Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers

Nicki Bluhm
"Keep It Loose" (mp3)
from "Toby's Song"
(reapandsow, Inc.)

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if you download this song "keep it loose", i think you will be humming it happily when you least expect it. if you like what you hear, you can purchase the whole album from any of the above links.

pretty nicki will be kickin down the grooves with the gramblers at the Great American Music Hall opening for Hot Buttered Rum on saturday, september 12 here in SF. photo cred to jay blakesberg.

Traveling On A High Frequency~ again!

robert plant, t-bone burnett (w/ his lovely wife), and elvis costello are posing with jay blakesberg's TRAVELING ON A HIGH FREQUENCY book, back in early October, when they were all here for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. robert plant was freaking out about a moby grape pic that was in the book. (photo above also snapped by jay)

last night was jay's SF book release party at the Independent. the scene was bubbling & loud & excited!!! by the time i arrived, there were probably about 150 people milling about the room, or sitting at tables w candles, watching a screen with a slideshow of shots all from TOAHF. it was hard to take your eyes of it, frankly!!! UNREAL. over 300 people clocked in throughout the event.

i've been fortunate enough to see this project from the very wee early stages of it, and to see it all POP last night was so satisfying!!! jay is one of the hardest working people i've ever known. AND NICE!!! and he LOVES his music. i'm so thrilled for him, and my best wish to him is to continue Traveling On A High Frequency!!! you are really doin' it, jay!!!

order TOAHF here, which also comes in limited edition (i wouldn't be surprised if those sell out by next week, the NYC book release party) here's the invite to that~ tell whoever you know in NYC to go!!!
(here's a link to my previous post about the book).

Rock=tember

pic by jay blakesberg...

i can't possibly review the MMJ berkeley greek theater show better than dennis cook did @ jambase, so here's a link to his (always) stellar review...

meanwhile, as if i didn't get dropped on my head enough at MMJ, i've had the distinct privilege of seeing phil & friends @ the sweetwater this week. go figure, i sorta freaked out when they starting playing ryan adams "let it ride" on monday night, and "easy plateau" on tuesday night. do i hear a "cold roses" on the horizon for tonight? so funny, going to ryan shows (in the past) hoping to hear a dead cover, and now @ phil shows, hoping for a ryan cover!!! ahhh, the world works in mysterious ways...this pic taken @ phil & friends show from the greek theater last fall.



thanks to you for giving a shit enough to check in here. life is precious, folks~ sometimes tragic for no reason. give yourself a hug*

Beyond Beyond Excited

I'm just completely beside myself that Ryan Adams & The Cardinals are coming to SF again. And at the Fillmore, no less, a second home of sorts for me. It was at that last R.A. Fillmore show that the deal got sealed for me, so it's just gonna be really full circle to see him there again, with this ridiculously talented line up.

So that's it really. I've been on such a rampage lately, that I don't even know where to begin. So I'll begin with what I'm just fully pumped to the maxx about: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals at the Fillmore. Gosh, I hope these next few weeks FLY by, which they no doubt will...

pic by Jay Blakesberg, Herbst Theater, right around a year ago.

Traveling On A High Frequency

I stopped by Jay Blakesberg's studio one day in May. What I found was his latest project's progress: a massive book, Traveling On A High Frequency, archiving the last 30 years of Jay's concert/musician photography. For this book, he compiled a smattering of over 1200 photos beginning in 1978. My favorite statistic is that only about 45 were shot with his digi. I find that fascinating.

Seeing 300 or so pages of said book laid out on the floor of Jay's studio (amidst his finalizing the order they are now published in), I was *shocked* into taking this pic of him. Guess that's one interpretation of Traveling On A High Frequency. Wonder what the others are?

Here's the cover (Flaming Lips). There will be a book release party at The Independent in SF on November 11 for the west coasters. The east coast should get one on November 17, a night off during "The Other New York City Marathon", aka 2 week Phil and Friends Nokia run.

After seeing the mock-book that did end up going to production, the word of 2008 fully becomes present: WOW. You won't believe it when you see it. Major amts of High Frequency comin' outta that sucker. HERE for latest news

Night 4, Fare Thee Well, Warfield, 1979-2008

2 words. jackie fucking greene. pixx come down the pike from monsieur blakesberg. merci beaucoup!!! okay. i know i am going major jackie-centric here, but ya know what, that kid was on fucking fiiiiiyyyyaaaaa last night

For Neil Young Fans

in my little sidebar, you'll see a bunch of my favorite websites. one, in particular, keeps me super keen with insightful new music industry stuff. i'm always intrigued by Bob Lefsetz's perspective; sometimes he is talking shit about big shots at record labels, sometimes he talks about how good the snow was in vail (yawn), but his latest entry zeroed in on something pretty seemingly epic: neil young's archives being available on blu-ray. here's a link to the site that has a vid of the press conference. i'm not even half-way thru watching it, but had to start this post, because this seems pretty wild. and honest, i'm glad bob talks about his skiing, even if i could care less. i feel like it gives me permission to write about stuff here just cuz.
i really don't know what i am doing here. this pic is from 2002 bridge school benefit: thom yorke, ryan adams, james taylor, neil young. of course, shot by jay blakesberg

ryan adams music

i can't comprehend a bigger impact on my musical trajectory than ryan adams.
i'm so happy to be able to share this outrageous phenomenon of an artist. imagine, if we really all went out on the skinny branches? would we have a critical mass, or reach a tipping point?
as always, major props to jay blakesberg for the snapshot from the berkeley summer cardinals show, 7/24/07 from the berkeley community theater (BCT). i'll work on learning how to embed this next. but for now, click on that link and you can stream that show. i feel like such a geek.
wow.

2 GREAT thursdays & a goodlooking wednesday

#1 of aforementioned GREAT thursdays: its already been almost 2 weeks since i saw jackie greene and friends at the fillmore. that was a fun show! per usual, i was reluctant to leave my house (just cuz sometimes its hard to motivate) but was sooo glad i did.

joined by barry sless for most of the show, jackie would also later be joined by nicki bluhm, phil lesh, and steve molitz, thus the "jackie and friends" reference. really solid performance. the show was capped by, what was for me the highlight of the show: a solo acoustic performance of sweet somewhere bound. super nice touch. also a nice touch is this fine jackie pic from our very own "sf notable", jay blakesberg.

second GREAT thursday: MUDCRUTCH at the fillmore. it was the second night of a sold-out double header of mudcrutch at the fillmore. again, reluctant to leave my house, i ended up there, and was completely filled with gratitude for having been coerced to get a ticket.

i was impressed with every single person in the band, but particularly MIKE CAMPBELL...woah~ that guy plays the guitar eXACTly the way i like to hear it, with the "less is more" type of playing. i was seriously so pleasantly surprised by this show. anyone who can catch this gig, DO IT!

goodlooking wednesday: april 23, the verve play their first show in the U.S. in nearly 10 years at the warfield and i am coMPLETELY freaked out about seeing it...CANNOT wait for this. and it really better be great because i am skipping death cab for cutie at the fillmore AND the racounteurs at one of my favorite venues in SF, bimbo's.

all of this is really just my way of catching up before i bust out of norcal to head down to coachella. WHAT A FREAKY MONTH OF MUSIC!!!!!!! so glad i got that frickin' cleanse out of the way ;)

gosh, if i can squeeze in seeing MGMT on thursday night before blasting off to coachella, i'll be soooo stoked. fingers crossed but i am not holding my breath.