Furthur

[Drunk Monk]

Dammit! I'm totally booked. That's the center of TCKFMCIII. There is no way I can make any of these. No way at all.

[Drunk Monk]

Hehe, I actually did make a cameo at Furthur during our tournament. Went from the banquet to Shoreline, if full CK 3-piece, snuck in, someone gave me a seat in row L, checked out Morning Dew, then left. A drive-by.

Yesterday I took a comp day for my Florida trip, and got down to the venue by 2ish. It was a shining drive there - the sun was just at the right angle to warm my heart but not blind me, just what I needed. Good to get out of the Bay Area for some fresh sea air and blue sky. I wasn't feeling this show, and was annoyed I couldn't score a carpool, even w/RM's facebook power, but the drive down was very reflective.

The venue had zero parking. For some reason, a lot of RMers thought there would be camping. Don't know where they got that - it was never announced so on our site and the venue site had strict rules against it. So there was some shuffling as people found crash pads and such. We had a crappy little space at the end of vendors row, just before the spicy pie booth (pizza). The venue is right underneath the flight path of the airport, so small jets roar over regularly. The arena was a big field of mud when I got there, but they laid down tons of fresh sawdust, and it was actually nice, like big freshly-cleaned rabbit rabbit hutch. Furthur is playing small venues for this tour - this was only 5500.

I had a lot of fun running amuck. The 1st set was un-engaging, but I caught a fine Estimated>Deal during the second, which left me with the opinion that the boys still got it, only just though. That's okay because it gave me more luxury to run amuck.

Estimated>Deal made me think of ED. ED, we need to get together soon. Why haven't I done a hobo shoot with you for KFTC? I've got LB, G & PPFY. You'd be a great hobo.

It was a long drive home, but one of my shidi gave me Stephan Marley's new CD, Tree of Life or something like that, which had Soldiers in Jah Army, a track I've been wishing for since I heard it several months ago, and that made for a great late night ride.

[Drunk Monk]

1 down, 2 to go. Last night was fun. Talked to a tripping half nekkid juggler about fighting grizzly bears.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Start over. Which one was tripping?

[Drunk Monk]

Good question.

OooooooOOOooooh, my head.

Forgot my notebook last night, so when i do get around to reporting this, it'll be a little sketchy. This year's shirts have a dragon motif. But I've got enough shirts.

2 down, 1 to go.

[Drunk Monk]

it was all about the dragon.

tell ya about it later

[Drunk Monk]

Lineup: Phil Lesh - bass
Bob Weir - guitar & vocals
Jeff Chimenti - keyboards
John Kadlecik - guitar & vocals
Joe Russo - drums
Jeff Pehrson - vocals
Sunshine Becker - vocals

12/29/11 (Thu) Bill Graham Civic Auditorium - San Francisco, CA
Set 1: Jam > Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Estimated Prophet > Brown Eyed Women, Cassidy, Tennessee Jed, Any Road, Weather Report Suite Prelude > WRS Part I > Let it Grow

Set 2: Box of Rain, Big Bad Blues, China Cat Sunflower > Scarlet Begonias > Truckin' > New Speedway Boogie > Unbroken Chain, Standing on the Moon, Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad, Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower E: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

12/30/11 (Fri) Bill Graham Civic Auditorium - San Francisco, CA
Set 1: Jam > Jack Straw, Bertha, Eyes of the World > Music Never Stopped, Cold Rain and Snow, Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance, Deal

Set 2: Dear Mr. Fantasy > Passenger, Wharf Rat > New Potato Caboose > Space Jam > Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Caution > King Solomon's Marbles > Death Don't Have No Mercy > The Eleven > Turn On Your Lovelight E: Touch of Grey

12/31/11 (Sat) Bill Graham Civic Auditorium - San Francisco, CA
Set 1: Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion), Cosmic Charlie, Althea, Next Time You See Me, High Time, Shakedown Street > Viola Lee Blues

Set 2: Morning Dew > Dark Star > Mason's Children > Jam > Dark Star > Mountain Song > I Know You Rider, St. Stephen > Fire on the Mountain

Set 3: Sugar Magnolia (1), Playing in the Band > Uncle John's Band > Colors of the Rain > Born Cross Eyed > The Wheel > Playing in the Band (reprise) E: Terrapin Station Suite

[Drunk Monk]

12/29/11
Set 1: Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Estimated Prophet > Brown Eyed Women, ?, Tennessee Jed, ? Smiley the Juggler fighting grizzly bears
Set 2: Box of Rain, Big Bad Blues, China Cat Sunflower > Scarlet Begonias ?, Fanta = Nazi soda, GDTRFB... Franklin's Tower E: Baby Blue

Bob's van, foggy

12/30/11 (forgot my notebook)
Set 1: Jack Straw, ?
Set 2: ? Death Don't Have No Mercy ?

12/31/11 more Candy, Coco Robicheux
Set 1: Golden Road, Cosmic Charlie... photo op, Raz & Andie... High Time, Shakedown Street ?

Set 2: Morning Dew -diabetic FOS > Dark Star ...jay & steve, circling smile Fire on the Mountain

Set 3: Start Me Up. Sugar Magnolia ...The Wheel ...spoonful of sugar/choco syrup ativan E: Terrapin/Lady w/fan

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

No 'Touch of Grey'? Feh.

[Drunk Monk]

Like I said, I forgot my notebook that night so my notes were lame.

[Drunk Monk]

So Sunday, I got a +3 for Furthur @ Shoreline for S, T and T's friend (Tf, who accompanied us under that rock during the thunderstorm in Yosemite this summer). S picked up an extra shift, leaving me to pick up Tf (why Tf's parents allow her to go off with me to a Dead show is something to ponder, yes?) Embarrassingly, Furthur only sold 8K (it currently holds 21K+) so the place was empty. They had left several displays and booths from Harmony by the Bay the day before, which gave the girls something to explore before the show and elicited a very awkward moment when T asked what a shirt that said "vagatarian" meant. Dad had to explain. S arrived in good time, and RM was delighted to see both her and T. T was getting a little fed up with the 'you don't remember me. last time i saw you, you were this tall...' There was a funny natural segregation between the new RM red shirt uniforms at main med and the tiedyes at the annex. Don't get me wrong. I love red. My car is red. Bright red. But red shirts remind me of Star Trek phaser fodder. Anyway, we got separated when I gave a restraint in-service, but I found them again in the crowd just after the show started, which really impressed S, but truth be told, with the crowd at less than half capacity and knowing S's habits, she was easy to track down. The band sounded good, sweet and sophisticated, especially after all that EDM the night before. EDM: Dead music; porn: epic romance. Seriously. porn nowadays is just fucking scenes, no plot, not even a shoestring one. Dead tunes are so full of emotional range, so complex and evocative, so much lyricism and character. A good friend that couldn't make the show started texting me as he was streaming it off the web thru his iPhone connect to his home stereo and flipping out because he thought it was so good. He was txting "r u hearing this?!?!' and I was replying "yes. i am here". It was fun. S, T and Tf left at set break (school nite, after all). S was ambivalent about being escorted out to the parking lot, but when they got accosted by an annoying drunken couple, she was grateful. I took their beer away, then gave it back jokingly, then warned them about the cop presence, which was significant. Such losers. It's not like there weren't tickets. They just couldn't cough up $40 and spent it on beer instead. Talked someone out of the K-hole during 2nd set. Got them back to the tent, hydrated, and right when it looked like he was getting too comfortable, I noted that they were doing a Terrapin reprise, and we all dashed back into the venue. They also did China Cat, which confirmed my 'in-the-grooviness' as I had cooked up a lammy for both nights that was a Cheshire Cat/China Cat, backed with a deck of playing cards that I got from a dollar store, complete with handpainted glow-in-the-dark smile. They were a big hit at both shows. Then at the end, I was part of the 'find rides home' crew, trucking around on carts in the parking lots. Two were these sweet scantily-clad UK gals, Mary and Kate, who just couldn't find their ride sadly and had to be rolled. The other was a vendor, who could follow simple directions but was mostly bent over, probably from too much strychnine in his acid. We found him his ride late late at night, but then, as we got him settled, our damn cart driver took off with my Rm partner's backpack. abandoned. dammit. We had to walk all the way back, found the cart in front of the box office with the backpack still riding shotgun. That struck me as oddly funny after my other partner's jacket incident at Wonderland.

[Drunk Monk]

I've spent almost every NYE for the last 25 years with the Dead. There was only a few skips after Jerry died when I wound up working other shows and 1999, which I stayed home. Tonight, I'm staying home again. I skipped this year's 3 show run.

Just not feelin' it this year.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Say it ain't so, Joe. Say it ain't so.

[Drunk Monk]

Still not feeling it. Hearing some live Dead would probably pull out some deeply buried feelings right now, stuff that I'm not engaging, at least not in public. It's more that I don't really care to hang with my old deadhead friends right now. They can be such a self-centered lot and I've no patience for their personal sorry hippie tales, at least not right now.

Meanwhile someone sent me this. It's a year old but still kinda funny:

Strip Club Plays Only Grateful Dead Music; Closes After 24 Hours
May 31, 2011
By DrumNkeyboard

'In hindsight, maybe it wasn't a good idea.'
digg

Atlanta, GA: Almost 24 hours after its grand opening, “The Dancing Bare” shut its doors for good. Local officials scoffed at an aging entrepreneur when he outlined his plan to bring a new strip club to Atlanta. The catch? This club would only play music from the Grateful Dead. Club owner Sammy ‘The Wheel’ Christianson said that he originally got the idea while he was at a Furthur show and saw all the “hot mammas” dancing around him. “There is nothing better than a sexy mamma shaking her hips to a nice jam during Sugar Magnolias. I totally asked my buddy T.L. what he thought about a strip club that played some Dead music. During Drums we came up with the idea for the club, and the next day we got the ball rolling.”

Christianson’s friend T.L. told us, “I didn’t really think the idea was that great, but this was the most motivated I’ve seen The Wheel since that day he decided he’d become a taper. He really thought he could do it. Until he found out he was tone deaf in his left ear. That was a tough week for him.”

Christianson admitted that there were many obstacles to opening a Grateful Dead themed strip club. “Well first you have to get the girls. It was tough getting chicks that were willing to give lap dances for 28 minute jams. And the only girls that would agree to dance wouldn’t shave. Anywhere. Plus, every girl wanted her name to be Sugaree. Shit, they can’t all have the same name! I had to ban that name so no one was thinking I was playing favs or nothin’.” After thinking about it, Christianson added, “There was one girl I had who’s name was Touch of Grey. I hired her to appeal to the older crowd.”

City officials were not surprised to learn of the rapid demise of the business. While none would officially comment for this article, one city employee did tell us off the record, “I’m not gonna lie, I was definitely intrigued, but when I drove by there was this overwhelming sense of patchouli. I just couldn’t do it.”

The Wheel told us he wouldn’t give up his entrepreneurial spirit. He vows to come back next year with a diner that makes only one-eyed-jacks because, “I love that shit.”

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