This was like an old timers jam for former Deadstein lead guitarists. While we were expecting to jam with Andy Trister, as he was scheduled to play with us on this Wednesday night, but the real big surprise was the return of Larry Brent, the original Deadstein lead guitarist. From my research, it appears as if early 2001 was the last time Larry had played with us. This if after his long “Ihateus” or should I say “hiatus?” It was quite an unexpected surprise and our four or five songs we played with Larry were all pretty good, especially considering he was playing with us for the last 45 minutes of the night, traditionally Deadstein’s weakest time.
With Alan playing rhythm over the past several months and me taking over the lead guitar role, I haven’t stepped into Bob’s shoes for quite some time. I spent all night, with the exception of one or two leads, playing Bob guitar and to be honest with you, as much fun as the Jerry stuff has been, it was very refreshing to relax and do what I do best. Playing last night seemed effortless to me as I was relaxed and confident in my approach. Not only was the playing good with Larry B, it was also good during the Trister moments. What’s not to like about the Deadstein experience?
Scott felt like the music was a bit stale and sterile at the beginning of the night and he felt it wasn’t until we played the Help->Slip-> Franklins that we seemed to gel. We were a bit tentative early on and pretty quiet throughout the evening but it wasn’t bad at all. I thought the Shakedown opener was fairly solid for a Deadstein Shakedown Street, especially the final jam, which felt authentic as opposed to the traditional Deadstein jam we gravitate to during a Shakedown Street. We did the Run for the Roses to celebrate the Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby which occurs this weekend. Also with Andy we played the Let Spend the Night Together which is in the new supplement book which gave us the ability to play the song.
We also were straying from our Deadstein/Grateful Dead roots as Trister was all Steely Danned out for some gigs he was preparing for. We were hearing Steely Dan teases throughout the night from his guitar. In addition to toying with some Steely Dead jams, we also played a nice Time/Breathe medley and finished up this Pink Floyd segment with a Comfortably Numb. We also got a Beatle song in or two during the Trsiter portions.
While our only guest MB arrived toward the end of the Trsiter part of the night, he was able to enjoy a nice formidable Playing -> Uncle John’s à Playing combo that was fairly extensive. After hearing the quality of this piece of music Michael asked Andy how he doesn’t show up to every Deadstein jam just so he could be part of this musical experience. We finished Trister’s jam with a hot Music Never Stopped and bid him a good-night. He left hauling his guitar, water bottle, effects tray and his banjo on his body, hoping his car would be in the illegal spot he left it in. The cool thing is, on his way out he held the door for Larry who was just heading in, and no one got hurt.
LLB and MB in Elevator Short on the Way Out.
During the transition between Andy and Larry I decided to start up a very short Garband segment. Scott called for the Crazy Love and I began playing and singing it. We haven’t done this since the Terez days and it was a stretch for me. Speaking of which, halfway through it Larry entered the room and made a grand entrance by singing a few of the verses to close out the song. Wow! After this, the playing got a bit more serious with Larry as we did a pretty good Birdsong. This was followed by a Looks Like Rain that blew Michael away as he thought my life’s experience of listening to Bob and the band helped my take on the role of Bobby for that song. I think he exaggerated quite a bit, but nevertheless, his exuberance towards it all was uplifting. We did the infamous Crack of My Ass (Wharf Rat) with Larry, which is something we haven’t heard in a decade and closed out with the Brokedown Palace where we all shared verses and leads.
‘Twas a very interesting night for Deadstein, once again showing why you need to go to every jam. Until we jam again, Freak Out.
To hear the MP3s of the night go to:
http://www.deadstein.com/audio/04-28-10/
This was a week where we had a bunch of problems and the music probably displayed our issues. First of all we were like amplifier whores this week, blowing any PA we could get our mouths on. We went through 1 PA, 2 amps and probably could have easily blown the 3rd replacement PA if we didn’t show a little restraint. There was something wrong in the room this week. Maybe it was Liza Minelli who rehearsed at Carroll’s earlier in the day. It was a tough day, all of 55th Street was a Tow-Away-Zone due to paving and lo-and-behold, when we left there was actual paving going on, so if someone did park on 55th, they would have been towed. When not getting towed is the best part of the night you know the jam has issues.
my Steal Your Space book 