Big Sky Regional Report
Edited by David Sterling - davids@sterlingdirect.com
Hi all,
Let me start by wishing you and yours a safe and happy holiday season. I
can't speak for the rest of the country (although at times I try;~), but
here in St. Louis it sure doesn't seem like the holiday season has begun,
as our daily high has been in the 70's. Maybe there is something to the
"global warming" theory?? As expected, the music scene has slowed up a bit
here recently, but as the case every year, will pick back up in the next
few months.
I would also like to once again send out a plea for additional
participation for our region. If you have show reviews, local CD reviews,
band info, venue info, etc, that you would like to share, please make sure
to send it my way and I'll include your submissions in future reports.
Once again a hearty thanks to Paul and Scott for their continued
participation to the region. Also, please check out this months "Minutes
with Mimi", as it contains some exciting auction information concerning
some autographed Phish items??all for a good cause.
Happy Holidays!!
Friday the 13th with moe.
by James Dunseth
11.13.98 The Vic Theater Chicago, IL
I: 32 Things, Nebraska, Timmy Tucker* > Californ IA > Moth Reprise >
Moth
II: Plane Crash, Threw It All Away, Hi & Lo, Head, Buster ** >
Funkytown Jam > Bass Solo > Sensory Deprivation Bank, Big World
E: Tambourine, I Know You Rider
* - unfinished
** - w/ Havah Negilah (Traditional) teases
The band came out at 7:05 and the place was about half empty just like
the last time they played at the Vic. The tickets said show time was
to start 7 but no one ever believes that it will actually start on
time. The band came out and about half way through 32 Things a ton of
tapers started showing up and tried to plug their decks in during the
middle of the song, that wasn't too cool.
32 Things started up and was just a rocker from the start, although
Rob's bass and the vocals seemed to be turned way down in the mix.
Actually, everyone seemed way to low in the mix except for the
guitars. It seemed to get fixed pretty quickly though. Great back
and forth guitar dueling from Chuck and Al as always. It got pretty
spacey at some points too which was really cool. While Al and Chuck
got spacey, Rob threw in some really nice bass lines. Vinnie was
hammering away at the skins like a madman keeping up that frenzied 32
Things drum beat. When they finally broke out of the spaciness
Chuck's guitar parts literally sounded like a locomotive coming at
me from the stage. That's at least what I was thinking that night,
the
lights during this particular part of the song were really cool. You
couldn't see the band at all because all the lights were shining right
in
my face, like a train coming straight at me. It was damn cool, thanks
Ragen! This version clocked in at about 15 minutes.
Nebraska was next and was pretty straight forward. Got a good cheer
from the crowd though, who by now were starting to pile in the door.
Timmy Tucker was a monster! It started out as a very interesting bass
solo from Rob built from the Timmy Tucker theme. The rest of the band
just sort chilled for a while waiting for Rob to get it going. Then
Al and Chuck began creating some spacey effects behind Rob's bass
creating a neat effect. Finally, the full on Timmy Tucker was upon us.
I absolutely loved the extended intro that night, the intro lasted
over 4 minutes. Once they broke away from the lyrical part of the
song and got to the jamming I immediately noticed, although I'm sure
it wasn't on purpose, that Rob was playing a very similar bass line to
the one in Imelda May. I was actually singing the "Hey, little boy do
you want a date?" line to myself for a while. I probably only heard
it because I had just listened to the Timmy Tucker rock opera earlier
in the week, but I thought it was really cool. Following the
cool bass stuff there was some really nice guitar soloing from Chuck
and Al that just screamed. It was built up very nicely to a furious
pace before they let up and let everyone settle back down into
reality. It got really quiet and spacey for a while which was cool
because I need a bit of a rest. Then the band began building it back
up a little bit with some interesting guitar work from Al. It got to
be pretty funky at points and almost had a disco feel to it for a
while. Rob's bass lines and Vinnie's drumming definitely complimented
the guitar nicely during the portion of the song. They finally brought
it back up to another crazy pace for a while and just ripped through
it. I was bracing myself to hear them go back into the theme and
finish the song but the jam just kept going. They brought it back
down again to a very quiet spacey jam, again another much needed rest
for everyone. There was some really nice ringy surf guitar sounding
stuff in this section from Al. The jam started building it's way back
up again to everyone's delight but finally segued into Californ IA
leaving Timmy Tucker unfinished. Timmy Tucker was 30 minutes.
The segue into Californ IA was so smooth that most people missed it
and assumed it was still Timmy Tucker. A guy behind me asked me if it
was still Timmy Tucker and I explained that it was Californ IA. He
thought it had to be another song because it felt like a completely
new theme and not just a jam, but he couldn't figure out where the
last song had ended and where the new one began, it was pretty cool.
I absolutely loved the placement of Californ IA. Not only does this
song not get played nearly enough but it's such a great song to jam in
and out of. I just love seeing it pop up in the middle of a great
jam. They jammed out of Californ IA for a while trying to
figure out where they were going to go with it. After a few minutes
the Moth Reprise theme was evident and I was overjoyed, I always love
a good Moth but I couldn't figure out if they were going to play the
whole song or just do the reprise. When they got to the point in the
Moth Reprise where they would go back into the ending vocal segment to
finish the song they segued right into the beginning of Moth, it was
freakin' cool! The CalifornIA > Moth Reprise was about 13 minutes.
This Moth wasn't as long as the last couple I'd seen but it was still
really good, and I guess you could say since they did the Moth Reprise
(Preprise) it was a pretty lengthy one. When Al got to the "But to
fly" part of the song he did it opera style and it was pretty damn
funny, I'm surprised he didn't shatter all the glass in the room. Al
and Chuck both took some pretty rip roarin' solos for awhile, once
again working the crowd into a raging frenzy before finally getting
back to the Moth theme and ending the song where it sort of begun, a
pretty interesting version I must say. Moth was about 13 minutes.
The
set ran about an hour and fifteen minutes all together.
The band took a pretty quick break only 20 minutes, I knew they
wouldn't be gone too long since they had to be off the stage at 10:30.
Chicago's curfew law sucks, any event that is all ages has to be done
by 10:30. The band came back out and informed everyone that the show
was being webcast across the world, that got a big cheer from the
crowd as everyone said howdy to the folks tuning in. And Chuck added
that it was Friday the 13th and it was a good excuse for everyone to
let loose and get crazy, again another big cheer from the crowd. Set
two started off with a bang. Plane Crash will always do that, it's a
huge crowd favorite and always turns into a big sing along during the
chorus, I always like hearing this song. Pretty standard live version
though. Nice guitar work from Chuck and Al and Rob's bass lines were
nice and bouncy throughout. They brought the jam down to a nice
quiet section, they seemed to be doing a lot of that last night. Then
they slowly started the ascent back to the craziness that is Plane
Crash. "Too Fuckin' High" is right, the whole room was floating at
this point! What an awesome vibe, and it happens every time they play
this song. After Plane Crash Al set down his guitar and I thought he
was headed for the Mando but instead he picked up a really small blue
guitar sitting on Vinnie's drum riser. I've never seen him use this
nor have I heard of him using it, maybe it's new. Had a little
different tone to it, and sounded really nice. Threw It All Away was
a nice choice to follow Plane Crash... uh oh, two songs in a row with
the F word in them. Threw It All Away is always a fun song but
normally pretty standard and this one wasn't much different then the
others I've heard. About 6 minutes long.
Hi & Lo was next. I was happy to hear this one, not only is this one
of my favorite tunes on Tin Cans & Car Tires but it's a good break
song. It proved to be the only break of the entire set and this was a
pretty intense set. Fortunately there were no lyric flubs by Mr.
Garvey. Well played but very standard as always. This was only about
4 minutes long. Head! Now this was a great Head. Brought back fond
memories of some of the great Head's from '97. I was very pleased to
hear an innovative jam come out of this one. The last few I've heard
live and on tape just aren't the same as some of the beasts from '97.
I only wish Rob would bring back his "I've been known to screw the
pooch" line, I always thought that was one of the coolest parts,
although pretty disturbing too. The jam started out with
some great soloing work from both Al and Chuck. One would take a solo
and the other would do some really nice foundation work underneath the
other to make it just layered beautifully. Both guitarists sounded
like they were taking a solo at the same time yet neither were
interfering with one another. One would finally let up and the other
would take over and the whole process would start over. Chuck brought
it back to the ending vocal segment at precisely the right time with
his slowly building "Head" line. It was a really great version
although
not tremendously long at about 12 minutes.
We listened to my all time favorite version of Buster on the way up to
the show. Some of you might know the 9.15.95 version from Broadway
Joe's, it's a pure epic: Buster > The Internet Tune Jam > Buster.
Naturally when they started Buster I was hoping to hear The Internet
Tune Jam pop into this one since the show was on the Internet... yeah
right. Chuck did some scatting at the beginning before the lyrics
started and Rob was giving him funny looks because he kept wanting to
start in with the words but Chuck wasn't giving way. During the part
where they run through a section of the song and then drop the last
note off the end after each time through Rob and Chuck were having a
"Let's see who can stand on one leg for the longest"
contest. Rob made it through most of this section but dropped off
soon
after, Chuck was clearly the victor going nearly twice as long as Rob,
really put Rob to shame. After this Vinnie did some nice drum fills
using his cow bell and all, it actually sounded like he was imitating
a
horse trotting along. Chuck did some of his patented vocal guitar
playing after this, that's always enjoyable. They brought the jam up
a
notch to a nice pace and Chuck teased the theme to Star Trek for a
while. I think that's becoming a pretty standard tease in Buster,
kinda like Inca Roads is in Four. Great soloing from Chuck to get the
song to it's peak ending segment. Figured the song was over at this
point but they kept going out of the Buster ending and Scott
McClintock
called Havah but it wasn't to be, I thought it was going to go the
direction of Havah for a while too. The jam sort of chugged along for
a while and finally found it's way into the disco
favorite Funkytown. The Funkytown jam was really cool, it went on for
a couple minutes with the whole band getting in on the action and for
a few seconds I thought they were actually going to play the whole
song with words and all. Finally everyone stepped back and let Rob do
his thing. He kept the disco groove going for a few and Chuck picked
up a squeeze toy from the top of his amp and did a little noise makin'
of his own along with Rob. After a couple minutes of Rob's amazing
solo I heard the intro to Sensory Deprivation Bank sort of peak out.
The whole Buster > Funkytown Jam > Bass Solo was 23 minutes.
Sensory Deprivation was an awesome choice here. First off it was
completely unexpected coming out of the bass solo. Caught me off
guard
and that's always really cool. One of my favorite versions of this
song also comes from the 9.15.95 show, it's got Jim Kappick on harp.
Anyone who doesn't have that show should hunt a copy down. This was
an
extremely enjoyable version of SDB. Jam started out slow but they
brought it up to a blistering pace and tore through it for a long
time.
I was probably dancing harder then ever at this point, what fun!
They
finally finished it out with the great tumbling ending and I was
exhausted. Couldn't believe they were going to play another, it was
about 10:10 and I figured they'd leave and come back for a long
encore.
But they had more in store for us. Sensory Deprivation
Bank was 10 minutes.
I knew Big World would definitely be the last song of the set. I knew
they would rock it out to the end and they did. This is a good set
closer in my opinion. The Extremelean section is just so cool and the
jam they build off it is just explosive. Excellent way to close out a
stellar set in my opinion. About 10 minutes long.
They came back out with 11 minutes left to play and Al kept noodling
around. Chuck and Rob were getting antsy. Finally Al began the intro
to Tambourine. I kind of dig this song although I wasn't sure it would
be the only song they'd play during this encore, too slow to leave us
with. Good solid bass lines from Rob in the intro, kind of reminds me
a little of the ??Irish Tune?? from the Timmy Tucker Rock Opera.
pretty long extended intro, or at least longer then the last time I
saw them play it. Relatively the same as the other one I'd seen after
the intro though. It was about 7 minutes.
They said they had time for one more quickie so I was thinking
something pretty short but then they busted I Know You Rider. It was
a pretty standard version and not nearly as jammed out as the one I
saw from Carbondale this summer but it was still really hot and fun as
hell to hear. The crowd was going ape shit during this, there were
quite a few older Deadhead's at the show and they really got their
groove on during this one. This was a great way to end a really great
show.
BASS PLAYER WANTED...
Not just a background sound; but we want a bassist
who plays it like a lead instrument; and can create
improv. jams on stage. This is truely
a unique band (all members college educated in late 20s
and early 30s) with 2 years into it, and now reforming,
in need of a strong bass player who wants to be part of family;
not just a sideman. Dozens of originals with meaning.
I am their lawyer and manager and this band
will soon be my full time job. Make it yours too.
We are now in Lincoln, Nebraska but might relocate later. We
are dedicated to staying independent and building
a touring machine. Contact me and we can exchange
demos. Or see <www.binary.net/ripple-effect> for our history.
-mike dolich,
thanks
Jive Talkin' Robots
Hey All! Here is the latest on the Jive Talkin Robots schedule:
Fri Nov. 20 NOON FREE Music Millennium Portland, OR
Fri. Nov 20 Roshambo's Bend, OR 4$
Sat. Nov. 21 Ashland Creek B&G Ashland, OR $3
Sun. Nov. 29 Sokol Blosser Vineyards McMinnville, OR Free
Th. Dec. 3 Mt Tabor Pub & Thtr Portland, OR w.Grooveyard $4
Fri. Dec.4 NOON FREE P.S.U. Caf Portland, OR
Fri. Dec 4 5-9 pm Mt. Hood Meadows Mt Hood, OR. FREE
Sat. Dec 5 4-8 pm Mt Hood Meadows Mt. Hood, OR. FREE
Sat. Dec 5 11 pm The Rat Skellar Mt. Hood, OR. 3$
Mon. Dec 7 9 pm The Elevation S. Lk. Tahoe, CA. 2$
Tues. Dec 8 Mick's Lounge SF, CA. w/ Steve Mayers FREE
Th. Dec 10 Caspar Inn Caspar, Ca. $4
Fri Dec. 11 The Crossroads Leytonville, CA. $4
Sat Dec. 12 Cafe Tomo Arcata, CA. $4
Sun Dec. 13 The Roseland Theater Portland, OR. with Big Head Todd
Mon. Dec 14 tentative Roshambos Bend, OR
Tues. Dec.15 Good Times Eugene, OR. 5$
Thu Dec. 17 The Paragon Portland, OR. 5$
Thu. Dec. 31 NEW YEAR's EVE!! The Paragon Portland, OR
Th. 1/7/99 The Roseland B&G Portland, OR w/Groove Revelation 5$
Sat. Jan. 9 Jimmy Mack's Portland, OR. 5$
Th Jan. 14 The Roseland B&G PDX w/Rockin Teenage Combo 5$
Fri. Jan. 15 The Rainbow Seattle, Wa. w/RTC 5$
Th. Jan. 21 The Roseland B&G Portland, OR w/Soular 5$
Fri. Jan. 22 7 pm Groovacious Platters Keizer, OR FREE
11 pm The Good Times Eugene, OR. w/tba $5
Th. Jan. 28 The Roseland B&G Portland, OR w/Soular 5$
Fri. Jan. 29 Ichabod's Spokane, Wa. $5
Th. Feb. 4 Berbati's Pan Portland, Or w/RTC 6$
Wed. Feb. 17 J.T. Toad's Boise, ID.
Fri. Feb 19 The Zebra Cocktail Lounge Bozeman, MT 4$
Sat. Feb. 20 The Dire Wolf Pub Whitefish, MT.
Sun. Feb 21 tentative Missoula, MT.
Wed. Feb 24 J.T. Toad's Boise, ID.
How about them apples!!!
Stay tuned for more info!!
Those denying the existence of Robots, may be Robots
themselves..............
For Booking Contact
Phil Simon
SimonSays Productions
phil@freakofnature.com
541-684-8618
http://www.jivetalkinrobots.com
