Music Milestones and How to Make Them; Local Tips to Avoid Burnout

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Aug. 10 marks the big 4-0 for MTV, which launched in 1981 with images acquired from NASA featuring the first moon landing. The first-ever music video featured on the channel – which, at the time, was viewable only by N.J. residents – was the ever-appropriate Buggles tune “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

By the end of the decade, MTV had become a household name, emphasized by Dire Straits’ 1987 hit “Money for Nothing,” in which Sting famously chants the MTV advertising slogan, “I want my MTV.”

MTV was created with the sole intent to air music videos, and nothing else. Unfortunately, reality television swept in with the new millennium and corrupted the entire operation. Although the station technically turned 40, it has not actually broadcast “music television” for the latter half of its life.

Back to the Music. More importantly, Aug. 1 marks the celebration of Jerry Garcia, born in 1942. It also begins what Deadheads call “The Days Between,” specifying the period between his birth date and the date of his sadly young death on Aug. 9, 1995. Garcia, who was the heart and soul of the Grateful Dead, was only 53.

Garcia spent his earlier days as a visual artist until he was involved in a severe motor vehicle accident, after which he made the decision to take advantage of his “second chance” by dedicating himself to the guitar.

Garcia was extremely proficient with string instruments, and practiced mainly in folk and bluegrass. His first performances were with his friend Robert Hunter, the powerful poet who would go on to collaborate with Garcia in writing the bulk of the Grateful Dead’s lyricism. Garcia was known for his eclectic and soulful improvisational style, which fused bluegrass, jazz, blues and rock, all steeped in psychedelia, with heavy emphasis on live and experimental expression. Over the course of three decades, Garcia’s work with the Grateful Dead would take on many different stylistic interpretations. Deadheads know there has never been a Dead song played the same way twice.

Garcia’s band originated as Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, with Bob Weir and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, but when bassist Phil Lesh and percussionist Bill Kreutzman joined, they became the Warlocks. However, the band that would later be famously known as the Velvet Underground had already taken the name … so after flipping through a Funk & Wagnalls dictionary, Garcia stumbled upon “Grateful dead,” defined as “a person, or his angel, showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial.” Initially, his bandmates disliked the name, but it attained popularity before the band could change it.

After his death, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead dropped “Grateful,” becoming The Dead. Perhaps this is because Garcia became the grateful subject, having his arrangements made and his legacy carried on for generations to come. Two and a half decades later, Dead & Company continues the tradition.

Despite Garcia’s long-term struggles with substance abuse, he will forever be remembered as an advocate, if not the spokesman, for kindness.

“Where do you begin?” posted Grateful Dead (and now Dead & Company) drummer Mickey Hart. “There’s so much to say about him. He was a benign and lovable guy and he was also a magic man, a shaman. There was a feeling of going out in the world with kindness that Jerry Garcia represented. That shines through beyond all the other stuff.”

Little Egg Harbor-based musician Ty Mares paid tribute to the inimitable guitarist Sunday evening at the Sea Shell, opening with the uplifting “Ripple,” written by Garcia and Hunter.

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall, you fall alone
If you should stand, then who’s to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home.

Mares continued the trend throughout his first set, performing “Althea” and “Ramble On Rose,” to the delight of dozens of patrons sporting their best Dead shirts. Mares was also wearing a Dead shirt, acquired precisely one year ago at the same venue when, after hearing his tributes, a listener insisted upon trading shirts. “It was the most Grateful Dead thing that’s ever happened to me,” Mares said, laughing.

Garcia’s daughter, Annabelle, invited fans to participate in celebrating Garcia’s life and legacy by visiting dazebetween.com, benefiting the Rex Foundation. Daze Between offers a list of both in-person and online Dead-centric music events fans can attend.

Additionally, Daze of Service is a carefully curated list of volunteer opportunities. Registered volunteers are entered into a contest for a chance to win VIP tickets to see Dead & Company at Citi Field on Aug. 20. Daze Between is also holding a virtual auction of special merchandise (such as art, memorabilia, clothing and vinyl) that closes on Aug. 9. There is another option to simply donate. All proceeds go directly to the Rex Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization established in 1983 that supports grassroots efforts in the arts, sciences, education, environment, indigenous peoples and social justice.

Musicians Battle Burnout. The Wall Street Journal published an article written by Joe Barrett, claiming musicians are out of practice and struggling to keep up with the massive demand for live music after a year of inactivity. Barrett interviewed various musicians from around the country for their insight.

Some artists reported scraping for work with little luck, only to suddenly be overwhelmed by the plethora of scheduled shows and little preparation. Bassist Jason Narducy emphasized the importance of building his physical fitness and pacing himself to endure a full tour’s worth of 90-minute rock performances.

“The shift to feast from famine has turned into a mad scramble,” Barrett writes. “Behind the scenes, they (musicians) are feverishly practicing, brushing up on lyrics and searching for equipment that’s been hiding in the back of a closet.”

LBI Can’t Relate. Fortunately, on the LBI scene the music never stopped. Local artists – who, due to their unique location, were already well versed in performing seven days a week and dealing with a variety of weather and traffic conditions – simply moved the show online until the Island received the green light to gather outside. Then it was non-stop, even throughout the winter, as things incrementally moved back indoors. Summer 2021 has found vacationers luxuriating like never before, with a minimal and overtaxed workforce. But these musicians are far from unprepared.

Sure, local artists will relate to that miserably familiar feeling reported in the WSJ of hauling heavy music equipment up a flight of stairs and, more specifically on LBI, through powder-soft sand. They might even admit to forgetting the tip jar for their first few shows back.

However, Mares affirmed that any musician who is out of practice was most likely never in practice to begin with.

“If you’re blowing your voice out, you’re doing something wrong,” said Mares, who explained it has nothing to do with taking a hiatus from performing, but is rather due to never developing or exercising the necessary skills or a warm-up routine.

“Anyone who is truly a player did not stop playing just because venues closed down,” he said. Even in the depths of quarantine, “we were sitting in our houses playing the guitar, because that’s what we do. Our instruments were not just sitting in the cases until someone offered money.”

That dedication, he stressed, is a distinctive characteristic of true musicianship. He made particular mention of fellow artists Josh Werner and Jeremy Renner.

“You can tell by the way they play that they don’t waste any time.”

He also commended Chris Fritz and Sahara Moon for staying musically active and engaged with their fans throughout quarantine, when people needed music the most.

Of course, coming out of quarantine into playing doubles and triples nearly every day of the week, it is important for a musician to keep in fit physical, mental and spiritual condition to avoid burnout. For Mares, that means vocal warm-ups before a show and taking breaks proportionate to the length of his performance time. It also means taking vocal rest and getting adequate sleep.

He is also taking notes from Sam Laubach, who this year set a boundary on the length of her shows. “I’ve just realized that it’s really hard to get through a four-hour gig on my own, vocally,” she explained. “And there’s never really much incentive to play them when they typically pay around the same as a three-hour gig.” She and Mares agree that usually the first hour of a four-hour gig is often dead anyway, and therefore an hour better spent conserving their voices for an audience.

That is not to say there is no place for the four-hour gig, as they help new performers develop their chops.

“I will say they (four-hour gigs) were nice when I first started gigging. It was good extra practice,” Laubach said. “But now it’s just too tiring to play them when you’re playing several times a week.”

She echoed Mares’ advice regarding rest and sleep.

“I think everyone needs a day or more of rest a week,” she said. “I tried to give myself about two days off a week this summer to drink lots of hot water and lemon, and sleep in!”

Dynamic Duo Dials In. The Pettis jumped into the scene in 2019. They spent quarantine with equal parts rest and rehearsal, but last summer was when the father-daughter duo struggled with vocal health.

Michaelina, fresh out of high school, was working another job, leaving her dad to take two gigs a week solo. Neal would blow his voice out, she explained, and then she’d have to take the burden when they played together, singing the entire show and suffering the same consequence.

Since then, The Pettis have incorporated vocal warm-ups into their daily schedule, and Michaelina’s summer job this year is full-time gigging with dad, so they have struck a fine balance vocally. “We’ve dialed it in with the ebb and flow of our singing,” Neal shared. They share about five to six gigs per week.

They have certainly found their groove, and happily laid it down at Sun Harbor Seafood and Grille in Barnegat against the pastel-blue backdrop of Barnegat Bay. In addition to the view, Neal praised the audience at Sun Harbor.

“Everybody’s a music head,” he explained, emphasizing his appreciation for the freedom to play a variety of music.

Make no mistake, The Pettis play the classics, but not just what might come on the trusty “dad rock” station. For example, they opened with a hard-hitting take on The Band’s “The Shape I’m In,” sharing vocals for a big, dynamic sound. Of course, they threw in such crowd favorites as Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay” and The Eagles’ “Take It Easy.” By mid-set, however, they took the audience on an expedition into David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” with Michaelina at the helm, guiding the trip with her robust voice, and Neal ominously counting down to blast off and bending his strings for an otherworldly flair.

Dad took the lead on Stealers Wheel’s’ hit “Stuck in the Middle With You” and Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” Michaelina exhibited the full spectrum of her range when she roared into Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman” and, later, “Rhiannon,” enchanting listeners. The pair transcended all expectations, sharing The Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers,” which is no small undertaking. Neal kept time with percussive guitar strumming, over which both vocalists switched off layering harmonies. They capped their first set with a show-stopping “Midnight Rider,” by the Allman Brothers, highlighting their connection through harmony and a stunner solo by Neal.

One would think the duo spends dozens of hours rehearsing every week. Neal clarified, “We would get together and say, let’s learn these 10 songs. Then we’d do our homework and go back and tweak.” Astonishingly, though, about half of their repertoire comes from requests they figure out in real time.

“There are times we do requests and, right off the cuff, it’s spot on,” he said. For example, last week they received a request for Iron Maiden’s “Wasted Years,” which falls right inside Neal’s ball park. But Michaelina had never even heard it. Following her dad’s lead and playing off his voice, which she seems to know intuitively, it was as if it had been rehearsed for weeks.

“She gets better every day,” Neal expressed in amazement.

Fortunately they have both talent and a natural synchronicity, because this summer has left little room to rehearse at all.

“We’re lucky if we even have time to rehearse one tune,” Neal lamented. “But we really find our pockets, and we have fun together. That’s the most important thing.”

Sure, being related, they have their “tiffs,” as Neal described with an endearing laugh as his daughter gave her obligatory eye roll. However, because they are related, their arguments are more sincere, he added, and they are able to get them out of the way, hug it out and hit the stage with a clear slate.

When The SandPaper interviewed the Pettis back in February, Michaelina had found creative inspiration in a recent heartbreak, and was using it to churn out songs. For better or worse, her original material has been shelved since Memorial Day weekend, taking a back seat to nonstop gigging. On the bright side, there is no experience like on-stage experience, and she is garnering plenty of that. Their hope is to revisit songwriting in the off-season, which is beginning to look busy as well.

Like artists Chris Fritz and Chuck DeBruyn, The Pettis have taken a lighter schedule in August, and have even designated a week off to restore. Once September hits, their schedule will downshift to about one or two gigs a week, as Neal’s work as a music instructor ramps up and Michaelina returns to school at Ocean County College.

“I’m so, so pumped for the upcoming semester because I’m going to be taking a painting class and a figure drawing class,” she said, beaming.

By next summer, she will have her associate’s degree in art (she is also a talented painter and muralist!) and will begin studying to obtain her real estate license – following in the footsteps of her mother, Denise. In the meantime, she has already begun making financial investments in the stock market.

“She has aspirations that, when I was younger … I wasn’t working in my sight line,” said her father admiringly. Her goal is to set herself up now so that in the future she will be financially free to explore her creative endeavors, such as songwriting and painting.

Michaelina’s younger brother has begun learning the bass, and rumor has it The Pettis might grow into a full band by next summer. Until then, check out their bold take on the classics every Wednesday night at Northside Bar and Grille in Surf City. Follow their journey at thepettis.com or on Facebook: @The Pettis.

Looking Forward. It’s not just the performers battling burnout. Halfway through the heat of summer, and locals want to mix it up. Fortunately, the Manahopkin Craft Beer and Music Festival happens just in time to revitalize the scene, with over 20 local craft breweries, plus food trucks and craft vendors, all in the heart of Stafford at Manahawkin Lake Park.

The event runs from noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 7. There will be two stages employed simultaneously for a full day of live music. The lineup boasts everything from blues, to heavy alternative, to reggae, to jam. For every tribute set there is a set full of originals. Visit manahopkin.com to learn more.

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