· Hiking Time --- 2 hours 17 minutes
· Temperature: 21ºF (-6ºC)
· Trail Time in November: 3 hours 21 minutes
____(starting Oct. 1)
· Weight Loss Goal -- 24 pounds (11 kg)
__________· So Far -- 7 lb.
Saturday again? For real? Or for fake? Is all of this life just a dream? This week has flown by. Spent last night out at Chena Hot Springs. I was the third wheel. Yay. It wasn't that bad, they're good friends o' mine. Mike, my former EMT partner, and his wife, Julie, went along. Actually I was the invited one so twas me who was doing the going along. And apparently there was supposed to be a fourth person but she cancelled. I've got the feeling they were setting me up with someone... and they'll keep trying. That's not something I particularly care for... but then again, if I knew who it was and she's on the hot side, then I could decide whether to make it easy for them. Unfortunately I have no clue so I've gotta play this hand carefully. Anyway, the swimming was nice. But I don't think I really did any swimming. In the pool at Chena, it's more like a lounging. Lazing and lounging. Loved it! Woulda been better if it was a cloudless and the Northern Lights danced overhead... but ya can't have everything. Oh well. It's a freakin' cool place to be when the lights are flashing across the Heaven. These great hot springs are right down the road, sort of... about 60 miles east of Fairbanks down a dead-end road into the wilderness. So accessable they are but I haven't been there in months. Should really get out there more often. Sooooooooo relaxing.
This morning the drive back to town was in near white-out conditions. The snow wasn't coming down at an enormous pace but holy cow, the wind blowin' it around like mad made the drive back sooooo long.
I had my mind made up that as soon as I got back, I'd gear up and hit the trail almost immediately. And a fan-freakin'-tastic hike it was. Okay, there wasn't anything really thatamazing about it. But how dang sweet, yet again, to be puttin' one foot in front of the other, gettin' some exercise on a snowy trail, through a snowy landscape, cool air on my face, warm fingers in gloves, warm head under fleece cap. For some of the hike, the peacefulness without music was so intense. In the falling snow, not a sound could be heard. At other times GD tunes filled my ears and made this stroll a slice of Heaven on Earth. Yeah... sweeeet!
actually just the 2nd set on the trail
but I've now listened to this show
three times in the past few days.
L.A. Sports Arena
Los Angeles, CA
Minglewood Blues, So Many Roads,
Childhood's End, Eternity -> Don't Ease Me In
2nd Set
Estimated Prophet -> He's Gone ->
Drums -> Space -> The Other One ->
Wharf Rat -> Good Lovin'
Encore
*Almost the whole show with Branford Marsalis!*
What a three week span,
from the end of November through mid-December:
Salt Lake-> Denver and back.
Salt Lake-> Oakland and back.
Salt Lake-> Los Angeles and back.
From what I remember of it, that was pretty tiring with a lot of gas money spent but a whole bunch of Dead shows seen. All worth it!
At the time I was not working -- slumming it, sort of. I was all set to start work right after Christmas up at Park City. My mailorder tickets were in hand and all I needed was to find some people to go to some shows. Somehow I convinced my faithful tour buddies Jennamarie and April to head down to LaLaLand for a few days. One problem for them was they were both enrolled at the U (the University of Utah) that semester. Usually it takes no effort to get them to go but this time I had to really really really twist their arms... but they gave in. The middle two L.A. shows were doable for them, on a Friday and a Sunday, provided we leave right after the Sunday show. That following Monday morning they had to get to class without fail -- finals were starting! For that, I commend them even to this day. What a tight squeeze but my girls said what the heck and off we were!
From Salt Lake City to the heart of Los Angeles it's about 700 miles if I remember correctly. In a normal vehicle that would be a fairly easy 10 hour trip. Going by old VW bus it took slightly longer, more like 12-13 hours... it was a haul! Sometime in the afternoon on Thursday we left and headed for I-15 -- Provo, Cedar City, Las Vegas, and the burning shores of California beyond. We didn't get quite that far before ending the first half of the journey about an hour south of Vegas. In the small casino town of Primm, Nevada we got a room for the night. Now if only memory recall was better this many years later. Not even the name of the casino where we stopped can I remember. My mind is just a blank on that night. The next morning I remember we got breakfast in the casino -- but not one of those $1.99 buffet deals, no, we sat down and ordered, a good yummy breakfast to hold us over until parking lot chow at the arena later on.
Cruisin' through the Mojave from Nevada to SoCal is always a breeze and I remember flyin' right down to the beach for our very first stop (other than gettin' gas somewhere along the four hour or so drive from Primm.) Cowboy Chris as the wheel had no idea where to go but I knew the ocean was west, yes west indeed. So west I went and we landed, I don't remember where, Hermosa or Redondo Beach, down that way, kinda south of the arena but hey, we had the afternoon to kill, no worries! I think I decided to find our way on up to Venice Beach where I'd been before but Jennamarie and April hadn't been -- a cooler spot to waste a few hours doin' basically nothing. As evening approached we busted out the Rand McNally road atlas and figured out how to get to the arena for the show.
So easy it was to get in and parked, I recall that clearly. Same ol' deal for the same ol' band -- same ol' parking lot scene! Ahhhhhhh.... home, in a way! The previous December I had made a similar trip down to SoCal which included San Diego shows, so this was my second time here at this joint. Eventually we made our way inside, probably soaking up the lot atmosphere as much as we could before closin' up the bus, gettin' tix in order, etc. I do remember where we sat for this one. The GD Mailorder folks gave me some pretty nice seats, about mid-court back from the stage and like, I dunno, seven or eight rows up from the floor. Jerry side.
And the show itself? I'm messed up because all these years later, without seein' a setlist it's really difficult for me to give details of a show I was at. Perhaps that's normal? I dunno, but what I do remember about this show -- Branford!!! When he walked out on stage I think my level of bliss just exploded. It hadn't even crossed my mind, I know that. The previous December he played with the Dead here, the SECOND time I got to see him up there with Jerry and the boys. Now a third time? Wow... just foolish to even try to put in words how great that was.
Bucket opened the proceedings on such a high note. This is the quintessential way to open a show in the 1990's, I tell ya what. The place was absolutely rockin'! Flawless and with Branford adding to the sound... YEAH! Jerry was right on with the whole band really kickin' the crap out of this nights opening song.
I don't necessarily like that they didn't go straight into the next tune, Cold Rain and Snow. Instead of segue and just a ton of non-stop dancin', we got a breather before those familiar notes started up a minute or so later. Not bad that was but the Minglewood that followed seemed to kick the show up a notch. Branford stepped up to the plate and belted that song out of the park, baby. The crowd was soooooo into it, so into his bein' up there; what a freakin' treat and a half! And according to Bobby, "these Southland Fillies start lookin' good" 'cause ya know it's "T right here in L.A. now, where the little girls know what to do."
What came next was... once again I'm at a loss for words. New tune So Many Roads wasn't exactly lyrically perfect by Jerry, it's really nice ... but oh my God, the emotion at the end, sittin' here now listening for the fourth time ....... I can't describe it. Unbelievable. Brought the crowd to its knees. Moments like that seem to multiply the impact of Jerry's early departure from our lives. He left way too soon when he still had so many So Many Roads to sing. Not many would be like this one, that's for sure. Without a doubt that was the high point of this show. Wow.
A couple more relatively new songs came next, the better of the two (with all due respect to Phil) being Eternity. At twelve minutes long, the band really gets to open up here and jam. It's a subdued jam and remains within the bounds of the song, but still, and especially with Branford, just gorgeous!
Don't Ease was lyrically a little sloppy but brought us to Halftime on a nice high note. It might have been brief but yet again, Branford shined!
I don't often listen to shows I was at but it really helps bring back the feelings I had when I was there!
Criminal that there's no SBD of this show.
No flaws to note. Crowd noise at a minimum.
is over @ Archive.org
for listening & downloading.
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