Jam – 2009-09-10 – Carroll’s

IMG_0237Thursday 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

    Deadstein Sept 1, 2009_edited-1

    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.

     

    DCC_1436_edited-1So 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.

    DCC_1443_edited-1

    DCC_1441_edited-1On 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

    IMG_0214Tuesday 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.

    IMG_0200We 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 – 2009-08-18 – Carroll’s

    Well, this was a first for me in almost 20 years. Car troubles stopped me from making the jam. It’s hard to believe considering I’ve never had good cars but it’s true. I packed my trunk, turned the key and nothing, it was all over, no way of making the jam. It also looks like the end of Jetta cam, unless I do get another Jetta which seems unlikely at this point. I greatly apologize for missing the jam but I hope it was a worthwhile experience for all that made it. Scott filled me in a bit today while I was at lunch and it sounds like it was a nice night. Let me know what happened and see you next week.

    Jam – 2009-08-10- Carroll’s

    IMG_0188We 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/

    or just click below:

    Jam – 2009-08-04 – Carroll’s

    Tuesday night and we are getting together is standard formation, so I think. Doing a little pre-posting to get get ahead some how. In the meantime, take a look at some spider shots I took in my basement. And I wonder why I always get so many computer bugs.

    Anyway, I guess I pre-posted and now I am post-posting as I am writing about the Tuesday night jam on Thursday night.  To start with it was mostly the Core-4 for of us for the entire night.  Jason did show up  for the last two songs and we jammed and hot Music and I forget the other song.  In addition, we also had Robert <–> Trebor and Miriam also stay for the night and we shall now be referring to them as SpillBoy and SpillGirl as spilled their beer for the second week in a row.  Deadstein always needs it’s Spillboy.  Of course, we also had Scott Bayer show for a song.  That’s it on guests.  Kevin and Scott were drinking their own styles of espresso, Scott’s in mass and Kev’s in a can.  I brought a few Smarties and that was ’bout it.

    IMG_0086

    Check out a little iPhone video of before during and after the jam.  No must, just some perspective on going to and fro and jam.  Sometimes it is tough to remember.

    I liked the Core-4 for the most part.  I was fairly comfortable playing within myself for the whole night.  Rich gave me some advice before the jam to watch the note quantity, relax, play melodically, etc. and I think I headed it for the most part all night and I hope it made a difference.

    Jason asked for it and he got it.  A little Jetta cam going into  the jam, from the Holland Tunnel to 55th Street.  Enjoy.

    To hear the MP3s from the night go to:

    http://www.deadstein.com/audio/08-04-09/

    or just click below.

    DCC_0818_edited-1

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