08/11/07 Sampson & The Folkadelics @ Knitting Factory Basement, New York, NY

After the Galactic show, we raced downtown to catch the very end of the Folkadelics' set. Led by our good friend Sam Miller, The Folkadelics would soon become one of my favorite local acts, due in no small part to their willingness to lend equipment and music to parties in my backyard.

03/09/07 Marco Benevento, Reed Mathis & Mike Dillon @ Knitting Factory Tap Bar, New York, NY

Just a bunch of talented musicians kicking out slightly punky, mostly improv jams.

11/10/06 Particle/The Bridge @ Knitting Factory, New York, NY

Set 1: 7 Minutes Till Radio Darkness > Fight The Power, Triple Threat, Howl At The Moon > Ed + Molly > Eternity > Conrol/Escape, The American Dream, Robots > Egypt , Egypt > Robots > Six Long Weeks, Crash And Burn > Ed + Molly
E: Shoe Goo1
1w/ Fight The Power tease

Particle seemed to blow up and burn out pretty quickly. At this stage in their tumultuous career, they had dropped their original guitarist in favor of Ben Combe.

This was actually a very enjoyable show. Ben Combe added a dose of rock and roll to Particle's trance cocktail.

The show started several hours late, evidently because keyboardist Steve Molitz required a sandwich from the deli around the corner.

We passed the time downstairs catching Baltimore funk outfit The Bridge.

07/08/06 New Mastersounds/Gnappy @ Knitting Factory, New York, NY

My friend was in town from Boston and we needed something to do on a Saturday night.

We found these two highly talented funk combos and got silly.

Late in the night, fueled by alcohol, I had to be reprimanded for swinging on an exposed pipe.

05/10/05 Club D'Elf @ Knitting Factory Tap Bar, New York, NY

Club D'Elf is the "Moroccan-dosed psychedelic dub jazz" project of Boston-based bassist Mike Rivard. It features a rotating cast of musicians and the likes of John Medeski, Marc Ribot and Skerik.

This is another one of those supremely talented jazzy funky jambands that never really got the props it deserved, highly respected by a select few, but never breaking through to the next level.

This show had them bringing their brand of world jazz to the cozy midlevel Tap Bar at the Knitting Factory. I don't remember much; the tunes were not up to par with recordings I had heard, but enjoyable nonetheless. I think I was expecting a sit-in by some famous NYC jam scenester taht never came.

01/01/05 L. Cool Trio w/Mike Gordon @ Knitting Factory, New York, NY

After a uneventful New Year's Eve spent at a friend's parent's house party, this was a nice New Year's Day treat.

The original Knitting Factory on Houston was known, in conjunction with the aforementioned Tonic, as the center of downtown's early 1990s underground alternative jazz scene that spawned such vaunted cats as Medeski Martin & Wood and Steve Bernstein's various projects.

The new location expanded the pallette to include everything from punk to funk, often simultaneously held in any of the venue's three separate performance spaces.

I believe this may have been my first time at the club.

The line-up was a supergroup of sorts comprised of Mark Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits on bass, Jamie Shields of The New Deal on keys and Joe Russo of Benevento Russo Duo on drums. These were (and still are) some of my favorite musicians from some of my favorite bands.

The vibe in the crowd was fairly laid back, fully understandable for the night after the biggest party night of the year.

We secured a spot in the balcony and danced our way through the improvised electronic grooves that the trio laid down in the first set.

At the start of the second set, a familiar face emerged on stage.

It was none other than Mike Gordon, bassist for recently disbanded Phish, who just happened to live in an apartment above the club.

Since Brownie was already holding down the low end, Cactus tried his hand at guitar, capably strumming along to the L. Cool concoctions for the duration of the show.