2009

In less than three months Jam Cruise 8 will set sail from Ft. Lauderdale filled to the brim with amazing artists and the band fans who love them. Today kicks off our bi-weekly Jam Cruise Files column which profiles a band or musician scheduled to perform on the MSC Poesia between January 3 & 8. Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee is the subject of our first Jam Cruise Files.

[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]

Name: Joel Cummins – OHMphrey
Bands: Umphrey’s McGee, OHMphrey, North Indiana Allstars, Kick The McGee
Past JC Experience: 5 – JC1 (UM), JC3 (UM), JC4 (UM), JC5 (UM), JC7 (Yacht Rock)
2009: Umphrey’s released Mantis, OHMphrey released self-titled debut

Scott Bernstein: How much has JamCruise changed from your first cruise to last year’s cruise?

Joel Cummins: Anyone who was there the first year in 2004 remembers that wreck of a ship we were on. It was like a modern day old ironsides, just barely managing to still float. I know I almost took out the FOH console one night when the relatively small ship was getting tossed back and forth in the Caribbean. With the larger boat now, it’s generally a little more tolerable. I loved when it got to the point that we could build a real stage and production for the main stage. I think that makes the outdoor performance area hard to beat. Honestly though, there is a lot about JamCruise that is the same in that everyone is there to get down, have a great time and see some beautiful islands in the Caribbean during the coldest part of the year in the U.S. It’s a great feeling setting sail from Ft. Lauderdale and knowing that you’ve got five days of sunshine in your future.

READ ON for more of Scotty’s chat with Joel Cummins…

Wilco 10/09/2009 SBD [FLACs, V0 Tagged MP3 – SS, MU] Many bands sell “official recordings” of their performances straight from the soundboard, but not Wilco. Occasionally Wilco will offer a

Music Today has started sending out notices of regret and confirmation to those who entered the lottery for tickets to Phish’s upcoming Fall Tour. How did you fare? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Also, in an effort to see how fans did across the board, we’ve created a poll for each show of the tour. Please READ ON after the jump to register a YES or NO vote as to whether your order for each show was fulfilled.

We continue our coverage of Yonder Mountain String Band’s recently completed swing through the Northeast with a review by our two newest contributors who both hail from Boston. Please welcome writer Eli Badra and photographer S. Balaji Mani to our ever-expanding team.

Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band are now in the middle of a brief fall tour, which culminates in a two-night Halloween stint at Liberty Hall, in Kansas. While working their way through the Northeast, the quartet stopped by Boston’s House of Blues, literally in the shadow of Fenway Park, this past Friday for a marathon session of bluegrass-flavored tunes.

The evening was a notable one for Yonder: two of its members, bassist Ben Kaufmann and guitarist Adam Aijala, both grew up in the fair state of Massachusetts. The band is no stranger to the state, either, having performed at just about every historic venue the city has to offer, including the older, smaller House of Blues that was once in Harvard Square. It was this show, however, that drew the single largest Boston crowd they have played for (by a factor two-and-a-half, according to mandolin player Jeff Austin). Did Yonder Mountain String Band deliver? Two sets, 28 songs and three hours offer a resounding “yes” to that question.

Taken as a whole, the first set served as a perfect warm-up, both for the band and the audience’s legs, keeping things energetic and light, but not too intense just yet. The music kicked off with Good-Hearted Woman, which got the vibe of the evening flowing. Austin and Kaufmann teamed up for the usual spot-on harmonies, underneath which Dave Johnston provided a steady current of sixteenth-notes that the rest of the band flowed on top of. Johnston and Aijala each took a couple verses of solo before things really kicked into high-gear, quickly jumping into double-time. The band ran through a few more choruses, which included a quick but impressive display of Austin’s chops on the mandolin, and brought the song to an end.

READ ON for more of Balaji’s photos and Eli’s words on Yonder…