SpiderGawd Performs "Celebration Day," at Brixton Southbay 4/2/11

SpiderGawd with special guest Ed Lyon who brought up doing this little bluegrass rendition of "Celebration Day, " by, of course, Led Zepplin. Pretty fun times and the video turned out nice as well...

Jack of Hearts performs "Like a rolling stone" at Bisbee Repertory Theatre

Jack of Hearts footage from the Arizona Mini-Tour. The band finishes the sold out Bisbee show with "Like a Rolling Stone," which frontman Jamie Israel has become accustomed to introducing as "The greatest rock-n-roll song of all time." Hope you enjoy. Tommy.

Neil Young Inducts Tom Waits into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pt. 1

Another video from the 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Neil Young's Speech and the short video for Tom Waits.

"Make it Rain," and a bit of Speech from Tom Waits 2011 Rock Hall Inductee

A Clip of the Fuse TV Presentation of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony 2011 featuring Dr. John, Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Leon Russell, Alice Cooper, and Darlene Love.

Jack of Hearts (Bob Dylan Tribute) take AZ

The Jack of Hearts band erupted in Arizona this past weekend with two explosive shows performed at two completely different venues. The first set was performed in Chandler, Arizona, a neighbor of Tempe and a part of the larger urban area of Phoenix. The boys took the main stage at the Ostrich Festival, a great family event put on by Universal Fairs and including: Live music, Ostrich racing, Medieval Jousting, Pig racing, a Seal show, local venders, rides, and more. The sound set-up was as good as one could ask for at such a large outdoor event and the band was in top form performing an hour set of Dylan's best tunes from '65-'76. Standouts included "Tangled up in Blue," "Quinn the Eskimo," and "Like a Rolling Stone," which frontman Jamie Israel has become accustomed to introducing as "The greatest rock-n-roll song of all time." The crowd was a mixture of older folks standing and sitting to enjoy the Bob Dylan song repertoire and a large group of young tweeny-boppers lined up in front of the stage to have good seats for the next act, The Ready Set. While, the youngsters up front weren't really there for us, they did cheer (or scream and pull out their hair) enthusiastically and yell out about which band members were the cutest. The two bands couldn't have really been farther from each other in style, but it did make for a nice mix of patrons and the overall size of the crowd was definitely a big positive for the group and Universal Fairs.

Next it was a trip further south to Bisbee, Arizona, a beautiful little town nestled in the mountains near the border. Bisbee is an old mining town, which changed into more of a tourist attraction and artist's haven in the 70's and is now a melting-pot of extremely eclectic and artistic people who love their small community and it's rich history. Local, Dylan Charles, set the boys up at the Old Bisbee Repertory Theater and together with Nowhere Man and Whiskey Girl he performed Pink Floyd's The Wall in it's entirety. The pull of Bob Dylan helped boost that of Dylan Charles and The Wall and together was enough to pack the house and leave a few fans to listen outside. The crowd was insanely attentive for the entire program and gave both band's standing ovations. At one point I commented from the drums that they were a great crowd to which a kind lady yelled, "You're in Dylan country." Perfect. Post show we went down to the Grand for wonderfully cheap and stiff cocktails and then back to the house of local DeadHead musicologist "Steve" where we traded songs and harmonized over tequila, beer, and conversation. Thanks again to everyone involved with everything....Dylan, Universal Fairs, Jamie and Ali, Mr. and Mrs. Israel, K. Kerfoot, Nowhere Man and Whiskey Girl for the crash pad, Steve, and Uncle Dave. Possible vids and audio to come.....

Furthur @ The Greek Theatre 9/21

Last night Fischer Trucking of my home town of Petaluma rolled the stage, lights, and band equipment of Grateful Dead legends Bob Weir and Phil Lesh's new ensemble, Furthur, into the comforts of The Greek Theatre in Griffith Park. What does the trucking company that has been hauling the Grateful Dead since the early eighties have to do with the concert? Big and little Mike Fischer are the only reason that the author of this blog was able to attend. The concert didn't seem sold out, but upon arriving to claim the tickets left for myself and the beautiful Adrienne at will call we saw a line of at least a hundred wide-eyed hippies that disappeared up the hill and continued on for lord knows how long. The seats were the best that I've had the pleasure of enjoying at this venue and the show was pretty damn good. Highlights from the first set include opening with "Alligator," and closing with an up tempo "Mason's Children." John Kadlecik was in great form taking on his duties as the "Jerry," character of the group while other "youngsters" Jeff Chimenti on keys and most importantly Joe Russo (STUD) playing both rhythm devils were on fire. The soloing was great, the jams were blatantly well rehearsed form-wise with players actually having sheet music!!! Not the same get stoned and find your way through the mayhem Dead that many of the audience members still revel in. The band has evolved and certainly gone Furthur. Phil sang a number of his tunes throughout the night as well as classics from Bobby and John. The only bad thing I can say (for the entire show) is that Weir's guitar was pretty much inaudible for the majority of the first set. Second set highlights include a complete "Weather Report Suite," which pretty much blew my mind to even be included in the set. The bulk of the second half of one of my favorite pieces of vinyl, "Wake of the Flood." The ensemble played great throughout and the crowd went nuts everytime Weir came back to the mic. Then the set closed with a beautiful rendition of "Morning Dew," sung wonderfully and then shredded to pieces by Kadlecik. This was a real treat for deadheads as Kadlecik's vocal and guitar not only sounded like Garcia, but a young and vigorous Garcia circa 1972. After this lengthy performance I thought the second set was closed, but not before a high energy "Playin' in the Band," which really brought the house down. Phil then returned to the stage to give a quick heartfelt speech about being the recipient of an organ donation. Short and sweet was his touching tribute to the person who saved is life and 6 others and then he announced that they had one more....

He and Shim at the LA Food and Wine Festival

M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel are the duo She and Him. Their two albums "Volume 1," and "Volume 2" are both warm, fuzzy, analogue recordings produced by Ward and tastefully arranged with the help of Mike Mogis and other session cats. Deschanel's voice is one that I can only describe as timeless. It has a quality that when coupled with Ward's production style and smooth backup vocals creates recordings that would be impossible to place on a timeline if heard without prior knowledge or description. Despite the possibility of minor pitch issues- which may have gone unnoticed by this kid's trained ear- I would say that she didn't miss a single note last night and she certainly didn't hold anything back. I have heard both albums, but mostly couldn't wait or barely stand to hear her endearing and passionate renditions of their tunes "Sentimental Heart," and "Change is Hard." Beautiful. The rest of the Food and Wine Festival was also fantastic. We managed to find the LA Times Wine Club booth in the back which was giving out healthy pours of Roblar Sauvignon blanc and various other varietals and stayed in the vicinity. Near by was some delicious free blueberry lemonade for hydration and some free tequila in the form of shots and tequila-cran concoctions. Eventually we filled up and headed over to the stage where Deschanel and Ward played songs from both albums as well as some thoughtfully chosen covers including an acoustic guitar and ukulele duet of "Wouldn't it Be Nice," by the Beach Boys and a raucous encore of "Roll Over Beethoven," from the Chuck Berry catalogue. Zooey's telecaster shaped ukulele was pretty cool to see as well. Great set. Far away pic, but you see the scene. Your welcome LA Times for the free advertising. I know you need it.