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Jam – 2009-11-11 – Carroll’s

12 Nov 2009 2 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, Trister

Red White and Blue for Veterans Day

A big Wednesday night jam was expected and in some parts we got it. Firstly it was Veteran’s Day so I had the day off which gave me the opportunity to hike all day and jam all night. And yes, we did play a Tennessee Jed. So I was well rested and ready to go. We were expecting a few friend to top by and they did. I wish, or I’m glad I don’t remember their names but we played some of our best stuff to them, including the Ship of Fools, Tennessee Jed and Let It Grow. To run down the guest list we had Leo the camera man, who played bongos at the end of the night and he is good! He was pushing us to play out thinking we were really good, we rocked his world. Ironically, there was no Scott Bayer to play but we had Leo who knew his way around those skins. Our good friend Michael was there with Seth, who I recall from the past as well as 2 of his buddies. Coming in talking lots of trash talk, I mean Rat Dog.

Rich was running wild coming into a jam to only leave directly for a flight to Hong Kong where he is shooting a documentary on someone who lives there. Some how he expects to be back by next Tuesday for the next jam. Something tells me he is going to have the flew when he gets back. I hope he brings industrial sized bottles of hand sanitizers. At least he won’t be tempted to eat the pig’s ears like I would.

We had a lousy Mackie Board but some nice PA speakers so by the end of the night the PA was sounding okay. I liked how the piano was sounding. Maybe it was some of the quietness we played with. It hurt us in the first song, Shakedown which was to slow and timid and not a good effort. We significantly improved after that. Andy was a our lead for the night but we did get a Stoned Me in as Core-4 prior Andy showing up. I don’t know if anyone heard this during the recent World Series debacle, but they referred to Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte and Posada as the Core-4. See the article I found while researching the spellings. Says the Core-4 is better in 09 than they were in 98.

I had my Epiphone Les Paul, which I rarely take out of the house and after a song or two, I got used to it. I was tough to get used to the extra weight and even more irritating was the sharp edge on the guitar which rubbed against my arm in a bad way since it is not bull-nosed like my Strat. Not that I am complaining, I’m just trying to tell you what I experienced. We had lots of snacks on top of the piano and the rest was status quo, which is a good thing. We ended with a great Let It Grow, Deal, Black Muddy River which I though was appropriate since I hiked the Black River earlier in the day, though it wasn’t muddy.

To hear the jams go to the folder below or just play the damn song.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/11-11-09/

Jam – 2009-11-03 – Carroll’s

04 Nov 2009 7 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, Wikler

It’s a big election day here in New Jersey so I have the day off and am enjoying the weather and the opportunity to pre-post the jam. Rumor has it that Andy is playing with us tonight but we will see what happens when we get there. This is what I wrote before I left for the city.

When I got there I met Kevin on 55th Street only to find out Andy was not making it. We had to pull the old-double switch-a-roo which meant me moving to Jerry and Alan Wikler moving to Bob. It worked well a few weeks ago so there was no reason to believe it wouldn’t be good tonight. My initial thoughts were validated as we played well early on with they typical Deadstein fade into the weening hours.

We played predominantly Grateful Dead songs as the lineup dictates. I was trying the find the balance when singing Bob songs while playing Jerry guitar, it sure is a different mindset. I felt a little better about it tonight than I did in early October.

As far as guests, besides the aforementioned Alan. We had Ken the cookie man, as he is getting to be known as, and let us not forget Bongo Scott Bayer. There was Carol who was there, actively participating on the cell phone. Rich brought the cookies home but could pawn off the peanut butter or canned something else. Kevin and I got into TabToolKit, an iPhone app I recently discovered that stored and plays guitar tabs. He saw it and bought it right away. I assume it will be useful at a jam some day.

Highlights as I am trying to recall them is that we all survived without needing any time outs. Actually the Playing jam had some good feel to it. The Deep Elem Dark Hollow opener gave us time to easily find our place, setting up the rest of the night for some comfortable playing.

To hear to 20 song evening you can go to the link below or just click on the individual song and give it a listen.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/11-03-09/

In the world, it was election day a s previously noted and the Republican Party had a nice bounce back against the trouncing they experienced one-year ago. This bounce back was locally highlighted by the victory by Morris County’s own Chris Cristie winning the New Jersey gubernatorial election. We also have Scott moving on in the OFW (office furniture world) and finally the Yankees are coming home up 3-2 against the Phillies in the World Series. Fall is over and so are my nice autumnally colored photos. You can check them out at the links below:

2009-10-29 – Kayak Solo Colorful (Blog – Picasa Slide Show)
2009-10-22 – Hike with Dogs (Blog – Picasa Slide Show)
2009-10-21 – Kayak Solo Blue Herons (Blog – Picasa Slide Show)

Jam – 2009-10-28 – Carroll’s

29 Oct 2009 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Al D, Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott

Nice to be in a picture for once, not!

It was Wednesday night and the first day of the 2009 World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies facing the Yankees. The Empire State Building was dressed in Blue and White . Who won? Who Cares? Let’s just say that I was happy I was at Deadstein. Actually the Yankees got blown and shut out. The starting lineup for Deadstein called for Trister to play lead guitar. A last minute cancellation resulted in a call to Al D, fresh off a photo shoot in Hawaii. Always fun to play with Al D and it is nice to catch him while he is not traveling ’round the world.

Al didn’t show for a few songs so we did start with some Core-4 Deadstein. We opened with the Harder they Come and for the first few songs I felt pretty uncomfortable on the guitar, not feeling it at all. It wasn’t until the Dear Prudence that I actually had a little sense of liking my guitar playing. I did like the sound and tempo of the Althea. The Prudence was the last song we played as Core-4 until Al D. walked in. Speaking of walking in, we had no guests for the night with the exception of the freaky Scott Bayer, who came late, banged a bongo or two and was on his way.

With Al D we in the studio pulled off some good three-somes including the Truckin’ -> Other One -> She Belongs to Me. This was a fun and substantial jam. Later on, we also did a Here Comes Sunshine –> China Rider, but I recall the Rider not being good at all. During the first part of the night Scott called for a song from the Garcia Sauders series and I picked the One Kind Favor which was referred to as a Deadstein first, but I don’t think it was. Nevertheless, I’m sure we haven’t played it in 15 years at least if we have played it and after we found it groove it was pretty good. Something to do again.

We did the Let It Bleed again and this was our best effort on that song. I liked our Gomorrah also, it was sweet. Al called for the Black Throated Wind and we obliged him on that one. It was worth it also well played. He also called for the Alabama Getaway which I ended up singing, I don’t think I have ever sung that song, and that one was fun. I remember it really tiring out my left wrist to play. It was an effort, good or bad. The night ended with a Sailor, no Saint as this week was impacted by a cognitive disorder for the second week in a row. I fear our next jam. My cognitive disorder is due. Maybe not. I guess I will cross that bridge when I get there. Speaking of which, I was able to relax during the jam knowing I would have the next day off and I was going to go paddling in the Passaic River. It was a beautiful day so check out the blog posting.

The thought for the night was inspired by a piss at the end of the evening:

You walk into a bathroom with 3 urinals in it. Two have piss in them and one doesn’t. Which toilet do you use? The 2 with piss in them are obviously disgusting and the one without the piss in it has had the toilet plunger recently used, so I don’t want to touch that thing. I decided to piss in the clean one and I didn’t flush. Problem resolved.

So if you want to see what we played and even give it a listen, check out the links below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/10-28-09/

Jam – 2009-10-21 – Carroll’s

22 Oct 2009 1 Comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, Trister

Kev looking for his California Earthquake

We were fortunate to have Andy once again with us this Wednesday night at Carroll’s. Outside was a beautiful, unseasonable warm day and we had the air conditioning cranking in the Studio 2 of Carroll’s. It was like a refrigerator in there because the air conditioner couldn’t keep up with the hotness of the music. Actually, the music wasn’t all that hot just nicely comfortable, just like the day from which it came. Highlights included the opening Jack Straw, the Duprees, and all the rest. We didn’t have too many clunkers to think of and every song was played and not abandoned. Most importantly, no songs were relegated to the banned list, so they are all still on the band list. A subtle distinction.

Steal My Songbook

Andy, belting out a California Earthquake

Andy stayed until around 10:30, with Scott force feeding a Not Fade Away upon him. After that we took a little break and played a bit of Core-4 Deadstein comprised on GarBand and Dead songs. We finished with the Baby Blue Scott Bayer was the only guest in the room for the night as he played bongos on some stuff and then said his piece and left. The piece was priceless and I was fortunate enough capture it on my iPhone, so enjoy this little YouTube clip.

[Youtube = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boesMQYAoKc%5D

So we got a nice chunk of songage into the evening. ‘Twas a very satisfying affair and I cannot wait until we do it again.

To listen to the 17 songs we did for the night go to the link below or just click a song and listen and hopefully enjoy.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/10-21-09/

Jam – 2009-10-13 Carroll’s

14 Oct 2009 3 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Jason, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott

It seemed as if we were back to a semi-normal jam this week. Jason was scheduled and psyched to play and he got there by the 2nd or 3rd song. He came in with a nice Dunkin Donut Dozen (alliteration) and by happen-chance, I brought in a thermos of coffee and it was a nice mix. We now jam like my mother plays canasta, it’s embarrassing; not quite rock and roll, but when we were ready to play we left it up to the random iSpinomatic. And the iSpinomatic spun us up a Morning Dew to play as our first song with Jason. It all worked and we pulled out one of Deadstein’s best played Morning Dews to date. Really sweet stuff. It must have been the donuts. Maybe it was the Halloween cookies Ken brought. Whatever it was, we played it very solidly and relaxed.

Ken was there, the friend of Phil the Vet who seems to really dig us. His positive vibe engages us to play it up a notch when we can. Eventually Ken’s friend, Art came in to dig us also. Besides Scott Bayer, that was the extent of our guest list, but I get the sense we are really beginning to amass a following. We have Carol on the cell-phone that feels as if she is in the room with us on the speaker phone. It’s a crazy world. When we later played Stella Blue, Art got all excited and got the idea of playing the song live to his daughter, also over the cellular network. We are such a forward looking and far reaching band, allowing our fans, known as Deadsteinheads, to transmit our shows over the cellular network. Too bad the Stella Blue’s lead was masqueraded.

Looks Like Kevin's Playboy Interview Photo Shoot

Jason was only able to play for 6-8 songs until he got pulled away. Too bad because I think we were gelling nicely. Oh well, Deadstein moves on. We got into a lot more GarBand and ended the night a few minutes early with a very unsatisfying Satisfaction. Not to worry, the bad Satisfaction was the exception and not the rule. For the most part we played well with feeling and sensitivity. We played with a pink tone for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Whatever it was, it was pretty good. Good enough to get Ken to ask Scott for his number to keep tabs on the Deadstein experience. We must be doing something right.

In the world, global warming concerns peaked during the jam as I had a tremendous case of the winds. It was advisable that Ken and Art found seats that were not behind me.

As you can see from the song list provided through Rich’s recording, we only got to 15 songs, way short of last week’s 24 songs. Anyway, it’s about quality and not quantity. To hear them all you can go to the website or just click the song below.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/10-13-09/

Jam – 2009-10-07 – Carroll’s

08 Oct 2009 8 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, Wikler

It was a week that we welcomed Kevin back to the jam after missing it for 2 weeks. That’s a long time off the wagon that only a Deadstein jam can cure. Kevin came back to his normal-C from what he used to B. And felt brand new about it. So I digress.

Well Trister had to cancel at the last moment and Jason was in Colorado and Al D is in Hawaii, so it left no one but me, who was at home, to play lead. Scott was able to get Alan Wikler, of August West fame, to play the Bob guitar as I attempted to hold on to the reigns of the Jerry guitar. In many respects it was quite masturbatory for me all night as I felt I was playing with myself and in many respects I was as I heard many things in Alan that I hear in myself, that we hopefully both hear in Bob. So while Alan played the Bob guitar, he didn’t sing so I also sang the Bob parts while playing the Jerry guitar. It was a split personality I was trying to come to grips with all night. It was a cool experience. Probably the only time that I have ever played Jerry guitar where I had a person playing Bob. I think it worked well though my Jerry playing is woefully short and results in a hollow sound in the music. Nevertheless, it is fun.

I think we got lots of songs in on the night. We didn’t take too many breaks. We did have one guest, Scott Bayer to played a great 1-minute bongo boogie with Rich. I’m glad I captured it on video. A real collector’s item. We played all the way to the end with a Brokedown to cap it all off. I tried the Let it Bleed and I thought that showed some fun potential. It would be fun to do this grouping again. It was a nice peaceful calm session of Deadstein.

Look at the songlist below. Rich recorded 18 songs and I show 4 additional songs. So that is 22 and probably one or 2 others. That a plateful and quite satisfying.