Thursday, May 27, 2010

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

My Morning Jacket Announce August US Tour

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This news just made me a little cheerier on this grey Chicago Tuesday. Charter One in August should be a fun one on the lakefront.

From the MMJ site:

My Morning Jacket will be headlining new US Tour dates this coming August. The dates will begin in San Diego on August 11th, will include a slot at the Mile High Festival, dates supporting Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and will conclude in Philadelphia on August 28th. Avi Buffalo will support the band on their San Diego and Los Angeles dates.

Dates Below...

MMJ August 2010 Tour Dates
(w/ respective charity they will be supporting for each show)

* = supporting slot for Tom Petty
# = with Avi Buffalo


08/11: San Diego, CA - SDSU Outdoor Theatre #
San Diego Coast Keeper (www.sdbaykeeper.org)

08/12: Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre #
School On Wheels (www.schoolonwheels.org)

08/15: Denver, CO - Mile High Festival


08/17: Chicago, IL @ Charter One Pavilion
Mercy Home (www.mercyhome.org)


08/19: Boston, MA - Comcast *

08/20: Burlington, VT - Champlain Valley Lawn
Combat Paper Project (www.combatpaper.org) 


08/21: Boston, MA - Comcast *

08/24: Newark, NJ @ Izod Center *

08/25: Holyoke, MA @ Mountain Park
WomanShelter (www.womanshelter.org)


08/27: Pittsburgh, PA @ Station Square Amphitheater
Just Harvest (www.justharvest.org)


08/28: Rochester, NY @ CMAC
Finger Lakes Land Trust (www.fllt.org)


08/29: Philadelphia, PA @ Great Plaza
Greensgrow Philadelphia Project (www.greensgrow.org/philly)


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Friday, May 14, 2010

TGIF Jams! ..long overdue


For all you goons heading out to catch Point Break LIVE! tonight:
Futurebirds - Johnny Utah

These guys are at the Congress Theatre Tonight.
Torche - Healer

Tina's Jam of the Day
Rill Rill - Sleigh Bells

...and mine
The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio

And finally, maybe it's fitting to have the Brooklynite by way of Italy, Constanza, release what is the first song I've heard in response to the passing of Arizona's SB 1070. Much of the track is Costanza reading through the US D156 Immigration Form that legal immigrants must fill out. Costanza herself is a legal non-resident alien and she assures me she pays her taxes. In an email exchange through her publicist she expressed her desire to, "speak up on the issue, so that we can foster discussion and healthy democratic debate, regardless of which side of the debate we are on." That'd probably be good for all of us.

Have a listen to the track:


Just Another Alien – Costanza












MP3 search on MP3hunting





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Thursday, May 13, 2010

New Orleans Jazz Fest - Sunday 4/25/10

Elizabeth's
Elizabeth's - 601 Gallier Street New Orleans, LA

We crammed a lotta livin’ into 4 days in New Orleans. We also crammed a lotta good grub into our bellies in that time. Sunday was no exception as today we would eat two of our best meals of the trip.

It was a sloooow start getting things going on Sunday morning after the festivities of the night before. We didn’t make it out to breakfast until about 1 pm. We made the trek (totally worth it) to Elizabeth’s. It was a little bit of a wait for this ravenous bunch, but we did get to see the lead guitarist from Hootie & The Blowfish, Mark Bryan ride up on his bike and put his name on the list.


After the wait we were greeted by a menu that featured praline bacon and every dish seemed to have 2 poached eggs and hollandaise sauce on top.
It was exactly what our grease craving crew needed at that point.

Back on a full tank, we made our way back out to the Fair grounds for our Day 3 at Jazz Fest. Riley once again delivered with the Miller Lite Tent. This being even more important as it was legitimately HOT. We slow played a few Boggses in the shade and listened to Levon Helm, Marcia Ball, and The Allman Brothers. Eventually we had to brave the sun for at least the walk over to see baby faced Johnny Lang give it his all in the Blues Tent.

Sunset on Jazz Fest
sun sets on the first weekend of Jazz Fest

It was a laid back Sunday at the racetrack; as any day at the track should be. We met an enterprising gentleman offering rides in his truck. Some might be leery of an unlicensed taxi, but when we heard Benny Goodman on his radio we knew the guy was legit. We asked him to take us to Dookie’s for dinner, but he recommended a favorite place of his; Madina’s. As he dropped us of he said, ‘Get the etoufee.’

Our sketchy ride was just in time. We got the last table and then the place got slammed. We ate crawfish etoufee for days. It isn’t often I can’t finish my dinner, but this was one such occasion. Bellies stuffed we made our way back to downtown on the Canal St. streetcar. Our trip to New Orleans was winding to a close. Satisfied.

Hubig's!
Hubig's Pies van on Canal St.

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New Orleans Jazz Fest - Saturday 4/24/10 & George Porter @ d.b.a.

Funky Meters on Acura Stage
As we continue our recounting of our experience in New Orleans for the Jazz and Heritage festival’s first weekend I need to make a note that both Friday and Saturday we received our pre festival sustenance at Mother’s Restaurant. Friday it was one of these:


The Ferdi Special Po Boy. Saturday it was a crawfish omelet. It was all kinds of good both days and served as a good base for the festivities each time.

Saturday in a lot of ways was all about the My Morning Jacket setfor us. It was also however about Riley coming through with a great hook up…and it did finally stop raining.

After raining all day Friday it started off cloudy out at the racetrack, but was soon a hot one. Thankfully while we watched Cowboy Mouth in the early afternoon we found our way to the Miller Lite tent. The Kid had done his legwork. He had a name. She remembered him and the 4 members of our party were admitted to the Miller Lite tent. We were out of the sun. We could sit and rest a minute. We could watch a live feed and listen to the different stages…oh and we each could have 4 free adult beverages. BUCKEYE RILEY!

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We watched The Funky Meters and some Better Than Ezra and enjoyed the shade and cold drinks before the big MMJ show. #1 Star of the Weekend to Riley for that pull alone (he also hooked up the hotel and the plane tickets, so he is officially THE MAN).

Bourbon Street

After a great day at the festival we were in for a big Saturday. After the requisite grub was consumed we met up with our bud LEB and friends for a little soiree. She has some great pictures of the festival. Be sure to check em out here, here, here, and here.

George Porter Jr. and the Runnin' Pardners

About midnight folks started to disperse to their selected live music venue of choice for the night. We made our way to d.b.a. to see George Porter Jr. and The Runnin’ Pardners. We had seen/heard Porter earlier in the day perform with The Funky Meters. Good times to see him in a more intimate environment. We met some cool people there and sure enough in the wee hours of the morning our old friend Maurice Brown made an appearance onstage to join Porter and his band.

doin it

After a few short days we came to realize that’s kind of how New Orleans works; you never know who you’ll run into or where you’ll end up, but odds are there’s a familiar and friendly face around the corner sometime soon.


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New Orleans Jazz Fest - Friday 4/23/10 Ramblings

Muddy Feet
Is it too late to include a few final ramblings on the trip to New Orleans for jazz fest? We’ve already been over the culinary delights of Thursday and that night’s festivities at Vaughan’s with Kermit & Co. We ran you through the 90 minutes of My Morning Jacket that we saw on Saturday. What about the rest of the weekend? We saw lots of other music too and some of it was pretty keeeck ace. Let’s see if we can remember the rest of the weekend here.

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Friday April 23rd was a wet one. We arrived at the grounds in our $1 SoCo ponchos (best purchase of the weekend?) in the midst of a serious rainstorm. Anything exposed was immediately soaked and footwear was a muddy mess. We watched New Orleans’ own Jon Cleary bang away in the rain on the piano at the Gentilly Stage. The crowd seemed sparse for the whole day as many people probably decided to wait for better weather, but the people that made it out in the elements were giving it their all. Feet may have been dampened, but spirits were not as fans danced and twirled carelessly in the mud.

After Jon Cleary we made our way to the other end of the grounds to the Acura Stage where we were drawn in by Deacon John doing a cover of Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers To Cross”. I love that tune. We stayed a minute, but he finished his set shortly thereafter and we decided to retreat to the Jazz Tent for a break from the rain and to see the Chicago born trumpet player Maurice Brown. We had seen him play the night before when he joined Kermit at Vaughan’s. The Jazz tent on Friday was decidedly more subdued in its appreciation of the playing, but it was appreciative nonetheless. We would find ourselves humming Brown’s tune, “Holy Cow” for much of the rest of the weekend.

A little drier and recharged after sitting for the Maurice Brown performance we made our way back into the rain and watched a little of the Semolian Warriors in their Mardi Gras Indian outfits.
Semolian Warriors Mardi Gras Indians
We scooted by George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic for a minute and continued down to watch the Lost Bayou Ramblers at the Fais Do-Do Stage. That was a fun band to watch…some good Cajun music.
Lost Bayou Ramblers

From there it was on to catch a few songs from The Black Crowes. Kinda refreshing to hear some rock and roll. We saw them play “Jealous Again” and then decided we better get up to see Lionel Richie or we’d regret it.

We made the muddy trek back up to the Acura Stage again to catch the last hour or so of Lionel Richie. He killed it. The guy played one jam after another; “Hello”, “Dancing On The Ceiling”, “Three Times A Lady”, etc. He reminded the crowd often, “oh, we got songs…” I remain impressed with his stage presence and entertainer chops. He was awesome. I didn’t even realize I knew that many Lionel Richie songs, but every one was a jam. He tapped into The Commodores catalogue and played “Brick House”. By the time he came out for an encore performance of “All Night Long” nobody cared that it was rainy and muddy.

Well, my friends the time has come,
Raise the roof and have some fun.
Throw a-way de work to be done,
Let the music play on…


Fitting words for the Jazz Fest.




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