A fine night at Harpers

As always, a great time at Harpers for our annual pre-Christmas show.

Another death-defying feat by the band-that-does-not-rehearse, as we pulled off a surprisingly tight version of "Ain't it Crazy (The Rub)" with no rehearsal beyond one quick verse and how to actually start it during soundcheck.

For the guitarists keeping score, the Grateful Dead play this song in E. We all learned it by listening to an MP3 version from the Fillmore East in 1971 the week before the show. When we got to the gig, Mark told us he wanted to sing it in the key of G, which is easy enough, except I learned all the guitar riffs in an E chord position. Fortunately, I had a capo on me. That may reappear from time to time, it's an interesting tonal variation shortening the neck like that. I just have to remember to put it on -- and take it off -- at the appropriate moments. Like right before we started the tune, Mark reminded me, a true trainwreck and tragedy narrowly averted.

In an even more flagrant display of bravado, we played "Alligator," which is a fairly complicated little tune. We got through half of that in soundcheck, and with a couple of cheat sheets on the stage, we fumbled through it during the show. We were tempted to play "Unbroken Chain" but cooler heads prevailed.

The real holiday moment of the night was when our friend Frim Jolly (Jim Frawley) appeared from backstage in his Santa suit as we plowed through "Run, Run Rudolph" to close the first set. And we didn't get to a couple of requests because they shut us down 20 minutes early, so no encores we to be had.

Thanks to all the folks who come to see us, because the opportunity to play this music for you all is the greatest gift of all; we can't do it without you.



Here's yet another little video sample from the night ... we'll have more soon.

Happy holidays, and have a Jerry New Year.

Vic