'2026' Dates
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My friend Chris invited me to this show. It's our second show in a row together! He's very interested in the Grateful Dead (and its offshoots) and related music. I'd mentioned to Chris how Mike and I thought that Ty Segall, Pavement, The Hard Quartet, and the like were in the jam band realm. The SST Podcast I listen to makes so many mentions of how the Dead influenced several SST artists. So Chris shared with me some links of his favorite Dead shows. I listened and they have their moments. One thing for me is the "culture" that is layered on top of The Grateful Dead. Sometimes I think I'm too cynical for the positive vibes. Regardless, there is good stuff in there. So Chris told me that this particular show is regularly held on the same date the Dead played Crystal Ballroom in 1968. I think another thing that makes me wary of the Deadhead crowd, is that I realize they share my archival mindset. The band played two sets. Chris was taking notes in his phone of the songs they played. He said that one early was from the "Disco Dead" era called "Shakedown Street". I also recall them playing "Uncle John's Band". If Chris has a blog of the songs, I'd link to it here. Late in the first set a woman joined them on guitar, and stayed on for the entire second set. Chris told me she had learned guitar during COVID and was popular in the Dead scene. Everyone was dancing and having a great time. I think what the bands I've seen do is like this, but with more dissonant guitar and vocals, and less dance in the drums. I had a fun time, as did everyone else there.
I've really enjoyed the last couple of Bitchin Bajas' albums. Then I learned that they worked with Stereolab on their "comeback" album last year. I'd tried to see the Sterolab show then, which had Bitchin Bajas opening. However It was sold out, and impossible to get tickets. Dan and I got there a few minutes into Geologist's set. First off, this place is pretty awesome. It's been fixed up, sounds great and looks even better. So glad I've finally seen a show here. It was packed and we made our way up a little closer. Geologist was playing a hurdy gurdy. I could see his right arm cranking the entire set. He'd play drones with beats; there were no vocals. The visuals screen behind him was pretty cool showing an overlaid over-saturated repeating fern frond image. There are 3 in Bitchin Bajas. They all have keyboards and samplers. One guy would play flute, sax, and even some sort of an electronic air instrument. If you don't know, their music is repeating groove that build and ebb and flow. I could see the hands of the guy in the middle. He was always playing something with at least his left hand. There was one song where they told us it was about a waterfall somewhere in California. Otherwise they didn't say much. The background graphics were excellent bright saturated color patterns. They played many (if not all) of the songs from the latest record. I was really grooving to the last song of the set. It was a fun night out.