04/05/08 Lotus/C-Mon & Kypski/The Frequency @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

04-05-08 Fillmore NYC at Irving Plaza, New York, NY (SAT)
Flower Sermon, Grayrigg, Alkaline*, Sunrain > Killing In The Name, Spiritualize, Age Of Inexperience, Plant Your Root > Umbilical Moonset > Sunrain, Bellwhether, One Last Hurrah
E: 72 Hours Awake, Greet The Mind
* With Thomas Elbers (Kypski) on turntables and Sean Coolican on tambourine (The Frequency)

This show remains the best Lotus show of the relatively few I've seen, highlighted by an epic take on Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In the Name" before the Biscuits, and even Phish, started doing it.

LISTEN HERE!

03/19/08 Scotty Hard Benefit @ Highline Ballroom, New York, NY

The early months of 2008 turned out to be quite fertile in terms of epic concert events. Just a couple months after a "best show ever" contender, came this viable canidate.

This was a benefit for a prolific producer who happened to have worked with nearly all of my favorite local musicians, so the night featured the creme de la creme of New York City's venerable jazz and jam scene.

The night was a bit of a blur, with the stand outs being Bill Laswells dirty dub bass bombs and Antibalas' high energy late night set to a nearly empty venue.

Various ensembles throughout the evening featured permutations of NYC luminaries like MMW, Soulive, Sex Mob and the Benevento/Russo Duo.

Jazz licks by John Scofield and Vijay Iyer punctuated the jams.

There was even a bit of indie thrown in the mix.

All in all, it was a stirring testament to the cameraderie, vitality, and abundant talent of NYC's always stellar music scene.

03/15/08 Joe Hurley's Irish Rock Revue @ Webster Hall, New York, NY

On the weekend prior to St. Patrick's Day, our friend Ellen got us a gig manning the merch table at this event, which featured an endless rotation of Irish musicians and their ilk playing forgettable run-of-the-mill rock.

The highlight was the post-show buffet backstage. We snagged some spinach dip that almost survived the journey home.

02/27/08 Flogging Molly @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

With St. Patrick's Day just a few weeks away, Flogging Molly brought their infectious brand of Irish folk punk to Irving Plaza.

02/16/08 The Join w/Clay Parnell & Tom Hamilton/Biodiesel/Glitch Mob/Sub Swara @ Studio B, Brooklyn, NY

This was my only time at the short-lived, much loved Greenpoint dance club. Its anything-goes vibe, paired with its relative inaccessability in the quiet Polish enclave of Northwest Brooklyn made it a destination for fans of quality danceable electronic music.

This President's Day weekend event featured yet another incarnation of the New Deal's amorphous The Join project, pairing the former's keyboardist and drummer with Brothers Past's bassist Clay Parnell and guitarist Tommy Hamilton, a man of many scarves.

Rounding out the bill was Biodiesel, Clay's live drum&bass project with breakneck drummer Johnny Raab, and two glitch and womp DJ collectives, Glitch Mob and Sub Swara.

LISTEN HERE!
MORE PICS HERE!

01/14/08 Northern Realms:World, Folk & New Music Showcase @ Scandinavia House, New York, NY

My friend somehow discovered this amazing showcase which remains one of the single greatest musical experiences of my life.

The performances ran the gamut from virtuosic shofar (Karl Seglem) to tongue-in-cheek guitar duo (The Gothenburg Combo) to Swedish indie (Wildbirds & Peacedrums) to Colorado bluegrass (Expedition Quartet)and pretty much everything inbetween.

To top it all off, there was free wine and cheese in the lobby.

Very classy.

FULL LINE-UP HERE

12/22/07 Badfish (Sublime tribute) @ Nokia Theater, New York, NY

This long running Sublime tribute act played all the greatest hits and then some quite capably.

At one point, the fake Gwen Stefani from No Doubt tribute act Excuse Me Mister passed me a joint. There's something abjectly postmodern about that.

During setbreak, we watched two teens put on the longest recorded public make out session in history. Nothing postmodern about that.