While technically Bob Dylan doesn’t turn 70 until May 24, it’s my turn in the Mix Tape rotation, so I thought I’d use this opportunity to do a little early
Max Creek @ Sullivan Hall, April 29
Max Creek’s wearing 40 well. Or, to put it another way: you’re not regularly seeing shows by 40-year-old bands that were as effortlessly enjoyable and musically nourishing as the band’s two set monster at Sullivan Hall – the middle show in a three-night anniversary swing through Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island – and that don’t feel like canned revues coasting on nostalgia.
[All videos by NYCJamGal]
Max Creek is a curious institution. It never hit the big time or got much close to it, but it was a jamband before jambands were jambands: established long before Phish, Panic and the generations of improvisational rock acts since then, and really, a near-contemporary of both the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band, though with the tiniest fraction of the fame. It pulled back on touring just as the late ’80s/early ’90s jam seeds were sewn and the scene mushroomed, morphed and moved into the popular, yet fractured state it’s in now. But Creek still has particular renown, especially in New England, and its tri-state fans were out in force at Sullivan Hall.
Bassist John Rider is technically the lone original member, but guitarist Scott Murawski and keyboardist Mark Mercier have been around almost as long, and the band’s drum chair is now occupied by one- and two-man configurations of its various drummers since the mid ’80s: Scott Allshouse, Greg Vasso and Greg DeGuglielmo. Bands with such long-established chemistry are sometimes hindered by that comfort, and Max Creek, too, can sound workmanlike. But shit, can they still motor when they’re feeling good. It’s a well-stocked repertoire of originals and covers both well-worn and less-remembered, so often opened up with jam segments that are hearty, brilliant and powerfully expressive.
READ ON for more on Max Creek @ Sullivan Hall…
Last weekend I was in Washington D.C. visiting some friends and staying in Dupont Circle area of town. On Sunday morning I did something I hadn’t done in almost 10 years – visit the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market.
If you love farmer’s markets and happen to be in Washington DC on a Sunday, you owe it to yourself to go. Here is what their website has to say about the market:
The Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market is located in the heart of one of Washington, DC’s most vibrant and diverse neighborhoods. Washingtonian magazine credits the market with “teaching Washingtonians to love their fruits and vegetables.” The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times of London also named the market one of the top farmers’ markets in the country. During the peak season, there are more than 40 farmers offering fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit pies, breads, fresh pasta, cut flowers, potted plants, soaps and herbal products.
The market is open 8:30AM to 1:00PM April through December. Per their website, the market is located at 20th St. NW between Massachusetts Ave. and Connecticut Ave. Click here for map. I got there early.
READ ON for the pictures I took that day…
On May 31 Eddie Vedder will release his second solo album Ukulele Songs, which as the title suggests will see the Pearl Jam front man exclusively playing tunes on the
Soul Patrollin’ American Idol Taylor Hicks returns to HD Net this weekend when his Whomp at the Warfield special from 2007 airs on Sunday night at 8PM EDT. Hicks mixes
Tori Amos marks her debut album for Deutsche Grammophon, the world’s most celebrated classical music record label with Night of Hunters, set for release this September. The iconic, platinum-selling singer-songwriter
All props to Chamberlin as an engaging young band, but they may not have done justice to themselves or their music in the small room at Higher Ground, due in part to the sound in the house and an odd choice of material.
The long drawn and epic introduction to “Last Known Surroundings,” the first song off Take Care… is undoubtedly the highpoint on an album that, despite its predictably frequent moments of euphoria and jubilation, eventually fizzles out with barely a whimper. Is it time for post post-rock already?
