2006

Ernie Hendrickson and The Make Believe will celebrate the release of their debut album, Only A Dream, Saturday March 4, at Martyr’s in Chicago. With top notch players quickly ascending the ranks of Chicago’s improvisational rock scene, EH & TMB delivers elements of jazz, fusion, rock, soul, and reggae, and handles these styles with enough grace and confidence to make even first time listeners believers.

After completing a two-month residency at Chicago’s Tonic Room, TMB landed a spot on promoter Triple Dot MAS’s Winter Compliation CD featuring bands such as Umphrey’s Mcgee and Fareed Haque Group. Their self-titled debut E.P. boasts an impressive list of special guests including Joel Cummins, keyboardist for Umphrey’s Mcgee, and Serbian guitar prodigy Goram Ivanovic.

As Lisa Palmeno of the Rock River Times stated, “This group is not easy to stereotype, because they have developed their own style and seem comfortable with a variety of music genres.”

For more information see themakebelieve.com

Ernie Hendrickson and The Make Believe – “Only A Dream” CD Release Party
Saturday, March 4th, 2006
Martyr’s
3855 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL
Phone: 773-404-9494
Web: www.martyrslive.com
Tix $10 at door or in advance at (800) 594-TIXX
Doors: 8pm Show: 9pm Ages: 21+

On the heels of his latest album, “Back Home,” Eric Clapton hits the road again launching a just announced world tour beginning in Europe on May 5 and travelling to 13 European countries with an already sold out 7-night run at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Additional news of this tour will follow shortly, including announcements of several exciting tour dates featuring venues never-before-played by Clapton and his band.

Clapton has assembled an impressive band, including several album collaborators. The 2006 tour band will consist of: Eric Clapton, Guitar, as well as Doyle Bramhall II and Derek Trucks also on Guitar, Chris Stainton and Tim Carmon on Keyboards, Willie Weeks on Bass, Steve Jordan on Drums, The Kick Horns: Simon Clarke, Roddy Lorimer, and Tim Sanders on Brass, and backing vocals by Michelle John and Sharon White.

Particle unveiled its new five-piece outfit on February 24 at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. The band now boasts Scott Metzger and Ben Combe on guitar and vocals, in addition to original members Eric Gould (bass), Steve Molitz (keys) and Darren Pujalet (drums). The group plans to unleash more new material throughout its forty city cross-country Spring tour, which begins with an appearance at South by Southwest in mid-March. The newly formed quintet will also make appearances at Jazzfest in New Orleans and The Green Apple Music Festival in New York City.

Scott Metzger is a New York City native who has played in numerous projects including Amfibian and Rana. He has collaborated with Gov

In support of their new release due April 4th, Safety In Numbers Umphrey’s McGee has announced their spring tour dates, which includes an appearance at the Langerado music festival, a quick European jaunt, a special CD release party in their hometown of Chicago, and an exclusive and intimate performance at NYC’s CBGB as part of the first annual Green Apple Festival.

The complete list of confirmed tour dates is as follows:

February24 The PageantSt. Louis MO
February25 Murat Theatre / Egyptian Room Indianapolis IN
March10 The Chicago Theatre ChicagoIL
March11 Langerado Music Festival Sunrise FL
March11 Revolution Fort Lauderdale FL
March14 Mean Fiddler London UK
March15 La Boule Noir Paris France
March16 Transilvania Club Milan Italy
March19-21 Jam in the ‘Dam Amsterdam Netherlands
March23 Knust Hamburg Germany
April03 The Park West – cd release party Chicago IL
April07 The Showbox Seattle WA
April08 Roseland Theatre Portland OR
April09 The Mystic Theatre Petaluma CA
April12 House of Blues San Diego CA
April13 The Avalon Hollywood CA
April14, 15 The Fillmore San Francisco CA
April16 World Ski and Snowboard Championships Whistler BC
April21 CBGB New York NY
April27-28 Canopy Club Urbana IL
May01 Workplay Theater Birmingham AL
May02 The Orange Peel Asheville NC
May03 Disco Rodeo Raleigh NC
May05 Electric Factory Philadelphia PA
May06 Avalon Ballroom Boston MA
May26-28 Summer Camp Chillicothe IL
June16-18 Bonnaroo Manchester TN
June29-30 High Sierra Music Festival Quincy CA
July20 10,000 Lakes Festival Detroit Lakes IL

Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are both planning new albums for 2006 — and each will likely launch a tour as well. Dylan has just begun work on his thirty-first studio disc, and Springsteen is wrapping up his first-ever CD of cover songs, focusing on music from the repertoire of folk icon Pete Seeger.
On January 31st, Dylan arrived at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, New York, with his current touring band. For the next four days, according to Bardavon’s executive director, Chris Silva, the band rehearsed new material. “It was experimental, all kinds of different licks,” Silva told the Poughkeepsie Journal. “They would get into one thing, and they would go over it and over it. Then they would change gears.”

Dylan — whose first announced tour date of 2006 is a performance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in late April — then moved the operation to Manhattan to lay down his new tunes. His previous studio album, 2001’s acclaimed Love and Theft, was also cut in New York, in just two and a half weeks at Sony Music Studios, with Dylan producing under the name Jack Frost.

Meanwhile, sources familiar with the Springsteen project say that he has nearly completed his covers album, which has the working title The Seeger Sessions and will include both Seeger-penned tunes and American standards the folk patriarch helped popularize. Seeger, 86, is the author of folk classics such as “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”

Source rollingstone.com.

Lost Highway has set July 18 as the release date for “Another Fine Day,” the first release in eight years from Golden Smog. The lauded supergroup features Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy, Big Star’s Jody Stephens and the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris, Marc Perlman and Kraig Johnson.

Again sporting separate songwriting contributions from Tweedy, Louris, Perlman, Murphy and Johnson, the band’s fourth album is composed of 14 originals and a cover of the Kinks’ Dave Davies’ “Strangers,” sung by Louris and Tweedy.

The first Golden Smog album to follow both Wilco’s ascension to “it”-band status and reports of a Jayhawks break-up, “Another Fine Day” was recorded last year in two separate sessions, the first sans Tweedy and Stephens in the south of Spain, the second with the full band in Minneapolis.

The songs from the first session, captured in Puerto De Santa Maria, feature Linda Pitmon (Steve Wynn, Zuzu’s Petals) on drums, and vocals from Muni Loco, wife of Paco Loco, who co-produced the disc with Ed Ackerson (Mason Jennings, the Jayhawks) and the band.

Source billboard.com.