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The food behind the show

1K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  panini 
#1 ·
Last week, I had the opportunity to go backstage with Dega Catering and the Dave Matthews Band at their 2-day stop at the waterfront in Camden, NJ. Before the band palyed to a capacity audience of 25,000 each night, I got to spend some time with the crew that feeds the band.

Get the full scoop on how their menus are made, the crew that call Dave family and the farms that feed the band here: http://www.cheftalk.com/a/on-the-road-with-the-dega-catering-and-the-dave-matthews-band


Tour rookie, Dustin Atkinson, preps green beans from a local farm for the evening's succotash



 
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#3 ·
I would imagine U2 would have some serious demands, given the size of their productions. I can only imagine. Lots of farm-friendly food and local supplies rolling into the kitchen. There are only a handful of veg-heads on the entire touring crew, so it didn't really hamper the menu construction much. I was actually a little surprised at the carnivorous ways.

Glad you liked the pics. Over the course of 5 hours, I shot nearly 500 frames. So much to see!
 
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#4 · (Edited)
My Father and his 5 brothers owned restaurants, deli's and catering. In the early 70's.

I worked catering for a while. Mainly rider fulfilment for some of the music clubs.. The craziest thing I've ever done!

It was soo bi-polar. I'd be running all over town. I would be at CBGB's checking everything on the rider. Then running to Max's

with things for Lou Reed, Bowie, Velvet Un. and the likes.Then finishing up at the Bottom Line, Southern and Italian food for Parliament,

and vegetarian for Miles Davis, etc. etc. For 5 hours I would be sprinting around, I mean actually physically running, then I would kick back

and listen to music for 5 hours. I did this 7 days a week!  I ate on the run, drank for free at the venues, saved up enough $ to buy my 1st. house.

I had to run because the rider would request things like candy that was only available on the other side of town, booze, only available across the river. I sometimes

had to drive to Washington DC, to get this special type of beer that only delivered that far, because it had to stay refrigerated. I'd go to this place

and sneak 5-6 cases of Coors, throw Ice on it, right in the trunk, no plastic or anything.

Jim, I 'd like to see more pics.

Curious to see what that type of service is like now.
 
#6 ·
@harrisonh - thank you! I am glad you liked it!!

Wow, @panini! What a great time you had. They say adventures suck when you are having them; I am sure the running around was tough at the time, but what a great memory. Not too many people can talk about the errands they did for Miles Davis, Lou Reed and David Bowie.

Here are some more pics. I didn't want to bore with too many in the article, so I held back. I shot a bunch!






This is the inside of one of the buses; Dega is responsible for keeping them stocked.














 
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#8 ·
@Jim Berman

"Wow, @panini! What a great time you had. They say adventures suck when you are having them; I am sure the running around was tough at the time, but what a great memory. Not too many people can talk about the errands they did for Miles Davis, Lou Reed and David Bowie."

Yea, quite a difference to say the least. You don't realize it when it's happening. It wasn't glamorous catering. Some riders would be orders on a napkin. I would do the punk clubs earlier in the day. Those guys were always zip-zooming. They would come from a studio in the afternoon for a sound check, maybe eat something I had brought.Then I'd hang with the roadies and do a little partyting. There was always something uplifting around with that crowd. Actually, some of the best music I can remember was when the roadies jammed. They were usually upcoming musicians. Then I'd make sure there was plenty of caffeine and candy, and ran to the next stop. Coarse I'd always have to grease the so called security/Hell Angels in and out. Always @ a100 miles an hour. Then early evening I would start to hit the jazz people. I'd be in the village maybe @ the Vanguard and have to be @ Rivbea and the lofts within 30 min. This wasn't high end. like film catering. And some of the places weren't high brow. Like the Mercer before it came down. The food was just real good homemade things my Aunt would make. I had these huge canvas bags. Jump a cab and off I went. I had an older cousin who had a recording studio near the loft in manhattan. She was the contact. Seemed to know everyone. These were pretty close-knit communities. Everyone seemed to know everybody else.

I now usually only listen to jazz, I guess because I have quite a bit of vinyl I've lugging around for all these years. Call it what you want, progressive, electric, funk, phychedelic sp?, fusion, My 23 yr. old son listens to C.Corea, Cobham, Pastorius, Zawinul, Mouson, Coryell, McLoughlin, etc. Pretty cool, I think. I have quite a few virgin 220gm, 180gm, 7"45's, demo's etc. I sometimes listen to my old virgin, Dolls, Ramones, Tuff Darts, etc. to get motovated. LOL.
 
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