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Recap: Newport Folk Festival

With a seemingly rotating door on music festivals over the last handful of years it’s assuring to know that you can continually count on the Newport Folk Festival to be there year in and year out, offering up a high quality and diverse lineup in one of the most serene settings imaginable. Returning once again to the historic Fort Adams State Park, the fest delivered an amazing swath of artists from folk to funk and everything in between.


Much like how there are those musicians that are referred to as a “singer-songwriter’s singer-songwriter,” well now after having attended Newport Folk the label of a “music fan’s music fest” might be the best way to describe it. With three stages and 30-plus acts to choose from, it seemed relatively easy to plant yourself in front of one stage for the day – like many did – and take in all the action. For the ambitious music lovers though, the close proximity of the Fort, Harbor and Quad stages made it a breeze to catch an impressive amount of music over the two-day span.

Saturday kicked off with one of the fest’s biggest success stories – The Low Anthem – who just three years prior were picking up trash as on-site volunteers and now found themselves with a main stage slot. The Providence-based band showcased their gorgeous folk music, which features an odd menagerie of instruments – crotales, harmonium and clarinet – along with the obvious guitar, bass and drums. Taking in just a handful of songs, which was highlighted by a sublime take on Apothecary, and their interpretation of Rev. Gary Davis’ Sally Where’d You Get The Liquor From?, I had to pulled myself away from really the one lone conflict of the weekend to see a full set from A.A. Bondy.

READ ON for more of Jeff’s recap of Newport Folk…

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Black Crowes Treat Leno to a Classic

The Black Crowes stopped by The Tonight Show last night to perform on Jay Leno’s show. Since the band is promoting the two-disc Croweology set of acoustic recordings of hits

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God Street Wednesdays: GSW on Land

We’re just a few weeks removed from God Street Wine’s four action-packed reunion shows in New York City and Winos are already focusing in on the band’s next gig as

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Video: Backstage @ Telluride Bluegrass

With all the interplay that goes on at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival between artists, it should come as no surprise that festival newcomers Mumford & Sons fit right in at

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SCI @ Horning’s Hideout: Update #3

Words and Images: Jason Gershuny

SCI @ Horning’s Hideout, July 31

There is always a unique feeling in the air at Horning’s Hideout on Saturday night. It is almost like there is this collective giddiness to what is about to transpire, and everyone has a little extra skip to their step and a little extra umph to their already enormous smiles. There was still a ton of music to see before the nighttime extravaganza, and I for one was not going to let the anticipation of nighttime fun stand in the way of enjoying the day.


Once I got my needed cup or eight of coffee, and stepped away from the laptop I bee-lined it to Col. Bruce Hampton’s Outstructional Workshop. He was playing with his guitarist and bassist, and it was a casual and thought provoking good time. It was great seeing him in this relaxed format, and his smooth, soulful singing was a heck of a way to start my day. From there I headed to the Everyone Orchestra, which had a packed stage of 14 musicians all bringing their own unique style to the collective mix.

It occurred to me that with any form of music, practice leads to steady improvement, and I have to say that Matt Butler’s performance as the conductor of this ensemble showed his own growth through the years. It must be a challenge to be able to organize and inspire musicians that don’t often play together on the fly, and Matt did an excellent job. They offered a great version of David Bowie’s Fame and really were tight for a group that doesn’t get to practice and play together as a band.


READ ON for more from Jason on Saturday at Horning’s…

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Jam Cruise Files: Joel Cummins

Our Jam Cruise Files column continues today as we chat with recent Jam Cruise 9 addition Joel Cummins. Joel has either been on or been at the dock for every single Jam Cruise. The Umphrey’s McGee keyboardist will treat Jam Cruise 9 attendees to a set of UM music arranged for solo piano.

Joel Plays Orfeo in Downtown Denver


Hidden Track: You’ve seen the growth of Jam Cruise from a small boat for the first trip to last year’s cruise on the massive Poesia. Do you feel the sense of intimacy and community has been compromised at all?

Joel Cummins: The intimacy of the experience is still definitely there. Here’s the thing, when you have four or five different stages and you only have 2,500 fans attending, you figure at the most there are 2,000 people out watching music, maybe 1,000 people at the main stage and 750 in the theatre at peak times? That’s like watching a show at a small venue. And the trade off for having real production on the stages is where its at.

I loved the smaller boats, but we couldn’t have a real stage, a real PA or a real light show on any of those boats. The fans are getting a much better experience all the way around and I still have no problem seeing and finding my friends. Plus, I think about 50% of the boat now has balconies, which makes the experience that much more enjoyable.

READ ON for more from Joel on Jam Cruise past and future…

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Briefly: Jam Cruise 9 Additions

A fresh batch of artist additions to Jam Cruise 9 has been announced and includes a few familiar names to Jam Cruisers. Steve Kimock returns to the boat as a

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Hidden Flick: The Werckmeister Kingdom

I walked through the doorway, and was hit by the sound of a Porcupine Tree song:

All my designs, simplified

And all of my plans, compromised

Further down the hallway of the grand interior of what looked like the brain-damaged home of the owner of the Hidden Theatre, I spotted the instructions to a game that never seemed to exist:

The door opens at the Rhombus, and Colonel Forbin, an aging military man, his best years fading away into the past, sees a chance in the magical land of Gamehendge for a complete state of renewal. He can also save Gamehendge, the land of the enslaved Lizards, from Wilson, the evil King of Prussia, defeat its enemies, and get a girl by solving puzzles through acts of mental and physical discovery, finding the Key to It All, and taking part in a series of epic battles.



Further along, I walked into what looked like a refurbished hospital room. Simplified, I appeared to be in some lost kingdom, a lost continent, with hidden and lost secrets, which only games, wedded to music, could explain. Alas, there were no games, no music, just a film flickering on the wall of this room. Further down, further along, I sat down to gaze at its cryptic images amidst a counterpoint of harmonies, heavy and soft, tight but loose. Ahh…sweet strands with a clenched fist that always seems to play as if its palm is open, allowing melodies and ideas to drift away from the original point, the original note, and the Zeppelin flies onwards in this week’s Hidden Flick, Werckmeister Harmonies.

Co-directed by Béla Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky, and written by László Krasznahorkai, the 2000 film was made in Hungary, and details a small town in that Central European country. János Valuska, played with quiet simplicity and engaging pathos by Lars Rudolph, wanders a town seared by the presence of a bizarre and evil traveling circus that has served to undermine the convictions of its citizens, while derailing the curiously innocent view of the universe held by Valuska, a man intent in finding the sane in an insane universe. Trickster God? Not sure. But this film espouses a powerful theory about one as embodied by the mysterious Prince, who entrances and horrifies the townsfolk. READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick…

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Is That Freedom Rock? Turn It Down Or I’ll Blast You With My Air Horn

Don’t expect to see Waterloo, IA resident “Hot” Carl Herold at the upcoming Phish shows in the Midwest. Herold despises “hippie tunes” so much that he went to jail after he started blasting an air horn at music-loving neighbors according to a report by the Associated Press.


The problems started when the Iowa man’s neighbors played their music at too loud a level for Herold’s comfort on a regular basis. Herold called the cops frequently yet the music never stopped. “Hot” Carl decided to take matters into his own hands and bought an air horn that was taken from an old dump truck. The 62-year-old man blasted the air compressor-driven horn “every few seconds” leading neighbors to call the cops themselves.

Officer Stephen Crozier investigated and found a very angry Herold who told the cop he was tired of constantly calling police to complain about the “hippie tunes” coming from across the street. “Hot” Carl was led away in handcuffs after he refused Crozier’s order to stop blowing the horn.

While we found a few articles on this story we can’t seem to find any indication of which “hippie tunes” drove Herold to the brink. READ ON to vote on which popular jam band would piss “Hot” Carl off the most…

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