Grahame Lesh and Friends

Yeah that's a reach

I guess at least you know right up front who's on the bill

You'd have to pay me $250 to sit through a show with Grahame Lesh at the helm, screeching his way through song after song.

This is what they're calling Midnight North while Elliott Peck is recovering from a complicated surgery.

Best wishes to her.

This isn't a Midnight North sans Elliott show, this is just a one-off.

The Guild is a bit far for a bunch of Marin boys, but it's a first-class venue for the artists and Grahame has a good relationship with the GM of that venue. He used to be the GM of the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester (he's also a friend of mine) and Grahame has played a few shows at the Guild, so I would imagine this is something he & my buddy worked out.

It probably will be a good little show, if I knew Grahame wasn't going to sing I'd probably go.

https://www.youtube.com/live/aUVheKollm0?si=EQA5WPCRV40keAPA
Phil starts at around 23:23 

Hey Lance, thanks for clarification about the Guild show.

Did you watch The Greatest Night in Pop? And?

Stu will be there, but Grahame will undoubtedly do some of the singing...

https://www.tixr.com/groups/guildtheatre/events/grahame-lesh-friends-w-s...
 

LOL is all I have to say

Funny, when Phil was young he sounded a lot like Grahame does now  and people begged for him to sing....

^^^^ This

In a scene where the ability to sing well has never been highly valued this whole Grahame can't sing thing is just strange. 

GL&F are also at Hopmonk on May 5. It's probably how he will be billed at the TXR events and whatevervelsr he does until Elliot is able to return.

I remember having this discussion with deadhead friends in 1979, and back then I was a bit put off by the sentiment, re: singing.

My friend Cindy expressed it thus. "Let's face it, we love the Grateful Dead, but their vocals are not that good."

Cindy had it!

> when Phil was young he sounded a lot like Grahame does now

To my ear, Phil's voice, even when he was younger, was lower than Grahame's. Also, Grahame seems to sing out of his natural range quite a bit. His voice sounds strained to me a lot of the time.

In Grahame's defense though, I thought he nailed it the couple of times P&F has played Born Cross-eyed lately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7AWeG6t8Eg

imo its pretty obvious any dislike over GLs vocals is just a symptom of the main issue - GL does not melt faces, and sometimes the new GL-centric lineups seem to tone down the face melting so him and his friends can keep up.

we are all fans of phil lesh, any shitting on someone's vocals when all of us dummies will happily groove thru phil lesh singing eyes of the world sounding like a dying bear is clearly not really a reasonable concern.

GD audiences always have and always will have a huge tolerance for poor vocals when that person is shredding the hell out of their instruments and melting faces. we've all been moved to musical ecstacy by songs sung much worse than GLs average delivery when the band is on fire instrumentally.

To be clear, while I think Grahame's voice is a bit thin & reedy and he uses vibrato way too much, I don't think he's a terrible singer overall.

He sounds OK when he's singing his own songs in Midnight North, my issue is more how he sings the Weir songs specifically. He just doesn't work at all for me on those songs, and when he's in the band he pretty much takes them all.

On a side note, it's nice to see a little defense of Grahame on the black screen, as he's always been beaten to a pulp around here, the original "dishwasher".

we are all fans of phil lesh, any shitting on someone's vocals when all of us dummies will happily groove thru phil lesh singing eyes of the world sounding like a dying bear is clearly not really a reasonable concern.

OMG, this is the funniest thing I have read so far this year!

To be clear, while I think Grahame's voice is a bit thin & reedy and he uses vibrato way too much, I don't think he's a terrible singer overall.

I agree and I think it's the vibrato thing that is the killer. Otherwise he is an average singer that can sing in key. There is no emotional depth there, but he can stay in key.

Please stop comparing the all time wizard Phil Lesh to his nepo baby son. Not going to allow it on any level. 

Phil Lesh's singing is heavenly, because he's Phil fucking Lesh. We know what it means. It's IT.

Grahame Lesh's singing sucks and it sucks even more, because he lacks awareness.

the kid sings ok.

i mean, the thing is...while he is phil lesh's son, he is not his own super talented musician worthy of the spot.

that's the rub.

i did hear a midnight north song on the radio the other day i thought wasn't that bad....

>>>imo its pretty obvious any dislike over GLs vocals is just a symptom of the main issue - GL does not melt faces<<<

No. No, that's not it at all.

We're not talking about his guitar playing, we're talking about his singing.

As a lead guitar player he's not an improvisational wizard, but he has developed into a solid lead player for a band like Midnight North, which is not an improvisational jam band or a hard, guitar-heavy rock band, and while his occasional solos in Phil's bands are usually fairly pedestrian, he doesn't play that many and they're no longer total duds.

However, he does have a deep knowledge and good feel for improvisation and his rhythm playing in that setting is generally excellent, and rhythm guitar is what he does most often in Phil's bands. IMO rhythm guitar is meant to facilitate face melting, not directly cause it (with Bob Weir pre-'83 being a notable exception) so saying Grahame doesn't melt faces is not a totally fair criticism.

>>>moved to musical ecstacy by songs sung much worse than GLs average delivery when the band is on fire instrumentally<<<

I agree with that, and have experienced it often with Grahame in the band. Honestly Daylight, you missed a lot of that in the later years of TxR, with Grahame mostly playing rhythm.

After recently watching a few more clips of "Particle Kid" struggling to keep up as the rhythm player with Neil & Crazy Horse in LA last year, I'd happily take Grahame over Willie's dishwasher son in that band.

And that role doesn't sing at all.

>There is no emotional depth there<

Bingo

For instance, Jerry's voice, however unique, could evoke sorrow, joy, and everything in between. Tug your heartstrings or have you exuberantly happy. GL? Not so much.

When I saw GL recently at the Guild, the soundguy seemingly had Grahame's vocal reverb cranked as far as the controls allowed. 

well, as far as lead vocal singing guitar playing frontmen go

he's worked his way to becoming a really solid guitarist

Here's another Grahame friend playing with Stu and Jay Lane in a tiny club end of the month... 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/grateful-thursdays-walex-jordan-friends-tic...

As far as I'm concerned, I would never go see GL without Phil on the bill. This is for a younger generation. I file it under "who gives a fuck?"

This is for a younger generation.

dont foist this shit on us old man! we younger generations listen to JRAD, thank you very much

Agree on bringing emotion to the singing and that he is a good rhythm guitar player. I think the biggest problem is that like Bobby learning slide we all had to sit through that process and even though it got much better it was hard to forget what went into making that happen. 

It's somewhat notable that within all of the GD and extended family, there has never been a notable offspring talent. Nothing even remotely close to a Derek or Dweezil.

Should Garcia and MG have had a boy, perhaps he would have become the chosen one. Alas...