zero pre music includes zappa (auspicious?)

misty sliver of a moon due west above the lame-duck section of the bay bridge


talked to kene about the kimock/vega/white show at studioe last saturday, talked to a lurker from the list named jeff, spoke up when some derek trucks fans asked each other "who's zero? some heavy metal band?"

after buying my self- indulgent tequila and tonic and craving a cigarette (see have some guts) i realize i 'm already mouth- cottony, so i ask him for - i imply - an equally small plastic cup of water. how much for the drink i had asked. 4 dollars. i have 5, enough for an overgenerous tip of 1 and 1 left over. he comes back with a small bottle of designer water. 2 bucks he says. i didn't want to seem a chiseler, so before he slams shut the register i ask him to break a 20 (so i can at least give him 50c or that original buck i'd contemplated). he really can't. ok! i say too quickly. no tip for you not my fault sorry.

9:20

combo 4 pc w/organ

1. a familiar allmansesque instrumental tune (jazzay)
2. ain't that lovin' you? (keybist on vox)
3. some funky irregular time blues thing hey soul brother easy to dance to
4. blues
5. weird time .sig? herky jerky (wandering bass)
6. bass sings "give in to temptation" has a double riff a la some allmans or other type boogie song
7. cissy strut, it's now about 9:45
8. 'nother allmanstrumental
9. keyb derivative boogie soul r'n'b ponytail sound
10. bloozjaz
11. slide allmans 12 bar blues reminiscent of "turns you lamps down low"
12. slide blues fusion 10:10 till at 10:22-> bass 'n' drums jam-> drum solo (kimock having arrived recently and standing at the same corner of the stage near the backstage entrance where greg and chip have recently lingered, seems to recognize an illusion in the drum solo and chants something that people on stage pick up, a response to the drum's call; i bug steve long enough to ask him if he heard trucks' band play cissy strut, but he did not)

audience members from oregon offer to get derek high. i ask him if he is going to sit in with zero and he says yes, he hopes so. very poised and polite seeming. i tell him that zero also plays cissy strut and he says "oops" (so i quickly say "not every show").

close to my fightin' weight, i'm wearing linen pants i had altered eight or nine years ago and haven't been able to fit since i got 'em back from the tailor. nice 'n' cool for dancing but not proof against the cold windy rain outside.

the tween music is Bobby Vega's solo CD, though for a minute Nick thought he was hearing Blue Incantation.

"... the stage towels keep getting smaller and smaller... " --Martin

set one
+ derek trucks
11 pm
Golden Road (successfully epic: derek listened deferentially and hesitated even when Zero opened up a big wide space for him)
11:14 ish
Pits of Thunder ("the guitar lesson": kimock went face to face with derek and walked him through the changes up through marteen's sax solo, it looks like each song is going to get an extra solo or guitar duet)
11:29
Friday's Child (holding up better live than on tape specially when nearly *always* paired after pits of thunder; huge jam on the tangled up like blue coda)
11:40
Sun Sun Sun (i was just listening to that meters tape eric vandercar made me and realized where I recognized the opening riffs of SSS from: Fire on the Bayou; after derek's first solo, kimock's answering unsolo) ->
11:55 (can't read my notes, something like "nick say he never so kimock stomp on that end is he did this time") You Can't Sit Down (much less organ-based than usual: the guitar duet headed for blues territory right quick, by the time they're done they're finishing each other's phrases!)
12:08

set two
12:45
slide intro, M on pan flute
It's Up to You (perhaps encouraged to step in more during the break after being so deferential in the first set, Derek stomps all ovedr the delicate intro to this song, though he can't be blamed for not intuiting the melody. sez nick: "ixnay on the olosay")
1:00
bad jokes badly told
Catalina (wrote catalepsis, the solo pattern on every song reinforced) 1:10ish
false Leon Russel sighting in audience jokes
Listen Here (I think about how I've seen this tune done by MFQ, by SKF, by Zero... nice)
1:18
The Weight (I take my first walkabout from the kimock corner position i staked out in the audience before derek started, check out the old neighborhood - phil's side - run into tom bockmon, cheerful as always, also digging the onstage "synergy," find the audience uncrowded minus the philophile old fogeys, the tune is now reminding me of black muddy river, big finish)
1:35
drums and pan flute ("go zamfir, go zamfir!")->
1:39
Out in the Woods (actually a great arrangement, cracking and roaring with psychedelic weirdness energy, tension and release, an awesome chip vocal, the leon russel gag now understood, perhaps i hear it this way after listening to an outstanding version from the fall east coast tour? knockin' on billy preston's electric piano sound dooresque sound, hot jam)
1:50
Use Me Up (a song that keeps growing looser and fonkier, with a wonderfully teasing intro, hits the heights)
2:03
will there be an encore?
2:05ish
Merc'ry Blues
2:17

then off for late night pizza and then home and bed