Grateful Dead Music Forum

Short and simple, cause I have to get there

I received a call last night from a buddy from back in the day and his guitarist broke his arm in a freak trampoline accident....

They need a guitar player quick to replace the currently disabled guitarist for the evening. They have a high-brow Christmas party to play at a local country club. Two bands one a traditional jazz quartet thing with keys, sax, bass and a trap set. Second band - (The one which I was asked to play) will be the party band. Funny we will be confined to the lower level of this hall. We rehearsed from 8:00 AM until around 11:00 with a few breaks. I took my laptop with me to the rehearsal for quick look-ups of tunes. This will be interesting. We will have to do the "Louie Louie", "Twist and Shout", "Shout", etc... thing to satisfy the crowd... or so I have been told.
I gave these guys an ultimatum of sorts, albeit half in gest, we do some GD tunes. We ran through a few .... This will be interesting.
First real gig in 20 years!!!!!!!

I'll update tonight or tomorrow.....
Wish me luck.
PEACE,
Phil

you can always do Good Lovin, Lovelight, J B Goode, which kinda lets you play both something from the GD and something most folks will dig

Awesome! Break a leg!

very cool. Let us know how it goes! I know you'll do just fine.

Dust off those rusty strings one more time...

Brought the lap top with me, they have wireless in the building and can be "Seen" from the parking lot.

Lots of tuxes abnd drunk lawyers.....

I started Dark Star as a joke and about 20 folks came down third set stasrting in 5 minutes...

They haven't run us off yet....
More to come,
PEACE,
Phil

All is well, We ended up closing the party....
The jazz band finished around 11:00 then they began pumping the Christmas music through the hall upstairs. As you can guess our crown of about 60 - 80 started to grow.

There was a very broad spectrum of folk there. I heard someone mention there was about 300 people total at the party. The 50ish and under crowd held out longer than the really old timers.

Highlights.....
When I busted into the opening of the the first four notes of Dark Star, the other guitarist followed suite and we only ended up only "Jamming" for a few minutes. The bass player was LOST. All I did was lean over and tell him to dance around in E, he proceeded to hit E.... repeatedly... Funny.

Someone yelled "Do some Dylan" of course, I kicked in "Quinn the Eskimo">Jam>Masterpiece.Tight and fun.

We did "U.S. Blues" and right afterward, someone told us "That was a great Hank Jr. cover"....????

The bass player was a good guy and knew how to play both kinds of music... Country AND Western.... When I learned that at our one and only rehearsal, off to RU KIND (and other sites) to get all of the words to the "Cowboy" songs. Again, fate was elbow to elbow with me and somehow it worked.

There were decent amount of folks that were deadheads attending. In between tunes, I would "Pull a Jer" and hit a few very recognizable first notes of a Dead tune and the "heads" would start clapping and urging us to play those songs. Only the other guitar player and myself were familiar enough with those songs, to fake the whole song. The others in the band only were familiar with the 'ol stand-bys, Truckin, Casey Jones, etc.... They had never played them but had at least heard them enough to get through them. They were good musicians so it came off as passable for most.

So.... The other guitarist and myself made the best of things we did an acoustic set with electric instuments... I picked up the bass on a few tunes and gave the bass player a break and was able to pull off a decent Scarlet>JAM>FOM>JAM among other tunes.

All in all a great time was had by all, the other guitarist that broke his arm, was in attendance and appreciated me sitting in but was a little bent out of shape that I took the group on a much different journey than was their normal 45 minute (Tired) set-list, break for 15 then another 45 minute set (Different tunes but still a little stale) 15 minute break then the first set repeated as the last the last set.

We closed out the night with he (My buddy from back in the day) and I switching between guitar and bass, the keyboard player and the drummer with about a 45 minute Jam of FOD, (Both slow and fast versions), EOTW, UJB, you name it! During on of the more open jams, I even dabbled in a little Weather Report parts and pieces....

This whole event really doesn't mean anything to anyone other than me, but I appreciate all of you letting me share (Or perhaps letting me have a little self-indulgence) a very special time. As I said it has been 20+ years since the last time I played in front of more than a couple dozen people.

Again, thank you for letting me share with you, no-one I run with these days outside of a few gear-head friends would give a rip....
For that, I am truely thankful,
PEACE,
Phil

I'm on the Bozo Bus wrote: We did "U.S. Blues" and right afterward, someone told us "That was a great Hank Jr. cover"....????

classic!! maybe he meant Hank III, though; seems a little closer imo.

it's an odd though to think about office workers in their 50's gettin down to some dead but you never know whos a head . were they jam friendly or were they the "play a song!!! type"

good to hear good news rock on man

Most if not all were Jam friendly... They just didn't know it!
I really think they just thought they did not know the song we were playing.... Little did they know... As we were improvising we hadmn't a clue either.... It just felt good.

That little exercise from last Saturday night has given me motivation....

I thought I was content with sitting in the guitar room at the house, throwing on a show and playing the three to three and half hours with "The boys". After true interaction with decent musicians, I am inspired.
As crude as this may be (I apologize in advance for those with "Tender" constitutions) I relate playing along shows, DVD's etc... akin to masterbation... Kind of fun, accomplishes the task, but a much better time can be had with someone else involved. I know... WAY out there... but work with me here.

As soon as things settle from the holiday's, I will start finding some like-minded musicians.

I would like to hear opinions:
I really have no interest in getting regular paying gigs, but will take it if they come. I simply feel the need to create and be creative with other folks.
Any RU KINDer's out there play with folks simply just to play? I would imagine that progression will likely turn to gigs, party's etc...
I JUST WANT TO PLAY!
As usual, for those interested, I will report my progress....
PEACE,
Phil

gratephulphish123 wrote:it's an odd though to think about office workers in their 50's gettin down to some dead but you never know whos a head .

actually the 50 somethings are prolly the largest constituency of heads out there.. 50 today was 17 in 1977...

I'm on the Bozo Bus wrote:
Any RU KINDer's out there play with folks simply just to play?

I dont have too much interest in playing out but I have a ton of interest in just getting together on a regular basis to play.

My problem is there is no one really local here for me to do that. I play with the neighbor and his kids but they are all begginers and we are limited to the most basic tunes and that is a struggle.

I think you are probably right broomhead...saw my first Dead show in 71 when I was 17...I'm 54 now and still "on the bus" Gave up playing guitar...sold all my stuff yesterday...just was not happening...I'd rather listen.

I'm on the Bozo Bus wrote:As soon as things settle from the holiday's, I will start finding some like-minded musicians.

I would like to hear opinions:
I really have no interest in getting regular paying gigs, but will take it if they come. I simply feel the need to create and be creative with other folks.
Any RU KINDer's out there play with folks simply just to play? I would imagine that progression will likely turn to gigs, party's etc...
I JUST WANT TO PLAY!
As usual, for those interested, I will report my progress....
PEACE,
Phil

First, great story...

Second, I am totally with you! I've been playing with the same bunch of guys for almost four years now and we gig maybe 4-5 times a year. Not that we're not competent or into gigging (we, if I may be so humble, are one of the best groups playing this stuff in the DC area), but it's just not as important as getting together to play. And, it has everything to do with us all knowing that we've got a lot of other commitments with family and such. We're 36, 42, 43 and 50 years old and in no need of having egos stroked or money made by playing out (not saying that's why anyone does play out... but I know that played a big role when I was in my 20's and gigging every weekend). Our best gigs have been when we shut down the alley between my house and our drummer/my neighbor and we just have a huge Rally In The Alley party and invite a couple hundred of our best friends! I smoke a couple of pork shoulders, we have a couple kegs of good brew tapped, moonbounce for the kids... life is sweeeeet! And it gives all of our friends who also don't have a life because they've got young kids an excuse to get together!

Where's the Bozo Bus parked these days? If you're in the neighborhood, you're welcome to join the fun...

Chuckles,
That is a great idea! As said, I am in the boat. Wife, kids, job, community stuff (Paying it forward), etc....
I am in Birmingham, AL. I do travel frequently and do so with guitar and a little modeling pedal with a headset jack. I have a local luthier that keeps my guitars in shape, an amp guy who keeps my old as dirt amps sounding sweet. I have not hit those guys up yet for some names, again, waiting for the hustle and bustle to quiet to a low roar....
Again, you hit the nail on the "head" (I know bad pun...). Way back when... I WAS going to be the "rock star" and gig every weekend, tour then turn into a junkie.... Thank goodness my dear wife rescued me while "allowing" me to continue to be a dead head under the "Corporate uniform", I have a dozen or so of Garcia ties. Funny how those in the know instantly recognoze them "Strangest of places".

I have to believe there are others (Locally) out there like me, that played in their 20's and have kids that are beginning to do their own thing. It sounds like you know the story as well as I.

These days, age has been kind to me and provided certain advantages. I now have more than a couple of nickles to rub together, I worry more about finding a good bottle of wine than finding the "Kind". Like you I am smoking butts rather than other things.. Suckers are hard to light though...

Ramble, Ramble, Ramble.
It is all good though, family is healthy and happy and I am the luckiest guy in the world.... and what I want to do is simply share and create.

I would really like to "Compare notes" Chuckles, Shoot a PM my way and perhaps we can talk sometime.
PEACE,
Thank you again all, As I said before, This does mean a great deal to me.... to have the ability to get express my wants to those that are likely to understand where I am coming from.
'Tis the season my friends,
Phil