Hello everyone. Hope you have been enjoying the holiday
season. Things got started off right with the return of Devolver to
the realm of performing live and my 41st birthday. It was
great to see so many familiar faces out and about. And all that
celebration got me thinking about another time in the history of
Devolver, way back in November of 2001. The boys were still rocking
in the free world after the attacks of 9/11 and the sudden and
shocking passing of Terry Bowden. All of the planets aligned over
that Thanksgiving weekend for some truly historic events. So without
further ado, Kempepedia is proud to present another installment of
everyone's favorite way back machine, Tales from the Devolver Side
Nov. 22nd through November 24th.
Things were going good for the band. Gigs had been steady and
they had a pretty good local schedule. About once a month you could
count on gigs at the Old Mill, Kclinger's, Lupita's and The Depot. It
allowed them to pay off their new PA and there was even talk of
buying a van as opposed to destroying their parent's. You can read
about that particular adventure here:
Devolver had a tradition of
letting a family member write the set list for their birthday show.
My birthday is November 28th and Wendy's is December 4th.
So we decided to combine our superpowers and celebrate both our
birthday's at the Lupita's show.
They had a show at Micheal’s
on November 22nd, which was Thanksgiving that year.
Michael' is the restaurant on 116 as you descend down the long hill
on the way to Goofy's. It closed down along time ago. Kyle came down
with the flu which was a major problem. He sang many of the leads and
they had another show on Friday at Lupita's. He was unable to perform
at the Micheal’s show but the rest of the band rose to the
occasion.
11/22/01
Set 1
01. Sneakin' Sally, El Nino,
Glasshawk, Sunday Paper, Crosseyed and Painless, Bogey>Tangled Up
in Blue>Bogey, Side of a Mountain, Golden Years, Looking Blind
Set 2
Cafe Latte, Miss You, Turnaround,
Coming Home, Edge Of Town>Looking Blind Reprise>Edge Reprise
(with Can't You Hear Me Knockin' teases), Psycho Killer/> (tape
flip)Drumz>Shakedown St., Waiting by the Sand (instrumental
version)>I'm A Man
You can stream it here
How good
were they? Zach was jamming so hard through the Edge>Looking Blind
Reprise>Edge Reprise segment he lost his glasses! The Waiting is
interesting as there is no singing. The Bogey sandwich is also quite
tasty.
Kyle
had recovered enough to perform the following night but you can hear
on the tapes he is still a little under the weather. Before the show,
Andy and myself were writing down the lyrics to China Cat. Kyle
strolls over and announces he thinks the band should stop letting
people write the set lists for their birthday shows. Wow, kind of
awkward to bring that up at the show that myself and Wendy wrote. But
as they say, the show must go on and did it ever.
11/23/01
Set 1
Bogey>Everything
Comes Around, Glasshawk, Thread, Marina, Cafe Latte, Laughing Clown,
Waiting by the Sand, Jam>My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama, China
Cat>Bogey
Set 2
Happy Birthday
Song, Looking Blind, Bubblespeak>Dehydration Jam>I Know You
Rider, Rockin' in the Free World, Edge of Town, Not Fade Away>Drumz>
Kesey Rap*>Funk II, Coming Home, Pedalic Sax *with Dan Wildasin
You can
stream it here
This show
is one of my all time favorites and somewhat of a peak performance of
the Golden Age of Devolver. Rich would leave the band in a few weeks
and Ben had been sitting in with the band for a month and was getting
a hang of the songs and his place in them. If memory serves me
correct, we had rented a mic specifically for a sax, which it why it
sounds so good on 11/22 and 11/23.
And since
it was my birthday show, I was feeling no pain. Pretty sure I was an
MX missile that night (look it up) and dancing my ass off. Dan did a
shot with me during Drumz, which was really weird because he doesn't
really drink. And then he dons his Uncle Sam hat and strolls to the
mike. The first part of his performance is actually about me. The
“Many years ago, a warrior came down from the hills of NE PA...”
part, well I was that warrior. I turned Dan onto the “Electric Kool
Aid Acid Test”, which is the book that got me interested into the
Grateful Dead, and the rest is history. Too say my mind was blown may
be Understatement of the Century. In an incredible moment of
synchronicity, I actually had a copy of The Acid Test with me because
I was giving it to Kim Wilt to read.
One
bizarre denouement to this story. On November 24th was my
10th high school class reunion. I got to roll in there and
when people asked me what I was up to, I could honestly reply “ Not
much, just managing one of the greatest bands I have ever had the
privilege to witness”.
I had to
leave early because the band's lawyer, who I'll just refer to as JK
was having a holiday party and invited the whole Devolver family to
attend. He also invited all of his lawyer colleagues. To say it was a
clash of cultures is a bit of an understatement. He kept the Devolver
kids downstairs and all his professional friends upstairs. Only other
memory of that night I have is chilling out in someone's car in JK's
driveway. At least if anything bad had happened, we would have had
legal representation pretty damn quick.
So there
you have it. A trip back down memory lane. I hope you all enjoy
listening to classic Devolver as much as I do and hope your Christmas
and NYE are a safe and happy one.
Dave Kemp
BA American
Studies
PhD Rock and
Roll
