The first show of 2010 — which sure beats the only show of 2009!
I found Ultraviolet Hippopotamus while looking at the various jam bands that performed New Year’s Eve shows. This Michigan band is terrific, and I found a great show with superior audio quality performed at Czar’s in St. Joseph, Missouri, on October 19, 2007.
Call the comment line at +1.206.337-7321 (note this is a new call-in number), or drop us a line at jamjourney [at] gmail [dot] com.
There’s not much of the Hippo on YouTube, but this is a pretty nice introductory video.
Also, as promised, here’s the link to the YouTube video of Elvis Costello, the Imposters, Nick Lowe, Levon Helm, Allen Toussaint, Larry Campbell and Richard Thompson performing the Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed.”
Hey, now…only four months between episodes. That’s better!
This episode features Perpetual Groove — PGroove to their fans — a jam band out of Athens, Georgia that doesn’t have that southern rock sound to them. I’ve been listening to these guys a lot and await a West Coast tour.
I promised some links in the show notes from the show, so here goes:
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And, as always, here’s a video bonus: Perpetual Groove performs “Sweet Oblivious Antidote” at the Ameberland IX festival at Cherokee Farms, Lafayette, Georgia on May 25, 2008.
Nearly 13 months after the 10th leg, I’m back with the eleventh. This time around, we’ll hear three songs from three different performances by The Heavy Pets, which plays a packed weekly gig in Ft. Lauderdale, has been a presence at several festivals, and is slowly building a name for itself.
As I note in the show, I’m making no promises about how soon I’ll get the 12th leg out. Of course, getting comments is a serious motivator, so email them to me at jamjourney [at] gmail.com, or call the comment line, which is new: 206-350-2694.
All the music from today’s show was grabbed at Archive.org: “Girl You Make Me Stupid,” recorded at the 930 Club in D.C. on November 21, 2008; “Do It Right,” recorded at The Eldo in Crested Butte, CO on July 10, 2008; and “Lisa Put a Penny,” recorded at the Dive Bar in Ft. Lauderdale, April 30, 2008.
Here’s a video bonus, “Operation of Flight,” from December 7, 2007, at the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, Florida:
Three months since the last leg of the journey but I’m back, finally, with a new installment. Like most of the bands featured here, I found Raq listed in a festival lineup, uncovered shows at archive.org, and found myself going back to those shows on my iPod over and over again. Hailing from Phish country — Vermont — this four-piece band is equally at home with original music and an eclectic mix of covers. (Who else covers the Dead, Kiss, Green Day, Zappa and Velvet Underground?)
As usual, I’ve got some news to cover from the world of jam bands and an assortment of other odds and ends. Please comment — I’m still waiting for the first call to the comment line at 206.338.4123. Email is welcome, too, at JamJourney at Gmail dot com, or you can just post a note right here on the blog.
The songs on today’s show are “Clamside” (4-9-05) and “Welcome to the Donkey Show” (2-23-07). As an extra treat, here’s a YouTube video of Raq performing “Beauregard” in Vail, Colorado in February 2005:
Held January 20 and 21 at the World Financial Center Winter Garden, the American Beauty Project featured a variety of artists performing the songs, in order, from the Grateful Dead’s “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty” LPs, “Workingman’s” on the first night and “Beauty” on the second. The artists covered a broad range, including Jorma Kaukonen, Rob Barraco, Teresa Williams, the Klezmatics, David Spelman, Railroad Earth, Toswhi Reagon, Ollabelle, The Holmes Brothers, Dar Williams, and a slew more. The official site is at MySpace and asks you to keep your eyes open for the upcoming DVD, but I can’t find any word anywhere else about any official releases.
I’m playing four cuts, two from each night. From “Workingman’s Dead,” there’s “Cumberland Blues” and “Casey Jones;” from “American Beauty,” it’s “Attics of My Life” and “Sugar Magnolia.” In addition, you can find Jorma doing Ron “Pigpen” McKernan’s “Operator” on the second night on YouTube, so I might as well offer it here:
No, I have not done a podfade. Yes, the last time I did a JamJourney was April freakin’ 10th, three months ago to the day. What can I say? I’ve been busy, and my regular podcast, For Immediate Release, has come out twice a week, just like clockwork despite a frantic travel schedule and a ton of client work.
But I’m glad to be back with a bunch of news and a couple tracks from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals from a February 18, 2006 show at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. The Nocturnals are a Vermont band (Phish’s home state, not a bad pedigree) whose music is underscored by a wicked Hammond organ played by the 24-year-old Potter, who also pens the songs and handles (or I should say, belts out) the vocals.
Next up — and I swear it’ll only be a couple weeks — I’ll play some cuts from the American Beauty Project.
An answer to a question I wasn’t prepared to answer on the show: Yes, there was a D.U.M.B. tour featuring Umphrey’s and Disco Biscuits. There were only four shows, June 27-30, all in southeast. The music is available for download in various places, including archive.org and the etree bittorrent tracker.
Here’s a bonus: Grace and the boys doing Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train” at the 8×10 in Baltimore, MD on September 14, 2006:
While Assembly of Dust says on its MySpace profile (hey, even Phil Lesh has a MySpace profile these days) that the band sounds like the Black Crowes, Jack Johnson, Wilco and some other artists, but to me, for all the world, they sound like the David Nelson band…which is just fine by me. I couldn’t find as much background info about AOD online as I can for most bands (I don’t know from where they hail, for instance), most likely because they’re fairly young, having released their first studio CD just last month and their first live CD only in 2005. I picked them at random from a list of bands playing at one of the summer festivals, and I’m glad I did. These guys have a nice hint of country (like Nelson, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the like), but rock they very nicely. And the sound quality of this audience recording is awesome.
For the first time, I’m playing music by a band I’ve heard before. The idea behind this podcast is very personal; it forces me to do what I’ve wanted to do for years, which is downloading shows from jam artists I’ve somehow managed never to hear. But it’s time to share one of my favorites. Umphrey’s McGee opened for Phil Lesh & Friends at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, which is where I first heard them. I’ve been hooked ever since. An incredibly tight band that jams with the flavor of progressive rock, these guys out of South Bend have incredible energy and are amazingly tight. Enjoy!
Who knew? These guys are right in my own backyard and play just the kind of jam music I like the best — straight-ahead rock ‘n roll. (Their website, in fact, declares they are Rock ‘n Roll Band Tea Leaf Green.)
The first show I grabbed from Archive.org was an awesome performance, but the audio quality wasn’t what I wanted to play on the show, so I picked up another show, this one from the Starr Hill Brewery and Music Hall in Charlottesville, Virginia, recorded August 26, 2006. It’s a sound board recording, and it sounds great.
For the first time on JamJourney, I’m playing a sequence (what those of you not familiar with jam styles might call a “medley”). The jam piece in Leg 5 is “Sex in the 70’s,” but we start out with the tune that won Tea Leaf Green their best song Jammy in 2006, “Taught to be Proud,” which segues into “Sex,” then comes back to finish “Taught.”
I have no idea yet what I’ll do for the 6th leg, so if there’s a band you’re aching to hear, let me now. Don’t forget to leave comments either here or by email to jamjourney at gmail dot com.
Lorne, thanks again for the recommendation to feature Railroad Earth, a roots jam band from rural western New Jersey. Two cuts here from the Lincoln Theater in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 6, 2004: “Give That Boy a Hand” and “Head.”
A couple sites worth noting for Railroad Earth: Hobo is a fan site, and there’s also a Yahoo! mailing list called “Earthboard.”
Unless anybody suggests something different, I’ll shoot for Tea Leaf Green on the fifth leg.
