The Infamous Stringdusters – Berkeley Café

Raleigh, NC

September 5, 2008

For those not “in the know”, the Infamous Stringdusters are a contemporary bluegrass sextet comprised of some of the hottest young pickers in the scene.  I first became hip to the band after learning Chris Eldridge, currently guitarist for Chris Thile’s innovative classical meets bluegrass project the Punch Brothers, was the original guitarist for the Stringdusters.  Right around this time I recorded an episode of the Stringdusters off Woodsongs (See Episode 425 for video and audio download).  Needless to say I was quite impressed, downloaded off iTunes (since I could not find it in stores) their debut CD “Fork in the Road” and have had them on heavy rotation ever since.

While perusing the list of shows at the record store across from NCSU campus, I noticed the Stringdusters were playing the Berkeley – I had no idea since I don’t regularly check their schedule.  In the meantime I tried to spread interest for the show to at least 15 or 20 people.

Not able to get anyone else to go, I headed out to the Berkeley amidst the wind and rain from Hurricane Hanna.  Immediately when I walked in, someone struck a conversation with me about Leftover Salmon (I was sporting a shirt) and talked to the show’s promoter about bringing the Emmitt-Nershi Band to one of the Raleigh venues.  Appropriately enough with all the rain as I was walking away from the bar and into the room with the stage, Leftover Salmon’s “River Rising” (version off Leftover’s Euphoria CD, not the version of Drew Emmit’s new CD) was blaring from the PA speakers.

The Stringdusters opened up (I think) with “Won’t be Coming Back” off their new self titled album.  The crowd was digging every solo, especially from new guitarist Andy Falco and dobro extraordinaire Andy Hall.  Jesse Cobb, sporting a Cadillac Sky shirt – bluegrass group coming to the Berkeley in a couple of weeks, simply shredded his mandolin, breaking strings on 2 occasions early on in the show.  Rounding out the band are Jeremy Garrett (vocals, fiddle), Travis Book (vocals, bass) and former Emmitt-Nershi banjoist Chris Pandolfi.

The Dusters put on a heckuva show all night with their tight harmonies, master musicianship, and their jams that often seamlessly segued from one instrument to the next in a manner that I’ve never quite seen.  The band could have benefited a lot from their soundguy turning the PA volume a bit more, as it was often times hard to hear the entire band, especially Pandolfi.  I believe the crowd (including myself) would have been into the music more if the volume was at a more “show appropriate” volume, nevertheless it was a great show.

Songs played that I recall:

No More To Leave You Behind

Fork In The Road

Moon Man (last song before encore)

Dream You Back

Won’t Be Coming Back (first song?)

Well, Well

When Silence is the Only Sound

Bound for Tennessee

Get it While You Can (quite a  groovin’ rendition)

You Can’t Handle the Truth

Jeremy gospel tune

For the encore, the band came off stage and brought their instruments to the crowd playing strictly acoustically.  Great way to connect with the audience as I have seen the Hackensaw Boys and Chatham County Line do the same thing.

After the show I purchased a shirt, the “Fork in the Road” CD (which I’ve listened to 50+ times according to my iTunes) and Andy Hall’s ‘08 release “Sound of the Slide Guitar” (review) which had Deep Elem Blues – so I had to get it.  I had a chance to talk to Jeremy (who actually took my order via credit card), Andy Falco & Chris Pandolfi…all down to earth guys.

I finished the night at the Hibernian Pub with a couple of work friends.  Our waitress was quite forgetful with our orders, but being quite easy on the eyes, all was forgiven.  By 1:30 as I was leaving, the hurricane, wind and rain were in quite full force.

Instead of going for my typical mid-workday lunch workout or 5 mile run, I’ve opted to stay in the office – not expend a ton of energy and update my blog that hasn’t been updated in a month and a half.  It’s not that there haven’t been all that many (or some) blog-worthy (at least for my life) events, it’s just sheer laziness that I haven’t updated.

So what has happened? It was the best of times…it was the worst of times…ok it was all good for the most part. 

Bachelor party in Baltimore – caught the Orioles/Yankees game. Part of a wedding party down in Charleston – black out level inebriation on Saturday night for what was an awesome night and weekend.  Started singing lessons.  Began running about 20-25 miles a week.  Participating in training for an upcoming competition for our company (I won’t be competing just training) – running, biking, kayaking.  Buddy’s lakehouse.  Started seeing some girl.  Some girl e-mailed me to “call it off.”  Helped someone pick a really awesome Taylor acoustic for her fiance’s wedding gift.  Almost bought a banjo in Wendell.  Been totally inundated at work for months on end.  Did some “friendly competitve” go kart racing at the company’s bi-annual sales meetings in Garner – this was incredible.  Went to another bachelor party in Raleigh and jammed with some great musicians.  Purchased way too much music.  Missed some concerts I’d like to have caught (Tinsley Ellis, Wailers, Abbey Road, Jakob Dylan, North Mississippi All Stars – how’d I forget this one!, Dumpstaphunk, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Annuals, Yonder Mountain String Band).  Caught a few concerts (Blind Melon, Alex Machacek-Jeff Sipe-Neal Fountain, can’t recall anything else).

This past week I attended a guitar camp with Austrian fusion guitar master Alex Machacek and then caught his show with drummer extrordinaire Jeff Sipe and badass bassist Neal Fountain – this all deserves one entry…

French Broad River Festival – Hot Springs, NC (May 2 – May 4)

It’s been about 2 weeks but I’ll do my best to recount a fantastic weekend. A fellow coworker organized a trip to the French Broad River Festival for a weekend of music, camping, and white-water rafting. Being the music fanatic and festival enthusiast, I was an easy sell, a good bit of the rest of the group was sold on the white water rafting and camping. I’d been looking forward to this weekend for quite a while. I needed such a respite, a nice getaway “back home” to the mountains with good music and ensuing jam sessions.

Wednesday night I picked up whatever camping essentials I didn’t have from last year’s Wanee festival – tent, cooler, and some other stuff; loaded my IPod chock full of bluegrass and jam music since I was the only one in the group that would have such music and then went to bed way too late. My roommate and I left Raleigh at about 10AM to meet 4 other friends (all coworkers) at a friend’s house near Durham, loaded up the truck with firewood and headed 40 West – Destination: Hot Springs.

After stopping at an outdoors store in Durham, at a Wendy’s in Morganton (my teenage residence), and the long ride through the meandering roads west of Asheville, we were greeted by swarms of insects and a guy working the entrance of the campgrounds who was quite slow. Arrived at our campsite, staked out a large enough area for 8-10 or so tents and set up shop – putting up tents, Cornhole games, and cracked open some cold ones. The campground was pretty much vacant, as the music didn’t start until Friday afternoon. The day consisted of me playing acoustic guitar and mandolin, some heavy drinking, 2 on 2 cornhole. Our campsite was next to the river and very close to the main stage, prime location.

That night we heard a band set up shop on the mainstage…to my pleasant surprise it was Sol Driven Train. I went to school with the drummer back in Morganton and knew the band from seeing them a few times and when they crashed at my place when I lived in Richmond. It was pretty much an acoustic nearly unamplified enjoyable set. Songs I remember them playing were Will The Circle Be Unbroken and Wayside (Back In Time) which I knew from Chris Thile’s How to Grow a Woman From the Ground CD – originally by David Rawlings & Gilian Welch. Sol Driven was joined by an incredible banjo player who impressed the band and everyone in the audience.

After the acoustic set, I headed back to the campsite, the 6 of us took swigs from a bottle of champagne and proceeded to drink a ton of beer and stuff. By night’s end, we were all pretty much toasted – somehow GNR’s Appetite From Destruction was played in its entirety and I was transported back to drunken nights at East Village when we would scream the lyrics of Nighttrain. Yup obviously I was quite toasted.

Friday’s Lineup

2:00-3:30 Jesse James and the Junkman’s Daughter

4:00-5:30 Sol Driven Train

6:00-7:30 The Trainwrecks

8:00-9:30 Snake Oil Medicine Show

10:00-12:00 Larry Keel and Natural Bridge

The rest of the crew began rolling in around 2 PM or so. I got about 4 or so other people to check out Sol Driven Train with me that afternoon – songs I remember are Circle Song, Ballad of Bologne, Carolina, The Cave. The same banjo player from the night before sat in for most of Sol Driven’s set, again fantastic player but had no idea who this guy was.

The one other musician out of our group arrived during Sol Driven’s set, we got to jam a bit during setbreaks between the bands – we were pretty close to the stage so it was tough to play while a band was playing. I’d seen Snake Oil Medicine Show back in college, though they didn’t really do anything for me, so I opted to not see them…Larry Keel on the other hand, I caught at the Lincoln Theatre opening for Sam Bush years ago, no way I’m missing him.

By the time Larry Keel and Natural Bridge came out, I’m sure we all had downed quite a few. It was dark and Larry was ripping it up as to be expected and turns out his banjo player was the same guy that had played with Sol Driven Train. Though I don’t remember any of Larry’s songs, I’d say it was my favorite set of the weekend. During the show someone gave us beer koozies that said “I went down on the French Broad.”

After Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, we all headed down the hill back to the campsite to sit by the fire which was right next to the river. Barry threw in his “500 Miles” Ipod playlist – which is a CD a friend of his made of old country tunes they listened to on their trip down to Daytona (500 miles). It’s a playlist that I’ve heard repeatedly even before that night. I was encouraged to dance with this girl that I’d been hanging with all night…which turned into me hanging out with her the rest of the night. Everyone except for the 2 of us went to bed…the strangest part of the trip had to have come when while we were “hanging out” someone walked right up to us and then turned around, this is at 2 or 3 AM – after being weirded out a bit we just hung out by the river (yeah I sorta stepped in the river unexpectedly). It was just one of those nights with the stars in the clear sky by the river.

We had to get up a bit early Saturday to go on our white water rafting trip – it was my first time white water rafting so I was pretty excited. It was cloudy and a bit chilly that morning. We all had to put on jackets it was so cold after our stop for lunch – which included a side splitting session of myself and others making fun of my cold nips through my shirt at my expense, but it was too funny so I didn’t care. After lunch, we hit 2 class 4 rapids, the most intense moment was after getting stuck on some rocks (river was quite low) we went down a Class 4, nearly flipped over and I would have fallen out hadn’t the guide reeled me back in.

Saturday Lineup

12:00-1:30 Pierce Edens and Dirty Work

2:00-3:00 Big City Sunrise

4:00-5:30 The Screaming J’s

6:00-7:30 Suttree

8:00-9:30 Blueground Undergrass

10:00-12:00 Acoustic Syndicate

I caught some of the bands on Saturday and did some jammin’ with Tripp but only caught the entire sets from Blueground Undergrass & Acoustic Syndicate. Before Blueground’s set, Rev. Jeff Mosier (banjo player from Blueground Undergrass) was at the campsite down by the river next to us talking to our neighbors. It was my first Blueground show, and I was looking forward to it. Great band, great pedal steel player, great band…and it’s always a treat catching any sort of alumnus from Aquarium Rescue Unit. They played Faces from their newest record and covered the Garcia/Hunter song Black Muddy Water.

Local bluegrass/newgrass band Acoustic Syndicate was the headliner for the weekend…catching them at a campout is a bit reminsicent of high school when we would go to Green Acres in Rutherfordton and catch Acoustic play there (also caught Sam Bush once).

I remember missing the first song from Acoustic (which I did recognize) but don’t recall. They played a highly energetic set that got the crowd into a frenzy. Songs I recall they did in no particular order are No Better Place, Brown Mountain Lights, 2 Who Covers – Squeezebox & Baba O’Riley, No Woman No Cry, North Country Girl (Dylan’s Girl From North Country with a different refrain).

After Acoustic Syndicate, Tripp and I jammed for most of the night until 4 or so in the morning. Some of the songs we played that night and the weekend that I recall include:

Duo Jam

Change

No Rain

No Woman No Cry

Girl From North Country (Sam Bush version)

Sublime (What I Got, Santeria)

He’s Gone (B-vox)

Sympathy For The Devil (B-vox)

Dig A Pony

I Shot The Sheriff

A Conspiracy

Hey Hey What Can I Do

Tangerine

Midnight Rider

Wagon Wheel

Manic Depression

Pigs

Time

http://www.frenchbroadriverfestival.com/

“That was the best 3 bucks I’ve ever spent.”….”Best live music I’ve seen in Raleigh in 10 years.”…those are just 2 of the quotes I heard last night after the Jeff Sipe Trio show at Slim’s Downtown.

The Jeff Sipe Trio show, along with 2 other shows at the Lincoln Theatre & The Pour House, was billed as a Widespread Panic After Party Show. After leaving a wedding shower (I didn’t really know guys went to these things up until about a year ago or so) and opting out of seeing Widespread (on account of allergies) I called the Slim’s phone number – the answering machine said the show starts at 11, cover charge is $3, and special guests in the audience. Let’s see – Panic’s in town…Jimmy Herring is touring with them. Jeff’s played in quite a few bands with Mr. Herring (several incarnations of Aquarium Rescue Unit, Project Z, Herring Rodgers Sipe)…I’m thinking I may be paying 3 bucks to see Jeff Sipe and possibly Jimmy Herring in some local dive…pretty incredible huh. I’ve caught Sipe and Herring with ARU (opening up for Derek Trucks Band @ Innsbrook in Richmond) and with Herring Rodgers Sipe at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro – the chemistry these guys have is out of this world – zambi’s the only way to describe it I suppose.

A lot of my friends were going out for my roommate’s birthday, which we didn’t find out about until the day of – but I opted to go see Sipe…I live for this stuff, so I pretty much had to go…Leave my place at about 10:40, and after parking a bit aways from the venue (some roads were blocked out from the Beer Festival) I got there right at 11 – go straight to the bar, Sipe’s right there, tell him I’m looking forward to the show and ask about the “special guests.” He said Jimmy’s mom just got married and he’s hanging out with the family (Jimmy’s from nearby Fayetteville) and being at a bar was the last place he’d wanna be. We both grab our Amstel Lights and head towards the stage, I tell him either way I’m looking forward to it.

I’d caught them last summer at the now defunct Hideaway BBQ and right off the bat there was a different energy with the band – more progressive/fusion sound which just blew away everyone paying any bit of attention…a lot of the people there didn’t know the caliber of the players and certainly didn’t know what kind of company Mr Sipe has kept (Jimmy Herring, Derek Trucks, Oteil Burbridge, Project Z, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Col Bruce Hampton, Alex Machacek, Leftover Salmon, Trey Anastasio, Phil & Friends, Shawn Lane…and so on). The first 2 numbers were quite impressive. When I caught them at the Hideaway, they had just started playing and most the audience was sitting down – this show just had a ton of energy.

Couple of the covers I remember from the first set were Ray Charles’ Busted which featured a pair of audience members doing what I can only describe as primal animalistic ritual dance interpretations set to music…it was quite the sight. I’ve gone to a lot of shows and the only other thing along those lines I can remember topping that was the 1/19/03 Wilmington Derek Trucks Band show at the Marrz Theater where a couple practically went into triple x mode in the front row. They also covered Stevie Wonder’s Too High.

After a short intermission, the band went into Pat Metheny’s Bright Size Life. Other highlights of this set were Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy” which morphed from a reggae feel to a uptempo bluegrassish feel that sent the crowd into a frenzy. What was left of the crowd was mesmerized by all the players – there was a mutual feeling of astonishment of catching such a band for 3 bucks in a hole in the wall.

The band launched into a phenomenal cover of John Coltrane’s Mr PC. There was a guy next to me wearing a Dinosaur Jr shirt that began almost headbanging right in front of guitarist Mike Seal – who went on to just shred the tune. Jeff told Mike it was the fastest he’s ever seen him play.

After the show I talked a bit to a couple of people I knew that happened to be there and with Mike – telling him I caught them last time they were around, we talked some music and then he told me to come outside with the band and hang out with them. After we talked about some about jazz/fusion and other stuff they covered – I mentioned that Oteil Burbridge had told me that Jaco’s playing on Metheny’s Bright Size Life was one of his biggest influences…they asked if I played anything – I said guitar and some mandolin with Mike & the bassist Vince…Mike asked if I played bluegrass which I responded “not exactly that I never had the patience to learn fiddle tunes note for note to be a legitimate bluegrass player” but being from the mountains (he’s from Tenn) you can’t help but absorb some of the stuff. We then talk about Chris Thile and his last two records and just the entire genius that is Chris Thile. We then talk about the Bela Fleck Tales From Acoustic Planet, Strength In Numbers and I recommended the first Mark O’Connor CD – Markology. He then asked if I had the Nashville Cats CD, which I’ve just bought in the past month but haven’t given it enough spins yet – we then talk about some of the other nashville cats like Brent Mason and such. At about 2:30 the people working there made us all quit “partying” and closed up. Turns out that Jeff has family that owns Slim’s – so there’ll be more Sipe shows at Slim’s. All in all quite the night and not one that I’ll be forgetting.

Old Review:

8/18/07 – Hideaway BBQ (Raleigh)

Just got back from seeing the Jeff Sipe Trio. The trio is Jeff on drums; Mike Seal on guitar; I can’t recall the bassist (electric & standup). Mike is 22 still studying at University of Tennesse – but was a phenomenal player…great command of chords/harmony/melody – sorta in the Frisell/Scofield vein.

They played mostly covers…did some Stevie Wonder tunes (Too High, I Wish, Sir Duke); Scofield (Chank); Coltrane (Impressions); Pat Metheny (Bright Size Life) and a pretty nifty cover of Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry Be Happy among others. Too High sounded fantastic – first time they had every played the song.

They’re playing mostly in the NC/SC area, but check em out if you have a chance.

Just getting back from The Codetalkers & Sam Kininger Band show. I’ve seen The Codetalkers quite a few times (3 times in Richmond, 2 times in Charlottesville, 2 times in Raleigh, 1 time in Chapel Hill) – but it’d been at least a year since I’ve caught a show; my first show since Bobby Lee got a new bassist and drummer.

Met a few friends (couple from work and other a few others) and wasted little time buying a mug and filling it up with Yuengling – after all Wednesday nights are Mug Night at the Pour House. Codetalkers were mind boggling good as usual – Bobby Lee Rodgers was playing most of the night through a Fulltone Tape Echo pedal – yup one of those $999 analog delay pedals…sounded great. Things got really cookin’ when they went into Victor the Snakeman with an incredible high energy jam and some great underlying syncopated guitar rhythms thanks to the Tape Echo. We then got a great Lima and the finisher was Body In The Lake…I’m drawing a blank on the rest of the tunes besides When The World Comes Tumblin’ Down – but it was a great show with some great work from the new (1 year old) members – Andrew Altman on bass and some incredible fills and jaw dropping drum solos from Mark Raudabaugh. I do sorta miss The Falcon on drums and Ted on bass, but the new guys are great as well.

I caught the first bit of the Sam Kininger Band – Sam is the sax player from Soulive and Lettuce. One word describing it – funky. Sam’s band was comprised of a bassist, organ player, drummer (latter 2 being some funky ass girls). Great tight band. Band brought the funk fo sho…drummer reminded me of Russell Batiste just smacking the drums and gotta say it’s pretty hot seeing a girl work her way around an organ.

Being that I have to wake up in the morning I left mid show only to catch Bobby Lee Rodgers talking to someone outside the venue about late 50 eras Les Pauls (57 in particular). Having seen Bobby numerous times with the Codetalkers (as well as with Herring, Rodgers, Sipe & Aquarium Rescue Unit) I thought I’d just mention how I enjoyed the show and ask if they had any CDs (I have his solo CD and the 1st Codetalker’s release “Deluxe”. Bobby came up to me and said “I’m Bobby, nice to meet you…thanks for listening” I replied by saying I’ve seen him quite a few times. He said all the CDs were being reprinted. He mentioned that he plans to do some touring with Jimmy Herring soon but their schedules have to clear a bit and that a tour with Steve Kimock is in the works as well…Jimmy’s recording a solo album and touring with Panic while Bobby’s recording an album himself. Bobby said he’s playing on Jimmy’s record, and that Jimmy’s playing on his. I mentioned that being from Cary I had heard about the Jimmy Herring record since I know someone that knows the owner of Abstract Logix rather well.

Soon a crowd gathered around us and Bobby gave everyone some pointers when it comes to music – turns out he ’s back into teaching…as a side note Bobby along with Herbie Hancock is the youngest person to ever teach at Berklee School of Music. He equated music to learning/speaking a language…that you can learn the vocabulary/words (theory behind music) but you have to learn how to speak the language/fluently (rhythm/dynamics). He talked to us all for at least 30 minutes at least. It was quite awe inspiring getting a music lesson from someone of Bobby’s stature and background. He mentioned that the great jazz guys is where it’s at, who you gotta learn from i.e. Charlie Parker, Coltrane, Pat Martino, Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery…he cited that some of these guys like Wes or Joe Pass didn’t have formal training or didn’t read music, and that the guys like Parker and Gillespie learned from classical music like Bach…he then explains the whole question and response not unlike Bach’s Fugues, or even the call and response of a blues singer/musician or a group of jazz musicians – it’s a language…communication. How do you learn to speak a language? You go and immerse yourself in the culture, move to Spain to learn Spanish…same thing goes for music – get yourself immersed, move to that country…Gotta say – quite a night!

This year I didn’t get to go to Wanee festival (which by the way was the best thing that happened to me in ‘07) – but catching Gov’t Mule outside the Lincoln Theatre and the Greyboy All Stars that night inside the Lincoln somewhat made up for it. Not able to find anyone interested in going I headed out solo – Mule’s a can’t miss band for me so no biggie.

I made it there in time to catch the last few songs from the Jamie McLean Band. Jamie’s other main gig is guitarist for the legendary Dirty Dozen Brass Band, though his band is more straight forward rock. What I heard I enjoyed, but I ended up catching with an old college friend during Jamie’s set.

I positioned myself up front for the Mule. Warren came out and played a few slide licks, organ comes in- I knew immediately what song it was – “It takes more, more than a hammer…” Mule launches into “Hammer and Nails” with Hess and Abts locking into an infectious groove with a much appreciative crowd ready to groove along.

Next was “Rockin’ Horse” which has become a staple in both Mule and Allman Bros shows – I don’t think I can count on 2 hands the number of times I’ve heard this one live – but it never gets old.

“‘My gaurdian angel wears a hard hat,”
Said the boy with the microphone’
“Else, I wouldn’t be standing here today.”
Ever since I was a young a boy
I couldn’t leave well enough alone

Mule covering the Beatles’ “She Said, She Said” into “Tomorrow Never Knows” was well worth the price of admission. Warren begins playing the Tomorrow Never Knows melody and then begins singing:

Turn off your mind relax/and float downstream

During the end of Fallen Down, Mule goes into “Gimme Shelter” and then into an out of this world The Other One Jam with Greyboy All Star Karl Denson absolutely killing it on the sax. Karl then came back again during “Blind Man in the Dark” with even a bit of an Afro Blue tease.

Second set featured a Led Zeppelin’s version of “When The Levee Breaks”.

All and all – the best show I’ve been to this year for sure. I talked to an older couple that claimed to have seen over 200 Mule shows (I may have seen 15 or so if I had to guess) – the wife said she’d put this show in her top 3 Mule shows.

That night I caught the first bit of the Greyboy All Stars show, the only song I recognized was a cover of the Beatles “Taxman.” I’ve seen Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe 6 or 7 times, but this was my first Greyboy show…I enjoyed it, but was a bit tired and grew uninterested (mostly just tired) from hearing I-IV-V structured songs…don’t want to knock them too much Karl Denson was great as was Robert Walter and the rest of the band – I’m sure most nights I would’ve gladly stuck around. Warren did come out and play slide on about 2 or 3 songs – it was quite surreal seeing Warren Haynes in a smaller venue.

04.13.2008 Lincoln Theater Street Stage Raleigh, NC

Set 1
Hammer & Nails Judgement Day Tease
Rocking Horse
A Million Miles From Yesterday
Larger Than Life
She Said, She Said->
Tomorrow Never Knows
Fallen Down->
The Other One Jam with Karl Denson
Brighter Days
That’s What Love Will Make You Do with Robert Walter and Jamie McLean
Blind Man In The Dark with Karl Denson

Set 2
I Think You Know What I Mean->
When The Levee Breaks->
I Think You Know What I Mean
Slackjaw Jezebel
Beautifully Broken
Devil Likes It Slow->
Drums
Streamline Woman
Thorazine Shuffle

Encore
Soulshine

All Photos by Chris Rushin
All Monitors mixed by Earl McCoy

IPOD

About 2 weeks ago I picked up an 8GB IPOD Nano…my roommate had gotten a 4GB Nano that week, I decided I had to get one…all these years of going to the gym, I never had an mp3 player. My roommate said it was the purchase of the year…I concur. The first day I worked out, I put on some David Lee Roth era Van Halen…nothing like pumping up to Runnin’ With The Devil. It also comes in quite handy when doing yard-work.

St Patrick’s Day

Bought a 12 pack of Guinness and threw on a CD from the Punch Brothers (Chris Thile’s current band) and fell asleep jeans and all on the couch downstairs…that probably makes about 3 or 4 times within a week time I fell asleep wearing jeans listening to music downstairs and still waking up in time to go to be slightly late to work – so in other words on time (at least for me).

In Rainbows

Downloaded the recent Radiohead CD, yup the one that they released allowing fans to download it at any cost (even $0.00). I’ve never been a Radiohead fanatic, but gotta say I like it quite a bit. I’m getting more interested in music that to me is built around textures…the kind of music that I envision which is painted on a canvas with all sorts of textures and layers…this is what I hear in this CD. Great mix of acoustic, electric textures and a lot of depth to the recording…I imagine I’ll be listening to this CD for quite a while.

Birthday

This past Thursday was my birthday (mom’s is on Monday-St Patrick’s Day). Instead of using a vacation day to watch all the first day’s games of the NCAA Tournament – drinks inclusive (my buddy who did take the day off said he’d pay for everything) I decided to save up on vacation days and go into work, if my team made the tourney I probably would’ve taken the day off.

I did get the “privilege” to interview a young work prospect – my first time being on the other side of the table, which was quite interesting since I was part of a group asking questions and scrutinizing everything the interviewee said. Heading into the interview, I was thinking of a column I read from Aaron Karo (see entire column) I had recently read…here’s an excerpt from his experience of interviewing applicants:

“I just finished up another round of interviewing high school seniors who are applying to my alma mater. And once again, I’m so pissed that none of these kids seemed the least bit intimidated by me. Now don’t get me wrong, as a relatively recent graduate myself, I go out of my way to make the interviewees feel comfortable. But why do I feel like I’m more nervous than they are? What are they feeding these fucking kids?”

Anyway, this guy was a graduate of a nearby highly reputable private institution that for all intents and purposes is held in much higher regard than my alma mater…he didn’t exactly let this message be forgotten. Though a bright guy, his tone often smacked of arrogance, chocked full of pretentiousness, and he simply said plenty of the “wrong things”, some of which were brought up at his own discretion. We took him to lunch where I happened to be put on the hot seat thanks to his constant barrage of questions with the VP sitting right next to me.

After lunch, we congregated in my coworker’s office behind closed doors – the guy was interviewing for a position that would be working very closely with either me or my coworker (who was at the lunch as well). When asked if he’d be okay for us to work with, we both gave a slight shrug and somewhat unsure assurance that he’d be okay to work with (of course I’m thinking your group can have him!). Once the VP came into join our discussion, all gloves came off and it was unanimous, he wasn’t a good fit to say the least.

I talked to another colleague about the interview – his opinion was kids these days graduate college and act as though they don’t need to earn anything, we’re entitled to just give them a job, which in his opinion wasn’t quite the attitude 5 or so years ago (when I graduated).

After work, I met some coworkers at Sunset Grille for a few drinks. Usually I don’t go out on weekdays – but it was my birthday…so why not? Thursdays are usually music lesson days for me, but I called in to postpone my lesson until this Tuesday…my instructor called and said he wanted me to come in for my first vocal lesson – but the bar sounded like a better idea.

I ended up not having my ATM card (I misplaced it sometime within the last couple days but still had not found it) so a couple other people paid for my drinks – it worked out nicely given it was my birthday.

I went home where a friend was supposed to pick me up and take me to Jackastor’s…he ended up calling to cancel and I drove there myself as soon as Duke squeezed out a 1 point victory over Belmont…(the next morning my roommate texted something along the lines “…and the douche-bag of the day award goes to…”) At this bar, this girl summoned me over to her table (she was sitting with another girl) to give me a beer that they had ordered since they were going to leave – which was a bit strange. We were heckled later by a guy that pulled for both Duke & Carolina – he was quite the all-star. Got home, drank a good bit of my 12 pack of Guinness and went to bed a little after 4…nope didn’t get Good Friday off, alarm was set for 7:20.

I will not forgive you
Nor will I accept the blame
I will see you on Good Friday

Gotta throw in the Black Crowes’ reference for Good Friday – as usual Three Snakes and One Charm got a few spins. Got into work about 8:45 – we left a bit late and my roommate talked me into stopping to get Chic-Fil-A…since I lost my ATM card – free breakfast for me. Got off work at 3:30, took a power nap…then my buddy aka “douche-bag of the day” redeemed himself when he called at about 6:30 (waking me up) saying he was on his way to pick me up to go to Playmaker’s to watch the games. A couple of our friends there had been drinking since 2 – and the signs showed. After Carolina wins by about 60, we go to Player’s Retreat to meet some people that are friends of our friend. We walked to the bar, where we were greeted by 2 or 3 different waitresses telling us there were tables available and we should sit down…which would’ve pissed me off except that one of the waitresses made a nice gesture with her breasts which made the whole thing okay. Our group sat itself at the first table nearest the entrance and I’d imagine drew quite a bit of attention – of course I knew this would be the case. There was a nice 5 minute routine which I thought for sure would get us kicked out…if I wasn’t so busy laughing at my friends’ antics I probably would’ve been quite embarrassed. Needless to say, one of our friends was cut off and proceeded to stumble around the table and then pass out. Instead of going to Five Points and inevitably drinking until 4 and getting 3 hours of sleep that night, I opted to be picked up by my buddy’s fiancé and go to bed at 12ish.

Saturday

Went to the gym mid-day…worked out and then put on Southern Harmony and Musical Companion and did cardio for the whole album while watching Duke lose to West Virginia…all and all not a bad workout. Met a couple of friends out at Mac’s Tavern and played darts…an uneventful Saturday.

March me down to the seven seas
Bury me with a ruby ring
Kiss me baby on an Easter Sunday day
Make my haze blow away

Didn’t do anything for Easter really. Someone asked me if I was going to a church service – I said not likely given that I doubt I’ve been to a church service in about 15 years.

How about Davidson beating Georgetown right here at the RBC Center (<2 min from my house)…longest winning streak in NCAA’s, their last loss had come at the hands of NCSU. Looks like I have a team to pull for – a Cinderella team wearing red…that’s easy. Carolina blew away another team – gotta say it’s strange watching an RBC crowd cheer so loudly for UNC.

As for the rest of the week…I know some people interested in catching Rusted Root at the Lincoln Theatre. I was a pretty big fan in high school and late college, I threw in a few of their CDs last week to gauge whether or not I’d want to see them…I opted to catch another act when I was down in Wanee last April. It’ll be a game time decision, but if others are going I think I’ll go.

Saturday is Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers in Clayton. Chris’s first release with these guys How To Grow a Woman From the Ground, is one of my favorite CDs that has come out in the past couple of years…the new Punch Brothers is a fantastic mix of great songs with a classical touch, but with of course bluegrass instruments. This is a can’t miss. Also on Saturday, one of my friend’s band is playing along with Dizzy Reed formerly of Guns ‘N Roses – pretty damn cool gig.

Since I’m listening to the Grateful Dead’s Althea here’s a nice video (annotated lyrics):

I told Althea I was feeling lost
Lacking in some direction…

I told Althea
I’m a roving sign -
that I was born to be a bachelor -
Althea told me: Ok that’s fine -
So now I’m out trying to catch her

Chatham County Line @ Lincoln Theatre

March 8, 2008

While most of the Triangle had their eyes glued to ESPN for the UNC-Duke basketball game, the “hometown heroes” (as proclaimed by the opening act) Chatham County Line were playing their final show of their North Carolina CD Release three date mini-tour. The band’s fourth album, entitled simply IV (some homage to Led Zeppelin?), was released earlier in the week.

I’d entertained the notion of watching the basketball game with a group of friends, as well as celebrating a 30th birthday, though with no dog in the fight (being an alum of the “other rival”), I decided to head solo to the Lincoln for what would assuredly be a night of good music.

Warming up the crowd was a Amy LaVere and her band hailing from Memphis, TN. She had a voice which on one song that to me was reminiscent of a “country” Billie Holiday. Though I couldn’t quite put a finger on it, their style was a mix of old time jazz, blues, rock, and country – but dating back to a time when those genres were not so distant cousins.

During the set breaks, I talked to someone I knew from college as well as someone from my hometown. A large gathered around the TV to watch the game – at about the 4:00 mark just as Duke had come back and made it interesting – Chatham County Line came out.

The stage set up was quite simple but quite effective (picture)- a mile marker with Chatham County Line, one centrally located microphone, two other microphones on both sides, and a backdrop of simply the North Carolina state flag. It’s all about roots.

Having never seen the band or hearing much of their music (I’d sampled a little on the internet and heard a song of theirs on the Cable Music Bluegrass Channel), my first impressions were banjoist Chandler Holt sure looks like the guy that plays Kenneth on 30 Rock and mandolin player John Teer looks like George Jr from Arrested Development (TV show). My next impression was that this might be the best band from Raleigh I’ve ever heard in any genre. Very solid songwriting, great musicianship, and rich harmonies often compared to that of the Everly Brothers.

Self dubbed as “new traditionalists”, their music has roots steeped in Americana and older bluegrass/folk music – but the songwriting has a contemporary feel with present day lyrics and everpresent themes that permeate older folk music and contemporary music sans amplification. Guitarist/lead vocalist Dave Wilson sang with conviction and you knew he meant every note he sang – just an authenticity that was refreshing, yet so often hard to find in today’s world.

The most intense and compelling number of the night was “Birmingham Jail” off the newly released CD which tells the story of the church bombing in Birmingham as well as governor George Wallace refusing the admittance of two black students at the University of Alabama. The haunting violin of John Teer over a brooding minor key reminds me a bit of Dylan’s “Hurricane.”

During their encore, the band mid-song brought their instruments out into the audience – right in front of where I was standing for a couple of songs (picture) – the last being a Traveling Wilburys tune. After the show I picked up two of their CDs, IV (stream CD here) and Route 23, which I’m sure will both be in heavy rotation for quite a while.

The band will be heading next week to the world famous South by Southwest Festival, followed by some more dates stateside – then traveling to Europe where they have amassed quite the following. It’s good to see a budding scene of like-minded bands like Chatham County and Virginia bands – Old Crow Medicine Show and The Hackensaw Boys – playing contemporary music in the form of traditional music.

Chatham County Line – “Route 23″ Feb 26, 2005 Lincoln Theatre

Chris Robinson, singer for the Black Crowes was guest DJ all day on Sirius Channel 17 – Jam On. The Crowes’ new CD Warpaint was released today. As one might expect, the list is heavy on material from The Byrds/Gram Parsons/Flying Burrito Brothers, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Grateful Dead and such. I happened to catch Leon Russel’s original version of Song For You, which as Chris said has become a standard – as I had been more familiar with Donny Hathaway’s rendition – which in my opinion is one of the best soul performances of all time (see youtube video).

Chris will also be taking over the Sirius Grateful Dead channel Wednesday evening as well.

Here’s Chris’s playlist:

A week in the life:

Music, Duke/State, and other stuff………….

Music Lesson

The two main focus points of Thursday’s music lessons were 12 Tone Playing/Tritone Substitution and Right Hand Picking Technique. My instructor asked me to play A Pentatonic as well as using a technique known as side stepping over a I-IV-V progression in A (swing feel). Side stepping involves the use of adjacent scales (in this case Abm Pentatonic and Bbm Pentatonic) to create chromatic note choice and to create tension/resolve. Derek Trucks often uses this technique when playing modally without his slide. I jammed on this for what seemed like an eternity – then I played over I-vi-ii-V and ii-V-I progressions (with straight rhythms) – it was unbelievable how much easier it was to inject chromatic playing and tritone substitution phrases over…playing over the swing rhythm had suddenly helped me play these once difficult (and still difficult) phrasings more fluidly.

My “cheat sheet” for Tritone Substitutions:

As for right hand technique – my picking hand is quite inefficient, which is something that has been reinforced due to a decade of not so good technique. It was something I’d worked on for a while and had conquered, but sometimes old habits rear their ugly heads again. So much time and energy was consumed working on my left hand technique (strengthening, legato, and such) I’ve neglected my right hand…So I’m back to working on being more economical picking-wise and redeveloping my floating hand technique.

My assignment was to work on the right hand and practice playing over a track off a Jamey Aebersold instructrual “Blues Progressions” CD – which has unbelievably cheesey titles…I’m working on playing over the T-Bone Steak track.

Duke-NC State Basketball Game

This blog from StatefansNation and the videos below say it all. Basically in the end, Duke showed (with a little help from their friends) why they’re a perennial powerhouse. As for us – it’s encouraging that we played a 40 minute game…while discouraging that it came with 1 game left in the ACC season. I know games aren’t necessarily decided by one play, but it’s hard to argue this one wasn’t. We won’t be forgetting when Greg Paulus kicked the ball upcourt for a transition bucket in the first game – which in retrospect seems to have initial State’s plummet to the bottom of the conference.

Raleigh News and Observer Video

The Good Life

“And I don’t wanna be an old man anymore/It’s been a year or two since I was out on the floor/Shaking booty, making sweet love all the night/It’s time I got back to the good life/It’s time I got back, it’s time I got back/And I don’t even know how I got off the track”

This past weekend I went through a 90s music phase – it started from listening to Jeff Buckley’s Grace CD incessantly for about 3 days – then digging out other records like Siamese Dream and Weezer’s “Blue Album” and Pinkerton. What amazes me is for as much as I dislike Billy Corgan’s voice and I often dislike a wall of fuzzy guitar overdub sound – Siamese Dream is a great CD, and I have a greater appreciation for it now than I did back in high school, this being the exception rather than the rule.

For whatever reason, the lyrics above have been reverberating in my head…where did the good life go and how did I get off the track? Not that things are all that bad, I do remember when life was “the good life.” So if I did get off the track, how do I get back?… I may have some ideas.

Speaking of Weezer, I stumbled upon a paper allegedly written by Rivers Cuomo while he was attending Harvard: The Tough Sex Life of A Rock Star. Quite a humorous read on his 2 year vow of complete celibacy.

“Oh You Don’t Know The Shape I’m In”

Alright those lyrics are taken out of context, but since I bought Levon Helm’s new album today and since unfortunately Richard Manuel died March 4, 1986 – I’d throw in a reference from The Band. Just joined a gym about 5 minutes from my house and <2 min drive from my office. It costs quite a bit more than my previous gym membership, but I need something conveniently located so I actually go to the gym. I already feel better and do feel guilty if I skip a day, so those are both good signs.

(9 to 5) x 2

Found out in a staff meeting along with 100 or so fellow colleagues that my partner in crime was moving to a different group at work…translation of the above equation -> work is gonna be double the load, more stress, though the above equation does not equate to 80 hours. Of course this sorta notification is quite inexcusable. We’re looking to backfill the position – we’ll see how it goes. Oh well.

CD Binge

Another one of my classic CD binges tonight – music is obviously my “drug of choice.” The intention was to buy the new Black Crowes CD (released today), a Danny Gatton CD if I could find it, Joe Cocker live CD (heard his version of Ray Charles “Let’s Go Get Stoned” on Sirius which was fantastic) and maybe some classic soul music.  Anyway here’s what I picked up:

• Black Crowes – Warpaint
• Joe Cocker – Mad Dogs & Englishmen
• Ravi Shankar/Ali Akbar Khan – Ragas
• Ravi Shankar – Bridges: The Best of Private Music
• Levon Helm – Dirt Farmer
• Mark O’Connor – The New Nashville Cats
• Bryan Sutton – Bluegrass Guitar
• Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys – The Definitive Collection
• John Coltrane – Coltrane For Lovers
• Dr. John – All By Hisself
• Sam Cooke – Portrait of a Legend
• Otis Redding- Remember Me