Tag Archives: music

Ratdog and Mayer

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The hype on Dead and Company, the latest Grateful Dead side project, is befuddling to say the least, although the success of 50th anniversary shows have certainly led us hereRatdog and MayerThe truth is, however, that the fall tour of this hodgepodge and questionably-named band has little to do with the concerts in Chicago. Not only is founding member Phil Lesh nowhere to be seen – indeed he is concurrently playing in his eponymous band – but neither were Bruce Hornsby and Trey Anastasio included.

This group lacks the soul of earlier post-Jerry Garcia incarnations, The Dead and Furthur, neither of which were bedazzled by all the hype.Ratdog and MayerThis band, headlined by pop guitarist John Mayer who has nothing whatsoever to do with the music of the Grateful Dead, is a dubious path for Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann and, if they are not careful, could lead to moments they might regret. Ratdog and Mayer

The Ecstastic Soul of The Grateful Dead

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And so we went to the July 4th Fare Thee Well concert. The Ecstastic Soul of The Grateful DeadThe Grateful Dead, even without Jerry Garcia, played with heart and inspiration.The Ecstastic Soul of The Grateful DeadThe sound was almost as great as was the feeling of being back at a show, that feeling of ecstatic calm, where it seems there is nowhere else ever to be, just in the music, surrounded, like a child, soothed, where everything else turns off, except thinking about what they might play next. The Ecstastic Soul of The Grateful DeadIt is a precious, precarious thing that, now gone, has left me melancholy, thinking that they have to do it again – just one more, man –  where they just yet might get into a Lazy Lightning-El Paso-Supplication jam.The Ecstastic Soul of The Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead Is The Drug

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I’m off to see The Grateful Dead this weekend in Chicago. dead-fair-thee-well-homepage-pfaAlthough tickets for the Fare Thee Well concerts were too expensive and The Dead’s marketing branch is selling 70-CD box sets for $700, the music remains the thing.

Santa Clara, CA - June 27: performs on Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead at Levi Stadium on June 27, 2015 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

Santa Clara, CA – June 27: performs on Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years Of Grateful Dead at Levi Stadium on June 27, 2015 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

I was so wound up during my workout today – listening to The Dead – that I went through a series of adrenaline rushes, each one almost ending in tears, until I finally started to settle down after an hour and then had to do another hour to get my energy out. The Grateful Dead Is The DrugI saw my first Grateful Dead concert in Hampton, Virginia on March 9, 1983 and went on to follow the band over 12 years, seeing 48 concerts in such places as Lake Placid, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Boulder, Providence, Eugene, San Francisco, Miami and, yes, Chicago. The Grateful Dead Is The DrugKnown for a wide range of rock genres, The Grateful Dead will likely play much of their Americana at Saturday’s July 4th concert, including covers such as Me and My Uncle (John Phillips), Big River (Johnny Cash), El Paso (Marty Robbins), Me and Bobby McGee (Kris Kristoferson) and I Know Your Rider (traditional) as well as their own true America standards Jack Straw, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad, and US Blues. The Grateful Dead Is The DrugDamn it, I’m getting worked up again.I need to breathe.

Kubrick and Weir: The Laudatory Human Condition

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Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick has been praised as a great filmmaker and artist, one who probes the shades of humanity in such great films as Lolita, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Barry Lyndon. Kubrick and Weir: The Laudatory Human ConditionBob Weir, not as highly praised, is certainly recognized for “chasing the music” as he says, on his 50-year journey as rhythm guitarist with The Grateful Dead.  Kubrick and Weir: The Laudatory Human ConditionAnd so I was intrigued to watch documentaries on each man this weekend to perhaps gain an insight or two through understanding their trials and tribulations.

It was not to be.Kubrick and Weir: The Laudatory Human ConditionStanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2007) offers brief moments of filmic analysis amidst a tidal wave of laudatory praise, Steven Spielberg gushing, “He was a conceptual illustrator of the human condition”. Kubrick and Weir: The Laudatory Human ConditionAnd so despite a 50-year career, we are left with the trite summation that Mr. Kubrick worked terribly hard and loved his family, little else.

The Other One: The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir (2013) is worse. While some fellow musicians offer comments on Bob Weir’s work, the documentary is almost solely guided by bland recollections by Weir – “Here’s my Jerry Bobbblehead” – occasionally, boyishly and evasively hinting toward his notorious off-stage reputation. Kubrick and Weir: The Laudatory Human ConditionHis band mates are only briefly interviewed, likewise alluding, saying little else. Kubrick and Weir: The Laudatory Human ConditionIt’s a shame that both of these these documentaries offered so little, not that they should focus on personal scandal, but that they veered so very far from the very same human condition that these men had endeavored to understand and instead settled on empty praise.Kubrick and Weir: The Laudatory Human Condition

Jane Says, “Sex and Violence!”

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Jane’s Addiction is back on tour, playing their critically acclaimed Nothing’s Shocking from start to finish. Jane Says, "Sex and Violence!"As Perry Farrell asked the crowd last night at the Brooklyn Bowl, “Is it shocking that Nothing’s Shocking is having its 25th anniversary?” Jane Says, "Sex and Violence!"Meant to be rhetorical, it wasn’t. Because it is, shocking that is. Dave Navarro remains as tattooed and rocking’ out as ever while Farrell maintains his crackhead je ne sais crois. Jane Says, "Sex and Violence!"But even with the bra-and-pantied girls swinging above the stage, the music isn’t as raw, nor as overwhelming, but has deteriorated into more of a burlesque. Jane Says, "Sex and Violence!"All of which was made worse by the Williamsburghians, in their hats and beards, chanting “Let’s Go Rangers” at the bar.Jane Says, "Sex and Violence!"

Music for your Bacchanalia

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A genuine bacchanalia needs the right music, music that evokes a sense of raw desire, truth in flesh, that kind of thing, not superficially bald renderings such as Madonna’s Like a Virgin or at your local electric zoo. Music for your BacchanaliaDance party music is often predictable, denying the subtlety of the bacchanalia, the potential for a slow build, heightening the tension, a move to the side, and then incrementally back toward inevitable release.

Some alternate bacchanalia soundtracks to consider:

4. Uah (Mouse on Mars)Music for your Bacchanalia

Stripped down, dream-like, this music moves between slumber and fever.

3. Supplication (Grateful Dead)

Music for your BacchanaliaJazz meets psychedelia, spiraling toward electric understanding..

2. Voodoo Chile (Jimi Hendrix)

Music for your BacchanaliaTowering worlds climb and collide, fade into the distance, resurrected, flying again, impossibly so.

1. Heavenly Music at Half Speed (Fripp & Eno)

Music for your BacchanaliaThe feeling of a vibrating whole reduced to a devastating note washing over, continuing without end. Something like that.

The Deadhead Shrug

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“Ticket?” The conductor held out his hand.

The Deadhead moved the thin plastic bag to his other hand and absently dug into a pocket. “I had it, man.”

“I need your ticket.”

“Yeah.” The Deadhead’s scruffy beard and dirty jacket and pants stood out in rumpled contrast to the commuters on their way home to Connecticut. “I had it.”

“You’ll have to get off at the next stop.”

“I can’t do that, man.”

The conductor was perhaps reflecting on how such cases are handled in Scotland. “Ticket is $14.”

The Deadhead offered a crumpled dollar bill. “I have this, man.”

The conductor glared back. “Next stop.”

“Listen, man, I…” He held out his hands and raised his shoulders in a pathetic, slow motion shrug.

The conductor continued on through the car. “Tickets, please.”

The Deadhead stayed where he was, half hiding between cars, slumped in the corner, hoping the conductor wouldn’t come back. And he didn’t.

The Deadhead got off at his stop, Port Chester where there was a Phil Lesh concert, and adjusted his pants and CVS bag on the platform.

It struck me, as I walked past, how I’d seen this same character many times before, so often at Grateful Dead concerts, everything sweet and cool as long as they got what they wanted: free rides, food and tickets.

The issue was significant enough for Jerry Garcia to write Day Job, in which he preached to his followers: If you ask me, which I know you don’t/ I’d tell you to do what I know you won’t/ Keep your day job until your night job pays.The Deadhead ShrugThe Deadheads never liked that song much, giving it that tell-tale Deadhead Shrug, ironically enough, the same shrug offered by The Dead’s management and promoter David Shapiro when only 10% of the people got tickets through the mail order while Ticketmaster, Stubhub, etc feasted on profits. “Sorry, man, hope to see you there.”

Oh well, there’s always the music.The Deadhead Shrug

The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful Dead

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The Grateful Dead create an environment like no other. The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful DeadIt is a simple thing, marvelous and sweet, just music, but music to live in, breathless and divine at moments, raucous at others, insane in between, just music, music that never seems to end.
The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful DeadYeah, I love The Grateful Dead. That’s why I wanted to go to the 50th Anniversary Shows in Chicago. That’s why I entered the mail order. The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful DeadThat’s why, even after only 10% of the orders were fulfilled (not for me) in some sort of unpleasant insider deal with Ticketmaster, Stubhub, Ebay, etc, I tried again.

That’s why, even with tickets marked up as much as 1200% (yes, twelve thousand percent), I am still considering going to one of the nights. And that’s also why I’m questioning the whole thing…or to be more honest, why I’m so pissed off at the band right now. The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful DeadThis astronomical pricing indicate that there is a possibility of Jerry Garcia might show up when it’s going to be Trey Anastasio instead, a guitarist known for his obsessive Zappa-like changes, and on-stage shenanigans.The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful DeadThe ugly tenor established by the promoters of this event indicate that this show could even feature a bastardized setlist or two. And it could be real bad: Day Job – Big Boss Man – Money – Deal – Money Money – Might As Well – Sell Out.

The Dead do not have a good business history, messing up Grateful Dead Records and every big concert they staged; as Bob Weir admitted many years ago, “We always blow the big shows”.

The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful DeadIndeed, for this show of shows, how is that Deadheads will even get in…The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful Dead…when the market for tickets has been cornered by Deadheads who have lost their way?The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful DeadThe band has never been known for empathy. Many anecdotes in Dennis McNally’s What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been focus on the band members’ personal indifference toward one another, including when drummer Bill Kreutzmann had to leave a tour to visit his gravely ill father, and only Bob Weir bothered to talk to him about it.

The musicians are known for their personal indulgences in sex, booze and drugs, and not much else…except of course for the music. The Big, Bad Business of The Grateful DeadIt is the music that is supposed to take us away from the scourge that is us, the burden of who we actually are, this detritus, our ugly state. And, yes, this music really can do that. It’s just that now The Dead are demanding a heavy price..and it isn’t just money. And yet…I still wanna go. How much is it again?

The Proliferation of “The Last Supper”

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While in New Orleans, I was intrigued by a poster called The Last Session.

Joshua Walshs "The Last Session" features Louis Armstrong as the Christ figure.

Joshua Walsh’s “The Last Session” features Louis Armstrong as the Christ figure.

In trying to research who each of the figures of betrayal were in the work, I was quick to learn that parodies of Leonardo Da Vinci’s 1498 iconic work are common as thieves. 
The Proliferation of "The Last Supper"The Proliferation of "The Last Supper"The Proliferation of "The Last Supper"The Proliferation of "The Last Supper" The Proliferation of "The Last Supper"The Proliferation of "The Last Supper"The Proliferation of "The Last Supper" The Proliferation of "The Last Supper"The Proliferation of "The Last Supper"The Proliferation of "The Last Supper" The Proliferation of "The Last Supper"The proliferation of this icon, re-branded and spun, is confusing to say the least, an image that everyone seems to know and yet no one understand. The Proliferation of "The Last Supper"Yes, just like getting a tattoo.

BAM Marathon: The Iceman Exhausteth

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The Brooklyn Academy of Music is currently staging Eugene O’Neil’s marathon play, The Iceman Cometh. BAM Marathon: The Iceman ExhaustethAt just under five hours (!!!), the play delivers its message in the form of a blunt object (“the pipe dream”) ad nauseum, inducing an uneasy drowsiness for actors and audience alike.BAM Marathon: The Iceman ExhaustethWhile the acting of Nathan Lane, Brian Denehy et al is solid, as are some tableau moments, the trauma of this painfully slow drama begs the services of a certain tool. BAM Marathon: The Iceman ExhaustethThe highlight of the evening was in fact the relief of it being over and then getting on the NBA All-Star subway train home.BAM Marathon: The Iceman ExhaustethAlthough even this moment of reprieve became painfully slow.BAM Marathon: The Iceman Exhausteth