Saturday, January 31, 2004

OOPs!
While daydreaming about future Bobstar sightings, I forgot to mention in my prior post there's MK on Feb 13th @ the Fillmore with Jemimah Puddleduck! Opening for Sons of Champlin <- now that ought to be one awesomely sensational night!
Well, now it seems the eurotrader deal about Sept UK Bobdog is not a definate go. Management wouldnt confirm it ...But, still I'm hopeful...and it's still just January.
In the meanwhile, much to look forward to:
Dead to the World marathon (have I put up the url yet? It will be broadcasting online) on Feb 7th...If I can find a buddy to go with I hope to volunteer to answer pledge calls- I went with Gwen, Arrow, Evad and a few other Deadnetters to do that a few years ago. It was GREAT fun! Wavy Gravy was hanging out with us for a few minutes. Havent gotten it together to answer phones since, but have enjoyed listening- DG even answered my request that he dig up "Goodnight Irene" which I think was played NYE (my birthday) in 1982...
Then , on the 9th, there is the newest Dead at The Warfield ! I'm immensely grateful to Gwen for thinking of us. I'm hearing that only 1/4 of GDTSTOO orders were able to be filled. However, for the super serious ticket seeker there look to be a plethora of tickets available via EBay at double/triple prices...If a person feels lucky, a solution would be to be the first in line at the Warfield box office on the 9th. According to local lore and Legendary Rob, there is some funny little law (attributed to Bill Graham) that SF venues hold back selling a teeny percentage of tickets til the day of the show...I mightve passed on doing this or believing it but last year(Valentines Day Dead), the fellows in line with us did exactly that and ended up with prized floor tickets...
After the 9th, unless fate surpises us, we will have a few weeks and then the very very very long awaited set of Ratdog Fillmore shows! YAHOO!

Friday, January 30, 2004

Yes, things are looking better!
Scotto and I are Warfield bound and we owe it all to ((((Gwennie))). Gwennie was the 2nd Deadnetter we met- on New Year's @ the Kaiser, I think it was 1999...Locally, Gwennie is known for gifting concertgoers with buttons. I was priviledged to be shown the design for The Winter Jam and its terrifically appropo!

And to make an irenie even glowier, is that rumors of a late summer/early Fall Bobdog UK tour are starting up on the Eurotraders board...I'm not sure I know the Eurotrader who had brought it to the board but the Eurotraders that I know I met, seem to know the fellow and that's enough to get me wondering how I'm gonna work out an overseas tour during late September (Bobtember!)
Eurotraders are located @
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eurotraders/messages

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

I think this guy has been to Dead shows...
Thanks, Maz for the link!

http://www.theonion.com/4004/news2.html

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Still dealing with a bit of a situation with one of the kinder...But, everything ought to be resolved by tomorrow afternoon ..or maybe not! The end of the world is not here yet but when one of my children is down, it affects me in the deepest darkest ways. Learning differences/Dyslexia ((Bobby)) may make for an extremely creative thinking and productive adult but from my front row observance/participation here in the "Mom" role, it doesnt make for an easy childhood at all.

Thank Dog there is music to help lighten things up!!

Meanwhile, though- the ticketmaster side of the Warfield Dead saga has ended... 9:30-ish AM on Sunday, Scotto was told to get up and get down to Tower Records his mission was to obtain those tix (which went on sale at 10AM)! While he did that, I was manning both the computer and the telephone...And I was sucessfully on line -tickets about to be purchased but I hesitated to jump in- instead, I asked the Ticketmaster lady to see where the seats were- in that very instant-my almost seats disappeared off the screen- The show had SOLD OUT right then and there at 10:01 Am...OUCH!!!!!!!!!!
Scotto arrived at Tower with moments to spare-fourth in line! Bonding with everyone in line and most assuredly telling everyone about our UK adventure...Only the first guy in line was able to purchase tickets at all...not a very sunny Sunday at all!
But, things quickly improved when a fellow Deadnetter who probably would prefer not to have his/her name mentioned, offered up a possible set of spares to us! Amazing! Wonderful! Terrific!!!
Wow!!!

Monday, January 26, 2004

Just a quick url to drop off-
http://www.fingerlakes1.com/addedstories/20031029105419.php

Sunday, January 25, 2004

I was hoping to have a happy ending to coordinate with the tale of my mail ordering for Dead tickets for the upcoming Winter Jam but sadly, my money order was returned- we are embarassingly enough "the unchosen"...I checked-double checked-triple checked and beyond to be sure every detail was per GDTSTOO standards...It all looked fine - okay so, I didnt state a preference for floor or balcony- we were willing to take anything- was that the fatal flaw or were we just unlucky? I had the whole saga- how I decorated at least 12 envelopes, how we got the wrong kind of money order and had to exchange it then get the desired type...how we had the middle schooler tear her backpack apart in search of a 3x5 index card....

It's hard not to feel rejected...all my local Deadnet friends seem to get not just GDTS tickets- but really nice seats. Aw, well then again, they've been mail ordering forever and certainly deserve such for their loyalty there...

Here in the Bay Area lots of long time heads we knew-know, get tickets in mode that could be thought of as a spin on the parlour game called "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" -Here it would be called "6 degrees of the Grateful Dead" ...Til lately, we were players...It goes like this- the longer one has been living in the area, the more likely it is that one will have some connection to someone who is in the Dead or associated with them...Example- A collector of old pocket watches comes into the shop where Scotto works, Scott developes an acquaintence with the collector-the collector turns out to be a powerbroker for a company that works with the Grateful Dead. He/She can get us tix/passes to just about any Dead show- just ring him/her up! He or she is only 2 degrees away from the grateful dead...One pal was always able to get tickets via his chiropractor-the chiropractor was also the chiropractor to a member of the band. Someone else was friendly with someone related to Bill Graham. A Rabbi we know somehow grew up knowing someone 1 degree away from the Dead and we see him in the good seats at most shows(when the show doesnt fall on Shabbat that is) and so it goes/went...
Meanwhile, our "friend" has moved on and others with connections are wary to trouble their people as this is going to be a rare and crazy night- the first hometown glimpse of Warren Haynes (another wonderful singer) as a member of the Dead...
Meanwhile, our next step in the quest for Dead Tix is to try Ticketmaster. One possible plan is to go down the hill and be the first one in line at the Tower Record TM outlet...or try online or via telephone...or try all 3 methods...if we end up with extras- we will make a few other unconnected folks really happy!
And if we don't get tickets thru today's efforts, it might work the other way round!
And if we can't find tickets- we will survive- Two nights of RatDog at the Fillmore is coming up next- and I could never stand to miss that!!!

Friday, January 23, 2004

Life as always is good except -Argh- family issues have taken over this week but hopefully everything will be back under control by tomorrow and I can swing back into my happy cyber weirld!

For the first time, Scott and I are trying GDTSTOO mail order for the Warfield Dead show...More details on that when I get back online...Tomorrow for sure!

Monday, January 19, 2004

wHOA! cRAZY HERE!!

Finally finished and posted my slideshow movie of the UK tour!

It's here:
http://homepage.mac.com/irenie2/RDUKTOUR/PhotoAlbum13.html
uh, wait- that's not it! But I think you can click on the link to get to it from there? Well, I'll figure it all out...

Kids are home in honor/celebration of {{{Dr MLK jr}}} and so my time online is limited (everyone wants to fiddle with new applications)...
Now gotta go get a envelope and decorate it! Tomorrow is gdtstoo mail order day for The Weirfield Show!!

Friday, January 16, 2004

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Announcing "The Second Annual Winter Jam"
with The Dead: Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann,
Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, with Jeff Chementi, Warren
Haynes and Jimmy Herring.

Monday, February 9 at the Warfield Theater,
San Francisco, CA.
Doors open at 6:30 PM. Show time is 7:30 PM.

Mail order tickets are available at $54.00 per
ticket for both general admission on the floor
and balcony seating. Please specify.
Hey!
Hearing about a few more Bobdog dates coming up!
Excited to hear that Robin & Teresa may be coming over for The Fillmore shows!!
The following sounds like a commercial but I just can't keep it to myself!!
The latest distraction for me is having updated my Mac to OSX and also adding in the iLife 2004 apps..It's sooooo awesome! All my Eurodog & Marin Music Fest & NYE photos (THERE ARE HUNDREDS & HUNDREDS- this app can store up to 8,000 photos!!) only took about a minute for all to pop up. It's so freaking easy to enhance, edit,crop, retouch AND blow up & minimize each photograph- I may be here for the entire 3 day weekend!! Seriously. There's a whole new life or two for each picture- I've blown (LOL) Bobby up and cropped out the excess stuff and turned him into a sepia dream out of a photo taken from 100 feet away. I realize folks have been able to do this stuff via photoshop apps but I barely have time to blog let alone learn photoshop- the new ilife photo app is quick and easy! I need to find out what I need to do to put pictures up here on the blog so you can see what I'm talking about..I'll see if I have any room left at the Mac.com homepages and post a few.

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

What can be more fun than (as Mia described it) the "shell game" that goes with the first few daze of the announcement of Ratdog tour dates? One day they re listed as playing Ventura and Los Angeles- a few hours later Los Angeles is switched to Hollywood (HOB) and Ventura disappears. Dates get changed and the tour is suddenly all jigjagged...Since it seems I'm just going to the hometown shows it's more amusing than tragic...The bright spot is that the tourdates are being announced in a fairly timely manner compared to some of the past tours.....I wouldve loved to hit that Vegas show though...

I finally upgraded my mac to OSX and am having a bit of a challenge figuring things out. In a few days I will also be adding something called ilife 2004- which is the newest upgrades to some of the applications (I think they are applications- I really don't know what I'm talking about) Anyhow all of this is my explanation (excuse) for not blogging in as often as I can.

I'll try to get back on track here tomorrow- right now must upload some pix (my NYE Pix are on my homepages now)...

I thought it was today but I might be wrong but at any rate wishing a very Happy Berthaday to Mark Karan
and also to Bearlyanne! Goats do rule!!!!!!!

Sunday, January 11, 2004

How cute is this?!
Florida Jen posted the link on the Weir page at Deadnet.
It's a site called "Rockin Roadies' and there's Bobby and crew!
Here's the url:
http://www.rockinroadies.com/

Saturday, January 10, 2004

New Year's Eve Dead can be listened to at:

http://nugs.net/attics/031231_mp3.asp

Friday, January 09, 2004

I can't even believe The SF Chronicle published this miserable thing on their open forum today!

You may need to skip if incendiary anti Dead articles make your blood pressure shoot up!
Here is the url:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/09/EDG9Q45I4F1.DTL

Now, Below is what BlairJackson put up on Deadnet in response. I sure hope it gets published :

"Have no idea if the Chronicle will run my letter, but here was the response I fired off this morning in the heat of passion:

A letter…

What, pray tell, was the Chronicle’s point in running Chris Plunkett’s slam on hometown heroes the Grateful Dead on the Jan. 9 “Opinion” page? Besides the fact that it read like the hysterical ravings of some anti-drug government propaganda film from the late ’60s (or a John Ashcroft missive from ’00s), it was filled with inaccuracies: Garcia’s coma years before his death was not “drug-induced”; it was mostly a result of adult onset diabetes. The Dead’s “dancing bears” logo may have, in fact, at some point been printed on LSD, but so have images of Mikail Gorbachev, Opus the Penguin and dozens of other real and fictional characters. The dancing bears are just that: dancing bears having a good time! Leave ’em alone, you buzz crusher! True, the segment of music known as “space” may be more interesting to some if they are psychedelicized, but the bottom line is it’s just great freeform improvisational music, a chance for the musicians to stretch in interesting directions without the imposition of song form.

As for the rest of the article…well, it is not exactly news that the Dead and Deadheads were perched on the libertine edge when it comes to consciousness altering agents. And the Dead HAVE been bashed through the years about drug use--check the record! Yes, there have been folks, band members even, who carried their drug use too far and died as a result. But the overwhelming majority of people who have followed the Dead through the years have benefited immeasurably from joining on the “long, strange trip,” and from being part of a cultural atmosphere that encourages tolerance, brotherhood, ecstatic communion, spiritual, musical and psychic exploration, and fun with a capital F.

Blair Jackson
Oakland, CA


And I want to share Steve Silberman's great response, too, while we're at it:

Dear Editor:

Thank you for publishing Chris Plunkett's courageous op-ed piece on the Grateful Dead and their immersion in the drug culture. You will probably get hundreds of enraged letters from wild-eyed Dead fans decrying the lack of fact checking or timely relevance in Plunkett's piece, but I say, compared to the threat of reefer madness taking hold among America's youth, who cares about such elitist matters of journalistic "integrity"?
It's high time -- oh, sorry -- for the silent majority to speak out. Surely Plunkett could write similarly timely pieces on how Elvis' gyrating pelvis planted the seeds of the STD epidemic, and how the Beatles' suspiciously girlish "mop-tops" -- to say nothing of acid-addled lyrics like "I Am the Walrus" -- led several generations astray. The jazz "music" of known addicts like Charlie Parker, Billie Holliday, and John Coltrane, and the booze-fueled hallucinations of the Abstract Expressionist painters, are also worthy of Plunkett's wrath. I say it's never too late to save our children.

Steve Silberman
Cole Valley, San Francisco "


Yay! It's Friday!!
Received this news today-
More info when we get back late next week...

Jemimah Puddleduck is going to open for the Sons of Champlin on Friday,
February 13 at 9 pm at THE FILLMORE. Yep- fillmo debut. Spread the word.
www.thefillmore.com

Thursday, January 08, 2004

Hey!
I'm listening to Ratdog Radio!
Here's the web addy:
http://www.gdradio.com/ratdogradio/

If you suspect 2 nights at the Fillmore might leave you sore or you just want to be a little decadent, there's the Kabuki Springs & Spa on the corner of Fillmore and Geary Streets in what is known as Japantown...I've been there before for a soak and a massage and it's clean, nice and the staff were very professional.....I'm very tempted to stop in there on my way to do line duty!

www.kabukisprings.com/

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

two more photosites- not sure if I already put them up?
CJ's site at:
http://live-dead.co.uk/

and Norman Sands' site at:
http://kingidea.com/

my kids are coming home tonight so that's about all the time I've got to blog for this evening!
woof!
New photos on the official site!

http://www.rat-dog.com/photos.html

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

This morning, Chuck aka Father Time was on KFOG speaking of his NYE experience...Of course he had a great time! Had his friends fly in from Utah to join in the fun. He got to watch the soundcheck, joined Mickey's party which was next door to his dressing room, appreciated the folks from Another Planet who sounded like they were the ones who handled his end of stuff. Said rehearsal didnt quite happen (might explain the deal with the spacecraft's untimely lift off). He didnt say who the kids on stage with him were, but that they were just as nervous as he was! They gave him a basket full of guitar pics, flower petals and I forgot whatelse to fling around. LOL, He said it was the longest he ever had to keep himself together at Dead NYE show...and of course, he's ready to it all again!

This is the url to Julie's(aka Graceful Dead from the Deadnet discussion group) tour memories journal (with photos)..She did the whole facepainting costume thing all over the states...You might recognize her sans paint from being in the photograph with Binki, Bobby and I at the SEVA post show reception.

http://www.gcalabels.com/too/



All this stuff about no Eurodog is upsettling. We look forward to returning and carrying on with all our new buddies.. I like to think Bobby is aware that he's really got a hand in creating what there is of the current Eurohead's scene.
Scott and I went to see Ratdog in 2002 in The Netherlands and Cologne..Plenty more people this year came to see him- imagine if Ratdog werent playing the same nights as The Rolling Stones! If there were tee shirts and what not available that wouldve helped too...Guess we need to be patient after all it's only January...Good time to start stashing the spare change for whatever comes up....
And speaking of what's coming up, there are Ratdog dates going up for more West Coast shows! Two Fillmore shows (HURRAH!) at the beginning of March!!! Dates in Ventura, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. being shown at the official Ratdog website-www.ratdog.com...

Sunday, January 04, 2004

I'm still not done with all the stuff I need to do before resuming real life tomorrow...After such a fab Decembweir, there will be a nice quiet January. By February, Dog or Dead dates should continue to pop up...Scott is all set to go after Bobdog for his own birthday fun. And so it goes we blast off into 2004!

No word on Euro or the UK but lots of speculation. I found this online today- it's Kevin Shewan's 2003 UK Ratdog reviews (hope I got the name right!) Nice job! LOL- I saw he found some of my pictures-cool! Anyhoo here's the web addy (since I still havent figured out how to link stuff in here):

http://www.shewan.com/music/dead/ratdogastoria2003.html

I lost my place in the entire NYE review I started a few daze ago.
Let's see..Did I tell ya after I raced down to meet up with The DNCrs and Ratdog.orgers Reisha songled a huge group of folks in Happy Birthday - blush-blush! I hung out til the lights were dimming. Then I charged back up to the suite- grabbed a diet coke and Scott's 21 power Binoculars, settled back in a big leathery chair and turned all my attention to Robert Hunter! He played Ripple- an excellent NYE song and my number one choice for the set. Ripple says it all for how my year went...
Tween the Hunter and Funk Brothers set, Tree and I returned to the floor to find more familiar faces- and there was Shady Backflash! Shady was the first Deadnetter I ever met- He came to town for the Kaiser RAtdog NYE back in 98>99. I didnt know what he looked like-but he needed a place to hang for the night of the 25th- So, WE invited him for dinner, "How will I know who you are?" I enquired as I would be needing to pick him up at SFO..."I'll be the only 6ft guy standing there in a rainbow beanie with a propellar on top" and so it went!

OKay, setbreak over-back in the elevator to the suite.

THe Funk Brothers had us dancing- JOan Osborne came out and did some stuff with them and all too soon it was over...Tree and I ran back down to the floor but it was treacherous to try -even expect to get as far as the soundboard. To hundreds if not thousands of Deadheads, this was the point of the night to get as close in as possible to the stage. Tree and I were almost trapped in the deep middle but along came a blind man-red tipped white cane, and folks were kindly letting him move around-Tree and I lined up behind him and straggled back to the stairway- back up to the suite! The Dead came on and most of us were dancing. I loved being Dead Bobby Center even if it was a long way from the rail. The speakers were aimed right at us- nothing to block any of the view (The Mezzanine level is only suites- a flight of stairs away from everyone below). It was awesome!
Drat! Gotta blog off again!
But I won't forget-don't let me forget to mention the Bill Walton cake thang...lol!
Tonight I'll be getting back to Blog about the rest of the NYE extravallama but right now, I feel a real need to post my friend Reisha's special rant about The Dead. Sort of balances out or adds to Blair's review.Reisha worked for Bill Graham for years and sometimes still wears the blue coat at local shows- Okay, Here goes:

"as to The Boyz......well, boys will be boyz...... they can ( & damnwell DO) do whatever the fuk they want. some of it, i will love. some of it, i will not. & some of it ill have to turn to the folx next to me & scream 'DO THEY have TO DO THAT?!?!?!?!?' same as i ever did. so, no big surprise/change THERE. look at their entire history. t'aint nuthin but what what theyve ALWAYS done. continued. gone on. furthur. morphed, adapted, SURVIVED!!!!!! & folx can just go piss on their OWN damn cheerios if they're resistant to the changes, the evolution that continues. NO, it aint jerry. it aint pig, or brent, or keith. it aint Bill Graham. & weather its grateful, other, too, CRSB, or the dead........the elemental SPIRIT of creation thats unique to this scene, these individuals is still there. maybe a lil older, maybe a lil grittier, greyer, forgetfull-er, but goddamnit!!!!!
  it really irks me, some of the naysayers - kicking & screaming cuz it aint the 60's no more. well, if youre that ridgid & unflexible, that unwilling to consider, for a moment the possibilities......why then, in the fuk are you still trying to identify w/ it all? you missed the bus, get off & give the seat to someone who WANTS the ride?!?!
thats all. ill climb down off my soapbox now. but keep the railing, i mite need to get up there again..... "

Saturday, January 03, 2004

Hey there!
My head is still spinning from NYE!
Scott is also still somewhat glazed over. It was just incredible fun.
Be patient with me as I wind down from the last week...
I have many notes of thanks to send out received lots of sweet gifts at the arena as well as from my little students (school resumes on Monday)...but don't let me forget to blog about my entrusting Bill Walton with a huge piece of Chocolate Decadence Birthday cake to pass on to friends behind the laminate curtain....That was crazy!! Need a little more time than I can muster up right now....

In the meanwhile, there's a campaign brewing over on the Eurodead boards to guarantee that Ratdog returns to Eurodog this Summer...And HOB in Anaheim (DisneyDog) is happening in February which indicates the possibility of a Bay Area Ratdog coming up (OH PLEASE!!!!!)

Friday, January 02, 2004

ignore the preceeding url-
to see the pix- you must login/register (it's free) here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DeadNetCentral/

sorry for the confusion!
Cool- here is where I was able to post some of my pictures- you will need to register or login into yahoo to view them, though.
http://login.yahoo.com/config/login?.src=gr&.done=http%3a//photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/deadnetcentral/lst%3f.dir=/%26.src=gr%26.view=t&.intl=us&.linkdone=http%3a//photos.groups.yahoo.com/

Thursday, January 01, 2004

Blair Jackson has okayed my request to reprint his NYE review(originally posted @ Deadnet) on my iblog -So, here goes!
Blair Jackson-
My .02, FWIW. Had a great ol' time last night. Usual pre-show screw-ups--like trying to not open the lots until 4, despite the fact that folks like me showed up hours before that. So you've got folks driving around aimlessly for hours or (my choice) parking on weird side streets, lining up, then, when they opened the gates for cars (and people) at 3:30 (rather than 4 as they told all the cars they'd turned away)I had to re-park (for 15 bucks!). Line management was shoddy, the entrances inadequate and over-crowded. Not up to old BGP snuff, to be sure.

Once in, though, the vibes were good and surprisingly relaxed considering it was NYE. Helped that it was WAY not full. In fact, it wasn't until around the time the Dead came on that the upper reaches started to be populated at all. Well, the 70 buck ticket price was pretty intimidating to many (including me!). Tickets were much cheaper outside, of course.

Hunter came on a little after seven and played one of the best sets I've seen him do. Opened with a nice "Doin' That Rag," tossed a "Loser" in there, somewhere, and "Might As Well," but the coolest were the three newish songs (all post JG), including a new epic about keys to a room or some such, which had some very cool passages, as well as some odd chordal moments that could use some re-thinking IMO. But Hunter was ON, and the crowd was amazingly attentive for the most part--not always the case with his sets, I'm afraid. A GREAT "Standing on the Moon" was the big late winner...cut the "be with you's" (unfortunately) to charge right into a warm "Ripple." "Boys in the Barroom" is always a rousing good time, 'specially if it's been a good set, and this one was. Kudos to Mr. H. I'd love to see him go into a studio with a full band and record songs like "Keys to the Room" or whatever it's called), the magnificent "Blow Wind Blow" and any other new 'uns he has. Billy on drums. Phil on bass ('cause let's face it, he owes Hunter for delivering so many good lyrics the past few years), Barney Doyle on guitar...Great album there somewhere...

Funk Brothers were awe-inspiring on a certain level, and I basically dug their trip, though frankly, a lot of that material has been so over-played through the years, and because their arrangements are EXACTLY like the hit records, some of it was just like listening to a loud radio or a really good cover band. I liked what Joan added on her couple of tunes and really got off on a handful of favorites ("I'll Be There"! "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"). It was a little long for my tastes. Needless to say, it would've been a bit different if we he's had Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, Junior Walker and all the other "real" singers, rather than the very capable and talented but essentially faceless singers who did front the band. But only a Grinch would diss the Funk Bros. and you'll get no true diss from me. They rock!
Really enjoyed the Dead's first set, which had a disntinctly jammy second set feel for much of it, especially the whole "Westher Report Suite," with the long, long "Let It Grow." But we're jumping the gun..."Good Times" was sweet...but useless, just as it was with the Grateful Dead--a way to ease into the show, but without much to offer. (Did like Joan doing verse two, though) "Jack Straw" got things cooking, as it always does--very nice version. I still have the memory of the wonderful Shoreline "Peggy-O" in my head, and this one didn't kill me the way that one did, but it was still pretty nonetheless. Greg Osby was onstage for much of the night (less in the first set, I think) and he occasionally added some nice sax solos and punctuation. The guy definitely has chops, but IMO he rarely soared. He didn't have the Jerry-like melodic genius or assertive power of a Branford Marsalis, but he picked his spots pretty well. I was sick of saxophone by the middle of the second set, though. There's plenty of noise onstage and noodling without another solo element. Needless to say YMMV. Loved "Rubin and Cherise" (another Shoreline highlight). I am so pro-Joan. If ever a band needed a capable on-key singer, this is the one and she is it--she does justice to the Jerry tunes in ways that Phil and Bob do not. If this was her swan song, I bid her a fond adieu. "Rider" was a nice kick-ass ending to a very strong set.

The midnight moment was a total bomb, a mess-up that must have had Bill Graham spinning in his grave. At about ten til midnight, a huge flying saucer started decending slowly from the ceiling and gliding across the crowd toward the stage. There were a few blips and pops and odd sound effects, but NO music or giant build up, and it's still not exactly clear to me what the point was. It finally ended up hovering over the front lip of the stage, but there was no one onstage, and as I said, no music of any kind. It stayed there a minute, then slowly made its way back up to the rafters without anything having emerged from the spaceship or having any interaction with anyone on the (empty) stage. Bizarre. So there we were at five to midnight with the big visual effect over, still no band onstage. Finally, someone started the countdown (beginning at 8!)there was the big Happy New Year moment, balloons and confetti falling (actually, the one over us wouldn't open at first)..but still the stage was empty! For the second year in a row, we had a music-less New Year's moment! How lame is that?! At last the band came out and whipped out the expected (and greatly appreciated) "Sugar Magnolia"--a full version with SSDD. Excellent! Joan looked fantastic in her slinky black dress and New Year's top hat! Style-y! That was then followed by a typically explosive "Saint Stephen" (complete with "High green chilly winds..." Yay! My first time ever hearing it live...when I started seeing the band in '70, they'd dropped it already). "Born Cross-Eyed" was also cool. I kind of thought the rest of the set would build on this raucous energy, but it quickly turned spacey (neat "Mountains of the Moon" in there somewhere)and it really ended up being a pretty spacey affair for most of the show. Now, normally that would be exactly what I like the most--I'm a jam man through and through--but quite frankly, last night I was in a rockin' mood and the second set didn't satisfy me in that regard. I thought there was an awful lot of what felt like pretty aimless jamming in between fine versions of a whole slew of great songs: "Dark Star" (another complete version), "The Wheel," etc. Can't truly complain about the songlist, I guess...just the pacing of the set which was so drawn-out and lacking in focus--having Greg Osby up there did not help that.

Encore was nice treat--Joan warbling "Must've Been the Roses" and what seemed like it was going to be "Help-Slip-Frank," but there was such a bloody trainwreck as the band attempted to shift gears going back into the last part of "Slipknot," that it crashed to nothing, but the jubilant "Truckin'" emerged--I was happy to be rockin'!

All in all, a fine time...
Happy New Year!!!!!!!!2004!!!!!!!!!
I'm so tired- what a fun couple of nights! Got to bed about 5am...Geez, where to begin??
The show on the 30th was a good one- basic. No openers They came, they played, we danced -essentially a warm up for the high energy fun we were treated to last night.

The day started with birthday calls from my family (still all in Hawaii for another week) and friends. Fiddled around until 4:20pm when our old buddy Ron came by to pick up the kid and I, then off to The Millers. Left the kid with the Millers' boys (they babysat) Ron and I jumped into Dave & Hillary's van from there and on to the Arena. Because, we had our suite, we spent as much time as possible checking out the goods on Shakedown Street. Lots of fun trinkets . Hillary is an artist also-she
has a studio and works in ceramics and watercolors. I believe her website is www.hillarymiller.com.....We enjoyed all the inspirational goodies on view. The Lot venders were starting to roll up their wares and so we four marched to the Arena. Once indoors we took the elevator to the Mezzanine level, had hands and tickets stamped with matching numbers- this makes attempts of "stubbing up" rather futile.
Our suite was exactly across from the stage. In the entrance, there was a big coat closet and a large bathroom. The room was like a living room- two couches, a coffee table a countertop with a sink a fridge and an ice machine. Where a wall would be normally be, there was a bar area with barstools..beyond that were steps that lead down to balcony type of area with two rows of 6 big comfy leathery chairs. Lots of space and leg room. There were 2 TVs, during set breaks, we turned it on to see New Year's breaking in assorted time zones as well as to check the weather as a storm was on the way.Our balcony was separated from our neighbors by walls of plexiglass. Very cool- we could see each other but were unable to hear them unless we swung our heads out off the (low) balcony. Very nice fun people to our left and to our right! Scott and Arrow and Tree were already at home in the suite when we arrived. Scott had arranged for some catering so the fridge was prestocked with waters, beer and sodas. Champagne was on ice in the ice machine. Munchies (chips, salsas,veggies & dip and popcorn) were all around. Later on, right before midnight, Chocolate birthday cake(delicious!) and coffee with cream were delivered. A little later, Tim and Linda treated everyone to a late night supper of
hot dogs, Caesar salad and chips!!!
Next to arrive was Andrew and Rachel, then Moon.

I took a few moments before the show was too begin to go down by the soundboard and wish my friends from Deadnet and Ratdog.org a Happy New Year! I met some folks I've only been familiar with from the internet. It's always great to meet in 3-d when the opportunity arrives. Hopefully, I'm not leaving anyone out but there have been all sorts of substances playing in my system since then but...(((((The Queen of Diamonds, The BQ, StaggerCT, Cheffy, EBeth, Boston Steve, Cali, Mazzy, Gwen, Reisha, GracefulDead, CDawg, DireWolfie, Rose, Katrinka,Twirl Girl, Boots,PEACE!, Shady Backflash, OMigod- so many more folks!!!!)))) I think I'm gonna need to take a nap before I can venture forth with the show..
Be back when I can....Got loads of photographs! One can be seen on the homepage of www.theotherones.net.