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The year 2000 - the millennium. It finally came, but left many scratching their heads, wondering what the big deal was. It was a big deal for FSA though, as more and more cool stuff just kept coming along. Several concerts with Splintered Sunlight and the David Nelson Band kept us busy and the tunes blasting. FSA is booking bands at seven different bars (The Shark Club, Patriot's Cafe, Jaxx, Rock Bottom Sharp Shooters, 8 X 10, and The Velvet Lounge) and things are really looking up. All good things come to an end as they say and so it was with Grateful Dead Night. After three years of good tunes and good times by the regulars who showed up faithfully every week, Grateful Dead Night came to an end.
SPLINTERED
SUNLIGHT
Saturday January 29, 2000
Fat Tuesday's in Fairfax, VA
w/ The Ordinary Way
Splintered Sunlight is a fantastic Dead cover band from Phili. They are very authentic and play a lot of the songs that most Dead bands don't even attempt like Dark Star, The Other One, Cryptical Envelopment, and even stuff like Alligator and The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion). When they play Morning Dew or Terrapin Station it feels like indoor thunder!
They Love Each Other
Beat It On Down The Line
Aiko Aiko
Black Throated Wind
Tennessee Jed
Big River->
Cumberland
Sick & Tired
Shakedown-->
Theme from Rocky-->
Shakedown
Unbroken Chain-->
Mystery Train-->
Other One-->
AlligatorE: Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)
PSAT #1
Saturday February 5,
2000
The Admiral's Inn
Manassas, VA
PSAT discussion plus live bands:
Chewy, Rebus, Arise From Thorns, and Three Quarter Squeegee
PSAT #1 was originally scheduled to take place at Wilmer's Park in Brandywine, MD but was relocated due to snow conditions at Wilmer's. The Admiral's Inn was a great choice! The PSAT informational discussion took place with about 7 interested participants. All the bands put on a great set of tunes, but Three Quarter Squeegee really smoked the most for the chosen ones who were in attendance. The light show by Grin was just fantastic since it was set up real close and there were few distracting light sources to obscure the intensity of the pulsating palpitations of the projectors. A far out scene indeed!
SPLINTERED
SUNLIGHT
Saturday February 26, 2000
The Shark Club in Centreville, VA
w/ Less Traveled
| King Solomon's Marbles Jack Straw Shakedown Street Good Lovin' Dupree's Diamond Blues Box Of Rain West LA Fadeaway --> Big River Scarlet --> Fire On the Mountain Hey Pocky Way --> Slipknot! --> Franklin's Tower E: Johnny B. Goode |
PSAT #2
Saturday March 4,
2000
Wilmer's Park
Brandywine, MD
PSAT Test #1 plus live bands:
schmedley, The Ordinary Way, and Slim
PSAT Test #1 took place and it was an historical event. It was one of those things where you just had to be there. Two different groups took the test, and all passed with flying colors! The first group consisted of about 23 brave explorers. They settled in at a beautiful spot in the woods near a stream (I wouldn't have drunk the water) and after some introductory comments by the host - the test began in earnest. Later on, a second group of about 8 took the make up test, and they all passed! The concert itself was held in the dance hall of Wilmer's and there was a total of about 140 in attendance. Tribe Of Ben was scheduled to appear, but couldn't make it due to an unforeseen emergency. The rest of the bands made up for it by playing longer sets. The Ordinary Way played the middle slot and had the largest crowd. They did a damn good job too! The light show by Grin turned the stage into a sea of swirling colors. By the time it was over, the testers all knew this had been a special event in the history of mankind.
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Friday March 17, 2000 |
Saturday March 18, 2000 |
The set list: |
The set list: |
Friday was a little strange - best crowd the Shark Club ever got, and everyone had a good time. Saturday sold out - we had to turn people away at the door at the Recher. A great time was had by all, and Rebus played in front of about 280 people, sold a slew of cd's, and was told they are welcome at the Recher anytime! Full Moon Jam will be releasing a live CD of their performance at the Recher on the 18th!
PSAT #3
Saturday April 1, 2000
Admiral's Inn
Manassas, Va.
PSAT Test #2 (at Bull Run Park) plus live bands:
The Ordinary Way, SLIM, Rebus, and schmedley
Review #1:
Rebus started with their normal excellent set with a guitar/bass place switch for a couple of Dead tunes for their April Fool's joke. This was followed up by schmedley. They did an excellent set and jammed a lot. On the second to last song of their set, Rebus joined schmedley on stage to cover Yamar, as the newly formed (for April Fool's) Schmebus. This was my first time seeing Slim and I liked them. They really seemed to rock and do what they do really well. The Ordinary Way was on as well last night. The crowd was jumping and they seemed to feed off of that really well. Some of the members of schmedleyand Rebus joined them on percussion for the third song and they all seemed to enjoy it and it sounded great. I would advise everyone to see these bands whenever they are around. It is very important to support the local music scene. You never know where these guys are going to be in the future.
review by Ronald Wanner, April 2, 2000
Review #2:
A great time with a good crew of mostly younger heads. At first there were like 10 people there who weren't directly related to one of the bands, but as the night wore on they got a good turnout. The lineup went Rebus, Schmedly, w/Kyle sitting in on congas at one point, then Slim, and finally The Ordinary Way, w/Kyle and about everyother percussionist joining them for a stretch. This was the first time I had seen any of these bands. Nice 6 hour long education for only 7 bucks!
Rebus played first, so they got the short end of the mix and the crowd. Those who made it early were treated to about an hour's worth of startlingly good music. Rebus started off with an April Fools treat, switching up their lineup and playing a serviceable version of Scarlet>Fire. Then they slid back into their own instruments and own originals. What struck me most about Rebus was that from some tapes I've got I knew they had good songwriting skills, but I had no idea they could take a jam into so many different stylings. A straight ahead "jamband" jam, would on a dime morph into classical jazz or r&b flavorings, followed by good ol funk jams. Rebus definitely has a wide range of influences/styles, I knew that from the tapes I had, but hearing it live, I can see they got the chops and raw talent, to pull it off well. They got all the ingredients to be a jaw dropping band, and they have stretches during their set that got everybody talking about 'em. Cannot wait to see what additional seasoning does to them. (Note: Kyle if you play that room again, turn up the bass mike and your microphone.
Schmedly has been around for about a year, or so I was told buy their self proclaimed manager and guitar player/frontman. I missed the first part of their set 'cause I was getting. . .uh. . .refreshments! (Nice crowd, nobody knew me except Kyle, but everyone kinda let me in on their circles!) What I did hear of the 45 minutes or so, was solid, straight ahead funk laced trio, they kick out a big sound for a trio. The frontman is a good, raunchy guitar player with decent vocals. There was not too much about their songs per se, that I can really recall, no hook if you no what I mean. Give these guys a little more time at it and it could turn into something else entirely. For now, you got the power trio thing with just a little, edginess in their sound, it could morph into darkness or soul, for now its just edgy funkiness. For their April Fools day nod, they did a version of Ya Mar with Kyle on congas, (and did someone else join them on key's or something for that song.) They butchered the lyrics, but musically it was pretty cool.
Slim=Bisco Lite, Clique Rock ;-), Disco Biscuits Farm Team. O.K. now if you know me you know I don't necessarily mean this to be either a slam, or a complement, it just struck me as funny. I say this for a reason. During Rebus and Shemedly's set there were about 20 people, standing or seated on chairs or on the floor, watching the bands. A big slew of people were in the back of the room, out in the hall, at the bar area, or out the side door where the bands parked their vans and. . .uh. . .refreshments were being served. Slim takes the stage, and WHAMMO 30 to 40 people emerge out of thin air, (most apparently made the trip up from Slims home base in the Hampton, VA Beach, Norfolk area. They flood the front of the stage, and beautifically groove, memzmerized from start to finish. Yup they know all the words, all the hooks, all the stats, they got the obligatory shirtless guy RIGHT IN FRONT, acting as cheerleader! Bisco Brats all the way! Impressive. . .this band has its crew, loyal as hell, in it for the long haul. Phishphans circa '87. All the 18 year old bearded with styles types you'd ever want cheering you on! Their music? Equally involved, in that phishy sort of clever story/lyrics that was totally lost on me, Biscuits style jamming minus the suggestive techno backbeats. Their sound is a cross between early Phish and early Biscuits. Good stuff, and left me intrigued, wanting to hear more. There is something about them. . .I did not get exactly what from only hearing one set of them, but they do seem to have people all work up about 'em. Still it was kinda funny, they hit the stage and all of a sudden all these people emerge from thin air. Little Bisco Brat's sort of affair. Kyle and I were laughing, we coined a new term "Clique Rock". Which would apply to bands who seem to have this single minded following who knows every little insider lyric and such. But to be fair, Slim was good and their fans stuck around and dug Ordinary Way, the last band on the bill.
The Ordinary Way is a seven (I think) piece band, that can flat out play! They had everyone in the room going hard. (did I mention the liquid light yet? More on that later!) They made room for the other bands percussionists to join them onstage for awhile, and gave it big sound. I cannot really put their sound into any category, except good. (I was very refreshed by this point in the night!) This is why I don't write reviews for a living! ;-)
It was strange when I first arrived in that it looked like it was gonna be one of those nights where the bands were gonna play only to themselves. At first there was nobody there who was not involved with the band or the gig. But the night turned out great. Plenty of dancing, burning, drinking (repeat several times till crispy and done!) Good liquid light show. Done with three overhead projectors hooked up into a laptop. The effect was either classic 60's style fractals and paisley effects or warp drive cascading patterns. Was great for the crowd, awful for the bands that had to look straight into these impossible bright glaring red, green, yellow, blue lights. It is probably a good thing though that they could not really see what the effect was against them and on the wall behind them. When Kyle was drumming for rebus, the lights were set so that everything was centering onto his head! Like super warp speed driving right into him. I was half expecting the drummers to stare into it and get totally mezmerized, playing the same beat nonstop or something. Then I went up to the stage and looked out and realized they could not see shit!
The Admiral's Inn is the weirdest venue imaginable, the show was in this big side room that looks like it normally hosts luncheons by the Manassas Kiwannis, or Chamber of Commerce. Totally dry, nondescript conference type room. Meanwhile at the bar, which had its own stage, three death metal bands played to about 15-20 30something metal heads wearing all black, the bar was populated by Manassas rednecks who looked pissed that they could not play honky tonk music on the jukebox. So getting a beer was like entering another universe. Strange venue, but it all turned out well.
Saw for bands for the first time ever, they all do original material, and I would happily go see any or all of them again. Musically speaking, Rebus and Slim in particular had the most compelling sounding things going on. Ordinary Way looks like they could entertain anybody anywhere. Not bad for seven bucks!
review by Chuck Bimba, April 3, 2000
PSAT #4
Saturday May 13, 2000
Patriot's Cafe
Fairfax, VA
PSAT Test #3 (at Burke Lake Park) plus live bands:
Rebus, The Ordinary Way, Three Quarter Squeegee, Sun Dried Opossum
I got there at 9:00 and walked in just as Sun Dried Opossum was playing their first notes. Holy shit did they smoke! There are a lot of times I've seen other bands that I thought were pretty good, but they are just another one of the many bands out there. It's not that often that I am impressed so strongly like I was with Sun Dried though. They are very tight - knew it right away from the 1st song they played. I think they have a lot of potential. Sun Dried is definitely more than just any old band. I immediatelyt walked over to Greg K and told him he has to get these guys back again sometime soon.
Rebus was great too. I think this was the 4th time I've seen them play. That switchover from The Ordinary Way to Rebus was cool - it took me by surprise. I was walking around Patriot's and after a while I was up front by the stage and I got confused - what's going on here?
Splintered Sunlight
w/ The Ordinary Way
Saturday August 12th,
2000
Recher Theater
Towson, MD
Splintered Sunlight is one of the nation's best Grateful Dead cover bands, and FSA was honored to welcome them to their favorite place to play in Maryland. For those of you who have seen them, they need no introduction. For those of you who have never see them, talk to your friends about them and see what they have to say.TOW and Splintered both gave fantastic performances at the Recher Theatre in Towson this Saturday! We had about 200 people there and everything went smooth.
I thought it was a good sign to see a crowd out front waiting for the doors to open when I got there at 8:00 (after wasting over a half hour in a traffic jam near the Wilson bridge, losing more time due to congestion near the ball parks (Ravens game), and taking a long detour all the way up thru downtown Baltimore because Rt 83 North was closed for construction).
TOW had a great audience reaction and they should have too - they have been getting better and better lately and are sounding very professional and tight! Gordon got up on stage for Splintered's last song and substituted for Tom on All Along The Watchtower. I managed to get a couple of photos of Gordon on stage at they point, so I'll see how they come out. The crowd cheered for an encore, but they were just out of time. The lights came back on and it was all over.
Dave S.
Set I Jack Straw
Let The Good Times Roll
Minglewood Blues
Jack-A- Roe
Masterpiece
It Hurts Me Too
Lovelight
Tangled Up In Blue
Set II
Scarlet Begonias -->
Jam -->
Spanish Jam -->
Band- fire intro, Butchie- solo from "Hotel California" >
Fire On The Mountain
Dancing in the streets -->
Jam -->
Let It Grow teaser jam -->
Space -->
Jam -->
Funky Jam -->
Splinter Jam* -->
Terrapin Station -->
Uncle John's band -->
All Along The Watchtower (reggae style)**(no encore)
* each doing their own thing
(some playing parts of songs,
others making it up as they go along.
Each walking his own path.)** w/o Tom and w/ Gordon from The
Ordinary Way on guitar and lead vocal
All good things come to an end as they say and so it was with Grateful Dead Night.Grateful Dead Night started in the fall of 1997 at Crossroads in Fairfax, but after a couple of months it was moved to Patriot's Cafe. Every Wednesday at Patriot's was practically a ritual for some of us who came out just about every week. We played and traded Dead tapes new and old and even watched some cool videos of Dead shows on the giant screen TV. But more live bands were playing every Wednesday at Patriot's, so Dead Night was moved to Mondays. This only lasted for a couple of months - it just did not sustain enough energy. After three years of good tunes and good times by the regulars who showed up faithfully every week, Grateful Dead Night came to an end.
Fear not - everything comes back after a while and Dead Night may just rise up again sometime!
The Ordinary Way went on their 1st national tour!
Halloween Night
Bash |
The Halloween party at Jaxx was a hit!There were a lot of people there (217 people at final count) and The Ordinary Way played their version of Dark Star for the first time (now that was cool). It was a great show, and Dust in the Wind was also broken out for the first time. Of course, there were a bunch of wild costumes. My favorite was the girl in red with those devil horns on her head - that was too cool! I'd say second place would go to the guy who was made up to look like one of the robbers in that movie "Dead Presidents".
Splintered Sunlight
w/ Ivan on Bass (Anders off) Set I
Midnight hour Set II
One More Saturday Night E: Johnny B Goode |
Splintered rocked Fat Tuesdays one more time in 2000. It was a good way to end the year.
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Last Updated: June 26, 2001 by DS
