Monday, August 21, 2006
GOTV - the day after
Clear skies greeted Hot Tuna, whose "Hesitation Blues" is always a highlight. They were followed by two Grateful Dead offshoot bands, Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann's Rhythm Devils and Weir & Ratdog. Weir also sat in with Hot Tuna on "Walking Blues" and with the Rhythm Devils on "Ripple."
Last year at the Vibes, which is hosted by Wavy Gravy (pictured at left), Ratdog played through a downpour. This year, the rain came, but later in their set - essentially during a perfectly timed "Birdsong."
Former Grateful Dead singer Donna Jean Godchaux MacKay, who opened the day with Zen Tricksters, joined her old partner Weir during his two-hour set that began with "Jack Straw" and "Little Red Rooster" and ended with "One More Saturday Night" and a flag-waving "U.S. Blues."
At 1:30 am on Sunday morning, the skies opened for a three-hour drenching complete with thunder and lightning. That snuffed out the late-night set by Everyone Orchestra.
Ten hours later, with the sun peeking out of the clouds, the music resumed. Unfortunately, New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band had to cancel, but this left more time in the schedule for the day's other headliners, Burning Spear and Yonder Mountain String Band. Funky sets by Walter "Wolfman" Washington and Papa Mali on the second stage had the crowd dancing before the Zero reunion finished off the 11th Annual Gathering of the Vibes.
My review of the entire GOTV is available at HighTimes.com
WAVY GRAVY PHOTO BY VTSCAPES
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