Posts Tagged ‘Bill Kreutzmann’

Test of the Boomerang: Soundchecks, Rehearsals and Outtakes, Part Three

The 2009 Dead made their last stand on July 4th at Rothbury. The second year of the Michigan festival was a rousing success and the Dead’s solid show was a definite highlight. While the band got off to a shaky start on their spring tour, they proved their mettle beneath the Independence Day sky rockets.

Now if there was only a fall tour to start getting fired up about.

You can get the boards of the Rothbury show at dead.net and you find several excellent audience recordings on Etree.

Today we’re looking at some rehearsals and soundchecks from the ’90s, but I do have some pretty remarkable recordings of Jerry Garcia in the studio from 1969 for your downloading pleasure. Enjoy.

Sherman, set the wayback machine for September 1990. (more…)

Test of the Boomerang: Best of the Fests, Part One

Hey gang, welcome back to another edition of Test of the Boomerang.  Happy summer solstice. I hope you all get a chance to enjoy these long summer days with some sweet tunes, either on the road or on your patio. Festival season is in full swing and rather than try and cover everything, we’re going to take a look at a few notable shows from the past month or so. We’ll call it “Best of the Fests” or something clever like that. Pass me a beer and let’s get to the music!

Railroad Earth at DelFest, May 23rd. Allegany County Fairgrounds, Cumberland, MD.

Warhead Boogie>New Jam, Saddle of the Sun, Little Bit O’ Me, Fisherman’s Blues, 1759, Long Way to Go
encore: Railroad Earth

You may have heard about the terrible storm that tore into DelFest on Saturday, May 23rd. It destroyed the stage area and Railroad Earth’s late-night set was moved into a indoor multi-purpose room. The band delivered one solid set the previous day, but after the terrible events of the 23rd, the band played one of their most intimate and heartfelt sets ever.

Highlights include a 25-minute suite of “Warhead Boogie” into “New Jam,” guest appearances by Jason Carter and Ronnie McCoury, and a sweet “Railroad Earth” encore. Tim Carbone wrote over at his blog:

“That night when we encored with Railroad Earth at the late night show, I never meant it more when I sang…. Oh Mama, ain’t it good to be alive! It surely is… it surely is.”

Go check it out HERE. Also here’s some goodness from 5/29/09  — a good chunk of that night’s way cool version of “Like a Buddha.” Enjoy! (more…)

Test of the Boomerang: DVD Review: “Rhythm Devils Concert Experience”

A 2-DVD set and 24-page hardcover book featuring Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann (Grateful Dead), Mike Gordon (Phish), Steve Kimock, Sikiru, and Jen Durkin (Bomb Squad, Deep Banana Blackout). The ultimate jam band! With original material from Robert Hunter along with their own compositions, this experience is unlike any other concert. Sit back, relax and take a magic ride through time and space. Recorded at The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL, and The Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ. Book includes photos, lyrics, and artwork.

Back in 1979, Grateful Dead beat-meisters Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann created a soundtrack of exotic percussion and jungle ambiance for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. The subsequent album, The Apocalypse Now Sessions, was released under the moniker Rhythm Devils.

(In the 80s, the Dead’s second set drum workout was frequently referred to as “Rhythm Devils” before taper lists shortened the mid-set improv to simply “Drums,” followed by “Space” – an improvisational freak-out by the rest of the band.)

Billy and Mickey decided to join forces in the spring of 2006 with a solid band consisting of Mike Gordon of Phish on bass, Steve Kimock on guitar, Sikiru Adepoju on talking drum, and Goapele on vocals – soon to be replaced by Jen Durkin of the band Deep Banana Blackout. (more…)

Test of the Boomerang X: Report from the Land of the Dead

I. Report from the Land of the Dead
It has a been a busy time in Deadland. Most notably, tickets went on sale this past weekend for the Deadheads For Obama show on October 13th at Penn State. Many of you will remember that earlier this year, Phil, Bobby, Mickey and friends got together at the Warfield for the first Deadheads for Obama concert. This time out, Bill Kreutzmann and Mr. Soulshine Himself, Warren Haynes, will also be in attendance.

Phil Lesh’s son is a volunteer for the Obama campaign, and he got the old man involved. While the formally “non-partisan” band stumping for Obama did cause some bad vibes among some ‘Heads (especially the Ron Paul contingent) the important thing here is to let the show speak for itself.

II. Bill Kreutzmann/Oteil Burbridge/Scott Murawski Trio
Quietly on tour earlier this year was Bill Kreutzmann’s new musical brigade. There was some debate as to what the name of the combo actually was, but Kreuztmann, Burbridge & Murawski became the standard. Some people call it the Kreutzmann Trio, others call it ‘3,’ but whatever you call it, it’s a tight, dynamic outfit.

There aren’t any shows up at the LMA yet, however, many recordings of their shows can be found (in beautiful lossless FLAC) on http://bt.etree.org. I did find this (along with several other clips) on YouTube. Here is “The Bill Kreutzmann Trio” live, 4/20/08, at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago for the Earth Day Festival: (more…)