Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 12:09:53 -0800 (PST) From: Bob Siebecker <deadshow@well.com> To: leftover@lists.Colorado.EDU Subject: My Favorite Show of 1996 "Best" is sooooo subjective so I won't even attempt identifying the "Best" Leftover Salmon show of 1996. But I will say that my favorite favorite LoS show of 1996, possibly to date, was the evening set on 9/9/96 at the R.O.A.M. festival. As we know by now, LoS opened each day of the R.O.A.M. fest with an acoustic set and closed each day with an electric set. On 9/9 the boys opened the day with a beautiful tribute to Jerry Garcia including Catfish John, I Know You Rider and Friend Of The Devil. However, as the set ended, the boys were presented with the disturbing news that Hizonner, The Mayor McCheese, had been KIDNAPPED!!!! The ransom note simply stated that The Mayor would be returned only if LoS would "light a Fire On The Mountain". Fast forward to evening. After a day terrific sets by Magraw Gap, New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, Acoustic Syndicate, Baby Gramps w/Eugene Chadbourne & Vince, Jonas Hellborg Trio and Hypnotic Clambake, LoS takes the stage after midnight. Starting out with a spacey tune-up jam, they launch right into The Mother Of All Pasta's. A 21 min incendiary jam with Vince alternating lyrics between Pasta and the GD's Fire On The Mountain. In the middle of the Jam, Drew switches to his fiddle and creates a beautiful background for Vince as Vince explains the spiritual Native American history of the Round Mountain region, called Kakalaki (sp?). The jam had become so "slippery and eel-like" that I had totally forgot they were playing Pasta until they brought it all back with the Rocky Top Rap. The Aura on Round Mountain was brighter than a magnesium flare. Light a Fire On The Mountain Indeed! They followed this up with Get Me Outta This City, Jokester, a new Jam by Mark, Big Mamou, Bend In The River and Boo Boo. Then members of Hypnotic Clambake and Magraw Gap joined the boys for the rest of the show, launching into Blue Night and then Paul Simon's Late In The Evening where everyone took a solo and Vince added several of his own improvised verses. They followed this up with Honky Tonk Woman, Dim Lights etc, and a short Bad Moon Rising before Eugene Chadbourne joined them for High On A Mountain Top. By this time they had Accordians, Horns, Bongos and the stage was just packed with musicians. After Chadbourne sang a song, things really took off with French Toast & Dada Jam, then into a sequence of songs that sent me reeling. First out was the cajun song Tu N'as Pas Aller and, as that wound down, John Flowers (Magraw Gap) grabbed a mic and started in with one of his sing-song oriental chants which he's so good at. The band formed a chord structure and turned the whole thing into a completely improvised jam. This wound it's way into Uncle Penn->9 Lb. Hammer. At this point, the entire summit of Round Mountain broke free from the Earth's gravitational pull and we were collectively propelled to the outer reaches of our galaxy. They finished off the 2.5 hour set with From The Bottle To The Needle and It Couldn't Be Better. The encores were Funky Mnt. Fogdown and an extended version of Wake & Bake, in which Eugene Chadbourne treated us to the "German" version. After the encore ended, the crowd wandered back into the meadow to their tents and campfires. All of a sudden someone started into howling and the whole meadow lit up into din of animal noises howling up at the cosmos. It's so hard to reduce this experience to ASCII but I hope I have done it justice. The ROAM festival was definitely one of the musical highlights of my life.