Jam – 2013-04-10 – Carroll’s

10 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds130410Though it was April 10, 2013, there was a feeling deep inside Kevin’s gut that was yearning for it to be April 12, 1983. Who could blame his gut? That night at Binghamton was pretty magical for all of us who were there, not just Kevin who enjoyed his first show that night. With all these thoughts in our minds, there was a small desire to relive and play some of the great moments from that show. Since it was a couple of nights off from the actual anniversary, I didn’t feel compelled to give it the honor of Deadstein celebrating the night that it probably deserved, but the presence of the Broome County Arena was never far from my mind as the night progressed.

We all arrived early and ready to play, psyched everyone was health and accounted for. We decided to play the opening of the 4/12/83 show including the Getaway–> Greatest Story followed by a Birdsong. Much like 1983, the 2013 version was a strong opening and a positive omen with respect to things to come for the night.

From this strong opening, we decided to stray a bit but kept our eye on Binghamton as the night progressed. This resulted in the mid-set Let It Grow With Donna singing with us for the first set we selected a few songs that catered to her style such as the I Shall Be release, which we had been avoiding for the past several weeks. We ended the first set with a nice Might As Well, which when executed, is a nice exciting way to end a set.

With Donna only available for a portion of the beginning of set 2, we decided to throw a Playing in the Band at her as a way for her to bid us a fond-farewell as we transitioned into a spacey Playing in the Band jam. We eventually found our way to a China Doll and back into the Playing in the Band. I think that was a good little segment of music.

To close the night we were reach a bit and I suggested playing the last Beatles song in the book, The Word. That was pretty good. We continued in the Beatles “W” section and played “With a Little Help From Your Friends” and closed the night with a While My Guitar Gently Weeps. That was a very satisfying way to close out the night. Providing the initiative to come back and freak-out with Deadstein one more time.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/04-10-13

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 – 2013-03-21 – Carroll’s

21 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds130321After the extended span of a Monday to the following Thursday, Deadstein was ready for action. It was Kevin’s birthday and you wouldn’t have know it. At least I didn’t, so happy birthday Kevin.

I just got back from my RV trip to South Carolina and back and still had the feelings of the Virginia Mountains and driving down south occupying my mind. We were again lucky enough to have the six of us there to play but found out Donna was sick so she wasn’t going to join us. This coupled with my trip, thanks for asking, influenced the song selection a bit. Saving some songs for when Donna gets better while selecting some that are good to get done because they don’t have any harmonies and don’t involve her for the most part.

The resulting setlists had a real first set/second set feel to them; exhibiting flow, dynamics and surprises. In the end, Alan proclaimed it to be his best jam to date while playing with Deadstein. That was quite a lofty statement and I am glad for him from his perspective, but I would go quite that far. Nevertheless, it was a real solid night of playing that was quite satisfying to the soul.

As far as guests, Steve was there and we congratulate him and Lindsay on their baby. Maggie and Ryan were also there and he sat in for a song or two. Scott had the kick drum that played itself and Kevin had some ultra-low sonic stuff going on. I don’t think I had anything special going on.

Rich has a backlog of recording to get through, so check back for the MP3s to come.  Nope, it looks like Rich handed them off to me and I uploaded them on 4/21/13.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/03-21-13

Jam – 2013-03-11 – Carroll’s

11 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds130311A Monday night jam was on call for this week as I was scheduled to begin my inaugural RV vacation the following morning. It was perfect timing for me as I was also able to get everyone to agree to play the following Thursday, the night I get home. As I was already on vacation as of this jam, I was eager and ready to jam and I think this feeling permeated the band. I didn’t do any of the write up following the jam so there is little to recall. I do remember everyone being there and being on mark but more than that is difficult. I would just like to thank everyone for making the Deadstein book-ending my vacation a reality. See you on the Freakin’ rebound.

Rich has a nice backlog of music to get to, so I guess we need to keep checking back to listen to the MP3s from the even’s music.

Jam – 2013-03-07 – Carroll’s

07 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

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

ds130307Deadstein got back into its hunker-down mentality on this Thursday night as it was just the six of us ready to deliver a good meaty night of music.  I think we succeeded for the most part, providing a real legitimate first and second set.  It was a good feeling week of security compared to the pandemonium that was presented to us the week before.  Not that Deadstein isn’t nimble on its feet and doesn’t enjoy a little surprise every no and then, but this week felt comfortable in the lack of having to care about anything else but ourselves.

I think Ryan and Maggie were our only guests for the night, so we had no but ourselves to blame if things didn’t work out. There was the threat of snow, nor-Easter in in the air but the few flurries that impacted us were only for the good.  It got us off the mark with a default Cold Rain and Snow and that just led to better and better things as the night progressed.

The China Rider was a powerful one for us to close the first set.  While the botched opening of the Saint Stephen for the second set could have spelled doom, it was the only downer of the second set as the rest felt pretty good.  The Scarlet Fire following the Stephen got us right back on track and brought us right back to the station at 12 midnight to end the evening.  Another great night of music, which I look forward to giving a listen.  Freakin’ woo.

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

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

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries