TnJ 087 (9/24/09)

-HOUR ONE-

HOT BUTTERED RUM – Limbs Akimbo (2009 Limbs Akimbo)
STRING CHEESE INCIDENT – Looking Glass (9/23/03 Austin, TX)
KYLE HOLLINGSWORTH – Wide Open (2009 Then There’s Now)
JIM WEIDER’S PROJECT PERCOLATOR – Release Yourself (2009 Pulse)
CADILLAC JONES – Rhythm Method (2009 Rhythm Method)
JOHN COLTRANE – Equinox (1964 Coltrane’s Sound)
JIMMY CARPENTER – Don’t Believe It (2008 Toiling in Obscurity)

-HOUR TWO –

PAPA GROWS FUNK – Dolemite Returns (2006 Live at the Leaf)
RED ELVISES – I Wanna See You Bellydance (1999 Your Favorite Band LIVE)
PHISH – First Tube (8/1/09 Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO)
moe. – Time Ed (2005 Warts & All Volume 4, 7/18/98 Carbondale, IL)
EMORY QUINN – Ships and Planes (2008 the Road Company)
MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD – Sometimes (2001 Stay Human)***
GOOSE CREEK SYMPHONY - Head for the Hills / Will the Circle Be Unbroken (2009 Head for the Hills, c. 1975)

*** As of this writing, wikipedia incorrectly lists www.stayhuman.org as Franti's official site - DON'T BELIEVE IT!

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NATHAN MOORE NEWS

Santa Feans may remember Nathan Moore from ThaMuseMeant days. Since relocating back east, he's joined forces with The Slip and Marco Benevento to re-form Surprise Me, Mr. Davis, and also continues to release great solo roots records, such as his latest ("Folk Singer," on the Royal Potato Family label). Also check Frogville Records for Nathan's past releases.

Here's a couple of links you can check out to see what he's been up to lately:

A performance of "Hard Times" from the RELIX Magazine offices

And a brand new feature from JAMBASE

Santa Fe loves you, Nathan (^_^)

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IF I HADN'T SEEN IT...

...I wouldn'ta belieft it. If the Chuck Mead / Felice Brothers / Old Crow Medicine Show combo rolls through your town (and I think I overheard them saying they were going through Arizona next) -- YOU -- MUST -- SEE -- THIS.

I was so transfixed by the amazing, bestial showmanship on the stage tonight, I couldn't even bring myself to break away for a "trip to the loo." For like, 3 hours.

I'm still too shell shocked to make any cogent statements right now, actually.

SEE THIS

You won't be sorry. Forget what other people are saying is worth checking out. This is it. The most authentic, jubilant, visceral, insane, possibly deadly spectacle I've ever witnessed. Their energy level was so off-the-chart I kept thinking they were gonna hurt themselves. If they can keep this up indefinitely, they're definitely on to something.

God bless you all for such a magical night (^_^)

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JAMES FELICE interview posted

Thanks to James Felice for taking time out before hitting the road to speak with me from rural, upstate New York. Thanks to Holland Nix for setting things up and turning me on to The Felice Brothers' "Yonder Is the Clock." It's great stuff.

Listen to the interview HERE

Don't forget they're playing in Santa Fe this Tuesday night (^_^)

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TnJ 086 (9/17/09)

-HOUR ONE-

LITTLE FEAT – Dixie Chicken > Tripe Face Boogie (1978 Waiting for Columbus)
James Felice – Interview part 1
FELICE BROTHERS – Penn Station (2009 Yonder Is the Clock) thefelicebrothers.com
FELICE BROTHERS – Run Chicken Run (2009 Yonder Is the Clock)
James Felice – Interview part 2
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW – Alabama High-Test (2008 Tennessee Pusher)
fun. – All the Pretty Girls (2009 Aim and Ignite)
CHARLIE HUNTER – Two for Bleu (2000 Charlie Hunter)

-HOUR TWO-

LETTUCE – Twisted (2002 Outta Here)
TAJ MAHAL – Leaving Trunk (1968 Taj Mahal)
JOE COCKER – The Letter (1970 Mad Dogs & Englishmen)
JIM McPHERSON – Left Out In the Cold (2009 A Promise Kept, c. 1982)
BEN HARPER – Burn One Down (8/18/96 San Rafael, CA)
ZACH DEPUTY – Games (Roll Tonight) (2009 Sunshine) homegrownmusic.net
WIDESPREAD PANIC w/DEREK TRUCKS, SUSAN TEDESCHI, and YONRICO SCOTT – Angels On High (7/12/08 All Good Festival, Masontown, WV) livewidespreadpanic.com

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FELICE BROTHERS interview

Tune in this Thursday (9/17) to hear Toast's interview with James Felice of The Felice Brothers - then catch The Felice Brothers live at the Santa Fe Brewing Company on Tuesday (9/22). They're on the bill with Old Crow Medicine Show!

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CD REVIEW – PHISH “Joy” – 9/14/09

PHISH “Joy” – released 9/8/09 - phish.com

It’s been a long time since Phans have had a new studio disc from Fishman & co. Five years, in fact. Of course, a number of those years they weren’t even together anymore – seemingly for good this time.

I haven’t looked as forward to a CD release in a while, and yet rarely have been as disappointed with the release once it was in my stereo.

Of course, it’s arguable that anything so anticipated couldn’t possibly live up to expectations (“Phantom Menace,” anyone?), nor do I mean to say there aren’t some things to love about “Joy,” but it’s not an instant classic like “Rift” or “Billy Breathes.”

Maybe Burlington’s Phinest are merely trying to reclaim territory they already conquered from upstart, would-be usurpers who arose in their absence, but much of the material on “Joy” has a real “been-there, done-that” feel to my ears.

And yet, it’s exactly some of this shopworn material which pleases me the most among these 10 new tracks:

“Kill Devil Falls” recalls one of their earliest radio singles, “Chalk Dust Torture,” from 1992’s “A Picture of Nectar.” It chugs along in a passable rock-n-roll groove and is one of my favorite songs on this disc, yet lacks the ebullience in its execution which compelled me to drop everything and dance, or at least air-guitar, when “Chalk Dust Torture" was heard.

“Time Turns Elastic” certainly manages to masquerade as a classic Phish jam, clocking in at 13 minutes and change, and there’s never been a studio track of that chronological magnitude. But where an early epic like “The Divided Sky” or “Reba” succeeds without the benefit of a rabid audience to fuel its madness, “Time Turns Elastic” seems to merely hint at jams-to-come without ever actually jamming. It’s more akin to the carefully plotted, sprawling suites of Zappa, Rush, or Yes than to a Phish jam, but it certainly has the potential to blow the roof off a venue live, if allowed to breathe.

“Come hide in the herd and float with the flock,” from the anthropomorphic curiosity “Ocelot,” comes off like a quintessential Tom Marshall lyric – maybe a little too quintessential. For the uninitiated, Marshall is to Anastasio as John Perry Barlow is to Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, i.e. he cobbles together the trippy lyrics which make a Phish song so very Phishy when doled out over the psychedelic alchemy of the band’s musical structure (anyone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). There’ve been many of these kinds of songs in the Phish catalog and, though not nearly as cringingly embarrassing as “Guyute,” from 1998’s “The Story of the Ghost,” it has an undercurrent of Phish going through the motions.

Of course, I’d argue all of Phish’s albums since “Ghost” have had that feeling all the way through, and I’d like to state for the record I think “Joy” is definitely a stronger statement of purpose than any of those. Maybe it’s the burgeoning curmudgeon I find myself becoming in the second half of life, but “Joy” is just oozing with happiness, and it’s not like I don’t get the feeling they’re sincere about it (this is the first album they’ve released without major label backing), it’s just a bit much for me to endure from a Phish album. Wither something akin to the creepiness of “Tweezer,” or the playful menace of “Fee”?

The title track, “Joy,” starts in the same earnest, heartfelt vein as “Waste,” from 1996’s “Billy Breathes,” also produced by Steve Lillywhite – no slouch of a producer, I might add – but quickly veers into a blissful and uninteresting chorus which begs me to turn my frown upside-down. Personally, whenever some twirly-dancing flower child begins orbiting me at a show, it’s usually all I can manage not to punch their lights out.

Honestly, I’ve heard more interesting stuff from the members of Phish during their individual jaunts of the last few years and, while this reunion is not nearly the half-hearted train wreck the last one was (see their clunky read of “Chalk Dust Torture” from SNL at the dawn of their last reunion), I can only hope that this is merely the first toddling step into a brave new Phish world yet to come.

~ Chris Diestler, A.K.A. Toast

TnJ 085 (9/10/09)

PHRESH PHISH PHRY-UP (^_^)

-HOUR ONE-

PHISH – Ocelot (2009 Joy)
PHISH – Joy (2009 Joy)
PHISH – Kill Devil Falls (2009 Joy)
GOV’T MULE – Frozen Fear (2009 By a Thread)
STEEZ – Trouser Snakes (2009 Creepfunk Crusade) homegrownmusic.net
FOUR FINGER FIVE – Bullets (2007 Four Finger Five)
JOHNNY WINTER – You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now (2009 the Woodstock Experience, c. 1969)

-HOUR TWO-

GRATEFUL DEAD – It Hurts Me Too (2/18/71 Capitol Theater, Port Chester, NY)
LEO KOTTKE – I Yell at Traffic (1995 Live)
CRACKER – Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room (2003 Countrysides)
MiLkDrive – Baby Arm (2009 Live ’09)
EMMITT-NERSHI BAND – Mango Tango (2009 New Country Blues) scifidelity.com
GREG MERRITT’s HEAVY ROAD – Improvisation #4 (2/26/09 Day 2 demo) myspace.com/GregMerrittMusic
PHISH – Time Turns Elastic (2009 Joy)

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TnJ 084 (9/3/09)

-HOUR ONE-

WEEN – A Tear for Eddie (1994 Chocolate and Cheese)
THE FELICE BROTHERS – Chicken Wire > Ambulance Man (2009 Yonder Is the Clock)
THE RADIATORS – River Run (2009 the Lost Southlake Sessions)
KARL DENSON’s TINY UNIVERSE – Brother’s Keeper (part 1) > Brother’s Keeper (part 2) (2009 Brother’s Keeper)
OZOMATLI – Can’t Stop (2007 Don’t Mess with the Dragon)
UMPHREY’s McGEE – Mantis (2009 Mantis)

-HOUR TWO-

GREAT CAESAR’s GHOST – Bertha (2009 Better Off Dead)
RAILROAD EARTH – Railroad Earth (2005 Elko)
CASEY DRIESSEN – Uncontinental Breakfast (2009 Oog)
ROBERT WALTER – Snakes and Spiders (2008 Cure All)
ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND – Desdemona (7/10/04 Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO)
THE SUBDUDES – All the Time in the World (2008 Live at the Ram’s Head)
BONERAMA – Funky Miracle (2001 Live at the Old Point)

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