Well we are half
way through my adventures out west. Up next is something I’d never thought I
would be able to do; live in the Haight and go see some incredible live music.
So without any more fuss, kick back as the middle school Dave Kemp finds out
what Tour is all about as I recount my 4 days in San Francisco and Phish at the
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Aug 2, 3, and 4, 2013.
As I wrote
before, we rolled into SF on Jerry’s birthday. First thing I had to do was get
my Friday and Saturday ticket for the run. I bought them through a scalper way
back in March. When I contacted them, they said the estimated arrival date was July
27. Which was a problem as I was flying out on the 28th. So they said they could ship them to the
rental agency that we were renting our super fatty house from. I called before
we went up to Tahoe and they informed me that there was a delay. ARGHHHH. So I
called them twice the next day and said they were going to overnight them to
me. She then said the address they had was 124 E. Hanover St. D’OH!!! I had
them send it to the closest FedEx in SF to the Haight. Got my tickets and went
back to Delorean’s crib 1885 Page St, AKA my home for the next 4 days.
My favorite non
dancing activity in SF was walking everyone’s dogs. Delorean has the world’s
greatest pug named Rubin. She was also dog sitting a bulldog named Maude. We
took them to the panhandle of Golden Gate Park as the sun was setting. We then
chilled out on her stoop. It has four steps that lead to a landing that the 3
apartments spill on to. There is an archway over the stoop so if you are
sitting on the top step, you can’t see on the sidewalk beyond what is in front
of you. So chilling there is akin to having a TV and constantly changing the
channels.
Rubin looked so cute,
standing all dignified, protecting against threats real, imagined, and the MUNI
bus. Called it an early night as we were all exhausted from the Tweezer the
night before and the drive. We did have 4 shows in four days coming up. I slept
in D’s room the first night. Maude was in a doggie bed on the floor and Rubin
climbed in the bed with us. D had half the bed. Rubin took up another 4/5
leaving myself with a tiny sliver. On my immediate right on the wall was this
great poster of Jerry from the 72 Europe tour. It was like a heady Noah’s ark
in there.
I just chilled out during the time before
the show. Checked out the Haight, which was popping a little more than normal
because of Phish being in town. D’s friend Amanda gave us a lift to the venue.
Nice chill scene outside the historic venue. And why is it historic? Because
this venue held an actual, honest to goodness Acid Test. I can’t find the date
because the Wikipedia entry has been edited but I know I read it. For those of
you that don’t know, I first discovered this whole world when I was in middle
school by reading The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. And now, almost
30 years later to see Phish, the other main band in my life, was beyond
describable. We found our normal spot on Page’s side and got down.
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San
Francisco, CA
Set 1: Free > Meat, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony
> AC/DC Bag > Vultures, Roggae, Sand, When the Circus Comes, Babylon Baby, Reba, Halfway to the Moon > Golgi Apparatus
Set 2: Punch You In the Eye >
Down with Disease[1]
> Prince Caspian[1]
> Farmhouse > Seven Below > Theme From the Bottom
> Harry Hood > Stealing Time
From the Faulty Plan, The
Squirming Coil
Encore:
Walls of the Cave
[1] Unfinished.
Teases:
· Dixie tease in Harry Hood
· Dixie tease in Harry Hood
Notes:
This show was officially webcast via LivePhish.
Harry Hood included a Dixie tease by Trey. DWD and Caspian were
unfinished.
You can stream it here
I ran into the
real Suzy Greenburg while in SF, so when the boys did Oh Kee Pa, we were ready
for Suzy. However, they band decided to tease us instead. I love the group mind
that develops when one is on Tour. A middle of the first set Sand? Hell yes.
Again crazy song placement. Babyalon Baby is a great new song that I hadn’t
heard before. Switzer knows both song writers who wrote it. The Reba was good
but this is when the wooing started up. Every quiet moment in the jam people
were wooing. Sorry folks, but if you weren’t in Tahoe to do the original
wooing, then you missed out. I know the band was encouraging it but I had 3
people tell me the next day that the wooing ruined their Reba.
Second set same
thing. Wooing everywhere. DWD was great as was 7 Below. Nice tasty jams. People
were even wooing and clapping during Page’s Coil solo. SIGH. Walls is one of my
favorite 2.0 era songs and it was the first time in the encore slot. Made it
back to D’s to rest up for day 2.
I got up
relatively early to do some shopping. LA was gonna be Switzer’s 100th
show and we were all gonna dress up. I got a loud shirt at Buffalo Exchange and
a fedora at US Army Surplus, both located right on the Haight. I took the bus
over to Courtney and Chris’ (Route 71). Very convenient. It loops between Haight
Ashbury and the Sunset neighborhoods. Had brunch and then went exploring Golden
Gate Park. I stopped at historic Kezar Stadium. The 49ers played here back in
the 60’s and the Dead played a monster of a show in ’73. You can stream it
here.
The stadium is
located in the Haight so that show must have been insane. While I was taking
pictures, I had two tourists from Australia ask me for directions to Amoeba
Records. I knew how to get there and now I really felt like a local. I walked
to Golden Gate Park and wow is all I can say. So many beautiful trees and vegetation.
It was almost as if the park was designed for people to take acid in within an
urban setting. Words can’t do it justice. Found my way to Hippie Hill and listened
to a drum circle for a while. Some old guy said hello to me and said if I
needed anything to ask him. No thanks I’m good.
I walked back to D’s
because we were pregaming the show with an Italian potluck dinner at Sara and
Bammer’s house, a scant 5 blocks from D’s, on the corner of Haight and Masonic.
They stayed with us in Tahoe and really laid out the welcome mat. And their
place was incredible. They had a lot of room for an apartment in SF. Met some more cool people, including two of
Sara’s friends. The one was from NYC and the other just flew in from Madrid,
Spain. He had a previously planned vacation to SF that worked out with the
shows. But it was the first time the 3 of them had hung out in over 10 years.
Nice.
We ate and then
went outside to wait for a cab. Just hanging out, chilling out on the sidewalk
in the Haight. Fucking amazing. We got to the show and I busted out my now
famous “Just say no to the Woo” sign. People were in favor of it 10 to 1. I had
several people take my photo and told them to spread the word on social media.
I know a good photo of the sign and the photo of Old and In the Way on my
hoodie made it to Twitter.
Saturday, 08/03/2013
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San
Francisco, CA
Soundcheck: Funky Bitch (incomplete)Set 1: Grind, Weigh > Alumni Blues > Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues, Lengthwise -> Maze, Sample in a Jar > NICU, Mound, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Driver, Timber (Jerry) > Axilla, Bug > Possum, First Tube
Set 2: Rock and Roll > Steam > Backwards Down the Number Line > Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Joy > Fluffhead > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Waste > Suzy Greenberg
Teases:
· Apostrophe tease in Mike's Song
· and Waste teases in Suzy Greenberg
· Nellie Kane tease in Weekapaug Groove
Notes: This show was officially webcast via LivePhish.com. Trey teased Apostrophe in Mike's Song and Waste in Suzy. Mike teased Nellie Kane in Weekapaug.
You can stream it here
Grind was a weird
way to start. Someone had an Alumni Blues sign and was rocking the fuck out. Then
Lenghtwise>Maze, just like the album. The solo in Chicago was
OUTSTANDING. And the First Tube to end
the set was really good. The wooing also seemed to subside a little too. The set
break music was the Clash. Very nice and unexpected.
During set break,
Switzer and Josh told me of their adventures during the day. They went shopping
at Union Station in the northern part of SF. Switzer got new sneakers and ate
at a place that claimed to have the best hamburgers anywhere. Since Josh is
conisouer of carnivorous calories, they ate there. It was run by an Asian couple
and they gave fortune cookies for desert. Switzer’s referred to buying new
shows and Josh’s referred to an investment in their vehicle. When they were
driving to the Chicago shows the previous week, there water pump had taken a
shit and they missed the first night of Chicago. Switzer hoped the show would
be canceled because of weather and sure enough, the second set was cancelled
because of the impending storms. Yes, she has that pull. And their fortunes being
that spot on? This my friends, is why we rule Phish Tour.
Another crazy
thing that happened during the second set; this guy laid down on the floor in
front on me. I was in no shape to help him but people that were got him to the
wall and medical attention. I found out
the next day he did some ketamine and blacked out. D recognized him as a guy
that we kicked out of our hotel room last Labor Day weekend in Denver. I asked
him about that the next day and he said he remembered getting kicked out.
Crazy.
There also was a
giant balloon being batted around that said thank you and 30 years on it.
During set break, a guy tried to steal my sign. Really dude? Do you have any
idea who I am? Switzer also saw the guitarist from Conspirator, who we were
going to see at the after party. It was only 5 blocks for the Bill Graham so we
walked. It was on the edge of the Tenderloin District, one of the slummier
parts of the city. This show was nowhere as good as the Tahoe after party. The
club was open until 3 but they stop selling booze at 1:45 and take your drinks
at 2. We split and I went back to D’s to walk the dogs at 2 in the morning. It
was tough to get Maude up but she eventually woke up and was a trooper.
On our last full day
in SF, I took the dogs for a walk again. People just assuming I’m local because
I’m walking dogs. FUCKING LOVE IT. As stated before, Rubin is a pug and Maude
is a bulldog. This morning, I ran into a dude with a half pug/bulldog. How
crazy is that? He was a native and said the first movie his mom took him to was
Yellow Submarine.
But before the
Phish show, we had something else to do. We drove across town to McClaren Park,
home of the Jerry Garcia Amphitheatre. It is on the border on the Excelsior
neighborhood where Jerry grew up. And today was the Jerry Day celebration. They
had a bunch of bands with JGB featuring Melvin Seals headlining. Steve knew the
guitarist, as they were both from Tempe AZ. It was absolutely fucking incredible.
So many
old heads, who have probably seen more cool shit than I’ve listened to. Such an
amazing vibe. I had another sign “There is no wooing in Reba”. D remarked that
80% of the crowd had no idea what I was referring to. But more than a few did
and remarked about that at the Phish show. We stayed there for a while and then
headed back to D’s.
Pug Approved
We ran to catch a
bus and took the sign to the show. Again, I got nothing but mad love for the
new sign. People recognized me as the Sign Guy. This is my community and if
something is wrong, I’m gonna fix it.
Sunday, 08/04/2013
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San
Francisco, CA
Set 1: Crowd Control > Divided Sky > Wilson > Foam, Halley's Comet > My Soul, Ya Mar, Army of One, Taste, Gumbo > Train Song, Pebbles and MarblesSet 2: Energy > Runaway Jim[1] > Carini > The Wedge, Light -> David Bowie, Silent in the Morning > Meatstick[2] > Quinn the Eskimo, You Enjoy Myself
Encore: Sanity, Bold As Love
[1]
Unfinished.
[2] Japanese lyrics.
Teases:[2] Japanese lyrics.
· London Bridge Is Falling Down tease in Ya Mar
· Meatstick tease in You Enjoy Myself
Notes: This show was officially webcast via LivePhish.com. Ya Mar contained a London Bridge Is Falling Down tease from Trey. After Ya Mar, Page said that Trey played his entire solo on one string. Train Song was last played on August 13, 2010 (120 shows). Runaway Jim was unfinished. Meatstick contained Japanese lyrics and was teased in YEM.
You can stream it here
Every time I’ve seen Crowd Control, it opens the show. First set was just one great song after another. And no wooing. I think we might be winning this thing. Pebbles and Marbles was a fantastic closer. Set break music was Talking Heads. The Energy> Runaway Jim was outstanding. Deep space in the Jim. While hitting the restrooms, I ran into the Poster Guy from Tahoe. Shit like that only happens when you hit consecutive shows. The Light and Bowie had some massive moments of bliss and YEM capped it all off. Sanity encore? Yes I believe I lost my mind more than a few times in SF.
We walked home as we could not get a cab. It was only a few miles. We came upon a car accident. They all seemed OK. Dude drove his car into a parked forklift. Fender was wrecked, but he was trying to pull it off and drive away. Good luck with that. As we walked, I was giddy as I thought about the original Heads that did the same thing oh so many years ago after the Acid Test.
So that is my tale of ecstasy and pure bliss that came out of my San Fran experience. I cannot thank Courtney, Chris, Sara, Bammer, and most importantly Delorean, my sister from another mister, for making this adventure happen. I want to cry tears of joy every time I think about it. It truly was a long strange trip. Up next, I go to one of my least favorite cities, the City of Angels for the last show of the Tour
Dave Kemp
BA American Studies
PhD Rock and Roll
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