Forgotten Space Remembers The Grateful Dead at the One-to-One Bar in ’04 Austin TX
Forgotten Space Remembers The Grateful Dead at the One-to-One Bar in ’04 Austin TX
In another time’s forgotten space
Your eyes looked from your mother’s face
Wallflower seed on the sand and stone
May the four winds blow you safely home.”
Grateful Dead, “Franklin’s Tower”
Polished my shoes I bought a brand new hat
Moved to a town that time forgot
Where I don’t have to shave or be approachable
No I can do just what I want
I want to walk in that howling wind
’til it scatters all my thoughts
Sit alone on that riverbank ’til I
Forget that I can talk
Just listen
Conor Oberst, “Time Forgot”
Kenny Withrow ~ guitar, vocals
To quote Conor Oberst (whom I blasphemously consider to be an even better song writer than Dylan) is a bit off topic but the lyric from his song “Time Forgot” popped into my head when pondering my latest review – which is of Dallas-based Forgotten Space in my ongoing coverage of Central Texas’ Grateful Dead/Jam Band scene. And clearly the lyric resonates with my inner “Deadhead.” Not only that his best song ever in my view is “Four Winds,” wherein he sings:
Well I went back by rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the Dead
They said, “You’d better look alive”
First time I communed with Forgotten Space guitarist Kenny Withrow‘s guitar stylings, it was definitely in another time and forgotten space, which happened to be the Whiskey A Go-Go in Los Angeles in the late 80’s. The band: Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. Their hit: “What I Am” featuring a haunting Garcia-esque solo by Whithrow. The small intimate experience was intense to say the least being face to face with both Edie and Withrow.
Fast forward to the present. At their last show here in Austin Withrow and company trotted out “Deep Elem Blues,” which coincidentally happens to be the birthplace of the New Bohemains. This was actually the second time seeing them in Austin. Both times at the One-To-One Bar in South Austin – a bar that has been become a regular haunt for many jam band tributes here such as DeadEye and Panic Stricken. Speaking of DeadEye, it was Keith Sennikoff, one of DeadEye’s two guitarists, who first filled me on Forgotten Space singing the praises of Withrow saying he felt he was one of the best emulators of Garcia.
In recent years Kenny is keeping the spirit of Jerry’s music with this tribute. The band began as Lost Sailor morphing into Forgotten Space some years later on in casual gigs in and around the Dallas area.
I caught up with Withrow at their latest gig in Austin.
On Jerry Garcia ~
It’s funny, a lot of people in the Dead community thought it was Jerry playing my solo on the song “What I Am”. To me, the biggest similarity was really the pedal I was using. It was much like the one he used on songs like Estimated Prophet and Shakedown Street, that kind of tone. To me, playing wise, my style is much more deliberate and to the point. Jerry was more of a master of subtlety and implied notes.
On their history ~
Hunter Hendrickson ~ guitar, vocals
This is actually our 10th year together as Forgotten Space. We will be having a 10th anniversary celebration coming up in the summer. I have been playing Grateful Dead music on and off for fun since the early 90s. here was a rotating cast of players that would come and go for years. Some of us in Forgotten Space did stints in that band as well. So there has been grateful dead music played in Dallas since the late 80s.
On Keith Sennikoff’s hat’s off to his “Inner Jerry”
Well it’s extremely flattering, especially coming from those two guys. I have a lot of respect for what they do. It’s weird, some people told me I sounded like Jerry before I ever heard the Grateful Dead. I guess some parts of his style come natural for me. Some areas I can relate to much easier, like the psychedelic, open, improvised kind of playing. Other areas have taken a lot more work. Like learning to play a slow ballad or trying to tap into his blue grass roots with the western songs and acoustic sets. At this point, I don’t think about it anymore. It’s more of just a style of music on plane. The Grateful Dead is it’s own kind of music. So so when I’m playing a show, things just naturally happen.
Where they play ~
Well we certainly play in Dallas the most often. A whole community has grown with the band and has turned into a wonderful scene. We feel blessed to be a part of it. Our favorite venue in Dallas
would have to be the Granada Theater. These shows have turned into unique events. Everyone, including us, shows up ready to see what could happen. But we have traveled quite a bit in the last 4 years. We go to Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Florida a couple times a year on average. We have made it to the West Coast a couple of times as well. Chicago and St. Louis have turned into major hubs for us. Both cities have their fair share of Grateful Dead bands. But that does not matter, these people show up ready to get down and have fun every time. They are such huge fans of the music.
On their future ~
Jerry Saracini ~ Drums
This is actually our 10th year together as Forgotten Space. We will be having a 10th anniversary celebration coming up in the summer. I have been playing Grateful Dead music on and off for fun since the early 90s. There was a weekly event that happened in Dallas at Club Dada called The Dead Thing. There was a rotating cast of players that would come and go for years. Some of us in Forgotten Space did stints in that band as well. So there has been grateful dead music played in Dallas since the late 80s.
And it’s three days ride from Bakersfield and I don’t know why I came.
I guess I came to keep from payin’ dues.
So instead I’ve got a bottle and a girl who’s just fourteen,
And a damn good case of the Mexicali Blues. Yeh!
Grateful Dead, “Mexicali Blues”
Squatters made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirl
She’s standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
Conor Oberst, “Four Winds”
Forgotten Space Setlist, May 6, 2016 One-to-One Bar, Austin
~1~
Jack Straw
Greatest Story Ever Told
West L.A. Fadeaway
Lazy Lightning >
Supplication
Deep Elem Blues
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the
Memphis Blues Again
Alligator
Birdsong >
Cassidy
~2~
Bertha >
Good Lovin’ >
Sugaree >
Let It Grow >
Fire on the Mountain >
Drums >
Space >
The Other One >
To Lay Me Down >
Eyes of the World (w/ ’74 era jam) >
The Other One >
Truckin’ >
He’s Gone >
Going Down the Road Feeling Bad
~E~
Help on the Way >
Slipknot >
Franklin’s Tower >
One More Saturday Night
Forgotten Space Members: Bob McConville – Bass, Vocal; Hunter Hendrickson – Guitar, Vocal; Jerry Saracini – Drums; Kenny Withrow – Guitar, Vocal; Will Hodges – Keyboards, Vocal.
Upcoming Show: Forgotten Space – July 30, 2016 ~ Granada Theater, Dallas TX
Contact Info:
instagram.com/forgottenspace
twitter.com/forgottenspace
youtube.com/forgottenspacevideos
bandsintown.com/forgottenspace
reverbnation.com/forgottenspace
Joe Rossi is a freelance writer living in Austin TX. Visit his blogsite:
Game of Stoned
