Jam – 2011-07-27 Carroll’s

28 Jul 2011 2 Comments

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

Raising the Limit on the Freak Ceiling – While theUnited States is fighting to raise its debt ceiling to pay its bills, the freak ceiling at Deadstein seems to be getting higher and higher, almost to the point of seeming unlimited.  The ying-yoink of it all.

This week’s ying and yoink was the coupling of two new musical guests to Deadstein, Anath and Hook.  We only jammed with Hook last week for the first time and had never played with Anath.  Rich could fill you in on how he met Anath, her story etc.  (http://www.anathmusic.com/) I did a mix of a video recording session of hers with her own original music, but never played with her.  With her not knowing too much Grateful Dead and steering toward Beatles music, we were headed toward disaster since it’s not Deadstein forte, but from the first line of our first song, Come Together, we knew it was gonna be pretty good, and it was.

Not that this night did not have its own difficulties.  Of the three Fender Twins they gave us, two were electronically unplayable.  Fortunately, Carroll’s is Carroll’s so we swapped the two bad Twins for two new Fender Supers.  One developed a terrible hum, but the one I ended up with eventually sounded good.  It was a rough start though.

We had enough time to play a nice set just with the 5 of us with serious meaty Dead songs.  The opening Getaway was a throw away as the amps were not cooperating.  We therefore restarted the night with a Bertha and got going in good fashion ending the set with a stand alone Playing in the Band and Shakedown Street.  The Playing was pretty adventuresome.

The only guest was Scott’s old time bud Andrew. He stopped by prior to attending a show at the adjacent Terminal-5.  He poured a couple of shots of some tequila he was hawking and left one on the piano for Elijah as requested by Scott.  As Scott was eyeing that shot all night long, Elijah had the last laugh as Scott ended up spilling it on the piano before getting a sip of it.  I don’t think Elijah was coming anyway.

Anath and Hook arrived at around the same time but we gravitated toward doing the Beatles songs and Anath’s leaning vs. Hook’s.  Nevertheless, we initially got through the Beatles stuff, some was hard to do and some was successful.  I thought Hook and I jammed nicely in combining Harmonica leads and guitar leads during both the Come Together and While My Guitar Gently Weeps.  Kevin totally blew the second version’s lead after denying missing it on the first one and discussing what to do at nausea prior to the second crack at it.

We jammed a few songs which loosened us up as we eventually ran out of non-jam type of songs.  The LaBamab à Good Lovin à LaBamaba was a great mix between Anath and Hook; probably the highlight of the night.  I liked Anath’s tambourine, as it helped with the tempos.

I left the room with Hook holding school with Anath and Alan on how to play Harmonica.  For all I know they are still there.  So it was another excellent night at Deadstein; never exactly knowing what is going to happen.  A musical adventure and exploration that you just don’t get any where else.  It’s why you show up every week.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/07-27-11/

Jam – 2011-07-19 – Carroll’s

20 Jul 2011 4 Comments

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

Another interesting night of Deadstein awaited us on this very hot July evening.  Being Tuesday, the traffic wasn’t as bad as it could have been, so parking and getting in and out was easy as easy as “that’s what she said.”  With Alan unavailable this week, we took the opportunity to invite LLB to the jam and to get back on that Deadstein bicycle for some jamming like it was just old times, just at a higher level and a lot older.  So many of the songs we really don’t play too much any more we we chose to play with Larry.  After fumbling through the first verse each of the newer Grateful Dead songs, they got better and better such as the Picasso Moon and the Victim.  That was a really nice surprise.  The first set was classic Deadstein and pretty good. Loud at time but as I said, classic Deadstein.

Scott and Larry both met Hook Herrera (http://www.myspace.com/hookherrera or http://www.hookherrera.net/) through the Almans I assume and Scott has been trying to get him to a jam with us ever since.  Our first set was without  Hook and played a really cool second set with him.  He was rocking on both the harmonica as well as his bluesy/BoDidley telecaster guitar style, for the most part leading our band.  It was pretty fun and exciting and not too much of a challenge to play along with this type of music.  At least for the most part, if there was an actual chord change it was a simple pattern to grasp.  So it all went very well and I look forward to the MP3s and some of the video that was shot.

Scott Bayer showed up with new bongo in hand and I had to deny him playing with us at all due to the presence of Hook playing with us, at least that was a good excuse and it worked.  In addition, I got him to video the performance for us, which is something I assume he is good at.  The only other guest for the night was a friend of Hook’s named Ross, who was simultaneously video recoding us also.

We played a few minutes past 12 and left the hot room and am now waiting and wondering what next week will bring us next.  More material that is more of the same yet completely different.  The Ying-Yoink of Deadstein.

To hear the MP3s from the jam, click the links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/07-19-11/

Jam – 2011-07-14 – Carroll’s

15 Jul 2011 1 Comment

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

Thursday night and it was a tough night to be driving.  Traffic was bad coming in and there was a show at Terminal 5.  That meant me and my hobbling left leg had to walk a lot further than we wanted to.  Kevy had the family sedan rather than his typical truck.  Fortunately and unfortunately, as fate has it, his truck with wife and kids had a bad blow out on NorthernState.  Several 360s later they rested comfortably, safe in the middle of the parkway.  Needless to say, this kept Kevy preoccupied and in and out during the entire 1st set.  Luckily everyone was OK and Kevin actually played pretty well all things considered as he was running in and out of the room on the cell phone.

The first set was rough and tumble and had a lot of trouble taking off.  I think Scottie was peppier than usual so that helped quite a bit to sustain the flow at the beginning, pushing us through the rough spots.  I was playing sitting in a chair which is just uncomfortable, my strap gets in the way, I hit the microphone with my head and I can’t lead the band as well from a seated position.  This was all and hindrance toward the effort of making the first set good.

For the first time in weeks we didn’t have a setlist and we got going late and I sure once I see the MP3 list of songs, it will show the detriment of playing without a game plan, but we did fine. By the second set, Kevy was back in the groove, Scottie was going to fall into one and we were much more comfortable later on.

Phil the vet was there to watch us all night long and recognized our early lethargy but I think we overcame it by the end.  He and Scott Bayer were our only guests and we let him play one number with us, a fast Devil, for rewarding us with the apparent best Cheese Doodles ever.  I didn’t try.

Hey not every night will be the best and even at the worst you feel good and bad at the end of it and you come back for more.  The Unlimited Ying-Yoink of it all.

To hear the MP3s, go to the links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/07-14-11/

Jam – 2011-07-07 – Carroll’s

08 Jul 2011 3 Comments

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

After the long diatribe all about the declaration of nothing following the 4th of July jam, Deadstein seemed poised to attacked the summer stretch of jams.  I got my strings changed for this week and they and the rest of Deadstein was waiting to tackle the July 7, 1989 Dead show at JFK from Philadelphia.  I remember the concert being a very hot temperature show in that now demolished football stadium holding close to 100,000 people.  It was big, hot and freaky, not only is that what she said, but it was the challenge for this week’s Deadstein jam, to commemorate that show from 22 years ago.

Bucket was the opener, a tremendous challenge for the likes of Deadstein, but I was hoping the work I did on it on the day I changed my strings would guide me gracefully through the rendition.  It wasn’t to be, I wasn’t ready for it, physically or mentally, and I was fighting it the whole way through.  I never really did get comfortable all night  from a playing perspective and was preoccupied.  Too bad, another lost opportunity.  The good thing about it is no matter how bad and painful, there is still something to take from the evening and good music is made at time despite everyone’s efforts not to make it be so.  How’s that for English?

Since I got distracted during the week from my intentions to learn Blow Away for this set, I never did.  Therefore it gave us an opportunity to play the requested, and should have been denied, Bertha to close the first set.  The only guests for the night were Kev’s friend Keith and Gila and Gila asked for it and I initially denied it due to our adherence to the 7-7-89 show, but when the Blow Away creeped  up on me, I started the Bertha out of the Let It Grow.

Check out these video from the actual show below:

http://youtu.be/UGYD95dRSOE

http://youtu.be/VYCJ5qkVqX8

http://youtu.be/nCrAwFkRDJU

While Kevin hung out with them during the halftime we played the Stir It Up, without a bass that I charted out during the week.  While I picked up Kevin’s Bass he came back and we decided to play a Dark Star with him playing my guitar and me one his bass.  I think we did a nice version of it. It was long spacey and original.  It also gave a a good excuse why we didn’t get to the Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door encore.  Short of that, we completed the entire second set, with 2 slow Jerry ballads, Standing on the Moon and Wharf Rat.  My dawgs were barking for the second set and I assumed the unusual seating position for me.  All part of the price of admission.

It will be time to pay the piper next week. Until we all freak again.

To hear what Deadstein did during the night click on the links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/07-07-11/

Jam – 2011-06-30 – Carroll’s

01 Jul 2011 15 Comments

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

June 30 was the last day in June, it was the 5th jam in June and I’m sure set a record for the most songs played in one month.  We have been doing many jams where we play a full Grateful Dead show as our setlist for the night.  This keeps us moving and motivated to play many songs without too much wasted time.  Ain’t that the truth?  More King Po, Charlie.  This whole theory really kicks in gear when you start playing some older, classic Dead shows.

June 30, 1973 at the Universal Amphitheater was apparently one such classic show that was ripe to play for the evening.  Although I was unfamiliar with this show there is a lot written about it and seems to have a following based on some of the writing on the net.  See the link below:

http://www.deadlistening.com/2009/08/1973-june-30-universal-amphitheatre.html

That’s a pretty cool write up and gave us a great foundation on which to base our evening.  I listened to the show on my very long trip into the city, G-d I hate the Thursday jam.  I didn’t get in until 8:15 and I bet we didn’t get started until 8:45.  We had a few guests, Rob and Miriam and Rich’s AZ friends, Steve and Eydie, I meanTracy.  It was nice to have an audience.

As I stated, I got there late and we had little hope of playing the entire setlist.  This 1973 show, 38 years ago had a big list of songs including the giant first set.  It was a challenge and we got through the end of the show with out the 2-song encore.  That’s pretty impressive and took us up to about 12:15 to play.  I actually screwed up by playing the Eyes before the Dark Star instead of the other way around.  Short of that faux pas, we were following the show as we were supposed to; we even tried to play certain songs in the 73-styles such as Love Each Other and Greatest Story where we actually got the St. Stephen sounding jam on track. Deal, Jack Straw and the wondering Birdsong were also examples of trying to think 73.

I must remember to change my strings before next week because when I picked up my guitar, the strings felt like they were deep fried.    It was bothersome throughout the night so I won’t get any better.  Looking forward to pick a show from 7-7-11 to play.  In the meantime, enjoy the links to the music from this week, once Rich gets to it.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/06-30-11/

Jam – 2011-06-21 – Carroll’s

22 Jun 2011 7 Comments

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

June 21 represented the summer solstice and it also meant Deadstein could try to play the 6-21-1989 Shoreline show.  This show was broadcast on pay-per-view back in the day, 22 years ago and is a very nice setlist for 1989.  There were a few repeats to be played that we played over the past several weeks, but that is the chance you take when you select an historic setlist to play. Minglewood and Row Jimmy were repeats, but we played them as if they were quality repeats with some confidence that comes with muscle and mental memory.

I had a few mental slips with the setlist such as mixing up the Truckin and the Other One.  Additionally, we did the Weight to satisfy Scott’s The Band urge he was having from attending this past Saturday’s Ramble concert at Levon Helm’s place, but somehow, I forget to play a lead in this one.  I totally messed up the Truckin’ because I thought I had the words memorized, which for the most part I do know, but I messed up the first line (“Arrows of neon …) and never recovered all song.

I was playing well at times but at times I also had real mental distractions that messed me up, I was fighting myself all night long, but I think I won the fight.  Then again, I also lost it.  While we didn’t do the Ship of Fools in the 1989 key we did decide to d the Brokedown in the 1989 key and it felt really comfortable and easy to play in that key.  Maybe we should think about staying in that key?

We haven’t done too many, if any Hell in a Bucket since Alan’s been playing and I’ve been doing Jerry, but this one was fun for me.  I let the few remaining strands of hair I have left down and let loose with some distortion.  Kevin was embarrassed by it, so don’t listen to it.  I’m sure he’s right and it is a total mess and piece of crap, but even a piece of crap can be satisfying as you squeeze it out.  I like the drums space, it’s fun and interesting, give people time to get a soda and candy bar during their break and it keeps us playing once again.  A good technique.

We finished the Brokedown with about 30 minutes to go, and somehow Scott was going strong through the whole night and prepared to continue strong through the 12:00 finish line, which we did.  It was my birthday show for 30 minutes, so I decided to give Scott the aforementioned The Weight.  I also decided to pull the Helter Skelter out of my ass, not having played in for months and it was by far our best version to date.  We got the structure right on and that carried us through the end of the song.  It was fun.

It was a fun, non-lethargic night of music.  The predefined setlist once again proved it propels us through a very full night of music and gets many more songs out of us.   I like the technique.  It has the gravitas to keep us on track and playing as opposed to thinking.  Scott Bayer was bongo-less, the way we like him, and our only guest.  He did transmit our version of The Boxer which was also fun at the end of the night.  All this bonus material after an entire Dead setlist.

One last interesting thing about the night was the fact that we decided to do the 6-21-1989 setlist last week.  In the interim, Clarence Clemmons of Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band died and 6-21-1989 was one of the Grateful Dead shows he actually played with the Grateful Dead.  He jammed with them for most of the second set 22 years ago and he happened to show up dead this week.  I’m just saying?  By the way, Springsteen is just another Deadstein cover band.

To hear the music from the night go to the MP3s links listed below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/06-21-11/

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