Late Friday Run

Got all the way up to 5° (-15° C) today. Soon as the sun went down -- back into negativeland. Last day of February and we're most definitely still in fairly bitter coldness. The insane wicked cold is probably all gone... but we've got a lot of time ahead when it'll be below freezing, for the most part. My third Alaskan winter and I can't decide if I'm getting sick of it or not. I figured this would be my last Alaska winter before I head back to the seriously sickening Lower 48... but who knows. Maybe I'll take a road trip and see if I can find somewhere new to live... and then the idiocy that I hate about this great country will show itself to me and after I puke, right back to Alaska I'll go. We shall see.

At least I've got a couple gyms to use for running when the temperature is just too freakin' cold for trying to run outside. Almost didn't make it tonight. With the hours in the month running out fast, I HAD to get there tonight in order to push my February running time above January. That was my goal. But now that I'm back from the gym, showered, clean, resting, feeling good, I've got to wonder -- I had Friday off... why the heck did I wait until THE VERY LAST MINUTE to go!?!? The Rec Center at the University closed at 10. I got there at 9:40. Stoopid.

Friday Night Run: 17 minutes 41 seconds

+3 sec · indoors ·

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Run Time February: 3 hours 11 minutes January: 2 hours 56 minutes

Nice run. No need to elaborate... but I will... a little: not difficult, not easy. Twas just a decent run. Made it around and around on the track with no serious problems, no huffing and puffing at the end. When I got to my End Cue in the music, walked on feeling good, couple laps to cool down and return to normal, got to my towel and felt like I coulda ran some more. So the question is: why do I only add on such small times to each new Playlist for each run? The other day I went 19 minutes... yeah, broken up with rests in between running, but I can go longer. Might not be doing anything huge to progress towards being able to run a marathon, but the most important thing is I'm running and for my health, that's a great thing.

Running tunes from
the album of the day...

Aaron Shust

Anything Worth Saying

2005






Give Me Words
Glory To You
Matchless
Let The People Praise
Stillness (Speak To Me)
More Wonderful
Give It All Away
Change The Way
My Savior My God
Stand To Praise (Psalm 117)
In Your Name
One Day

Apparently at the 2007 Dove Awards, Aaron Shust was named Songwriter Of The Year (which is for music in 2006, right?) He also got Song Of The Year for My Savior My God. I'm not sure why but the Grammy Awards mean absolutely nothing to me, but the Dove Awards I'd give more credence to. I didn't know these facts about Shust before I started listening to this album, but... okay, cool, I guess.

The songs here all or mostly all fall into the category of praise and worship. And his sound ranges from a lighter more adult contemporary feel to edgier with more guitar, a sound more suited to the listener who doesn't want fluff. Fluff's okay when you want to fall asleep listening to something on a long flight or train ride, or when you have a headache, or your pastor's mom is in the car... but I like songs that you want to turn up loud, tunes that make you want to run faster, not music that's just... nice. Aaron Shust on this first album brings both which is welcomed. Sometimes you get all of one or all of another and even if it's great music, it can be rather monotonous. No sameness all the way through here -- just pretty good music that sings out loud the glory of God.

Couple reviews: Jesus freak Hideout & Christianity Today

128 kbps dload @ Música Cristã MP3

Only 299 Shopping Days Left!!!

Time to hurry out to the malls and get shopping! Hmmm... time to put up the lights soon? Wait a minute... or finally take 'em down from last Christmas?!

Well, one thing's for sure...

It's Christmas All Year (Volume 3)

(Because if I listened to Christmas music solely in December ... I'd be about ready to blow my brains out before the 5th or so! And hey, who said ya can't listen to Christmas music all year long? Huh?!? I think Santa would approve!!)

Christmas On
The Mountain:

A Bluegrass Christmas

(2002)

320 kbps	Christmas On The Mountain: A Bluegrass Christmas
	· Bluegrass Christmas
	· The Del McCoury Band featuring Ronnie McCoury
	· Our 12 Days Of Bluegrass Christmas
	· The Del McCoury Band with Mac Wiseman and The Osborne Brothers
	· Christmas Time On Rocky Top
	· The Osborne Brothers
	· Christmas Time's A Comin'
	· Doc Watson, Del McCoury and Mac Wiseman
	· I'll Be Home For Christmas
	· Cyndi Wheeler with The Del McCoury Band
	· Blue Christmas
	· The Del McCoury Band
	· Bah Humbug
	· Tim O'Brien
	· Silent Night
	· Mac Wiseman and Del McCoury
	· Christmas Memories
	· Mac Wiseman with The GrooveGrass Boyz
	· Auld Lang Syne
	· The GrooveGrass Boyz

Manchester, Morrissey, Marr ... it's a Smiths Run

A week or two ago: 40° (4° C)...

down to -21° (-29° C) this morning.

Was absolutely determined to get to the gym this morning before work. Tough to have the motivation for that when it's this cold.

I got 'er done, though.

Thurs Morn pre-work Run: 17 minutes 38 seconds

still indoors

XXXXXXXX+++++++ 10 sec +++++++XXXXXXXX

Run Time February: 2 hours 53 minutes January: 2 hours 56 minutes

Unremarkable. But I'll remark anyway.

Decent run. After my semi-failed run a couple days ago, today was like starting over... almost. Made my time with no serious problem. Looking forward already to 18 minutes! Soon enough. Darn good exercise and that's what's most important. Keeps the heart healthy, keeps the cardiovascular system healthy, helps keep away diabetes, helps keep away cancer. Makes me feel great afterwards!

Running tunes from
the album of the day...

The Smiths

self-titled debut

recorded in 1983
released in early '84




Reel Around The Fountain
You've Got Everything Now
Miserable Lie
Pretty Girls Make Graves
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
This Charming Man
Still Ill
Hand In Glove
What Difference Does It Make?
I Don't Owe You Anything
Suffer Little Children

A shirtless man on an album cover? That might be fine in the hands of a woman but for the male of the human species? Not really. Thankfully the music in my ears is a whole 'nother story.

Great stuff from this Manchester band, a leader in "alternative" music out of England in the early 90's. Not that I really care at all about anything Rolling Stone has to say, but apparently this is in their Top 500 Albums of All Time. What does that mean? Whoever compiled the list likes it. Took me back, it did, way way back to high school. And still today the sound is timeless and probably better than half of everything that'll be produced in 2008. Check out a "professional" review at Allmusic.

128 kbps dload @ Back On The Road

Not a true Dead show ... "This is still a test."

Got to play more Dead.

Got to play more Dead.

Got to play more Dead.

How about a show?

Grateful Dead - July 27, 1973

Grand Prix Racecourse Watkins Glen, New York

"This whole thing is a fraud;
we're really clever androids."
--Phil Lesh--

1st Set: The Promised Land, Sugaree, Mexicali Blues,
Bird Song, Big River, Tennessee Jed

2nd Set: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo,
Me & My Uncle, Jam->
Wharf Rat, Around And Around

For this not actually being a true Grateful Dead show, it's one helluva show! Let's see what longtime GD archivist Dick Latvala had to say in Deadbase IX...

The most people ever to see a musical event (750,000 by some estimates) came sloshing through the mud and debris on 07-28-73 to see The Band, Allman Brothers, and the Grateful Dead. The day before the Dead did a sound check for the many thousands who came early and played for over two hours! The first set has some rousing playing on Mexicali Blues and especially on Bird Song. Tennessee Jed is even above average, but Mississippi Half Step and Me & My Uncle are uneventful. Next we get another major treat -- about thirty minutes of improvisational material that I have never heard elsewhere! This is very extra special and highly unique, constituting an example of what I call "Primal Dead." This is another tape that one should go out of his or her way to obtain. It is an audience, but quite listenable.

Is it blasphemy to disagree with Dick? Some of what he says is dead on (no pun intended) but at the same time I've gotta wonder -- did he maybe not listen very closely to this or something? One thing's for sure, whenever he wrote that, this beautiful soundboard didn't even exist in the hands of the public. Whew, thank God it does now! Makes the music and the recording really come alive. There's a moment in Half-Step where Jerry, whoops, he repeats a line and he knows it immediately; you can hear him let out a little laugh at that. It's an exceptionally played Half-Step but that one little moment just makes it pure gold. You know this just ain't some boring run-through to get the sound right for the next day.

Also, the Jam into Wharf Rat on this source is just under 20 minutes. I think there's a cut in there on the soundboard so it might be longer in Audience form (which I've read isn't that bad sounding ... I will definitely need to give that a listen in the future.)

Very cool near the end of the Jam to hear a whole few minutes of Fire On The Mountain goin' on -- 3½ years before it would ever be played in a Dead show. It blows my mind that this is all off the cuff and not something written out and practiced and perfected. Also blows my mind how some people would rather go to a concert and hear songs played live exactly as they are on the album. Whaaaa???!! Man, if the Dead did that then I wouldn't even be typing this!

All around an incredible hour and a half of music. Not two hours; each set is relatively short... but wow, just a lot of damn fuckin' great music packed into these 90 minutes!

Quality: A+
Source: Soundboard Reel Master > DAT > CD

7/27/73 @ Archive.org includes this SBD for listening only. There are also 2 Audience sources for listening and downloading.

-or-

Download The Soundboard Right Here

GD 7/27/73 Watkins Glen - 1st Set

Set 2 - Watkins Glen 7/27/73

7-27-73 a.k.a. 7/27/73 a.k.a. 73-07-27 320 kbps mp3 download & setlist

Bob, Rita, Ziggy... now Stephen

The world keeps spinning today. People've woken up... maybe grabbed themselves a beer, maybe gone to work, maybe stabbed or shot someone, committed genocide, worked on building a nuclear weapons program in order to commit genocide while essentially spitting in the face of the U.N., performed an operation on a cancer patient, had sex, ate a bag of Doritos for breakfast, fantasized about raising taxes in an effort to take more of the American citizens' hard-earned money to, against the wishes of roughly half of us, socialize portions of this country, layed down some tracks in a studio, fed their dog, or maybe indulged in some much needed exercise.

Here it's just another winter day in this sub-zero, sub-Arctic paradise that is Interior Alaska.

Up wayyyy too early for a day off from work...

Press Play. Run. Yada freakin' yada...

Tuesday Morning Run: 19 minutes 1 sec. (approx.)

(+2:34) · indoors ·

XXXXXXXX+++++++ 32 sec +++++++XXXXXXXX

Run Time February: 2 hours 35 minutes January: 2 hours 56 minutes

Running Goal -- 17:32
Approximate Achieved Time -- 19:01

What a bizarre occurrence this morning. I felt ready for a run, felt good, no worse, no better than any other day. About 2 minutes in I started seriously thinking: "Stop. Stop. Stop." Over and over. Successfully I put that out of my mind... but then all of a sudden I stopped. Just like that. Completely out of the blue I just halted my run (but continued walking around the track.)

Strange.

Always my goal is to start once, run, stop, good deal, exercise finished. This morning I failed. My mind was swimming in nothing but feelings of misery. I failed. But I was determined to run some more.

After some walking I started back up running again, finished out the song it was on, and slowed my pace back down to just a walk. Did that for a song and then once again ran for a song. Rolled with that one more revolution through and so I got a whole bunch of running in. Wasn't sure how much exactly. Twasn't until I got back and showered and sat down just a little while ago to figure it out... somehow it turned out that I ran LONGER than what I was planning to. Hmm.

So my failure was washed out by an extra minute and a half of running. Just a very weird morning as far as running goes.

Running tunes from
the album of the day...

Stephen Marley

Mind Control

2007






Mind Control
Hey Baby
Officer Jimmy (Interlude)
Iron Bars
The Traffic Jam
You're Gonna Leave
Chase Dem
Lonely Avenue
Let Her Dance
Fed Up
Inna Di Red

Everyone knows great reggae doesn't have to come from Jamaica, right? It can come from Wilmington, Delaware! Delaware?!?! Yeah... Delaware. That's where Bob's 2nd son Stephen was born. America's first state might have the same Atlantic Ocean that Jamaica has, they've even got a nice beach or two... but an island native this jah reggae mon is not... well, at least not by birth.

Stephen sure knows the music, that's for sure. It's in his soul. How could it not be?

Here on his debut as a solo artist, Stephen not only immerses himself in the roots of contemporary reggae but adds touches of hip hop, as well. Now I'm not one who digs hip hop -- as a general rule of life(!) -- but the hip hop and rap guest artists brought in help add a little different flavor to this overall body of work, separating it from the masses of roots reggae albums one can listen to and never really tell one from another sometimes.

As well as guests on the album, a nice portion of the family Marley is here, too. For some reason that helps give me more of a connection to the music. Listening to the First Family of Reggae, that's not just listening to reggae, that's special and that's what this album is... some great tunes without a doubt, mon.

One thing that's just amazing here is Stephen's voice and how similar it is to Bob's. If anyone ever thinks sometimes Ziggy is really close, so much so you might know which is which, Stephen is even closer sounding.

If I still smoked the ganja, this would have me lightin' a big ol' spliff to just kick back and... and just be.

Check out a professional review at Allmusic.

128 kbps dload @ Rique do Reggae

Running With Shannon McNally

Finally I got to the gym late tonight... first time in almost a week? What the hell is wrong with me?! A person's health is too important to not get exercise. Here I've been, aside from work, sittin' on my ass for the most part, for about a week now. Pathetic. I just have them inject me with Diabetes now. Why not?! Heart disease, too, while you're at it. Got any cancer on special? Thanks.

Got to start running more often than this!

Monday After Work Run: 17 minutes 27 seconds

(+5) · indoors ·

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Run Time February: 2 hours 16 minutes January: 2 hours 56 minutes

First time in a week and bahhhhh, that was horrible!!!!! HORRIBLE!!!! Gotta look to the positive, though -- I pushed myself, I did not quit despite hearing myself tell myself to quit like a dozen times. "What does it matter" that little antagonistic voice says. What does it matter? Why be unhealthy?!?! So I persisted, I took my mind off of the negativity and ran onward around the stoopid indoor track. My end cue sounded and I was stooped over, hands on knees, sucking in air, looking for normality again. I knew it would happen soon enough... but that was not easy.

Good thing -- I made it. Back in my house, showered, resting, already looking forward to running tomorrow!

Running tunes from
the album of the day...

Shannon McNally

Geronimo

2005





The Worst Part Of A Broken Heart
Miracle Mile
Sweet Forgiveness
Geronimo
Pale Moon
The Hard Way
Beautiful And Strange
Tennessee Blues
Weathervane
Leave Your Bags By The Door
In The Name Of Us, Honey
Lovin' In My Baby's Eyes

Hempstead on New York's Long Island -- without a doubt where I would go to find great country music! Nashville? Texas? Fahhhgetabouutiiit. Lawng Eyelind's where ya gotta go! That's where Shannon McNally's from and that's probably why she's such a great singer-songwriter. There aren't many of those in Nashville. The mainstream country music industry pumps out of a lot of successful artists... but so often there are the performers and there are the writers... and very seldom the twain meets in one person. Leave the realm of mainstream Nashville and find the artists who don't make music for big country labels or to get radioplay or to win big time awards from the Country Music Association, and that's where you're gonna find the best quality country, methinks. Not there's anything wrong with Martina McBride and Brad Paisley, they're fine, but stuff like that which Shannon McNally has put out on this album -- mmmm, damn fine music! For a "professional" review, check out the one at AllMusic Guide.

256 kbps dload @ DeaconBlues1103CW

Mutterings Always Seem To Include Movies

What today's mutterings will be without is an intro. I'm just not feelin' like elaborating on the weather which went up to like 40° this week (4° C) but thankfully is now back down below freezing, in the teens (18° / -8° C) with snow again. Just not ready for Spring! Kinda sorta, I mean, it will be nice to go hiking again... maybe very soon.

Let's see -- Obama plagiarized. Hillary's mad. The NY Times printed crap that isn't true about McCain trying to make him look like the worthless lying cheating candidate. Huckabee's hanging in there to allow people to let their vote count. I think that's respectable considering the idiotic way the system is set up to decide who the candidates will be. Why can't everyone's vote matter? Only certain states? And if your state isn't early enough, who you like might drop out and then your vote goes to waste. Just pathetic. But Huckabee's allowing all those who want him to get their vote cast for him even if he won't get the nomination. I like that.

Hmmm -- Work. Football season? Gone. Hockey's almost never on American TV anymore. Basketball -- eh. College basketball -- little girls game, so boring. Baseball season? On the horizon but with EVERY SINGLE GAME the announcers will be talking about steroids AGAIN this year so I'm not enthused whatso-freakin'-ever.

Oscars. I like the nominees just fine but here again the system's kinda broken -- so many films that the general public, for the most part, doesn't care about and/or see. Weird.

Yada yada yada. Yup, no intro.

Time for...

Unconscious Mutterings

a free association game -- I say... and you think ... ?

1. Protocol :: movie with Goldie Hawn

2. Girlfriends :: I'm not for a mild lack of ex ones... although I don't refer to any as an ex, usually I think "old" girlfriends which can sound like they're all old as older in age... but old here meaning in the past. Maybe psychologically I don't say ex 'cause ex, to me, feels quite negative and most were great relationships with little negative above them. Eh... whatever.

3. Shoulders :: To cry on... but wouldn't that be a funny looking person if they could offer up both shoulders at the same time for one person to cry on?

4. Coming home :: movie with Jon Voight ... and if I remember my Academy Awards history correctly, Mr. Angelina's Jolie's dad was nominated for Best Actor for that role... he may have won... somebody won that year, which was like 78 or 79 I think... I could look it up but I'm just goin' on memory. Oh, and also in the film -- America's most favorite actress, Jane Fonda.

5. Let it in :: Let what in? I ain't lettin' nuttin in unless you tell me what it is. Could be a cheetah-tyrannosaurus rex hybrid with rabies... and on acid... that hasn't eaten in weeks... and is under Raise Taxes-Socialize America-Hussein Was An Okay Fellow mind-control... that could be dangerous.... very, very dangerous.

6. Honor :: Yes, your Honor, No, your Honor... I AIN'T TELLIN' YOU NOTHIN', YOUR HONOR!

Speaking of telling... is it really true that it would be better for a nuclear device to be detonated in some city such as Orlando or Chicago or New York, or Barcelona or Berlin, or Dublin or London or Glasgow, killing tens of thousands of innocent citizens, than to waterboard someone to get information to stop that terrorist attack?

Hmmm... really? An event like that would devastatingly crumble America's economy for quite a long time not to mention be a nightmare that NO country should EVER have to deal with. But it would better to allow such an attack to occur to murder 10,000 or maybe even 25,000 people rather than waterboard 1?

Hmmm... similarly it would be better if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons rather than America going to war to stop that?

Really?

7. Tyler :: Texas... a very small city (or fairly large town... to me a city's gotta have at least a few somewhat tall buildings that stand out ... and since I've never been to Tyler, I don't know if one could look at it and think city. Anyway...) I'm pretty sure somewhere in east Texas... but in that northeast corner area rather than down near Corpus and Mexico.

Speaking of Texas, that's where OUR President, George W. Bush, is from. HONN-NORRR HIIIMMM!!!!!!!!!!! (heh heh... I'm just trying to tick off some liberals by mentioning W. but not speaking badly about him. For anyone reading this who hates him, let's do a quick exercise, shall we? Ready? Name one nice, positive thing about W. Go. Come on. You can do it. Here's one -- he drives an American truck. Here's one more -- following al-Qaeda's horrific attack on our homeland that slaughtered almost 3,000 innocent people, W. has been successfully in charge of keeping the land that he loves, our home, free from terrorism.)

8. Thriller :: Oh, brother -- Michael Jackson.

9. Angela :: [drawing a total blank ... no significant Angela that I know of ... wait, I got one: Angela Lansbury, co-star of National Velvet with Liz Taylor.]

10. The winner is :: me ... duh.

P&F #4 -- a Phil & Bobby phun time shindig in The Haight

Birth, school, work, death...

and hopefully some great music in between!

Phil Lesh & Friends August 7, 1998 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA A benefit for the Unbroken Chain Foundation

The Band
Phil, Bobby
Steve Kimock: guitar ~ Jeff Chimenti: keyboards
Dave Ellis: sax ~ Prairie Prince: drums

1st Set: Jam-> Playing In The Band-> Terrapin Station->
Sugaree, West L.A. Fadeaway, Mountains Of The Moon

2nd Set: Jam-> Truckin'-> Smokestack Lightning-> The Other One Jam,
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Easy Answers->
All Along The Watchtower-> A Love Supreme->
Playing In The Band Reprise-> Box Of Rain, Cassidy

Encore: Ripple

Summer of 1998 was a return to touring as I knew it for so many years following the Grateful Dead. Sort of. The Furthur Festival had been put into motion for the third year in a row -- Bobby, Phil, Mickey and Bruce together again as The Other Ones -- rollin' through America, hittin' many popular outdoor music sheds (and a few arenas) across the land. Determined was I to get out there on the road and catch a few dates, as many as time and money (the most significant factor) would allow.

Playing one show only at each stop meant the party kept Truckin' along from town to town. The many tour stops was good as well as bad: more fun places to enjoy a show but many, many miles to travel especially considering my home base at the time was the town of Missoula in western Montana. Compared to the overall number of nights that The Other Ones played, I didn't see many: Deer Creek-> Riverport-> Fiddler's Green-> Vegas, baby. Twas a helluva trip with more than quite a few hours behind the wheel. Thankfully the miles of interstate ran through much of the most beautiful scenery that America's Lower 48 has to offer.

On the 21st of July, after the last song was played at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, the music stopped for me (for awhile, at least) and the long, fun trip began to become etched into my memory. Two long days of driving due north and I was back where the journey started eleven days before. My old VW bus really hated me for awhile after that.

Two weeks later it was time to get On The Road Again -- off to San Francisco for my very first Phil & Friends shows!

My tour buddy April, who I had met and became fast friends and eventually roommates with back in Salt Lake City when I went to the University of Utah, had left the Rocky Mountain west behind and moved back to the Bay Area, well, Santa Rosa specifically, where she was from, about an an hour north of San Francisco.

When these two nights for Phil & Friends were announced, she spent every last cent in her bank account to get as many tix as she could. And two were for me! [Huge smile on my face right now remembering that... damn girl, I just wish I knew where in the freakin' world she was nowadays!] I think she left like 10 messages a day on my machine in Montana, and if I recall correctly, an inbox full of e-mail. She did not quit until I answered her and told her, yeah, sure, I can head on down. It was a matter of money and making sure my bus was okay for 3 more thousand miles. ♫ Over mountain passes and through a hot desert, to Phil Lesh & Friends I go...

After over 1,000 miles and two solid days of driving (well, from sunrise to late at night,) finally... the Pacific Ocean! Not quite but close... Santa Rosa is inland a short a ways... but we did go to the beach the morning after I got there, the morning of the show. Bunches of Heads who April was friends with came over later that afternoon and we all trucked on down over the Golden Gate Bridge and straight to The Haight. My first time ever at The Fillmore. This was gonna be sweet!

The band for this Phil & Friends go around looked somewhat similar to The Other Ones a couple weeks before. Half of TOO was here as well as half of Ratdog. Seeing those players on stage gave folks a mildly good idea of the type of show it would be.

Playin' out of a short Jam to start the show had the place movin'. Soon enough it would be quite clear that something's a little different on this night. A regular first set moving from one song to another, this most definitely is not. Within a few minutes Playin' gets left behind for a jam that goes a little spacey but doesn't pack much punch and doesn't really go anywhere great... until eventually they break out the first notes of Terrapin. Whoa, baby! In late '97 at Maritime Hall in San Francisco, with David Gans' band The Broken Angels, Phil was a part of a Terrapin twice... but this is different. This one, methinks, could and should truly be considered the first playing of the song since Jerry on 7/8/95 at Soldier Field. There were no vocals here, which was rather interesting. Phil & Bobby led the band through the instrumental version so perfectly at times. Dave Ellis shines and when it wasn't his turn to step up, Steve Kimock adds nicely... and almost respectfully, careful not to sound like Jerry. After all, this show was two days before the anniversary of Garcia leaving us. It may have been three years since... but believe it or not, a lot of people were still mourning, at least to some degree. Of course over time life had gone on and new musical projects started and others were still growing... but healing takes time. And especially at the anniversary there was a lot of thought from people on Jerry. Maybe Steve realized that and was careful out of respect for his friend who I'm sure he missed as much as we did.

While it was so nice to have been at the last GD Terrapin and the first again here, Sugaree was the first great moment of the night. This may have been a much-loved Jerry song but Kimock turns it on here. His guitar work seems to be a perfect compliment to Phil singing as well as the rest of the band playing this so nicely. Finally a tune with structure all the way through and the crowd loved it! West L.A. I hadn't heard since the summer before at Shoreline, and with Bonnie Raitt, so that was treat... and Mountains I heard at Deer Creek but hearing it again was just damn sweet! Only 5 songs in the first set but not bad. The territory out of Playin' and into Terrapin was just a little weird and had it been in the 2nd set it woulda made a lot more sense. Still, I remember feeling on freakin' top of the world to be there.

Now, how is it the most played Grateful Dead song ever (live + radio) could be sooooo incredibly popular... still!? What a damn treat this was! Better than Terrapin I dare say. Bobby & Phil played Truckin' with Bruce in April '96 and later Weir busted it out on the Furthur Festival that summer. Phil sat in at Shoreline that summer (where it was in the setlist) so before it re-emerged with TOO in '98, it had been played. But here was my first time hearing it live since Riverport Summer of '95. Hell yeah!!!! This recording and bringing in facts from other setlists, man... bringin' so much back to me!

[Hmm... I had no idea that my posting yesterday of the little dog in tie-dye from between shows on the Dead's '95 Summer Tour would some somehow sort of tie in with this. Interesting...]

Another treat followed Truckin', very brief but... oh yeah... wow, holy crap, what are the odds, seriously? First Smokestack Lightnin' (and I didn't know this until just a moment ago) since 10/18/94 Madison Square Garden... and I was there. From 10/18/94 until 10/29/00 when Bobby would finally bust it out with Ratdog (and he's only done once since,) this was it's only time played. Okay, so this isn't super-monumental but kinda neat.

Smokestack moved into a cool little O1 Jam which helped establish that this was Bob Weir show? Nah, but it felt like it at times. This was only Phil's 4th show as Phil Lesh & Friends, he hadn't really put together a (semi) permanent band yet. Why not bring Bobby back into the fold for a weekend at The Fillmore? Since fans had been exposed to a different lineup each time out so far for Phil, and since Bobby's been there twice, and since no one knew what was on the horizon for P&F, it was great to have Bobby Rockstar there.

Phil stepped up to the mic and took the show over with a nicely done Half-Step. He did this back at his first show in February and again a bunch o' times on Summer Tour. It was really feelin' like his... which... it's not his but he's doing it really well and paying a beautiful tribute to Jerry each time. To see Bobby & Phil playing these Jerry songs and to hear Bob's rhythm on them -- so bitter sweet. The feeling back then was ten times as deep as it is now, across the hearts and souls of so many people. Three years [since Jerry's death] was awhile but when hearing certain songs that haven't been in the kids' ears regularly in that time, it brought tears to people... and I don't blame 'em.

Following Half-Step, Bobby mixed in more Ratdog flavor, a pretty big helping this time with a sweet Easy Answers. Not many people called that song sweet when it was in the GD repetoire... but with Ratdog and here with Phil -- so nice. Going right into Watchtower, moving into A Love Supreme (which was just excellent) then through a Playin' Reprise (with bits of O1 here and there) ... and then capping all this off with Box of Rain -- holy cow, just a really nicely played and oh so sweet section of music. It was not a perfect night of music, but Box of Rain made it a perfect night.

For my money, I think they shoulda skipped Playin' Reprise and gone with Love Supreme-> Cassidy-> Box Of Rain and end of set. Wrapping things up Ratdog-style with 10 minutes of Cassidy still wasn't bad and the Ripple encore sent us into the night just a whole bunch of happy little Deadhead campers.

Between bars and going to the beach in the wee hours of the morning, we eventually headed back across the bridge, finally pulling off the highway and into April's neighborhood just as the first light of the day was showing itself. There couldn't have been any other summer day when sleeping until noon was so sweet, only to eventually wake up and have a big Saturday breakfast in the early afternoon ... and then do it all over again!

Two long days of driving was worth every mile to be hanging out with one of my closest friends and seeing Phil and Bobby at The Fillmore... oh my God, life was so damn good!!

source: Neumann KM184 > lunatec preamp > 20bit A>D >
Tascam DA-P1 > digi patch bay > D7 > CD

8/7/98 Phil & Friends is @ Archive.org
for both Downloading & Listening


8-07-98 a.k.a. 8-7-98 a.k.a. 8/07/98 a.k.a. 8/7/98 a.k.a. 98-08-07 320 kbps mp3 download & setlist

Dead Dog on a Bus

(unfortunately kinda blurry but click to see bigger, if you wish)

Looking through the very few photos
that I possess anymore... I saw this one
and thought I'd post it up.

I don't especially care for little football dogs
(yappy pint-sized dogs you can punt halfway down a field)
or dogs wearing clothing!
but this little guy in tie-dye was pretty cool
just chillin' on top of someone's bus.

7/7/95

This was at a campground on the edge of Springfield on the day
between the Riverport shows (near St. Louis, Missouri)
and the final two Grateful Dead shows
at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois.

A jammin' funkin' groovy GD cover band played that night.
There's not a whole lot I remember...
I dosed the second we entered the park.
But I took a few pics right after getting there.

All I wanted to do here was post a couple pics but now there's more... Kinda surreal recalling this now ... no one knew that there would only be a mere two more days left with life existing as so many of us had known it for oh so long. It's difficult to put into words how I'm feeling thinking about this right now; it boils down to... it's like I'm again in disbelief. Only two more days and that would be it as far as traveling to shows and seeing all the Heads who've driven from one end of the country to the other just to hear the boys play. "Yeah, we mailordered, no way we'd be missing shows at Soldier," I can imagine hearing someone say to me. It was probably not too long after this that I mailordered for some shows on the 1995 Fall Tour... tickets today buried in a box, maybe never to be seen again. A sad memory. But what great times there were!

There's a band out on the highway.
They're high-steppin' into town.
They're a rainbow full of sound.
It's fireworks, calliopes and clowns --

Everybody's dancing.

My bus is the red & white '67 on the right.

(click the pic to see it plenty bigger)