#GRATEFUL DEAD NIKES FULL#

#GRATEFUL DEAD NIKES FULL#

That night, I was content simply being there.Įnding on the third night in a grand fashion - a 20-minute cover of “Dancing In the Street” with acclaimed horn player Stuart Bogie on sax - JRAD’s stint at The Cap last weekend was chock full of more greasy biker dudes, mad hatters, and uncoordinated tie-dye than summertime at a Vermont flea market.

Nonetheless, the Deadheads of Greater New York accept me anyway. Maybe it’s a case of having the arc of the covenant open and trying looking at the light without your head exploding, of seeing too many kids pushing their stash in line for the bar and starting to see this music of joy like some serotonin-depleting drug, only jubilant and involved until it’s over. Now might be a good point to admit that the term ‘jam band’ causes me to cringe more than most of my distinguished colleagues and communications professionals in the community know. Hearing JRAD handle these covers so artfully accomplishes that supernatural feat, summoning not just the tunes alone, but the joy and gusto that comes in being present with them, too. After seeing him work to hang with the big dogs in JRAD, perhaps the nickname is unfair. Concert Joe, the storied Guinness World Records holder who claims to have seen The Dead more than anyone, calls him “John Mayernaise”. Mayer was making the same strained but impassioned, slightly constipated face he always does, giving himself entirely to every note, working to prove himself with a collection of dudes who know these songs in and out. I remember him riffing out during a particularly rousing cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Mighty Quinn” that closed out JRAD’s second set one night at Brooklyn Bowl back in 2016. Hell, Mayer himself sits in on JRAD sets when he’s in town. In doing so, they’ve managed to fly under the radar of more casual fans of The Dead, most of whom are perfectly content to watch John Meyer play Jerry with Dead & Co. They understand that, as Robert Hunter’s lyrics so eloquently articulate in “Ripple”, the band will not show you the way home.

Chock full of dudes whose names ring bells for anyone in the jam community, JRAD understand what enacting a challenging narrative through performance actually sounds like.

Grateful dead nikes