A GRATEFUL NEW YEAR

Phil held a “meet and greet” on the 30th as a benefit for the Unbroken Chain Foundation. At $200/ticket, it was quite a stretch for most 'Heads, but it quickly sold out anyway. The event featured a dinner and a question-and-answer session with Phil and his band -- John Molo, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, and Rob Barraco -- and special guest Mike Gordon. Also, the band allowed the guests to watch the sound check at the Kaiser, which featured the band's first rendition of Brown-Eyed Women.

Meanwhile, down the road at Universal Amphitheatre outside Hollywood, The Other Ones and Steve Kimock Band put on quite a show for a packed house. The venue, which isn't really an amphitheatre, is located in the middle of the Universal Studios theme park and is an intimate venue that holds about 6000 fans. Kimock Band kicked off the evening with a blistering set that, Kimock slyly noted, is "supposed to warm you up for The Other Ones." The band, consisting of Bobby Vega, Tom Coster on keys, and Rodney Holmes on drums, didn't let up, taking up its hour with four stretched out songs. The group, held together by Vega's thick bass lines and Holmes' powerful drumming, jammed as if there was no audience; they were in their own zone to the extent it was like watching four incredible musicians jam in the basement. Steve invited "my friend Bruce" out to play the final song, Baby I Love You, during which Coster kindly stepped aside for Hornsby to take the spotlight. Following the too short set, Steve picked up his clock and commented that "the big hand says it's time to go" and the four musicians left the stage to the crew to setup for The Other Ones.

By the time the lights went down for the featured act to take the stage, the house was full and ready to rock. The slimmed-down version of The Other Ones--now counting six members without Kimock involved--immediately launched into a tight Playin in the Band before Alphonso Johnson thumped the band into a heavy Other One Jam. When the first solo of Jack Straw came around, the difference between this band and the one we saw this fall was obvious: the hesitancy was gone. We didn't have two guitarists looking at each other wondering which was going to take the forefront. And the complication of two lead guitarists and another lead voice in Hornsby was history. It was clear this band would take off and it did. For me, the biggest question going into the evening was how Bruce and Mark would interact, since Hornsby and Kimock have such a close musical relationship. I was pleased to see the intent smiles on both Mark and Bruce's faces as they played off each other. Bruce's light keys and Mark's heavy guitar complemented each other beautifully, and the crowd and band both knew it was on.

Following Jack Straw the band busted into Sugaree. This, to me, was the first song that normally spelled K-i-m-o-c-k and was interested to see how the band would do. Well, shoulda known, but they nailed it, from beginning to end. Bruce stepped off stage for much of this song, leaving his five band mates to rock out Sugaree with ease. Following a well-played (and well-sung rather than rapped) Baba Jingo--another song that was Kimockian but perfectly handled by Karan--core members of the band conferred as Alphonso and Mark looked on, amused. Bobby promised the crowd that "we've got our best people on it," before taking a few more minutes to talk with Bruce. "Well, we haven't figured out dick, but..." Bobby told the crowd before the opening notes to Scarlet. This version headed quickly to the jam, where Bruce started teasing Touch. Alphonso, who had a special connection with Bruce all night, looked over, smiled, and started hitting the bass line. Bobby, who had been playing with his amp, turned around kind of amused and shrugged 'okay.' They went into a powerful Touch, with Bruce teasing the Scarlet outro that heads into Fire even before Touch's verses were done. They never did make it to Fire.

Next a great El Paso without Mickey followed by Bruce's Preacher in the Ring with just he and Alphonso. It was a well-stretched out Preacher, and Bobby and Mark joined at the end as it took an Odessa feel--and Bobby and Mark seemed pleased to be headed there--until Alphonso brought it back to Preacher. This was followed by a full band and full-on Looks Like Rain. Help/Slip/Franklin's sounded somewhere between the RatDog versions and the summer TOO versions. The transition into Slip was almost flawless, but the composed part of Slip was perfect with Alphonso and Mark leading the way. Franklin's was on fire, although after "If you get confused just listen to the music play" Bruce started singing the chorus. Bobby gave him a panicked "no no no" look and Bruce covered and they went into a building jam that Mark took off on. This disintegrated into Drumz, which began with a nice Billy drum solo before Mickey began on the percussion. After a too-short period, Bobby went behind Bruce's piano and kind of waved to Mickey that they were low on time, so the band came out and headed into St. Stephen. Some of the verses were flawed but the jam into Eleven was flat-out amazing. Just rockin! And Bobby went completely apeshit at the end of The Eleven leaving the crowd pumped and spent at the same time. Encore time, and Bruce kind of fiddled with the China Cat theme, leading someone in the front row to yell "China Cat." A little interaction on stage and in they went to a great China and a lengthy jam into Rider. Bobby did his "sun will shine" verse nicely, and then began singing Jerry's verse before realizing that Bruce was singing it and he stepped back with a whimsical look. This jam was a perfect end to a perfect night (and it left many-a-'Head surprised that One More Saturday Night wasn't played).

Back up north to Oakland for New Year's. We arrived at the Coliseum parking lot around 6 to find lots of folks there, a little scene, and a line to get inside that stretched from the Arena down the hill to the Coliseum. After finding that The Other Ones had not yet brought their tickets to the will call window--a usual routine--we headed to the BART station on the other side of the Coliseum to head to the Kaiser, joined by plenty of other 'Heads. A five-minute ride and five-minute walk and we were at the Kaiser, tickets in hand.

We didn't see any sort of scene at the Kaiser--we didn't really look for it--so after grabbing a photo pass for one of us, we headed inside to a great atmosphere--party hats at the entrance and a spacious floor with balloons and other decorations hanging from the roof. After a brief wait, Warren Haynes and Matt Abts took the stage and broke into a couple Gov't Mule classics. Afterwards, Mike Gordon slipped onto the stage and immediately found his spot, flawlessly carrying through some Mule tunes and U2's One. The set quickly ended, leaving us to our own entertainment for a bit. One little four or five year old was running around getting love from everyone, and when one girl asked if she knew who we were there to see, she said "Jerry Garcia." Very cute. Another 'Head, prolly around 20 years old, was walking around just shaking people's hands, saying "Hi I'm Nick" and moving on. Good vibe. Soon the lights went down for Phil & Friends. The band immediately hit an Uncle John's flavored jam before tearing up the song with a guitar-heavy jam before heading into a flawless Brown-Eyed, sung perfectly by Rob Barraco. Next was Warren's Sugaree; this was the first (and only) song that I got to see both TOO and Phil play this run, and found it amazing how completely different but completely sick both bands' versions were. A new song, Mirror of Thalassa, followed and was very well played, and it headed into a rockin Low Spark and Bertha closer. After a lengthy set break, the band came out and kicked into Passenger, again flawless and very nice. This headed into Shakedown (whoo!), and it's here where Candace's lightshow really began to shine, so to speak.

The whole show, the lights coincided very well with the music, both in tone, speed, and color. The screen behind the stage flashed many images; the second set showed images alternating between growing colas in a beautiful garden, MLK speaking, and animated images displaying "death" and "sex," among other things. We sadly had to leave the light show and incredible band behind during Unbroken Chain and we made our way outside into the cold. We weren't the only ones leaving to head to TOO, and there were other folks going the opposite direction. Very funny at the moment of recognition when we made the connection with folks that we were passing that we chose completely opposite itineraries.

After the return trip to the Arena, we wandered our way up past the scum that was walking around outside to will call where some really nice people helped us with our missing tickets and photo pass. We made our way inside, through the packed bar area, and onto a nice spot on the floor about ten minutes before the lights went down. Everyone's attention immediately turned to the floor about 3/4 of the way back, Mark-side, where 3 amazing women (dancers? acrobats?) from Cirque de Soleil were doing all sorts of maneuvers while hanging from two ribbons each well up in the air with music in the background. Soon a guy was up in some sort of cube with only edges doing some moves and flying around. There was a giant clock there, the hands spinning around, above a chair with a motionless, completely white and almost naked person sitting in it with his head bowed. Eventually he began lifting into the air, carried by chains he was hanging onto, and he soon began maneuvering in ways the body shouldn't go. He eventually landed back in the chair, rose in hand, and the band broke into Sugar Magnolia. We didn't know if it was midnight, and as it turned out they didn't either--somebody missed their mark and they ended up beginning before midnight. Well, Sugar Mag started out very quiet, but soon headed into a nice Dark Star that saw the balloons finally drop all over the crowd. The rest of the evening featured many highlights, notable the vocal breakdown of GDTRFB (completely pointless note: TOO and Phil were likely playing GDTRFB at the same time), Down the Road, Samson, White-Wheeled, Weather Report, Drumz, Wharf Rat, and the Sugar Mag reprise, but I was so exhausted I unfortunately wasn't focused through much of the show. A beautiful Ripple closed the night, Mickey sent us to "Drive safe and be smart. We love you." And at 3:30—a nice long set to follow last year’s Phish marathon--that was it for The Other Ones.

We were sent out into the cold Oakland night to reflect on the two nights of magic from two magical bands. While it's a shame Phil and the rest of the boys aren't getting along, this is where they should be musically. Phil looked to be having the time of his life, leading a band in the direction he wants to lead it. And Bobby, Bruce, and Mickey could head up The Other Ones with their own vision, and a more traditional but incredible bassist to hold down the bottom. Now that The Other Ones are through, though, it remains to be seen whether two former members of The Grateful Dead will ever share a stage again. But I'm thrilled to have been a part of it when it was there. Never wait till next time; this could be the last time, I don't know.

Happy New Year!

Dave Rosenberg
www.otherones.net