way the winds blow we end up on top, so until we freak again, Freak Out.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/07-18-13

Jam – 2013-07-08 – Carroll’s

08 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds070813Our guest surprise for the night was Andy Trister,  who would of thunk it?  Rich kept this one close to his vest and we were able to enjoy the tones and the notes of Andy through the first set. In addition to the song you see, we also played the following songs; Love in the Afternoon, Cumberland Blues and Standing on the Moon. Unfortunately, Rich’s tape full recorder system only worked through the end of the first set.   We totally missed those 3 songs and beginning with the Abbey Road Medley we were only able to capture the stereo room recording.  Nevertheless, the first set recording was great and what else we did captured was good to get.  Who knows what we’ll get in the future.  Freak Out.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/07-08-13

Jam – 2013-07-03 – Carroll’s

03 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds130703With the 4th of July holiday hitting 2013 on a Thursday, it broke the week up into two. It also meant Scott and Lee were vacationing with the families this week leaving us without a rhythm section. Alan was also unable to make the jam.
Fortunately, we were able to call in one of our subs, in the form of Bill Sloan. Sometimes he plays bass sometimes he plays drums. This week he was behind the drum kit holding down the fort by himself. With Bill came a new keyboardist to Deadstein in tow named Scott. He brought his B3 sounding keyboard to the jam and plugged it into one of the Fender Twin Reverbs and we had B3 sounds from him all night long. Scott seemed to be into the New Orleans music scene more so than the music of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead and therefore seemed to have a strong penchant to the Aiko and Hey Pocky Way that we did.

Since we were playing on July 3, the day before a vacation day for all us, we seemed to be a bit more relaxed than usual, not having to worry about getting up for work in the morning. This meant we had a late start, just after 8:30, a long break and a later than usual quitting time of around 12:25. It also meant that Donna was with us for the entire jam instead of her usual, one set and out.

Instead commemorating the 4th of July holiday with the predictable salutes to patriotic like US Blues, Liberty, etc. we decided to pay tribute to the 4th of July by playing some of the songs written in 7/4 time. This included the Uncle John’s Band jam, Estimated Prophet and our venture into Pink Floyd’s wallet with Deadstein’s version of Money.

We had played the Breathe, Time, Breathe reprise from Dark Side of the Moon last week as a lark, but after practicing it at home this week, I was ready to give it a second attempt. Our Pink Floyd cycle this week included heading over to the Great Gig in the Sky where Donna let loose some fireworks and belted out a strong rendition bringing the music almost to a halt. We had do our best just to keep playing music to support her as she whaled across the Great Gig in the Sky. The other elements to this Pink part of the night were also fun as the Breathe, Time combo were a big improvement over last week’s efforts and the Money was another great song, in 7/4, from which Deadstein may derive some fun into the future. This music has a lot of the Dark Star elemental type of sounds associated with it and may provide a vehicle for Deadstein to shuttle to the Dark Side of the Moon where you can sense but no see a Dark Star.

As far as guests, we had our two guests musicians, Scott and Bill as previously mentioned. Additionally, Steve also showed for half the night and some of Rich’s neighbors, Paul, Sheila and a clogger whose name I forgot, also seemed to get a kick out of our music.

Donna also belted out a Positively 4th Street followed by a Music Never Stopped to close the first set. Donna had two good “Donna” moments in that one. We then did a nice Uncle John’s into Gimme Some Lovin and back into Uncle John’s combo. I thought we would take advantage of the presence of organ in the room and play the Gimme Some Lovin. We got back into more of that Cajun sound with the Aiko and went right back to the good ols USA celebrating 7/4 with an Estimated into a New Speedway Boogie to close out Donna’s night.

We needed a closer to cap off the evening, but we were already 15 minutes over time. Thank the lord we didn’t have to work the next morning so we took the opportunity to close with some gusto. The Feel Like a Stranger fit the bill and we played purposefully and concisely during the Stranger. We were playing as if it was the last song of the night on a night when we want to go one further. With the final notes of the Stranger hitting, it brought another freakin’ evening of Deadstein to a close. So until we freak again, freak out!

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

Jam – 2013-06-20 – Carroll’s

20 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds130620

The whole band, including Donna, was able to get its act together this week for a night of Deadstein music. Getting there was half the trick, surviving the night is the other half. For the most part, the majority of us survived the experience, but only by a slim majority. Donna left for home after the first set and our only guest of the night, Bill Sloan, picked up the sticks for a song while Scott took stepped out for a breather.

While Scott went out to take a breather, it ended up being a full-blown nap as I don’t think we saw him for the second half of the night. When Kevin went to check up on him toward the end of the evening he ended up succumbing to the same malady Scott had and seemed to be out for the count only leaving 4 our use to hold up the fort. I found the cure for Kevin’s woes which was picking up his bass a playing it. This woke Kevin up and got him back into the jam, but playing my guitar instead of his bass. We finished up the night with me on bass and Kevin on guitar working our way in and out of a free-form jam based on Dark Star and Other motifs. It is always fun to partake in that type of activity. For me surviving and thriving during the last jam in my 40s was a good way to end this decade of my life, I just hope the others in the band learn to endure the long nights of Deadstein.

Not only were physical difficulties hampering the experience, we were also having our share of technical problems. Kevin’s sensor-round bass shook the solder out of the top Fender Bassman amp on his rig requiring a mid-jam amp replacement. As far as the recording goes, only the soundboard recorder worked so the MP3s are missing the room microphone leaving a very disturbing recording made up of mostly open vocal mics, the piano mics and muffled room sounds as picked up through the vocal microphones. As such, listening to these MP3s is suggested for the truly hardcore Deadstein fans and freaks.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/06-20-13

Jam – 2013-06-13 – Carroll’s

13 Jun 2013 3 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: , , , , ,

ds130613This was a tough week to get everyone together but we managed to get a version of a Core-4 jam with Lee on drums and Alan on guitar. This has a whole bunch of implications on the evening including no guests and a much smaller and tighter experience. Not only is it one less drum kit in the air, but it also limits the number of live microphones to two, leaving the ambient air relatively free of reverberating feedback generated by all the open microphones.

Kevin’s iPod was playing a 74 Eyes of the World while we were gathering for the night and being that we skipped out on the Eyes last week, I thought it would be a good idea to open with the Eyes to get us going into a good big jammy direction for the night. Figuring we would try to take it all the way out in the final jam like they did in 1973-1974. Maybe this decision showed why we typically start off slow and easy, because this opening 23-minute Eyes of the World sprint at the opening of the night left Kevin gasping for air before we reached Deadstein 12-midnight finish line. Nevertheless, it was a epic adventure. I know Kevin will blame his downfall on the Apricot Newtons, but I will blame it on this giant Eyes of the World to open and all the big music to follow. Starting off as we did in Core-4 format with such a large and enduring jam is quite a mental and physical task and it does take its toll.

I found myself struggling from the first moment on and was doing my best to tot move ahead, thinking sooner or later it would click for me and get comfortable. It never really did and I wasn’t too comfortable with my hand/mind/guitar/tonal combination all evening long. This was too bad and as I always think, a lost opportunity since I was close and the rest of the band was playing well. I hardly played at all in the preceding days leading up to the jam and just wasn’t really on my game, mentally or physically. Time to practice, it makes things much more comfortable and easy during the jam.

From the Eyes, Lee suggested going right into a Greatest Story Ever Told. In an of itself and at that time, also a challenge, but we embarked on it and at least and it provided an ultimate stopping point with its abrupt ending. I was having split personality syndrome (Jerry/Bob) and was losing my focus but at times it had it moment. So 30 minutes into the night’s music, we got our first break to tune up, make and few adjustments and get a sip of water.

You would think the Althea and Little Red Rooster would get us into an easy gate which we could use to trot to the finish line and for the most part these songs accomplished that task. It didn’t help my comfort level any but at least it was song then stop, song then stop. Maybe it was the Jack-A-Roe which we did next. Lee kicked it into high gear and we were able to sustain that frantic sprint through the entire song. It felt good and right at that speed and I was amazed we could sustain it. Well done on our part. From there I thought it was a good time to throw some meat on the fire and play the Sailor Saint. Always a favorite of Kevin’s and it was due. Could have been better but it had it moments.

Thinking a nice relaxing, easy GarBand song could help us out so we did the Gomorrah, and it was nice and relaxing and put us in a better mindset. With this in mind I decided to try the Morning Dew to close the set. Not a favorite of Kevin’s but he can’t avoid it forever. With the small format we had fewer stray elements to lead us astray and we were able the maintain focus and integrity of the song leading to building the momentum throughout the verses, coming down after the first lead and then building up the final lead in a deliberate manner. T’was probably Deadstein’s best effort in this respect of the song.

After a small break we did a couple of Beatles songs I had been working on. The I Me Mine we played twice and the recording in the setlist is the 2nd version. We took one more small break and tried to do a Deadstein classic, one which Kevin always likes, Help Slip Estimated. The transition was not to be as I messed up some of the foundations of the end of Slipknot! leading Lee astray resulting in a crash and burn at the end of the Slipknot. It was my fault as I was playing the before Slipknot double Am scales at the end of the Slipknot when they required single Am scales alternating with drumming fills. I mended the recording together and we did go into the Estimated Prophet which was also well executed by all. What the heck, we were playing big so I decided to do the Core-4 Terrapin, which we were also able to pull off and we ended this long combination of songs with the Terrapin. This combo was also draining and took its toll.

Once again I turned to Garband to get us back in stride and hopefully to the finish line and the Run For the Roses was the elixir the doctor ordered and we seemed good. The Queen Jane was also another nice little shot in the arm getting us successfully back in stride aiming for the finish line. To break things up a bit with a little variety to get our minds off of the extent of the playing we had already done we did the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed followed by Dylan’s Slow Train Coming. Seemed like no biggie but Kevin needed a breather with only a few more songs to go to the finish. We gave him that breather as I noodled on the piano and like a champion he got up off the mat to play a final number to get us over the finish line. I decided that song should be Feel Like a Stranger which is ingrained in Kevin’s mind, one he could play in his sleep. I guess I was right because the Stranger woke Kevin up enough so we could conclude the Core-4 evening with a gentile Brokedown Palace. Woo!

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/06-13-13

Until we freak again.

Jam – 2013-06-06 – Carroll’s

06 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds130606We knew this was going to be a MegaByte big circus from the start and we had everyone in the band there to to participate while the freaks came in and out. It started off simply enough as we were blowing through a few songs that don’t have any harmonies in them until Donna arrived by around the 3rd song. From there we continued with a relatively normal but nice first set ending with the High-Time Let It Grow. We did throw in the Till the Morning Come capper just for the hell of it to keep the riotous masses quiet.

For the second set we had an unusual opener of Brother Esau, providing Donna a opportunity to start fresh with this number that she has been working on the lead vocal. The Women I pulled out of my a$$ was a lot of fun and typically doesn’t disappoint as much as the initial reaction to the song would suggest. Out of the He’s Gone I selected the If I had the World to Give instead of the Other One which was default path we could has selected, but the If I had the World to Give was a nice change of pace and a way of keeping it in relative rotation. Donna left us on a really well executed Oh Darling. With that we ended the night with 3 Jerry Garcia Band songs including a fairly epic Positively 4th Street.

Till the Freak Out Comes.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/06-06-13

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