Great to be back on the road!!
Hello there. Nice to have you here again. It has been a great 2 weeks. We had 3 great shows in Santa Cruz with lots of extended GD family there with us. Very generous of Andy Logan to bring out Alligator for Jeff to play and a good amount of our backline gear, as well. Jason Schuerner brought out Phil’s early 70s Mission Control Bass for Skip to use. Bob Minkin and Jay Blakesberg taking pictures. Betty Cantor was recording us sidestage, and we had Rick Turner, Doug Irwin, Dennis McNally and others hanging out and bringing the good vibes. It is a……. ( I don’t know how else to put it) a very validating feeling to know that these people want to come spend their time with us. It is similar to when people ask about members of the Dead playing with us. When they come it is cool, but the first time around may have felt like a bit of a novelty. The fact they choose to come out again, is what really makes me feel good. Bobby, Phil, Donna, and Billy have all sat in numerous times over the years and for me, that is the seal of approval for what we are doing. There is some great footage along with some looks at the instruments and conversations with Betty and Rick Turner available to my Patreon subscribers. Find out more at:
The vibe in the crowd was unreal: pods or drive-in, it doesn’t matter. People are just so happy to be able to experience live music again, that the energy is just automatic. There is always an amazing positive vibe when we play in Santa Cruz and this time around it was off the charts. Don’t think for a second that we don’t feel it on the stage. We do and it really elevates our ability to bring the goods.
On Saturday, we had Michael Kang of the String Cheese Incident at the show. He and his family came out to enjoy the weather and vibe. He sat in for Eyes and Tangled up in Blue to close the first set. Lots of fun. He is a golf junkie like me, and we had some great golf talk as well as music. He will be joining me on the podcast very soon. His story of how he was introduced to and influenced by the Dead is way cool and I can’t wait to bring it to you.
Another great thing (for me) about hitting the West Coast is getting in some good golf. I had a fun round on Friday with my friend, Jeff Chimenti and a couple of other fellas. Jeff and I always enjoy our time together, and while we may not have played our best golf, it was a great hang. We rarely talk about music or the business when we are on the course. Mostly golf and this time around, how we stayed sane for the last year.
On the Sunday morning, I headed out to the local municipal golf course. Munis are hit and miss. Some are real gems and and some are real duds. I lucked out on this one. Not realizing it was Mother’s Day, I couldn’t figure out why it was so empty on a Sunday. What a treat to have a fabulous golf course basically all to myself. Being in no rush, I took my time for 18 holes surrounded by redwoods and cypress. Sunny with a cool breeze-it doesn’t get much better than that. Some people don’t enjoy golfing alone, but I am not one of them.
This past weekend we were in Frederick VA, 3 nights of drive-in concerts. We did these same shows over Halloween and it was miserably cold. This time the weather was perfect. I got to see some dear old friends, get in a couple more rounds of golf and play some pretty spectacular shows.
Night one was a single drummer 74 with me on drums. Dino and I alternate these 1 drummer shows, so I get the best of both worlds playing in the style of Mickey and Billy. I especially enjoy Billy in 74. His style is much different that it was in 72 and 73. I’m not really sure why that is. Maybe after 2 years of solo drumming he wanted to change it up, maybe he was into some different music that was influencing him at the time? Who knows, but his drumming in 74 takes a bit of a departure from the Elvin Jones jazz style and turns a little bit more funky and choppy (choppy is not a bad term here). It is rare that I get to play a 74 show and I really love that style, so this night was just a blast for me.
We had a bit of equipment trouble on night 2. Skip had a bass that wouldn’t co-operate and the crew was having some difficulty troubleshooting it. They ended up having to go in the truck for a spare. Skip, such the trooper (all hopped up on sugar and caffeine BTW) handled it like a champ.
See for yourself:
All in-all it has been a great time being back to work. Looking forward to a weekend at home, then off to our not-quite Jubilee. Thanks for reading!