Music
32 Years Ago Today
Being a Gen X Deadhead means I also was in my early 20s when Phish started to make a splash on the scene. I had first heard of the band while in England in late 1991 from a UCLA student that was in the same junior study abroad program I was a part of and who was at the same university I was. The album he turned me on to was Lawn Boy.
When I returned home from my time abroad I settled in with my crew and got busy seeing as many Dead shows as I could. A few of the friends that I was hanging out with and seeing shows with indicated we needed to go see Phish. Having been introduced to them already, I was down with that. Of course, this was also the time that I was introduced to Widespread Panic by a Southern refugee from Auburn University who crashed on our couch for a few months in 1993 (he was a high school buddy of one of my roommates).
As it happened, I saw both Phish and Widespread Panic for the first time in 1994 at the venerable Warfield Theater in downtown San Francisco. That venue was the site of the some legendary 1980 Dead shows, and for me and my friends, some super fun Jerry Garcia Band shows in the early 90s. Deal, anyone?
It was 32 years ago today, on May 25, 1994, that my friend JC and I walked into the Warfield to catch Phish for the first time. I remember we sat in either the very last row of the venue or the second to last row and had an absolute blast. I didn’t know the band’s catalog all that well, but it didn’t matter because JC and I knew how to have a good time, even in the very back of the venue!
In hindsight, the set list isn’t one I’d like to see or hear today. Rift as a set opener? No thanks! There are some nuggets in there though, including Chalk Dust Torture, Tweezer, and Maze. I have seen 69 Phish shows in the intervening 32 years and still love the band. Indeed, the joy I’ve experienced with my friends at those shows is, in my mind, the ripening of extremely good karma.
Here’s to a bunch more in the future!
Hat tip to Phish.net for sending me an email reminding me of my first show!
Rush is My Jam Show #16, for Geddy!
To celebrate the great new Rick Beato interview with Geddy that dropped today, I’m sharing another setlist in my ongoing fantasy Rush tour. This interview reminds me of one of the reasons I love Rush so much, which is that the guys in the band seem like such down to earth, nice guys.
This show, #16 on the tour, would be killer. Heavy hitters and deep cuts aplenty. Thanks Geddy and Alex!
Encore
This represents why I love Goose in particular and jambands in general. This is an encore from Goose’s El Gonzo festival last week down in Mexico. Cortez the Killer had never been played before by Goose so it was a major bust out, and then the Rockdale is classic Goose. Not my favorite version, but it’s unique because Jim James is rocking out with them. It’s also a good reflection of what I am listening to a lot these days, namely live Goose.
Ragin' with Tom Joad
This past week we were learning about the Great Depression in my APUSH class. I usually have my students read an excerpt from The Grapes of Wrath while we are looking at the Dust Bowl and the experience of rural Americans during the early 1930s. I read the novel in high school (I think most California high schoolers my age were likely assigned the book at some point) and really didn’t like it. However, I read it again in my early 20s and enjoyed the novel immensly.
While discussing the book, Bruce Springsteen’s song “The Ghost of Tom Joad” came up. Knowing my kids, I also mentioned that Rage Against the Machine did a great, heavy cover of the tune. That led me to remember after class that Rage also did a fantastic cover of Dylan’s Maggie’s Farm, a song I was introduced to by the Dead.
Both of those songs are relevant now and the Rage versions, I think, convey the proper anger the lyrics convey more subtly. Enjoy!
Real Rush Tour Predictions and Wish List
The real ‘Fifty Something’ Rush tour is starting in a month. I’ll have a few friends in attendance at the first run of shows down in LA. I’ll have to wait till August and the fall for shows in Toronto and Seattle. I figured I’d make a few predictions about what songs they’ll play and also share a few songs I hope they play, but likely will not. From what I’ve seen they are planning on playing around 33/34 songs all together. I’ll come back and visit this after the first run of shows.
I’m going to pick 10 songs that aren’t Tom Sawyer or YYZ (or Spirit of Radio, or 2112 or Subdivisions) that I think will be in the rotation. In no particular order…
- Natural Science
- Witch Hunt
- Analog Kid
- Red Sector A
- The Big Money
- The Trees
- Red Barchetta
- Freewill
- Ghost of a Chance
- Closer to the Heart
Here are 10 songs I’d absolutely love to hear, but probably won’t be played on this tour. Indeed, the fact that so many great songs will not get played is why I dream that Rush was a jamband.
- Superconductor
- Tears
- Losing It
- Chemistry
- Alien Shore
- Seven Cities of Gold
- Out of the Cradle
- Earthshine
- New World Man
- Turn the Page
New Oteil Arising
Like for millions of other Deadheads, Oteil Burbridge is now part of my musical universe. Part of the musical family, you might say. In hindsight, I sure wish he had sung more of the Jerry tunes as part of Dead & Co. His album covering Jerry tunes is truly sublime.
He has a new album coming out in a week. They dropped one single a month or so ago. Today they dropped a live version of another of the tunes on the disc. Check them out below.
Rush is My Jam Show #15
The mystical Rush tour in my mind continues on and this one would be a real dream show. The only song here that hadn’t been played yet is the classic, beautiful deep cut Tears, from 2112. I’m pretty sure Tears has never been performed by the band. I also can imagine a sweet, spacey jam as The Camera Eye fades, eventually leading into The Mission. Hell, this whole show would rip. That encore would end the night with a bang, too.
Best Selling Musical Artists by State?
I came across this map on Reddit, which means I’m not exactly sure if it is accurate because it didn’t link to an original source. Interesting though, and surely largely correct. Apparently, individual artists are attached to the state they were born in, but bands are attached to the state they formed in. This is certainly an eclectic mix of 50 artists.
My top 5
- Phish from Vermont
- Eagles
- Steve Miler
- Dave Mathews Band
- John Denver
Good2B Goose!
I am a huge Goose fan and they have a new album coming out in June. Their Spring Tour starts this weekend. Here is the short version of the first single from the new record. I like it more and more each time I hear it and I definitely dig the video. Hopefully I see them play this in Bend in August.
In the Strangest of Places
This morning I came across this cool story in The Oregonian. Apparently there is a mysterious group in Portland that is beautifying public spaces by creating little pockets of artful color and beauty where there are cracks on the ground on roads or sidewalks. They have an Instagram account titled @fillthevoidpdx.
What caught my eye, other than the utter Portlandness of this activity, is that several of the installations contain Grateful Dead lyrics. Check out the examples of Portland Dead weirdness below. Here’s to this anonymous group’s continued activity around the Rose City.
7 Beautiful Covers
I love me a good cover. Here are some mostly femaie covers of songs I grew up loving.
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The Rain Song, Led Zeppelin
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Tears, Rush
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Going to California, Led Zep
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Landslide, Fleetwood Mac
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Sweet Child o' Mine, Guns and Roses
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Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
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Dirty Work, Steely Dan
Fellow Travelers
When traveling our family’s usual mode of transportation is Lyft. Despite being fairly introverted, I enjoy talking with the drivers and getting their perspective on driving in that particulr part of the world. Sometimes the drivers have the gift of gab, and often they are hardworking immigrants who don’t speak English well and prefer to remain silent.
On our recent trip to Santa Barbara I took a Lyft across town to a bookstore and noticed my driver was a fellow Deadhead right away. It wasn’t the faint but detectable smell of canabis. No, it was the Dead and Company shirt and the long white ponytail. I immediately indicated that I was a fellow traveler and we talked Grateful Dead the whole ride. He said he saw his first Dead show in 1974 at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Interestingly, he said he only saw ‘30 something’ Grateful Dead shows, but 42 Dead and Company shows. I thought that was interesting since I would expect most people his age to have seen more of Jerry than the what came afterwards. Oh well.
We also realized we had been at a few of the same shows, including the Santa Clara Fare The Well shows and the 2018 Eugene D&C show, which was amazing.
Some YouTube Recs
I got off social media many years ago and it was a great decision. Don’t miss those platforms at all. Not only was it good for my mental health, but it saved me a ton of time. That said, I do probably spend a bit too much time on YouTube. Nevertheless, there are a ton of great channels on YT that I get a lot out of. I thought I’d share 5 of them, mostly on the information side of things. These are all channels that I can have on in the kitchen and listen to, while not feeling like I need to ‘watch’ the video.
In no particular order….
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Caolan Robertson: This young dude is an amazing example of independent journalism. He has been camped out in Ukraine since the war started (he isn’t Ukrainian) and offers fantastic reporting on the war with Russia. If you want to know what is happening there, this channel is mandatory.
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The Warning with Steve Schmidt: Schmidt is a former Republican campaign pro who helped start The Lincoln Project. He has gone independent and offers a view of American politics very close to my own. He knows his history and doesn’t pull any punches.
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Amanpour & Company: This is a PBS show hosted by journalist Christiane Amanpour. They do substantive interviews with major newsmakers and smart pundits. They go deep, are very informative, and have enough respect for their audience not to try and gaslight them.
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C-SPAN: I know, I know….borrrrrring! But hey, I teach AP Governmet so this channel has a ton of content that is relevant to my job. One thing that is nice about this channel is that you can watch what transpires in Washington without it being filtered though the (usually conservative corporate) media. I also love their focus on non-fiction books and writing.
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Nugs: I listen to a lot of music on YouTube and this is one of my favorite channels. Tons of different bands are featured. However, my favorite type of video are their free opening Goose set live streams. Honk!
Rush is My Jam Show #14
What is the best aspect of this show? The long first set? All the classics in set two? Or the killer double encore? In the End is an old favorite of mine that didn’t get played by the band any more once I started seeing shows in the 1980s. Needless to say, if I was seeing jamband Rush, I’d dig this gig.
Going Furthur 16 Years Ago
Sixteen years ago tonight I saw my first Furthur show at the Portland Coliseum. If I’m honest, Furthur was my favorite of all the post-Grateful Dead iterations. Dead & Co. was fun and I’m a huge fan of John Mayer, but Further’s sound was the closest to the Dead’s to my ear. John Kadlecik was both a great ‘Jerry’ on guitar and I liked his voice, too. I sure hope he made some cash during Furthur’s multi-year run since he sort of got dropped like a hot rock when the band broke up.
Furthur shows were especially fun because the set lists veered away from what a typical Dead set was like (at least during the years I saw the Dead). This show featured the first Dupree’s Diamond Blues that I ever saw (an old Dead song that they hardly ever played). The second set also had a nice, unusual placement of Hell in a Bucket and West LA Fadeaway. Ending the second set with China > Rider instead of starting the set with it was also enjoyable. Another highlight was the cover of Ryan Adams' Peaceful Valley.
Rush is My Jam Show #13
The imaginary Rush tour continues! This show is a slobberknocker! Debuts of Stick it Out and the early deep cut Making Memories, which Rush never played beyond the 70s, if ever. This show contains both hits and rarer tunes, and covers much of their career. Getting psyched for seeing the real thing later in the year!
The Bus Came By...
February 20 will always be a special date in the calendar for me because I saw my first Grateful Dead show on that day in 1991 (35 years ago as I sit here now). A truly life changing event. Tip of the cap to my brother for taking me. I’ve written about that night on the blog before so I won’t say more.
5 Nights of Bliss in the Big Apple
I will likely be in the woods camping when this run of shows at MSG will be taking place at the end of July. Nevertheless, for me, this would be just about the best week of music I could imagine at one venue. Considering Rush will likely be mixing up their set lists pretty substantially, I shudder to think of all the great moments that the lucky few who attend all these shows are going to witness.
Loving both bands as I do, I am really hopeful that they take in a night of each other’s gigs. I am rooting hard for pics of the Phish guys at Rush (they of course grew up listening to Rush and used to cover them in their early, early days) and for the Rush guys checking out the amazing prog band known as Phish.
I am reminded of the fact that in August 2010 I caught three nights of Phish at the Greek in Berkeley, then saw Rush on night four at Shoreline. The Phish shows were peak, but being on the lawn at Shoreline was a bit of a let down after the intimacy of the Greek.
Man, what a run that’s going to be in the Big Apple!
5 Recommendations
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The American Empathy Project Spread the word, we definitely need more of this. It is time to fight back against idiotic ‘Chrstian’ nationalism. More here.
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Netflix’s series House of Guinness. Great, historical drama with a strong cast, good writing, and for once, and absence of gratuitous sex. I’m sure they are takng some liberties with the actual history, but I found the first season entertaining. I hope Season Two is out soon!
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Billy Strings' recent homage to Bobby Weir. Firey Cassidy in Georgia!
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Framing time as cyclical, not linear. I’ve been thinking about this idea as I read Neil Howe’s fascinating book The Fourth Turning is Here. My default is to think of time as linear, but as a teacher my life is very seasonal, and cyclical. This has been an interesting new frame of reference for me.
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Dynalist outlining software. I still think linearly, so that means I like to make outlines to capture my thinking. I tried Workflowy, but didn’t like it (becaue the keystroke commands weren’t intuitive). Dynalist fits my brain better. Is free to use online.