SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS. WHATEVER.

Kudos to Carlos Santana for scoring ten Grammy nominations for his latest CD, "Supernatural" (1999: Arista). In one category two songs from his album are competing against each other. It is about time Carlos got more of the mainstream recognition he has deserved for so long. It's also very cool to hear him "cross-over." Different tracks are being played on adult contemporary, Latin, urban, alt.rock, college and progressive non-commercial stations simultaneously. Santana is having his first "Number 1" record ever. "Supernatural" does (mostly) rock, but all the "comeback" talk in the press is truly baffling. I saw Carlos at least a dozen times in the 90s, always in large, full venues. Always rocking. He put out some good material, too. His music will never be off the radio: How can he comeback if he never went away? Besides, the "comeback" for Santana that was probably most significant was his recent tours of Mexico and South America. Santana was about 7 when he and his family went north from Tijuana and settled in San Francisco's Mission District. It was in the early 1990s that Santana played his first show in Tijuana ever. That "Regressa A Casa" happened in a *bullring* and easily ranks among the ten best concert experiences in my life. You should have heard that crowd and it's *love* for Carlos! Carlos sitting in with Blues Traveler in 90 or 91 in Golden Gate Park completely ripped, and it wasn't that long ago that Bob Dylan opened for Santana in Shoreline and Concord, or when he tore it up with Planet Drum in the Kaiser in Oakland. Whatever. If it is all grand for Carlos right now it is because he's deserved it for a long time before this most successful marketing ploy ("Supernatural") began to pay off.

Speaking of the Grammies, besides Santana the only categories they have it even close to remotely right in are bluegrass and contemporary folk. It would be awfully hard for me to pick between the latest from David Grisman & Ronnie McCoury, Bela Fleck, Steve Earl & Del McCoury, and Ricky Skaggs, for example. Still, as always there are more questions raised than answers given when one even thinks about the Grammies. Is John Prine's latest, "In Spite Of Ourselves" (1999: Oh Boy), "folk music," "contemporary" or otherwise? No. It's the best damn old school country (read: cheatin' hearts in the honky-tonk) record released anywhere in a while. But the Grammies call it folk, the record stores file it under rock, and it's country -- or what country used to be. Perhaps categorizing John Prine's music is kind of like that strech of freeway just east of San Francisco. The signs say you are on I-80 West and I-580 East at the same time, and you are actually driving due south. Whatever. I'm just glad he survived the throat cancer, not to mention the fact that John Prine is in even better form than ever. That's good form!

If you are trying to figure out how Susan Tedeschi qualifies for best "new artist" or Bruce Hornsby's "Song C" for "best instrumental" nominations in Y2K, it is because the Grammy year runs from Sep. 1 to Aug. 30. Whatever. It is also because she *rocks* and he does too.

I'm mightily impressed with the new Phoenix Presents series of recordings. Phoenix Presents is taking high quality live recordings from jambands and putting them out on nicely packaged and well produced discs -- and they are keeping the price affordable at ten bucks a pop. I've heard Jiggle The Handle and Blueground Undergrass on this series so far and I highly recommend both. Some of you folks don't buy records anyway. But you should. Support the artists and the independents who put their music out there. See http://www.radiophoenix.com for the 411.

How do you know when a band can "take it the next level" commercially? You don't, of course. Two important tests are how good the music is and how others are responding to it. If the music is there and the crowds are growing every time out, then maybe there will be "next levels." One band that got me thinking along these lines recently was San Francisco's Tree O' Frogs. The funk is pretty good in the saxophone-driven quartet, and the bar and club crowds seem to love it -- and are growing. I wouldn't look for this band to be headlining the Fillmore anytime real soon, mind you, but they are very fun and are dripping with potential. Whatever. Check them out if you like to dance.

A couple of bands you already know about also got me thinking along these "next level" lines. Galactic will be taking its fiery blend of New Orleans funk into San Francisco again, but this time it's not the 1200 person Fillmore they'll be playing but the 2500 capacity Warfield. The Bay Area loves Galactic, and especially with Karl Denson's Tiny Universe on the bill -- another band that is on one steep growth curve -- I suspect they will fill the House That Jerry (Re)Built. Also coming to the Warfield soon, rather than the Fillmore where they have been selling out two and three night runs for a while now, is String Cheese Incident. The Cheese's growth curve is even steeper: they are booked for two nights in the sweet old vaudeville hall in March. If you want to know why SCI is gonna fill that room for two nights runnin', check out their newest live 2-CD set, "Carnival '99" (SCI Fidelity). It won't be in stores until February. Whatever. It is available now at http://www.stringcheeseincident.com and it flat out rocks.

Of the most exciting projects I've heard about in the studio lately is Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, Michael Kang (SCI), Jeff Sipe (Leftover Salmon), Paul McCandless (Oregon, Paul Winter Consort), and Aaron Johnston (Anger-Marshall Band), which is recording in San Francisco's Mobious Studios even as I type this. Look for whatever they come up with to be released in mid-2000.

Wait. That's not exactly true. Another truly exciting project I've heard of in the studios recently is Robert Walter (keyboards, Greyboy Allstars) in the studio with Galactic's Stanton Moore on drums. A new Robert Walter's 20th Congress disc with Stanton on drums is very much worth looking forward to. Anybody else hear the rumor that Chris Stillwell (bass, Greyboy Allstars) is leaving Karl Denson's Tiny Universe to tour with Walter?