Olympic Platinum, Cover

December 1991 delivered a true “Christmas Single” to Pearl Jam fans complete with a Christmas Song, “Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time)”.  With a Pearl Jam membership, the item continued delivering year after year morphing into the “Holiday Single”.

In recent years, however, the delivery date around Christmas – how to say … – has “fluctuated”. Through some two-way ribbing and acknowledgement between fans and the Ten Club, the “Holiday” in “Holiday Single” is now generally interpreted as “the day the Holiday Single arrives is the Holiday”

In that spirit, Happy Holiday! In this article, we’ll take a look at Fan Club Single #5 – “Olympic Platinum” / “Smile” (Live).

The Starting Line

The revelation of “Olympic Platinum” as a song is fascinating as it was one of the first examples both from Pearl Jam’s and fans’ perspective of the viral awareness the still nascent Internet made possible.

On July 21, 1996, a fan posted on the newsgroup alt.music.pearl-jam that a new song “Olympic Platinum” was played on Atlanta radio station 99X.  With fandom still at a fever-pitch prior to the release of the fan-filtering No Code, fans did their best to circulate a copy. On August 8, 1996, Issue #18 of the Pearl Jam Rumor Pit even fielded some Q&A on the song:

Q-Where can I hear Pearl Jam’s song, “Olympic Platinum” that was played on Atlanta radio during the Olympics?
A-Find someone who taped it.

Give Pearl Jam fans a challenge and they’ll succeed. Eventually this song did make the rounds through tape-trading and early file-sharing systems, but then the official Fan Club release of “Olympic Platinum” with B-side “Smile”, Live from Barcelona Nov 21 1996 started to arrive in early January 1997.

Blue-Ribbon Packaging

The blue sleeve reeks of the gimmicky sleeves of vinyl’s retro past, featuring “Pearl Jam” with the slogan “Plays and Sings!”.  Surrounded by a border of stars, a striated gray “Olympic Platinum” sits adjacent to a trophy where the trophy figure seems to be avoiding getting hit by a bus as opposed to participating in any particular sport. With a track length of 3 minutes 50 seconds, the label at the bottom lives up to its word: “Almost four minutes of SOLID PLATINUM“.

The back sleeve features a collage of black-and-white Olympic sports photos with the faces of Pearl Jam members overlaying the original athletes.

Clockwise from Top Left: Jack Irons (Hockey), Jeff Ament (2-man bobsled), Ed Vedder (skiing), Mike McCready (Tennis), Stone Gossard (Track)

Clockwise from Top Left: Jack Irons (Hockey), Jeff Ament (2-man bobsled), Ed Vedder (skiing), Mike McCready (Tennis), Stone Gossard (Track)

Stone’s “999″ shirt number looks fabricated, possibly a simple node to an upside down “666″ (Kathy’s note: Stone does like to ‘run with the devil’ from time to time) or back to the Andrew Wood “Love Rock” era of “333″.

And, oh yes, Eddie Vedder’s number is 23 on his ski outfit.

The smell of victory, land of the free

Although it’s a Pearl Jam release, it’s tough to label “Olympic Platinum” as an original or a cover, but it is officially listed as a cover (editor: how about a “Coveriginal”?). With music and lyrics by Engineer Nick Didia, the performance credits are listed on the insert as:

Olympic Platinum, Side A

• Music and lyrics Nick Didia
• Eddie (Vedder) on vocals
• Brendan (O’Brien) on Bass
• Stone (Gossard) on drums
• Nick (Didia) on keyboard
• Mike (McCready) on the phone (?)

Recording credits reveal the sessions were done at Studio Litho and Engineered by Matt Bayles. Matt Bayles was an Assistant Engineer to Nick Didia on 1996′s No Code and later given full Engineer credits for Yield and Binaural. After recording sessions in Chicago and New Orleans in 1995 for No Code, this song was recorded at some point in early 1996.

To understand the lyrics of “Olympic Platinum”, one first needs to understand the atmosphere in the United States surrounding the Olympics in the ’80s and ’90s.  To add to the competitive Olympic relationship with the Soviet Union in the 1970s, the Cold War between the two nations disrupted the Games in 1980 and 1984. First, the United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Games in protest over the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan, then the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. Each host country ultimately dominated the competition in their respective countries, thus bringing the idea of a “globally fair playing field” into question.

Because of these boycotts, the “struggles” of these amateur athletes were depicted in the media in histrionic fashion, as the stories behind these Olympians were often presented more prominently than the competitions themselves. Prime-time Olympic TV became a mix of tape-delayed coverage of U.S. successes, mixed in with over-produced profiles of Olympic athletes who “struggled” and were “sad” after the two boycotted Olympics spurned many in their prime.

Fast-forward to 1996 in Atlanta, which is generally accepted as the most commercialized Olympics to date. Nick Didia, who worked/works closely with Brendan O’Brien at Atlanta’s Southern Tracks Recording Studio, must have been influenced by the Olympic mania in the city, creating lyrics dripping with sarcasm, commercialism, vanity and false pride as many viewed the Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta, 1996.

What’s bigger than big? The biggest! What’s greater than Bronze, Silver or even Gold? PLATINUM!

The musical performance includes an airy, reverb-soaked piano, synthesizer and bass landscape with Stone providing light drumming. Lazy falsetto background vocals accompany the song throughout, as well as a deep droning bass vocal. Mike’s credit is listed as “on the phone”, but we can’t pinpoint that role, unless it’s an additional background vocal or the crackling laugh at the end of the track.

The vocal performance taps into Ed’s dramatic side, as one can envision Ed delivering the verses with simulated integrity and a wry smile. Ironically, this song features some of Ed’s strongest vocals with his soaring delivery of “I’m living my liiiiiiiife for Olympic platinum”.

With this background in mind, check out the lyrics while you listen. Next we’ll dig deeper into the name-checks and events.

Olympic dream, Olympic dream …

If I could reach to the sky and touch it for my country
Get some on my finger and take in its smell
The smell of victory, land of the free
Olympic dream, Olympic dream
Olympic theme, my Olympic dream
My promotion scheme

How hard can it be?
How high can I jump?
How high can I throw?
How high can I run (I’m running very fast)?
How long can I hold my breath and stay underwater and wave my legs around in perfect unison with my partner who doesn’t really understand me or my olympic dream, my olympic dream

I’ll be like Dwight Stone, I’ll be like Bruce Jenner
I’ll be like that girl who trained all her life as a distance runner and then tripped with a quarter mile to go
But I…I will get up and I will run
I will run with the Georgia peach breeze and I … I will win
I will win my … My olympic dream, my olympic dream

The Gold’s just not good enough and I don’t even think of the bronze
I’m living my life for Olympic platinum
Olympic dream, my olympic theme
I’ll sing like Whitney (sing like Whitney)
My Olympic dream

The lyrics are full of tongue-and-cheek overdramatization (“Get some on my finger and take in its smell”) and winning at all costs (“The Gold’s (first place) just not good enough and I don’t even think of the bronze (third place)”) and references to Atlanta (“Georgia Peach breeze” = Atlanta is located in Georgia, “The Peach State”).

Here are explanations of some interesting references:

Synchronized Swimming

“How long can I hold my breath and stay underwater and wave my legs around in perfect unison with my partner who doesn’t really understand me or my olympic dream, my Olympic dream”

Synchronized-swimming became an official Olympic sport at the 1984 Summer games in Los Angeles. The event, where female swim teams performed underwater “moves” to music, was often seen as the dilution of athletic competition, since many found it difficult to label it as a “sport”. Here’s a link. Have fun.

Dwight Stones

“I’ll be like Dwight Stone (sic), I’ll be like Bruce Jenner”

Although Ed sang “Dwight Stone”, Dwight Stones won Bronze in ’72 and ’76 in the High Jump. Thwarted in his attempt for better results with the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Summer Games, Stones failed to medal in Los Angeles in 1984, finishing 4th.

Bruce Jenner

“I’ll be like Bruce Jenner”

Bruce Jenner, Olympic Gold Medalist

Although many now know him as the stepfather of the Kardashians (sorry, we’re not justifying it with a link), Bruce Jenner achieved enormous celebrity status in the late 1970s after his dramatic Gold Medal victory in the Decathalon at the 1976 Montreal Summer games.

Adorning one of the most famous covers of Sports Illustrated ever, his symbol of victory propelled him to be named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976. He capitalized on many commercial and endorsement opportunities, and anyone who ate a box of Wheaties in the late 1970s surely remembers Bruce Jenner.

Mary Decker

“I’ll be like that girl who trained all her life as a distance runner and then tripped with a quarter mile to go
But I…I will get up and I will run
I will run with the Georgia peach breeze and I … I will win
I will win my … My Olympic dream, my Olympic dream”

Mary Decker became a symbol of U.S. entitlement in 1984 when she fell after making contact with Zola Budd during the 3000-meters final. After success earlier in her career riddled with injuries, she never won an Olympic Medal and initially didn’t apologize for her harsh criticism of Budd, feeling she was “robbed” of the Gold medal.

Whitney Houston

“I’ll sing like Whitney! (Sing like Whitney)”

For better or for worse, it was hard to escape the popularity of Whitney Houston in the 1980s and early 1990s. Known for her powerful singing and wide range, her 1991 performance of The Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl (note, not the Olympics) is viewed as one of the most emotional and patriotic performance of the Anthem ever. Ed even goes falsetto in an upper-scale run during the “-ey” of “Sings like Whitney”.

Don’t It Make You Smile

With the timing of this single now known, it’s interesting to see how quickly it was turned into reality.  With the performance on November 21, 1996, and the tour ending soon afterwards on November 25, the track was pulled, mixed and turned into vinyl grooves in presumably a few short weeks before it shipped and arrived on doorsteps in early January 1997.

Olympic Platinum, Side B

Although we like to avoid opinion and interpretation in our articles, it’s tough to argue that “Smile” is not a genuine “fan favorite”. It may not be the most musically challenging song, and it was never a radio-friendly single, but nested in between “In My Tree” and “Off He Goes” on No Code, it serves as one of the few “happy” songs in Pearl Jam’s then-developing catalog.

Not only do the fans smile, given the opportunity to sing along in full voice, but the band smiles as well when Jeff takes on a gritty Guitar role while Stone loosely grooves on the Bass.

A year after 1995′s patchwork Australian and U.S. tours, it’s safe to say that 1996′s non-ticketmaster U.S. Tour and European Tour were populated with fans that had to work hard to be there. And once the effort of ticket-buying and waiting were over, the release at a show allowed “Smile” to shine live just like the facial gesture portrays.

The only problem for fans that saw the U.S. shows that year is that they didn’t play it. It was sound-checked Sept 22 in Toledo but its debut was saved for the European fans a month later.

Lastly, the song’s intro gave an early hint to Ed’s endearing approach to addressing international audiences by introducing “Smile” in Barcelona’s native Spanish by saying “Como se dice ‘Smile’?” which means “How do you say ‘Smile’?”

After debuting at Wembley Arena on October 25 at the start of the tour, “Smile” in Barcelona is their tenth performance but sounds like their hundredth, with a tight rhythm and terrific vocal delivery.

Although it’s tracked early on No Code, “Smile” has only appeared live during an encore, and with its placement late in the show serves as the denouement of any set with the chorus “I miss you al-readdddy” used effectively as a way for both Pearl Jam and its fans to smile and say a collective “Thank You”.

During Pearl Jam mania of the early 1990s, this message was often hard to discern, but “Smile” on this Holiday single made it official.

Check out this live version of “Smile”, its second live performance on October 29, 1996, London, UK

Side A, Side B … both are Winners!

Few fans will classify “Olympic Platinum” as a “serious” Pearl Jam composition. If you look at it that way, this Fan Club single reverses the roles of Sides A and B by putting a Ramblings-type track as Side A.  A snapshot of an artist’s mood and approach at a given time is often extracted from their albums or live material from that time period. With Pearl Jam’s holiday singles, we get extra insight because they know that their message is being delivered directly to their fans.

With No Code in the can, this single represents the “things will be different” and “sponsored by no one” labels that the band rightly received, admitting later in their history that this time period’s material was meant to pare down their fan base.  “Olympic Platinum” is not meant to be criticized for its lack of “hit single quality” but appreciated for its biting sarcasm and loose delivery. And if you want, you can even learn to play it on guitar.

Naturally, then, both songs made fans “smile” by showing their “fun” side, and continuing their encore heroics with songs that pull you onto the concert stage so that we can all sing along together.

Special Thanks:

• PJCollectors.com for the single artwork scans
• FiveHorizons.com for their awesomeness and reference coverage
• alt.music.pearl-jam NewsGroup for endless nostalgic fun

Check out our Artifactors on preceding Fan Club Singles:

• Fan Club Single #1 : Band’s First Christmas (1991)
• Fan Club Single #2 : Sorry Rudolph (1992)
• Fan Club Single #3 : Like An Angel, Part 1 (1993)
• Fan Club Single #3 : You F**kin’ Little What?, Part 2 (1993)
• Fan Club Single #4: Double Or Nothing (1995)

Do you want to play bass like Jeff Ament? You might need a ton of practice and an education in the great bass-masters of rock, but pretty soon you’ll be able to buy Jeff Ament’s “JAXT4″ signature bass, a collaboration with Jeff and local Seattle guitar-maker Mike Lull.

At $5500 you might question the pricetag, but consider it’s a hand-made guitar, not something mass-produced that you can buy at a big-box store. Jeff has been working with Jeff and Stone Gossard since their Mother Love Bone days. Many famous guitarists have their own line of custom-made guitars with large manufacturers, but few use local tradesmen. For example, Phish’s Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon have exclusively used guitars made by a local guitar-maker in their native Vermont for over twenty years.

Enough of what we have to say, let’s see what Jeff has to say:

Jeff Ament Endorsement for JAXT4

From the press release:

Seattle, WA- November 30, 2011– Longtime Northwest guitar and bass builder, Mike Lull, has collaborated with Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament to create the “JAXT4” signature Jeff Ament electric bass. This handmade instrument will be available starting in January and marks the first time any member of the 20-year-old iconic musical group has put their name on an instrument. “The only bass that plays like a modern handmade machine and sounds like the best vintage Fender or Gibson in the shop,” said Jeff Ament. “I’m honored to put my name next to Mike’s on this beast. 4 strings!” (Ament’s quote in his own handwriting is included as an attachment).

Capitalizing on a 25-year relationship, Lull and Ament worked together closely to create the signature model bass. The bass features a 20% oversized body, but thinner body thickness than standard Mike Lull T4 models, along with a reverse headstock. Jeff Ament personally chose all custom colors, finish, and wood configurations. The JAXT4 comes with a metal (select models only) pickguard engraved with an Ament designed T-bass logo, Jeff’s signature on the headstock along with a special Mike Lull logo designed by Jeff to be used only on his signature model. Included is a custom Ament hardshell case with a hand-stenciled logo on the exterior, along with a bag of assorted Ament custom guitar picks.

The JAXT4 is available in these four custom color and wood configuration choices:

• Satin black polyester finish w/ chromed aluminum JA pickguard (mahogany body/mahogany neck/rosewood fingerboard)
• Satin kerry-green polyester finish w/ solid white plastic JA pickguard (mahogany body/maple neck/maple fingerboard)
• Gloss clear polyester finish w/ chromed aluminum JA pickguard (swamp ash body/maple neck/maple fingerboard)
• Satin cardinal-red polyester finish w/ solid black plastic JA pickguard (mahogany body/mahogany neck/rosewood fingerboard)

The JAXT4 will be unveiled at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show the weekend of January 19-22, 2012 in Anaheim, California and be available for purchase thereafter.

“I’ve worked with Jeff for years, on repairs and building instruments for use in the studio and on the road,” says Lull. “His instinct when it comes to quality and craftsmanship match my own sensibilities and made it a joy to create the JAXT4 to add to our lineup.”

Mike Lull Guitar Works and Jeff Ament have chosen 826 Seattle, a local non-profit, as a beneficiary for on an online auction featuring two handpainted (by Ament) signature basses. Details on the auction will be announced soon, with all funds benefitting 826 Seattle.

Mike Lull has been fixing and building guitars and basses for 35 years. Lull’s first job at age 16 was repairing guitars for a local shop. He developed a following among area musicians and opened his own shop at 21. He began to build custom basses and guitars, his fretwork becoming legendary and his fine- tuning attracting artists across genres and locales. A local cover band bassist himself, he has built and repaired instruments for numerous Northwest legends including Heart, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, Queensryche and national acts such as Bon Jovi, Randy Jackson, Bob Dylan and many, many more. To this day, Mike continues to hand build and test each and every bass and guitar that leaves his shop.

Mike Lull Guitar Works was formed in 1975 as a repair shop and as the demand for his high quality work grew, Mike began to custom build guitars and basses. He has a dedicated following of musicians around the country and world. The shop boasts a computer controlled fret leveling machine called a Plek. It levels frets to within .001 mm accuracy, resulting in a type of precision that creates ultimate playability. Mike Lull’s Plek machine does more fret dressings than any other Plek station in the country. Mike Lull Custom Guitars are distributed in 9 countries and all over the United States. Visit www.mikelull.com for more information.

The Jeff Ament “JAXT4″ bass available in January 2012.

Jeff Ament playing the JAXT4 Signature Bass

As two solid months of celebration of Pearl Jam’s 20 (now 21!) years together has finally wrapped up with the 10 Club DVD box set edition of Pearl Jam Twenty hitting mailboxes around the world, we’re presenting all the great Pearl Jam memories the OTHER performers at the PJ20 fest shared with TwoFeetThick.com over that weekend.

At the PJ20 festival Labor Day Weekend, an event almost as rare as a Temple of the Dog set occurred: all three TwoFeetThick.com editors converged to share two days of music, friends, and, just as special as the epic Pearl Jam shows we witnessed there: we sat down with several of the artists playing the side stages to talk about the fest, their music, and the Pearl Jam connection that brought them into the PJ20 celebration.

I don’t think we were quite ready for the breadth of the PJ connections, from talented heirs from famous musical families who became like younger brothers to members of PJ upon first meeting (Liam Finn, Dhani Harrison) to respected veterans connected to PJ first by a cause (John Doe) to iconoclastic contemporaries whose style provided PJ members pure inspiration (Joseph Arthur, David Garza). As Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary celebration continues, these artists’ thoughts on PJ show, once again, that no great band exists in isolation: Just as important as their music is whose music touches them, and whose music they touch.

John Doe

Latest Albums: Keeper (2011), A Day At The Pass (w/ Jill Sobule, 2011)

PJ20 Moments

John, co-founder of X, really shined on Sunday (Sept. 4) when the sun broke through the clouds for Doe’s rollicking mid-afternoon set. Eddie joined him for a sweet run through of “Golden State,” and Doe paid back the favor hopping onstage for Pearl Jam’s set later that day to ‘cover’ another of his songs, “New World,” before jointing the all-band-jam on “Rockin’ in The Free World.” Poignantly, before “New World,” Doe took the mic to tell the tens of thousands gathered, “Never lose hope.”

The Doe/Pearl Jam Connection

John Doe, Photo by Kathy Davis

“[Later, in 2010] He was signing with Natalie Maines singing [Doe's song] ‘Golden State,’ it was really great. “The version with Corin [Tucker of Sleater-Kinney] was great and really flattering. He did that right after I did that song and realized we had four or five versions of ‘Golden State,’ and the record company said if you got somebody really famous to do it, if you had another version that was a tentpole then, what if we did an EP of just that song. I asked Ed, ‘Do you want to this and he said sure I’d love to but can we wait until Corin has her baby?’ ‘Sure, When’s that?’ It was like three months. And then they did it.”

And Doe’s reaction to the West Memphis 3 now being free, after the years he and Eddie, and many others worked hard to their release? “It was just thrilling to know that they can possibly go forward. I don’t know what they’ll do but I know that it’s better than them being in prison. Justice is a weird, strange beast, especially in a capitalist society like what we live in, but good things do happen. I do think that people shouldn’t take this lightly and think oh this is just a one time chance. Realize that people do have some power.”

See John Doe Live: He’s on tour with X opening for Pearl Jam in Central and South America from Nov. 3 in Brazil through Nov. 24 in Mexico.

The Golden State EP, incl. EV and Corin Tucker

Liam Finn

Latest Album: FOMO (2011)

PJ20 Moments

You missed a wild loop-tastic Finn set if you cowered from the rain in the Expo center on Saturday (Sept. 3). but chances are, you heard a little something about Eddie V. getting behind the mic (and drum kit!) for a Finn-ified take on “Habit” during Finn’s set and a plenty of collab action during PJ both nights (night one backup on “Who You Are” and duet on “Education”; night two backup on “All Night,” and “Reach Down” duet on “Habit,” all-bands-jam on “Rockin’ In The Free World”).

The Finn/Pearl Jam Connection

Liam Finn, photo by Kathy Davis

“To be honest, I don’t think dad listened to much Pearl Jam at that time,” Liam continues. “[Ed] said he wanted to meet up with dad. Dad was really flattered. As soon as he met the family, he was kind of like a long lost cousin or something. He really fit in. And he was really unhappy at the hotel he was staying at so he came and stayed with us at my family’s house. I actually had to give up my bed for him; he stayed in my room. I had to wake him up the next morning and I was big Pearl Jam fan. I was about 11 or 12, so that was a big deal for me. He was so wonderful. I think he knew I was a fan and he’s always so good to fans. He gave me a little notebook of his with a drawing of a wave at the end. It really made me go, ‘Wow this guy has been so lovely to me and I love his music.’ So from there I was just an avid follower.

“[Pearl Jam] came back again [in 98] and I saw them again and he came back for Seven Worlds Collide [in 2001] and my band [Betchadupa] got to do those songs with him. Every time I’ve seen him it’s been the next tier of, ‘this is amazing, it’s one of my heroes.’ Betchadupa opened for Pearl Jam in Australia for a few shows [in 2003] and then I didn’t see him for [awhile].

“Whenever we would cross paths we would hang out because we enjoy each others company but it wasn’t until, by chance, he had a live CD of just my show on my own at Spaceland in LA. he listened to it on New Year’s Eve [2007 into 2008] with Boom in Hawaii and he started trying to figure out how the fuck I was making so much noise. Buzzed out, probably after a few wines, he was like, ‘ah fuck!’ He gave me a ring about a week later and said, ‘I just had the best time listening to your record and I’m going to do this solo thing for the first time and do you think you would want to come and open? I was like, ‘Fuck Yea!’

“I think he hadn’t seen any of that kind of looping stuff before and to be honest that was one of the first shows I did that had the whole looping thing and it just happened to get recorded. I was pretty new at it at that point, but he liked that spontaneity and that sort of aspect that felt like it could fall apart. He responded to it.”

The 2009 ‘Live At The Wiltern’ album, which captures Finn’s opening set during Vedder’s tour, Liam says is, “a little bit further in the evolution. That’s probably one of my favorite live recordings that we did. Quite often L.A. is tough so I don’t always have the best time, but that Wiltern show was really good. We were really lucky we got to use that. I though, ‘Fuck, the Wiltern, they won’t let us use that.’ But they were like, ‘Yup, that’s fine. You’re opening for Eddie, do what you want.’”

TheNewNo2

Latest Record: EP0O2, 2011. New album forthcoming in early 2012.

PJ20 Moments

Two solid mid-afternoon jams of delectable laptop-aided rock led by the Dhani Harrison, son of Beatle George and 1/3 of the also awesome Fistful of Mercy (along with PJ-pals Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur). Dhani brought his outsize guitar talents to the big stage on night two as he ripped through “Elderly Woman” with PJ and joined in on the all-hands-on-deck “Rockin’ In The Free World” jamboree.

The Harrison/Pearl Jam Connection

“We went to Seattle to play, and the first night after we got off the plane we went to play ax darts with Ed and old pals. Eddie said that night that the next day he was going to Arkansas to do the West Memphis Three gig. We all kinda turned around and said, ‘we should go,’ changed our flights and went. So the next day we ended up in Little Rock, weirdly enough, me, Joe Arthur and Ben [Harper] with Eddie. After that he said, “We’re having a festival.” I said, “give us a buzz.”

thenewno2, photo by Kathy Davis

Joseph Arthur

Latest Album: The Graduation Present (2011)

PJ20 Moments

Arthur’s contemplative groove rocked the side stage both days, and you weren’t seeing things if you noticed Jeff, Matt, AND Mike joined him onstage for “When The Fire Comes,” the Ament tune handed out on CD to all fan club ticketholders, and tantalizingly labeled as being “from the forthcoming LP ‘While My Heart Beats.’”

The JA/Pearl Jam Connection

Joseph Arthur, photo by Kathy Davis

“The first time I knew Jeff was when he had this band Three Fish and I opened up for them at Wetlands in New York City. It was me and David Garza opening up. Also, there was a best of the decade list and he mentioned me and it’s just like man, that’s so fucking nice of him, you know? David Garza is here today and so am I. Pretty amazing. More recently I went to Seattle with Fistful of Mercy [Arthur's band with Ben Harper and thenewno2's Dhani Harrison] and meeting up with Eddie and then going down to do West Memphis Three event. It was amazing, incredible.”

David Garza

Buy Oversea on davidgarza.com

Latest Record: Oversea (2011)

David on Jeff

“It’s very very humbling to walk around and playing shows with these guys. Seeing it from the side of the stage is one thing, but walking out among mudsliding people in the rain just singing every word to the most cultish obscure b-sides… They started in ’91 and I started in ’90, so they’re ‘younger’ in a way, but it’s funny to see this museum. Each of us has our own history.

David Garza, photo by Kathy Davis

“We play very different music in a lot of ways, but a lot of times it’s very similar. He lays down such an undeniable bedrock for those guys, he’s a force of nature. I think that the fact that he’s so interested in new music and other music is a testament to how far reaching his scope goes. His bass in the band is large, dinosaur steps. The stuff he does with he jams with me and Joseph is like building bird cages or doll houses, such intricacy.”

Star Anna And the Laughing Dogs

buy from Pearljam.com

Latest Album: Alone In This Together (2011), featuring Mike McCready on three songs (“Time,” “Wolves In Disguise,” “Alone In This Together”). It’s available on PearlJam.com for $10. https://secure.pearljam.com/store/product.spring?sku=6292-CD

PJ20 Moments

The Washington State native grew up playing drums but found her voice in her teens and brought the bluesy rock singer/songwriterly chops she’s honed ever since — now with her band the Laughing Dogs — to the PJ20 second stage early in the day, both days. With special guest… surprise… Mike McCready. She confided that while she’s friends with McCready and he appears on her album, PJ20 marked the first time she saw Pearl Jam live.

Star Anna on Pearl Jam

“Through some mutual friends Mike [McCready] and I were involved in some benefits, Hootenanny For Haiti. And we had met Mike before that, but that was the one where we really connected. Justin, my guitar player, and I did ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is,’ an Otis Redding tune. And Mike says that when he saw us do that, he was just like, ‘THIS is something.’ At some point in the night he leaned over to Justin and said, ‘When are you putting your third record out?’ We had no idea. We’d been kinda wanting to do it for three years and just hadn’t gotten there yet. And he said, ‘Let’s make it happen. Let’s do it.’ And so, I’m there. We’re on Local 638 Records, but [PJ's] Monkeywrench Records is distribution.”

Young Evils

Latest Album: Enchanted Chapel (2010). New album due in 2012.

PJ20 Moments

You missed some dark-sweet boy-girl pop if you didn’t catch The Young Evils during their early afternoon PJ20 side-stage set, but if you were at the fest, chances are you caught several of them wielding tambourines during the all-band “Rockin’ In The Free World” jam with PJ on night two.

Young Evils on Pearl Jam

“Mike [McCready]‘s been supportive of the band for a long time,” says co-singer Mackenzie Mercer, who, as the daughter of longtime Pearl Jam photographer Lance Mercer, has been around the PJ guys as long as she can remember. “Mike and my dad and Stone and Jeff go back way further than even Pearl Jam days,” she explains. “They go back to just being just kids growing up in Seattle. Mike went to Roosevelt [High] and my dad was kinda a little Ave rat hanging out skateboarding with Duff McKagan and this whole little scene of people.

Young Evils, photo by Steven Dewall

It also seems fitting where Mackenzie and frontman Troy Nelson joined forces, and also where they all connected with manager Jessica Curtis, whose father is Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis. “Mackenzie and I worked at a record store together, Easy Street. I didn’t even know she could sing. We were already friends and I thought she was cool,” Nelson says. “Actually Jessica our manager used to work at Easy Street as well.”

20 years, 4 months, 16 days – that’s how long it took to discover the setlist for a long-lost show at small club before Pearl Jam’s first record was even released. This summer show in July was the second-to-last show on a quick summer jaunt across the U.S. in 1991.

The setlist below comes from “Billy” who hinted that he had information about this show, then contacted Jeff Blagg who wrote the amazing PJ Stat Tracker App, who forwarded these goodies to us.

July 21 1991 Setlist, Cabaret Metro, Chicago

He wrote:

I asked Eddie for it when they were done.  He took a polaroid of me, shook my hand and said “Thanks for coming”.  There were about 20 people watching them.   The only thing I had heard about them before the show was the three-song promotional CD single for “Alive” and the Mother Love Bone connection. This was the show when they opened for Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and Soul Asylum (!!!)

Making our new Concert Chronology entry:

07/21/91 – Cabaret Metro: Chicago, IL [30m]
attendance: 1,100 (much less for Pearl Jam)
supporting: Naked Raygun, Urge Overkill, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum
set: Wash, Once, Even Flow, State of Love and Trust, Alive, Why Go, Porch
notes: This show is a part of the Metro’s eighth anniversary weekend, the venue is packed and PJ is first on the bill. On the setlist but not played: Deep, Jeremy

At Pearl Jam’s current tour of South America, we find out the setlist often just minutes after the last notes have been played and the band takes their final bow. But for those pre-internet shows of the past, we depend on fans with good memories or stashed away memorabilia to help add to the information in our fan-contributed Concert Chronology.

Do you have anything from concerts past that you can share? Give a look at the early days and let us know if you have some info! Use the Contact Us page to reach out and we’ll be in touch!

Setlist and notes from Eddie Vedder’s appearance Saturday at the 25th Anniversary Bridge School Benefit.

10/23/2011 Bridge School Benefit, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA, USA
Set: Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Last Kiss, I Am A Patriot, Society, Tonight You Belong To Me, Sleepless Nights, Don’t Cry No Tears
TFT Notes: Ed greets the crowd on the second day of the benefit, “Good evening. Thanks for the reception. It’s beautiful out there, it’s a beautiful day … that’s two in a row. Ya know, last night I started with a Neil song, a Neil Young song, and it only took me about 30 seconds to screw it all up. I’m not gonna do that again tonight. I went in the back and told Neil “I can’t believe … that was a big mistake.” and he said “No, the only mistake you made was not telling me you were gonna play it because I woulda went out and played it with ya. We coulda fucked it up together (laughter)”. I didn’t mean to cuss in front of the kids, sorry about that. Neil and Pegi, they don’t use the F-word.” “Elderly Woman…” starts and gets a big “Hello!”. “Thank You. I was thinking about htis i couldn’t sleep last night thinking about the weight and the intensity of neil and pegi and all of the people involved to do this 25 years consecutively it’s such an amazing feat. And coming over coming here maybe 10 times in the last however many years to get to know some of thesee kids and to see the work that’s been done, these Young men and young women and their parents i just can’t tell them what a huge impact they’ve had on my life.” Before another crowd-pleaser, “Last Kiss”, Ed talks about Maricor, “And my one friend Maricor, that’s her right there (points, to applause) Last night I was saying she was two college degress more than I do which isn’t saying much. But she’s probably got two more than all of y’all! And this one I think is her favorite, so this is for Maricor. If you want to sing, sing it for maricor.” Ed references the Occupy Wall Street Movement with “I’m going to play one for the 99%-ers. I feel like that’s a movement that you can fully back, because you’re either one of the 99% or you’re one of the 1%, and if you’re one of the 1%, you’ve got it pretty fucking good. You have to learn to play well with others, pass the ball to other people and give them a shot. (“I Am A Patriot”) is written by a guy called Little Steven Van Zandt”. Today, Eddie was “walking with his boyfriend” and “sure as hell ain’t no Republican either.” For “Society”, Ed mentions “I have a few friends that are gonna help me here. The first one I’d like to introduce … he’s a local (San Francisco). He’s an extermly talented musician and songrwiter, please welcome, Mr. Jerry Hannan. I met Jerry through a friend called Sean Penn we worked on something called Into The Wild. There’s a song – probably the best song on there, it’s called “Society” – it’s Jerry who wrote it so we’re gonna do that.” “Alright this is exciting for me I get to invite Regine from Arcade Fire to join me and the ukulele”, which leads to another collaboration on “Tonight You Belong To Me”. “Not only is it great to call this guy a friend, but it’s great to be able to play with him, Beck Hansen”, leading to a well-received version of “Sleepless Nights”. “Alright, this is Uncle Neil” who helps Ed make up for the previous night’s miscue with terrific harmonies and harmonica on “Don’t Cry No Tears”.

Setlists

Video, Setlist and notes from Eddie Vedder’s appearance Saturday at the 25th Anniversary Bridge School Benefit.

10/22/2011 Bridge School Benefit, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View , CA, USA
Don’t Cry No Tears (stopped), You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, Don’t Cry No Tears, Rise, Without You, Tonight You Belong To Me, Just Breathe, Porch, Sleepless Nights
TFT Notes: Sporting a wide-brimmed hat and a Bridge Schoool t-shirt, Eddie performed at Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit for the second time as a solo artist (read about his 2004 appearance). Smiling and energetic, Ed starts “Good evening, thank you. I was thinking to start with a Neil Young song. He’s got a lot of them, he can’t possibly use them all tonight, so I thought I’d make use of this one.” He debuts Neil Young’s “Don’t Cry No Tears” but unfortunately stops during the first verse, joking “Alright I might have to play that one later. ” Donning the harmonica, Ed plays a rousing “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” with the crowd taking a few lines of the chorus. “Don’t Cry No Tears” is revisited with hesitation “I’m gonna try this one one more time (crowd cheers, big smile)  just relax”. “Don’t Cry No Tears” is the lead track from Neil Young’s 1975 album, Zuma. “Here’s a little Mandolin for you” leading to “Rise”. “Neil and Pegi asked if I was gonna bring my ukulele so here it is. And this is – well, it’s kind of an unexpurgated love song written for my wife – I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I dedicated it to Maricor, my friend back here tonight. Maricor has two more college degrees than I have, from (University of California at) Berkeley. She’s my hero, (then looking back at all the students) or one of ‘em.” Régine from Arcade Fire “graciously accepted the invitation to try this next one with me”, to which they duet on “Tonight You Belong To Me”. Pearl Jam standards “Just Breathe” and “Porch” bring the crowd to their feet. Beck joins Eddie for the last track of his set, “Here’s my friend for the last one, here’s Beck. This is one we did years and years ago, it’s nice to do it again”. Beck and Eddie last performed “Sleepless Nights” at the Concert for Artists’ Rights at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles in February 2002. “Thank you Bridge School, thank you Beck, good night” in closing to an appreciative crowd.

Setlists

Eddie Vedder on the cover of Rolling Stone, 1999, from from Jan 17 1992 concert featured on Vault #1

Pearl Jam fans don’t have much to complain about when it comes to Pearl Jam bootlegs. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that hundreds of soundboard recordings have been released since 2000. In pre-internet days you traded or bought bootlegs, though commonly not the best quality or price. Post-internet, there are tons of sites that stream old shows.

But we do complain wish that one day yesterday Pearl Jam would release all some of their past concerts from “The Vault”. The Vault is the stuff of legend. Magazine articles have hinted at it, constant caller questioning on Siriux/XM Pearl Jam Radio has yielded lots of “we hope so one day” responses.

Fans don’t know a lot about The Vault; but if anyone does, it’s Brett Eliason – Pearl Jam’s uber-Engineer who ran Front-of-House in the early days, then recorded/mixed the Bootleg releases as well as recent Pearl Jam and side-project releases.

We care about The Vault now since we were pleasantly surprised at Pearl Jam Destination Weekend with, amongst other goodies, a single-CD in a cardboard sleeve labeled “VAULT #1” and containing the January 17, 1992 concert at the Moore Theatre. There has been no further information on its availability for purchase, either by Ten Club members or for general release.

Wanting to know as much as we could about this release, Brett took some time around his busy Fall recording schedule to answer some questions about this show, the technical hurdles it took to release it, and some insight into the mythical magical vault.

Brett Eliason Talks Vault #1 with Two Feet Thick

Two Feet Thick: The January 17, 1992 show at the Moore Theater is “famous” because of the popularity of the “Even Flow” video. As far as the origins of this being the first “Vault” release, did you suggest that show or did the band suggest it?

Brett: Actually, I dug that one up – though I had band approval as always. I had remembered bringing a multitrack tape machine and console into the basement of the Moore Theater to record the performance for the video shoot. We have precious few multi-tracks from those first couple of years as the modular systems did not exist as of yet. A buddy of mine actually watched over the recording during the show as I was doing Front-of-house. I wanted the first of that series to be a special show that had some real “historical” value to it.

Two Feet Thick: Did you have to dig out old machines to play the tapes or was it in a decent format to work with.

Brett: The performance was recorded to a now obsolete digital format, Sony PCM 3324 dash. The tapes had to be sent to a specialty transfer house to be transferred to a current working format.

Two Feet Thick: “Baba O’Riley” is cut (see below for full setlist). Having heard the audience recording, I know the performance isn’t “optimal”. Was it an editorial or technical reason that it was left off?

Brett: “Baba” was left off mostly due to the failure of Ed’s mic line. We lost part of the vocals during that song in both the house and monitors during the show. Once a new line was squared away the recording did not have it. Constant challenges of a live performance. The fact that all of that technology usually works at all is amazing.

Two Feet Thick: Fans probably have wild visions of what “the vault” looks like – a big steel door, people in white gloves, and security. Is it that glamorous? Do you have a special key or hand-print identification? A special password like “open sesame“?

Brett: The Vault isn’t quite that glamorous. It is not a clean room like you get with CD pressing plants or the like. However, it is a self-contained facility with very special environmental handling equipment that keeps it within specific temperature and humidity parameters. It is a secure facility. The system monitors entrances and exits, as well as the aforementioned environmental specs. Only a couple of people have security access as you really don’t want the door opening and closing much, besides the obvious value of the content. I am not one of the people that has access! Though there was a time when I had the band’s tape library in the office of my old home…

Packaged Good

The packaging for the CD is simple and direct. Images below are courtesy of the excellent PJCollectors.com

The front side of the cardboard sleeve shows the January 17 1992 Moore Theatre marquee.

Vault 01 - Front Cover

The back side of the cardboard sleeve shows the famous Lance Mercer photograph of the band in mid-Jam. Stone grooving, Ed digging deep, Jeff getting some big air, Mike raging (and you’ll have to imagine Dave drumming). This photo has also been featured in numerous magazines (it was once a pull-out poster of a Guitar Magazine)

Vault #1 - Back

The CD is another simple graphic, its origins unclear.

Vault #1 - CD

The track list for this show is quintessential 1992 in all its glory – most of Ten, the two tracks from Singles plus an unreleased track (“Leash”) and a cover (“Baba”).  Each track sounds like you hope it would – sound bigger than life, Marshall amps blaring, Ed’s voice soaring, and great crowd energy. Although the technical difficulty mentioned above that kept “Baba O’Riley” off the CD now seems like a monumental fail, you have to consider that Baba then was very rough and not quite the explosive show-capper that it’s become in recent years.  Ending the CD with “Breath”‘s long jam does nothing to take away from the quality of the whole show.

January 17, 1992: Moore Theater, Seattle, WA

1. Release
2. Even Flow
3. Once
4. State of Love and Trust
5. Alive
6. Black
7. Why Go
8. Deep
9. Jeremy
10. Porch
11. Leash
12. Breath
13. Baba O’Riley (omitted)

Pearl Jam Twenty, the documentary by Cameron Crowe, opens today September 20 worldwide one day in select theaters (and for a week-long run Sept 23-30 in select cities).

From Iceland to Indonesia, fans can get a chance to see the film in theaters before its premiere on TV on October and its DVD/Bluray release on October 25.

Pearl Jam Twenty - Movie Released Sept 20.

Jump Around

Canadian tour up to date: click here

Pearl Jam writes music. Pearl Jam does not write books. Jonathan Cohen writes books and books music. We’ll give you a minute to digest that.

Today, September 13, 2011, marks the release date of “Pearl Jam Twenty”, the band’s book written by Jonathan Cohen with Mark Wilkerson.  As with the “big three” releases this month for PJ20 – the book, the movie (Sept. 20) and the soundtrack (Sept. 20) – it fulfills the monumental task of encapsulating twenty years of Pearl Jam into a single digestible unit. And you better be hungry, because it’s filled with 384-pages of great writing, foreword by Cameron Crowe, awesome pictures, terrific interviews from the band, those around the band, and plenty of artists.

Jonathan Cohen also meets impassioned fans’ strict qualifications: he’s a former Billboard.com editor and writer, a Ten Club member, a PJ concert traveller, and currently the music booker for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. You won’t get some outsider’s viewpoint; you’ll get the perspective crucial to presenting Pearl Jam the right way.

We need to digest this behemoth ourselves, so we’re not going to review it just yet! In the meantime, here are the links you need to preview, purchase and absorb yourself in this great work:

• Buy The Book – from Ten Club, iTunes, Amazon, B&N, Indiebound
• Excerpts of the book are available from Billboard.com, Simon & Schuster and Rolling Stone.
• Alternate perspective on Bruce Springsteen’s inclusion in the book from Backstreets.com
• Reviews by Triple-M and Media Decay

Details:

• Simon & Schuster, September 2011
• Hardcover, 384 pages
• ISBN-10: 1439169217
• ISBN-13: 9781439169216

Published in celebration of Pearl Jam’s twentieth anniversary and in conjunction with Cameron Crowe’s definitive documentary film and soundtrack of the same name, PEARL JAM TWENTY is an aesthetically stunning and definitive chronicle of their two decades as a band—by the band itself.

In 1991, Pearl Jam’s debut album, Ten catapulted the little-known Seattle-based band into superstardom. Then, at the height of their popularity, the band shunned the spotlight, refusing to shoot videos or do interviews. Even as Pearl Jam’s studio albums continued to be critically acclaimed and commercially successful, selling over 60 million albums worldwide, the inner workings of the band—their day-to-day routines, influences, and motivations—remained unknown even to their diehard fans.

Twenty years later, this is their story. PEARL JAM TWENTY is a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, rare archival memorabilia, and the band’s personal photos, tour notes, and drawings. Told with wit and insight in the band members’ own words, and assembled by veteran music writer Jonathan Cohen with Mark Wilkerson—and including a foreword by Cameron Crowe along with original interviews with legends and contemporaries like Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and Dave Grohl—this intimate work provides an in-depth look at a group of musicians who through defying convention established themselves as “the greatest American rock band ever” (USA Today Readers’ Poll 2005).