Sometime in early 2009, Brighton approached Maciel with the idea of starting a Bob Dylan tribute band. The SF Bay Area is not flooded with Dylan tributes, nay, there were no working Dylan tribute bands in this area at all at the time. Brighton had already met another guitarist hugely influenced by Dylan, and those two hit it off musically from the start. Oakland bassist Mike Kearney was recruited from Leadfoot Betty to round out the quartet.
The first incarnation of Planet Waves was Jimmie Brighton on lead guitar and lead vocals, David Maciel on drums and vocals, Mike Kearney on bass guitar, and Steve Edelson on rhythm guitar.
This version of PWs was busy at work in the rehearsal studio that summer and had played a few local under-the-radar gigs to work out live kinks. Imagine our dismay when we started tossing potential names around when we found a brand spankin' new Bay Area Dylan tribute band* comprised of well seasoned and well known Bay Area musicians.They even had one of the names we tossed into our name hat. No matter, we were playing well and determined to get this project off the ground. We were about to start actively booking for the fall of 2010.
On September 9th, 2010, tragedy struck. Steve was on vacation in Costa Rica. He took a short walk down the beach with his guitar and a small backpack with a book, a towel and a bottle of water in it. His girlfriend stayed at the hotel. He sat down under an almond tree and began to play his guitar when someone came up behind him and shot him in the back of the head. He died instantly.
The killer took only the backpack with nothing of value in it, leaving behind Steve's watch, ring and guitar. Planet Waves would not play again for several months.
RIP Steve Edelson
* That band would be our good friends Ghosts of Electricity!
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