Attended the David Grisman show Saturday night at the Marin County JCC; lucky, lucky us. His quintet plays instrumental jubilees with Jewish, Latin, gypsy, Appalachian and who knows what other influences; maybe it sounds weird and pretentious but to us it is to be revered. The band took the stage next to the soccer field one by one at sundown, and just after three stars appeared Grisman joined the jam in progress. They ended the show two-plus hours later with Shalom Alecheim after Dawg rolled his eyes and said “Yeah, well, I guess we gotta play this here.”
Meanwhile, what’s left of Grisman’s favorite collaborator’s band, the Dead (minus the Grateful, minus the nine-fingered Jerry, plus The Allman Brothers’ guitarist Warren Haynes) played Shoreline Amphitheater a few miles south. A Dead show will always be an enlivening experience, but friends reported back that Bobby’s voice sounded tight and we’re glad we chose the low-key, picnic-next-to-the-gaga-court evening. Even better to be drinking wine on the grass with dedicated music lovers than having some spinning dread-locked girl wipe her sweat on us.