This, That, & Ranch Rock

Yippee-freakin'-ki-yay, motherf... SHUT YOUR MOUTH...
I'm talkin' 'bout John McClain... AHHH, then I can dig it.

Know what I'm sayin'? I don't. I have no clue.

It got all the way up to 4 degrees today. Fahrenheit, the TRUE temperature deal, not the foreign one. Afterall, doesn't Bush wanna spread the evil American empire everywhere? Well, that's what some loons have said. Lame accusation that holds no water, huh? Yeah, pretty much.

In any case -- 4 degrees meant no hike today. Geez, Louise, what a day to stay inside and do NOTHING ... except watch some football and be abso-lute-ly nothing but lazy. Kinda wish I had one of dem treadmills, yo. Coulda run a few miles. Coulda also gone to the gym to run which I'm gonna hafta start doin' soon 'cause the temp's (again and always first and foremost in Fahrenheit) gonna get too low for bein' on foot out there on the trail.

So, today I got fatter. Yay. No exercise. Very bad.
Almost half of November's gone and I'm not even close to my goal of 9 pounds shed for the month. Great, I say sarcastically. And yes, 9 pounds, not kilos, not stone... pounds dammnit. Get Americanized! Ha, ha, I kid. Metric's good but even though the U.S. dollar is slowly plummeting, the United States is still the center of the world! Hey, I didn't make it that way, that's just the way it is. Listen, when citizens of every nation on Earth start immigrating to another country every year, and when the U.N. decides the U.S. is too pathetic to inhabit, and when some other country is more generous with helping others than the government and citizens of the U.S. combined, then maybe we can relinquish the title of leader of the world. (Hugo Dooshbag and Ahmadinjerk, you listenin'?) As it is now, citizens from EVERY nation on Earth go where every year to make a better life for themselves? Where? Tahiti? Brazil? France? Germany? U.K.? Callin' out, around the world, are you ready for a brand new feat? Winter's here and the time is right, for Skijoring In The Streets.... that's right, they go to the U.S. to make a better life for themselves. Even without a universal healthcare plan, free for everyone -- still they come here from everywhere. Idiots? Or do they know here's where they have the best chance at makin' a better life for themselves? Here, according to many, the government is corrupt and they're liars and everything's broken and we invaded Iraq on lies (which isn't really true, it was faulty intelligence from many sources, not lies) but at least it was still the right thing to do to remove Hussein, yo. Giving 25 million people a chance at freedom is MORALLY JUSTIFIED. Allowing a man like Hussein to remain in power -- certainly an immoral act if there ever was one. And now I must say -- Amen & Press Play...

Tunes!

Ranch Rock '86 at Pyramid Lake
Nixon, Nevada
9/7/86

Mickey and the Daylites
Barry Melton & Dave Jenkins - guitar, vocals
David Freiberg - keyboards · Bobby Vega - bass
Kathi McDonald - vocals · Mickey Hart - drums

Wavy Gravy intro
The Shape I'm In
Piece Of My Heart
Walkin' Blues
Codine*
Pride Of Man*
Whiter Shade Of Pale
Knock On Wood
Bring It On Home To Me

* with John Cipollina

Robert Hunter and his Mystery Band
David Jenkins - guitar
David Freiberg - keyboards · Bobby Vega - bass
Robert Hunter - guitar, vocals · Mickey Hart - drums, vocals

One Thing To Try
Rock Columbia
Molly Dee
Tiger Rose
Aim At The Heart
Chingo!
Fire On The Mountain*
Promontory Rider*

* with John Cipollina

I really don't know much concerning the background of this "festival" of Bay Area bands. Was it planned before Jerry had his little coma and recovery dealie? Or was it orchestrated as something to fill in the gap? Me curious but me not know.

Also on the bill that day was Zero and John Cipollina playing in a band with Greg Douglas and Bobby Vega called Problem Child... oh, and the headlining band, of course -- Kingfish with Bob Weir. Nope, I don't have those sets, only these two... but perhaps I'll get Zero and Kingfish one of these days.

The Mickey and the Daylites set is a weird one in that I don't even hear Mickey once on the recording. Washington native Kathi McDonald, one of the primary singers, mentions him but then again she also gives a shout out to Bob Weir. Friends somehow, though their connection I don't know. Neither do I know how this one-off band came to be and why is Mickey's name even attached to it? Cipollina sat in with or was part of each of the bands on this day and here he provides a couple numbers. All in all, a neat little set of Rock and Roll songs. No jamming to really speak of, just straight ahead mid-80's rock of a Bay Area band nature.

The Hunter set, which I'm not sure if it was before or after Mickey and the Daylites, featured some nice electric guitar throughout from David Jenkins. While the "Mickey" set had more of a blues feel, this sound was (mostly) purely Hunter/The Dinosaurs. And here was Mickey again, playing drums for Bob [Hunter.] He actually had more of a part in this band than the last one! And there's a Jerry mention at one point. Some on stage instrument adjustments had Hunter commenting that they didn't want Mickey to get hurt and join the Grateful Injured... clearly a reference to Jer bein' on the Disabled List. Fire On The Mountain followed and here's where the set got most interesting -- Bob and Mickey share vocal duties, with Mickey kinda sorta rapping... much like he does on some demo/rehearsal tape from years before, and like he did on the Furthur Festival a decade after this and in performances since then. So far as I know, this is the only time they've ever played live with each other. I think I can hear these guys really enjoyin' it, too. No, it's not like the Dead, not that much but it's a treat to hear them sing the song they co-wrote together. Promontory Rider is really nice to close the set but methinks Fire should've. At almost 10 minutes, it's by far the longest song. Not really jammed but played very... interestingly. That's the only word for it -- interesting.

Overall, an interesting two sets of tunes, about an hour and a half worth. Really I got this Dead-related stuff out of curiosity. Nothin' here's really that special but eh, what the heck, right.

Soundboard sound quality: eh, not beautifully digitally crisp but not horrible.
There's hiss during quiet areas between songs...
which leads me to believe this has a cassette generation (or two)
somewhere between the master reels and the transfer to digital.

320 kbps dload right here
·
Mickey and the Daylites
·
Robert Hunter and his Mystery Band