Jam – 2013-02-19 – Carroll’s

19 Feb 2013 4 Comments

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

ds130219After a week on the road and with Rich sick, it was great to have us all back together again in good health and back in our comfortable Studio 2 at Carroll’s. We had no agenda for the night, but Donna was there with us for the first set and we had several big songs on tap to perform with her.

I decided to go into an Uncle John’s opener to try to get us into a bit of a jamming mode considering we had lots of normal songs to play later on. This was good, it was a great way to start, from there I got us into the Hey Pockey Way in pretty good fashion and we were off to the races. We then proceeded with some good Donna songs including several Bobby/Donna Duets and several forays into the Graband. I think this is where Donna really shined as her Brothers and Sisters, Love Each Other and Like a Road with us gave a a great boost in the legitimacy realm.

We got an ample 15-songs first set in with Donna, ending on the Tangled Up in Blue to close her night. It was an excellent 1st set. I don’t know where the concept of opening the second set with the Come Together came from but we did it and felt pretty good. Kevin the suggested out of the blue that we go A-Z in order in the Beatles section. That’s not the type of thing he suggests but we did end up staying with the Beatles stuff for the rest of the night, often playing songs we rarely had done previously. I thought it was fun and a nice opportunity to do some new things.

As far as guests, I don’t recall any, but I assume Steve was there. I appreciate the work Rich does on posting these recordings, so you might want to give them a listen. Then again, I couldn’t blame you if you didn’t, nevertheless, they are listed below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/02-19-13/

Set 1

Set 2

Jam – 2013-02-12 – Smash Studios

12 Feb 2013 5 Comments

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

ds130212With Carroll’s booked for whatever day our schedules were synchronized, we were on our own to find a home away from home for the week.  We found our home and now we to find our way back.  Having two drummers presents a problems for most normal rehearsal studios, and as such, it lead us back to our own stomping grounds, Smash Studios on 36th street.  G-d help us! It was their Studio A where they were able to accommodate Deadstein with most of our needs.

Smash Studios was our regular jamming location for a while in the Terez days back at the beginning of the millennium when we reluctantly resort to it when needed.  This week we had such a need.  It’s not that the place is awful. I happened to find free parking on the street, getting there was quick this evening and the room was fairly spacious and sounded OK.  In many respects, with its deadness, Smash Studios sounds better than Carroll’s, but the vibe and the instruments just don’t hold up to what Carroll’s offers us.

Actually, I had a pretty good, brown-faced Twin reverb which suited my needs just fine.  I was still playing my Made in America Roland Ready Start, but this week without all the MIDI stuff.  The sound of that guitar is a bit sterile compared to my ’79-Strat, so it was tough for me to lay any blame on the amp versus my guitar.  In most respects, my setup was about as good as it gets.  I do appreciate Alan making the sacrifice and leaving me the lone Twin while he had to struggle with the Ampeg amp he used all night.  Kevin had this big rig which I assume he didn’t like but I thought I sounded pretty good, maybe a bit too tinny.

We will never know about the sound because the recording of the night onto Smash’s provided CD recorder was an abject failure. While sound came out of the CDs it was with constant jitter and was unlistenable.  It was probably a good thing because from what I could gather through the jitter, it sounded like the CD would have primarily vocals as it recorded the mix of the soundboard with the addition of one ambient mic in the room.  Probably overall, a good thing that the music isn’t available.  Nevertheless, I was able to coax a setlist from the rubble so the setlist provided is probably pretty accurate.

It’s not that we played too badly.  I think the drummers had a pretty good sound going through the night and Marty on keys was able to find balance at certain times during the night, though he had struggles with it early on in the night.   Rich was a late cancellation, coming down with the flu and Marty was right there when called upon.  This time sans-zip drive.  Finally, the PA seemed dull and flat for the first song or two but after a little adjustment we got it sounding good enough for us.

We were able to get Donna to join in effectively with us providing the good background vocals until she had to leave at 11pm to catch a train back to Brooklyn,  I didn’t provide a practice setlist earlier so she was on her own and having to latch onto a few songs she never heard before.  It’s good practice for the reality which is Deadstein and Donna’s a good sport about going with the flow, ebb and tide of Deadstein.

With the change in location we had no guests and very little to do but play our merry hearts out.  While it is good to be on the road and explore different places, “NOT”, it will be tremendous to be back in the warm comforting environment of Carroll’s.  Can’t freakin’ wait to be there, I just hope we can find our way back home.

We don’t have music to listen to, but this is what was played.

Set 1

  1. Aiko-Aiko
  2. It’s All Over Now
  3. Like a Road
  4. Casey Jones
  5. Gomorrah
  6. Althea
  7. Cassidy
  8. Ramble on Rose
  9. Samson and Delilah
  10. Harder They Come
  11. Brokedown Palace
  12. Dont Let Go
  13. SugarMagnolia

Set 2

  1. Built To Last
  2. Wang Dang Doodle
  3. Black Peter
  4. Music Never Stopped

Jam – 2013-02-06 – Carroll’s

06 Feb 2013 5 Comments

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

ds130206It was another “Woo-sday” (Wednesday) night for Deadstein and we were all looking forward to the jam leading up to the 8pm start-time.  We were scheduled to have the whole band their in addition to Donna.  As such, I prepared a 1st set that would take advantage of the time we had with Donna and circulated to the band members during the week

I decided to work on a Built To Last during the week, I grew tired of always declining to play it, claiming I couldn’t do it, so I grabbed the song by the horns and learned it.  During my listening to it, I remembered Jerry would often use his MIDI trumpet sounds during, so I decided to emulated Jerry.  I took out my Roland-ready MIDI guitar setup out of storage in my basement, changed strings and practiced and with it on the Built To Last.  I incorporated all the MIDI equipment in my gig-bag and I was ready to go.

Below is a link to an article discussing MIDI turning 30 this past January.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20425376

We were in the big room in Carroll’s and when I got there I got Jules to get me a Roland keyboard amp, this coupled with my Fuchs Twin Reverb, I was wired and ready to go.  With all this craps at my right foot, I decided to place Donna to my left, which Kevin mocked me for, but it did work out well for me during the jam.

Just as we were about to embark on the evening and begin the Feel Like a Stranger in came the big surprise for the night, Andy Trister.  We almost waited for him to begin, which delayed us a good 20 minutes or so.  Delay-Schlemay, the Stranger really smoked.  The serendipity of Trister showing up and me having my MIDI setup was a big bonus for the night since it meant I would play more organ sounds and no interfere with both Andy and Alan on the guitar sounds.  I guess I can spew out the canned cheese for one night and not only not get to bored by it, but enjoy the mix.  There were moments during the What a Wonderful World and the Midnight Moonlight where I felt the MIDI keyboard sounds were right on.

After the Feel Like a Stranger opener I decided to modify the planned setlist a bit to accommodate Trister’s unanticipated presence and some potential synergies with Donna.  I therefore threw an I Shall be Released gauntlet for Trister to sing leads on.  When Donna came in on the background vocals on that it proved to be pretty special and that GarBand stuff really works with her.

Donna and I also continue to work on some of our Bob/Donna duets and they showed some nice improvements including the Passenger and Beat It On Down the Line.  We also tried to work on a Looks Like Rain during a min-break but the whole band ended up joining in by the end of the song.

Donna had to leave by around 10:30 and Andy by around 11:00.  Our close with Andy included an excellent What a Wonderful World and Midnight Moonlight.   It was a really good Trister set.  After another little break we started the final part of the night.  I wanted to play some of the songs we skipped in the planned first set. We did the Next Time You See Me and I got to do the Built to Last.  It was pretty good, but that late in the night, the focusability of my eyes on the fine print of that song is questionable.  I kept it together.

We then tries to accomplish Saint Stephen into Hard to Handle and we had issues but we also showed some promise.  I think our Stephen has improved quite a bit.  With about 5 minutes before the 12 o’clock quitting time, we decided to go big and long with a Terrapin.  I thought it had a good groove and we executed it well with the exception of the major collapse in the middle.  It was a great way to end a great evening.  Oops, almost forgot, Steve was our only guest for the night.

To listen to what we did, go to the files below.

http://deadstein.com/audio/02-06-13

Jam – 2013-01-30 – Carroll’s

30 Jan 2013 1 Comment

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

ds013013Wednesday night, or “Woo’sday” night as we have been euphemistically calling it, and the entire band was back together, including Donna D. for a portion of the first set.  I we were there early and ready to jam.  Kevin was itching to go by 7:40 and Lee had gotten to Carroll’s hours earlier so no one wanted to wait for 8:00 pm to start.   It should be noted that Lee came toting a giant frozen apple pie which we began to woof-down by halftime.

Lee suggested a Halfstep. He kind of was challenging me saying I really didn’t like to play it; he’s right you know, so we played it and it was really strong.  From the first few notes we knew it was going to be a pretty good jam. The sound was good in the room and this lead to some well played music.  The Halfstep had a good long powerful Rio Grande-O lead and felt good.  We then went to a 2nd set mode in the first with an Estimated –> Eyes with the whole 1974 Eyes ending.  That was pretty good.  Sure there were rough spots, but there were comforting sweet spots.  The Eyes jam ends in Dm and naturally segued us into a Shakedown Street.  At the close of the Shakedown, Donna came in and we went into a nice set working with her until the end of the first set.  We did some songs she really didn’t know but easy ones to try to jump in on the harmonies.  Row Jimmy was a good example of such a song as was the Forever Young. I think we did pretty well  on that one.

We took a standard halftime break, saying good-bye to Donna, eating the apple pie, making our obligatory phone calls,etc.  Then we got going again shortly after 10:30  For the second set Ryan jumped in and sat in for Lee and Scott for a song a piece, so we got some of that going with the Candyman and something else.  As a matter of fact, Ryan was our only guest, with the exception of Scott Bayer who came in later on in the night and video taped a song or two?

Midnight hit us pretty quickly as the passage of time cannot be stopped, either in music or life.  We were about to leave at the last song and Ryan goaded us into playing one last song,  You can say an encore and we gave him a Quin the Eskimo to go home with.

I look forward to being able to listen to it, until then all we can do is smile, smile, smile.

Now we have it, listen the the MP3s below:

http://deadstein.com/audio/01-30-13

Jam – 2013-01-23 – Carroll’s

23 Jan 2013 2 Comments

by deadstein in Deadstein Forums, Jams Tags: , , , , , , ,

ds012313With Alan vacationing, enjoying some warm tropical weather, Deadstein would have to brave the cold weather outside to enjoy some of the nice “woo” inside. Joining us at the unlimited table of “woo” in lieu of Alan for the second time was Fred.  With Fred on lead and me playing Bobby, it made for a strong night of music.

We only had Steve in as our guest for the night, so there was little to disturb us in our quest to play good music.  This kept us moving forward with determination. The equipment seemed fine so we had few excuses to make, and listening to the the recording should hopefully bear this out.

Scott had just come from a show seeing a performance of Dylan’s “I’ll Be You Baby Tonight” so we decided to take a crack at that song and had a good time with it.  It was good that we selected to do it early on because we were focused and stayed with it. We also had a 1972 vibe going on during the first set and did a nice He’s Gone –> Truckin’ –> Birdsong triple combo, extra meat and no tomato, if you know what I mean.  This seemed to be the main entree of the set.

By the time the second set hit, we needed some help. I had just showed Fred how to use the Deadstein.com online song database to access PDFs of song write-ups.  He noticed the Rand-O-Matic portion of it and I demonstrated it.  Next thing we know, the clutch Rand-O-Matic pulled a very entertaining night of 2nd set jamming for us out of its gorilla glass and on we went.  Another pat on the back to Deadstein.com.

To listen to what we did go to the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/01-23-13

Set 1

Set 2

Jam – 2013-01-17 – Carroll’s

17 Jan 2013 3 Comments

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

ds130117After several weeks of working on material that can bit a bit outside of our range, Deadstein embarked on a jam that was closer to its roots. With Donna in Jamaica, and the standard six-man lineup, we had nothing to think about in our song selection except what would make us happy.

Everyone but Alan got there early, he had trouble getting a cab from his new home’s location and was a little late. Nevertheless, we started a little before 8pm as we were eager to play. I was therefore thinking Garband until Alan arrived and initially suggested a How Sweet It Is opener. Kevin hemmed and hawed and said he wanted a song that was a little less feminine. A song he could be proud of when someone asks him what Deadstein opened with. With that in mind I then suggested a Jack Straw which was met with enthusiasm and Lee requested it go into a Franklins Tower. With that type of meaty buffet served Kevin and the rest of Deadstein was set for a satiating evening. It was a hot opener. We then went into a Little Red Rooster as Lee was thinking we don’t play enough of that standard Grateful Dead blues stuff anymore. During the second lead of Rooster Alan came in and bum-rushed the microphone with his harmonica. Having nice monitors these days, and not sound-checking his microphone, caused his harmonica to overwhelm the room and bring the vibe of that song to a grinding halt.

We continued on with our Grateful Dead onslaught from there on. Playing lots of fast and just lots of A1-Dead-songs; steak sauce. Ryan was our only guest and he played drums for a songs or two with us. For the second set we somehow found ourselves, attacking Live Dead performing the Dark Start, Stephen, Eleven, Death as a coherent medley of music. We capped it off with a Watchtower to close. This still gave us time for a nice Uncle John’s band based mini-set to close the evening. An excellent, back to our roots jam.

To listen to the music, go to the links below:

http://deadstein.com/audio/01-17-13

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