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Jam 2008-10-14 at Carroll’s

15 Oct 2008 6 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Deadstein, Jam, Jason, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott

10-Year Anniversay Skull

It was October 9, 1990that was the first time Deadstein got together and jammed. While it was only Kevin and I from the current line-up that was there that night, yet it started something special that would touch hundreds of musicians, guests and friends over the years. Tonight being October 14, 2008 we are celebrating our 18th anniversary as we embark in our 19th year of Deadstein. Deadstein’s perseverance is no Little Feet but more like the Grateful Dead where we let our free-loving attitude guide us through a long strange trip.

2008-10-14 Brotpen Live From Hells Kitchen

Put the puns and play on words aside, Deadstein and a place to jam the music you love on a regular basis is worth the far more than the price of admission. I’m sure for many that a have been a part of our family and left for whatever reasons, there comes a feeling on a Tuesday night that they wonder what if I was there playing guitar, hanging with the guys and living the Grateful Dead in my conciousness for a few more beloved moments. Deadstein brings you there and it’s a great place to be. You can buy that type of fun at Best Buy, no matter how many reward points they give you. It has been quite a trip through the years. A journey which had a beginning is bound to have and end but right now we are in the middle of the trek. I knew Brotpen from the Dead Batteries, a band I played in with him as well as Larry Menaker another Deadstein original, in the late 80’s but he didn’t arrive back into Deadstein for 4-5 years after we started.

Larry gets his recycling stickers installed at Carrolls

We played with a variety of Keyboardists in the early days, trying them out to see if they would survive. Craig Jackers (sp?) a friend of Larry Brent’s from SUNY Albany played keyboards on the first few jams but he was the first leave and we really haven’t heard from him since. We got so desperate we even put advertisements in the Village Voice seeking keyboardists and tried out a few from that endeavor. We found Jeremy that way who quickly found out the rule that if you pass out during a Deadstein jam, don’t count on us to stop for you. It was a hot night in a claustrophobic Stickworks studio and we were playing for a good 30 minutes without break and during the Other One, Jeremy was resting his head on his Keyboard and then resting on the floor. We looked and went on. Eventually we found Brotpen who had a much stronger inner drive and was able to trip and then get up. He needed no help from any one else.

Larry takes a great autumn photo on his bike ride home from work prior to the jam.

Scott Bayer proves Deadstein has not lost its knack to attract freaks.

Well there is so much to write about and so little time to write about it all. Thankfully, Deadstein and company was one of the early bloggers in the world of the Internet and much of our collective experience is on http://www.Deadstein.com for all to read and for some to reminisce to. Enjoy it and remark about it, because no matter how crappy our music may be, and it isn’t all that bad, the journey has been remarkable and I expect the next 19 years to continue to be a journey though likely to be less remarkable. After all, there are no more jams that will take place during Dead tours, there are likely to be no more midgets, it’s not even politically correct to call them midgets anymore, and there will be nothing like Dennis again.

Larry and Scott Biking on the GWB on Columbus Day 2008

Scott setting up for the night

The last few days have been gorgeous here in the New York City area and Scott and I took advantage of the first Deadstein healthy related activity I could think of by taking a bike ride from his house to NJ and back. I played tennis with LLB once and he kicked my ass, but that is the only other sporting activity I recall with band members. So it was beautiful on Sunday and we cruised 25 miles up and down the Island. A geat day. Take a look at the composite picture above from the Geaorge Washington Bridge. Kathy and Andy Klein joined us on the ride. We rode right past Carroll’s. Maybe we should form a Deadstein basketball team. Who play’s center?

Andy Harcup wishes us peace

I got there expecting to see Kevin’s friend Ken Levine there to celebrate his 56th birthday but instead and in lieu we had Deadstein’s own little runaway, Andy Harcup. He came with his Hagstrom es-335esque guitar and his exhuberant attitude and he was ready to go.

Jason was on lead for the night and I think we are breaking him down a bit and getting him to play some J-Garband songs. Let us not forget that Scott Bayer who showed up for a song or two and we once again we played to Carol over the cell phone. Not much talk of the anniversary but there ususally isn’t too much talk on anything.

Another closeup from the Piano

We played a lot of songs for the night. I started it all off by wrestling a bluesy intro jam in E into a Wang Dang Doodle. Wasn’t the best thing in the world, but it wasn’t the worst. If you want to hear the jam it is available at the link below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/10-14-08/

We actually have 20 MP3s provided at this link. While there were a few small quickies, there were other double combos, and with the presences of Andy, we had some first timers. It was over 20 songs. That is a lot for us.

Jam 2008-10-06 at Carroll’s

07 Oct 2008 13 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Al D, Jam, Jason, JB, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott

Kevin strung out by his bass 10-6-2008

It’s a Monday night jam which tends to be our least favorite of day of the week to play but even an undesirable Moday is better than noday so Monday it is. It seems like Bayside Al will be playing the lead role for the early portion of the night but it may be core four thereafter.

I ended up shooting about 3 minutes of video and below is a bit of it. Not much to see unless you are one of the ones to be seen. So look if you must but don’t expect much. Nevertheless, youtube makes looking at worthless stuff pleasure so take a look.

While it is fairly nice outisde, the chill to the air tells us the summer is over for sure and the winter is not far behind. Never-the-matter, I’m still wearing shorts and I am sure ther air conditioning will be cranked. I’m gonna bring the camera and the video so I hopefully be able to get some shot and footage posted.

Rich is passionate about something

So I got to Carroll’s pretty early, lucky to get a spot since there was a show at Teminal 51, and Kevin was at the computer by the soda machine looking up tabs for some Metal-Talica song. For the most part we aren’t metal heads or Talicas so it never materialized. What eventually materialized were Rich and Scott followed by Al D.and JB, they have a lot of initials at the Ludlow camp. The Ludlow campers were only available to 11:00 and somehow the starswere aligned and Jason showed as they were packing up their gear. We were able to get 5 to 6 songs with Jason before the midnight hour came upon us. Scott Bayer was there for a few songs and we did play over the cell phone to Carol.

JBs eyes match his guitar.

I think we played well and had a lot a good moments with Al and JB. We made it through a Cats Down Under the Stars pretty well and JB snag a Balland of a Thiun Man where I was able to pull off one of the better leads of my life, thanks to my effects rack and setting 151. When Jason showed up around 11:00 it gave us a bit more energy than we would typically have during the last hour of the night. That carried us throught 5 or six good songs including a Terraping, Saturday Night and a few others.

Rich, live from Hells Kitchen

Al and his SG

Als Effect Board

Inside the world of Kevin

Jam 2008-10-01 at Carroll’s

02 Oct 2008 1 Comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Jam, Jason, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott

What is This?

Deadstein October 10, 2008

With sundown today comes the end of Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of Deadstein’s jam. We are scheduled to play on a tight a tight schedule to make it just after the holiday and within the schedule to jam with some of our good friends. On my bike ride home a Hasidic guy in his mid 20’s with his 5-6 year old son stopped me on the bike path in the woods and asked me if I was Jewish and wanted to hear the Shofar. I obliged him and the 3 of us said a prayer and he blew the shofar for what seemed like a long time. In any case it scared all the deer away and gives me a very positive vibe from which to approach tonight’s jam.

Jasons skewed rig

Scott and Michael 10-1-2008

It’s the first day of October and it looks like it may rain but it was a pretty nice day today. In the world, this week the economy fell apart more so than last week but at least Deadstein goes on. If people would have invested in Deadstein instead of bad mortgages they would still be broke but at least they would be happy. While the market is a roller coaster you cannot count on, Deadstein is the Rock of Freakbralter which you can count on Long live Deadstein and Happy New Year. While the world around us is crumbling like a cheap house of cards, Deadstein’s strong foundation provides the stability to get many of us through these difficult times.

Dan-Dan the Van Man

So for a Wednesday night in the Fall, there was little traffic coming in. Although there was a show at the club down the street I was able to get a good spot and I moved into our favorite Studio 2. We were expecting a few guests including Alan D and JD so we had equipment and mics for them but they didn’t show. Who did show were Scott Bayer, Dan-Dan the Van Man and our brother in arms, Michael. It was great to see every one and we had a good night. It ended up being the 5 of us with Jason on lead and we played lots of good songs at sometimes in funky order.

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk1EQmO2m34]

Larry and Michael

I recall a first set Stella Blue, we closed with a Tennessee Jed, had an early Brokedown, and so on and so forth. We even pulled off the Music Sugaree Music 8-7-82 stlye and it was good. I think we blew Dan the Van Man away with that one. As well as the Stella Blue. He seemed to be a bit mesmerized by it all. And there’s a lot to be mesmerized by a Deadstein.

Yummy, Yummy. It was good when ti when down.

I brought in some junk food for all of us to enjoy and some how luckily out of my bag of tricks I found a fresh yummy peach for Michael. That was a nice movement. Speaking of which we once again played a song for Carroll over the cell phone and had that Mitzvah on our souls.

It will be great to listen to some of the highlights once Rich posts them. I alos have some video to process and post so look for that down below and stay tuned to Deadstein. I think we are playing Monday next week. Welcome to Fall. By the way you may enjoy Scrap’s agility trials from the past weekend with Kathy. Check them out.

Scott and Kev

How, how about posting a comment?

How about a hand for our taper!

Jam 2008-09-18 at Carroll’s

19 Sep 2008 4 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Bruce, Jason, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott

Core 4 Deadstein 9-18-2008

This week we had trouble coordinating anight togethera and in addition, Carroll’s is pretty booked. As such we will be playing from 9-12 instead of the typical 8-12. Not that this is too big of a deal since Kevin works late on Thursday nights and usually cannot get there until 8:30 or so. Jason has some type of gig so he plans on joining us for the last hour and for the first two it seems as if we will have Bruce again. This time I know who he is.

While it is a beautiful day outside as the last gasp of summer pricks my finger, the outside world is falling apart. All the banks and insurance companies are going belly up as the stock market is tumbling into freefall. Good thing I don’t have much to lose, so I feel relatively richer this week. The more that you gather, it’s just more that you can lose.

Bruce and his Paul Reed Smith

It worked out to be a nice evening starting at the late hour of 9:00pm and all. I was first to arrive, then Kevin and we watched the variety of young Asian women vacate the studio we were soon to occupy. They were done about 20 minutes earlier than planned so the bearded Carroll’s tech guy, Mr. Knoer and his bald buddy, could get the room set for some Deadstein freakiness. They prepared the room earlier for us by having the equipment ready so setup, with Kevin and my help, was quick and easy. We had the good PA this week, although with tiny speakers, and Rich had the good Yamaha Piano. Scott, Rich and Bruce Tanis arrived just around 9:00 together and away we went. Scott had a nice new red set of Yamaha drums. The rest of us had our typical Fender twin reverb reissue amps.

I started the festivities with the Brothers and Sisters and then we played the Let It Rock. We had difficult getting away from playing 1-4-5 in A and it seemed like every song was in that vein. It was a bluesy night in middle-September as Bruce has a tendency toward the blues and with Rich by his side; it was to be a blue filled night.

Bruce and Jason playing the blues 9-18-2008

Jason, showed up, wearing a sports coat and Brooklyn T-shirt about half way through the night, and that brought the energy to a different level. We played several songs that were “Tits” including the ever-so uplifting Death Don’t Have no Mercy. Just kidding, it was a moving rendition. I started a ‘79 version of Good Loving at some point late in the night, I think it was following the Going Down the Road where we ended going E to D over and over again and ended up in C, but Jason ended the Good Loving with a 68 version so it stopped there. That was too bad because it was the Good Lovin’ that was our song we were transmitting via the cellular network to Carol. This was just after Scott Bayer arrived for his 2 songs, but he was looking freakier than usual and hopefully I got a good picture of him to show him in all his freakiness.

Scott Bayer in all his glory

Scott, sign the CD and give it to me already.

Rich also had us all sign his new CD compilation which were songs that we have transmitted via cell phone to Carol over the previous year. See the previous post for more information about this CD.

We ended the night with the long and slow Lucky ol Sun into something pretty quick. I don’t remember now and may have to wait until I see the set list that Rich posts. I had a lot of Smartees for everyone to gobble on and that is about it.

Jam 2008-09-10 at Carroll’s

11 Sep 2008 2 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Jason, Kevin, Larry, Recording, Rich, Scott

The 24-Track Mackie returns after a long hiatus for this jam.

This week it is Wednesday and for the first time in a long time I am bringing in my Mackie 24-track multitrack recorder to hopefully capture some hot Deadstein moments that I can remix into something really good. I hope it all goes well and it’s gonna be a driving night for me trying to carry all this crap, getting it set up, jamming and taken down. Post jam comments coming up later.

It was mentally a stressful jam for me. I was so intent on recording that I had to get home after work, load the equipment bag, though it was preloaded for the most part, and get the Mackie rolling, 24 tracks to roll-no more. Here Comes Deadstein. Here Comes Deadstein.

Results of the Multi-Track recording are provided below. In addition, Rich has uploaded his track recordings from his new Tascam 2-track all-in-one recorder. Thanks to Rich for doing that as always.

Those files are provided at:

http://deadstein.com/audio/09-10-08/

Now for the great quality multitrack stuff, the folder is located at:
http://deadstein.com/audio/09-10-08-Multitrack/ or you can listen to it immediately below. I know Kevin was a little interested in this stuff so I show a print screen of my 2 monitors containing the tracks on the right and some of the effects on the left. I think if you click on the picture you will be able to get a closeup of the screen shot. UAD-1 DSP Effects and Reaper Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software. I love it. I hope you do also.

Mixing in Reaper and Using UAD Audio Effects.

05 Beat It On Down the Line

Scott check 1-2 at the 9-10-08 Jam

So I was the first one in the room and lo-and-behold, they gave us the all-in-one, 8 channel mackiePA/mixer. We had been getting the great PA system setup for the last year consistently, so I was certain we would get it this week. It was a bummer, only 8-tracks and the bad PA to boot. Apparently, there were a lot of 9-11 ceremonies planned for the next day and Carroll’s had all their equipment preloaded into trucks ready to roll. Luckily, Chris was clutch and was able to get me another Mackie PA/Mixer so I had enough channel for the night. All I had we 12 and it’s really all needed. So I got it all set up and it worked nicely and easily. The quality of the pre-amps and all isn’t all that important in our hideous acoustic environment, they are the least of our worries. In addition, I have to admit the PA was adequate. It was the larger Studio 3 instead of the standard Studio 2 we usually play in. David Byrne had studio 2 booked with a lot of equipment. Almost as much as me. Just kidding, but it was quite a load to carry.

06 It Must Have Been the Roses

If you want to see the warm up, tune up, etc to the jam it is available. I’m just not promising anything exciting.

Woo-head

So the recording seemed to work, the PA was there, Scott Bayer showed for the beginning and we launch into the easy opening Bertha and I didn’t feel too comfortable and or confident with the guitar in my hand. for most of the night. The Mama Tried felt pretty solid and I was able to hold my shit together OK for the first few songs. I think we played solidly for the majority of the night and I just wasn’t there for too much of it and able to get it out. Not to worry, it is a team game and the rest of you schmegheggies pulled me through. And knowing that I have the band to count on also pulls me through in the tougher times. I had some bone-head mistakes throughout the night that I’m gonna have to cut out of the mix, fortunately, I’ll be able to do so except for some of my bogus time mishaps. That’s why there is always next week.

Butt-head

We played lots of songs. Did a little work on a Bucket and tried to play it a second time, but to no avail. Jason and Kevin did some nice work on the Morning Dew pre-lead accent/descent and that part was pulled off nicely in the song itself.

As I start to mix the music I will get a little closer to this jam and hopefully find the beauty in it. Time will tell with it. I think Scott stayed up and survived the entire jam and even ended with the Box of Rain to close ot the night. Well maybe the end was hijacked a little by Jason as he broke out the Wave that Flag into I know You Rider. It was two more songs than I wanted to do considering the take down of equipment I still had to do but thanks to Kevin’s great cord wrapping abilities we were out of there in a jiffy.

Butt-heads pedal board

So I get home with the hard drive recording, pop the disk out of my Mackie and plop it into my PC , copy the files and I think I am off to the races, but no! I get no sound. What the fuck! I’m telling you. My computer decides to die on me. Now I don’t mean software die, I mean hardware die so I got the computer booted and running but I am now scared to turn it off cause it may never come back. In any case, I finally got the thing rebooted and was able to listen to the recording and it all sounds good with respect to the recording. The playing the on the hand still needs to be determined.

15 Box of Rain

16 Wave the Flag

17 I Know You Rider

Now that the mixdowns I made of the night’s recordings are on the site and hopefully you have had a chance to listen to these multitrack recordings so it now leads to this weeks poll. Judging bass levels is the most difficult thing to do since we all have greatly different speakers and listening environment. With that said let me know what you think of the recordings from a frequency perspective. You feedback will hopefully lead to better recordings.

Scott and his new Treo 800w

Jam 2008-09-04 at Carroll’s

04 Sep 2008 5 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Jam, Jason, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott

Jasons guitar at a rockin angle

It’s Thursday, Labor Day has come and gone, the summer for all intents and purposes is over and Deadstein continues along. We are back with Jason this week and from the feel of it, I’m sensing good things. It’s Thursday so the week is almost over yet it seems so young. A Monday holiday will do that.

Scotty early on in the night was play so hot he was smoking

Not focusing on what is important in the Fall, we are playing on Thursday night but it is also the opening game in this year’s NFL season and to boot, the Giants are playing and I’m gonna miss it. I hope the wireless signal is strong at Carroll’s tonight so my Slingbox on my AT&T Tilt works. I have a special treat to bring in tonight, some chocolate chip cookies someone baked fro me, so bring your appetites.

Rich behind the keys

Well the jam is over, Friday is upon us and the Giants won the season opener against the Redskins at home, 16-7. I don’t miss too many Giant games but for a good night of Deadstein it is well worth it.

Kevin was working late so we actually played a Stella Blue at the beginning of the night without him. Did the Jerry-Bob-Jerry thing for most of the first set. Opening with a Rhapsody and closing with a Saturday Night. The was a Rooster in there, Stagger Lee, Next Time You see Me, Dark Hollow, and a few more. We actually got to play 3 Garband songs through the night, giving me a chance to video tape some of it since there isn’t much of a Bob role in the Garband. We had the Catfish John. Finally we even worked out some nice stuff and rhythms, from my perspective on the Me and My Uncle. It sounded good.

Look who is playing in Studio 2. Elvis, no, it is Deadstein.

For the second set we did the Terrapin and Kevin really like it but I played poorly during it. We cooked the birdsong, “tits” as Jason says. Did the Throwing Stones and Not Fade Away Other One Around and Around and it was over a 12:00. I even sang a Hard to Handle while Rich was accompanying Scott home, or something. We of course played live from Hell;s Kitchen to Carol over the cell phone. There was a Knockin in there toward the end. Scott may not remember all of the second set as he was asleep during a nice chunk of it, duirng the Other One.

We here is the setlist below from the other night. I thinkk all the links should work and thanks to Rich for recording it. It is with his new Tascam, solid state 2 track recorder with built in microphones.

Stella Blue
Rhapsody in Red
Little Red Rooster
Deal
Dark Hollow
Stagger Lee
Next Time You See Me
Catfish John
Me and My Uncle
Birdsong
One More Saturday Night
Terrapin Station
Throwing Stones
Not Fade Away
The Other One
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Around and Around

Jason rockin in the second set.

Speaking of video, Rich showed us his film project he has undertaken with Scott Bayer which is a documentary about Scott’s journeys and recordings of film festivals, like the Tribecca, from the past. It was really interesting, and with Scott as the main star, a little spooky yet uplifting.

Kevin playing the Modulus on 9-4-2008

Well, it was an interesting week of politics this week as the Republican National Convention got underway. Nominee, John McCain suprised the world by choosing an unknown conservative Governor from Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his running mate. In her acceptance speech last night she compared Barack Obama to John McClain by stating, “Some use change to promote their careers while others, like John McClain, use their careers to promote change.” This clever quote leads me, pardon the pun, to our poll for this week as it relates to the Grateful Dead.

Let’s see a few moments that I caught on video for the night. First is the video of the ever so enjabale “Check One-Two” featuring Scott, this is followed by an enchanting story told by Kevin of skirting his way through a red light and a traffic ticket and finally are a few moments from the opening number, Rhapsody in Red.