This week in jamming featured Andy Trister in addition to the usual bunch of freaks that don the instruments of Deadstein. While he was only there for the first set of the evening, Andy’s set was substantial and a good time for all.We had some really good songs in there like the To Lay Me Down, Jed, Comes a Time and more.
I think our only guest were Meg Ryan and Donna D with Lee graciously giving up the throne for Ryan during the Bertha. Being the jam prior to Thanksgiving, we were all just thankful we could jam at all so this jam was one to appreciate.
To hear what we did, feel free to go to the MP3 links provided down below:
With a visit to my sister’s home in Austin, TX over the previous week, I had not played any guitar nor thought too much about Deaadstein, Grateful Dead, etc. for the previous week. Though, I didn’t miss a week of Deadstein, it felt like I did and I wasn’t quite ready for the jam. I also had a swollen, jammed left index finger, pardon the pun, but I was hoping the new strings and the power of the jam would get me through the night. Of course it did as I had no other choice.
When I got there, I discovered that Scott was fortunate enough to have scored a ticket to a dream show of his with Warren, Greg Allman and Peter Frampton playing at an exclusive cancer fundraiser. He donned a suit and left us for the second half to get to that show at the Armory. For the second half, Ryan picked up the sticks and sat on Scott’s stool. Additionally, we had Donna D sing a Sing which she referred to as the Muppet song. That was our highlight as that song usually becomes. It’s such a happy song and thought.
For the rest of the night we started with a tribute to Shakedown Street as the album was released on this day sometime in the late 70’s. It was a good muse anyway for the night. Alan was late and missed the Good Lovin and most of Shakedown but joined us from there on.
As far as guests, in addition to the ones previously mentioned, we had Maggie and Steve and several others at the end of the night. They urged us to play and additional song at the end of the night which resulted in the U.S. Blues.
By the second set, I think my weak knees were getting wobbly as my sense of time was diminishing. I was having strange juxtapositions of temporal elements undulating through the music-time continuum. Needless to say, this impacted something and there were real problems with the Gloria, Eyes as other moments. You take it all in, learn from your mistakes and come back next week to enjoy screwing up once again. That’s why you have to go to every show.
To hear what we did, check out the MP3 links below.
Thinking it was October 26 that we were jamming on, I thought it was a great opportunity to play the Radio City Show from that night in 1980, 32 years ago. Alan had the same thought and came into the jam saying that it would be good to jam on the anniversary show from Radio City but it seemed as if we had played most of those songs recently, so it probably wouldn’t work. I had downloaded the MP3s onto my iPhone to listen to the show on the way in and thought the song selection worked for this week. I was puzzled but then my stupidity was resolved when I realized today was the 25th and not the 26th. That was a dilemma; do we play the right day, wrong songs, or wrong day, right songs? We chose right songs, wrong day.
As I presumptuously assume we all know, those Radio City show featured an acoustic first set. That was a little bonus and challenge for us; not that we were going to be acoustic, but it is a bevy of additional songs. It think it was a pretty good night but the fact that I’m writing this 3 week after the fact, you are gonna have to take a listen for yourself. Check out the MP3s below.
With Kno Juan to join us I was the only guitarist for the night, but in contrast to last week, we for the most part stuck with Grateful Dead as opposed to the Jerry Garcia Band. With did a nice fill of the peppier songs like Uncle, River and Cumberland. I threw in the very surprising Sailor Saint to close the first set which had its manic ups and downs as it usually does. With the beautiful autumn weather I have been taking advantage of kayaking and have been preoccupied in the processing my photos. I therefore haven’t had time to attend to this posting.
As far as guests, we had Rich’s friend Lauren early in the evening and Ryan, Steve and Lindsey joined us for the rest. It think that was about it. Ryan did play a couple of songs with us
Somehow, after the set break we meandered into a Dark Star to start the second set. We then got our feet back on the ground with the Samson which I recall a great drum ending to. The Eyes of the Maker was a struggle to contain but we let go a bit thereafter with the Playing –> Shakedown –> Playing. It didn’t seem it at the time, but we did get through about 22 songs so it was quite prolific.. The hear any of it, go to the links below:
A Monday night jam is always a last resort for us as it makes the rest of the week a miserable mess. Nevertheless, a Monday night jam is way better than no jam at all. We were scheduled to play with Trister but he was a no show at the last second and Alan was on the self appointed disabled list for a week. That left only the five of us to hold up the fort. It did give us a chance to catch up on some highly neglected Jerry Garcia Band music. Our only guest was Steve, MOndays are tough you know.
We started with Jerry Garcia Band/Grateful Dead songs to begin and end that go both way, but other than that, we were almost all Jerry Garcia Band. Somehow we did throw in a RosaLee McFall which could have been the highlight of the night. It had a great galloping beat and I am amazed we were right on with the turn over to B throughout the song and didn’t jump it once. That is the trick with this song.
Many of the Garcia Band songs were big and long and therefore, we didn’t reach the 20 song mark. You always expect to play a few less songs when it is a GarBand night. for instance, the Simple Twist of Fate had a 2-round base lead. The Waiting for a Miracle was miserably slow, sorry about that one, and many of the songs were over 10 minutes in length. All of this and the 45-minute break lead to the low song count but the vibe was there.
To hear the music we played, check out the MP3 links below:
Writing this post over a week after the jam is going to be difficult. All I can really remember is that all six of us were there but Scott was a surprise as he was scheduled to take the week off. As far as guests we had Steve and Lindsey and that was about it. Scott suggested we start off crazy and we did with the Help on the Way. I think it was a bit better than I could have expected so early in the set. Additionally, I threw in the second verse of the Other One to complete it from only singing the first verse from the week before. I recall it being a rough night and we kind of fell apart by the end of the night. Nevertheless including the 3 songs we didn’t get recorded we topped the 20-song mark.
If you want to hear what we did this night, go to the MP3 links below.
This week in jamming featured Andy Trister in addition to the usual bunch of freaks that don the instruments of Deadstein. While he was only there for the first set of the evening, Andy’s set was substantial and a good time for all.We had some really good songs in there like the To Lay Me Down, Jed, Comes a Time and more.
my Steal Your Space book 