March 19, 2015
Music City USA
Story and Photos by Butch Worrell of
One Heart Photo
It was Friday, March 13, a day many
would consider unlucky. But the Jerry Garcia Tribute Band proved the
opposite. In fact for legendary bass player Bobby Vega it was the
luckiest of days, for that day he married Allison. The sun shined
bright that day on their wedding and that aura continued on to the
Band's show that night. The show was sold out, for the word was out,
this band is a must see.
The tribute band is a project of Steve
Kimock's to honor Jerry Garcia. Led by Steve with his strong ties to
Jerry and whose place in the top guitar players of the world cannot
be denied, it also consists of Jeff Chimenti, perhaps the best
Grateful Dead family keyboardist ever, Bobby Vega a bass player whose
innovative playing has made him a legend in his own time. Dan
Lebowitz the ALO frontman and guitarist who carried off the
frontman/singer role with professional ease, Bill Vitt legendary
Jerry Garcia Band drummer, and John Morgan Kimock already an
innovative and quite professional drummer combined efforts to drive the show.. Rudson Shurtliff, Steve’s
guitar tech and high sheriff of the Kimock stage, said this of John
Morgan: “He is a natural, he played his first show at just 16 in
front of 23,000 fans at the Gathering of the Vibes. And he hasn't
stopped rocking since.”
The first set, packed with soulful, R&B
songs from the Jerry Band years was a rousing success. “The Harder
they Come” was a special sing along favorite with Dan leading the
audience on.
The set closer “Mystery Train”
showed the interplay between Kimock's fiery guitar work and Bobby
Vega's “lead” bass work. They pushed the song to the limit, the
audience literally going crazy in their dancing response.
Then came the set break and Bobby's
bride came onstage with Jennifer Kimock leading a Champagne toast to
the newly weds. A beautiful moment that continued to the end of the
show with Allison dancing side stage next to Bobby sharing looks of
love. The second set continued where the first let off, the band
steamrolling along, driven by Bill Vitt and John Morgan's drumming.
The “Expressway to your Heart” into “Bertha” particular comes
to mind, with Steve's guitar work reaching a peak, driven by Bobby
Vega who literally made his bass dance. And Jeff Chimenti's work on
“Sugaree” showed why so many consider him the best keyboardist
ever to play “Dead”.
And the finale, another sing along,
“Don't let go” had fans singing along for days who just could not
keep from smiling as the words danced through their heads and their
feet moved to the music. A phenomenon your corespondent personally
experienced. In all a magical time was experienced on March 13th
by the Band and family along with their fans.
“Don't you know that it's true”
Gramercy Theatre- New York 2015-03-13
Set 1
Someday Baby
Second that Emotion
Finders Keepers
The Harder They Come
Mississippi Moon
Mystery Train
Set 2
High Healed Sneakers
They Love each Other
Sugaree
Money Honey
Expressway to your Heart
Bertha
Encore Don't Let go>Philly Mambo
WWW.Kimock.com
1 comment:
Nice pics and write-up with which I have one quibble: Keyboardist Zach Gill, who sings and writes most of the songs, is more accurately the frontman of ALO, not Lebo.
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