06-30-2015, 03:33 PM
Stacy had an emergency client on Sunday morn - a prenatal that tried to hire her for weekly sessions but it was too hard to swing. She was desperate and offered Stacy twice her normal fee, so she took the job. It was in San Jose, so she dropped me off at the VTA light rail early in the morn. I should note that last night was the first time I've ever ridden the lite rail. I ran into a deadhead at the Campbell station and gave him the ringdown on taking the VTA to and from Levis, as I was now an expert. The ride in didn't get interesting until downtown San Jose where the tyedye emerged.
I got there way too early. Nothing was happening. Shakedown wasn't even open. So I listened to the soundcheck with a few other early deadheads - Brown Eyed Women, Miracle, and drumz (might just have been a sound guy and not the Rhythm Devils). Then I hoofed it over to the hotel for a bloody mary. I returned to the golf course and snagged the last Anchor at the clubhouse. Anchor was doing a special promo there with limited edition posters, but sold out of beer on the first night. The tender said it was 100 cases gone. Shakedown started to percolate so I checked that out. Ran into some very old deadhead friends, people I had long forgotten until they reminded me who they were. Then I ran into Kris from Rm, an ol pardner-in-crime, who was there by herself looking for a onesie for her granddaughter (who has already been to Coachella twice!) We grabbed brunch at the clubhouse, fries, calamari, a margarita for her and a guinness for me. Now three drinks deep, I was ready. I hung out with some old friends on shakedown for a while and relished the scene.
Stacy arrived just before the show and we went straight in. We had more central seats, but our neighbors were clowns. The frat boy next to me must have been like 2 when Jerry died. He chain-smoked, lit one for every song, took two puffs and then just waved it around as he messed with his phone. He kept spitting too so his little area had a sticky puddle of spittle. He did know all of the song lyrics though.
First set was tepid. Trey and Bruce were way too loud in the mix and somewhat bleating. The songlist felt a little phoned in. The last song of set one rocked - Hell in a Bucket - but the rest of the set was rather lackluster. We tried to move but it was so damn packed there was no better place to move to. So we went back. But the mix was better for 2nd set and for a long time, Stacy had an empty seat next to her so more room to dance. Sikiru joined the Rhythm Devils on talking drum for drumz, which was good but short and space was really short, almost negligible. So different from Saturday which was super psychedelic. An early 2nd set Wharf Rat was okay. Stacy called Eyes early, but they bungled it. He's Gone was good for the 'steal your face' line. SugMag to close, which was peppy but not stellar. I called Brokedown for the encore but that was totally predictable, given that the tour was titled Fare Thee Well. Still, it got me all misty-eyed thinking this would be the last time.
I was really hoping for a Standing on the Moon (our wedding song) or a last Estimated in CA, but no. For Stacy, it was a good closure show as it reminded her of how annoying the dead scene can be when they don't summon that magic. For me, it left me very unsatisfied. We dashed out of there and caught the first lite rail back to our car and were home by midnight. No raccoons.
Rock Med had over 500 calls just at the Dead. The boyz still gotz it.
Monday morning while surfing facebook, my evil twin made me an offer I just couldn't refuse. A miracle ticket for Sunday, a face value for Friday, and a place to crash. Next stop, Chicago.
I got there way too early. Nothing was happening. Shakedown wasn't even open. So I listened to the soundcheck with a few other early deadheads - Brown Eyed Women, Miracle, and drumz (might just have been a sound guy and not the Rhythm Devils). Then I hoofed it over to the hotel for a bloody mary. I returned to the golf course and snagged the last Anchor at the clubhouse. Anchor was doing a special promo there with limited edition posters, but sold out of beer on the first night. The tender said it was 100 cases gone. Shakedown started to percolate so I checked that out. Ran into some very old deadhead friends, people I had long forgotten until they reminded me who they were. Then I ran into Kris from Rm, an ol pardner-in-crime, who was there by herself looking for a onesie for her granddaughter (who has already been to Coachella twice!) We grabbed brunch at the clubhouse, fries, calamari, a margarita for her and a guinness for me. Now three drinks deep, I was ready. I hung out with some old friends on shakedown for a while and relished the scene.
Stacy arrived just before the show and we went straight in. We had more central seats, but our neighbors were clowns. The frat boy next to me must have been like 2 when Jerry died. He chain-smoked, lit one for every song, took two puffs and then just waved it around as he messed with his phone. He kept spitting too so his little area had a sticky puddle of spittle. He did know all of the song lyrics though.
First set was tepid. Trey and Bruce were way too loud in the mix and somewhat bleating. The songlist felt a little phoned in. The last song of set one rocked - Hell in a Bucket - but the rest of the set was rather lackluster. We tried to move but it was so damn packed there was no better place to move to. So we went back. But the mix was better for 2nd set and for a long time, Stacy had an empty seat next to her so more room to dance. Sikiru joined the Rhythm Devils on talking drum for drumz, which was good but short and space was really short, almost negligible. So different from Saturday which was super psychedelic. An early 2nd set Wharf Rat was okay. Stacy called Eyes early, but they bungled it. He's Gone was good for the 'steal your face' line. SugMag to close, which was peppy but not stellar. I called Brokedown for the encore but that was totally predictable, given that the tour was titled Fare Thee Well. Still, it got me all misty-eyed thinking this would be the last time.
I was really hoping for a Standing on the Moon (our wedding song) or a last Estimated in CA, but no. For Stacy, it was a good closure show as it reminded her of how annoying the dead scene can be when they don't summon that magic. For me, it left me very unsatisfied. We dashed out of there and caught the first lite rail back to our car and were home by midnight. No raccoons.
Rock Med had over 500 calls just at the Dead. The boyz still gotz it.
Monday morning while surfing facebook, my evil twin made me an offer I just couldn't refuse. A miracle ticket for Sunday, a face value for Friday, and a place to crash. Next stop, Chicago.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse