When I was in college one of my instructors explained to us early on the term
"Blivet"... he felt we needed to know the definition of the term because he
"used it all the time"... and DAMN if he didn't. I promise not to get into
the habit but here you go:
"A 'blivet', ladies and gentlemen... is ten pounds of SHIT in a five-pound
BAG..."
We finally left town after Beau loaded Scott's newly acquired Leslie speaker
into the already straining trailer like Dolly Parton getting implants... it
seemed totally unreal that we were dragging a fairly new trailer and we had
OUT-GROWN IT AL-FRIGGIN'-READY... and I can think of another three hundred
pounds of gear we need to bring on the NEXT tour if possible.
Lemme Explain -
The drummers and I have been thinking aloud about how to build certain
elements of the Dead's set-up I think that it's getting very Col. Kurtz (from
"Apocalypse Now")...we're going insane... slowly.
See, they want more stuff, so I need more stuff to get that stuff into and
out of the house stuff. Simple as that.
What's NOT so simple is the logistics of transporting, setting up, and
breaking down this megalomaniacal pursuit. All this stuff.
At the very least I wonder what effect (if any) this will have on Beau, and
what's gonna be the final straw.
Our intrepid crew chief wrangled the extra one hundred-fifty pounds of "loud
furniture" into the back and re-loaded all the gear he had to remove in order
to fit the speaker without any complaint and my hat's off to him...
... and lookie!!! We got ourselves a gen-u-ine BLIVET!!!
As we pulled away from the curb on Chicago Ave., I wondered if the axle would
hold out.
Turns out it would, but Beau kept a constant eye on it anyway... even while
sleeping in the newly-built "bed" in the back of the Touring Vessel...
The journey was rather uneventful except for thick fog in Iowa around 3:30am,
and coincidentally Scott was at the wheel.
Click Here to see the "Iowa Fog Incident" -Ed
We got into Boulder this afternoon and met up with most of the band at our
hotel... Rob, Dino, and I played some cards tonight, sorta taking it easy
instead of hitting town to hype the show... but word is going around about
the shows out here... Rob & Dino have already met up with some folks who
offered to take them to play golf tomorrow morning before sound check (YES,
they have clubs with them! Gonna have to address the "What Is Gear?" question
with the new guys... SOON.) and Scott's waiter at lunch was... colorful...
I had taken a walk to my favorite bookstore while Beau and Scott were eating
this afternoon and I bought a copy of the "Grateful Dead Taper's Compendium
Vol. II", which I proceeded to thumb through at the table when I got back.
"Is that the new one?" the waiter asked excitedly.
"Yeah... just bought it."
"can I take a look?"
"Sure."
"MAN! Are you guys going to Phil & Friends?"
"No... we're gonna be... busy."
(Quick look of confusion, replaced with simple acceptance)
So he's paging through it, and Scott asks "Are you going to the Fox tomorrow?"
"What's there?" he asked, followed by answering his own question "OOhhh...
Dark Star... no, I don't think so... I've seen them like, four times and
they're missing something..."
We listened to the rest of his critique ("They don't jam", "I'm really not
into the cover band thing" - Beau: "Didn't the Dead play a ton of covers?")
and when he had walked away we all chuckled. It's good to hear some negative
stuff every now and again... it keeps you balanced and reminds you that there
is ALWAYS room for improvement. Even though the guy had slagged us Scott
wanted to put him on the guest list for the opening show at the Fox, just to
see if we couldn't win him over with...
... oh... I almost gave it away there... but you'll have to wait until
tomorrow at the Fox to find out.
The Tag Line:
Scott still tipped the guy well. Honesty pays, folks!
Well... that's all for now. Tune in tomorrow when I'll give you all a look
into Rob & Dino's golf game, what I had for lunch, what songs are getting
sound checked lately, and a blow-by-blow of our first night at the Fox
Theater...
Sometimes it seems like nothing works right.
Lemme show you what I mean...
I woke up to Sprout knocking on our door to get keys to Hazdra's vehicle. She
was headed to Denver this morning to pick up Mike Maraat who was flying in.
This was around 9am...
I wasn't going to mention this but Mike stayed in Chicago for a "minor"
operation on Monday... seems he had a hernia, probably from shleppin' that
towering rig around... anyway he flew in at the last minute in an attempt to
get some rest before traveling.
But you just KNOW it wasn't that easy, right?
John had a similar piece of luck just before this tour started in the form of
his transmission having to be replaced and for one reason or another (and I'm
not pointing fingers here) it didn't get fixed completely... so as a result
John spent the day with his ailing vehicle, replacing fluids and flushing his
radiator.
But that's what you'd figure "rock stars" do in their off time... right?
The Luck O' The DSO continues...
In addition to his flight being over an hour late Mike had stretched in bed
the night before and had pulled some stitches... Sprout got him to the hotel
room as soon as she could and put him to bed, bleeding ever-so-slightly.
I wish I was kidding about that last bit...
Now over to the Sports Desk...
Rob and Dino got back from golf around 1:30pm... OFFICIAL RESULTS:
For nine holes on a "pretty nice course", Rob shot what he says was the best
he's done... a 36. Dino did pretty well too with 42 for nine holes, shooting
par for the final two holes...
I'm reminded of Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland in "M*A*S*H", toting their
clubs in loud Hawiian shirts... pissing people off...
After another soak in the hot tub I decided to find Scott and consult him on
what the evening's plan would be. We had planned to do a 70's show to kick
off the Fox shows but with Mike in such rough shape it didn't seem
possible... I mean, Admiral Nelson wore a red coat into battle so that if he
got hit his men wouldn't see his blood and lose confidence in him and as a
result themselves... but most of Mike's tie-dyes are blue...
Scott was somewhat perplexed.
"Mike might not be in any shape to sing, man... he's OOZING, for the love o'-"
"Well, what about a show without tons of Bobby songs?"
"First off, I don't know if he can sing AT ALL... secondly... I looked...
there ARE no shows with 'very little Bobby'..."
"Healthy bastard, that Weir."
"Precisely."
In the end he figured we'd do a show of elective tunes featuring Jerry,
Brent, and Donna... seeing as how Lisa was going to be there and all...
I shuffled back to my room and watched some public access music show for a
bit as the western sky began to turn purple with storm clouds... figgerz...
Sunny all day long until we have to load in... poor Beau... and it pissed
down, too...
Dave Tash (our local monitor engineer from the last Colorado tour) was there
to greet us as was Robin the lighting director from the Aggie Theater, and
they both lent a minor hand getting the gear in with Beau and then we all
fell into our jobs...
Life on the road sure is interesting, ain't it?
But wait! THERE'S MORE!!!
After most of the gear was loaded in and the boys began to set up, there was
a loud clap of thunder and the theater was plunged into darkness. The power
had gone out.
"Shit."
"Anything ELSE wanna go wrong?"
"Don't ask that... someone might hear you."
"Shit."
Dave ran around shutting down breakers while we pondered the idea of an
acoustic, candle-lit evening...
The power came back shortly, and we continued to set up... we had a backed
stool on the stage for Mike and we had the entire B3 organ and key rig set
up, Dino and Rob had me running extra drum channels for the "Mini-Beast"
Rob's carrying on this tour, Robin had begun to focus her lights...
And we have a change of plans, yet again...
Maraat has shown up and has decided he's game to attempt a full show.
I'm over-joyed and pissed all at the same time.
The organ is struck, vocal mics are moved, and now some of the lighting focus
is wrong...
Whatever.
Sound check went fairly painless, with Mike sounding pretty good singing
"Dancin' in the Streets" before we had to open the doors...
We retired to the green room (which is not green, at least not in the
low-level lighting) and waited for showtime. With a cozy little crowd of
about six hundred gathered, the band took the stage quite close to the
scheduled 9:30pm start.
The show tonight was 5/19/77 from the Fox Theater in Atlanta... cute, ain't
we?
The highlights of the first set were a loping "Sugaree" and the final three
songs "Passenger", "Loser", and a smokin' "Dancin'" that had everyone
moving...
The second set opened with "Samson" which was slightly disjointed but
energetic followed by the first-ever "Ramble On Rose" with our new drummers
and they did a great job... after "Estimated" the crowd cheered their
approval over the opening strains of "Terrapin" which thundered out into
"Playin' in the Band" and "Uncle John's Band" before Dino and Rob beat a
little sense into the room during "Drumz"... "The Wheel" coasted into "China
Doll" before "Playin" returned with Lisa bringing down the house to complete
the show.
There was no actual encore to the original show, so after Mike Hazdra
announced the show date, the band finished out the evening with "Mississippi
1/2 Step".
Mike Maraat gets the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his heroic efforts
tonight, and I for one will be glad to get into the theater tomorrow night
and see what a fresh start can do for us...
Hey... I wonder if I can pick the lock on the hot tub room, because this bed
is DEFINITELY not working for my back... but given the way our day has gone,
I'm bettin' that lock's gonna be the first thing to work just fine all day...
Tune in tomorrow, crime-stoppers!!!