False Alarm, Bob & Rob

Ear Update '07: Seems like it twas but a false alarm; I went off the rails like a crazy train, like I was drivin' my train a little high on cocaine, kinda freakin' out a little... but, dude, twas my hearing we're talkin' about here! What happened, I am guessing (afterall, I'm not really a doctor, I only play one on the internet,) is the first baking soda "flush" and then sleep turned into a slight infection. There's essentially no wax left in there to be the cause of a clog. Add in subsequent flushings of rubbing alcohol and olive oil and hydrogen peroxide, and the infection stayed, maybe even got a little worse. Oh well.

Good news is in the past 24 hours, my left ear has gone from about 95% useless to about 70% normal. There's still some mild pain, nothing making me angry, maybe only a 4 on the 0 to 10 scale. Almost always constantly aware I am that it's not right... but it's coming back to okay, I do believe.

Thanks to all the suggestions and well wishes.
Mucho appreciated, truly!

As an EMT, I'm always kind of hyper-aware of my well-being, always checking how all systems are functioning... and 'cause there was almost no way I was gonna see a doctor, and my freedom to enjoy music was suddenly gone, twas scary. I wasn't anywhere close to dumping my music, I even kept downloading through this mini-crisis... but it ran through my mind to be prepared for the worst so I can move on quickly rather than get stuck in depression should something very bad've happened.

In any freakin' case, it's still clearin' up
but was okay enough to Press Play on a little pre-Ratdog, sort of...

Bob Weir & Rob Wasserman -- 11/27/88
Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles
(opened for Jerry Garcia Band)

Walkin' Blues, City Girls, The Winners,
Fever, Victim Or The Crime,
This Time Forever, Easy To Slip -»
Bass Solo* -» Heaven Help The Fool
encore: Blackbird

* almost completely comprised of a song which is quite familiar
but I cannot place. oh well.

According to my Einstein-like calculations, this appears to be just the third Bob & Rob "show" ... even though it's not, at least in my opinion, technically a show, just a 47 minute opening set. Bobby's always had a legion of fans who came out to support him in his side projects while Jerry did his thing so there was no threat or anything of bombing. I've always dug these two playing together, going way back to maybe a year or so after this L.A. stand. Their chemistry here is good but it's a ways off from hitting a great pre-Ratdoggie dog plateau in the early 90's. Still it's fairly tight but listening closely and knowing the shows these guys have turned out when not opening for anyone, I can tell they're in an early stage of really getting used to playing as a two-some. What they churn out is a pretty decent set of tunes. I'm sure a lot of Garcia Is God, Bob Who? snobs didn't enter the theater until just before Jerry came on, but those who wandered in early to check out the opening set were welcoming and appreciative of the Bobster. Later on down the line, Weir-Wasserman shows weren't all that exploratory and never had immensely differing setlists but this is definitely a glimpse of the future and of better things to come for these two.

Thanks to John Detally for taping this!
Pretty sweet Sony D-6 cassette master -» digital;
B+ to A- sound.

listen to 11/27/88 from SugarMegs.org
or, in one long .wma file,
Right Click to dload 11/27/88 here