Saturday, December 31, 2005

It's All Good!

OMIGOD! Jay Lane in Les Claypool!!!
At the Fillmore. We were with Glowy. Though our friend had lived out here for a while, she had not yet been to The Fillmore. Since this was an un Bobby related event, I had no desire to get stuck holding space anywhere and was able to give a tour . There were the apples by the bench, under the photo gallery, when you first walk upstairs in to the Venue. Down the hall (left) is coat check and next door to that is a woman's room on one side and the merch booth on the other side.
There is a bar downstairs and open to the floor, on one side of the room is a wall of seating, just banqueetes or whatever they are called. Some are usually reserved. Above the dance floor are great chandeliers, seems like there are black lights aimed at them so the effect is a purply otherworld like glow to them..like the haunted mansion in Disneyland. Overlooking the floor are some balcony seats which you get to via the upstairs bar.
Next to the Merch booth, there is the stairwell. It's narrow not grand but carpeted and you pass by a good sized portrait of a young Grateful Dead (Sweet, smooth, dimpled Bobby face) And then there is the HUGE portrait of Jerry in a wonderful wood frame with roses painted on it.
The venue isnt huge but upstairs is a restaurant/multipurpose room and also a bar and a hallway that leads to tables for the all access crowd. On every available section of wall space are framed posters. Hundreds of them from all the Fillmore shows. We found 2 Ratdog posters in the bar but there are probably more, it would take a long time to look through them all.
I should tell the time I (literally)crashed into Bobby at the bar a CS&N Fillmore show (96?97?) in that bar, but Not now...
Oh yeah, Les Claypool-
What a young unDeadheady crowd! Scott and I looked seriously out of place but didnt give a Ratdog's ass about it. Had a ball Sorry tonight's NYE Hatter's Ball is sold out. AJ was there to set up the drumz. Always glad to see his sweet face and big grin. There was an opening band that was some sort of steroid infused bluegrass thing- fun and I thought I heard them play Dire Wolf. Could be wrong- it was loud and fast.
The entire Les Claypool "Fancy band" came out dressed as Santas.Kitsched to kill. Even Gabby La La, the zitar/sitar player, was a vision in red and white. Jay eventually took the beard & wig off (had his real hair in 2 cute braids) but gotta give him credit for keeping the rest of his costume on. In addition to Les, Jay and Gabby LaLa, there was a Sax player and a guy playing a glockenspiel. The glockenspiel guy was shirtless by the end of the night. The show was eclectic and loud and I danced like a maniac most of the night. Jay was furiously unleashed and yeah, WOW! WOW! WOW! Someweir in there was a big fat unmistakeable Easy Answers riff, which made us hollar out YAY JAY! Along with the Claypool fans Great job! Time to order drum shaped candy molds!
Lots of energy in the audience....
.............
Best OLD Concert of 2005??? Yeah, hunh, eh? But a link is a link...speaking of that, here's a little unrecent but still 2005 article that I don't think I had seen before.
..............


Thanks for the berthaday wishes, vibes and blessings!
I like the sound of any number with a seven in it. While forty seven is nearing that middle age peak (50 being the "youth" of old age) I feel groovier than ever. I'd recommend growing older (not the same as growing up) to just about anyone! Then again, I have a wonderful life...wasnt always this way which is why I must stop and appreciate how everything has turned out .
Wouldnt turn back that clock for anything!

Friday, December 30, 2005

Whoooooooosh!
Leaving again for SF in a few minutes. I left my car in the Mission last night. Not sure hhow this will work- will likely drive myself back home (after exploring the Haight with a friend), let the dogs out, refresh, dress up a little and then head back into the city on BART. We are supposed to check out Les Claypool tonight at The Fillmore! This should be quite fun!

Thursday, December 29, 2005

This looks like a fun Grateful Dead blog.

There's still a few nights left of Hanukkah! If you havent yet finished your SHOPPING!
Nice lil Bruce Hornsby article.
...................................
How you all doing?
Weve had old friends in town and saw a lot of them.
December has been quite the month for old friends. Now a new friend is in town and today, we'll get a visit in. If the weather holds (no rain now) we'll shop, if it rains, we'll do something girly like get facials or something artsy, like drop by the paint your own pottery studio. I visit the one in San Carlos every Friday- I'm slowly replacing all my chipped everyday stuff like sugar bowls, spoon rest, butter dish with my own weird designs. I also like to paint faces on sushi plates.
My family called from Hawaii yesterday,phone got passed around while they were waiting for restaurant seating. All is well! Everyone was enthusiastic. My mother even complimented my youngest on his being "so obedient and so polite" . The youngest told me his sister "Is being a lot nicer to me here than she is at home!".
My educated guess is that bribes and pacts have been made and I'll never really know how it's going..ah, ignorance is bliss, indeed!
.........

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Monday, December 26, 2005

A Jerry/ Bobby related article about Sitar player Sanjay Mishra FWIW- I have the cd "Dua" by Sanjay and Wasserman and love it!

I don't know but I think he plays soccer?
And he enjoys listening to Bobby

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas! and Hippy Hanukkah!

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Hippie Holidaze!

Remember this classic?

O COME ALL YE GRATEFUL DEADHEADS

O come, all ye Grateful,
Deadheads to the concert.
O come, Grateful Deadheads,
And camp in the street.
Bring rolling papers,
Don't forget your sleeping bags.
O come get us some floor seats,
We've followed them for four weeks,
O come get us some floor seats,
To see the Lord.
O come, all ye hippies,
Throwbacks to the Sixties.
Paint flowers on your van,
And don't wash your feet.
Wear your bell-bottoms,
And your tie-dye t-shirts.
O come let us adore them,
We've quit our day jobs for them,
O come let us adore, them,
Garcia's the Lord.

By Bob Rivers
.............

The kids left yesterday morning for Maui. My whole family goes every December. I went for a while but prefer taking my vacation at home with Scott.
Scott can't go anywhere in December because it's "the most wonderful time of the year" for businesses. Though, he's had some tough moments seeing people struggle to get money together for the holidays. At the Pawn shop things do balance out when he's able to make prices low enough so a parent or significant other can afford to get that loved one a guitar or piece of jewelry. The shop Scott works at (family owned & operated) sells new items as well as used items and if you havent made that special purchase yet, you might want to call your local pawn shop and see what you can get. The prices are probably a load lower than you might expect. Excuse the plug, but hey. why not?
So what's happening with no kids or any family for the holidaze here?
Well, we got invited to Crazy Carl and Embar's (she's Israeli) house for "latkas and vodkas". I should be frightened, Carl is nuts in the way all brilliant people are. Hilariously funny with absolutely no fear of anyone or anything...Oh the stories!
Love Carl (and Embar) back "in the day" Carl joined us for Grateful Dead shows - at least one show a run. Carl is a software engineer and back then worked for the mighty Silicon Graphics. Because of that, we used to get to park in their lot across the street from Shoreline Amphitheater. Carl got to meet Jerry Garcia and talk to him about computers when Jerry entertained at a private SG party. In the last 10 years, Carl has found the love of his life, moved her here and now has three beautiful kids- all with Carl's crazy gleam in their eyes. I am wrapping a bunch of little musical instruments (from ye old pawn shop) to give them. Wouldnt be a holiday without a bunch of noise now would it? I'm also (leaving after I blog) going to buy one of those prebaked Gingerbread houses,give it a Hannukah make over and bring it along.
Gotta run- Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas and A Groovy Kwanzaa and an Amazing Solstice! Or just a great few daze if you don't know what you believe in!
WOOF!

Thursday, December 22, 2005

I don't understand all this hubbub over Holiday greetings?
Now that someone has gone and dragged our Bobby into it (can't anyone give him a break already?) I might have to read up!
I have been a very bad blogger - just been busy - getting the kids ready for Maui and recovering from jetsetting around last week. The best thing about having to hang around an airport is being surprised to find your favorite band (alas no lead singer) is also stuck. It was nice to have a few moments to thank the guys for a pretty great year and to wish them Very Jerry Holidays. My next 'official' Ratdog show is sometime in February, somewhere out there on the sea...but hopefully, the band members will be playing in various configurations around town before then.
As a matter of fact, Kenny Brooks is supposed to be playing tomorrow night with the Realistic Orchestra at the 12 Galaxies in the Mission (I still have my twenty free passes from the Tsunami benefit drawing too!)!

Here's a rather nice Ratdog show tale, I just found Clicky here

What is it about Bobby and buses? My cousin is a Mac geek freak and never misses a conference, I'll have to ask him to see
if this event is open to lesser techies?

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Show reviews (not mine but..) on Reno & SF can be found at Dot org Reno
and Dot org SF

Monday, December 19, 2005

Eight is great!



.............
Wow!
What an incredible week it was!
Three great shows in three different states...Lots of mountains, holiday travellers, taxis, shuttles and the kindness of strangers. Now that I've had some sleep. I'm ready for more!
Three very different venues. My favorite was/is still the Reno Hilton. Growing up, my first taste of musical entertainment was at Nevada Casino show rooms. As a kid, my folks took me to the dinner shows, Tom Jones, Glenn Campbell, Andy Williams, John Denver, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Sammy Davis JR, etcetera, of course, the most memorable show was ELVIS!
I figured that the Hilton would have a modern room for the Ratdog show but was delighted to find myself in a huge show room just like the ones we used to go to the dinner shows in. Booths with tables, red and brass decor, terraced levels .So much room! The stage was huge. The rail was low. The band was set up deep back on the stage which actually was nice.
As I mentioned the acoustics were wonderful. I could really hear the show. The rail isnt always the best place to hear the music and usually, I'm right by a speaker. It took a while for the room to fill. I only knew one person at the show and didnt see him til the show was over. Met a few people from the message boards though and that was nice! My neighbors on the rail were Setlist Jerry on one side on the other was a fellow who had won his tickets from answering a trivia question on a Reno radio station. He wasnt sure what to expect. Afterwards, it was gratifying to hear how much he enjoyed the show.
One of the fellows I met was taking pictures and gave me his card. I'll have to email him and see where he is posting them.
I had never been to the state of Washington even though I have an aunt and first cousins living there. Flying in was bumpy but scenic, Mt Ranier, the Puget Sound..and flying right by Seattle I could see all the landmarks. After resting briefly at my hotel, I took a cab to the venue. I was surprised by how much Seattle looks like SF and LA. The Showbox is a small club but has a bar and I was able to get dinner there. Tasty fries. Hung around the bar and enjoyed seeing Beth & Lee again. Very festive atmosphere. Soon it was time to get in line for the show. The bar seemed to be the head of the line. The venue was funky in a fun way and the stage seemed really small. The rail was wide open as most of the early birds grabbed the small tables for themselves. Another amazing show this time with a fellow sitting in with harmonica and mandolin. Bobby was almost chatty though I can't quite remember what he was saying.. Something about a song (oh God which one?) being meant to have a Mandolin playing in it....another time Bobby was referring to the key of G ..Hot show, Spirited crowd..reminded me a bit of the first show of 2005 in Anaheim.. my mind swept clean by one song being better than the last. At the end the entire crew joined the band for the last bow of 2005. I waited too long and wasnt able to buy the cds. Hopefully, Disc Logic will have them up soon.
The Grand in SF was also new to me. It was lovely and elegant, with an upstairs like the GAMH has, though I never made it up there to check it out. I can't say where my head was at through the first set but the second set was fantastic! I bought the cds of this show in Seattle and listened to the first set again, as I waded through traffic on the way home from Oakland International Airport. The first set is truly fine! I guess the insane second set just made the bigger impression on me. .....................

Sunday, December 18, 2005

woof, I'm back!

12/17/2005 Showbox, Seattle, WA
I: Jam > The Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion > Cassidy > Dark Star > Odessa > Little Red Rooster* > Lazy River Road > Dark Star Jam > Bertha
II: Blackbird@3 > K.C. Moan@3*, Friend of the Devil@5 > A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall@*, Silvio* > Tequila* > Silvio* > Althea* > Scarlet Begonias > Stuff > Scarlet Jam+ > Dear Prudence > Dark Star > Cassidy Jam > One More Saturday Night
E: Ripple
*-w/ ? (harmonica/mandolin); +-w/out Bobby; "Saturday Night" tease before "Cassidy Jam"; Stuff - Robin/Jay/Jeff

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Reviews delayed, got one more show to get to!

Until they put me under, it's festival time!
Both SF and Reno were amzing.
Reno will likely be my favorite show for a long time - Though, tonight will be an adventure, I'm sure.
If Reno were the Lotto and the songs were numbers, I'd say I hit the Jackpot.
Everything better played than ever too. I t was all outstanding.
The venue was one of those dinner entertainment rooms, the acoustics were wonderful. Resonating, might be the word I need to put here.
SF was strong show- 2 saxes one was Dave Ellis!
And we got MAMU and He's Gone which were songs Scott has on the 'Uncle Max" cd he's been singing along with for a few weeks now.
Reunion time for Scott and I with old friends after the SF show
It was like old times to be having a really early breakfast/midnite snack with friends we used to go to see GD with. I grew up across the street with one of the guys. I thought he gave up on going to shows so didnt expect to see him. Hard to believe it's been over 5 years since we last spoke to each other.
I'm the woman in green, staring lovingly at Bobstar in this Minkin photo

.....................
Kudos for Kemmie for finding low fare RT flights for me to Seattle!
And so off I'm going to see the last Ratdog show of tour and of 2005!
Scott has to work today but is happy to send me off.
"You shouldnt miss it- they are playing so well!"
I've never been to Washington state before.
Bought flight and ticket online.
So, just need to find a hotel- shouldnt be too difficult.

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!

Friday, December 16, 2005

Hola Amigos!
Reno was amazing!
Seriously, it's my newest very favorite show- brought me to the level where I almost want to wipe all my older shows off the hard drive and begin again...If that makes any sense?
If it doesnt forgive me..I need sleep.
AND
SF was great!
I will get on with impressions and stuff later tonight.
Yesterday was "processing through it day" followed by late night of listening to the Reno cds with Scott.

Today is the final day of work for me for 2005..
WOOF!

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

WOOF!

Someone posted this GD Link on dot org and it made me smile big this morning!

Yipee! Tonight's Ratdog in SF! First real show (not counting benefits) in the city for a very long time!
Scott's softball team has a bye/bi/buy/? tonight so he is relieved about not missing the show (he pitches and is a good batter) All systems are go! go! go!
I have an extra because everyine I know already bought their tickets.... My son was tempted to take it but it's Tuesday and he keeps stockbroker's hours...My daughter was begging to come but then realized she has way too many papers and tests coming up.
The day is gonna fly by- it's my Sunflower class's Holiday party. Then I race home to get everything in order...then wait for the call of the K woman...off to the city. Home..back to work for my Rainbow class's Holiday party. Then from there I'll go directly to the airport and fly out to iReeno!
WOOHOO!
I'll try to squeeze in a moment for blog but if not, look for the review later in the week. I have to be back at work on Friday!

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Deadbase online

Oooo, new photoblogwebplacething ->Grateful Dead Concert Photos

I am finally done with my chocolate doings.
Well, for today anyway.
No recipe just following the directions on the Candy melts wrapper.
Making chocolates is a quick fix for the need to make a lot of goodies in a short amount of time.
It helped to have multiple candy molds, the electric chocolate melting pot ( or use a fondue thing, set on low, scorched choco is yucko) and all the wrapping bags, ties ready to go. I now have made a bag of choc Dreidels for Jase to take to to his work, a bag of same for me to take to work, 11 huge guitars for Sash to give to her friends (I showed her how to do everything so if she needs more, she can make them herself). Also, I have a few hundred tiny choc guitars for those doing Ratdog line duty on Tuesday.
As I said, the candy I make is all about presentation not taste.
For incredible tasting chocolate products, created by an honest ta Goddess Deadhead, I recommend a visit to Jeff's LillieBelle Farms website. I keep hearing good things about those lavender caramels..

12/10/2005 The Wiltern LG, Los Angeles, CA
I: Jam > Truckin > Ramble On Rose > Jack Straw > Little Red Rooster > Dark Star* > Althea > Silvio > Tequila > Silvio
II: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall@*+, Even So* > October Queen* > The Deep End > The Wheel* > Lady with a Fan > Terrapin > Stuff* > Dear Prudence*+ > Dark Star*+ > One More Saturday Night*+
E: U.S. Blues+
*-w/ Gabby La La (sitar); +-w/ J.T. Thomas (keys); Stuff - Jay/Gabby > Jay/Jeff/Kenny/Gabby > Jay/Jeff/Robin/Gabby

Saturday, December 10, 2005

12/9/2005 4th and B, San Diego, CA
I: Jam > Playin in the Band > Tomorrow Never Knows > Lucky Enough > West L.A. Fadeaway > Looks Like Rain, It's All Over Now > She Says > Liberty
II: Victim or the Crime@, Mexicali Blues@3, When I Paint My Masterpiece@, The Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion > New Speedway Boogie > Ashes and Glass > Stuff > Come Together > Sugar Magnolia
E: Casey Jones
....................
I just got the funniest holiday card yet this season!
My friends Lynn & Leif always come up with great cards!
Last year, they photoshopped themselves and Vito (their pooch) in to a 50's Vintage holiday cable car SF scene.
This year, they found a great vintage 60's Haight Ashbury photo and there they are on that corner, in hippie gear. Even Vito has a bandana on.....
I need to figure out my photoshop.
Some day.
In the meanwhile, I'm only online for a little bit. I've got chocolate going on here! I have candy molds in the shapes of dreidels and gelt gotta fill em with melted chocolate, cool em, dump em into little bags-I'm giving them out at work.
I have several molds in the shape of guitars. Sash needs some big guitars to give out to her friends and I'm making a whole bunch of tiny ones to give out at Ratdog!
Woof!
...................
Found this online- 40 years ago today!

The Birth of the Dead


A youthful Jerry Garcia on a 1966 poster.
In the coming decades they would play to more people than any performing act in history, but at their first concert the musicians who two weeks earlier had been called the Warlocks had trouble persuading the promoter even to put their new name on the bill. Bill Graham had invited them to play December 10, 1965, at the Fillmore auditorium in San Francisco, but their new name “gave him the creeps.” The group begged and placated, and finally Graham relented. The new name went on the posters, with “formerly the Warlocks” in place of a group photo. So it was that, exactly 40 years ago today, the newly dubbed Grateful Dead played the first of more than 3,000 concerts.

Their original incarnation was as Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, formed in San Francisco in 1963 by the banjoist Jerry Garcia, guitarist Bob Weir, and keyboardist and harmonica player Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. They “played anyplace that would hire a jug band,” Garcia said, “which was almost no place, and that’s the whole reason we finally got into electric stuff.” Adding a bassist, Phil Lesh, and a drummer, Bill Kreutzmann, they became the Warlocks. A new sound came with the new name, as Garcia recalled: “The minute we get electric instruments it’s a rock & roll band.”

Meanwhile the author Ken Kesey started building their fan base. In 1959, as a Stanford graduate student in need of extra cash, he had signed up to ingest hallucinogens in an experiment at the Veterans Hospital in nearby Menlo Park. While he wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in the early sixties, he continued the experiments independently, joined by a growing number of friends. The group became the Merry Pranksters, and their La Honda, California, commune and drug-fueled public displays formed the model for sixties counterculture. On November 27, 1965, they threw the first acid test, an all-night house party with light shows, tape-loop sound effects, and plenty of LSD, which had not yet been outlawed. The Warlocks, who first met Kesey through a friend of Lesh’s, attended, and as Lesh later wrote, ”It ended up being just like every other acid party—people getting high and doing pretty much what they wanted. . . . The energy was too spread out. It seemed as though some kind of focus was needed to transform diffuse individual energies into coherent collectives. Clearly, music was the answer.”

So when partygoers conducted their experiments at the next acid test, on December 4, the group provided the soundtrack. They became Kesey’s house band, and the Pranksters, the original hippies, now became the original Deadheads. The acid tests formed the blueprint for all future Dead shows. The line between performer and audience, star and event, swirled like everything seemed to at Kesey’s parties and remained indistinct even as the band morphed into a professional touring act. Free-form improvisation, through which the band glorified the experience of the present moment that was so vivid at the tests, became the Dead’s signature.

A few weeks earlier, Lesh, browsing the racks at a local record store, had found a single by another group called the Warlocks. Never quite satisfied with the name anyway, the group brainstormed for days in search of a new one. Kreutzmann suggested “the Vikings,” Weir “His Own Sweet Advocates,” Garcia “Mythical Ethical Icicle Tricycle.” None stuck until the band pored over Lesh’s reference books one afternoon. While Lesh paged through Bartlett’s, Garcia opened the Funk & Wagnall’s dictionary and poked his finger at a random spot. “Everything else on the page went blank,” he recalled, “diffuse, just sorta oozed away, and there was GRATEFUL DEAD, big black letters edged all around in gold, man, blasting out at me, such a stunning combination.” Lesh remembers “jumping up and down, shouting, ‘That’s it! That’s it!’” Others were not so pleased. Weir found it morbid, and of course Bill Graham thought it creepy enough to put off his Fillmore audience.

Bill Graham was wrong. By 9:30 p.m. on December 10, the ticket line circled the block two abreast. The show, which also featured the Jefferson Airplane (as well as acts destined for less eminence, like the Great Society and the Mystery Trend), was a benefit to raise money for the leftist, avant-garde San Francisco Mime Troupe. The Dead played in a hall decorated at either end with signs bearing the word “Love” in three-foot letters. Owsley Stanley, the chemist who almost single-handedly supplied San Francisco with acid in the mid-1960s, sat in the audience. The Dead “scared me to death,” he said. “Garcia’s guitar terrified me. I had never before heard that much power. That much thought. That much emotion. I thought to myself, ‘These guys could be bigger than the Beatles.’” Rock Scully, the band’s future manager, concurred: “We’d never seen anybody play like that before. Jerry was lifting the roof. Of course, we were slightly stoned.” Scully and his friends weren’t alone. “I’m absolutely sure Jerry was tripping, too,” Scully said. “Every now and then, he’d look down at his guitar and I though he was seeing some kind of monster. He was all surprised. Looking over at his hand down the neck of his guitar like ‘Wait a minute. Where is the end of this thing?’”

The concert raised $6,000 for the mime troupe; more important, it brought the Grateful Dead to its first public audience. In 1966, as the Dead played to increasingly packed houses, the Hollywood record industry caught on to the growing San Francisco music scene. The Dead recorded numerous albums with Warner Bros., but they would never have much success capturing the energy of their live shows on vinyl. Their phobia of formula and suspicion of rigidity and routine made for far-out concerts but translated on records, like their 1967 self-title debut, 1969 Aoxomoxoa, and 1970 Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty as inexpert, if charming, imprecision. Garcia explained it in characteristically self-deprecating terms. “We’re really not that good, I mean star kinda good or big-selling records good.” However, their looseness did not betray a lack of ability. When pushed, as by David Crosby on his first solo album and select Crosby, Stills, and Nash tracks, the Dead revealed themselves to be a tight, note-perfect session band. The music was, at its best, an amalgam of Americana, blending Garcia’s bluegrass background, McKernan’s affinity for Chicago blues, Lesh’s classical training, and their collective love of John Coltrane.

In the seventies, as the hippie scene went out of style, the Dead faded into obscurity. Their nonstop tours, though consistently attended, drew almost no attention from the press; their few studio albums failed to make a ripple on the charts. To critics, their output lacked the dexterity of groups with similar influences, like the blues and bluegrass acolytes Led Zeppelin or the super-competent, jazz-trained Steely Dan, but also eschewed the exciting aggression of the equally messy, elaborately iconoclastic punk movement. They were written off as dinosaurs. Garcia was fine with that. “I feel pretty good about . . . stopping being part of that mainstream and just kinda fallin’ back so that we can continue to relate to our audience in a groovy, intelligent way.”

But while the mainstream ignored them, the Dead continued to pick up new fans. By the late seventies the Deadheads were turning into a phenomenon in their own right, a family of unreconstructed and newly turned-on hippies who followed the band across the country to party at each of its concerts. By the time the Dead scored their first top-ten single, “Touch of Grey,” in 1987, the Deadheads were as much a part of the band’s mystique as was their music. Alone among their contemporaries the Dead carried the torch of the sixties continuously through the next decades.

As other bands and artists broke up, died, feuded, or transformed into slick pop acts, the Dead did what they always had. They played. Garcia’s death from a heart attack on August 9, 1995, meant that the last show of that summer’s tour, at Chicago’s Soldier Field a month before, would be the last ever. It came five months and one day shy of 30 years after the first. In addition to the band’s three decades of music, there’s one more thing Deadheads can be grateful for. They aren’t Mythical Ethical Icicle Tricycleheads.

—Christine Gibson is a former editor at American Heritage magazine.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Hippy Berthaday Kemberlini!


Thanks for all the wonderful memories!
a gazillion local shows, venues large and small, Marysville Dead and the Anaheim-Phoenix Doggy weekend ! The ACLU luncheon! The Stanford Thing! The Black Out on the way to Puddleduck at the Sweetwater! Earthquake predictions.KPFA! Thanks for driving, Thanks for listening, Thanks for having common sense and a sense of humor! Thanks for looking in on Noah when I was away, Thanks for being my friend! Thanks for being You!
Preschool Teachers are special.
Have a fantastic time in Colorado!
Happy Birthday!
and
it's either chocolate or beer. Not both at the same time!
12/7/2005 House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV
I: Jam > The Music Never Stopped > Easy Answers > Baby Blue, Bombs Away, Ramble On Rose > Picasso Moon, Friend of the Devil, Wang Dang Doodle > Hell in a Bucket
II: Jack-A-Roe@4 > Deep Elem Blues@ > Festival@ > Mississippi Half-Step > The Other One > Stuff > Ship of Fools > Throwing Stones
E: Brokedown Palace
Stuff - Kenny/Jeff/Jay > Robin/Mark/Kenny/Jeff/Jay

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Happy Belated Bertha to Vera!!!!!!

I can tell the Queen of Diamonds

By the way she shines!





12/6/2005 Rialto Theatre, Tucson, AZ

I: Jam > Feel Like a Stranger > Big River, Queen Jane Approximately, Tennessee Jed, This Time Forever > Shade of Grey, Weather Report Suite Prelude/Part 1 > Let It Grow

II: Blackbird@, The Winners@, The Weight@, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Ashes and Glass > Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Stuff, Wharf Rat > Two Djinn > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower E: Johnny B. Goode

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

i Reno

Irenie going to Reno!
I promised myself on Monday, I would march right in and see if it was possible to take a little time off to go catch the Reno Ratdog show. As soon as I arrived at work, I walked over to my director's office. El is always good about letting us do what we (feel?) we need to do. Since I only work a few hours anyway, she was sure there would not be a problem but still she had to check. Sure enough, a few other teachers were already taking the day off...but somehow there was still one extra teacher available to cover for me. YAY! YAY! YAY!
My school (and thanks to the Union) rock!
Of course, not 10 miutes out of El's office came a call from the nurse at my youngest's school. Tummy trouble. So, back to El's office in need of an immediate sub.
Kid is okay but I bet it will be a lonnnnnng time before he eats those nasty garlic fries he gobbled down Sunday night. TMI?
Once I got him home and the tum stabilized, it was reservations time!
WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

And Woof! There's a new template. Lost my custom links but as you can see, I was able to round most back up again.

Who be in the mood for a Party? Nope, not on my berthaday but hey, I should familiarize myself with ALO since they'll be on that cruuuuuise too. It's music, December a bennie with surprise guests and ya never know!
...............................
Here's something PearlyBaker from Dot org put in response to some of the ungratefulness..and it just about sums up my point of view.

"The true fans didn't jump to conclusions and immediately start posting bullshit about bob (or other members of the GD) without knowing more about what was happening.

The true fans didn't feel as though they were losing access to something they were entitled to.

The true fans gave them the benefit of the doubt and realized that there could be a lot more going on under the surface that we didn't know about.

The true fans realized how much free stuff they have given us over the years (more than any other artist or rock group - BY FAR)...

The true fans didn't start up some bullshit boycott...

it was a "fuck you" to the lame asses that started that petition... and i can't blame him for that.

It WAS NOT a fuck you to the fans, cause no real "fans" signed that boycott petition.'


as always if you get confused listen to the music play.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Heppy Bertha Drummerboy!

12/4/2005 Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
I: Jam > Here Comes Sunshine > Maggie's Farm, Senor > Youngblood, Brown-Eyed Women, Fly Away > Bury Me Standing > Greatest Story Ever Told > Scarlet Begonias
II: Peggy-O@, Desolation Row@3>6, Wrong Way Feelin' > Uncle John's Band > He's Gone > Stuff, Standing on the Moon, Samson and Delilah > Uncle John's Band (reprise), Touch of Grey
E: Black Muddy River
Stuff - Mark/Robin/Jeff/Jay/Kenny

He's Gone.
Gotta appreciate when the setlist gets in sync with personal events
Thanks for the emails wrt Max.

Sunday, December 04, 2005


And a setlist too!

12/3/2005 Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM
I: Jam > Jack Straw > Supplication > Bird Song > Odessa, Crazy Fingers > Josephine > Loose Lucy, Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance
II: K.C. Moan@3, Victim or the Crime@, When I Paint My Masterpiece@, Even So > October Queen > The Deep End > The Wheel > Stuff > Black Peter > Bird Song (reprise)
E: One More Saturday Night
Stuff - Jeff/Jay/Mark/Robin/Kenny

Denver Fillmore Review
by RLappi
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INCREDIBLE show, folks.

Bobby filled the fillmore, and I think that Ratdog should be the permament house band there. Stellar performance all the way through. I got my money's worth with the HUGE Shakedown opener alone , and they continued to smoke throughout the evening. Gotta say that this is probably the first Ratdog show i've seen where EVERYTHING was jammed out--nothing cut short before it reached its full potential. To the contrary, Bobby was ADDING all kinds of improvisational segments to songs, while still retaining an energetic, loose boogie throughout. This led to many absolutely EXPLOSIVE moments. Big railraod blues, sugaree, and st stephen>11 sticking out the most.

The Row Jimmy was stunning, with Weir using his custom late 70's era cowboy guitar, and I felt transported in time by such a familiar tone.

Minglewood and She Belongs to Me were both tight and energetic. Lucky Enough had a VERY spacey jam in the middle, more so than I've heard before. Not my favorite song, but the musicianship redeemed it in a major way.

Funny thing, during Big Boss Man, 3 cops walked through the crowd right where I was, trying as hard as they could to not stick out, but everyone was pretty much laughing at them and the irony of the situation.

Bobby was all smiles during El Paso, captured in the moment enough during Mark Karen's solo that he forgot to start singing again, extending the music a few more measures.

Masters of War was masterfully done. Very dark and angry, and really one of the most evocative versions of just about any Dylan song. It couldn't have been represented in any truer sense, at least to these ears.

Aiko Aiko was SO good. Very nice to hear Bobby singing it (Mickey's version always makes me cringe). Very festive, New Orleans feel (of course), with tons of great jamming and really good harmonies. They really brought this song back to its roots.

"Stuff" was great, as always. It took about 30 seconds for Jay to figure out what he was going to do, but then the band launched into this great Jazzy lounge kind of jam.

Corinna kind of dragged on, but still done nicely, and considering that's my ONLY complaint of the evening, I'd give the show an 11 out of 10.

Sugaree went to the stratosphere, and St. Stephen>11 was absolutely nuts. The 11 had this sort of weird theme going after the william tell bridge. Can't really explain it, except to say that there was this kind of tension going on for a few minutes where the theme of the song wasn't fully materializing. You knew what it was, but it was almost like it was in a different key, and the band was trying to resolve if. Anyway, it was a GREAT jam, although they finally had to just go into the familiar 11, so it wasn't the smoothest transition. Still done very well, though.

Also wanted to say that the fillmore is the PERFECT venue for these guys. The sound was BIG yet it still had this incredible intimacy. Looking around the venue, I thought I had found myself in a Muppet movie. Only surprise was that no one was swinging on the chandeliers...

I think we've yet again reached the next level here, as this show went well beyond the 3 shows I downloaded from the first leg of this tour, and is light years beyond the show in Boulder I saw just 2 and a half years ago.
....................

.....................................................
Hey!
All this babble about selfishness and greed is so wrong.
I listen to my lawyer and my accountant when they advise me.
Who wouldnt?
In this season of giving, let me ask you...
Do you have a favorite non profit cause that you actively support?
In any particular way?
I am not one for meetings or organizing so most of my support comes through donating creations or contributing cash.
Look at all the good work Bobby is doing! This list is just a drop in a bucket of what Bobby does when he's not on the road or cocooning with family. It doesnt even include non profits he's performed for or signed donated stuff for-
These are just some of the non profit organizations that also keep the Bobstar busy with his support whether as a board member or as an honorary board member.

>Furthur Foundation
http://www.furthur.org/ns/home.ns.html
>Seva Foundation
http://www.seva.org/board.php
>Rex Foundation
http://www.rexfoundation.org/rex_home.html
>Earth Communications office
http://www.oneearth.org/fs_index.htm
>Headcount
http://www.headcount.org/images/about.htm
>The Farm School
http://www.farmschool.org/html/staff.html
>RAN
http://www.ran.org/info_center/factsheets/01b.html
>Trips for kids
http://www.tripsforkids.org/about-board.htm
>Reef Relief
http://www.reefrelief.org/who/board.shtml
>Amicus Foundation
http://www.amicusfoundation.org/amicus-2/who-we-are/who-we-are.htm
>Little Kids Rock
http://www.littlekidsrock.org/friends/
>Camp Arroyo
http://www.ttff.org/fundraising/letter.html
...................
I know, I need to find a setlist of last night's show. And soon (I just got permission) I'll put up a nice glowing review about the CO. show I found online.
....
Spent the morning at a funeral. Scott's wonderful Uncle Max who had at age 92 years old the distinction of being The City's oldest Pawnbroker! Anyone reading this who has made the excursion to the shop ought to have met him or seen him sorting through the tickets by hand... Not just an uncle and mentor but a beloved friend too. I made a special cd mix for the drive to the funeral included "Me and My Uncle" as well as "He's Gone" and of course, "Mission in the Rain" {{{{{Max}}}}}}
................

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Clapping hands for Grateful Web's Ratdog pictures

12/2/2005 Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO
I: Jam > Shakedown Street > Minglewood Blues > She Belongs To Me, Row Jimmy, Walkin Blues*, Lucky Enough, Big Boss Man*, Lazy River Road, Big Railroad Blues
II: El Paso@3, Masters Of War@, Corrina > West L.A. Fadeaway > Tequila Jam > Silvio > Tequila > Silvio > Tequila > Silvio > Iko Iko* > Stuff, Sugaree > St. Stephen > William Tell Bridge > The Eleven
E: Ripple
*-w/ Boots (harmonica); Stuff - Jeff/Jay/Kenny/Mark/Robin
..........

Hey!
I was pleased to find Weir Freaking among an index of .Kynd music links!

Friday, December 02, 2005

Have a Happy Weekend!

The new Deadnet is UP!
It's very cool!
Lots of new stuff including a Spell Checker(wish I had one on here) and an "Ignore User" button!
I learned real quick to scroll past the names of those whose posts continually irritate me. The Bobby Bashers and then, the "Know it alls". I am online to enjoy myself. If I want to be a masochist and argue I can merely go downstairs and hassle my teenager about something. If I want to listen to a pedantic rant, well, then I can go down the next flight of stairs and start up the young adult ( not one but 2 college degrees). No small wonder I am drawn to age groups that believe in unicorns, rainbows and that hugs have special powers..
At any rate, the new Deadnet is very nice! Lots of photos and streaming video..Lots to see!
.......
And, Tour is on! Ratdog tonight!!
Less than 2 weeks til the Bay Area gets some!!!!!!

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Deadheads grateful for RatDog: Bob Weir's band, now 10, plays plenty of Grateful Dead stuff
By Cathalena E. Burch

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.01.2005

Guitarist and Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir has a confession: He's afraid to go on stage.

"I put off going on stage as well as I can," he admitted. "My entire crew knows all about that, every trick I'm going to pull. They just get me on on time and that's that."

Weir's stagefright has haunted him throughout his storied 30-year career. You never would have thought one of the men responsible for starting one of the most respected and revered rock bands in the history of popular culture would be scared to stand before an audience.

But in a voice that conveys some of that insecurity, the 58-year-old father of two young kids quietly confesses that that fear and being away from his family are the two things he hates most about being a musician. All the rest is gravy, and Weir and his 10-year-old pet project RatDog are swimming in it.

RatDog has been billed as a Grateful Dead tribute band of sorts, and there's truth to that. Weir said the bulk of the group's performances are drawn from Dead material. The blues-rock group - Weir on lead vocals and guitar, Jay Lane on drums, Jeff Chimenti on keyboards, Mark Karan on guitar, Kenny Brooks on sax and Robin Sylvester on bass - also follows the old Dead modus operandi, he said.

"We state a theme, we take it for a little walk in the woods," explained Weir, whose band returns to the Rialto Theatre for its first Tucson show since early 2003. "We try to cover as much ground as possible. If you come to a show in a given town, you're not going to hear anything you've heard the last two or three times we've came through. We mix it up pretty well."

But RatDog has evolved into much more than a Dead cover band. The group has developed its own style, crafted its own material and nurtured its own personality. Every night, once the Dead ride is over, RatDog, a superb jam band, continues with its own ride of improvisation that crosses rock and blues and jazz.

The audience each night will be a mixed bag of Deadheads and "Dogheads" - those are the "aspiring Deadheads . . . because they never heard the Dead," Weir explained. Somewhere in the middle, the two camps meet, and RatDog produces a sound that's a perfect blend of Dead and Dog. That's nirvana. "When we hit the right chord and everybody's pleased, the place rises," Weir said.

By the time the band gets to Tucson, Weir suspects they'll have finished writing a few new songs and will be ready to road-test them. How brave, you might comment. Bands today would never dare spring new material on audiences even before the ink has dried.

"That's how it grows up," Weir responds. "It's all I've ever done. We've very rarely written stuff then taken it cold into the studio." Weir says his audiences indulge them largely because that's the way the Dead always did things. Write a song then play it for an audience with all its rough edges jutting about.

Weir and RatDog are in heavy writing mode and hope to "eventually get around" to recording a new album. It would be their second release of original material; their first was the critically acclaimed studio album "Evening Moods" in 2000. Since then, they've recorded live efforts, but they haven't made it back to a studio.

Weir doubts they'll make it to one this time, either. "We have the technical ability now to do it on the road, and I think the band's probably going to be, performancewise, a level hotter than it could ever be in the studio," he said.

That means one more chance to shake the frights and face the fears.
"I'm not the only guy in the band who has horrendous stagefright," Weir is quick to clarify. "Once I get over that, which happens on a nightly basis pretty much, there's nothing I'd rather be doing. Period."