ZONE
OUT with the ROLLING RIDER
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12-31-01
- Part 1
Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium
Oakland, CA
____________________
Like days of old, Deadheads milled about the Kaiser parking lot, eagerly anticipating a nocturnal celebration. And as Derek Trucks and Ratdog whet the proverbial pallate, I couldn't help but feel Uncle Bobo smile from above as the musical feast was being prepared. Perhaps no other night conjured up more of the Grateful Dead family, past and present, than New Years Eve 2001. The entire glorious evening was a veritable Who's Who in our collective history.
Although the rollicking 'Midnight Hour>Hard to Handle' opener was punctuated by the thunderclap of Rob Barracco, the syrupy voice of Warren Haynes, and even a hand from Susan Tedeschi, you could distinctly hear Ron Pigpen McKernan's motorcycle blues, his harp bleeding from the banks of the river. Phil then reached further up his sleeve, and with a gleaming grin as his only signal, out rolled the familiar opening bars of 'Viola Lee Blues', sending the crowd into utter delirium. Rekindling the late-60s vintage harmonies, with Phil as the boisterous backbone, our phriends bellowed, '...oh, got a lifetime, here...', leaving nothing left to do but count the years. Do the math. There'll be a quiz later.
After the first verse of Viola, the musical conversation wandered off on a beautiful tangent, leaving us floating away on a puzzling cloud until 'Tons of Steel', at once poignant and roaring, rained down. Warren worked his magic, and at once another old friend, Brent Mydland, heart on his sleeve as always, came in like a locomotive, bearing down, still as heavy as every ounce of his 900,000 tons of old. 'I wish I had a dollar, for each time we both been down this grade...', rang so true, and a tear welled up in our third eye. Both working class heros, Brent and Pig, side-by-side in the Heart of Gold Band.
After a slick segue back to verse two of 'Viola Lee Blues', it was obvious the show was building up speed and fast. Diesel Train, Roller Coaster... Phil and Friends keep this mother rollin' NOT by going through the motions, but by holding true to our credo that each and every moment, every nanosecond, has to bubble over with invention. Time and space slipping away, our brains being twisted like taffy around the warm, pulsating Viola Jam. Warren hinted at 'Dear Mr.Fantasy', and again, the spirits were invoked.
Warren really does justice to the line, 'Please don't be sad, if it was a straight life you had, we wouldn't have known you all these years'. I ran into him recently at the Pete Sears show at the Sweetwater in Mill Valley, and everyone was overflowing with praise for Warren's ability to encompass both Pigpen and Brent, in addition to the plethora of other roles he plays in the band. The Rider's vote for MVP: gotta be the soulful one, Warren Haynes.
Just when I thought I was descending back to earth, Phil and Friends catapulted us back into verse three of 'Viola Lee Blues'. 'I've got a friend somewhere' line was teeming with love, eliciting absolute jubilation among the crowd, dancing passionately as they added to the 3,000-part-harmony. In the original version of Viola Lee by Noah Lewis, he sings, 'Fix my supper...let me GO to BED...I've been drinkin' White Lightning, and it just gone to my HEAD'. After Viola Lee Blues threaded through Pigpen of yore, and stitched it back through with the needling blues of Brent, the pinnacle hit *me* like some ol' White Lightning as well.
'Cosmic Charlie', the only possible song left to play after that pure, bluesy, psychedelic deluge, immediately put a shit-eating grin on our collective mugs. This song, like 'Row Jimmy', 'China Cat', or 'Crazy Fingers', contains one of Hunter's most fascinating lyrical trademarks: phrasings that are often apropos of nothing, haikus linked together, or elusive, impossible images, that somehow create A MEANING WE ALL SHARE AND UNDERSTAND. 'Rosy red, and electric blue, I bought you a paddle for your paper canoe'. Yes, indeed. Strangely enough, tonight wasn't as much about paper canoes, as paper CRANES...
more
later,
Rolling Rider
Stay
tuned for the Rolling Rider's 12/31/01 - Part 2 ...
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12.30.01 Rider
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