|
|
Posting Board Southwest Regional Report
Edited by Chris Gardner - chris__gardner@hotmail.com
In This Issue:
The Ween Reports TUNJi - The Mercury - Austin, TX - 9/3&5/99 The Arizona Report, or.... Missives from the Desert, or....How a Metropolis Teeters on the Brink of Apocalypse Summer Session 1999
Ween 8-15-99 Will Rogers Theater, Oklahoma City, OK
Well, how do I start this? First of all I wouldn't exactly classify Ween as a jamband. I don't even own an album, but I noticed that they were coming to town and, since I was off work, I decided to go check them out. I've only heard a couple of songs by them, but I liked them. So without Furthur ado, I'll try and review them. In my opinion their lyrics are very comparable to Zappa's, and their sound reminds me of moe. I did a little research on them on the web. First of all they allow audio and video taping (no soundboards). They encourage it in fact, and there are many web pages and fans out there. From what I can gather, most of their albums are conceptual, which in my book ranks very high for a band. They are one of the most perfect bar bands to go see, and I will be seeing them again, after I pick up more albums. Ween is a band to go see to have a good time. At Oklahoma City they were in very high spirits and gave a very good performance. They played Voodoo Lady, which is basically the reason I think they sound like moe. This song was the highlight of the show, and yes, all the Phish fans out there that were wondering, they did play "Roses Are Free". They played one extremely long set (I clocked it about 2 and a half hours), then they came back on for a five song encore! I don't know where they get the energy for that. You can find more info on them at: ween.com
by Jennifer Kirk
Meanwhile, in Austin....
.....we got much of the same. The single, near three hour set featured songs from each of their albums, focusing heavily on The Mollusk and Pod. I never imagined I would write this show up for the site, but I knew I had to throw a word in as soon as I crossed the treshold at Stubb's. Mr. Richard Smoker closed out, and they launched into the boogieboogieboogieboogie of the aforementioned Voodoo Lady. Frankly, I had no idea what to expect from this show, but bobbing, weaving, moving, organic, cohesive jamming was the furthest thing from my mind. Nonetheless, that is exactly what they greeted me with. The Voodoo Lady rose from the rhythmic quagmire and vanished. I followed a faint trail through a series of viscous transitions that hinted at the theme until it was abandoned entirely, a caustic, shifting morass arising in its wake. Voodoo Lady is straight rock n' roll, and the jam was a hard driving, churning one. I cannot say that they maintained this level or even the spirit thereof throughout the show, but this song showcased an ability to undertake and potentially master the open-ended, conversational musical wanderings we have all come to know and love. Ween is not a jamband, but they could be. Furthermore, Ween would bring an energy to jam music that it has not seen since Zappa, a depth of understand of and flagrant disregard for all musical convention that always makes things interesting. Were the rest of the show not so mind-boggling, I would chalk the band up to wasted potential, but in light of the earnest punk, sticky funk, bold baladeering, and note perfect Hot For Teacher we were treated to, I might have to conclude that Ween is just a step beyond being a jam band.
by Chris Gardner
TUNJi
The Mercury
Austin, TX
September 3&5, 1999
by Eric RothschildThe boys in TUNJi returned back to Austin from their tour of the Western United States for two ass wiggling nights of low-down jazz, rhythm and blues at the Mercury. The small stage was graced by visitors toting alto and tenor saxophones, as well as the tantalizing trumpet of Ephraim Owens, to add to the thick wall of sound.
Bruce James Bunn growled and howled through a barrel of songs that kept on coming for an hour after the last drink was poured while gracefully pounding the ebony and ivory keys. Bassist Shiben Bhattacharya and drummer Brad Gilley delivered stifling rhythms and stirring beats that kept the house shaking as Joey Amato laid down funktified riffs on "Pink" and a slew of other favorites, old and new.
The electric groove of "Es Muy" gave way to an ethereal jam that lasted almost 15 minutes, leaving the crowd bewildered and hungry for more. Lucky for those that couldn't be there, TUNJi had the 16-track rolling through both nights for an upcoming live CD that will be out … sometime
The Arizona Report, or...
Missives from the Desert, or...
How a Metropolis Teeters on the Brink of Apocalypse
by Sam FoxHere in the sunblasted, nouveau-southwest epicenter known as Phoenix, Arizona, the jamband scene has been thin. Thin like Iggy Pop. Thin like a dessicant worm left on a desert sidewalk, lulled to the surface by the periodic intensity of the monsoon season.
Yes, monsoons, folks. Seen the Mummy? One charred piece of celluloid but possessing a few stunning visual effects, all shown on the preview. However, the dust cloud eating the bi-plane scene has been re-enacted here in Fantasia many times this summer, as the approaching front of the desert rains resembles nothing so much as the first wave of atomic disaster. Everything becomes yellow and biting, then the rains come. A deluge, a living sheet of water decends on this valley floor. Traffic hesitates, burbles, and slows to a crawl. Then, after an hour of turbid barometric pressure that resembles the Who in the late 60's, all is quiet. All that is left is uprooted trees, flooded water mains, swamped cars in underpasses, and other offage from this Postmodern, Neo-California culture.
But I digress.
Yes, the jamband scene has been scarce this summer. Maybe improvisational skills and desire wilt like everything else in the teeth of the desert sun. Folks, down here William Carrier, the inventor of central air conditioning, is the fourth member of the Holy Trinity. It is that hot.
Aside from a Grateful Dead cover band with a steady Thursday night gig and periodic big name shows like Dylan/Simon (which was amazing, Dylan looks fantastic and sounds better, whilst Simon continues to overperform to make up for his height), the tremulos and soul stirring sounds of long winded solos have been absent.
There is hope yet here in the concrete jungle. Fall is nigh, and with it comes a twenty degree drop in temperature. Now is the season for musicians to visit. The Big Boys of Phrantic Phun are hitting the Southwest in a mere two weeks, as well as the Big Wu, Afrikaa Bambataa, Jethro Tull, and various second tier stars of the the SoCal DJ circuit. The Wu-Tang Swarm has been descending in waves recently. Apparantly they send a solo artist to check the scene then, in classic Sun-Tzu style, throw the foot soldiers at the heightened crowd
One thing is for sure, in the desert hope does spring eternal. Along with every saguaro cactus, palo verde tree, and long-tailed lizard, this is Sam Fox signing off to find some shade and await the cool tones of fall.
Summer Session 1999
Salt Lake City, UT - Sunday August 15thby Tad Turgeon
What a fun relaxing day in the City of Salt. Showtime wasn't until 4:00pm. This gave ample time to salute the day in any fashion desired. Arriving at the venue we find that the doors did not open at 3:00pm instead they would open after 4:00pm. This was a blessing since we had wanted some nice real estate for the shorter viewing audience. The Gallavan Center is a wonderful spot for shorter pholk since there are many tiers in the grassy lawn as well as cement butresses surrounding the lawn area. I settled in next to the tapers. Tapers are always a fun bunch to visit and view in their electronic detail. I made a short Christmas wish list oogling their stands and mini-discs. Soon enough the roadies are tuning up the axes and trying to get the sound working right. This was an omen, as the sound system would later cause havoc. Warren or the combination of the drums and bass, but this band is a portable jam generator. With very few special effects this band took me on a sky coaster ride high into the mountains and back. Quite intoxicating, Warren's heart-felt raspy vocals add credence to the thickness of the Jam. I have made a note on my list of things to do to see this band whenever possible. I could have made a day out of this band alone.
Between bands the Summer Session provided some of the best entertainment to grace this valley. A man with his mike takes the stage while roadies clear and set up more equipment. Grabbing our full attention this man is a one-man show, DJ, turntable and bass taboot. I hope they bring this Cat along for the whole ride.
Galactic takes off, minus their horn player who had taken some time to Jam with the G-mule in the prior set. Forgetting he even belonged on stage, this band immediately enveloped myself in their bliss. It was a couple songs later before the saxaphonist would return to the stage to give the complete Galactic. Finally I am realizing the one item this band is missing...vocals. I say that with tongue-in-cheek because there is so much going on, you don't even miss the vocals. Suddenly with a grand invitation the band brings out "The Houseman". Pouring his soul and body into each lyric, he fit the groove of Galactic to a tee. I had heard good things about Galactic, all of which were true. At this point I am wishing the sets were longer.
While Galactic is tearing down and Moe is setting up out comes "The Guitar Dude". As a practicing musician myself I am humbled by his aggression combined with precision. He pulls out a few numbers, then when he is feeling good, he breaks into his show stopper. This was by far the biggest orgasm I have ever seen one man pull together. The most amazing thing I noticed was his guitar had no cut-away and he is flying up and down the neck through the scales into one big build after another. As if that wasn't impressive, he kept it up for a good two minutes with each "build" being bigger than the one before. Finally he loses his load and is done. While I can't say I was absorbed in his material, his skills and technique will take you to the moon and halfway back.
Now the fun begins. Bill Nershi of String Cheese Incident comes onstage to introduce Moe. Bill jests, "You got to play with Phil last night". The guitarist for Moe. Fires back, so did you! Of course we (the audience) brush it off since, well, Phil bagged Salt Lake. Anyhow Moe. Looks excited and they are. Within seconds we are off to the races and dangling on the teathers of the groove. Everyone in Moe. Is full of energy and digging the crowd. After the first two tunes they break into a number that is supposed to bring the house down. This is the first real technical problem of the day as the singer/guitarist loses his mike. Eventually they bag the whole song. The other guitarist is quite disturbed by this as Moe. had a secret plan to really lay it on us. I admit they were doing a great job, but they never found it again after the continual technical failures.
A threesome of acoustic musicians takes the stage during the equipment swap and I can't say I caught much of them. They sounded good, but I was sitting and didn't find their vibe.
So now it is getting String Cheese Incident time and I am getting worried. Having seen this band the year before and in J-hole during the winter, I knew that Michael Kang would take up the "shitty mike" position. The Cheese drew the largest crowd. The place was now full but plenty of room to kick up the proverbial dirt. The Cheese played a few tunes I knew and a few new ones to me. I had fun picking out the individual players in the jams by ear. This was especially fun because Kang, due to technical problems remained on guitar for 90% of their set. Finally out of a huge jam we end up with Johnny Cash. A little humor post set was the exiting ambiance of Johnny Cash for house music.
Overall I had a great time. Security was horrible getting in the joint as they would not allow any containers or food into the venue. Oddly enough personal sized fires were set all day long with very little to no discretion. I took the liberty to smuggle some contraband into the venue too; we ate cookies.
The Gallavan Center, while it has played host to some big ticket acts, is a small place and is best visited during other (free) performances. For example Thursday evening prior to the Summer Session I took in Jerry Douglas and Peter Rowan. This was a blowout for Salt Lake: A free concert with big names. While I am a fan of bluegrass music, I didn't see most of the concert. Why? Because every chump with two nickels and a dime to rub together came to the gala event. The place was so mobbed with people it was impossible to see the stage. The sound was good and from a distance I could here Rowan do his "No Woman No Cry" cover. However, on Thursday evenings the music is free and the ales flow. Bring a picnic basket and get there early. Also if you check the local listings you will find free music at the noon hour of the business week along with Wednesday evenings. You can count on 2002 Olympic award ceremony being at the Galavan Center and you can rely on Marriott to have finished their new hotel to adorn the plaza. Over the years the Gallavan Center has become an oasis in Salt Lake for music, drink and dance. Quite the opposite from what one would expect in Zion Country.
Submissions are greeted with cries of joy, genuflection, and the soothing rain of undying adulation at chris__gardner@hotmail.com
|
| JamBands.Com is published on the 15th of every month. Submissions are due ten days earlier on the fifth of each month. Please contact the specific editor for the section you are interested in contributing to. For general content comments, please e-mail jambands@jambands.com. For all technical web site related issues, please contact Sarah Bruner |