And that’s what I’m doing in 2 short days. I’ll be performing on Thursday evening at El Rio in the Mission (3158 Mission Street). I’ll be playing with my good friends Eric Saar (on drums and other percussion instruments), Connor O’Sullivan (on bass and mandolin), and Elliott Peck (on acoustic guitar, vocals, and keyboards) as my band. We’re calling ourselves Grahame Lesh & The Rainy Day Fund. And yes, that’s the nerdiest SF Giants reference of all time. We’ll be playing after two very cool bands: Surrogate and Caught In Motion. The cover is a measily $5 – which means lots of musical bang for your buck.

So if you’re in San Francisco, we’d love to see you there! We’ll be playing some of my originals (like San Francisco Rain, Who I Was, and more), some of Elliott’s tunes, and some very fun covers. Doors open at 8pm. Come on down!

-Grahame

ps: below, after the jump, check out some videos of my tunes if you want to hear em before the show!

San Francisco Rain (live at Terrapin Crossroads 4/22)

Who I Was (live at Little Belgium Bar 2/4)

Long Road (live at Little Belgium Bar 2/4)

We also have (and had – scroll down for the setlist to last night’s concert) shows this week! We had to say goodbye to Nicki Bluhm, Jon Skehan, and Adam MacDougall as they went on out on their various tours, but we welcomed back our good friend Mr. Jeff Chimenti to play some keys for us.

So, without further ado (or “furthur” ado?), here are the setlists from 5/11, 5/12, 5/13, and 5/17!

May 11th. The band: Phil Lesh, Chris Robinson, Tim Bluhm, Nicki Bluhm, Jaz Sawyer, Adam MacDougall, John Skehan, Mark Karan, & Grahame Lesh.

Set 1:

Alligator (PL) >
Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) (CR)
For What It’s Worth (NB)
Street Fighting Man (CR)
Blowing In The Wind (NB)
Viola Lee Blues (PL/CR/GL) >
Folsom Prison Blues (TB) >
Viola Lee Blues (PL/CR/GL)

Set 2:

Eight Miles High (PL/TB/CR/GL)
China Cat Sunflower (GL) >
Dazed & Confused (CR) >
The Other One (PL) >
Dark Star (PL/GL/CR) >
Whiter Shade Of Pale (TB) >
Dark Star (PL/GL/CR)
St. Stephen (all)
Morning Dew (CR)

Encore: I Know You Rider (all)

May 12th. The band: Phil Lesh, Chris Robinson, Tim Bluhm, Nicki Bluhm, Jaz Sawyer, Adam MacDougall, John Skehan, Jon Graboff, Mark Karan, & Grahame Lesh.

Set 1:

Here Comes Sunshine (TB)
Call Me The Breeze (CR)
Old Man (GL)
Eyes Of The World (PL)
Carey (NB)
Dancin’ In The Streets (CR/NB)
Sugaree (CR)

Set 2:

Sugar Magnolia (GL)
Landslide (NB)
Scarlet Begonias (TB)
Fire & Rain (TB)
Franklin’s Tower (PL)
Hurricane (CR)
Fire On The Mountain (CR)

Encore: It’s Only Rock n’ Roll (CR/NB)

May 13th. The band: Phil Lesh, Chris Robinson, Tim Bluhm, Nicki Bluhm, Jaz Sawyer, Jon Graboff, Adam MacDougall, John Skehan, Mark Karan, & Grahame Lesh.

Set 1:

Alabama Getaway (GL)
Friend Of The Devil (TB)
Deal (NB)
The Weight (all)
Peggy-O (PL)
Miss Ohio (NB)
Mississippi Half-Step (GL)

Set 2:

Bertha (CR)
Hard To Handle (CR)
Cold Rain & Snow (TB)
West LA Fadeaway (NB)
Death Don’t Have No Mercy (MK)
Althea (CR)
The Wheel (All)
Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad (All)

Encore: Not Fade Away (all)

May 17th. The band: Phil Lesh, Chris Robinson, Tim Bluhm, Jaz Sawyer, Jeff Chimenti, Jon Graboff, Mark Karan, & Grahame Lesh.

Set 1:

Feelin’ Alright (CR)
Loose Lucy (CR)
Mama Tried (GL)
Tennessee Jed (TB)
Mississippi Half Step (GL)
Deal (TB)
Casey Jones (CR/GL)

Set 2:

Truckin (CR/GL) >
Jam >
This Wheel’s On Fire (TB)
Cumberland Blues (TB/PL/all)
Bird Song (TB/PL)
Uncle John’s Band (all)
Comes A Time (CR)
Help On The Way (GL) >
Slipknot! >
Franklin’s Tower (PL)

Encore: Ripple (TB/all)

Whew! That looks like all of it. A couple quick notes about last night, since it’s fresh in my mind. First, I put “Jam”  between Truckin’ and The Wheel’s On Fire as its own track for the 1st time in these write-ups. This is because it was a great one! It went to some weird places, and led into a really crazy reggae-ish intro and 1st verse of TWOF. So, yeah. I felt like it deserved its own mention! Second, Chris killed “Comes A Time”. I know, I know, you can write that after every single show where Chris sings that tune, but DAMN. That was good.

Ok! 2 more shows. Let’s do this!

-Grahame

Photo via @NickiBluhm

The Rambles have begun! Or continued. They’ve begun at Terrapin Crossroads but in reality they never left. So at the very least last night was the 1st ever West Coast Ramble at Terrapin Crossroads. The theme was “album night”, and the Ramble Band lineup was Phil Lesh, Chris Robinson, Adam MacDougall, John Skehan, Tim Bluhm, Nicki Bluhm, Jon Graboff, Jaz Sawyer, and me.

My family has talked many times about how Levon Helm’s Midnight Rambles were the inspiration for Terrapin Crossroads, and it’s specifically these West Coast Rambles that are the aspect of TC that we really want to reflect the spirit of Levon’s brilliant events. My dad spoke a few words at the beginning of the show that really brought this home, which you can read them HERE in this Rolling Stone recap of the show.

Because of the theme, album night, and because we wanted to honor Levon with this first ever West Coast Ramble, our 1st set was very simple: The Band’s self-titled “Brown Album”. We followed that up with a 2nd set of “Workingman’s Dead,” the legendary Grateful Dead album from the same era. Below is a quick list of the songs and who sang them:

Set 1 (The Band):

Across the Great Divide (CR)
Rag Mama Rag (TB)
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (CR)
When You Awake (TB)
Up On Cripple Creek (CR)
Whispering Pines (NB)
Jemima Surrender (GL)
Rockin’ Chair (TB)
Look Out Cleveland (CR)
Jawbone (GL)
Unfaithful Servant (TB)
King Harvest (CR)

Set 2 (Workingman’s Dead):

Uncle John’s Band (all)
High Time (CR)
Dire Wolf (TB)
New Speedway Boogie (CR & GL)
Cumberland Blues (all)
Black Peter (CR)
Easy Wind (CR)

Encore: Casey Jones (CR/GL/TB)

It really was quite an extraordinary night. Don’t worry, there will be many many more West Coast Rambles in the near future. The next one is tonight! Hope to see you there.

-Grahame

Connor O’Sullivan played electric standup bass and mandolin. Elliott Peck played that awesome grand piano, sang a few leads (we played 2 of her originals too!) and a lot of harmonies, and played acoustic guitar. And Ross James jumped onstage for 5 tunes to play pedal steel and electric guitar. Just because he can. These three are awesome musicians, and we had a really fun time tearing through our 9 tunes.

Afterwards, the Dry Creek Rounders ran through their rollicking set. If you haven’t seen them live yet, make sure to catch a show. Some great, fun bluegrass, and I’m sure they will be playing at Terrapin all the time. At the end of their set, I joined them for a quick mini-set. We played “May The Circle Be Unbroken”, “The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down” (for Levon) with me, Ross, and Elliott all taking a verse, and finally “Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad”. Oh yeah, and my dad decided to run onstage for the end of GDTRFB and join in the harmonies. That was fun

Ok, setlist time! Skip below for some photos (courtesy of Laura and Alex from Terrapin Crossroads) and a couple videos of my set. Apologies for the quality of the videos! The lighting was pretty low, so you can’t really see much, but you can hear the tunes and they sound really good!

-Grahame

Setlist

Long Road*
Blew Me Away (Elliott on lead vocals)*
San Francisco Rain*
Miss M (Elliott on lead vocals)*
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob Dylan Cover, Elliott on lead vocals)*
Don’t Go
Burden Of Tomorrow (Tallest Man On Earth Cover)
Hold Me Down
Who I Was

*ft. Ross James

Photos:

Click to view slideshow.

Video:

San Francisco Rain

Blew Me Away

This one is this Sunday, April 22nd (2012…duh), in the bar at Terrapin (100 Yacht Club Dr, San Rafael, CA). It’s solo acoustic. Well, it’s kinda solo acoustic. It’s acoustic, and its gonna focus on my songs, but I’m going to have some friends playing with me for a few tunes, so “solo” might not be the best term. Whatever! It will be fun. And I’m opening, once again, for the awesome Dry Creek Rounders, who will bluegrass your face off after I’m done. Basically, you should come hang out with us, listen to some tunes, and grab some food and delicious beer (a little birdy told me that one of my favorite beers – Squid Ink by Pac Brew Labs – may be on tap by this weekend).

So, to get ready for the show, check the bottom of this post for a couple of my demos. I’ll be playing both of these tunes on Sunday (with different arrangements, but still), so you can maybe recognize them and sing along with them if you’re able to make it. Hope you enjoy, and I hope to see you on Sunday!

-Grahame

Who I Was

 San Francisco Rain

More “official” setlists! Since my last update on Sunday morning we (Phil Lesh and his many many friends) have played 2 more shows with all new lineups, and we’ll have two new lineups tonight and tomorrow as well. On Sunday we welcomed the incredible Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams to the lineup. They joined me, John Kadlecik, Joe Russo, Jeff Chimenti, and of course Phil in rocking out until the wee hours of Sunday night/Monday morning. Then on Tuesday, we said goodbye to John K, who killed it for all 4 shows he played with us (seriously, “Standing On The Moon” on 3/24 almost made me start openly weeping), and were joined by one of my favorite musicians ever, #23 Warren Haynes. So now that I’ve listed out the band members, here are the setlists!

March 25th. The band: Phil Lesh, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Joe Russo, Jeff Chimenti, John Kadlecik, and Grahame Lesh.

Set 1

Cumberland Blues (all)
Friend Of The Devil (JK)
Deep Elum Blues (LC)
Till The Morning Comes (LC/TW)
Fennario (PL/LC/TW)
Foolish Heart (JK)
Comes A Time (JK)
Box Of Rain (PL)

Set 2

Shakedown Street (JK)
Playin’ In The Band (GL)
China Cat Sunflower (JK)
Just A Little Light (JK)
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning (TW)
Help On The Way (JK)
Slipknot
Days Between (JK)
Slipknot
Franklin’s Tower (PL/GL)
Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad (All)

Encore: Attics Of My Life (All)

March 27th. The band: Phil Lesh, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Joe Russo, Jeff Chimenti, Warren Haynes, and Grahame Lesh.

Set 1

Here Come’s Sunshine (GL)
How Sweet It Is (LC)
Uncle John’s Band (All)
The Eleven (WH)
Blue Sky (WH)
Brown Eyed Women (WH)
Look At Miss Ohio (TW)
Sugaree (WH)

Set 2

Passenger (WH/GL)
The Wheel (All)
Chest Fever (LC)
Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks) (WH)
Dark Star (All)
Wish You Were Here (WH)
Dark Star (All)
Unbroken Chain (PL)
Stella Blue (WH)
Midnight Hour

Encore: Angel Band (All)

Just 4 more of these awesome shows! Tonight, then the rest of this weekend. Sadly, Tuesday was the last night with Joey as our drummer, but tonight we welcome our friend Jaz Sawyer to the band. He played with us during the “soft-opening” shows in the Terrapin Crossroads bar, and the dude rocks. I can’t wait! Hope to see some of you there this weekend.

-Grahame

Update: March 29th. The band: Phil Lesh, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Jaz Sawyer, Jeff Chimenti, Warren Haynes, and Grahame Lesh.

Set 1

Althea (WH)
Ship Of Fools (WH)
Big Railroad Blues (LC)
Into The Mystic (WH)
Scarlet Begonias (GL/WH)
Mountain Song (PL)
Midnight Rider (WH)

Set 2:

Shakedown Street (WH) >
Playin’ In The Band (GL) >
Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (WH)
This Wheel’s On Fire (LC)
Little Sparrow (TW)>
Bird Song (PL)
Layla (WH)
Fire On The Mountain (WH) >
Morning Dew (WH) >
Playin’ In The Band Reprise (GL)

Encore: Liberty (GL)

March 20th. The band: Phil Lesh, Jimmy Herring, Chris Robinson, Jeff Chimenti, Joe Russo, and Grahame Lesh

March 22nd. The band: Phil Lesh, John Kadlecik, Joe Russo, Jeff Chimenti, & Grahame Lesh. Special guests Sunshine Becker (who wrote a fantastic recap of the night!), Jeff Pehrson, Miles Schon, and Lauren Shera.

March 23rd. The band: Phil Lesh, Joe Russo, Jeff Chimenti, John Kadlecik, Jackie Greene, and Grahame Lesh.

Set 1

Alligator (JK) >
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (JGe)
Deal (JK)
Pride Of Cucamonga (PL)
Beat It On Down The Line (GL)
Loser (JK)
Bertha (JGe)
Mason’s Children (All)

Set 2:

Viola Lee Blues (All) >
Wharf Rat (JK) >
Estimated Prophet (JGe) >
He’s Gone (GL) >
Eyes Of The World (JK) >
St. Stephen (All) >
Not Fade Away (All) >
So Many Roads (JK) >
Sugar Magnolia (GL) >

Encore: Lovelight (JGe)

March 24th. The band: Phil Lesh, Joe Russo, Jeff Chimenti, John Kadlecik, Jackie Greene, & Grahame Lesh.

Set 1:

US Blues (GL) >
Mr. Charlie (JGe) >
Believe It Or Not (JK)
Bird Song (PL) >
Cold Rain & Snow (PL) >
Bird Song (PL) >
Dear Mr. Fantasy (JK)
China Doll (JGe)
Doin’ That Rag (JK)
Touch Of Grey (JK/GL)

Set 2:

Truckin’ (JGe) >
Jack Straw (JK/JGe/PL) >
The Eleven (JGe) >
All Along The Watchtower (JGe) >
Lady With A Fan (JK) >
Terrapin Station (All) >
Standing On The Moon (JK)
Scarlet Begonias (JGe) >
Fire On The Mountain (JK)
Throwing Stones (JGe)

Encore: Sugaree (JGe/GL/JK)

Phew! 6 more nights of rock left.

-Grahame

So last night I was invited to sit in as one of Phil’s friends at the newly opened Terrapin Crossroads, a dream of the Lesh family that came to fruition at the familiar and former Seafood Peddler (that name cracks me up every time i hear it still) and also where Furthur did several rehearsal shows a while back.

To say I was excited to get that phone call from Phil would be an understatement. Why? I mean, we play in a band together already, right? So no big deal. Nope. This was different.  I had been quietly watching the soft opening of the Crossroads via their posts and reviews online, thrilled to see my Furthur cohorts coming together with many other fine players to ring in the room right.  Would the food be fantastic? Would they have nice tequila? Would the sound in the Grate Room blow doors on what I remember from our rehearsals many months ago?  I could only imagine what the walls of the place would feel and breath like, since becoming the Terrapin Crossroads.

Going over there to sing and play flute was like taking a ride in someones brand new Porsche, or better yet, going for a swim at a dear friend’s new home, that includes the swimming pool they had always dreamed of owning. I arrived to see a really fun set list on tap. One song on that list in particular was very special to me.

Rewind to 1992. That’s when I was lucky enough to discover the music of the Grateful Dead before it was too late to see them live. I saw my first show at Shoreline Amphitheatre in May of ’92, having freshly quit college for a full-time pursuit of a music career that blossomed in the cafes and clubs, living with four roommates, all men, all players of different levels, in the avenues in San Francisco’s Ocean Beach area. I fell in love with the Dead’s music, the stories the songs told. They were telling MY story! Also telling the life stories of every twirler around me. Wow, the way the band was ‘in the mix’, like a DJ spinning tunes that overlapped and blended together so tasty, but the guys in the Grateful Dead were doing it LIVE!

I loved the scene and the music, and so for the next three years I saw almost every west coast Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band show without fail. Their music became my music. That’s one thing I really love about this music, the band really gives it to their fans and lets them do with it whatever they may. What greater gift is there than that?

Besides my acappella band, at this time I was also playing flute and singing in a rock band called Passenger. We used the Grateful Dead repertoire as a launching pad for teaching ourselves how to jam, swell, and play nice together. I came across this wonderful Garcia featured tune called If I Had the World to Give. I fell in love with not only the sentiment, but the lilting call in Jerry’s vocal and guitar work. I understood that. I had cried the same lament. I knew the feeling of wishing I had so much more to give than just, well, me.

I bought the Shakedown Street cassette tape and wore out the part of the tape where that song played. I had to learn it. I remember so clearly the many hours locked in a room trying to “pluck” out the chords by ear on my flute. Finally my boyfriend at the time, broke down and bought the guitar chart, lucky for all within earshot.

Over time, more songs popped up. You know, real barn burners and crowd pleasers, and so that beautiful gem was tucked away, but I never forgot about it. I WOULD learn it and sing it live someday.

OK, fast forward 20 years, woah! I am now a member of Furthur, my dream singing job. Cool beans!  That’s its own chapter.

So one night at home, during this long break from touring, I decided to try and teach myself how to use iMovie by recording myself singing. What song should I do? Something pretty. Something easy. Ha, every musician’s famous last words at 10 p.m. Next thing we know its 3 a.m. and were still jamming.

I dusted off my flute and tried If I had the World to Give. All by ear, no chord chart.  3 hours later, I had it up on YouTube. The video was weird and too echoey, but kinda cool. I liked it. I did it all by myself and didn’t have to ask anyone to help me. I learned a lot from doing it. Some other online viewers liked it, too.

After hearing from Phil about sitting in at the Crossroads, I decided to send him an e-mail and let him know I had been working up If I Had the World to Give. His response: “Bring your flute.” My response: “Hellz Yes!” I couldn’t believe that I might actually get to play this gem of a tune live, with Phil and Friends!

The song sat in the first set. The room was warm and inviting. Not surprising that the crowd mirrored that. Lots of smiles. OK, here I am. As my husband pointed out, I’m one of the Phriends now. Cool, lets do this!

We played Alabama Getaway, Dire Wolf, Tennessee Jed, Lauren Shera singing I Shall Be Released and one of my faves that I struggle to not head toward the twirlers zone on: Sittin’ on top of the World.

And then there it was. Time to tune my flute and do it. John K counted it off. Phil is to my left. He gave his blessing with a warm smile when we rehearsed it and I sighed with joy. Now its downbeat time and I feel hot. Phil’s son Grahame is to his left and I can vibe how much he wants it to be beautiful.  Russo is behind me laying down the perfect tapestry for a gorgeous soundscape. Down the front line to my right is Chimenti, fingers poised and ready to bust out one that nobody is playing a lot. And there I am, harmonizing a third below to the recognizable guitar intro line. Yippee!

Ok, intro was cool. Crowd ooo’s and aah’s and so does my deadhead heart. “If I had the world to give, I’d give it to you, long as you’d live…” Oh snap! I suddenly need the lyrics on my music stand, but the lighting is a terribly dim orange so I can’t see them! It’s official, I’m old and going blind! OK, sing it from memory, like I’m singing a lullaby to my baby boy. Breathing and singing, singing and breathing. The tune then takes on its own life, probably because I let it. You know that moment where everything just clicks. I am not nervous. I am playing with the best. I am singing it from my heart, just like I did 20 years ago in that tiny apartment trying to figure out the chords. The sound is full. These guys have my back. I am so content and so blessed to take this gift of song and give it back in a way that brings light to all who can hear me. I feel like I am somehow making my own history. I can only imagine what Jerry might think. I take my R&B chop and play with the outro, all the while wanting to honor the simplicity of those original cluster chords. Then it is done. Wow. Another dream of mine has come true.

Kind of sappy, right? However, it really happened! I had to find two babysitters to get there, but it all came together. Such is life. To top that off, the set wasn’t over. My back line partner in vocal crime Jeff P. then gets to step in front to sing Brown Eyed Women – fun stuff! Followed by a really cool and bouncy Grahame Lesh-led Liberty. Right on Jerome. Right on Terrapin Crossroads. Right on Universe!

A fifty minute set break (Thanks to Robbie I know this) and the rest of the show consists of more nice moments including a triple Wheel cluster.  (The Wheel with all of us singing, Wheels on Fire a la Pehrson, Wheel in the Sky a la Me with some classic Pehrson/Becker harmonic blend and Miles Schon peeling on guitar). Then the Other One (I tell Schon earlier that the Other One is a monster beast we try to strangle and tame as we play it, wink-wink). Uncle John’s Band. Then Stella Blue with a John K twist of fiddle and me on flute layering, then China>Rider. Phil thanks Cody and a Ripple encore for dessert. Yum.

So I am thinking that the message I have to get in all this is: if you dream, dream big. The Lesh family did. I did. We all do. Its not always gooey jams and hugging fests. Most of life isn’t.  You gotta work really hard for most of it. However, sometimes its just really good. Last night at the Terrapin XRoads it was really good, in my book. I am forever grateful.

Go spend some time at the Terrapin Crossroads…. now!

xo, Sunshine

The wall of guitars. From Thursday 3/15 Rehearsal.

So now the Grate Room at Terrapin Crossroads is open! I figured I’d throw up the 3/17 and 3/18 setlists on this site. Hope everyone who came out had a blast – I know I did – and I hope to see many more people there for the next 10 shows! In case you missed it, the musicians from the last two nights: Phil Lesh, Chris Robinson, Jimmy Herring, Jeff Chimenti, Joe Russo, Jackie Greene, Bob Weir, Brian Lesh, and me.

March 17th, 2012 Setlist:

Quick notes:

• “Lady With A Fan” was a recording from Dick’s Picks #15, from Englishtown, NJ, on Sept. 3, 1977. We spent a decent amount of time picking the right one LWAF. We came in with a 3-part harmony starting on “Inspiration”, and the live band took over from there.
• The letters next to the songs show who sang what. The “B” next to “Seven Drunken Nights” is my brother Brian, who played mandolin, electric guitar, and acoustic guitar for these two shows. The “B” next to “The Other One”, “Playin”, and “One More Saturday Night” is, of course, Mr. Bob Weir.

Set 1:
Here Come’s Sunshine (GL) >
Feelin’ Alright (CR)
Big River (BL) >
Cumberland Blues (All)
Rock n Roll Blues (PL)
Two Time Loser (BL – Deep Dark Woods cover)
New Speedway Boogie (JG)
Casey Jones (CR)

Set 2:

Jam >
Shakedown Street (CR) >
Mason’s Children (All) >
Althea (CR) >
Eyes Of The World (PL) >
Born Cross-Eyed (JG) >
Dark Star (All) >
Day In The Life (Inst: Jimmy) >
Dark Star (All) >
Help On The Way (JG) >
Slipknot >
Franklin’s Tower (PL + JG)

Encore:

Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad > We Bid You Good Night (All)

More notes:

• “New Speedway Boogie” had a different feel for the 1st two verses – a straight rock groove instead of the swung boogie that it usually has. That was completely spur-of-the-moment (credit to Jackie – his idea!), and I think it was awesome. It was especially epic when we switched back to the original groove before the 3rd verse.
• (this comment applies to both nights and to life in general): Holy shitballs Jimmy Herring. That is all.
• Wait, let me amend that: Holy shitballs Jimmy Herring and Chris effing Robinson. Whoooaaaaaaa.
• “Two Time Loser” is a badass tune. It’s by a great group of musicians called the Deep Dark Woods. I saw them in SF a couple months back. Check em out if they come to your city.

Rock n roll,

-Grahame

Photo by Claire Teter

I really wanted to post individual recaps for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights like I did for Thursday’s show, but I severely underestimated just how much time I would have to sit down and write this weekend. We had rehearsals, rehearsals, and more rehearsals, each day with different musicians and different tunes. I may have also snuck in a fantasy baseball draft on Saturday afternoon, but that was only while my dad was sound-checking in SF with Railroad Earth for his sit-in that night.

So, with all that in mind, instead of individual recaps of each night, here are some of my assorted thoughts from the entire weekend. Call it a mega-recap. Skip to the bottom if you just want to check out some setlists, photos, and Youtube videos.

• We played sooooooooo many songs. Hang on, I’m gonna add up the total number of songs we played throughout all four nights.
• ….
• Ok, back. I count 62 individual songs. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttt. That’s a lot of tunes to work up in a little over a week. It worked out, though! And now I know how to play about 10-15 more songs than I did at the beginning of March.
• All of our wonderful guests were wonderful (yes, I know that’s redundant). I wrote about Jackie Greene, Tim Bluhm, Nicki Bluhm, and Jeff Chimenti during my recap of Thursday’s show, but I wanted to give shout outs to the rest of our friends who came out to play with us this weekend. Friday: Tim, Nicki, Jordan Levine, Danny Eisenberg, and Deren Ney. Saturday: Mark Karan, Jeff Pehrson, Miles Schon, John Varn. Sunday: Danny Eisenberg (again), Tim Carbone, John Skehan, Andy Goessling, AND Bob Weir. (*phew*)
• In addition to the guests, I’d be remiss to not mention our “house” band. In addition to myself, the band was my dad Phil, who is a machine (as you all probably know), Ross James, and Jaz Sawyer. Legends, all.
• Speaking of my father, how many (nearly) 72 year olds do you know that could rehearse with a mostly brand new band for 4 hours, drive into San Francisco for a soundcheck with Railroad Earth, drive BACK to San Rafael, play a 3 hour concert, then (at 11:30pm) drive back to San Francisco to sit in with Railroad Earth for three songs. I don’t think I could do that, and I’m 25.
• Some completely random and incomplete musical highlights for me: Dear Mr. Fantasy on 3/11. He’s Gone on 3/10. The transition into Fire On The Mountain 3/9 (we did Scarlet in G, not B, so getting to B for Fire was going to be quite difficult. So we just picked a moment and made a clean jump to the new key. I thought it was awesome). Not Fade Away 3/11 (especially the crowd singing at the end). Ross’ ripping guitar solo on Big River 3/9. Deep Elem Blues 3/9. The crowd singing Happy Birthday to my dad on 3/11. Both of my original tunes that we played (with minimal rehearsal): San Francisco Rain on 3/10 and Long Road on 3/11. Jeff rocking “Althea” on 3/10. And so much more.
• Speaking of my two originals, its a testament to the incredible musicians in each lineup that those two tunes came out so well with such minimal rehearsal. Mark Karan played the coolest lead guitar stuff on San Francisco Rain, and John Skehan’s mandolin riffs on Long Road, especially the A-minor chord to start the chorus, were fantastic. If anyone wants to hear those tunes, you can check out the YouTube videos I made of their demos: San Francisco Rain and Long Road.
• I loved that Miles and John Varn just literally walked onstage with their gear halfway through a song on 3/10. It was so representative of the fun, informal nature of these gigs. We were in the middle of a jam from the “Rio Grande” part of Half-Step into I Know You Rider (a cool segway that we had come up with while practicing with Miles on Tuesday night) when all of a sudden there’s Miles stepping over the monitors onto the stage. Ross rushed to set up an amp for him while the rest of us kept jamming. We were a verse or two into I Know You Rider when I realized that we had a keyboard player: John, who I’d never met before. Very cool.
• I wrote about this in the recap of Thursday night (I guess I covered a lot in that recap), but the Terrapin Crossroads staff and crew were and are incredible. The delicious food kept me going, and the bar and restaurant continue to look incredible. Props again to my mom Jill, Alex, Laura, Mark, Chris, Kathy, Robbie, and the tons of other people I’m forgetting who completely kicked ass to make these shows happen.
• Alright…now, on to the Grate Room shows! Another twelve shows. Get excited. I know I am!

This entire weekend was just a dream. Thanks to everyone who came out. Check out some photos and videos below.

-Grahame

Friday, 3/9/2012

(no Franklin's Tower this night)

Click to view slideshow.

You’re No Good:

The Wheel > Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain

Saturday, 3/10/2012

He’s Gone:

Althea:

Sunday, 3/11/2012

Loose Lucy, Midnight Hour, and Johnny B. Goode sung by Bobby

The Wheel:

Not Fade Away: