Wookie of the Day at the WSOP

I'm in Las Vegas covering the World Series of Poker (over at Tao of Poker). I came across a wook playing in one of the events...


Photo by Matt Waldron

Coventry's Weekly Round Up: Background Beats Vol 6, LOST Finale, Dance Off, and Barber Returns

In case you missed last week... we had a couple of gems which included the LOST finale and another installment of the Background Beat mixes.

MIX: Background Beats Vol. 6
Festival Checklist
LOST Finale Initial Thoughts
Hot Asian Girl Covers Jackson Five
SPAC Ticket Giveaway
Disco Biscuits 5/27/10 Boulder Theater: The Return of The Barber
Phish Dance Off
2009-10 Ensemble Plays Cavern
Music, Food, Boobs

Phish Covers Compilation: Hook, Line and Sinker

Hook, Line And Sinker: Songs Covered By Phish
by Chewbacca Wookie

Updated in May 2010 (I originally posted this a few years ago. This is a new version, including 3 new cover tunes after Phish's 2009 shows.)

This is a compilation of the most Phishy of Phish covers. Whenever possible, the original versions of the songs by the original artists were used, or the versions of the songs that Phish covered (such as Palmer's Sneaking Sally). In the case of many older and traditional songs, such as Amazing Grace, I included a well known or traditional version, preferably from the era of the song.

While Phish played hundreds of cover songs during their almost 25 year career, this list is narrowed to the covers most commonly played in order to maintain the "Phishy" feel of the mix. Therefore, the only songs included are those that Phish performed on 3 or more occasions in their career. There may be a couple of exceptions to this rule, but such songs were featured in particularly legendary set sequences.

Using these guidelines, the list was narrowed down to a more manageable number: 117. This amounts to just over 7 hours of music, spanning their career.

The compilation is entitled "Hook, Line and Sinker" in tribute to the late Kurt Vonnegut, a fan of Phish who several years ago painted cover art for an imaginary Phish album for Glide Magazine's article, "Greatest Album Covers That Never Were." Vonnegut's artwork is included as part of the ID tags for these songs. The artwork can also be found here: http://www.electricedge.com/greymatt...phish-kurt.jpg

The order of the tracks coincides with the chronological order in which these cover songs were debuted, i.e. Long Cool Woman was the first cover (and first song) Phish played live, thus it appears first in the tracklist. Listening to this tracklist gives some insight into the kind of music that was inspiring Phish at different times through the years. A shuffle gives them a different feel every time. Enoy.

Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress) – The Hollies
In The Midnight Hour – Wilson Pickett
Eyes Of The World – Grateful Dead
Fire – Jimi Hendrix
Scarlet Begonias – Grateful Dead
Whipping Post – The Allman Brothers Band
Cities – Talking Heads
Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley – Robert Palmer
Melt The Guns – XTC
The Mighty Quinn (Quinn, The Eskimo) – Bob Dylan
Have Mercy – The Mighty Diamonds
Skin It Back – Little Feat
Peaches En Regalia – Frank Zappa
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – Apollo Jubilee Quartet
Shaggy Dog – Lightnin' Hopkins
Mustang Sally – Wilson Pickett
The Little Drummer Boy – Frank Sinatra
She Caught The Katy And Left Me A Mule To Ride – Taj Mahal
Good Times Bad Times – Led Zeppelin
Boogie On Reggae Woman – Stevie Wonder
Ya Mar – The Mustangs
Corinna – Taj Mahal
Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Funky Bitch – Son Seals
Sparks – The Who
Ride Captain Ride – Blues Image
Take The "A" Train – Duke Ellington
Timber (Jerry The Mule) – Josh White
The Ballad Of Curtis Lowe – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Aveenu Malcainu – Suzzy & Maggie Roche
Light Up Or Leave Me Alone – Traffic
La Grange – ZZ Top
Jesus Just Left Chicago – ZZ Top
Rocky Top – Osbourne Brothers
Terrapin – Syd Barrett
Love You – Syd Barrett
Bike – Pink Floyd
Satin Doll – Duke Ellington
On Your Way Down – Allen Toussaint
Bold As Love – Jimi Hendrix
Walk Away – James Gang
Time Loves A Hero – Little Feat
If I Only Had A Brain – Ray Bolger & Judy Garland
Undun – The Guess Who
Donna Lee – Charlie Parker
Highway To Hell – AC/DC
Frankenstein – Edgar Winter
Auld Lang Syne – Guy Lombardo
Caravan – Duke Ellington
Carolina In The Morning – Al Jolson
Communication Breakdown – Led Zeppelin
Uncle Pen – Bill Monroe
Sweet Adeline – The Pittsburghers
How High The Moon - Les Paul & Mary Ford
Paul And Silas – The Stanley Brothers
Manteca – Dizzy Gillespie
Wipe Out – The Surfaris
Touch Me – The Doors
Argent – Hold Your Head Up
Cracklin' Rosie – Neil Diamond
My Mind's Got A Mind Of Its Own – Jimmie Dale Gilmore
I Walk The Line – Johnny Cash
Loving Cup – The Rolling Stones
Amazing Grace – Judy Collins
Pig In A Pen – The Stanley Brothers
The Great Gig In The Sky – Pink Floyd
Crossroads – Cream
Daniel Saw The Stone – Silver Leaf Quartette of Norfolk
Nellie Kane – Hot Rize
Also Sprach Zarathustra – Deodato
Yerushalayim Shel Zahav – Shuli Nation
Purple Rain – Prince
Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home – Patsy Cline
Ginseng Sullivan – Norman Blake
I Wan'na Be Like You – Louis Prima
Over The Rainbow – Judy Garland
The Old Home Place – The Dillards
Foreplay - Long Time – Boston
While My Guitar Gently Weeps – The Beatles
Why Don't We Do It In The Road? – The Beatles
Cry Baby Cry – The Beatles
I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome – Bill Monroe
My Long Journey Home – The Monroe Brothers
Lonesome Cowboy Bill – The Velvet Underground
A Day In The Life – The Beatles
Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry
Hello My Baby – The Barbershop Singers
Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley
Life On Mars? – David Bowie
The Real Me – The Who
Sea And Sand – The Who
Drowned – The Who
The Star Spangled Banner (live from Super Bowl XXV) – Whitney Houston
Crosseyed And Painless – Talking Heads
Love Me – Elvis Presley
My Soul – Clifton Chenier
When The Circus Comes – Los Lobos
Beauty Of My Dreams – The Del McCoury Band
Soul Shakedown Party – Bob Marley & The Wailers
Izabella – Jimi Hendrix
Ain't Love Funny – J.J. Cale
Emotional Rescue – The Rolling Stones
Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
Roses Are Free – Ween
Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye
Albuquerque – Neil Young
If You Need A Fool – The Del McCoury Band
Been Caught Stealing – Jane's Addiction
Sabotage – Beastie Boys
Back At The Chicken Shack – Jimmy Smith
Something – The Beatles
Rock And Roll – The Velvet Underground
Cool It Down – The Velvet Underground
Oh! Sweet Nuthin' - The Velvet Underground
Misty Mountain Hop – Led Zeppelin
Mellow Mood – Bob Marley & The Wailers
Shine A Light - The Rolling Stones

The 3 new songs added to reflect Phish's setlists from 2009 are: How High The Moon, Oh! Sweet Nuthin! and Shine A Light, each of which hit the "3 times played" rule. For those who downloaded the previous version, I have included a separate link below with just these 3 new songs with cover art and tags to match the rest of the songs, although you may need to adjust track numbers.

Complete updated compilation:

Part 1

Part 2

3 new Songs

A big THANK YOU to Chewbacca Wookie for putting this together!

Disco Biscuits Home Again Encore

I'll have a full report on Inferno soon, but for now...

The Disco Biscuits 5/28/10 Ogden Theater: Let Your Fans Write Your Set Lists

A couple of months ago the Biscuits had a raffle with their Planet Anthem release that offered a lot of interesting prizes. One of the prizes was "write a Disco Biscuits set list for a show you attend". This was a fantastic Biscuits show and if it was because of the input of a fan, they need to let more fans write the set lists or keep this guy on the staff full time. The flow of the show was fantastic and the playing was on point.


05/28/10 Ogden Theater, Denver, CO
Set I: Voices Insane> Run Like Hell1> Voices Insane, The Bridge, Jigsaw Earth
Set II: Spectacle, Air Song, Basis For A Day1> Rock Candy> Tricycle> Rock Candy
Encore: Once The Fiddler Paid
1 unfinished

In the first set the Voices Insane> Run Like Hell> Voices sandwich was superb, the band was on fire straight from the start. It was fun to dance with my British PT buddy Stevebed during Run Like Hell (Pink Floyd). Jigsaw Earth got a huge crowd reaction, although there was no dub jam to close it out.

To use the language of my buddy Corey, "second set was absolutely fucking disgusting! Spectacle! Fuck yes. Air song was disgusting." The second set is something you should listen to if you are a Biscuits fan. Basis had multiple themes jammed out on each bridge, and Rock Candy into Tricycle was the dark, nasty, evil Biscuits I love. The show was topped off with a rare Fiddler encore. This show had just a little bit of everything the Biscuits do, the jamming never lost me and I am pumped for tonight at Red Rocks.

SPAC Phish Ticket Giveaway

Local Phish phan Jim Stagnitti, is riding a century (100 mile) bike ride as a fund raiser for Multiple Sclerosis. This is the second year in a row Jim is riding for charity and he is trying to surpass the $2700 he raised last year.

Jim will give away a pair of SPAC Pavilion seats (section 5, row J ) for the Saturday 6/19/10 show to a lucky phan who donates at least $25 for his cause. Each $25 donation gains one entry to his raffle.

Here are a few FAQ's per Jim;

Last year there were a few questions that I'll try to answer here:

- I am not scalping these tickets. I bought them directly from the promoter and paid extra service charges to make sure I would have inside seats.
- The tickets will be given away as long as I raise over $200 with them. I could sell them on stub hub or eBay for a lot more and donate the money.
- The money absolutely goes to MS research. You will make your donation online on the secure MS website and the money goes directly to the charity.
- Your donation is tax deductible. MS will email you a receipt.
- I'll drop the tix off if you live in the Albany area or meet you in the lot before the show if you're travelling.

You can make a donation to Jim's cause by clicking here.

You can read how Jim's training for his ride is going here.

Follow Jim on twitter

to view the SPAC seating chart click here.

MIX: Background Beats Vol. 6

By now you should know what to expect. Enjoy!

TRACK-LIST:
track. song - artist

01. Stonyridge Terrace - Ian Pooley
02. Indian Summer - Nicolay
03. Like No Other - Keston & Westdal
04. The Eastoner - General Midi
05. Jacuzzi Jazz - Audio Lotion
06. Mood Blender - Social Scientist
07. Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days - A:xus
08. Planet X - Phonosynthese
09. Human patterns - Beanfield
10. The Art of Bop Breaking - Cradle
11. Underwater Love - Jerome Isma-Ae
12. Castaway - Groovecatcher
13. A Day by Atmosphere Supreme - Nujabes
14. African Velvet - Air

DOWNLOAD

Get the entire Background Beats series:
(click on the pics below to download)

Sample songs before you download - Background Beats is NOW ON FACEBOOK.

Background Beats

Disco Biscuits 5/27/10 Boulder Theater: The Return of The Barber

I have been one of the biggest critics of Jon "Barber" Gutwillig in 2010. I think he is an amazing guitarist when he wants to be. About 8 weeks ago Barber broke his wrist in a sketchy backstage incident and tonight was the first time he was back with the band playing a full show. I had low expectations of his return, but was impressed at Barber's playing and precision all night. The setlist:

05/27/10 Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO
Set I: Flash Mob, Rivers, Story Of The World> Aceetobee> Boom Shanker> Aceetobee
Set II: Save The Robots, The Very Moon> Digital Buddha> Lunar Pursuit> Digital Buddha
Encore: Spy

This afternoon Bisco played an impromptu "flash mob" acoustic set on Pearl Street in Boulder. From all accounts it wasn't about the the acoustic versions of songs, but rather about a band and a crowd that is hungry, frisky and excited. This weekend people are fucking pumped that Barber is back and Bisco is in Colorado. Tonight's Aceetobee > Boom Shanker > Aceetobee in the first set was incredible, as was the second set Buddha > Lunar Persuit> Buddha. The band is playing well. It was not the greatest Bisco show ive ever seen, but it was way above average and blew away my expectations. I think we are in for a fun weekend in Colorado, kidddzzz. See you at the Ogden on Friday and Red Rocks on Saturday.

PS- did you see the moon tonight? Brownie did, and thats why we got a Lunar Persuit and The Very Moon!

Phish Dance Off!

Hilarious video set to 12/7/97 Dayton, OH Tube...be sure to check out the Red Rocks staff dancing around 3:54

Festival Checklist

Here is the printable festival checklist for those heading out to Delfest or Summercamp this weekend!

DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL CHECKLIST

Have fun, and don't do anything we wouldn't do!

Hot Asian Girl Covers Jackson Five

I'm dedicating this to my buddy Senor who has a fetish for...

2009-10 Ensemble Plays Cavern

Thanks to Bob who pointed out the video...

Music, Food, Boobs

Silly. Special thanks to merephish for pointing this out.

LOST Finale Initial Thoughts

Overall im really satisfied. I loved the ending. ::tear::

For me, and I feel the creators as well- LOST is about life and death, faith and science, spirit and flesh, and I feel that the title refers to the characters' souls, not their location.

The moments of awareness in the flash-sideways during which they remembered the Island were memories of the moments that really mattered to these people, the moments that matter in life: babies being born, laughter, kissing, love, genuine selflessness. All the back and forth and struggle on the island wasn't really what mattered. In the end, you need the people in your life, and they need you, and you create a space together where a whole bunch of stuff happens, but when you look back at your life, everything fades into the background, and what's left in relief is what's important.

Much like our understanding of this universe, there are many unanswered questions in the LOST universe. The questions of life. Some look for answers in religion, some look for answers in science, and some don't look at all. We have the Dharma Initiative and the Temple and the Rules...we understand parts of the answers but much like life there will always be mysteries. I need to watch again and i'm pressed for time today to write- but I think I initially "get" what the show was going for and what it is all about. Its a reflection of how complicated our lives are, a reflection of how little we really understand about our existence, and how we are all searching to find the people who are really important to each of us and make our lives worth living.

Ryan put together the epic setlist this week:

Geronimo Jackson, May 23, 2010

Set I (Off Island): Loser (1), Camaro (2), You All Everybody (3), Tranquilize (4), Love Doctor (5), Fix You (6), Reunited (7), Love Song (8), Sweet Child of Mine (9), Romeo and Juliet (10)

Set II (On Island): Got a Job (11), Deal (12), Cabin in the Woods (13), Let’s Do Something Cheap and Superficial (14), Par Avion (15), Blinded By the Light (16), Shot in the Back of the Head (17), Sacrifice (18)

Encore: Father and Son (19) > Let’s Go Crazy (20) > Shine a Light (21)

(1) Beck; Oceanic Airlines Delivery guy with reenactment of the coffin pulling sequence from the Beck music video
(2) Kings of Leon; Hurley and Kate
(3) Driveshaft; Charlie, bass player heavily intoxicated and wearing eye makeup
(4) The Killers; Hurley, Sayid, and Charlie
(5) George Thorogood; Juliet, Sun, and Jin
(6) Coldplay; Jack and Locke
(7) Yes; Sayid and Shannon
(8) Tesla; Sayid and Shannnon
(9) Guns n’ Roses; Claire, Charlie, and Kate
(10) Dire Straits; Sawyer and Juliet
(11) Smokey Robinson; Jack
(12) The Grateful Dead; Locke and Jack
(13) Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers; Bernand, Rose, and Desmond
(14) Burt Reynolds; Lapidus
(15) Mike and the Mechanics; Lapidus, Miles, and Richard
(16) Manfred Mann; Desmond
(17) Moby; Kate, Locke, and Jack
(18) Elton John; Jack
(19) Cat Stevens; Jack and Christian Shephard
(20) Prince; Christian Shappard on intro narration, Ensemble
(21) The Rolling Stones; Christian Shephard, Ensemble

PLUG: I still have some LOST/Phish tees, mostly in mens Large and XL

Background Beats now on Facebook

Background Beats

Become a fan of Background Beats on Facebook and receive updates on the latest volumes. In addition, you can sample tracks from the series before you download.

Coventry's Weekly Round Up: Background Beats Mix 5, Phish Headlining ACL, Red Rocks Chocolate, and Page Sings Tiny Dancer

Here's what you missed last week...

Phish Headlines Austin City Limits Music Festival
MIX: Background Beats Vol. 5
Welcome Back Barber!
Visioneers: Dirty Old Hip Hop
McLovins - Woodstock NY 5/14/10
Widespread Panic Red Rocks Chocolate Story
LOST: What They Died For
Page: Tiny Dancer
Anders Osborne w/ Stanton Moore Trio
SQUIDBILLIES: The Need For Weed

PT Thread of the Week: Getting GIRLS at shows

This thread is blogworthy.

Absolutely love Broseph's contributions. Enjoy.

Local Natives

Last night I saw the Local Natives at the tiny indie rock venue Larimer Lounge in Denver. I have not been blown away by a band like this in a long, long time. I loved the 3 part harmonies and their live performance was incredible. Local Natives have a debut album filled with beautiful choruses that stick in your head. I think this band is going to be playing some very big stages in the next year.





Make a point to see them live:
05/22 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court*
05/25 – Spokane, WI @ Empryean*
05/26 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux*
05/27 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios*
05/28 – Vancouver, BC @ The Venue*
05/30 – Seattle, WA (Sasquatch)
06/02 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Shop*
06/03 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill*
06/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour*
06/05 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater
06/10 – Manchester, TN (Bonnaroo)
07/18 – Chicago, IL (Pitchfork Festival)
08/05 – Boston, MA @ The Middle East
08/06 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
08/07 – New York, NY @ Governor’s Island

MIX: Background Beats Vol. 5

Originally this was going to be ready last week, but by Thursday I gave it a listen and thought, "Meh, this shit sucks." Here's why: Up until this volume I had been whipping these things out in a matter of a couple hours because the tracks were ones that had been in my library for a long time and that I enjoy on a regular basis. Well, the truth is that I ran out of artists without repeating ones that I have already posted and was about to post a bunch of music that I wasn't very excited about. So the first attempt at this volume got deleted and the search began for new artists that I could include on the series. I listened, downloaded, sorted out the crap, and came up with this. The result? The best volume yet: Background Beats Volume 5.

TRACK-LIST:
track. song - artist

01. Ike's Mood Ia - Visioneerss
02. Yess - Banzai Republic
03. Triage - Hardkandy
04. Moon - Little People
05. Free And Beautifull - Dove Souls
06. Northern Lights - Lux
07. So long - Mr. Scruff
08. Rebirth - Abhay Nabosi
09. Calmer - Zoot Woman
10. Detect Mode - Highend
11. Rise - Nightmares On Wax
12. Bossanovastyle A - Deceptikon
13. Everyone - Numatic Soul
14. Sudan - Hamsa Lila
15. Dissolve - The Mass Appeal
16. Blue Moon - Blank And Jones

DOWNLOAD

Get the entire Background Beats series:
(click on the pics below to download)

Welcome Back Barber!

Visioneers: Dirty Old Hip Hop

Marc Mac is better known as one half of 4hero, the duo that founded legendary drum & bass label Reinforced Records and changed the shape of UK electronic music.

Visioneers music is the sound of Hip Hop and Jazz in a head-on collision, this is most demonstrated on tracks like Ikes Mood and versions of the classic Nas - The World Is Yours and Pharcyde Runnin.

The project features the talents of Brad Somatik and 4hero drummer Luke Parkhouse and features guest vocals from rappers Capitol A and Voice. Marc explains - the Visioneers idea was in my head long before we recorded the first record.

Visioneers is not a band its a studio project. I want to pay respect to hip hop producers like Jazzy Jeff, Jay Dee and Pete Rock for introducing me to Jazz and I needed to produce the tracks like hip hop records that sound phat in a club and not like dinner Jazz, its about reclaiming Jazz.

DOWNLOAD

McLovins ~ Bearsville Theater, Woodstock NY 5/14/10

Last Friday night I headed down to Woodstock, NY to see headliners Max Creek with opening act the McLovins. In a town full of musical history both past and present the McLovins made some of their own. I was truly impressed with the talent Jake (drums/vocals), Jason (bass) and Jeff (guitar) possess. And I got to spend a little time meeting and talking to the boys and their parents. Turns out Jake's mom, Carol and I share an employer and a running habit.

The guys only got to play a one hour set. I was fortunate to have access to the Set List but being a noob I had to reach out to get the names of the tunes I recorded on the videos I shot. Thanks to Carol Huffman and Tyler Curtis (teenage music blogger and a drummer himself) who helped me out with the names and to Jake for posting them on the McLovins Facebook page. Jake has a voice that can go reggae, to Elvis Costello-ish to Talking Heads-ish with a bit of a blues rasp.

A little history: The McLovins burst on the scene when their video of them performing Phish's YEM (You Enjoy Myself) hit You Tube in November 2008:


This year the McLovins move from the tent at Gathering of the Vibes to one of the main stages. They will also be appearing at Mountain Jam, Nateva and StrangeCreek music Festivals. They recently performed a sold-out gig at Connecticut's Infinity Hall (another great venue in the spirit of Bearsville) They have progressed from doing covers, to writing and recording their own music. They have garnered attention from top sound guys and the likes of Tom Marshall.

I shot two video's so I'll let you see for yourself what the buzz is all about.








The McLovins will be opening for 7 Walkers, featuring Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead, George Porter Jr. and Papa Mali at Troy's Revolution Hall on Thursday 05/27/10. I'll be there.

Widespread Panic Red Rocks Chocolate Story

I am unsure of the author of this nice piece of literature, but I thought it was worth a posting here. I found it on the panicfreaks.org message board.

Panic Show @ Redrocks
Saturday, June 28

4:00am - Wake up after 3 hours of sleep and take a cab to Logan airport.

10:30am - Arrive Denver Intl. airport, meet up with friend, Mat, rent car, drive to liquor store.

11:30am - Enter liquor store and buy a case of Coors and a case of Coors Light (we're in Colorado after all). Also buy flimsy styrofoam cooler that is sure to break before the day is over.

11:33am - Flimsy styrofoam cooler falls over and breaks as I wheel out of liquor store parking lot. Go back to liquor store for second flimsy styrofoam cooler.

11:45am - Arrive at the 6th Ave. Travelodge. As I am stepping out of the car, a car pulls up and a guy leans out of the passenger side window to offer me mushroom chocolates at $20 a pop. I ask him if one will do the trick. He says yes. I buy two.

2:00pm - Follow my friend Hugo and others into the Red Rocks parking lot. He drives a sky blue '76 Cadillac El Dorado convertible (hip). I'm driving a maroon Mazda 626 (loser). I proceed to scour the parking lot for the prerequisite ammunition I will need for the show. As I am buying a one-hitter from a dirty, bearded guy, a dirty, hairy-legged girl approaches me about some "blueberry organics from Oregon". I give her a perplexed look before concluding she must be selling mushrooms and bring her back to our car. My friends buy an ounce for all of us. I buy a quarter for backup.

2:40pm - A girl asks us if we want any "Puff". 10 minutes later, a guy asks us if we want any "Dust". It quickly dawns on me that I am getting old if I am no longer familiar with the latest drug trends. We reject both and decide to stick with the stuff we know will **** us up.

4:30pm - After numerous Coors Regulars, a couple of joints and a handful of caps, I've got a pretty good buzz going, especially for a Saturday afternoon. My friend Mat and I decide to eat our little chocolate treats which have been chilling in the flimsy styro foam cooler. We notice they are shaped like Denver Bronco heads.

4:31pm - We head into the show early to get good seats.

4:45pm - While waiting in line to get in, I notice that my friend Mat is starting to glance around nervously. When questioned, he tells me that we have to get into the show NOW! He also tells me if it rains, it might have serious consequences for his mental health. He also informs me that the handrail he is clutching with both hands is a dear friend that he's known since childhood. Looks like the guy was right about the chocolates.

5:00 - We take our seats on row 30. Neurons are definitely doing a little dance in my head now. I perk up my ears when I overhear the guy behind us mention Denver Bronco chocolates. He advises his buddy to "only eat half or maybe even just a quarter" unless he wants to spend the entire show on Pluto. I turn to my friend Mat. He is a slobbering, incoherent mess. I write him off as a mushroom casualty after it takes him at least half an hour to decide which restroom he should use.

5:30 - Still 2 hours until the band comes on. The grassy hill to the right of the stage erupts into a ball of green flames. I look away in horror and decide to concentrate on a harmless rock formation. Only problem is this rock formation is really a giant iguana that is trying to eat one of the speaker set-ups.

6:45 - Most of the people in the group I'm with have also procured some of these potent little mind-blasting chocolates. They inquire how they are treating me. As one guy's face contorts into something out of a bad '80s horror flick, I lie and tell everybody that I don't really feel anything. It's probably better that they take everything in the arsenal because these things are pretty weak. I decide if I'm going to be sailing the high sees of hysteria, everyone's going to be on the same ****ed-up boat. One girl eyes me suspiciously and remarks that my eyeballs look like black marbles. I turn away to see if the iguana has crept any closer.

6:00 - After the green tarp we're sitting on sucks my beer down into its gullet, I turn to my friends and ask if everyone is ready to go. They remind me that the band hasn't even come on yet. Oh right! We're here to see a Panic show and there's still AT LEAST AN HOUR 'TIL SHOWTIME!

7:00 - The band (at this point I don't even know who it is we're here to see - Lightspeed Tantric or something) is late. By this time my entire group of people is a complete train wreck. Total chaos and incoherence. One girl is crying. I laugh at her. I ponder going to the rest room but decide the 15 minute journey would be about 14 minutes and 30 seconds longer than my jellied brain could handle. I decide to piss in a beer bottle. I notice a young lady staring at me, appalled. I tell her not to worry and that I'm from Tennessee, "where it's OK to piss outdoors." The nervous laughter quotient of the surrounding crowd is very high at this point.

7:30 - YESSSSSS!!!!! The band comes on. And the iguana doesn't even try to eat them! For the next 4 hours I intermittently find myself dancing and sometimes standing still just staring into space. I believe some drooling was involved somewhere in there. At set break I wash down another handful of shrooms with some smuggled 1800 tequila. The rest of the night is more or less blank. I remember being lost in a parking lot. I remember the look of fear on the Travelodge desk clerk's face when I tried to check in at midnight. I also remember that there was a group of aging hippies (50-60 years old) in front of us who were partying harder than anyone in the place and it gave me hope.

personal grovel: I am looking for extras to Panic at Red Rocks this year...I missed out on the on-sale. If you have an extra, let me know!

LOST: What They Died For

Ryan and I are back for the last regular LOST episode. It was a good one. Here is the setlist:

Geronimo Jackson, May 18, 2010

Set I (Off Island): Milk and Cereal (1), Cremation Services (2), Slow and Low (3), Watching The Detectives (4), Mr. Nice Guy (5), I Found a Reason (6), Jailhouse Rock (7), Cortez the Killer (8)

Set II (On Island): Bullet with Butterfly Wings (9), Throwing Stones (10), The End (11), Loving Cup (12), Secret Door (13), The Payback (14)

Encore: Wishing Well (15) > Seek and Destroy (16)

(1) G Love and the Special Sauce; David, Jack, and Claire
(2) Jerky Boys; Desmond and Jack
(3) Beastie Boys; Desmond with “we’re here to help you let it go” banter
(4) Elvis Costello; Miles and Sawyer
(5) Will Smith; Alex and Dr. Linus
(6) Velvet Underground; Locke with Alice in Chains “Angry Chair” teases
(7) Elvis Presley; Kate, Desmond, and Sayid
(8) Neil Young; Officer Cortez (aka Ana Lucia), Sayid, Kate, and Desmond
(9) Smashing Pumpkins; Kate and Jack
(10) The Grateful Dead; Young Jacob and Hurley
(11) The Doors, Jacob and the Candidates
(12) The Rolling Stones; Jack and Jacob
(13) Arctic Monkeys, Ben and Flocke
(14) James Brown; Ben and Widmore
(15) Blind Melon
(16) Metallica

Head over to Hidden Track to join the discussion. Remember this Sunday 5/23 is the finale!!!

Plug: LOST/Phish Lot Tees still available.

Page: Tiny Dancer

Allegedly from High Sierra Music Festival 2006, this video is guaranteed to moisten lady loins from Stillwater, OK to Makanda, IL

Phish Headlines Austin City Limits Music Festival

Phish returns to Texas for the first time since 2000. The band will headline the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival on Friday, October 8, performing one two-hour set at Zilker Park in Austin, TX. Other performers include The Eagles, Muse, The Strokes, Flaming Lips, Spoon, Vampire Weekend and Norah Jones.

Single-day tickets go onsale today, Tuesday, May 18th, at 10am Central Time. Three-day tickets are completely sold out. VIP tickets and Travel packages are still available. For complete information, please visit http://www.aclfestival.com.

Anders Osborne w/ Stanton Moore Trio

When I saw Anders Osborne with the Stanton Moore Trio at Jazz Fest I was not expecting to be rocked as hard as I was. Stanton Moore and keyboardist Robert Walter are two of the funkiest aliens on earth right now, but with Anders they turn into a ROCK AND ROLL band. Off stage Anders Osborne looks like he just walked to the club from a homeless shelter, but on stage he is a rock star. Check out the video from the San Francisco show last week:



Be sure to check out Anders Osborne live when he comes to your town. Tour dates and album info at JamBase.

Coventry's Weekly Round Up: Background Beats Mix 4, Phish on Fallon, LOST, Llama, Giorgio, and Quantic

In case you missed last week, here are some of the highlights...

Phish play Loving Cup on Jimmy Fallon
MIX: Background Beats Vol. 4
Whatever Happened to N.W.A.'s Posse?
LOST: Across The Sea
Late Night Funk with Giorgio Moroder
Llama 3-24-92
Quantic and his Combo Barbero

SQUIDBILLIES: The Need For Weed

Hilarious video featuring Widespread Panic, a Bonnaroo mention, and a marijuana grow house. Watch here.

10 Badass College Marching Bands

Came across a cool post which picked the Top 10 Badass College Marching Bands in terms of their "badass" factor.

Here's Morehouse's "House of Funk"...


Thanks to Kaitlyn for the hat tip.

Hangout Festival iClips Broadcast Schedule

All times CDT. Looking forward to checking out Trey on Sunday night. - www.iclips.net

BROADCAST SCHEDULE

FRIDAY

3:30 - North Mississippi Allstars Duo
4:45 - Davy Knowles & Back Door Slam
5:45 - Jeff Austin & Friends
6:45 - Pnuma Trio

SATURDAY
3:30 - Funky Meters
4:45 - Ozomatli
6:00 - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
7:00 - Rodrigo Y Gabriela
8:15 - Gov't Mule

SUNDAY

3:00 - Blind Boys of Alabama
4:00 - Keller Williams
5:00 - Matisyahu
6:00 - Ben Harper & Relentless 7
7:15 - Guster
8:45 - Trey Anatasio & TAB

What A Beautiful Buzz

MIX: Background Beats Vol. 4

This week, I'm serving up 17 more artists that feature our continuing theme of the deepest, laid back grooves weaving between Jazz, Funk, Hip-Hop, and Chillout. Here is Background Beats 4.

TRACK-LIST:
track. song - artist

01. Beginning Of The Middle - Tom Middleton
02. Hanjin - Noel Zancanella
03. Creamland - Jens Buchert
04. Risin' - Josh One
05. The Noose - Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra
06. Equinox - Shapeshifter
07. Polaroid Girl - Massive Attack
08. Don't Explain - Modaji
09. I'm Out Of Here - Alex Cortiz
10. Schooled In The Trade - People Under The Stairs
11. Bingelsession - Visitors From Venus
12. The Projects - Brother Of Soul
13. Solar Waves - Joe Mc Duphrey
14. Almost There - Hideo Kobayashi
15. Bugges Room - Meanderthals
16. Life and How to Do It - All India
17. Reflections - Samon Kawamura

DOWNLOAD

Have you listened to VOLUMES 1 - 3?
(click below to download)

VOLUME 1

VOLUME 2











VOLUME 3

Whatever Happened to N.W.A.'s Posse?

Anyone who knows anything about rap can pick out at least two guys in this photo: Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. If you're into the old school, you can probably identify four of the dozen, adding MC Ren and Eazy-E. A true N.W.A fan could pick out Arabian Prince, who is standing next to Cube.

Pretty much no one not in the photo — not even the most hard-core hip-hop heads — can ID the rest of the posse pictured, other than maybe giving a 20-year-old street name. Until now, that is.

It took a lot of work, but we've tracked down all 12 guys from the Posse record cover. Some of these guys are on Hollywood's A-list, others drive trucks, but they were all once part of the same posse.

Find out what happened to the Posse here- LA Weekly.

Phish on Jimmy Fallon Tonight!

So it looks like the boys will be playing Loving Cup for Jimmy Fallon's showcase of Exile on Main Street covers. I kinda wanted to hear Torn and Frayed, but the Phish will tear the shit out of LC.

Thanks to Team HOOD for the Festival 8 video...

LOST: Across The Sea

Tonight's episode made me think I was at a weird Phish show where they played a bunch of jams and experimented with some new songs. Some people liked it, a lot of people hated it. Here is the setlist:

Geronimo Jackson, May 11, 2010

Set I (On Island): Shipwrecked (1), Twin Killers (2), Mother (3) > Sea and Sand (4) > The Glass Bead Game (5), Light > Ghost (6), Another Brick in the Wall (7) > The Wheel (8), The End (9), Smoke (10), Eternal Flame (11)

Encore: Adam and Eve (12)

(1) Genesis; Claudia
(2) Deerhoof; Jacob, MIB, Claudia, and “Mother”
(3) Danzig; Mother
(4) The Who
(5) Thievery Corporation; MIB and Jacob
(6) Phish; with secret language “turn around” signal
(7) Pink Floyd
(8) Grateful Dead; with Beastie Boys “Check Your Head” teases
(9) The Doors
(10) Ben Folds Five
(11) The Bangles
(12) Ani DiFranco; Locke, Jack, and Kate

Head over to Hidden Track to join the discussion!

Plug: LOST/Phish Lot Tees still available.

Phish Get Stoned: Trey Anastasio Uncovers 'Exile on Main Street'

Read the whole Rolling Stone article by David Fricke here.

The concept about being in a band — the song I really related to is "Torn and Frayed." "The ballrooms and smelly bordellos/And dressing rooms filled with parasites": We really had a problem with that for awhile. Yet it's so beautifully stated in that song. And then "Joe's got a cough, sounds kinda rough/And the codeine to fix it" [laughs]. We had one of those — the rock doctor. Every band's got one of those.

Widespread Panic, CNN Flood Relief Interview

Late Night Funk with Giorgio Moroder

Thanks to BTreotch's buddy, Giorgio, I've been listening to his funky 70s grooves in order to stay awake during a late night work assignment.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this at least 24% as much as I did...

Llama: 3-24-92

I've never been present for Llama; it's a real shame. That was the song that first sold me on Phish. Five seconds and a record store listening station involving Picture of Nectar was my awakening.

Silverchair97 just released this sick Llama, along with the entire March 24, 1992 show at The Flood Zone in Richmond, Virginia. I've been jamming the show via huge stereo. Eliza!?

Quantic and his Combo Barbero

Wow, thanks to my buddy Homer who turned me onto this chill Latin funk act called Quantic and his Combo Barbero. Check out Canoa Rancha live from Paris...

Coventry's Weekly Round Up: LOST, Background Beats #4, PS 22, and Phishy ACL Rumor

In case you missed last week because you were super busy with work, or if you just got out of the joint, or woke up from a coma, or returned from planting banana trees in the Costa Rican rain forest...

Phishy Rumor: 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival
MIX: Background Beats Vol. 3
Crazy Russian Guy
LOST : The Candidate
PS22 Chorus "THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (NAIVE MELODY)"
Jam Crusie 9 Line Up
New Orleans Jazz Fest Recap
Herbie Hancock: Thrust

Happy Mother's Day from Coventry Music and Mr. T

Emancipator Interview + Videos

My favorite electronic artist/producer is Doug Appling who calls himself Emancipator. There is a great interview discussing Emancipator's background and music you can read here.

Emancipator has two albums out, both of which are amazing. His first album, Soon It Will Be Cold Enough To Build Fires, would definitely be in my list of albums to take with me if I was LOST on an island as it never gets old. Check out two videos using Emancipator's music:

Emancipator from Mike Abb on Vimeo.

I am very much looking forward to seeing Emancipator open for Pretty Lights this summer at Red Rocks. I am also hearing rumors he will be performing at Hornings Hideout one night after the String Cheese Incident.

MIX: Background Beats Vol. 3

Background Beats is back with Volume 3 of deep grooves, blending the finest elements of Jazz, Funk, Hip-Hop, and Chillout beats. Three volumes in, featuring 40 DIFFERENT artists, and not a single artist has been repeated. Don't be afraid of the unknown - try something new!

TRACK-LIST:
track. song / artist

01. Lazy Moon - Groove Armada
02. Forty Winks - The Herbaliser Band
03. Gangmaker - Momma Gravy
04. Broken Ambers - Gil T
05. Fire Diamond - Ostraka
06. Here Is Love - Ralph Myerz and The Jack Herre
07. Plain Song - Sidewinder
08. The Beatiful Lure - Up, Bustle And Out
09. Gwai Lao Homecoming - Spunkshine
10. Final Home - DJ Krush
11. After dawn - Weathertunes
12. Woke Up This Morning - The Brothas And Sistas
13. Closer to You - Jimpster
14. The Best Part Of Waking Up... - Destruments

DOWNLOAD

Need Background Beats Volume 1 & 2?
(click on the pictures below to download)

Still need more? Be sure to check out the Pandora station: Background Beats - 24 hours of non-stop electronic chillout beats.

Crazy Russian Guy

GOLD! We gotta get this friggin' guy to sit in with Phish for Scent of a Mule.

My Morning Jacket- One Big Holiday 4/28/2010

incredible audio and video from Charleston SC last week...

LOST: The Candidate

We are back this week with another LOST setlist! Only 1 normal episode left before the 2 1/2 hour finale.

Geronimo Jackson, May 4, 2010
Set I (Off Island): Spine of a Dog (1), Sea of Teeth (2), Let It Go (3), The Musical Box (4), If I Could (5)

Set II (On Island): Rusty Cage (6) > Trust Me (7) > Airplane (8) > Yellow Submarine (9) > Shot In The Arm (10) Timebomb (11) > Hit On The Head (12) Bathtub Jin (13) > Drowned (14)

Encore: Finish What Ya Started (15)

(1) moe.; Locke with Love and Marriage tease
(2) Sparklehorse; Bernard and Jack
(3) Tim McGraw; Helen Norwood and Jack
(4) Genesis; Claire and Jack with Catch a Falling Star teases
(5) Phish; Jack and Locke
(6) Soundgarden
(7) Elton John; Jack and Flocke
(8) Widespread Panic
(9) The Beatles
(10) Wilco; Kate
(11) Beck; Jack, Sawyer and Sayid
(12) Gomez; Sawyer
(13) Phish
(14) The Who; Jin and Sun
(15) Van Halen; Flocke

Head over to Hidden Track to join the discussion...sad episode this week.

Plug: LOST/Phish Lot Tees still available. This week put a new spin on "Bathtub Jin" for me.

PS22 Chorus "THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (NAIVE MELODY)" The Talking Heads

this is incredible...i got chills and nearly a tear this is so beautiful. Thanks to Jarred for passing on the link...

Jam Cruise 9 Lineup Announced

You are probably aware the Jam Cruise lineup was announced yesterday. I am already pre-booked and you can read about my amazing adventures last year here.

The Jam Cruise 9 Lineup:

Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman, & Jay Lane are Scaring the Children * Rhythm Devils feat. Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart * Robert Randolph & The Family Band * Galactic * The Greyboy Allstars * God Street Wine * Stockholm Syndrome * Lotus * JoJo’s Mardi Gras Band *ALO * Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk * Easy Star All-Stars * Lettuce * Garage A Trois * The New Mastersounds * Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars * Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears * Anders Osborne Feat. sets with Stanton Moore & Robert Walter and with George Porter, Jr & Johnny Vidacovich * Big Sam’s Funky Nation * Cornmeal * Some Cat From Japan feat. Ron Johnson, Will Bernard, Scott Metzger, Eric Bolivar & Nigel Hall performing a tribute to Jimi Hendrix * Greensky Bluegrass * Big Gigantic * Zach Deputy * Pimps Of Joytime * Maceo Parker Super Jam

Special Guests: Leo Nocentelli * Fred Wesley * Col. Bruce Hampton * Jennifer Hartswick * Big Chief Monk Boudreaux

The Grateful Dead thing will be cool...but i could care more about:

Robert Randolph & The Family Band- Awesome

Galactic- Always on the boat, awesome

The Greyboy Allstars- Karl D always brings it

God Street Wine- they just got back together, my phishy friends at hidden track on the east coast love these guys- im gonna get to know their music the next 6 months

Lotus- oh HELL YEAH! One of the best performances from last year.

JoJo's Mardi Gras Band- its fun. more NOLA

ALO- Perfect band for afternoon pool deck

Easy Star All-Stars- PUMPED for this. Radiohead, Beatles, Pink floyd covers...yes.

Lettuce- This is epic funk going down.

Garage A Trois- Saw them at Jazz Fest Late night- one of the best shows ive seen in 2010

The New Mastersounds -Out of all the funk, probably my favorite funk band

Anders Osborne Feat. sets with Stanton Moore & Robert Walter and with George Porter, Jr & Johnny Vidacovich -I saw Anders Osborne at Jazz Fest, this guy is ROCK AND ROLL. fucking killed it. I loved it. not funk, this is really really good garage rock.

Cornmeal -OH HELL YEAH

Some Cat From Japan feat. Ron Johnson, Will Bernard, Scott Metzger, Eric Bolivar & Nigel Hall performing a tribute to Jimi Hendrix -Saw this show late night at Jazz Fest. It was incredible. ON POINT takes on Hendrix Covers.

Big Gigantic -These guys are on fire right now. Great for the untz wooommmp lovers.

Zach Deputy -THE KING of Jam Cruise 8!

Keep in mind, all of these artists will be jamming together in the Jam Room and sitting in on each other's sets.

If you are wavering on going, or if you have any questions about it, email me- havinagoodtime44@gmail.com. Or, if you think you are going to book a cabin for the first time and want to use me as a referral, please do so!

Its impossible to see all the music on the boat, so even if you are into 50% of the bands on the cruise you will have an amazing time. There is magic on the boat and I have met some of the best people on the planet because of Jam Cruise. Its hard to put into words or on a lineup. If you like to party late, wear costumes, and are a music junkie, you MUST make it on Jam Cruise!

New Orleans Jazz Fest Recap

Last Wednesday morning I got on a plane at 1am and flew to New Orleans for a long weekend at Jazz Fest. I had a fantastic time.
When I arrived at Blake's house in Metairie at 8am last Wednesday morning, it was a hilarious scene. Two couches, two friends passed out on them. A third friend was sitting in a chair in a drunken spun out daze. I got out my sleeping pad and went back to sleep. I had already practically stayed up all night on the flight and the tone was set for the next few days.

Friends trickled into New Orleans on Wednesday and by that night we had a solid group of 10, most all of us had met at some point on a previous Jam Cruise and became fast friends.

First up on our musical journey was the Megalomaniac's Ball at the Howlin' Wolf. Marco Benevneto Trio started at 10 PM, Dead Kenny G’s (Mike Dillon and Skerik) at 11 PM, the Stanton Moore Trio was at 12:15 AM, and Garage A Trois finished the evening 1:15 - 3:30 AM.

Anders Osborne played with the Stanton Moore Trio and rocked my face off. Anders came out looking like a thiner santa claus with his white hair and huge beard. Anders' performance was one of my highlights of Jazz Fest and I was caught off guard by how hard it rocked.

Garage a Trois did not disappoint, mixing Mike Dillion and Skerik's weirdness with some inspired playing by Stanton and Marco. They didnt wear jumpsuits, but certainly did some weird performance stuff including getting the crowd to stretch and do goofy yoga poses along with them at some point in the night.

Somewhere along the way at the Howlin' Wolf we acquired a hanger-on to our party. We all thought each other knew the guy and were being too nice to him since we thought he was someone's friend. This hanger-on was way too loud and couldnt stop slurring bad jokes and talking about "mawl". After the music was over, B_Psyde and I headed home at about 5am while the rest of the crew decided to go to a dive bar called Snake & Jake's.

There was a commotion back at the house when the crew finally made their way home after sunrise. Everyone was in rare form getting out of cabs at 8am. Our buddy Coteff somehow got left at Snake & Jake's when the crew rushed to get into a cab and lose the hanger-on.

A few quick hours of sleep we headed to the daytime Jazz Festival on Thursday afternoon. Coteff still had not made it home from the night before but our phone calls went unanswered. We were worried about him but as a Jam Cruise and Jazz Fest vet we figured he had it under control.

At the festival we caught bits of Dr. Claw, Gov't Mule, and sampled the food. As you know the food at Jazz Fest is incredible. I sampled a soft shell crab poboy and some spicy shrimp tacos. Both were amazing.

I met up with the Wookie, Tregan and Fink and we secured a spot about 30 yards back from the stage, School's side. Widespread Panic played a great festival set. I thought the first 6 or so songs was straight fire. The second half of the Panic set had a horn section which I thought was on point. I found many of the songs to be especially lyrically relevant to my weekend (Up All Night, Goodpeople, Dark Bar, You Should Be Glad, Ain't Life Grand). The setlist:

Widespread Panic 04/29/10
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Fair Grounds Race Course, New Orleans, LA

1 set: Love Tractor, Pigeons, Space Wrangler, Walkin' (For Your Love) > Blight, Thought Sausage, Imitation Leather Shoes > Jam > Proving Ground, Down*, Walk On The Flood > North, Up All Night** > Tall Boy**, Goodpeople** > Dark Bar** > Goodpeople**, On Your Way Down** > Bust It Big**, Ophelia** > You Should Be Glad**, This Part Of Town, Ain't Life Grand*
* with John Keane on pedal steel
** with The MegaBlasters on horns

When we got back to the house to hit the reset button for the night shows we found out Coteff had been sitting in jail since about 7am that morning. He was picked up outside of Snake & Jake's for public intoxication. We never found out exactly what he did to get put in the drunk tank but it somehow involved dry humping a stop sign. The hanger-on also got thrown in jail. We scrambled to find one of us sober enough to go bail our friend out of jail, which was quite a challenge. B_Psyde came through for us and took one for the team- B drove to the jail and missed part of the Galactic show he had bought a ticket for.

Even with the setback of having a man down, our spirits were high and we continued the party. Lauren Sparkles finally arrived bringing fresh excitement and a suitcase full of sequin dresses. Rhonda, Leslie and I headed back to the Quarter to check out the Fantastic Hullabaloo poster show and the Dirty Dozen Brass band. Sadly there was not a crowd at the Hullabaloo.

At 2am we got the complete crew back together for Big Gigantic w/Murph (STS9) and DJ Rusko at Republic. The Big Gigantic set was amazing for my tastes and I had a great time. Here is a short video:



The time at the Republic after about 4am is a blur of heavy bass wooommppp and dancing. We left Republic at 6:30am and headed back to Snake & Jake's, but no one got arrested the second time. After a few car bombs for breakfast it was back to the house for some more hanging out and eventually some sleep.

Friday we took the day off from the daytime festival and had a crawfish broil instead. It was very nice to catch up on some down time and participate in a New Orleans tradition.


Friday night B_Psyde and I headed out to The Howlin' Wolf to catch Col. Bruce Hampton. Col. Bruce's band was impressive- they had 4 guitars on stage and three percussionists but managed to give each other space. Beautiful melodic guitar playing. Next at the Howlin' Wolf was Teresa Anderson with George Porter and Stanton Moore. Teresa has the voice of an angel and ripped it up on the fiddle.

The rest of the crew met up at the Dragon's Den at about 12am to check out Gravity A, an up and coming electronica local-ish 4 piece. The music had not yet started at the Dragon's Den and I took a stroll down Frenchmen St. Frenchmen is the local's version of Bourbon St. and it did not disappoint. There was a brass band in the street and street performers on every block. A few cars tried to make their way down the street without success. Frenchmen was not blocked off but there was a crowd in the street like it was shakedown after a Phish show, except people were better dressed. Hell, it was a festival block party. In case you didnt know, the bars never close in New Orleans and you can walk anywhere with alcohol, making the scene I saw on Frenchmen possible. There even was a tank somewhere as I saw people walking around with balloons.

We enjoyed Gravity A for a couple of hours then headed over to Tipitina's French Quarter for Some Cat From Japan: Music Inspired by Jimi Hendrix featuring Will Bernard, Nigel Hall, Scott Metzger, Ron Johnson and Eric Bolivar at 2am. The Touch Of Class Jam Cruise crew got a shout out from Nigel as we walked in. I can't wait to hear this band again on Jam Cruise - the Jimi Hendrix covers were on point and included just the right amount of jamming from the band to keep it interesting.

After Big Cat From Japan we still weren't done and neither was Gravity A, so we walked back over to the Dragon's Den for more dancing and hanging out on the balcony. As you can tell we love to see the sunrise and conversations with fellow club goers at 4-6am in New Orleans can only be rivaled by sunrise conversations of Las Vegas. Shennanigans.

The marathon continued on Saturday afternoon as I tried in vain to rally the crew to go to the daytime festival. This time only Andrew, JD and I made it to the festival grounds from the house. The Saturday crowd at Jazz Fest had to be twice as big as it was on Thursday. Galactic played as I tried in vain to navigate the crowd to find the Wookie, Tregan and Fink. I also couldn't find Leslie and Rhonda. Text messages stopped working in the enormous crowd for Pearl Jam.

As kind of a cheerleading move for myself to keep going I donned the WAKE UP AND RAGE/FUCK YEAH! yellow shirt. It was easy for me to be spotted - the positive comment count: 27. Pics: 10 Fuck Yeah!'s: 15. One black gentleman asked "rage about what?" and his wife answered "honey, it means he just likes to party." I rocked out at the back of the crowd for the first half of Pearl Jam. PJ knows how to work a big crowd and I especially enjoyed Given To Fly, Even Flow, Nothingman and Daughter.



Saturday afternoon I followed the advice of Jazz Fest vet Andrew who guided me to secret porta potties without a line and I ate the best food of the weekend - the Cochon de Lait Poboy (pictured above). the We caught the tail end of Jeff Beck's set and I was impressed by his version of the Beatles' A Day in the Life.

Next was The Greyboy All-Stars on The Creole Queen Riverboat. By this time I was pretty tired but I had to keep going- my flight left at 6am the next morning. Greyboy played a pretty standard set on the boat and I got to enjoy a sick version of Nautilus with Tregan. It was fun to be on a boat again with the Touch of Class Crew and felt for a *second* like it was Jam Cruise. After the Greyboy Riverboat show we headed to Felipe's for some late night mexican food.

@B_Psyde, Lauren Sparkles and I pushed on to dance at Dr. Claw - Eric Krasno, Adam Deitch, Nick Daniels, Ian Neville and Nigel Hall. The club got me sweaty and I danced with a pair of girls from Dallas. at 4:20am I caught a cab from the French Quarter to the airport. My flight left on time at 6am.



In summary, an amazing time for a music junkie. New Orleans is fun but really its the people that make a trip like this special. I got to sample many of the artists booked on next year's Jam Cruise and it has me pumped for the trip.