Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Home, Again

 

He walked slowly up the aisle of the enormous old theater, all tie-dyed T Shirt and baggy pants. He hugged everyone he encountered in turn; an embrace, a moment of eye contact, a small smile. He arrived at where my friend and I stood, and I opened my arms and shared with him a moment of warm, slightly sweaty contact. Then he turned to my friend. I don't think he had been following the dynamic, so I said to my buddy "I think he wants to give you a hug." A stiff hug followed. 

"That was not a good hug," tie dye man said. 

It may well be that a few years had gone by since my friend had been in the company of such a large group of tripping people.




It was early March and I had decided to follow JRAD, Joe Russo's Almost Dead, on their Northeast mini-tour. A Friday show in Albany, then a two-gig weekend in Portland, Maine.

Superficially, JRAD are another Grateful Dead tribute band, one of two (1) that tour nationally. But, to those of us who love them, they are more than a cover band. The members have known and played with each other for many, many years, well before they started this project. Their friendship is clear in how much fun they seem to have playing together. Their mastery is clear in just how much they listen to one another and intuit together the journey the music will make. As much (or more) than any band who approach this catalog, they truly embrace improvisation on every level; any song can be played at any time, and each time they play a song they seem to break it down and reassemble it differently. I'm old enough to have seen the Dead many times, including shows in their early 70's prime. This unit matches the energy and ecstasy of those experiences. And if you're talking about many nights from the last decade of the GD run, when drugs and fatigue and enormous venues robbed much of the spark, I would say that they often exceed the musical quality of the original. (2).

But rather than just giving you an account of this late-winter three-show swing, what I really want to explore is something I think about a lot regarding this improvisational music. How much of what I experience listening to this music is personal to me, and how much is shared by the other listeners/dancers with me? And how appropriate is it for me to judge it, either good or bad?

I'm Buddhist-leaning, and understand that distinctions like this are sometimes only in the eye of me, Win, beholding the concert. Time I spend trying to compare one experience to another is time spent away from the present moment, time that I could be doing so many other, more mindful activities.
 
And, for better and worse, I'm also a critic, proud about being discerning, about trying to nuance what makes the difference between good and great and GREAT. I'm human, and humans mull over distinctions that separate sustenance from poison, better from worse, more pleasing from less. 

But, when the evening borders on the mystical, is there any place for criticism?
 




 
Friday's show began with a late afternoon drive from Vermont to central New York, dinner, and then a walk along busy Albany sidewalks to the show. Elton John was playing down the street and the city was buzzing. We found seats in the taper section, amidst a forest of aluminum poles lofting expensive microphones toward the vaulted ceiling. Our thinking was, "If this is the spot that they think will get them the best recording, then the sound should be good, right?" And I'm all about sitting where the sound will be good (3). Last year, seeing the same band in the same venue, I experienced a half hour of mediocre sound before I moved around and found that the sound was much better 30 feet to the left. From then on I had a wonderful time. So this year I wanted to get it right. 

But when the lights went down, and the band started to play, the sound wasn't great. Too loud. Too boomy, like the reverb had been maxed out. I could hear some instruments well, others not at all. 

But did I move? No. I was there in my seat, thinking:

A) Costello, the sound guy, will hear this and dial in the changes to make it better. It can't stay like this. 
 

B) The tapers aren't freaking out, so they must think it sounds alright. Or if not, that it'll get better soon (see A).
 

C) It's actually NOT distorted. This is a psychedelic rock band, and this is how they WANT to sound.
 

D) I ate too much cannabis 45 minutes ago, and it's coming on right now in the form of brain-related reverb and distortion. 

followed by 

E) I'm really overthinking this. 

While my brain whirled the band played on. And they played well. I could tell they were playing well, but I was still watching the band playing well rather than being swept upon the wave of the music. I was an observer standing just outside of it all.

Half an hour and three songs later, the sound had not really improved. But the band was still playing great. I finally got out of my seat, said a quick goodbye to my friend, and moved into the aisle. I moved up several rows, and could see the band better. Could see their expressions and interactions better. And the sound was better, though still not great.
"Is it just me, or is Joe's kick drum the loudest thing in the band?" I wondered. The sound seemed to echo in the hall and in my brain, turned up to where the nuance was obscured.

They slipped sideways into "The Other One", wandering into the first verse of the song without playing most of the standard riffs. Then they hit the chorus, hard, with all the right parts meshing and building and slamming hard to the ground the way they did for the Dead regularly in the late 60's. And now again. For a moment, I was in the music, finally. 

But for the rest of the night, I was in and out. For all the moments that I stood with admiration for what the band was pulling off on stage, there were still other moments when I wished I could see better, hear better, feel better. Between the times when I felt kinship with those dancing around me there were more moments of feeling that these folks were too drunk, or too talkative, or too much in their own universe to connect with mine.

It was a good show, maybe a great show. But ultimately I was left feeling that I had stood in my own way all night, that I might have had a better time staying at home, watching the gig on the live webcast with great sound pumped through my stereo, a comfy couch yards away from my warm bed, and in the company of my wife. Driving home, listening to Ernest Ranglin in the car, I looked forward to hearing the show again when the soundboard
(4) is released so I can appreciate the interplay, the subtlety that had been lost on me. (5)




At 6:30 the next night, I was on my way to the second show of the mini-tour. I had slept at home and left around noon for Portland. I arrived at my cousin's place, played with his wonderful twins, been treated to a lovely dinner, and then grabbed a Lyft to the State Theater downtown. After the vast cavern of the Albany venue, this was a shoebox. And after struggling to get close the night before, I was now standing at the lip of the stage, with Joe's drum kit not far away. Friendly faces. A good local IPA that didn't cost a whole lot. 

When the band came on, I danced, and danced, and loved having the band right there where they could see me as well as I could see them. After being with 6,000 fans the night before, I felt like I was at my hometown bar, hearing my favorite band. This was more like it. 

In the second set, there arrived two guys to my side, quite drunk. And quite loud. I tried to move, but they moved with me. I said something to them, but they took affront at me tamping down their good time. And then a lovely thing happened. A baseball-hatted guy standing in front of us took in what was happening with me and the drunk guys. He reached for me, and guided me to his side. He said something to the guys, and I never saw them again that night until the taller one tried to get to the lip of the stage a few songs later. My new friend grabbed him as he tried to pass us, turned him around, and pushed him in the direction of the back of the hall where he went without argument. 

After the show, new buddy Brian apologized that I had to suffer the fools. I thanked him for bailing me out. He offered me gummy worms.

A wonderful show (6). I emerged from the old theater into a quietly bustling downtown and a light snow. The music had been fine, if not transcendent. Like with the Dead, there are nights that can feel more workman-like; a band playing more than competently, pleasing the dancing fans, giving me more than my money's worth, and, at the end of the evening, leaving me happy if not completely transported. Such were many nights with the Dead, and some of my fondest memories. I'm sure that many fans would consider these to be terrific shows, maybe their favorites. And I did have a great time. But my earth was not moved, and even though my respect for the individuals in JRAD continued to climb, for me they were not psychedelic priests that night. They were kick-ass members of a rock and roll band that could fold some Led Zeppelin into a night of Grateful Dead, and keep me dancing furiously for 3 hours. But there was no crack in the heavens. I was sweaty, happy, and earthbound. Would I have had a different experience if I hadn't been up to 2 am the night before and then driven 4 hours? Very likely. There are shows that can fall either way depending on our own openness to ecstasy. 




So what makes that subtle but definitive difference between a night that is fun and one that changes you? If I asked the band after one of THOSE nights, would they have sensed it too? Is it just my personal experience, my openness to the moment? Is it just the letting go? No judgement, no expectation, no tension? Is it the sound; not too loud, balanced and mixed to where each voice and instrument can be heard, each thread can be woven?

I can't say. But I'm pretty sure it's more than just me that determines the degree to which normal experience is transcended. Not that the preparedness isn't important -- It helps to be rested, and open, and yes, if you're attending a psychedelic band concert, and you don't have issues with substance abuse, you might consider the right amount of soft drugs. Not too little, not too much. (Though, that said, I've had great times at The Dead with no Kool Aid, and there are plenty who are obsessive about JRAD without indulging.) 




But oh, the next night... Sunday evening, March 3, 2019. When that night was over I know I was not the only person in that small theater in Maine who knew thay had shared something unique and precious and MORE than fun. After the show many of us were milling around, not wanting to leave that newly sacred place. Smiles. And more smiles. 

From ten minutes into their first set (7), there was something clicking between the band members, and between them and us. They were firing on all cylinders, and then more. They each had a say in where the beast was going, but no one was in control but the beast himself and he was the sum of all of us. Some might say it was my state of mind. I believe it was the state of creation and community.


Help on the way, AKA Brian
For much of the night I danced with Brian and Jelly, a bearded Canadian who made glacially slow pirouettes all evening with a contented smile on this face. I watched in awe of Joe Russo, the most musical, subtle, multi-limbed and fearless of drummers. And who indeed is the leader of the band, signalling to the other members through nods, head shakes, smiles, and tongue wags. Pulling and pushing them through the shifts and changes, leading by listening. Scott Metzger astonished me, and then again. He pulled out licks that I had never heard him play, and then another. He slowed "I Need a Miracle", usually a rocking burner, to a slow, quiet blues. And then burned down the next three songs. Tom and Marco - brilliant, and smiles blazing. Dave the bass player stood with his legs spread apart, rooted to his spot and shaking the earth. His big grin beamed upon us. As an ensemble they lifted the song Jack Straw to a height that commanded a view none of us will forget.

It went on forever, and was over too soon.

The thing that I was looking for, the thing that made me spend that much money and that much time away from wife, daughter, and home, that thing that I seek in going to these celebrations of improvisation, the thing that had been hinted at each of the previous nights -- On Sunday I found it. I remembered it. And I'm choosing to believe that there were many others there that found and remembered it too. It's beyond words, which makes my attempt to describe it a folly. But that doesn't mean it wasn't real or the way it brought band and fans together any less genuine. It's why we come back.
It was something that no livestream could have delivered, because it was us being there that made it happen. That evening, for me, the State Theater in Portland, Maine was the center of the known universe, the very best place to be.




All day Monday, driving home through yet more March snow, I felt a relaxation. I had not lost my ability to be stunned. To let go, to hug a stranger and be hugged by an experience. To feel so lucky to be dancing to a band that is at their peak, having a blast together, having one of THOSE nights, and everyone, it seems, knowing it. Feeling good fortune together, and joy, and maybe a little hope that this feeling can help all of us improvise our way to a better tomorrow. 


Home, again.  

______________________

Postscript

During the set break Sunday, glowing in what had just happened and anticipating what would be a second set for the ages, one of the drunk guys from the night before came up to me and apologized for having been an asshole. What a gesture! I reached out my hand, we shook, and I said "How about that first set??!!"

 
______________________

(1) The other band, Dark Star Orchestra, is also quite successful with their shows featuring set list recreations. Like JRAD, the fans come to see them for the improvisation, the band interplay, and for the communal joy joining band and fans.

(2) Though let's be clear. JRAD stands firmly on the shoulders of the Grateful Dead. The Dead not only are responsible for writing or arranging these tunes, but they more or less created the whole genre. Now, more than fifty years later, it's easy to forget how groundbreaking and astonishing it was to see a group of scruffy musicians merge jazz, jugband, country-western, avante guard, R&B, and rock and roll with energy and abundant risk taking. When I compare, I'm talking about the performance and its ability to take an audience on an evening-long journey. Other jam bands do the same for their devoted fans. But they all are indebted to the Dead, who staked the claim. 

(3) Good sound is a hallmark of this jam scene. As in jazz, the musicians need to hear each other clearly in order to have a musical dialog with each other. And the experience of the fan is the same; we need to hear each instrument and so the dovetailing parts can make the whole. The Grateful Dead were famous for their dedication to good sound, and basically invented the modern rock concert PA. Likewise, JRAD has always worked hard to make their sound as good as possible. Personally, the quality of my experience at a show (or listening to a recording) is closely related to the quality of the sound. Sometimes I wish it wasn't, but I'm picky that way. 

(4) The band generously shares soundboard/audience matrix recordings of most of their shows for free. Below are links to all the shows on this tour if you are curious. The detailed notes are courtesy of the bands manager, sound man, and all around friend to the scene Peter Costello.

______________________

Joe Russo's Almost Dead, New York / New England Mini-Tour, March 2019

(5)
March 1, 2019
Palace Theater, Albany, NY

https://archive.org/details/jrad2019-03-01.cmc621.cmc64.sbd.matrix.flac16

Set One (8:15PM - 9:27PM)

Cassidy
Jack A Roe >
Box Of Rain 
The Other One -> Drums -> The Other One Reprise @
Shakedown St #

Set Two (10:00PM - 11:43PM)

Jam ->
Black Throated Wind ->
Bertha Jam ## -> Dupree's Diamond Blues $
Playing In The Band ->
So Many Roads % ->
Estimated Prophet >
St Stephen ^ -> Bertha &

ENC: 

Marco Solo ->
Werewolves Of London *

! - Not Played by Almost Dead Since 2018-02-15 War Memorial Auditorium, Nashville, TN, a gap of 43 shows
+ - Not Played by Almost Dead Since 2018-02-17 The Pageant, St Louis, MO, a gap of 42 shows
@ - With a Duo Jam, first Almost Dead version of "Other One Reprise"
# - With a "Love Supreme" (John Coletrane) Tease (TH) and a Jam that included elements of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (Michael Jackson) and "Serpintine Fire" (Earth Wind & Fire)
## - First Time Played in this manner by Almost Dead
$ - Not Played by Almost Dead Since 2018รข€“03-08 Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, a gap of 39 shows
% - With a "Knocking On Heaven's Door" (Bob Dylan) Tease (TH) Tommy actually quoted the Guns N Roses version. Not Played by Almost Dead Since 2018-03-16 The Palace Theatre, a gap of 35 shows Albany, NY
^ - Unfinished
& - With a "Reveille" (Traditional) Tease (SM) and a "Rock And Roll" (Led Zeppelin) Tease (JR)
* - With a "Sweet Home Alabama" (Lynyrd Skynyrd) Tease (MB)
Pre Show Music: "Wake" (Chris Harford) & Costello's Prince & Michael Spotify Playlist
Set Break Music: Costello's Prince & Michael Spotify Playlist
Walk Out Music: "Burning Down The House" and "Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place)" Talking Heads
Poster: Michael Fuchs

***********

(6)
March 2, 2019
State Theatre, Portland, Maine
https://archive.org/details/jrad2019-03-02.cmc621.cmc64.sbd.matrix.flac16

Set One (8:11PM - 9:27PM)

BIODTL @ ->
Cumberland Blues # > 
My Brother Esau 
They Love Each Other >
Casey Jones 
Good Lovin' $ > 
Uncle John's Band 

Set Two (10:03PM - 11:39PM)

Jam ->
Here Comes Sunshine 
Lost Sailor ->
Saint Of Circumstance 
Bird Song % -> How Many More Times ^ -> Bird Song Reprise &
Silvio * ->
I Know You Rider

ENC: 

Marco Solo -> 
Such A Night + >
Touch Of Grey

@ - With 23 beats to start - Maine is the 23rd state
# - With an "LA Woman" (The Doors) Tease (MB) 
$ - With a "La Bamba" (Richie Valens) Tease (MB)
% - With a Bertha Tease (TH)
^ - Partial version of a Led Zeppelin Cover, First Time Played by Almost Dead, Joe sang a few lyrics 
& - Not Played by Almost Dead since 2017-10-26 Hulaween - Amphitheatre Stage, Spirit of the Suwanee Music Park, Live Oak, FL, a gap of 56 shows
* Not Played by Almost Dead since 2018-03-15 Landmark Theatre, Syracuse, NY, a gap of 37 shows
+ - Not Played by Almost Dead since 2017-10-13 Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, a gap of 58 shows

***********

(7)
March 3, 2019
State Theater, Portland ME
https://archive.org/details/jrad2019-03-03.cmc621.cmc64.sbd.matrix.flac16

Set One @ (8:16PM - 9:18PM)

01.  Don't Ease Me In #
02.  Alligator -> Jam ->
03.  Viola Lee Blues $ 
04.  I Need A Miracle -> Jam ->
05.  Dire Wolf ->
06.  King Solomon's Marbles %

Set Two  (9:53PM - 11:37PM)

01.  Jam ->
02.  Crazy Fingers ->
03.  Jack Straw ->
04.  Greatest Story Ever Told ^ ->
05.  Cosmic Charlie & -> Jam ->
06.  Cats Under The Stars * -> 
07.  Slipknot! -> Jam + -> Slipknot! @@ ->
08.  Franklins Tower
Encore:
09.  Marco Solo -> Yazoo Street Scandal
10.  Samson & Delilah

@ - For David Kay on what would have been his 65th birthday (Joe wished him a HBD after Sampson)
# - Not Played By Almost Dead Since 2017-03-10 Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, a gap of 83 shows
$ - With a Duo Jam & a "The Champ" (The Mohawks) &/or "The Tramp" (Otis Redding) Tease (MB) 
% - With a Drum Solo to start
^ - with a Marco Solo to start, Unfinished
& - Not Played By Almost Dead since 2017-10-13, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, a gap of 59 shows
* - With a Here Comes Sunshine Jam (Band), a Good Lovin' Tease (MB), a Scarlet Begonias Jam (Band) and a Serpentine Fire Tease (MB)
+ - With a DD Solo to start
@@ - With "Whipping Post" (The Allman Brothers Band) Teases (SM & TH)