Carroll's 55th Street
Carroll's 55th Street
It was a sweltering day at the end of June and in times like this it takes all you can do just to hold on from being swept down the drain. I've seen this dead rat at the northwest corner of 54th and the Westside Highway since April and as the song goes, same old rat in a drain ditch. By now the thing is flattened, petrified and too big to fit down the storm drain. This dead rat is destined to be there for eternity. Having a busted air conditioner in my car and 97 degree temperature got me into Carroll's as quickly as I could. It happened to be pretty cool in Studio 3.
To make up for issues the video directing and people placement has caused, I decided to try to turn things around this week and try having the band face the drummers. I haven't seen any footage yet from the jam, but Scott forgot his camera so we were limited to 3 angles. At least the audio of the night came though without issues.
Eyes of the World is a song I always associate with summer so opening a night with it bring a optimistic attitude the the time in front of us. The Minglewood Blues slams shut any such forward momentum but what are going to jam through a whole first set without stopping? The Big Railroad felt tight and solid where the Esau felt too quick and loose. My first impression after listening to the recording was better. Dupress hadn't been played in a long time and it felt that way. On the other hand, the Same Thing may have been our first playing the Rennie and it felt pretty good.
It was time to get off the bench, out of the waiting room, pick up the bags and head out of the Terrapin Station and travel on a nice first set adventure through the golden doors of California where the rats in the drain ditch coexist with the sweet blossoms rolling in the rushes down by the riverside. If that wasn't enough we then took another journey through the seasons of time with the Weather Report Suite. While the suite part was sweet, the report part still needs some work. With that, Andy was done for his 12-song first set. Pretty good stuff, big music and less to write home and complain about.
As usual, the second set let me to enjoy some lead guitar responsibilities and embarking on them with a Halfstep to start. Until I listen to it, I have no opinion at this point on its status with me.The Chinacat on the other hand was a nice first attempt to get some of that 1973-1974 Uncle Johns sounding thing in the transition. At least it gave us something new for the first time in 3 decades. She Belongs tome was a time I think Kevin was trying to stray from his inner-self to his outer-self and got caught in purgatory. Which was he goes remains to be seen. I like Rennie's version of the Gloria, pretty cool and must have been out best version of that 1985 Richmond version. Finally the Baby Blue has not been played for a while and was a nice was to send us on our way.
I still have not seen the video of the night as of the writing of this post, but the audio sounded good and I anticipate the video will be better than nothing at all, at a minimum. Time will tell.
Freak Out!