Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Jadakiss Cruises To No. 1 Debut

Velvet Revolver hangs on to the top 10.

Jadakiss Cruises To No. 1 Debut

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

BILLBOARD

As expected the Beasties take number 1 and Velvet Revolver falls from the top. I am surprised to see second week sales of VR over 100K.

Also looks like Los Lonely Boys and Phish (Trey) may have benefitted from Bonnaroo.

BILLBOARD

Monday, June 21, 2004

MSNBC - Private rocket ship breaks space barrier

They did it. Scaled Composites launched the first private craft into space. I suspect the X-Prize will be captured by the end of September.

MSNBC - Private rocket ship breaks space barrier

Indie music riding the digital surge | CNET News.com

A good article on how GarageBand.com has helped one musician get noticed. This is definitely something I'll be telling the rest of my band about.

We are looking at another round of recording this summer and will be looking at distribution options in the fall.

Indie music riding the digital surge | CNET News.com

Saturday, June 19, 2004

Bonnaroo pics

Bonnaroo pictures are posted here

livebonnaroo.com

One of the great things about a live show such as Bonnaroo is the numerous tapers. Less than a week after the last performance shows are starting to appear on the net as well as on the official livebonnaroo.com site.

Last night I downloaded from the livebonnaroo site the Dave Matthews and Friends performance from the first night. A really nice sounding matrix recording, although not as clean sounding as most of the Dave Matthews warehouse club releases, it does properly capture the sound that evening.

Another great show I've downloaded off of STG is from Kings Of Leon. I had never heard their music before the performance and I was surprised to see how good they were. Evidently the tapers were hasselled a bit about taping but that didn't stop shows from getting released. Considering this was an audience recording it came out great.

Other shows I'm in the process of downloading and listening to include Chris Robinson and Govt Mule.

And considering a fell asleep before the end of the Primus set, I'm hopeful for a Primus release with the Adrian Belew guest appearance.


Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Velvet Revolver # 1 - BILLBOARD

Velvet Revolver did it. They came in at number 1, with 256,000 copies sold. The hype definitely worked for the band, although I suspect it may drop out of the top 10 next week.

BILLBOARD

Monday, June 14, 2004

Bonnaroo day 3 and day 4

So when we left off we were sitting in our car waiting for the rain to stop. Well it didn't. It took nearly two hours for the rain to let up. Galactic went on about an hour and half late and we were able to listen from the car. We cracked the windows and heard their entire set. Towards the end of their set the rain stopped and we ventured back out.

When we left Atlanta we picked up a couple of hooded rain ponchos as suggested by the Bonnaroo "to bring" list. We thought we had picked up some white ponchos with an Atlanta Falcons logo on it. Once we opened the poncho up it turned out that we were a walking advertisement for the Atlanta Falcons. And we don't even watch football. So imagine the spectacle, a bunch of muddy and wet hippies that have no care for corporate america and then we walk in with bright white atlanta falcon rain ponchos. Helmets were all over it, we looked ridiculous and couldn't stop laughing at ourselves. And then to rub salt in the wound as we walk over to The Dead some guy stops me and says Atlanta huh... I hate you. He shot me the finger and mumbled something about how "our team" beat his. I think he said he was Minneapolis, I don't even know who "we" beat. Oh well, off to the Dead.

The one thing I didn't think about is dirt and rain brings mud. Lots of mud. The festival grounds were a mess. It took us nearly 30 minutes to make a trek that normally took us 10-15. We got to the VIP bleachers just as the Dead went onto the stage. We didn't know what to expect, considering this was our first Dead show. All I can say is we were in full people watching mode. There was this one man or woman (we couldn't tell) that was dancing around in the most uncoordinated way. Imagine a cross between Elaine from Seinfield combined with fat Monica from Friends and then a little chicken dance thrown in for good measure. This was as entertaining as the show itself. We must of watched this person for half an hour.

The Dead's first set lasted about an hour. You could tell they were good, and the crowd was into it but it was a little too mellow for Jacki and I. Warren Haynes was the best part of their set. Since Jacki's getting bored she says hey lets leave and head back towards our camp. As we were walking down the stairs to the grounds The Dead says were going to take a quick break. So instead of quietly sneaking out of their set we are back in the crowd of 90,000+.

It took us about 30 minutes to get back and we headed for the Primus stage. We got there about midnight in anticipation of a 12:30am show. Primus had their full stage set up and were in the process of having their video screens and props placed on the stage. About 12:15 we looked all set to go. A Johnny Cash cd was playing over the PA and was good music to hold us over. I think it was the American III cd, covers of I Won't Back Down, One, and some others. We heard about 40 minutes worth of music and it was pushing about 12:40 now. Then the cd started over. Then another 40 minutes and Jacki says I'm outta here. She goes back to the camp and I'm sitting in the bleachers soaking wet and cold, and then the cd starts over yet again!!! Then the crowd started yelling change the cd. So they did. About 1:15 or so they change the cd and the crowd thought they were about to come out. It felt like easily another 30 minutes or so and then they finally came out. Our tent was only about 100 yards away from the stage so Jacki was awoken by the crowd and the band.

Primus was playing the second largest stage and it looked as though the entire crowd from the Dead had come out for this set. It was solid people as far as the eye could see and Les Claypool even commented on it. I stayed for about an hour of the set and after hearing Jerry Was A Racecar Driver I decided to head back to camp. I was about to fall over from being so tired. In fact, while in the bleachers I nodded off briefly, would wake up, wonder where I was would see I was at a concert and then I would spaz because I'd then notice all of these people sitting right next to, in front of, and behind me. After the 2nd or 3rd time of doing this I headed back to camp.

I don't know what time it was but I got back to camp probably around 3am as the drum solo was finishing up. And then I was out. Rumor has it Adrian Belew showed up for the end of the set, but I'll just have to wait for the bootleg.

The next day we got up and went to see de SoL. They were awesome! Lots of energy and a cross between Rusted Root and Santana. Lots of percussion and great vocals. They also had guitar and keyboards. The guys we met the day before were the drummer (drum set) and the lead guitarist. They have an album coming out in August so be sure to check it out.

After their set we ate some lunch and headed back to the camp to cool off. We heard about a 45 minutes of Taj Mahal and then we headed over to see moe. It was hot, but we learned our lesson at Govt Mule. We brought an umbrella for shade. We sat through to the end of their set and then headed back to one of the tents for Maroon5. On our way to the tent we stopped by Cat's Music the cd store on the grounds and I picked up some more discs of some of the artists we had seen. I asked someone to hand me the Maroon5 cd and they said have you heard. They canceled. So I put the cd back and found Jacki sitting and listening to Antigone Rising. I mentioned that Maroon5 cancelled but I wanted to confirm so I headed over to their tent and sure enough the sound guy said the singer blew out his voice and they canceled their show.

It was now about 6pm and we made a decision to head back home and get out of the mud pit. We were able to hear David Byrne singing "Once In A Lifetime" from the camp. So I started doing my best David Byrne impression by chopping my arm from the elbow down to the wrist.... same as it ever was... Yeah whatever that means.

Once we got to our car our neighboring campers told us that another big storm was heading in with hail and gusts of up to 60 mph winds. Well whatever motivation was left for seeing Trey Anastasio was lost and we packed up. On our way out I asked one of our neighbors to give me his email address so he could turn me on to some good Trey shows. And then he gets excited and runs back to his car and emerges with multiple Trey shows. He explains that some friends he had planned to meet up with at Bonnaroo didn't show so I was able to take my pick of a couple of shows.

We left about 6:30 and got on our way. It was an uneventful ride home, although we could see a lot of Bonnaroo cars on the road. And right around 8:30 Bonnaroo time we put in one of the Trey shows to carry us back into Atlanta. When we got home the first thing on the list were showers. No more mud, and no more sulphur water. Monday is a day of rest and Tuesday is back to reality...

When it was all said and done, we saw or heard 20 bands over 3 1/2 days and got to see first hand what a crowd of 90,000 people looks like. It was a lot of fun albeit very tiring. The heat and the mud weren't fun but after talking to other bonnaroo'ers it is a part of the experience.

New bands we were turned onto include Kings Of Leon, de SoL, My Morning Jacket, and Los Lonely Boys. We ended up leaving with their cds in hand. Now we can look forward to next year, and we'll be sure to bring the rain boots.

Bonnaroo article on Billboard

Billboard article on Bonnaroo

I'll be posting my personal wrap up soon. We left the show early about midday Sunday but a caught a few more bands on Sunday.

BILLBOARD

BILLBOARD

Saturday, June 12, 2004

Day 3

We are about half way through day 3. Yes it is 7pm and we are only
half way, Primus will be carrying us until about 3 in the morning.

We were able to sleep a little later today, since we figured out how
to ventilate the tent. We made it to the late hour of 7am. After
eating some fruit, and drinking some water we headed out to that 70s
tent. The worst reject video games, and ironically only one or two
came from the 70s, the remainder were mid to late eighties.

The first band of the day was Kings Of Leon. A very young band with
all of the right moves. We were able to get right up front but Jacki
bailed because of the crowd. And then the first of the day
occurred... it rained. A quick 10 minute rain that puddled up things
and left a great cloud of steam. I watched into the last song of the
set and met back up with Jacki for lunch.

We walked back to camp and heard Gomez but didn't stop. They were
playing at the stage closest to the campsite. After cooling off we
went to the big Mule show. Another Zep appearance was made. Warren
and band played No Quarter in its entirety and then quoted a lick off
of Physical Graffiti toward the end of their set. It was hot so we
mainly listened and didn't see all that much. The only gripe about
the set was by the time they were getting warmed up the show ended.
An hour and half doesn't do Warren justice.

When we were waiting for the Kings of Leon set a song came over the PA
that I had heard a couple of times over the last couple of days. The
guy next to us said it was My Morning Jacket. So, after Govt Mule we
headed to the other big stage for My Morning Jacket. On the way we
met two of the guys in a new band called deSol. They have been
together about 4 years but have their major label debut coming out on
Curb records in a month or so. They were passing out cds to passer
bys to encourage people to come to their set on Sunday. After taking
the freebie we looked at the cover and noticed it was the band that
was passing out the disc. We went back chatted briefly and got a
picture and they signed the disc.

On the way to My Morning Jacket the clouds started to roll in. We saw
about 2 songs and then ran for cover. About 10 minutes after we left
their set the temperature dropped 20 degrees and the rain let loose.


We did get to have a good visit with our camp neighbors. John and
Melissa had a sun shade thing that was about to blow away. We ran to
grab it as it was taking off from the ground. Then we found out the
shade was just kind of sitting on the ground and wasn't strapped down.
John and Melissa showed up as we were holding the screen down. John
found the stake hammered it down and then we had a good chat. Turns
out John is the editor of a new magazine "Best". I'll have to hit John up
to write an article on the stuff I do at EarthLink at some point.


And that brings us to now. Sitting in our car, listening to John's
iPod via the iTrip on 87.9 FM. They are sitting in their car and he
is broadcasting for the neighbors.

Tonight we've got Galactic, The Dead and Primus. 3 bands down and 3 to go.

Day 2 Part 2

After the Chris Robinson signing we went right back into the same line
for the Warren Haynes signing. You could clearly see the popularity
of an artist at Bonnaroo. Los Lonely Boys line was 10 minutes, Chris
Robinson was 20 minutes, and Warren Haynes was about 40 minutes.

After the uncordial signing by Chris, but we did get a good picture of
him, it was nice to see how friendly and sincere Warren Haynes was.
Jacki took a picture of me with Warren.

At Chris' they gave out a home made CDR of New Earth Mud tracks. It
looked like they were made for the signing, since his new album is
still about 2 weeks away from being released.

After the Warren signing we went to see Chris and the New Earth Mud.
We saw about 45 minutes of his set. The band was smokin. Audley
Freed was on lead guitar and even Chris was playing guitar throughout
the set.

We left Chris' set about halfway through to catch the second half of
Dylan. Jacki and I split up as I was off to the General Store.
Miraculously we actually met up behind the soundboard with no
problems. Dylan played a few songs off of his most recent release and
closed the set with some of his older hits. It was the first time for
us to see him.

We headed back to camp, got some drinks, dropped off some of our gear
and headed right back to Dave Matthews. Both Bob and Dave were
playing on the big stage so we were able to take advantage of our VIP
status and sit in the bleachers and not have to sit in the sea of
people.

We thought Bob was packed, we were wrong. Dave was standing room only
as far as the eye could see. 10s of thousands of people. I'd guess
upwards of 50,000 people were at Dave alone. This was a Dave and
Friends set, Trey from phish played about 3/4 of the set with him, we
had a brief Dave and Tim set, and the show was heavy on the covers.
Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel), "Thank you, for letting me be myself"
(?), Fire (Jimi Hendrix), Mr Bulldog (Beatles), and on some of the
jams Tim would interweave other songs. One that stuck out for me was
the intro for Bring It On Home (Led Zep).

The set had the full range of emotion, mellow songs, mid tempo and
even some driving rockers. They played about 2 1/2 hours.

After that we walked to the movie tent, rested, and then saw about 5
minutes of Praxis with Buckethead ala KFC. Back to camp, showers, and
we'll wait for the morning sauna...

Day 2 Part 2

After the Chris Robinson signing we went right back into the same line for the Warren Haynes signing. You could clearly see the popularity of an artist at Bonnaroo. Los Lonely Boys line was 10 minutes, Chris Robinson was 20 minutes, and Warren Haynes was about 40 minutes.

After the uncordial signing by Chris, but we did get a good picture of him, it was nice to see how friendly and sincere Warren Haynes was. Jacki took a picture of me with Warren.

At Chris' they gave out a home made CDR of New Earth Mud tracks. It looked like they were made for the signing, since his new album is still about 2 weeks away from being released.

After the Warren signing we went to see Chris and the New Earth Mud. We saw about 45 minutes of his set. The band was smokin. Audley Freed was on lead guitar and even Chris was playing guitar throughout the set.

We left Chris' set about halfway through to catch the second half of Dylan. Jacki and I split up as I was off to the General Store. Miraculously we actually met up behind the soundboard with no problems. Dylan played a few songs off of his most recent release and closed the set with some of his older hits. It was the first time for us to see him.

We headed back to camp, got some drinks, dropped off some of our gear and headed right back to Dave Matthews. Both Bob and Dave were playing on the big stage so we were able to take advantage of our VIP status and sit in the bleachers and not have to sit in the sea of people.

We thought Bob was packed, we were wrong. Dave was standing room only as far as the eye could see. 10s of thousands of people. I'd guess upwards of 50,000 people were at Dave alone. This was a Dave and Friends set, Trey from phish played about 3/4 of the set with him, we had a brief Dave and Tim set, and the show was heavy on the covers. Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel), "Thank you, for letting me be myself" (?), Fire (Jimi Hendrix), Mr Bulldog (Beatles), and on some of the jams Tim would interweave other songs. One that stuck out for me was the intro for Bring It On Home (Led Zep).

The set had the full range of emotion, mellow songs, mid tempo and even some driving rockers. They played about 2 1/2 hours.

After that we walked to the movie tent, rested, and then saw about 5 minutes of Praxis with Buckethead ala KFC. Back to camp, showers, and we'll wait for the morning sauna...

Day 2 Part 2

After the Chris Robinson signing we went right back into the same line for the Warren Haynes signing. You could clearly see the popularity of an artist at Bonnaroo. Los Lonely Boys line was 10 minutes, Chris Robinson was 20 minutes, and Warren Haynes was about 40 minutes.

After the uncordial signing by Chris, but we did get a good picture of him, it was nice to see how friendly and sincere Warren Haynes was. Jacki took a picture of me with Warren.

At Chris' they gave out a home made CDR of New Earth Mud tracks. It looked like they were made for the signing, since his new album is still about 2 weeks away from being released.

After the Warren signing we went to see Chris and the New Earth Mud. We saw about 45 minutes of his set. The band was smokin. Audley Freed was on lead guitar and even Chris was playing guitar throughout the set.

We left Chris' set about halfway through to catch the second half of Dylan. Jacki and I split up as I was off to the General Store. Miraculously we actually met up behind the soundboard with no problems. Dylan played a few songs off of his most recent release and closed the set with some of his older hits. It was the first time for us to see him.

We headed back to camp, got some drinks, dropped off some of our gear and headed right back to Dave Matthews. Both Bob and Dave were playing on the big stage so we were able to take advantage of our VIP status and sit in the bleachers and not have to sit in the sea of people.

We thought Bob was packed, we were wrong. Dave was standing room only as far as the eye could see. 10s of thousands of people. I'd guess upwards of 50,000 people were at Dave alone. This was a Dave and Friends set, Trey from phish played about 3/4 of the set with him, we had a brief Dave and Tim set, and the show was heavy on the covers. Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel), "Thank you, for letting me be myself" (?), Fire (Jimi Hendrix), Mr Bulldog (Beatles), and on some of the jams Tim would interweave other songs. One that stuck out for me was the intro for Bring It On Home (Led Zep).

The set had the full range of emotion, mellow songs, mid tempo and even some driving rockers. They played about 2 1/2 hours.

After that we walked to the movie tent, rested, and then saw about 5 minutes of Praxis with Buckethead ala KFC. Back to camp, showers, and we'll wait for the morning sauna...

Friday, June 11, 2004

Day 2 part 1

It is HOT!!!

We got up bright and early at 6:30am because the tent had become a sauna. It was a tough start, showers in standing water, muddy grounds, rough port-a-potties.

Two observations. Jacki stated I'm in the minority, and a very small minority for not having a tattoo. Second observation is people are sunburned. We saw one girl with her back blistering up due to the sun.

The Los Lonely Boys started todays festivities with a main stage kick off at noon. We went to their autograph signing afterwards in the sonic village and saw them perform with no instruments “acalpulco” style. Briefly listened to Wilco while eating lunch and just left the Chris Robinson signing. We'll see him perform later today.



Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from EarthLink.

Night 1

We got into the camping grounds last night about 7pm.

After struggling with the instructions, the 95+ degree heat and our lack of camping skills we got our tent set up.

We thought we would miss the VIP party at 8pm but we had the time zone change on our side. The special guests were the Dirty Dozen Brass band. Great pictures are forthcoming. And the food in the VIP area was great. Caeser salad, albeit with soft croutons, green beans, new potatoes, and prime rib, although not "prime" it did the job. Once we got through the line they had run out of chicken.

So get this. There was a free beer line that was empty. Food was king in the VIP area. We stood in line for tshirts and posters, complimentary for the VIPs, and then roamed Centeroo.

Headed to the Movie tent, saw some Dave Chappelle, and then over to the comedy tent. Three of the 4 comics we saw were excellent. The lady comic was not in her element and although no one booed you could tell she wasn't going over well.

We saw a crazy Japanese punk band, that kept yelling Mango which we think means Comic, based on the sign they held up. Not here for punk so we roamed, found the artist signing areas and are now out and about the next morning.


Thursday, June 10, 2004

10 miles outside of Bonnaroo

We are about 10 miles from bonnaroo in traffic. We've gone 4 miles in the last hour.

We stopped at walmart on the way out and saw many bonnaroo'ers. Walmart came over the pa to say thanks for making this your last stop before bonnaroo.

The one thing we noticed is everyone has beer. And bad beer at that. Cases and cases of bud light, and coors light. We may be out of our element with one 6 pack of shiner bock.

I wanted to get those little brown paper bags for our cokes. At least we'd look like we were drinking in that white trash kind of way.

Stay tuned.....
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from EarthLink.

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

The road to BONNAROO

Jacki and I are heading out to Bonnaroo tomorrow with the full on VIP experience. A nice small show with 80,000 of our closest friends.

I'm looking forward to the sets from
Dave Matthews
Govt Mule
Chris Robinson
Dylan (unfortunately playing at the same time as Chris Robinson)
Primus
Los Lonely Boys
Wilco
The Dead (w Warren Haynes)
Galactic
Moe
Maroon5

I'll try to send updates from the show!

2004 BONNAROO MUSIC FESTIVAL

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

San Francisco

This past weekend Jacki met me in San Francisco. Considering how little time we actually had we did quite a bit.

Saturday morning we headed to the Golden Gate for some pictures. We then went to Sausalito and grabbed a bite to eat and saw walked through some art galleries. The first gallery had art work of Janis Joplin and Grace Slick. Grace Slick had a great painting she did of Frank Zappa. The price was a smooth 9 grand so we quickly left.

Further down the street we met the Tapia's. They have a great little art gallery that you should visit. We purchased an orginal painting of tulips that had tremendous depth and a fantastic frame. We also picked up a painting of the Golden Gate bridge as seen from Baker Beach. This was Jacki's favorite.

After that we drove through the Muir Woods and over to the Pacific Cost Highway. Very dramatic views of the Pacific Ocean with cliffs that dropped a couple of hundred feet to the shore.

From there we headed back to San Francisco, drove down Lombard Street and saw a view from Hyde down to Fisherman's Wharf that was identical to one of the paintings in the Tapia Gallery.

Next we went to Pier 39. Saw the Sea Lions and ate at Bubba Gumps. We walked down to Fisherman's Wharf, viewed Alcatraz in the distance and then headed back to the hotel. A fun and busy day.

Sunday was spent heading over the Bay Bridge towards Oakland. After we drove across we drove right back and headed to Ghiradelli Square. We ate some Seafood and getting some chocolate desserts. Then it was time to head to the airport. On the way we passed through Union Square and then our trip was back to Atlanta.

You can view some pictures of the trip here.

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

CNN.com - Private spacecraft blast offs June 21, 2004

The Scaled Composite guys are at it again. The team has announced they will launch a a manned craft into suborbital flight on June 21. To be honest based on their last test flight I didn't expect them to announce this so soon. They haven't announced if this is their attempt at obtaining the X Prize, however if the mission is successful I'd expect a follow up flight within two weeks.

Godspeed to the pilot. CNN.com - Private spacecraft blast offs June 21, 2004

BILLBOARD

A bit of a surprise to me is that Avril lands at number 1. I really thought here 15 minutes were over. We'll see if it can sustain a top position over the next several weeks.

Another interesting bit is that Prince is including a cd with every concert ticket purchased. I'm not sure if this is a way to skew his numbers or not, but as a result he saw sales of 71,000 this past week due to a couple of large shows in California. For some reason I wouldn't doubt if KISS tried to do this in the future. It could almost certainly guarantee them another gold record.

BILLBOARD

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