happy birthday neal!!!

the stars aligned, and made it possible for me to catch this awesome night of music at the nokia theater...turns out neal casal was sitting in with phil & friends on the saturday night after his halloween gig at the apollo theater, and also the night before he left for cardinals tour/promo stuff in the UK.

AND it was the eve of neal's 40th birthday!!! wow!!! seriously, what a way to close out a decade and ring in a new one!!!

the show was great, neal was amazing, and i was very very happy to see phil & friends back at their annual residency of the nokia theater. as sterile and futuristic as some think that place is, i actually really love it.

neal sang lead vocals on he's gone and ship of fools~ check it out here, on LMA.

major thanks to i.Gene Dulyn for the photos! contact i.Gene at: photoplus@frontiernet.net for more info.

Thank You, JamBase!!!

everything happened really fast, but the short version of THIS particular story, is that JamBase just carved out a piece of their server space for this here wonderpiece's (sorta sterile) story about some recent shows!!! unreal...such a funny thing. and to think, because i wanted to come onto this site a wee bit ago, this blog-space to get a little frisky w my words, that i'd put words together well enough for someone ELSE to post them. cute, neat, cool~ FUN!!!

here's a link to my review from the phil & friends sweetwater shows.

major props out to RR & RS for being my advocates, or just planting the seed even.

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*

sunshine daydream!

i'd never seen a show at fort mason, but yesterday was your quintessential san francisco day of outdoor music (minus the fog!!!) phil & friends played a rad set during a hot, warm, sunny EPICLY picturesque situation. honest to goodness, this was just too good to be true if you like the music of the grateful dead. the golden gate bridge was delicately placed in the backdrop, along with the overly beautiful marin headlands.

& for realz, the music was spot on!!! thxx to MM for this pic below*

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

5/13-5/18 Warfield Posters

Final Dance: And We Bid You Good Night (or good morning)

Lay down my dear brothers, lay down and take your rest
Oh won't you lay your head upon your saviour's breast
I love you, oh but Jesus loves you the best
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

Lay down my dear brothers, lay down and take your rest
Oh won't you lay your head upon your saviour's breast
I love you, oh but Jesus loves you the best
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

Walking in Jerusalem just like John (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
I remember right well, I remember right well (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
His rod and his staff shall comfort me (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
Tell "A" for the ark, that wonderful boat (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
Tell "B" for the beast at the ending of the wood (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
Well it eat all the children that would not be good (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
I'm walking in Jerusalem just like John (bid you goodnight, goodnight)
Walking in the valley of the shadow of death (bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight)

Lay down my dear brothers, lay down and take your rest
Oh won't you lay your head upon your saviour's breast
I love you, oh but Jesus love you the best
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight
And I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight

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

Night 3, Phil's Final Warfield Run

so yeah. the music was really really really good last night. i mean, workingman's dead followed by american beauty?! i'm sorry. what? i started to say that last night was my favorite night then my friend reminded me of the second set on my birthday and i had to rewind. i am sososo impressed by this band, and particularly jackie greene. most of you who are even bothering to read this know that i am super into jackie. but this is jackie 2.0 or somethin. he is seriously raging into a whole new level for me. its not even just about liking his voice or playing. his poise and stage presence is so happenin for me. so fun seeing all my shiny happy friends for this final run of the warfield!!!

Night 2: one (wo)man gathers what another (wo)man spills!

guess my hand wasn't steady on this shot!!! crazy!!!

after a first night birthday bonanza show hearing the dead's first two albums, set one being the self-titled grateful dead album, followed by set two with anthem of the sun (are you kidding me? NO!!!), night two was under way with set one being AOXOMOXOA, and set two being live dead.

it didn't seem possible to get two st. stephens in one night, but it happened. after bobby guested on tuesday night, it was a curious thing to know...is he going to sit in every night? nope. last night mark karan stepped in. their are imaginable other guests for the next few nights as well (3 more nights of grateful dead music at the warfield as we know it). sooooooo...

thank goodness for a night off. tomorrow night should continue the trend of playing the next two albums in the g.d. catalog, and what that means for us is good news! workingman's dead, and american beauty. OMG.

phil and friends definitely is NOT the grateful dead. but i'd be lying if i told you that hearing the music of the grateful dead played by founding member(s) of the grateful dead did not somehow bring jerry just a little closer to my heart. still and again, thank you jerry!

Night 1: a very special birthday!

i actually took these. i'm entertained by them. i now love sepia. again or already. can't remember which.
um. to everyone who was a part of my bday celebration, WTTW (wow to the wow)!!! i have the best friends anyone could ever ask for. i was so spoiled yesterday. i am indeed grateful.
the music of the second set was somethin else. a friend grabbed me and dragged me into the pit where there was seriously magically a total spot for us to dance. it was bizarre. i was rocking like 4 people back from the rail. it sounded incredible