Hello all,

I've finally settled back in the Boston area (after about 11 weeks on the road) and the funny thing is that I kind of missed the area. Not for it's lovely weather and traffic, but mostly for the music scene ;) It's kind of funny how when you are away from an area for a long time, you notice things that you once took for granted. In this case, once again I'm talking about the music and more specifically all the jazzier jambands and their respective side projects around the area. If you want to read more of my thoughts about this, you can just scroll down to the News from Nowhere section. I've also attempted to compile a little info on the New England New Years Eve shows for you perusal (also below). Happy Holidays to all.

-Tony

NEW ENGLAND NEW YEARS EVE SHOW LISTING

Ring in the New Year and the REAL Millenium with one of your favorite regional bands!

Miracle Orchestra w/ special guests uncle trouble and dan rockett. Also special music for the evening! Lizard Lounge, Cambridge MA 9pm-about 3am. 21+ only150 tix available. advance tickets thru www.ticketweb.com

The Slip w/ special guests Thamusement. The Somerville Theater -- Boston, MA 8pm -- All Ages -- 617-625-4088 For advance tickets go to: Ticketmaster.com or call: 617-931-2000

The Disco Biscuits - The Palladium (508) 797-9696 - Worcester MA ALL AGES 7pm doors, 3 sets tix available at tickets.com 1-800-477-6849, Stawberries Record Stores and Wormtown Trading in Worcester

Currently Nameless - Vermont Pub and Brewery - Burlington VT

Max Creek - Webster Theater - Hartford CT

Viperhouse - Club Metronome - Burlington VT

Jiggle - Tammany Club - Worcester MA

Deep Banana Blackout - Mertens Theater - Bridgeport CT All Ages 8pm Tix available by calling DBB ticketing (203) 334-4718 or Terrapin Presents 1-800-677-8650

Seth Yacovone Band - First Night, Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center, 8:30pm -10:30pm

Entrain - Harper's Ferry - Allston MA

*Phish - Secret show at yet undisclosed location in VT

*hey, it could happen, but don't count on it! Editor will not be held responsible if it doesn't though!

**NOTE: The following are not playing in New England but are ne bands. Schleigho - Forward Hall Café - Erie PA 8pm doors. THIS EVENT IS BYOB!! 2500 Block of Peach Street, in Erie. Ages = 18+ to enter. Tickets are $15.00 (in advance or at the door) Info / tickets : 814-454-9545 (Grasshopper) Venue Phone : 814-455-8231 (Forward Hall) Uncle Sammy - The Wetlands (in the Lounge) - New York City; New Deal headlines

NEW ENGLAND BAND LINKS? LAST CALL!!!

I've been collecting band links for several months now, and I've decided to make this the last call. After all, it is December and why not start the new year with the band links page making it's debut. To be honest, I thought I would get more links than I have, but no matter...what I have will suffice for now. So I will say it again, "LAST CALL!" If you've been meaning to submit something...do it now. Anyhow, if you are in a band, publicist, mgr or even friend of a band that is both - from New England (i.e., 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'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)

Believe it or not, I've actually gotten around to sending out some past winners (past winners check your stockings!) and if I somehow forgot you...see below! Of course, new reviewer's are always welcome to submit their reviews so you too can experience first hand just how much of a procrastinator I am ;)

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 (I am a bit partial to new reviewers though)! Reviewers, please check this section to see if you have won. This month's winner is Suzy Soul...Congrats! and get in touch with me for details of the offer.

NOTE FOR PAST REVIEW "WINNERS": I've returned to the nest, and with my return...I hope to catch up with all the past winners and get their cd's out in time for the holidays! So, if you've won the review prize in the past and have not received your discs...send me a little reminder {preferably just return the e-mail which I sent you that had some lame excuse as to why I have yet to burn them ;) } and I will get to burning

Looking forward to more great reviews in the coming months.

* NEWS FROM NOWHERE * NEWS FROM NOWHERE *

Before I launch into my little rant, let me give you an example of exactly what I'm talking about:

UPCOMING: An Evening of Modern Urban Adaptations of Traditional West African Folk Music

Tuesday Jan 16th - Lizard Lounge -Cambridge MA Featuring -Bill, Jared and Garrett of m/o with Marc and Andrew of Slip as well as Senegalese master drummer - Mamadou N'Dyaie and DJ Mr Rourke.

It's a funny thing how this term "jambands" has gone from being a good way to differentiate us from the pop mainstream to now becoming shunned by the very bands it was created to help. I won't tell you how many bands I've had conversations with, whom for whatever reason (some of them quite legit), have insisted they are NOT a jamband...sure, sure. Honestly, the only thing I ever took from the term is that there is some amount of improvisation in the music and a shared set of characteristics (allow taping, creative setlists, etc). I'm not going to rehash them all or even get into a rant about the term, but rather I'm choosing to concentrate on one particular sub-type that seems to be quite prevalent in the Boston area - that is the jazz bands that aren't quite 100% jazz (not sure how you get certified 100% jazz, maybe it's like that organic designation? lol) but have taken different elements of funk, electronica, hip hop, Americana, improv, and a whole host of other styles and have created something unique, but also something I word term a jamband ( an amalgamation of styles to begin with). I'm talking about regional bands like the Slip, Miracle Orchestra, and Schleigho to name but a few. So why am I going on and on about these bands? Good question. The biggest reason is that I tend to think that these bands of jazz trained musicians will be the future of jambands as we know it. I'm not talking about these particular bands but instead the type of musicians that they are. The trend seems to be to incorporate more and more non-traditional improv styles into the music and I think this blending is where it's at, but this is all just personal opinion and a bit skewed toward my own region (I think). The local Boston music scene (courtesy of Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music to name but a few) is full young jazz musicians who grew up on Phish and the Dead, an so naturally have an interest in this type of music. I've been thinking about this after my return to the area and after running into Marc (bass player from the Slip) at the Chopping Block (Mission Hill area of Boston) and chatting about this very same abundance of local jazz musicians, I've decided to give them some much deserved attention. Funny thing is Marc had said they were considering adding something to their own site as well and they have! It can be found at:

http://www.theslip.com/HometownMusic.html

Probably more skewed towards jazz which isn't a bad thing.

Anyhow, below is pretty much the same schedule and you are probably better off checking the Slip site for more updated info in the future, but for now:

Monday - The Fringe (Every Monday) - Outstanding jazz trio! - Lizard Lounge in Cambridge (on Mass Ave between Porter Sq and Harvard Sq)

Tuesday - Anti Jazz Raygun w/Naftule's Dream - Lilli's, Somerville MA (on Somerville Ave, near Porter Sq T-Stop) - Open Jam Night - The Chopping Block - Boston MA (near Mission Hill area) . I'm not 100% sure about this one though. Please call the club. I will update this for next month's section.

Wednesday (Every) - The Jazz Farmers < http://www.deliciousgrooves.com/Jf%20Home.html > (Every Wednesday) 10pm-2am *FREE* - The Chopping Block -Boston, MA (Mission Hill)

Thursday - Club D'elf w/ Alain Mallet http://www.clubdelf.com - The Lizard Lounge - Cambridge, MA

- The Mingus Three -Every Thursday 10pm-2am *FREE* - The Chopping Block; Mission Hill, MA

Also for some good jazz, check out: http://www.wallyscafe.com/ which has live music 365 days a year!

Note: Most of these are on a regular basis, but you should always call ahead and check. Also if you know of anything similar, feel free to e-mail me at ne@jambands.com

News: Zyrah's Orange, a local (to boston) trio, has just released "Body" which features ten new tunes. It will arrive in retail stores throughout New England by early November (including all Bull Moose and Newbury Comics outlets).

Announcement: Boston Area Show Discussion List

A Onelist email group called beantownshows has been started. Check out: http://www.onelist.com/community/beantownshows for more info.

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 I promise to be gentle. I guess that's it for now. Looking forward to getting some new reviews and reviewers in the coming months.

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.

REVIEW: The Slip w/ Club D'elf 11/24/00 - Lupo's - Providence RI

by Jim Crichton

set 1: Intro>French/African tune, The Lucky Dragon, Johnny's Tune, Nellie Jean>Tune in 7 teases on sitar>Nellie Jean(finished with sitar)

set 2: Honey Melon w(native american tune tease)>Yo Yo Ma Little Brown-Eyed Babushka (Russian Tune), The Weight of Solomon, So Dope, Take a Beetle to the Badlands E: Moral Decay

Lupo's was jammed, despite Derek Trucks playing next door. Club D'elf opened lots of eyes and ears, got a feeling the Lizard Lounge shows will be getting a little more crowded after this. The drummer for them on this night (Kenwood Dennard) teaches Andrew and has taught Billy Martin in the past. Their bassist (Mike Rivard) is terrific, upright and many other axes, lots of effects as well.

They set the table nicely for BAM, who opened with a work in progress intro which slid gracefully into the french/african vocal thing that's been hiding away for a bit. No french lyrics tonight, though. Lucky Dragon and Johnny's Tune were good fun, the LDs seem to get longer and longer before they finally get to the heads, but Pete had the strobes going big time for that section, well worth the wait. Brad had a star near his left eye, Nellie's doing for sure, and she was there to hear the song he named for her. He added some bluesier than usual licks while on the blonde (which he played the whole first set), then switched to the sitar during Andrew's section and hinted at some Tune in 7 stuff but mostly just improvised wonderfully, best version of this tune in quite a while.

Set 2 - opened with Honey Melon, and the whole crowd connected instantly, they should do this more often :^) Brad dropped in a tease of the native american tune they played in Philly for the cd release, and again in Ft Collins this summer. It is still growing and will be amazing when finished. He finished HM nicely then segued into the Russian tune (several heys heard in the background :) It was a slow beginning (as they do with Johnny's now) but it builds fast and is fun. Ian called Weight before Brad even hinted that he was going near the keys, and it was an obvious choice with the Providence line, I yelled Julia's to no avail :) It's a gorgeous tune, and Brad sang well throughout. The Sesame St verses weren't quite as loud here from the crowd as they were in NY....So Dope was fairly standard, it's always appreciated, though ;) Beetle had a baby you can drive my car verse in it, as well as taking a pickup to Providence rather than Pennsyltucky. Moral Decay was its usual boisterous self, Marc all over it. It was packed to the end, and all went home bouncing and smiling, a great show for the hometown crowd.

REVIEW: Max Creek w/Mike Gordon 11/25/00 - The Living Room -Providence RI

by Tim O'Neil

1: Secrets > Rainbow > Big Boat > Pissed Off, Can't Let Go, You're The Only One, Eminence Front 2: Calling Elvis > Heartbeat > Devil's Heart > Jam* > Sailin' Shoes*,poetry**^ > One Way Out**# E: Possum**##, Back Porch Boogie Blues*** - Mike Gordon on bass** - Mike Gordon and John Rider on bass ^ - poetry reading by Frank Messina # - Eamon Cronin on lead vocals## - Mike Gordon on lead vocals; first time played by Max Creek

We took a couple of friends from home with us on the trip down to the Living Room. After a brief 40 minute drive we were pulling into the Living Room parking area. The Living Room where it stands now is an old restaurant turned into low key club.

We got there a little early so we grabbed a few beers and hung out right up front talking to some friends. The place filled in pretty quickly and by 10:30 the band got on stage. As of now I had no idea that Mike was going to be in the house. After about an hour or so I head for one of the bars to grab a beer. Bryan, one of the owners, says to me" did you see the guy from Phish here?" I couldn't believe it. I grabbed a few brews and headed back down to the front of the stage. I told my girlfriend that Mike was seen and she couldn't believe it either. I look over to my left and there is Mike just hanging out with a few people next to the stage. Woohoo. I knew the second set was going to be a rager. We had seen the MaxCreek show back in January when Mike joined them and he seems to be able to make the rest of the band pick it up a notch.

So back to the music, First set starts off with a nice Secrets>Rainbow>BigBoat>Pissed Off with Scott mentioning his anger for the New England Patriots Football team during "Pissed off". Scott Breaks a string during "You're the Only One" and finishes the song minus one string. He does a quick repair and they launch into "Eminence Front" by the WHO. This was a raucous version that extended into some real nice solo work by Scott and John. The crowd is so worked up at this point, people were tapping me on the shoulder telling me that was Mike Gordon over there and others were asking if that was Mike because it looked an awful lot like him. Funny stuff.

Second set starts off with one of my favorite set openers- Calling Elvis. They moved along into Heartbeat and then into a real nice slow version of Devils Heart. After the Devil's Heart Jam Mike jumps on stage and grabs John Rider's bass and they go into this real sweet jam. Mike was slapping away on the bass like you read about. They segue right into Sailin Shoes. The Living Room was in full swing at this point. John Rider joins them back on stage with his spare bass guitar and they bring out Frank Messina and his big book of poems. He picks one out and they go into a free form jam with Frank singing his poems over the jam. I believe the poem was called rhythm vacuum. We were all stuck in the rhythm vacuum vibrating with all the good vibes going around. Then I hear a familiar bass line and they bust out One Way Out by the Allman Brothers. Eamon Cronin came on stage for vocals on this one. He was dressed all in black from head to toe and he belted out the lyrics to a tee. He hung the last notes out there to end the second set with the crowd going insane. They all walk off stage and regroup for a few minutes. Up to now it was like nothing I had seen. It was like an open mic night for some of these guys who wouldn't normally get a chance to play with somebody like Mike Gordon. It was soo cool that everybody was having a good time.

They stroll on for the encore and they seemed to be taking their time so people started getting a little excited and started hootin and hollering. They start playing a few notes any my girlfriend says I think that is a phish tune? I pick it up and say no shit, they are going to bust out possum. Mike steps up to the mic and they nail it. Scott was familiar with the song from 99 when he joined Phish on stage at the Tweeter Ctr. Mark Mercier laid down a sweet piano solo during the first solo section with Scott following. They finish up possum on Mike's 4 count and they roll right into Back Porch Boogie Blues, a real nice country sounding banjo pickin blue grass instrumental. They wind it all down and they walk off the stage at 2:05 AM. What a hot show. A wide range of new talent, top notch talent and the vibe of it all on Thanksgiving weekend made this MaxCreek show a 10.

REVIEW: Review: Cosmic Dilemma 11/26/00 Lili's- Somerville, MA w/ Jinx Motive

by Suzy Soul

It was a rainy night, and the last night of the long Thanksgiving weekend taboot. I went to this show thinking I would be one of only a handful there. But the real fans could not be kept away. It seems that a little precipitation and a some post-turkey exhaustion is hardly enough to deter the fans of Cosmic Dilemma. This band rocks! I have been to several shows over the past few months, and this was one of the best yet! If you have not yet been to Lili's in Somerville- you should check it out. What a great place to see a show, and great sound too! The night began with the word that the opening band, Jinx Motive, was still waiting for their bass player to arrive. So Cosmic Dilemma's bassist, Dan Ingenthron, got up and jammed with them. They grooved through a nasty rendition of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon" and some other impromptu jazz/funk jams. It was a truly spontaneous and beautiful moment. After about a half hour Jinx Motive's bass player showed up and the band launched into a rousing set of their original jazzy instrumentals. I had never heard of them before, but they were really good too.

Around 11:30, Cosmic Dilemma took the stage. The crowd immediately came forward and started to move as drummer Tim Haney and bassist Igenthron, along with percussionist Dave Champagne, began the opening groove of "The Frog", while guitarists Dan Desmond and Will Bradford started to add thick rich textures to the mix. The band played seamlessly grooving from song to song with ease. Highlights of the show included the trancy techno-groove of "Brother" and the band's opus "More Love for Pain", featuring a bluesy- ripping solo by Desmond. The crowd, many of whom were first-timers, were totally into this show. Everyone danced and followed the band through their steady grooves and intense peaks. The band played for about an hour and a half- which was not nearly enough for me. I cant wait til the next one.

If you would like more info on Cosmic Dilemma go to www.cosmicdilemma.com.

{editor's note: the following review was supposed to appear last month but accidentally disappeared. So here it is in its entirety...]

REVIEW: String Cheese Incident Hootin' And Hollerin' On Hulaween

by: Matt J. Brockett

The String Cheese Incident spent All Hallows Eve in Portland, Maine topping off their northeast Hulaween run and leaving nothing but talk of sellout crowds and packed houses in their wake. The evening began with the boys filling the State Theatre with the sounds of Saturday mornings past. As they played the theme song from the Spiderman cartoon show drummer Michael Travis descended from the ceiling in his Spidey suit, spraying the crowd with his silly string "webs." Travis' love for adventure and extreme sports had shown itself once again, as it did when he parasailed onto a field next to the stage at Mt. Shasta this past summer.

The crowd of ticketless hopefuls outside of the State Theatre, along with the crowds at the Hammerstein Ballroom, The Orpheum and the Calvin Theatre the weekend before, were a testament to the steady growth the Cheese family is experiencing. After a blowout summer tour through some of this country's pristine and beautiful landscapes such as Red Rocks, Horning's Hideout, and Terra Alta, West Virginia the Cheese has been forced inside by the elements into smaller more confined venues. More people were exposed to the String Cheese Incident this summer than probably any other year and growth was inevitable.

After Spiderman's dramatic entrance the first set was tight, but at times they seemed to be holding back. An uncharacteristically reserved "Ms. Brown's Teahouse" was more than made up for by the rest of the set. The intense set closing "Lost > Jam > Come As You Are" let everyone know that the night was just beginning.

The lengthy second set seemed to flow virtually seamlessly from song to jam to song and it became apparent early on that Kang, Billy, Travis, Keith and Kyle were intent on running the crowd of dancing cheeseheads into the ground. The tension filled groove of "Outside Inside" evolved every so slowly into the spirit lifting pace of instrumental scorcher "Mouna Bowa." The jam that came out of "Mouna Bowa" led into a mind-blowing "Salt Creek > Black Clouds" to end the set.

When the house lights failed to go back on it became apparent that there would be no three sets like last year, and the lack of cover songs in the first and second sets left many guessing at the encore. In the spirit of the holiday the Cheese had a trick up their sleeve when they faked out the audience at the beginning of the encore. As they started into "Land's End" it quickly became obvious that they were going in another direction from Keith's telling bassline. Before anyone realized what was happening they moved smoothly into the Police hit "Walking on the Moon" with it's slow bass groove letting everyone know that things would still heat up before the night was over. Without a break they displayed immense segue prowess by jamming their way into an incredibly hard rocking version of the Beatles' "Come Together."

What happened next was the biggest surprise of the evening. Despite the New York Times' bold and inaccurate statement that SCI would be the band most likely to benefit from Phish's hiatus from touring, Cheese didn't shy away from paying homage to the pride of the northeast. After "Come Together" was winding down looks of joy and disbelief spread through the crowd as people began to recognize the opening notes of an eerily perfect cover of "The Wedge." The night was capped off with the fitting K.C. and The Sunshine Band hit "Get Down Tonight" as those who still had the energy to dance had no choice but to give it everything they had left. Milk cartons, devils, flashers, pirates and even Rainbow Brite were in attendance for the Second Annual Pirate's Ball, but the only "Jellyfish" were in the crowd, as was the only "Texas." These two jams are arguably Cheese's most well known, and are revered for their wide open middles where virtually anything can, and always does, happen. Oddly enough, not a single "Jellyfish" or "Texas" was played on Hulaween, or the rest of the fall tour so far. It seems almost as if the boys want to let everyone subtly know that they can still blow the roof off the joint every night without those songs. Their repertoire is overflowing with masterful gems with endless possibilities and they are by no means at a loss for quality material. With or without "Texas" and "Jellyfish" the shows have been phenomenal so far and a southbound run highlighted with a few shows featuring long time Cheese cohort and musical messiah Keller Williams promises to be stellar. One thing that is obvious at any incident is the connection between the band and the fans. This love is so thick that it can almost be physically touched. Guitarist Bill Nershi has virtually made a tradition of the "Group Hoot," an exercise designed to "get everyone on the same wavelength." The new hooting sound is much easier on the ears than the group "Peacock Noises" that served the same purpose at Horning's Hideout and will hopefully become a ritual at every incident.

NEW ENGLAND SHOW CALENDAR

Editor's Note: The Calendar, as mentioned earlier, has vanished again...stolen by the Grinch?...who knows? It should make a return right around the time the snow does. Patience.

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.