Pickathon 2022 Pop-in

My brother Rob set me up with a one-day ticket to the 20 year tradition music festival on Portland's east side this past weekend. So, rather than spend the day sanding, I ran with the bulls at Pendarvis Farm. Today's post is a collection of observations. Like any cultural anthropologist, I bring with my observations a bias from prior experiences (Black Sheep, 4Peaks, NW String Summit, Horning's Hootenanny, and ChinookFest). I can't ignore all that, so understand that my opinions stem from what I saw at those other festivals.

Parking

Margo Cilker

Obviously any festival starts with getting there and back. With the significant increase in housing development around Pendarvis Farm, the festival site seems to be contracting. This year, there were significant issues with parking, and some persons who bought weekend parking passes found themselves parking either within the housing developments or at a shuttle-served lot a few miles away. We were fortunate in that we were able to find a spot in the blackberry bush strewn overflow parking complex Saturday morning. I say complex because it was a hilly area with mixed bushes, trees, and ravines, making the "lot" a labyrinth. Lotyrinth? Finding the car in the dark after many more cars appeared was especially challenging. For the beverage consumers, this would have been a very effective sobriety test.

Get In to Get Lost

Once parked, the entrance, and pretty much the entire festival, was effectively unmarked. You knew you were at the entrance simply because that was where some folks were walking in, but it was a 1-person wide breach in the fence marked by a guy sitting in a folding chair. The wristband tent was well run (though, again, the signage was virtually absent), and once strapped, Rob and I headed uphill on the gravel driveway towards the crowd. Our passage was interrupted by what would become a very familiar pair of catering tables on either side of the walkway, with a 8" x 10" sign reading "Bag Check". Here, they confirmed you did not have any alcohol from whence you came.

Cherry Hill stage

The "Bag Check" sign was the only consistent sign I recall seeing. The stages were unlabeled. The trails were unlabeled, so were the barns, leaving you subject to finding maps, which were posted in a few spots around the festival grounds. Unfortunately, they did not include a "you are here" marker, so the maps really only served to taunt you with seeing where you wanted to be, without actually delivering what a map usually delivers: a route to take to get there. Any time we were walking around, I really had no idea where I was or how to get where we were going. "Rob, you're driving," was a familiar refrain. He had been to Pickathon a bunch of times and had been at this event for the prior 2 days... and even he had to check himself on where we were and how to get where we wanted to be. It was a rolling navigational pop-quiz. Frankly, something as simple as a single central post with arrows pointing in the general direction of the stages would have helped.

Beyond the lack of signage and having to pass through security twice every time we went to the Woods stage (or to the barns) and back, Pickathon did a great deal of crowd management through frustrating clear paths with fences or other obstacles. A route would look clear and then you would get to the end of the path, terminating with a small "artists only" or "staff only" sign and a security person. My last complaint / observation is the dust cloud. Rob and I both wore masks most of the time for CoViD reasons initially, but found them to be critical in keeping the dust out of our lungs. I still had considerable brown junk in my nose after wearing the mask all day because the event staff were not watering the trails we were allowed to use. At other festivals I have gone to, this is standard fare: those 4-wheel golf carts would run water sprayers on the main trails to cut down on the dust. Even in festivals based on the desert (4Peaks, eg) would do this, and the water in Bend ain't cheap. The dust management, when combined with the forced-crowd routing, was a major miss.

Vending

After all that complaining about logistics, the vendors were fantastic. There were probably 25 different food options, including beer and pizza offerings at the remote stages. The lines were fairly long all evening, and they did not move terribly quickly, but the prices were reasonable ($16 for a burrito, eg). 

Because Pickathon is a waste-free event, you need to buy or rent a plate or utensils for food and buy a cup for drinks. I had not seen a waste-free festival before, and now, in retrospect, this was admirable. There wasn't any garbage anywhere; no litter, no overflowing garbage cans, etc. The location between the food vendors and the merch tent where one could purchase these items had no line at any point that I can remember, even during the heavy dinner food rush. If you did not want to buy, and wanted to rent, the exchange took place there, with a return (no cash back, you got a food/drink chip) after you visited a washing station that was kinda far away. I got a burrito and skipped the whole commemorative plate thing, but the concept and execution were impressive. Other festivals could learn from this.

The merch tent was efficient and had lots of swag for both the festival and the artists. Of all the festivals I've been to, I think this merch tent was the best supplied. Considering how many artists appeared, having shirts and recordings for what seemed like every artist was no easy feat. I grabbed a poster, rather than a T-shirt (I can see the poster every day, the T-shirt comes up in the rotation, like, once every 6 weeks).

Camping

Bella White

Neither Rob nor I camped, but some of Rob's friends were in the car-camping area closest to the festival grounds. So, we visited long enough to get a sense of the scene. The car-camping zones were set up on slightly sloped, open field about 10 meters wide by, maybe 100 meters long with a fire lane along one side and a fence along the other. Cars were parked two or three deep against the fence with canopies and tents intermixed in between. Everything was close together for sure, but Rob's friends had a large rectangular canopy under which they spent the majority of their awake-but-not-at-music time. They seemed quite comfortable.

The tent camping seemed to be pretty much everywhere, at least in the treed areas; the open ground around and between most of the stages hadn't any campers. Once in the forest, however, it almost seemed like if there wasn't a trail or a tree, there was a tent. Of course, we did not hike into the deeper areas, but we met a friend who was camped at the furthest end and she indicated that when she arrived (early-ish Thursday) the best, flatter spots at the outer edges had already been taken. She had to clear her own spot with clippers. We joked about bringing a machete next year.

Unlike the other festivals I had been to, it seemed like the camping spots were really just used for sleeping, and no one was hanging out there. The only exception to that, other than a handful of close-in car-campers, was the hammocks. Those who brought hammocks had them strung between trees and appeared to spend most of their time lounging in them. At least, that is how it appeared, as they were there whenever we padded between stages. Even the RV zone appeared empty during the day.

Music

Garcia Peoples

Of course, the main reason for going to a music festival is the music. When Rob invited me to go on Saturday, there were 2 acts I really wanted to see: Built to Spill and Quantic. I had never heard anything by Built to Spill, but numerous people in my past have raved about them. Quantic, on the other hand, I had listened to here and there since the late 90's, and I really liked his original material. Rob had a few more on his "really want to see" list, and then had a bunch circled for otherwise open time slots. Below, I'll list who we saw in the order in which we saw them.

Jake Xerxes Fussel - Afterwards, Rob described him as a "white Taj Mahal". I thought that was generous. Jake's vocal range is much more narrow than Taj, and his guitar work was nowhere near Taj. After 3 songs we felt like we had seen everything he had to share and we left for the Woods stage to see Margo. Jake was an otherwise open spot on the schedule for us.

Margo Cilker - from Rob's "really want to see" list. They were amazing. Her lyrics have genuine word-smithing that far surpassed pretty much everyone else we saw. Margo was joined with backing harmonies by her sister, and there are few things as tonally perfect as sibling harmonies. When Boo and her sister sing together, it is magical. Add to that the lyrics, the melody lines and a tight performance group, and they really stole the festival for us. Her stage banter was approachable and created understanding for the next piece well. Seriously, for a first artist of the day, she could have been, and, arguably, should have been much later in the day. Still, the Woods stage represented, and gave her the love deserved.

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - We stayed to the very end of Margo's set and then had to navigate the bag check between the Woods stage and the others. By the time we got to the Grove, Frankie and co were deep into it. What we saw was punk, basically, complete with crowd surfing by some of the younger set. We were fairly far back, so the sound quality was not very good, so we didn't stay. Rob's friends said they were great, and they were in front of the sound board.

The Feels - We caught the tail end of the Feels set after tasting Frankie and the Witch Fingers. They were tight with a hard edge. Apparently, Pickathon was their last series of shows, so I'm glad we saw what little we did. The musicians look fairly young, so this isn't a case of retirement. More likely, some artists are heading into different directions. It will be interesting to see where these folks go.

Quantic

Rachel Briman - From Nashville, Rachel was chosen because we had an open time slot, we hadn't been to this stage except for one song by the Feels and it was surrounded by trees. Rachel is a multi-instrumentalist, appearing with a banjo, guitar and violin during her set. Unfortunately, the soundcheck appeared to have not gone well, as it was still ongoing when her set was supposed to start. The sound system was definitely not ready: we did not hear the guitarist at all for the first few numbers and of all things the drums weren't loud enough. Most unfortunate, though, the entire main was not loud enough. So, neighbors having a conversation at normal conversation volume were louder than the stage, and when Rachel was talking, we couldn't make out what she was saying. By the middle of the set, the mix was better balanced, though still way too quiet, but we could tell that she and her unit were good instrumentalists. The sound guy earned an F; total fail, go back to school.

Bella White - I don't remember where Bella was from or how we came upon her set. We were fortunate to get standing room directly behind the soundboard, though. As flat-awful as the sound guy was for Rachel, this guy was great. At the start of each song, he would jump on the sliders and make the mix spot-on perfect. As her set was starting the DJ at the stage behind us, unfortunately, did not get the memo that his set was over, so for Bella's introduction and first song, we had to strain to hear through a later Phil Collins recording. Yes, that's right; Phil Collins from a DJ. Wow, seen that now. Bella appeared with a violinist to her right and a standup bass to her left. They were really good, putting them in my top 3 for the day. Bella brought a charisma to the stage that no others did that day, drawing you in with vulnerability, wanting to hear more of her stories. Great harmonies, really sweet violin. Like Margo, we stayed to the very end, and also like Margo, we were sad her set was only an hour long.

Cherry Hill at night

Garcia Peoples - We headed down to the Galaxy Barn after Bella. We had an opening in the 5PM timeslot and we hadn't been inside a barn for a performance yet. The Galaxy barn is cool (quite literally. it is air conditioned), and fits probably 60 people. When it is at capacity, the air conditioning doesn't do much, but it feels very intimate. These guys were loud; like the Who loud. They were so loud that I pulled out the decibel reader on my phone to see how loud, and they were over 102dB during a quieter part of their 2nd song. I tapped Rob on the shoulder, showed him the reading and pointed my thumb at the door. He agreed and we hit the door. As to the show, their musicianship was really good. Their bassman was clever and laid down interesting lines while their lead guitarist shreded. They reminded us of Iron Butterfly or another late 60's riff-rock band, but their vocals were very disappointing, and the drumming was crude, like very early Black Sabbath (blacka-blacka-blacka) simple. We sat in the grass under a tree, where the outdoor speakers played to the "overflow" space for the balance of the set.

Quantic - We returned to the Woods stage (bag check again) after Garcia Peoples. We had an open hour, but the security lines were getting slower and we did not want to miss the start of the set. I have enjoyed Quantic's original material for literally 20+ years, but I had never seen him live. He rolled a "festival set" of danceable music that showed his roots (Afro-Cuban underbeat with some deep bass), but there was little of his original music in there. Still, he was awesome and the Woods stage crowd loved it. Of the entire festival, this was the only performance where the entire audience was standing if not dancing. Until this point, every other performance was witnessed by a 75% (or more) sitting crowd, with the standers usually along the outer edges, standing because there was no longer room to sit. No judging, just noticing.

Built to Spill - As the afternoon shifted to evening, the smaller stages shut down, but the security bag check lines were unrelenting. We intended to catch some of GZA, but working through the crowds really prevented that plan. We did catch a little bit, but then decided that scoring a spot for Built to Spill was a better use of a our time between. We set up right in front of the video camera tripod adjacent to the sound board. The vocal was low in the mix at the start, but that was resolved by the end of the first song. They rocked, and played past the end of the hour by almost 15 minutes. Oops. Such a good bass player, and the lead solos/jams were fantastic. How they could produce so much sound with so few players, I don't know, but Built to Spill were great.

Because of the different genre's, it's hard to say who was "the best" or my favorite. I think the festival day winner was Quantic simply because he got an entire crowd on their feet and dancing for over 30 minutes. Near the end of his set, I shot the imbedded video posted above. Having said that, my favorite was Margo. With Quantic second and then Bella, followed by Built to Spill. Everyone has an opinion; that was mine.

In the end, we really had a great time and I think the company I was keeping (brother Rob) was what made it so. Like Boo, he approached with a list of wanna-sees, but an openness to take what came, and change it up if what we encountered wasn't what we needed. I was worn out by the time I got home. A warm shower with a cold beer set me up for a long sleep. If you've never had a cold beer in the shower after a long hot dusty day, I strongly recommend it.

That's it. I intend to get back to Zed later this week / weekend. I'll post an update when I have one. Thanks, as always, for following along-

JRAD - Eugene Show Report

The second half of the usual postings when we take Hapy somewhere interesting. My last post covered the travel part. In summary, it was great, but there were some things that shook out that need to get fixed before the next trip. For context, I had never seen this band before, but I had heard some concert footage, so I had an inkling of what we might expect. On to the show!

Pre-Funk
We arrived around 5. Since the gates opened at 530, we figured there would be some happenings to witness or partake in. We were routed to the parking lot near the Science Center, which I found odd, and we found ourselves in a small lot with a collection of Vanagons. We parked along the VW bus row, put up the pop-top, set out the colorful rug, the camping chairs and table and set to pre-funk. Our neighbor Vanagon had a big barbecue they had just fired up and while the scene was small, we had a tailgate vibe happening. Seeing how we were in the shadow of Autzen Stadium, that vibe was all the more appropriate. We were met by Boo's sister E and her husband H and, after a spirited beverage, we walked the short trail over the stream to the venue.

The Cuthbert

The Cuthbert Amphitheater max's out at 5000 people, but it wasn't completely full for Joe Russo's Almost Dead (JRAD). The very far corners of the upper lawn could fit a few people, but otherwise, the place was effectively full. It's a nice place, where everything is easy to get to, the lines are short and the view of the stage is really good. Even the pitched lawn isn't as steep as the lawn at, say, Shoreline in the Bay Area. I have only seen shows from the upper lawn, but I have heard that the seated area is really nice: flat ground for dancing would be especially welcome. We didn't arrive terribly early, but we were able to get s spot close to the separation between the upper and lower lawns, fairly close to the center,  but still over to Phil's side (stage right / house left) a little bit. Unlike when we went to Further here, there were a lot of teenagers this time. There were enough there for Boo to comment that the hippie cycle must be starting up again. Based on what we know of the EDM scene through T, "love" is moving in and "hate" is moving on. Very nice.

JRAD
The band was supposed to go on at 730, and they were fairly punctual. I hadn't been checking my watch, so they must have been within 20 minutes of their scheduled time. They started up with a smoking Althea that highlighted solo's from both guitarists and the keyboardist before rolling into a Truckin' that rocked. Crescendo after crescendo between the verses. They were riding another crescendo as they were concluding Truckin' and jump-stepped into Cassidy. One bar they were playing Truckin', the next Cassidy. Seamless. So good, and after a Tennessee Jed they closed the first set. "4 songs," you ask. Yes, 4 songs in an hour and they never stopped playing the entire time. The second set was a mind-blower, opening up with a Blues for Allah (King's Solomon's Marbles) and Here Comes Sunshine. The Help on the Way into Slipknot was super tight, but they raised the bar further with a drop into Feel Like a Stranger before continuing Slipknot into Franklin's Tower. The Franklin's closed with a classic Slipknot reprise. Again, they never stopped playing the crowd didn't stop dancing, and the back and forth energy was amazing. The set closed with a Good Lovin' and Mighty Quinn encore, but it was the Help-Slip-Stranger-Slip-Franklins that had my head shaking afterwards.

For anyone who wished they could have seen the Dead in their energy hay-day (1970's), when they would play marathon shows with super high-energy, you should check JRAD out. They have that youthful energy you can hear on those old Dead bootlegs, that Dead and Co can't get anywhere near. My opinions on Dead and Co are well documented (See Why Does Dead and Company Suck?). Seeing the Dead songbook get lit up like I'd never seen before just further underscores the mediocrity of Dead and Co. So, if you want to reminisce, play remember-when, cram into a huge crowd and see something mediocre-bordering-on-bad for upwards of three-digits US$, by all means go to Dead and Co. You've been warned; if you already have tickets, I'd suggest you do the lot scene and scalp them to someone less informed. If you want to hear what those songs are supposed to sound like, witness some amazing solos, vocals that are on-key and energized, and get your back broken by some jams that will dance you into traction, go see JRAD. It will cost you less, the venue will be smaller, and it will blow your mind how good these songs can sound when they're played by skilled, young, inspired musicians.

Post-Funk
With Quinn echoing in our ears, Boo and I sat with E and H. We all glistened with sweat from dancing, though the warm day had long turned to cool evening. The crowd started to make their way to the exits, each looking a little dumbfounded. Or maybe it was the drinking and smoking that created those vacant stares. No matter. We joined the throng working their way to the exit, and could overhear conversations, elated over certain aspects of the show.

The lot scene outside, though, was nothing like the "old stadium days", at least not the little lot we were in. The crowd disappeared rather quickly. So, while Boo and I scarfed down a salad, our neighbors would wave and drive off. Maybe the Shakedown Street was on the other side. Maybe there wasn't one. It didn't matter, really. No one hassled us out of the lot, so we enjoyed our cool down, and rolled away when the mood was right. In retrospect, for all I know the lot scene in the 70's was more like that.

I can't say enough about how good JRAD was. We loved Further, but their energy was different too. Further was more of a revival-meets-reunion kind of energy. Just love, and happy to be here while we play our favorite tunes in a nice-to-hear way. Great vocals and JohnK's guitar work was amazing. JRAD is such higher energy, raging guitar solos like the way Warren Haynes shredded when he toured with "The Dead" 10 years ago. Now, add a guitarist who can add bits like an Allman brothers musical interlude like JRAD has. That's special.

Thanks, as always, for following along. More Summer music fun ahead.

Why Does Dead and Company Suck?

Today is a complete rant about nothing car or bus related. Enjoy or ignore. Either way, I'm sure this will upset someone. To keep things calm, I will turn off the ability to add comments to this post.

Who the Hell Do I Think I Am?

Before Jerry Garcia died, self-identifying as a DeadHead was similar to self-identifying with a national (US) political party. People knew where you were coming from. You're not a metalhead, not a jazz aficionado and not a generic "fossil-rock" or classic rock fan. Being a DeadHead was specific. Nowadays, similar to identification with a political party, self-identifying as a DeadHead is not so simple. Like the many versions of political thought within a single party, there are many versions of "Dead fan" under the DeadHead banner. I know 'heads who feel that once Jerry died, it all changed and they'd never go to see a fragment of the Dead. There are those who will reflect on earlier days believing that things were better when (insert non-Jerry former member name here) was with them. There are some who will twirl to the sound of a child banging pans together. For others, all you need is a shuffle beat and it's worthy of praise, whether its a Dead fragment or a couple folks hammering on guitars in the parking lot. For the most part, all sides tend to agree that being off key or having some difficulty instrumenting doesn't matter. It's all good if you're groovy. Do whatever you're doing, but be genuine, push your limits and keep improving.

I'm somewhere in the middle of all that. I guess, if pressed, I'm sort of in that second group of  'they were better when'. Let me explain. I started following the Grateful Dead in the 80's, and my last tour with Jerry was in 1992. Except for my first few shows, I went to every show completely sober and danced my ass off. I missed the mid-90's through the early 2000's, picking back up with The Dead in 2009 and catching about a dozen Furthur shows before they stopped. I was at the JGB show in Milwaukee, WI that was just released on CD, drove overnight from Las Vegas to SF for the Golden Gate Park memorial when Bill Graham died and spent my honeymoon in 2012 (thx, Boo) witnessing the final New Years Eve run any Dead fragment performed.

So, who the hell am I? I'm someone who listened. I completely enjoyed every nuance of what greatness came from the stage and endured every plain-Jane set list, missed vocal note, and missed lyric, knowing more greatness would follow, and danced on. For that reason, I've waited 2 years for Dead and Company to follow the mess they create nightly with some greatness. It hasn't happened yet, and I don't think it will. Today's searing post details why I think that. Honestly, if this assemblage of players toured under a name that didn't have the word "Dead" in it, they would be playing bars, not stadiums. Agree or don't, but I have to get this out of my head.

Phil

Let's start with what's missing: Phil Lesh. He's the soul, the last remaining member truly believing that when the music leaves the speakers its everyone's. He embodies the freedom that the Grateful Dead packaged and delivered. As a player, Phil approaches the bass like it was a lead jazz instrument unlike just about everyone else who plays bass as part of a group. He is able to lead a group of musicians from song to song with little more than an encouraging smile (see photo) and a few little teases on the strings. He doesn't seem to approach the same chord change the same way twice, each time coming at the shift from a different angle, keeping the underpinnings of a song fresh and interesting. Sometimes, these experiments don't go as planned, but the experienced players he surrounds himself with are able to adjust and move with it. This was true with the Grateful Dead, the fragments of the Dead he worked with as well as his most current projects. While his voice hasn't been a benefit to any group of musicians he's played with for a long time, it was actually better during the Furthur days than it was for many years before or since.

Bob

Moving on to what's wrong, listen to a bootleg from just 10 years ago. Bob used to sing. Black-Throated Wind, Cassidy, Sugar Magnolia were some of the nicest vocal lines in the Dead songbook with his name on them. Check this video or this video from '78, for examples. Such sweet and powerful vocals. Sure, that was 40 years ago, and he was a much younger man, but now, he does a blend of barking, yelling and talking. He doesn't even try to make it sound like how the songs go, or to even sound like singing for that matter. So, while Phil's singing may not exactly be in tune, at least he's singing and trying to stay true to the melodies as best his voice can.

Bob's guitar work, however, remains just as interesting as it was in the 70's, only ripened with age. He voices chords and plays poly-rhythms in an extremely unusual way and he attracts players like bees to fresh flowers because of his innovative approach to the guitar. His bark-yelling the words to songs that used to have beautiful melodies, on the other hand, is just atrocious.

Drumming
In their hay-day, Billy and Mickey were able to set a groove. Sometimes the songs moved their beat and other times their beat moved the songs. The early half of "Drums" was one of my favorite and arguably most consistent spots for a show. It was highly rhythmic, encouraging dance like a tribal beat does. If a show was exceptionally plain-Jane, it was often this part of the show that turned it around. You could feel a hum-drum show turn. Something great would flow out of Space, completing the show with a strong handful of songs all thanks to Drums pulling the concert out of the bin.

After not playing together for a few years (since Rhythm Devils split in '08 and The Dead stopped in 2010), I figured it would take a while before Billy and Mickey hit their stride. Unfortunately, they still haven't and it's been long enough for them to get it together. There are definitely two drummers, not two instrumentalists making one rhythm. Perhaps they can't decide or agree on what they're doing. As a listener, it doesn't matter; they are less of a cooperative unit and more like two guys banging on things in the back. There are points when it sounds like there is a team of carpenters erecting a shed or drum-riser on stage rather than a cohesive percussive rhythm driving and complimenting the music.

John Mayer

One thing that sets Jerry Garcia's sound apart from everyone else, especially in the psychedelic space, is the most simple thing that John Mayer doesn't ever do: use the Mixolydian mode of the scale. Jerry didn't use it exclusively, but John never uses it. Ever. Even on the songs that cry out for it (The Other One or Terrapin, are examples, but there are plenty). He insists on only playing blues-style solos. That's great on Bobby's cowboy tunes or some older blues songs, but to only play that way against the Grateful Dead songbook feels like you're petting the fur the wrong way most of the time. When Warren Haynes toured with the Dead, he was able to bridge the gap from classic rock / blues to shred on some of the more psychedelic numbers. So, it can be done; John Mayer hasn't shown that he can, but then he's no Warren Haynes either. Of all the things that are wrong, John's approach to solos is the back-breaker for me. It just doesn't work in so many songs, I just can't take it.

John can sing (yeah, that's hardly news given his Grammy's). It's on key and pure. It just sounds a little old-style crooner which makes Dead tunes sound contrived, and the lyrics less powerful. Just as Aerosmith has to be sung with a little edge in the voice, the Dead can't be sung by Mel Torme. To me, it needs an edge; it needs a little sorrow. One cover song here or there is one thing. Singing half of a show without that soul just doesn't work.

Oteil

Oteil has a great voice. I hadn't heard him sing before last Summer and it is just beautiful. He sang a "China Doll" that was just amazing. When contrasted by Bob barker, I can't help but wonder why Oteil doesn't sing more and Bob sing less. It would probably make his main job (playing bass) much harder.

That bass work is just not the same as with Phil. Unlike Phil, Oteil plays like bass is a complimentary instrument that doesn't have much freedom. It's almost as if he had spent the last 20 years playing in a classic rock band. Oh yeah, he did. With the Allman Brothers. Yes, there are fills and runs here and there reflective of his years with the Aquarium Rescue Unit, but nothing like an old "Phil and Ned" or even some of the tasty lines Phil would drop into more straight-forward numbers like Scarlet or Music Never Stopped. But, Oteil has it in him to get out of the box. The guy can totally groove; I don't know how much freedom he has to do so in this group for two reasons. First, he is in a rhythm section comprised of him and the carpenters I described above. To keep the song together, he really can't move too far from dead-center or the shed construction could completely unravel a song while he is pushing the creative envelope. Second, Bob will need to let Oteil loose. Having watched video of Bob working with other players, I know he runs a tight ship. But having so much of the responsibility for keeping the song together may be the true barrier to Oteil really blowing some minds.

Jeff
I haven't mentioned Jeff Chimenti, and I really should. He's fantastic. Really fantastic. Really really fantastic. He's been playing with members of the Dead for 20 years, and he totally gets it. I first caught him with The Dead and have enjoyed every show I've seen him play since. In my mind, he's reached, and maybe surpassed "Brent status" in terms of his keyboard. On those occasions when I gave Dead and Company a try, it was Jeff's keyboard work that kept me listening well beyond my patience would allow had he not been crushing it so hard. He is simply inspired. I hope to see the Golden Gate Wingmen one of these days to see how he and JohnK play together in their new group. And maybe hear what some of his original material is like? That would be so great. Okay, I've run out of descriptors. Let's just summarize with: he's awesome.

That's my rant for today. I'll get back to my usual car or bus work and road trips next time. Thanks for bearing with me, and if there's a jam band that you like (that's not Dead and Company), I'd love to hear them. I'll be trying on String Cheese this summer, and really want to hear whatever else is going on in the jam-band space. Have bus, will travel-

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2023-August days-between update... now that Dead & Co's final tour has ended, I am hopeful for the next incarnation. I had not been following the news items about them, so I missed the part where they parted ways with Billy, leaving only Bob and Mickey as original members. Arguably, Mickey was a later addition, but lets not split hairs. I heard some of the final tour, and the new drummer was great. Awesome energy and ticking like a flippin clock. It seems like the "creative differences" between Dead & Co and Billy may have been Billy's contribution to the drum riser construction I mentioned above, seeing how it was not going on anymore. Also, Oteil was WAY more active and present, implying that my theory that he was under-playing just to hold things together may have been somewhat on-target. Anyway, RIP Dead & Co, and may a greater phoenix rise from these ashes, preferably without John Mayer. Musing... maybe just swap out JohnM for JohnK and drop the word "Dead" from the name so they aren't playing stadiums full of 50k persons chasing their personal pasts. Instead, they can return to more intimate venues like Further played, and return to the experimentation we got to witness in doing so. One can dream.

The Other One

I watched the Netflix original documentary "The Other One" over the weekend, today's post is mostly about that. I'm sure there will be some bus / travel content mixed in somewhere. The documentary is a somewhat autobiographical look at the life and times of guitarist Bob Weir.

First, an Apology

the man, the legend

After watching the documentary, I think I understand now why Bob stopped touring. In my blast of the Fare Thee Well shows (see: Fare Thee Okay), I kicked up a rumor that maybe Bob is sick. Maybe he is, how the hell would I know? In the documentary, you can see small glimpses into his daily life with his family. I hadn't really thought much about what an endless life on the road must be like. Personally, I'd hit the road, catch a few shows and be back in my normal routine after being gone for maybe a week. Bob spent most of his life from 1970 through 2013 on the road. I feel the heel for actually getting upset that he was going to stop. I have teenage kids, so I can absolutely relate to his unspoken motivation: I've spent too many years away from them, and I only have a few more years before they leave me to start their own lives. It totally makes sense.

Jerry

Trixie

Maybe I'm in an apologetic mood. Watching Jerry's daughter Trixie describe the burden Jerry felt really got me. Similar to my guilt over wanting Bob to tour more, I feel awful knowing that my friends and I who simply wanted "more" were part of the dynamic that led to Jerry's demise. Of course, Jerry owned his decisions, and after the diabetic coma in 1986 he chose to re-introduce heroin, but how great must the pressure have been? 20+ years under the radar to have In the Dark and Touch of Gray to launch them into stadiums. I was just a teenage kid, not knowing any better when the change happened, so I'm not sure what to do with this feeling. I'll go with "I'm sorry Trixie. No other guitarist could make me smile the way your dad could. It was magical and better than any other stimulus available at a Dead show."

Phil

Where's Phil?

As present as Bob's relationship with Jerry was in the documentary, his relationship with Phil was absent. As a bass player, I was expecting a great deal about how he and Phil worked together. Consider too, how many years the 2 of them toured together as Furthur. I think Bob looked at these later years as more therapeutic than anything else, working through his mourning for Jerry, the man best described as an older brother figure. Bob and Phil spent so many of those late years together, I'm surprised and a little disappointed that Phil wasn't involved in the documentary project at all. As I think back, I don't think he was even mentioned by name, which is a little weird. Phil was effectively lumped in with Keith, Donna and John Constanten.

Bob

John Barlow

Some of the best parts of the documentary, to me, didn't last long enough: the parts that focused on Bob's approach to the instrument. Maybe the producers and director thought that the average audience wouldn't be as interested. Personally, that's what I really wanted to hear: how did he construct songs with Barlow, where did Barlow go (why did he and Bob stop working together), what are Bob's triggers for changing his voicings on songs, etc. Still, getting a long-overdue reminder of his humanity and personal limits was welcomed. It was a good watch, and I'll watch it again. Knowing Bob's current life situation, I think it's time we went to him rather than continue to wait for him to come to us.

Ok, some bus stuff
I spent some time working on scraping the chrome off those 15" rims. I used a Dremel to soften up the skin and then used a putty knife to get under the edge and peel away some chrome-skin. Overall, 2 rims are almost completely cleared of chrome. As time presents itself this week, I'll hopefully get after the other 2. I am not up for driving too far on those old tires. They are over 10 years old, and spent far too much of their life sitting in one place. After the tire fail in Wheeler (see:Santa Clara by way of Wheeler) I'd rather drive contemporary transportation until the rims are cleared, painted and new rubber slapped on. Net-net, the bus may not be operational again this dry season. Oh well.

As always, thanks for following along. I'll be keeping my eyes and ears out for a Bob Weir show announcement. Maybe he'll be ready to hit stage about when Hapy the wonderbus is ready to hit the road. It would be really great to have the two in the same location one more time.

Hoot 15 bands

Yeah, it has gotten out of hand about how long this has taken. The bands were good this year, albeit more "Phish-like" than the wide-spectrum show last year. In order of appearance-

Hootenanny Band Reviews
Grateful Buds We missed the beginning of their set, but they are a heavily blue-grass influenced Grateful Dead-ish band. Think Dead covers with a banjo, but better than that.

Bottleneck Blues I thought they'd be a blues band, and at points they were. At other times, they were more of a middle-of-the-road rock power trio. Pretty good festival music, and the crowd liked them even if most were busying themselves with setting up camp more than grooving.

Joytribe One of our favorites from last year, and they held up to a foggy memory. Lead singer can belt, and her multi-instrument skills are better this year than last. Very fun, active, get-your-body-moving music.

The Hillwilliams were one of the bands we loved last year. These guys rocked the late-night tent last year, though we missed their late show this year. Solid blue-grass / country / Americana music.

Kina Lyn and the Hat Rack Kina can wail. I mean fantastic pipes. The only weak point in their performance was in her rhythm guitar playing: it jacked the beat. They should add a second guitar so she can focus on singing which she does incredibly well. Her singing was so strong, that I really can't remember the Hat Rack. It's almost like seeing Big Brother and the Holding Company back in the day. You remember Janis just wailing, but the band? Shrug. Can't remember. Keep the guitar for writing, Kina. Great stuff.

Jesta wasn't as good as I had expected them to be. Think Phish-like songs with odd segments cutting against the groovy. The vocals weren't terribly strong and the vocal lines weren't very advanced, but the instrument musicianship was really good. Maybe they should pair up with a stronger singer who can write vocal lines?

Urban Shaman is a new formation of Vivid Curve. We absolutely loved Vivid Curve last year, so we were very excited to see their new formation. Unfortunately, part of what made Vivid Curve so good was the charisma of the guitar player. Without him, Urban Shaman lacked the draw-them-in magnetism. The didgeridoo was, of course, spot on, and the drummer was so much the same, he even wore the same hat as last year. Still, without the guitarist, they weren't quite as good.

Rainbow Electric Of the run of bands, Rainbow Electric may have been the weakest, but I think its probably better said as least experienced. They looked under 21, but had a great vibe. They were just new at the game, and didn't have the chops or material to carry a full set. Given time and practice, they'll be good.

Yur Daddy Last year, Yur Daddy arrived with a huge entourage. All weekend, the YurDaddies walked around with bandannas around their heads to draw attention. They had a dedicated camping zone. When Yur Daddy took the stage, their crowd jammed into the front of the concert bowl. This year, the entourage didn't come to the Hoot. That changed how Yur Daddy played. Their songs were the same, but didn't have as much life. The solos were good, but didn't have that cock-of-the-walk energy that was prevalent last year. We're still Yur Daddy fans, but missed the energy they had last year.

Shafty We'd never seen Shafty before, though I've seen Phish a few times. Shafty does a very good carbon-copy of Phish. Extremely good. If you like Phish, you can close your eyes and imagine Trey and company when you hear Shafty. If you've never seen Phish, and want to experience their sound in a tiny venue with less than 100 people, go see Shafty. Great show fellas; you should have closed the first night if not the whole festival. I'm not a very big Phish-head, but you really nailed it.

Garcia Birthday Band Somewhere along the way, GBB changed guitarists. I don't know when, and I can't tell from their website, but the guy who started the whole thing isn't in the band anymore. Oh well. I think that makes the entire band has turned over since I first saw them play under the trees out at the Edgefield to celebrate Jerry Garcia's birthday so many years ago. Since they cover the Dead, I'm probably a more harsh critic of GBB than everyone else. Still, they played a good show, and ended the festival on a high note.

Again, I'm sorry its taken me so long to get this out. It was a great summer music festival season, so I'll blame the delay on my going to more festivals and trying to keep my notes clean. Next Summer, I intend to start the season right with the Hootenanny again. We're going to hit Four Peaks and I want to make it to Pickathon. I'd like to add in another festival that I've only just heard of, like Summer Meltdown or maybe mix it up and hit a hemp festival. We'll see. Planning for next summer festival season is only a few months away :)

1... 2... 3... 4 Peaks

Over Summer Solstice, a 3500 person music festival called "Four Peaks" takes place just outside Bend Oregon. Boo and I went to our first this year. Today's post is a review, of sorts. I apologize both for the lateness of this posting as well for the lack of posting the past month. I've had some weird health things going on (bad lethargy) so finding energy to post about things just wasn't happening.

Anemia, Dust and Allergens
Not exactly "Lawyers, Guns and Money", but my trifecta for Four Peaks was somewhat misery-centered. I'd been feeling lethargic, and no amount of testing resulted in any useful information or actions. Basically, I was tired all the time. Any activity, even just walking across the room would spike my heart rate. Adding insult to injury, I was coming off a cold, allergy season was in full swing and Four Peaks was held in the central Oregon desert. As a result, Boo and I spent a lot of time near the
bus.

Four Peaks vibe
We love Four Peaks. The energy was positive and groovy, the people were friendly and the staff were awesome. As I mentioned in the Finding Waldo post earlier, we didn't see a single over-indulged person. The servers in the beer garden were on top of it and the White Bird tent folks must have been too. The times I passed by the White Bird tent, it was empty, so maybe we have the attendees to celebrate. Even though we mostly stayed away from the crown at the stage, we met tons of bus people, though, and we saw more splitties (4), bay-windows (16) and vanagons (literally dozens) than we'd seen at any festival or show up to that point. We were parked next to a '71 westy, for example. Boo and I would take walks around the lot/camping scene and talk to fellow festers, both bus owners and tent-folk. Everyone was just having a great time.

Melvin Seals and the JGB
Boo was awesome. Her patience for my lethargy was greater than my own. I wanted to see music, but it would wear me out just walking to the stage. So, we saved up all of our

energy on the second day for Melvin Seals and the JGB. If you aren't familiar, this group is made up of parts of Jerry Garcia's old band, including Melvin Seals on the keys. In the picture on the web, they show a long-haired guy on bass, but we had someone else playing... and he was fantastic. I hadn't ever thought of "Cats Down Under the Stars" as a funky tune, but the bass line he was laying down made that song boogie. Great stuff. The backup singers took me back to Jerry's old "windshield wiper" backup singers, complete with their synchronized side-to-side stepping while singing. They were great, the crowd loved them, and danced like each song was a set closer. I spent all of my energy for the day, and shuffled back to the bus to rest afterwards.

Poor Man's Whisky
Parked on our other side was a group of 3 families each from one of the 3 nearest states: Oregon, Washington and California. The guys had all gone to college with the front man for Poor Man's Whisky, so they had a special connection to the festival. They were adamant that Boo and I make it to see them, even if we missed the rest of the festival. So, that was our one target for the third day, and we weren't disappointed. While not as groovy as Melvin Seals, they pulled off some great stuff.. like a bluegrass version Pink Floyd's "Time". Having never seen them before, I loved their range, and everything they did, they did well. I'm sure they only get to Oregon for festival season, but if they make it back in the darker months, we'll definitely go.

To and From

Hapy drove great, both there and back. The Central Cascades were some of the steepest and most turn-y roads I'd driven sonce the engine transplant, so it was a great road test. I did have to drop into 3rd a couple of times on the way there. That could have been attributed to all the water, food and ice we were carrying. The drive home included a temperature scare. Driving west on OR20 out of Sisters, there is a long steep grade. Hapy's temperature steadily climbed until we almost hit 200*. We pulled over into an overlook, and set up a lunch picnic while he cooled down. After the picnic, I started testing the cooling fans, and sure enough, one of the fans wasn't spinning when the switch flipped. I'd seen this before, though when I went digging into the archive, I can't find any postings about it.

In 2012, we drove to the Further shows in Troutdale at the McMenamin's. The parking was rutted and bumpy. It was so bumpy that one of the wires for the cooling fans shook loose, so the coolant wasn't getting cooled off. I had to diagnose and fix it on the side of I-84!

Well, this time, I figured that out before we even pulled to a stop, much less after looking at things. The "lot" for Four Peaks is just open meadow, so there are lots of bumps and tire ruts creating quite the chatter as you leave. Of course one of the wires shook free! I identified the bad connection, fixed it and we were on our way.

Fare Thee Okay

Independence Day was observed here in the States a little over a week ago. For Dead-heads, it was the celebration of the Grateful Dead turning 50, so there was a little extra celebrating. Today's post hits that. Beware: limited bus content.

Not Exactly Chicago

Mayhem's Further 2012 shirt

Similar to the pair of shows performed in Santa Clara, 70k people who could come up with the scratch to fly, hotel and see the "Core Four" (Phil, Bobby, Billy and Mickey) in Chicago jammed the city for the 3 day weekend. Like the weekend before, I connected with my friends Mayhem and GratefulEd for a camp-in viewing of the simulcast. Rather than haul out to Wheeler, this time we were in the swanky confines of Lake Oswego: a much shorter drive. GratefulEd, however, had set up The Wall of Sound - the home edition on his back deck. We had a projector beaming the visuals and a much larger crowd than had been in Wheeler tuning in. There were no arrests, no staff pro's or GDP uncover agents. Instead, we had meat snax, liquor and no-wait restrooms. Kidding aside, GratefulEd and his family were wonderful hosts.

Similar to the Wheeler shows, I arrived early, set up Hapy for the lot scene / camping and cracked a beer. After all the festivals and events, I've gotten it down to less than 30 minutes from pull-in to fully set up, complete with awning, middle row pulled out as a lot-couch, bed set up with curtains, etc. Mayhem joined me for some classic lot-style pre-func'ing and then we headed around back for the main event. Boo arrived late, missing part of the first set.

... but Not Exactly the Grateful Dead either

lot ready, 2-bus style

Once we got everything set up, it was up to the Core-Four-plus to provide the evening entertainment. Like the Wheeler review (see: Santa Clara by way of Wheeler), I won't bore you with set lists or a review. The fine folks at JamBase have a more than sufficient rose-colored-glasses review to read. All three shows were better than Santa Clara, but that's really not saying much. None of the three shows were on-balance better than the Furthur shows I'd seen. The last show was probably their best, giving reason to believe that if they kept at it, they could probably sound pretty good. Trey just wasn't as connected as he should have been, and the band wasn't as cohesive.

I trolled around JamBase between the Santa Clara shows and Chicago. I noticed that only Phil from the Core Four had tour dates. Billy and Mickey haven't been playing much in a while so, to me, this just further supports my belief that Bobby has a health issue that he hasn't disclosed, and that's why Futhur stopped touring. JohnK and Jeff are touring under the Golden Gate Wingmen, additionally supporting that Bobby isn't playing anymore (Jeff was his long-time keyboardist). That's really too bad. Love you Bob.

Chong

left-side rear-window blind

No Grateful Dead related music venture is complete without some side adventure. With a venue like Lake Oswego, I didn't expect much in this arena. I actually brought a book so I wouldn't get too bored. Luck smiled on me, though. For those not in Oregon nor a part of any marijuana legalization effort, you may not know that pot became legal for individual use on July 1st. Since we were celebrating "the 4th", weed had been officially legal for 3 days. 3 days, man. 3 days. As I turned Hapy off the freeway on my way into town, I saw a sign announcing a visit from Tommy Chong at the functional glassware shop just outside Lake Oswego. And just like that, we found our adventure: let's meet Tommy Chong.

Mr. Chong has been on tour himself, in a way, doing personal appearances at head shops in support of some personal-use products with his name on them. Neat. On the 5th, he was scheduled to appear at Mary Jane's House of Glass, and he did. The scene was, in a word: weird. The parking lot was roped off for pedestrian traffic, so many people were parking at the Taco Bell next door. In the center of the lot was a circus tent where beverages could be purchased and consumed, and a band was tuning up to play. Between the tent and the front door of Mary Jane's, there was a queue forming for pictures with Tommy Chong. Curious, we passed the queue and entered Mary Jane's. If you've never been in a functional glassware shop, it's hard to explain. Picture a 50' by 50' square commerce-space with glass cases pointing in various directions, all filled with glass pipes. No objects d'art, no brass, no wood, nothing else. Just pipes. Oh, and some incense in the corner. In the corner along the front wall, but opposite from the front door was a table behind which sat Tommy Chong. "$40 a picture," a young woman exclaimed as we entered. Yeah, I'm not paying $40 for a picture with Tommy Chong. No offense, Mr. Chong. We just stopped by to say "hi", so we did.

Mayhem took it one step further. Concluding that Mr. Chong probably didn't have a place to watch the final show featuring the "core four", Mayhem tried to engage is a simple conversation with Mr. Chong. Apparently, that was outside of what the Mary Jane's folks knew how to handle: so, you don't want a picture with him, so you must need to be in the autograph line. No, we don't want an autograph. "Would you take a picture with him if it was free?" Sure, so long as we get to ask him a question. Well, that proved quite difficult, but Mayhem got Mr. Chong invited to our streaming picnic thing.. and found himself in a rather awkward picture with Mr. Chong. Neither of them looked like they wanted to be in a picture. Afterwards, I noticed the look on Tommy Chong's face was the same in every picture. He was a perfect look of "really? this is where I ended up? how did this happen, man? can you help me outta here?". Sorry, Mr. Chong. We tried to spring you for a few hours.

Bid You Goodnight
The final show was just that. For those who were there, I'm sure it felt like closure. For those of us watching from home, we got an extra special post-show interview with Bobby. In answer to the question of will we never hear you guys again, he responded without hesitation that we'll see it again, or something very similar some time real soon. Thanks for stringing us along, Bob. We hope you're serious and we'll see you and Phil on stage together again. We'll have the bus ready to go whenever you declare the next Furthur show... please make it on the west coast :)

Bus Content: I adjusted the windshield washers with a push-pin in the tiny washer nozzle. Now, it streams into the upper half of the windshield dead-center of the wiper path. Perfect.

That's all for today. Thanks, as always, for following along.

2015 Hoot

A year ago, Boo and I took Hapy to our first Horning's Hideout Hootenanny (HHH). Today's post is about our triumphant return this year.

Pant... Pant... Pant...
After a crazy can-I-finish-it month of April and May, we entered Memorial Day weekend with a bus in one piece. I took the bus on a few short test drives, starting the Tuesday evening prior to Memorial day with T. We simply drove down our street, turned up the hill, drove about 500 feet and drove home. Thrilled, we parked and called the bus ready to roll. I drove the bus to work that Thursday, to prove that he could handle traffic, as well as to get him all the way up to normal operating temperature. While a little nerve-wracking to drive to work with a mystery car, I was grateful for the proof on Saturday morning.

Exodus

proud owner

Saturday, we awoke having done virtually no planning nor packing. We hit the grocery store the night before, so we had food and drink, but nothing else was ready. I've lamented preparing for the first camping trip of the season before, never really being sure you had everything you needed. This time, the week leading up to the trip was 80* or hotter and we were super-focused on getting the bus ready. So, we didn't notice that the weather forecast changed, leaving us a little under-dressed for the Hoot. Still, the camping stuff is pretty well sorted now, so packing is simply tossing a couple of storage shelves worth of stuff into the bus, some clothes and the food and we were off.

We stopped first at the fueling station. Since the last filling, we pulled 32mpg. Again, that's amazing, and its starting to appear to be a trend. After a final stop for forgotten bits, we headed for highway 26 West and Horning's Hideout.

When I re-assembled the bus, I neglected to install the outer door seals in the front doors. One of them was damaged anyway, but because they were not in, the drive at highway speed was louder than it used to be. Boo and I agreed that putting outer door seals in before the next, longer, drive would be a good idea. Unexpectedly, the overall noise in the bus at city-traffic speed is quieter than expected, especially after removing all of the wood floors and leaving the steel floor in the center of the bus uncovered.

Give a Hoot

Scotty with Hapy

Since we slept a little later than we had meant to, hadn't packed the night before and had to make a couple stops before we left for the Hoot, we arrived a little later than we wanted to. Still, the first band started at noon and we arrived at 12:15. Close enough.

So, what's the Hootenanny anyway? Starting 10 years ago, the organizer (Scotty, in the pictures) decided to celebrate his birthday with a few bands, some disc-golf and whoever else wanted to join in. 10 years later, he throws himself a birthday party requiring a staff of 23, 12 bands over 2 days and a disc golf tournament that attracts up to 500 people. For Boo and I, it represents the start of the music festival season with a very mellow send off. The attendees are an interesting blend of disc-golf fanatics and jam-band music fans. While there are a few that cross-over between the groups, most disc-golfers miss the daylight music, but make the evening shows so there's a good sized crowd after dinner.

Besides the music and disc-golf, there are vendors. Boo and I trolled the booths before we set up in the music bowl on the first day. One woman had Indian tapestries, there was a couple slinging tye-dyes from an ancient yellow school bus, an espresso cart, T-shirts, etc. Central to the car-camping side of the bowl was an old green school bus from Montana running a wood-fired pizza oven. Their call for "pizza" during song breaks became a dependable running joke through the festival.

There have been concerns about whether the Hoot can or will continue at Horning's Hideout. Last year, some attendants were unruly, creating noise the Hormings objected to. This also made Scotty question the integrity of the event, and whether it could continue. We saw some curious behavior, mostly from the Trust-afarian couple next-door, but the security folks contained things very quickly. For the most part, there were lots of returning families with little kids, twenty-somethings playing disc-golf and a virtual melting pot of good vibes folks otherwise.

Band Preview
I'm going to dedicate another posting to a deeper review of the bands, but there was a strong crop this year. Returning favorites from last year included Yr Daddy, the HillWilliams, JoyTribe and the Garcia Birthday Band (GBB). Returning after a few years absent, were Kina Lyn and Jesta. New to the festival were the Grateful Buds, Bottleneck Blues, Rainbow Electric and Shafty. Urban Shaman was new, but featured most of the folks from Vivid Curve (one of my favorites from last year). The music was good, and while the styles were not as widely varied as last year, the music-fans had a great time.

Homeward

entrance volunteers

Leaving the Hoot is hard. It lasts for such a short period of time, and just about the time you get your groove for the event, its time to go. We took our time, enjoying our coffee and slowly pulling our things together. We weren't hassled out at all. We took that as a good sign for how the Hornings considered the event. We talked to Scotty about the event both on our way in and on the way out. Based on those conversations, and his stage announcements, it sounds like my fellow Hoot-villers collectively behaved much better this year, and the Hornings will welcome us back next year. From Boo and me to the Hornings, thank you.

That's it for today. The drive home was uneventful, though I think my tires are low on air. I'll post a band review soon, hopefully before I forget all of my mental notes. As always, thanks for following along-

Hapy at Hoot

Dead Head Meet-up at the Movies 2014

There have been happenings in the car/bus space, but in the interest of space and a single focused post, today's post will just focus on going to the movies last Thursday.  

Dead Head Night at the Movies

Thursday, July 17th was the annual Dead-head night at the movies.  In previous years, these events have aired full-length concerts.  For example, last year (or the year before that) we saw the Sunshine Dairy benefit concert from Veneeta OR from 1972 called "Sunshine Daydream".  Having been too young to have been there at the time, it was great to see what the scene was like and watch them play a great show.  This year, the producers found the raw footage from the Europe '72 tour when they played in a tv studio for about 80 minutes.  A portion was later aired on UK's Beat Club tv show.

Beat Club
As a movie, it wasn't that great, but as a music fan it was really interesting to watch them as if they were working in a studio.  For example, they stopped "Sugaree" after the first verse because Phil missed a change and played "Playin' in the Band" a second time because Donna howled too loudly on the first take.  In both cases, the second run was better, so it was the right call.  I base my theory on the second "Playin" on a background conversation you can see between Jerry and Donna about standing further away from the mic.  Seeing Pigpen in such a diminished role was curious too.  Considering his health at the time, I wondered how he contributed in his last year while his "replacement" (Keith) took over and established himself.  Keith was almost inaudible through most of the film, only really peeking out sparingly on the later songs.

Beat Club Sound
The sound was very good and well balanced.  The film started with them checking the mic's and having side conversations.  Then, without much prompting, Bob shouts out a band introduction and they're off.  Like a show, it didn't seem as though they had a plan for what they were going to play.  In fact, they called Donna out to the 'stage' to sing on "Playin' in the Band" with a vague "how bout you come on up and sing on this" kind of vibe.  At the very end of the film, the band is playing a holding pattern coming out of a "the Other One" while Bob replaces a broken string.  Just as he gets it tuned in and the band starts to turn into a jam that's moving into a clear direction, the film suddenly ends.  Like a brutal cut in an old bootleg, the credits roll and you're left with that wondering of what came next.


Beat Club Filming
Staged in front of a green-screen showing tie-dyed sheets, the band was set up much like they would for a live performance (see picture).  Based on the staging, though, it seemed like they didn't know what to do with Donna.  When she was singing, she stood in front of Jerry, using his mic but forcing him back to his Wah pedal but out of direct line-of-sight with Bob and Phil.  When she wasn't singing, she stood in front of Pigpen's organ, blocking him from the cameras.  Still, considering it was 1972 and capturing live music on camera was still in its Woodstock-ish early years, it captured the band well.  Kieth didn't get much camera time, but Billy and Phil did, even though they didn't sing much (or at all in Billy's case).  Jerry and Bob were, of course, the focal point of most of the camera work, but that makes sense considering their lead vocals and guitar work.  It didn't appear that the band knew the cameras were rolling the entire time.  Prior to a few song starts, you could hear one or more of the members say "we're rolling" before they started counting into the song.

Full Bus
Unlike previous years, Boo and I piled all of the boys into the bus (Hapy drove great again) and shared Dead-head movie night with them.  Unexpectedly, they all took something positive from it.  T, for example, gained an appreciation for how Garcia approached and played the instrument.  He's heard their music before (obviously), but hadn't gained that understanding until he saw him play.  Interesting.  C appreciated what Billy could do on such a simple kit.

I was disappointed in the size of the crowd.  It was much smaller than the "Sunshine Daydream" year, but maybe there was a different local showing deeper into Portland which attracted some of that crowd.  If not, I'm afraid the numbers may not warrant airing something next year.  That would be a shame.  With all of the simulcast concerts from the 80's and 90's, there are many years worth of material left.

That's it for today.  I'll try to get another post in before the weekend.  Thanks for following along!!

HHH Day 2 band review

Boo and I camped the 9th annual Horning's Hideout Hootenanny (HHH) over Memorial Day weekend.  We had a blast (see So Starts Camping Season 2014).  Here's our review of the 4 bands who played on Sunday.

Vivid Curve

pulled from myspace, but its Vivid Curve

Imagine this scene.  It's the morning of day two after a late night of music (past midnight) and unofficial partying.  From the main stage, a long low drone rolls up the concert bowl to those sleeping in hammocks and tents until finally they slowly drag themselves into the morning light.  With the approaching march of the zombies, Vivid Curve starts up a set dressed in bathrobes and toasting the crowd with mimosas.  Upon the conclusion of this comical intro, Vivid Curve erupted in a psychedelic frenzy under-pinned by a didgeridoo and a talking drum played by a chap in a viking helmet.  Rhythmically supported by an Okee on a drum kit and a tie-dyed mountain-man on a washboard, the seemingly mild-mannered lead man leaped around with his acoustic guitar entertaining us with spoken word and melodies.  Boo and I were blown away.  These guys were amazing.  Their set flew by, and we loved every minute of it.  We will definitely seek these guys out.  By far, Vivid Curve was the biggest pleasant surprise of the weekend.  They simply crushed it.

Joy Tribe
Joy Tribe was interesting.  Following Vivid Curve wasn't easy to start with, and the beautiful sunny morning started to disappear as they took the stage.  None of that helped.  Adding insult to injury, the lead vocalist's main vocal range was squarely in the same range of notes and close in tone to what the guitarist and trumpet player were doing.  As a result, you couldn't make out anything she was singing.  I think they purposely had the vocal and trumpet lines match, but the mix was not quite right.  They tried to compensate by boosting her vocal near to the point of feeding back the mic, but I think the guitar needed to be quieter or the whole band needed to focus on dynamics: play quieter while she's singing.  The lead vocalist played sax and flute, exposing how multi-talented she is.  Unfortunately, it wasn't easy to engage with the band because of the loss of fidelity of the vocals.  Like a couple of the bands on the first day, I'd probably stay at a venue if they showed up and started playing, but I wouldn't seek them out.

Lewi Longmire and the Left Coast Roasters

rain? what rain?

Lewi Longmire is a Portland icon.  I'd never had the pleasure of seeing him play, and now I look back on those years with regret.  He and his band were fantastic.  They found that careful balance between energized and professional that neither Wood Knot nor Blue Lotus could find the day before.  They reminded me of Derek and the Dominos in terms of vibe and sound.  While the rain poured down.. and then sprinkled... and then poured... and then sprinkled, their sound slowly drew folks out from under their tarps into the sand pit.  By the time they finished their set, there were multiple pop-up canopies and 40 people dancing in the rain.  Powerful stuff.  Lewi was probably the best start-to-finish band of the weekend; most professional and arguably the most magnetic.  I will definitely seek Lewi out.

Garcia Birthday Band
I hadn't seen the Garcia Birthday Band for years.  Since then, it seemed like just about everyone in the band has changed.  I know Jon's been there since the beginning and I recognized him, but no one else.  I knew my old friend Steve had stopped playing keyboards for them years ago; it didn't matter, though.  They are still the Portland-area Grateful Dead cover band, so if you want a taste of that shuffle beat, they are the only game in town.  They're much tighter than they were when I saw them play on the lawn in Troutdale way back when to celebrate Jerry's birthday.  Still, I think they made a mistake booking a week full of shows prior to headlining the closing night of the Hootenanny.  They didn't have much energy.  It felt like they were tired, and wanted to rock, but just couldn't.  There were flashes of "here comes something", but that wouldn't last.  I'll see them again, and I won't wait as long.  Turned out, we waited less than a week and drove the whole gang out to the Rock Creek Tavern in Hapy the wonderbus.  The bus drove great and the band played much more energetically.  Boo and I were talking about going to their Fest in August, but its adults-only, and we have the full brood that weekend.  For those thinking about it, look to see what other acts they're bringing (I suggest Vivid Curve and Wood Knot :-)) and whether they're playing 5 straight nights before it.

Monday Morning
Unannounced and without pretense, there were two last artists performing on Monday morning while folks woke up, cleaned up and packed out.  First, someone made their way to the center of the concert bowl and played "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes.  Well executed, and, once completed, whoever it was disappeared as quickly and quietly as s/he arrived.  Second, a guy with long blonde dreadlocks and a Cello set up under the canopy where the Hillwilliams had played late the first night.  He had a couple of effects pedals routing his sound through the small amp he was sitting on.  With that simple set up, he created basic loops on top of which he then solo'd.  He was joined at points by a woman on a cajon.  It was almost spiritual how the Cello cut through the morning dull.  When the morning sun broke through the clouds, a younger woman would compliment the music with free form dance behind the musicians and a screen, casting a willowy shadow.  It was a very cool effect.  I don't know who they were, unfortunately.  I'll update if I find out.  Regardless, it was a very foggy-morning-after way to end the festival.

That's it for the HHH reviews.  We had a blast and are ready to reserve our spot for next year.  I hope some of you can tear yourselves away from your typical Memorial Day traditions and help create a bus-zone under the trees at Hornings next year.  Thanks for following along.  Maybe I'll have more bus content next time.