Last night my cousin Henry and I piled into the truck and headed into New York City to see The Dead at the Roseland Ballroom. It was a free show that you had to enter an e-mail to get tickets. There were three intimate shows or “sets” last night including ours. The first set was at the Angel Orensanz Theatre with just Bobby, Phil and Warren doing and Acoustic set, the second show was at the Gramercy Theatre with the Full Electric Band and they ended at the Roseland Ballroom.

The show was supposed to start at 11pm and the doors opened at 8pm. We were in line and read for the doors to open. I have never been in the Roseland without over 500 people, but last night when we walked in at 8pm it was empty and was total great. We were the first to use the mens room which was empty as well which is nice not having to fight for the can. We found the Rose Bar in the back that we didn’t know existed. After exploring a little we made camp along the VIP stage wall and got comfortable. We just hung back and watched as the room filled and started hearing about the other two shows that The Dead just finished, and that they were great.

The show started promptly at 11:20pm. and ran to about 1:20pm.

Full Electric Band
Roseland Theatre

• Althea
• Cassady
• Uncle John’s Band>
• Eyes of the World>St Stephen>
  Dark Star>Sugar Magnolias
• E: Not Fade Away

The band was tight and in great form, Warren was still working off the lyric book but it was the first round of shows and the tour doesn’t offically start till April, 12 in North Carolina. Bob did mess up a few words in Cassidy but over all it was a good show.

As for the crowd it was great. It was true blue Deadheads with an age range that ranged from grade school kids to the over 70′s set, that were there to see the band. Before the show it was a whole bunch of catching up with old friends and making new ones with those around you, but once the band hit the stage it was all about the music for the crowd and catching the vibe and letting your self flow with it. On the VIP stage there was one woman who was dancing even to the band tuning up before the first song…she was floating on the vibes coming form the “music” and she didn’t stop dancing till the music stopped…she was in constant motion. There were a few to drunk and too baked people…I seem to always get one right in front of me, who thinks he can dance and then proceeds to bang into me and last night was no different. This guy at least apologized but also wanted to tell me his life story while the band was playing. Finally his buddy got him to move up front and that was the end of him. Other then him there was a good vibe throughout the ballroom.

Sure the show was short and the wait was long but the tickets were free and the band was in great form and the crowd over all was the perfect crowd to see the show with. These three shows were put together for the fans to experience The Dead in and intimate atmosphere and that’s what was achieved. I love seeing bands in venues like the Roseland Ballroom, Irving Plaza or The TLA in Philly. So if you can get tickets for any of the shows on this tour I would recommend getting them and going and enjoy the music and vibe, of course it won’t be as intimate as these shows, but they will be worth going to. I am now off to figure out how to get at least two or three tickets for the two shows at the Spectrum in Philly.

So in closing as I have said in the past “The Grateful Dead might not be the best at what they do, but they are the only ones that do what they do.”

Here are the Set Lists for the other two “sets”

Bob, Phil & Warren Acoustic
Angel Orensanz Theatre

• Dire Wolf
• Bird Song
• Cumberland Blues
• Pride of Cucamonga
• Lazy River Rd
• KC Jones
• E: Ripple

Full Electric Band
Gramercy Theatre

• Jam>Playin’ in the Band>Good Lovin’>
• The Wheel>Franklin’s Tower
• E: Touch of Grey

So on Saturday night I finally took notice of an e-mail in my In-box from Dead.net, the Grateful Dead’s website. It was a notice that The Dead were going to do 3 shows in NYC today starting at 5pm, 8pm and 11pm and that they were free shows. The only way to get the tickets was to enter the drawing for tickets. So of course I had missed the dead line to get my name in the running I was way bummed, because right now I don’t have the money to see the shows in Philly. Right about that time the following e-mail came in from GDTS TOO the Dead’s mail order ticket company.

There are a small amount of free tickets available from our GDTS TOO allotment for one of The Dead’s performances at The Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts, Gramercy Theatre and Roseland Ballroom on Monday, March 30, 2009. The intention of these small venue shows is to provide an opportunity for fans to see The Dead in an intimate setting for free.

So as fast as my fingers could type I got my name and my cousins Henry’s name in an e-mail and sent it in. So last night at around 8:30pm I got the word….we are seeing The Dead at the Roseland Ball Room in NYC at 11pm tonight.

It’s going to be a long day but I can’t wait to see the band. It’s been to long since I have seen a concert and over 6 years since I have seen The Dead. So Henry and I will be driving into the city around 6pm to get there by 8pm when the doors open, get our tickets and then hang out at the ballroom and wait till 11pm for the show. The one bummer about the Roseland is that it’s a standing only venue, but hey it’s a free show and should be a blast and it will be fun to hopefully meet up with some old friends and deadheads.

So check back in a few days for a review and set-list.

I have an acquaintance, Jesse that I have met once in person and spent a few days hanging out with, but who I have worked with for over 2 years on the LOPSA education committee virtualy. I call him an acquaintance because I haven’t really hung out with him…but i guess if you drink with a guy for 4 hours that makes you friends…. He is a good guy and a damn fine sysadmin and friendly and a coffee fiend like no one else I know. Since I have known him he and his wife Heather Lee have bought a fabulous looking farm called Bullfinch Farm in Dane County Wisconsin . The day they singed the papers they went back to the farm to celebrate and walked into the house to be hit in the face by the smell of the world largest litter box. They still don’t know how they missed this smell in the final walk through as well as all the times they came to look at the farm. They had to remove all the floors and most of the walls and replace them. There was more to do but it’s not my story to tell. Jesse has also moved to a new job and is now working for a company in New York State.

After reading the info about Bullfinch Farm and what they are trying to do I realized that they remind me of certain people in my family. First of Fran and Angelica, by the way Jessy and Heather Lee dream of giving something back to the earth and to make a place for artists and thinkers and just regular people to have a peaceful place to come and work and relax and create. The list of “critters” as Jesse calls them reminds me of my aunt with all her chickens. I am sure that they will love the Southern Tier of New York and Pennsylvania. Welcome Jesse and Heather Lee to the Southern Tier.

I am always working on my cooking. I have been cooking since the age of 7 when I started making coffee for my parents, but after that I always watched and worked with my grandparents on holiday dinners and everyday cooking and retained as much as I could. I am also in a culinary 101 course of 5 classes to sharpen my cooking skills.

One of the things I want to get to use in my cooking is a new chefs knife. I have been using a set of Global knives to try them out and see how they feel in my hand. The one I like right now is a Global G-4 Oriental Cook knife. It has a good feel and balance and fits well in my hand. The other thing I like about this is the short bald for a cooks knife. It’s good to use for close work, a 6 inch or 8 inch chefs knife is sometime to big for me when I am cutting and dicing vegetables.

The other tool I want to get is an immersion blender. The one that cooks Illustrated rated as the number 1 is the KITCHENAID immersion blender.

I am sure there are other things I want to add to my kitchen arsenal, but those are the ones at the top of the list.