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Big Sky Regional Report
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Edited by David
Shulman
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Upcoming Shows-courtesy of James Mullins, Host of "Stumble In The Dark" Tuesdays 8:00 to 10:00 PM broadcasting on the WWW: http://www.kdhx.org (now using REALAUDIO!)
Mon. Mar. 19th Joe Bidwell / Sharky Farmers Cicero's New in Town I am excited to announce a new band has debuted in St. Louis by the name of Riker's Mailbox. Riker's Mailbox, a Phish cover band, consists of:
Scott Blackmore, guitar/vocals Scott and Randy met as mutual Grateful Dead fans in the early 90's. Randy, the veteran of shows back to 1973 and Scott, of the new generation of tape traders, crossed the generation gap with music. After seeing the Dead a few times together, Scott introduced Randy to Phish and suggested it would be fun to play together in a band. Scott had taken up the guitar and Randy had dabbled a bit with playing keyboards in his college days. Bob and Scott met at a Phish-cover band show and hit it off. Bob had been playing guitar for many years influenced Van Halen, Soundgarden and Primus. In November of 1998 the three convened in a local church choir room to begin practicing. Bob, now a Trey aficionado, brings his own style to the band with a definite Anastasio tone. A year and a half later, Joe and some friends from his band, Goonamona joined up for a jam session. His roots in rock include Frank Zappa and the Dead. The chemistry was right and soon Jeff met the band at a Widespread Panic show and the final piece of the puzzle was in place. Jeff counts as influential the music of the Dead, Beatles and String Cheese. Predominantly a Phish cover band, Riker's Mailbox was born. It's debut was on March 5, 2001 at Cicero's and was successful enough that more shows are being planned. The set for their debut show was as follows:
3-5-01
Dirt Considering the surprisingly size (in a positive way) of the crowd, and their enthusiastic response, not to mention what I felt was a very fine "freshman" performance, I believe this is a band the St. Louis area will hear more of. For many years St. Louis has supported Grateful Dead covers acts such as Jake's Leg, The Kind, as well as The Schwag. It appears as though Riker's Mailbox are in a fine position to begin filling that same bill as a Phish cover act. I wish them well. -David Shulman Various Reviews and Setlists
The Jazz Mandolin Project (current lineup) Set I: Lamb Saag, Jungle Tango > Jam > The Milliken Way, Barber's Hint, The Country Open, The Gourd, Happy Birthday Greg Set II: Open Sesame, At The Pershing, Xenoblast, Oh Yeah! E: Stockholm Smokepipe James Mullins Dr. Didg/Riker's Mailbox, March 5, 2001 One of the better shows I've seen lately (and I've been seeing a lot). Didg was great! If you've never heard them before I'd actually compare them to Sector 9. No actual songs (well they did cover Afro Blue) just super thick grooves that went on for a long time. They also played one really long set. At one point I thought it was 12:30 and they would be ending soon, turned out it was only 11:30 and they played for another 90 min. Phew! If anything, I have to commend Riker's Mailbox for actually packing the place before the show even started. I got there at 8:45 and there was a line halfway down the hallway. I figured things would get a bit crowded later in the evening, but it was pretty full inside by 9:00. And oddly, things thinned out a quite a bit by the end of the night. (during Dr. Didg's set) Bockman's Euphio / The Slip -- 3.3.01 @ Cicero's First off I'd like to thank the bands for making last night possible...that's how good these two shows were. Bockman's showed an exponential growth in both performance and stage presence. I'm really glad I got there in time to see their whole show. Now the slip was an outstanding show all around I can't complain. the crowed was cool. I was allowed to scream as often as I wanted to and I saw some familiar faces (jerry, travis, amy, natasha, ben, john, brad) So the slip were on moving through some both intense and beautiful songs. For those of you who made it my party thanks for coming and you're always welcome to stop by before any show and....well....do what I do most of the time.....anyway....thanks to Cicero's, the slip, Dr. Bockman, and the rest of you heads for making my night so wonderful!!!! Mark
Bockman's Euphio Setlist EM Grueve / Umphrey's McGee -- 3.1.01 @ Cicero's Umphrey's McGee One Set: Example 1 > Professor Wormbog, Der Bluten Kat > She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, Kabump > Jam > 2nd Self > "New Song" > Blues Jam > Much Obliged > 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, The Anchor Drops, Power To Love > Mullet (Over), All In Time EM Grueve opened. Now, I usually hate opening bands, but EM Grueve was not the typical opener. These guys were actually good! In fact, I really liked their set and was strangely disappointed when their set was over. The drums and bass were solid, creating a sticky grueve (pardon the pun) and the vocals were top notch. I really liked these guys. Before the show I was looking at their instruments and upon noticing the electric violin and alto and tenor saxes wondered if they thought they were the Dave Matthews Band. Not true. EM Grueve put on a good show and I'd be happy seeing them open for someone else sometime. I probably wouldn't go to a show were they were headlining, but you get the point. After a short break where I talked to Nooch and James Wilson a bit, Umphrey's McGee took the stage. I was commenting before they came on stage that one of my favorite games to play at Cicero's is "guess who's in the band" before the show. I had only picked out one member of EM Grueve pre-show and NONE of the Umphrey's guys. In fact, I was shocked when I saw Umphrey's because I had thought they were just a bunch of funny looking guys... oh well, don't judge by appearances, right? I'd never heard Umphrey's before the show, but I was informed that they sounded like Phish, Disco Biscuits and some others. Let me say that they do indeed sound like Phish, Disco Biscuits, moe., Zappa, Ominous Seapods and about every jamband you can think of. This is not bad! In fact, it appears that they've borrowed so much sound that they've created their own. It's hard to explain. The place was pretty full too -- which is something I didn't quite expect. Maybe EM Grueve fans, who knows...After some sound problems early in the show, they seemed to relax quite a bit and dig into the music. Mark Chaney showed up about a quarter into the Umphrey's set after defecting from the YMSB show and danced like a fool. It truly was a great show and definitely worth the $7 I paid to get in the Good jamming and some of the greatest segues I've ever heard. It was very fluid. The vocals were above par and the songs themselves were solid as well. I'm expecting everyone to come and see them next time they come back. It was a kick-ass show. Brooks
Smokehouse All-stars / Yonder Mt. String Band -- 3.1.01 @ The Gargoyle Yonder Mountain String Band is outta sight. I absolutely loved their show last night. These guys are fabulous pickers and they're obviously loving what they're doing - grinning from ear to ear - as was most of the audience. Totally happy music. I was amazed and elated at the turnout of young folks for bluegrass. I was particularly pleased that there were no dead covers - not that I would have disliked hearing any, but it speaks volumes that they didn't NEED to do any dead covers to keep everyone interested. (I think they did some Grisman stuff, but I'm not that familiar with the genre.) Arriving after Smokehouse was done, YMSB was already playing and the first song I heard was REALLY long. They came in and out of the boom-chick groove with great dynamics and build ups, each took a turn soloing hard and belted out a beautifully harmonized chorus or two at the end. Seemingly, all four of these guys have crystal clear pipes and harmonize REALLY well. For the next 45 minutes or so, they did a bunch of short numbers in a row - like 3 minute traditionals, I'd guess. They took a break and came back with more of the same, a bunch of short traditionals, and two or three epic jams. (The way Phish used to do it before they started catering to the blasted acid freaks - but that's another discussion altogether) Then for the encore, they unplugged and did a real tight snuggled up jug band style number. Sounded fabulous. I went home real happy. I went to see Blueground Undergrass the night before, and while I liked their show and style, I dug the more traditional style of YMSB - easily 5 times more enjoyable to me. Blueground was much more appealing to me when their bassist and guitarist went acoustic - the only times I could hear that incredible pedal steel. (Sort of pathetic turnout there - Mississippi Nts is a pretty big place after all, when there ain't nobody there.) Watching the banjo player, I kept comparing him to Bela (which I tried to resist, but it was damn hard not hearing much banjo in general) and he just didn't stack up. But during YMSB, it didn't even cross my mind. The guys all held their own on their instruments - the stand out was the mandolin for me. Coco All I can say is "Oh Good God!" Was that show not incredible? I'll start off this kinda hazy review by saying I really like the Smokehouse Allstars... I've seen then several times and each time they get better... they have a really tight sound and I would consider them to be a hidden bluegrass jewel here in Missouri...Then I'll state that the "Rat" (the on campus bar) can kiss my big toe... Wash U night... what pompous, holier than thou prick decided to prevent a bunch of good natured bluegrass listenin' folk from imbibing a bit of brew... I mean there was no one in the bar before the show... and by the time Yonder Mountain got on stage everyone would have left (I already knew that it was going to be a dry show & I'm really not mad... I'm just venting for my fiancee who was pretty steamed). So on to Yonder Mountain... whooo doogie... the boys were tight and they moved with ease between upbeat quick finger pickin' to more soulful, even bluesy tunes; Dawn's Early Light... (I won't even try to remember the names of all the songs, somebody help me out here.) They played two sets that to the best of my recollection took the better part of three hours. Ben laid the perfect backbone for the tunes as he slapped the strings of that ol' doghouse bass... the melodic thumping swirled round the room and gave a nice backdrop for some pretty interesting jams. Adam has got to be one of the most talented gitterbox players I've seen in a long while... he has the innate ability to turn the relatively simple bluegrass chord progression into something intricate and wonderfully complex... his well timed solos boggled my mind as I watched his fingers fly round the fret board...Jeff is always amazing... the master of the mandolin... the boy was in a frenzy last night rockin' back and forth while his fingers became blurs and his mando cried out "cool down dude... you're hurtin' me!" As a mandolin player my eyes are always glued on Jeff's fret board... however sometimes his runs seem a bit drawn out... that happened a couple times last night, but it didn't detract from the sound at all. The most valuable player award for last night's show has to be Dave... the boy behind the banjo... his sound was superb and I got such a kick outta watchin' him... there were several points in the evening when he played something that I think even impressed himself and he kinda started chuckling' and smiling... Dave was definitely on last night! The voca |
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