Phil at the Greek

On Sunday I revisited an aspect of my past by going to see Phil & Friends in concert at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley. Phil Lesh, as most readers here would probably know, was the bass player for The Grateful Dead and has been touring with his own ever-changing band since the demise of the Dead. Although once a huge part of my life, The Dead don't really occupy any part of my daily life anymore, other than the fact that I am still very much connected to many people I met when I was into the Dead.

The last time I went to a Dead related show was about 4 years ago, i think - another show by Phil & Friends. That show was amazing, probably better than most Grateful Dead shows I saw (and I saw between 65 and 70 of them!). The excellence of that show was largely due to the two amazing guitarists, Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring, as well as the deep, intuitive musical bonds that had developed between the band. Phil's current version of the band has only one member from that older band - the drummer. On guitars he had Larry Campbell and Jackie Green. Jackie Green did most of the singing and was a very good singer, although he struck me as trying too hard to be Bob Dylan circa 1966. Even his original songs that the band played sounded like Dylan tunes from that era. Larry Campbell is a fine guitarist, but his strength is in straight-ahead rock & blues, not the extended, out-there jamming that the Dead excelled at.

Unfortunately, I have to say that I found the whole show rather disappointing. The first set was stuffed with mostly boring blues-based tunes and old rock covers ("Good Morning Little School Girl", "Good Lovin'", "Why Don't We Do It in the Road", "The Weight"). The highlight was a ripping version of the Dead's "Cumberland Blues", which normally doesn't excite me all that much but stood out rather starkly in an otherwise bland setlist.

After a set break that was just over a full hour(!), they hit the stage again and opened with "Playin' in the Band", usually a great showcase for what the Dead did best - extended, exploratory and exciting collective improvisation. This version was alright, but never seemed to really gel or go anywhere and there were none of those transcendental musical moments I look for in music like this. The rest of the set was mostly an exercise in unused potential. "St. Stephen" was nice, but not inspired. Instead of going into "The Eleven" like I hoped, they did another mediocre Jackie Green tune. "Fire on the Mountain" was pretty good, but I would have much rather heard the song it's usually paired with, "Scarlet Begonias". "The Wheel" was done in a tepid arrangement that lacked the life of the Dead's version. "Eyes of the World" was alright, but fizzled out when it should have just started to get really interesting. They closed the show with "Sugar Magnolia" and "Going Down the Road", two of the most boring, over-played Dead tunes to my ears.

Sorry if this review seems overly harsh, but I felt very disappointed by this show, particularly after being so impressed last time I saw them. I will not bother to see this incarnation of Phil & Friends again. Perhaps I'm just too jaded by Dead music now as well. Anyway, those "transcendental music moments" I look for abound in the jazz I now prefer. I'll take a show by Tim Berne or Myra Melford over this any day.

On the plus side, I did get to spend some time with Caroline, Lela and Kait, who came down from Arcata. And after the show, I saw Karen Garfinkle, a former housemate in Ann Arbor nearly 20 years ago. She was rather shocked to see me: "What are you doing here?" "Oh, I live here now... about a 10 minute walk from here, actually!". That was good fun. She's in Santa Cruz, so I'm sure I'll see more of her now.

The Cat in the Kayak

Ariel has found a new favorite spot to lounge about in the back yard.


He has many favorite little spots around the garden to do what he does best - lounge about. Why he likes the kayak is a mystery. I wonder how he would like it if it were actually floating on water.

The rain in the Bay falls mainly in my brain

Here in the Bay Area we are in the middle of the dry season. We've lived here for two months now and have not seen a single drop of rain yet. And we likely won't see any for the next two months or more. But lately I've been having a surprising number of dreams in which it is raining in my dream. I'll eventually wake up and think to myself "Oh, it rained last night." Then I remember that I am actually in California now, not Michigan, and that it is still bone-dry outside. It appears that my subconscious is attempting to compensate for this lack of rain by creating rain in my dreams.

All of this makes we wonder what my brain will do to compensate for the lack of friends in Berkeley. I'm probably too old for imaginary friends now. Although I've seen people walking the streets of Berkeley who seem to have very active social lives going on entirely in their minds. Hopefully I won't be reduced to wandering the streets muttering strange conversations with people who don't exist.

bands and animals

Last night at dinner, as Jeffrey was singing "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" and inventing new verses with Stella about different animals to swallow, I thought it oddly appropriate that I was about to leave for San Francisco to see two bands with animal names - Band of Horses and Dinosaur Jr. I've been digging Band of Horses for the last year or so; they are a new band who's second album is due out next month. I quite like their first one and was quite excited to see them live. Dinosaur Jr is legendary in that kind of 80's alternative/90's grunge/stoner-slacker corner of the music world. I've been aware of them and have heard stuff by them since their first album in '85, but only really dived headlong into their discography earlier this year. Their new cd, Beyond, is easily my most played cd this year. And last night, i finally got a chance to see them live. I had tickets to see them at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor but has a 102 degree fever that day and couldn't go.

The show was at the Mezzanine in SF, which is a fairly intimate club near 5th & Mission. It took less than 20 minutes to get there by car, which was nice. The opening set by Band of Horses was great, a nice mix of familiar tunes and new stuff from their upcoming cd. The lead singer has a really great voice and i liked the way they orchestrated three guitars without any of them stepping on each other.

After a 45 minute set, then a half hour set break, Dinosaur Jr took the stage. J. Mascis, the guitarist, singer and principle song writer, has a reputation as somewhat of a guitar god, but also as the definitive stoner-slacker. With his long white hair and introverted demeanor, he hardly embodies the rock god. But he certainly is an amazing guitarist. No wonder Sonic Youth titled one of their songs "J. Mascis for President". I could have done without the slam dancing and occasional stage diving that began near the stage around halfway through the show (and by the looks of things, the band would have strongly preferred to do without it too), but overall it was an excellent show and I'm very glad I was finally able to see them live. The next rock show in SF I'm considering seeing is the Jesus and Mary Chain, although at $40 per ticket, I'm not sure I'll make it.

The whole experience got me thinking about bands with animal names, particularly current bands in the "indie" world. Just off the top of my head we have Eels, Sparklehorse, Deerhoof, Deer Hunter, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Parade, Wolfmother, The Fruit Bats, Grizzly Bear, Pedro the Lion, Modest Mouse, The Field Mice, The Arctic Monkeys, The Mountain Goats, Gorillaz, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, The Unicorns, Minus The Bear, Panda Bear, Caribou, and Le Tigre. Going beyond the indie world, you have the Eagles, Byrds, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Jayhawks, T. Rex, Phish, Fish, Swans, The Monkeys, Boomtown Rats, Buffalo Tom, Donna the Buffalo, Leftover Salmon, Counting Crows, Black Crowes, Yard Birds, Flock of Seagulls, Grant Lee Buffalo, The Roaches, Three Dog Night, The Turtles, The Stone Ponies, Eek-a-Mouse, Iron Butterfly, The Scorpions, The Stray Cats and Skinny Puppy. Then there's non-specific animal names - Animal Collective, The Animals, Super Furry Animals, Be Your Own Pet...

Obviously, I've been thinking about this way too much. I must stop now.