Drop the Bone

Drop the Bone is a phase I learned from my late business manager and spiritual advisor, Carolyn “Goldie” Rush – to whom this record is dedicated. It was great advice: “Stop gnawing on your troubles all the time. Get your shit together and get on with it.”

I met Goldie in the late ‘70s, when she was a partner in a management business called Organizational Common Sense. Bob Weir was one of her clients, and Jon McIntire was one of her closest friends as well as the manager of the Bob Weir Band at the time. We became friends over the course of a few years.

When a series of accidents led me to incorporate (as Truth and Fun, Inc.) in order to enter a contract with Grateful Dead Productions to produce and distribute the Grateful Dead Hour, GDP required that I hire Goldie to manage the business (and keep an eye on me for them). I was happy to oblige, and Goldie ran my business until her death in the spring of 2005.

Dealing with the Grateful Dead wasn’t always easy nor pleasant, and Goldie talked me down from a number of rages and/or depressions over the course of our collaboration. I have always referred to her as “my business manager and spiritual advisor.” She protected my business and my heart, and I still think about her every day.

Our mutual friend Vi©kisa made a painting titled “Goldie says Drop the Bone,” which I bought from her with the idea of eventually using it to illustrate a song called “Drop the Bone.”

A few years ago I proposed to Peter Rowan - who also was a good friend of Goldie’s – that we write “Drop the Bone” together. I’ve been a huge fan of his songwriting for decades, and I figured his spirituality and our shared love of our late friend would lead to a satisfying result. We worked on it in a hotel room in Ohio, and we had a couple more sessions at Pete’s house, and then our separate travels prevented more in-person collaboration.

Some time later, I got a message from Peter’s manager asking for my publishing info. Peter had finished “Drop the Bone” and had recorded it and was planning to release it on an album titled The Old School.

This version of the song was not at all what I had in mind – 

I'm wanderin' around all day long / I’m a little stray dog honey when you're gone / And every evenin' when you come home / You throw your little puppy dog a bone

– but I like it just fine and I am honored to have a collaboration with Peter Rowan on my resume (along with two songs co-written with Robert Hunter).

I still haven’t managed to write a song that does justice to Goldie’s profound advice, but I worked the phrase “Drop the Bone” into another song – “Summer By the Bay” –  which is on this new record I’m working on.

Now, to the work in progress: It’s a studio record that covers the various corners of my weird musical universe: acoustic, electric; solo, trio, full-band; originals and interpretations.

These are the songs I have already started work on. I’ve got a few more songs under consideration; budgeting issues may help determine what gets recorded.

Summer By the Bay, River and Drown, Life Is a Jam - full electric band

Be Like Earl - acoustic quartet

Your Movie - acoustic, with trombone

Norwegian Wood (Lennon-McCartney) - “solo electric” with looping

Rainbow Fox-> Box of Rain (Hunter-Lesh) - “solo electric” with looping, beginning with an improvised piece.

Pancho and Lefty (Townes Van Zandt) - acoustic trio

And these are the great players I’ve been working with:

Jeff Hobbs – violin, cello, trumpet, saxophones,

Robin Sylvester, Joe Kyle, Jr., Dave Jess, and Allegra Thompson – bass

Jordan Feinstein, Holly Bowling, and Bob Bralove – keyboards

Neil Hampton and John Hanes – drums

Greg Stephens – trombone

Eric Thompson – mandolin

Suzy Thompson – fiddle

As with my last couple of records, I have the great privilege and pleasure of working with two amazing engineers who are also good friends: Jeremy Goody at Megasonic Sound and Jim LeBrecht at Berkeley Sound Artists. Dave Glasser (Airshow) will master the record in HDCD™.

I’m looking for the funds to finish the record and get it mastered, packaged, pressed, and promoted.