JiMiller Band still cooking in traditional Thanksgiving
By Charles Cassady
happenings
Published Nov. 23, 2005

It's a Thanksgiving tradition, the JiMiller Band performing a pre-Turkey Day jam-music show that's dead-icated to the Grateful Dead. It happens tonight at the Winchester Tavern and Music Hall in Lakewood.

"We were the first band in the Midwest to do the jam band and the Grateful Dead kind of a thing," said Jim Miller, of Cleveland Heights — not about the JiMiller Band, but his previous outfit, Oroboros, which he managed and fronted for nearly two decades. Now he's at the head of the JiMiller Band, playing guitar and mandolin (along with Rick Davison on guitar, Brett Miller on bass, Steve Scheff on keyboards and drummer Fred Perez-Stable) to continue the tradition of freeform, jazz-infused improvisation-heavy rock that was made famous by Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and - come on, you can name them all, right? If "the Professor and Mary Ann" pops into your head, maybe you've been to too many Grateful Dead shows.

Jim Miller confesses to having seen the Grateful Dead perform live 55 times ("What a knucklehead," he says of himself). A few times per year the JiMiller Band does an "all Dead all night" tribute, featuring Miller time variations on famous Dead arrangements and favorites. In a noble jam-band tradition, audience members will be permitted to tape the show for their own enjoyment, but bring some change for Cds of the JiMiller Band's own recordings, including "Family Roots," "Not Necessarily Dead" and the recent "Rock and Roll Always Do," which was recorded live at such Cuyahoga County and Akron venues as the Rhythm Room, Peabody's and the Dusty Frog.

It is an all-ages show, starting at approximately 9 p.m. The Winchester islocated at 12112 Madison Ave. in Lakewood; phone (216) 226-5681 for tickets and more information. The Web site for the band is www.jimillerband.com.

FRIDAY THE 13TH + 12: It's also a Thanksgiving tradition, albeit one even further removed from starving pilgrims and generous American Indians (who don't know what's in store for them) that Nov. 25, is known as "Black Friday," the busiest and maddest shopping day of the year. The trick to staying sane might be to go to just one marketplace where all your needs will be met, rather than driving all over town.

As a metaphor, let me present a unique night of entertainment on Friday on the near west side of Cleveland that hits all the targets at once -- movies, music, dancing, beer and pizza.

It's a "multi-level multimedia performance art and music fest solar light show," or the Sachsenheim Ball, for short. Taking place at the Transylvanian Hall at 7001 Denison Ave., its latest announced lineup features the local bands Sultans of Bing (who also play the Winchester on Thursday, Thanksgiving night, by the way - busy guys) , Sano Ceven, Task Daze, Mifune, Smiley Baldazar, and DJ Xe La, providing the tunes.

At 9 p.m. there will be a live display by the the Cleveland-based experimental dance troupe SAFMOD (SubAtomic Frequency Modulation OverDose), founded in 1991 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by dancer Young Park and percussionist Neil Chastain. They combine performance art and avant-garde visuals and multimedia-technology with the spoken word, hip-hop and maybe even some martial-arts acrobatics.

And in another room, you can view a double-feature of two locally-made horror movies from the gore-crazed brother act of Andy and Luther Campbell, of Kent, who made cinema art on video under the name Speed Freak Productions. "Midnight Skater" is a comedy-thriller about a slasher-killer of the "Halloween" variety stalking a college campus. "The Red Skulls" is a $5,500 feature about a biker gang. The Red Skulls, rumbling against their dreaded rivals, the Rats. The Skulls, however gain the advantage when their drinking a strange brew turns them into undead zombies. It's likely that both features would be considered R-rated.

Plus pizza and beer, don't forget, as well as on-site video gaming and a tavern-style bowling machine. Admission to the entire evening costs only $10. That's probably the only bargain anyone's going to find on Black Friday. You can phone (216) 651-0888 for more information. Xela310 maintains a Web site at www.luvmotha.com, while the Campbells promote fine art at www.speedfreakproductions.com. SAFMOD's website is www.safmod.org.