Interviews

Verbena

Greg Kessler has a natural ability to candidly capture musicians and the world in their most natural states. From Karl Denson, Phish, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones to Death Valley National Park, Europe, and the art of dance, Kessler delivers to us a fresh view of both humans and nature.

When Sean Welch

With a music career that includes extensive classical training, a Bachelors Degree in Music from the State University of New York-New Paltz, member of the house band for The Cosby Show, tours with Freddy Jackson, and ten years performing with the Zen Tricksters, Rob Barraco has now solidified himself as a vital element of Phil Lesh and Bob Weir

Eighteen years since their formation, the Jayhawks might finally have the breakthrough album they have been destined to record with Rainy Day Music

The San Francisco based five-piece Vue, has been rolling along for four years and are about to undergo a big switch. The switch that so many indie bands before them have taken: jumping from an indie to a major label. Though guitarist Jonah Buffa won’t hesitate to tell you that his band’s success has been totally impulsive, when he exclaims, “who let us in the backdoor and left the door unlocked?”

Colorado has always been a hotbed for bluegrass, and though they may not have been born and raised in the mountains, the four boys of the Yonder Mountain String Band are melding jam-tinged exploration with classic style pickin’. With their own festival, a full summer tour, and a newly released album comprised of Benny Galloway tunes, YMSB is a young force with Old Hands.

Five years ago, Mike Rivard set out to create an ongoing experiment. What if his bassline could be the constant focal point, a musical lighthouse, where a rotating cast of allstars including John Medeski, DJ Logic, and the late Mark Sandman, could come together, listen, and be free to just go off to wherever they wanted to lead the music. The result: the creation of a perfect balance between chaos and order.

Although nationally regarded for his keyboard work in the Trey Anastasio Band, Ray Paczkowski’s jazz trio Vorcza has recently released their debut release – Maximalist. Solidified in a traditional jazz foundation, the three members capture the music of the precise moment through rhythmic and harmonic explorations that involve shake your ass funk, mellow jazz and progressive instrumental improvisations.

Without releasing an album, Particle has managed to earn a huge following throughout the country, providing a powerful source of inspiration and satiation for fans who crave experimental, high energy dance music. It

Meet Jenny Toomey, musician, artist, and political activist. As the Federal Communications Committee plans to further deregulate the bounds against complete corporate media consolidation, the public threat remains as insidious and invisible as the deliberation process within the Beltway.

In less than six months since first gracing the stage, Hookah Brown has gone from Rich Robinson

As the strobe lights flash and the confetti rains down on the crowd, singer Wayne Coyne pushes the audience into a full chorus sing-a-long exclaiming, ‘humiliation is nothing to fear!’ He should know, leading the house along with a hand puppet of a nun, while he dons a classic white suit stained with fake blood. And this isn’t New Years, or a Halloween show…it’s a Wednesday night in April where a packed house dances and cheers along side frogs and cows and every costume imaginable.

In the mid 1970

What started as an annual birthday celebration for Frank Zappa, has matured into the most popular Zappa tribute act in the world. Founder, Andre Cholomondeley, has spearheaded his zealous interest and enthusiasm for his inspirational figure into a well-oiled music machine assembling parts consisting of original members from prior Zappa recordings and tours.

Over the nearly three decades I’ve known Steve Kimock, I don’t think he’s ever really wanted to do anything other than play his guitar well. He has always preferred to – or, more accurately, had to – follow his muse, letting the chips fall where they may commercially.

The Jazz Mandolin Project has just released Jungle Tango, perhaps the band

In New Orleans, the Crescent City on the banks of the Mississippi River Delta, burgeons a marvelous place that rings with spontaneous energy, life and music that is truly “Naw’lins.” Most people heading down there later this month for the cultural odyssey known as Jazz Fest will most likely stumble across a fresh player in the live music scene, Performance Painter Frenchy.

Ohio based ekoostik hookah, have been playing their magical style of music since 1991. By relentless touring and a flair for the unexpected, they have come to represent more than just the music. Keyboardist/Vocalist Dave Katz reveals what make his band and festival, oh so special.

With humble origins in the bars of Vermont, hard earned recognition in the small theatres of Colorado, critical acclaim on the national touring circuit, a major player on the HORDE tour and ultimately sold out Red Rocks shows which featured an unknown opening act named the Dave Matthews Band; Sean Kelly and The Samples have had a long and colorful road the past 15 years.