My friends have been praising the latest incarnation of the Grateful Dead, "Further", for years now. It's not always easy to get away for a long drive through the USA down from Canada. I crossed the border last year to Washington and caught a single "Further" show but got rained on and didn't get the full three-day sunbake I was after. Apparently, the Eugene shows in Oregon were the ones to catch that year. I used to go to Dead shows on the West Coast and have fine memories of hot, long, afternoon shows.
This time, their Northwest Tour would take them from Colorado Red Rocks to Seattle and then down to Portland. I decided to focus on the three-day bender east of Portland in Troutdale, even though the single Seattle show was closer and Red Rocks is an exotic, epic location. Furthermore, I know Oregonians like to have a good time and are a very friendly crowd. Plus, it's the home state of the Merry Pranksters and the Oregon Country Fair.
When we arrived at the show, the first thing we encountered was Ken Kesey's Further Bus pulling in near us in the grass-covered parking area. That vehicle has been a part of my surroundings on a number of occasions and brings joy to my heart. It symbolizes man's quest for a good time. Wherever that bus goes, "a crater of my mind- I like to blown away". I once played a prank on the Pranksters who were travelling in that very bus on a dark California Highway , but that's another tale.
The venue was about 45 minutes east of Portland on Hwy 84 and turned out to be spectacular. Edgefield, a historic site in Oregon, is now run by McMenamins which has turned the old county farm into a fun, historic destination. There's plenty of restored original buildings with eccentric antique folk art throughout. They have a large brewery, wine-tasting area and vineyard. Especially unique was the Jerry Ice Bar which, to every Deadhead's delight, was filled with wall-to-wall pictures of Jerry Garcia and the jukebox played non-stop Dead. It was a resort run by Deadheads! There was even a beautiful metal sculpture of "Captain Trips" inside the amphitheatre next to the Whitebird tent. All the bedrooms were snatched up very early on by insiders. VIP areas, like the spa, were off limits to most of the concert goers.
The three nights of Further at Edgefield were blessed with nice warm weather and the set lists were great:
(set lists thanks to setlist.com)
09/27/12 (Thu) Edgefield Amphitheatre - Troutdale, OR
Set 1: Hell In A Bucket, Hey Pocky Way, Brother Esau, Brown Eyed Women,
Ramble On Rose, Dupree's Diamond Blues, Sugaree, Box of Rain
Set 2: Music Never Stopped, Deal, Polythene Pam (1) She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (1), Bird Song, Truckin', New Speedway Boogie, King Solomon's Marbles, Death Don't Have No Mercy, Not Fade Away, E: Quinn the Eskimo
09/28/12 (Fri) Edgefield Amphitheatre - Troutdale, OR
Set 1: Shakedown Street, Feel Like A Stranger, Althea, Jack Straw, Crazy Fingers, Looks Like Rain, Doin' That Rag, Satisfaction
Set 2: Viola Lee Blues, Hard to Handle, Help on the Way, Slipknot!, Let It Grow, The Wheel, Comes A Time, Slipknot!, Franklin's Tower, E: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Set 1: Mississippi Half Step, I Need A Miracle, They Love Each Other, Big River, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, Foolish Heart, Throwing Stones, One More Saturday Night
Set 2: Scarlet Begonias, Cryptical Envelopment, The Other One, Cryptical Envelopment, Playing in the Band, Uncle John's Band, Days Between, Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad, And We Bid You Goodnight E: Attics Of My Life
Thursday's "Dupree" was a standout and "Box of Rain" sounded amazing during the first set. After set break, when they kicked into "Polythene Pam" and continued on into "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", the crowd went wild. The Grateful Dead were always known as the ultimate cover band, pulling out rarities from the catalogues of their peers and giving them a special jam-band twist. They covered Dylan's songs so well that Dylan went on tour, playing with them and rediscovered his own songs. I noticed Dylan's solo guitar playing improve after touring with Bob and Jerry. The Dead could find the essence of a song and bring it back to life each night in a different way. Now, Further were continuing the tradition and breathing energy into classic Beatles songs off "Abbey Road". The Grateful Dead's own "King Solomon's Marbles" was a wild rarity to send us all contentedly into the night.
We were back at the hotel watching TV from our beds when a knock came at the door. It was my buddy's friends he'd met on tour earlier that year. Two late-night action seekers had come to extract us from our cozy hotel room and head out into the streets of Portland to the Prankster Ball after-party. I knew I wouldn't regret it and promised my roommate I'd be quiet coming back in.
We arrived at a venue that reminded me a bit of Vancouver's Lux Theatre that burned down on Hastings Street in the '90's. It had a balcony with a lightshow setup, projecting onto the side walls of the cinema. A band was setting up so, instead of lamenting the lack of action (the other stage was also in between acts), we decided to help get the show on the road. One of my late-night rambling buddies knew the soundman who got me helping to check the mics and run cable. Out in the lobby, Zane Kesey, in a day-glow paint-splattered jumpsuit, was selling collectable Prankster memorabilia. Throughout the night I saw about four wild bands as we drifted up and down, in and out of the various areas filled with dancing freaks.
I eventually made my way up to the lightshow area and offered my services doing liquids on an overhead projector. I assured the projectionist that I'd done visuals before and would be gentle. I later was having so much fun doing it that I thought my friend should try. He got so into it, with his eyes glued to his blob-creation on the wall, that he leaked blue dye all over the projector by pressing too hard on the clock plates. I helped the lightshow guy sop up the blue dye, only to have my friend do it a second time. We were banished from the lightshow area and my friend had blue stains all over his hands. That kept us laughing. By around 3:30 a.m., our gang of three hit the front of the dance floor and gave whatever funk we had left when Blue Lotus played a super-late electric set and I was pleased to see a guy dancing energetically wearing a Canadian flag as a cape. I had driven for eight hours, danced for about four and trudged around the stadium. I was wiped by the time I finally got back to the quiet hotel. Our designated driver ran a red by accident which preceded the "Feel Like a Stranger" played about 12 hours later ("...feels most like runnin' a red light and there ain't no point in lookin' behind us, no..."). The Prankster Ball was really loud, for that quiet, residential part of Portland, and it was going when we finally left at 4:30 a.m. I got back to the hotel and slept until 11a.m.
I was mildly hungover as we checked out a great veggie-friendly restaurant called "Blossoming Lotus" for lunch on Friday. We all had irie food and healthy juices. Later, back at the hotel, we caught a cab with a driver who was a musician who had seen Dead shows in his youth. He was frustrated because he was now a Republican and thought that the majority of people going to the show that day in Troutdale, Oregon, were likely to vote for Obama in the coming election. We had a friendly argument with him which, he said , caused his head to pound. How could he actually believe the Republican's talk of "less government"? Fewer restrictions on corporations that want to pillage the Earth sounds more like what they're about.
Day two's early highlights were: "Shakedown", kicking things off with John Kadlecik skillfully replicating Garcia's signature guitar scales; then watching Hipsters and Chicksters during "Doin' that Rag". The first set closed with a revved-up "Satisfaction". The Stone's classic, sung by Bob Weir, gave us a chance to strut around like Jagger for a while.
During the second set, I ventured away from our blanket to the front of the stage to get a closer look at psychedelic veterans Bob Weir and Phil Lesh. I marvelled at how they could keep their composure with all the swirling chaos going on. They still take chances during their instrumental wanderings and can go into an eerie-sounding meltdown, out of an uplifting climax, with telepathic precision and back again before you know it.
They pulled off a seven-segue run, starting with "Help on the Way" and sandwiched three other cosmic songs with "Slipknot" before finishing with "Franklin's Tower". Keyboardist Jeff Chimenti was reminding us all of Bret Midland. He was really dishing out some great solos. Friday saw me acting slightly responsibly and heading back to the hotel for a good sleep instead of going out to one of three after-parties going on that night.
I ate before the last show, inside the main hotel building at the Black Rabbit Restaurant, with a friend I hadn't seen in many years who I'd run into on the elevator that morning at my hotel. It turns out he was in the room above me in the hotel, two highway exits down from Edgefield, so I hitched a ride with his crew back to the site and tagged along for a trip around Shakedown (the parking lot) to look at the wares and stayed with them for their late lunch reservation. In Grateful Dead Lot Tradition, I decided on the Deluxe Grilled Cheese over the rest of the gourmet offerings at the Black Rabbit. My friend joked that I could get one for three bucks two minutes away, outside in the dusty, Dead-lot. "Yeah...", I said, "...but not with rhubarb marmalade dip, organic goat cheese and a side salad!"
Things seemed to be falling into place when two Canadian friends showed up, as we were finishing, to retrieve an extra ticket I was holding. I had one less task to worry about. I said farewell to the dinner party and continued on with my old, art school buddy to search for another ticket for his girlfriend. We wandered back to Shakedown where we saw Californian friends selling Further batiks. It looked lIke a good spot for a ticket to surface. There, I ran into one of my usual cohorts who led me back to their van where they were having a few beers before the show. Security were very cool about the booze and just told us to conceal it in cups. Conversely, I overheard another story in which an overly-zealous female guard lunged toward a guy sitting down drinking a beer and accidentally spilled a Budweiser all down his shirt.
We drifted in after a while, checking out cool artwork for sale on the way. Deadheads continued the ancient practice of holding one's finger in the air: indicating one's search for a "miracle" (extra and/or free ticket). I remember doing it in Sacramento once back in '89 with a cone-head on, after all our tickets had been stolen. Thinking back now, that was a pretty wild thing to be doing for some young Canadian, far from home. I got a ticket eventually for that particular night, but through one of the girls we were with (guys rarely got the miracles). "A" for effort though. I was also strumming a hammered dulcimer with a giant crystal. Back then we spent a few hours prepping eye-catching "I need a miracle" signs which, I noticed, is still being done today.
First set had "They Love Each Other" which always makes you feel good and made me think what a cool crowd Furthur has. "One More Saturday Night" brought out all the Chuck Berry riffs and got the dance floor really swirling. The chromatic walkup made the place explode per usual. I was luckily in the dance pit for the rock out.
The second and final set of the three-show stay gave us another multiple segue run kicking off with "Scarlet Begonias", through to a heartwarming "Uncle John's Band" and a spacey "Days Between".
Key to the whole concert experience is drifting away from the pack and in to the fray. Back away from the stage on the left (Bobby and Jeff Chimenti side), the crowd was more fluid and dancers moved around more. Being there was crucial for the "Other One" which describes an Alice-In-Wonderland-like journey on the Prankster Bus with Neil Cassidy at the wheel of a "bus to Never Never Land". I had guessed they would play it, being in the Prankster stronghold that is Oregon.
The crowd was errupting with expressionistic dance and I couldn't resist going into a spin. Spinning has always been part of the Dead experience; there are dedicated spinners that can rotate endlessly without wiping out. I've tried it a few times out of curiosity and found it to be interesting yet dangerous.The problem I have is coming out of a spin. Everything is fine while you're in it; you catch random images from the crowd as you turn around like a top and feel a powerful connection with the music. However, as soon as you stop, the dizziness overtakes you. The only way to counter it is to spin back in the other direction. It can get ugly and leave you staggering around looking like a drunken wreck for half a minute and, for some reason, the music gets all wonky right when you do it. All good fun until you accidentally step on someone's drink.
I know my limits though, and once pulled off a spin front row at the Moody Blues at Bill Graham's Shoreline Amphitheatre in California. I was wearing a tassle jacket covered in buttons and they got the cameras aimed at me and my friend Dave, which would have been on the screens seen from the back hill. What I would give for that footage. We had just seen the Grateful Dead there two days earlier and The Moodys two days in a row prior to that at the Washington Gorge. Suffice it to say that Dave and I were raging up front, dancing with a freedom that people thanked us for after the show (it helped get everybody up dancing). As I was spinning, I could tell through the blur that our lone befriended security guard was getting up out of his seat to deal with what he surely thought was imminent disaster. I gracefully came out of my spin and grabbed his extended hand and gave him a bro-handshake. All this as the band looked down grinning. I digress...back to the Portland Further show.
The last show closed with "Attics of my Life" which is a rare and tough song for the band, musically. I was stoked to hear the gospel-like tune and its esoteric lyrics, whereas some of my party were hoping for a song with more octane to finish the night. I reassured them saying: "It's good to be left wanting more."
Next thing you know, we were driving up to a warehouse in Portland. We stuffed a few drinks down our shirts and headed into the after-party called Furthermore, put on at The Refuge by Oregonian festival peeps - Black Sheep Family. This place is what Portland is all about: Late night partying with loud music and no police hassle. Kudos to Portland for hosting such great bashes. We would never be allowed to go that late in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Out in the sticks...maybe, but in the city there's an 11p.m. curfew on loud noise. It really holds back the music scene from developing. People are just getting their buzz on at 2 a.m.
The Refuge had big open bay doors with great airflow. You could stand and look down through loading bay doors at the stone pizza oven, crystal vending booths and outdoor bar area. Inside, the walls were all covered with streched fabric and lightshow images. There were a few wild rope dances and stilt walkers throughout the night. My friend turned to me and one of the organizers I knew and said of the scantily-clad rope dancer, "I heard there was a chance that she might fall on me." The two bands, Polyrythmics and Monophonics, were both stellar funk acts that kept the dancefloor grooving.
It was a really fun party and a great way to finish my mini Further tour. I ran into folks I'd done Smoothie Bike missions with from Sweet Leaf Organics, in the wee hours of the morning, and we hugged and laughed. Other friends showed up and brought new life to the party and we ended up interacting with the lightshow in the shadow dance area. I tried out some good pizza from a portable stone oven and bought a framed, blurry-picture of Kesey. I could not believe that it was him and bought it because I was so surprised that I couldn't even recognize him. Then the vendor said "It's Zane, his son...do you still want it?". "Hell, yeah", I said. I didn't place the face but I'm just as much a fan of Zane. Anybody that waves the freak flag that high deserves respect. I remembered him being there, projecting visuals at Ken Kesey's performance of Twister after Autzen Stadium Dead Shows in '93 and of course, a few nights earlier at The Prankster Ball.
Both bands breathed life into me and I started to do the Frankenstein Dance again: "...not much rythm but you gotta dance with him..." (Ken Kesey -Twister, Eugene 8/21/93). I was standing there, feeling like I was running out of energy when the band came on (Monophonics) and suffused me with life force! "I'm alive!", I yelled as waves of funk flowed through the dancing crowd. It was just so good to see a packed party with good music, visuals and dancing. The outdoor hang area was crucial for getting some air and I couldn't help but think how we'd never be able to pull that off anywhere in Vancouver, at that time of night. It was rockin' 'til about 4:00 a.m.. The friends I came with had all left, so I hit up the band and the people leaving for a cab share back to the Edgefield area. "I'm Edgefield bound!", I kept saying, until I got a response from a group that was heading that way.
I walked into the empty hotel and made my way down the empty corridors to the room and slept for my allotted six hours. Luckily, I had (successfully) planned not to drink too much, knowing the drive I had ahead of me the next day and the sheer torture of having to do a long drive with a long hangover (The Who at the Gorge '02). I woke up and found a text message "...looking for a ride, call me...". I picked up two different riders for the journey back to Canada which made the time fly by with conversation and helped to lower the gas bill.
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