Hartamophone

Happy Birthday, brother! Hope to see you again soon.

Peace.

I've been looking for something to do with some out-of-town guests tonight, and this might be just the thing. Brad and Matt, I'll be sure and seek y'all out.

Are you taping, Brad?

Weird, I was wondering the same thing just yesterday. I wonder if we heard it in the same place.

question for those who went...

how was the attendance?

did the arena feel empty?

It definitely didn't feel empty (to me, at least). Action was spread out throughout the complex, but by the time moe. came on, the floor was packed and there was a good scattering of people throughout the seats. I thought it was just right. The aftershows and lodge shows at the hill got a little tight, though

Truly a magical weekend (although I know that's not as descriptive as some people want). Despite really enjoying their music of late, I'm definitely not fluent enough in moe. speak to offer much in the way of critical analysis, but here goes (with other bands thrown in):

Friday Night:

GDSS - I had never seen Rory do his thing, but it was a treat to behold. The feedback from pretty much everyone that I talked to was really positive. I'm really glad I had the chance to take it in a few times over the weekend, and it was great to talk to you, Rory.

Gordon Stone - Mellower sounds from VT. The guy plays banjo and pedal steel (and has a bass player and percussionist), but there are some strong world music influences that made the set sounds less like straight-up roots music than I was hoping for.

Soulive - Standard set from them, which is to say that it was funky, intense and damn entertaining. These cats never disappoint.

moe. - Hell yes. Whenever "32 Things" opens, you know they came to play, and by "Okay Alright," the place seemed to be really rockin' (although that was right when my buzz was kicking into high gear, so I'm biased there). Also, "New York City" was the first moe. song I ever heard and fell in love with, so it really got me going. Musically speaking, one of the tastiest dishes going right now is a Rebub. sandwich, and with Bearsong for desert, you know the people were happy.

Saturday Afternoon:

moe. - I was expecting a mellower, perhaps acoustic set here, but was I ever wrong. The band rocked hard on the side of the mountain, and the vibe was beautiful. Everyone was grooving hard to stave off the cold, and although they were visibly quite cold, the band gave a hell of a performance. Highlights for me were St. Augustine and Timmy Tucker, and the Bearsong (an interesting choice for a repeat) was even better than the night before.

Saturday Night:

ASSEMBLY OF DUST!!! - Something about these guys just clicked for me, and I really think I'll be travelling to see them in the future. Groovin' rock and roll with some Southern twang and pop sensabilities (if that makes sense). Reid Genauer is an incredible singer and great lyricist, and they gelled really well as a band. They "went off" a few times, but avoided the usual "jamband" wankery and weren't over-indulgent. I'm really excited about the prospect of getting more into these guys.

Dread Clampitt - Probably the weekend's only disappointment for me. After hearing about how they tore moe.down a new one, I was let down by a mellow set that never really got off the ground. Talented, for sure, but what I heard would go better on a Sunday drive rather than a Saturday rager. To each his own.

Everyone Orchestra - Definitely entertaining. The conductor was all over the stage, giving direction to both the band and the crowd, and it made for quite a unique experience. Musical elitests will complain that they didn't go anywhere, and the talent on the stage was wasted, but it was a really engaging set of music that had its moments of brilliance. Besides, a little musical irreverance never hurt anyone.

Woodenspoon - NICE. These guys were really, really impressive. Highly recommended for anyone who digs roots music. Acoustic and featuring a mandolin, but not very bluegrassy, they put on one of the more melodic sets that I saw, and were great. Another band I'm looking forward to getting into, and their tune ("Yesterday", I think) on the compilation CD the festival handed out has been played at least half a dozen times in my car since Sunday.

moe. - Wicked. The one long set was kind of cool, although I have to admit I felt a little bit short-changed. What a set, though. "Mexico" served as a great opener, and "Deal" with Reid Genauer (Assembly of Dust) got a huge reaction (predictably). The "Drums" with Fishman was crazy - it didn't at all feel like "Drums" for the sake of "Drums", which can sometimes happen with bands who don't do it every night. By the time "Enter Sandman" was unleashed, it was absolute bedlam inside that building. I can't think of the last time I saw an arena crowd quite so fired up.

So yeah. I guess that was pretty long and mostly just one guy's opinion, but there you go. Two thumbs way up from this dude, and my fingers are crossed for this to be annual. To anyone who had a stranger in oversized green sunglasses wish them a "Happy snoe.down," I hope I didn't freak you out - just trying to spread a little snoe.y love.

Peace,

Hart

Right now, three words:

Assembly of Dust.

More later.

Happy birthday, man. (And I think you should print out that first post of yours, to read when you turn 40, 50, etc...)

Hope it's a good one for you.

frig, I really wish that I could go with y'all.

No worries, bouche. From the looks of this thread, it'll be a private moe. show for me.

"Rebubula! Get to the chorus!"

Congratulations, brother. A long time deserved, I'm betting.

Enjoy!

T-minus three days, and I know that there will be at least a few Skanks in attendance. Who else is in?

We're going here:

To see them:

What's not to be excited about?

That must have been pure magic. I wonder if they announced it, or if people just figured it out as they got deeper into the set.

Did this Potter gal play any keys for the show? I've found their sound to be pretty thin since DuWayne Burnside departed. His style was a little too gritty Chicago blues I think, but at least it filled out the sound of the band a bit.

I'm gonna go check out this Grace Potter, she sounds good.

Yeah, looks like I left that out in my original post. She was on keys for about 80% of the show, and only came out to the front of the stage for the last few songs. Her playing was incredibly tight, which is why I think this was a pretty well-rehearsed (or at least thoroughly planned) event.

You should make a point of checking her out at either of those fests (and hopefully I'll see you at Mtn Jam). Even after hearing a few shows that I have, I was blown away by her vocal range, keyboard skills and stage presence. She's a young, white girl from Vermont who carried herself like a veteran Southern blues woman.

So the North Mississippi All Stars played a free, outdoor show in the Village of Lake Placid last night, as part of a snowboard competition (they were three chilly-lookin' Southerners). After the first song, they announced that Grace Potter (of The Nocturnals) would be joining them for the rest of the show. DAMN - what a union! This girl can wail, and her voice fit in perfectly with their southern styles, not to mention her firey work on the keyboard. They played a mix of her tunes, their tunes and covers (including a slammin' Lovelight). Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised to see this become a mroe regular thing, as it was clearly well-rehearsed and they seemed really comfortable up on stage together. Grace Potter (who I had listened to a bunch but hadn't yet seen) definitely lives up to the hype - I highly recommend checking her out for a healthy serving of soul (among other things). As for the All Stars, they were firing on all cylinders.

Hopefully I'll have pics up in the next couple of days.

Thanks for the heads up. I don't even remember hearing about this last year, and it looks like it would be a peaceful, mellowed-out alternative to all of the overblown late-night hype-fests (which are fun in their own right). I might try and swing this, as it seems to be around three hours driving time from my summer digs.

StoneMtn, I wish I could agree with your statement about Wal-Mart losing its stranglehold on employees, but I really don't see any semblance of that. As long as that company is as big as it is and dominates the retail and employment landscapes in so many communities, it will continue to walk all over its employees, regardless of isolated pockets of unionization.

No, I don't see much of a marketplace for such a thing , but I still want it.

Aloha,

Brad

I see. Sorry to step on the dream, brother.

It'd be the size of a steno pad (9" x 6", say), and have a hinge along the long side. Open it up, and the top is the screen (greyscale), the bottom the keyboard (even a chiclet keyboard would be fine). The OS wouldn't be much, even just a command line and hierarchical file system. The main application would be a very simple text editor (which could allow you to open multiple files at once, and copy/cut/paste between them). There wouldn't be a hard drive, just a few megabytes of flash. No sound, no video, no GUI, no heavy-duty connectivity (even just a serial port or USB), the only thing it'd be for is editing text.

Aloha,

Brad

Brad,

I don't pay very close attention to the industry, but do you see potential in the marketplace for something so overtly minimalist? As hand-helds are getting more and more advanced and with mp3 playback and e-mail (or at least texting) capabilities coming as standard, do you think there would be a niche for such a categorically bare-bones device? I really wonder if such a beast (or non-beast, in this case) would sell in a marketplace where people demand to have so many features crammed into tiny packages. Just my $0.02.

Peace,

Hart

I think Brad has a good idea. Since someone around you is obviously pissed, it's sort of on you now toe take the high road (even though they probably should have gone to you before ByLaw) and mend fences. A note explaining your situation and an offer to keep it quieter and earlier might give the complainant the satisfaction/quiet that he/she/they is/are looking for. If that doesn't work, the show might have to go elsewhere from now on. Good luck.

If Skanc threads had a Hallowe'en costume party all their own, this one could easily take first prize in the "Skanc thread dressed as a lame PT thread" category.

That's incredibly sad. Another one of the greats gone before his time. I'll always remember fighting to stay awake for every game of that 1991 Series.

Rest peacefully, Kirby.

Gotta respect any species that tries to popularize genital handshakes.

CNN Story

The Doobies are just alright with me.

Hey-OOOHHHH!

A couple of interviews with the man himself. The first is from Arsenio, and offers little in the way of insight or engagement. The second from the Today Show, in which you can tell he is suffering but he speaks fairly candidly, if impatiently. I need to discover more of this guy.

YouTube Link.

Walk The Line exceeded my expectations and in a way, I liked more than Ray simply because I like Cash's music better. It's not a better bio-pic than Ray because it never really delves into Johnny's creativity as a songwriter and it skirts over significant periods of his life, especially in the 60's. But I love the relationship angle that Walk The Line presents.

That was sort of the point for Walk the Line - it's purpose wasn't to focus on the music (even though a lot of us whish it was), but it was a love story first, which is why it focused on such a narrow few years of his life for most of the film. Sometimes I think it's even a stretch to call it a Cash biopic, simply because of how narrow it is in scope, but that doesn't mean I didn't find it incredibly entertaining and am not looking forward to picking it up on DVD (because I did and I am).

I'll throw Baraka into the mix. For the uninitiated, it's a stirring collection of scenes from around the world (ranging from monks in prayer to Cambodian killing fields to Asian factories to NYC traffic) set to music. It's a pretty powerful film, and it's lack of dialogue or a narrator make it a uniqiue experience for eveyone who sees it.