Berkeley Shakedown Street Festival at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, October 18, 2014

Berkeley Shakedown Street Festival presents Sweet Blossom String Band;
    Totally Dead;
        Wake of the Dead
            and Reckoning
2014-10-18
Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park
2151 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA
12:00 PM, Saturday, October 18, 2014

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2014 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[scheduled to play noon 'til 2; we missed this bluegrass band, maybe next time!]

[scheduled to play from two to four, we missed these guys too. Sorta short on motivation today!]

[can't say whether or not they came on at four as scheduled, I'm guessing no. Anyways, I'm sure we missed at least a couple tunes from their set … the list below commences with what we heard]

1. [5:03 PM] Let It Grow (w/SB)
2. [5:11 PM] Truckin' »
3. [5:21 PM] Terrapin Station
4. [5:34 PM] One More Saturday Night
   [5:39 PM set ends, pause, SB bring's 'em back]
    
   Encore
5. [5:41 PM] We Bid You Goodnight (w/SB)
   [show ends 5:43 PM, post-gig announcements from SB]

[6:05 PM noodling, getting things together]
[6:19 PM SB introduces the band]

1. [6:19 PM] Shakedown Street $ (DG)
2. [6:32 PM] Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodle-oo (JH)
3. [6:42 PM] Me & My Uncle (JG)
4. [6:47 PM] Bird Song (DG)
5. [7:02 PM] Friend of the Devil (DG)
6. [7:09 PM] Black Peter (JH) »
7. [7:20 PM] New Speedway Boogie (DG) » With a Little Help from My Friends (DG inclusion during the coda)
8. [7:29 PM] Eyes of the World $ (JH) »
9. [7:42 PM] Cassidy (DG)
10. [7:53 PM; add MW] Sing Me Back Home (JG) ť
11. [8:03 PM] Midnight Moonlight (DG)
    [event ends 8:10 PM; announcements and raffle-drawing ensues as we pack up and leave]

Sweet Blossom String Band

• David Gans: acoustic guitar, vox;
• Jacob Groopman: mandolin;
• Neil Hampton: drums;
• Jeff Hobbs: violin, $ soprano saxophone, ť trumpet, vox;
• Roger Sideman: bass;
• with special guest -
• Melody Walker: harmony vox.

Totally Dead

• Jaime Cintado: keyboards;
• Dave Gantenbein: bass;
• Will McCosker: drums;
• Ned Patchett: guitar;
• Matt Salata: guitar;
• Mo Sardella: drums.
• with special guest -
• Sunshine Becker: vox.

We're running slow and lazy today, so we don't even start getting ready to go until half past three. Add football traffic to that (UCLA beats Cal in the last few minutes of a close game, an exciting time for all!) and it means we're about an hour late getting to the park for the festival. Oh well! No big deal to me – it's not like I haven't heard dead cover bands before!

Anyways, we get trapped by game day traffic diversions and road closures, and so end up parking about 4 blocks away from the park. Mildly inconvenient, but nothing you can do about it, so ya just gotta roll with the punches!

While I'm happy to have caught half a set from these guys (as they do a damn fine job with the repertoire), I doubt I'd head to see them on a paying bill. With free shows in the bar at TXR every night, the price of admission at nearby venues such as Ashkenaz is growing to be more and more of a barrier over time. But another day at a free gig in the park? Yeasure, youbetcha! I'll be down there shaking my bones with all the other hippies…

And then after running to the car for long pants and a coat at setbreak, it's time for another set of music!

After a shaky start – sounded to me like Roger's bass amp wasn't in the mix at all for the Shakedown opener – David's newest group, the Sweet Blossom String Band, took flight and spiraled up into the jamband cosmos. We have escape velocity, captain!

Adding Neil Hampton on drums kinda breaks away from String Band tradition, but then, with a repertoire based on the Grateful Dead, omitting that dancing base would be a tough sell. And for all I know, maybe Neil is just a guest tonight. Guess I'll find out about that later!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2014 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2014 event list! ☸ Back to the previous event! ☸