Rich | my Steal Your Space book

Jam – 2010-01-07 – Carroll’s

09 Jan 2010 4 Comments

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

What goes up must come down.

First jam of the new year, the new decade and it had an ominous beginning. A few weeks ago we reported on a new book and for 2010 Kevin is sporting a new look. A bout with bell’s paulsey gave him an asymetric countenance that didn’t bother him as as much as it bothered us. In any case, like a trooper he was there to jam come hell or high water. The funny thing about the picture is that his bad side looks better than his good side.

Me on the other hand was bouting an onslaught of gout and my right ankle was swollen and asking for mercy which I wasn’t really giving it. Hobbling in on crutches from a block away, Levon Helm was at Terminal 5 next door, didn’t help the matter any bit. I was distracted with fallout from it all night, finding it difficult to loosen it’s grip on me. It took the Dark Star jam to do that. Unfortunately, I stood for that whole thing and I was jelly for the rest of the night. Well worth the agony as it’s Saturday as I write this posting and I am almost able to walk again and should be fine for the next jam, which I eagerly look forward to.

Alan was playing Bobby this week once again, stepping up through the decade’s gate, and also percerveering after fighting his own illness to get to the Deadstein jam which was beckoning. Fortunately Scott had excess energy and excitement to get the jam after missing several while relaxing in beautiful Hawaii. Rich also seemed fine, as did Scott Bayer, our only guest. So three up and three down I guess that averages it all out. The bongo playing by Scott was exceptional this week.

So you see the song list below and 17 songs or so is pretty good considering the circumstances. I recall the first 5 being a disaster for me personally, I was having significant stomach issues which I don’t want to get into to goory details, so I dread listening to them but I did give the middle of the set a listen and while there were some lost opportunities, minor details in the overall scope of it all, I have to be happy with what I heard. I look forward to playing when we are healthy. As long as we all recover, which will happen, the opportunities will blossum, the details will take care of themselves and this decade will open up a new beginning. So I say and hope.

The songs are down below, give them a listen, if you must.

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/01-07-10/

One final thing, I really suggest the Adam Carolla podcast and all his other endevours, which are many and entertaining, for anyone interested in a good time. Check it out and Get It On! Subscribe in iTunes or give a listen at your desk. Funny Stuff!!!! I can’t recommend it enough. Mahalo.

Jam – 2009-12-23 – Carroll’s

24 Dec 2009 1 Comment

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

It was one of the biggest nights of Deadstein ever. We had lots of everything. To start with Scott was on vacation in Hawaii so that enticed us haul Coffee-Boy’s ass in and sit him down on a drum throne. On his coattails came the contingent of other Baysiders including Mitch who was slinging his new Epiphone 335 (”Dot”) as well as his new Canon 5D DSLR, both being quite impressive. If he only purchased the Gibson 335 and a shitty camera in 10 years his guitar would be worth what his new camera is worth instead of vice-versa. In any case, a guitar can’t record memories and won’t make Mitch money the way a camera can.

To continues, we had Bayside Al on guitar and Bayside Russell on the other drumset. Finally, Alan Wikler was able to make it in time from his Florida trip and also made the jam. This left us with a whole bunch of bunches including 2 Alans, 4 guitarists, 2 drummers, 2 DSLR cameras and a whole bunch of sound. The wall of sound wasn’t enough to describe the music. We should have called it the “Room of Sound.” Ironic, as Coffee pointed out, was the fact that in this whole big room of musicians there wasn’t a sip of alcohol anywhere to be found. That was until Adam showed up who was accompanied by a slim silver flask of high quality Scotch.

Sensing the density of the aura before me, and the pre-song sounds in the room sounding like a 100-piece orchestra warming and tuning up I decided to call for the Dark Star opener which got us sounding and jamming for a while until I wrestled down the mess and brought it into a Feel Like a Stranger. The whole trip was a long one and definitely set us on the path that was our jam for the evening.

Our only guests for the night were Bayside acquaintance, Adam who was using this opportunity to have some fun away from his family. Pretty cool how Adam has seen us at a Short Hills gig since he is friends with those guys and in addition, he is also friends with John and Mitchell Spitz. It’s a small freaky world. He really seemed to have a good time relaxing in the Deadstein spirit of Hanukkahs past. In addition, their friend Jason with long, curly, brown locks was also there.

I can’t say there was a first set, vs. a second set, all I know is that the nigh ended about 30 minutes early as Coffee didn’t seem to have enough caffeine in his midst to keep the mother rolling and he was driving Rich home, not have Scott for a ride, the jam ended at 11:30, but with all the talk and post-mortem, we weren’t out any earlier and we could have gotten in a few more songs.

I also had some new equipment which was a Boss OD-20 distortion box which I enjoyed throughout the night, enabling myself to cut through the morass. I also had new strings on my Strat which also helped my tone. I liked it for the most part as I teamed up the new OD-20 with my pedal board including a compressor, chorus and Alan’s MXR envelope filter which I used and liked. I used it for the Stranger, Ramble on Rose and Catfish John. I then quieted down the masses with a less intensive Friend of the Devil which had a plethora of leads associated with it. Other items of note include mixing up the selection a bit with a surprise Walking Blues which was pretty good. We also had, in no particular order an Althea, Ramble on Rose, All Along the Watch Tower, China/Rider, Tore Up, Lovelight, Brokedown Palace and we closed with a Music Never Stopped that was initiated by Coffee Boy. It must be some of those Scottisms rubbing off on him.

To listen to the music go to the following link or click on the songs below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/12-23-09/

T’was a big night before Christmas and at the Deadstein jam, everything was smoking, except for a ham. Let’s try to get one more jam in for 2009 and start 2010 with a bang.

Jam – 2009-12-03 – Carroll’s

03 Dec 2009 4 Comments

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

A night of pranks and perception. I mean I played the Tangled Up in Blue 2 frets off in G accidentally and when I corrected it I went to far, all the way up to B. I did this on purpose by Kev followed like a lemming. After that little joke we pulled of the good Tangled Up and the good jam.

Once again this week we played with Alan Wikler on Bob and me on Jerry, from a guitar perspective. Carroll’s was nice to provide a Fender Super this week which I took advantage of. It sounded really good. I played my Epiphone Les Paul and brought in my ART SGX 2000 effects unit. For the most part I was pleased with my tone as I get more used to the Les Paul.

I almost forgot to mention. This night represented the release of the newest song book, V7. This is always a momentous moment that has long term implications. Scott and Alan now once again have books and all of us have consistent and updated versions to play from. Sleek and efficient the Jerry Garcia Song Book is.

While the books was distributed this night, it really didn’t have too many positive impacts except for the fact the Alan and Scott now had their own books to use. On the negative side, it takes some getting used to from the perspective of reading the charts. While they may look the same, every now and then there is an update which is just a little different, better, yet different. On a few occasions I think I sensed Kevin getting confused with the book because he may have used it in lieu of his traditional notebook. In any case it will be a benefit into the future.

Trying to think of some of the things I remember about the night which include a spacey Birdsong that I followed Alan’s lead into the Dark Star, eventually taking it back out to the Birdsong. I once again borrowed Alan’s MXR envelope filter so with that I enjoyed some Althea, Ramble on Rose and Feel Like a Stranger action. We used the spin-o-matic to find a Race is On which we would have otherwise not done. Alan had a list of songs he wanted to try and we got to most of them. They included the Tangled Up, Getaway and a few others. He also sang the Looks Like Rain of the night giving me the opportunity to lay a pasta line of noodles on top of the song. We ended with the Terrapin and we were out a few minutes early into the warm December evening. Warm enough that I was still wearing shorts.

To hear the songs use this folder or the songs below:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/12-03-09/

Jam – 2009-11-24 – Carroll’s

25 Nov 2009 2 Comments

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

Rich was back this week from his one week hiatus in in Far East and was ready to play. We had Alan Wikler join us on the rhythm as I was assigned to play lead. It’s always a fun challenge and with Alan lending me his MXR envelope filter for the jam I was able to get some good Jerry sounds out of my Epiphone Les Paul guitar. For the most part I felt pretty good during the night while getting better as the night got longer. Maybe it’s because as the night got longer the eventual collapse demanded a bit more leadership on my part. In any case as Kevin hung on by a thread and we made it through the finish line with a U.S. Blues.

Besides Alan on rhythm we had a few guests. These included Ken and Phil who came in bearing the gift of food, one of Deadstein’s favorites, in the form of 3 Dominos Pizzas; mushroom, plain and pepperoni. It was very nice of them and much appreciated. Len, long time colleague of Scott and Kevin, from the even more miserable rental furniture world, made is inaugural Deadstein visit. Scott Bayers was also there for a few songs getting a much needed mental workout on the bongos. Its seemed to release his inner animal which is a lot prettier than his outer one. After banging away on those skins, Scott grabbed a few slices, put them in a zip lock bag and brought them to Carol. She enjoyed a few songs of ours over the cell phone. She heard us play the Queen Jane and commented how she saw Dylan a few times in her life. It’s good she has Scott to take care of her. Lots of goodness happening all over helps everyone’s spirit.

As I mentioned, Alan lent me the envelope filter so we took advantage of that playing a Catfish John, Shakedown and Estimated. The only other Garband we tackled was the Love in the Afternoon which was pretty good. We had some nice combos including the Crazy Fingers into I need a Miracle. We performed an Estimated –> Eyes of the World. Comes a Time –> Other One –> US Blues was our last combo which closed the evening but it closed pretty strong.

While we were having trouble with selecting songs Alan pulled a list he wanted to try out of his a$$ so we honored the list and got to all of them including the Loose Lucy, Tennessee Jed, Morning Dew and the aforementioned Comes A Time. It’s a really privilege to be able to attempt to play lead during the Morning Dew and I did okay on it and the song kept progressing toward its ultimate conclusion. The Dew was unlike the Tennessee Jed where Kevin ad Scott conspired to bring it to an ending prior to the ending. Good thing I wrestled that from the abyss. The Loose Lucy was funny cause I started singing it, thinking Rich was going to sing the rest of the Wikler list, and at the end of the lead I’m pointing to Rich to start the next verse, forgetting it was my responsibility, so he kept playing leads until he started singing. It’s amazing any of us remain standing let alone play a song with any accuracy. Rich did a fine job a of picking up where I started it since he was claiming he can’t do the Loose Lucy in the 80’s style vs. the early 70’s style which he is more fond of.

Other recollections of songs include the Eyes being sprightly which is an accomplishment late into the night. The Thrill Is Gone was our other pseudo-arband song and that was also good. I remember Alan pulling a good lead on it out of his a$$ on that one. He must have a lot of room up there. I could go on, but I have to pack up for my Thanksgiving weekend in PA so I wanted to get this stuff down and bogged before I have no memory of it. We managed to work the jam in on this tight week, Deadstein style. Let’s see if we can continue this effort through the holiday season.

For your listening pleasure, available at:

http://www.deadstein.com/audio/11-24-09/

01 Barrelhouse Orleans Boogie.mp3

07 Shakedown Street.mp3

08 Love In The Afternoon.mp3

09 Loose Lucy.mp3

10 Tennessee Jed.mp3

11 Estimated Prophet.mp3

12 Eyes Of The World.mp3

13 Morning Dew.mp3

14 Trill Is Gone.mp3

15 Wheel.mp3

16 One More Saturday Night.mp3

17 Comes A Time.mp3

Have a good Thanksgiving with your families. Peace, health and happiness and may the Patron flow freely like gravy over a turkey breast.

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: