Keepin’ the Dead alive

Nate LaPointe said he remembered going to his first Grateful Dead show in 1982 as a stowaway when he was 4 years old.

“It had rained all day, I totally remember,” he said. “It stopped raining, the band came out and they played ‘Shakedown Street,’ which was my favorite song when I was a kid.”

The next year he first got his hands on a guitar, and now pays homage to the band that inspired him to become a musician every Tuesday night at Huntington Beach’s Marlin Bar & Grill.

LaPointe plays guitar and sings in Cubensis, a Grateful Dead tribute band started by Craig Marshall, a self-proclaimed “Dead Head.” (The band’s unusual name is a reference to mushrooms.)

“I was a Dead-head from way back ? 1967 I saw my first show,” said Marshall, who stopped counting how many Grateful Dead shows he went to after about 200. “But I eventually realized the Grateful Dead only played in L.A. once or twice a year, and that just didn’t cut it, and I thought maybe we could start a band and entertain ourselves at least.”

That was about 20 years ago, and although Marshall is the only remaining original member, the guys jam seamlessly like they’ve been playing together for the life of the band.

Joe and Bobbi Cupps were on the last night of a vacation to San Diego, and had to come and see the band. The couple knew LaPointe when he was a kid, and they needed a dose of good music and good people.

“It was the perfect set list,” said Bobbi Cupps, of Laramie, Wis., who came to the show with her husband. “Of all the songs they could play, they played our favorites.”

“This really made the trip worthwhile,” Joe Cupps said after the show.

The couple will soon be celebrating their 10-year anniversary, and Cubensis played a few songs that Joe Cupps said were meaningful to them, including “Sugar Magnolia,” which is the name of Bobbi Cupps’ horse, and “Tangled Up in Blue,” a Bob Dylan song covered by the Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band.

“It couldn’t have been better,” she said.

Fans twirled, bobbed, swayed and completely rocked out as the band played songs by the Dead and by the band’s members.

“I like to make people dance,” Marshall said. “I think it’s great, and when we’re hitting our stride and people are just going crazy on the dance floor ? that’s perfection for me.

“The focus is on the music, not necessarily on me?. I can just hide behind my guitar, and my guitar is more eloquent than I am,” he said.

For about three hours, with one intermission, Marshall worked the strings of his guitar, and he and his bandmates kept the crowd smiling.

The band doesn’t have rehearsals during the week because they play together so often, Marshall said, making the shows more like a jam session.

“If we do want to learn a new song, everybody is a quality musician enough where they can just learn their parts and it comes together onstage,” he said.

The band has a steady following of amicable fans who continue to visit the Marlin Bar every Tuesday night, something the bar’s owner Diane Jongewaard likes.

“It’s good vibe ? it’s a peaceful night,” she said. “They always have a good draw, and they bring a lot of the same people every single week. They have a following like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

In order to satisfy the fans week after week like the Dead did, Marshall said, they try to keep the sound fresh, even if they’re playing the same songs.

“We don’t just get up there and swirl beers and play and hope it comes out good,” he said. “We’re dedicated to making sure it sounds good, especially for those who are returning week after week after week?. Also, there’s a lot of going down a dark alley and trying doors musically until something opens. For one, you’ve got to know your instrument to do that, and the other thing is you have to be willing to take that chance to get out there a little bit.”

Marshall listens to an eclectic mix of music and said that, along with contribution of the other members, helps keep fans interested.

LaPointe said he enjoys playing with Cubensis for “the open improvisational feel with the band, the feeling that anything is possible. If it was restrictive, it wouldn’t be the same.”

For more information about the band or the Marlin Bar, visit www.cubensis.com or www.marlinbar.com.hbi.20-happs-1-CPhotoInfo621T2R9H20060720j2mrmfncCredit: Courtesy of Cubensis Caption: (LA)Cubensis, a Grateful Dead tribute band, performs to a packed house of grateful fans at recent concert. The band wants each performance to sound fresh. hbi.20-happs-2-CPhotoInfo5S1T3ETL20060720j2mrnpncCredit: Caption: (LA)Cubensis band members satisfy fans’ love of Grateful Dead songs.