April 6, 2012 in 09, 12, 2, 28, 29, 3, 30, 9, 99, a, after, age, all, Also, am, an, and, another, Are, around, as, at, Ball, ban, band, bands, Bass, beginning, book, Burn, but, by, ca, can, center, City, comes, Crowd, dancing, Day, dialogue, does, dog, down, en, end, eq, Eve, fee, fi, First, FOR, From, Funk, Funny, gag, game, Genre, get, gin, great, ground, Guitar, hall, hampton, hi, high, higher, How, in, into, is, IT, IX, jam, jammin, jamming, Jams, jazz, Jr, King, know, las, Last, late, Laugh, Led, levels, life, light, Like, LITTLE, live, live music, log, long, loose, MA, Made, mash, MI, mix, Music, My, nc, New, News, NH, night, no, NV, ny, of, on, one, op, organ, out, PA, Part, party, Phish, play, Pot, pro, Pt, rad, rage, rain, rant, reggae, rock, rock music, room, row, rs, run, SC, set, show, Shows, So, solo, song, Soul, sound, SPAC, St, stage, start, Stern, tab, That, the, to, Too, tour, track, Train, Trip, Twist, us, venue, vocal, WA, war, Way, we, Wednesday, Ween, with, words, You |
Words & Images by: Annelise Poda
Ozomatli :: 03.28.12 :: The New Parish Music Hall :: Oakland, CA
 Ozomatli by Annelise Poda |
The New Parish Music Hall in Oakland was packed to the rafters with jubilant fans for a special Wednesday night Ozomatli show last week. Anyone familiar with the band knows that when embarking on a musical trip with Ozomatli they are in for a night of hip-shaking rhythmic jams and nonstop joking with the charismatic musicians. The New Parish is a very small venue for the band to be booked at, so excitement levels were bumped up even higher for the sold out crowd. This group is made up of some highly talented musicians that also really know how to work an audience, and their show made for a great night of laughter and dancing.
Ozomatli is known for being a multicultural musical project, and band members draw from a wealth of different influences to create their unique hybrid sound. Ozomatli grinds up and reassembles tons of different genres to create a louder-than-life end product of mashed up, jazzy horn trills, funky bass lines, Latin rhythms, hip-hop flows, reggae riffs, and straight-up rock music that all comes blaring out through their amps as vibrant and exciting songs. The jamming compositions ooze out as a sonic portrayal of the diverse atmosphere of Los Angeles, and it is no surprise that this sound attracts a wide range of fans. Live shows are the best way to experience the music of Ozomatli, as the band makes it easy to shed inhibitions and just get happily caught up in the wild celebration with everyone else in the room.
This specific show at the New Parish was surprisingly the bands first time ever playing in Oakland. They received an exceedingly warm welcome, and the party went full tilt ahead all the way to the end of their three-hour set. Almost right from the start, the band went off on a percussive tangent with a drum circle type jam, which gradually slowed into a quiet beat when rapper Justin Pore took the opportunity to hype up the crowd and flow into the beginning lyrics to City of Angels, one of the bands singles. He spat words into his mic and the horn section added their animated range of melodies over the heavy duty rhythms. Another fan favorite was the expressive Cant Stop, a song with more drawn out vocals sung in harmony, and the audience lent their own singing to the chorus as well.
 Ozomatli by Annelise Poda |
As mentioned before, Ozomatli does a great job of engaging the audience with humorous dialogue and creative pre-song games. Dexterous trumpeter Asdrubal Sierra set up a call and response interchange between he and the crowd where fans sang back notes that came blasting out of his horn. This also gave him the chance to show off his instrumental chops, impressively blowing out chopped up trills and elongated notes. At a later point, Sierra also instigated a horse race during the song Caballito (little horse) and told the crowd to act like they were galloping around the room. Fans playfully obliged and took off on their hypothetical steeds to the fast paced song, and the venue was temporarily changed into an old Western movie set that with a soundtrack scored by a fast-paced mariachi band. It was great to see people cut loose and get into funny situations with each other, which really fostered a jovial atmosphere and encouraged everyone to have fun.
After listening to a few songs, its easy to conclude that bassist Wil-Dog Abers is the soulful glue of this band, as he brings all the different instruments together and holds it down with his spot-on bass parts. His playing often seems to blend into the background because more boisterous instruments claw their way up to the top of the mix and demand attention, but there comes a point when one realizes his solidly twisting notes are the roots of this sonic organism. He is the foundation the endless notes of the others rest upon, and without him all the guitars, horns, and everything else would ring out as dissonant sounds. At one point, his bandmates singled him out to play some funky lines he had apparently learned while watching reruns of Soul Train, and it was great to hear a really well put together bass solo. Abers subsequently shared the spotlight around, giving everyone else on stage a shot at showing off some sounds that wouldnt normally fit within conventional song structures, and it was a great way to switch up the flow of the set.
All in all, this is a really great band to go see if you want to be immersed in an audience of really happy people grooving to the sounds of a tight, energetic band. Theres a great ambiance at Ozomatli shows as everyone comes together to celebrate music and life. The band is currently on tour, and it probably wouldnt surprise anyone if they were snaking their way through the country in a giant conga line formation.
Ozomatli Tour Dates :: Ozomatli News
JamBase | Oaksterdam
Go See Live Music!
Tags: annelise-poda, book, burn, fee, gin, jamming, live music, mash, Music, party, rock music, Stern, track
March 28, 2012 in 10, 11, 12, 17, 2, 25, 28, 29, 3, 9, 99, a, acoustic, after, age, aka, all, am, American, an, and, Arc, Are, around, Artie, as, at, attendees, away, ban, band, bands, Bass, big, Bill, Bob Dylan, book, Bridge, brother, brothers, brown, bud, Burn, but, by, ca, can, cat, cc, center, classic, close, Closer, covers, Crowd, cute, dance, dave, Day, dead, down, Drop, Drums, electric, empire, en, Encore, end, Enjoy, eq, Eve, Eyed, fake, Fat, fee, fi, First, FOR, Free, Friend, From, gag, get, gin, golden, Good, grateful, great, ground, Guitar, hampton, hi, high, home, Hope, How, ice, in, into, intro, is, IT, IX, jam, jazz, John, Joy, key, Keys, King, know, Labor, las, Led, let, life, light, lights, Like, live, live music, loaded, long, love, lure, MA, Main, MI, mj, mod, moon, mound, Music, My, Nat, nate, nc, New, News, NJ, no, NV, ny, of, on, one, op, Open, opener, organ, out, PA, Part, party, Phish, photos, play, player, pro, Pt, rad, rain, rare, read, rev, reverb, Road, rock, roll, rolling, row, rs, run, Say, SC, second, set, Shine, show, So, song, SPAC, sponsor, St, start, state, step, story, studio, tab, Taste, That, the, times, to, Too, Twist, two, us, va, van, view, vocal, WA, Walk, war, Way, ways, we, Web, Ween, with, words, You, Young, Your |
Words by: Dennis Cook | Images by: Dave Vann
The Bridge Session :: 03.24.12 :: TRI Studios :: San Rafael, CA
Big photo gallery below review!
 Bob Weir & The Bridge Session Band by Dave Vann |
An early arrival for the Headcount sponsored live webcast dubbed The Bridge Session found the one-time-only band gathered around a single very expensive looking microphone working up a patient acoustic version of Uncle Johns Band, their harmonies rich and touch light as they beckoned one to come on along or go alone. In some greater sense, this invitation lay at the heart of this combination musical performance and political/social forum designed to bridge perceived differences and discover common ground. Feeling apart, separate and alone is a frequent feeling amongst voters and even music fans in 2012, and its easy to miss possible connections that might well enrich our own lives not to mention society at large. While the players, Headcount staff and invited roundtable speakers never hammered too hard on these points, the evening offered folks a chance to reflect on where ones life and interests overlap with others, guiding us there gently and thoughtfully through the vehicle of beautiful, well played music and lively discussion.
The remainder of the rehearsal found the guys working through lovely lean-in-and-listen takes on Dead classics Ripple and Brokedown Palace. Say what one will about the Grateful Dead themselves, their songbook is one of the most enduring, instantly humanizing and wonderfully constructed in American history. The truth of this shined in the two set performance that followed and three-song encore that recreated the rehearsal vibe standing in middle of the tiny invited audience where Dead alum Bob Weir collaborated with a bunch of Brooklyns brightest who clearly vibed powerfully off the many Dead numbers they tackled along with smartly chosen and executed covers of Bob Dylans Most of the Time, Cass McCombs Love Thine Enemy and two from The National, Fake Empire and Daughters of the SoHo Riots. In addition to The National‘s bass and drum playing brothers Scott and Bryan Devendorf, the group who had been holding 10 hour/day rehearsals leading up to this event included The Nationals Aaron Dessner (guitar, electric mandolin), Kyle Resnick (trumpet) and Thomas Doveman Bartlett (keys) with Yellowbirds Sam Cohen (guitar) and Josh Kaufman (guitar, lap steel), The Walkmens Walt Martin (keys), and Taka Takas Conrad Doucette (drums).
 Bob Weir & The Bridge Session Band by Dave Vann |
After a brief, jovial intro from the evening’s emceee The Disco Biscuits’ Marc Brownstein, a Headcount co-founder, the care and preparatory work the musicians had put in was immediately apparent on Set One opener Help On The Way, which moved in a warm, limber manner that scooped one up, the jazzy elements downplayed for a fairly rockin version that dropped us into Love Thine Enemy, one of the evenings highlights, a loaded, painfully personal song with broader reverberations and knotty lyrics like, Hypocrites especially practice the golden rule/ I love what you say though sometimes its mean/ Without earthworms how else would the soil keep clean? Weir shined on this fairly alien material to his usual fare and continued to do so throughout the performance, singing in a clear, strong voice that meshed well with his young collaborators. An appreciation of what others bring to the table was part of the subtext to The Bridge Sessions, and this theme came through in ways bold and subtle as they explored music together, often touching on the profound friction and violence that can exist between opposing forces in our culture a point laid bare in Set One closer My Brother Esau, which Weir hadnt performed since 1987.
It’s brother to brother and it’s man to man
And it’s face to face and it’s hand to hand
We shadowdance the silent war within
The shadowdance, it never ends
 Buddy Roemer & John Perry Barlow by Dave Vann |
While the music was the main lure for those watching online (and most of those in attendance), one of the best portions of the event occurred when a panel comprised of independent Presidential candidate Buddy Roemer, Grateful Dead lyricist and electronic culture pioneer John Perry Barlow, upstart political party No Labels co-founder Mark McKinnon, and Executive Director for the Energy Action Coalition Jessy Tolkan held a half hour discussion of some key issues facing the United States. Each spoke with a clarity and conviction thats rare in contemporary politics, showing that undisguised passion and reason still exist in this field, each participant showing uncommon good sense, a healthy amount of honest compassion, and a willingness to unleash venom on the right targets.
We dont run the country anymore. Checks do, observed Roemer, who wisely pointed out that despite their stated differences the two controlling major American parties are joined at the billfold to the same wealthy masters. Try and call your representatives and see what happens. They arent taking your call.
This is the year of political disruption, said Tolkan. The power of the people is not gone. We need to disrupt, disrupt, disrupt, and remember that disruption is our right.
 Tolkan, McKinnon, Weir & Headcount’s Andy Bernstein by Dave Vann |
Asked what he thought about the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision, Bob Weir, who joined the panel between sets, offered, Its not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. If corporations are people put em in prison. But you cant! Hows that for a big mound of horseshit? Well said, sir.
At the core of the varied discussion which I personally would have loved to seen doubled in length were people seeking some areas a majority of people could rally around and put their shoulders into bringing to fruition. Its a worthy goal and the truth and power of what was said by Roemer and the others generated a real moment for some of us, a conviction in our spirit to get involved, to participate and engage even in the face of the fractious, tribalizing dissent and abject, fact-free dumbness that abound in todays political discourse. Throughout this article there are hyperlinks to more information on the participants. Click away, investigate, and ruminate on ways you might get involved. The time for active engagement and full-throated participation is now. And you can begin by getting registered at Headcount and perhaps seeing what you can do to aid their voter registration efforts. As first steps towards active citizenship, its a bang-up one.
 Bob Weir & The Bridge Session Band by Dave Vann |
The second set was by turns playful and intense, mingling sing-a-long fave Brown Eyed Women with the propulsive, finger-twisting journey of The Other One (which these Dead newbies pulled off with serious aplomb). Fake Empire brought Doveman out on lead vocals and found Weir clearly enjoying The Nationals music, a fresh but sure convert to their indie beloved tunes. An ever-crowd-pleasing one-two punch of China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider got attendees in motion at the end of Set Two, a pleasant, comforting reminder of this pairings strange power.
For my own tastes, the quieter moments on Set Ones Looks Like Rain and Set Twos Standing On The Moon and world weary reading of Dylans Most of the Time with Weir in majestic ache and the band in empathetic harmony with him may have been the sweetest musical points. However, it was the thoughtful, interwoven nature of the whole experience that lingers. The subtleties of our differences and sameness were explored in art and conversation in ways that stirred one out of calcified stancesif one opened up and let it. Like most things in this modern world, its easy to stop at being entertained or amused. Its to be hoped that the efforts of The Bridge Session participants and organizers will have some positive rippling effect amongst the audience that witnessed it.
Setlist
Set I: Help on the Way, Love Thine Enemy, Looks Like Rain, El Paso, Friend of the Devil, Cassidy, Daughters of the SoHo Riots, My Brother Esau
Set II: Me and My Uncle, Fake Empire, Most of the Time, Brown Eyed Women, The Other One, Standing on the Moon, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider
Encore: Ripple, Uncle Johns Band, Brokedown Palace
3/24/12 – Bridge Session @ TRI Studios (Mt. Tamalpais, CA) View Photos
JamBase | Spanned
Go See Live Music!
Tags: ban, bridge-session, cat, dance, grateful, ground, hampton, Hope, images, labor, open, opener, photos, row, times
March 26, 2012 in 12, 2, 29, 3, 30, 50, 9, a, age, all, Also, am, American, an, and, Arc, Are, as, at, ban, band, bands, big, blue, blues, brother, Burn, by, ca, can, cat, center, chris, close, CO., community, David, DAW, Day, dead, Documentary, dry, DVD, en, end, Eve, FEAT, fee, fi, FOR, Friend, From, get, grateful, ground, hampton, hi, ice, in, interview, into, is, IT, IX, jam, jefferson airplane, know, late, Led, live, MA, MI, mike, mix, mj, Music, nc, New, News, no, NV, ny, of, on, one, op, out, PA, Phish, photos, play, player, pro, psychedelic, Pt, rad, rare, read, rev, rock, rock music, roll, rolling, rs, San Francisco, SC, So, sound, SPAC, St, stone, story, studio, tab, That, the, to, tone, Too, track, Twist, uic, underground, us, va, view, WA, we, with, XM |
NEW DOCUMENTARY OUT ON DVD MAY 22
In the mid-1960s a new twist on contemporary rock music emerged out of San Francisco. Known as ‘psychedelia’, it was pioneered by a close-knit community of local bands who merged traditional American forms such as folk, country, blues and rock & roll with new sounds often developed under the influence of psychedelic drugs.
Dawn of the Dead: The Grateful Dead & The Rise of the San Francisco Underground traces the movements, events and sounds of those heady days, and traces the story of the definitive band of the psychedelic age, the Grateful Dead. Giving time too for the involvement of Frisco’s other lead players such as Big Brother & The Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, The Charlatans and Quicksilver Messenger Service, the program explores what it was that, for a while, turned San Francisco into a 1960s Shangri-La.
The documentary features brand new interviews with Grateful Dread manager Rock Scully; the Dead’s experimental professor, Tom ‘T.C.’ Constanten; Big Brother’s Peter Albin; Mike Willlhelm from The Charlatans; publicist and official Dead biographer, Dennis McNally; Counter-Culture and Dead author and journalist (and host of ‘The Grateful Dead Hour’), David Gans; Merry Prankster and best friend of the late Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs, plus comment, criticism and review from Rolling Stone’s Anthony De Curtis, Village Voice’s Robert Christgau and Mojo’s Ritchie Unterberger.
Also including the rarest archive in existence, live and studio footage of Grateful Dead and the other Frisco bands, vintage interviews, location shoots, news reports plus the music that soundtracked the entire movement, which all together make for the most detailed overview yet of the social upheaval on America’s West Coast which ultimately changed the world forever.
Click here to purchase the documentary, and check out the trailer below.
Tags: brother, co., day, documentary, dry, grateful, live, location-shoots, mike, News, rev, Too, village-voice
