Subject: Drinking Mario's Gin (11/24/95)
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 01:22:12 -0400 (EDT)
From: benjy eisen WE'LL MISS YOU MARIO!!! This review is dedicated to Mario Lemieux, the hockey player who has inspired millions, turned the Pittsburgh Penguins from near bankruptcy into a stratospheric money-making machine, and helped to change the public opinion of hockey as a crude excuse for fisticuffs into a refined sport of pecision and skill. Lemieux's wonderful career might be over but the games will not be forgotten...In the words of Trey Anastasio, "Mario - you're the greatest, man! We love you!" -----------------------------------------------
BathtubGinFiles #24 - "Vivid Dreams" 11/24/95 Pittsburgh Civic Arena; Pittsburgh, PA
GinStats: Set II Time: 12:45 Due to a tape flip, the first seven seconds or so are cut. Therefore note that the timings are most likely a few seconds off...as with all GinReviews these timings are not 'the Bible' however they should be no more than 5 seconds off, tops - including this one. The opening is WONDERFUL and PLAYFUL! Damn, I wish I had those extra seven seconds! Page jumps in at 0:16 with energy, withOUT the Rhapsody...oh wait, there it is...just a hint of it though. Rhythm is rushed and hence so is Page. The whole band is just on fire really, but they rush... Lyrics Segment: 0:31 Page Fill 1: 1:01->1:10 With wind-chime sunday picnics on acid musings. Damn - Page is guilty of premature spasms...less than 10sec.? Fill 2: 1:40->1:57 No hint of the Rhapsody until well into it, but an excellent spasm attack...even if it was rushed! Wow! He "segues" perfectly into the Rhapsody... Damn this whole composed section is on speed (and I'm pretty stinkin' sure that it's not just my tape...the actual notes are accurate and there's no chipmonk effect) FAUCET: 2:12 No need for comment. Blemishes, but not more than is typical for recent years. SINGING W/THE FAUCET: 2:54 Again, this is fast-paced by about half a beat faster than usual (as is this whole beginning). Pretty much on the mark though. WATER FROM THE FAUCET: 4:04 announced by PAGE! (and not Trey) for once as he continues his chop-chording on the piano. Trey joins in a few seconds later with melodic noodling around the Classic Faucet Theme (CFT). Around 5:00 he hits a sling of notes that he's hit before in Gins and often has sung along to and so has Page. I think someone once called this the "Dopey Jam" as they often sing something which ends by an ascending "doh-PEE". Another Gin in which they do this is SPAC 6/26/95 including "I know I can't ____" lines from Trey. Here they don't sing anything, but it's the same notes. A lick that he could write a song from (if somebody else hasn't already) around 5:20...too bad he doesn't lock into it but instead he insists on noodling more in an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable way...Damn that Trey :) This is definately a smooth water flow from the faucet; the hose is opened some would say, in that everything is hooking up, notes are flowing where they've never flowed before but were always meant to go, just for that second. At 6:39 Trey hits the CFL again...doesn't even build into it, it just sort of appears naturally where it belongs. The whole band is definately hooked up. Damn this is absolutely magnificent! 7:07 double-time CFL lick, double time fish. double time mike, double time Page. This is double-double refreshment time! Go Wrigley's Way! 7:20's slows down,. Trey hits the CFL, wanders away slightly and then trills for a Loooong time around 7:4x's. At 8:01 Fish makes a train-coming-down-the-tracks vamp as if to say "les wrap this up, guyz". Either they don't hear him, or they don't care :) 8:22 there's a certain drop-out of the driving-rhythm flow and becomes Trey with percussive spats and piano taps in the background. Fishman demonstrates epileptic drumming at it's best. Trey has found a new way to tap into the faucet. Around 8:50 we are initiated into the land of feedback from hollow-body guitars, non-linear chuga-chuga rhythms and a trebly bird song from Page who explores the highest regions of the piano board while Fishman starts sounding like a machine gun, has trey gone over to his kit? Yep! Mike starts seriously funking around 10:00 and has fit with a phat porno funk. Fishman is fully prepared for a B&D showdown! 10:40's Mike has turned on the effect configuration he uses for YEM B&D segments. Soon after, Page continues on, incognito and choping away at the piano insiduously. 10:58 Trey reintroduces guitar into this mayhem but only by texture and feedback, while Page bangs that piano...bang it Page! Poop! 11:35 meltdowns into "whhoooshhhy" open air sounds, created by the Whammy II effect Trey uses (?) wind sounds now, we're Surrendering to the Air (Trey uses the same effect w/ STTA), 12:01 some faint cymbals, Page's hands wander delicately as one does when caressing. By 12:17 we could be in a desert for all it sounds like...except that this is the WATER from the Faucet section and there's plenty of it...there goes the desert idea :). 12:29 again, a feedback meltdown into 12:45 when the audience claps louder than the dwindling sounds and before the 13 minute mark Acoustic Army starts up. Had I not been there in-person, I wouldn't have even known that they switched to acoustics on bar-stools...this feedback-fadeout is done so beautifully, I would've thought them paused in the white snow-covered Winter Wonderland, Fabulous Fauns of Narnia. "BATHTUB GIN" REFRAIN: none ENDS AT 12:45...(approximately) It really ends about 10 seconds earlier than that, but the feedback is still fading (ala the Mike's 12/31/95 II) Rating: 86 Proof A grandfather to Rupp, this Gin is a perfect indicator of what would happen a year later in the 11/96 set II Gins. And this is definately a "Set II Gin." Experimental, beautiful, containing moments of enchanting melody followed by excusions into a textural aquarium, and executed as a single, solitary unit. You skated with light, Mario...may you now walk with it as well, Benjy