Floydfest X  

July 28-31 2011, Floyd VA  

Looking Back, and Ahead!

by Lori McKinney

 

Our guest reviewer, Lori McKinney should know a little something about the music scene- she is an a band called Option 22, runs a little art enclave and performance venue in West Virginia, and has been on the scene for years.  Who better to write a reflection of the Floydfest experience than her!  

 

 

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The Zen Tricksters

January 22, 2012

Dave Nolan Memorial

BrooklynBowln, NYC.

 

The memorial to Wetlands DJ and archivist Dave Nolan has become an annual tradition.  This is the third year that Bob O'Donnell has spearheaded the effort, along with Pete 
Shapiro, former owner of the Wetlands, curator of the Jammy awards, and current owner of the Brooklyn Bowl.  Once again, the Zen Tricksters have reunited to fete their old friend, and to provide fans with an outlet for their Zen Tricksters dreams.

 

 

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Corey Smith and Adam Ezra 

January 25, 2012 

The Iron Horse 

Northampton MA

 

A night of stories and songs at the famed Pioneer Valley venue featured two great song writers.  In his first appearance in Northampton, Georgia's Corey Smith showed the Yankee crowd some southern hospitality, serving up a heaping pile of songs about friends, family, drinking and drugs. 

 

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Girls Guns and Glory

Hank Williams Tribute

January 1 2012

Lizard Lounge Cambridge, MA

 

The reigning Boston Music Award winners in the Americana category, Girls Guns and Glory, fete their strongest influence, Hank Williams.  In a tribute to the American songwriting master, the band pulled in some of their friends and celebrated on the memorial day, nearly sixty years after his untimely passing.

 

 

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Artist Review: Falling Water  

November 18, 2011  

Sullivan Hall  

by Mark Rechler

Mark Rechler, keyboard and front man for the new band Falling Water reflects on his NYC show in November.  Rechler has been on the scene for a long time with his band Circus Mind out of Long Island, playing keyboard recently with legendary guitarist Leo Nocentelli on a run of the Northeast, and formerly as a publisher of the HeadJamz music lifestyle website.  A man who has been around the scene, Rechler reflects on this first NYC performance of his new band, and where it's likely to take him.

 

 

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Furthur  

November 3 2011  

Verizon Wireless Arena Manchester NH

 

It'd been a while since I had seen Furthur, so I was stoked to go up to Manchester NH and see the band.  With another year under their belts,  I was confident that the show would be amazing, and boy was I right!  From first note to last, the band exceeded my expectations.  Check out the detailed review.

 

 

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Catskill Chill  

Camp Minglewood Hancock NY

September 9 - 11, 2011

by Jonathan Lobdell

 

We are lucky enough to have a review submitted by first time contributor Jonathan Lobdell.  This overview of the second ever Catskill Chill in Hancock NY is accompanied by great photos taken by Chenoa Malulani Charpentier.

 

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Cabinet 

Sherpherdtown Opera House 

September 15 2011

Reader Tom Harper found himself in Sherpherdtown West Virginia on the same night as one of his favorite bands, Cabinet.  He catches the show and sets down some thoughts in this, his first review anywhere:

 

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ARTIST REVIEW:

Old Shoe 

March 25 2011 

Chicago IL

by Matt Robinson

Americana Rock and bluegrass influences come together in the band Old Shoe from Chicago, IL.  In this ARTIST REVIEW, Matt Robinson gives us an inside view of how his recent show, a surprise underground party, and how it felt to be on the stage side of the artist audience relationship.  When asked to describe Old Shoe, Matt says, "Our grooves are dirt roads through green groves."   Now that is a band I want to see and hear about..

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Rustic Overtones 

December 31 2010 

Port City Music Hall 

Portland, ME

When I was younger, New Year’’s Eve was a big holiday- a night that you celebrate as best you can by seeing the coolest concert you could find, no matter where it was on the continent.  1990 and 1991 I went to the Oakland Coliseum and saw The Dead with Branford Marsalis the first year, then the Dead with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (featuring Kevin Eubanks) the second year.  1993 I ventured to Worcester MA and saw Phish at the Centrum.  The year in between?  I was super bummed, went to some parties, and vowed that I would find a great concert the next year to attend.  The years that followed saw me playing in my own band on some New Year’’s eves, running other shows, and eventually settling into family life.  Live shows were harder to make to on this night of nights.

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ARTIST REVIEW:

Miracle Orchestra

Reunion Shows in Boston and NYC.

Drummer Bill Carbone reflects on his time in Miracle Orchestra and their recent reunion shows in Boston and NYC.  As a band that in the late 90s and early parts of this century helped to define the current generation of jambands not only in the East, but nationally, Miracle Orchestra was an important cog in the whole live music wheel.  Frequenting haunts like the Middle East in Boston and the Wetlands in NYC helped to propel them into the national jam consciousness.  Their recent reunion caught a few jam fans off guard, for sure.

 

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Love in Stockholm

Middle East Downstairs

December 4 2010

 

So it was probably at the end of October, or so, when I got an email from Charlie Rockwell.  I get a lot of emails from bands like this, "Hey Mister, we’’re in a great band, what do you think?"  Because of this website and other work I do with bands, I got a lot of contact from bands, which I love!...   I clicked on their link and listened to the songs on their Electronic Press Kit. 

I was immediately struck by the band’’s high quality.

 

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Phish

DCU Center Worcester, MA 

December 28 2010

Since I had done the show last night, and with directions and plans freshly implanted in my mind, it was an easy and uneventful trip into Worcester.  This night I was cruising with  my wife for our second Phish show together this year (see the review of the June Hartford CT show here) and we were being joined by Crystal, who has made it to a lot of shows with me this year.  Once again, Matty S came through with the primo parking spot, and we cruised into Pizzeria Uno to await my buddy Rick, Corrine and her uncle, and the extra ticket that they had for Crystal.
 

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Phish

DCU Center Worcester, MA

December 27 2010

I’’m a strong believer in the overwhelming power of coincidence.  So when the CD player stumbled upon Frank Zappa’’s Peaches En Reglaia this afternoon, I was able to take it as a good omen.  That song, which was a centerpiece of the Phish New Year’’s Eve show in 1993 in Worcster MA at the venue that was then called the Worcester Centrum, helped to set the good mood that carried me to show time.  Since I had not been back to the building really since that show, and had only been seeing Phish a few times this year after not having seen them for more than a decade, I was more than open to the idea of a good omen.

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Hey Mama

Middle East

December 11

 

Man, if you were getting on stage at the MIddle East on that night, you better have your pipes together.  Brothers McCann harmonized their way through an amazing opening set, and with Love in Stockholm closing the night out, it was Hey Mama’’s turn to bring it to Cambridge, MA.  This being touted as their final show in their hometown, I had no doubt that the band would be bringing it.

 

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Brothers McCann

Middle East

December 11

So I had not been to the MIddle East in a long long time.  I know that in the early 2000s I saw a few shows there for sure, including great jam shows including an ulu and Uncle Sammy show down, and Boston luminaries like Angry Salad and Rustic Overtones doing their own shows.  It’’s a landmark in Cambridge, replete with multiple performance spaces, and it just screams rock club from top t