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