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Midwest
Regional Report
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Edited by Todd Justus &
Tim Ward
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The popular rock band Phish may be in Japan, but we in the Midwest don't have to wait until July to get our musical fixes. String Cheese is treating us to a couple of Incidents out on Navy Pier in Chicago, and most of the stellar regional bands that we enjoy are boasting full schedules for the first half of the summer, not that late May/early June didn't give us plenty to see and hear. Those that made it out to shows recently caught plenty of action: 'Dillo Day at Northwestern University (for a humorous take on 'Dillo Day, check out www.NUcomment.com); Might As Well and Mickey Hart Band in Fort Wayne; the almighty Hookahville at Buckeye Lake; The Big Wu family reunion; and Peach Melba's Peachtree Gathering, to name a few. With national tours like Phil & Dylan, Phish, Steely Dan and ABB coming our way, the summer is shaping up. In this issue, Tim and I have a great Hookahville recap by Mike Riedemen, Squib Potential and Widespread reviews by our trusted correspondent Don Larisey, and another Panic review from their spring tour that was brought to our attention by jambands.com's own Gil McLemore, who picked it up from one of his fellow Spreadnetters. As is usually case, if you've recently seen a show you'd like to review or have some tour dates from a local act that hasn't made our radar yet, please send them our way: midwest@jambands.com. We'll see you at the show... Todd & Tim
News Eighteen Live Bands from 8 States To Perform at Camp Buzz Music Festival 7th Annual Event on June 16-18 in Pedro, Ohio CINCINNATI, OHIO -- Camp Buzz 7 promises to be one of this summer's most memorable events with eighteen (18) all-original touring bands playing the two-day festival with free camping at the scenic mountaintop venue in Pedro, Ohio in the Wayne National Forest area. Music lovers will enjoy performances by national touring acts like The Big Wu from Minneapolis, MN; RayÆs Music Exchange from Cincinnati; Karma to Burn from West Virginia, UmphreyÆs McGee from Chicago, and The Rype Band from New York. The festival offers free primitive camping, unique interactive art projects, a large vendor village and an independent film screening tent. Tickets are $17.50 in advance through the www.campbuzz.com web site and ticketing partner www.SeeUThere.com. Day of show tickets will be only $20.00 for the entire weekend and all tickets include FREE primitive camping. Parking is $5. Prices make Camp Buzz 7 the least expensive outdoor festival of the summer. Additional performers from all over the Midwest include The Tigerlilies (OH), Fair Verona (TN), Taildragger (KY), Big Jim Slade (TN), Funktelligence (MI), Freekbass (OH), Union City All-Stars (KY), Grasshopper Pie (OH), Chiarscuro (KY), Silo the Huskie (OH), New Basics Brass Band (OH), Quarkspace (OH) and The Schaefers (OH). A psychedelic light show by Solar Fire Lights will dazzle and inspire while the headline acts perform on Friday and Saturday nights. Music starts at 6pm on Friday until about 4am. Saturday's line-up of 11 bands starts at noon and goes all night long. "This year's show is bigger and better than previous festivals. We have always showcased new, emerging talent, but Camp Buzz 7 will feature the hottest independent bands in the country." said Ryan "Buzz" Bussey, founder and event coordinator. "People will enjoy the diversity of bands we have booked and the venue is simply spectacular- 84 isolated acres of green space on top of a small mountain in Wayne National Forest. Wow!" The music festival will be held at Walter Maulkey Recreational Park, 1 mile west off Route 93 on County Road 25 in Pedro, Ohio. Directions are easy and available at www.campbuzz.com or by calling 513.751.5346. Camp Buzz, Inc., based in Cincinnati, Ohio, produces and promotes music festival events to showcase emerging artists in a fun and affordable outdoor environment. Camp Buzz uses the Internet and new digital music technology to enable artists to reach consumers directly to build awareness and expand their fan base. The Company's web site at www.campbuzz.com contains information about current Camp Buzz events, artists and merchandise for outdoor live music lovers.
In Case You Missed It by Don Larisey I have to start off this review by giving a big thanks to the people of Elandorf Music Festival. This festival has run for 20 years and this was my "first Elandorf". I don't really remember the exact location of the festival, which is good, because it's not a public event. It was invite-only and hopefully I will be invited back. This place was incredible; very similar to Dead Creek Camping in Noblesville, Ind. Music played all weekend in front of 700-800 people, with bands including the Robin Crowe Band and Blue Magoo, but it was all topped off by Squib Potential on Saturday night. Squib Potential, (if you have not seen them you should soon) is a 6-piece blues-jam group from Peoria, Il. They played a phat (sorry, I hate using that word) blues-driven three hour set filled with originals and covers. They started of with Takes a Lot to Laugh>Will it Go Round in Circles, which got the not-sober crowd roaring. Camel Walk and Be There in the Morning followed, leading into Squib's Re-Incaptivity. The crowd favorite Cumberland Blues led into Some Kind of Blues. Around this time some drunkard starting passing around a bottle of blush wine, and I noted later that this guy blacked out, falling all over the place. Sittin on Top of the World came flawlessly into Joe's Native American. Hello B&O, written by guitar-pickin' Dan Ilslagle and keyboard player Joe Park, was next. This song is on Squib's first CD that will be finished this month. Around this time would be a set break, but Squib kept playing. Matt Swartzendruber showed his crazy harmonica ability in 29 Dollars. This song was done like a bluesman from the Delta was playing. No Bayou Blues and Wailin' Mama, also from the new CD, came next. Brian Railey, the percussionist, came out to sing the Phish song Gumbo, followed by Curtis Lowe. The next little jam was one to remember in Desperately Seekin' Boozin>Drumz>Space>Boozin. Next up was a band favorite, Railey Dog, followed by The Harder They Come, the Harder They Fall. The music just kept coming while bottle of wine number two came out to help the bandmembers stay refreshed. Joe Parks' Sunshine in my Window had everyone groovin', followed by Strange Brew. Bob Marley's Jammin and the ABB tune Whipping Post started to get things out of control. Vulture on my Bedpost closed, and the band finished up with an encore of Lay Down this Old Guitar. Over three hours of straight jams and the crowd wanted more, but that was the last tune!
5/26-28/00
About six years ago, I heard that one of my favorite bands was throwing a party on private property on Memorial Day weekend. From Columbus, OH, ekoostik hookah had in less than three years built a reputation as one of the best live acts in Ohio. As their shows had blown my mind many times before, I knew that this was a show not to be missed. Located on Dave Katz's farm in Fredriktown, OH, they opened up their backyard to fans, families, and dogs for a campout called Hookahville. The Motorheads were in charge of security, which meant as long as you didn't start trouble, you were pretty much free to do as you pleased. The band played three sets, one of which was acoustic, and the seeds were sown for a music festival that has grown considerably since 1994, which was the last one I attended. Spring Hookahville 1999 had been held at Buckeye Lake Music Center, a sprawling spread located just east of Columbus, OH. With rolling hills and lots of trees, Buckeye is a perfect spot for Hookahville. You camp right inside the venue, so you don't have to keep going through an entrance to go back to camp. While getting all your gear from the car to the camping area is kind of a pain, it's definitely well worth it. After you make it down the walkway past the main entrance, you can either make a left into the main camping area, or take a right to the quiet camping area, which is really nice for the folks with kids. The gates had opened up at 12:00 pm and there were already a lot of people there. With the sun shining, camp all set up and an ice cold beer in hand, I anxiously awaited what I knew would be a weekend of stellar music. Setting a precedent for the entire weekend, Deep Banana Blackout hit the stage very close to their scheduled time. I had heard their live cd, and had read some show reviews, so when the music started drifting up the hill shortly after five o'clock, I knew I had better get my ass down to the stage area. What a treat. What makes them so fun is their musical intuition. It's so relaxed, yet amazingly tight. No wonder John Scofield hired the rhythm section for his latest album. Hendrix said "Once you have the bottom there you can go anywhere. That's the way I believe, once you have some type of rhythm, it can get hypnotic if you keep repeating it over and over again. Most of the people will fall off by about a minute of repeating. You do that, say, for three or four or even five minutes, if you can stand it, and then it releases a certain thing inside a person's head." Deep Banana Blackout understands this concept. Each member has the ability to know when not to play. Often, Fuzzy (guitar) would stop playing, as would the horn players. There is no rushing, and once everyone in the band gets going the groove often settles into deep funky swells. Many times through their set, I just thought of how happy I was to be there. Their energy is indescribable, and almost everyone I saw around me was dancing with big smiles on their face. Jen really gets the crowd going with her vocals, really cool scats, and is a perfect spark before they go off on some crazy stuff. What a woman. Two thumbs up for Deep Banana Blackout. Not long after we caught our breath, it was time for Ratdog. I saw my last show about a year and a half ago and the thought of being really happy to be at Hookahville crossed my mind again as I made my way down the walkway to the sweet strains of Playin'. Playin' was a great choice to open with, and they would end up pulling it out quite a few times over the course of the set. Not soon after Playin' started rolling, they brought it down to She Belongs to Me, one of my favorite Dylan tunes. Weir and Wasserman both played together beautifully on this one, and before you knew it we were right back into a solid Playin' jam. Instead of going off into the chaos that can sometimes happen, the band slowed down a bit as Bobby put the acoustic on for what turned out to be a real gentle El Paso. As they wound their way through the the old Marty Robbins gem, a sign that popped up not far from the stage read "I AM HAPPY." The next song that popped up pretty much conveyed that feeling--Eternity. At this moment I have a hard time describing the joy I felt as the twisting strums kept expanding, and expanding until all I could do was stand there with a huge grin on my face, listening to what I thought I heard were Easy to Slip and Playin' teases. Wow. Next up was Masterpiece, and it was the first time I've heard the verse that the Dead did not do. Pretty cool. Moving right along, the band was now out in full force again chuggin' into the ol' Jimmy Reed classic Big Boss Man. At this point, Kenny Brooks on sax stepped out for a great solo, as did Keyboard player Jeff Chimenti. This one was really cookin'. "You ain't so big, you just talk thatsa just bout all." What impressed me the most with the first newer song, October's Queen, was how smooth the transitions were. The song really takes you to a number of different places. Lots of imagery popping through my mind on this one. Cities, my wife and son, and again being lucky to be at Hookahville. At this point it became a hell of an evening...the band started rowing into the Other One, and while it wasn't a particular long one, it was still good, and the band soon dropped off, leaving Wasserman alone on stage to spin his magic. Pulling the bow out, and getting all sorts of good sounds, a St. Stephen jam was formed and went around a few times making me very, very happy. I think I heard another Playin' theme pop up before settling into the third Dylan tune of the night - Knockin' on Heaven's Door. With the long black cloud line shadowing the rains that were to come down that night, things were starting to wind down, but not before heading into a Playin' again like the waves upon the sand. Nice upbeat Touch of Grey to close. A wonderful set from Ratdog, with more music right around the corner. Soon came the familiar sounds from the band that put this whole thing together--Hookah. They opened with Good Time (Merry Go Round) and pipes were lit, hugs were shared, and alcoholic beverages were steadily consumed as the best Memorial Day Party east of the Mississippi glowed on. Very shortly after the set got off ground came one of the high points of the weekend. Bobby came back out onstage to jam with the hosts as he did the year before for a couple more classics. Lost Sailor was so sweet and smooth. It's kinda hard to describe this, but listening for the first time to Bob Weir being backed by ekoostik hookah was wonderfully weird at first, then soon becoming natural to the ear. All seemed to go well as Sailor moved along, with a nice build up before turning into a tight, punchy Saint of Circumstance. China Cat Sunflower came up next and was nothing short of blissful. The transition that led into Rider was particularly powerful, and showed great ensemble work between all. To top it off, they even nailed the vocal build up at the end of "Gonna miss your baby, from rolling...". Katz thanked Weir and Ratdog for showing up, and I felt glad that I hadn't missed this for a second year in a row. Hookah played on for about another hour or so, pulling out a great Keeping Time after Anthony's Song, and a monster of an encore ensued, starting off with Eric Lanese and percussionist Johnny Polanski kickin' it down tribal style, followed with an epic Chicago-Hookahville-Chicago sandwich. Followin' in the footsteps of old Bill. Yup, a good many people showed up for Hookahville, probably about 15,000. Lotsa glass, clothes, vittles, party favors, you name it - it was there, and everybody was well taken care of. No shortage of good vibes - that's for sure. The rain started falling that night, but not too heavy. I felt bad for the people that set their tents up next to the gravel walkways next to the trash bins. It started to get a little messy by morning. Luckily it just sprinkled on and off until it was time for Dawg's set. It seemed like it stopped right before his band hit the stage. The David Grisman Quintet are true professionals. Their concentration during each tune is so inspiring, you almost have to be dead not to be locked in to what they're doing, and the crowd was commended for listening so well. This was the most talkative I've heard Grisman be from the few performances I've witnessed from him, and all five seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Many introductions were given before they started a tune, and he has great names for 'em too. Chilly Dawg, Twin Town (dedicated to his grandchildren and featuring double mandolin), and Y2K9 are a few that I wrote down. He even played the second song he ever wrote, which sounded awesome. He said he wrote it a week after he wrote his first song! I wonder if he's ever written a real stinker before. But with the musicians he played with (two in the ten year club, one in the seven), they could have turned anything into gold. The usual bass player wasn't there due to a family illness, but the set was dedicated to him, and his stand-in did a great job of keeping that bottom end together. Now while the David Grisman Quintet is nothing short of phenomenal, the band that came out for the encore was a lot better. Sporting cowboy hats, boots, and some hillbilly attire, the Bluegrass Blades treated us to three songs of pure bluegrass music, traditional style. It was so traditional, the only song I could recognize was the popular Bill Monroe ditty, Pig in a Pen. Next act was good 'ol Arlo Guthrie. Going on right at 5 o'clock, I made it down before the start of Alice's Restaurant. Probably the funniest hippie song ever, the tales of blind American justice (picking up all the garbage!!) with all the bloody gory guts, mother rapers, father stabbers, father rapers, and shrinks had everyone cracking up big time. One note of political history was included here and that was that when Arlo was at the White House for a party, Chip Carter, the President's son, let him know that when they got there they found a copy of Alice's Restaurant Massacre in Nixon's Music Library. You see, Nixon was a taper too. Arlo went on and on. I don't know the exact time of it, but as soon as I get the tapes, I'm gonna get my stopwatch to see how long it was. Another song that was played was When a Soldier Makes it Home. Home from Afghanistan, that is. Featuring some great harp work, Arlo was conveying how lucky we are to live in America. Even with all the government coverups and abuse of power and lies that are handed to us year after year, it's still a pretty great thing to get people together in peace. Last song I remember before heading back up to camp to get some rest was City of New Orleans. Done really well too. Arlo has a great voice, and played guitar, piano, and harp. Not all at once, though. Hookah started up their first set with Spiders, a nice rockin' tune to open up with, and the circus was in high gear once again. Following was Backwoods Rose, featuring a nice long jam, and some great winding passages being played by Katz. Also, Sweney's solo on this one sounded exceptionally good. Katz put the acoustic on and started up what was to be a super tight Ol' Montana Red Dog. His vocals really came through nicely on this one, especially during the "It'll bite you when you're down" part. Great buildups, with the sustained notes really sounding superb here. Following with what I later found out was Ohio Grown, Dave went solo and sang a little ditty about the heartland. At the time I remember thinking "Is he making this up as he goes along?" Not because they didn't sound collective or were rambling-like, but the lyrics went really well with the view off to the left of the stage, which had an old white house and sloping hills behind it. The acoustic set was a nice breather, and I had a great time watching Jim the bubble man making giant soap bubbles right in front of me that went up and out for probably a good 50-60 yards before popping. Good job Jim! Little children were laughing, having a blast, and Cliff played banjo to Black-Eyed Susie and Sally Ann. The rest of the guys came back soon though, and soon were rocking out again, this time to a Katz tune, Ecstasy. Second set opened with Utopia, one of my favorites, and Sweney really made the end jam scream. Slipjig through the Poppyfields was hands down for me the highlight of the set. After playing all the transitions really well, they really spaced it out, spiraling out into the outer reaches of musical territory. The whole place started to vibrate, and whoa! what a body buzz. I could feel the energy almost halfway up the hill of the main camping area. What this slid into, led with some tasty keyboard fills from Dave, was a slow, bluesy Walk Real Slow. It then slid back into the Slipjig theme for a little more skipping through the poppy fields. Sister Sugar was funkified rather well, and Ed even brought back a Playin' reprise in between it, before weaving back into Sugar. Closing out the rest of the set was John Henry, and a really heavy version of the Sanford & Son theme. It was all covers for the closing of Hookahville 2000, starting with Cream's I Feel Free, with the vocal intro done perfectly. Next was School's Out by Alice Cooper. Very appropriate for the start of summer, indeed. And just when you think that the boys cannot possibly tear it up any more, they bust out Saturday Night's Alright (for Fighting). It didn't stop there either. This went into the chorus of One More Saturday Night and then back into Saturday Night's Alright. Just amazing. It's hard to put across in words just how well they were playing. As great as the first night's encore was, this topped it. And it rained a little bit harder than the night before.
4/20/00 by Don Larisey Widespread Panic came rolling in to "The Q.C." (The Quad Cities as Bruckmann calls it)like a train out of control. What helped build the excitement was the fact it was on everyones favorite holiday, 4-20. This was the second out of four straight shows our group was hitting with Jackson, Mississippi, ending our little "mini-tour". We even had the chance to meet JB at our hotel in Jackson. AWESOME! The show was at a huge hall with lots of room. Although the show was a sellout, there was plenty of space at the venue. They kicked off the show with "She Caught The Katy", a Taj Mahal song that got everyone dancing. Starting the show with this song just told us we were in for a treat. "Bear's Gone Fishin" came next off the new album followed by "North". JB and company next brought out "Ophelia", which has not been played since Halloween weekend in 1999. My first "Little Lilly" followed into the popular "Climb to Safety>You Got Yours". "Last Straw" and a charged up "Henry Parsons Died" finished a first set that had the makings of incredible show. The second set started with "Sleeping Man". A strange version of "Help Me Somebody" followed with JB belting out lyrics of Amazing Grace. An old school "Space Wrangler" followed, which is one of my personal favorites. "Big Woolly Mammoth" followed with JB not even attempting the line "Somebody throw me a lighter," on 4-20. To many lighters made it on stage anyway. "Drums" followed into "Vacation", which has been heard a couple times on this tour already. "Walkin'" ended the second set in grand fashion. I have to admit this was one of my top 3 shows ever(With Jazzfest holding the top spot). Before the show started, our group tried to pick the encore. I'm telling the truth when I say I picked it on the head! The Boys came out and went into Van Morrison's "And It Stoned Me." What else could you ask for? "ChillyH2O," ended the encore with most peoples jaws still on the floor!
04/18/00 1: One Arm Steve > Who Do You Belong To, This Part Of Town, Radio Child > Aunt Avis > Send Your Mind > Imitation Leather Shoes, Old Joe > Porch Song 2: Dyin' Man, Thought Sausage, Diner > Ride Me High > Arleen > Drums > E on a G > Pilgrims, Tie Your Shoes > Tall Boy E: Blue Indian, Makes Sense To Me [First 'Thought Sausage'] An incredible feeling washed over me as I landed in Chicago, wonderful to be back. Midway; I like this airport. Very little walking/wheeling for those of us who have a little trouble getting around. I was informed that we would be deplaning the "old fashioned way", walking down stairs, but that someone would happily carry me, I decided to manage the steps slowly. The lake was as beautiful as ever, the weather perfect. We really lucked out as the front rolled in the next day making it an awful drive to Davenport. A friend, Daniel Gold, told me he had to stop twice on his way to Davenport due to tornadic activity. But Im getting ahead of myself. Was finally able to re-unite with sisters/great friends; Tracy Frank of Chicago, Jennifer Jones aka Sunshine & Rebecca from Colorado we would be doing the next 3 shows together. Chicago, Davenport and St. Louis. Before the Chi show we decided to stop at a local florist and pick up a bunch of pretty spring flowers for our special guy. We walked in to flower shop and there they were; the perfect flowers. Fushia and purplish blue with glitter, we were told that they came with the glitter from Denmark, we thought-how perfect. Sunshine is another Schoolsgirl, we met at the HOB Orlando SchoolsZone in 97. It was not love at first sight with us, in fact it was almost a little cat fight...her trying to nudge me out of the way...me telling her, "Sista, you are not pushing this girl out of the way," her noticing my banner and telling me "He's got a girlfriend," me saying "So? and your point is..."...later on...when we took the time to get to know each other we fell in love. Rebecca is Sunshine's traveling buddy. Tracy Frank is known in the community as "Rockstar" or Travelin Tracy if you meet her, you'll know why. We met many Spreadheads at Tufano's pre-show gathering across from the venue. Had a quick drink then headed for will call and through the "somewhat" lot scene. Kudos to the UIC for making me feel great once more, I love this venue and the staff that works here, they were totally cool and helpful to us. Saw Schools, Houser and JB before the show. Schools himself climbed up to the stage and placed the glitter flowers we gave him between the two Godzillas sitting on his rig, What a sweetheart! Before the show started our friend Pat Goodwin/birthday boy visited the SchoolsZone and we all sang happy birthday to him, I think he was a bit embarrassed but knowing him I know he loved it :) We were also very surprised when in walks in Lori Troost from Europe for the special occasion. This Part Of Town seemed tighter and sounded better in Athens. LOVED Thoussage aka Thought Sausage (as written on the band's set list) this is our favorite new tune. A friend of ours; Jamie Syrek wrote that it sounds like GNR's Paradise City, I don't have a tape to compare so I will have to take his word for it but I did like GNR when they were around. The Sesame Street DAS tease was sweet! The interaction tonight between Schools, JB and the crowd was great! I agree with those that say that JoJo's synth rules, specially after drums with bass and drums, yum! I also think that JoJo was "sticking it to Spreadnet," the WP mailing list by doing a glowing version of Ride Me High, there had recently been a bit of controversy regarding some of the words to the song. Im not the only one that noticed it. When JB sang; "You better love your girl" during Tie Your Shoes the crowd went wild in appreciation for the sweet words. The after-party at A Live One was awesome. It was crowded and I mean crowded, it is the first time I have been able to hold two full Makers Mark/coke glasses (thanks to Mike Wheeler and Ms. Frank) filled to the brim, plus a cane with that many people around me and not spill one single drop. The back bar had a couple of comfy rooms to put your feet up and that night's show in the stereo, we heard a "pop" and noticed that one of the speakers had blown. I was very happy that my friends who had just jumped on to the last leg of the tour had been able to hear the new songs; Old Joe, Imitation, This Part of Town & Thoussage since they have not seen the boys since NYE.
Notable Dates 6/15:
Ray's Music Exchange/Umphrey's McGee, Vogue Theater, Indianapolis |
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