Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

Yesterday I spent several hours with Ned Lagin working on the cover photo for
the live solo CD I am about to release.  We started with a photo taken by my
wife, <reet>, at Joshua Tree a few years ago.  We were just going to spiff up
the picture a bit, but we wound up designing the CD cover:

<http://www.trufun.com/cdcover.html>
  

    
That's gorgeous.  That cholla cactus looks very green to me, I guess I am
used to the golden kind.

What a sensuous landscape.
  

    
The glowing cactus in the center was artificially colored; everything else is
just intensified.
  

    
Stirring!
  

    

Great shot!
  

    


 GUILTY PLEASURES at the Paradise Lounge (11th and Folsom, SF) this Thursday,
 March 8, 6-8:30pm.  No cover!

 David Gans, guitar and vocals; Patti Cobb, keyboards and vocals; Alyn Kel-
 ley, vocals; Steve Ramirez, bass; Mika Scott, drums and vocals.
  

    <scribbled by tnf Fri 9 Mar 01 10:43>
  

    

Sunday, November 5

Phoenix, Arizona. Alice Cooper'stown

The story on this place is that Alice Cooper wanted to open a club in his
home town, but somehow found himself in partnership with investors who wanted
a sports bar. Thus was born "Where jocks and rock meet."

It's a sports bar with rock'n'roll memorabilia all over the place. Photo of
Alice with Groucho Marx in the bathroom, next to one of Alice with Johnny
Carson and several other stars.  Autographed guitars in glass cases on the
walls. And the help all wear little black triangles of Alice Cooper ghoul
makeup under their eyes. Notice posted in the employee locker room states
that the company recently instituted "random and for cause" drug testing.

Before the show I was summoned to meet someone outside the venue. Mike
George, drummer with Wailing Coyote, is "a friend of Vince Welnick's and
Mickey Hart's." Vince is coming down to play two or three dates with Wailing
Coyote next month, and can I say something about it on the radio? Blah blah
blah, I will contact the local station about it if Vince wants me to, and are
you staying for the show? "Can you put me on the list?" No problem. "I have
to go over to The Hole to finish the deal for the show with Vince, and then
I'll come back."

Of course he didn't get back until after my set, because he had to put
together a little flyer for the gig and get it printed so he could hand 'em
out here.

It was that kind of night.

The stage is outdoors, facing across a narrow patio to the brick building,
with a balcony bar above the main floor bar. There is also a portable bar on
the patio. A barrier has been erected right in front of me spot just to the
left of center stage -- under-age patrons on one side, drinkers on the other.
Cloth banners form a roof of sorts.

There were plenty of people in the area when I took the stage (accompanied by
John, the Jerry of DSO, joining me for "Masterpiece" and, unplanned, "Mr.
Tambourine Man"), but the majority of them were just standing there waiting.
And drinking, most of them, of course.

I don't like gigs where the bar is in the same room as the music. It means
the room is filled with the sounds of drinkers drinking.

It felt to me that maybe 20, 25% of the people there gave a rat's ass about
my performance. Their attention was hard to connect with, given the amount of
crosstalk and just plain blank indifference evident in a majority of the
"audience." There may have been more people paying attention, I don't know. I
couldn't get any traction at all. I could see people out there who were tuned
in to what I was doing, but I couldn't connect with them.

It wasn't even a matter of doing Dead tunes, either -- some of those weren't
all that well-received, either. I wonder if the DSO crowd is too dogmatic for
the liberties I take with the songs? Or is it just Phoenix?  Or -- most
likely -- the nature of the venue? I have managed to transcend the
unfortunate design of a gig on many occasions, but I couldn't bear down hard
enough to take command of this one.

Drummer Rob asked me to play "Monica Lewinsky," which he had been waiting for
me to bust out on this tour. I played it for him, earlyish in my set. Bad
mistake. Even fewer people than usual seemed to know what I was singing
about.

I sang well, I played well. I have power and poise and a point of view. But
tonight I didn't know what to play to get across, and I don't think I did get
across to more than a handful of people. I had that sinking feeling a lot, in
spite of the pleasure I was getting from the performance itself.

We'll see how many names I got on my mailing list tonight.

I joined the DSO for "Uncle John's Band" at the end of the show, but my
guitar wasn't loud enough in the mix so I didn't really do much instrumental
interacting. The vocals were nice, though -- Rob Eaton, Lisa Burlingame and
myself.
  

    

Monday morning, November 6

I paid more than $100 for a really shitty room at the Comfort Inn. No AAA
discount, even. It wasn't until I got to the hotel and overheard a
conversation at the front desk that I found out why: NASCAR race this
weekend. Rates go back to reasonable on Monday.

Listening back to last night's show in the van, I am remembering how
desperate I felt during many of the songs. It didn't seem to me that the
narrative was coming across at all -- lots of blank looks, which read to me
as "waiting for a Dead jam." No song was short enough -- not a great feeling
with it's just me and my voice and guitar.

I gave John three choruses to solo over in "Mr. Tambourine Man," so he could
get comfortable with the changes. He was doing pretty good by the third one,
and his vocal harmony was pretty fine by the end, too.  We'll do it again.

My country-ish, key-of-G take on "Scarlet Begonias" should have slain this
crowd.  Instead, I got the feeling that I shouldn't be here opening for the
Dark Star Orchestra, because this audience may be here for the replicant
experience and not open to my interpretations. A depressing thought.

I did "Monica" at the request of drummer Rob Koritz. Bad idea.

Not even "Terrapin" seemed to get me any traction with this crowd. And when
I'm singing "Terrapin" to a Deadhead crowd and wishing it was over already,
you know I'm in a bind. I had to stop and tune after the first couple of bars
of "River and Drown."



Tuesday, November 7, 4:00 pm - backstage at the Belly Up

The Dark Star Orchestra started out as a four-show run at Martyr's in
Chicago, just for fun, and turned into this full-time deal almost in spite of
itself. Mike Hazdra, the bassist, said the idea of playing a GD set from
history arose from the competitiveness between the two guitarists, John (the
"Jerry") and Mike Maraat (the "Bobby"). They went nose-to-nose over all kinds
of musical matters, e.g. the right way to play this song or that song. They
didn't set out to replicate the GD sound so faithfully, but this competitive
authenticity thing led to the band becoming so attractive to the Deadhead
audience. And the decision to play sets from history was a way of avoiding
arguments over repertoire.

*

This morning, I encountered an anti-DSO thread in (I think) the Ratdog topic
on DeadNet Central. I posted the following:

I was skeptical about the DSO when I first heard of them.  When I play GD-
type music, the point is to NOT know where you're going when you take off in
a jam.  But that's not how everyone appreciates GD music, lord knows.

Last summer I found myself in the dirt at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park in Ohio,
surrounded by a few hundred very happy people dancing to the DSO.  It was a
1978 set list they were doing -- NOT note-for-note, for god's sake, just
song-for-song -- and it felt good to be there.  And I spoke with a few
audience members who told me they had never been to a Dead show and were very
happy to have this opportunity to get a bit of the feeling they missed.

I'm a musician, too, and it feels damn good to play these songs.  For my
ownself, just covering Dead music is not enough -- but I do have plenty of
those songs in my active repertoire, and I play more Dead songs when I'm
opening for the DSO than I do in other situations.

No professional musician that I know -- and I know lots of 'em, including
some legendary characters from the annals of rock -- limits himself to the
music that pays his rent.  My friend who is a bassist in a Zydeco band loves
to jam on Dead stuff with me from time to time, for example.  To assume that
the DSO is only interested in replicating Dead shows is to deny those
individuals their humanity.  Trust me on this: there's more to these guys,
jointly and severally, than what they do in their "day job."  In that
respect, they are just like you and me.  They have a fun gig, playing music
that makes themselves and their audience happy -- how can that be a bad
thing?

You want to dismiss them as Elvis imitators, go right ahead.  But I warrant
to you that the DSO knows the difference between what they're doing and what
Ratdog is doing.  There is room in the cosmos for both.

*

It's a beautiful fall day in Solana Beach. Last time the DSO was here, the
whole staff of the club took a break to walk over to the beach and watch the
sunset.
  

    

Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Belly Up, Solana Beach CA
Opening for Dark Star Orchestra

Dire Wolf->
Rubin and Cherise->
Seeds and Stems
Elvis Imitators
Sovereign Soul->
Trying
Down to Eugene
Brokedown Palace
Bird Song w/ Dark Star Orchestra


Another desperate night. Nice bar, great monitors, massive apathy in the
house. There were people hearing and responding, but they were far away. The
dance floor was empty. People were coming in throughout my set, of course,
but no one came down front. Not even the Dead songs seemed to get across. I
blew a lot of the lyrics in "Elvis Imitators," which I shouldn't have done in
the first place. I really wanted to do "Sovereign Soul," which I introduced
as "my version of the national anthem," but to everyone except one or two
people out there, I might as well have been singing in Greek. "Brokedown
Palace" got people to quiet down and respond, but I was already crushed.

I was also worrying about the election, as were many others. There was a TV
on in the back (facing away from the stage, but still), and I had this dread
that Bush was going to be declared the winner while I was on stage. "Dire
Wolf" was dedicated to "the winning party."

I got the whole band up there for "Bird Song," and of course that got the
dance floor filled up and the whole house swinging. Everyone onstage seemed
to like that one, too. Lisa joined in on the vocals.

After the set, I told the band I want to start my set with them tomorrow
night. Then Mike told me "Seeds and Stems" was one of his favorite songs,
adding that his second favorite band in the '70s was Asleep at the Wheel."
"My BROTHAH!" I hollered, and shook his hand. John likes some of that
country-ish stuff, too.  Before long I had a nice little list of songs to do
with the DSO (one drummer, we decided, just to keep it light and swinging).
Lisa will sing "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man," and we'll do "Sing Me
Back Home," too.

I will do ANYTHING except take that stage by myself at the start of the show
tomorrow night in LA.

Tonight I felt FLOP SWEAT. I was playing well, and there were people
listening, but the room as a whole was unconcerned. I made some bad choices,
though I executed very well, but I think it's also true that there was
nothing I could have done on my own that would get me across.

It's a terrible feeling, and humiliating before my fellow musicians -- even
though they were complimentary and sympathetic.
  

    

And now I'm REALLY depressed: During DSO's set break, Bush was declared the
winner by whatever network was on the TV in the bar. And there I was in the
band room, listening to a construction worker friend of Mike's jabbering
about how he likes working on government projects more than private housing.
Yes, prisons.  Of course. The election doesn't depress him, because he
expects that tax cut any second now.  And his wife went off into non-sequitur
land: "In Texas, if you introduce a woman as your wife three times, you're
legally married," she said.  "And you know what else? The law says you have
to have windshield wipers in Texas, but you don't have to have a windshield!"
I wanted to scream at both of them.

Out in the bar, over by the TV set, I talked with a 23-year-old woman who
voted for Nader. This was the first election she'd really paid attention to,
and she was really truly planning to vote for Gore - "the better of the
evils" -- but there in the booth, she had to go for Nader.  Hard to argue
with her, really: how proud could I be of any effort to inculcate this bright
young person with the cynicism and bitterness that fogs my own view of the
political scene?
  

    

When the band came offstage between set two and the encore ("U.S. Blues"), we
talked about what to play. Someone suggested "River and Drown," which we had
rehearsed in soundcheck. Scott said, "Let's do a Dead song." Someone
nominated "Like a Dog," but Scott said that wasn't a Dead song. I had to
agree. Someone else called for "Uncle John's Band" -- "God damn, well I
declare!" -- and I agreed. This was the kind of night where lines from the
songs took on new meanings. "Better get back to Tennessee... Al," and so
forth.

As the band headed back out to the stage, Scott said, "Let's do the originals
in your set, to showcase your songwriting. Bring us out for a whole chunk of
your set." Fine with me! I intend to hit the stage with the DSO tomorrow
night in LA, and in Santa Cruz and San Francisco, too.

So they did "U.S. Blues," announced the original date of the show they'd just
performed, and then introduced me. We did a nice, energetic "Uncle John's
Band," which gave me a bit of that guilty pleasure and drove away some of the
unfavorable sensations of my earlier set. Nice to play for a jammed dance
floor.

After it was over, Tom Bellanca complimented me on my solo performance. It
was nice that he remembered to do so several hours after the fact.  And after
another guy engaged me in a conversation about the absence of the GD Hour
from the San Diego airwaves, another fellow accosted me to say thanks for The
Persuasions. That was nice.

*

Back at the hotel at 3:00 am, I cringe as I turn on CNN.  To my astonishment,
the graphic on the screen says "Presidential race too close to call."
  

    

Wednesday, November 8, Los Angeles

MUCH mo' bettah!

I started with the band at the Roxy, and it made a huge difference. There may
have been other factors, but opening with a band instead of solo is
definitely the way to go.

Like a Dog->
Bertha
River and Drown
Sitting in Limbo
Sing Me Back Home
Down to Eugene
Shut Up and Listen

Like a Dog-> Bertha and River and Drown were with Scott, Mike, John and both
drummers (and Lisa on Bertha); Rob joined us for Limbo and Sing Me Back Home
(the three-part harmony with Rob and Lisa was exquisite); Scott and drummer
Rob departed for "Sing Me Back Home," and Rob told me later it's because he
had only played it once or twice and wanted to enjoy it as a listener
tonight.

The audience was up on its feet for my whole set, including the two solo
numbers at the end.

After my set, Scott told me he really enjoyed the opportunity to play
original material with me. Before DSO, he said, he was in several bands at
once, and he misses the non-Dead stuff. He seems interested in doing some
more of this; I think I would be, too, if there were a commitment to do some
work on my material -- or at least to play with me in the opening set.  I
will not start the show alone again on this tour.

Later in the evening a guy came up to me with some very kind words about my
appearance at 14 Below in March. He praised the many aphorisms in one song
("Trying," maybe?). And someone else complimented my on my lyrics (and
Hunter's) in tonight's show.

I sang "Franklin's Tower" with the band at the end of the evening. Got some
nice feedback on that, too.
  

    

Thursday, November 9 - the DSO tour's night off

I had a fine time at the Ashkenaz.  Started out shaky -- my fingers just
wouldn't behave on "Echolalia" (I have a theory about that) -- but from "Down
to Eugene" on out I was in good shape.  The audience was small, compared to
the nearly-full house later, but they were _listening_.  I thought they were
a little too polite, but I was distracted by a lot of stuff going through my
head as I played.

The Ashkenaz is where the Berkeley "Deadheads" organized a boycott to get rid
of me so they could have Dead tapes every Thursday.  That really hurt, and it
really stuck with me.  I couldn't entirely put down some fears about being
very ill-received when I took the stage.

I was in good voice.  After the opening song, my guitar playing did not fail
me.  I did not make a set list ahead of time, but I did come up with a good
solid sequence of songs that did not overplay the Dead connection in any way.
I think "Terrapin" was the only GD song I did, actually (I'll get the set
list from one of my friends who taped).  Some things worked better than
others, of course.

When I left the stage, I didn't feel all that great about the reception I had
gotten.  And I was sort of embarrassed to hear Gordon up there raving about
me making waves across the country (I don't remember his exact words, 'cause
I was making my way into the band room as he spoke).  But all through the
evening, people -- friends and strangers and admired professional musicians
-- said very kind things to me about my performance.  Some of the kindest
words came from Eric and Suzy Thompson, whose opinion means a hell of a lot
to me.

I was also delighted that Greg Anton invited me to join his band for
"Gomorrah."  I came very close to doing that song in my own set.  It was fun
to be up there with that great band and that fine lead singer.

The Nelsons had invited me to join them for "Kerouac" (bassist Bill Laymon's
song) when I saw them in Florida a few weeks ago, so I arrived prepared for
that one.  Then they invited me to help out on "Cumberland Blues," too.  I
shared a mike with Bill on "Cumberland" and I shared a mike with Nelson on
"Kerouac," and I thought about the long strange trip from 1972 to last night.
I have been a fan of David Nelson since "Powerglide," and there I was on
stage with him as a friend and (almost) peer.  That was cool.

So I survived my return to the Berkeley stage.
  

    

Friday, November 10, 2000 - Palookaville, soundcheck

In typical "2B1" fashion, the schedule is fucked up here. Palookaville has
scheduled this show for 9:00 to 1:00 -- barely enough time for the '73 show
the band has selected -- so Scott asked me to play half an hour or so between
sets. Funny that the promoter managed to get my name on the poster for the
month but didn't bother to adjust the start time accordingly.

Rob and Lisa are up for doing "Sing Me Back Some" again, and John wants to
play his mandolin with me tonight. We we'll have some fun anyway.

Eaton has a beautiful red Gibson ES-345 SV, just like the one Weir was
playing in '72 when I became a Deadhead.  He's playing it through a vintage
Super Reverb with a tie dyed grille cloth, too. This is going to be a fun
night for me as a listener.



After the show

It really was a peak performance.  The place was full, and no one was
expecting this live music interlude.  We hadn't even rehearsed the first few
songs on the list (John Prine's "Please Don't Bury Me" was on there, too, but
I skipped right past it somehow), so I was up there planning to bear down on
my part and _lead_ the band through these unfamiliar changes.  They were
right with me, and the energy was great from the start.  This is the coolest
"Down to Eugene" ever -- also, not coincidentally, the first one I've ever
played with a band.

I gotta get me a band.
  

    

Sunday, November 12, 2000 - home at last!

Things really picked up as this tour progressed.  We all got to know each
other a little better, kicked song ideas around, and played our asses off on
stage.

There were plenty of people in the house when I took the stage with the full
band at the Fillmore last night.  We eased into "Like a Dog" with a sweet
little jam.  "River and Drown" was solid and powerful.  Lots of people
dancing.

These guys are mostly Chicagoans, and we discovered a mutual affection for
John Prine.  We talked about doing "Please Don't Bury Me" in Santa Cruz, but
I skipped it (subconsciously or otherwise, I don't know).  I had the lyrics
to "Spanish Pipedream" with me, so we did that one last night instead.

I really want to record some of these songs with these guys, and they all
seem interested in doing that, too. Rita thinks I should record "River and
Drown" with the DSO, too.

Depends on what I'm trying to do.  If I'm putting together a demo, then I
already have a presentable version of "R&D" that I did with SCI in January.
If I'm looking to do something releasable -- and I *need* current product to
sell on tour -- then it would be great to work up a bunch of tunes with the
DSO and record them in Chicago in January.

I've got leads on three different record label or production deal
possibilities.  The material available for a rough demo took a huge leap in
quality this week, with the first-ever band arrangement of "Down to Eugene"
(and god DAMN, it's a sweet feel they bring to the song), several takes of
"Like a Dog" to choose from, plus three stunning takes of "Sing Me Back Home"
(not an original, but I sing the daylights out of it)

Rita pointed out on the way home that I've been saying "I want to record with
these guys" quite a bit lately.  I feel that way about Crazy Fingers and
Blueground Undergrass for sure.  (Last night I was thinking it would be fun
to do "Trying" with BGUG.)

My big dream of recording a CD with lots of bands backing me up is an
expensive one, and maybe it's too much to expect of a first album.  I can
much more easily see raising the money to make a CD in one place with one
group of musicians -- and the DSO is off in the first two weeks of January,
so it might even be possible to make the time to do it if I can raise the
necessary bucks.

It also says something about my increasing power as a performer.  I am doing
great when I play solo, but this thing really stands up and roars with a
band.
  

    

David, I have a question about this:

> The Ashkenaz is where the Berkeley "Deadheads" organized a boycott to
get rid
>  of me so they could have Dead tapes every Thursday.

Get rid of you how?  When?
  

    
In 1998.  I got an anguished email from a guy who said Berkeley NEEDS the
Dead every week, and if I wouldn't voluntarily withdraw from my one Thursday
a week they would organize a boycott.

I don't know whether the poor attendance was a result of my own marketing
failures, the weakness of the band's music, or an organized boycott by the
community, but I was outa there within a couple of months.
  

    

What was it you were doing, is the part I'm not clear about...
  

    
I was playing live music one Thursday a month; the Grateful Dead DJ night was
happening all the other nights.  my correspondent wanted me to stop playing
on that one Thursday so there would be Grateful Dead tapes every week.
  

    

Geeze!  That's terrible.  No wonder you felt that way when you first
started playing that time.
  

    

I have been off the road for four months.  Today I go to Albuquerque for a
day and a half -- a good way to start getting my head back into Road Mode.
  

    

Travel safely.
  

    
And, have a ball!
  

    



NEW LIVE CD: "Solo Acoustic," on Perfectible Recordings.  Track list, cover
art, sample audio, etc.  at http://www.trufun.com/perfectible.


All shows are David Gans solo acoustic unless otherwise noted:

March 22-25:  Suwannee SpringFest at the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park, Live
Oak FL.  David Grisman Quintet; Peter Rowan's Texas Trio; Donna the Buffalo;
Blueground Undergrass; John McEuen and Jimmy Ibbotson; Vassar Clements; Guy
Clark; lots more.  Great venue, great music!  DG will play solo and also in a
special "Salute to the Psychedelic Cowboy Bands" with Mark Van Allen, Randy
Judy, et al.

Tuesday, March 27, 9pm:  Om Lounge, 1026 N Monroe St., Tallahassee FL.  With
Brian Burgess and a jam session. 850-577-0017

Friday, March 30, 9pm:  The Warehouse, 706 W. Gaines Street, Tallahassee FL.
With The Grass Is Dead and Stonehouse. (850) 222-6188

Saturday, March 31, 9:30pm: The Pharm, 941 Huntley Avenue, Dunedin FL. $6.
727-735-9019

Sunday, April 1: DG has along drive from Tampa, but if he gets to Atlanta in
time he will join The Dunhams in hosting Z93's live broadcast of Ratdog from
The Tabernacle.  And AFTER the Ratdog show, the Dunhams will broadcast live
on Z93 from The Cotton Club (downstairs from the Tabernacle) and DG will
perform live.

Monday, April 2, 8:30pm: Red Light Cafe, 553 Amsterdam, Atlanta. $7.
404-874-7828

Wednesday, April 4:  David will appear on the air on WNCW Spindale NC
(streaming live on the web at www.wncw.org) all day to help with their "sound
investment" fund-raiser

Friday, April 6, after the Ratdog show:  Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave.,
Asheville NC. $7. 828-232-5800. All ages!

Saturday, April 7:  Tate Street Coffee House, 334 Tate Street, Greensboro,
NC. $5. 336-275-2754

Sunday, April 8, 9:30pm:  Fat City, 3127 N. Davidson Street, Charlotte NC.
With Nth Degree. $5. 704-343-0240

Tuesday, April 10, 10pm:  Cumberland's, 26 Cumberland Street, Charleston SC.
$5. 843-577-9469

Thursday, April 12, 10:30pm:  The Pourhouse, 224 S. Blount Street, Raleigh
NC. $5. 919-821-1120 NOTE: MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED!  You must become a member at
least three days ahead of time!



Thursday, May 3, 9pm:  Tribeca Blues, 16 Warren Street, New York City.  With
The Electrix. $10. 212-766-1070

Saturday, May 5, 8pm:  Goddard College Haybarn Theater, 123 Pitkin Road,
Plainfield VT.  Free to Goddard students, $5 to the public. 802-454-8311

Wednesday, May 9, 7:30pm:  The Turning Point, 468 Piermont Avenue, Piermont
NY. $7.50. 914-359-1089

Thursday, May 10:  Stanhope House, 45 Main Street, Stanhope NJ. $10.
973-347-0458. Chris Hartford, David Gans, and The Sarahs.

Saturday, May 12, 7pm:  Silk City, 435 Spring Garden St., Philadelphia PA.
$5. 215-592-8838


Thursday, May 31, 9pm:  DG opens for Wake the Dead! at the Ashkenaz, 1317 San
Pablo Avenue, Berkeley. $9. 510-525-5054


Saturday, June 9, 9pm:  Stormy's Off Broadway, 132 W 2nd Street, Chico CA. $8
advance, $10 day of show.

Wednesday, June 13:  Music and talk.  Newport Performing Arts Center, Newport
OR. $10. 541-265-ARTS

Friday, June 15, 7pm:  Windows, 1021 NE Grand, Portland OR. With Freak
Mountain Ramblers. Ticket price TBA. (503) 235-2100

Saturday, June 23, 5pm:  Nelson Ledges Quarry Park, 12001 Rte. 282,
Garrettsville OH.  With Dark Star Orchestra.

Saturday, July 21:  Sunshine Daydream Music Festival, Terra Alta WV.  DG will
play several shorts sets throughout the day. 304-789-2292

**

MANY MORE DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED!
check http://www.trufun.com/gigs.html for news as it happens.