While T Rex was on the other side of the country and I was relaxing in the upper echelons of the 300’s at the WaMu Theater at MSG for the Jammy’s last night, our good friend Marc Millman was up front and center and shot some real good video and still photos for those of you that were:

A) Not fortunate enough to be at the Jammy’s at all.
B) At the Jammy’s but decided a comfy seat was better than the general admission mosh pit up front.
c) At the Jammy’s but did not have the desire or fortitude to record most of the songs for posterity.

Marc has his own youtube channel which is full of live music and random humor and well worth looking through…..there will be more Jammy’s video going up in the near future so keep checking back.

Hopefully we can convince Marc to become a regular contributor here as his music knowledge and concert experience are vast and profound.

On with the show (and thanks for doing what it is that you do Marc!)

Fab Faux & Trey- While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Fab Faux & Trey- Me & My Monkey

Fab Faux & Joan Osborne- Come Together

Glenn Tilbrook, Warren Haynes &Tea Leaf Green- Tempted

Rose Hill Drive with Grace Potter & Leslie West- Goin’ Down

Warren Haynes & Grace Potter- Find The Cost-Gold Dust Woman

Warren Haynes & Grace Potter- Take Me To The River

Big Head Todd & Tea Leaf Green- Sister Sweetly

Keller Williams & Chevy Chase- Natural Woman

Warren, Grace, Booker T, Russo, & Will Lee opened the show

Leslie West Played (and just plain killed!!) Goin’ Down & Mississippi Queen

Doug E. Fresh - The Human Beatbox

The Fab Faux

Tonight the 7th Jammy’s were held at the The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden to celebrate all that is great about the jamband / live music scene. We all knew going in that there were going to be some unique pairings and surprise names showing up on stage. What I didn’t expect was that on the night that Jay Z and Mary J Blige were performing to a sold out Madison Square Garden upstairs, those of us that were part of the 2 or 3 thousand folks in attendance underneath “The Garden” were treated to true hip hop royalty; Doug E. Fresh “The Human Beatbox.”

Doug E. joined Galactic for a set of old school hip hop jams and a beat boxing duel with Stanton Moore, the drummer of Galactic who was challenged to repeat on his drums the sounds that were emanating from the mouth of the master beatboxer. If there was a score to keep, I would have to say that Doug E. Fresh took the challenge hands down (and Stanton Moore is an amazing drummer!).

What truly showed me that the people who follow the jambands and who attended the Jammy’s are true music aficionados was when Doug E. Fresh would stop singing the lyrics to one of his songs the entire crowd would carry on in unison without skipping a beat (pun intended).

It was just pure fun as Doug E. had the crowd in the palm of his hands using every trick in the emcee book to get the crowd going; shoutbacks, sing a longs and even a short rip into one of the most memorable songs of all time first made famous by Rockmaster Scott & The Dynamic 3 in 1984:

If you weren’t there, you missed 2000+ tripped out jamband fans singing along to this:

Doug E Fresh with Galactic- The Show medley

Doug E Fresh & Charlie 2Na with Galactic- La Di Da Di

If the people upstairs at the Jay Z concert only knew what they were missing……..

Gotta Love Tom Waits…..

Tour Dates

June 17- Phoenix, Orpheum
June 18 - Phoenix, Orpheum
June 20 - El Paso, Plaza Theatre
June 22 - Houston, Jones Hall
June 23 - Dallas, Palladium
June 25 - Tulsa, Brady Theatre
June 26 - Saint Louis, Fox Theatre
June 28 - Columbus, Ohio Theatre (Comfest weekend)
June 29 - Knoxville, Civic Theatre
July 1 - Jacksonville, Moran Theatre
July 2 - Mobile, Saenger Theatre
July 3 - Birmingham, Alabama Theatre
July 5 - Atlanta, Fox Theatre

Thx to: Donewaiting

Jazzfest is still a high priority on my life “to do” list and it sounds like this year would have been a good year to finally check it off.  New York Times ArtsBeat has some nice coverage of the duel weekend festivities.

“The finale of Jazzfest was piled with symbolism: the return of the Neville Brothers to their old headlining slot and, more important, to New Orleans itself. It was a family of siblings (and two of their sons, Ivan and Ian) reuniting with their family of listeners, fellow New Orleanians and fans.”

Check out ArtsBeat here.

click picture to play concert

30 years ago today…

This, the first of two shows recorded at New York’s famed Bottom Line club, was presented on a tour designed to be a comeback for blue-eyed soul belter Bonnie Bramlett.

On this recording, Bonnie attempts to recapture the magic of the soul/gospel/country/blues/rock mix that she and Delaney had so carefully crafted. The material on her solo albums was never as good as what D&B had done (none of these songs made it to radio play lists), and Delaney’s ability to arrange songs is sorely missed, but she comes pretty damn close more than a couple of times, especially on the funked-out version of the Dolly Parton song “Holding On To You” and the old Delaney and Bonnie R&B rocker “Living On The Open Road.”

Regardless, Bramlett certainly proves on this recording that she was still in possession of some remarkable vocal chops. Her powerful growl surfaces more than once during this show, and her backing band is more than adequate. Among the highlights are the soulful ballad, “Don’t Know Why,” her rocked out version of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home,” her gospel remake of the Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen A Face” and the retrospective ode “Can’t Stay With You Tonight,” written for her ex-husband. “I wrote this song,” she tells the audience, “because I fell in love with a tremendous liar. I still love him, and he’s still lying.”

Bonnie Bramlett
Bottom Line
New York, NY
05/01/1978
Early Show

Tracklist

01.Introduction 5:04
02.Living On The Open Road 4:30
03.Holding On To You 4:05
04.Writing On The Wall 3:18
05.Don’t Know Why 4:23
06.Can’t Stay 5:49
07.Atlanta, Georgia 5:56
08.Can’t Find My Way Home 8:59
09.I’ve Just Seen A Face 6:57

Bonnie Bramlett - vocals
Ricky Hirsch - guitar
Allen Kaatz - guitar
Robert Wilson - bass
Rick Allen Sutherland - piano, organ
Big John Thomassie - drums
Patty Smith, Carolyn Brandt - backing vocals

jroxx note: Bonnie Bramlett was the first white Ikette before she partnered with Delaney to form Delaney & Bonnie in 1968

Fresh off a UK tour, veteran art-funk outfit Was (Not Was) is getting ready to traverse the US to support its first studio album in nearly 20 years.The outing is set to get under way tonight (4/30) in Somerville, MA, and visit more than a dozen clubs and theaters from coast to coast through mid-May. The band will also drop by NBC-TV’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” this Thursday (5/1).

Tour Dates

April 2008
30 - Somerville, MA - Johnny D’s

May 2008
1 - New York, NY - Blender Theatre at Gramercy
2 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live
3 - Annapolis, MD - Rams Head
6 - Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere
7 - Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theatre
8 - Columbus, OH - Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
9 - Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre
10 - Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub
12 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
13 - Minneapolis, MN - Cabooze
15 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
17 - Portland, OR - Wonderland Ballroom
18 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern

Full Story on Live Daily

jroxx note: Boo! is a great album with top notch musicians. They took almost 20 years to make a follow up to their last album and it was well worth the wait.

Gotta love when an artist does all he can to make sure the true fans get the best seats in the house.

Yesterday Nine Inch Nails announced a unique concert pre-sale that offers registered fans the best seats, a ticket imprinted with their name, early venue access and more. Mastermind Trent Reznor even shares that he’s not sure he can’t do better:

“We’ve been working very hard to get the best tickets in the hands of the fans, bypassing scalpers, ticket resellers, and ticketing agencies… This has been a difficult process to bring together outside of The Spiral (NIN’s fan club), and frankly, it’s a work in progress.”

A recent Wired article points to the fact that over 14 million units of Guitar Hero have been sold in North America since the game’s release in 2005. Will we look back 10 years from now and be able to point to the current popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band for all the great new guitar rock we will be listening to in 2018?

“The wildfire success of music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band is causing a subtle revolution in popular music — maybe not on the level of the British Invasion of the ’60s, but noticeable nonetheless. The games are bringing about renewed interest in the guitar, a music-making machine that’s been losing traction lately to turntables and laptops. Guitar Hero is like a gateway drug that’s getting a new wave of players hooked on guitar.”

“There’s even a videogame coming that promises to bridge the gap between game guitar and music lesson: Guitar Rising will purportedly let users play a Guitar Hero-type game using an actual guitar instead of a plastic controller.”

I can’t play a note a of music but have been to endless concerts and experienced the joys to truly love a band/artist or song so much you would do anything and travel anywhere to hear it performed live. I have felt those goose bumps and have had my eyes filled with tears when you know your in the presence of something magical happening on stage. When I was younger I pissed away my video game time on Space Invaders, Qbert, Mario Brothers and Zelda . Imagine where I’d be if I could have been rocking to Velvet Underground or crushing Metallica songs in my living room? These kids are being exposed to great music and if it leads to more guitar legends and gets kids out to concerts…..start cranking those games out monthly.

Check out the whole article over at Wired here.

Read my January post ‘Digital Jams’ here.

Will video games saves the music industry?

Check it all out here.

Photo by AP

The AT&T Blueroom is webcasting the Coachella Vally Music and Arts Festival over the next three days. It’s supposed to be a rainy weekend here in the Northeast and nothing better than being able to see live music from the comfort of your own home.