Winter House Band, 2/2/13 Winner's Circle, Hanover, PA

      Feb 2002. Andy Miller decided he’d had enough of playing in smoky bars, setting up and tearing down, and all the other issues bands have to deal with when touring at the level Devolver was at.  He quit Devolver before I signed a loan to purchase a van. I jokingly told him he needs to form a band that played nothing but Bob Dylan, circa 1965-’66. I didn’t say an all Dead band because that would be hoping for way too much. Like having Devolver and Phish cover Monkeyman by the Stones. It’s so pie in the sky it would never happen………….

   April 19^th, 2012. I was posting on FB my appreciation for what Mr. Albert Hoffman did for the human race way back in 1943. As I was killing time, someone messaged me and asked if Kclinger’s was closing. After some sleuthing, I confirmed that Kclinger’s was in fact shutting down. Needless to say, I was bumming. The only venue in town for music was done.  The Winner’s Circle has had acoustic acts but not full on bands. The future looked bleak.

     But then Josh Perkins and Eyedeal Productions started booking bands at the Circle on a regular basis. The Circle announced they were going ahead with the long gestating plans to expand. And Andy Miller had been practicing with the Winter House Band. Oh the times they are a changin’.

     Last night, for the first time in over three years, the Winter House Band played in public and absolutely destroyed it. From start to end, they made the Dead’s catalog their own. With Ben Hockensmith playing rhythm, Andy had the freedom to let the beast out of the cage and ripped it up on his ax. Sean Wolfe’s bass held down the bottom while Craig Walker and Travis Laurence kept the time right on time.

Winter House Band, 2/2/13, Winner’s Circle, Hanover, PA

Set 1

Bertha, Althea, Cold Rain and Snow, Jack A Roe, Railroad Blues, Jack Straw, Row Jimmy, Tomorrow id Forever, Limbo, Shakedown St.

Set 2

Half Step, Tangled up in Blue, Loser, Cassidy, Dark Star> GDTRFB 

Encore:  Eyes of the World

NOTE: Watchtower was played, just not sure when.

     Andy’s been rehearsing with the WHB for well over a year. I did not attend any of the practices because I wanted the finished, final product. That and the fact that I really do not like band practices. I attended 1 Devolver practice and that was enough.

     It was totally an old school night. I was able to walk to a show, harking back to my daze at Penn State. T -roy was out and about (old school Hanover Head. He was forgetting tixs for shows before you were out of high school. Even met Bear at a show). Someone was even partying like it was 2001! I wrote the setlist down on paper, something I haven’t done in probably close to ten years. More people smoking cigs INSIDE than at a Marlboro Man look-alike contest. Jake being Johnny on the spot in diagnosing what was wrong with Andy’s mission control board.

     Oh yeah, and the music. Andy seemed to be having the time of his life. It’s been way, way too long since he’s been able to rip it up on an electric guitar. The Cold Rain and Snow were perfect for the weather and Andy nailed down the challenging vocals.

      They tweaked the arrangement of Jack Straw and it was outstanding. As they started it, I wasn’t sure if it was Black Throated Wind or maybe Looks Like Rain. But when they went into it, get out of the way!!  I was just talking last weekend about how Jack Straw is one of my favorite Dead tunes. It has Jerry and Bobby singing; it’s mid tempo and then rocks out; it is full of cowboy, train, and wide open visuals that are the Americana that the boys know so well.  But it easily could be about a deal going down badly in some Lot today. It has all the elements that make the Dead what they are. And then Shakedown Street to end the first set. Andy’s been playing that tune for over 13 years between Devolver and now the WHB. And they killed it. Set break arrives not a moment too soon.

   Second set was all killer, no filler. With apologizes to Bobby D, Andy owns Tangled up in Blue. Cassidy had a great jam after the verses. Dark Star was the highlight of the second set. They perform it in a structural style similar to Furthur. A killer jam leading to the verses and then another killer jam. Check out this Dark Star for an example.

        http://archive.org/details/furthur2012-07-07.mk4v.taraszki.flac24

And these jams were ferocious. The interplay between the band members was exceptional. The angry second jam led into that Woody Guthrie classic, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad, or GDTRFB for those of you old enough to have to write it down on J cards. The Eyes encore was the icing on the cake. While they didn’t do the classic ’73 –’74 ending, I look to the wisdom of one of my favorite British philosophers; ” You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need”. And Hanover got what they needed BIG TIME last night. Support local live music. The Winner’s Circle has live music every Sat night, with Husky Pants and the Rail next Sat night at 9pm.

 Love live Rock!

Dave Kemp

BA American Studies

Phd Rock and Roll

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