Phish | photo by WHITperson
Happy holidays, dudes and dudettes! Hope you got everything you wished for and downed copious amounts of egg nog. Now, on to more important stuff than family gatherings and gift exchanges….live music! Naturally, there are ton of great shows going on this week in NYC as we lead up to New Year’s Eve, including some multi-night holiday runs, some late-night throwdowns, and plenty of NYE parties that don’t involve watching a ball drop in 10-degree weather. READ MORE
Well, we’re less than one week out from Phish New Years Eve, the first time most of their fans have seen them since summertime. We have high expectations of this run, and I’m sure Phish will do their best to satisfy our cravings, especially considering their lack of announced and scheduled tours in 2012 (even if we know they’ll definitely be back for something). Hopefully because of this, they’ll throw down extra hard at New Years and deliver three outstanding shows. READ MORE
On Saturday night I caught another fantastic show by Steve Kimock & Friends in NYC. I last saw Steve & co. this spring doing a residency at Sullivan Hall with a rotating cast of interesting musicians. And although the lineup and vibe of Saturday’s show was quite a bit different, my overall takeaway was pretty similar to the last round:
Overall, this show was just the quintessential Kimock, featuring a little taste of all of the signature styles that make him such a great–and underrated–guitarist. We heard ripping blues solos, powerful slide leads, emotional minor-chord passages, unique & interesting rhythm work, and of course, that light, lilting and seemingly effortless finger-dancing-across-the-fretboard that is just patented Kimock.
That sums up my experience on Saturday pretty nicely. But one of the biggest difference from last time I saw Steve was definitely the lineup. Steve’s friends on this latest tour include Wally Ingram on drums, keyboard funkmaster Bernie Worrell, and Steve’s long-time collaborator, Bobby Vega, ripping things up on the funky bass. Also, for a number of tunes throughout the night, Steve’s son Morgan, added some tasteful percussive layers to Ingram’s drumming, and Peter Apfelbaum joined the band on sax, keys and percussion. READ MORE
Battles @ Pitchfork Music Festival Chicago 7/15/11
We just got hit with the first snowfall of the season here in NYC. Even though the weather’s starting to chill out, the live shows are keeping up the heat. Check out my preview of the week’s shows with some videos of my top picks, including Ween, Battles, and Steve Kimock & Friends. READ MORE
(updated on 10/20/11 for Chicago additions)
Longtime readers already know that I’ve got a sweet spot in my heart (er, ears) for Steve Kimock. That’s especially true when Steve — in one of his many and varied musical projects — links up with funky-ass bassman, Bobby Vega. I documented one of my favorite Kimock & Vega projects a while back with a podcast called KVHW ‘Down in the Wetlands’, touting some of my favorite cuts from KVHW (Kimock, Vega, Hurtz, and White) shows from the late 90s (which I highly recommend checking out if you’re at all interested in Kimock’s sound). Unfortunately, after that project disbanded around 2000-2001, catching Steve with Bobby on bass duties became a bit of a rarity…especially out here on the East Coast.
So you can imagine how stoked I was to hear the news that Steve will be reuniting with Bobby and a few other interesting friends for some shows this fall in Denver, Cali, Chicago and Brooklyn. Here are all the deets…
the dodos | photo by whitperson
This is another one of those week’s of live music in NYC that requires some serious skills with scheduling and logistics. There are a ton of great shows and there’s just not enough time, energy, and cash flow to take them all in. Since I’m still out of pocket, and there’s so much to choose from, I’m foregoing my normal highlight reel and just going with the entire list. Call me a slacker if you will, but given all these options, I think I’m mainly just indecisive…
The lineup for Jam Cruise was announced first thing this morning here on the West Coast, and I couldn’t be happier that I’ve already taken the plunge and pre-booked a cabin for the 10th anniversary of the floating festival that everybody has been raving about for years. This will be my first year on the boat, so I’ll be seeing plenty of unbelievably great music all while sailing the seas and partying with my fellow like-minded fans. Can’t wait.
One of the bigger reveals of the lineup has been the port destinations that the cruise is choosing, and this time the festival is setting sail a full week after New Year’s Eve with a January 9th departure n Ft. Lauderdale to make stops in Labadee, Haiti and then onto Falmouth, Jamaica. The whole thing winds back down on January 14th, 2012. Umphrey’s McGee, Surprise Me Mr. Davis, Galactic, The New Deal, Shpongle, New Mastersounds, EOTO, and Orgone are just some of the artists I’m excited to get a crack at seeing this year, and there’s tons more talent rounding out the lineup this year.
As hedonistic as the whole vacation is, I’m actually proud that the organizers thought to bring a stop by Haiti into the equation. More about those efforts were detailed in today’s press release… READ MORE
Last week, I posted about Steve Kimock’s Wednesday-night NYC residency at Sullivan Hall, and as promised, I was able to hit the second show of the residency this week. Steve’s crew for week two featured Marco Benevento on keys and circuit-bending toys, Marc Friedman on bass, and Adam Deitch manning the drum kit, altogether a stunning mix of solid NYC talent for what amounted to be a killer show.
Overall, the tone of the show was loose and fun, with Steve pushing the boundaries of these “NY youngsters” and testing their improvisational chops. Songs were really just used as vehicles for the improvisation, and nearly every “song” they played took on that open-ended jamming approach, moving way beyond the structure of the tune. Of course, with musicians this skilled and adept at improv, that’s definitely where the real magic happens, and that seemed to be the main purpose of the night. Given the looseness of the songs they played, it was clear that these guys had barely rehearsed together and that approach was entirely on purpose; they wanted it to be totally fresh. READ MORE
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Editors: @JustinPWard / @WHITperson / @BrahBrahBrah
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