"Sailing Through Sounds: JRad's Revelations & Dylan Surprises"
Larry Mishkin discusses JRad (Joe Russo's Almost Dead) December 1st concert at the Riviera nightclub in Chicago. He talks about the band's unique covers, including Grateful Dead songs, and their ability to recreate the sound of the original artists. He highlight the performance of "Foolish Heart" during a previous show, describing its musical construction and its significance in the Grateful Dead's live repertoire.
Delving into the band members' backgrounds, emphasizing their musical talents and contributions to JRad. It provides detailed information about each member's musical history and collaborations, discussing Joe Russo's drumming, Marco Benevento's keyboards, Dave Drywitz's bass, Tom Hamilton's guitar, and Scott Metzger's diverse musical styles.
He also reviews JRad's surprise performances, such as their rendition of Bob Dylan's "Tell Me Mama," a song exclusively performed during Dylan's 1966 world tour. Larry expresses surprise at how JRad, despite being younger and not following Dylan in 1966, managed to perform the song so well.
Additionally, he briefly touches on the issue of marijuana prohibition on cruise ships, by criticizing the strict enforcement against cannabis use, considering the changing attitudes toward marijuana. The discussion also touches upon ticket availability for concerts by bands like Phish and rumors surrounding potential performances.
.Produced by PodConx
Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-show
Larry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkin
Rob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-hunt
Jay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesberg
Sound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/
Recorded on Squadcast
JRAD
December 1, 2023
The Riviera Nightclub
Chicago
Joe Russo's Almost Dead Live at The Riviera on 2023-12-01 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Episode title: JRAD Rocks The Riv in Chicago on 12.1.2023: channel Dylan and Dire Straits
Happy Birthday Keith Richards (80!)
INTRO: Foolish Heart
Track #3
5:45 – 7:17
SHOW No. 1: Tell Me, Momma
Track #4
0:57 – 2:33
Tell Me, Momma is a song written by Bob Dylan and performed exclusively during his 1966 World Tour with the Band (then known as the Hawks). It was used to introduce the second half of a concert, when Dylan switched from an acoustic solo performance to an electric performance backed by a band. The song was not recorded on a studio album, nor was it ever performed again by Dylan in concert.
Dylan's May 17, 1966 live performance of the song was released in 1998 on The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert.[1] In 2016, all Dylan's recorded live performances of "Tell Me, Momma" from 1966 were released in the 36-CD boxed set The 1966 Live Recordings, with the May 26, 1966 performance released separately on the album The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert. The boxed set contains all the live versions of "Tell Me, Momma" ever performed by Dylan and his band.
SHOW No. 2: Fire On The Mountain
Track #7
0:30 – 2:05
SHOW No. 3: Before They Make Me Run
Keith Richards
ROLLING STONES: Before They Make Me Run (Promo - 7" Single Version) (youtube.com)
1:54 – 3:21
Today Keith turned 80. Cannot let that milestone go unnoticed.
Richards was born in and grew up in Dartford, Kent. He studied at the Dartford Technical School and Sidcup Art College. After graduating, Richards befriended Jagger, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and Brian Jones and joined the Rolling Stones. As a member of the Rolling Stones, Richards also sings lead on some Stones songs. Richards typically sings lead on at least one song a concert, including "Happy", "Before They Make Me Run", and "Connection". Outside of his career with the Rolling Stones, Richards has also played with his own side-project, The X-Pensive Winos. He also appeared in three Pirates of the Caribbean films as Captain Teague, father of Jack Sparrow, whose look and characterisation was inspired by Richards himself.
In 1989, Richards was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2004 into the UK Music Hall of Fame with the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him fourth on its list of 100 best guitarists in 2011. In 2023, Rolling Stone's ranking was 15th.[1] The magazine lists fourteen songs that Richards wrote with Jagger on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.
My favorite “Keith tune” in the Stone’s songbook. 1978 version.
"Before They Make Me Run" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones, featured on their 1978 album Some Girls.
English musician, songwriter, singer and recording producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership with the band's lead vocalist Mick Jagger is one of the most successful in history. His career spans over six decades, and his guitar playing style has been a trademark of the Rolling Stones throughout the band's career. Richards gained press notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use, and he was often portrayed as a countercultural figure.
Written by guitaristKeith Richards, the song is a response to his arrest for heroin possession in Toronto in February 1977. The criminal charges and prospect of a prison sentence loomed over the Some Girls recording sessions and endangered the future of the Rolling Stones.[2]
In the lyrics, Richards reflects unapologetically on his lifestyle up to that point. The line "it's another goodbye to another good friend" in the first verse can be interpreted as referring to Gram Parsons, Richards's close friend who died in 1973 from a drug overdose,[3] and/or to heroin itself: Richards had sought medical treatment for heroin addiction following his arrest in Toronto, and his resolution to overcome his addiction would be a significant factor in his upcoming trial.[4]
Richards recorded the song in five days without sleeping.[5] Originally entitled "Rotten Roll", the song was recorded in a Paris studio in March 1978 during one of Mick Jagger's absences from the Some Girls sessions.[6] The completed track, "a high-energy rock & roller",[7] features Richards on lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, and bass; Ronnie Wood on pedal steel guitar, slide guitar and backing vocals; Charlie Watts on drums; and Jagger on backing vocals.
Richards first performed the song in concert on the New Barbarians' tour of North America in 1979; it was not until the Steel Wheels Tour in 1989 that it entered the Rolling Stones' concert repertoire
SHOW No. 4: Romeo and Juliet
Track #13
1:54 – 3:21
"Romeo and Juliet" is a rock[1][4][5] song by the British rock band Dire Straits, written by frontman Mark Knopfler. It first appeared on the 1980 album Making Movies and was released as a single in 1981.[6] The song subsequently appeared on the Dire Straits live albums Alchemy and On the Night, and later on Knopfler's live duet album with Emmylou Harris, Real Live Roadrunning (though Harris does not perform on the track).
The song itself, written by Knopfler, was inspired by his failed romance with Holly Vincent, lead singer of the short-lived band Holly and the Italians. The song speaks of a Romeo who is still very much in love with his Juliet, but she now treats him like "just another one of [her] deals". Knopfler has both stated and implied that he believes Vincent was using him to boost her career. The song's line, "Now you just say, oh Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him," refers to an interview with Vincent, where she says "What happened was that I had a scene with Mark Knopfler and it got to the point where he couldn't handle it and we split up.
OUTRO: Hard To Handle
Track #17
5:00 – 6:45
Otis Redding recorded Hard to Handle in late 1967, shortly before his death. It was released as a single in June 1968. By 1969, it was being covered by a number of people, and surprisingly, the Dead seem to have been one of the first. If anyone were to think of the least likely groups in ‘69 to cover some funky new R&B, the Dead would probably be on that list. They hadn’t shown any interest in picking up new R&B covers since mid-1967, when they started doing Lovelight – since then, they had focused on their original ‘acid-rock’ material. Many old covers dropped out of their setlists, and from summer ’68 through winter ’69, their shows were almost exclusively devoted to Anthem & Live/Dead suite material, with a few new Aoxomoxoa songs dropped in.
But by March 1969, they seem to have felt the need for something new – the Live/Dead album was in the can, and their repertoire had not varied much in months. Aside from a couple sluggish, misbegotten renditions of Hey Jude that winter, Hard to Handle was their first new cover song in over a year. Over the course of the spring, they would gradually bring in more cover tunes, bringing back many songs they had stopped playing in previous years, and the shows would start to reflect a wider set of influences.
Pigpen probably emulated Otis, and of course this song would have matched his strutting stage persona; it may have been his idea to cover it. The Dead must have known they could not recapture the tight, snappy Stax horn sound of Redding’s original, and they didn’t even try. Instead they adapted it to their loud, heavy, lumbering two-drum, two-guitar style – of course adding a big guitar solo. Pigpen had a set way of singing the song from the start, closely following Redding’s phrasing, which would vary little over the next couple years; but the band would go through some dramatic changes in the way they played the song. (The next year, a bit lighter on their feet, they would also attempt James Brown’s ‘Man’s World’ – not one of his funkiest efforts – but would only play it for about five months.)
The Dead had long been fans of Otis Redding – in 1966-67, Pigpen was performing his ‘63 song ‘Pain in My Heart.’ (Though the impetus to cover it may have come from the Rolling Stones’ version.)
Redding came to the Fillmore in December ’66 – musicians were clamoring to Bill Graham that he needed to book Otis. When he came, according to Graham, “Every artist in the city asked to open for Otis. The first night, it was the Grateful Dead. Janis Joplin came at three in the afternoon the day of the first show to make sure that she’d be in front… Every musician then into music came.” *
The Dead opened for Redding on 12/20/66; the next two nights, other bands opened. (The Dead went to play in Santa Clara.) Bill Graham was permanently impressed: “By far, Otis Redding was the single most extraordinary talent I had ever seen. There was no comparison, then or now... That was the best gig I ever put on in my entire life.” * Janis also mentioned that Otis was a particular inspiration to her. (I believe Ralph Gleason also wrote a review of one of the shows for the Chronicle, which I’d like to see.)
When Garcia & Lesh appeared on Tom Donahue’s FM show in April ’67, they played Otis’ cover of ‘Day Tripper’ and reminisced about the show. Otis had an 18-piece band with him, and Garcia recalled that Otis did his standard show, “where the band would get up and play some numbers, and a girl singer would come up” and warm up the audience before Otis appeared.
Lesh: “It was kind of scary to work with Otis… He tore it up!”
Garcia: “Otis is really heavy… He tore the place apart… When he came on stage, it was like the whole place got about six times as big, and the band just got real snappy – it was so fine, and the music was really good.”
The Dead debuted Hard to Handle at the Black & White Ball (Hilton Hotel, S.F.) , 3/15/69 – the very first song of the show! In their eagerness to tackle it, they perhaps neglected to rehearse it a few more times… They have trouble keeping together in the precise arrangement, and sometimes stumble around erratically before syncing up again. Garcia plays swooping slide throughout, but seems to have little idea what to do with it, so there’s not much of a solo and they just sort of stagger forward aimlessly for a while. Pigpen is also a little confused about the verses. At the end the band thinks Pigpen’s finished, but he continues with another verse, so they bring it to an abrupt end.
Last played on December 31, 1982 at the Oakland Civic Auditorium. Played it a total of 120 times.
Other stories:
- Cruise Ships have a very strict NO CANNABIS rule. That sucks
- Phish tix for the Sphere are out. Did you get any?
