MOG - tipiboy's Posts

Mickey Harts Amazing band!

tipiboy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:44:06 GMT

From Jambase.com

http://www.jambase.com/Articles/14359/Mickey-Hart-Band-Tour

========================================================

Grateful Dead drummer and percussionist Mickey Hart will launch a 20 city tour this summer including appearances at many of the nation’s premiere music festivals. The outing comes on the heels of the Shout! Factory releases of The Mickey Hart Collection and the Rhythm Devils Concert Experience DVDs due this summer. The Mickey Hart Band will feature Steve Kimock on guitar, George Porter Jr on bass, Jen Durkin on vocals, Walfredo Reyes Jr. on drums

http://mickeyhart.net/home/

Little Feats new CD Hot off the presses!

tipiboy — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:22:36 GMT

Little Feat releases their long awaited collaboration Album!

Track Listings 1. Fat Man in the Bathtub 2. Something in the Water - Bob Seger 3. Oh Atlanta 4. Sailin' Shoes - Emmylou Harris 5. Time Loves a Hero - Jimmy Buffett 6. Dixie Chicken - Vince Gill 7. Willin' - Brooks & Dunn 8. Champion of the World - Jimmy Buffett 9. This Land Is Your Land 10. Trouble - Inara George 11. Don't Ya Just Know It - Little Feat 12. Spanish Moon - Vince Gill 13. Weight - Béla Fleck 14. See You Later Alligator - Little Feat
Editorial Reviews
Product Description Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffett, Vince Gill, Bob Seger, Brooks & Dunn, Emmylou Harris and Chris Robinson (from the Black Crowes) guest star with Little Feat on the new album Join the Band. Join the Band is, in many ways, a summing up of all that s preceded it. Bill Payne has said it was about locating their influences. In some ways, it documents the way Little Feat influenced the musicians who have listened to them. And it certainly documents a musical career.

Grace Potter & Warren @ The Jammy's!

tipiboy — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:08:05 GMT

Hey now ... Charlie already gave you the winner list. Here instead is Grace Potter & Warren Haynes doing Find The Cost of Freedeom into Gold Dust Woman!

There is a bit of a buzz ... But all in all a nice video.
From Scott @ Hidden Track
Co-Hosts Warren Haynes and Grace Potter opened the show backed by a ridiculously tight supergroup, which included Joe Russo, Booker T. and Will Lee. They fired up intense versions of Find The Coast of Freedom and Gold Dust Woman, as well as a funky Take Me To The River. Many of the impromptu bands that were put together tonight were pretty good, but this band could be absolutely dangerous playing a full show. More please.

Jorma and Little Feat do Dixie

tipiboy — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:52:49 GMT

Jorma Discovers "Dixie Chicken"

Whether is was a celebration of the end of a successful, but too brief, co-headline mini-tour, or an effort to help heal a city that just lost a seventh game by 37 points to the most storied franchise in the history of the NBA, last night at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse Jorma Kaukonen joined Little Feat for a unusual hybrid version of "Dixie Chicken." This was the first musical cross-pollination moment of this tour.
Just after percussionist Sam Clayton lent his warm growl to a deep-grooved "Spanish Moon," Paul Barrere introduced Kaukonen to the delight of the Atlanta crowd (no southern city supports Hot Tuna more). However, Kaukonen was quickly shuttled off the stage after the first two verses as Kenny Gradney stepped up for a funky solo, butressed by drummer Richie Hayward and Clayton. When the trio was done, Gradney left the stage and Jorma Kaukonen and Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne (who originally formed the band with Lowell George in 1969 upon the suggestion of Frank Zappa) reemerged to perform with Hayward and Clayton and shower the riveted crowd with quartet-style rock improvisation. Kaukonen faced Payne and the two exchanged licks in exceedingly delicious fashion. The band then gradually moved the music back toward "Dixie Chicken," briefly referencing Bob Marley's "Lively Up Yourself" before Barrere launched into the final verse.
As Kaukonen explains in his tour journal, "Paul asked me if I would sit for a bit on 'Dixie Chicken.' I went to Myron, my pundit in these matters and lo, he had it on his iPod. I studied it so I wouldn't be totally unfamiliar with the song. It's a great tune, and a tricky one, I must say. When the time came to jam, Bill the keyboard player (and a great one he is) said, 'We'll go to A minor... I'll cover you.' Cover me he did and when the band came back on they were so tight they really made it easy for me to fit in. I love this job!"
These bands should be hailed for continuing to eschew the "Nostalgia Act" temptation to regurgitate an unrotating setlist limited to hit songs from the many groups with which they have been associated with over the years (which with this bill would include Frank Zappa, Jimmy Buffett, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Bob Seger and a litany of others) and instead they each chose to offer a more compelling setlist. Tuna's opening set included deep-in-the-catalog gems like "Ode To Billy Dean," "Sea Child" and "Living Just For You." They also brought forth classics like "Genesis" and "Bowlegged Woman" and offered slightly reworked takes on "I Know You Rider" and "Come Back Baby." Little Feat's set opened with "Marginal Creatures" from their 2000 release Chinese Work Songs followed by Payne's "Cadillac Hotel" from 1995's Ain't Had Enough Fun and would later include a powerful cover of John Hiatt's "Feels Like Rain" (made popular by Buddy Guy) featuring the powerful lead vocals of Shaun Murphy (a former member of Bob Seger's Magic Bullet Band who has also recorded with Eric Clapton). The night ended as it should, with a Little Feat encore saluting the greatest musical city in the southeast with, "Oh, Atlanta."

These two enduring bands will rejoin for one performance at The Paramount Theater in Boulder May 10th. In the meantime, you can catch Hot Tuna at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa tomorrow night and at the legendary Boulder Fox Theater Thursday. Little Feat will play Tuesday at the Neighborhood Theater in Charlotte's NoDa district, and then will join Creedence Clearwater Revisited Wednesday for a bash at the Innsbrook Pavillion just north of Richmond. Report by Rob Turner
From Jambands.com

Gov't Mule show in Nawlins last night!

tipiboy — Sat, 03 May 2008 21:35:25 GMT

Absolutely off the charts! The setlist tells you everything I could ...
Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, LA 5/02/08

Set 1
Smokestack Lightning with John Butler Wandering Child Dear Prudence* with Jake Cinninger That's What Love Will Make You Do with Henry Butler and Roosevelt Collier Perfect Shelter Spanish Moon with Dirty Dozen Brass Band and DJ Logic Death Don't Have No Mercy with Dirty Dozen Brass Band and DJ Logic Brighter Days Child Of The Earth Grinnin' In Your Face with Ruthie Foster A Million Miles From Yesterday with Ruthie Foster
Set 2 Nutbush City Limits* with Grace Potter and Scott Tournet Whole Lotta Love* with Grace Potter, Scott Tournet and Rich Vogel Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City* with Wolfman Walter Washington Streamline Woman Brand New Angel Loser-> with Mike Gordon and Steve Molitz Terrapin Station Jam-> with Mike Gordon and Steve Molitz Loser with Mike Gordon and Steve Molitz I'm A Ram Unblow Your Horn/Reblow Your Mind with Cyril Neville Gilded Splinters* with Papa Mali, Ian Neville and Cyril Neville Fortune Teller* with Cyril Neville and Papa Mali Larger Than Life Sco-Mule with Tim Greene
Encore Mule with Tim Greene
*first time played
Highlights for me were the two Grace Potter Scott Tournet offerings ... "is she really crawling on the Stage?" I was asked ... Couldn't pass out enough Grace Potter And The Nocturnals bidness cards.
And Papa MF Mali! Him & Cyril just destroyed the joint!
You Know the Mule will offer this show up on DVD! There were Cameramen everywhere! Snatch it up you won't be dissapointed!

Latest from Grace Potter And The Nocturnals @ Sun Studios!

tipiboy — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:17:15 GMT

Hey now, here's the latest from the Sun Studio sessions. Both songs so far are particularly well suited for Sun ... With Lots of Scott on harmonica!

http://www.thisissomewhere.com/

GPN To open for Phil & Friends @ The Greek!

tipiboy — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:43:21 GMT

Phil Lesh & Friends play the Greek Theater in Griffith Park May 11 with Grace Potter & the Nocturnals!

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals And Gov't Mule to revive their recent successful Tour!

tipiboy — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:23:28 GMT

Not a new track for the MOG ... But appropriate!

NEW ORLEANS GOV'T MULE SHOWS

Gov't Mule's shows at The Contemporary Arts Center on May 2nd and 3rd will be a celebration the 5th Anniversary of The Deepest End concert. The band will be joined by many special guests, who like at the original concert, will not be announced before they hit the stage. We are also pleased to announce that the two shows in New Orleans will be opened up by Grace Potter and The Nocturnals. In addition to these two shows they will also be opening the shows on 4.27 (Dallas, TX), 4.29 (Tulsa, OK), 4.30 (Little Rock, AR) and 5.01 (Houston, TX).

Sun Studio Sessions is up w/Grace Potter And The Nocturnals!

tipiboy — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:16:21 GMT

MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2008
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals Kick Off Sun Studio Sessions Sun Studio is happy to announce some exciting news. To carry on the great musical legacy created here at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee we are launching a new web video program called "Sun Studio Sessions" featuring today's rising stars performing in the very room where Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Howlin' Wolf and many other greats recorded their very first hits.
Sun Studio is proud to have the amazing Grace Potter and the Nocturnals as our very first Sun Studio Sessions artists. This critically acclaimed band from Vermont who has been touring in support of their latest release This Is Somewhere tracked seven songs over the course of a very fun night for us (and as you'll see from the videos for them too!), all of which we'll share with you over the next several weeks.
We have some terrific aritsts lined up and beginning next Monday, April 7, 2008 we will publish a new Sun Studio Sessions "webisode" every Monday, Wednesday and Friday right here on our blog. Come back to see those clips and bring your friends!!
Meanwhile, you can view a preview webisode below with Grace and friends ripping through a raucous version of "Mystery Train."

Meanwhile ... Back in Potterville ....

tipiboy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:21:40 GMT

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Watching You from Real Kired on Vimeo.

The many faces of Grace Potter And The Nocturnals ... The audio is Grace solo on a 9ft Steinway The Allen Room Lincoln Center

The Video From kired on Vimeo
Full Band Bringin' it! Soft and Sultry meets Rawk And Roll!

http://www.thisissomewhere.com/

Cubes are out for The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival!

tipiboy — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:36:24 GMT

Plan your daze!

http://www.nojazzfest.com/

It's a dandy!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

This Is Somewhere Episode 4

tipiboy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:17:29 GMT

Grace Potter And The Nocturnals Tour blog This is Somewhere ... After their recent CD of the same name.

From the worlds best Fansite
http://www.thisissomewhere.com/

1000 Dudes Just Fell in Love

tipiboy — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:38:16 GMT

From The Worlds best Fansite http://thisissomewhere.com

Grace potter & the nocturnals , originally uploaded by jaredswafford.
1000 Dude’s Just Fell In Love
Grace is the only person at this festival besides Michael Stipe who just begs you to watch their every movement while they’re on stage. In her stunning red and white dress and red boots, Grace began by pounding out “Getting in Tune” on her organ with as much force as The Who used to.
Grace worked the crowd into a frenzy, trading licks on her flying V with Nocturnals guitarist Scott Tournet. Whether melting faces with her guitar or breaking hearts with her keys, Grace had the crowd pining for her.

Good Times Bad Times Langerado had its share

tipiboy — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:21:54 GMT

From Lovethemusic.com http://www.lovethemusicreviews.com/2008/03/10/langerado-2008-went-saw-returned-the-festival/
Langerado 2008 : Went, Saw, Returned // The Festival
It is the recovering Monday after Langerado, and I’m still in the process of working out the kinks in my muscles and uploading photos. Also, not killing my cat, who is overjoyed to see me and Wade (more me) and keeps cheerleading her way around my apartment. Noisily. Not to mention her kneading my sunburn. In case you don’t know what that’s like, let me tell you…its fucking horrible.
Langerado, as a whole, was a good experience. There were a few downers and things I didn’t like, but overall, I had an awesome time. Got to see some great bands plays, had some great neighbors camped next to me, did a good deed, and got to hang out with my boyfriend the whole time, and he is always making me laugh.
Let’s get the nasty out of the way first:
25,000 people and….ONE podable water drinking station. One that was not a well, it was a tanker that had to be refilled, and on Saturday morning was empty. Which to me, when you’re talking about the essence of life, you should never have it run dry. Also, when the dirty hippies want to shower under it, let them. You’re doing the world a favor.
Programs and maps were not given out at the station where you drive in and get your wristbands. I found one at the Official Merchandise Tent, and whenever I had mine out, I had about 20 people ask me where I got it. The map was wrong. It had ice and water marked on the map in the wrong places. Which is a little ridiculous, I think. Especially the WATER part.
Definitely not enough trash cans and recycling bins. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of them, but considering the amount of people that were there, drinking beer, water, etc, you need more if you don’t want the area in front of your stages to look like a landfill. Non-Langerado-staff-related bad stuff:
I got a freaking sunburn, because apparently when Coppertone claims to be SPF 30, what it really means is “you are spraying cold shit on your back, and it won’t do a damn thing. Enjoy skin cancer.” I got bit by fire ants. My left foot is still swollen. I’m okay with that, though. I’m from Florida, it happens. It torrentially downpoured the first night, and the second. I mean STORMS. People’s tents were flying, because I guess they thought their air mattress would keep the tent down….
The third night, Saturday, was BALLS COLD. Like, below 50 degrees. And I was in shorts. We went back to camp to change into warmer clothes, saw some of Matisyahu, and skipped REM so we could huddle in the back of my Jeep with the heat on and eat hot tomato soup. And then froze our asses off in our tent. I didn’t go to sleep until my exhausted mind figured out that my face was keeping me awake because it was so cold, so I stuck it under the covers and finally had some semblance of not-as-fucking-cold-as-outside-of-the-covers.
The “HELL YEAH FUCK YEAH” girl. We called her that, because with a the exception of about 10 other words, that is all she would say. At the top of her lungs. I’m not kidding. At 3am. Across from my tent. “Hell yeah to the fuck yeah to the hot MAMAS!” “I’m LOVING YOOO, family! Fuck yeah, I’m LOVING YOOO!” “FUCK YEAH FREE CIGARETTES!” “OWOWOWOWOOOO FUCK YEAH!” I could go on, but I don’t want to. Unfortunately, I didn’t see her after that night of keeping me up for hours with her incessant yelling. She didn’t ever talk, just scream. And either “fuck yeah” or “hell yeah” was in every sentence. And I am NOT exaggerating. I told Wade if I saw her again, I was going to punch her in the face, and as she hit the floor, scream “FUCK YEAH” in her face. But we didn’t see her. Sigh.
We had some kickass neighbours, they were from Georgia. We shared a tarp for shade and used their grill when ours wasn’t working. They were chill, and not noisy. Stayed pretty clean throughout most of the festival. I always use Bonnaroo as my reference, because that was the dirtiest I’ve ever gotten. The rain at Langerado actually helped, kept the dirt and dust down, but then, it caused some mud. The weather was nice for the most part, with the exception of the rain and the freeze on Saturday. I saw lots of people from up north, because when it was 80 degrees, they were stretched out in bathing suits napping, because they were hot. I also saw (HAHA) people crowded around a fence. Me and Wade went to investigate, and discovered that they were watching some trappers handle alligators in a little pond. And people were ‘wowing’. We just kept walking and laughing at the tourists.
They had a smoker’s lounge, sponsored by American Spirits. Way cool, had couches and free samples of cigarettes. Like, they gave you two packs of cigarettes each day you went in there. Which is cool not only because they’re free smokes, but because I actually got to try more American Spirits, a ciggie brand I really like.
I got a free tube of Raspberry Mint toothpaste from Nature’s Gate, and a free beer cozy, keychain, and bag from Crocs. Apparently Crocs are a big thing, I’d never heard of them until like 2 weeks ago when I asked someone what kind of ugly shoes they were wearing. Free stuff FTW.
I picked up a pretty mousepad with a design by Katzinn on it for only ten bucks. There were two veggie places to eat at, which was way cool (to me, anyway, because I’m vegan). The staff was friendly on all the grounds, so were the cops that I talked to. Apparently the cops were busting a lot more people than expected. Generally at festies its common knowledge that, drugs are everywhere. A couple of busts is expected, but there seemed to be a lot more than a couple at this one. The first night we were there, we were watching Les Claypool and my boyfriend helped drag a guy who had passed out out of the crowd and bring them to the medics.
Also, I’d like to point out that I’m a decent person. Sort of. At a veggie place where we got some food, the food was 7 dollars. I handed the guy a 20, and he handed me 3 ones, and a hundred for change. I gave it back to him, even though I had ample opportunity to walk out with it. I went back, gave him his hundred dollar bill (sigh), and got ten dollars in return. Being nice sucks.
Concert reviews, pictures, mp3s forthcoming…..

Do You Have What It Takes? Join the Posse ... Join The Band!

tipiboy — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:47:51 GMT

From The Amazing Fansite
http://www.thisissomewhere.com/
Do you have what it takes?
by k. cortez
The Official Grace Potter Street Team is always looking for new members. Click the link to Join the Potterville Posse Street Team. With great privilege comes great responsibility. One day you may be called to perform an act so difficult, so challenging that it will shake you to the very core. That challenge comes at about the 1 minute mark of this video for a member of the Posse.

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - Drums! from Hop on Vimeo.

Harp Magazine Review Of Grace potter and The Nocturnals in Ashville

tipiboy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:41:12 GMT

Reviews

Concert Reviews Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Live in Asheville Orange Peel Asheville , NC USA
March 6, 2008 by Fred Mills
Grace Potter bursts into the dressing room area of the Orange Peel like a woman on fire—if she were a ‘toon, there would be a small dust storm trailing in her wake. I chalk this up partly to the fact that her band the Nocturnals has just been informed by the crew that they are due onstage in less than five minutes—Potter & Co. are currently in the middle of the 12-date, co-headlining “March Madness Tour” with the Benevento/Russo Duo, en route to a big blowout in Florida at the Langerado festival, and tonight it’s their turn to take the opening slot—but mostly because, based on observing her in concert a few times, she IS a woman on fire, an effervescent dervish hell-bent on a musical mission. Indeed, you can’t help getting swept up in that wake: with her arrival the action quotient ramps up in the room, bandmates Scott Tournet, Matt Burr and Bryan Dondero visibly energized merely by her presence.
Or maybe it’s because I’ve just passed out copies of the March issue of HARP, the one which features Potter literally draping herself in the American flag for our Election 2008 special. The male three-quarters of the Nocturnals are bound to have seen their frontwoman sans clothing at some point; there’s no way a band can tour as much as these folks do and not encounter some occasional immodesty (unintentional or otherwise). But still, there’s just something about looking at a photo of a gorgeous woman wearing nothing but white go-go boots and the Stars & Stripes…
“Oh my god, that’s awesome!” Potter hoots when I show her the magazine and point at the photo in question. Clearly, this is an insightful individual who can appreciate the tangled nuances of politics, publishing and pulchritude. Okay, Grace, I will leave you folks to get ready for your set…
… and we’re off. Potter may be a woman on fire, but tonight she intends to spark the blaze stealthily. The show opens with “Sugar,” a slow soul-blues with Potter seated at her keyboards, coaxing out sleek chords from her Hammond organ as the Nocturnals lay down a sensual groove behind her. (They’ve played this song for Asheville once before: Potter wrote it last December while they were in town for two nights of the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam, debuting it for the assembled holiday season revelers.) And it’s the perfect opener, setting the mood for the next song, the equally sensual but distinctively funky “Stop the Bus,” one of the best-known tracks from the band’s 2007 hit This Is Somewhere.
The heat gradually rising in the room, Potter then straps on one of her trademark Flying V axes and the band launches into THE signature tune from that album, “Ah Mary,” which was all over the radio last year. Even if they’ve played it probably every night since it was penned—anthemic to the core and a sure-fire adrenalin-stoker and crowd-pleaser, it may be destined to become the Nocturnals’ “Born To Run” or “American Girl”—they plow into it with the same levels of vim ‘n’ vigor a group might muster during the early stages of a favored song’s setlist tenure. It’s called hitting that sweet spot, and you can’t fake it.
By now the crowd—duly sparked—is in motion, and Potter isn’t about to squander the momentum. She and her Nocturnals have a keen sense of how to channel dynamics and in their material they also strike an impressive balance among styles. One moment they’re serving up a rootsy/seventies Muscle Shoals vibe (Potter’s Hammond figuring largely in that equation), the next a jamband-friendly psychedelic rocker (it’s no surprise that the j-b community embraced the Nocturnals early on), and the next a joyous burst of pure powerpop (“Ah Mary” isn’t necessarily a group template, but it is one of several insta-anthems that they excel at). In short, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals wanna take you higher—and they do.
Among the many highlights: “Ain’t No Time,” Springsteenian and engaging, alight with guitar jangles and Potter’s urgently intimate vocals; “Big White Gate,” a showcase for Potter-as-soul-mama in the vocal tradition of Bonnies Raitt and Bramlett and Joan Osborne; and a rousing slice of Stones-like Southern blooze-rock (title tk) spotlighting Tournet’s estimable slide skills and featuring Potter on that Flying V once again (“My flying vagina,” Potter quips).
By the time Marco Benevento (keyboards) and Joe Russo (percussion) come out onstage to guest, the atmosphere in the club is positively electric. With Potter’s natural, hip-swaying charisma and the Nocturnals’ muscular musicality having already fanned the flames, the expanded ensemble’s rousing, so-funky-it’s-stanky version of Dr. John’s “Right Place, Wrong Time” is like spraying gasoline on the fire. And for the final number, a holy-rollin’ gospel boogie rawker called “Nothing But the Water” (from the 2006 album of the same name), Grace, Scott, Matt and Bryan pull out all the stops, channeling everybody from Aretha Franklin to Humble Pie to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion to My Morning Jacket. As I glance around the room and take stock of the heaving, stomping crowd I could swear I spot several audience members spontaneously combusting.
Burn, baby, burn.
(Photo Credit: Allie Goolrick)
http://harpmagazine.com/reviews/concert_reviews/detail.cfm?article=10509

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals 3/05/08 Toad's Place, Va.

tipiboy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:42:07 GMT

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals from Hop on Vimeo.

For the Benefit for Kirk Joseph

tipiboy — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:40:13 GMT

A number of New Orleans musicians will come together to play a benefit for sousaphonist Kirk Joseph, who recently suffered a heart attack. The benefit will take place a Tipitina’s on March 28, featuring performances by Joseph’s onetime bandmates the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Anders Osborne, Papa Mali, Big Sam, Eric Lindell, June Yamagishi, 101 Runners, Trombone Shorty, Jealous Monk and the Tuba Choir. One can also imagine that a number of additional guests will also pop in throughout the night. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is currently touring Europe and will appear at Belgium’s Handelsbeurs this evening.

New Video of Grace Potter and The Nocturnals and Amity Front!

tipiboy — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:14:51 GMT

Song is Sugar from The Music Hall in Portsmouth, N.H. ... Video is Amity Front performing An impromtu party with Grace Potter and The Nocturnals at The Basement!

Johnny Vidacovich: The Foundation of a Musician

tipiboy — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:01:24 GMT

Hey now, a great article about Johnny Vidacovich on Jambands.com! Johnny V Is a legend in New Orleans ... And an icon in modern american drumming. But like so many of the great New Orleans musicians ... Fails to be well known because ... Well ... If you're a Funky drummer in New Orleans ... Why Leave? The track I included is Johnny, June Yamagishi (Papa Grows Funk), and George Porter Jr. (The Meters) doing We Came To Play. Listen while reading 8*)
http://www.jambands.com/Features/content_2008_02_24.08.phtml

Johnny Vidacovich: The Foundation of a Musician Randy Ray
2008-02-24
Johnny Vidacovich has spent time playing with a wide variety of musicians from various genres—Charlie Hunter, Professor Longhair, Stanton Moore, Willy DeVille, Mose Allison, George Porter, Jr, to name a few—but the common denominator is New Orleans. He has been a popular fixture in the Big Easy for over three decades as one of the scene’s best drummers and teachers of the craft. Indeed, as this interview will attest, the experience he brings to his kit and the Tipitina’s Sunday Workshops Series where he holds court with Moore and other visiting musicians like guitarist Luther Dickinson, carries forward into lessons about collaboration and the art of improvisation.
The legacy of Hurricane Katrina’s impact in New Orleans did not escape Vidacovich. Although his home wasn’t destroyed like so many other residences, it did suffer foundation damage and, as the renowned musician will detail, he found other problems with the house as he began repairs. On top of that bit of hard luck, last July, Vidacovich discovered that he had arthritis in his right thumb casting serious doubt on his future. To the rescue came his one-time student and esteemed colleague Stanton Moore as the Galactic leader organized a Benefit Vidacovich gig at Tipitina’s in New Orleans on January 16 which helped him begin his home repairs and get additional medical help. The gig played like a “mini-fest,” according to the drummer with a lineup which included Galactic, Robert Walter, Papa Grows Funk, the Soul Rebels and Garage A Trois.
The one-time Longhair drummer, Moore guru, Hunter co-conspirator and Porter, Jr, trio mate sits down with Jambands.com to discuss his current plight, fellow musicians, generous old friends and the nature of the music we call “collective improvisation.” Vidacovich is a compassionate, humorous and honest man who has lived through his music for a very long time and thoroughly enjoys telling his tale as long as one is willing to listen (and he has a few things to say about that subject, too).
RR: How did the Benefit Vidacovich gig at Tipitina’s on January 16 turn out?
JV: I was amazed and awed. It was a very humbling experience. It surprised me that it turned out to become what it became. Stanton Moore came over to my house as he always does and he sat at the table and says, “Let’s figure out something to help you out with your hand because of your arthritis and your house is all messed up”—the insurance companies all fell under. “Let’s try to get together some musicians and have a benefit.”
That’s the way he sat at the kitchen table and explained it to me so in my mind, I pictured getting a bunch of my friends playing and that would be that. As it turned out, Stanton Moore being the kind of guy that he is, it looked like it must have been six hours of musicians non-stop. I don’t know. I couldn’t count the musicians that played. It turned out to be a Stanton Moore mini-set with different kinds of bands and musicians—a brass band, the Soul Rebels, Garage A Trois, Robert Walter, Papa Grows Funk, the Midnight Disturbers, Galactic. It was tremendous, man. I was freaked out.
Most of the time in my life, I was part of a charity and a benefit. This is the first time in my life that I’ve ever been on the other end of it. I have to say it was quite shocking and successful. It started the repairs for my house to begin and things are coming around, slowly. Things still have to be done. It also enabled me to seek a little bit more therapeutic and things to deal with my arthritis and the problems that came up this last summer with my right hand. Now, I can take some therapeutic measures and not feel so pressed to play every single gig in order to keep the groceries on the table and try to fix the house. Now, I can fix the house with my own money. Stanton’s benefit helped out tremendous. Tip’s also helped out a tremendous amount to get the ball rolling.
To put it all…you know…(pauses)…there’s only word you can say and that is “thanks.” There is no way to describe how you feel when that many people give up something. To me, I would just go play benefits and it would be like a party, seeing friends and everybody would be happy because it’s all going to a good cause or a good person. Now, I see the whole circle. I remember being a little kid and playing once a week at charity hospitals, playing Dixieland music for sick people, once a month playing at the tuberculosis ward and once a month playing at the home for the incurables. I remember going to all of these things and playing benefits here and benefits there. Now, I’m on the receiving end and I’ve never felt that before. The only polite thing I was ever taught to say and reminded by Johnny Allen and what his mother told him: “Son, just say ‘thank you’.” There’s no words to be said. My grandmother also told me that. When someone does something nice for you, you say, “Thanks.”
I also learned about this word ‘humility’, to be humbled. I found out that this was a word that you’ve got to keep with you all of your life. It’s more like a verb. It’s something that’s taken on a whole new meaning now, the way that kind of thing feels. It’s a very beautiful, thankful and humble experience. I was quite surprised. For the first two hours, I was speechless at how many musicians and people around town came and just gave it up.
RR: What specifically happened to your house? It didn’t get destroyed by Hurricane Katrina but the flooding took a toll and a tree fell on the house, right?
JV: Yeah. It messed up the foundation with the weight of the tree. Also, the wind blew the foundation funny and sitting in water for so long contributed to the integrity of the foundation. Then, as we started to fix what I thought would just be replacing some boards, recaulking and repainting, we pulled off a couple of boards and two of the main support beams of the house were eaten away by termites and have to be replaced. Problems quickly escalated from a paint job (laughs) to an incredible amount of stuff that was underneath, including the entire insulation had all turned black and had fallen down to the bottom, in between the outer wall and inner wall. I was living with this black funk in the walls and I didn’t even know it. (laughs) So…it took years.
RR: At the same time, your thumb started to give you problems.
JV: On July 5th [2007], my thumb and the joints got arthritis and I have to deal with that. That caused tendon problems which deal with your thumb, palm, wrist and forearm. The musician’s clinic set me up with a Chinese acupuncturist and a chiropractor is seeing me on Saturday mornings. He’s donated his Saturday mornings to come in and help. I’m just trying to do all of the therapy that I can to continue to play. I need to play. I can’t just not play. I teach and I play and that’s what I do, man. I don’t want this to hold me back. Since I’ve been going to therapy for a couple of months, I’ve had some improvement. I still have some pain around the second set. I sit down at the end of the evening and I’m taking these proper fish oils and glucosamine and Omega-3 oils and different kinds of healthful things to deal with joints—old man stuff. (laughs)
RR: Let’s talk about some of these musicians that you’ve played with over the years, beginning with Stanton Moore. That relationship goes way back.
JV: Sure. I first met him when he was about 16 or 17. He started coming around my house. Tipitina’s Workshop, back in the old days, had a National Endowment for the Arts and I was part of a rhythm section on Sunday mornings and he came to that. He was very young. When he started college, I took he and Kevin O’Day and a bunch of others—Brian Blade came a little later—but he studied with me for at least four or five years. A lot. He started coming around the house and we started to become friends. In those years, he was very much like a sponge, constantly learning and he would take any information that he learned and he would figure out ways to vary it and be creative and develop. And that’s how he has developed his way. His way is based on so much good foundation that he’s learned how to take the simplest thing in the world and make it very colorful. He’s a beautiful painter and he’s a good listener. He’s a very emphatic player and a very emphatic human being. He helps everybody. [Author’s Note: this may even include so-called trivial matters. This writer was five rows back at a Galactic gig on the West Coast three years ago and gave Moore a thumbs up at show’s end as he was exiting the stage. The drummer stopped in his tracks, went back to his kit, came out front and gave this stranger a drum stick as a handy souvenir.]
When Stanton Moore gets a cymbal, stick or drum endorsement, he turns fifteen drummers on to it. He’ll tell the companies, “You’ve got to get this guy on your drums,” or “You’ve got to get this guy on your cymbals.” He’s very much into sharing and it’s a whole other side of Stanton that people don’t know. It’s all natural. It’s the way he was raised—all heart and soul. He’s beyond average.
RR: With Stanton, you helped found a Sunday Workshop Series at Tipitina’s which is free for aspiring musicians. How did that originate?
JV: Stanton Moore and my wife, Deborah collaborated on that one. They had the idea and he started, as he usually does, moving blocks. It’s my wife’s baby, now. She hires all of the guys to teach the kids on Sunday mornings and she takes all of the kids, inspires them to get up there and learn and she knows all of them by name and they all ask her for information. She’s the program director. What is very cool about her is that she doesn’t make it one thing—all rockers every Sunday or all jazzers. She exposes the kids to all kinds of music.
One of the most inspiring Sunday mornings was a workshop with Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars. He just sat and we played and we played with some of the kids and then, I asked all of the kids to sit on the stage. I said, “Luther—just tell us how you feel about music.” He said some great, great mature things about playing in a band—how much you give as opposed to take. He told the kids the dangers of indulging yourself in music and indulging yourself as a musician. The music should be what comes first, not you. This is something I knew all my life but he put it in such great terms, coming from a Mississippi, soulful, modern but strongly, firmly rooted player. He’s firmly in his roots yet ultra modern. Luther’s an extension of an old man. He doesn’t play like an old man. He’s not an old man. He doesn’t talk, act, sing, play but there’s so much foundation.
That morning when he spoke I realized how deep his foundation is and it reminds me of a lot of guys here in New Orleans because the music here in New Orleans is based upon the roots of our music. In the music around here—even in the new rock or the new funk or the new brass band music, whatever you want to call it—you will hear the indigenous elements of our region. Some people call them street beats or Zydeco, the way the funk is played more with a looser groove than it is in California or New York. (laughs) The funk here is definitely a lot more liquid, a lot more fluid—in my terms. Not taking away, I’m not saying it is better, but it is indigenous of this area. It’s folk music and cat’s here are very strongly rooted in that—at least most of the guys that many people around here think are great players; they have good roots.
[The Sunday Music Workshop Series at Tip’s] exposes the young people to more different kinds of roots other than our own which we always do because we have some local guys happening. Last week, I just went to observe and they had the drummer from Ministry, Martin Atkins and he gave a lecture on the business of music and it was brilliant. It was truthful, honest and so logical. What Deborah is doing, I thought, was going to be against the grain and it would be unfocused and scattered. But all of that chaos is actually logical. When I step back, it’s been going every Sunday since August 2006 and now, I’m looking at it and thinking, “WOW—I thought this would be chaotic crap.” I can see I’ve learned a whole lot. I’m not the drummer every week—that’s for sure. Once in a while, I’m the drummer but there’s drummers from all over the States and the world and different people passing through town. Now the guys want rappers and it’s amazing to see because some of these guys have never dealt with kids before. It’s amazing to watch them. The whole thing is a circle, man. It’s a circle, again.
RR: You touched upon something that is really interesting to me in what Luther Dickinson had said. I wanted to ask you from your own point of view how important is collaboration, collective improvisation and listening to the other musicians?
JV: How important it is to them?
RR: Not so much other musicians but you, personally, from your own background.
JV: Wow—I never thought the word ‘important’ would be one of the descriptive feelings. Huh, but I guess it is important. To me, it is, was and will be always a natural thing—the collective improvisation—because that’s the way I was taught to play. I was taught to play in a kid band by an old man and he taught us old traditional Dixieland songs that involved improvisation, collectively. And you had to hit a lot of wrong notes before you hit the right ones as a kid. I think that collective improvisation—now that you mentioned it and I want to incorporate the word ‘important’—is important because it involves, from what seems from an observer’s point of view sometimes improvisation seems very selfish, like he’s just doing virtuosity and showing off improvising but there is a part of improvisation that is even more of a percentage of importance than virtuosity. That element is the listening of what you hear—your ability to hear what everybody is doing and to either play or not play to enhance the music, to learn to let the music tell you what to do as opposed to you forcing yourself onto the music. “I’m gonna show off my shit. I’m gonna show how good I am because I can improvise here and play anything I want.” Well…that’s a very small percentage of it, my friend.
When you have more than one guy on the band stand, all of a sudden, the percent of what you want to play should be less than 50%. You should be devoting more percentage of your musical energy towards what those other people on the stage are playing. Whatever you do or don’t do—which is very important—can make the entire picture, the entire music, a beautiful painting, a beautiful song. Improvised music is important because it’s not so much about playing but it’s a very large percent about learning how to listen to multiple people at one time and fitting in. It’s a very unselfish thing even though it appears to be a very indulgent, selfish thing. It appears that improvised music allows one to do what one wants but truly, the depth—to see beyond that surface—the depth for a group of guys to collectively improvise, involves the art of listening. Of course we have to learn to play our instruments. Of course we have to strive towards virtuosity. Of course we have to learn how to play great solos and stick out but what’s more important to play in a group is that you have to be able to listen to different people. It might be the same song but you’re playing with different people. You’ll have to listen to what they are playing and the way they play it and fit. That doesn’t mean that I played “High-Heeled Sneakers” with Joe last night that I’m going to play “High-Heeled Sneakers” with Bill, tonight. Joe plays it one way and I’ve got to see how Bill does it. I can’t say, “This is how “High-Heeled Sneakers” goes. I don’t care about Joe or Bill.” You can’t do that. That’s indulgence. That’s selfish. That’s bullshit. MeMeMeMeMe and it ain’t about fucking me. Music comes first. Music comes first. It’s not about you. Too many people think they are making the music. Too many people think they’re composers and that’s all good and fine and dandy but, all in all, the music is in the air and we’re receptacles and it’s up to us to open ourselves up to let it all flow through.
That incorporates what is going on, to what the people you’re playing with feel and, of course, the audience. You want to bring them with you. They have to be part of the music. It’s not just the musicians that make the music. The musicians plus the audience makes the music. Algebra 101. x+y=music. Musicians+Audience=Music. I can sit here and play drums in my living room all I want. It’s music but it’s not really music until you come over and I can connect with you and I can feel that you’re sending back what I am saying—even though it sounds like right now, I’m doing all the talking. That’s because you asked me the question. I’m getting philosophical but it is mostly a feeling is what I am talking about. My feeling about the importance of improvisation and jam improvisation-style whether it be funk or jazz or classical jam or Indian raga jam or rather it be Bach. You can improvise on Bach; he was a great improviser.
These people were improvisers and it’s just very important to do this in order to learn how to not only express your virtuosity but what you feel in your heart and soul—and when I say virtuosity, I don’t mean just a phenomenal technician, a great technical player. I mean a musician who has the virtue to be true to the music, who knows how to play with the music, for the music, who lets the music become him, who gives himself up, who surrenders himself to the music. At the same time, while surrendering, he can play something very pretty—whether it be complicated or simple, Delta Blues or Stravinsky—and connect with the audience in order to get that circle that I just spoke about. You can play music in your living room until you’re blue in the face but you want to connect.
RR: I’m going to ask you about other musicians you’ve played with over the years. How about George Porter, Jr.?
JV: 1966, Bourbon Street. I was 17; he was 18 or 19. We worked at different clubs and we became sidemen backing up some go go dancers with guys in the band we didn’t know. We made very little money and we worked those types of gigs. We played everything from his mama’s church gigs to traveling around with John Mooney and all kind of guys playing blues gigs all over the South. We shared the same hotel room on many occasions back in the old days when times were tough, going back to the early 80s when we were younger and struggling a little harder to grow up.
RR: And you have also played in The Trio with George at the Maple Leaf Bar.
JV: Oh, yeah. My wife put all that together. She started that. She called George. (laughter) I said, “I can’t call George and say, “Do you want to come play in a little bar on the West Bank on a Wednesday night (for I don’t know exactly how much money we were going to make)?” My wife pulled that together and that turned out to be what we’ve been doing for seven years.
RR: Here’s another one—Charlie Hunter?
JV: Charlie Hunter! (laughs) He’s crazy. I love him, man. He’s funny, man. Great musician. Great musician. Totally ambidextrous. You should hear him on the drums. He can play the drums and in the middle of the beat, switch from being left-handed to right-handed and not change the beat. He can switch from left-footed to right-footed while being left-handed. He’s four way; he’s an incredible guy. As far as being on the road with him, traveling and doing gigs with him, he’s fun. He has a great, loose, relaxed attitude. His music is challenging but not scary to the point that you’re not going to have fun. It’s challenging up to having a smile on your face and having fun. He’s always smiling—at least the times I was on the road with him. We were always laughing and having fun. I learned a lot of new stuff from him. I felt like the old man in the van traveling around with those guys for a couple of months. Everybody’s way younger than me. I still see him from time to time and I’m sure we’re going to play some gigs together here and there.
RR: Here’s a great singer—Willy DeVille.
JV: Willy DeVille—wow, man, we’ve been on weird projects together. I think I did one of his records back in my foggy days. One of the first records I did with Willy DeVille, he was living at Europe at the time and he came to New Orleans to do a record at Allen Toussaint’s. Somehow or other, I got on a project and I don’t know how many tracks I was on—as a matter of fact, I don’t have the record. I might have lent it to someone. Then there was another record that was a big production and it was somebody’s songs and it was all kinds of different artist where everybody would do a different track. Another time, we were sidemen on somebody else’s record. He was a sideman vocalist and I was a sideman drummer on two tracks. That was some years back. Me and Willy was mostly all about work. We’d walk in a studio and immediately start to go to work. We talked, we shook hands, we smiled, we hugged and all of that and laughed and told short jokes but immediately, jumped back into work. He was a quicker worker and I could work with him. I can see where a lot of people might say he is too eccentric but that doesn’t bother me.
RR: And another cat that people might think is eccentric—Professor Longhair.
JV: Wow…man…man…wow…I’ve been listening to his music since I could talk. I remember dancing to his music when I was five years old. Then, I started playing with him, occasionally, in the early 70s. He would get hung up for a drummer or a drummer didn’t show and they would call. It actually wasn’t a steady gig back then but then he got a manager named Allison Minor. It was fun. We went on long tours and before his last record which was Crawfish Fiesta, that particular band was running around and Allison had him working fairly steady. We were traveling and playing around town. The money was very, very mediocre but at least Fess was back on the scene. He wasn’t stuck in his house, walking around with a cane and everybody forgot about Professor Longhair. All of a sudden, he was back on the scene. We liked each other. Around 1976, 1977, I started playing with him on a more regular basis because the drummer he had with him at the time was a Canadian and he had to go back to Canada. They said, “Johnny, come play,” and I said, “Sure,” but I didn’t want to take the gig at first because I knew it was kind of iffy, it was an iffy kind of situation. I took the gig for many reasons—I loved the bass player and I even loved the second bass player. I loved all the guys in the band and, of course, I loved Professor Longhair and grew up with all of his music so I took the gig.
Traveled a lot. In those days, we traveled in a funky Dodge camper. One of my first steady trips as the regular drummer we started out from New Orleans, all the way up to Baltimore, up into Canada to Ontario and Toronto and some other cities in Canada and came down to the East Coast and at that time, we hit one of the first punk clubs I ever heard of or seen in my life in New York City. It was called the Mudd Club and this was in 1977 or 1978. [Author’s Note: Bringing it all back home—Tipitina’s in New Orleans opened in 1977 and was named after the famous song written by Professor Longhair.]
So during these trips, we had long travels. Fess was a tap dancer so that meant he was a good drummer. We’d be sitting in the van driving for long hours and he’d say, “How do you like this one, Jorowsky?” He used to call me ‘Jorowsky’. He never called me Vidacovich or Johnny; he just called me Jorowsky. He just made that up. He was always making up words. Even in a newspaper review, he called me Johnny Jorowsky. (laughter) I loved it. We just went with it, too. We corrected him once and he turned right around and re-read the article and when he came to the part of the article with “Johnny Vidacovich, the drummer,” he said, “Johnny Jorowsky,” again instead of Vidacovich. He read the article perfectly out loud but every time he came to my name, it was Jorowsky.
Here’s the hip thing. We were sitting in this funky Dodge—stinky camper with eight stinky guys overpacked with equipment for six weeks, traveling all the way up the East Coast and he’d tap on my leg and say, “How do you like this rhythm?” [Vidacovich raps out a vocal rhythm of the drum passage.] He’d tap this stuff out on my legs and say, “How do you like that? Huh? Huh? ” I said, “That’s cool,” and I’d tap something out, too. We had a lot of fun.
RR: Johnny, you sound like you have an amazingly positive attitude about your current situation. You’re just going to keep on playing. You have a great crew and support system and you are just going to see what happens. Is that fair to say?
JV: Absolutely. Absolutely. I’ve been very sad for a long time…until…especially when the arthritis hit on July the 5th. I freaked out, man. I said, “Oh, man, this is the end of it. God damn, I wanted to play another ten years.” And so, I sound as if I have a good attitude…and yeah, I do have a good attitude. I have a lot of great people around me. You are right on both accounts.
I can’t believe how many beautiful people that I forgot about, especially students that I taught 30 years ago that write me letters and ask how can they help and send me checks for $25—everything from $25 to $200 to $1,000. “Wow—I remember teaching this guy 25 years ago—what’s he doing living in Cleveland, Ohio? This guy Mike—I remember teaching him 20 years ago. He’s been doing big Broadway shows for 15 years now.” I do feel very positive regardless of my physical situation and the condition of the house. I see improvement everywhere. I didn’t really realize…I thought it was only a cliché that people were beautiful and generous but they are. People are beautiful and generous.
RR: Well, we all want you around and playing for another twenty years.
JV: Man, I would be so happy with ten. Twenty would be a dream. Twenty years would be heaven. If I could play for another ten years, I’d be the happiest guy in the world. Another twenty years would be a miracle and if you were to call me on the telephone, bro—you think I sound positive and optimistic, now? Shit, bro—we’d be eatin’ cake. If I could possibly live and play for another twenty years that would be beautiful and way more than I ever expected.
RR: Thanks, Johnny. Tell your wife thank you for me, too. I really appreciate her wonderful support during this feature project.
JV: Deborah, he said, “Thank you for being such a lovely, supportive wife.” She said, “You’re very welcome.” Oh, man, I appreciate you calling me and talking to me. I appreciate everything you’re doing and I appreciate the fact that you’re interested in this kind of music. This is chancy music, you know what I mean? This is not popular music—the whole jamband situation—but I think it’s important. I think it is part of everybody’s culture and I don’t just mean America. I don’t mean New Orleans. I don’t mean young people. I mean I think it’s important for everybody’s culture—the importance of collective improvisation because that is what is happening to me, right now. People have collectively improvised how to help me. Everybody’s improvising—starting with Stanton Moore. He got some guys to throw a benefit and look at what it turned out to be. It turned out to be a fucking mini-fest. Let my wife tell you. It’s very important.
Deborah Vidacovich: Hi, Randy. I just wanted to tell you this. The last seven years—everything I’ve done for John, it all came from Stanton. Every single person, all the Charlie Hunters, everybody—Stanton gave me all their phone numbers. Everything I’ve done for John—all of it originates from Stanton. He’s a great guy and people don’t realize how great but he really is and you know, I definitely claim him.
RR: Fantastic. Thank you for your patience in working around my weird schedule.
DV: (laughs) I thought, “Oh, God, it’s going to be an act of Congress.”
- Randy Ray stores his work at www.rmrcompany.blogspot.com.

Benevento/Russo To Tour W/ Grace Potter and The Nocturnals!

tipiboy — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:06:15 GMT

From Rolling Festival Writer at Blogspot http://therfw.blogspot.com/2008/02/beneventorusso-duo.html
Thursday, February 28, 2008

BENEVENTO/RUSSO DUO A pair of bandits covered on August 03, 2006, the Benevento/Russo Duo were one of the early artist to grant us a video interview here at Roving Festival Writer. Almost two years later, the Duo are just as strong as ever and we have decided to make them our third featured artist of the 2008 Langerado Music Festival.
Over at WEMU 89.1, Derrick Mallory has been making sure our Duo and Marco Benevento album collection has been up to date, and I am happy to report... they are some AWESOME recordings. I just melted for a couple days over the three disk Live @ Tonic series by Marco. Just superb, new jazz recordings and that is what this generation needs. Something new. Different. Stretch those parameters. Last night, I made sure to play the first track "Becky" from the Duo's recording Best Reason to Buy the Sun in light of the coming performance; moreover, featured some Grace Potter and the Nocturnals as well. How does that relate?

Well, if you didn't know (and now you don't need to ask somebody), GP and the Duo are going on a 10 show tour in 12 days - together! Beginning March 03 in VA, each band will be playing FULL SETS, EVERY NIGHT, alternating the headlining position. How fantastic. Tickets prices... a mere $15 most venues, with Langerado obviously being more. That is simply fantastic.
Well, I am going to repost a copy of the Duo Interview conducted by Ben back in 2006. It was really an awesome time and can't wait to catch up with the boys. A link to their website, Myspace and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are all available below, with some YouTube videos we found of the guys.
-Rashon Massey
MYSPACE
www.myspace.com/beneventorussoduocom
WEBSITE
http://beneventorussoduo.com/
GRACE POTTER & The Nocturnals
http://www.gracepotter.com/

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals Free Downloads available!

tipiboy — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:52:47 GMT

Hey now, another huge GPTN's fan has stepped up to the plate again! Two compilation CD's ... One with their favorite Covers ... The other with the relatively new originals are available here!

http://carryyouaway.blogspot.com/2008/02/grace-potter-live-collection.html
Stop by and check it out!

GPTN's Fansite Makes Jamband's Site of the month

tipiboy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:04:36 GMT

Hey now ... As Grace Potter and The Nocturnals finally enjoying some well deserved time off. The site I've mentioned here before has been recognized by Jambands.com as The Fansite of the month!
http://www.thisissomewhere.com/

Loaded with music, video, and current news and reviews ... It's a must see site for all diehard fans of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals! That number is growing every day!
Might be because of stuff like this ... Grace alone on a 9ft Steinway in The Allen Room @ The Lincoln Center!

Mark Giamo on XM!

tipiboy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:36:40 GMT

Hey now ... My good freind Mark's Music (which I've never heard I'm ashamed to say) ... Is going to be featured on XM. Here I'll let him tell you.

Hey,
My music is going to be featured on the RADAR REPORT on XMU channel 43 on XM radio this Thursday, Feb. 28 at 10PM ET. There is an encore show on Friday at 2PM and Sat. at 6AM
If you don't have XM you can listen online with A FREE ACCOUNT simply go to http://www.xmradio.com/xmuoffer. There should be a promotion code already available (LISTENXM14). The free account is for 14 days, so tell EVERYBODY about it. YOU ONLY NEED AN EMAIL ADDRES TO SIGN UP.
Tune in and tune up!
Mark X
snip ... Nothing could be groovier than getting the Mog's feedback! It would almost make up for the fact this will be the first time I heard his music.

Thanks ... Mog On!

Instruments A Comin' 2008 Line-up announced!

tipiboy — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:21:00 GMT

Little Feat, Galactic, The Radiators, Leo Nocentelli and Dumpstaphunk at Instruments A Comin' 2008

On April 28, Tipitina's will host its annual Instruments A' Comin benefit. The event purchases instruments for New Orleans school band programs and last year's show provided 28 schools with 700 instruments. This year's performance should do more of the same, as the show will be anchored by a number of notable groups. Performers include Little Feat, Galactic, The Radiators, Leo Nocentelli, Dumpstaphunk, Dragon Smoke and others. The night typically includes a silent auction and appearances by additional local musicians, with more information to be announced soon.

Life Is Strange Ms Hanna!

tipiboy — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:31:12 GMT

My new friend Hanna lost her great Aunt Cathy last night ... She used almost these exact words in her blog. Doing this here so I can send you the song darlin'... Hear it through as the parade makes it!

Stay up ... We need you, T

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals 2/22/08 Toad's Place

tipiboy — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:54:55 GMT

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Toad's Place, New Haven Friday, Feb. 22, 8 pm

If you haven't rocked to a Vermont band since Phish kissed the arenas goodbye, this band will give you the opportunity to feel like you're back and kicking. Favorites on the festival scene, Potter and band stick to the essentials, and have re-discovered the power of rock and roll

MATT COSTA GEAR STOLEN IN WINNIPEG! HELP REQUESTED!

tipiboy — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:15:56 GMT

Dear Friends,

We need your help. At some point between 11:30PM on Saturday, February 16th and 12Noon on Sunday, February 17th the following pieces of musical gear and equipment were stolen from the inside of The Garrick Centre in Winnipeg, MB. All of the items listed below belong to Matt Costa and/or members of his band, the items had been locked inside The Garrick Centre for overnight storage as this was reportedly safer than leaving them in our trailer on the streets of Winnipeg.

Matt Costa – Stolen Gear List

(Winnipeg’s Garrick Centre on 2/17/08)

1 each – Gibson J-45 Acoustic Guitar, Natural

1 each – Gibson ES335 Electric Guitar, Seafoam Blue

1 each – Epiphone EL-OO Acoustic Guitar, Sunburst, w/ Seymour Duncan Mag Mic Pickup

1 each – Fender Custom Shop Nocaster Relic Electric Guitar, Blonde

1 each – Fender Custom Shop 1963 Telecaster Relic Electric Guitar, Lake Placid Blue

1 each – 1953 Supro Lap Steel Guitar, Salmon Mother Of Pearl

1 each – Kentucky Mandolin, Sunburst

1 each – Fender Custom Shop 59’ Relic Precision Bass Blonde

1 each – Ashdown EVOII500 Bass Head w/ Road Case

1 each - 1973 Marshall Lead Bass 20 Guitar Head w/ Orange Anvil Case

1 each - Fulltone Tube Tape Echo, Black, w/ Road Case

1 each - Calzone Briefcase w/ Boss Tuner, Sans Amp & Three Monster Cables

1 each – Anvil Briefcase

1 each – Countryman D.I.

There will be a reward for anyone that provides information leading to the recovery of any of these items and that person’s identity will of course remain confidential.

Please contact Chris Fenn w/ any information, (714) 813-1406 / chris@mattcosta.com

Thanks in advance for your help.

Chris Fenn -

Mentioned Bonerama doing War Pigs ... Had to load it!

tipiboy — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:06:21 GMT

Hey now tried to tag this in a comment it wouldn't play ... Love this version

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals 2 new shows for download

tipiboy — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:21:17 GMT

Two new shows for download on Elbos! 2-09-2008 in Denver and 2-10-2008 in Lawrence

http://elbo.ws/post/910079/

OK Go & Bonerama on Letterman!

tipiboy — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:07:32 GMT

I think somebody's going to get hurt

How it happened (from their Blog)
Saturday, February 09, 2008
New Bonerama & OK GO "You’re Not Alone" EP now out there in net land:
Last May, 2007, we played our 2nd Future of Music Coalition "artist/activist residency" show in New Orleans at Tippitina's. It had musicians like Damian Kulash, the Indigo Girls, Jim James, Matt Nathenson and many more playing some music and hanging around the city for a few days. It was a fun night of some memorable music.
It's a long story of how it all came together, but the short version is that Damian asked about singing and playing with Bonerama so Mark arranged a few OK GO songs and and a David Bowie song (Rock & Roll Suicide). After an electrical performance by Damian with Bonerama it was apparent that we should record this. It was set for Damian and Tim Nordwind from OK GO to come back to New Orleans in August, 2007, and record the songs we played that night along with Al "Carnival Time" Johnson singing I Shall Be Released. Since the FMC show was a benefit with proceeds going to a few causes (Sweet Home New Orleans and Al "Carnival Time" Johnson getting a house in the Habitat for Humanity's Musicians Village), we wanted to have all proceeds from this OK GO & Bonerama recording to do the same.
It was on the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that we were in the Piety Street Recording Studio's in the 9th Ward's Bywater area, recording this music. Mark Nevers, the masterful recording engineer from Nashville was at the controls, David Torkanowsky, the ace New Orleans piano player, was there to lay it down on Rock & Roll Suicide, Jorge was diligently documenting, Shawn at Piety St.udios, was more than helpful, Mark Mullins was leading the session with Damian and Tim using their expertise in the studio to compliment it all. The dazling arrangements of Mullins played them selves. It was a fun four days in the studio. Of course we had enough time to get Damian, Tim and Nevers to the Black Men Of Labor Second Line. Those three dudes were in the moment on the streets of New Orleans and they second lined like they were supposed to; with the powerful brass band music going right through you. It all seeped down into this recording, "You're Not Alone."

100% of every ones time was given to this project from the studio, the musicians, i tunes and many more for helping get this music out there for people to listen and dance to. It is going some where that we feel very strongly about. The music and culture of New Orleans.

We would love more than anything for you to go to i tunes and and download this music then tell your friends about it.
Peace, Love, and good music to slide to. From us to you

Papa Grows Funk Gets out of New Orleans rarely!

tipiboy — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:03:56 GMT

Build it and they will come.

Building momentum is exactly what Papa Grows Funk has done since tearing it up at the original Meters after party November 11, 2000 in San Francisco. Seven years later they have sold 25, 000 copies of their four CDs while year round, coast-to-coast, international tours-including Europe and Japan-have locked in a devoted fan base.
Papa Grows Funk's tight grooves re-define the funk-jam band. Tethered by the slinky Hammond B3 and gravel pit vocals of bandleader John "Papa" Gros," the band is a "who's-who" of New Orleans' best musicians. Morphing guitarist June Yamagishi is an original member of Japan's first blues combo, The West Road Blues Band and has inspired two documentaries entitled "June Yamagishi in New Orleans" from his native Japan. Saxophonist Jason "Big Wind" Mingledorff cleanly articulates the knee-dropping funk sustained by bassist Marc Pero and Jeffrey "Jellybean" Alexander who replaced Russell Batiste Jr. on the drums in 2005.
Influenced by The Meters, Dr. John and The Neville Brothers, Papa Grows Funk parcels it out New Orleans-style, paying homage to the tradition through Gros' sparse but rhythmic style offset by Yamagishi's blazing guitar. One is treated to a booty shaking set of Mardi Gras funk, original material, improvised jams and fresh interpretations of New Orleans classics. These five musicians seamlessly shift gears while never losing the essential groove.
This creative force continues to garner press with the release of the band's fourth CD, Mr. Patterson's Hat. Jambands.com debuted Mr. Patterson's Hat at #1 while it held its own for 24 weeks on the Roots Music Report and CMJ Jazz Chart. The CD, a proclamation of post-Katrina New Orleans, is named after a semi-retired auto mechanic who frequents the band's weekly Monday night gigs at the Maple Leaf. "You might think you're throwing down, but if Mr. Patterson ain't dancin', you ain't groovin'," declares John Gros. Suffice it to say, the CD and the band continues to deliver and far exceed expectations, as it will for years to come.

Much anticipated 3rd installment of This Is Somewhere Tour Diary!

tipiboy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:01:59 GMT

The much-awaited third installment of GPN's videos from the road arrives with a new look, a trip to the voice doctor, and a moustache gone out of control.

Grace Potter Quad City Times Interview

tipiboy — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 02:13:18 GMT

As Grace Potter talks on the phone, her tour bus is heading through Dead Man’s Pass, an ominous-sounding mountain range near the Montana-Idaho border.
“We may not make it out of here,” she said with a chuckle during a conversation earlier this week.
Assuming that Potter and her band, the Nocturnals, did make it out of that stretch alive, it was only the latest adventure in a year that’s been full of them. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals return to the Redstone Room in the River Music Experience, downtown Davenport — where the band played in April — for a concert Monday night.
Earning acclaim at two festivals was the highlight of the band’s biggest year yet.
For hero worship, Potter said, nothing could top the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, where the band played in July.
“I got to meet Iggy Pop,” she said. “I actually licked him, which was fabulous.”
But for the satisfaction of the band’s own performance, she said the pinnacle was performing during September at the Austin City Limits Festival in Texas.
“That was one of my top shows of all time. I walked off that stage just drenched in the most visceral of fluid. I think there was water involved and also lots of sweat and definitely blood. We all cut our hands open,” Potter said. “It was one of those shows where you could walk off the stage and fall down and be done right there.
“It felt like an arrival for us, more than any South by Southwest or any industry shenanigans.”
As five-year music veterans, the band’s third album, “This is Somewhere,” has given Potter comparisons with Bonnie Raitt, Alison Moyet, Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams.
Potter said she’ll take the notoriety, no matter how it comes.
“Whenever you get that recognition, it never comes in the form you thought it would,” she said. “It’s better to just leave expectations and just be grateful for whatever happens. There’s a side of me that thinks, ‘Finally, all of our hard work has paid off.’ ”
The Vermont-based group started out with the jam band label, but it’s gone beyond that and into more of a blues-rock sound.
Potter said she can feel the band headed toward more of a mainstream pop direction, but only because it’s organically progressed to that sound.
“What works is really catchy songs with a danceable beat and a lot of energy on stage,” she said. “If we’ve fallen into a poppier, more mainstream category, it’s only because of the fact we’ve been touring as much as we have. We know what works, and love ballads all night long in front of a crowd of 700 raging fans isn’t going to work.”
Potter said the band isn’t going to pay a larger price to sell out to commercialism.
“Our intentions have always been to stay true to the music and absolutely never just say, ‘VH1 wants us for a movie? Yeah, let’s do that,’ ” she said. “We take things as they come, and if it’s going to add onto our public image, then we just think about it a lot before we make those decisions.
“We just keep our personalities. I know that sounds a little obtuse, but, honestly, people know we are who we were when we started. We’ve done very little to change our personas and what matters to us.”
The band’s sound changes as it picks up other music in its musical journey, she said.
“I’m 24, and, because of that, my brain is still stretching and thinking and listening,” she said. “All of the music that comes into our lives somehow kind of permeates our sound. Stylistically, we’ve stretched the sound we started with because we’re all getting more comfortable as musicians and more capable.”
Singing and playing the Hammond B3 organ, Potter shares the stage with guitarist Scott Tournet, bass player Bryan Dondero and drummer Matt Burr.
She never intended to have her name in the group’s title. But a printer’s mistake put it on posters for a performance a few years ago and the rest of the band members liked it so much that it stuck.
Potter also has found herself defending her name.
“A lot of people think ‘Grace Potter’ is like a Jethro Tull or a Steely Dan,” with faux names on a real band, she said. “I think that’s a fascinating thing because our business tries to push each of us as characters in our story.
“It isn’t really about me.”
David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
if you go
What: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, with Brandi Shearer
When: 8:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11
Where: Redstone Room in the River Music Experience, 129 Main St., Davenport
How much: $13 in advance, $15 at the door
Information: (563)326-1333 or RedstoneRoom.com on the Web
Also on the Web: GracePotter.com

Grace Potter And The Nocturnals @ The Independant

tipiboy — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:39:39 GMT

Fan - PQ

Private
South Lake Tahoe California, US
Joined: 11/15/2007
cool Subject: Re: San Francisco! Reply with Quote Okay here goes,..again.
1/30/08 The Independent, San Francisco 7:30 Doors 80 Show Carney Brandi Shearer Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
After $150 in sushi and sake we arrive at the venue around 7:45. Only about 30 people milling about. Check out the merch table for anything new. Find a spot near the front of the stage for the openers. Nothing really to write home about knowing what is coming up next! The only thing worth mentioning is some idiot heckler in the audience that felt like it was his duty to talk to the bands between each song. I was hoping that he would get thrown out before Grace came on but no such luck. The good news is they don’t pause at all between songs and no chance for homie to interrupt them! I go to the bathroom between Brandi and Grace and come back to find the place is filling up FAST! I move even closer to the Hammond and settle in front row and right center. The best seat in the house for sure! (check out the pics). I take a peek at the set list and am super stoked!
Grace and the Boys take stage somewhere around 10:30! The place is sold-out! Grace is looking the best I have ever seen her! A red and black dress that I have not seen yet and a lot of blonde in her hair that I did not see last week.
Sugar= Heard it for the first time last week and now they open with it! Sure to be a new favorite.
Ain’t No Time= This was nice and smooth and about as slow as the night went. The band sure in a rock and roll mood tonight and did not let down the pace after this.
Stop The Bus= Yeah! This really is one of my favorite live songs they do. It blows away the album version. I didn’t notice a harmonica intro by Scott.?? Maybe I missed it. By now I am getting really pumped up! After the long version and the guitar solo, I hit the switch with a three punch knockout sequence timed with the band PERFECTLY! Then I feel the emotional orgasm, again. BAM,BAM BAM! You know the sequence I’m talking about? It ain’t on the album baby! Only the live versions! Grace breaks a high string on the guitar cause she is just killing it!
Meantime= I’m lost in the rock and roll and emotion!
Joey= How is it that they can play this every single set and still have the raw emotion that they put in to it? Grace breaks a freakin’ key off the Hammond during the final parts of the song. She picks it up and laughs, as she sacrifices it to the rock gods. I have to say though, I have never really noticed a single mistake from any of the band members at any show,..but I felt like Matt missed the ending on it. Not a big deal and not sure he did, but something didn’t feel right to me and I think he missed it. Sorry Matt.
Take It= Not sure whose cover? But It rocked!
Sweet Hands= Yeah, really rockin; now! Can you feel the pace? Seriously this is a rock and roll band!
Gettin’= Grace says it’s a new song and all I can say is it is my favorite song of the night. And why not, Grace is singing to me over and over again, “I’m getting’ into, Ridin’ in on you, I’m gettin’ into, Ridin’ in on you.” Yeah, I’m getting into it too!
Sinkin’ Man= Kinda weird moment here. Grace says “This is also a new song, so you guys are kinda like the guinea pigs tonight” Okay I’m cool with that, but Sinking Man isn’t really a new song..is it? I proceed to nail the opening line out loud to “the new song” and get some “you must be a Potter Geek” look from some other fans! I love it!
NBTW=Okay, I have seen the drum circle thing before. Twice in Telluride, twice at the Fillmore and once in NO, a couple others on youtube and listened to a handful of others through downloads but…THIS WAS IT! WaaaaY longer than any other and like 4-5 rhythm changes. Grace just could not get enough of the cowbell John, and I thought she would have serious knee rug burn from the time she was kneeling. At one point, like ten minutes into it, Scott has to pull out and he is shaking his head and mumbling “ I can’t do it anymore”. Then he jumps back into it just to kick of a full minute finale that just friggin’ ERUPTS at the end!!! I’m talking about Matt, Bryan, and Scott tripping and falling over each other and half of Matt’s set gets tipped over! He is forced to finish the song with half of a friggin’ drum set!!!!! This more that made up for the Joey ending! LOL! Pure energy man that was awesome!!!
About this time I hit a sort of spiritual realization. I have recently seen this band 6 times in the last 5 months, and twice before that. I know that from here they head north and then east. I imagine they are due for some kind of tour break after the amoeba tour is over and I am hoping for a new album this year as well. But I know that it will now be some time before I will see them live again..It begins to become a sort of farewell show for me. I’m torn between the joy I am feeling now and the separation anxiety to come!

Watching YOU= Awesome, I was really enjoying Bryans sweet bass work on this. He had some sort of a double thumb thing going and I was diggin’ it.

Down By= Neil Young cover song? Sweet! This is what brings me to 6 shows in 5 months. Being able to say “I’ve never seen them do that before!” Grace says thank you and goodnight and the crowd erupts as usual!
Encore: Ah Mary=I have never seen this in the encore before! Big White= I have seen the set list, I know this is the last song, and I am hoping it never ends!
Highlights of the show for me: Grace and the boys breakin’ it down for real! Literally, guitar strings, an organ key, and half of Matt’s drum set! Total rock and roll!
Another thing happened last night that left a weird taste in my mouth. During the show there was a lot of set repair that needed to be done during the show. And Mike (is that his name?) the instrument tech was on and off the stage a lot. That’s cool with me but during two different songs he was actually on stage front and center during the final parts of the songs near and amp and he was using the volume or reverb dials on the amp to create sounds as if he were part of the band. This must obviously be cool with the band but it just didn’t sit right with me. Also, I remember someone on the forum in the past who was talking about interacting with the band before the show or after previous shows and wondering if there was any impact on the band during the show. I really felt that last night. As you know I had a pretty good conversation with Bryan last week after the NO show and felt that he definitely recognized me during the show but was hesitant to make eye contact or something. Not sure if it was real to him, but I felt a little awkward being right in front of the stage like that. Anyway, thanks for listening, love to the Band and the Posse, PQ.

Set list Sugar Ain’t No Time Stop the Bus Meantime Joey Take It Sweet Hands Gettin’ Sinkin’ Man NBTW Watching YOU Down By
Encore
Ah Mary Big White

Check out The Leaves new CD!

tipiboy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:59:02 GMT

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The Leaves: Timid Line

By: David Schultz
There are times when analyzing the liner notes of an album can be slightly misleading. When you peer inside the cover of Timid Line, the latest EP by The Leaves, the names Bryan Dondero and Scott Tournet are going to leap out at you and scream Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Although the two Nocturnals leave their imprint on the disc – Dondero produces and Tournet plays lap steel – it’s singer Aya Inoue that proves to be the true allure of the four song disc.
Inoue & The Leaves are part of the ever-bustling Burlington, Vermont music scene that gave birth to GP&TN and serves as home base for Ramble Dove, Mike Gordon’s honky-tonk collective that gave Inoue her first glimpse of National exposure. Anyone whose familiarity with Inoue comes from her Ramble Dove involvement will be mightily impressed with the range and depth she shows on Timid Line. You can hear an occasional honky-tonk twinge in some of her vocal inflections, especially on the title track, but otherwise Timid Line reveals Inoue to be a master at conveying strength and fragility, certainty and indecision with her delivery as well as her lyrics. It’s a trait borne by any successful singer-songwriters.
The songs on Timid Line seem torn from the inner pages of Inoue’s diary but The Leaves aren’t a vanity project for the feisty yet introspective singer. The music behind her, played by Matt Harpster (guitar), Corey Beard (bass) and Steve Sharon (percussion) with Charles Eller (keyboards) and Nocturnal Tournet (lap steel) also lending a hand, give Timid Line a gravitas along the lines of Gillian Welch or Townes Van Zandt. The EP shows what happens when you pair a talented singer-songwriter with a band that is entirely on the same page with the mood and tone she’s trying to convey. There’s a wonderful smoldering quality to “Yours Truly Charlie,” Harpster’s guitar solo greatly accentuates “Instead” and Tournet’s lap steel brings a mournful reflective quality to “Back.”
Timid Line accomplishes what every debut EP sets out to do: it’s long enough to give you a solid idea of what Inoue and The Leaves are capable of doing while leaving your appetite whetted for more.

http://www.myspace.com/amidamusic

Who is Grayson Capps?

tipiboy — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:11:17 GMT

Who is Grayson Capps?
By Cynthia Tittle Welborn, To the Leader-Call

My U.S. History professor at Ole Miss taught that for the most part, the South is 10 years behind the West Coast socially, economically, and theatrically.
Thus for Grayson Capps, growing up in Brewton and Fairhope, Ala. in the 70’s, the scene was right out of Steinbeck’s, Cannery Row or Greenwich Village.
There were vagrants, writers, musicians, artists, and ne’er-do-wells reciting poetry. He remembers a man named Fred Stokes, who would show up at his house with an old beat up Martin guitar.
Accompanying him, was a former literature professor named Bobby Long. Stokes, Long, and Everett Capps(Grayson’s father), would sit around a Realistic Tape Recorder, singing three-part harmony, trying to get the perfect recording. Then at some point, Bobby Long would stand up and recite T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song Of J.Alfred Prufrock”, and the scene was theatrical.
A scholarship recipient to Tulane University, Capps earned a BFA in 1989. His major concentration was theatrical performance. During this time, he began playing the guitar, and formed a band called The House Levellers. They were signed by Tipitina’s Records and appeared on the cover of USA Today. But, three years of too much junk food and too much time on the road, brought their band to its demise.
With his next band, Stavin’ Chain, Capps wrote and performed five original songs for the documentary Anthem, based on the question, “What Is the American Dream?” Capps was invited to walk the red carpet in LA and New York for the premier of the film.
No doubt, Capps considers the movie, A Love Song For Bobby Long, his pinnacle. The movie starring John Travolta and Scarlett Johansson, is based on his father’s novel, Off Magazine Street. It was filmed in New Orleans in 2003. Not only does Capps appear in the movie, but he also plays six songs. He served as both guitar teacher and dialect coach to Travolta.
Influenced by Muddy Waters, Johnny Cash, Doc Watson, and Hounddog Taylor to name a few, Capp’s genre is that of Blues fused with Bluegrass and heavily engrossed in New Orleans Jazz.
He is characterized as a preacher, a poet, a singer, a guitar player, and a landscaper. The later, I believe, “hits the nail on the head” so to speak. For in his lyrics, he tells a story and paints the scene for the audience. Not that he speaks out about social injustice, racial inequality, or political correctness, but that he speaks of the plight and dignity of every man.
Grayson Capps and The Stumpknockers, with new Laurel resident, John Milham, drummer, will be appearing at the Laurel Little Theatre on Saturday, at 8 p.m.
Other band members include: John Kerin, bass and Tommy MaCluckie, guitar. Opening band, Fat Man Squeeze, will perform at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 prior to the show, and $20 at the door. Children 12 and under are $5. For more information call 601-426-7046.
John Milham is a native of the Mobile area. He studied at The Berklee College of Music in Boston. His association with Grayson Capps began in 2000. Married to the former Andrea MacDonald of Laurel, they are the proud parents of 2-year-old John Brooks Milham.

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Lineup announced!

tipiboy — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:26:16 GMT

Widespread Panic, The Neville Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, Santana, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Dr. John, Al Green, Diana Krall and The Raconteurs Confirmed for Jazz Fest

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will return to its full seven-day format for the first time since Katrina. As previously reported, the veteran festival will take place from April 25-27 and May 1-4, boasting the first New Orleans appearance by the legendary Neville Brothers since 2005.
Other marquee acts include Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, Santana, Maze feat. Frankie Beverly, Sheryl Crow, Widespread Panic, Dr. John, Al Green, Diana Krall, Keyshia Cole, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, The Raconteurs and Irma Thomas. This year marks Joel’s first Jazz Fest appearance and Widespread Panic’s first New Orleans show in three years. With the exception of a similar spot at Coachella, the reactivated Raconteurs have not laid out their 2008 itinerary.
In a statement, Quint Davis, producer/director of the Festival, said, “Welcoming Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Tim McGraw, Sheryl Crow and Keyshia Cole for the first time, in the same year that we’ve added the Thursday back to the Festival—and in the same year we’re bringing back all-time Fest favorites The Neville Brothers, Jimmy Buffett, Santana, Widespread Panic, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, and Diana Krall, among so many others—speaks to our serious effort to grow the Festival at a time when New Orleans needs it the most.”
Other confirmed acts include Steel Pulse, John Prine, Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, Randy Newman, Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea, O.A.R., Galactic, The Roots, Dianne Reeves, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Burning Spear, Ozomatli with Chali 2na, Rebirth Brass Band, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Tower of Power, Delbert McClinton, John Hammond, Cassandra Wilson, Keb’ Mo’, The Count Basie Orchestra feat. Patti Austin, Pete Fountain, The Derek Trucks Band, Richard Thompson, Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, The Radiators, James Cotton, Cupid, The John Butler Trio, Del McCoury, Vernel Bagneris: Jelly Roll & Me, Terence Blanchard with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Buckwheat Zydeco, John P. Kee & the New Life Community Choir, Cowboy Mouth, Byron Cage with Kim Burrell, Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr. and the Greater St. Stephen Choir, Trinitee 5:7, Lizz Wright, Voices of the Wetlands Allstars, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Bad Plus, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Bettye LaVette, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave., Gene “Duke of Earl” Chandler, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Davell Crawford’s N.O. R & B Orchestra, Henry Butler, Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet, Leo Nocentelli’s “Rare Gathering," Lee Boys, Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, MOOV of Martinique, Jackson Southernaires, Big Jay McNeely and Paul Porter of the Legendary Christianaires.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Inc. will hold its 10th Annual Gala fundraiser on Thursday, April 24 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Little Richard, one of rock-and-roll’s last remaining founding fathers, will offer his only Jazz Fest performance at the Gala. The bill will include R&B legend Deacon John and the Ivories, who will bring a contemporary high-energy mix of Motown, Memphis and Louisiana R&B.

1/23/08

what are we? we’re a rock and roll band!

tipiboy — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:01:48 GMT

Video interview with Grace Potter before the Highline Ballroom show. Can you picture Grace being a “timid little Joni Mitchell songwriter”?

http://www.thisissomewhere.com/

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals 1/17/08 Workplay Birmingham, Al.

tipiboy — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:48:15 GMT

Hey now, Big props to K. Cortez & BirminghamSteve for this! Smoking Hot version of Grace and The Nocturnals doing Pain in my heart! This is why I can't shut up about this band!
http://www.thisissomewhere.com/
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=BirminghamSteve

Fred Tackett of Little Feat talks about his legacy

tipiboy — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:08:20 GMT

Hey now, here's a great interview with Fred Tackett of Little Feat talking about his son inspiring ... Playing on and Producing his new album.

And here's Fred doing a song he wrote with Lowell George Honest Man, as only he can

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals 12/29/07 Higher Ground

tipiboy — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:17:29 GMT

Hey now, fresh GPTN's Video! Sold out 3 night run in their home state ... Started like this!

G-Love Films Gracer Potter and The Nocturnals Backstage at W.H. Xmas Jam!

tipiboy — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:43:10 GMT

Hey now, I couldn't even tell you what the hell they're playing ... Filmed on G-Love's laptop ... The sound is understandably attrocious ... But an awsome moment caprtured! Just be warned and Turn Down Your volume!

Ernie K-Doe Tops Christmas Charts in U.K.!

tipiboy — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:39:18 GMT

The Emperor Has A Hit

Ernie K-Doe, the Emperor of the Universe, has a new hit. One of the hottest commercials during the British holiday season was for a TV ad using the song Here Come the Girls, a 1970 recording by New Orleans own Ernie K-Doe.
According to a WWOZ listener in Great Britain, the song was part of a Christmas campaign for a British drug store chain called Boots. According to the Boots advertising agency it was an unusual pick as normally they work from a script first and then look for music but in this case, the people behind the campaign liked the song first and wrote the script around it. The song came close to being a Number 1 Christmas hit. The only Number 1 hit For Ernie was Mother-In-Law in 1961. Ernie K-Doe died July 5, 2001.