Furthur w. Trey Anastasio perform Workingman's Dead (SBD mp3)

 

(l to r) Bob Weir, Trey Anastasio, Fake Jerry, Phil Lesh

Furthur 9/7/13 Lockn Festival, Arrington VA

Set 1: Uncle John's Band*, High Time*, Dire Wolf*, New Speedway Boogie*, Cumberland Blues*, Black Peter*, Easy Wind*, Casey Jones*^, Bertha^, Truckin^, Other One^, Viola Lee Blues^, Scarlet^ > Fire^

* from full album "Workingman's Dead"
^ with Trey Anastasio
all highlighted links to mp3's

The Perro Sessions (Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra)

The confusion surrounding 'the Perro sessions' is understandable.   Perro, or PER&RO (Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra), refers to a loose agglomeration of players in the San Fransisco Bay area who gathered around Wally Heider's studio during a time of great flux in their respective bands including: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead.  Deadheads in particular enjoy the material due to the lack of live recordings documenting the musical relationship between Garcia and Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson/ Hot Tuna). 

A definite high point on this portion of the tape is at 30:24 as Mountains v. 4 reaches its apex (a phenomenal passage in it's own right), when the band led by Jerry starts coaxing out a proto version of  Loser and a brief reprise of Deal including a pause to recapitulate the chords.  Then there is a cold cut in the tape and Jerry plainly recounts the chord progression: C-Em-Am-G-Am.  At which point they go into Deal proper.

The Perro Sessions tapes give us a glimpse into these and other sessions that were never mixed or saved for posterity, the recordings engineer Stephen Barncard is central to the conservation of this material- though perhaps he did not pack the actual pipe of marijuana that was discovered along with the sessions when unearthed.

Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra collaborations have resulted in many songs and formally in two releases; the first credited to Jefferson Starship was the album Blows Against The Empire; the second was David Crosby's solo debut If Only I Could Remember My Name.

Personnel

David Crosby – guitar, vocals
Graham Nash – guitar, vocals
Paul Kantner – guitar, banjo, vocals
Grace Slick – piano, vocals
Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar
Jack Casady – bass
Jerry Garcia – guitar, vocals
Phil Lesh – bass
Bill Kreutzmann – drums
Mickey Hart – percussion
David Freiberg – viola, vocals

PERRO Discography

1970 Blows Against the Empire by Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship
1971 If I Could Only Remember My Name by David Crosby
Songs for Beginners by Graham Nash
Sunfighter by Paul Kantner and Grace Slick
1972 Graham Nash David Crosby by Graham Nash and David Crosby
Rolling Thunder by Mickey Hart  —
1973 Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun by Kantner, Slick, and Freiberg 1983 Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra by Paul Kantner

An excellent narrative on the discovery of the 4 reels of 2 track mixes made in 1971 and the genesis of the sessions (along with the original tape box notations) can be found here.

The roots of PER&RO go back a lot further than 1971. 1 guess it had its inception in the early years of the '60s (prior to the Airplane, the Byrds et al) when Kantner, Crosby and Freiberg used to hang out, play music, get high and rap together around Venice Beach. That was the initial bond, the start of it all...

Later, when they were in bands of their own, there were occasional points of interaction - like Garcia sitting in on the 'Surrealistic Pillow' sessions, like Crosby giving "Triad" to the Airplane when he couldn't get the Byrds to record it, like Kantner, Crosby and Stills writing "Wooden Ships"....  

As Grace recalls, "These sessions were like 'Uh, do you wanna play guitar on this one?' 'No, man, I have to go to the bathroom.' 'Okay, David, you wanna play?' 'Sure'. Whoever felt like doing something did it. Parts interchanged, people interchanged."
 

 

Mike Gordon's Bass Rig Part 1 & 2

 

Mike 'Cactus' Gordon likewise displays his third Modulus bass and describes how much of his bass rig's set up is modelled after Phil Lesh whose tone he emulates (along with Bootsy Collins and John Entwistle).  How Gordon manages to play and project bass frequencies is a huge aspect of what is ineffable about the Phish experience.  Watching him break down his new rig, and talking about his old rig 'which was really wallowing in low end' needed to be replaced.

In part 2 we get what every fan wants to know how he makes so many of those distinctive phases and effects including 'echo space of god' then another device he calls 'the super-ego thing'.  Gordon explains definitive sounds from Harry Hood and how a meatball flanger is essential to Down With Disease's trademark sound.

Move Me Brightly setlist (Jerry Garcia 70th Birthday, TRI Studios, 08/03/2012)

(l to r: Neal Casal, Donna Jean Godchaux, Bob Weir, Mike Gordon)

"I'm into performing cause there's a certain part of my life in which that's essential. I've lived a performer's life in a certain way so a certain amount of that is there.  I love what I'm doing." - Jerry Garcia

Move Me Brightly (Jerry Garcia 70th Birthday Celebration)

Tri Studios, San Rafael, CA

08/03/2012

The Wheel >
Cumberland Blues
Loser
Mississippi Half Step
Dire Wolf
Dupree’s Diamond Blues
Tennessee Jed
Ship Of Fools
They Love Each Other
Bird Song >
New Speedway Boogie
Loose Lucy
Friend of the Devil
Mission In The Rain
Ramble On Rose
Catfish John
Shakedown Street
Terrapin Station
He’s Gone >
Eyes Of The World
Scarlet Begonias
Don’t Let Go
Days Between >
Franklin’s Tower

Encore:
U.S. Blues >
Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad
Ripple

(*all song titles below are youtube links)



The Wheel > Cumberland Blues (Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Donna Jean Godchaux, Neal Casal, Jon Graboff, Jason Roberts, Joe Russo, Jeff Chimenti)

Loser (Casal, Russo, Weir, Mike Gordon, Chimenti, Godchaux, Jim Lauderdale, Roberts, Graboff, Adam McDougall)

Mississippi Half Step (Weir, Gordon, Jim Lauderdale, Godchaux, Graboff, Casal, Chimenti, Russo)

Dire Wolf (Weir, Harper Simon, Gordon, Russo, Godchaux, Graboff, Chimenti, Josh Kaufman, Sam Cohen)

Dupree’s Diamond Blues (Chimenti, Casal, Russo, Gordon, Cass McCombs, Sam Cohen, Josh Kaufman)

Tennessee Jed (Chimenti, Casal, Godchaux, Russo, Gordon, Weir, Roberts, Graboff)

Ship Of Fools (Chimenti, Casal, Godchaux, Russo, Gordon, Weir, Graboff)

They Love Each Other (Chimenti, Casal, Godchaux, Russo, Weir, Gordon, Jonathan Wilson, Graboff)

Bird Song (Chimenti, Casal, Godchaux, Russo, Weir, Gordon, Graboff) > New Speedway Boogie (Chimenti, McDougall, Casal, Godchaux, Russo, Weir, Gordon, Roberts, Graboff)

Loose Lucy (Weir Solo Acoustic)

Friend of the Devil (Lauderdale, Simon, McCombs)

Mission In The Rain (Chimenti, Casal, Godchaux, Russo, Gordon, Wilson)

Ramble On Rose (Chimenti, Casal, Russo, Weir, Gordon, Wilson)

Catfish John (McDougall, Chimenti, Casal, Russo, Godchaux, Gordon, Weir, Wilson, Graboff)

Shakedown Street (McDougall, Chimenti, Simon, Godchaux, Chris Tomson, Godchaux, Gordon, Weir, Kaufman, Cohen)

Terrapin Station (Chimenti, Godchaux, Russo, Gordon, McCombs, Weir, Kaufman, Cohen, Graboff)

He’s Gone (Chimenti, Russo, Godchaux, Weir, Gordon, Kaufman, Cohen, Graboff) > Eyes Of The World (McDougall, Chimenti, Simon, Godchaux, Russo, Weir, Gordon, Lauderdale, Kaufman, Cohen, Graboff)

Scarlet Begonias (Chimenti, Craig Finn, Tad Kubler, Russo, Godchaux, Weir, Gordon, Kaufman, Cohen, Graboff)

Don’t Let Go (Chimenti, Finn, Godchaux, Graboff, Russo, Weir, Gordon, Wilson, Simon)

Days Between (Chimenti, Casal, Russo, Weir, Gordon, Kaufman, Wilson, Cohen) > Franklin’s Tower (Chimenti, McDougall, Casal, Russo, Simon, Weir, Wilson, Godchaux, Gordon, Kaufman, Cohen, Graboff, Tomson, Lauderdale)

U.S. Blues (Chimenti, McDougall, Casal, Russo, Simon, Weir, Wilson, Godchaux, Gordon, Kaufman, Cohen, Graboff, Lauderdale, Finn)

Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad (Chimenti, McDougall, Casal, Russo, Simon, Weir, Wilson, Godchaux, Gordon, Kaufman, Cohen, Graboff, McCombs, Lauderdale, Finn)

Ripple (Chimenti, McDougall, Godchaux, Simon, Wilson, Tomson, Casal, Roberts, Kaufman, Weir, Gordon, Russo, Wilson, Lauderdale, Graboff)

The National to curate Grateful Dead compilation

In news that (NorthernHeads is reporting) that Pitchfork is reporting pulled from Spinner Canada: The National is working on a new compilation record (similar to their Dark Was The Night albums benefiting AIDS research) of Grateful Dead covers.  Solicited involvement is coming forward from New Weird American groups like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes.  Also minimalist avant garde composer Steven Reich is involved, who is an old chum of Dead bassist Phil Lesh from his earliest days as a classical trumpet player, composer and early producer of Electronic music. Regrettably Devendorf is also quoted as saying "we're also trying to think of unusual [acts]. (Electronic-douche-scream-prats) Crystal Castles would be awesome." 


The National's bassist Scott Devendorf who is 'shadow curating the record' is quoted as saying "we're just figuring that out right now. Matt Berninger has got to sing it, so we're thinking a Phil song, 'Box of Rain' or 'Unbroken Chain,' something like that," he says. "For us, the frontrunner right now is 'Box of Rain' I think, but we'll see."  Despite being the only true musical equal to Jerry Garcia in the Grateful Dead, Lesh sings a limited number of songs in their catalogue owing to his distinct voice- of those Unbroken Chain which re-emerged in the last years of Garcia's life is a rabid fan favourite both for it's rarity and the depths it's improvisations often plumb.

Bob Weir Dosed At Nokia?

Bob Weir collapses onstage at Capitol Theater Update: (04/25/13)

Bob Weir 'dosing' Update: (08/12/10)


After some thought I questioned the plausibility of this story after hearing offhand from Deadheads on a Canadian forum that Phil was joking the second night and that it was a 'prescription drug reaction on an empty stomach'.   For a moment I bought that party line myself (also on the basis that no respectable print outlets picked up the story, where for instance one piece of a hilarious acid crazed dude trying to put on his sandal at Coachella made CNN's American Morning at the time).  Then it occured to me 'how many prescription drug reactions on an empty has Lindsay Lohan had' - indeed isn't that the caveat for any drugged out aberrant behaviour in Hollywood?


After some furthur poking around there is some talk on www.philzone.com message boards that Phil's wife (hoooooootness) came down on the entire crew hard after the performance.

The relevant background to get here is that Phil Lesh is a recovering alchoholic and suffers from Hepatitis C and as such makes regular Organ Donor Rap's at his concerts encouraging fans about the importance of organ donation.   This says a few things- first of all the backstage area is likely fairly to highly controlled definitely with regards to alcohol despite the predelictions of the fanbase.  For instance in one of the finest incarnations of Phil Lesh & Friends (with longime Deadhead Ryan Adams) it was perceived in very bad form that Adams slugged off a fourty of whiskey onstage with his hero.  If as it seems Bobby was really dosed the  finger would have been pointed first at the crew (whose responsibility it is to secure the backstage), the venue security, and there are a host of liability issues extending as far as the venue itself I would think.   From a medical perspective although Bobby (and Phil) have gobbled enough acid to liberate a small African country please remember Bobby is 62 years old and a grandparent, it seems likely he was assessed by a private physician, likely given oranges and cigarettes in the chillout tent or at least some valium and alot of fluids.




Original Post:


There's been some speculation amongst Deadheads on various forums about whether longtime guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir was inadvertently (unwittingly) dosed during or before Furthur's performance the first night at the Nokia Theatre.  


Judge from this youtube clip of El Paso (which was in the parlance of Deadheads butchered, aborted and drew audible boos afterwards) where the band unnervingly circles around over and over again as Weir misses his vocal intro, if familiar with the song and improvisation one can audibly detect the group instrumentally gathering around Weir like a sick foal coaxing him along.





From the sounds of it he really was dosed - on paper the next night at the Nokia Theater's setlist is really confident including massive showpieces Dark Star and particularly the revered Unbroken Chain.  As his compatriot Phil Lesh said onstage the second night: "Never drink out of something you haven't poured yourself".

Furthur - Nokia Theatre, New York, NY, July 29, 2010


Set 1:


Dancin' in the Streets>
Celebration>
Alligator>
Tennessee Jed
Reuben & Cerise
Money For
Gasoline, Mississippi Half-Step> Let It Grow

Set 2:

So Many Roads

Seven Hills Of Gold> Dear Mr Fantasy> Jam> Dark Star(v1)> Unbroken Chain> The Other One> The Eleven> Death Don't Have No Mercy> Dark Star(v2)> Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad> We Bid You Goodnight