dawg at the freight last night

[tuhker]

caught the quintet plus in berkeley last night. I had a smile on my face when they opened with my favorote tune opus 57. the elders of the band sure are diggin playing with the youngins and what a bunch of good ones they are. In addition to grant gordy on guitar and mike barnett on fiddle, Julian Lage who played on dawg duos at the tender age of 11 came up as a guest at the end. was able to hook up with a few friends at this my first visit to the new freight and the house was nearly full for dawg's first show there. George, jim and matt were certainly having fun and anyone in spittin distance should get out and see them there tonight. I'm half tempted myself.

[SternART]

Sounds like a cool show.....I'm headed down tonight. I thought fiddle phenomenon Alex Hargreaves was supposed to be playing with them......both Mike Barnett (who is in the Deadly Gentlemen with Sam Grisman) and Alex sat in with the DGQ when they played the new Freight a few months back. The Deadly Gentlemen opened that show. Both are great young fiddlers!

[tuhker]

your right, it was Alex on fiddle. awesome talent.

[SternART]

He plays in Mike Marshall's Big Trio too........I've watched him come up since the Pupville Band....... Grisman put together and performed with a kids band at Wintergrass '05......and Alex has been at several of the Mandolin Symposiums jamming with the other phenoms. He was the youngest National fiddle champ at Weiser a few years back too......I'm pretty sure the kid is still in High School.....and I read his younger sister is also an awesome fiddler.

[dougb256]

My buddy Pete Soper is mixing those shows this weekend so I know the sound is top notch :-)

[tuhker]

There was a guy sitting next to me with a video camera said he'd have them up online somewhere. If you lurkin, share the url if thats cool. the 2nd set was a lot of new stuff they are still workin out. looking fwd to arthur's review of tonights show as I couldn't make it again. oh yea, dawgs new grandson of a few weeks/months was in the audience for his first show. lots of friends and family.

[SternART]

Hey I had a great time.........David featured several new tunes.........an old time tune he remembered from a dream he had, an Impressionistic piece he wrote on the beach in Italy while jamming chords with the Church bells he was hearing from a nearby Church, one written for Giacommel, I think it was titled Corrado's breakdown.......written on his new Giacommel. He was playing the 2 point with the dog sculpted in three dimensions sticking out of the peghead. The Loar was on stage but only got played by Alex Hargreaves when they did Opus23/Japan with Alex soloing and playing the harmony part. He "very" carefully put it back on the stand & picked up his fiddle afterwards. He played great, what a talented young fiddler. There were several tunes with 3 part harmonies worked out with David & Matt on flute, that were so in sync & beautiful....Dan'l Boone was a nice version with triple harmony. Grant Gordy on guitar keeps getting better, his solo CD is in the works, Alex plays on it, as well as Dominick Leslie on mandolin.......Dawg is on one cut too. They played a Blues for Dawg written by Grant Gordy that was a great tune. He reminds me a bit of David Grier on guitar, kinda wild & inventive, but then he finds a position and milks every note of the melody out, very precise syncopation. Sam Grisman joined them on bass for Dawg's Waltz and did a great solo melody as well as the father-son licks making it a great performance. And Grisman was pretty much on fire all night, as he rhythmically put down an awesome groove and soloed his heart out for the sold out audience that included many friends and family. It was like a year end reunion. The new Freight & Salvage is a fabulous hall.

Mike Marshall & Caterina Lichtenberg are there Wed, and next week Grisman again with his BG Band.

[RSomers]

Hey Art, I will be in town next week. Hope I can arrange to come on over. It would be great to visit, and of course see Dawg.

[tuhker]

Thanks for the update Arthur. I don't recall them Playing Japan or Dan'l Boone Saturday but they did play Corrado's breakdown which was awesome and Albuquerque Turkey which I personally love. I also had a chance to chat some with Ruffu who I hope to see at the Symposium in 2010 which already looks like a great lineup. http://www.mandolinsymposium.com/

[SternART]

Last night was again a treat for the soul at the new Freight & Salvage......The David Grisman Bluegrass Experience this time. They warmed up as they played and by the 2nd set they came out of the gate flying. I love it when a BG band gets everything just right, the rhythm gets locked in, the mandolin pushing the beat from the back...and a syncopated forward momentum is the result. Jim Nunally on guitar who is also in Reischman's Jaybirds played and sang great, as did banjo ace Keith Little. Keith has a long resume including the Country Gentlemen, stints with Ricky Skaggs and Dolly Parton & has been playing with Peter Rowan of late as well. These fellas are steeped in bluegrass. Young Sam Grisman more than held his own, with several cool bass solos, as well as the first time I've seen him sing lead on a tune. Rounding out the band, Chad Manning on fiddle was HOT last night, he just keeps getting better, and when he puts the gas pedal to the floor can invent chorus after chorus of inventive melodies. This band plays pretty straight hard core BG, but with some inspired solos, combined with more traditional licks......and it is almost a musicology lesson, as David leads the audience through a BG history lesson, as they work their way through a Carter Family tune, to The Monroe Bros, then the Bluegrass Boys, tunes by several other of the first generation BG greats Jim & Jesse, the Stanley Bros. etc.

Just like last week at the DGQ show Grisman was in fine form........but this time playing his Loar for that pure BG tone. Aside from being a rhythm monster, and driving the band....he has a way of combining quotations from the classic mandolin licks of Monroe, with his more syncopated Dawg style licks, seemingly taking it to the edge, then bringing it home to tag his solos in a very traditional manner. It was almost like inside jokes for mandolin players, as he would take a downstroke Monroe solo, then morph it into a crosspicking pattern like Jesse.......morph again sliding way up the neck for some blindingly fast Dawg hammer on, and pull off trademark licks, and land the solo with another Monroe quotation.......all with POWER.......but with grace and ease. And all in the space of a regular BG solo, one creative idea flowing into another.....what great imagination to pull that off. He also played some very sensitive, incredibly beautiful solos, coaxing nuance and tone out of Crusher on the slower numbers, "Kentucky Waltz" comes to mind. David is so steeped in his love of Bluegrass that everything he plays is like a lesson for mandolin players. I kept smiling as he wove interesting solo after solo all night long. What a true master of the mandolin.......and the Bluegrass Experience put on a might fine show last night, those boys did some fine pickin and tight harmony singing. And a good time was had by all.

Upon leaving, I noticed that outside there were remnants of the Deadhead community, that couldn't get into the sold out show, venders of jewelry etc set up on the sidewalk.......I guess the OAITW connection with Garcia, as well as the later collaborations still is in the hearts of many in attendance too. Fittingly they closed with the encore the tune "Old and In The Way"

There might still be tickets available for tonights show! Check it out.......