Crusader Rabbit Stealth Band – take a step back to 2001

Crusader Rabbit Stealth Band – take a step back to 2001

Who are the Crusader Rabbit Stealth Band?New Years Eve 2001 with Phil and Friends, Ratdog, Derek Trucks Band and Crusader Rabbitt Stealth Band

Take a step back… to 2001…

Phil Lesh and Friends were cooking!  The line up known as the PLQ or the “Q” – the Phil Lesh Quintet – were ripping our minds open for a couple years, with great new songs and a tight sound. The Q was comprised of Phil Lesh  (bass/vocals), Jimmy Herring (guitar), Warren Haynes (guitar/vocals), John Molo (drums), and Rob Barracco (keyboards/vocals).  Their CD There and Back Again came out in Spring 2002, and features “Celebration” and “No More Do I”, two songs Furthur has performed in 2010.

And Ratdog was smoking as well! 2001 was  a very busy year,  they had many  newish songs too, from 2000’s Evening Moods (including “Ashes and Glass” and “Two Djinn”, also in Furthur’s current song list).

Mickey Hart was busy as ever, with a ton of projects! He had done Supralingua in 1998, and then in 2000 the book and CD set Spirit Into Sound.

Bill Kreutzmann had released Backbone in 1998 and was playing with the Trichromes who would put out an album in 2002.

My point is, individually, these guys were busy making music in their own ways, doing their own things!

Plus, they all four had not played together officially since 1995.

Take another step back…
Yes, Mickey, Phil and Bob did tour in 1998 as The Other Ones, with both Mark Karan and Steve Kimock on guitar, and John Molo on drums (Only The Strange Remain), and at the final tour stop, 7/25/1998 Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View California (the place built for The Grateful Dead to play), Billy the K did sit in with his grateful bandmates.

After that tour, there was a semi-public disagreement between Phil and Bob on internet distribution  of the Grateful Dead Vault recordings (Bob wanted to make a deal that Phil didn’t, is the gist).  Anyway, word on the Shakedown street was they were not really friendly for a couple of years there.

Then, one night in June 2001, as they tend to do, Phil and Bob made up.  They played a gig as Crusader Rabbit Stealth Band, at The Sweetwater in Mill Valley, California, and the rest of the band was Phil’s friends: Molo, Herring, Barraco (Haynes joined in on the last song).  The Sweetwater, sadly no more, was a bar, so this was a small show, 100 or so people.

Crusader Rabit Stealth Band
Sweetwater, Mill Valley, California
June 10, 2001

Set 1: Jam > Truckin > Smokestack Lightning > Friend of the Devil > China Cat Sunflower > The Eleven > Brown-Eyed Women

Set 2: The Music Never Stopped > Jam > Get Together > Cassidy, Mason’s Children > Viola Lee Blues > Maggie’s Farm >
Viola Lee Blues
Encore: Promised Land > I Know You Rider
(Warren Haynes sat in for the encore)
Download from Nugs.net

Then, came New Years eve… Exciting enough to hear that Phil and Friends and Ratdog were sharing the bill…  CRSB is listed on the line up!  And rumors were rampant that Bill and Mickey would be there…

The New Years float featured four Wizards, and behind glimmering robes and fake beards, we slowly realized it was the boys themselves.  As they landed on the stage, they were fleshed out by Jimmy and Rob, and played for us all a real sweet set.  It was a pretty awesome night, really felt like a healing, all four guys coming together after so long.

12/31/2001
Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium
Oakland, California

Ratdog (listen to the RDog set here)
Jam > Feels Like A Stranger > Easy Answers > Youngblood, Odessa, Bury Me Standing, Scarlet Begonias > Aiko Aiko > Dear Prudence > Stuff (drums, bass, dj) > jam > Two Djinn > Touch of Grey

Phil and Friends (1st set)
Midnight Hour (w/Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks) > Hard To Handle > Viola Lee Blues > Tons of Steel > Viola Lee Blues > Dear Mr. Fantasy > Viola Lee Blues > Cosmic Charlie

Crusader Rabit Stealth Band – New Years Set featuring Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Rob Baraco, Jimmy Herring (and possibly others… did Jeff Chimenti sit in at all?)
Intro – Happy New Year, Not Fade Away > Truckin’ > Playin’ in the Band > Space > Playin’ in the Band > The Wheel > Uncle John’s Tease > Sugar Magnolia (Warren joins at middle of song)

Phil and Friends (2nd set)
tuning > Help On The Way > Skipknot! > Dark Star > Terrapin Station* > No More Do I* > Uncle John’s Band*
Donor Rap – “Unity is Possible”
E: Celebration > Franklin’s Tower

* w/Derek Trucks
Here is a link to  Phil’s first set, the CRSB set, and Phil’s second set, and a very special donor rap about UNITY!

Quite a night!

Refrences for this article: Archive.org, DeadDisc.com, my memories…

Music mentioned in this article:

TELLURIDE BLUES AND BREWS 2010

TBB2010     B.B. King     TheSetting  
 

Last Thursday, the aspens here in the San Juan mountains were still green. As if on cue Friday, they began to burst into their final golden stage of the summer…until they were matched only by the candlelight that marked another year for the King of the Blues.

Jimmie VaughnThe 17th annual Telluride Blues and Brews Festival began in earnest Friday night with Jimmie Vaughan and the Tilt-a-Whirl Band, with incredible lead vocalist Lou Ann Barton. "Boom", "Yes, Indeed", and little brother Stevie Ray’s "Texas Flood" got the dust kicking up early in Town Park.

George Thorogood and Elvin BishopGeorge Thorogood and the Destroyers closed out Night One with some help from slick slide guitarist Elvin "Bad Boy" Bishop and Chicago tenor sax mad man Eddie Shaw.

Day Two, aka Microbrewery Tasting Day (ie, "The Brews"), could not have disappointed if it tried. One of the two jewel discoveries for me of the weekend got it started…

JJ Grey & Mofro. This is a great band that flies expertly in a whole lot of different direction. I heard a lot of Allmans influence, some Tower of Power, and vocals that reminded me a lot of Kimock in his early live Zero days.

GalacticGalactic

 

Next up…Big Easy-style from Galactic with special guests Corey Henry (trombonist for the real Treme Brass Band) and percussionist Cyril freaking Neville. Best set of the weekend, and one of the best sets I’ve ever seen. This was the stuff that made New Orleans great.

 

 

 

 

 

Derek TrucksSusan & DerekSusan TedeschiSaturday closed out with the new power couple of the blues scene, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi. The first time I ever saw Derek play, it was just a mile from this stage in a sweaty basement bar. He was 16. Now, he’s a legacy member of the Allman Brothers, and the keeper of the fiercest and most sophisticated licks this side of his occasional bandmate, Warren Haynes. Mrs. Tedeschi-Trucks just constantly reminds me of a young Bonnie Raitt, and I can’t come up with a better compliment than that.

 

Sunday brought out the second revelation…Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears. Seriously, if you like all things cool, especially in the funk/soul vibe, you will really dig these guys. Then it was back to the Louisiana swamps with piano legend Allen Toussaint, who has not lost a thing since I first saw him at Jazz Fest in NOLA a couple decades ago.

 

 

This ridiculously entertaining weekend ended with the King. B.B. King. On his 85th birthday. With a cake. And 9000 people singing Happy Birthday as the sun set into the canyon. Tough to top that.Happy Birthday B.B. King!

17TH ANNUAL ANNUAL TELLURIDE BLUES & BREWS FESTIVAL, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Galactic, B.B. King., George Thorogood and more! Sept. 17-19 2010

Deadheadland will be there!  Our reporter will be on hand to experience the Blues, drink some brews, and report it all back to us! 

Telluride, CO:  The Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, which will be held Friday, September 17 through Sunday, September 19, 2010, is excited to announce that Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band will be closing the festival on Saturday night.   These two are no strangers to the Telluride Blues & Brews stage, but for the first time, the duo will be headlining this year’s event.

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band Born out of the southern blues tradition that is The Allman Brothers, Derek Trucks has picked up his family’s musical talent and taken it to new heights. Through endless touring and collaborations with music’s biggest names, Trucks has become a guitar legend in the modern blues world. His wife, Susan Tedeschi, is a profound guitarist in her own right and has traveled a similar route to stardom with the Susan Tedeschi Band. Together, Trucks and Tedeschi have formed a modern blues powerhouse that is sure to provide an electrifying set that will go down in Telluride Blues & Brews history.B.B. King 

The 17th Annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival will also  feature B.B. King, George Thorogood and the Destroyers with special guests Elvin Bishop and Eddie Shaw, Galactic with Cyril Neville and Corey Henry, Jimmie Vaughan and the Tilt-A-Whirl Band, Allen Toussaint, T-Model Ford, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, JJ Grey & Mofro, Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm, Matt Schofield, Alberta Cross, The Dana Fuchs Band, Ronnie Baker Brooks, The Beth Hart Band, Gospel Morning with The Otis Taylor Band featuring Chuck Campbell and the Sheryl Renee Choir, Grady Champion, Terrence Simian & the Zydeco Experience, Dead Confederate, The Sugar Thieves, The Bill Magee Blues Band, Little Al Thomas and The Deep Down Fools.

George Thoroughgood and the Destroyers with Elvin Bishop and Eddie ShawTelluride Blues & Brews proudly presents the Grand Tasting on Saturday, September 18, 2010.  One of the premier tasting events in the Southwest, the Grand Tasting features more than 150 beers from over 50 microbreweries, including those from the Telluride Blues & Brews official beer sponsor, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.  This event has it all, from ales to lagers, nut browns to I.P.A.’s and everything in between, from award-winning microbreweries from the Southwest and beyond.

GalacticThere’s more than just the Blues & Brews in store for you.  Telluride Blues & Brews has something for all ages.  Additional festival highlights include, late night shows at the local Juke Joints and After Hours Jams, Free Acoustic Artist Series, The Rainbow Kids area and Kid’s parade, Blues for Breakfast and the Telluride Acoustic Blues Competition.

Tickets for the 17th Annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival are on sale now!  A three-day pass is available for $160.00 and Juke Joint tickets are sold per night at $25.  Friday and Sunday tickets can be purchased for $55.00 each and Saturday for $65.00.  Bal de Maison are $20 and After Hours Jam are $15.00.  Festival camping is available adjacent to the festival grounds for $40 per person and are valid for 4 nights starting Thursday, September 16.  Tickets can be purchased at www.tellurideblues.com or by calling 866-515-6166. 

Telluride Blues and Brews Line-Up

One of the most scenic music festivals in the country, the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival takes place in Telluride, CO, a world-famous resort town in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.  The festival is a three-day celebration of music and microbrews, held in Telluride Town Park, an outdoor music venue with breathtaking 13,000 foot mountain peaks for a backdrop.  By day, experience live blues, rock, gospel and soul performances, the best microbrews in Colorado, a wide variety of food and craft vendors, children’s activities and more – all on festival grounds.  By night, follow the festival as it flows into the town of Telluride, with late night juke joints and after-hours jams.