Tour Stories

I'm Relocating!

2010-04-09T20:31:00.001-07:00

I'm relocating this blog to a new and improved space over at Joy's Jam

www.joysjam.com

Featuring Artists of the Week, local L.A. live music listings, and lots more! Hope to see you there!

JOY :)

Merl Saunders Valentine's & Birthday Bash and special tribute to Norton Buffalo

2010-02-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 12, 2010
Slim's
San Francisco
http://www.slims-sf.com/ (buy tickets and listen to Merl play "The Harder They Come"!)

It's that time of year again! Time to break out the boogie shoes and celebrate not only Valentine's Day but also the Feb. 14 birthday of the late organist Merl Saunders. At this year's celebration of his life, Norton Buffalo (harmonica player for the Steve Miller Band), who passed away in October 2009, is also honored. The all-star San Francisco jam band features Michael Hinton (who played with Merl in the Rainforest Band, High Noon, and the Dinosaurs, and with Norton in Norton Buffalo and the Knockouts), Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship), Greg Anton (David Nelson Band), and Banana (Youngbloods). Also on the bill are Tony Saunders, Michael Emerson, Boots Hughston, members of Zero, Lorin Rowan, Doug Harmon, and Steve Ashman.

Last year's Merl Birthday Bash at the Great American was a great time:

Bob Weir stopped by for a killer "Wang-Dang Doodle"

Michael Hinton, happy to be onstage!

Norton Buffalo

Weir, Boots Hughston, Hinton, Joli Valenti

Tony Saunders, Weir, Hughston

For more on Merl Saunders's musical history, check out my tribute article published last year on JamBase.

See you in San Francisco!

Guess the Grateful Dead Song!

2009-12-18T14:02:00.001-08:00

I don't know who wrote these, but they're from a list my friend Hugo gave me at Cubensis last night at the Waterfront. Some of them are pretty good. Comment below if you can guess the song titles! Sorry, no prizes this time, but have fun:

I have circumnavigated the globe

Rapid oxidation on the geologic ridge

I am cognizant of the vehicularly transported

Activate your ardor wattage

Antepenultimate to the baker's dozen

Anyone want to try this with Phish song titles??

Deals Galore! Win Tickets to See the Peace of Mind Orchestra (POMO) in L.A. November 18

2009-11-04T19:53:00.000-08:00

Be one of the first people in Los Angeles to experience the Peace of Mind Orchestra--coming straight from New Orleans and Humboldt--on Wednesday, November 18, at the Good Hurt on Venice Boulevard! Contest details below the interview:

POMO: A Musical Puzzle

The name Peace of Mind Orchestra is a bit ironic: if you heard the band but didn’t see them, you’d never guess that it had only two members—Matt Engel, on keys, vocals, and drums; and Ari Leopold, on guitar, vocals, and more drums. They’ve just released their first album, Still Awake at Dawn: Part I, three years in the works, and are embarking on a West Coast tour this Friday, November 6. Even though they live in different cities—Matt is in northern California and Ari lives in New Orleans—I was able to catch both of them on the same phone call recently and they let me in on some closely-guarded POMO secrets!

Joy: How did you record the album, living in two different places?

Matt: We’ve been doing the record long-distance for the past few years. It’s been all in our own home studios and all on our own. Ari came out here in August of 2006 and we recorded rhythm tracks [piano and drums] for the record; everything else is overdub. We send each other MP3 mixes and guide each other, and hopefully everything synchs up, and whatever sounds bunk, we pull out and whatever sounds good, we keep in there. POMO is like a big musical puzzle. We each have our parts and we layer them together so it creates a bigger sound than the two of us.

Ari: We’ve both participated in record production before, but this is the first project that, start-to-finish, we’ve really had our hands on every step of the way. We learned a lot about recording sound. Recording music is one thing—recording sound is its own beast! We had a lot of the music recorded more than a year ago, and we’ve spent a lot of time since then figuring out how to use the studio. We got by with a little help from our friends, so they say. There’s a studio in Champagne, Illinois, where I worked at for a while, and this really awesome record producer named Mark Rubell, helped us out a lot. We couldn’t afford to record in the studio, so we recorded it ourselves and brought it to him, and he really knew what to do to 'up' it a notch. We really learned how to do it.

Joy: You must have a really strong connection.

Matt: [We met] at the University of Illinois in Champagne, about ten years ago. We lived at opposite corners of the same dorm. We started playing music together within the first couple of months, and then have been playing together on and off, in different combinations of bands. I’ve gone down to New Orleans and played there with him. As time went on, we liked what we were doing and wanted to try it in a live setting. The live set has existed really only for the past two years, and we’ve only been touring for the past year. But we see this as the real start. We’re both at a point where we can do it a little more full time. It’s all happening; it’s definitely a slow-moving, grassroots project. There are only two of us and we’re the ones who do everything. There are pluses and minuses.

J: Was the title of the album, Still Awake at Dawn, really inspired by being awake all night?

Ari: Well, Matt and I are kind of nocturnal! These are all songs I’d written before we even started this band. The oldest song on there I wrote almost ten years ago. A lot of it came from a feeling of after you’ve been awake all night, especially if you’ve been outside, when the sun comes up and you see the town start to wake up and it’s this weird feeling…like a renewal. It’s the same world as it was yesterday, but it’s not like going to bed and waking up and getting a whole new camera shot. The songs are sort of bleak but optimistic; like the first song, “We’ve got a world that’s filled with tattered things…But we’re still above the ground/So we’re going to stick around and see what one more morning brings.” We’re still here, and we’re going to deal with the next day. It’s like, the world sucks, but we’re going to live in it anyway!

Joy: How would you characterize POMO’s sound?

Matt: Punk-Pink Floydish. Weird contraption rock. We’ve both created our own forms of instruments. Ari is kind of the mad scientist when it comes to putting his gear together. For me, I piece together different keyboards and try and find the sounds that I like and use whatever toys I can to add into the blend of sound. I try and use what I have to help create the sounds that are in my head, instead of dogmatically trying to find the things that are supposed to make the sounds that I think I want to hear.

I’m an analog-aholic; I’ve always enjoyed analog sounds and vintage keyboards. And so for the most part, that’s all I use. I have a Nord, but that’s just a digital copy of all my sounds. So I’ve been doing that, and I use a Moog synthesizer as a bass, so I can play some bass and keys at the same time. We’re able to make that puzzle-piece music with just two people there.

Joy: What's a Nord?

Matt: It’s a newer digital keyboard that has some really high quality samples of Hammond B-3, a Wurlitzer electric piano, a Rhodes electric piano, a clavinet, piano, and so it’s just a much smaller version of all the keyboards I use. If I had the resources and the energy, I’d carry all those keyboards with me because I do have the real versions of a lot of them and I prefer to use them, especially in recording. We definitely go for more organic sounds. There are no synthesizers or loops. But that keyboard is just my savior, a much smaller version with all those sounds in it. I can carry that small keyboard but still maintain that vintage sound and feel that I know and love.

There was kind of a cognitive dissonance when I was going to get that keyboard because I felt I was crossing over into the digital realm…it was a stressful moment for me to make the commitment and buy it! But now I use that keyboard for everything; it’s my axe, and I’m grateful for it.

Ari: I call [our sound] kinetic polyphony! We have these mega instruments; Matt’s got a megakeyboard that’s got a bass keyboard, so he’s playing the role of a bass player and a piano all at once, and I’ve got a guitar/drum set that’s a little goofy. It involves more pedals than most drum sets. I’ve also got a guitar on a stand, and I hit it like a drum. But I can also play chords on it. We played outside at a public festival and a lot of people said they heard us around the corner and were surprised when they saw there were only two people. It sounds like a normal four-person band.

Joy: Where does the name Peace of Mind Orchestra come from?

Ari: Basically our songs are lyrics that people tell themselves when they’re trying to achieve peace of mind. Because if you have total peace of mind, you’re not singing! People who are totally peaceful are quiet, and don’t need to make loud noises to change the environment.

Joy: Final thoughts?

Matt: It’s a lot of fun. That’s what inspires it. It’s a lot of hassle, being in the band and then doing all the promo and the networking and trying to maintain the artist composure as well. But if it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t be doing it! The whole reason to make music and record is so that you can listen to it. I want to share it with everyone else, but I just love listening to the music more than anything.

Thanks for the interview, guys! The upcoming fall POMO tour starts this weekend in Northern California with stops in Garberville and Arcata, and will hit Oakland, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Diego, Eugene, Flagstaff, Tucson, Tempe, and Lake Tahoe before the boys settle down for a long winter’s nap (or, more likely, head out on winter tour)!

Come join the party and support this band as they embark on their first major West Coast tour!

Now, for the contest details!

1. Comment below about why you'd like tickets to see this show, and I'll select a winner for TWO FREE TICKETS--a $20 value! Wild and crazy!

2. Ladies, email me at tourstories2007@gmail.com and get on the guest list for the event (that means FREE), PLUS get a CD when you arrive for only $5--a 50% discount off the regular price! How can this be real, you ask? AND...

3. Guys, we're not leaving you in the dust...Mention this blog at the merch table the night of show and receive the very same discount on your very own POMO CD! I know, I know; it's like a dream.

For more music and tour dates/times, check out POMO's MySpace page.

Hendrix Comes Alive at West Fest 2009!

2009-10-26T14:30:00.001-07:00

The past few weeks, I was truly touched by the spirit of Jimi Hendrix as I learned "Purple Haze" as the first song I played on my new electric guitar. I couldn't dream that last week, I would be touching Jimi Hendrix's flesh and blood at West Fest on October 25! Leading the world's largest guitar ensemble was Leon Hendrix, Jimi's younger brother!

After the guitar ensemble, Leon stood around backstage telling stories about watching Jimi learn to play the guitar, and all the blues musicians his older brother really loved, especially Robert Johnson.

Although there were bands playing all day at two different stages at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park on a gorgeous, sunny day, what made the weekend for me was the guitar ensemble. I arrived in the dark at 7 a.m. and helped register participants at the table set up by Steve Roby, the author and historian whose book, Becoming Jimi Hendrix, is due out next year. Steve is the guy in the blue shirt behind the Jimi sign on the table, in the middle of the photo, and if you watched the video tutorial I posted a few weeks ago, you'll recognize Brian, the guy with the goatee, as one of the "Purple Haze" teachers:

People came from all over to participate in the ensemble. And although Halloween was a week away, some even dressed like Jimi to pay proper homage:

People were playing all kinds of guitars. I even saw a ukulele. The youngest participant I saw was a ten-year-old girl with a little acoustic guitar. While waiting for the event to begin, I met Colin and his dad who were there celebrating Colin's thirteen birthday. What a great way to ring in the teen years! I gave him a guitar pick my dad just sent me from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.

The ensemble began promptly at ten a.m., preceded by a Native American blessing by the American Indian Movement leaders. It was a beautiful prayer for the day just as the sun was starting to come out full force. My husband, who was working in one of the backstage tents, said the group had spent some time in meditation prior to coming out on stage, to set the intent of helping people connect with mother earth.

Then, things started rocking as they counted down from stage and everyone around me busted into "Purple Haze":

After playing the main part of the song, we jammed out for about ten more minutes while they played pictures of Jimi on the big screens.

The rest of the day was filled shuttling back and forth between the two stages to catch as much music as possible. Highlights of the day included seeing Ann Cohen, widow of Allen Cohen, poet and publisher of the San Francisco Oracle, read some of Allen's poetry on the East Stage; touring the Love Bus (see photo below); hearing from afar Tony Saunders, Michael Hinton, and Joli Valenti play "Get Together," by Joli's father, Dino Valenti of Quicksilver Messenger Service; and watching the awesome energy of these Taiko Drummers:

I hope you enjoy some more photos from one of the most beautiful days I've ever experienced in San Francisco!

It's dark in SF at 7 a.m.!

West Fest West Stage hours before the show...

Even a Blues Brother showed up!

Clearly, I found my "Purple Haze" soulmate...

Charlie, selling the official West Fest 2009

commemorative mini-amps for $20!

What a bargain!

Garfield and Tomi.

Tomi was at the original Woodstock in 1969!

Winner: Best shirt of the day!

Chrissy Costello, artist of

"I Want You! For the World's Largest Guitar Ensemble"

poster

Hanging with some original Haight-Ashburyites backstage!

The Love Bus owner, Scott, and the artist, Perry,

chilled inside (and on top) while people toured their creation.

Country Joe MacDonald leading the "Gimme an F!" chant, forty years later!

Can't say she's not dedicated to the cause!

I think he got the memo.

The new generation is indoctrinated!

And now you'll excuse me while I kiss the sky! Thanks for reading!

Special thanks to David, who shot the guitar ensemble photos and vids. Thanks, David!

Road to West Fest '09: Part 3: The Home Stretch!

2009-10-19T22:56:00.000-07:00

So, am I ready to play "Purple Haze" in front of thousands of people? Check out this version I recorded last night, and enjoy this summer festi montage while you listen:

"Purple Haze" - 10-18-09

Joy (guitar, vocal)

Annie (drums, "Oohs," and "Aahs")

Rett (engineering)

Let me know what you think! And stay tuned for the report on West Fest and the world's largest guitar ensemble, this Sunday, October 25, in Golden Gate Park!

Peace, Love, and Music,

Joy :)

Road to West Fest '09: Part 2: Joy Goes Electric

2009-10-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

It's two weeks until West Fest, and I decided that proper tribute to Jimi Hendrix in the world's largest guitar ensemble deserves an electric guitar:

The tutorial I watched can be found here.

More info on West Fest, including performer list, can be found here.

You can register to be part of the event here.

Stay tuned for more progress on the road to West Fest, the FREE 40th anniversary celebration of Woodstock in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Sunday, Oct. 25!

Do you have any tips for me? Leave them in the comments section below. Gimme some love!

Moonalice: 2 Nights in L.A.

2009-09-30T16:24:00.001-07:00

Hey, now!

Check out my review of 2 nights of Moonalice in the Los Angeles area. You can read it here on Jambandsonline.com (or JBO, for those in the know!), a great new site run by a fellow (female!) Phish fan.

And I'm also busy working with a friend to make some improvements to this blog, so stay tuned for a new look and more details from the Road to West Fest '09 (hint of things to come: I'm going to look at electric guitars next week)!

Joy :)

Road to West Fest '09: Part I: Learning Purple Haze

2009-09-20T21:42:00.002-07:00

On Sunday, October 25, West Fest will be held on Speedway Meadows in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It is the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock festival. It is a FREE event and produced by 2b1 and the Council of Light in association with Artie Kornfeld, the original producer of Woodstock '69.

There's a lot more to say about the festival, and I'll post the press release at the end of this post. But what I'm most psyched about (besides an afternoon in Golden Gate Park in October--the best time of year there, in my opinion) is my participation in the effort to break the current world record for largest guitar ensemble! According to the Guinness World Records site, the record was set when 1, 802 participants played "Smoke on the Water" simultaneously in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany, on June 26, 2007. The goal for West Fest is to shatter that record with several thousand playing "Purple Haze" in tribute to Jimi Hendrix, who headlined Woodstock in '69.

So. I registered for the event, which you can also do here. There are also links to some tutorials, which I tried today. Since I'm pretty much self-taught on guitar (I tried to follow along with a Jorma Kaukonen video once...that wasn't too fruitful), I'll be playing a pretty basic part that consists of about three chords per verse and then another three once we get to the bridge/jam-out part at the end ("Help me! I can't go on like this...")

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be consulting with some guitar players who are more skilled than I and will continue to develop my rendition of Purple Haze. Here's what I was able to put together after researching the lyrics and watching this video tutorial:

Stay tuned for more preparations for West Fest. I'll be posting my progress as I go. Let me know if you have any tips for me!

And here is the official press release for the event. See you there!

40th Anniversary of Woodstock
Free Concert Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, Sunday, October 25, 2009

Event: “West Fest” Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock.

Attraction: 72 acts, 4 stages, 2 domes and 26 poster artists. Solar domes, Alternative vehicles, Electric bikes, Native American Tipi Village, Sustainable Living Road Show, Conscious Art Gallery, Light Temple, Holistic Healing Section, Hooper Heaven, Rock’n Green Kids Zone and Eco Village vendors. Narada Michael Walden featuring Vernon Ice Black leading 3,000 guitar players and closing the show with the Hendrix Experience reenactment and Superstar Jam

Admission: FREE
When: October 25, 2009, 9am to 6pm
Where: Speedway Meadows, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA USA
Producer: 2b1 Multimedia Inc. and the Council of Light in association with Artie Kornfeld, the original producer of “Woodstock 1969”
Non-Profit: 501-(c) 3
Contact: Boots Hughston, 415-861-1520 www.2b1records.com/woodstock40sf or woodstock40sf@yahoo.com

Acts confirmed with more to come: Jefferson Starship; Leslie West (Mountain); Lester Chambers (the Chambers Brothers); Country Joe McDonald; Denny Laine (of Paul McCartney, Wings, Moody Blues); The Original Lowrider Band (with Lee Oskar); Narada Michael Walden featuring Vernon Ice Black leading 3,000 guitar players and closing the show with the Hendrix Experience reenactment Superstar Jam; Greg Errico, Jerry Martini, Cynthia Robinson (From Sly and the Family Stone); David and Linda La Flamme (It’s a Beautiful Day); Michael McClure (Beat Poet) and Ray Manzarek (from the Doors); Lydia Pense and Cold Blood; Terry Haggerty (from the Sons of Champlin); Annie Sampson and her band; Nick Gravenites Band; Harvey Mandel and the Snake band; Barry “The Fish” Melton (of Country Joe and the Fish); Jerry Miller and Jim Post; Lost Creek Gang and the Merry Pranksters with Ken Babbs, George Walker, and Mountain Girl; El Chicano; Alameda All Stars (Gregg Allman’s Band); Edwin Hawkins and The New Edwin Hawkins Singers “Oh Happy Day”; David Denny (from Steve Miller) with Prairie Prince (of The Tubes), Diana Mangano (formerly of The Jefferson Starship), Greg Douglas, Carlos Reyes; PF Sloan; Jimmy McCarty (from Detroit Wheels); Peter Kaukonen (from Jefferson Airplane); John York (from the Byrds); Leigh Stephens (from Blue Cheer); Kathi McDonald and Friends; Cathy Richardson band; Joli Valenti and Tony Saunders; Mitchell Holman (It’s a Beautiful Day), Miles Schon Band; Jose Neto and Friends; The Mutaytor; Rock Hendricks (Bobby Womack, The Jackson 5, The funkidelics); Scoop Nisker - KFOG; David Harris – speaker; Matthew Rosenthal – Prevent Hate; Bettina Aptheker – Free Speech Movement; Ben Fong -Torres (Rolling Stone); David Hilliard - Black Panther Party; Benjamin Hernandez – Harts and Hands elders; Blue Thunder – spiritual healer, Teton; Dennis Banks – AIM Wounded Knee; Dennis Peron and Richard Eastman (Marijuana Initiative); David Rovic; Rabbi Joseph Langer ; Ed Rosenthal; Terence Hallinan (Former SF DA); Gene “DR Hip” Schoenfeld; Paul “Lobster” Wells (DJ), Aron “Pieman” Kay (from the Yippies); Alex Reymundo – comedian; Doug Green MC; Some acts can not be advertised until 30days out.

Poster series: Stanley Mouse, Arnold Skolnick (original Woodstock 69 poster artist), Chris Shaw, Mike Dolgushkin, Wendy Wright, David Singer, Mark Henson, Carlon Ferris, Dave Huckins, Lee Conklin, Bob Masse, Andrew Annenberg, Victor Moscosco, Michael Moss, Thomas Yeates, Chrissy Costello, Gilbert Johnson and Dusty Hughston, Michael Rios, Burry Olsen, Pat Ryan, Ron Donovin – Fire House Crew.

In honor of Jimi Hendrix, who headlined the festival in 1969,
Narada Michael Walden Featuring Vernon Ice Black will lead 3,000 guitar players attempting to break the World's Record for the Largest
Guitar Ensemble playing "Purple Haze" -- all at the same time!

Players are encouraged to register at:

www.steveroby.com/Jimi_Hendrix_Archives/Register.html

Farewell, Casio!

2009-09-06T23:56:00.001-07:00

The good news is that in the past nine days, I've seen seven shows: the best Cubensis show I've ever seen last Thursday, two nights with Moonalice in the greater L.A. area (with Nate LaPointe and Cece the second night) over last weekend, Christopher Hawley Rollers at the Venice Bistro on Monday, Greensky Bluegrass at the Mint on Wednesday, Patti Smith at the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday, and, last night, Saturday, Jackie Greene and Ratdog at the Greek.

The bad news is, the camera finally kicked it. Right after it took this final photo just before the Ratdog show last night:

As my husband pointed out, it has truly been a good camera to us over the past three years. It went to Rothbury and the Vibes last year, has been to every wedding and show we could smuggle it into and has given us some great memories. So now, with the passing of the device, I offer you this montage of the last week of my life. Thank you, Casio. You done good. Real good.

Jackie Greene and band - Greek Theatre, Los Angeles - Saturday, September 5, 2009

Jackie is a freakin' rock star. He played "Don't Let the Devil Take Your Mind" and "Ball and Chain," and had Mark Karan come out and join him for a slow blues "Tell Me Mama, Tell Me Right...Where did you sleep last night?" I've said this once and I'll say it again, the man is just Dylan reincarnated early. It's quite bizarre. Amazing, to say the least, because he's not Dylan; he's doing his own thing. At the end of his set, he busted out "Taxman." When was the last time you heard that played live? From there, the evening slid right into Ratdog as members of the band just took their places onstage with Jackie's band and jammed into the "Franklin's," the first song of Ratdog's set. Jackie played a few songs with Ratdog before exiting.

The Ratdog show was not the strongest I've seen. Some very nontraditional song placements and Bob Weir walked offstage for a moment during the second set after he forgot some words and it seemed like an odd moment. But otherwise they sounded great (Highlights: "She Belongs to Me," "Masterpiece", "Terrapin," "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad") and Mark Karan looks very happy.

Moonalice - The Mint, Los Angeles - Saturday, August 29, 2009

Even Molo can't take his own playing full-strength...

Nate LaPointe and Cece Sherman opened for Moonalice at Blue Cafe in Long Beach, on Sunday, August 30, 2009. They sounded great together, with Cece's sultry blues voice, Nate's originals, and two Dead covers they performed with Barry Sless of Moonalice sitting in on pedal steel.

Greensky Bluegrass - The Mint, Los Angeles - Wednesday, September 2, 2009

This was my first time seeing Greensky in a small club. The first time was among tens of thousands at Rothbury 2008, when they were debuting many of the songs from their new album at the time, Five Interstates. These guys put on a great show at the Mint last week and had the audience (a lot of people drinking and talking, not there for the band) eating out of their hands by the last songs. Great covers of Prince's "When Doves Cry" and Paul Simon's "Gumboots" ("You don't feel you could love me, but I feeeel you could!") Amazing banjo picking by Mike Bont. Amazing.

No photos of Patti Smith, although she did tell a great story about coming to Los Angeles. Apparently, she was just coming back from Japan and had forgotten to make a hotel reservation for her L.A. trip. So when a car picked her up at LAX, she told the driver just to take her to Venice Beach! Then she spilled coffee all over herself in the backseat.

Ah, such is life! The death of a camera and the birth of a new day...all in one full moon!

Here's to another week filled with music and love.

Joy

On Tour with the Roadside Graves

2009-08-21T15:35:00.001-07:00

Recently, the Roadside Graves blew through the Los Angeles area on their first U.S. tour in support of their nice long new album, My Son's Home. This was a special occurrence for me because a) I grew up with some of the bands members, and b) I'd never seen them play live before because the current band formed after I'd moved from the east coast. So I decided to follow the Graves around for three nights of their recent adventure in the southland. This is that story.

Wednesday, August 12

Knitting Factory - Los Angeles, CA

I've been hanging out with the Graves for approximately two hours before it comes to light that I’m in some sort of trouble with guitarist/violinist/co-drummer Jeremy Benson. He’s harboring, however lightheartedly, a seventeen-year grudge against me for causing him some grief in a sophomore high school English class in our hometown of Metuchen, New Jersey. And just in case I’m not copping to the offense, Jeremy has prepared himself with supportive documentation of the event from another student who sat in a seat near us and witnessed the whole sordid affair.

I can’t lie and say I’m not aware of the general nature of his complaint. For some reason, the poking, prodding, and sometimes outright teasing did occur, despite my best intentions, and for that, as a reflective and conscious adult, I am sorry. There is no good explanation for my behavior except that, looking back, it seems like just the natural thing an older sister would do to her younger brother. I’m not sure what Jeremy’s birth date is—I wouldn’t even be surprised if he was a little bit older than I—but that seems less important than the fact that that's how I've perceived him since we’ve known each other, years that number twenty-seven at this point. Like a brother.

The Graves are on a bill with local southern California bands M. Bison, Avi Buffalo, and my favorite new band once this is all through, the Parson Redheads. The Roadside Graves are six guys from New Jersey and New York, playing a new kind of American folk music, part alt.country, part Irish wake, all passion in playing and heartfelt lyricism. Their name suggests something stumbled upon, a harbinger of death. But their melodies and joyous live performance relay a strange acceptance of the present and all its past.

Rich Zilg - 8/15/09 (photo by Deb G.)

Coming off their last show in Flagstaff, the band has been on the road for a few weeks and tiredness and the surrealism of being in Hollywood are apparent. The Knitting Factory itself doesn't help. Located in a complex on Hollywood Boulevard that is an entity to itself, it is a parking garage, mall, and nightclub--all in one! The brightly lit escalators, and store picture windows are the antithesis of what a nightclub should be, but given that you can buy sautéed onions and sausage a mere fifty feet from the club’s entry, and The Simpsons and Big Bird have stars nestled into the sidewalk almost directly from the club’s side door, there is some redemption available for the club in my eyes.

Hollywood Boulevard: Not Sesame Street

The band is John Gleason on lead vocals; Jeremy Benson on electric guitar, occasional violin, and a makeshift drum kit composed of two snares doused with confetti, a stack of antique cymbals, and a crudely-bent metal garbage can lid that he hits with one drumstick for accent during especially rousing numbers; Rich Zilg on acoustic guitar and heart-wrenching harmonies; Animal Colin Ryan on drums; Dave Jones on a laid-back but steady bass; and John Piatkowski on keyboard and organ. They open with the feel-good “Far and Wide,” and “My Father Sat Me Down,” from the new album. Singer John Gleason’s lyrics are filled with loss, disappointment, longing, thwarted expectation, yet there is an inherent hope that dances with it all, such as in the upbeat “West Coast.” This song isn’t thrown in, it seems, to balance the rest of the set for good measure.

John Piatkowski and Jeremy Benson, Knitting Factory, 8/12/09

No. The Graves are painfully aware of the joy and pain in each moment, and their celebration of this coexistence is expressed through their playing. For a band that has such a heavy name, the lightheartedness of their joy is evident onstage: confetti flies off a snare like raindrops off hot asphalt. John literally buries his face in acoustic guitarist Rich's shoulder, leaning on him with all the weight of the world. And Colin on his drum kit never takes a break. And it's not hard to believe John when he croons, “I’ve got a heart that won’t quit, won’t break, no matter what you do.”

John Gleason, Rich Zilg - 8/15/09 (photo by Deb G.)

Whereas Jeremy and I grew up on adjacent streets, and I can still see him walking home, lost in thought, twisting the violin case with his quick stride, John came into the picture in middle school, when children from three different elementary schools collided for the first time at just the right hormonal moment. In high school, John was the star of the musicals as well as the de facto class clown, once he chose to accept that role. He often found himself getting reprimanded by impatient teachers who didn’t know how to handle his imagination or imperviousness to the classroom behavior standards.

John Piatkowski, Jeremy Benson - 8/15/09 (photo by Deb G.)

The Graves' lyrics are a testament to the fact that John is a great writer, and that was apparent, even in high school. In poetry class (the first in our little schools' history), I always envied the ease with which he created characters and scenarios, with a seemingly limitless range of attributes and plots. It was not a surprise to anyone when John and Jeremy formed a band with Rich, a year younger than us, and bought their name from a kid in the lunchroom one day for a pittance sum; from thence forth they were known as the Billy Crosbys. When I left the area after high school, I heard reports back from classmates that they were playing around central Jersey and New York City, and around 2000, the word got to me that they’d changed their name to the Roadside Graves.

The night is capped with a performance by the Parson Redheads. Dressed in all white like the Bee Gees, and with heavenly harmonies like a choir, they came out of the darkness of the Knitting Factory like Crosby, Stills, and Nash at a Mormon picnic, somehow also channeling the grooviness of the Partridge Family. They're also on the bill tomorrow. Intriguing. Should be an interesting weekend.

John Piatkowski, 8/12/09

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Prospector – Long Beach, CA

The Prospector in Long Beach. 8/13/09

As with many things decorated in the spirit of pirates, of which I am quite fond, the Prospector is a dare-I-say quaint bar in Long Beach dedicated to the memory of the California miner, circa mid-1800s. The bar is certainly not dedicated to the memory of anyone who got rich quick, but to the spirit that suggests, "Let’s die trying, and if that fails, we'll go with the tackiest decorations possible." Large cartoon characters of late-1800s ma and pa commingle with wagon wheels, hand-painted signs warning “This ain’t no exit,” and dark wood-paneled walls with just enough yellow lighting to make you feel like you’re back in someone’s basement at a band’s first show. The Parson Redheads are back tonight, but go on first, their accidental psychedelic sound filling the room with an ambience that suffuses the past and present.

The Prospector's setting--dark, cramped, basement-like--clearly feels like home to the Graves, as they actually dance and hop in unison throughout their set. I know John on keyboards and Dave on bass are really feeling it when I see them singing and notice that they are not even miked. The Irish roots are really coming out tonight in lots of foot stomping and beer swigging, and a few times I think John Gleason and Rich might cry from sheer joy of pealing off such striking harmonies. Tonight is also Colin’s twenty-sixth birthday, and John leads the group, which has become a rapt audience by mid-set, in a heavily wayward version of Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.”

Rich wonders why the band isn't hitting Tijuana on this tour. 8/13/09

The midnight set ends with the band taking acoustic versions of their instruments and coming "off" the stage (it wasn't raised, just set back in its own fake-wood paneled nook) into the audience and singing a song with the refrain, “I ain’t gonna go to jail.” The harmonies are rich, the band is playing with an urgency and a joy that only suggests that they’re having the time of their lives, and even the audience is hooting and hollering like it was a revival. The bartender, under the painting of a hapless man astride a stream, hopeful gold pan in hand, buys two Graves albums after the set. The band promises that tomorrow night they will play for fifteen minutes in a stairwell at Echoplex. I skip it.

The Graves end each show by takin' it into the crowd:

L-R: Dave, Colin, Jeremy, John P.- 8/15/09 (photo by Deb G.)

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Spaceland – Silverlake

The last night of the Graves’ L.A. tour. The band is in good spirits at Spaceland, deep in the heart of L.A.'s Silverlake district. True to its name, the place is decorated semi-alienish (see photos of the bathroom doors below), which seems only right to me, a west-sider, who feels like she's on Mars whenever she comes east of the 405. But I digress.

The floor is decent-sized at Spaceland and fills up once the Graves start playing, despite their name not being featured on the marquee outside (who isn't going to stop and check out "The Roadside Graves"??) The folks who have come out of their L.A. caves are actually dancing despite the serious hipness of this crowd. The band seems more on display tonight and expands their sound to fill the room. It's more of a performance than the Prospector, which was more of a hangout. Guess I'm just partial to old man bars in shady neighborhoods.

Rich Zilg and Dave Jones, 8/15/09 (photo by Deb G.)

I wish I could continue following them to weird, small venues across the country, because I think different aspects of the band will be revealed in various sundry bizarre settings in strange bars across the states. Their seriously harsh schedule follows (good luck, guys, and much rest by the time you make it back to NJ). Hopefully, you can make it out to see them for a night of good music that reminds you of your own home, wherever that may be:

Tuesday, August 25: Green Island, IA: Mooney Hollow Barn

Wednesday, August 26: Chicago, IL: The Bottom Lounge

Thursday, August 27: Indianapolis, IN: Vollrath Tavern, with Gringo Star and the Brodericks (great name, huh?)

Friday, August 28: Pontiac, MI: The Vernors Room at Crofoot

Saturday, August 29: Bringing it all back home to the Court Tavern in New Brunswick, NJ

The world needs more John Gleasons. 8/15/09 (photo by Deb G.)

Other dates this fall:

Saturday, September 12: Red Rocks, CO: Monolith Festival (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Girl Talk)

Saturday, September 19: Ghent, NY: Let It Roll Festival (Marco Benevento, The Breakfast)

Friday, October 9: New Brunswick, NJ: Court Tavern, with The Parson Redheads - (GO!!!)

Saturday, October 10: NYC: Lit Lounge, with The Parson Redheads

Sunday, October 11: Metuchen, NJ: Raconteur Bookstore, with The Parson Redheads

Friday, October 16: Philadelphia, PA: M Room, with The Parson Redheads

And the Winner of the Kimock Stone Pony Tickets Is...

2009-08-08T11:55:00.001-07:00

David Farrell, from Millington, New Jersey!

Here, David relates the twist of fate that led him to connect with his musical heroes:

"I was standing outside the Mexacali Blues Cafe [in Teaneck, NJ] at a Kimock/Porter/Seals show. Steve and John were outside discussing the setlist. I overheard a guy say to his friend, in a very heavy Staten Island accent: "That's him; that's the guy! These guys are direct decendants of Jerry Garcia. Hey, Steve, how you doin'?" Everybody started cracking up, including Steve. It was hysterical. My buds and I still laugh about it.

It was a great moment for me to see Kimock and Melvin at Mexacali. I am a big fan of Melvin Seals. I actually have a vintage B3. I was standing about three feet away from Melvin, and could see him pulling the drawbars and flipping tabs. At the end of the show, he got up to walk off stage and I reached out my hand to shake his. He looked right at me and said, "Yeah, alright,"and reached out and shook my hand. I'm a big guy with big hands, but his hands are huge. For me, it was like getting kissed by Elvis."

Thank you to all who participated in the contest.

Have fun at the Stone Pony on August 14, David!

UPDATED CONTEST INSTRUCTIONS! Win Tickets to see Steve Kimock Crazy Engine at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ!

2009-07-31T15:05:00.001-07:00

Steve Kimock Crazy Engine

Thanks to Steve Kimock and his team, I have the wonderful opportunity to give away a pair of tickets to the upcoming STEVE KIMOCK CRAZY ENGINE (featuring Melvin Seals) show at the legendary Stone Pony club in Asbury Park, NJ, on Friday, August 14, 2009. I’m so excited to be hosting this contest because NJ is my home state and my early musical stomping grounds!

The Stone Pony show is one of the last chances to see this incredible band before their summer tour ends. The last few dates of the summer tour are:

Aug 7-8 Dancin' in the Streets - Denver, CO

Aug 14 Stone Pony - Asbury Park, NJ

Aug 15 A Bear's Picnic - Laurelton, PA

OK, so here’s how to compete for the free pair of tickets to

STEVE KIMOCK CRAZY ENGINE at the Stone Pony!

Send an email telling me your BEST TOUR STORY to tourstories2007@gmail.com! This could be any tour story, from anyone, seeing any band, anywhere in the United States, at any time between the mid-’60s and today. Did you have a crazy time getting to a show? Did you have a religious experience at a concert? Tell me your craziest, funniest, most outrageous tour story and I will choose the best one.

If I choose your story, I will post it and your name on this blog and you will win the pair of tickets to see STEVE KIMOCK CRAZY ENGINE at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park on Friday, August 14!

Good luck, and may the best tour story win! The contest will end at midnight on Friday, August 7.

Special thanks to Kimock’s publicity team at Tsunami for making this contest possible.

For more information about Steve Kimock Crazy Engine, and a taste of their live performance, read my exclusive JamBase feature article on the band, or my show review of the band’s debut in Norfolk, Virginia on Jambands.com.

Everything's Comin' up Joy!

2009-07-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. I come back from a no-technology vacation to find that Phish will be playing their three-day festival in late October a mere one hundred and forty miles from my house. The announcement, mind you, comes on the heels of the other momentous events of Phish debuting their song “Joy” in New Jersey—my home state, for those of you not paying attention—and then naming their album after me as well.

All those years of traveling far and wide across this great country…and come fall, I will only have to drive about two and a half hours. This is more like it! All I have to say is, thank you, Phish. Thank you.

And just to thank you for reading this far, here’s some more reading. Stop groaning. What else do you really need to be doing right now, anyway? The FAQ on the Phish website is pretty freakin’ hilarious. Enjoy!

Happy Oswegoversary!

2009-07-17T00:29:00.000-07:00

Reflections on Phish’s two-day summer festival and my 22^nd birthday

In July 1999, I was living near my hometown in central New Jersey, working at a local Italian restaurant owned by two brothers from Queens, just before my last year of college. Phish was doing a summer tour and had conveniently scheduled a festival on July 17 and 18 (my birthday) at the Volney Airport in the upstate New York town of Oswego. Not really knowing many Phishheads, I ordered a ticket online and waited for the day to come, figuring I’d drive my aging Toyota Camry up for the event and see what adventures befell me. I was about to turn 22, and I was up for pretty much anything.

As the day approached, my friend Amy grew incredulous. “Joy,” she said, “You are not going to this festival alone.” She had a friend who was driving as part of a caravan going up to the shows. His name was Alex, and I would meet him the night we left town, at the show on the 16^th at the Garden State Arts Center, in my neck of the woods, where Phish was also conveniently stopping right before the festival. (OK, it was called the PNC Bank Arts Center, but, to me and many others from in and around central Jersey, it will always be the Garden State Arts Center, thank you very much!)

All I knew about Alex was that he was going to be wearing a green shirt. I was to meet him at Will Call at 6:30 before the show. He was there, and prompt. We made plans to hightail it out after the show, and went into the venue.

That night, Phish played a great show where I danced all night up on the lawn. A highlight was the beautifully executed trifecta of “Mike’s Songà”I Am Hydrogen”àWeekapaug Groove” during the second set. Trey and Page, the guitarist and keyboardist, are from New Jersey and mentioned, for the encore, that “the greatest songwriter of all time” was coming out to join the band. They busted into “Born to Run,” the unofficial NJ state anthem.

Now, you have to know that The Boss, Bruce Springstein, was in the area for two weeks as part of the E Street reunion tour, so he was on everybody’s radar. When the dancing guy in the blue jeans, white t-shirt, and red baseball hat came out dancing, there were a few moments of disbelief…alas, no; it was Tom Marshall, the band’s lyricist, but the place was going absolutely nuts. A great start to the run. Alex followed me back to my mom’s house where I dropped off my car and hopped in his passenger seat. And away we went.

We drove through the night in a caravan of two other vehicles, arriving at Oswego sometime in the morning. The sky was bright blue, there were fields and forests, and the congestion of the suburbs was becoming a distant memory. And then we hit the traffic jam.

But as we were all just kind of sitting there, inching forward in our cars, everyone made the best of it. Shut the engines off, everyone—party by the side of the road! People were walking through the cars, selling food, looking for tickets, playing guitars. Alex and I got to know each other and had more than a few laughs on that trip, even though I caused us a slight delay at one point. Of course, I got out to relieve myself in the forest just moments before the traffic moved forward substantially, and poor Alex was stuck, waiting for me, getting passed by car after car!

The heat that day was over one hundred degrees. And our campsite was on gravel, next to an unusually large pile of rocks. But, I knew, as I stood atop that rock pile, seeing all the cars and tents stretched as far as I could see, and seeing that the older couple next to us in the Volkswagen minibus had planted a Grateful Dead dancing bear flag atop that pile of rocks, that I was going to have the best birthday a girl could have.

View from pile o'rocks

I had been to shows before, but it was my first Phish festival. The first time I saw the massive gathering on the airstrip of thousands of people selling, trading, partying, smiling (plus, it was summer and I was a sucker for skinny hippie boys with no shirts). Phish threw an enormous party, with two sets each day, and one each night. I don’t remember much about the 17^th, but the 18^th was a day I will never forget.

I viewed the experience as necessary to achieve my goal of my 22nd year on Earth: to leave my present reality and open myself up to a new and unknown realm of consciousness. And the best part about Phish and sixty thousand people is that there were infinite possibilities for that final destination. I tore off the mental seatbelt and hurtled headfirst into the moments as they unfolded the rest of that afternoon.

Somehow, we managed to make it pretty close to the stage, by festival standards. Phish’s first set was lighthearted and fun, with “Farmhouse,” “Water in the Sky,” and “Bathtub Gun.” Then, they brought out bluegrass legend Del McCoury for “Back on the Train,” “If You Need a Fool,” “I’m Blue I’m Lonesome,” and “Beauty of My Dreams.” I’d never seen thousands of people high-steppin’ it to bluegrass with abandon before, let alone in the middle of an airstrip in a rural setting. There was joy, there was laughter, there were more than a few do-si-dos.

During the second set, the band played “The Meatstick,” which, for those of you who don’t know, think a large group dance like “Macarena” slowed down about a gazillion times so a bunch of stoners can follow along with the hand motions. Trey announced that we would be trying to achieve a Guinness World Record for “Largest Group Dance,” and that someone was on hand to document the event. So, there we all were, sixty thousand otherwise fully functional individuals, dancing choreographed motions to a song with these lyrics:

Time for the Meatstick

Bury the Meatstick

Take out the Meatstick Time

Woah, shocks my brain

Woah, shocks my brain!

Classic Phish. Apparently, however, the record was not set, we discovered later. Not for lack of trying, however. Not for lack of trying.

The last set that night was one of the stranger Phish experiences I’ve had before or since. Trey set an ominous vibe with “Wilson,” which, for the uninitiated, involves a few bass beats, followed by a second of silence, before the darkened crowd calls, simultaneously, “Wiiillll-son!” Rinse, lather, repeat. Add eerie chills as Chris Kuroda, lighting engineer, scours the crowd with multiple searchlights. The “Catapult” that followed was just downright evil—in the best way possible, of course. Then, during “Icculus,” Trey exhibited some manic behavior and I remember him at one point pounding on the keys with Page, screaming the lyrics, “Read the f-ing book!” while oscillating between “Smoke on the Water” and “Cat Scratch Fever” teases, trying to determine whether they were, indeed, the same song (think about it….right??) The night ended with “Quinn the Eskimo,” “Fluffhead,” and a “Harry Hood” encore. We headed back to the campsites, where the party had just begun.

I don’t think I got much sleep that night, wandering from party to party in the parking lot. Flames rising in the night over campfires, drum circles, and the all-night strobe disco bus parties took most of my attention for the next several hours (and, let's be honest, some balloons filled with nitrous). By the time the sun came up, I was ready to get my few hours of sleep before the sun heated the pile of rocks to the point where my tent would become unbearable. Later in the day, we were some of the last people to leave the camp area, trying to squeeze as much from the weekend as possible.

Our fun neighbors at adjacent campsite (note practicing of "Meatstick" hand motions)

As we hit the first gas station on our way out of that farm town, I was reality-checked back to real life. The front page of the newspaper on July 19 read, “JFK, JR. DIES IN PLANE CRASH.” I had to read the thing a few times before it sank in.

And so for the rest of my life, I will remember my 22^nd birthday with heartfelt fondness, but also an intense awareness of life and death and a newfound appreciation for love and friendship.

Alex and his friends, who were strangers to me one moment, took me into their group and made me feel like family.

Phish's versatility as musicians was beyond my realm of comprehension. At that point, I knew I knew had found a band that would never stop surprising me--and they never have.

The psychedelic journey I took was perfect for me at that moment in time--the music, the people, the time in my life when I felt I needed to explore the boundaries and test the limits of consciousness. All these things combined so I felt, as I had read Joseph Campbell espouse many times, part of a group ritual that celebrated the divine nature of all humans and the connection among all things in the universe.

The world took on a new glow for me after Oswego. I knew what it felt like to follow my heart.

New Article up on JamBase!

2009-07-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Recently, I interviewed Samantha Stollenwerck about her forthcoming album and the new sound she's working on with producer Jeff Trott (Sheryl Crow) and other notable musicians whose band credits include Beck, Macy Gray, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and others. The interview and a review of Stollenwerck's recent re-emergence onto the L.A. music scene at the legendary Viper Room currently can be read here on JamBase.

Look for Samantha playing out around town as she tries the new tunes on for size, and definitely check some of them out on her MySp ace page or on her Web site, Samanthamusic.com.

I met Samantha at the Gathering of the Vibes Festival in 2008, and noticed that besides former Grateful Dead member Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay and mistress of funk Jen Durkin of Deep Banana Blackout, she was one of the only females I saw performing that weekend.

I really dug Samantha's music then, but her new stuff is over the top. Besides being an excellent performer and a beauty taboot, Samantha was very approachable, granting me an interview for the jamband book on the spot and giving me her backstage artist pass so I could go on to interview New Riders of the Purple Sage and Umphrey's McGee, not to mention get within a few feet of handing Phil Lesh my tie-dyed business card (alas, I was stopped by a burly security guard).

Samantha rockin' out

Samantha grew up on the southern California sounds of Sublime but found her way to the folk scene in San Francisco, eventually sharing a stage with Bob Weir and Tea Leaf Green in 2006 at the legendary Fillmore for the 40th Anniversary of the Acid Tests/Bill Graham 75th Birthday Bash, in memory of the late, great concert promoter of the Bay area psychedelic rock scene.

Enjoy more photos from the evening. Special thanks to David Serota for providing the JamBase photos.

Jeff Trott

Jeff Trott, Samantha Stollenwerck, Joan Jones

Rothbury Reminiscin'!

2009-07-03T02:06:00.000-07:00

Since I won’t be at Rothbury this year, the next best thing is…Reminiscing about last year’s Rothbury! Thought I’d share some photos and tales from the festival’s inaugural year, 2008.

It was my first trip to Michigan, and it began by flying into Indiana and driving north to pick up some friends in southern Michigan. The flight into Indy was delayed because of a massive rainstorm that kept us grounded for many hours. It was getting late and I was starting to fall asleep in the airport—never mind having to make a connecting flight and THEN rent a car and drive an hour and a half to my friends’ house. But, of course, I made it, and stayed the night with them. The next morning, we drove another two and a half hours to the Rothbury Festival site on the Double J Ranch. The site was utopian, skies were blue—what more could we ask for?

Not to be camping on sharp hay and puddles of mud, apparently. But we persevered, my friends set up their tie-dye stand and began the great American festival weekend chill. I, meanwhile, proceeded to march the mile or so to the stages. Turns out that despite early entrance to the site, we were still camped at exactly the farthest point from all the music. Not to worry; I would get a ton of exercise over the next few days!

Note: It’s a great idea to break new sandals in before getting to the festival. Although I’d worn these new Chacos a few times, nothing could prepare my feet for the torture they were about to be put through, resulting in me not being able to get the feet into the Chacos by the last day. Chacos, for those of you who are in the know, are slip-ons. Slip-ons.

I was lucky enough to be attending the festival as the guest of the festival producers, Madison House, and over the next few days would have the opportunity to interview many of my favorite musicians. I chose to attend this festival rather than, say, Bonnaroo, because not only was it a music festival with music I love, but it also had aims to become the “greenest” large-scale gathering in the country, music or otherwise, with an eighty-percent trash diversion rate for the weekend. This was achieved by having hundreds of volunteers who worked "trash duty"—basically, standing near stations of three garbage cans labeled "Compost," "Recycle," and “Landfill.” The festival’s aim was to make young people aware of climate change and get them involved in solutions.

With killer music that weekend that included Phil Lesh, Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic, Gov't Mule, an acoustic Trey set and a Mike–Trey reunion (and debut of two new Phish songs), there were also little “think tanks” happening on site every day where musicians, climate change scientists, music fans, and festival producers would get together and talk about solutions to global warming and how to reduce the waste produced by festivals. I attended one with Michael Franti from Spearhead and another with Dave Murphy from Sound Tribe Sector 9.

Conscious Alliance was also on hand all weekend, collecting donations of canned food from concertgoers. That weekend, Conscious Alliance set a Guinness World Record for “Largest Canned Food Sculpture,” made from 45,725 cans that had been donated by Whole Foods market and would be donated to a local Michigan food bank at the festival’s end.

I attended a Greening Panel that featured the festival’s incredible Greening Chief, Sarah Haynes, who detailed the festival’s zero-waste plan: No items were handed out that might wind up in the trash. All the disposable items that go along with food vending were mandatorily compostable. We’re talking beer cups that looked like plastic, but were actually made from corn, and plates that looked like Styrofoam, but were actually made from sugarcane. Wheat cutlery rounded out this picture, and all would be composted onsite after the festival. The fuel for the generators was run not only on Biodiesel fuel, but recycled Biodiesel. Water bottles weren’t sold; attendees were asked to bring their own, refillable ones, and load up at filling stations throughout the grounds.

The festival also featured a local Farmer's Market.

While I was walking around, checking out the fresh selections, I started talking with a woman named Patrice at a stand called Full Circle organic farm. Turns out Patrice was a teenager at the original Woodstock. She went without a ticket and wound up serving food with the Hog Farmers that weekend. Here she was, 40 years later, with her own organic food stand at yet another music festival! It was a pleasure meeting Patrice and hearing her tales.

The weekend was incredible musically, weather-wise, and vibe-wise. Highlights for me were the Dave Matthews set when he was joined on stage by awesome fiddler Anne Marie Calhoun, and running into my friend Nick just as Dave busted into Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer."

Taj Mahal never disappoints, not to mention the near-Phish reunion, my first Greensky Bluegrass set, standing about ten feet from Trey for his first appearance back from the bust, the afternoon Steel Pulse set, and a 3 a.m. rave with Sound Tribe Sector 9 at the edge of Sherwood Forest--the best part of the Double J! The forest is a few hundred yards of perfectly straight pine trees that separate the two main stages, and is decorated with webbing in the trees, little tipi chill huts, hammocks, weird colored lighting, and even a secret stage.

There was also this really bizarre swinging monkey exhibit that looked to be some sort of amusement park ride that lay dormant during the day. But one night, after coming back from a late-night show, the monkeys were in action. The "ride" turned on, blaring techno music and a strobe light, so that it looked like the monkeys were swinging from branch to branch. It didn't, of course, start moving until I was almost right underneath the thing--and, seriously, when that strobe began, it blinded me and I lost everyone in my party, who had all gone in search of...anything...that's...not...flashing...The monkeys still haunt me one year later, but I'll make it; don't worry.

If you’re headed to Rothbury this weekend, HAVE FUN, and definitely stop by and visit Carrie at the Vintage Dead booth for your old-school tour t-shirts!

I encourage everyone to attend Rothbury at some point. Everyone floated around on an elevated consciousness vibe all weekend, with concertgoers actually staying on the main concert fields after the music was finished for the evenings and picking up trash to help the green crew. It was the cleanest festival I’ve ever attended, hands-down. Hopefully they are keeping up and even improving upon their green aspirations. Here are some more photos from the weekend. Enjoy!

What's a festival without some dude in a sarong playing with devil sticks??

No festival at all, my friend. None at all.

Guess who??

...and Happy Independence Day! On July 4, we celebrate the declaration of our indepedence from rule that doesn't recognize our consent. Let's not forget what this country was founded on: the right of all people to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. ALL PEOPLE...

REPEAL PROP 8, CALIFORNIA! LOVE NOT HATE!

You Just Got to Be Startin' Somethin'!

2009-06-25T22:30:00.001-07:00

Today the world mourns the loss of Michael Jackson, the first musical idol of my life. The love I had for this man stretches back to my early years, when his image graced my walls and many a Trapper Keeper folder (despite my grandmother’s distress that I had pictures of him where she thought my pictures of Jesus should be—a sure sign of the Apocalypse). My brother-in-law recalls the first time he met me in 1984; I was seven, and carrying around a Fisher Price portable tape recorder with the Thriller tape that I had memorized and sang by heart as I skipped through the neighborhood. When the scary Vincent Price laugh came on at the end of “Thriller,” I would turn the volume down for the requisite number of seconds until I knew it would be over.

Many an hour of my childhood was spent with friends performing the duet “The Girl Is Mine,” where I would always make the other person do Paul McCartney’s part because I wanted to be the one to say, “But Paul, I told you—I’m a lover, not a fighter!” And I can now recall with only fondness the night when a babysitter let me stay up late, despite my parents’ prohibition, to watch the “Thriller” video’s debut on MTV. My parents had forbidden the activity because they were afraid I would be too scared to sleep afterwards. They were right. The video scared the crap out of me and I couldn’t sleep for weeks, seeing over and over again in the viewfinder of my little brain those cat eyes as they were revealed at the end of the video. I lost a lot of sleep, but it was all worth it.

In thinking about this all day, I realized that Michael Jackson’s name has come up many times as people across the country have told me their stories about their earliest musical influences. Many jambands over the years have also paid homage by covering the King of Pop at live shows (remember Phish's tease of "Black or White"?). I thought I’d share some of the stories and comments I’ve collected. Who knows; maybe you have a story of your own you’d like to share!

Matty B., Arcata, California – Tour manager, Phish’s Waterwheel Foundation, on the moment he knew music was going to be a huge part of his life: “It’s hard to pinpoint a moment, but I remember selling greeting cards door to door as a kid to make enough money to but Michael Jackson's Thriller when it came out in 1983. In the end, the core essence [in all music] is the same. People coming together to celebrate being alive, to discover our commonality and underlying humanity. At times it is more tribal and extroverted and at others more personal and intimate. No matter how you describe it, it will keep people coming back for more until the end of time.”

Annabel L., Boulder, Colorado – Artist Relations Manager, Bonnaroo, on her earliest influences with music: “I grew up in New York City, and it was hard to find a community to fit into. The Beatles and the ’60s and ’70s had this community that I was too young to identify with. So I did my Madonna and my Michael Jackson. Then my dad took me to see Paul Simon in the Park. My girlfriend and I had gotten a six-pack of Coors Light tall boys and we smoked a joint with these 70-year-old people who were like, “It’s so great that you kids are coming to this; we were hippies back in the day.” I completely recognized how incredible that scene was.”

Jeff G., Denver, Colorado, a younger fan on an experience at a more recent show: “I saw Umphrey’s McGee on Halloween in 2008. They did this mashup of “Thriller” and “Another Brick in the Wall.” It was intense. If you’ve not heard these, I HIGHLY Recommend them!”

I guess this post is just my way of saying rest in peace, Michael Jackson, and may your music and its infectious danceability rage on eternally!

Jamband Book Update!

2009-05-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

My first thought of writing a book on the history of jambands from the Grateful Dead to today was when I wrote my undergraduate religion thesis on the traveling, music-and-alternate realities-loving culture of the Dead, Phish, and early '90s raves. Then, over the next few years of my life, there were way too many moments when I was at a show, traveling to a show, or coming home from a show when I said to myself, "Somebody has to write this shit down!” After the drugs started to wear off, I realized…that person is me.

The Dead at the Forum - Inglewood, CA - May 9, 2009

So, I set to it. I wanted to cover the jamband scene, where I cut my teeth, but I wanted to go back and honor the roots of the scene: early Grateful Dead tour. I sent word out through many different avenues, in person and on the Internet, calling for tour stories from the Acid Tests in the mid-'60s to today's festival scene. I spent countless hours with recorder and notepad on the phone, on people’s couches, and under shady canopies at festivals across the country (not to mention the time it took to transcribe all those interviews)! People have told me and sent me their stories, pictures, and other crazy memorabilia, and I have culled a history of the jamband movement for the past 40+ years.

A menu from a lot food vendor, Split Open and Melt

photo by Jake Cohen

So many of you responded—over 250, in fact! I have interviewed people from all ages, from all parts of the country. Many musicians have also been interviewed:

Steve Kimock

Charlie Hunter

Tony Mason (Charlie Hunter Trio)

Erik Deutsch (Fat Mama, Charlie Hunter Trio)

Jake Cinninger and Ryan Stasik (Umphrey's McGee)

David Murphy (Sound Tribe Sector 9)

Jackie Greene (Phil Lesh and Friends)

Jen Durkin (Deep Banana Blackout, Mickey Hart's Rhythm Devils)

Samantha Stollenwerck

Ronnie Penque (New Riders of the Purple Sage)

Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones)

Conscious Alliance's Vision Statement

Conscious Alliance runs food drives at concerts for donations to Native American groups

I’ve also spoken with Wavy Gravy and others who were instrumental in the planning of Woodstock and some of the early festivals in the ’60s, people who were at Watkins Glen, the last Dead show at Soldier’s Field in Chicago, and the memorial to Jerry Garcia in Golden Gate Park. I have stories from people who were at the first Furthur Festivals, the Phil and Phriends debut, every year of Jam Cruise, the last Cheese tour, and the Phish reunion in Hampton. Also represented are the organizers of the activism groups HeadCount and Conscious Alliance, Phish’s philanthropic organization the Waterwheel Foundation, founder of the Deaf Zone, members of Wharf Rats and the Phellowship, compiler of the Widespread Panic Everyday Companion, director of the documentary Dreadheads, an owner of the Wetlands in NYC, and editors, writers, and publishers of Relix magazine and JamBase.

Ratdog/Gov't Mule setlist - Greek Theatre, Los Angeles - June 29, 2008

I’m trying to represent as broad a spectrum as possible while remaining true to the major events in the scene’s history…obviously I’m going to have to leave a lot out, but what does go in should represent the heart of the jamband movement: good music, love, friendship, kindness, and a shitload of fun!

Steve Kimock and Friends at the NorVa in VA - March 7 & 8, 2009

The shows were planned by Passion Presents as aftershows for the Phish reunion at Hampton

Stay tuned for more reports from the field....

J J

Ziggy Marley Performs at Local Elementary School!

2009-05-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was privileged to see Ziggy Marley performing at the Cowan Avenue Elementary School in Westchester. The afternoon was a fundraiser, with a bake sale, silent auction, the whole nine. With a scaled-down version of his regular band, Marley performed about 5 songs from his new album, Family Time, and threw a "Three Little Birds" in there for good measure. The thousand or so kids present were mesmerized, and Ziggy never stopped smiling the whole time. Here are some photos of the event. Enjoy!

"Kids only" front row!

Yours truly, a semi-big kid at heart.

"Lift up your hearts with a smile..."

"Lift up your feet with a dance..."

"Lift up your spirits with a song..."

"It's family time!" - Ziggy

"Don't worry about a thing..."

"'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"

"Rise up this morning, smile with the rising sun..."

"Singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true..."

"This is my message to you!" - Bob

Missed Topanga Earth Day?

2009-05-01T13:29:00.001-07:00

Don't worry...I reviewed it for you on JamBase. Wasn't that thoughtful of me?

Killer photos by Keith Berson of Steve Molitz (Particle, Phil and Friends), Tea Leaf Green, Big Organ Trio with Marc Ford, Counter Clarkwise, Lili Haydn, Leon Mobley and Da Lion, and MORE!

Phil and Phriends Ten-Year Anniversary!

2009-04-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Andy Gadiel, founder of Andy Gadiel's Phish Page and JamBase, just called to my attention that this weekend is the 10-year anniversary of the Phil and Phriends shows at the Warfield in San Francisco. Indeed, this run was a pivotal moment in jam band history. The significance of the event, you ask? In an excerpt from my book-in-progress, Goin' Down the Road: Forty Years on Tour with American Jam Bands, I attempt an explanation:

In April 1999, Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead bassist), with a renewed lease on life after a liver transplant five months previous, announced three shows at the 2,250-seat Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. He billed his band as Phil Lesh and Friends, and played a benefit for the Unbroken Chain Foundation, a philanthropic organization run by Lesh and his wife, Jill, that contributes to children’s music programs among other nonprofit organizations. Comprising the band were Phil (bass), John Molo (drums) and Steve Kimock (guitar, pedal steel), and Trey Anastasio (guitar) and Page McConnell (keyboards) from Phish. Also performing on the second and third nights was Donna Jean (now Godchaux-McKay), vocalist for the Dead throughout the ’70s.

While Phil had previously played with various incarnations of his band, this manifestation (dubbed ‘Phil and Phriends’ for its inclusion of some of the members of Phish) lent credibility to the newer jam music that was being played then, specifically Kimock’s and Phish’s. Couched deep within the first set was “Wolfman’s Brother,” a song from Phish’s album Hoist, on which Lesh sang the vocals that Phish drummer Jon Fishman usually sang in a falsetto—“You shouldn’t-a took more than you gave”—much to the crowd’s amusement. Having Phil recognize Phish’s important position on the jam band continuum expanded its fan base—Dead fans who would never consider listening to Phish were introduced to the music via Phil, who they loved and respected.

That band showcased earnest and original musicianship that went beyond anyone’s expectations for such a risky mix of musical worlds. It was obvious how much fun the artists had while playing each other’s songs, and also paying homage with some covers of other classic artists’ tunes (the band opened the first night with Phil and his sons singing Eric Clapton’s “Hello, Old Friends,” and over the next few nights it also performed Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Like a Rolling Stone”). The interplay between musicians and the extended jamming were reminiscent of the Dead’s original style—“Viola Lee,” the second song of the first night’s set, was thirty-three minutes, featured a “Here Comes Sunshine” tease twenty-six minutes in, and went back into “Viola Lee” six minutes later. Those are the moments jam band fans--and live music fans in general--live for!

Before the three-night Warfield run, it had seemed that the former Dead members were headed in disparate musical directions, and the gap between the two or three major bands in the jam scene (TOO, Phish, Panic) was widening. Opening the first set of the last night was “Help on the Way,” which contains the lyrics, “Without love in the dream, it’ll never come true.” The Phil and Friends Warfield shows were a symbolic gesture of unity among the musicians who, despite their musical differences, discovered that they shared one common bond: the jam band community of followers.

That amounted to the beginning of a new era in jam band music—one that fused past and present. That configuration of the band hasn’t played together since, although Phil has continued to echo his original sentiment, making his calling card the showcasing of new talent and the conjoining of musicians who might not otherwise play on the same stage.

To hear a live recording of these shows, visit Archive.org: http://www.archive.org/details/1999-04-15.paf.sbd.unknown.4151.sbeok.flacf

Kimock Crazy!!

2009-03-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

Check out my feature on Steve Kimock Crazy Engine on JamBase!

Thanks for reading!

Joy

2009-03-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Read my review of Steve Kimock and Friends' recent show at the NorVa (Phish aftershow) on Jambands.com!

Thanks for clicking!

Joy :)

Phish/Kimock weekend in VA

2009-03-07T17:41:00.000-08:00

I'm in Virginia for the weekend to catch some Phish and the Steve Kimock/Melvin Seals aftershows at the NorVa in Norfolk.

Read about my joyous adventures here.

Thanks for clicking, and if you haven't filled out the jam band survey yet....what the heck are you waiting for??? You can do so here.

New Review! Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and Benevento at Largo

2009-02-27T14:54:00.001-08:00

Check out my recent review of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and Marco Benevento at Largo. Cool photos by Keith Berson.

BOOK UPDATE!

2008-12-07T16:54:00.000-08:00

First time here??

Click HERE to take the Jam Band Survey

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU...

to the hundreds of UMPHREAKS from THE BORT who completed the jam band survey! I have had so much fun reading all of your responses that you obviously spent a lot of time on. Your contributions to this project are invaluable and I am so grateful! You guys rule, and UMPHREY'S MCGEE rules! There is an exclusive interview with Umphrey's in the book that I did at 2008's Gathering of the Vibes, so please check back here or at the MySpace address below for continued updates on the book's publication.

SPEAKING OF MySpace...

Please make me your friend! You can see photos, video clips of interviews, read blog updates, leave me messages, and see who else supports this book. Tell your friends!

THANKS EVERYONE and LOVE from the bottom of my HEART!

JOY :)

CALLING ALL LIVE MUSIC FREAKS!!!

2008-07-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

Is this a familiar sight?

If you've devoted much of your time, money, and effort to following bands around the country at any time between the '60s and today,

I want to hear your story!

Click HERE to take the Jam Band Survey

My book-in-progress,

Tour Stories: Forty Years on the Road with American Jam Bands,

examines the influence of LIVE IMPROVISATIONAL MUSIC on people's lives, specifically the music of the "jam bands":
The Grateful Dead
Phish
String Cheese Incident
Disco Biscuits
Blues Traveler
Umphrey's McGee
Sound Tribe Sector 9
Phil Lesh and Friends
Ratdog...

Click HERE to take the Jam Band Survey

Perhaps you have a specific story...like that ONE TIME at that PANIC show...when they BUSTED OUT....You know the kind of thing I'm talking about!

DO YOU HAVE ANY MEMORABILIA???
Ticket Stubs
Photos
Wristbands
Bumper Stickers
Buttons
T-Shirts

Be part of history!
Let me tell your story!

Click HERE to take the Jam Band Survey

or write to me at:

joy@joysjam.com

THANK YOU

and have a grateful day!!!