THE RETURN OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE CALENDAR SECTION!

No, this is not a take on the movie ground hog day, but I regret to report that the Calendar section will be on hiatus while I am gone.  Hey, at least I was nice enough to let it slowly deteriorate and ween you off of it slowly.  Pretty much useless unless you want see a listing of past shows you may have missed, but still residing at:

http://necalendar.free servers.com/Calendar.htm

check back in November and we will see if we can't get it back in shape!

I should mention that it doesn't load properly with Internet Explorer (fault of the server not the browser or code). Also coming soon: a venue links section and some other cool links as well. I guess   that's enough about it for now.

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 (i.e., 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 (I am a bit partial to new reviewers though)! Reviewers, please check this section to see if you have won. This month's winner is Celeste Sunderland...Congrats! and get in touch with me for details of the offer.

NOTE FOR PAST REVIEW "WINNERS":  Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for you all, I won't have access to a burner for the next 6 weeks which means I can't catch with my current offer backlog but if you send me a reminder, I will be sure to burn you a show when I return in November.in time for Thanksgiving.  Once again, my apologies for the delay.

Looking forward to more great reviews in the coming months.            

* NEWS FROM NOWHERE * NEWS FROM NOWHERE *

Announcement: Boston Area Show Discussion List

Head's Up The following is written by Max Marantz who is putting on this little shindig

"So let me tell you about my next party, Morphius (God of music, aptly named).  It's going to be at the Milky Way in Jamaica Plain, which is about 15 minutes from downtown Boston.  The Milky Way is the trippiest bar in Boston, and is pretty damn spacious as well.  Lilli's was definitely cool, but this place they've been putting in the time to make it outright TRIPPY, with crazy stuff to look at and what not, and it's much darker inside as well.   Once again, Toshi's going to do his visual presentation, though under the name of Human Mind Control (which will be his name from here on out).  The lineup is going to be as juicy as a filet mignon.  PLEXUS is headlining, with Darren, the guitarist from Synestasia going on first. Before I get to that, let me say a word about who's spinning in between, DJ Caseroc.  Caseroc, as most of you already know, gets people moving like no one else in Boston.  I wanted the electronic component to be emphasized a little more during this show, so I got the best guy I could think of.  He's going to kick some serious ass.  As for the opener, Darren has spent the past few months perfecting the combo of a DJ and a lead guitarist.  Playing over techno beats, he's got the best guitar sound I've ever heard, this wet, David Gilmour-like flow of electric ooze.  You'll get your head off. So the date of this bash is Monday, September 18th, at 8:00 PM.  Sorry it's not on a week-end, but we're only going to be charging $3 to make up for it. The Milky Way is at 403 Centre St. in Jamaica Plain, the # is (617) 524-3740.  I'll be in touch with more details between now and then, and I hope to see you there."

Just thought some of you may be interested.  Sounds like a good time.           

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 I promise to be gentle. I guess that's it for now. Looking forward to getting some new reviews and reviewers in the coming months.

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.

Highly elevated in the Green Mountains of Northern Vermont the visibility is quite good. But it is pouring rain, and though you can normally see for miles and miles, it is now difficult to see three feet in front of you. God is crying, someone just mentioned to me, because Reid Genauer has just played his final notes with Strangefolk.

It was an intense scene indeed. I roamed around the crowd of some five thousand "strangers" during the show and found it difficult to contain both my excitement and my tears. As the band played their last encore together, the faces backstage were all filled with smiles of triumph and joy, but were soured by the frightened and horrified tears that contrasted those smiles so shockingly.

When will this ugly bleeding inside my head stop? Where will it end? It has been nearly a month and half since the whole deal went down, and I have been in shock ever since. But only now is the real truth of the matter settling in. Unfortunately, thanks to this evil and tortuous hemorrhaging of my brain, it is very difficult to understand what exactly it is that is settling in. Reid Genauer announced to the world, or at least to the Northeast, that he was leaving Strangefolk after the annual Garden of Eden festival on Labor Day over a month ago, and the general philosophy of and meaning behind this decision is only now beginning to make sense.

Of course this is not necessarily the common topic of this weekly disaster that I call Sunday's Midnight Musings, but it is beating my head into a pulp and after six weeks I feel it is time to talk about this - publicly and openly. Normally I deal with idiotic mind problems on my own, but, this time, I feel that there are a lot of people out there that are hurting right along with me.

Actually, I see them all around me right now. A lot of them are partying and most are having a great deal of fun in the wild woods of Vermont, trying to make the best of the final curtain call for Reid Genauer with Strangefolk. But they will be hurting in the morning, along with me, reeling from a Strangefolk hangover, as their drugs of choice wear off and the reality of the situation sets in.

Not that I can blame them. I should be running around with them, but I am not. I am sitting here musing, attempting to comprehend incomprehensible facts. This event was designed five years ago as a party Strangefolk threw for their fans. The 'Garden of Eden' was an event that would give back to the fans that made Strangefolk what they were then, and are today. The first Eden played host to about three hundred fans in 1996, and this year I find myself among five to six thousand dedicated fans. This growth is undeniable, so, the question must be asked, as midnight fades and the hooting and howling of the never-say-die

Strangefolk fans increase, what went wrong?

This question is very vague, and, to the common observer, to that first-time fan who has never seen Strangefolk before, the answer would most obviously be 'nothing.' This year's Garden of Eden festival was the most successful and well-attended Eden yet. The crowd was a fantastic mix of Strangefolk rookies and old-time fans back for more. And the show itself was a testament to the growing power of Strangefolk as performers; onstage they seem to have lapped many of their jamband contemporaries. With a plethora of guests appearing, from Nile Rodgers to Gordon Stone to Dan Archer to Richard Hilton, the band ripped through their huge song catalog for nearly nine hours over two evenings. They barely missed a beat, scorching classic versions of songs that are now viewed as classics, for they have been playing most of them for years and years. The combination of the wonderful crowd and the spectacular performance of Strangefolk made this the greatest Garden of Eden ever, and to those who enjoyed the show and thought of nothing more, nothing went wrong.

But there was something terribly awry, and God was crying as Luke Smith, Erik Glocklear, Jon Trafton, and Reid Genauer took their last bow together after playing their final "So Well." It was a fitting encore. The lyrics of the song hint at the story of the band over the past decade. "We came to Burlington, body, soul and mind/We came to Burlington, to find ourselves defined/Forget me not, forgive me now, twenty years gone by/I may grow old, that's what I'm told, but I ain't gonna never die."

The four joined up in the early nineties in Burlington to form Strangefolk, and since then they have toured regularly, written constantly, and made a name for themselves not only across Vermont, but across the country. They toured constantly, and every few shows they would play "So Well," and the lyrics always seemed to describe not only their roots, but their incredible growth over the years. And now they were singing the final refrain of "So Well," the final chords, and were ready to take their final bow. "We live in and of each other, we will remain!" It seemed so ironic to see the three-part harmony of Reid, Jon, and Erik for one last time, and singing the previous line of all things. What went wrong? Why will they not remain?

Apparently, the decision that Reid made to leave the band came months ago, and he finally informed the band at Lupo's in Providence, RI before they played a gig there in early June. I was there that night, absolutely stoked to see the band again. I have seen over a hundred Strangefolk shows in my time, but I had not seen a show since March, in Portsmouth, NH, which was indeed the greatest concert of any kind that I had ever seen. So I could barely contain my excitement as I rolled in to Providence that Wednesday evening in early June. "Wait until you see them now" I told anyone who would listen. They had indeed grown incredibly as a band, and I thought that they were now not only brilliant songwriters, but had finally come into their own as solid and tight performers who could put on a show that would vie with any other performance that any other top band could muster. I was terribly disappointed that evening, for the performance was not up to snuff. There seemed to be something awry, though, and I could not really put my finger on it. Reid was leaving the band; he had told the band right before the show. In retrospect, it makes sense.but why the fuck was Reid leaving? Jesus god they had just taken the house down in Portsmouth three months before, and it seemed like their momentum was growing! God what was happening?

I did not hear the official news until a month later. I was living in Newport, and the most stable thing in my life was that no matter what happened to me, Reid Genauer and Strangefolk would always be playing music. Nearly six years ago, as I began to get into the jamband scene and the music it entailed, I somehow discovered Strangefolk. I was deeply moved by Reid's honest songwriting, and by his wonderful storytelling. I felt his passion, and I decided to become a writer instead of following the desolate road that would have otherwise lay in front of me - corporate America. Every now and then, people would tell me that Reid was eventually going to leave the band to go to business school or law school, but I pointed to his songwriting and his absolute contempt for everything conventional to prove them wrong. If anyone would argue with me, I would scream the lyrics of Genauer's "Fountain" - "I am not like those before you, standing in a suit!" And then the conversation would be over.

It would be very odd, I thought, for Reid to leave the band to pursue a career somewhere inside the tragic treachery of corporate America. This was the man who single-handedly took my mind out of the mainstream and put it into its own creative hands. And when the message that he was leaving came through to me in Newport on a quiet ocean night, I was shocked and felt betrayed. And I cried.my God did I cry. I wept, because I did not understand what was happening. Which hardly matters now, as the last chords of the last show has just ended. Here in my tent in Addison County, VT, I can only muse on my own and try to ignore the countless friends I have around me attempting to party the night away. This tent is a shelter from reality. I cannot talk to these people right now. There are hundreds of people around this campground that I have come to know over the years, and the only reason I know them is because of Strangefolk. There are countless people all around me that have become my best friends, my favorite people to hang out with, and the only people in the world that continuously have smiles and hugs for me every time I see them. I see them along the road in random cities, and Strangefolk has brought us all together. The lyrics, the music, the songs, the friendliness, and the effort of the band has made this enterprise not only a music enterprise, but an enterprise of "strangers" all over the country that have become good friends thanks to the music. It is insane to try and quantify the impact of this band's music, but when I walk around the Garden of Eden and see all the smiling faces that I have come to recognize over the past five years, the feeling of complete serenity that I receive might come close. But I cannot describe that, for it is a feeling beyond all other feelings.

Of course something went wrong along the way. All this happiness and serenity must have been superseded by something. Anything this wonderful would never end, or would it? This band has grown for the past eight years, and they have reached levels that most would never have thought possible. But there was still something missing. For all the loyal fans and dedicated tourheads, there was something missing. Perhaps I could describe it as a record-buying public, or perhaps I could describe it as a universal audience, but despite Strangefolk's immense growth as a band, they still have never enjoyed any amount of mainstream success.

The band's latest album, most certainly their first effort that would warrant mainstream attention, will finally hit stores in the next couple of weeks. The irony of the weekend was further typified by the fact that on the weekend of Reid's last show, their third album, the album with the greatest potential for mainstream success, was released. I heard A Great Long While this weekend for the first time and was absolutely shocked by the fantastic power it possesses.

Strangefolk signed with Mammoth two years ago after much speculation as to where they would sign their major label deal. Mammoth seemed like the perfect fit. Jon Trafton, lead guitarist, wrote a letter to the fans that described the deal as "ideal." Strangefolk would have the freedom to record what they wanted to. He did mention, though, almost as an afterthought, that Disney owned Mammoth, which hardly seemed important at the time. Suddenly this past spring, Disney took a more hands on approach to many of the smaller businesses that they owned. As with their attempt to destroy Kevin Smith's film Dogma, Disney axed Strangefolk from Mammoth. The 'Big Mouse' dropped Strangefolk single-handedly from Mammoth.

Sources inside the Strangefolk organization insist that Disney dropped Strangefolk because they were associated with the hippie/jamband scene that is automatically associated with the drug scene. Strangefolk has nothing to do with this, for they simply play their music, but Mammoth could not stop Disney from telling them to drop Strangefolk from their label. I can picture Michael Eisner sitting in a board room commenting on the fact that they do not have enough control over the world at large, looking at a spreadsheet that states he owns Mammoth Records, and asking what the deal is with that company. Some little plebe of an assistant would then explain that Mammoth was an up-and-coming label that showcased a lot of unknown talent. Like who, Mr. Eisner would undoubtedly ask. And then the plebe might mention Strangefolk, and that the album was coming out soon, and that there were high hopes for the album. When asked what the band was known for, the plebe would undoubtedly describe the jamband scene, and the rest would be history. Eisner's golden hand would smash down on the table, symbolically destroying Strangefolk, and clearing a wretched path for Reid Genauer to walk away from the band through. Of course it might not have happened like this, but one who asks the question - "what went wrong?" - would undoubtedly have to mention the failure of A Great Long While to be released on Mammoth to be a major factor. And Disney was the major factor in preventing this release. Mammoth had high hopes for this album and for the band, but they could not fulfill the promise they made to the band two years earlier, because the mouse with the huge ass ears stepped in the way. This is a momentum killer, and without momentum, it is tough to survive as a band. But the band was persevering. They were still playing in front of huge throngs of people and playing quite well. But there was something missing. By the time the summer rolled around and July was upon us, the shows were becoming fewer and far between. This was a band that toured constantly, and now they were hardly touring at all. There was talk of waiting for the record to come out so they could properly support the new album, but the album was never released until this weekend, and Strangefolk was only sparsely seen on the road. They had no control over their album, and they were very quickly losing direction, as well as that subtle yet all-important momentum. The fans were still coming, but the electricity of Portsmouth in March was gone.

The electricity they had this summer seemed to come from the tension within the band, and with Reid leaving, the tension was mounting. The tension was released this weekend, as was A Great Long While, but it was too late. Somehow Disney authorized Mammoth to give Strangefolk their record for free, for they could have buried A Great Long While in the same manner they attempted to bury Strangefolk, but it was too late. Reid had already decided to leave.

There was decided tension on the stage this weekend as well. It hurts to remember it, for this was a band that thrived on each other for the past five years. They kept improving because the four of them learned how to play together, and not separately. Most importantly, Reid learned how to contribute greatly to Jon's solo as his rhythm guitar playing finally equaled his songwriting, and Luke began to command absolute respect as one of the best drummers around. It was all there, but then Reid decided to leave. Watching Erik on stage this weekend was touching. He seemed to be more broken up about this than anyone else in the band or in the crowd. Singing the lyrics to "Pawn," one might get the picture that he was screaming at Reid, and watching him, he was screaming the lyrics at Reid with a pointed glare. "I don't have any answers, but I'm still playing the game/Whoever said they didn't have a chance never took any chances/They only have themselves to blame/Your stomach in, your chin up high, listen boy don't look me in the eye/I'm over here, you're over there/We all have the same pains to bear/We're all on the road to somewhere!" It was freaky! It was ugly! And it was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen! Pure, raw emotion lashing out not only across a packed field in the middle of Vermont, but across a stage filled with four scared young men, talented enough to bring all these people together but too unsure of themselves to keep it going any longer than tonight. And Reid was also touching onstage. There were chills throughout the air. Insanity. During the always intense and crazy "So Far Gone," Reid began to belt out the lyrics to an old Strangefolk song - "Far From Yourself." Hearing Reid wailing and flipping out as he screamed "I have never been so far from myself" was indeed shocking and indescribable. I could feel the pain in his decision.

Perhaps Reid was the only one to admit to himself that he was scared and ready to move on, or perhaps he was not scared because he was ready to move on, but it is severely unimportant. Many people feel betrayed, but Reid made a decision for himself. I feel betrayed, as my tent leaks with rain and people dance around it uninhibited, but Reid made a decision for himself. The man wants to have a family. He has a wonderful fiancée and wishes to have a stable life. He is probably (just a guess here) reasonably comfortable financially, but he is only comfortable financially if he tours for at least one-hundred and forty days out of the year, which makes creating a family and settling down terribly impossible. He wants to practice what he has preached in his songs for the past decades, but, inconceivable to most fans, is that he also wants to be happy.

Maybe if A Great Long While was not such a debacle the man could have toured more comfortably and enjoyed both a family and a singing career, but the album so far has fallen through the cracks. Maybe he will come back if it takes off on Sumthing Records, and, more to the point, maybe he is just sick of playing live music, but it is inconsequential, because he left on his own accord, for his own good, and bid all his fans and influenced listeners good night. Thank you Reid. And fuck you Reid, come to think of it. I have dedicated a lot of my life to this fucking band and now it is over. I always thought that Strangefolk would become one of the biggest bands in America, and now it is over. Of course it is not really over, whether tonight included the last notes of music they ever played together. I have over 300 tapes, CDs and DATs to spread Strangefolk's music around the world until the end of time, so if Reid thinks that he can get off this easy, he is sorely mistaken. This band will go on, because there are thousands of people like me that will keep listening, keep spreading the word, and keep speaking of Reid, Jon, Luke and Erik as key inspiration in their lives.

I guess most of the people around me realize this fact, and that is why they continue to party. My hand is tired of writing. It is way after midnight and I am sick of musing. It is time to celebrate what we have celebrated for the past five years. I must leave this tent and join the masses that are celebrating not that Strangefolk may have ended, but what Strangefolk has achieved. The hangover will not be so bad, for the music will remain, and, Strangefolk will remain. "We live in and of each other, we will remain!!!!!!" They will remain and their spirit will remain on into the night. And now it is time for me to celebrate with Strangefolk and the thousands of fans they have amassed here and give up musing for awhile, on this, the 3rd of September, a Sunday, well past Midnight.

REVIEW: Miracle Orchestra
7/07/00 - Lizard Lounge -Cambridge, MA
by Andy Spagnola

Setlist I II Show Me Your Moves Inevitable What A Mess Let Go Hankus Pankus The Secret Life of Juan Valdez Maha Parusa Das Yes Alone The Fez Down To The Nightclub Black Rock Blue Stones Eurohaus Destroyer> Abstractions>She Canvis Boob E:  Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

The Lizard Lounge is a great little venue.  It was a surprise to see Miracle Orchestra there because the room only holds about 100 people.  Needless to say, it was packed.  Actually a bit too packed at first, but then it thinned out just enough for breathing (and even dancing!).  The room has a great natural sound - the only instruments mic-ed were the vocals and sax, everything else was au natural.  Another really cool thing about the lizard lounge is that the band sets up right in middle.  You can stand on 3 different sides of the band.  The stage isn't raised, so you are right there with them.  Not to mention the place has like 40 different beers on tap! I don't really know all the names of Miracle Orchestra's tunes, but thanks to the setlist provided to me by Garrett, the bass player, I've managed to piece together what I remember pretty well.

The show opened with the whole band playing drums and cowbells.  This little drum jam quickly segued into the first tune, M/O's new calypso style song, "Show me your moves."  I really like this song.  It's happy, and it really features all the band members well.  Garrett took a great bass solo, which lead into a short drum solo/sax duet.  Then the whole group jams on the theme.  Quite nice. "Hankus Pankus" (named after New England Conservatory Teacher Hankus Netsky I've been informed), is a nice straight-ahead jazz/funk tune.  The sax player ripped it up on this tune. "Maha Parusa Das" has a distinct Indian Vibe.  The group really set up a tribal groove and just tranced out on it. The song just builds and builds until the original melody is played again at the end, at which point it just gets faster and faster until the whole thing blows up!  High Energy!  The crowd seemed to really enjoy that one.  "The Fez" is a Steely Dan song that Miracle Orchestra really has made their own. They do it with respect to Steely, but really stretch out on it in their own style too.  At this point, all the songs began to melt together - I guess the band has warmed up!  I'm not sure what really happened for a while, although I know that it sounded good.  I did recognize "Eurohaus Destroyer" from the live album.  This tune was phenomenal.  Jared, the sax player, has a new sampling device, and he was playing spoken word fragments and other sound effects on top of the burning techno groove of the bass and drums.  He played a speech that was pretty cool.  It was a really old guy talking about peyote.  Geoff, the guitarist, was officially off the deep end.  Had I not been watching his fingers, no one could have convinced me that the sounds he was making came from a guitar!  "Eurohaus Destroyer" segued into the next tune, which I guess was called "Canvis."  It's a pretty intense tune.  It goes from really quiet jazz to this part where everyone plays crazy riffs together to reggae to a huge guitar solo and then ends with a bang.  The Lizard Lounge was pretty wild at this point.

The band took a short set break and then came back on fire!  The first tune, "Inevitable," is a fast dark jazz/funk song.  It just kind of grows and grows.  The band stretched really far on this tune.  For a good bit of the time, it wasn't the song anymore, just where they took it, but then all the sudden it snapped back to a fiery ending.  The next song that I remember was "The Secret Life of Juan Valdez."  This is one of M/O's older tunes that they have recently rearranged as a sort of Jungle/Electronica thing.  "Juan" was by far the highlight of the evening.  It really just stretched out on top of some amazing jungle drum grooves.  It would pull and then snap back like a rubber band.  Then it ended with such strength that the crowd was actually freaking out!  The energy was extremely high at this point and the Lizard Lounge had turned into a sweaty dance party!  M/O kept the energy up with their reggae tune, "Yes Alone," and then with the Tower of Power cover, "Down to the Nightclub."  Blue Stones, a very pretty and 70's style funky tune, was followed by the intense jazz/latin tune "She."  M/O closed the show with a tune from their first album called "Boob."  The tune is totally funky and featured some great playing by all the members of M/O.  And just when all of the audience thought that they couldn't possible stand up any longer, M/O encored with Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," a serious crowd pleaser.  The Michael Jackson covers have become a trademark of M/O, and they're always great!  I thoroughly enjoyed my evening with Miracle Orchestra and look forward to having another one soon.

Who's the Fat Guy? has been playing regularly in the Boston area for around a year now.  Their music could  be described as funk that sometimes comes off with a pop feel mixed with some jamming.   My first experience with the band dates back to there Wally's Café days last fall.   The Common Ground in Allston was home to WTFG? on this particular Friday.  This is a great bar to see a show at.  The acoustics may not be the best in the world, but it has a nice Irish pub feel and they've got great beers on tap.

It was Friday night and the crowd was ready to dance and get there weekend started and WTFG? was here to help them.  The opener, "This is Not a Dream" created an upbeat atmosphere that lasted the whole set.  Bassist Curits Shakemore kicked it off with a spanking slap bass line.  Brad Cumberbatch joined in with a solid groove on the drums.

Midway through the set keyboardist Mark Ross stepped up to the clavinet for the Stevie-esque "Driftin".   The  jam during this tune produced some of the most spontaneous moments of the night.  He laid down a funky foundation on the Rhodes while soloing on the clav.  The "Fear that You May Ignite" was next, a poppy song that features the vocal harmonies of Ross and Shakemore.

The set featured 10 or so songs, all originals.  There song writing has a jazz focus mixed with a pop sensibility.  For a three piece band, WTFG? produces a lot of sound.  All three members of the bands seem to take up as much space as possible without stepping on each others' toes.  Something tells me I'll be back to see them again.

NEW ENGLAND SHOW CALENDAR

Editor's Note: The Calendar, as mentioned earlier, has vanished again...where it's gone nobody knows. It should return right around the time I do if all goes well. Patience.            

When Steely Dan chooses the musicians they will tour with, they do it with impeccable precision. When they record an album they filter through the tracks with controlled persistence. These guys demand nothing less than perfection. With Two Against Nature, Steely Dan's first album in 20 years, the tradition of supreme tightness continues for Donald Fagan and Walter Becker. And with their Two Against Nature 2K tour, in support of the album, these aging dandies are living up to the standard they set in the Seventies.

The threat of rain failed to dampen the spirit of the crowd at the Tweeter Center last Saturday (7/15). Pavilion seats were filled, and the lawn, covered with enthusiastic, water resistant-poncho toting fans. The scream of the crowd matched the guitar intro as the band went into the Boston Rag. Hundreds of New England fans knew that this song was for them. And when Fagan sat down at his piano and began belting out the lyrics with that characteristic over-exaggerated sneer, everyone returned to that carefree, decade of indulgence thirty years ago.

The mostly middle-aged fans listened intently as Steely Dan played the soundtrack to their lives, but many of the others dancing on the lawn, were not yet born when their first album, Countdown To Ecstasy was released in 1973. Intrigued by the jazzy-pop-disco sound of these interesting guys, the post college set still knew all the lyrics.

An array of musicians filled the stage to comprise the Steely Dan Orchestra 2000. A horn section including the beloved Cornelius Bumpus on saxophone took stage right, while a lovely female trio provided background vocals from stage left. The amazing guitar talent, John Herington landed the coveted position of lead and jammed along side Becker, surpassing expectations by matching with precision the sounds of such albums as Kady Lied, The Royal Scam and Gaucho. Tom Barney jammed on the bass, Ricky Lawson named "Drummer of the Year" in the R&B category, by Modern Drummer, tore it up on his set, and Ted Baker jazzed it up on the keys, parallel Fagan.

They played a few songs off the new album including "Janie Runaway," "Jack of Speed," and "Cousin Dupree," but spent most of the evening "dipping into the Seventies" as Fagan and Becker were both fond of saying. They got the crowed reeling early with "Peg," and continued the Aja vibe with "Josie" and "Deacon Blues," later in the show.

Filled with many Steely classics like "The Royal Scam," "Kid  Charlemagne," and "Black Friday," the set list alone was enough to please this crowd. But frequent entertaining surprises really spiced up the show.

After his smooth rendition of "Daddy Don't Live in that New York City No More," which he sang, Becker interrupted the first set with an enjoyable announcement of the 12 piece band, highlighted by solos from each musician. The three background singers, AKA "the choir," Cynthia Calhoun, Carolyn Leonhart, and Victoria Cave, took turns belting out lines from "Dirty Work," with exceptional style.

During "Hey Nineteen," Fagan teased the audience, relaying his story of smooth college romances, and asked - "What was that tequila called? The one with the yellowish orange color and a worm at the bottom." The crowd screamed the answer and the choir backed them up singing loud and clear "The Cuervo Gold/The Fine Colombian/Make Tonight a Wonderful Thing."

And with a "My Old School" and "FM" encore, it really was a wonderful thing.