Chris Appelbaum presents a New Year's Eve Celebration with the Flying Cucamongas, featuring Scott Law, John Molo, Brian Rashap, & Mookie Siegel, with special guest, David Nelson
China Camp Living Room
San Rafael, CA USA
8:30 PM, Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2024 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2024 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

tonight's promo art

[8:40 PM] {all performers out}

1. [8:41 PM] Rocky Road Blues
   [8:47 PM] {Tex Logan story}
2. [8:49 PM] Diamond Joe
   [8:53 PM] {pause for David to make sure he's tuned in the key of Z}
3. [8:55 PM] Fennario
   [9:00 PM] {DNB says that was the very first song he ever heard Jerry Garcia sing… story about ditching high school with the Albin Brothers}
4. [9:02 PM] Blues Barrel
   [9:09 PM] {story about early GD songwriting: Hunter was NOT into being a lyricist at first… gave David Friend of the Devil for the New Riders, and insisted that David's descending tuning check was part of the new tune}
5. [9:11 PM] Friend of the Devil
   [9:17 PM] {pause; now for a number by Chuck Berry}
6. [9:18 PM] C'est La Vie (You Never Can Tell)
   [9:24 PM] {next were gonna do a John Dawson song about the environment: written well before that was a popular concern}
7. [9:26 PM] Garden of Eden
   [9:33 PM] {this next song is a candidate for the best song ever written}
8. [9:34 PM] Ripple
   [9:34 PM] {std 5-10-15-20-30 announcement; set ends}

Set One Video from theeleven

[10:04 PM] {performers out, sans David, who sits back at the SBD with Betty Cantor-Jackson}

1. [10:07 PM] Come On Up to the House (SL)
   [10:14 PM] {pause}
2. [10:16 PM] Promised Land (SL) >
3. [10:21 PM] Man Smart, Woman Smarter (SL)
   [10:31 PM] {pause}
4. [10:32 PM] Shake, Rattle, & Roll (MS)
   [10:40 PM] {pause}
5. [10:40 PM] Bertha (SL)
   [10:48 PM] {pause}
6. [10:48 PM] Lay Down Sally (MS)
   [10:58 PM] {pause}
7. [11:00 PM] Sailing On (SL)
   [11:06 PM] {pause}
8. [11:06 PM] Deal (SL)
   [11:15 PM] {set ends}

Set Two Video from theeleven

[11:55 PM] {announcements, performers out}
[11:59 PM] {speech from Father Time and then the NYE count down}

1. [12:00 AM] Not Fade Away (SL) »
2. [12:19 AM] Corinna (SL)
   [12:23 AM] {pause}
3. [12:25 AM] Sitting in Limbo (MS)
   [12:34 AM] {pause}
4. [12:35 AM] Kansas City Southern (BR)
5. [12:42 AM] Dear Prudence (SL)
   [12:55 AM] {thx to Chris for hosting, thx to Phil Lesh for bringing the Terrapin Nation together}
6. [12:59 AM] Boogie on Reggae Woman
   [1:07 AM] {SL: thx, that's all we got tonight… (overruled by the others! pause for band discussion)
   
   Finale
   [1:09 AM] {SL: OK, we got one more}
7. [1:10 AM] Bird Song (SL)
   [1:23 AM] {show ends}
   [1:54 AM] {out the door and off down the deserted highway home}

Set Three Video from theeleven Encore video

• Scott Law: guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• John Molo: drums;
• David Nelson: guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Brian Rashap: bass, harmony vox;
• Mookie Siegel: keyboards, accordion, lead and harmony vox; others TBD.

Tonight's potluck spread was surprisingly vast compared with the David Nelson acoustic show a few days ago. Must be the difference of a bigger, more enthusiastic holiday crowd. I thoroughly enjoyed my grazing all night long! Major props to whoever brough the fine French champagne that I found after the NYE toast – nice to enjoy the nectar of human kindness to start this year off right.

It was entertaining to play 'name that tune' during Man Smart, Woman Smarter while Scott and Mookie traded teases of traditional Christmas tunes. I'm sure I missed at least one, but I caught both Joy to the World and Jingle Bells. Shouldn't have been spacing out!

Lay Down Sally included a really cool breakdown jam, featuring some great middle-eastern licks from Mookie, and a bit of inspired ascending scale riffs from Scott. Similarly, Scott dropped a nice bit of Jessica into the set three opener: Allman Brothers, woo! I thought the post-midnight set was a real keeper. Betty was waving a Tascam handheld after the show, so I'm optimistic that her SBD recording will surface eventually.

The drive home started out particularly easy this year: very light traffic with cold clear weather until we transitioned from 80 onto 580 following the Bay Bridge merge. It was a big shock to exit that junction and see how thick the flow of cars was headed east from SF – there must have been LOTS of people partying late into the night over there. Happily, there didn't seem to be too many drunks, and most of those drivers appeared to be intent on zooming home as fast as possible. Seemed kinda risky to me – isn't NYE a high-enforcement night? Works for me if they clear my path. Yay, it's 45^2!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Chris Appelbaum posted his own gallery too!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2024 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2024 event list! ☸ On to the next event!