Artifact of the Week: Furthur Rehearsal Photos
Tape of the Week: 5/25/2010
Furthur Rehearsal at the Palm Ballroom
Furthur Rehearsal at the Palm Ballroom
Last night, Dark Star Palace was lucky enough to be invited to attend one of Furthur's "stealth rehearsal" shows at the Palm Ballroom. Held in San Rafael, just one block over from Front Street and the Grateful Dead's old studio and rehearsal hall in the marina district, I felt like I was on planet Mars the entire night. What's next? Remixing Aoxomoxoa for surround-sound with Phil Lesh in his living room? I mean, this sort of thing was unthinkable just a few years ago. Now, it seems like they are doing these shows every other month!
Heading north on 101 from San Francisco with my friends Ty and Cecelia, it was very difficult to contain our excitement to see this band in a venue that holds less than 300 people. The fact that it was to be a rehearsal for the upcoming Furthurfest insanity this weekend, and a tiny rehearsal in the Dead's hometown of San Rafael just a hop, skip, and a swim from Front Street...well it was just all too much. Due to all this excitement, I might repeat myself 7 times in this blog post....so apologies in advance!
Now, Pier 15 happens to be the bar/restaurant that I described in a previous post in talking about Bob Dylan's time with the Dead and his come-to-Jesus moment that hit him in this bar. We had some drinks to celebrate this hollowed ground and then went down the street to the Palm Ballroom (located at the very Long John Silver'ish Seafood Peddler restaurant on the water) to catch the show.
Now, for the 50+ Jerry'ized Grateful Dead shows that I saw from April 1987 until December of 1994, my seats were usually somewhere in the back of the 70,000 seat arenas in the big city haunts of Chicago, New York, Denver, Baltimore, etc. Big places. Arenas. Football fields. Lots of concrete. I think the smallest show I attended may actually have been my first Dead show (UIC Pavillion 4/11/87 in the final pre-Touch of Grey days..but yeah, I'm a NEWBIE)...which held around 9-10,000 Deadheads. To think that I would someday see a few of these guys doing some amazing jamming on the old Dead catalog in their hometown in a cheesy little ballroom...well, it was like being on Mars. Or at least being in the Mars Hotel in the Tenderloin!
Just after we arrived, up drove Phil Lesh and his wife Jill in his fancy-pants Ferrari. Stylin'! Phil gets the best parking in the joint award! Then, Bob Weir pops around corner looking like he might have arrived off a boat in the marina (turns out it was his Lexus SUV...again...weird. I would have rather have seen his '63 Corvette). But, it was a good omen to arrive with the band! We were already in sync and the night was still young!
The Palm Ballroom was so small that you could have done 3 cart-wheels and covered the entire floor (assuming you can do some big-ass cartwheels). There was a bar in the back. Check! But wait...no bathroom. Turns out, you have to leave the ballroom and head to Long John Silvers to hit the head. Weird, but kinda a hoot too. There were no tickets. You had to show your ID at the door, whereupon you were given a psychedelic wristband and a stamp of the Eye of Horus! Egypt! The Dark Star! Jerry's pig-tails!
I somehow was given the opportunity to be right up front...first row, next to some good 'ole Deadheads who had been following the band around for the past year and a half while they were giving their jobs a bit of a vacation. When the band came out to start the show, I was shocked. Furthur was one foot away from me... I could reach out and help them tune! I could roll the ends of Bobby Weir's fancy mustache! I could slap a Garcia Wolf sticker onto the top of John's Carvin guitar to take it one step Furthur! And finally, I could tune Bobby's axe to an open G chord to help out his slide playing! There wasn't going to be any late-70's Weir attempts to do a Charlie Patton on my clock! I jest of course. Anyway, it was such a relaxed evening, it just all seemed so normal to be hanging out with the band as they rapped and joked and commented on their new arrangements. I felt like a member of the band as I threw in background heckles to Bob during "On the Road Again" since Bob was spitting all over me. Yes-sir-e, it was a normal night. That is, if being a few feet away from Bob Weir and Phil Lesh at a private rehearsal in San Rafael could be considered normal.
The show/rehearsal turned out to be just fantastic. There was some very tasty jams going on, despite it just being rehearsal. They tried some new arrangements on several tunes and did a bust out or two, but really, it was all about the jamming. I like the one-drummer set-up! It's very 1972-74 if you ask me. And Joe Russo killed it! Wow, I like the way he thrashes and jazzes those skins. He's like a cross between John Bonham and Elvin Jones. And he seems to always keep a toothpick in his mouth as he plays. Is that the drummer equivalent to a baseball player chewing tobacco out on the field? The new backup singer, Jeff Pehrson, did great for his first trip with the band. Something tells me he wasn't a Deadhead a week or two ago, but check him out in 90 days. I bet he'll be trading tapes and buying veggie burritos on Shakedown Street for summer tour. Sunshine is always amazing...what a great addition to the band. And Jeff Chimenti has chops as good as Brent Mydland, but doesn't sing "Tons of Steel". A double win!!!
There were some outstanding psychedelic sections throughout the show...and it was a thrill to see the bass and guitar finger-work so up close. Bobby broke out 2 of his old Dead axes: the weirdest guitar of them all...a PINK Fender Stratocaster, and his old Wall of Sound Gibson ES335. Phil wasn't on the Ritter bass like he has been for the past few years, but busted out his old Grateful Dead Modulus bass! Great to see the old gear. There was UltraSound and Meyer gear all over the little place...just like old times.
There were some outstanding psychedelic sections throughout the show...and it was a thrill to see the bass and guitar finger-work so up close. Bobby broke out 2 of his old Dead axes: the weirdest guitar of them all...a PINK Fender Stratocaster, and his old Wall of Sound Gibson ES335. Phil wasn't on the Ritter bass like he has been for the past few years, but busted out his old Grateful Dead Modulus bass! Great to see the old gear. There was UltraSound and Meyer gear all over the little place...just like old times.
This week's Tape of the Week will be filled in as soon as we get a decent tape up from this rehearsal! But, I see no alternative but to say that it will stream from here! Here's the set list breakdown:
Furthur
May 25, 2010 (8:20pm - 10:45pm)
May 25, 2010 (8:20pm - 10:45pm)
"Live Rehearsal Sessions"
Stealth Show
Palm Ballroom - San Rafael, CA
After Midnight
Bertha
New Speedway Boogie
Playing In The Band >
Eyes of The World >
St. Stephen >
The Eleven >
Unbroken Chain
Dear Mr. Fantasy
Days Between >
On The Road Again
Truckin' >
Smokestack Lightning >
Truckin'
Donor Rap
E: Ripple
Until next time at Dark Star Palace........
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