Friday 8/28/09

A rare treat for the Dwellers; a Friday night gathering at the Cav Tav. The Big Three (Jeff, Pedro & Michael) were together again along with backup vocalists, photographers and keepers of the set-list, Beth & Crystal. Start time was 8:30 and the gang rolled in shortly thereafter. As usual, catching up and having a little performance primer took president. Then, all the Dwellers moved from the bar to the stage and Jeff started us off around 9:35pm with Helpless by CSN&Y. We then dipped our toes into our vast Pink Floyd collection for Breathe but decided it was too early in the evening for a Floyd medley and at 9:50pm we broke out with a rip-roarin' everyone involved with the vocals rendition of Twist and Shout by the lads of Liverpool. That moved right into a first for us, La Bamba by Los Lobos. The theme of the night was starting to take shape and we were trying to pick true sing-a-longs so we slid nicely into CCR's Looking Out My Back Door and Who'll Stop the Rain? Crystal requested Jonathan Edwards The Shanty which we hadn't dusted off in a while and we had a couple of vocal elapses on that one. Not to worry, back at it with Springsteen's This Hard Land which we nailed rather nicely. On to ol' favorite, Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and then back to Bruce with The Rising.
It was at this point where I felt our 'primer' session starting to impact my ability to play and it got really bad for me during The Animal's House of the Rising Sun; I just didn't have nor could I get it together. happens occasionally. We slowed things way down with Home on the Range and then got nice and mellow with our always long-awaited Floyd medley which consisted of, Wish You Were Here, Nobody's Home, Comfortably Numb. It was at that point we took a little snack break, watched some Sox, lost the lovely Miss Beth to the comfy confines of the couch and then came back with JCM's Pink Houses, Dylan's All Along the Watchtower and ended it with Dead Flowers by the Rolling Stones. I may be reflecting on my own playing but it certainly wasn't our best performance ever but we hung in there, struggled through some haze-induced sloppiness and kicked out some terrific new tunes. Most important, it was great to catch-up, hang out, see everyone and occasionally rock it together. Good times. Thanks for everyone who made the trek, very much appreciated.
8/28/09 set list:

1. Helpless CSN&Y
2. Breathe PINK FLOYD
3. Twist & Shout THE BEATLES
4. La Bamba LOS LOBOS
5. Looking out my back Door CCR
6. Who'll Stop the Rain? CCR
7. The Shanty JONATHAN EDWARDS
8. This Hard Land BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
9. Ring of Fire JOHNNY CASH
10. The Rising BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
11. The House of the Rising Sun ANIMALS
12. Home on the Range BREWSTER HIGLEY
13. Wish You Were Here PINK FLOYD
14. Nobody's Home PINK FLOYD
15. Comfortably Numb PINK FLOYD
16. Pink Houses JCM
    
17. All Along the Watchtower BOB DYLAN
18. Dead Flowers ROLLING STONES
    

Springsteen @ Great Woods 8/25

Well, just a fantastic way to wrap up a terrific weekend. Beth was of to Foxwoods for a 2 day weekend with the girls, I had Madison on Friday night, dropped her off to grammy's on Sat and headed to our hockey teams 2nd annual BeachDaveur-highlighted by fresh tuna seared on the grill. Delish.
Went down an met Beth at grammy's and then we both headed for a rare treat, a Sunday night concert at Great Woods. I can't call it the Comcast Center. I can't and I won't. Beth and I had about 90 mins in the parking lot grilling bratwurst and peps and onions with a couple of adult beverages to wash it down. We headed in feeling fine and found our seats dead center 2nd row right beyond the covered part of the seats. Were amazed and puzzled at the amount of 'tweeting' and Facebook updating during the show; how about you just enjoy the experience?
Anyway, blown away by Bruce yet again; just a phenomenal performer. We caught up w/ friends Campbell and Galoene for the 2nd half of the night up in the lawn. Beth and I made a decision to bolt before the encore and were in the driveway at 11:32pm. We chose...WISELY.
Here's the setlist:

Night
Badlands
Out in the Street
Outlaw Pete
It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City
Working on a Dream
Murder Incorporated
Johnny 99
Independence Day
Heatwave (instrumental)
I'm Goin' Down
You Never Can Tell
Janey Don't You Lose Heart
Prove It All Night
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
The River
Lonesome Day [with Jay Weinberg from here on]
The Rising
Born to Run
* * *
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Thunder Road
American Land [with Ken Casey]
Glory Days
Dancing in the Dark
Twist and Shout
Hang on Sloopy
Growin' Up
Hungry Heart

Sat 8/8/09 strum

Well, an impromptu gathering of just Jeff and Michael for this particular session. The lovely Miss Beth had embarked on a girls night out in Boston and Madison (after 4 consecutive napless days) had crashed hard at 7:30pm. What's a lonely strummer to do? Well, Foz had just spent a relaxing afternoon with the fam at the beach, hence the kids were sun-drained and sleeping soundly. So, Foz made the 1/2 hour trek up Route 3 and arrived at the Cavern Tavern around 8:30pm or so. As is typical with any Cellar Dweller gathering (regardless of size) we occupied ourselves with a couple of adult beverages and just catching up with one another. This host hangs his head in shame for providing Foz with Coronas sans limes-the horror.
Well, as usual, the catching up portion went a while and we didn't really tune up until 9:30pm or so. Then comes the inevitable,
"What song should we start with?" Which can go anywhere from 2 minutes to the better part of the evening. Seeing that our indecision was flirting with the latter, I just started in on a recent addition to the Cellar Dwellers, Soul Asylum's Runaway Train. A song which (like many of ours) is an easy-peezy as well as being in Jeff's vocal wheelhouse.
We then stumbled a bit through Serenade, by the Steve Miller Band but more than made up for it when we dusted off an oldie but goody in Bad Company's Shooting Star (it had been so long that I had forgotten the name and said, 'it was the tune Seth introduced'). I then switched out my Takamini for the Gibson 12 string accoustic/electric and we launched into old favorite, The Weight, by The Band, (some really nice moments of vocal harmony on this one) and a recent addition to our collection, Neil Young's Powderfinger (which we nailed rather nicely) and then when right into Bob Seger's Hollywood Nights. Jeff kept things going with Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and introduced a new/old tune to the Dwellers in Lonesome Whistle Blow by Hank Williams Sr. I then took over the lead vocals and tried to step out of my singing comfort zone and struggled a bit with my rendition of Seger's Accompany Me but made up for it by belting out a personal favorite, Marshall Tucker's Can't You See. Back to the bar for a little respite and we headed back to the stage with Jeff at the mic as we ripped through The Animal's House of the Rising Sun. The clock started ticking away rather loudly as we rounded the final turn with Pink Floyd's Mother and Comfortably Numb and we finally called it close to the witching hour with the only closer that we know; Dead Flowers by the Rolling Stones. Great as always to catch-up with Foz. This was one of those nights where for the most part, we played quite well.
The set list from 8/8/09:

1. Runaway Train Soul Asylum
2. Serenade Steve Miller Band
3. Shooting Star Bad Company
4. The Weight The Band *
   
5. Powderfinger Neil Young *
   
6. Hollywood Nights Bob Seger *
   
7. Ring of Fire Johnny Cash
8. Lonesome Whistle Blow Hank Williams Sr
9. Accompany Me Bob Seger **
   
10. Can't You See Marshall Tucker Band **
    
11. The House of the Rising Sun The Animals
12. Mother Pink Floyd
13. Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd
14. Dead Flowers Rolling Stones
    

* mj played these songs with the 12 string accoustic/electric
** mj on lead vocals-all other songs Foz on lead vocals