Business stuff: Welcome to the New Year! This month it's SCI on the stage and an official selection from Hot Tuna. Next month we'll take a look at some smaller bands. Please continue to send comments and suggestions and feel free to contribute any reviews. Also, since I bought a burner, I'm going to reinstate the B & P offer: Any show from my list for a randomly chosen contributor each month.

Music:

When I think of the String Cheese Incident, I think of two things. First, the first time I saw them I knew nothing about the band. They were opening for Bela Fleck at the Orpheum and I strolled in late and was taken almost immediately. These guys rocked- there was definitely something there. I left the show repeating, "if only that opening act had stayed on stage."

Secondly, SCI is the band I would obsess over if I needed another band to obsess over. Their upbeat vibrations and addictive grooves are immediately digable and utterly enjoyable. The interaction of members and the slightly off kilter instrumentation allow the band to seem both familiar and unique simultaneously. There ain't much more to say except check out an Incident near you as soon as you can.

SCI @ the 9:30 Club, Washington, DC, 4/25/00 Soundboard
Disc 1: Set I- Indian Creek > Born on the Wrong Planet > St. Thomas, Howlin' @ the Moon, Right Place, Wrong Time, Impressions* > Restless Wind*
Disc 2: Set II- Big Scotia** > Mt. Girls**, River Trance**, Outside/Inside, Parker's Blues Disc 3: Climb > Under African Skies > Johnny Cash** > Mind Your Own Business** > Johnny Cash** E: Footprints** E: Roll in My Sweet Babies Arms**
* w/ Darol Anger
** w/ Darol Anger and Mike Marshall

Indian Creek starts the show in high-spirited acoustic form. The music becomes louder and more intense with each revolution. Mike and Travis enter the mix late, but their presence ignites a brief solo from the boards and percussion. It's a drop segue into a nicely grooved Wrong Planet. The bass lines through the intro are effortlessly spaced, allowing organ splashes to fill the openings. Bill works out a nice repetitive line that serves as the basis for a hot, aggressively ambient chickawa jam. Somewhere in the middle Kyle takes over Bill's line but Nershi resurfaces so they switch back and forth before relinquishing control to the vibe altogether. Eventually Mike steps away from the rhythm, drawing Kyle with him as he tears out a searing solo- rising above the mix entirely before the close. Bluesy bass and piano allow a cool down as the intro to a light-hearted St. Thomas. Certainly a winning grouping for a show opener.

Right Place, Wrong Time is an exercise in contrast. Vocally it's tongue in cheek but musically it rocks, capturing that classic rock vibe and pinning it to the ground with driving bass.

Impressions picks up speed quickly, working through the melody a handful times before moving into more open territory. Solos abound but Kyle's crazy synth clicks perfectly with its loopy, fluid lines. Bill's solo is the exact opposite- gossamer winds float slow, early morning notes. The band pushes for something more forceful, but Nershi holds 'em at bay for quite a while before Travis takes the reigns. After the melody returns a heavy jamlet erupts. There's a serious Other One tease before dwindling into Restless Wind to close the set.

Highlights from the second set include a 16-minute River Trance. Some of the darker stuff SCI has to offer, there is a forlorn feeling that permeates the speedy fiddle and constant bass. About four minutes in strange washes and brief lazy notes send the tune spiraling out over some foggy dale. Darol and Mike Marshall join in the old ritual, stretching out space and slowing down time. The sounds begin to coalesce- purpose is established and every note seems to foreshadow what lies a minute or mile ahead. The approach to the close is a classic tension and release segment and lands in a speedy little fiddle jig.

Parker's Blues does a good job of playin' the soul game- a well-rendered instrumental groove. It really kicks into overdrive when Kyle sets off on his solo.

Climb has some particularly nice piano work in the mid-section and the combo of drumz and guitar at the peak is spectacular. The segue into African Skies is light and brings a smile with it- not really a cool down, just a bit of a plateau. The percussion throughout the long intro captures the true vibe and stays in place for about half of the tune. When it does give way, it's to a really nice rhythm groove that does Paul Simon proud- just excellent.

The final ho-down is a full frontal bluegrass assault- the only way to end a show like this. But don't forget the lucid Footprints encore. It's more than one could ask for.

SCI @ Oregon County Fair, Veneta, OR, 7/10/99 Soundboard 2
A: Best Feeling* > Jam* > Restless Wind*, Suntan
B: Round the Wheel^ > Drumz^ > Breathe*^ > Jam*^ > Texas*^
^ w/ Jamie Janover
* w/ Keller Williams

This single set from the Oregon County Fair is my first favorite SCI performance. It's characterized by 2 lively jams that are both great examples of wholeness on their own, but the fact that they make up 90% of the set means a truly outstanding show.

Bright and energetic, Best Feeling maneuvers all the turns and drops with ease. There is nice interplay between Mike and Bill before the fish verse. The song shifts into a tight tube of smokin' jam with fantastic layering all around. Big rolling drums work the transition to a quieter, spacey jam. The theme is established pretty early on as Mike bends notes over repeated cascades. The synergy is exceptional and the movement is cool and smooth. Eventually Keith plays a series of slow notes that rise to Restless Wind. Keller shares vocals on this number and Mike's reverbed fiddle is blistering.

From the swollen bass intro it's clear that Round the Wheel is gonna shine. After the lyrics there is a churning rhythm engine with Kyle conducting. It gives way to a funky rock groove with Keith and Mike going toe to toe up to a searing climax that drops clean into Keith's line and the closing lyrics. Whew! Travis doesn't miss a beat and immediately launches into a devilish drum solo.

A nice interlude, Breathe is colored with Keller's warm vocals and more resonance from Michael. After Keller's tune concludes the music sinks down into the murkiest of forest ponds. The fuzzy, algae-covered rocks, waterlogged limbs and dark, leaf covered recesses all pass by as the jam dives down and slowly resurfaces in Texas.

The best thing about the mid-section of Texas is that the first time I heard it, I was making my way from I 95 to I 278 at very high speeds. The wild abandon of the musical progression was the perfect soundtrack to my Rush Hour Madness Movie.

It's Official: Hot Tuna, And Furthurmore., GDCD 4068
I See the Light > Sunny Day Strut, Been So Long, True Religion, 3rd Week In Chelsea, Embryonic Journey, I Am The Light Of This World, Watch The North Wind Rise, Water Song, Gypsy Fire, Just My Way, Hypnotation Blues, Big Railroad Blues, Funky #7

Hot Tuna has been around for 30 years now, in one form or another. And one of the best things about the band, aside from the down home, honey pickin' blues infused with Bay Area sensibilities sound, is the fact that they've released so many live albums. In its present and permanent incarnation, with Jorma, Jack, Pete Sears, Mile Falzarano, and Harvey Sorgen on drums, Tuna has released the Live at Sweetwater discs and Live in Japan, all three of which are absolutely smoking acoustic shows. But what's missing is the electric stuff. The contrast between the ambling lope of an acoustic show and the electrified Big Fish is like night and day. There is an unspeakably raw enthusiasm when Jorma takes out the red guitar, a feedback ridden hard-edged can of Hot Fuckin' Tuna. Now since members of Tuna have been part of every Furthur Tour in one form or another, even if it was just a guest appearance on the last one, it's only appropriate that the band's (as it stands) first live electric disc was culled from the powerhouse sets that opened Furthur 98. And what a disc! It captures the sense of a real set in compilation form better than any live disc by anyone. (Consider A Live One. eck!)

It opens with a furious I See the Light that shocks ya' like a electric prod. Grinding bass and rolling drums, hot licks and long organ- time is oh so sweet. The ending jam that's always been there is renamed Sunny Day Strut on the disc and it burns! Pete Sears is clearly the most underrated keyboard player around. Carrying the energy through Been So Long, the vibe is cooled by a nice True Religion and bittersweet 3rd Week. A deftly done Embryonic Journey bottoms out and with Light of the World the energy begins to build again. Jack starts jumpin' in North Wind with Harvey's steady hand matching him blow for blow and by the end of Water Song, it's back in the saddle. It's always bewildered me why more fans of instrumental music or just fantastic compositions don't know about Tuna. God, just listen to the intricacies and changes in Water Song- this is music for the literate, for those who really love music! Mike takes vocal duties for a scorching Gypsy Fire and the all out rock n roll slam of Just My Way. Hypnotation and Big Railroad both serve to push this disc over the edge with screaming guitar duels and Jorma's gravelly voice and the coup de grace is the amazing a-rhythmic stomp of an almost 12 minute Funky #7, complete with a hallucinatory middle eastern keyboard space. If you buy just one album this month, make it And Furthurmore.