oh kee pah

Set One: Golden Road (to Unlimted Devotion), Gloria, Good Morning Little School Girl, Ramble on Rose, Magnolia Mountain, Black Peter, Passenger, Next Time You See Me

Set Two: "Technical difficulties" Weir "Duck Story", Bertha, Row Jimmy, Reuben > Jam> No More Do I > Eyes Of The World > Lady With A Fan > Terrapin Station > The Wheel > Touch Of Grey

Encore: Brokedown Palace

Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia’s 1995 death not only brought an end to the band, but threatened the friendship of original members guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh as they wrangled over their future.

But getting together for another tour as The Dead last year, the two now have formed Furthur — the spelling is from the destination on 1960s LSD guru Ken Kesey’s bus – with member of Weir’s band Ratdog and the singer from a Dead tribute band.

On Monday the group plays Bethlehem’s Stabler Arena, where The Grateful Dead set a then-record Stabler attendance of 6,500 in 1981 and where Lesh attracted 5,000 for a solo show in 2002.

Weir spoke about the group in a recent telephone call from his bus in Asheville, N.C. Here’s a transcript:

Give me a quick rundown on how Furthur came together. How did you guys decide to do a band in this way?

“Well, after last year’s Dead tour, Phil and I sort of rediscovered our relationship, and wanted to continue on in a somewhat new direction. And so we talked it and decided, ‘OK, the way to do that would be to start a band, but, you know. We wanted to look into some new players just to show what that would be like. And so that’s what we did.”

When you say rediscovered your relationship – was there a point when you were not close after Jerry’s death?

“Yeah, you know, we fought like cats and dogs for a while. Had different notions about how things should proceed. But during The Dead tour, we discovered that our musical relationship superseded that.”

And what do you find with Further that you didn’t find with The Dead? Or what is the difference?

“Well, basically, a fresh approach. And it’s a cleaner slate. The idea is to take this stuff – you know, once we find the center of this band, which is happening, the idea is to take this stuff, this music, in directions that old habits would otherwise deny us. You get two guys with those old habits, surrounded by four other guys who don’t have those old habits, and the chances of finding new approaches to the songs and stuff like that just get better. 

I looked online and saw some set lists for the first couple of shows you’ve done on this most recent leg, and it just astounds me at how broad-ranged they are, and how you guys play entirely different sets. I was wondering how you figure out what you’re going to play each night?

“Um, any conceivable way right now. The Dead had sort of a – I don’t want to say a formula, ‘causes that’s, you know … but yeah, it was a formula. We had a basic taper to our shows that Jerry and I worked out over the years. And for the time being, for the most part, we’re not doing that now. That’s what we’re not doing. What we are doing, I can’t really tell you.”

I was going to ask – out of the millions of songs that you guys know collectively, how do you figure out what ones you’re going to play?

“The ones you’re most passionate for.”

Really?

“We play what we want to play.”

So how do you come up with a set list? Do you just sit down and say, ‘We’re going to play this tonight.’ Have you rehearsed like 200 songs and just decide ‘These are the ones for the night’?

“Well, we rehearsed most of 210, and, yeah, whatever seems right. Whatever falls together. Whatever makes sense.”

I see you guys play a good amount of Dylan songs – and I see you do it with Ratdog, too. I was wondering what your level of interest or influence is from Dylan? What do you have so many of his songs in your repertoire?

“Um, well, you know, Jerry and I both used to do lots of Dylan songs because we loved them – that’s that. [Laughs] Not much mystery there.”

Let me ask a little bit more about the band itself. So how did you pick John Kadlecik from the Grateful Dead cover band Darkstar Orchestra to sing in Further?

“We went through the various options and listened to a lot of guys, and John seemed like a good idea on a number of levels. First off, he knew most of the material. And so it would require a whole lot less of the back-breaking rehearsals that it takes to teach somebody a whole book. I don’t know if Phil or I have that in us to do again. But, fortunately, there are a number of players who know our stuff, know our book. And of those folks, given that we play with a number of them, it was time to check out a couple more. And we started playing with John and it just, it clicked – the guy’s great.”

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"It's Trey Anastasio. How could you not have fun tonight?"

It's hard to argue with that statement, relayed to me by a friend during the setbreak of Friday night's Trey Anastasio show at the House of Blues in Boston. From the 2500 fans that packed the sold-out HOB, to the 7 musicians on stage, everyone seemed to be having lots of fun. The only people that didn't seem to enjoy themselves* were the gaggle of ticketless fans shut out from the show.

Anticipation was high as Trey returned to Lansdowne Street for the 2nd time in about 8 months (Phish sold-out Fenway Park back in May) and Anastasio and his band delivered.

The opening 3 songs quickly erased the memory of security's extensive search for weapons, contraband and, seemingly, Osama bin Laden and left everyone free to enjoy classic TAB's funky, brassy sound. Push on Til the Day stole the beginning of the show and culminated with Trey helicoptering around the stage, clearly enjoying what he called, "A family reunion."

By BILL CLIFFORD

What a delightful difference the addition of a horn section can make to a band. The Classic Trey Anastasio Band (TAB), a side project for the Phish guitarist, returned to the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford Saturday night. When the quartet -- sans the horns -- last performed at the venue in October 2008, it was an uninspired, mellow affair. As a septet, the performance was rhythmic, funky and full of energy.

Besides Anastasio (vocals and guitars), the latest iteration of the Classic TAB ensemble includes regulars Ray Paczkowski (keys), Tony Markellis (bass), Russ Lawton (drums), Jennifer Hartswick( trumpet and vocals), Russell Remington (sax and flute), and newcomer Natalie Cressman (trombone and vocals.) Cressman, 18, fills in for her father, Jeff, who is on tour with Santana.

There was certainly a palpable buzz among the crowd of young adults filling the seats quickly as the lights went down. After a lengthy ovation, TAB jump-started the performance with the horn driven "Alive Again," and the upbeat "Shine." The sound was impressive as Anastasio's lead and Markellis's harmony vocals weren't buried under the three horns.

Particularly impressive were Cressman and Hartswick, who had a natural and lively chemistry between them. Their vocals were in unison throughout the night. Though this was just the 18-year-old's fifth performance with the band, she sang and played with a confidence well beyond her age. Anastasio noted that Cressman's 93-year-old great grandmother was in the audience and dedicated the Latin-tinged instrumental "Mozambique" to her, saying, "… she's going to be playing her heart out for her."

Closing the first set, Anastasio added that "Show Of Life" was the second of two new songs written with his long-time writing partner. Steve Pollak, who was in the audience.

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Makisupa Keyword: Dank

-2001 has some really nice patient playing. They really take their time letting the groove build. Jam has some nice Mike and Trey interplay. Best 2001 of the summer? Probably.

- The last Great Mikes? Durty durty psychedelia transforms into some really gorgeous playing around the twelve minute mark. If they threw a Mike likes this in 2009 people would have shit their pants.

- It takes them nine minutes to get there but then the Weekapaug gets really fun with the syncopated jamming.

Best of Playlist: Gumbo, Divided Sky, 2001 > Mike’s > Weekapaug

Music video by Trey Anastasio performing Shine. (C) 2005 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

By Jacob Schneider

2009 was a year of redemption for Trey Anastasio. The fallen leader of the jam scene was making amends when he reunited Phish last March, after nearly five years of inactivity. Despite the reasons Anastasio offered at the time of the break up, it’s clear now in retrospect that his then growing drug problem was the driver behind his decision to make the heartbreaking announcement, “We’re done.”

Now in an effort to redeem himself, a clean and sober Anastasio looks to erase any remaining psychological damage left on the collective mind of Phish nation that may have been caused by his near comatose performance during the band’s train wreck of a “final show” at Coventry.
Really making sure that the fans get what they paid for, all the stops were pulled out for Phish version 3.0. A new Steve Lillywhite (DMB, U2) produced album titled Joy was cut, adding fresh material to the song rotation. 50 shows were played in 2009, including: the tour opener at Fenway Park, two nights at Bonnaroo featuring a three-song guest appearance by Bruce Springsteen, and Festival 8, a three-day Halloween festival at the Empire Polo Club (Coachella site) in Indio, California, where the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St. was performed as the band’s musical costume.

The glue holding all this together: Anastasio’s newfound sobriety.
Anastasio has gone on record saying the officer, who arrested him for DWI on December 15, 2005, is credited for saving his live. When Anastasio was over pulled over at 3:30am in upstate New York, officers found hydrocodone, percocet, and xanax (none of which were prescribed to Anastasio), as well as white powder testing positive as heroin. That’s right, “sweet lady H,” heroin.

So what caused the axe wielding Jedi to turn to the dark side? It almost reads like a bad episode of VHI’s “Behind the Music.” Sure, psychedelics had always played a part in the bands existence, but the real hard stuff (cocaine, ecstasy, opiates) didn’t make its way to the backstage party scene until the late ‘90’s, when they band graduated from playing theaters to full blown arenas and amphitheaters. 

Read more of this article at UWMpost.com