Splintered Sunlight, 12/21/12, Appilachian Brewing Company, Harrisburg, PA

 Greetings everyone. Hope you are all ready for the holiday season. I’m ready to have a good old fashion Festivus as I watch the Steelers try to squeeze into the playoffs. But today is not about football, the fiscal cliff or any of the other heavy things weighing us down. This installment of Kempededia is all about one thing, the continuing majesty that is the music of the Grateful Dead. Today I delve deep into my sordid history with one band in particular, Splintered Sunlight.

     I first heard about Splintered Sunlight in 1995. They handed out flyers at the 12/1/95 Phish show in Hershey. They were playing the next night at a bar called the Blue Terrapin. The Biscuits and Devolver  are among the bands that played at this tiny heady place in Elizabethtown, PA. I found out about 4 years ago the permanent fixture of our scene Caveman Dan was a partial owner of the venue. Now alas, the building is a gun shop.

     It was a really small place that might have held a hundred people comfortably. It had a rather relaxed atmosphere. How relaxed? Since this was a time when one could still smoke cigs in a bar, they really didn’t care what you were smoking. When the Biscuits played there right before it closed down, our brother Chad C. made it a point to have it go out in a blaze of glory. He smoked at the bar, on and under the pool table, and probably onstage with Brownie.

     I was very impressed by Splintered Sunlight and they became a regular on my must see band list. We used to see them a lot down in Baltimore at a place called The Vault. It was an old bank converted into a bar. Again, another really chilled out venue that had couches and didn’t really care what you were smoking within the confines of their establishment. I saw them there in ’96 or ’97 with Living Earth on the bill with them. It was a Jerry’s birthday show/celebration and at one point they had something like 6 guitarists on stage playing my all-time favorite version of Eyes of the World I have ever witnessed.

     Of all the Baltimore Splintered shows, one stands out in particular. It was the Wed before Thanksgiving in 1996 and a bunch of us went down to see them. Nad came down by himself later and joined us at the show. When we left, Nad had no idea where he parked his car. So 6 of us crammed into Buck’s Jetta and tooled around the neighborhood for what seemed like forever searching in vain for his vehicle. We eventually gave up and Nad proceeded to find it in about 5 minutes.

     The last time I saw Splintered before a 12 year hiatus was in Dec 2000. Work was really slow and we had a 4 day work schedule for the month of Dec. Without going into too many details, having those 4 Fridays off that month made for some AMAZING times. I got to visit a friend in Philly to see Splintered on their home turf, including an amazing version of Alligator, which was a super rarity at the time. It also allowed me to run into a certain chick that lead to the most incredible NYE I ever had.

     I then proceeded to not see them for 12 years. No particular reason why. I do remember their website being less than perfect with no updates at all. But lo and behold they were making a stop at Appalachian Brewing Company this past June. I give all the credit with the great people at Greenbelt productions with getting them there. Would like to give some thoughts and prayers to the family of Jersey Mike, founder of Greenbelt Productions, who recently left us much too soon.

     I made it to this show and it was like nothing had changed. They tore it up and it was a nice way to kick off the summer concert season. Fast forward to this December. They announced they were playing an End of the World Party on Dec. 21. If Quetzalcoatl doesn’t destroy us, this should be a raging good time. And it was

    

     They opened up with Half Step, followed by Franklin’s Tower and The Music Never Stopped, thus playing a good chunk of the Blues for Allah album Paul had been hoping for. A killer Easy Wind was the highlight of the first set. A rather good Let It Grow ended the first set.

     At set break I got to shoot the shit with one of the drummers Jerry Horan and Butchy Sochorow, aka the Asian Jerry Garcia. Their 20^th anniversary was Dec. 20 so this show was part of that celebration. They came across as down to Earth guys who obviously loved good music. Jerry had been in the band since its inception and Butchy had been in for nearly 15 years. That is astounding.

     The second set was all killer and no filler. China Cat>Rider opened it up. Estimated followed by a killer Terrapin flowed into our skulls. Stella Blue and Going Down the Road Felling Bad sent us on our way into the rather windy and cold night. I hope everyone has a kickass Festivus and a safe and happy Christmas. Oh and Splintered, thank you, for a real good time.

Dave Kemp

 BA American Studies

PhD in Rock and Roll

Cabinet and the Coal town Rounders, Chameleon Club, Lancaster, PA 11/24/2012

Greetings everyone. Been awhile since I took out my quail feather pen and wrote anything but as I approach turning 40 (more like getting run over as it is this wed. the 28^th), what better way to celebrate than with some bluegrass from the land of my formation, NE PA. I am of course talking about Scranton’s own Cabinet and the Coal Town Rounders, live at the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, PA on November 24^th.

     The Chameleon Club has been around as long as I can remember. One of the first shows I ever saw was there in 1989 or 90. We saw the Chicksaw Mudpuppies and the Flat Duo Jets. After a little research on Wikipedia, I discovered the Flat Duo Jets were described as “psychohillbilly” and were a big influence on Jack White.  

 The Chicksaw Mud Puppies were from the same Athens music scene that gave us REM and Widespread Panic.

 They even had the late great Willie Dixon produced their record. So once again, I was ahead of the curve.

    Meet up at Nate and Christie’s chateau for pregaming and got a sweet elevated spot behind the soundboard. The Coal Town Rounders were up first. They had a single vocal mike stand with a Grand Ole Opry style sign on it

     I never saw them before and came away impressed. They call themselves “Black lung Bluegrass” and play traditional bluegrass, i.e. no drummer. They did a few gospel tunes which made you want to dance without any guilt. They brought out the fiddle player from Cabinet, Todd Kopec, to join them on a few tunes. The only rock cover they did was “Shape I’m In” by the Band, which is always nice to hear around Thanksgiving. My personal highlight was a cover of “Slewfoot”, which I’m sure you all recognize as the old timey tune Bobby used to sing with the New Riders of the Purple Sage when they opened for the Dead in early 1970.   The Coal Town Rounders definitely lived up to the expectations I had based on the one show I had heard.

     The second band was really, really, bad. I don’t remember their name but their music was so far away from bluegrass or anything resembling good music it was sad. People streamed outside to smoke cigs when these guys started playing. It was radio friendly, almost popish junk. They had to have gotten the slot because of a lost bet or big favor, as in “if you give me a kidney, I’ll book your band”. There was one guy in the crowd singing along to every song and just rocking out in general, but for all I know he was on ketamine.

     Before Cabinet came on, I was talking to a guy outside. He was convinced the actor that plays Creed on The Office was in Cabinet at one time because of the Scranton connection. Um no. That actor was in the Grassroots, who were a one hit wonder back in the 60’s.

     So Cabinet finally comes on and they ripped it up. This was my fourth or fifth time seeing them this year and they did not disappoint. I don’t have much recollection for the set list as I didn’t have to drive and overindulged. But they tore it up and I even got a birthday shout out from JP. Hot damn! Scranton represent!

     I hope everyone had a safe Thanksgiving/Black Friday and enjoy the holiday season to its fullest as I appreciate the wisdom of Robert Hunter even more than before “..oh well a touch of grey, kinda suits you anyway. That was all I had to say, and it’s alright”

Dave Kemp

BA American Studies

PhD in Rock and roll

Tales From the Devolver Side Halloween 2000

Greetings everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the last vestiges of the Indian summer as Fall is about to make its presence known.  And the biggest part of Fall is Halloween. But this isn’t about my epic Phish Halloween 1994 show; this is about something almost as epic. I am of course talking about the Halloween 2000 run a little band called Devolver did. 

You can stream it here 

https://archive.org/details/devolvermusic2000-10-27

     By this time, my crew (myself, Adrian, Watson, and Dan) had become pretty tight with the Devolver family. I wouldn’t become manager until Summer/Fall of 2001 but we helped out when we could. At some point, Devolver decided to put on their own show. The band nor we had never really done anything like this so it was definitely learning as we went along.

     Watson found this great little fire hall in Bair, smack dab in between Spring Grove and the 116/30 interchange. Just a cinderblock building with a picnic pavilion outside of it.  A few houses were around it but nothing too close.  Set up was no big deal but the acoustics left a lot to be desired. We solved this by hanging blankets all over the walls. We also had to be done by midnight as they were having a wedding reception the next day and we had to clean everything up.

10/27/00 Devolloween Ball; Bair, PA

Devolver got wheeled out in a coffin & popped out dressed in drag*

Set I: Glasshawk, Alone at the Applecart->Soul Shakedown Party, Surprise Surprise->Surprise Reprise*, The Laughing Clown->Funk II->Super Mario Bros Theme->Funk II, Side of a Mountain, Psycho Killer->Highway 29, El Nino->Bogey->The Wonderous Boat Ride**

Set II: Costume Contest***, Golden Years>Edge of Town, Werewolves of London^, Waiting By the Sand, I'm a Man>Drumz->Cafe Latte->I'm A Man, Turnaround^^ 

*got crazy at begin of 4th verse and went directly into the reprise
**1st time played; From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
***won by John Volk for his El Nino Clean Up Crew costume
^1st time played since 10/23/99
^^3rd verse was broken down and then went crazy

     Some of the costumes were really good. Watson was dressed as the Chitiqua banana lady. I went as the guy from Funk II, and we had two gun toting postal workers. Jake was dressed as a pimp.  The band was wheeled out in a coffin and then emerged, dressed as chicks. From the back, Andy looked like a chick. But then he turns around, and the goatee is there in your face, BAM!

      This was also the first time I ever took MDMA. WOW!!!!!!!!! Talk about something different. I was expecting something more along the lines of a psychedelic, but man, this was different. I felt like I was James Brown and had no bones within my body. Just one big gelatinous mass able to contort and shift my body however I wanted to do.   

     The band also had some tripped out tricks up their sleeve. They did the Wondrous Boat Ride from Willie Wonka and man, what a freak out. It was really mind bending. They also started their own little Halloween tradition of doing Werewolves of London, which I’d like to take credit for insisting they do it. The lights, the costumes, the treats, it was all too much and came off as a smashing success.

     The band had a costume contest at set break and Bucket won with his El Nino Cleanup Crew outfit. It was hilarious. He got a bag with champagne and glasses in it and proceeded to drop the bag and smash the glasses.

 We had the whole Devolver family there plus a whole lot of people we didn’t know but word was getting around about this amazing band that hailed from Hanover and was taking no prisoners along their march towards world domination. We managed to do a pretty good job of cleaning up which paved the way for us to use the hall again.

     The next night the boys had another gig down in Baltimore at something called the Heady Halloween. It was a gig set up by Ed, who was their manager at the time. It wasn’t in the worst part of Baltimore and they even had an elevator so we didn’t have to haul all the equipment up the four flights of stairs. Voodoo Blue and LaChoza were also on the bill.

      There was a crazy ass rave upstairs and we were searched on the way in. They weren’t looking for drugs though, only weapons. The place was actually somebody’s apartment and took up most of the floor of the building. Nice wide open spaces to get your groove on. Ah yes lovely Baltimore. I made a batch of tea and a lot of us were feeling no pain.

     Devolver was the second band to play and was in the middle of the soundcheck when this guy named MC Crockett, the Chocolate Rocket, comes up and asks if he can freestyle with them. Kyle tries to explain to him that they’re not playing yet, just doing the sound check. Well, he wanted no excuses and grabbed Andy’s mike and started free styling. To the band’s credit, they went with it and laid down a sweet ass groove. His rap consisted of some verses with something like a refrain along the lines of “Are You Feelin’ It?”  It was a pretty good performance with no preparation and they did a really good job. Again, they are masters of improvisation.

10/28/00 The Art Gallery; Baltimore, MD 

Do You Feel It?*, El Nino, The Laughing Clown, Crosseyed & Painless->Cafe Latte, Bogey->Highway 29->Bogey, Bubble Speak, Funk II, Surprise Surprise, Surprise Reprise** 

*MC Crockett the Chocolate Rocket free styled while Devolver gave him a groove (Title by Kempy)
**Devolver was Surprised by the police and had their set stopped early

     The show continued on with some sick ass jams and everybody was having a great time. Then, some dude with long hair came up to Jake at the soundboard and told him to cut the music. Jake asked why and he flashed his badge. Damn, busted by the Man. Some other officers and he were undercover so we’re lucky nobody from the family got busted. It seems the people that put this on didn’t have the correct permits and whatnot. People, come on, let’s get it together.

     We had to hang out while they decided what they were going to do to us. They eventually let us go and I ended up giving Pete Blainy a ride home. He said he knew his way around Baltimore so I allowed him to be my guide in order to get out of Baltimore. And don’t forget I’m flying on tea still this point. First, he tells me to turn on this street and it’s a one way street. And we’re going in the wrong direction. Shit! Cars are coming at us and I pull a U-turn and then he tells me to cut down this alley. This particular alley takes me right behind the Baltimore Police headquarters. Thanks a lot dude. Where did you learn how to get around Charm City, in the back of a police cruiser?

     So we finally made it out of Baltimore and were heading back to Hanover. We heard about a party and the farmhouse the Altman boys were renting. We got there and we were among the first people from the busted Heady Halloween party to get there. George Papoutsis was there with his DJ equipment set up. It seems they were supposed to have a party but everybody went down to Baltimore. Well guess what, they’re all on their way back. Soon, a rather raging party was going on.

      Blunt rode back up with Wendy and her car broke down on a road not too far from the farmhouse. They decided to cut across a field and ran into a swamp. Blunt proclaimed that he thought he was going to die out in the field.  Good times.

      Please enjoy this trip to the Devolver side. I have a new photo album up on Facebook with all the photos from Fall of 2000. Only cool local thing going on this Halloween is Boxcar Social at the Holy Hound Tap room in York on October 27^th at 9:30. Support local music.

Dave Kemp

BA American Studies

PhD Rock and Roll

     

Cabinet 9/29/12 Snail Pie Lounge, Glennville, PA

Good morning to you all. Today is somewhat of a holiday as it is Trey Anastasio’s birthday. But I did some celebrating of my own yesterday when the past collided with my present and had my mind blown in the process. Cause yesterday it was all about Scranton, my roots, and Cabinet at the Snail Pie Lounge in Glennville, PA.

     Since Kclinger’s closed in April, the music scene in Hanover has suffered greatly. Yes, Perkins and his mustache have been working overtime trying to get local shows going, like the Music in the Park and Dutch Days. And the Winner’s Circle has had a few local bands play. But no one has been able to get national or regional acts. But there is a place right outside of our little borough doing something about that, the Snail Pie Lounge in Glennville.

    Take a right off of 216 and then a left on a dirt, rutted lane called Appaloosa Lane (no signs or anything) Drive back a quarter of a mile and roll by a barn. Park in the terrace fields and stumble yourself down to the barn. Steve the owner, doesn’t charge admission, he takes donations. And this show was sold out, featuring the bluegrass troubadours of coal country, Cabinet.

     As some of you are aware, I grew up outside of Scranton. It was actually the rather wealthy suburb of Clarks Summit but I say I’m from Scranton ‘cause if you say you’re from Clarks Summit, people think you’re a pussy (Apologies to Lewis Black).

     So it was a huge deal to see a really good band from Scranton playing 15 minutes from my house. I went with my friend Jess Richley, who I have known forever. How long? We have known each other since before Kclinger’s opened. I did a little bit of research and the last show we attended together was Bo Diddley at the 8x10 club in Baltimore on 4/26/96. On the 27^th, I saw Widespread Panic at Gettysburg College and on the 21^st I saw them in Boalsburg, PA so that was a pretty good weeks’ worth of music.

    But back to the Snail Pie Lounge. It’s on the second floor of a barn that appears to have a lot of its original wood in its structure. It had seats for a little over 100 people, seven rows about 15 seats across. A little bit of an area to dance off on the side which is where we set up shop. Steve the owner had a Band shirt on and a huge poster/mural of the Band across the back of the barn. It had to 15 feet across. I believe the Band would have loved to play this venue.

      I’ve seen Cabinet 5 times now and they really don’t mix up their set lists too much but what they do play is all acme stuff. Highlights included How Mountain Girls can Love, Up on Cripple Creek, Susquehanna Breakdown, and Midnight Moonlight. I didn’t see anyone taping but you can get your fill of cabinet shows on the Archive

http://archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3Aetree%20AND%20format%3Amp3%20AND%20creator%3A%22Cabinet%22&sort=-date

    They took a set break and that’s when my past came back to life. For better or worse, my personality and future were formed in Scranton. My best friend growing up was a kid named Eric Maria. He came from an Italian-Irish Catholic Family. His Italian dad’s name was Cataldo Maria. His Irish mother’s name was Mary Ann Clark. You can’t get any more ethnic than that.

     They had 8 kids, 7 boys and one girl. Again, no good Irish/Italian Catholic family is gonna use birth control. Eric was the second youngest and to say his older brothers picked on us is an understatement. But it toughen me up and helped my develop my wit and sense of humor. But more importantly, Eric’s older brother Mike got me into the Grateful Dead. He was my Obie Wan for all things Heady.

      He was into everything before everyone else. He had a Burton snowboard around 1984, well before anyone outside of Vermont had heard of snowboarding. I remember him being into Faith No More in the mid 80’s long before Mike Patton even joined the group. But he was tie-dying in 1985 and dropped out of college without telling his folks to follow the Dead. He had a tape with American Beauty on one side and Mars Hotel on the other. He also had The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Between that tape and that book; I was ready to get on the Bus.  But back to the present……..

     It was a really chill scene at set break with the band mingling with the crowd outside. I ended up talking to the drummer Jamie. When I told him where I grew up, he said he had just moved from Clark Summit. I then asked him if he knew Mike Maria…... and lo and behold he did. Jamie also played in Scranton Dead cover band the Village Idiots. He knew a guitarist named Brian Sarafinko that I would have graduated with. He knew a few of the other bands and people that I hadn’t seen in years. It really was a mind blowing experience to be talking all things Scranton after so many years.

     The band played a little over 3 hours and did a cool little accapella tune about moonshine. We went to my friend’s place for a post show bonfire. That was really cool, very reminiscent of some of the Devolver after show parties. So everyone have a great Trey Day as I root on my Fantasy Football and marvel at the wonder that occurs once you get on the Bus.