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Northeast
Regional Report
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Edited by Tony
Oliveira
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Hi all, personal note: Due to the wonderful world of
corporate America, I am being let go by my current employer, Fleet
Bank, but no need to fret. I've been given four months of vacation
(aka severance pay) and I couldn't be happier! This equates to a
REAL
summer vacation for the first time since high school and more time
for music :) -Tony THE RETURN OF THE CALENDAR SECTION! Did I mention the Calendar section is back? :-) No really. now
residing at: 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
compliant, 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 Andrew Ferguson.
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 *
viperHouse Loses 3 Members, Gains A New
One 3 Members of viperHouse Announce Their Departure,
Final Show with Original Lineup at Discover Jazz Fest Three of the
original members of the 9-piece Vermont "jazz-spasm" band,
viperHouse, have announced their departure from the group. Lead
vocalist, Heloise Williams, trumpeter, Brian Boyes, and
percussionist, PJ Davidian are all leaving viperHouse. The band will
perform together until mid-June. Their final show with all members
will be at Higher Ground on June 10th, for the Discover Jazz
Festival. The three members' departures are all due to individual and
personal reasons and not a group matter. viperHouse has grown
measurably in the past two years, supporting a larger fanbase and
touring roster and becoming a recognized band throughout much of the
country. This has brought about an increased touring schedule and
more demands on individual members. All three members will be greatly
missed by the band and are wished the best of luck with their future
plans. There are no plans at this time to replace their positions.
The amount of love and respect between all members of viperHouse has
been and will continue to be immense. The remaining six members of
viperHouse: Karen Quinn (violin), Dan Mallach (trombone), Ray
Paczkowski (Hammond organ), Rob Morse (bass), Phil Carr (drums), and
Michael Chorney (sax) will remain and regroup, adding new member Zack
Tennyson on tenor sax. The new collaboration brings with it an
opportunity to experiment and take the group in new musicial
directions. The new line-up, with Zack Tennyson will debut on June
15th and 16th at Mad MountainTavern in Waitsfield, VT. You can catch
the original viperHouse at their last shows together starting this
weekend when they play West Chester, Philly, and Hobart College, then
Stratton Mt on the 27th, and numerous shows in June before the 10th
(including NYC and North Hampton). For more show information, go to
www.viperhouse.com. For more
information, contact Nicole Saltus at
saltini@together.net. Announcement: Boston Area Show
Discussion List http://www.onelist.com/com
munity/beantownshows for more
info. I haven't gotten a chance to check it myself, just passing
along the info because it sounds interesting. Press Release: Uncle Sammy and Addison Groove
Project Addison Groove Project and Uncle Sammy to embark
on extensive Northeast summer tour Boston-Addison Groove Project and Uncle Sammy are
excited to announce a 25-date tour that will take them throughout the
Northeast. The tour kicks off at the legendary Higher Ground in
Burlington, VT on July 11 and culminates with a performance at the
Berkshire Mountain Music Festival in Great Barrington, MA on August
12. Along the way, the bands will perform at many prestigious venues
including Wetlands Preserve in New York City; The Middle East in
Boston; Stanhope House in Stanhope, NJ; The Khyber in Philadelphia;
The Haunt in Ithaca; and Fletcher's in Baltimore. Additionally,
members of both bands will be performing the National Anthem at a few
minor leagues baseball games along the way. Uncle Sammy has been making waves on the jam-band
scene with their blend of rock, pop, funk, Afro-cuban and jazzy
elements. Known for their endless enthusiasm and astounding
endurance, Uncle Sammy has built up quite a reputation in New York
City for performing marathon sets of over four hours without taking
any breaks. The band recently finished mixing a live album for the
Phoenix Presents series, which will be released on this tour. Addison Groove Project is best known for their
tightly knit brand of funk which features intricate song-writing and
explosive improvisation. The end result is fiery, groove-saturated
live performances. AGP has shared bills with The Original P:
Parliament Funkadelic, Galactic, Deep Banana Blackout, Groove
Collective, and The Slip. Uncle Sammy and Addison Groove Project are a
perfect match to tour together as their musical styles are both very
unique yet are also similar enough to be appreciated by the same
audience. The tour is being presented by Pyur.com, an Internet seller
of funky clothing, and sponsored by StudentMarket.com and
Jambands.com . All dates on the tour are being co-billed with Uncle
Sammy and AGP alternating headlining slots. Please consult
www.unclesammy.com or
www.addisongroove.com for
tour dates and more information about any of the shows including
venue addresses, cover charges, additional bands, ages, etc. Members
of both bands will be available for interviews. Please contact Steve
Sylven at steve@unclesammy.com or (617) 710-4055 for more information
or with any questions you may have. Press Release: Brother Chameleon Brother Chameleon is taking their show on the
road! After several fan requests, months of planning and a year of
East Coast touring, Brother Chameleon is finally making their debut
appearance on the Left Coast. Following the whirlwind that has
surrounded Brother Chameleon after the release of their second album,
"TILT", the band is hoping to capture a new audience and do some
sight seeing along the way. A summer tour will bring the bad boys
from Beantown to five major clubs out West and nine venues along the
way. The itinerary kicks off in Brother Chameleon's hometown of
Boston and leads the band on a sure to be adventurous road-trip all
the way to Las Vegas. For tour dates be sure to check out:
www.brotherchameleon.com
Stay tuned for more dates to be announced.
Brother Chameleon, a Boston-based improvisational rock and roll
quartet, combines the sounds of Jamiroquai, Steely Dan and Medeski
Martin & Wood. Under the tutelage of Seen & Heard, Brother
Chameleon has become a fixture in the Boston, Philadelphia,
Washington DC and New York City music scenes and has quickly
accumulated a mailing list of over 700 fans along the way. Although
the band has focused their energies on winning over the East Coast,
Brother Chameleon is inviting you to groove with them as they
showcase some East Coast style all the way out West. To learn more
about Brother Chameleon visit their web-site at
www.brotherchameleon.com
or contact Mark Davidson of Seen & Heard at 1-800-772-5654 x 01.
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 -Tony 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 The Slip headlined a couple of Spring flings first at Wesleyan
University on Saturday, then at Brown, yesterday. M/O opened both
gigs but didn't sit in either day. They played some upbeat stuff at
Wesleyan, encoring with Don't Stop, but the crowd was chilling,
sitting on the ground, or on couches that had been dragged outside.
Lots of old trees, rope swings, hammocks, etc. This was Zonker Harris
Day at Wesleyan, lots of well-baked, carefree folks around. An ice
cream truck and a falafel vendor completes the scene. The stage was
setup just in front of the back of one of the dorms; Sam did a great
job keeping the sound in 1 piece, lots of delay action going on
during M/O's set, which he didn't work. It was threatening to rain
and did mist a bit, but they managed to get the whole set in
outdoors, something which didn't happen yesterday despite the nice
weather. Wesleyan University- Squeezy Toe, Air is the Body, Yellow
Medicine, ??, Marley cover (w/Jimmy), Crack in the Sundial, Johnny's
Tune, Pundeya-mo The familiar clank of "Squeezy Toe" started up and got the
non-Zonked folks moving to the beat of an amazing drummer. Brad is
giving Andrew more time with each new installment of this tune,
building the suspense for those who have heard it a few times before.
When he finally slides in, it's got a similar effect to "Spice
Groove" and "Moil" early on, although the contrast is less sharp.
They're experimenting with this right now, subtracting bits, adding
pieces, but it's a good thing. Rather than segue-ing into and out of
"Air is the Body" like they sometimes do in this song, they ended it
and played Air as a completely separate song, it's nice either way,
but a full version is always appreciated - the air is the body , the
land is the spine, rainbows are circles cut off by, cut off by, cut
off by, cut off by the earth's light. "Yellow Med" featured Marc
doing some grungy guitar work on the fretless, fuzzy strumming etc,
goofing with his volume pedal, pretty interesting stuff that showed
up a bit more precisely in yesterday's "Trane-ing". I've only heard
the next one a few times, and like many of the rare ones, it's
awesome. They invited Jimmy up to cover a Marley tune next. I'm not
too familiar with reggae but I recognized the tune, so it's likely
well known. Jimmy and Brad shared the vocals, then Brad backed as
Jimmy took over near the end, we'll likely see this again at
Somerville next month."Crack in the Sundial" is a personal favorite,
although having to explain why is not easy. I know several that do
not particularly share my opinion on this one, but it has a serenity
along the lines of "Alsoa" or "Entering Saugus" that appeals to me.
Marc really stood out, he gets a wonderful tone on the fretless in
this song. The lyrics are very poignant as well, Brad writing from
the point of view of the natives in Mexico when the Spanish came, the
rough translation of the chorus being 'don't lose heart'. "Johnny's
Tune" morphed out of a beginning that had both Sam and I guessing, he
eventually nailed it, definitely a different version, and late in the
set as well, so it had lots more punch. They had to get to the New
London show but they played right up until there was no way they'd
make their soundcheck there. So they did it here instead.
"Pundeya-mo" is soundchecked quite often because it has very distinct
changes in volume on all 3 instruments, allowing Sam to zone in a
room. It's almost never played live anymore, so this was a treat,
really giving the Zonkers of Wesleyan something to ponder. 04.16.00 Brown University Spring Festival-Providence, RI Air is the Body, Johnny's Tune, Nellie Jean>Phase 1 (a
long tease)>Nellie Jean, Spice Groove, Alsoa, Trane-ing (w/some
grungy teasing by Marc, notably Smells Like Teen Spirit)Gemini
(Kingdom of Light), Moral Decay, Dogs on Bikes (quick Wade in the
Water tease) When M/O got to the Brown gig it was looking like rain, and
the sound crew had already setup indoors, so they played indoors, and
that's where The Slip ended up playing despite Andrew's valiant
effort to get it outside where the sun had peeked out. Inside was a
cathedral, complete with monster organ, vaulted ceiling, and many
pictures of old men adorning the walls who Andrew later alluded to as
being folks who probably taught here in the dusty past (he really
wanted to play outside. Very woody, and a bit stuffy, lots of boom
for Sam to hush down, and he did a great job with what he had...The
floor was all clear, no pews or desks, etc, just lots and lots of
space. Huge stained glass windows directly behind the stage made for
a great setting visually, hopefully folks post some pix, plenty of
digi cameras were there. "Air" opened this one, another full version, this only a
couple of weeks after Brad said they didn't play this one mostly
because of how difficult it is to sing. He's obviously willing to
suffer a bit to please those of us who keep annoying them about
playing it. "Johnny's" was back to the early part of the set today,
Marc getting a huge sound in this room. I didn't see Nellie, but her
song showed up 3rd, and was enhanced by a "Phase 1" tease, which they
apparently teased in Canton as well. This one will hopefully sneak
back into the rotation the way Air has, it's just an unbelievable
tune. "Spice Groove" started fast and kept on moving, Brad doing some
singing along to his playing at one point, not a usual occurrence in
this one. They decided to slow it down after Spice, and they pulled
out one of their best in this vein. "Alsoa" was very swayable, a
perfect place to play it, the sunlight indeed pouring in thru the
windows behind them. The ever improving "Trane-ing" came next, Marc
adding some "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and another grungy tease,
hilariously good, especially when he goes back to the standard line.
The fast pace of the previous song called for a slower follow-up and
they uncorked "Gemini" (Kingdom of Light) I've heard this several
times, but not recently, that's for sure. It belongs in the church
setting, which is perhaps why Brad called for it. Very sonorous.
"Moral Decay" shattered that bit of beatitude, Diablo preying on the
righteous folks of Providence in a big way. "Dogs" finished us off,
including a brief Wade in the Water tease and the new section first
played in Philly last month, very tasty. REVIEW: The Slip Pearl Street downstairs is the biggest room they've played in
this town thus far, not the choicest place sound-wise, being directly
under the ballroom, boomy in it's own right. The Iron Horse people
own this as well as the Calvin Theater, so if you want to play this
town, you go where they want you. This show opened with "Rhythm and
Gold", with it's usual undetectable beginning, it just sneaks up on
you and leaves you gasping with delight, definitely a portent of
things to come. Brad was instructing us in the meaning of the rhythm,
you bet. They moved on to the newly named "When a dragon squeezes
it's lucky toe". This was a nice version, Andrew's opening section
was aided by Brad whapping the bass drum from the front with an extra
stick, Marc rattling the metal mushie, certainly didn't lose any
momentum after R&G. Matt was very vocal for calling it The Lucky
Dragon after the song, and quite a few others lent support to
Andrew's preference (Squeezy Toe) so Brad crafted a diplomatic
settlement, for now :) Marc's "My Room" came next, nice to hear
again, first for me since December, I think...."You Might Say"
followed, I've heard this one a few more times than My Room lately
;^) Nellie Jean was in the basement and inspired perhaps the best
version yet of this tune, and I thought the one in Providence last
week was pretty good.....there was a large piece of chaos, metal
mushie, freq. analyser-type dis-chord tacked on before the sweet
finish - nice to hear them still experimenting with it. Appropriately
enough, "Rhythm-a-ning" ended the set that R&G had started, Marc
and Andrew building the suspense until Brad comes in with "the Monk",
a nice one, but get the Madison (10/9/99) for perhaps the best of the
past year. Set 2 opened with "Dogs on Bikes", I guess they knew they'd
have to work to top Set 1. This was compact, and did have a quick
"Wade in the Water" tease (no lyrics), but no doubletime this time.
Toots and the Maytals showed up in Noho yet again (they had graced a
ticket stub used by the Iron Horse for the Slip show last November)
This was a snappy "5446", kept the feet moving after Dogs. They
slowed it down with "More About Me", then rolled out an instrumental
perhaps in tribute to Passover, very Jewish/Russian sounding, with a
quick "Yellow Med" tease sneaking in. M/O (Miracle Orchestra) made
their way to the stage after this. Brad and Jared traded leads for a
bit, then they settled into a low groove, and finished up smoking a
1/2 hour later, just at curfew. REVIEW: The Tarbox Ramblers I went to this show thinking that I had seen the Tarbox
Ramblers before. Turns out that I was mistaken. I have seen bands who
were attempting to pull off this rootsy blend of blues and
traditional blue grass music, but I have never seen a band turn out
such a wonderfully honest show as the Tarbox Ramblers did this night.
As I am new to this band, I do not have a set list, but I did pick up
their cd and the show (from what I can remember) featured most of the
songs from the disc. The Tarbox Ramblers appear to be an average bar band when you
first set eyes on them. They are a four man band featuring upright
bass, drums, fiddle and guitar. Once their groove sets in, though,
you realize that they are on to something pure and true. Luckily for
us in the Northeast, this Boston band has been added to the already
great line up for Berkfest 2000. If you are going to this festival, I
would definitely recommend trying to catch a bit of the Ramblers. I
am not the biggest fan of traditional music, so I don't really know
who to compare them to or really how to describe their sound. Michael
Tarbox's vocals at times blend a husky Bob Dylan (please don't let
that scare you into thinking that you can't understand what he's
singing) with a deep John Lee Hooker style. His singing is earthy and
the band's sound is deep and dirty. Mostly they play a laid back,
dark groove that melts all sorts of traditional music styles. I could
envision this band opening for Hot Tuna one year and having Hot Tuna
opening for them the next. They have a fantastic sound and energy. At
times, the groove gets thick and dark enough to almost sound like
Primus trying to play the blues. By that, I mean that there is a
propulsive energy to their rhythm that builds and builds. I suppose
this is not too informative, but to conclude, I was very impressed
and I listen to their disc a lot. I am sure to catch them again
before the Berkfest (they play every Friday at the Green Street
Grille and they also play every week at The Burren). If you enjoy
traditional American music, check them out. Their web site is easy
enough. www.tarboxramblers.com editor's note: Having seen these guys quite a few times at the
Burren in Davis Sq (Somerville MA), I feel like I should concur with
almost everything Andrew has to say about these guys. They cover a
lot of different styles in the realm of traditional American music.
I'm not sure how much improv there is, but they are worth checking
out. I believe they play at the Burren every sat. night or at least
they used to. They had some kind of consecutive saturday night
record at the Burren...playing every sat. for more than a year
straight. 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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