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Jam – 2009-09-29 – Carroll’s

01 Oct 2009 2 Comments

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Bill Siegel, Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, MCarpetsteen, Rich, Scott

Michael Carpetsteen and his Modulus

After missing a week due to Kev’s son’s Dylan broken arm, we were able to get our act together this week although still without Kevin. We all look forward to the return of Kevin and the rehab of Dylan. It looks like Kevin’s going to be able to make it next week. “How come the future’s gotta take such a long, long time?”

Without Kevin to play bass we reached out to some old time friends from the stinking mainland to the west, New Jersey. We were joined by Michael Carpetsteen on bass and vocals and Bill Siegel on keys and vocals. It was really nice seeing them and playing with them after all these years. Michael had his relatively new Modulus 4-string, semi-hollow-body bass guitar. A really nice instrument. Jason also joined us for the first time in weeks and he brought along a Strat of his and some type of powerful distortion box. Jason stayed until about 11:00, but it was enough for a dozen songs. or so. On the guest role we had Rob and Miriam and of course, who could forget Scott Bayer playing his deep philosophy.

We relied on the magic, random song selector to help us at time when we needed it, but for the most part, we didn’t need it. We did get 22 songs on the setlist, so we did end up playing lots of songs in the 4-hour stretch. Scott was definitely having trouble keep his eyes open by the end of the night, but we did go to 11:45. That’s what is so amazing about getting 22 songs in while even ending 15 minutes early.

If you want to listen to this week’s music go to the link below or just click the individual songs.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/09-29-09/

Jam – 2009-09-16 – Carroll’s

17 Sep 2009 Leave a comment

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

Once again this week we were blessed for all that goes good in this world. Andy was able to jam with us for most of the night, there was a bountiful feeling in the room and finally, we experienced the most distracting moment that I recall since we had a “the midget” come in a Deadstein jam in the early 1990’s. During the Race is On Jam we saw this really hot blonde looking and smiling in the window. She eventually walked in a gave us 2 pizza pies and walked out shaking here beautiful tiny butt. As you can tell I’m still visualizing the distraction. The rest of the Race Is On was a well deserved mess.

Our only guest of the night, Scott Bayer, quickly scooped up the 2 pies, in actuality there were just 6 slices leftover from 2 pies, and delivered them to Carol. Out fan club at the other end of the cellular network. I assume that was out mitzvah for the night. Easy Come and Easy Go.

So we started with the Bucket which was quite mushy but we solidified more immediately following it. The loud band in Studio #1 next door was filling our sonic space with mush so I tried to freeze them out of there by turning down the thermostat in our room, which is connected to Studio #1. The result is the music stopped soon next door and it was quite cold in our studio.

It wasn’t one of those rock solid nights but we did have out moments. The Dancing in the Streets really went out there. I remember Tangled Up in Blue kept a nice groove and ended with a Crazy Jam. It was the night before Scott’s birthday so he was calling many of the songs and we got some good ones such as the Tangled Up. Andy ended the night with a mistake, If I Had the World to Give and it was over for him.

After Andy left we did lots of random JGB selections but Kevin and Scott were struggling to keep there eyes open. The song selector nicely selected a Tore Up to open the mess. We played the nice slow It Takes a Lot to Laugh and I even snuck in the Norwegian Wood. The Cats Down Under the Stars we closed with was a mess so we decided to close up shop 15 minutes early and call it another Deadstein jam.

If you want to listen to the jam go to the link below and or go directly to the songs and give them a listen. We got 17 songs in that’s okay. Actually it probably below par for 2009 where in 1997 it was probably a shit load.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/09-16-09/

Jam – 2009-09-10 – Carroll’s

11 Sep 2009 Leave a comment

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

Thursday night at Carroll’s and we were playing with the Bayside Boys, Mitchell and Alan who were sharing guitar responsibilities with me. Mitch had his newly acquired Gibson SG and Al was playing is semi-hollowbody Fern. I had my Strat, Kev had his Modulus, Scott had his drums and Rich had is Yamaha piano amplified with the non-PZM mic situated where we could close the piano lid on it. This not only made the piano sound better, but it also enabled use to keep our prized processions from sliding off the piano. Let us not forget Scott Bayer who was banging his bongos with gusto for a few songs. Where those things came from I don’t know. Scott wasn’t the only guest as we had Rob and Miriam who also stayed and partied and danced to our music. Miriam slipped me a Slim Jim since she was under the impression that I liked those things. Thanks Scott but I’ll leave it up to Rob to slip miriam the Slim Jims, Thank you very much. I’m just glad I took it out of my pocket before I went to bed last night or else I would have awoken to my dogs chewing a hole in my pocket trying to get to that Slim Jim.

Rich had a video shoot and was late by only a song. He missed the purposely easy to play first song, which I sang, but that was it. he was there for everything else. Kev, who is usually late on Thursday nights , made it there in virtually record time and beat me to the jam. We were in Studio #2 of Carroll’s following on the heals of Marshall Crenshaw who was rehearing in Studio #2 earlier in the day. While I have heard of Marshall, I have no idea who he is.

We used the iPhone quite a bit to select random songs for use to play, but I often selected the “goesinta” to following. This lead to a combo of I Know You Rider –> Hey Pocky Way and Crazy Fingers into Masterpiece. Most of those transitions were good and lead to some good playing. We had a pretty cool space jam in the Hey Pocky Way. The iPhone pushed us into a complete performed That’s It for the Other One Suite which was a nice surprise by the end of it. We ended the night with a Wake Up Little Suzie which we also did pretty well, getting through that songs in its entirety for what I recall to be the first time in decades. The iPhone told us to end the night at 11:53 with a closing Bertha, but that was rejected and ended with the good feelings the Suzie provided us. Other songs we rejected were I Wash My Hands and Oakie From Muskogie but listening to them in the PA system when the iPhone selects them was a nice feeling. Other gems were West LA Fadeaway, Looks Like Rain and few 1-4-5 songs like Johnny B. Goode and Promised Land. The rest of the setlist will arrive when Rich posts the MP3s. Until then, I await our next get together is currently tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday.

To hear the songs listen to the MP3s below:

01 Johnny B Goode.mp3

02 Crazy Fingers.mp3

03 Masterpiece.mp3

04 Friend Of The Devil.mp3

05 Jam To Pockey Way.mp3

06 Jet To The Promised Land.mp3

07 I Know You Rider.mp3

08 That’s It For The Other One.mp3

09 Looks Like Rain.mp3

10 West LA Fadeaway.mp3

11 Al De Song.mp3

12 Monkey & The Engineer.mp3

13 Deal.mp3

14 Wake Up Little Suzy.mp3

Jam – 2009-09-01 – Carroll’s

02 Sep 2009 3 Comments

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

Tuesday night in the city and another concert at the club next door meant parking my new Honda Fit would be difficult. That’s right, the Dodge Dakota I was so psyched about last week is no longer and the moldy white Jetta Trek I’ve been driving since before Deadstein.com is also no longer. Say good-bye to Jetta cam and hello to FitCam. Different car, same trip if you know what I mean.

So I got there at 7:45 and we were scheduled to play with Andy, for the third week in a row, but this was going to be a one drummer evening. Scott brought in his 6-7 shots of espresso and was alive and vibrant all the way through the finish line at midnight. Andy stayed to 10:38 so we had him for a good 30 minutes extra, so that’s always nice. After he left we broke out the iPhone’s random shuffler for a few Garband songs including a Gomorrah. After that, 3 of Scott’s friends came in from the show next door to experience some Hard Core-4. This included an I’ll Take a Melody, Dancing in the Street and and U.S. Blues to commemorate the passing of the summer. I’m glad I got some photos of of these three including Wanna, Shy and I forget her name but I got a hug after she removed her shoes. Wanna and Shy were living on the iPhones and seriously used them to communicate with others as opposed to me using mine to keep me entertained. I assume the were texting each other since they couldn’t hear themselves in the room. I’m glad I got a picture of them for posterity’s sake.

On that note, we played with some nice dynamics this night and had some good moments. We started slow but kept up the pace as the night wore on. Another nice night of Deadstein music. Oh, let’s not forget that Scott Bayer showed his mug in the room for half a song and called Carol to let her listen in for a song or two.

If you want to see what happened, I sat out a songs and listened to the rest of the guys play Waiting for a Miracle while I video taped it on my iPhone for posterity’s sake. I love that Japanese rice wine.

To hear what went on go to:
http://www.deadstein.com/audio/09-01-09/

or click below:

Jam – 2009-08-25 – Carroll’s

26 Aug 2009 2 Comments

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

Tuesday night at Carroll’s, Nine Inch Nails were playing next door so we had to park on 54th instead of 55th. No big deal, Kevy risked parking in the tow-away-zone and got away with it.

It was a night were we had no guests yet we seemed to have to have two of our favorites, Coffee and Trister. They were there for most of the night and it was great to play with them. Trister was there last week, if you read, but I missed it due to car troubles. Additionally, Coffee Boy bailed on last week so this week was like a reunion jam for all of us. Quite a bit of fun. I was gloating about my new pickup truck to replace my old Jetta. Take a Look.

We played well, some great solid grooves and the feeling was positive for the most part. I warned Andy about going for the Big River but he didn’t listen. Somehow we made it through the whole thing. In the same vein, we were using the iPhone with shuffle to select random songs for us to play. We didn’t listen totally to it but it did provide us some good suggestions. What it does do is let us listen to a sample of the song before playing it and what you realize, with examples like the Big River is how many songs we play at a molasses pace and how hard it is to play at a pace and liveliness that ironically is the Grateful Dead. Something to seriously understand and work on. The random song selector got us to play What a Wonderful World, which everyone knows I’m a sucker for. I got us to play a Garband Masterpiece with Andy singing. Likewise, it got us to play a really nice You Never Can Tell. So the random song selector impacted the night but did not dominate it.

After both Andy and then Coffee left we played a good 4 or five more songs, primarily based on the random song selector. After starting the late night Core-4 we played the How Sweet It Is and then the iPhone got us to play a Birdsong, Victim Dear Mr. Fantasy. We were done at 12:00 midnight but due to tunnel traffic I didn’t get home until 1:30. I was a little tired this morning but still enjoying the thrill of last night. Until we jam again. That’s what she said.

To hear what we did, listen below:

01 Hard To Handle.mp3

02 Brother Esau.mp3

03 When Push Comes To Shove.mp3

04 Mama Tried Big River.mp3

05 When I Paint My Masterpiece.mp3

06 C’est La Vie.mp3

07 Dire Wolf.mp3

08 Let It Grow.mp3

09 Wang Dang Doodle.mp3

10 Big Railroad Blues.mp3

11 Scarlet Begonias.mp3

12 Brokedown Palace.mp3

13 How Sweet It Is.mp3

14 What A Wonderful World.mp3

15 Bird Song.mp3

16 Uncle Johns Band.mp3

17 Victim Or The Crime.mp3

18 Dear Mr Fantasy.mp3

Jam – 2009-08-10- Carroll’s

11 Aug 2009 Leave a comment

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

We were supposed to play this week on Wednesday night but Kevin called and Emailed in a panic on Monday morning to see if we could pull off the quick switch. It was switched quick and early and Scott, Rich, Kevin and I as well as Carroll’s could make it early. It meant no one to play lead but Core-4 is what it is and it is what we are and what we are is what we is, so it was. Let us not forget to mention the 14th anniversary of Jerry’s death.

So except a brief visit from scott Bayer, who misplaced his harmonica, we had no guests. No one to play lead and no one to spill just us Core-4. Nevertheless, from a nondescript night to a Deadstein revolutionary night, that why you have to go to every show. Kev’s dream idea a came to fruition due to a convergence of several ideas. He’s always been dreaming about the random song generator as the way to select songs to play and we pulled it off nonchalantly this night in an almost flawless manner.

The combo of me getting a new iPhone recently and working on a folder of Deadsongs MP3s I called “Standards” that I loaded in my iPhone, hit shuffle and hold it up to the microphone and play the speaker off the iPhone and we all hear at the same time what the next song will be. It was really cool and we only skipped maybe 2 of the selections that came up. Another great thing about this random song selector is that it gives us a chance to hear the song with its tempos and riffs while we are getting ready to play it. Really good stuff. It saved lots of time, arguements, gave us songs we wouldn’t otherwise play and finally it even did some things earily correct, such as ending the night with a Black Muddy River, Box of Rain. This was al potentially revolutionary. Looking forward to trying it again. I better get the JGB standards in there quickly.

To hear the proponderance of songs we played go to:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/08-10-09/