Rock and Blues Weekend

Last weekend I had planned to go to a blues festival and a Dead show. The blues festival was great - we saw Derek Trucks Band in a small outdoors college setting. The Dead show was great too, or so I hear. I was at home with a delicate tummy, from a mild food allergy.

At least I had some good movies to watch. In keeping with the theme, we had:

Taj Mahal: Live at Ronnie Scott's 1988: Taj is in fine shape, playing lots of his classics, like Fishing Blues, Statesboro Blues, Paint My Mailbox Blue. But he's working with a fairly 80's sounding band, leaning on a kind of lame synth. His guitar playing is sweet, but a little light. He finishes with a complaint about people ripping off his urban/country blues stylings (who was getting rich on that in 88?) and dares them to steal his last number - a rather ordinary Caribbean pop number.

Oh well, it's still Taj.

A Night at the Family Dog: Filmed in 1970 at Chet Helms legendary SF club, we get 2 numbers each from Santana, the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. The camera is a little erratic, pointing at someone else while someone takes a solo, but there's a lot to look at anyway. That includes audience members wandering in front of the cameras and bra-less girls with bouncing boobies. I'm pretty sure I saw Janis Joplin dancing in a caftan, but can't be sure.

There's some great Pigpen - Hard to Handle, lots of close-ups of Jorma's craggy Lurch face, as well as Jack Cassidy (Grace wasn't shown much, possibly because she was ripped), and it all ends with a big jam. Only 60 minutes long and well worth it.

Jerry Garcia Band: Live at Shoreline:From 1990, a few weeks after Brent died. Jerry decided to go on in place of the Dead. This is a fine show with some classic songs - How Sweet It Is, Dear Prudence, Run for the Roses, It Stoned Me. Melvin Seals on organ and John Kahn on bass with two sweet gospel sounding backup singers. Some deep soloing, but also some straight-ahead funky singing and playing. Unfortunately, I didn't make it all the way through - delicate stomach.

Rock on, everybody!