Dr. Dog Go Cold Turkey

We’ve been lucky enough to have the guys from Dr. Dog as our guests on Cold Turkey three times in the past two years. The first time was on a pier in Philadelphia, the second time was in a trailer in southern Florida and the third time was on the roof of the Relix offices last week. At least it was supposed to be on the roof of the Relix office last week. As I have when other performers stopped by our office for a brief acoustic set, I momentarily left my cube and escorted the five guys who comprise Dr. Dog to our less-glamorous-than-it-sounds roof deck. I pointed out some of the highlights: the shinny gray lawn chairs, the fake plastic plants (alas, not trees) and, most importantly, the huge cranes slowly building an office space that will one day block out view of the Empire State building.

But the always forward-thinking members of Dr. Dog got distracted by an altogether different part of the roof: our electrical room/boiler space. At first they just hoped to use the dusty room to plug in their acoustic/vintage instruments, but the guys took to the space and started setting up their equipment. Since our office building also houses a number of more 9-5 oriented offices, at first I felt like one of my friends had broken into my parent’s good liquor cabinet during a sleepover part or something. But as soon as they started rehearsing those gorgeous harmonies from Fate I relaxed and remembered why we put them on our single-month July cover. I even think they stole one of our plastic plants for their current stage setup.

Below is a link to Dr. Dog’s three-song Cold Turkey performance, which found the guys not only using one of our plugs for power, but the boiler room’s floor as a percussive instrument.

Please click here to listen

The Dead Come Back to Life

When it rains it pours, at least when it comes to hippie-friendly reunions. First David Byrne teamed up with Brian Eno for the first time since 1981, then Trey decided to give his left nut for some more Phish and now the Dead has confirmed its first plans to hit the road since 2004. Is it me or is it time for the post-jammers to beget the jam-revivalists? So breakout your hemp necklace, undust your older sister's recipe for goo-balls and pull that Pharmer's Almanac out from under your pillow because it's tour time!

Anyways, here is the news we posted on Relix.com and Jambands.com Friday. It was written by our chief San Francisco correspondent Rich Simon who I only finally met face to face at Outiside Lands after no less than five years of weekly e-mail corrispondence. Let's just hope a new president means new gas prices, otherwise I might be visiting Shakedown via IClips.

Dead Planning Spring Tour, Obama Benefit

Sources confirm that the surviving members of the Grateful Dead -- guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh,and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann -- are planning to tour in April and May of 2009. There's no word yet on the band's configuration -- previous configurations of "The Dead" and The Other Ones have included singer-guitar hero Warren Haynes, guitar ace Jimmy Herring, singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi, singer Joan Osborne, keyboardists Jeff Chimenti and Rob Baracco, as well as guitarists Mark Karan and Steve Kimock.

Also in the works, likely for October 13, is a second Deadheads For Obama concert, planned for the swing state of Pennsylvania.

The first Deadheads for Obama concert took place at the Warfield in San Francisco -- with Weir, Hart, Lesh, drummer John Molo, keyboardist Steve Molitz, guitarist Larry Campbell, pedal steel player Barry Sless, singer-guitarist Jackie Greene, and Karan -- on the eve of the California Democratic primary.

The Dead allied with Obama after Lesh's son began volunteering for Obama's campaign.

"This is the real deal," Lesh said of Obama then.

Dr. Dog

Is there a Dr. (Dog) in the house? Or at least Relix's boiler room? Stay tuned for the podcast and, until then, enjoy the Felice Brothers (streaming now on your right).

LeRoi Moore: 1961-2008

A sad day for the scene for sure....here is the obit I wrote for Relix and Jambands.com

LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, from complications stemming from an ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, VA. The 46-year-old saxophonist was injured in an ATV accident on June 30, 2008 and has been off the road since that time. Though the saxophonist originally seemed to be recovering, he was readmitted to the hospital in mid-July. Moore recently has returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program and died at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center.

Before helping popularize the second generation jamband movement, Moore was a local Virginia jazz musician proficient on such instruments as saxophones, flute, bass clarinet and wooden penny whistle. Along with Matthews, drummer Carter Beauford and bassist Stefan Lessard, Moore co-founded Dave Matthews Band in 1991. He appears on all six of the group’s studio releases, as well as the band’s numerous live documents. His co-writing credits include such DMB cuts as “Too Much,” “#34,” “Pig” and “Stay.”

Though Moore was the least visible member of the band offstage, he appears on an eclectic mix of non-Dave Matthews Band releases, ranging from Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead to Soko's In November Sunlight to Hootie & The Blowfish’s Musical Chairs and Code Magenta's self-titled release. In addition, Moore sat in with a wide number of musicians over the years, including five cameos with Phish between the years 1994 and 1997. Along with his bandmates, Moore also participated in Warren Haynes’ 1993 Ritz Power Jam, a seminal jam session that featured Haynes, John Popper, Noel Redding, Chuck Leavell, Bernie Worrell, Jaimoe, Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon, among others.

Flecktones saxophonist Jeff Coffin has been subbing for Moore throughout Dave Matthews Band’s summer tour. The group took the stage as planned the night of Moore’s passing at Los Angeles’ Staples Center and opened with “Bartender,” a song whose opening lyrics include the lines “if I go/before I'm old/ oh, brother of mine/please don't forget me if I go." As of press time, the group has made no statement about its future plans.

David Byrne for Download

I was beyond stoked to be cited as a source on the new wikipedia page for David Byrne's first album with Brian Eno since 1981 (oddly enough the year I was born), so I figured I'd go ahead and make the album available for streaming on my poorly updated blog.



If you happen to see a similar stream popping up on other websites/blogs/digital confessions this week it means DB's experimental marketing approach is working. If you happen to see me in Red Bank, NJ on November 3, I'll probably be bouncing. I'll hopefully be bouncing on November 4 as well, but that's for the polls to decide.