No pics or video on this post kids, just words to try and capture what might have been our best performance thus far. This random and unusual midweek gathering all took place because of pie. During our last session
http://caverntavern.blogspot.com/2009/08/sat-8809-strum.htmlJeff and Crystal PLEADED with me took take one of their 4 homemade apple pies courtesy of Jeff's mom. This strummer aims to please and I graciously took the pie off their hands. First of all, the pie was FREAKIN' SPECTACULAR! Tremendous baking ability by the Foz's mama. Turned out the pie dish was needed for her next bake-off, and Beth and Madison had plans to have dinner with fellow Cellar Dweller, Robert 'Cuz' Raposa, so a rare midweek Plymouth Studio session it was.
It was established that curtains-up was to be at 8:30pm and I arrived with cleansed bakeware in hand as Jeff and Justin were curled up reading
The Hobbit. Not to disturb the enjoyment of Tolkien, this strummer went down to the basement to tune up. Jeff arrived shortly thereafter and we immediately embarked on one of my favorite traditions of the Dwellers; the pre-show meeting (for purposes of catching up, and to quell any pre-show jitters). We enjoyed the crisp evening air as well as the quiet tranquility of the pond. We spoke mostly of our beloved hockey teams and how we fared on Monday night's tilt against arch-rival The Tigers (a 4-1 pounding by the good guys of team Schlitz).
We ambled back into the basement ready play but as usual not exactly sure what we should play. Well, I'm not sure what inspired him but Foz had the suggestion of diggin' deep into our repertoire and playin' tunes that we haven't dusted off in a while. So, we led off with
Pink Houses by JCM and we were off to a fine start. An earlier conversation revolving around reciting lines from
The Big Lebowski led us into the back track of one of our favorite scenes of the film,
Lookin' Out my Back Door by CCR. We then introduced a bit of a sad tune in Springsteen's
Highway Patrolman, which was vocally, right down Broadway for Foz. Then we started to tighten up and blasted through a hard rockin' version of
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World by Mr. Young. Michael stepped up to the mic for Petty's
Yer So Bad, a song that really began our vocal harmonization for the evening. Jeff took over lead vocals for a recent band favorite,
Hollywood Nights, and the harmony just kept getting better. We continued with Seger and I stepped back in front of the mic again for
You'll Accompany Me as well as Marshall Tucker's
Can't You See (w/ Foz's harmonizing and pickin',
this sounded about as good as we've ever done it). We wrapped up the first set with a ROCKIN'
Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who.
Good time for a break as Crystal came home and joined us outside for an adult beverage as the dogs ran off some energy. Always nice to catch up but as usual time got away from us and it was about 10:45pm as we came back in for the second set. This time Crystal (who I must say without agenda or intent was looking FABULOUS with her new coif- Very stylish) joined us on stage and supplied the always welcome backing vocals. We began set # 2 with a Pink Floyd medley (I must say I'm always thrilled whenever an assortment of Floyd tunes makes its way into the setlist) starting off with Michael taking the strumming lead on
Mother. Jeff took over on
Nobody's Home which led into a FANTASTIC version of a not oft played,
Wish You Were Here.We dramatically shifted gears into 2 Jonathan Edwards' songs,
The Shanty and
Sunshine; both were fun to belt out and we continued our good play. Then, despite a couple of variances off of Rhythm Highway by yours truly, we had a tremendous time with Dylan's
All Along the Watchtower. It was close to 11:30pm but the truth was I just couldn't watch the Yankees win their 27 title so we called it with our own bullpen stopper,
Dead Flowers by The Stones.
I gotta say, we're sounded pretty darn good last night.
Thanks to Jeff and Crystal for a grand time as always.
Here's the set 11/4/09 set list:
- Pink Houses JCM
- Lookin' Out My Back Door CCR
- Highway Patrolman Bruce
- Keep on Rockin' in the Free World Neil Young
- Yer So Bad Tom Petty
- Hollywood Nights Bob Seger
- You'll Accompany Me Bob Seger
- Can't You See Marshall Tucker
- Won't Get Fooled Again The Who
- Mother Pink Floyd
- Nobody's Home Pink Floyd
- Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd
- Shanty Jonathan Edwards
- Sunshine Jonathan Edwards
- All Along the Watchtower Dylan
- Dead Flowers Rolling Stones
vided by Mrs. Strummer) and the gang sat down to break bread and catch up.
Tangled up in Blue made its way on to the dance floor. I believe it was then when our backup vocalist, videographer, photographer and keeper of the set-list extraordinaire, 
all Dwellers (including our 
surprise guest vocalist, UE) belting it out, we did OK. Not our best version of The Weight but we hung in there. I think it’s a tune that needs consistent practice b/c of the vocals involved. We then messed around with The Who’s The Kids are Alright as well a Bad Company’s Shooting Star. We had great fun with Sympathy for the Devil by Mick and the boys and then it was time for our Floyd medley. Another Brick in the Wall, Mother, Nobody’s Home (with a wonderful pickin’ intro by ‘Dro), Vera and closed out by a decent version of Wish You Were Here. 
