Posts by Joe Raniere

On the evening of Wednesday, September 25th, the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York hosted “There’s a Reward: A Celebration of the Life and Music of Neal Casal.” The event served as a gathering for grieving fans to commemorate the multi-talented musician who passed on August 26th at the age of 50. The event […]

Over the years, the Palace Theatre in Albany, New York has been a regular Fall Tour stop for Gov’t Mule. What made their most recent performance on October 29th so unique compared to past shows was that this year, the New York Capitol venue hosted Gov’t Mule’s annual Halloween celebration. The performance honored the band’s […]

On the evening of July 26th, The Chris Robinson Brotherhood played two celestial sets at the Stone Pony, the legendary Asbury Park music club known for launching the long illustrious career of Bruce Springsteen. It was a performance that showcased most of the material off their new release Anyway You Love, We Know How You […]

A decade before Jack White had been known for revitalizing blues infused rock and roll of generations past with the White Stripes, Rich Robinson had been doing such torch bearing as part of the Black Crowes. With the release of 1990’s Shake Your Money Maker, the Black Crowes made the old sound new again, and […]

On July 20th, the Wheels of Soul Tour featuring Tedeschi Trucks Band, Los Lobos and the North Mississippi All-Stars wowed the crowd at Bethel Woods, the site of the original Woodstock Music and Arts festival. Like previous dates of this summer trek, those who came out for the show got to hear and see collaboration-heavy […]

During the summer of 2015, Sean Lennon’s neo-psychedelic band Ghost of a Saber Tooth filled the opening slot for a string of Primus shows, a trek that found Lennon partaking in spontaneous back stage jams and sitting in during the headliner’s set. Primus bassist Les Claypool was so impressed by Lennon’s musical talents and vision […]

On the evening of Friday, March 4th, the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, New York hosted Kofi Baker’s Cream Experience, the premiere live tribute to the legendary band  featuring Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. The show was part of an inaugural run with a rebooted lineup that found the project’s namesake and drummer Kofi […]

On December 11th, legendary guitar hero Leslie West played an intimate club show at Daryl’s House in Pawling, New York to support his new album, Soundcheck. Before playing a single note, West warned his audience that he was suffering from a brutal cold, but assured them that he was going to ‘’give it his all.” […]

In the mid-seventies, rock photographer Jay Blakesberg started shooting concerts with his father’s camera as a way to produce his own personal memorabilia. In the years that would follow, his photos would go from being his bedroom wall décor to being published in magazines, books and on websites, social media pages, album covers and album […]

Through clever wit and vivid detail, Doors drummer John Densmore’s new book The Doors Unhinged: Jim Morrison’s Legacy Goes on Trial tells his side of a feud with former band mates Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek over the use of the group’s name, as well as the use of their songs for commercial purposes. The […]

 The genesis of San Francisco-based photographer Jay Blakesberg’s storied career goes all the way back to the late seventies, when he started to shoot concerts with his father’s 35mm camera as a way to produce his own personal memorabilia. In the years that would follow, photography evolved from a hobby into a profession in which […]

In the mid-sixties, a New York kid named Leslie West was making his first dent on the music scene as the guitar player and singer of the Vagrants, a Long Island-based garage rock band that had a couple of minor hits on the East coast. By the end of the sixties he was making much […]

Since 1959, the annual Newport Folk Festival has been a showcase and a springboard for many of the biggest names in folk and folk-influenced music, and on October 5th and 6th, the world-renowned Santa Monica Pier hosted the iconic event’s west coast expansion, Way Over Yonder. Lingering summer weather blessed the occasion and twenty acts […]

Despite an unusual amount of overcast on the coastal shores of Southern California this summer, the sun shined brightly for the first day of the Beach Ball Festival on the world-famous Santa Monica Pier. Along with the wonderful weather, the first day of the inaugural event featured fantastic performances from legendary pioneers, today’s biggest stars […]

Since 1993, Spaceland Presents has gone from hosting events (under the moniker Club Spaceland) out of a small Silverlake pub (which currently operates independently as the Satellite) to becoming one of the premier independent club promotion and event companies in Los Angeles. Until it ended its partnership with the 1717 Silver Lake Blvd drinking hole […]

From the pummeling bash-and-groove of “The Real Me” to the dramatic conclusion of “Love Reign O’er Me,”the performance was surreal, vibrant, and fantastic. Bright lights dazzled and big screen images complimented the musical storytelling. The hypnotic sound of crashing waves crept in and out between songs, connecting them all as one as Daltrey and Townshend took no chat breaks. Aside from some typical arena/big room echo that occasionally made the vocals hard to understand and muddled some of the music, it was a smooth production. At the end of the night, Townshend said he played “a few bum notes,” but if he did, they were hard to catch.

One the key figures in those revolutionary times was Ray Davies, the chief songwriter and front-man for the Kinks, and on July 21st, he could be found onstage at the Wiltern in Los Angeles, playing a set that consisted mostly of songs by his former band. Davies tackled select gems from his vast songbook over the course of an hour and forty minutes, opening the show with a handful of barebones acoustic numbers and wrapping things up with an electric band.

In the midst of the band’s busy schedule, Nelson found the time to pen brand new songs, which he then brought to the band to help with the arrangements and sounds. Once the songs were fleshed out, the band left their home base in Venice, California and headed to Nashville, where the band recorded this new album, Wasted, live in the studio.

Once again, this year booked some of the biggest names in the blues universe, from established legends to the best of the up-and-comers. The event also continued their tradition of embracing folk, funk, rock, jazz, R&B, gospel and world music acts that incorporate the blues into their sound. The following is an account of this year’s highlights.

It was early April when Prince called-in to George Lopez’s late night talk show and announced that he would be playing a 21-night run in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and over the course of the next month and a half, the region would be under what you could only call a “Purple Reign.”