oh kee pah

The night got off to an interesting beginning when bassist Phil Lesh walked over near Bobby near the beginning of the show, wrapping his arm around him, and faced the crowd (with a straight face) saying “I told Bobby; never drink out of something you haven’t poured yourself.” Now, this wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for the friend of someone for 45 years to joke about, but the humor was not revealed anywhere from Bob Weirs blank face. Given the pre-show talk, the crowd appeared to take it as confirming the rumor of Bob Weir having his drink dosed on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the show started up with a rough beginning to “Dancing In The Streets” but found its form at its midpoint, finally stabilizing enough to segue into “Celebration,” a Phil Lesh/Robert Hunter song debuted with Phil And Friends in 2001. Then, the musical direction found itself evolving into the early Grateful Dead classic off of Anthem Of The Sun, “Alligator.” While when played in the early days of the Grateful Dead it was usually a second set song (according to the 51 times it was played from January 1967-April 1971), Furthur wailed on this tune from an early standpoint in the show, and graced upon with atmosphere enhancing empowering jams, lead by John Kadlecik’s eye catching licks and humble singing. The four song combination came to a finish with the Grateful Dead country-rock famed “Tennessee Jed” where Bob Weir’s rhythm guitar craft grasped the attention of those in attendance, foreshadowing a strong night from him ahead.

photo courtesy of Mike Rapaport

Hidden Track: OHMphrey guitarist Chris Poland and bassist Roberto “Pags” Pagliari aren’t exactly card-carrying members of the Jamband Scene, did you get a feel for what they thought of Jam Cruise?

Joel Cummins: They loved it. The scene for local music in LA isn’t exactly thriving, it’s much more of a studio oriented vibe for them. So to see all of these people that are loving all sorts of music really blew them away. One of my favorite comments was from Chris while we were eating dinner. He lit up and said, “Oh my god, did you see the captain of the ship?” I knew where this was going right away, as our honorary captain, Captain Toast, dresses in full nautical regalia. He continued, “That captain, he looks like a swashbucking fool!” I think he was a little concerned for our safety, but it all made sense to him and he got a hearty chuckle out of it once he realized Captain Toast was on staff. Without a doubt, Chris and Pag made a lot of new fans for themselves with their performances.