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Midwest Regional Report
Edited by Natalie Guinsler - dagny_esque@yahoo.com

Ominous Seapods in Madison
by Ben Silver

The Upstate New York band, The Ominous Seapods, made their second appearance in Madison WI last month. The show was at the Mango Grill, a small bar which holds a little more than 100 people. The Mango Grill is pulling in some great band recently with The Seapods, The Greyboy Allstars Sidecar Project- Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Big Ass Truck, and Moon Boot Lover having played in the past month, and THE DISCO BISCUITS coming up in a few weeks. The place was packed for the Seapods and they tore the roof off the place.

The combination of funky wah-wah heavy rhythm guitar, Hammond organ, drums, bass, and an EXPLOSIVE new lead guitar player was a match made in heaven. Their new guitarist has only been a Seapod for a few months and already he blends right in. With every solo he played the intensity level slowly built up to a fiery climax. The crowd was really into the show and it was hard to refrain from going crazy to some of the jams. A funky double wah-wah guitar version of Robert Palmer's "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" had the place getting down and shaking their asses in the first set. The second set was like one long, continuous groove with some amazing guitar work mixed in. Every solo was like a piece of art, each unique in its own way, but very beautiful.

Definitely check these guys out at another stop on their 1999 nation wide tour.

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Brother Jed's Acoustic Surprise
by Peter Fikis

Last week I was checking out the Jambands page and found a band playing in my area. On Saturday, February 3th, I went to see Brother Jed at a suburban bar in St. Charles called the Thirsty Fox. With no prior knowledge of the band, I wasn't sure what to expect. The bar wasn't too crowded, so I found a spot right up front. Right away I got a good vibe when I saw the tie-dye sheets hanging up and smelled the incense that filled the air. Singer, Ed Anderson started the show sitting in a chair with his Phish hat on and shoes off strumming his acoustic guitar. The entire first set was acoustic, something drummer, Brian Goff, later told me is a rarity. Brother Jed started the show with Bob Dylan's "Tonight I'll be staying here with you", and they also covered the Grateful Dead's, "Going down the Road", later in the set. But it was their own songs and the voice of Anderson that made the first set shine.

Including "Pretty Baby" and my favorite, "Counting Sheep". The set was a nice warm-up for the crowd, and although I wasn't dancing yet, I saw that Ed had two electric guitars waiting for him.

The second set started getting the energy flowing. After a few songs, I could tell these four guys were pretty tight. Keyboardist Steve Guyer and bassist Joe Kennedy joined Ed and Brian to create some fine tuned jams. Filled with Brother Jed originals, an Allman Brother's cover and a drum solo by Brian, this set had me groovin' from start to finish. It also included a phat jam oriented song which Ed introduced as a new one called "Saw My Shadow". These guys made my trip out this night well worth it. After a short break, they came back with another full set.

Continuing with many of their originals, like "Is this the Right Place?" and a cover of the Rolling Stones, "Miss You", the grooves kept coming until the show's end.

Brother Jed is from the Bloomington, Illinois area and has been together for almost four years. They have opened up for the Jerry Garcia Band, Merle Saunders and Ekoostik Hookah to name a few. They are currently working on distributing their 3rd CD very soon, with the help of Edwin Pierce from Shiny on the Top Records in Bloomington, IL. These guys are definitely worth checking out. As long as someone joins Ed with some back-up singing to add some harmony, Brother Jed will be on their way.

Pick-up one of their CD's or better yet, go see them!

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RAY'S MUSIC EXCHANGE CD RELEASE PARTY
by P. Guiseppie

Cincinnati's hottest band threw the best party of the year on February 25th at Ripley's Alive in Cincinnati. The CD is called "Alivexchange" and was recorded in late August at Ripley's. The kids in this area are loving life because we know that we have the next generations jamband in our back yard.

Ray's is a jazz-funk fusion band with Herbie Hancock, John Scofield, Frank Zappa, and Larry Corryel and the Eleventh House influences. They have eight members : two guitars, a sax, a trumpet/flugelhorn player, drums, percussion, bass, and an amazing keyboardist/ electronic music wizard. The highlight of the night was when they were joined by fellow CCM (Cincinnati conservatory for music) students. They had four additional horns sit in with them for three songs. Simply put, the twelve of them rocked the house. The night was capped off by a rousing rendition of "She's So Heavy" by the Beatles. They pick some really great tunes to cover. Usually they cover obscure jazz songs or something goofy in their style. You haven't lived until you've heard a jazzy "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" with long horn solos. These guys are it kids, remember the name. They also set a record for the most CD's ever sold at that particular venue.

Other bands are catching on to what we have down here. They opened for Leftover Salmon on February 1st. That show ended up being a jam-fest with Salmon calling out different guys from the band to join them steadily throughout the show. If you're a Salmon fan you'll want these tapes so you can hear Paul Hogans mastery of the electronic keyboards during the funkiest "Funky Mountain Fogdown" ever. Leftover's drummer, Jeff Sipe, was so impressed by Jason Smart's drumming he was ready to let him finish his set just so he could watch him. Josh Quinlan and Michael Mavridoglou joined the band for a handful of songs on the saxophone and trumpet respectively.

The 2-hour second set was concluded with a 15 minute long "Rise Up" with all the members of Ray's and Ripley's owner, Dan Morris, on the stage. It was truly an epic evening, only to be surpassed by the CD release party. Ray's has also played with the likes of Fat Mama, Ekoostik Hookah, Stanely Jordan, and The Average White Band. If you like to know about tomorrow's jambands today, then keep your eyes focused on these guys.

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"This, is an off weekend?!"
By, Berek Awend

Many people think that 'Jam Bands' are all the same.

Shabby-looking hippies that relentlessly tour the United States to bypass commercial radio. This is so that they can build a fan base that eats up their brand of long-winded jams heavily influenced by the guitar stylings of Jerry Garcia and Trey Anastasio. While there are many groups that do continue this legacy, many critics tend to overlook the incredible amounts of other music deeply rooted in improvisation and exciting live shows, when they generalize "jam bands" like this. While recently in Chicago, I experienced two exceptions to this rule of "Jerry-and-Trey-based-jams" when I saw seventies funksters, 'The Ohio Players' one night, and acid-jazz hip-hoppers, 'Liquid Soul,' the other.

Throughout the weekend, the car radio was tuned always to a station that boasted, "We're the only station to play the best hits of the seventies, and your favorite dusties!" So basically they were blasting everyone from Rufus and Chaka Kahn to the Isley Brothers and Earth, Wind and Fire. This type of station is an incredible contrast to anything I had back home in Minneapolis. There, all we had to compare to this motherload of a station was a great little AM station appropriately named, "Solid Gold Soul."

So we continued to drive around and listen to this great radio station.

That day we experienced the vibrant culture of Chicago, from its music stores to it's food. As jam after jam after funky jam continued to fill the car, it made me realize that jam bands are not necessarily The Grateful Dead or The Allman Brothers. There are other funkateers that have also preceded influenced and pioneered bands of today. After the d.j. played "Fire" by the Ohio Players, he announced their performance at the House of Blues had not yet sold out. This pushed my friend and I to unanimously to see if these guys still had it. We decided to go to the show that evening.

Led by guitarist Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner and James "Diamond" Williams, The Ohio Players became famous in the seventies through their constantly changing rhythms and super fluid sound. Accommodated by their high-pitched vocal hooks, this gave them a firm hold on the sexier side of soul music while annihilating audiences with their rowdy, get-down blues vibe. Songs like "Love Rollercoaster" (most recently covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and "Fire," were both number one hits and showed their rockin' side, while songs like, "Sweet Sticky Thing" and "I Wanna Be Free" showed their loving side. Every album cover of theirs sported a nude woman in an incredibly sexy pose and the interior art gave them a persona of gangsters which, overall in conjunction with their incredibly funky music made them look basically, cool as hell.

Their final release, from a previously unreleased concert appropriately titled "Jam" was really what did it for me. Recorded in a studio exclusively for radio in the late 70's, "Jam" shows all sides of the Ohio Players, but when they take their party anthem, "Fire" and rock it for 12 minutes, it is impossible to not shake your booty.

I was extremely pumped up.

Even Though I had never been to a House of Blues, I have been a big fan for what they stand for. From the moment I saw the low-key behemoth of the venue's outer shell, I knew that the inside must be a sight to behold, and it was. Beautiful artwork resembling old-old-school days back on the plantation where blues began covered the walls and the three-tiered theatre housed a state-of-the-art audio and lighting system which took in account everything. Speaker cabinets were spread out around the theatre and lights were positioned all over the place to give the right mood required that night. This was a venue erected to worship the god of rock concerts. It was the perfect place to see a group, and we were there. The Ohio Players would be playing next.

When The Ohio players came out, they did a house-rocking version of their hit "Love Rollercoaster," then found the way to their theme song, "O-H-I-O." This got the crowd warmed up; almost boiling. Although some changes from the original line-up were made, it was clear throughout the one and a half-hour performance that their choices for replacements were not done in haste, but more in taste. They passed the torch to some funky young talented fellows who filled in the gaps very nicely. The concert persevered, blasting favorites like "Sweet Sticky Thing" and "Skin Tight." But when they turned on their sirens and busted into an amazing rendition of "Fire," the Ohio Players made it abundantly clear that they are not washed up yet, only washing up for another helping of the chance to feed audiences everywhere their brand of Ohio- flavored jam funk and soul.

Sunday evening, we went to the famous, 'Double Door' bar to see Liquid Soul. The 'Double Door' has been host to many great groups, including the soon-to-be-defunkt Minneapolis sensation, Greazy Meal, along with Eagle Eye Cherry and a secret pre-soldier field performance by the Rolling Stones. Everyone I had spoken to thought this was one of the coolest bars in Chicago, a great feat considering the huge amount of nightlife in this oasis of the Midwest. From the moment we walked in, the non-stop barrage of acid-jazz, hard-bop and freestyling hip-hop would ultimately prove that the Liquid Soul troupe has what it takes to compete with other more established acid-jazz hip-hop groups achieving popularity today. This includes groups like Groove Collective, The Greyboy Allstars and US3. Liquid Soul's stanky brand of groove has gotten them quite far the past few years. Considering their stance for over four years of Sunday night gigs at the Double Door, or their immensely publicized performance at Dennis Rodman's birthday party, this was easy in comparison to some of their other incredible feats. Achievements such as opening for Sting, being the first acid jazz performers at the Newport Jazz Festival and wowing critics twice at the South by Southwest Music Festival really only break the surface of the body of work this group has behind them. The Austin American-Statesman went far enough to say that the performance was "the single hottest showcase of the festival." This critical acclaim has moved Ark 21 Records to pick them up and release their self titled debut, their second record, 'Make Some Noise,' and record the show I was at for a live release in the (hopefully) near future.

Rapper Dirty MF is the spokesperson for the ten-person group, Liquid Soul. While on stage, he is commonly seen mixing the common party chants, "Let me hear you say HO!" with his own brand of freestyle rap that fits perfectly with the funky jams. The other vocalist with Liquid Soul is the daughter of legendary vocalist Nina Simone, who is known simply as, Simone. Her beautiful, dynamic and sophisticated voice can make any crowd sweat into an intense frenzy then bring them to attention as if they were at a southern Baptist church on a hot July Sunday morning. The group's musical director is saxophonist Mars Williams. He is best known for his work leading the NRG Ensemble, The Waitresses, and a seven-year stint with The Psychedelic Furs. His brass army consists of trombonist John Janowiak and trumpeter Ron Haynes, who has played with Donald Byrd, The Ohio Players and Otis Clay. Talented and gripping guitarist Tom Sanchez, charismatic drummer Dan Leali, thumping bassist Rick Showalter, mind-blowing percussionist and groove-layer DJ Table keep a tight, brooding groove that can compete with the best rhythm sections from Tower of Power, Earth Wind and Fire, all the way to Santana and neo-Latin-funk-hip-hoppers, Ozomatli.

The concert consisted of three sets, each ninety minuets long and each full of blistering hot servings of party funk. Spanning the range from their own material compiled from their two studio albums. The sets also included some exciting, stinky and twisted covers including Kool and the Gang's "Hollywood Swinging" as well as a ruling and twisted rendition of Herbie Hancock's jazz standard, "Watermelon Man."

As I finally boarded the plane Monday afternoon, a bit bleary-eyed and worse for wear, I couldn't help but smile. Leave it up to Chicago, Illinois, I thought, to make a no-big-deal weekend and crank it up to the musical highlight of a spring break for a die-hard Minnesotan music fan. The groups, the people, the nightlife and the music are only a few of the factors, which made it a great trip.

See you next time and smell you later,

Berek 'Crazy B' Awend