November 2004

As a musician, Warren Haynes is infamous for his improvisational prowess and his spontaneous guest appearances. So it might seem odd that he becomes so darn reliable — and charitable — each holiday season.

For 16 years, Haynes has coordinated the Warren Haynes Annual Christmas Jam. Like a family reunion, the annual, one-of-a-kind, semi-structured marathon of music brings together old friends on stage and in the audience at the Civic Center Arena in Asheville, N.C.

This year the event will be held again at the Asheville Civic Center Arena, Saturday, December 18 at 7:00PM. WNCW’s Pre-Jam Jam Broadcast Live from the Orange Peel is on Friday, December, 17. Past Performers Include: The Allman Brothers Band, Alvin Youngblood Heart, Blues Traveler, Bob Weir, Derek Trucks Band, DJ Logic, Edwin McCain, John Hiatt & The Goners, moe., North Mississippi All-Stars, Phil Lesh and Friends, Phish’s Mike Gordon, Robert Randolph and The Family Band, Sam Bush, Sonny Landreth, String Cheese Incident’s Michael Kang, and Widespread Panic’s John Bell, Dave Schools & Todd Nance.

Haynes, who will open the evening with a brief solo performance, will perform with his band Gov’t Mule, and, of course, join many of the artists for spontaneous collaborations. But the impact goes far beyond the entertainment.

The show thrives on the generous support of volunteer talent and behind-the-scenes personnel, with post-production proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity. In 2002, Haynes received the Key to the City by Asheville Mayor Worley. The benefit event raised $70,000 for the organization, selling 7000 tickets. Prior to the 2003 concert, Haynes gave keys to a family for their new Habitat for Humanity home, which was constructed with funds from the 2002 concert. The 2003 event raised $100,000 – bringing the total for the last three years over $200,000.

“Christmas Jam started 16 years ago as an opportunity for local musicians to jam at the one time of year they were all in town at the same time. Back then, we gave the money to whatever charity we felt like. As the event grew and we became aware of Habitat For Humanity, we settled on them because we believe in the organization and know the money goes where its supposed to. When your work is music, its easy and fun to give back.”

Vintage rock trio Cream will reunite for a string of shows next year at London’s Royal Albert Hall, sources tell Billboard.com. The group — guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce — played its final shows at Albert Hall before splintering in November 1968. Cream has not performed together since its 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Billboard.com understands the trio will begin rehearsals after the first of the year, with an eye on a week-long run of gigs at Albert Hall. It is unknown if plans call for additional shows in other parts of the world. A spokesperson for Clapton had no comment.

Source billboard.com.

A U.S. appeals court in San Francisco has handed a victory to pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys in a dispute over the musical practice of sampling, in which recording artists incorporate snippets of other songs into their own work.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined today (Nov. 9) to reconsider its decision last year allowing the group to use a six-second segment of music from jazz flutist James Newton’s 1978 composition “Choir.” The Beastie Boys used the sample in their song “Pass the Mic” on their 1992 album “Check Your Head.”

A three-judge panel of the court held in 2003 that the band had abided by copyright protections by paying a license fee for a sample of Newton’s recording and therefore did not have to pay an additional fee to license the underlying composition.

That finding upheld a lower-court dismissal of the case in favor of the Beastie Boys, and the 9th Circuit today refused to reconsider its ruling before a larger 11-judge panel.

“We hold that Beastie Boys’ use of a brief segment of that composition, consisting of three notes separated by a half-step over a background C note, is not sufficient to sustain a claim for infringement of Newton’s copyright,” Chief Judge Mary Schroeder wrote in her opinion.

Representatives for Newton and the Beastie Boys were not immediately available for comment.

The Beastie Boys helped spark the modern sampling trend in popular music with the 1989 album “Paul’s Boutique,” which incorporated bits of music from sources as diverse as Johnny Cash, Bob Marley and the Beatles to create new music. Sampling has since become a staple of many artists, especially in the rap and hip-hop genres.

Source billboard.com.

Two months after disbanding, the former members of Phish are getting busy. In October, ex-frontman Trey Anastasio returned to his Vermont studio, the Barn, to work on a pair of projects. Spending the bulk of the month writing material for an upcoming solo album, the guitarist invited along several collaborators — new and old.

Anastasio first spent time jamming with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock for a cut on the fusion legend’s forthcoming record. The date also included bassist John Patitucci (Chick Corea), veteran drummer Steve Jordan (Blues Brothers, Keith Richards), percussionist Cyro Baptista (Trey Anastasio Band, Beat the Donkey) and trumpeter Jennifer Hartswick (Trey Anastasio Band). Several brief Hancock/Anastasio duets have been posted to TreyAnastasio.com.

During the final week of October, Anastasio also recorded solo tracks with bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson), drummer Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel) and keyboardist Ray Packowski (Trey Anastasio Band). Several of Anastasio’s regular partners — including Hartswick, ex-Phish bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman — rounded out the sessions. No release date has been set. In addition, a Trey Anastasio Band taping of Austin City Limits, recorded in September, will air nationwide on January 15th.

After producing and playing on Bane, the surreal debut of quasi-fictional bassist Joey Arkenstat, Gordon will return to both the studio and the road in December. First, the bassist will reconvene with avant-folk guitar legend Leo Kottke to begin recording a follow-up to 2002’s Clone. Shortly thereafter, he will join drummer Joe Russo and keyboardist Marco Benevento for a quartet of holiday shows as the “Benevento/Russo Duo featuring Mike Gordon,” culminating in a New Year’s performance at New York’s B.B. King’s. Gordon will soon launch MikeGordon.com to keep track of his solo activities.

Meanwhile, on November 30th, ex-Phish keyboardist Page McConnell will release Vida Blue and the Spam Allstars — Live at the Fillmore, a DVD of a June 2004 performance with his Afro-funk band. Apparently, life after Phish sometimes involves more than music: the bonus disc will include a forty-minute documentary on McConnell’s “foray into the world of demolition derby and car racing.”

Source rollingstone.com.

After being celebrated for more than a decade for its consistently riveting live show, Rusted Root is releasing its first live album, a two-disc set featuring the new songs

It’s been more than a decade since The Pharcyde’s groundbreaking debut, Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, was released, but the group is still going strong – minus a couple members.

Founding members Romye “Booty Brown” Robinson and Imani Wilcox are keeping the name alive and touring the U.S. in December. The rappers just got back from Australia, where they rocked clubs across the continent with a DJ, live drummer and keyboardist on stage.

The group’s other original members – Slim Kid Tre and Fatlip – have been gone for years, but Robinson and Wilcox have soldiered on, most recently with Humboldt Beginnings. The album was released earlier this year on the duo’s independent label, Chapter 1.

The Pharcyde headlined a U.S. run this spring, and spent the summer doing shows with the likes of The X-Ecutioners and Ghostface.

The solo careers of Fatlip and Tre have been erratic, although the two appeared together on a Mya track last year. Superproducer Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes reportedly tried unsuccessfully to get all four members back together for his Star Trak label.

Source pollstar.com.

Queens Of The Stone Age has confirmed details of its highly anticipated third album for Interscope. “Lullabies To Paralyze” will arrive March 22, although group member Troy Van Leeuwen admits on QOTSA’s official Web site that “songs are still being recorded as we speak. I know March may seem far off (to me anyway), but when the creative engine is chugging at full steam, it’s hard to stop.”

The group just wrapped a late-arriving song titled “The Fun Machine Took a Sh*t and Died,” which benefited from a host of guest appearances. “The session started out relatively normal, but then took a turn for the bizarre, once longtime friends Dean Ween, Chris Goss and Jesse ‘The Devil’ Hughes scarred this song with their musical branding irons.”

Ween and Goss appeared on QOTSA’s last album, “Songs for the Deaf,” while Hughes is a member of Queens leader Josh Homme’s side band, the Eagles Of Death Metal. The new set is also tipped to feature guest appearances from the Distillers’ Brody Dalle and Garbage’s Shirley Manson.

Homme has been flanked in the studio by multi-instrumentalist Van Leeuwen, drummer Joey Castillo, guitarist Dave Catching and bassist Alain Johannes, the latter of whom is filling the bass slot left empty after the departure of Nick Oliveri earlier this year.

The new album will be the follow-up to 2002’s “Songs for the Deaf,” which peaked at No. 17 on The Billboard 200 and has sold more than 909,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Source billboard.com.