phil lesh and friends

[Fred G]

great show last night. The guitarist Larry Campbell pulled out an F-9 for the second song friend of the devil. He played fiddle on a few tunes (Hurricane..) Then a Cittern (10 strings) I believe for Mountains of the moon. The way they amplified the mando it pretty much sounded like keyboards and the fiddle like and electric guitar but it was cool.
I also saw John Skehan(mando)and Tim Carbone(fiddle) from Railroad Earth heading behind the stage between sets but they did not join Phil on stage. Maybe they will at the Newark shows.

Anybody else there last night?

[ira]

seeing em in a few weeks- would love to see the rre guys come out and play with em. i know they did on his last tour.

[berkeleymando]

Wasn't there but looking forward to the new year's eve show in SF!

[ira]

goin this thursday- some great setlists, with 11/21 and the 2nd night in nj as the best ones yet. some great breakout tunes, and first time played stuff (gd and non). can't wait!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif

[berkeleymando]

I'm still wondering what the shows with the John Mayer trio will be like when the are back here at the end of December. Haven't been to a New Year's show since 1987-1988 at the Oakland Coliseum.

Most intruiging is the set order described on the Phillesh.net site:

New Year's Eve!
Saturday, December 31
Bill Graham Civic Center
San Francisco, CA
Doors open at 6:30 PM. Show time is 8:00 PM.

Phil & Friends will play 1 set, preceded by a
set by The John Mayer Trio. At midnight,
Phil Lesh & John Mayer will perform a combined set
featuring Joan Osborne and the rest of PLF.

[SternART]

berkeleymando...how old were you in 87-88 anyway? You must have started young. I have numerous NYE GD shows I've been to, but it seems they were usually better the night before, some years I would go to a few shows in the run..... a friend got Jerry-less Dead tickets for the night before NY a few years back and I tagged along....it was the year when Joan Osborne was singing with them....I thought she was fabulous!

[ira]

berkley- should be fantastic, i am a tad jealous. yeah, sternart, i was bummed when they ditched joan. she brought such power to so many of the tunes.

btw- speaking of nye gd shows. if anyone has the i think...79 or 80 newyears with etta james and the tower of power- i have lost my copy of that amazing show and would love a new one.

[berkeleymando]

berkeleymando...how old were you in 87-88 anyway? #You must have started young. I have numerous NYE GD shows I've been to, but it seems they were usually better the night before, some years I would go to a few shows in the run..... a friend got Jerry-less Dead tickets for the night before NY a few years back and I tagged along....it was the year when Joan Osborne was singing with them....I thought she was fabulous!
Hi SternART, I was 18 at the time of the 1987-88 new years show. I first saw the Dead 6-24-84 at the age of 14, and managed to catch 15-20 shows annually in 85, 86, and 87. Heck they peformed at numerous venues within a short drive of Boston 3 times a year. When I finished high school and moved to California in 1987 I caught plenty of Kaiser center, Oakland Coliseum, Warfield etc. shows. For me, the Jerry Garcia Band at the Warfield was a real highlight, as well as JGB peformances at the Orpheum in SF, French's Camp (Eel River), Santa Rosa etc.

One of the coolest shows I saw here in the bay area was during my first ever visit to SF. It was February 1987. There was a "World Music in Schools Benefit Concert" at the tiny Petaluma Veteran's memorial auditorium where SANTANA performed with Mickey Hart, Jerry Garcia, Bobby Vega, Babatunde Olatunji, Wavy Gravy, etc al. The "Fire on the Mountain" with Garcia and Santana trading licks was fanstastic. Apparently it was filmed and broadcast on North bay public television, so some one must have a copy of this video (I would love to find it if anyone knows how).

[berkeleymando]

...it was the year when Joan Osborne was singing with them....I thought she was fabulous!

<p>

It appears she is on the bill, for the new year's run:

http://www.phillesh.net/philzoneimages/slices/nye-2005/nye-2005-title-pf.gif

[Tom C]

My first show was 1/10/79. The last Dark Star and St Stephen for a long time. Does anybody have a soundboard or good quality of this one? I do have it on cassette but it's an audience and there must be better out there.

[SternART]

The Dead will eventually put them all out......

I was late to order the new limited '69 10CD set from their web site... but I did get the new Fillmore West '69 3 CD with a bonus disc. That is a great era & brought back memories. I started going regularly 'bout '69, so it speaks to me.....Berkeleymando, you missed a great era in Berkeley...you were too late for the Keystone Berkeley...JGB in all its personel & name changes.......man...... they regularly rocked the joint in the 70's. Saw OAITW there a few times too, my first intro to Dawg & the mandolin.

[jefflester]

btw- speaking of nye gd shows. if anyone has the i think...79 or 80 newyears with etta james and the tower of power- i have lost my copy of that amazing show and would love a new one.
That's 12/31/82. Until last Wednesday, I could have pointed you to the Live Music Archive at archive.org. But alas...

My first show was 8/28/82 Veneta. The debut of "Day Job." :-)

[ira]

though a few years earlier saw the jgb with dr. john at the calderone, re: 1st gd show-9/5/79 at msg was mine- had a soft spot for mississippi half step ever since .

[Fred G]

My first show was 6/??/79 woops I can't remember http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif at Penn State. Seems like a few of started that year... great year.
I too really enjoyed the Joan Osbourne shows, the Jones beach show was killer.
Phil says he is coming back to philly and NYC in Feb., so I will catch him again.

[jefflester]

My first show was 6/??/79 woops I can't remember http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif at Penn State.
Recreation Hall - Penn State University 5/8/79
Shakedown Street encore, cool. :-)

www.deadlists.com
www.deadbase.com

[Spruce]

"My first show was 1/10/79. The last Dark Star and St Stephen for a long time. Does anybody have a soundboard or good quality of this one?"

It's out there....
Here tis:
01/10/79 # #Uniondale # #All # #3 # #Audience Recording>?>Cdr # # #

My first Dead show was 03/26/68 at Melodyland Theater, in Anaheim, CA...
(Gawd, I'm old....)

They opened for the Airplane, with both bands playing on a revolving stage in a theater-in-the-round...
Both bands cooked, and I remember it like it was yesterday...

"I started going regularly 'bout '69, so it speaks to me"

Me too...
That's my favorite era, with TC and all that cool weird material...

Went to Deadaholics Anonomous in '75 or so, and extracated myself from that particular religious cult...

Only recently started listening again, and have re-visited many shows I was at that have surfaced on soundboards...
Good clean fun...

[J. Mark Lane]

What a bunch of kids (except for Bruce <g>).

My first live show was December 10, 1973, at the Charlotte Coliseum. I had been a fan for about two years by then. They had the "wall of sound" and were basically doing the "Europe '72" thing. Tremendous show. Last show must have been about 1993 or so, in MSG. Many shows in between, some great, some awful (I think of the Fox Theatre in 1984, when Jerry could hardly stand up and walked off in the middle of something).

Anyway, the reason I noticed this was the reference to Lesh. Forgive me if I'm way off base (it's been a long time since I followed these guys), but didn't he used to be a bit of a, well, a drinker? Are those guys straightened out these days?

[Jim M.]

Phil is straightened out; a new liver will do wonders for a man. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

He has a pretty good book out; I got it from the library but here's an Amazon link if you want to take a look:

My Life with the GD (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316009989/104-7621536-9347936?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance)

There's a great story in there about Phil hiring a guy in a Barney the dinosaur suit to walk out on stage and pretend to play bass for a few songs, while Phil actually played from behind the amp stack.

[J. Mark Lane]

Thanks, Jim. I didn't know Lesh had written a book. Is it true that he got a new liver? Back when I was in San Rafael maybe, oh...uh, thirty years ago...people referred to him as "Phil Lush." I was in a bar one night and he was there, surrounded by hangers-on, but quite obviously drunk. I loved that band. It's really sad what they did to themselves.

Oh, well. That's another story for another day, I guess.

[wah]

I'm looking forward to New Years and seeing Larry Campbell play with Phil. He really impressed me when I saw him with Dylan. I was starting to get tired of the Jimmy Herring - Warren Hayes group. Heard alot of good music but I liked the days of rotating in people. This line up looks like it has some potential. Add me to the list of those who thought Joan did a great job fronting the Dead.

I first heard the Grateful Dead at the Avalon Ballroom in October '68. And that era is my favorite (I hope my girlfriend got me the 10 cd set for Christmas - should have pulled the trigger on it). I sure missed Pigpen. I thought Joan brought back some of that gutsy blues feeling that Pigpen had. We're going to all 3 shows, the Fillmore, Warfield, and Civic Center. No wonder I can't afford to buy any more mandolins.

Wayne

[berkeleymando]

didn't he used to be a bit of a, well, a drinker? #Are those guys straightened out these days?
Phil is a very healthy and energetic guy these days! I appreciate his efforts to come together with diverse musicians.

[berkeleymando]

We're going to all 3 shows, the Fillmore, Warfield, and Civic Center. No wonder I can't afford to buy any more mandolins.
I could afford to buy only ONE ticket for the New Year's Eve to make sure I get in!

$79.70 all fees included . . . a lot for my budget!

[berkeleymando]

Berkeleymando, you missed a great era in Berkeley...you were too late for the Keystone Berkeley...JGB in all its personel & name changes.......man...... they regularly rocked the joint in the 70's.
I treasure my vinyl "Live at Keystone" [Fantasy Records] albums.

[Paul Kotapish]

Phil is a very healthy and energetic guy these days!
I've played a couple of benefits in recent years for the school where Phil's kids attend, and he looks--and seems--great. He's certainly staying active and creative.

As an odd little aside, Lesh & Friends drummer John Molo was in my high-school rock 'n' roll band back in Virginia in the late '60s. He got taller--I got rounder. We both got bald. We're both still playing music, but he gets all the good gigs!

[SternART]

I found Phil's book to be quite interesting, the first Dead book written by one of the band members.
I jumped ship & became a Dawghead, rather than a Deadhead, in the late 70's, but the Dead were my intro
to a lot of roots music, improvisation,rhythm concepts, etc..... and had I not followed Jerry, who knows
if I would have discovered mandolin, Grisman, all from that OAITW connection...... I'm an artist and was
certainly inspired by their music.......to strike out & make my own energy, rather that just consume
creative energy by others was one thing I learned from the Dead experience. The alternative lifestyle
and following your own path another......your art being your life.

Too bad they blew their collective brains out, they certainly went from drug use......to drug abuse.

[Fred G]

I really enjoyed Bruce Mcnally's book a few years ago. I thought it had some good insight into the early years and the san francisco scene in general.
I have not read Phil's book yet.

[ira]

phil's book was surprisingly well written. alot of interesting stuff as you couldn't get more of a 1st hand view. the most interesting thing was about how they packed up early in their time together and just played in a barn up in the hills for a bunch of months, and really learned to play their instruments through playing together (garcia was primarily an acoustic guitarist and banjo player-not an electric playeer, phil- trumpet, pigpen knew some harp-but no keyboards, bobby was jerry's student, and billy was the only one with actual skill in his instrument). in musing about it, it really makes sense about their explorations of sound, genres and their unique brand of interpretation. the fact that they learned in this way gave them a give and take that you dont find much elsewhere, and brought that sense of group/individual approach to music. anyway, i found that part quite fascinating.