Live Music

Classical Dead

Last Friday, August 1, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra premiered Lee Johnson’s Dead Symphony #6 to a packed house. Ten years in the making, Johnson (pictured above) recently conducted a recorded performance with the Russian National Orchestra (available here and through your favorite download service (iTunes, etc.))

Opening playfully with variations on “Finniculi Finnicula” (a ditty often presenting itself in the Grateful Dead’s onstage tuning jams) this full, twelve movement, symphony swoops into a powerful “Saint Stephen.” While each of the movements centers on a particular song, these are not all straight-and-simple arrangements. “Here Comes Sunshine is recognizable from its themes but is not structured familiarly.

“Mountains of the Moon” is presented tenderly with straightforward layers of strings while “Blues For Allah” opens with a clarinet that snakes to the fore (reminding me of a particular Gershwin composition) and proceeds to provide sufficient bombast to leave me wishing that it were longer.

“Sugar Magnolia” manages to retain its dance-number energy and “To Lay Me Down” stands out as an emotional cornerstone of the work. French horns carry the melody ad strings weave a sonic tapestry.

“If I Had The World To Give” is reminiscent of a George Martin arrangement for The Beatles (in the best way) and, after non-symphonic applause, is followed by “Stella Blue.” Once again, a solo clarinet stands in for Garcia’s vocal. This actually shifts into some of the more interesting music of the night, an orchestral ‘jam’ of crashing percussion, whirring strings and horns; building and nearly exploding before settling back down into a brief “Bird Song.”

“China Doll” marks another emotional touchstone and is rendered beautifully. Before the “Finniculi Finnicula” reprise closes out the work.

All in all, Dead Symphony #6 is a strong work that will certainly appeal to Deadheads and may well attract mainstream classical listeners. I encourage the curious to seek out the official release (linked above @ http://www.deadsymphony.com) for those less certain of their interest, there is an unauthorized recording of the Baltimore Symphony performance in circulation but, if you seek that, please consider purchasing the official release and/or contributing to the BSO…

Listen to samples here.

Primal Dead

The playing of Jerry Garcia both with and without The Grateful Dead ranged in style and scope so broadly that I could connect you to different examples for each day of the year. I’m too lazy to do that, however, so this one week will have to suffice.

Today’s theme is “Primal Dead”.  This the sort of Grateful Dead that seems primitive on some levels but can peel the wallpaper on others. The example I’m going to present is from the Avalon Ballroom on October 12, 1968.  I picked up a tape of this show nearly twenty years ago and it completely blew me away.

 1968-10-12
Avalon Ballroom – San Francisco, CA

Set 1:
Introduction, Dark Star -> Saint Stephen -> The Eleven -> Death Don’t Have No Mercy

Set 2:
Cryptical Envelopment -> Drums -> The Other One -> Cryptical Envelopment -> New Potato Caboose -> Drums -> Jam -> Feedback

Before “Dark Star” Jerry tells the audience, “Hold onto your bodies and relax, everybody. Everybody relax for crissakes, everybody just cool it. Everything’s gonna be alright. We’re gonna play here until, until uh, until we drop.“

 

This show captures the two powerhouse psychedelic dance suites that the band had, at this point, honed to a razor’s edge. The “Dark Star” is bubbly and danceable (Weir introduces it as a “foxtrot” & “ladies’ choice”!)  “The Eleven” is a certified ripper. “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” is dark apocalyptic and mournful… Jerry’s vocal is terrific. Set two is nonstop madness. “New Potato Caboose” is an angular Phil Lesh composition that will warp your sense of time. I can’t wait to listen to this again.

Head to the next page for the stream. Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Jerry Garcia

Jerry 71

Today marks Jerry Garcia’s 66th birthday and the beginning of our second annual Jerry “Week”.

Our first entry features an excellent soundboard recording of one of my favorite shows:

1973-06-10
RFK Stadium

Set 1
Morning Dew, Beat It On Down The Line, Ramble On Rose, Jack Straw, Wave That Flag, Looks Like Rain, Box Of Rain, They Love Each Other, The Race Is On, Row Jimmy, El Paso, Bird Song, Playing In The Band

Set 2
Eyes Of The World -> Stella Blue, Big River, Here Comes Sunshine, Around And Around, Dark Star -> He’s Gone -> Wharf Rat -> Truckin’, Sugar Magnolia

Set 3
It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry, That’s All Right, Mama, The Promised Land, Not Fade Away -> Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad -> Drums -> Not Fade Away, Johnny B. Goode

From the opening strains of “Morning Dew”, right on through to “Johnny B. Goode”, this show smokes and burns up with crazy, high energy. “The Eyes of the World” is a personal favorite. Also on the bill that day? The Allman Brothers.

To hear the stream, continue to the next page.

Continue reading →

NPR = Music

Today I’m going to give you the rundown on a great place to hear great music; NPR.

Yep.

And this isn’t your mom’s NPR; loaded with concertos or opera from “The Met”. (Okay, I meant my mom.) This is some great, alternative and even mainstream rock, folk, funk and whatever else is on the circuit these days.

So, where do we start?

How about some full concert performances streamed live and available online after-the-fact? All Songs Considered has that for you. Check out this week’s Raconteurs show from Washington DC’s 9:30 Club here. Other sets that I’ve personally enjoyed include: Dead Confederate, Wilco, Black Mountain, Doc Watson, & a terrific set from Arcade Fire.

WXPN streams a weekly concert each Friday. Check out the archived shows here. They also have their show, World Cafe.

So get on and check it out. And don’t forget, NPR is made possible by listeners like you.

Still Waiting…

waiting...

So much for early arrival. Today we set in between the two predicted due dates for our baby. The doctor predicted May 1; the Midwife predicted May 3. Lots of other people, Amy included, were of a mind that he’d be early but, nooooo…

Anyway, now you understand the title of this post. Sort of. Not only does the title accurately describe things in our household, it brings to mind a mantra from a Talking Heads song called Crosseyed And Painless. Here’s a live version of it from German Television in 1980:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thQTGPwYrxI[/youtube]

It’s a pretty great song. I was only somewhat aware of it when Phish covered the Talking Heads’ album Remain In The Lightback in 1996. after that show, Crosseyed… slipped in and out of the setlists for the remainder of their pre-hiatus years. Here’s their take on the song (also from German Television!) from 1997-02-16:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3xQayo_r4g[/youtube]

Now you know the sound inside my head whenever I find that I am still waiting.