💨 BLESS THIS MESS

Stack Gang – where we at?? Promontory Paul here – sorry to come in so hot on this Monday morning, but I'm trying to will (or maybe brute-force) an excellent start to the week here and us keep rollin' into the summer. It's been rainy where I'm at, but sunny days ahead surely.

I always feel like this May/June window is filled with days that I look back on in August and think, "damn, I didn't appreciate the early summer vibe nearly enough..." So here we are: appreciating this early summer vibe – fresh and full of potential – to the fullest! Stick your head outside and take a big whiff of that June 9th air.

Ok enough waxing whatever that is – we're keeping it active and varied this Monday.

No critical analysis or OC (original content) cooked up this week, but it felt appropriate to stick to one of the original Smokestack Mission Statement tenets: sharing "sick links" and "cool vids" that may interest readers of the Heady/Grassy/Smokestack-y variety.

Consider it a curated trailhead of content for you to start your voyage into the week. We're also coming off a pretty meaty Smokestack last week (our first edition of "Bands in Vans Crossing Lanes" with Mountain Grass unit), so this week we'll keep the calorie burn low by putting on the creators that we dig, and sharing some good stuff from recent days.

My man Paul Dufrene of @DimestoreRadio always delivers – check out the most recent installment of his "Arcane Esoterica" playlist series for some interesting sounds. One of my favorite places for finding new music.

For some rare, interesting, and generally wonderful covers, take a listen to his "Take Cover #5: Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You." Wide and deep, as always. (And while you're at it, just burn a few hours flipping through his Soundcloud in general)

Sometimes you just need someone to queue you up a Dead show. We're happy to do that for you. Hmmmmm how abouttt 02-18-1971 Capitol Theatre Port Chester, NY? Stack-heads know that we are are a late-60's and early-70's Dead family (maybe increasingly becoming a lukewarm take?).

Noteworthy for first-time-played "Bertha," "Greatest Story Ever Told," "Loser," "Playin' in the Band," and "Wharf Rat" (inSANE day). This was also to be Mickey Hart's last show until re-joining the band in October '74.

This insane lineup of FTPs isn't the only reason this show isn't exactly a deep cut – it was part of the Dead's ESP Experiments, which were epically recreated by Billy Strings during his "Deja Tu" run in 2022 at the very same Capitol Theatre. Hard to find a decent tape of those Billy shows, but solid 30-minute set 2 preview of 2/18/21 on YouTube here, and Nugs link to full show here.

We're so very blessed to live in a world where some house shows are live streamed and recorded for everyone to enjoy. This is one of those shows – Tatiana Hargreaves and Rushad Eggleston played a beauty of a surprise house show in Portland, Oregon last week (you may recognize one or both of these two from their parts in the Away From The Shire run in Asheville, 2022 – quick glimpse here).

Full-length show, if you're looking for something to toss on a tab in the background and vibe out to! Really beautiful duo – equal parts beautiful music full of swelling virtuosity and fun, small-show banter. Music starts at about 21:10.

Non-performance/concert vid for ya, featuring Billy and his guitar teacher, Robb Cappelletto, basically running through a guitar lesson, breaking down Tony Rice's tune, Fishscale.

This one came out a few months ago and made some waves, but as a guitar player I really enjoyed it and have found myself rewatching it a handful of times. I love videos like these because (a) its really cool to see someone at the top of their craft continue to hone their skill, and (b) players at this level have a way of talking through ideas that really hits for me. It wades a little bit into music theory at times, but if you approach with a general desire to understand musical concepts, there is a lot to be gained here.

Cool stuff to think about for musicians, interesting stuff to be aware of for engaged music-listeners.

–Promontory Paul