08/05/08 Strawberry Fields (Beatles tribute) @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

This "Ultimate Beatles Tribute Band" features members of the Broadway show Beatlemania and performs the Fab Four's chronologically, complete with era-appropriate costume changes from mop tops to Sgt. Pepper.

04/21/07 Phix (Phish tribute) @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

Set 1: Buried Alive > Tube, Slave to the Traffic Light, Cars Trucks Buses, Reba, The Sloth, Twist > The Squirming Coil
Set 2: Axilla II > The Moma Dance, Free > Ha Ha Ha > Free, My Friend My Friend, Maze, Horn, Wolfman's Brother, Divided Sky
Encore: Loving Cup

This was part of the 2nd annual Green Apple Festival. This was billed as one of Phix's last shows, erroneously as it would turn out. There's something sadly post-modernist about a Phish cover band breaking up.

Anyways, I took my girlfriend to see the same band at the same venue for her 21st birthday, so back we went for multiple layers of nostalgia.

07/20/06 Phix (Phish tribute) @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

BB King's, New York NY 7/20/06
One (very long) set: First Tube, NICU, Tweezer > Foam, Carini, Yamar, You Enjoy Myself, Good Times Bad Times, McGrupp, 2001 > Crosseyed & Painless, TMWSIY > Avenu Malkenu > TMWSIY, Stash, Suzy Greenberg, Rift, Esther, Run Like an Antelope
Encore: Alumni Blues > Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues, Tweeprise

Sensing a need to indoctrinate my new lady friend into my hippie lifestyle, I took her to see the closest imitation of the preeminent hippie band of our generation as a 21st birthday surprise.

I remember being blown away by the YEM vocal jam.

04/07/06 WigJam (Dead Tribute) @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

There was some sort of special on these tickets so I bought a few extras, but even with free tickets, I couldn't get anyone to join me.

All alone, I proceeded to get a little too intoxicated.

I went around the corner to smoke with some new friends and brought a random Times Square hustler to the show with one of my unused extra tickets.

Later, that smae gentleman followed me home on a drunken mess of a train ride under the guise of providing a helping hand and may or may not have alleviated me of several dollars for his efforts.

A year or so later, I discovered that a couple roommates of mine had also been in attendance.

01/01/06 The New Deal @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

Somehow, I ended up going to this show solo, on New Year's Eve (or Day, technically) of all eves.

My suburban friends stayed in the suburbs and my city friends went to a rooftop party in the Bronx. I almost joined them, but I couldn't muster the motivation. I almost stayed in and did nothing as a silent protest against the incessant imperative to party.

But I ultimately decided that, if nothing else, it was best to start the year off right by sticking to my original plans.

At approximately 10pm, I hopped on the train to the heart of the beast - Times Square.

It was a bit surreal sitting in a bar just a couple blocks from the so-called biggest party in the world.

There were about 30 people there and there was free champagne at midnight. I left shortly thereafter to score tickets to the sold out show.

Since they were still clearing the area, and I didn't have a ticket, the police wouldn't let me cross through at 42nd st, where the club is located. So I had to go a few blocks downtown and wrap around.

I was able to buy a ticket pretty easily out front from a group of Jersey heads thanks to one of their friends forgetting to pace herself. For lack of a better option, I decided to hang out with their crew for a bit and hit it off with one of the girls.

A guy behind us on line told us that the greatest writer ever was Tom Robbins, who I had not heard of at that point, but is now one of my faves as well.

The rest of the night was a delightful drunken bar. I remember dancing with my new lady friend and many other lovely people to sweaty breakbeats that only The New Deal can properly deliver.

At one point, I think I got into a verbal altercation with a bartender for reasons I cannot recall.

It was one of my most memorable New Year's and the fact that I had to go at it alone and nearly sat the night out just made it that much more of a triumph.

At some point, I guess I headed home.

Here's a classy shot of me decompressing the next day:

12/01/05 Yngwie Malmsteen @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

My friend and avid guitar geek hit me up with a free ticket to see the Swedish neo-classical metal shredmaster.

The man can tear up a fretboard, but lacks emotion. It was certainly a spectacle to behold though.

07/01/05 The Aquabats/Soft Parade @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

This was actually two separately ticketed shows at the same venue.

The first featured one of my favorite bands that I'd been meaning to see for quite some time. The Aquabats are a goofy ska band with songs about fierce midget pirates and worms and falling asleep on your arm. I only caught the last few songs, but one was a favorite of mine - the public school lunch ode, "Pizza Day." I have yet to see a full show.

The late show featured the preeminent Doors cover band playing all the hits and then some.

04/26/05 Umphrey's McGee @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

04/26/05 B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, New York, NY
Official Post-Jammy's Show
Set I: Jazz Odyssey> In the Kitchen, Push the Pig, Resolution1, Soul Food I2, Bad Is Bad2 3, Heart and Soul2, Believe the Lie, Glory, The Bottom Half, Women Wine and Song> Hurt Bird Bath> Jam4> Jam4 5> Jam4 5> Hurt Bird Bath
Set II: Making Flippy Floppy> Jam6, Pay the Snucka, Miss Tinkle's Overture7, Thin Air, Bright Lights
Encore: Plunger
1 with Hysteria tease
2 with Huey Lewis on harmonica and vocals
3 first time played (Huey Lewis and the News)
4 with Aron Magner with Joel on keys and Marc Brownstein replacing Ryan on bass
5 with Joe Russo replacing Kris on drums
6 "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" jam; with Nellie McKay on vocals
7 with Thunderstruck jam

This was an official after party for the Jammys, which is the jam scene's take on the Grammys, with a heavy focus on pairing musicians haphazardly with often captivating results.

As such, there were many guests in the house.

The higlights were Huey Lewis jamming on a few tunes, some Biscuits and Joe Russo jamming on another and some of my favorite Umphrey's originals: "In the Kitchen," "Women Wine and Song," "Miss Tinkle's Overture," "Bright Lights" and "Plunger."

There was also a Talking Heads cover and a peculiar vocal take on "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" by Nellie McKay.

All in all, it was a very jammy affair.

02/15/05 Mike Clark's Prescription Trio/Oteil and the Peacemakers @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

The club had some sort of special so tickets for this show were only a few dollars each.

I was in the process of moving to Queens and I was looking at apartments prior to the show.

The opening act featured the bass wizardry of Allman Brother Oteil Burbridge fronting his own group. That set also introduced me to the beautiful and talented bassist extraordinaire, Tal Wilkenfeld.

Mike Clark was a drummer in Herbie Hancock's legendary Headhunters group, notable for the blending of jazz and funk in new and intriguing ways.

The Prescription Trio featured a revolving cast of jam and jazz heavy hitters, but this particular ensemble was the best of the various incarnations.

Skerik is a Seattle saxophonist best known for his work with various Les Claypool projects and his eccentricity. Robert Walters is Hammond B3 organ whiz.

The three of them together served up a delectable danceable cocktail and were joined for a spell by yet another jazz funk luminary, Melvin Sparks.

12/27/03 The Machine (Pink Floyd tribute) @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

I can't remember if it was this show or the one on the exact same date a year earlier, but I was with this girl I was crushing on and I was a little frustrated with the unrequited nature of the relationship. Then, against character, I hit on another girl, only to be shot down. Not my finest hour.

12/27/02 The Machine (Pink Floyd tribute) @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

I can't remember if it was this show or the one on the exact same date a year later, but they opened the show playing Dark Side of The Moon along while the Wizard of Oz was projected behind them. While cliched, that was one of the cooler moments of my concert career.

12/03/02 SoulFarm/Moshav Band @ BB King's Blues Club, New York, NY

Another Hanuka Soulfarm/Moshav Band party.