Jam – 2009-10-28 – Carroll’s

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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.

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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.

IMG_3375_edited-1With 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.

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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/

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Jam – 2009-10-21 – Carroll’s

Kev looking for his California Earthquake

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.

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Steal My Songbook

Steal My Songbook

Andy, belting out a California Earthquake

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.

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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/

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Jam – 2009-10-13 Carroll’s

DCC_2899_edited-1It 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.

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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.

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Looks Like Kevin's Playboy Interview Photo Shoot

DCC_2900_edited-1Jason 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/

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Jam – 2009-10-07 – Carroll’s

IMG_0268It 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.

Jam – 2009-09-29 – Carroll’s

Michael Carpetsteen and his Modulus

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?”

DCC_1995_edited-1Without 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.

DCC_1998_edited-1We 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.

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

Jam – 2009-09-16 – Carroll’s

DCC_1841_edited-1Once 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.

DCC_1843_edited-1Our 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.

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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/

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