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.
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:
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.
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.
With 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.
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:
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.
Steal My Songbook
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.
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.
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.
It 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.
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.
Looks Like Kevin's Playboy Interview Photo Shoot
Jason 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.
It 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.
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?”
Without 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.
We 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.
Once 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.
Our 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.
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.
Thursday 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.
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.
So 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.
On 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.
Tuesday 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.
We 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.
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.
We 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:
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.
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.
