2010

Words and Images: Andrew Bender

Like many Hidden Track readers, I’ve spent thousands of dollars over my life, most of my time off from work and school, and have traveled countless miles by car and plane in pursuit of my favorite bands, their amazing music, and all the friends I’ve met along the way. For something different this past New Years Eve, I discovered for myself that one need not travel to Miami, Atlanta, New York, Chicago or San Francisco to get down to some killer sounds at year’s end – great things could be found in much smaller locales.

This year, the wife and I and two of our close friends traveled just a few short hours from our home base in Detroit, Michigan (no, you’re probably not cool enough to make it here, no I’ve never been mugged or carjacked, and yes I think the city and its inhabitants are amazing) to the western end of the great mitten of the north for New Years Eve in Kalamazoo (yes, there really is a Kalamazoo). In response to the question I can already hear people asking, “Why the hell would you spend New Years in Kalamazoo?” The answer is simple – to spend New Years Eve with hometown newgrass heroes Greensky Bluegrass.

The band, winners of the 2006 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, were throwing down for its annual New Year’s Eve celebration at the historic, ornately decorated State Theater. The five-piece Greensky Bluegrass has spent the last few years earning a reputation across the country as an impressive group of musicians blowing many a mind with their improvisational prowess, non-traditional bluegrass covers, and perma-grin producing psychedelic jams. Although attendance was less than half the State Theater’s 1600 person capacity, it seemed that like me, most people were truly excited for a fun, homegrown party and a great night of music.

READ ON for more from Andrew on Greensky Bluegrass…

Just seven months after it began, Conan O’Brien’s reign as the host of NBC’s The Tonight Show comes to an end this evening. For his final guest, Conan has invited

Have you ever wondered what tickets would cost for a high demand concert if they went onsale through an auction? Thanks to Radiohead we’ll finally get a chance as the

Last week, I put together a list of my Ten Favorite Jam Cruise 8 Sets, but that was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There were so many stellar moments – both musical and otherwise – that didn’t make that list. Each hour of every day, it seemed like I experienced something mind-blowing that just doesn’t happen in the real world or at typical music festivals.

So this week, I decided to put together a list of 75 Amazing Jam Cruise 8 Moments to show the breadth of this monumental vacation. Jam Cruise felt like the living version of one of those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books as it was impossible to catch everything that was going on, but I have no complaints with the decisions I made. The beautiful thing is that every cruiser’s list look far different from mine, so if you went on the cruise be sure to leave a few of your favorite moments as a comment after the list.

75. Going through the quick & painless embarkation procedure & walking onto the ship. I knew at that moment how amazing this adventure would be
74. Karl Denson adding some flair to Galactic’s Crazyhorse Mongoose during the New Orleans-based band’s Pool Deck set
73. Turning on Jam Cruise TV to catch the part of The Motet plays Talking Heads set I had missed the previous evening
72. Mikey of Higher Ground/Chocolate Thunder Security delivering a wonderful version of Bill Withers’ Use Me during Rock Star Karaoke
71. Catching Jam Room MVP Zach Deputy get crowned by The Joker
70. Looking at my watch to see the Jam Room had finally let up at 6:40AM
69. Sax wiz Jeff Coffin [Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band] dropping one nasty run of notes after another during his fantastic sit-in with OHMphrey
68. The first time I walked past the “Fucking Your Mom – Do Not Disturb” door sign. I still laughed the 17th time.
67. Chillin’ on a friend’s balcony watching the lights from Jamaica fade away
66. Most of the finest musicians on the boat gathering for a ridiculous Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin throwdown towards the end of George Porter Jr.’s Super Jam on the final full day of action

[All photos by Dave Vann]

65. Cloud 9’s Annabel singing the final song of Sexual Chocolate’s set
64. Watching my Cabin Steward dancing as hard as he could to KDTU
63. Trombone Shorty teasing Let’s Get It Started by the Black Eyed Peas during the Sail Away set

READ ON for my Top 62 Moments of Jam Cruise 8…

It’s pretty remarkable just how consistent moe.’s been over 20 years: in personnel, in commitment, in slow, steady growth, in that damned quirky, hard rocking way of doing things they do so well. So I posed the question to guitarist Chuck Garvey directly: How have you guys kept it together and kept from killing each other when changes, hiatuses and other issues have wreaked havoc on many of your jamband peers?

[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]

“That’s just the way we are,” Garvey said in a recent interview. “Everyone has a different attitude about it, but we seem to have a certain comfort level in how we are as a band. It’s been working for a really long time and we’re just getting on to the next creative phase. Making another album is always something to look forward to. This past fall, we were going to record, but we decided to push it off because we didn’t feel like we had enough time to devote to it. We have to make sure these days that we have the time and space to do it right.”

Garvey said moe.’s been “pulling back” on touring in recent years, which seems true but relative only to moe. Apart from a few extended seasonal breaks, the band, at least in the past decade, hasn’t been off the road longer than a few months. Pretty remarkable when you consider the major hiatuses and lineup changes from moe.’s peers, although, as Garvey notes, “It’s different for everyone. Widespread Panic lost Michael Houser, and that’s a major, life-altering occurrence. I’d say it’s more accurate that we’ve been lucky.”

READ ON for more of Chad’s chat with moe.’s Chuck Garvey and Hidden Track staffers’ favorite moe. moments from the past 20 years…