Just a Friday Nite Run with RSJ

Crickey! All day we hovered, yes, hovered just above freezing, yes, that cold, just above freezing. Brrrr!!!! What happened to the beautifully springtime temps we had for a little while there? WHERE'D THEY GO?!?!??! I dunno... but they're gone for now.

One interesting thing as we leave mid-April and head towards May -- even at 10:40 p.m. there's still light in the sky. Darkness will be here soon but the days are REALLY long again. I hadn't even really noticed until after work tonight. Straight from work I had gone to the Rec Center for a run, and after I finished, I walked back out to my truck and turned on the ignition to pollute the atmosphere and when I went to turn my headlights on, I looked out the windshield and thought that I could drive home without them. That was around an hour ago. Headlights so not needed because there's enough light to see the road clearly enough without 'em. Kinda cool! Why hadn't I even noticed this lately? Beats me.

Now it's Friday night and if I can wrap this post up before 11-11:15, I've gotta decide on whether or not to head back out for a Guinness or two. Hmmm.... beer is never needed... but I worked 12 hours, I got a run in.... would be nice to see who's at the bar, kick back and down a few, maybe play some pool..... hmmm....

· indoors... the trail is wayyyyyy tooo slushy! ·

Friday Nite After Work Run: 19 minutes 21 sec

+5 sec

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Run Time April: 2 hours 32 minutes March: 3 hours 57 minutes February: 3 hours 11 minutes

4 days since my last run!? Something's not right with me this month. I don't think I've put a string of two days together with a run. What the heck's up with that? Oh well. At least I am getting some runs in.

Not the easiest time tonight. Not sure why but a good guess might be because my runs aren't occurring slightly more often. Minor burning in the quads, minor aching/suffering of the the lungs and cardiovascular system. Still I was able to make it around the track enough times to reach my desired running time for tonight.

Slowly working my way towards 20 minutes... but I'm not so sure I can reach my goal for April -- BAD CHRIS! Shoot. Will make me feel like I failed... but I'll have to see what I can do about mentally erasing that thought and setting a goal for May.

Running tunes came from the album of the day...
	Rebecca St. James Pray 1998
Pray OK Give Myself Away Hold Me Jesus I'll Carry You Come Quickly Lord Peace Mirror Lord, You're Beautiful Love To Love You Omega ... Be Thou My Vision [hidden track]

Love this album from RSJ. There are no really fast-paced songs on here but at the same time almost nothing that qualifies as a ballad either. Not that ballads are bad but too many of them can make an album, especially a Christian album, too fluffy. Last thing I wanna be hearing is a Christian album that's too soft... not that too soft is bad music... just not for me. This is closer to louder and faster with nearly an "alternative" sound at times. God is always first and foremost in all her songs; no ambiguous lyrics here like the writing of some other Christian artists. But while Ms. St. James puts a message about God right out there, it doesn't feel too over-the-top preachy. Wow, an ideal mixture? Maybe. Good stuff!!

Jesus freak Hideout has a quick review for more reading.

find a dload @ Música Cristã MP3

Stoopid Diseases

If you could save a child's life... why wouldn't you?


April 25

World Malaria Day



a net could save someone's life... maybe a child's life.

click either image to learn more and/or learn how you can help.

I can't think of a title right now. Is there some law that says there's gotta be one? Well? HUH?!? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN' AT?!?!?!

No music today. Yesterday. I'm confused. It's closing in on midnight so it's still today. But it's 4 hours behind the majority of America's East Coast-based population. 99% of anyone who reads this will read it tomorrow. Today. Not yesterday.

I didn't go for a run. I should have. Stoooopid!

Didn't press play on a show either. A music-less day.

Highest temperature of the year we had -- 57-58° (about 14 C.)
Oh so close to 60... not there yet. Almost May and no 60 yet.

Anyway... some randomness...

The kids they dance and shake their bones!

NOOOOO, not another Day Job!!!!



One of my grandma's bazillion postcards that I've been meaning to ebay for about 5 years now... maybe I'll post
an interesting one now and again...

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (circa 1963)

(click pics for bigger, if ya want.)





Tis I some years ago...

(it's not drunk, you're blurry!)

The Adventures of Indiana Ratdog and that Wrong Way Feelin'

Yes, it's Earth Day... or it was. But it doesn't really excite me anymore, not like it used to. Maybe next Earth Day I'll reminisce about Earth Day 1990 in New York City... Avenue of the Americas had booths set up for blocks and blocks and there was a HUGE concert in Central Park featuring the B-52's amongst about another five or six bands and a whole slew of celebrities speaking. There's not much on this whole interweb dealie about that concert -- I think it was the largest in the world. Maybe it still holds that title? There sure were a few people there and today, if it's not the largest ever, it's one of the top few!

But now...

Tuesday Nite Tunes Time. I sure don't listen to Ratdog enough. Some would argue that RD sucks, boring, waste of time. Some wanna boycott all things with Weir outside of the GD because of his mismanagement of the Dead's vault of live shows. Well, they can have that opinion... but fact o' the matter, Jeeves, is Ratdog plays some good, fun shows! No, there is no Jerry but he's not a god... ooooh, is that blasphemous? I love his music more than anything but I guess I'm a little more open-minded than some to be able to dig whatever within the whole GD family of bands... that's a big list, right, Abbadon?

Anyway... this show is on Archive but I've got a handful or two that currently are not which I hope to eventually post up here for folks. Slow goin'... I mean, I dig the Bob Star and all, but the Grateful Dead and Jerry stuff has just gotta have top billing, priorities 1 & 2, the King Enchiladas!

And I got a semi-request for a Bob and Rob show from 1990 -- already workin' on it, my friend. I'll see what I can do. Might take a few weeks, maybe a month, hopefully no more than 6 weeks, but aside from time, it might be kinda easy to swing. And speaking of Weir-Wasserman, I don't plan upcoming shows that much ahead of time... aside from the rare "This Date in History" show I never really know when I'll post something... but I can say this -- coincidentally I do indeed have some Weir-Wasserman in the queue for the semi-near future.

On with my show o' the night...

Ratdog

			November 9, 1998 Egyptian Room - Murat Centre Indianapolis, Indiana

Bass solo-> Jam-> Jack Straw-> Take Me To The River,
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Josephine-> Wrong Way Feelin'*,
KC Moanª, El Pasoª, Desolation Rowª¹, West L.A. Fadeaway¹,
Looks Like Rain¹-> The Other One Jam¹->
Sax/Drums-> Drums-> Cassidy
Encore: Sugar Magnolia

* First Time Played; ª acoustic; ¹ with Al Schnier of moe.

I love this old school Ratdog. A few months earlier The Other Ones had delighted fans across the nation ... Fall meant time for individual projects to get back into gear. Actually Phil was on his very first post-GD tour with his own band but Bobby and his band, they were getting to be old pros at this. Another Fall Tour and with a lead guitarist on board for the first time -- Mark Karan. This would be about his eighth show in less than two weeks.

Much different than the GD did, Ratdog interestingly (often) opened shows back then with a Rob Wasserman bass solo leading into the band walking out and joining in... and then out walks Bobby. Ahhh, nice spotlight, huh, Rock Star?!

Jack Straw is really cool to hear... well, except for Jay Lane taking some of the verses. I don't care for that too much but over the song itself is just a great way to get this crowd into it. It's so good to hear. The band blends all their sounds so nicely together, Dave Ellis on sax has some space to shine and the fever in Bob's voice let's everyone know he's gonna do his best to put on a fun show for everyone.

That's evident with Take Me To The River. Oh yeah, fun indeed!! The Schoolgirl that follows keeps, while a little on the pedestrian side, keeps the theme going. Bob really gets into near the end to give it an excellent finish!

Josephine gives the boys some room to kind of open it up a little more. Mark Karan gets his first spotlight of the night here, giving the song quite a bluesy feel, more so than previous RD versions that are more rockin'. But then Ellis steps up and his sax takes the song to jazzier pastures. And of course Bobby gives it his flair and all together it's an interesting mix all within the same song.

The bombshell of the night happened next and I don't think half the people in the house had any idea what they were hearing. I don't necessarily blame them as I bet most were GD fans first and Bobby solo material took a pretty far back backseat. I mean how many people actually had the Heaven Help The Fool album? Sure a lot did... but as many compared to Terrapin Station or In The Dark. But man, wow, I wish I was there or I wish I didn't know the setlist of this show before Pressing Play 'cause how sweet it was to hear Bobby bust one out -- Wrong Way Feelin'. Ahhhh yeah. "Honey you look just like ol' Pharaoh's daughter" Bob sang. Hmmm... "pharaoh's daughter"... Egyptian Room... nice call, Bob! This was his first time with this tune in over seven years, since Weir-Wasserman opened for Hot Tuna in Old Orchard Beach, Maine in 7/28/91. You can really tell he was having fun playing it... way cool to hear it busted out for the first time since then.

With KC Moan the fans are given a dose of those Weir-Wasserman days as the rest of the band leaves the stage for just those two to play. Karan comes out to add some cool licks on El Paso and about halfway through the acoustic Desolation Row, it turns full on electric as the rest of the band comes out and joins in. It's an amazing seamless transition and soon the energy level rises to purely Wow. My mind wandered to better GD versions where Bob's puttin' more into it but this wasn't bad, not at all.

The fans seem to love West L.A. Fadeaway like way more than anyone ever did when the Dead played it. My guess why -- that connection to Jerry that people still longed for. On most of the other tunes there are spots where Jerry would be right up front... but here Mark Karan plays it respectfully; I could almost sense that he was being himself and not trying to step on the Spirit of Jerry. But with West L.A., man, these are Jerry's words and so the Heads in the hall, they sang along with glee... glee? They just dug it and were thankful Bob's paying tribute to that guy we all missed so very much.

Looks Like Rain had some great moments as well. The sax from Dave Ellis, holy cow, really makes this beautiful in a way it wasn't with the GD. Some nice emotion from Weir with vocals and the rest of the band, Jeff Chimenti on keys and Jay Lane on drums, they all again make each of their sounds blend into a very cool swirl of delicious Ratdoggie Dogg goodness. Mmmm!

I didn't much notice Al Schnier of moe. playing alongside everyone. Another listen might allow me tune in but not this time. The Other One Jam has been better and for a few minutes there it's like a halftime break but really late in the show. Cassidy is gorgeous and the Sugar Mags encore -- what a perfect way to end the night!

If I had to rate this I'd give it a Very Good to Excellent... yeah, that sounds about right. One thing's for sure -- I wish I was there!!

Source: Nak 300 Shotguns> Sony D7> CDR

1-8-66 aka 01-08-66 aka 1/8/66 aka 01/08/66 aka 66-01-08

Ratdog 11/9/98 Murat Centre is @ Archive.org
for your listening and downloading pleasure.
320 kbps mp3 download and setlist Bob Weir Rob Wasserman Murat Center

Surfing? Nada. Nada Surf? Yes!

We've definitely turned the corner on Spring... finally. I think the temp's been above freezing for about a day and a half or two days now or something like that... for quite awhile the snow's slowly been melting away... and in the morning there was no ice out there. Soon enough them daisies'll be poppin' up, I just know it. The world will be in bloom. I guess I'm ready for it. It's been SO NICE wearing shorts the past few days! I came here to escape but I can't shake the old ways... meaning I'm very much a warm weather person... sort of -- I love wearing shorts but I also dig the cold. Total confliction! Some of each is nice but not a LOT of one and little of another. Here you get so little opportunity to wear shorts and shoes with no socks. But spring has sprung and it'll be summer in no time ... but that doesn't last long before Fall sets in again, which also doesn't last very long... I'm tellin' ya, gonna freakin' be snowin' again in no time it seems! Oi!!!!

And at the moment I'm sittin' here with not a thought of leaving yet. Part of me wants to stay to further explore this wilderness, to test my limits more than I have... but at the same time, while I haven't looked into it lately in quite a long time, I know part of me also wants to bolt from here -- Alaska experience over; time to get back to the world. But I hate the world. Sort of. The crap that plagues America, there's just less of it here... and I like that so.

Ahhh well, in any case, I was out there enjoyin' the weather today. I SO wanted to run on the trail... I walked to the end of the road to check it out -- SLUSH. No running on slush so tonight I headed to the gym. Gonna be awhile for that trail to dry out, unfortunately... so indoors I must remain in order to get my running in.

· indoors ·

Monday Night Run: 19 minutes 16 seconds

+6 sec

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Run Time April: 2 hour 13 minutes March: 3 hours 57 minutes February: 3 hours 11 minutes

2½ days since my last run. Not great but not terrible. Been steady, I think, with my increases of 5 or 6 seconds. Decent run tonight. I really can't remember the last time I had a difficult time. Pretty cool!

But I kinda feel like I'm a wuss in not bumping that up by more but eh, whatever. It's just that it feels like I'm never gonna be able to run a marathon. Not that I need to. Not that I necessarily want to, at least not for enjoyment or anything, not to test myself, but for charity. I'll see what happens. More on that at a later date...

Running tunes came from the album of the day...
	Nada Surf The Proximity Effect 1998
Hyperspace Amateur Why Are You So Mean To Me? Mother's Day Troublemaker 80 Windows Bacardi Bad Best Friend Dispossession The Voices Firecracker Slow Down Robot

I've never listened to this NYC band before. They've got great alternative indie rock and punk pop and kinda grunge sound... not bad. But because of the kinda high number of songs, there's some unneeded filler on the album that could be tossed out, make 'em B-sides, and that would make this a better collection of tunes. Oh well. Still a great mix of kinda mellow and louder, faster songs. Firecracker stands out and was great as one of my running songs. Mother's Day has a peculiar sound to it compared to the rest here -- very cool and remind me of a band or two but I just can't think who right now, sort of a Faith No More meets Weezer... I dunno. I don't really like to compare anyway. All's I know it's not a bad album and I can once again say that I look forward to more Nada Surf for running in the future.

find a dload @ Music Sharing 4 All

Droppin' some GD ... for the first time ever, kind of...

Welcome to Volume 2 in this

Chronological Trip through the Grateful Dead

I might be kinda sorta spoiling a surprise for some of you out there but suck it up, junior, and get over it!

Here's what's goin' down -- I've decided to take a stroll through the history of the Grateful Dead from beginning to end... and this will, to a lesser degree, include All Things Garcia and a wee smattering of this & that along the way. I'm not putting a halt to posting shows from other years... this'll be like an every other Dead show posting kinda dealie-ma-bob sorta like this...

--a volume in the Chronological History Trip
--some other time period
--a volume in the Chronological History Trip
--some other time period

That's when it comes to Grateful Dead stuff. I also plan on, now and then, interjecting (posting up) anything else under the sun from within the GD family, you know: Jerry Band, Legion of Mary, Robert Hunter, Phil, Ratdoggie Dogg, Weir-Wasserman, "The Dead," The Other Ones, etc, etc, et-freakin'-cetera... lotsa side-projects through the years and post-Jerry, also... and I'd like to touch on all of them... with an emphasis on Garcia (like I have been doing.) So the Chronological History Trip will be in effect just not that that often. Catch my drift? Capiche? Okay, good.

Almost two weeks ago I started this adventure with some pre-Grateful Dead -- their studio demo for Autumn Records when they were The Warlocks, before the Grateful Dead name was ever born.

Now I'd be willing to bet the national debt for the current year, and for every year until the end of time, that I'll never actually get through all the material there is... but I'm gonna try. With any luck, the medical powers that be will invent the magical elixir allowing us all to live to the ripe old age of, oh, 420 or so... and maybe by that time I'll have made a noticeable dent in this project.

But for now it's onward with merely the second step in this groovy journey. Today's volume for your listening pleasure: a double dose of Acid Testing... so grab your LSD and hang on, kiddies, this is a neat-o ride!

Grateful Dead -- January 8, 1966
Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco
The Fillmore Acid Test

Stage Chaos/More Power
I'm A King Bee
I'm A Hog For You, Baby
Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks)
Death Don't Have No Mercy
The Star-Spangled Banner

Up at the Fillmore Auditorium, Ken Kesey's Acid Test event was in action when I got there around the middle of the evening. The people were like the backstage crowd at the California Hall dance (that the Airplane played the same night.) The costumes were, wow! A strobe light was flickering at a very high frequency in one corner of the hall and a group of people were bouncing a golden balloon up and down in it. It was a most perturbing frequency. It hurt to look at them. In one corner there was a piece of metal, tubular sculpture by Ron Boise, a thumping machine. If you hit it, you got different sounds if you hit it different places. There was a lot of electronic equipment which sent out a low reverberation that resonated throughout the hall. And the whole place was filled with streamers and balloons. There were TV cameras and a TV screen, and you could see yourself in it. Onstage there was a rock group; anybody could play with them. It was a kind of social jam session. A guy in a white mechanic's suit with a black cross on the front, and on the back a sign saying 'Please Don't Believe in Magic', ran up and down all night. Oh wow! Periodically the lights went out and everybody cheered. Giant Frisbees, balloons like basketballs, acrobats, girls in felt eyelashes four inches long, people with eyes painted on their foreheads, glasses low on the nose with eyes painted on them, men with foxes on their shoulders! Wow! --Michael Rossman (S.F. Chronicle, 1/66)

I've got a feeling that doesn't even truly begin to describe half of what was going on in the Fillmore Auditorium that night in early January, 1966.

According to sketchy information known about those first months of the Grateful Dead, this is about their fifth show or so with that name. This is also, so far as I can tell, the first recording we have with that name (nothing from December of '65 exists that we know of.)

After the insanity on stage, apparently when things were getting set up for band to play, we're treated to a fine and beautifully bluesy King Bee. Just so sweet to groove to and NOTHING like what's on their Autumn Records demo from a couple months before this.

I'm A Hog For You plays more like a pop song that could have been on that demo... makes me think Beach Boys more than a 30 minute Dark Star. Through the years other Leiber and Stoller tunes would be rolled out by the Dead and by Bobby, such as: Searchin', Youngblood, Poison Ivy and Kansas City.

It's almost strange to follow up Leiber and Stoller with some very Primitive Dead in Caution. This is the earlier studio version done proper with room for Pig to be Pig and Jerry to have fun on guitar, with Pigpen on harmonica playing off him. Great to hear them open it up and have fun with it a lot more than within the confines of the song used on the demo.

A splice in the recording almost makes it sound as if Caution goes into Death Don't Have No Mercy ... and while this might have been the case, we can't really know for sure. More Jerry here, completely shinin' on guitar. Oh mannnn... so nice! When Jerry takes it easy it's Phil, Mickey and Pigpen leading the way while Jerry waits for his spot. But where's Bobby? I seriously can't hear him at all. Did he even know how to play guitar yet? Maybe the LSD kinda sorta disabled him from any musical participation. Who knows.

A very cool set of music. Plus there's comedy, too -- keep listening after Death Don't for what is a total treat, something to match the lunacy to kick off the recording! Yeah, only four songs but this is history, pure history. What's here is priceless above and beyond any note of music that would ever follow from this band.

1/8/66 at Archive.org the soundboard for listening only

-or- Download It Right Here GD: 1/8/66 Fillmore Acid Test

1-8-66 aka 01-08-66 aka 1/8/66 aka 01/08/66 aka 66-01-08 320 kbps mp3 download and setlist

Ken Kesey, undated

Bonus Time

this is not the Grateful Dead but reportedly Jerry and Pigpen were there... not that that really means much because I don't think they're on the recording anywhere... but it's cool none-the-less. This isn't one of the larger Acid Tests with masses of people and a band and craziness up the wazoo, apparently it's more of a recording session in a studio, to cut an LP for personal listening... and tripping and such.

Ken Kesey And The Merry Pranksters Sound City Acid Test January 29, 1966 363 6th Street San Francisco

Ken Kesey interviewed by Frank Fey Ken Babbs and harmonica Take Two: Ken Kesey Bull Peggy The Pistol One-way Ticket Bells and Fairies Levitation Trip X The End

Neal Cassady, undated
perhaps from an acid test

1/29/66 @ Archive.org:
for listening only

-or-

Download It Right Here
Sound City Acid Test -- 1/29/66

Well, I was drinkin' last night with a biker...

Comes a time
when the blind man takes your hand
says, "Don't you see?"
got to make it somehow,
on the dreams you still believe
Don't give it up
you've got an empty cup
only love can fill
only love can fill.
--Robert Hunter

I'm kinda lost right now. I got off work tonight (now technically last night) at 9:00 pm after working the usual 12 hour shift. Working on Saturday? No big whoop. A nice Saturday night, yes: some Guinness, some R&R. Watched a movie -- Up The Creek with Tim Matheson. Lame but sometimes funny. Now it's 3 in the morning and I'd really like to start catching some Zzzzzzz's... but I ain't tired. And I even ran before work. That should've ensured I'd be ready to crash after work. Nope. I ran, I rested, I worked, I played, I rested, I slept ... that's what the order should be. Instead it's more like...

I ran, I rested, I worked, I played, I rested, I muttered...

Unconscious Mutterings

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

1. Questioning ::	Police ... interrogation, GUILTY until proven Innocent... in the United States it's supposed to be the other way around... but sadly it's actually not that way at all... they'll say you're innocent until convicted but in reality you must prove your innocence. Where did America go wrong? Well, at least we still have a legal system that is more fair than half the countries in the world. Could be worse -- we could be like China or Iran.
2. Immunity ::	from prosecution
3. Online dating ::	What is: something people use to find a mate. I'll take 18th Century Architecture for a thousand, Alex.
4. Calcium ::	milk
5. Dressing ::	salad
6. Bucket ::	Hell In a ... song by the Grateful Dead, lyrics by John Barlow, music by Bob Weir, click to give a listen if you'd like-->
7. Stain ::	Monica Lewinsky
8. Advanced ::	not beginner
9. Dramatic ::	Don't be a drama queen
10. Self-medication ::	Jack Daniels

Hell In A Bucket -- 6/26/94

Sam Boyd Silver Bowl
Las Vegas, Nevada

Of all the Helena Bucket choices on youtube (only two of which are by the GD,) this one I just happened to be at!

As I remember -- June was WAY too freakin' warm for the Dead in the desert. Much better when La$ Vega$ shows were in April or May. Ideally they shoulda had 'em in like March which they did with Phoenix shows a time or two. No matter what the temperature, the kids they danced and shook their bones and a good time was had by all.

Brrrrrr Fogerty Run

Weekend. NJ Devils lost in the playoffs again. They make it there like every year but success just ain't guaranteed. Worst thing is they lost to the NY Rangers. No one worse to lose to.

NY Mets are doin' well... or at least better. Always good to beat the Phillies! Always good to beat anyone.

This is boring... even to me. I think I'm lazy. To blog about heavy, important subjects I'm just not often into... not that heavy, important subjects aren't on my mind. They are. A lot, especially since so many people just don't give a crap about the world and doing something to help out. Others have gotta pick up the slack... for the slackers, and do more caring about things like...

like the fact that China still sucks. And North Korea has not disarmed yet even though they said they would. Hmmm... did people really think they would? I had some hope but I'm not surprised they haven't ... no one should be surprised they haven't. Maybe one day they'll be dangerous to humans other than their own citizens. Same thing with Iran. But neither should be allowed to get that far. Of course some people think John McCain will be bombing Iran if he is elected President... total B.S. because he has never stated that; the idea is a liberal fabrication to make McCain look like another warmonger.

Fact o' the matter is Iran needs to be stopped from developing nuclear weapons and diplomacy ain't working. That happens in the world when a world leader wants to spit in the rest of the world's face. That's exactly what Ahmadinejerk is doing. I fear that if a Democrat is elected President, nothing will get accomplished when it comes to Iran and then one morning we're going to wake up to learn Israel doesn't exist anymore because they had a little nuclear genocidal cleansing courtesy of Iran. That's not okay.

But I can't do nothin' about it myself... so I went running this morning... and way too early in the morning. Been back for almost an hour now; all clean and rested and aching I am.

Decided to skip driving a few miles to Rec Center at the University or to the gym, and then having to drive back, and went down to the end of my road and hit the trail that runs near my house. I'm not even gonna check when my last time running outside was -- December maybe? Long freakin' time ago. If I ran on the road I'd have been able to spend time running outdoors a bunch of times this year... but I'm a trail runner and so it's either been too slushy or just too darn cold out. 25 ain't too bad for 20 minutes so out I went. Ahhhhh... and brrrrrrrr!!!! Huge difference from running on a track inside when the temperature's like 72 degrees. Zoinks! Wasn't quite ready for this but gotta start getting into it again eventually. Today was eventually. Because of weather making the trail so sloppy, I don't think I'll be outside often over the next month... but this morning it was a good thing. Yes. Good. Yes....... good.

first time outdoors since December? 25° (-4 C)

Saturday Morning Run: 19 minutes 10 seconds

+4 sec

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Run Time April: 1 hour 54 minutes March: 3 hours 57 minutes February: 3 hours 11 minutes

First time running in 5½ days -- BAD!!!!!!!! Way too long to go between runs, idiot. I just don't know where the week went.

Not an easy run -- partially because my lungs were seemingly en fuego and my thighs -- my quads -- man, they were not liking what I was doing to them. About four or five times I had to completely push myself to keep going and not just quit. Oi! I made it, though. When the trail is nice, fine and dandy in the summer and fall, I can turn around and finish right at my door practically ... not with the snow. Couldn't find a good spot to turn around and thus my walk back was much longer than I would have liked -- and my quads HATED me for it.

But I got my run in. To be able to reach a total time for April that eclipses March is not looking like a possibility right now. Not good. We'll see. For now I'm just glad to be back inside. It was so freakin' cold out there but with a fresh log thrown in the wood-burning stove, tis a nice morning by the fire ... and I think I'll take a nap soon to rest this achin' body o' mine.

Running tunes came from the album of the day...
	John Fogerty The Blue Ridge Rangers 1973 debut [1994 CD re-release]
Blue Ridge Mountain Blues Somewhere Listening (To My Name) You're The Reason Jambalaya (On The Bayou) She Thinks That I Still Care California Blues (Blue Yodel #4) Workin' On A Building Please Help Me, I'm Falling Have Thine Own Way, Lord I Ain't Never Hearts Of Stone Today I Started Loving You Again

Fascinating material. How does a guy from Berkeley become a country music singer? I've never really listened to a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival... and I've never heard a John Fogerty album until just a few days ago when I gave this a couple listens for the first time. I know a bunch of CCR's music and I know Fogerty's Centerfield (the song) very well, but was oblivious to the rest. Here's John with his post-CCR solo debut, an album on which he played all the instruments but wrote none of the songs. What this is -- a loooooong way from Berkeley, that's what this is. I like it just fine, good stuff here, well done. It'll be interesting to eventually play his 2nd album and see if he's kept this Tennessee country music sound or progressed to something else, a sound that's more rock and roll.

320 kbps dload @ Back On The Road

A Bay Area Bluegrass Bonanza

Halfway through April and the snow has not gone away ... in fact it's not only not all melted and still very much covering the ground -- it was snowing again this morning!! Well, a light snowfall, not even a dusting... but it was 11° (-12 C) when I was makin' coffee earlier around 6 ... and now a couple hours later: -4 (about -20 C.) Seriously? It's dropped 15 degrees?!?! Did I mention that it's mid-April? We all know that, right, that we're now more than halfway to May? This is still winter. But it's technically most definitely not winter. -4° right now!! This is winter. No, it's Spring. Totally it's winter. No, wait... Spring. Winter. Rabbit Season. Duck Season. Rabbit Season. Duck Season. Bluegrass season...

Great American String Band

June 13, 1974

Keystone, Berkeley, California

Jerry Garcia -- banjo, vocals
David Grisman -- mandolin, vocals
David Nichtern -- guitar, vocals
Richard Greene -- fiddle
Buell Neidlinger -- bass



1st Set: Colored Aristocracy, Cedar Hill, I'll Be A Gambler If You Deal The Cards,
My Plastic Banana Is Not Stupid, Moonlight Waltz, Swing '42, Methodist Preacher,
Limehouse Blues

2nd Set: Bud's Bounceª, Dawg's Bull, Russian Lullaby, Virgin's Lamentª,
Swing '42ª, Drink Up And Go Home, Dawg's Rag

ª with Bob Gurland on mouth trumpet

This lineup of musicians is so very similar to the more well-known band who debuted a year and a few months before this -- Old & In The Way. But some changes have been made including John Kahn out and in his place on bass is Buell Neidlinger a.k.a. "Flame Bombadine." Nichtern is in for Peter Rowan on guitar. And lastly Richard Greene is returning to play again with Garcia & Grisman; Greene was the fiddle player for O&ITW for about the first half of their existence before Vassar Clements came in.

There weren't many shows with this bunch of guys, in fact this is just the fifth in less than two months... the fifth and final show for his group calling themselves the Great American String Band.

Colored Aristocracy may be the first song of the night but Grisman's Cedar Hill is definitely the song that gets the people in the Keystone excited for what's to come. I'll Be A Gambler is more of the same, very upbeat and probably makin' a lot of lucky ones on this night want to get up and do some dancin'. Might not be the Grateful Dead... but it still rocks... well, in the way this type of music can.

Now I'm no bluegrass afficionado by any means but as the band works their way through the rest of the set, they are demonstrating all around some beautiful ability to handle these instruments in a way that would make Bill Monroe quite pleased, I'm sure.

Methodist Preacher is my favorite of the first half of the show. For several minutes it's just Greene on fiddle and Grisman on mandolin, working to let the "rhythm generate for awhile." Minutes of that magic goes by before the rest of the band starts in to help finish up the song. Holy Appalachian Stomp, Jed Clampett, the crowd sure gets into this one!!! Whew!!! Oh yeah!

In the second set we finally get to hear Jerry sing. While he's been playin' the heck out of that banjo of his, the few songs with vocals so far have gone to Nichtern. Jerry's in the band but this ain't a Garcia-led show by any means. My ultimate highlight of the show comes compliments of Jerry in his second ever playing of Irving Berlin's Russian Lullaby. Richard Greene helped out on this when it was recorded in the studio for inclusion on Jerry's second studio album -- Compliments -- which had just been released the same month as this show. Twas just twenty-four hours before in the same bar by the same band that the song was debuted and here they are again with "Spud Boy," "Irving Garcia," giving it another go. Second ever playing? Beautiful! And at just over eight minutes it's the longest tune of the night to this point -- finally, a little room to just play... well, then again, considering there have been instrumentals performed, there's been plenty of room to play but, you know, there's just more of it in this song.

Grisman is actually the primary guy here, although Nichtern, sounding beautifully like Jerry on acoustic guitar, has his time to shine as does Greene on fiddle... while Jerry's part is actually not very big at all! Sort of ironic? I mean, Russian Lullaby is on his LP and he'd go on to perform it almost 150 times all the way up into the summer of 1994, and here he is singing it but his banjo playing is never a significant part of the music. One more interesting note about this 2nd ever playing -- it would be more than a year before he'd play it again, not until the show right before the JGB would head east for their big East Coast tour in the Fall of '75. Kind of a long time to sit on the shelf between this playing and all the rest. Neat stuff, huh? Yeah, I knew you'd think so.

Django Reinhardt's Swing '42 sees a return engagement in the 2nd Set, yes, repeated in the same show. The reason for this -- they wanted to do a version with guest Bob Gurland who had appeared on Bud's Bounce to open the set as well as Virgin's Lament right before this. Gurland, when he's out there and playin', adds an interesting horn sound to make the songs he joins in on a bit different than the rest. And while Set 1 was comprised of a bunch of quick numbers, at over ten minutes here we have another rambler, even more so than Russian Lullaby... more space to just play which I'm sure many Deadheads appreciate. I sure do.

Jerry sings once more and leads the way on not quite the last song but Drink Up And Go Home sure woulda been a great tune for the encore. Something else was probably played last, after Dawg's Rag -- the recording quickly fades away with a few notes of tuning heard. Judging from the night before, there most likely was something else to close out the show but odds are it's nowhere to be found in existence today. Oh well. Still, despite the very end probably missing, this is a great listen... and it's the end of an era for Jerry. Unless I'm mistaken there wouldn't be another Garcia-Grisman pairing for over 16 years, not until early December in 1990. Did Jer, in a live setting like this, play the banjo in all that time or did it just lay dormant? Thankfully, eventually, the time came when the two would join together again giving us more tunes both old and new. It took awhile but perhaps that makes this old stuff (and the later years Garcia-Grisman) even more special than if it had been taking place all along.

Source
Master Soundboard ? > ??? > CD
•
Sound Quality: hissy during the quiet moments only
(in between songs) but sounds great when the music's a playin'!



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GASB 6/13/74 Keystone Berkeley - Part 1 · Part 2 - Keystone Berkeley 6/13/74

6-13-74 aka 06-13-74 aka 6/13/74 aka 06/13/74 aka 74-06-13 320 kbps mp3 download and setlist

Pope Schmope

The Pope is NOT the face of Christianity.

There's only one between God and men ... that's Christ alone.

Pope What's-His-Name -- he might be a great and holy man...

but he is not Christ's replacement or representative on Earth.

I am a Christian... and the Pope, he does NOT represent me.

That is all.

Celebrating The Dead at Virginia Tech

April 16, 2007 -- 33 dead, 23 injured, hundreds, if not thousands, emotionally scarred to some degree for the rest of their lives. Mental illness is pretty darn screwed up and something most stable human beings just can't understand. Mental illness is what brought about the worst mass shooting incident in the history of this great nation (that is, the worst to date... surely someone will try to out-do the Virginia Tech Massacre -- and probably succeed -- just a matter of time.) Surprised that it took place I was not (and when the next one happens I won't be surprised again.) Shocked by such a horror? No, not really. Stuff like this will happen in a (mostly) free society.

Perhaps firearms need to be banned. Hmmm, cocaine is illegal. Marijuana is illegal. Methamphetamine, heroin, LSD, E -- all illegal. If they're banned or illegal to have, how is it I can go score each of those in the next hour or two if I wanted to? Hmmmm. Those under 21 years old are not allowed to buy alcohol in this country -- thousands of underage beers I've indulged in, thank you very much. There's much that's illegal and banned, but come on, that does not mean it's unattainable.

It's illegal to enter the United States without going through an official Border Crossing/Port of Entry... and illegal to gain employment using a fake Social Security number... but there are over 12 million people illegally in the United States right now and many working using false, illegal documents.

It's illegal to possess all the materials needed for a bomb to blow up a Federal Courthouse in America. It's also illegal to hijack an airplane full of people and fly it into a skyscraper. I seem to remember that happening a few years ago. Yes, and it actually happened twice not to mention another plane into The Pentagon and one more, a fourth plane, into the ground in Pennsylvania.

But banning guns -- making them illegal -- that would stop the next mass shooting incident?

So let me get this straight -- law-abiding citizens would not be allowed to have a weapon while the criminals will have them still? And to defend yourself against someone wishing to do you harm with a gun, you've got to use your hands, I guess? Doesn't seem like a fair fight, does it? Well, then again life's not fair ... but why should criminals have the upper hand? Should an innocent victim really have to sacrifice his or her life, or maybe a whole family's life, because guns are illegal while the criminals still have them? That just doesn't make sense.

In any case, it is terribly sad that the Virginia Tech tragedy occurred on that mid-April day one year ago. But a much happier incident took place on the very same college campus thirty years ago tonight. There were smiles everywhere and a lot of dancing... and plenty of great music.

This world can sometimes seem like an absolutely horrible place... but if you get down and blue, or if you get confused, listen to the music play...

Grateful Dead - April 14, 1978
Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, Virginia
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University (Virginia Tech)

1st Set: The Promised Land, Tennessee Jed,
Me & My Uncle-> Big River, Peggy-O, Looks Like Rain, Dire Wolf,
It's All Over Now, Dupree's Diamond Blues, The Music Never Stopped

2nd Set: Samson & Delilah, Ship Of Fools, Dancin' In The Streets->
Drums-> Space-> The Other One-> Black Peter-> Sugar Magnolia

Encore: Johnny B. Goode

A nearly perfect 1st Set. A minor lyrical flub here or there but so well played from first note to last. Peggy-O stands out -- gorgeous! The second set shoots out of the starting gate with some more great energy all through Samson. A neat little tease comes afterwards while getting ready for Ship Of Fools -- notes of Smokestack Lightning. What makes this interesting is that sucker was on the shelf, not played in six years... and it would be another 6½ years before the GD would bust it out in Woooooster, Mass, Fall '84. Oh well, no Smokestack here but they get into such a sweet groove on Dancin', havin' a good ol' fun time for what is purely a 17 minute dance-fest heading into a mega-long Drums. The high point of the set and probably the show has got to be near the end of Black Peter... sent shivers through me as Jerry works himself into some fevered emotion there. So nice! There is just no goin' wrong with this show.

Source
Betty's 7 inch, 2 track Master Soundboard Reels>PCMx2>DAT>CD
•
Sound Quality: A+ all the way

4/14/78 at Archive.org: the soundboard for listening only.

-or-

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GD 4/14/78 Virginia Tech - Part One · Part 2 - Virginia Tech 4/14/78 · Virginia Tech - Part Three

4-18-78 aka 04-18-78 aka 4/18/78 aka 04/18/78 aka 78-04-18 320 kbps mp3 download and setlist