I spent the last month selling merchandise and recording Soulive s first West Coast tour. For the dear readers who for some reason missed out on the last 18 or so months, New York City s Soulive consists of Ex-Moon Boot Lover keyboardist Neal Evans, guitarist Eric Krasno, who started ripping it on the scene with Boston s Lettuce and Neal s older brother Alan Evans, who spent time with Moon Boot, The Greyboy All Stars and Karl Denson s Tiny Universe on drums. Started as the brainchild of the elder Evans brother, who came up with the name of the band before it actually formed, Soulive now regularly tears it up at a sold out venue near you. The concept, funky soul groove, played SO LIVE! leaves fans and first timers alike scrapping their jaws off the floor on a nightly basis.

I first learned of the band from my Bostonian compadre Mike Wilt, who called me in late March 99 to gush about his first exposure. The second set of their 4.16.99 get down at the House of Blues in Boston soon found its was into my hands. By the time I fin ally caught up to the band on 6.11.99 in NYC at Baby Jupiter, I thought the tapes and the buzz prepared me for what I anticipated witnessing. There comes a time in every man s life where he must admit how truly wrong he was. Baby Jupiter on that June nigh t provided me with just such an opportunity. I began to see them as often as possible, catching 10 more nights that summer. I ran my Schoeps rig at the lip of the stage, and began to give Kraz and Alan copies of the recordings. True to the Catholic school mentality of my youth (If you hang around long enough, someone eventually offers you a job); Soulive finally named me "JV basketball coach" as I assumed the responsibility of merchandise manager and archivist in time to accompany them to the west coast.

Soulive successfully melds elements of funk, jazz, soul, R&B, and hip-hop into a truly amazing sonic experience. Seeing them more than once begs the question: which musician possesses the most talent. Many times a single tune provides 3 separate answers t o the question. The phenomenal talent of all three members and the manner in which they can alternately draw upon and feed the chops of their band mates provides Soulive s rock-solid foundation. The trio often draws upon their surroundings to build upon t his foundation. Spending so much time with them demonstrated their sponge-like absorption of the world and the music around them.

From the rhythms of De La Soul s samples that appeared in literal form from Kraz s guitar during sound checks and wound into familiar jams during shows to the manner in which Alan became Zigiboo Modeliste during his solo in the first performance of "Rudy s Way" after the Meters Rejuvenation became a new addition to the van s CD rotation, they mop up the music that provided the traveling sound track of the trip. The sponge soaks it up, and when they finally wring it out on stage, people leave the experienc e drenched. Soulive makes their living distilling their off-stage influences into the on-stage product that we consume. The band s choice of covers World is a Ghetto done the way Grant Green intended on In Flight .- to the Soulive arrangement of Stevie Wo nder s Jesus Children now in its second incarnation and I still can not decide which I like more betrays and yet also belies this fact. What we hear and what they play is at once completely familiar and organic and at the same time fresh and unexpected an d never before heard.

After progressing from an opening slot in front of about 40 or so of us at New York City s Bowery Ballroom in July of 99 a show which in my mind remains a classic if only for the guy who kept yelling "You guys are jamming!" from the balcony to a sold-out headline in the same room less than a year later, things happen fast for the band. However, last month marked the first Soulive appearances along the Pacific Rim. I wondered if like in my case, would the word and the buzz and the tapes already lay down th e red carpet for them. The unexpected answer turned out to be yes and no. The first half of the tour found them opening for Robert Bradley s Blackwater Surprise out of Detroit. The crowds tended to consist of an older demographic, more a "concert-going" b unch than those of us who "go to shows." However, those elements notwithstanding, I learned that certain cities can still be counted on when bands that are happening happen into town. Playing the Fillmore in San Francisco provided highlight number one. De pending on whom you ask, the Fillmore was the show of the tour. Portland, Tahoe City, Santa Fe, San Antonio (!) Austin and New Orleans also provided their share of highlights, with Austin on featuring Neal not only on Hammond B3 organ, but also with him p laying the Wurlitzer he picked up in Texas.

Of course, one can never count on the touring enterprise to flow smoothly. Fall 00 West Coast for Soulive came complete with near death experiences, weather-related disasters and disappointments. We suffered what I characterized as a well-publicized-but-n on-Firestone-related tire shredding in SoCal, an experience that included an unscheduled 2 lane shift to the left immediately followed by another unexpected 4 lane change to the right at about 75 mph on US Route 10. That hair-raising experience also inclu ded 5 hours of roadside repair during which Alan demonstrated that he might be a gear head who just moonlights as a drummer. After rigging the cooling system and a stint in a professional repair bay, we hit the road again, more conscious of whether or not we buckled our seat belts. After rolling south from Portland, OR through the 100° heat, we found ourselves 3 days later caught in the Midwest s first blizzard, as Route 80 closed in southern WY, leaving us high and dry, and cold. The band ended up missin g an anticipated show at the Fox Theater in Boulder, CO, (Apologies to anyone who came out and didn t receive their guaranteed dose of East Coast satisfaction.) Of course, the Fox sold out, and RBBS rocked the faithful. We sat in a hotel in Northern Color ado, and hoped we didn t miss out. We did.

As the band spends October s first week resting, and as you read this, they ll be wrapping up the recording of their next studio album. I put together a mix of the new tunes that wax ll feature from this past tour. Plan to hear tunes debuted this spring a nd summer like "Cannonball", "Evidence", "Shahied", "Bridge to Bama" and the untitled tune Neal penned that made a few summer appearances. Also expect the West Coast staple tentatively titled "Joe Sample", "One in Seven" debuted in New Orleans, and a Gran t Green-esque joint that only appeared in soundchecks so far. A new Alan Evans tune, "Solid" didn t get checked; one can only hope that it turns out half as good as "Uncle Junior". A re-recording of "Doin Something" with horns rounds out the new album. Lo ok for Fred Wesley and Karl Denson among others to provide the brass, also on "Cannonball" as well.

For those of you who can t figure out how to satisfy your Soulive-related jones until the late spring, here s the 411: A remix of "Steppin " featuring lyrics from Velour mate Professor Shuman who fucking rips it, by the way and cuts by DJ Logic hits soon. I think you might see Japanese only distribution for a while on Blue Note Japan, but hopefully you can find it here at home. And it s gonna come out on vinyl! As an extra bonus, a heretofore unheard studio version of "Cash s Dream" (of the Get Down EP fa me) makes an unexpected appearance. This version is not from the now historic March 2/3, 1999 sessions that mark the first time the trio played together in any form (documented by Get Down) but instead from the first Turn It Out sessions. It sort of fell through the cracks, only to resurface in splendid form for the single release. Listening to the "Steppin " remix single inspired the band to play with the intro to that tune, and also happily for me, break out the infrequently played "Cash's Dream".

Despite the wonderful music the paying customers enjoyed on a nightly basis, I did get to hear some gems that did not get trotted out for the masses. Kraz started fooling around with "Voodoo Chile", after we saw the Nissan commercial that features the Ste vie Ray Vaughn version. The full band did a bunch of run throughs of the first half of the song before the Houston show. I hope that this one makes it beyond the rehearsal stages. My favorite moment occurred at the sound check in New Orleans. As anyone wh o attended the Robert Walter Benefit at the Wetlands in August can attest, Eric demonstrated some multi-instrument virtuosity, playing bass and keys as well as guitar. At the House of Blues, Neal sat at his brother s kit, while Kraz began to fool around o n the Wurly. After some left-handed bass related tutoring from Neal, a jam began to coalesce. Not one to ignore a moment, Alan picked up Eric s Heritage and things started happening. That s another one I hope doesn t stay confined to soundchecks. Clocking in at about 11 minutes, the jam made me feel like with a little bit of work the rotated lineup could see the light of day.

The shows provided the only sense of routine, as days got chewed up in the van, eating mostly bad food, or in the rooms of America s Days Inns and Econo Lodges. You sometimes lose track of the days, if not your current location. I think it s a trade off t hough: I felt I sacrificed a good sense of many of the cities we visited in exchange for a more intimate portrait of some of the people there. Enough of you spend enough time on the road to understand my meaning, but I didn t consider it a possibility unt il it happened. No complaints though, I know that I m tremendously lucky to have a job that allows me to enjoy such amazing times. The fact that I also get to meet and know (a little bit) many wonderful people is just the gravy. Thanks to Gina and Vandy, all the tapers and the bunches of Hampshire Grads that turn out to see Kraz in nearly city we hit.