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Northeast Regional Report
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Edited by Tony
Oliveira
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Hey all, NOTE FOR REVIEWERS:
My apologies but I had a slight PC mishap and had to reformat my
hard drive, so I ended up losing a couple of submissions from this
month. If you sent me a review and don't see it in the review section
it was one of the ones that was lost...again sorry. Feel free to
get in touch with me, and/or resend it. At the very least let me
know who you are so I can beg you for some more in the future ;)
THE RETURN OF THE CALENDAR SECTION! Did I mention the Calendar section is back? :-) Hopefully updated
by the time you read this. Now residing at: I should have some comprehensive instructions for submitting dates
in the near future so check back periodically. One advantage of
hosting it off site is that I can update the dates in a more timely
manner. This does not mean send me dates later, it just means that
I have some flexibility. It is still beneficial to send in dates
as soon as possible. NEW ENGLAND BAND LINKS? Well, I've been mulling over the idea of adding a REGIONAL (NEW
ENGLAND ONLY) band links section to which I think would
go nicely with our calendar section, which is finally up and running
again! Anyhow, if you are in a band, publicist, mgr or even friend
of a band that is both - from New England (ie, currently calls New
England home) and has a website - then please feel free to send
me the URL for their site. Please verify the URL if you could, no
use listing broken links. Also, please include the state they are
from. That would be helpful. I would really like the focus of this
to be on the many smaller bands that never even get out of New England
and are mainly known to their local fans. These are the bands that
would benefit most from this. I've received a few of them and you
will see them in the appropriate section. Feel free to send in ones
you don't see yet. I'd also like to ask that the band be true to
the particular genre that this site caters to. Really, it's a pretty
wide label - Jambands - and basically, if a band does some improvisation
and the focus is on the live experience, then they would qualify
for this. I look fwd to getting your submissions and hope this proves
to be helpful to the bands and fans alike. FREE REVIEW PRIZE: (Analog or CD-R) Well, since it seems this Y2K crap came and went without the impending
doom many feared, I figured why not make my offer Y2K ompliant,
spread some good music, or at the very least make it FREE. I will
think of it as a sacrificial offer to the millennium gods or quite
possibly as a way to get more reviews. Either way, I'm happy...new,
updated info below: Just a reminder, I will pick one review each
month with the winner receiving a FREE show from my dat (analog
tapes) or from my CD-R list. A show will likely be limited to 3
cds or tapes, and since I enjoy spinning analogs from my dats about
as much as I enjoy hangovers, this will for all intent in purposes
be a CD offer, though I may be willing to spin analogs from my cds.
I won't necessarily pick the most well written review; in fact,
the winner will be somewhat random! Reviewers, please check this
section to see if you have won. This month's winner is Aly Constine...Congrats!
and get in touch with me for details of the offer. Looking forward to more great reviews in the coming months.
* NEWS FROM NOWHERE * NEWS FROM NOWHERE * Announcement: Boston Area Show Discussion List SHOW REVIEWS: REVIEWS! REVIEWS! REVIEWS! GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: I pretty much accept anything as far as reviews go, as long as
they pertain to jambands. Really, this is a very broad
category, and I give a lot of leeway on this too. Of course, I reserve
the right to not use anything or to edit them as I see fit. You
will get full credit for reviews and I generally take a hands-off
approach to editing, meaning I don't want to change the feel of
your review. After all, YOU were there, not me. Some important
things to keep in mind. Deadline! Our deadline is the 5th of the
month. This may change in the future, but for now, that is it. You
can still send me your review if you miss the deadline; I "may"
be able to get it in, if not; it will be used in the next issue.
Please run "Spell-Check" before submitting your reviews. Also, if
you are referring to song titles, please put them in "quotations".
When e-mailing them in, it's best to just put them in the body of
the e-mail or mail them as .txt. If you send something else there
may be a chance that I won't be able to open it because of software
incompatibilities. The best way to get a feel for what the reviews
are like is by reading past ones. Remember you don't have to be
a journalist or professional writer, you just had to be at the show.
If you have any specific questions just send me an e-mail: ne@jambands.com p.s. I've added reviewer's e-mail addresses, so feel free to
contact them if you like their reviews or even if you don't...feedback
is always welcome. by Aly Constine aconstine@hotmail.com Rumors about One Flew East reached my ears long before I got my
first fix. The band has only been around for six months, but several
of my friends were pretty adamant about what they'd heard. The show
was at Harper's, one of my favorite places to see music in Boston.
It has a wide selection of beer, plenty of room to dance (especially
after last year's renovation), and a reputation for incredible sound.
Surrounded by a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd, evidence that the
band already has somewhat of a following, I was ready for my initial
taste of One Flew East. Within minutes of the first tune I was blown away. Not to say that
this is the best band I've heard in years (although, give them a
little time) but the sound was solid, appealing, and new. Brian
Knoth, on lead guitar, continued to take the audience on various
soaring explorations facilitated by his fast fingers and skillful
control of the delay pedal. Knoth lends tremendous power to the
group by laying low, leaving room for his bandmates to alternately
control the sound. Loved the cute girl on bass, Jamie Bannister.
She plays with a melodic style and allows a range of musical genres
to influence her sound. Lead singer, Matt Ostrower draws you in
with his smooth and soulful vocal meanderings. In addition to playing
acoustic guitar he orchestrates much of the band's sampling. This
technique fills out the sound and gives the band an innovative edge.
Also adding samples triggered by a drum pad is percussionist Alex
Lumb. Not an overpowering player, he has a great sense of time and
sits in the pocket with ease. The set was filled with well-composed originals imbued with thoughtful
lyrics, interesting changes, and catchy grooves that made it impossible
to stand still. My favorites were the smile ensuring "Eye to Eye"
(I love the melody and the Latin breakdown in the middle), the passionate
lyrics of "Roam," and the fun energy of the show closer "Delivering."
They nailed their cover of U2's "God's Country," which sounded extra
sweet with vocal harmonies added by vocalist and percussionist Phil
Allen. The whole show had an incredible feel due to the passion of the
crowd and the contagious energy of the musicians. The band is young
both in time together and age, but the talent is there. All the
thrill of a jamband with samples for the digital crowd. Check out
their website at http://www.onefleweast.com
REVIEW: The Slip By Jim Crichton 07.28.00 Hot Tin Roof-Martha's Vineyard Set 1: Camp Shuey>Munf
(Zion tease), Pictures of Calysto, Johnny's Tune, S'Debatable Set 2: Moral Decay, Spice Groove>Lucky Dragon, Alsoa (w/Isaac Taylor),
Dogs on Bikes This is a real nice room, a la HoB (Boston), murals, nice wood,
good lights, decent sound both on and off stage. They got a nice
house to stay in and I'm sure will be looking forward to a return
gig next year. Getting here was pricey, but it's a gorgeous place,
and island shows always seem more intimate, anyway.... They did 2 short sets rather than 1 long one, and it worked out
well, we got 10 great tunes. Of the first set, Munf was shorter
than usual, Pictures was beautiful as ever, and Johnny's was real
feisty. Decay to open the 2nd set was great placement, and they
kept it fast and furious with Spice, which eventually segued into
The Lucky Dragon (the title now seems set in stone). The highlight
of the night was getting Isaac up there for Alsoa, he and Brad traded
verses throughout, Isaac's voice works so well with their sound
(see the 11/6/99 Cumulus, etc) It ran a couple of minutes longer
than usual...Dogs to finish was hardly surprising, but it's always
welcome. Editor's Note NEW ENGLAND SHOW CALENDAR Editor's Note: The Calendar, as mentioned earlier, is up and running
again. I'm still trying to find a better/easier format so that I
can update it in a more timely manner, and I hope to make a page
for IE users since it doesn't work so well for that browser.
If you would like to add a show that you don't see on the calendar
listing please e-mail Armand at armand.turcotte@bigfoot.com
You can also e-mail him if you'd like to receive it as a once a
month e-mail. Please be aware that Armand puts this out on a monthly basis (the
first of the month) so he needs sufficient time to update it. |
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