2006

Umphrey’s McGee’s always-epic New Year’s party was documented on the 2005 DVD release “Wrapped Around Chicago: New Year’s at the Riv.” This year, Chicago’s favorite rock band will return to the Aragon Ballroom for their New Year’s celebration, performing three nights with special guests: southern hipsters North Mississippi Allstars (December 29), East L.A. rockers Los Lobos (December 30), and world blues legend Taj Mahal (December 31). Show details are as follows:

The Aragon Ballroom, Chicago

Friday, December 29th @ 6:00pm (Doors @ 5:00pm)with very special guests North Mississippi AllstarsTickets: $32.50 / All Ages Welcome

Saturday, December 30th @ 7:00pm (Doors @ 6:00pm)Very special guests Los LobosTickets: $32.50 / 18 and over welcome

Sunday, December 31st @ 7:00pm (Doors @ 6:00pm)Very special guests Taj Mahal & the International Rhythm BandFeaturing Jeff Coffin (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones) and Mike “Mad Dog” Mavridoglou (formerly of Jazz Mandolin Project and Ray’s Music Exchange)Tickets: $65.00 / 18 and over Welcome

Look for Umphrey’s McGee on tour now, in support of Safety In Numbers. The current list of confirmed tour dates is as follows:

September 27 The Town Ballroom Buffalo NY
September 28 State Theatre Ithaca NY
September 29-30 Higher Ground Burlington VT
October 02 The Egg Albany NY
October 04 Toad’s Place New Haven CT
October 05 9:30 Club Washington D.C.
October 06 The Palladium Worcester MA
October 07 Electric Factory Philadelphia PA
October 18 The Showbox Seattle WA
October 19 Roseland Theatre Portland OR
October 20 Senator Theatre Chico CA
October 21 The Avalon Hollywood CA
October 23 House of Blues San Diego CA
October 24 The Catalyst Santa Cruz CA
October 25 House of Blues Anaheim CA
November 02-03 Barrymore Theatre Madison WI
November 04 Eagles Ballroom Milwaukee WI
November 08 Liberty Hall Lawrence KS
November 09 Cain’s Ballroom Tulsa OK
November 10 The Granada Theatre Dallas TX
November 11 Stubb’s Austin TX
November 15 Bogart’s Cincinnati OH
November 16 Headliners Music Hall Louisville KY
November 17 The Tabernacle Atlanta GA
November 18 The Pageant St. Louis MO
December 01-02 Nokia Theatre Times Square New York NY
December 29-31 Aragon Ballroom Chicago IL
January 02-07 Jam Cruise 5 Ft Lauderdale FL

More dates to be announced soon.

For more information visit umphreys.com.

With his second album of the year on the way, it’s obvious that Robert Pollard is taking his solo career seriously.
The prolific musician has shown no signs of slowing down since the dissolution of Guided By Voices, releasing From A Compound Eye in January and touring throughout spring.
Pollard’s latest album, Normal Happiness, is due out October 10 on Merge and he’ll embark on a brief tour in mid-November in support of it. He’ll be accompanied by his Ascended Masters band – Tommy Keene, Jon Wurster, Jason Narducy and Dave Philips.
Tour dates run from November 9-18, starting in Bloomington, Indiana, and finishing in Northampton, Mass.
As on the previous album, Pollard and producer Todd Tobias played all the instruments on Normal Happiness.

Source pollstar.com.

2006 has been a great year in the Disco Biscuit’s 11 year history. They welcomed a talented new drummer, Allen Aucoin, into the Bisco fold and tour highlights included stops at the Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza Festivals as well as numerous tour dates and their highly successful Camp Bisco V which featured The Roots, Thievery Corporation and Brazilian Girls.

Now they announced some fall dates to continue to spread their unique musical smorgasbord style which fuses rock, electronic and classical music around the country. New Yorkers get to celebrate the Turkey Day holiday with some hot fresh Bisco.

10/19/06 Washington and Lee S&A Lexington, VA
10/31/06 Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA
11/01/06 State Theatre Ithaca, NY
11/02/06 Water Street Music Hall Rochester, NY
11/03/06 Calvin Theatre Northampton, MA
11/04/06 Sonar Baltimore, MD
11/09/06 The Town Ballroom Buffalo, NY
11/10/06 Bogart’s Cincinnati, OH
11/11/06 Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH
11/12/06 House Of Blues Cleveland, OH
11/14/06 Bluebird Bloomington, IN
11/15/06 Blue Note Columbia, MO
11/16/06 Canopy Club Urbana, IL
11/17/06 Grenada Lawrence, KS
11/18/06 Fillmore Denver, CO
11/19/06 Fox Theatre Boulder, CO
11/24/06 Hammerstein Ballroom New York, NY
11/25/06 Hammerstein Ballroom New York, NY

After a hugely successful inaugural event last year, Madison House, Anon Salon, and Peak Experience Productions will collaborate again for the Seventh Annual Sea of Dreams New Year’s Eve event in San Francisco on December 30th and 31st.

Like last year, cultural forces will unite for two freaky nights at the San Francisco’s Concourse Exhibition Center for the biggest New Year’s-weekend gathering on the west coast. Expect three stages hosting an incredible roster of live bands – plus cabaret and circus acts, DJs and dance collectives, performance troupes, and more. All set within multiple thematic environments, this event promises something for people of every tribe.

Musical acts performing on the three stages include the groundbreaking independent rock band The String Cheese Incident (playing two full sets each night), British nu-school breaks producer Tipper, revolutionary underground artist Bassnectar, modern day traveling minstrel DJ Mark Farina, the down-tempo trip-hop dance music of Lotus, live electronic hipsters Pnuma Trio and plenty of others still to be announced.

Performance troupe and dance collective participants include The Indigo Belly Dance, The Mystic Family Circus, Black and Blue Burlesque Anon Salon’s Circularious, and others. In addition to the stage performances, expect art encampments, novelty zones, installations, midnight spectacles, supergames, and everything. For complete line-up and details as they become available visit seaofdreamsnye.com.

Propelling the proceedings will be innovative entertainment booking and management company Madison House, and Portland, Oregon-based Peak Experience Productions. Both will join forces with long-time San Francisco art/event promoters Anon Salon (the co-creators of “Burning Man Decompression” and past “Sea of Dreams” NYE events).

Sea of Dreams is an epic costumed celebration of music, art and community. This colossal pageant weaves together a host of artistic communities to create a truly “emergent” cultural phenomenon. In the most unusual venue, with the most multi-faceted and unprecedented line-up ever, Sea of Dreams has altered the course of party history.

Sea of Dreams: 7 Heavens

December 30th and 31st
San Francisco Design Center’s Concourse Exhibition Center
635 8th Street (@ Brannan), San Francisco

30th / 7 pm – 2 am
31st / 7:30 pm – 4 am
Ages 18 and over welcome
Tickets available at seaofdreamsnye.com

ZILLA (featuring Michael Travis of The String Cheese Incident) will also perform a Sea of Dreams pre-party at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall on December 29th. For tickets and information visit www.zillamusic.com.

For more information visit seaofdreamsnye.com

Neil Young is finally ready to roll out releases from his long-rumored “Archives Performance” series. First up is “Live at the Fillmore East 1970,” due Nov. 14 via Reprise. The album features six as-yet-unannounced selections from Crazy Horse’s March 6-7 runs at the New York venue, at a time when late guitarist Danny Whitten was still a member of the band.

“Fillmore” will also be available in a CD/DVD edition featuring a high-resolution audio mix, photos from the show, Young’s handwritten song lyrics and press articles from the era.

In addition to core members Whitten, Billy Talbot (bass) and Ralph Molina (drums), the four shows found Crazy Horse augmented by producer Jack Nitzsche on electric piano. Among the songs featured in the set lists were “On the Way Home,” “Broken Arrow,” “Cinnamon Girl,” “Cowgirl in the Sand” and “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.”

Source billboard.com.

Dr. Dre has produced several tracks for Snoop Dogg’s upcoming album, “The Blue Carpet Treatment,” due Nov. 21 via Doggystyle/Geffen. The new songs, which include “Imagine,” will be the duo’s first collaborative effort in roughly five years.

“Imagine” finds the two longtime friends and collaborators ruminating about hypothetical situations such as life without hip-hop (“Imagine Russell [Simmons] still struggling/no Def Jam,” Dre raps) and if Tupac Shakur never died.

“Blue Carpet” also boasts production from the Neptunes, Timbaland and Rick Rock, among others. Nate Dogg and Ne-Yo have joined the list of previously announced guest artists, which includes R. Kelly, Stevie Wonder, the Game and Ice Cube.

Source billboard.com.

Gregg Allman, who spent his summer on tour with The Allman Brothers Band, nd, will set back out next month for a new round of shows billed as Gregg Allman & Friends.

Allman’s packed itinerary begins with a two-week run on the East Coast that kicks off in mid-October. He’ll then take a few weeks off before launching the outing’s next leg, which runs from mid-November through mid-January. Details are included below.

Backing Allman during the run will be Mike C. Barnes (guitar), Jay Collins (sax), Jerry Jemmott (bass), Neil Larson (keyboard), Floyd Miles (percussion) and Steve Potts (drums).

Allman has tapped Daniella Cotton to hold down the opening slot during the tour’s first leg; Honeytribe will take over for the second leg.

October 2006
13 – Johnson City, NY – Magic City Music Hall (w/ Danielia Cotton)
14 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre (w/ Danielia Cotton)
15 – Portland, ME – Merrill Auditorium (w/ Danielia Cotton)
17 – South Burlington, VT – Higher Ground (w/ Danielia Cotton)
18 – New York, NY – Nokia Theatre Times Square (w/ Danielia Cotton)
20 – Atlantic City, NJ – Borgata Music Box (w/ Danielia Cotton)
21 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live (w/ Danielia Cotton)
22 – Myrtle Beach, SC – House of Blues (w/ Danielia Cotton)
24 – Savannah, GA – Johnny Mercer Theatre (w/ Danielia Cotton)
25 – Gainesville, FL – Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (w/ Danielia Cotton)
27 – Pompano Beach, FL – Pompano Beach Amphitheatre (w/ Danielia Cotton)
28 – Sarasota, FL – Ed Smith Stadium (Sarasota Blues Festival)
29 – Lake Buena Vista, FL – House of Blues (w/ Honeytribe)

November 2006
22 – San Juan Capistrano, CA – Coach House (w/ Honeytribe)
24 – San Francisco, CA – The Grand Ballroom @ Regency Center (w/ Honeytribe)
25 – Reno, NV – Grand Sierra Resort (w/ Honeytribe)
26 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst (w/ Honeytribe)
28 – Agoura Hills, CA – Canyon Club (w/ Honeytribe)
29 – Bakersfield, CA – Fox Theater (w/ Honeytribe)

December 2006
1 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Alex Madonna Expo Center (w/ Honeytribe)
2 – Oroville, CA – Feather Falls Casino
3 – San Jacinto, CA – Soboba Casino
5 – Santa Ana, CA – Galaxy Theatre (w/ Honeytribe)
6 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues (w/ Honeytribe)
8 – Las Vegas, NV – Santa Fe Station Casino
9 – Yuma, AZ – Quechan Paradise
10 – Phoenix, AZ – Celebrity Theatre (w/ Honeytribe)
28 – Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak (w/ Honeytribe)
30 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre (w/ Honeytribe)
31 – Westbury, NY – North Fork Theatre @ Westbury (w/ Honeytribe)

January 2006
3 – Norfolk, VA – NorVa
6 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Casino
7 – Niagara Falls, NY – Seneca Niagara Casino
9 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues (w/ Honeytribe)
10 – Mt. Clemens, MI – Emerald Theatre (w/ Honeytribe)
12 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues (w/ Honeytribe)
14 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant