Dead Night 3/1/09 Thunderbird Cafe playlist & commentary

Attention, K-Mart shoppers! Disorientation! The ol' switcheroo! If you
get confused, listen to the music play, that's what I say. And I
should know, I play the music. Yup, it's time once again for the
weekly playback of the happy happenings at Dead Night in Pittsburgh.
This week saw a full crowd of folks searching for the sound - well,
you came to the right place! Oddly, many of our regulars were absent
this night but in their place a new crew of thrill-seekers were
checking it out. Scotty returned to his alpha barkeep role as Jen had
called off, not feeling well, and he was kept busy all night. I
represented some killer Dead, but also needed to post signs that
because of bands being booked the next two Sundays, this was the last
Dead Night until March 22nd - first full day of Spring, at last! Yeah,
it's a break in our continuity but if it helps pay the bills so that
Dead Night is maintained, whaddaya gonna do? And they kept on
dancing... This week, I played some tunes from the recent NYE
extravaganza and broke out some old video tapes because we have the
technology! How did it all play out? I'm glad you asked that question
because I was just about to provide a detailed review and here it is,
and as always, *= played by request.

Phil & Friends 12/31/08 San Francisco CA
jam > Golden Road To Unlimited Devotion > The Wheel > jam > Eyes Of
The World > Don't Let Me Down (tip of the hat to the anonymous
benefactor who supplied the tunes. As I walked in, a guy who should
know better stepped up to the juke box and began feeding it money. I
reminded him that, ahem, the DJ was about to start but he didn't give
a rat's ass. The same guy had hurt one of our regulars with a foul
breakup, so I let the first tune play but as the next one got going I
motioned to Scotty to kill the jukebox and started up the jam into
Golden Road over the other music. While the music played, I warm up
the projection TV with an episode of the Hanna Barbera cartoon Top
Cat. A message? More an homage to matinees at the old movie theaters
where everything kicked off with a cartoon and a news reel. So, when
Top Cat ended, I switched to a DVD of highlights from the newest
Burning Man festival, very groovy)

Mickey Hart's Mystery Box (1996)
Full Steam Ahead (my favorite Mickey solo release, this tune doesn't
have the hooks of Sito but it does feature an implacable rhythm and
signals that all systems are go)

6/30/88 Silver Stadium, Rochester NY
Green Onions > China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider (Time to hear
some Jerry. Alas, this was their only performance of the Booker T. &
the MGs hit. Neil Young used them as a backup band in the early 90s -
imagine Booker instead of Vince in the Dead, how funky would that be?)

Weir, Lesh & Molo 12/31/08 San Francisco CA
Me & My Uncle, El Paso, Tomorrow Never Knows (all with Bobby on
acoustic), Maggie's Farm > Dark Star > Cassidy (let's dial down the
energy for a bit with this semi-acoustic set. Maybe we - and by "we" I
mean "you" as my darling wife Karen and I will be unable to attend -
will see this configuration on the upcoming spring tour. We are bound
and determined to make it to Nelson's Ledges this summer for
GratefulFest, though)

8/6/71 Hollywood Paladium, Hollywood CA
Mr. Charlie, Big Boss Man (Pigpen is de rigueur, n'est-ce pas? Pardon
my French!)

3/1/69 Fillmore West, San Francisco CA
Doing That Rag > Cosmic Charlie (40 years ago tonight, one of the
greatest run of shows was making history. Earlier, the Burning Man
2008 DVD had ended, so I replace it with highlights from the 2005
festival)

JGB 12/4/77 Rutgers U, New Brunswick NJ
Stir It Up (which contains a "Here Comes The Sun" riff, what is this,
Beatles night? It's a nice take on the Marley tune but it's a little
too soporific so when it ends it's off to the races!)

6/20/80 West High School, Anchorage AK
Jack Straw > Franklin's Tower > Mama Tried (now we're cooking, here's
an upbeat combo from the only time the GD ever played in Alaska, but
why in a high school gymnasium, were there no theaters or sufficiently
large igloos? I bag the Mexicali that follows Mama Tried as I am
anxious to get to the hot video action)

2/27/90 Oakland CA (video)
Mardi Gras parade > jam > Iko-Iko > Man Smart Woman Smarter, *
Standing On The Moon, Truckin' > drums (the jam through MSWS has
Michael Doucette of Beausoleil sitting in on Cajun fiddle, and this
amazing jam is intense, complex and beautiful. SOTM is a "standing"
request for my sweetie Karen, enjoy! Once the drums begin, I fade down
the DVD audio for a request but keep the video going)

9/7/85 Red Rocks, Morrison CO
* Loser, Shakedown Street > Crazy Fingers (while I have the CD out,
might as well play the ubiquitous Shakedown, it always seems to pep up
the crowd, and by now there really is one as all the tables in the
performance area on the mezzanine are full as is the bar itself)

6/14/91 RFK Stadium, Washington DC (video)
Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower, Estimated Prophet >
Dark Star (rather than play the post-drums of the Oakland show, I opt
for the pre-drums from this Vault release. I'll play the rest of the
Oakland show later - ironically, as I type this, I hear the Oakland
post-drums on the Sirius GD channel 32! What a coinkydink!)

Garcia & Grisman 8/25/91 Squaw Valley CA (video)
Friend Of The Devil, Russian Lullabye (shot from a handheld camera,
decent sound when the wind isn't blowing but overall just okay with
the shaky video and down a few video gens as well, just wanted to get
a taste from this dusty old videotape)

6/24/91 Sandstone, Bonner Springs KS
C.C. Rider > It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (I keep
the G&G video going for eye-candy and prepare to wrap up this
evening's activities. I remind folks about the two-week hiatus due to
bands being booked on a Sunday and pack up Brigadoon until the next
time)

Dylan & the Dead 7/24/87 Oakland CA (video)
The Times They Are A'Changin', Man Of Peace (this was what the GD left
out of their Vault release from this show thanks to Zimmy and it is
imperfect as a result but still worthwhile. Folks are still rocking -
can you blame them? - but eventually we all have to go home. Thanks
for coming to Dead Night, much appreciated!)

And that will do it for this edition. Stay tuned and hope to see you
all in the spring. Keep your sunnyside up and have a positive day.
Love and peace, TD

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That's
why we call it the present." -- Baba Oluntunji

my space http://www.myspace.com/deadheadpittsburgh
my blog: http://blog.myspace.com/deadheadpittsburgh
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