Jam – 2011-11-30 – Carroll’s

04 Dec 2011 Leave a comment

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

This Wednesday night at Deadstein we were supposed to fight the lighting of the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Plaza.  Trister, who was planning to jam with us, was about to abort, but Scott’s wise advice was to stay on the west side and Trister heeded it.  As a result, traffic and parking was not an issue and we got there in plenty of time. We played with Andy for the first two-thirds of the jam.

When jamming with a great resource like Andy you don’t want to waste any opportunities, so I decided to start the night with a jammy beginning to get us going before we can begin to doubt ourselves.  I think the Uncle Johns –> Playing  –>Uncle Johns sent us toward this direction.  Andy tried to reverse the ship with the Rosa Lee McFall, but Deadstein would have nothing of it.  After almost being deep-sixed after a couple of false starts,  Andy pointed out a structural issue in the song write-up we agreed and thereafter we were good to go.   It was one of those situations where communication within Deadstein actually worked.

We started the Tristerless portion of the jam around 11pm.  We wanted to try our quick in-and-out- song strategy to keep us moving toward the end of the night so the Beat It on Down the Line on 11 at 11 was the choice.  Being the last day and hours in November (11) in 2011 we decided to keep the eleven theme going.  This resulted in a very rust attempt at the St. Stephen –> Eleven but a cool trip nevertheless.  Midnight Hour should have been the closer at about 12 but I could afford the risk of losing momentum at that moment by having anyone turn a page in the book so I opted for the Not Fade Away to Close.  A good evening of Deadstein and we made it up to the finish-line better than we had in the previous several week, so that was a good thing.

Next week we play on Monday and fight traffic and parking that is going to be brought on by Snoop-Dog playing at Terminal 5.  Being December 12/52011, it will be the 40th anniversary of the Dead playing down the street at the Felt Forum, one of the great shows of all time.  That is going to be out focus for then.

In the meantime, if you ant to hear what we did this night listen to the MP3s provided below:

 

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

Jam – 2011-11-21 – Carroll’s

22 Nov 2011 3 Comments

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

it was a Monday night jam the week of Thanksgiving thereby predicating the Monday night jam. I thought I would be done with this Siri type of dictator posting of the blog but sitting here in traffic on Route 3 made me want to say something.

When I walked into the studio undenounced to me Larry Brent was standing there ready to play. I found out Alan was on vacation and thereby it was Larry and we had a pretty good jam for old time sake. As usual, the beginning of the jam was much better then the end of the jam. We ran out of steam like is cheap locomotive by the end of the night but that’s not to diminish somebody better moments we had earlier on.

Four instance, I think the pretty Peggio was a very nice rendition that showed some real taste. Additionally, the Picasso Moon also was one of our better versions of that song.

then came the end of the night or the so-called second set there we ran into the brick wall that we often do. Scott was zoned down no matter what we tried to do to keep him alive but eventually he had to cave. I tried to give him a reprieve by playing drums for two or three songs which was fun but the song Sweet shows were pretty difficult including the house we did is and Mission in the rain. Somehow we ended the night with a pretty big Terrapin station which we did finish so all that said and done we were done.

So we are wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and look forward to the few jams we could squeeze in in the very busy crowded holiday season so with that wishing everyone more Yindi and then you want.

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

Jam – 2011-11-16 – Carroll’s

18 Nov 2011 3 Comments

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

I am trying iPhone – Siri dictation once again for this week’s posting. Let’s see how it goes and see how Siri and I are working together once again this week.

I just look back on the first paragraph and it looked pretty darn good. And on with the posting. We were fortunate enough to be back in town rolls this week with the entire band in tow. Right from the get-go we had some issues with the PA system. The speaker to my right was barely audible and it made a ghostly sound with respect to trying to pick up both riches keyboard as well as the vocals.

after three or four songs we finally call Alan the tech in to rectify the situation. In the end he gave us a feed from the monitor that was next to Scott’s drum kit. This works really well in the sand was good for the rest of the night.

sadly, I was struggling all evening coordinating my right hand and its ability to hit the strings. I had an atrocious night from that perspective of in accurate picking while playing my guitar. Totally I felt pretty good it was just my right hand was just missing all the strings I think I was even thinking well and clearly for most of the night but I knew from the beginning it was going to be a difficult evening. I kept sliding away though trying not to give into the inevitable shadiness of my plane and I got it going through the night it wasn’t terrible but it was just one of those nights that you knew it wasn’t going to be one of those nights even though it was one of those nights.

I got to say we will look for check for much of the second half of the jam. We only made it to 1155 and even that wasn’t easy. As far as guests go we only had the one and only very annoying Scott bear. I was trying my best to get him to stop playing the bongos during the midnight Moonlight. I was having enough trouble just trying to get a tempo going myself and to hear him in the back my head while I was trying get the song started was just more than I could bear, pardon the pun.

Well that’s about it we have one more jam before Thanksgiving which should happen on Monday night so let’s hope it goes better. In the meantime, if you dare listen to kthe MP3 below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/11-16-11/

Jam – 2011-11-09 – Montanas

17 Nov 2011 1 Comment

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

With Carroll’s not having a room for Deadstein to play we were on the road once again trying to find a place that can take us.  Rich suggested this studio, Montana’s at the corner of 56th and 11th to try out.  It cost about what Carroll’s does, is in the same vicinity and also has a very cool staff which helped us get set up and comfortable.  This is definitely the the second best place to play when Carroll’s isn’t available.  In many respect it could even be better than Carroll’s.

Playing in new digs we didn’t have any guests but we did have a substitute for Alan which was Larry Brent.  This meant was going to have the luxury of playing Bob all night while Larry carried the lead.  That’s how it went and it worked well.  The one lesson I learned from the night at Montana’s was to never get caught between Kevin and his amp.  That is no-man’s land and I found myself stuck in it all night long.  Additionally, I never felt comfortable with the mix in the room all night long.  I had trouble hearing my vocals, Rich’s key’s and even my own guitar though all the equipment was good and of high quality.  I played out of a Matchless combo which was w very nice feeling and sounding amp.  All the other instruments also felt good.

One last mention about this jam was it was the night before we were to see Furthur at the Garden the next night.  It was pretty cool that most of the songs Furthur played in the first set at the Garden Deadstein covered the night before.  It was like we were channeling into their vibe.  It was cool to experience while at the show.  If you want to try to channel into Deadstein’s vibe from the night, check out the MP3s below:

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

Jam – 2011-11-01 – Carroll’s

08 Nov 2011 1 Comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: , , , , ,

This week Alan had a last minute cancellation leaving the jam for class core-4 Deadstein.  As I am posting this 5 days after the jam, I have virtually no recollection of the evening.  I do remember being in our small studio and everything sounding fine.  I was using my black Epiphone LesPaul through the Fender Twin Reverb, nothing new there.

With only one guitar in the room, we focused a bit more on Jerry Garcia Band music than usual.  Additionally, we did the Werewolves of London in honor of Halloween that just passed.  I don’t think we had any guests with the exception of Scott Bayer who transmitted the jam to Carol over the cell in addition to playing a bongo during the Ripple.  I don’t know why we let him in the room with those drums.

If you want to hear what happened, go to:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/11-01-11/

Jam – 2011-10-12 – Carroll’s

14 Oct 2011 1 Comment

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

It felt good to get back to a night with virtually no guests, only Scott Bayer intruded on our cocoon for a few minutes.  We decided to use the date of October 12 to play a real show, so we selected the 1981 show from Olympia Halle, Munich, GE as our template.

It was along show and a lot to tackle.  We almost accomplished the entire setlist but we missed out on the last two songs.  It was a pretty good run nevertheless.  Our first set rendition felt really good and solid.  There were some challenging selections including a bunch of cowboy songs, but they went well.  Short of that, the set was filled with lots of standards from 1981 which provided a great sense of familiarity leading to some confident playing.  Completing the 12-song first set with such aplomb was quite satisfying.

I think we lost a bit of our stride in the second set as some things fell apart.  I total destroyed the Around and Around in the middle of the song by forgetting where I was.  OK, my new iPhone 4S arrive and I have no time to post.  I look forward to the MP3s.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/10-12-11/

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