And now we are down to the last two shows--the Mighty High, organized by yet another friend! This fest is going to be terrific and I think the weather will turn out just fine. Tomorrow I get to play an afternoon set with my good friend, Donna Jean, and my buds in the Donna Jean Godchaux Band. I am really looking forward to that! And then two incredible shows with DSO tomorrow and Saturday. A great way to end an amazing tour. I look forward to playing, seeing some bands that I love, and seeing friends at the Mighty High, and I look forward to coming home for some well-earned rest after that. See you in Tuxedo!
Jeff
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Into the Sun Tour Has Been Fantastic Fun!
Whew--near the end of another great tour. The Into the Sun Tour gave me the opportunity to play in a whole bunch of places where I have a lot of friends, and it made the experience extra special for me. From Irving Plaza in the Big Apple where the place was so packed that I don't think they could have squeezed a shadow in and where I got to see many friends, to a memorable show at the beautiful McCarter Theater in Princeton, to a show right on Long Island where friends and family came out to see the band--I really had a good time. Friends in Philly, friends in Boston and my old band mate and friend, Jen Markard, from the Jeff Mattson Band/Volunteers/ Zen Tricksters got to sit in on a number, friends in Stroudsburg. You know I feel like I have friends everywhere now. It is a pretty great feeling.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Listening to Dark Star Orchestra recordings
I sometimes hear people ask "Why listen to recordings of Dark Star Orchestra when you can listen to the real show".
That's an easy one with many answers:
A. Many DSO shows are not derived from actual Grateful Dead shows set lists.
B. Even the ones that are from GD set lists are played uniquely by DSO.
C. Most of the time DSO recordings are done using modern recording technology making the sound enjoyably listenable.
D. Apparently, people just like to... given this info from Archive.org http://www.archive.org/details/DarkStarOrchestra
Most Downloaded Items:
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Gathering of the Vibes on 2005-08-13
74,585 downloads
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Starr Hill Music Hall on 2006-02-07
71,486 downloads
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park on 2004-07-04
46,130 downloads
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Crystal Ballroom on 2005-02-25
38,136 downloads
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Keswick Theater on 2007-12-31
37,774 downloads
That's 268,111 downloads of the top five downloaded shows. Of course it takes some time to get on that list so I believe the newer recordings will break into that list soon enough. And this is just one web site as I know there are many others.
What that number tells me is something I've stated before .... TAPERS OF DARK STAR ORCHESTRA ARE APPRECIATED BY MANY (that goes for you video tapers too!).
At the time of this writing there are 420 recordings up on Archive of almost 2000 shows. So I would take a guess that just about 1/5 of the shows are actually getting taped given that some shows are taped by several tapers. About 4 out of 5 shows are getting away. It's never to late to do your fellow DSO listener a favor and pick up the craft of recording shows.
By the way .... I hear tapers are now called "recordist" as very few actually record on tape anymore.
Here are some from this tour:
http://www.archive.org/details/dso2011-05-12.ccm4v.zman.ots.flac16
http://www.archive.org/details/dso2011-05-05.ccm4v.zman.fob.flac16
http://www.archive.org/details/dso2011-04-30.mstc.flac16
It's been a fun tour! Thank you all! ...Glad to be able to play for you!
That's an easy one with many answers:
A. Many DSO shows are not derived from actual Grateful Dead shows set lists.
B. Even the ones that are from GD set lists are played uniquely by DSO.
C. Most of the time DSO recordings are done using modern recording technology making the sound enjoyably listenable.
D. Apparently, people just like to... given this info from Archive.org http://www.archive.org/details/DarkStarOrchestra
Most Downloaded Items:
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Gathering of the Vibes on 2005-08-13
74,585 downloads
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Starr Hill Music Hall on 2006-02-07
71,486 downloads
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park on 2004-07-04
46,130 downloads
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Crystal Ballroom on 2005-02-25
38,136 downloads
Dark Star Orchestra Live at Keswick Theater on 2007-12-31
37,774 downloads
That's 268,111 downloads of the top five downloaded shows. Of course it takes some time to get on that list so I believe the newer recordings will break into that list soon enough. And this is just one web site as I know there are many others.
What that number tells me is something I've stated before .... TAPERS OF DARK STAR ORCHESTRA ARE APPRECIATED BY MANY (that goes for you video tapers too!).
At the time of this writing there are 420 recordings up on Archive of almost 2000 shows. So I would take a guess that just about 1/5 of the shows are actually getting taped given that some shows are taped by several tapers. About 4 out of 5 shows are getting away. It's never to late to do your fellow DSO listener a favor and pick up the craft of recording shows.
By the way .... I hear tapers are now called "recordist" as very few actually record on tape anymore.
Here are some from this tour:
http://www.archive.org/details/dso2011-05-12.ccm4v.zman.ots.flac16
http://www.archive.org/details/dso2011-05-05.ccm4v.zman.fob.flac16
http://www.archive.org/details/dso2011-04-30.mstc.flac16
It's been a fun tour! Thank you all! ...Glad to be able to play for you!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Home for a Minute
Hi Everybody!
The Into the Sun tour has been going great--we're having a lot of fun and making fantastic music together. Tonight is particularly special for Rob B. and I as we'll be on our home turf of Long Island at the Westbury Music Fair (it will always go by that name for me!). I've seen many great shows here myself, including Chicago in 1971, Rodney Dangerfield, the Chieftians, Little Feat, Steve Winwood, and Ratdog, to name a few. One that really stands out in my mind was a tribute to Miles Davis that included all the members of one of his greatest quintets--Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, with Wallace Roney filling in on trumpet for the late, great Miles!!
I had a great time playing here last year and it's so much fun to see all the familiar faces of family, friends, and fans from Long Island. This Long Island boy is really looking forward to tonight and I think it's gonna be a great show!!
Jeff
The Into the Sun tour has been going great--we're having a lot of fun and making fantastic music together. Tonight is particularly special for Rob B. and I as we'll be on our home turf of Long Island at the Westbury Music Fair (it will always go by that name for me!). I've seen many great shows here myself, including Chicago in 1971, Rodney Dangerfield, the Chieftians, Little Feat, Steve Winwood, and Ratdog, to name a few. One that really stands out in my mind was a tribute to Miles Davis that included all the members of one of his greatest quintets--Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, with Wallace Roney filling in on trumpet for the late, great Miles!!
I had a great time playing here last year and it's so much fun to see all the familiar faces of family, friends, and fans from Long Island. This Long Island boy is really looking forward to tonight and I think it's gonna be a great show!!
Jeff
Monday, May 2, 2011
Interview question and answer
I was sent these questions to answer from Timeoff Magazine as part of the Princeton Packet in New Jersey. I have not seen the article but I thought I'd pass on my answers as I gave them to the paper.
1) What is planned for the Into the Sun Tour -what can your fans expect to hear?
answer 1: The tour kicks of in New York City where we will be playing the famed GD set list from 4/29/71 Fillmore East on its 40th anniversary. Princeton is next so my guess is that it will be a two drummer show. ... only a guess. Fans can expect to see what we always do which is play Grateful Dead music the best we can.
2) Tell me about how people can vote for the encore of the show? Why did you guys decide to come up with this?
answer 2: You can vote for the encore here https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFJsN0QyTjEwOTdVNThabGVJM2dnWnc6MA#gid=0 or by going to the tour date page of our website and following the link from the particular date.
We do this just as another way to let the audience be part of the show. We do not perform to the the audience, we perform with the audience.
3) Looking at the year ahead, what do you have planned that you (and your fans) will be excited about?
answer 3: Festival season is coming up which is always exciting. It gives us a chance to play in front of large audiences and invariably, play for people who have not seen us before. It's always fun to turn on new people.
Also, we are going to go play the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan in late July.
We are 70 shows away from our 2000th show, a milestone to say the least and done in 14 years!
Within a years time we will be doing Jam At The Dam in Amsterdam which will coincidently be around the the 40th anniversary of the the famous Grateful Dead Europe '72 tour. Who knows... maybe we will stick some more dates in other cities as long as we are already over there.
4) Any message for the fans coming out to NJ to see you on April 30?
Answer 4: My message is simply one of thanks for participating in our little world. We have been at this for a long time and we are in a really good space right now. We are having fun and we feel the music we are making these days is worthy of your attention.
Furthermore, If you like what you hear, try spreading the word to those naysayers again. From the reactions we are getting, we seem to be picking up steam and many naysayers of the past are finding a good time can be had at our shows.
Cheers,
Dino
1) What is planned for the Into the Sun Tour -what can your fans expect to hear?
answer 1: The tour kicks of in New York City where we will be playing the famed GD set list from 4/29/71 Fillmore East on its 40th anniversary. Princeton is next so my guess is that it will be a two drummer show. ... only a guess. Fans can expect to see what we always do which is play Grateful Dead music the best we can.
2) Tell me about how people can vote for the encore of the show? Why did you guys decide to come up with this?
answer 2: You can vote for the encore here https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFJsN0QyTjEwOTdVNThabGVJM2dnWnc6MA#gid=0 or by going to the tour date page of our website and following the link from the particular date.
We do this just as another way to let the audience be part of the show. We do not perform to the the audience, we perform with the audience.
3) Looking at the year ahead, what do you have planned that you (and your fans) will be excited about?
answer 3: Festival season is coming up which is always exciting. It gives us a chance to play in front of large audiences and invariably, play for people who have not seen us before. It's always fun to turn on new people.
Also, we are going to go play the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan in late July.
We are 70 shows away from our 2000th show, a milestone to say the least and done in 14 years!
Within a years time we will be doing Jam At The Dam in Amsterdam which will coincidently be around the the 40th anniversary of the the famous Grateful Dead Europe '72 tour. Who knows... maybe we will stick some more dates in other cities as long as we are already over there.
4) Any message for the fans coming out to NJ to see you on April 30?
Answer 4: My message is simply one of thanks for participating in our little world. We have been at this for a long time and we are in a really good space right now. We are having fun and we feel the music we are making these days is worthy of your attention.
Furthermore, If you like what you hear, try spreading the word to those naysayers again. From the reactions we are getting, we seem to be picking up steam and many naysayers of the past are finding a good time can be had at our shows.
Cheers,
Dino
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