Live Music

Phish in Hampton 2013

Hampton by Andrea Nusinov @andreanusinov Buy Prints

Hampton by Andrea Nusinov @andreanusinov
Buy Prints

I walked away from Phish after a show at Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2010. I wasn’t disgusted or offended by their playing or whatever faults I might have perceived in the band, I just wasn’t having as much fun. So I stopped attending shows and listened to fewer and fewer of their current recordings. Then, over this past Summer, something changed. The band was exuding the playfulness that I wanted once again. Maybe it was me; maybe not. But it’s not just about jamming or silly gags onstage, it’s about energy. While the band has clearly been enjoying themselves all along, they had stopped transmitting on my frequency. This past Summer, that changed.

Then they announced a run of shows at the Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia and I knew it was time.

Coming about a week after the 19th anniversary of my very first Phish show, these would be my first shows in more than two years when the band returned to . The venue has been a part of my musical life since the early 90s and part of my life’s scenery as far back as I can remember due to growing up in region. It was good to be back to both the band and the room.
(Click here if you want to skip to the summary. I’ll eventually forgive you.)

Night One (Friday, October 18, 2013):

A lovely day for a drive through Virginia and soon enough we’re checked into the hotel and on the lot in Hampton. We met a few friends and went in early enough to grab a great spot, on the rail, just behind Page. From here could see everything that he did, most of what Fish did and every bit of Trey’s turning and geeking out on Page’s solos. The latter happened frequently throughout the evening.

“Wolfman’s Brother” opened strong and got right down to rockin’ and “Runaway Jim” hinted at the band’s eagerness to jam when they stretched it slightly before the first big peak. “Mound” was a particular treat because I’ve somehow managed to not see it since the Summer of ’95. “Chalk Dust Torture” followed, bringing back the rock, and Page gave us a breather with his rather personal sounding ballad, “Army Of One”. The band picked things right back up a bluegrass number, “Nelly Kane”, and then dove into “Stash”. Continue reading →

Levon Helm…

This song changed my life.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WoI95PTizs[/youtube]

I’d heard The Band on the radio. I’d heard The Grateful Dead play “The Weight”. But, it wasn’t until late one night, a day after I’d popped in a video tape to record Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull” on Cinemax and fortuitously captured a Scorsese double-feature, that I really discovered The Band.

It was, as I said, late, by the time “Raging Bull” ended. I sat drowsing in a recliner when the following enticing words appeared on the screen:

That got my attention.

Then The Band came out to play.

Since then I’ve become a fan, seen the 90’s version of the reformed group, and caught Levon another time besides. The man is a legend, an inspiration, and my favorite singing drummer. Any group would be lucky to have so strong a singer on hand but Levon has been known to modestly say that he didn’t consider himself a singer and was better off in the rhythm section.

That Arkansas boy could spit fire into a song or he could turn it around and break your heart.

He’s spent his later years much like his younger years; sharing his music and his stage because playing is what he loves and giving that love to the world is what he does best. He might be missed but his fans will carry that love everywhere they go.

Here’s hoping that he and his family feel the warmth of that love so that it might carry them through this difficult time.

-rj

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

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Last night, Washington, DC’s 9:30 Club was treated to one of the handful of shows on GYBE’s sold out US tour. A packed and attentive crowd enjoyed two hours of soaring guitars, blistering violin, and driving percussion. The eight-piece groups masterful use of dynamics took full advantage of the remarkably quiet audience. At times, some band members stepped off the stage, leaving the others to craft quieter sounds and returning for the powerful crescendos. As before,  the band was backed by their stunning visuals which lend social and political context to the music. While the themes and intent are portrayed in an abstract fashion, the tone and tilt of the message is loud and clear.

This being my first GYBE show I was, understandably, blown away. Other, more inveterate fans, commented that time has had an impact but the group still delivered what the fans came to hear. I will certainly be watching for more dates and hoping that we don’t have to wait another eight years…

 

Setlist:

Godspeed You Black Emperor
2011-03-20
9:30 Club
Washington, D.C.

Hope Drone
Moya
Albanian
Gathering Storm
9-15-00 Outro
Chart #3
World Police And Friendly Fire
Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls
The Sad Mafioso

 

Garcia/Grisman

Today I wanted to share one of my favorite Garcia side-projects, Garcia/Grisman. Jerry’s collaborations with Grisman go well back into their younger years. They first met at a bluegrass festival on the East Coast (well before that whole Grateful Dead thing) and a friendship was born. Later, Grisman was key to assembling the crazy successful Old & In The Way band. He played on The Grateful Dead’s American Beauty album and also he plays a bit of mandolin on one of the Garcia/Saunders Keystone records.

Time passed…

Enter the 90s and two old friends begin playing casually at home. Grisman decides to roll some tape. Before long, they decided to cut a record and play some shows around the Bay Area.

That record, the first of many, came to be called “Garcia/Grisman”.  It was an all acoustic affair with the pair accompanied by regular Grisman collaborators, Jim Kerwin on bass and Joe Craven on percussion and fiddle. The songs ranged from originals to covers of blues (“The Thrill Is Gone”) and traditional folk (“Two Soldiers”). At a time when many felt that Jerry Garcia was beyond doing anything new or different, this record came as a revelation.

Personally, I wore out at least one cassette version of the release as it was on constant rotation in my car and college dorm. But don’t just take my word for it.

Here’s their take on the Grateful Dead’s “Friend Of The Devil” :

[youtube width=”480″ height=”385″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JSm5TP13dY[/youtube]

Where the real pleasure of this collaboration arose was in the merger of their two unique styles of music. No song better exemplifies this than Grateful Dawg. Forgive the quality of the video… The audio of this live performance from 1990-12-17 is worth it.

[youtube width=”560″ height=”340″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4-gCehGrcg[/youtube]

The collaboration continued until Jerry’s passing and has, to date, resulted in seven releases (all but two were posthumous.) The second release, a collection of children’s folks tunes and the remaining albums mix folk and jazz and bluegrass much in the manner one would expect of two men so steeped in American music.

I’ll leave you now with one more song.

Here’s “Shady Grove” from The Pizza Tapes (with Tony Rice!)

[youtube width=”425″ height=”25″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0ODUbDLS7A[/youtube]

The Story So Far…

Today’s Jerry Week entry is not coming to me too easily. So I thought I’d just write a little about my history as a Deadhead.

I probably started listening to the Grateful Dead in the mid-eighties just as I began listening to other groups from the 60’s and mostly rejecting the pop music of the day. Something about the music of the era spoke to me and I filled my twelve-year-old brain with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Bod Dylan, The Stones, The Beatles, The Who and, The Grateful Dead. I think it was late in eighth grade when my friend’s dad gave him two cds for his birthday: Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced and Big Brother & The Holding Company – Cheap Thrills. I immediately taped those and began to digest their contents.

With my radio tuned to classic rock and tapes playing as much of the stuff as I could copy from friends or from the radio, I was enveloping myself in the music of the past and loving it. I dubbed copies of American Beauty and Skeletons In The Closet and wore them out. But I soon had all of the albums and, having moved, I made new friends who actually had seen the Grateful Dead. One gave me my first live tape (1981-05-05 Glens Falls, NY) and, that Spring, they invited me to join them for the shows at the Cap Center. My parents denied me those shows just as they had denied me all concerts at that point.

Summer of 1991 approached and, with it, another tour. Then that fateful day of June 14th arrived and my life changed forever.
(Read about it here.)

Anybody who really gets it will tell you that The Grateful Dead were more than just a rock band. And they weren’t just a lifestyle choice, either. They were troubadours bearing a message more complex than peace and love. Theirs was of higher thought and interconnectedness; groupthink and grasping after the elusive “it”. Jerry Garcia, although he casually rejected the mantle of leadership, bore that weight and guided us into places no other music has uncovered.

Have a listen to some of that RFK ’91 show:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3A22B30080BACE40[/youtube]