When I was “coming up”, as the expression goes, as a young DJ and Lighting Designer I had the opportunity to work with a very colorful cast of characters that
We wanted to celebrate the release of 7-DVD Clifford Ball set
“Beautiful man… I don’t know how you do it…”
The Clifford Ball. It was the end and the beginning. It was, yeah, just a couple Phish shows, but it was also the rift between two eras. For me and the band. In my mind there are some distinct periods in the history of the band which I described in my blog here. The Ball was a distinct shift where Phish went from being a band that was big enough to tour with their own grand piano and fill arenas to a band that was big enough to put on a massive festival on their own and compel tens of thousands of people to schlep to remote locations. This was the birth of “big Phish.”
It was also a distinct shift for me. The summer had officially started with my graduation from college in May. When the summer ended I would be in graduate school. It was a real life bar mitzvah moment: time to become an adult. The woman I love(d) would go from being a girlfriend to being the person I lived with. But before all that, there was the summer. Phish announced their dates in the spring – a pretty minor stretch of shows, 11 in total, all in the middle of August, starting out west and working their way toward the big bash at an Air Force base in Plattsburgh. The highlights were a you-crazy? 4-night run at Red Rocks and something they were calling The Clifford Ball, which, to hear the Phish literature describe it, was just about as much fun as you could have in upstate New York.
READ ON for more of the Clifford Ball installment of Nedstalgia…
One weekend in Portland Oregon reinforced the notion that there is nothing better than a communal vortex of celebrations. All at once we were lucky enough to celebrate Valentines Day, the 150th birthday of Oregon, and the reemergence and rebirth of Portland’s Jazz fest. Any one of these events would have been enough reason to celebrate, but when all were combined in a single weekend, the parade of musical talent that graced our city tapped an energy that transcended any one stage.
“Just because you don’t believe it/ Doesn’t mean I didn’t mean it,” Neko Case sings on “The Next Time You Say Forever,” one of the many superb tracks on her sixth solo album, Middle Cyclone. Believe this: Case has turned in an album that easily ranks among her best—quite possibly the best of her career.
There is a scene in The Shawshank Redemption where Red, played by Morgan Freeman, and his fellow prisoners are treated to a piece of music, courtesy of fellow inmate Andy Dufresne. Red, who is the narrator in the film, confesses that he had no idea what the two Italian ladies were singing about that afternoon, and he didn’t want to know. “Some things are better left unsaid,” Red tells us. There are times when I feel the same way about Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.
The Crystal Ballroom in downtown Portland is a wonderful place to spend an evening getting lost in good music. All the history the building holds aside (Little Richard firing Jimi Hendrix on stage in the ’60s for example) this is simply a great hall in which to see a show. There’s the balcony way upstairs. With comfortable seating and its own bar, high above the often moshing crowd, it allows for a more civilized concert experience.
Downstairs has the infamous “Floating Dance Floor”. Through some antique architectural procedure that is nothing short of amazing, dare I say challenging at times, the entire floor rocks under the gyrating weight of the hundreds of concert goers. But, for me, the place to be on the floating floor is the front row. Just high enough so that you don’t have to crane your neck to see the band and just low enough that the main speakers for you are the stage monitors. If you play your cards right, there’ll be a spot to stash your coat, bottle of water or whatever. Another added benefit to the front row, you meet the nicest people there.
Tonight’s front row soiree was a two barreled jam band attack of rock, soul, jazz and blues from the Bill Kreutzmann Trio and the Greyboy Allstars. Yes, tonight’s show was part of the two week long Portland Jazz Festival, and no, Joe Lovano didn’t come out and jam with either of the bands.
READ ON for AJ’s thoughts on GBA and the Kreutzmann band in Portland…
For those of you who are heading into the Hampton area later on Friday afternoon, be sure to leave plenty of time to fight traffic. PT user and Norfolk resident
If you live in New York City, seeing David Byrne is sort of a common occurrence. The former Talking Heads front man can often be spotted bicycling around town or
Bassist Les Claypool hits the road on Wednesday in support of his latest album, Of Fungi and Foe, for a month-long tour that takes him across the country. Billed as
Phish is back this very week, and to celebrate this week’s Stormy Monday features the entire second set from 7/2/98 in Copenhagen – a superbly space-funk brew of Ghost >
