5/11/2000

As a guest, John's banking friend Dave showed for the first set.  In addition, the was no Rich this week so no keys and or nuts were present in the air, only the sweet smell of Au Jus.

From the beginning of Touch of Grey it seemed as if we were going to be a little crisper than usual as we played that usually fudge-mounted song with confidence all the way through the finish line, but if I recall correctly, I think we did trip over the finish line while winning the race.  As a matter of fact, most of our endings were weak this week.

We definitely stumbled a bit through the next few songs but not enough to ruin the fun.  We were talking Gloria just before Last Time it took me half a verse to realize we were playing Last Time instead of Gloria.  The Queen Jane put us back on a good track and the Box of Rain knocked us off a bit.  We did a rearrangement to get 2 leads into it that didn't work.  The songs like a completed jigsaw puzzle that seems simple until you try to insert another piece of the puzzle.  I didn't quite work and it took us half of Andy's lead to get back but at least all the pieces didn't fall of the table.

I remember a very quick and steady Jack-a-Roe will little mushiness to drag down the action.  By the time we got to the Samson, Crazy Fingers and Miracle we were running on Deadstein fumes and the sweet essence of the awaiting au jus. To our credit, we did play those songs effectively and with the respect they deserve while not giving in to the temptation of the au jus.  Crazy Fingers-Miracle seemed pretty authentic.  I remember and nice Larry to Andy trade off of the lead that was nice.  We also transitioned into the Miracle with some modicum of success.

Ahhhh, but you end a Miracle only to start another one called garlic knots wrapped in roast beef and dunked in au jus.  I thought Dave's bringing cups of au jus and roast beef to wrap around the riceball with butter was just idiotic and uncalled for, well maybe called for.  In the end, I proved to be the idiot for I discovered the beauty of the au jus.  The synergy that went on between the knot, beef and jus was just describable.  The usually chewy and hard garlic knot fell apart in your mouth as easily as the petals of a dandelion float away from the puff of a young child's breath.  In addition, dry, flavorless roast beef was resurrected and brought back to life with an essence of garlic and the nectar of the cow. AU JUS!!!    The rest of the Delizioso was probably below average with a saucy pie and a vodka rigatoni made with Gordon's Vodka.  There was a nice amount of dessert.  Including canoli and ices, and ice cream bars.  Did I forget the nice tomato in Andy's salad?  I wouldn't want to forget that.

The second set started with the usual mish-mash of musicians playing Dark Star themes with Andy on his guitar, Dave on bass and Kevin on my guitar.  I got to say that Kevin sounded really good.  About as good as I have ever heard him play.  I was doing my stupid percussion thing. 

For the Terrapin, He's Gone we got it all back together and pulled off those two pretty competently.  To leave a pretty good feeling in your mouth for the way back home.  A night of great music and great Au Jus.  What is there to complain about?  

I was a bit blustery for a middle of May day.  There was a lot of traffic getting into the city, the Mets are struggling a bit and the Knicks are having more trouble with the Miami Heat than expected.  I don't have a good feeling about this series.  There's something to complain about.