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 – 2010-20-12 – Carroll’s

27 Dec 2010 1 Comment

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

In order to get this last jam in before the Christmas holiday, Deadstein was forced to do the Monday jam.  It didn’t matter we were able to field the full bad including Jeff Blues who showed up after we started the first song or two.  I don’t thing we have a poster, photograph or anything to remember the night and I am writing this post exactly one week after the jam so there is not much memory of the jam to help me out.  Hopefully Rich got the recordings and we will be able to relive the moments through the music.  Or maybe a vague memory of it all leaves a better taste in your mouth and your mind than the sound of the  Sailor/Saint which we did butcher.  Now as I recall, we were doing a round robin all night with each person selecting a song to play, and the Sailor / Saints was Kevin’s selection.  Our guests for the night were Rob and Miriam as well as Scott Bayer.

It looks like with the Fab Faux in town at the City Winery and we will not be able to get everyone together for the final jam of the year.  Alan’s seeing them Monday, me on Tuesday and Scott on Wednesday.  Scott decided he would bow out for the week, enjoy the show, and we got Bayside Russ to fill in for Scott.  So it will be Russell and Deadstein closing out 2010 in some type of fashion, what type of fashion, you ask; that’s why you have to go to every show.

To hear the songs from this week go to:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/12-20-10/

Jam – 2010-12-14 – Carroll’s

15 Dec 2010 Leave a comment

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

It was good to be back as a 5-man band with the addition of Jeff Blues to round out the crowd.  Before Jeff got there we decided to once again try a revised version of the Beatles Abbey Road medley.  It was better this week than last week and should get better and better the more we play it. It’s a good time to play that piece of music.  Fresh off is Fab Faux experience next door at Terminal-5, Scott was in a Beatles mood and it was good to attempt it early in the night.   Before we did the medley, we warmed up with Lied and Cheated which was a good warm up choice.  After we finished the medley with a fully blown The End, Jeff joined us and we hopped into a Feel Like a Stranger to start the silky, silky, crazy night. We later played She Belongs to Me at Jeff’s request which is one his new favorites as he has been exposed to many new songs since playing with us.

We played fairly solidly through most of the night. Only during the Morning Dew right at the end of the night did we really begin to fall apart.  I played bass for a couple of songs (You Win Again and It Takes A Lot to Laugh) while Kevin was attending a phone call.  We did 5 or 6 Beatles songs after the Morning Dew in about 15 minutes and their simplicity and requirement to pay attention woke us up to perform these with a little proficiency.  It was a good was to end the night. Out into the freezing cold we went.

To hear what we did,go to the links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/12-14-10/

By the way, Scott’s been doing  yeoman’s work capturing concerts and he’s got some great stuff from his recent Fab Faux show, check it out below and subscribe to his channel.

Jam – 2010-11-30 – Carroll’s

01 Dec 2010 2 Comments

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

This week was another tough week to get the entire gang together and we could not pull it off.  With Scott looking at potentially missing three weeks in a row, we moved the jam to Tuesday to suite his schedule.  On the short end of the stick was Rich who couldn’t make it on Tuesday.  For the first time in quite a while we played without Rich and had no keyboard substitute.  This had a whole host of implications including an evening without a recording since Rich is the one with the mics and MP3 recorder.  Additionally, since Rich and I split most of the lead vocal duties these days, it meant I was singing lead on every song.  Not a great prospect for anyone involved. While this gave me the opportunity to sing songs I never never sing, I also gave me the reminder not to select songs I don’t sing.  The Row Jimmy early in the night was such a slap in the face once I realized I couldn’t sing, play and read the music all at one time.

At least we did have one substitute and guest for the night who was Jeff Blues with his new 2009 Gibson 335.  He also brought his Strat to switch on and off with but Jeff was just trying to tune in a sound for his new guitar though he still seems more comfortable with his trusty-old Strat.  Thats rights we had the southern blues thing going on with three guitars but it was still a good time.  Since we did have recordings it was tough to remember what we played by below is the setlist as best I can remember.

Sugaree
Row Jimmy
Little Red Rooster
Positively 4th Street
After Midnight
Thrill is Gone
Pretty Peggy-O
Looks Like Rain

It’s All Over Now
Comfortably Numb
She Belongs to Me
Like a Road
Touch of Grey
Dear Mr. Fantasy
Quinn the Eskimo

Next weeks will prove to be a totally opposite experience, so I am guessing, so to keep you all guessing out there on virtual freaky-highway, tune in, same freak-time, same freak-channel.

Jam – 2010-11-17 – Carroll’s

18 Nov 2010 2 Comments

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

This was a strange night for Deadstein. For the first time that I remember, we actually had two drummers playing on and off with neither one them being Scott, who happened to be at the Radiators concert and wasn’t playing with us this week.
We had both Bill Sloan and Russell M who both Rich and Alan new from previous bands. In addition, we had Jeff Blues blues rocking out on his variety of cool old guitars.  He brought a giant bag of chocolate covered almonds for us to munch on.

It all sounded really well  throughout the night. When it came to quitting, we didn’t seem to want to, as we played well past our 12 o’clock stop time.   As far as guests, besides these three guest musicians, we didn’t have any. Ironically, with all the drummers we had for the night,the evening started with me playing drums using my hands during the Big Boss Man. I then borrowed a pair of sticks from Alan of Caroll’s and started playing the Deep Elem Blues and that is when Bill walked into the studio. I tried to pull off the seamless switch from drumming to the new drummer in the middle of the song but to no avail. Nevertheless, we finished off the Deep Elem Blues in its entirety with Bill drumming.

Bill played the first set for five or six songs, maybe even seven, songs. I guess I’ll see when the MP3s get posted. We then switched and had Russell play the second set and that was also fun and good. We granted him the setlist he requested prior to the jam including Scarlet, Fire, Playing, Other One Death Don’t Have No Mercy and Sugar Magnolia. Fun and exciting stuff. The Death was one of the highlights of the night where we displayed some nice dynamics.

We continued with the third set with Bill on drums and we did some big stuff there also including an Estimated, Eyes with the entire ending jam that ended with a big D minor jam that we didn’t seem to want to end and fortunately Alan figured out how to lead us into the closing of Playing in the Band.  We finished the around 12:30.  Hopefully we can piece together a jam for the always difficult Thanksgiving week.

For the MP3s of the night go to:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/11-17-10/

 

Jam – 2010-10-13 – Carroll’s

14 Oct 2010 4 Comments

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

This was a pretty momentous week of Deadstein as it celebrated the 20th anniversary of Deadstein’s first jam on October 9, 1990. For the occasion we had Larry Brent, Deadstein’s original lead guitarist, back in his lead seat. It really was a surrealistic experience playing with Larry again and thinking back to those jams now spanning two decades ago.

There were too many guests to name them all and probably the only ones I knew were Ken and Stu as well as Michael. We also had Jeff, who played with us last week play with us this week who came with his friend and connection to us, Peter. The rest of the peanut gallery was suspect and Alan probably picked the right week not to show. There was a lot of guitar going on and a lot of mischief. One off those assholes probably tore down part of the bathroom and will be a neg-black eyed on Deadstein’s steal your face.

I mentioned that Jeff was jamming with us and last week we geared our setlist toward his style. This week, celebrating the 20 years, we had no such mercy. We decided to play the entire setlist that we played 20 years ago which was big and meaty. Even when Rich asked for some mercy on the setlist for a You Win Again, I also had no mercy. I was determined to finish the setlist from 20 years ago. It took us until 12:15, but we did it all the way through the Going Down the Road. It was a good thing Russ was there to help out with the drums because I don’t think Scott would have made it all the way through on his own, but this week, Scott was going strong at the closing. It was a big night of music and scop only to end with the neg-scop of the bathroom incident. WTF.

To hear what we did this night, go to the links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/10-13-10/

Anyway, look forward to another 20 years of jamming, the first 20 was a life saver and we will all need a life saver for the next 20. It all starts next week unless we have been kicked out of Carroll’s. Whose friend was that bozo

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