President Bill Clinton became an honorary Flying Other Brother, along with Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, at this DNC fundraiser at Stanford (where Clinton's daughter attended at that time). The FOBs played with Weir and Hart for the event.
The Flying Other Brothers played as headliners in a commercial gig for the very first time, and the night was an amazing success, in terms of both a happy audience and a great performance. Slim's is a popular S.F. "South of Market" nightclub owned by Boz Scaggs (333 11th St. at Harrison St., 415-522-0333) known for breaking in new acts as well as featuring established performers. Pollstar Magazine voted Slim's the best nightclub in America five out of the last eleven years, and for the past two years Slim's was awarded Best Bar & Club by the readers of the San Francisco Chronicle. We played twice as a opening band for Box Set, and was invited back to headline, with the popular blues band Sy Klopps as opening band.
We played the best we have ever played, and it was not in front of an audience. We set up and played for 9 hours a day over five days in a studio converted to be a "band camp." Our new "teachers" were Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, founders of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, and G. E. Smith, bandleader for Saturday Night Live and a veteran player in Bob Dylan's touring band, along with Pete Sears, who plays many instruments and especially keyboards with Starship, Hot Tuna, and many other bands. (When they're not touring, they are instructors at the Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp.) Joining us for vocal coaching and jamming were the leaders of Box Set, Jim and Jeff. We played nearly every one of our new originals, several times, over the five days. Jorma and G. E. conducted the sessions, listening to our first run-through of each song, taking notes. Then either one or both of them would pick up a guitar and join in on the song. Jack gave direct advice to the bass and drums and picked up his bass from time to time. Jamming on each tune helped the teachers understand the dynamics of the songs so that they could give us feedback on how to tighten the arrangements. It appeared from the very first day that they would be taking this band apart and putting it back together in five days - everything from clearing up our muddy parts to advice on how to position ourselves onstage.
w/ The Other Ones, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers
The Flying Other Brothers opened at the Furthur Festival on the Levi Stage. The main concert featured the OTHER ONES (Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Bruce Hornsby, Steve Kimock, Mark Karan, and Alphonso Johnson) and ZIGGY MARLEY & The Melody Makers.
w/ Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, Ben Harper, David Gans, David Nelson Band wit
The Flying Other Brothers played at Wavy Gravy's PigNic 2000, featuring Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, Ben Harper, David Gans, David Nelson Band with Henry Kaiser, and Spearhead.
We played at this famous club for 2 sets. Bob Weir joined the band for most of its second set, playing Grateful Dead chestnuts including "Jack Straw", "Playing in the Band" and "Minglewood Blues". Pete Sears (Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship) also joined in the second set to play piano and accordion.
