9/8/1997

First Set

• Shakedown Street
• Mama Tried->
• Big River
• Ramble on Rose
• Throwing Stones
• Brown-Eyed Women
• Looks Like Rain
   

Second

• Doin' That Rag
• Queen Jane Approximately
• Dancin' in the Streets->
• Touch of Grey
• Playin' in the Band
   

Notes

• I was sick as a dog this week, aching, cold, congestion, etc., and took the day off from work so I could be geared up for the Deadstein barrage. I can't say I was ready for Deadstein, but I gave it my best shot. As others agreed, I am a lucky man in that I can take off from work and not have anyone tell me, "If you're too sick for work then you're necessarily too sick for Deadstein." I know my priorities.
• The music was slow, not that there is anything wrong with that, for much of the night and it was attributable to many synergistic factors.
  1. Most importantly, I don't think I ever felt worse from an illness perspective for a Deadstein jam. Lucky for me the cold gave me a really light headed, dazed and confused feeling all day. That always helps so I kind of got into that.
  2. Larry continued his never ending quest to clean up his guitar sound. I think last night was a bold step. Kevy did a set up for him, whether that is good or bad I don't know, without distortion, minimal speakers and very clean. It was like knocking the crutches out from a hypocondiatic-cripple's hands and making him walk. Sure, Larry stumbled a bit, hit some real clunkers, but boy who doesn't? If he resists the temptations the effects present him he'll have to learn to make his own effects. Then when he plays effects he'll have a stronger foundation in which to lean upon for when those trivial toys fail him. I say stick with the sound and slowly learn to use it. I like it. In any event, I think Larry's new use of a clean sound also attributed to the slowness.
  3. Larry M. didn't show up until the Doin' That Rag. This left Scott alone and no one ever accused him of being the fastest.
  4. Freakboy was not rambunctious in moving us on.
  5. Lastly we come the Kevin. Actually, I think he played pretty well and was not a factor in the general slowness of the night.
• In the end I'm not the fastest either and a little slowness, while not boiling the blood of the Freaky One, does give us more room to explore the caverns in the songs. With Brotman not there either, there were many more paths to to go down. Kevin seemed to love the Ramble on Rose from that perspective.
• Scott picked up some nice lighting effects including a real Lava Lamp as well as colorful tubes to cover up the fluorescents. I like them. The Lava Lamp made me loose my place during the Ramble on Rose.
• All in all, it was a weird night.

Eating Comments

• We went for the second week in a row to Mama Manganoro's Heroboy located at 492 Ninth Avenue. While the place shows a lot of promises it is also filled with many lies.
• Don't get me wrong, the food is pretty good, it's just no sufficient for our appetites.
• We had veal and chicken parms, sausage and peppers, salad and rice balls. In many respects, it's like Chinese food. You get it, your psyched, you munch but then you say what's next? The variety in tastes and textures is too limited without being superlative in any aspect. As a matter of fact it is lacking in salad content, crunchiness, desserts, drinks and whatever other little specials there are to end up with a good posting.
• We ate prior to the jam, which really works well, we get lots of music in without the major disruption. We just need to plan a sweet miniature halftime where the desserts are just waiting. Maybe our hotel manager from Brazil also delivers Yankee Doodles. Some how I doubt it. Most of the second set, Freakboy stood guard trying to get us a room. We are going to have to plan a band vacation down there when that place opens up.
• Spillboy, maybe a one day heir to the Security Office Furniture fortune, was kind enough to find us a few drinks. Think "sell chair, get check" and that the word "baked" is not in you creed.

First Set Comments

• Shakedown was pretty good. It was in that slow vein but it did have a solid foundation which we hung from and had confidence in. It eventually showed us the way to the end of a successful song. When you get confused. . . , you know how the song goes.
• I'm a little foggy on the Mama Tried but I recall a lot of trouble getting the Big River going.
• Ramble on Rose was super slow. As stated above, Kevin liked it for it. I thought it was "eh."
• Throwing Stones is one which I sang while hacking my lungs out between verses but I gave it the old Larry try.
• Brown-Eyed, Looks Like Rain, some one's going to have to refresh my memory on those.

Second Set Comments

• We were just about to start the Doin That Rag, as the setlist states, as part of the first set, but just as were were to start Larry M. showed up and we took a mini break, without any desserts which needs to be rectified. We hung then we started the Rag. Scott seemed to love it, I thought it was pretty bad. To each his own.
• Queen Jane was pretty good. This was my last hurrah because I was spent after it and was having trouble remaining conscious. You gotta love it. Can't wait until I pull a Jeremy and wake to the sweet sounds of Deadstein. Hopefully it's without a tube up my nose.
• Dancin was difficult and went into the Touch without a real transition. To bad Freak Toast was up stairs and couldn't truly appreciate it's mediocrity.
• Playin' was rough for me. I had no zeal for it and couldn't wait to stop.
• Well my eyes are beginning to bug out so I'll have to stop now. I did want to draw a baby with Larry's face on it in commemoration of the baby boy he and Natalie will have on Thursday morning, hopefully in time to catch Regis and Kathy-Lee. Best of luck to the three of them. We'll all be pulling for you and just one bit of advice. Make sure his neck doesn't wrapp around the umbilical cord. Just a little Brent humor, I hope it's not in bad taste. If it is I apologize.

Weather

• Perfect