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The Sadies: Summer U.S. Dates

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:33:00 -0700

US TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED

The Sadies

Canada's best live band, The Sadies, led by the 6'4" Good Brothers, will be hitting the road this summer for their latest release, Night and Day (Yep Roc records), which reunites them with cult soul singer Andre Williams. The North American dates include a Toronto appearance at the NXNE festival with Andre on June 15 as well as late June/July US dates (scroll down for a list of dates).

Andre Williams, the man behind such risque classics as "Jailbait" and "Bacon Fat" in the 1950s and "Shake a Tailfeather," is aided by a stellar cast of musical friends and dirty bluesers on Night and Day, including Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray of Heavy Trash, Danny Kroha of Detroit's own gutter-blues superheroes, The Gories, the unsinkable Mekon, Jon Langford, and backing vocals by Mekon Sallie Timms and vocalist Kelly Hogan (Neko Case). The Sadies line-up of Dallas Good on guitars and keys, his brother Travis Good on guitars and fiddle, Mike Belitsky on drums, and the mighty Sean Dean on the bass provides the music - guitars, fiddle, and their unique blend psych, Spaghetti Western and twang. Click here to check out Andre and the Sadies live in Brooklyn in 2011 doing "Bad Motherfu**er."

The Sadies Tour Dates

FR 6/15 TORONTO, ON - HORSESHOE TAVERN - NXNE w/ANDRE WILLIAMS

WE 6/27 BROOKYN, NY - BROOKLYN BOWL

TH 6/28 NEW HAVEN, CT - CAFÉ NINE

FR 6/29 ITCHACA, NY - THE HAUNT

SA 6/30 ROCHESTER, NY - ABILENE ROOTS, Americana Stage of the Xerox

FR 7/06 SPRINGFIELD, IL - TASTE OF DOWNTOWN SPRINGFIELD

SA 7/07 CHICAGO, IL - SCHUBAS

MO 7/09 CHICAGO, IL - JAY PRITZKER PAVILION, MILLENIUM PARK

The Sadies Tour Dates :: The Sadies News

Reel Big Fish & Goldfinger: Summer of Ska Tour

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:07:00 -0700

SUMMER OF SKA CO-HEADLINE TOUR KICKS OFF JUNE 17

Reel Big Fish

Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger are teaming up for the co-headline Summer of Ska tour with support from Big D And The Kids Table, Suburban Legends (The Maxies will join the tour with RBF after Goldfinger drops off July 2.) Dates begin June 17 in Toronto and wind down with July 28 with a hometown show at OC's The Grove of Anaheim.

Reel Big Fish will then launch a European Tour on August 2 which includes several festival dates. Click below for a list of those shows.

The band are in the process of recording their 8th full-length, titled, Candy Coated Fury, featuring all new, original tunes and some fresh new covers. The record is due out this Summer.

Summer of Ska tour 2012

06/17/12 Sound Academy – Toronto , ON (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/19/12 Toad's Place – New Haven , CT (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/20/12 House of Blues Boston – Boston , MA (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/21/12 the Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/22/12 Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel – Providence , RI (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/23/12 The Town Ballroom – Buffalo , NY (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/24/12 House Of Blues – Cleveland , OH (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/25/12 –Upstate Concert Hall (Formerly Northern Lights – Clifton Park, NY (w/ Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/26/12 9:30 Club – Washington , DC (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/27/12 Best Buy Theater – NewYork , NY (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/28/12 The Chance – Poughkeepsie (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/29/12 Starland Ballroom – Sayreville , NJ (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

06/30/12 Crocodile Rock – Allentown , PA (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

07/01/12 The NorVa – Norfolk , VA (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

07/02/12 The Fillmore Charlotte – Charlotte , NC (w/ Goldfinger, Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends)

07/04/12 Revolution – Fort Lauderdale, FL (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/05/12 House of Blues – Orlando, FL (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/06/12 Masquerade – Atlanta, GA (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/07/12 – Bogarts – Cincinnati, OH (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/08/12 – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/9/12 – St. Andrew's Hall – Pontiac (Detroit), MI (w/ Big D and the Kids Table)

07/10/12 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/11/12 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/12/12 – The Pageant – St. Louis, MO (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/13/12 – Wooly's – Des Moines, IA ((w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/14/12 – The Beaumont Club – Kansas City, MO (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/15/12 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/16/12 – Backstage Live – San Antonio, TX (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/17/12 – House of Blues – Houston, TX (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/19/12 – Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/20/12 – Belly Up – Aspen, CO (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/21/12 – In The Venue – Salt Lake City, UT (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/22/12 -the Knitting Factory – Reno, NV (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/23/12 – Regency Grand Ballroom – San Francisco, CA (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/24/12 – Fat Cat Music House – Modesto, CA ((w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/25/12 – House of Blues – West Hollywood, CA (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/26/12 -House of Blues – San Diego, CA (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/27/12 – House of Blues – Las Vegas, NV (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

07/28/12 – The Grove of Anaheim – Anaheim, CA (w/Big D and the Kids Table, Suburban Legends, the Maxies)

Reel Big Fish Tour Dates :: Reel Big Fish News

Decibel Festival: Phase 1 Lineup, Dates, Tickets

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:49:00 -0700

9TH ANNUAL DECIBEL FEST ANNOUNCES FIRST 60 ACTS

The 9th annual Decibel Festival has unveiled the first 60 out of 120 artists scheduled to perform. The party will take place September 26-30 at various venues in downtown Seattle, Washington. Click here to grab a limited quantity, 2nd tier pass, which is being sold at 25% off of the door price. This is a full access pass to all official festival events, except where extreme capacity restrictions apply (boat parties, certain co-sponsored events, etc). Check the lineup below, along with a list of participating venues and the announcement video.

Lineup

Carl Craig

John Talabot

Fennesz

Kimbra

Matthew Dear

Oxia

Baths

Anenon

Dragonette

Houses

Pezzner

Yppah

port-royal

Windy and Carl

Christina Vantzou

dalot

Robert Henke

CFCF

Basic Soul Unit

Brandy Gray

Octave One

Nina Kraviz

Demdike Stare

The Great Mundane

DVS1

Orcas

Anomie Belle

Actress

Andy Stott

Cut Hands

Tarik Barri

Byetone

Terrence Parker

Maria Minerva

M A N I K

Roman Flugel

Dixon

Norman Chung

A-Rock

Julianna Barwick

bvdub

Ariel Pink

Lusine

Loscil

Max Cooper

Dam Funk

Mark Harris

The Sight Below

Kids & Explosions

Monolake

longwalkshortdock

Biosphere

lissom

Emancipator

Lulacruza

Venues

The Paramount Theatre : 911 Pine St

Showbox SoDo : 1700 1st Avenue South

Showbox at The Market : 1426 1st Ave

Neumos : 925 E. Pike St

The Nordstrom Recital Hall : 200 University St

The Crocodile : 2202 2nd Ave

Broadway Performance Hall : 1625 Broadway

Melrose Market Studios : 1532 Minor St

The Baltic Room : 1207 Pine St

Re-Bar : 1114 Howell St

The Triple Door : 216 Union St

Barboza : 925 E. Pike St

The Islander Cruise Ship : 1611 Fairview Ave E

New Music Seminar New York Music Festival

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:15:00 -0700

NEW MUSIC SEMINAR ANNOUNCES THE FIRST EVER NMS
NEW YORK MUSIC FESTIVAL ON JUNE 17-20

New Music Seminar (NMS) announces the first ever NMS New York Music Festival scheduled to take place in 17 venues throughout New York City and Brooklyn from June 17-20. NMS, along with their Partners- BMI, eMusic, Filter Magazine, Folk Alliance, OurStage, ReverbNation and SESAC- have brought together the best and brightest artists of the next generation for four nights of performances in venues ranging from Irving Plaza to clubs located throughout the Lower East Side and Williamsburg.

To see the full schedule of events, visit: http://www.newmusicseminar.com/NMSNewYorkMusicFestival.

Artists scheduled to perform at the festival include The Dunwells, Soul Khan, Alice Smith, Yonas, Ca$h Out, This Good Robot!, The Dirty Pearls, Brian Lopez, Black Box Revelation, The London Souls, and many more.

In support of the artists on NMS' Artist On The Verge (AOV) Top 100 Chart, the Festival will include more than 30 AOV performances. Artist On The Verge Top 100 Chart is the most comprehensive chart for emerging new artists in the US. On June 18, the top 3 AOV finalists - Maren Morris, Black Cobain and Ninjasonik - will perform at Santos Party House for a chance to win over $150,000 in marketing, promotion, services, and music equipment and consultations from some of the top industry leaders in their respective fields. NMS delegates will choose the winner from the three finalists through live SMS voting at the Seminar on June 19. For more information on Artist On The Verge Top 100 and the Top 3 Finalists, visit: http://newmusicseminar.com/aov2012/chart.

All NMS New York Music Festival events, aside from the Opening Night Party, are open to the public with admission prices varying at each venue. Selected events are free, on a first come, first served basis. NMS Delegates (registrants) are invited to the Opening Night Party and can gain entry to all festival shows at no extra charge, space permitting, with their NMS badge.

To register for NMS, taking place in NYC on June 17-19, visit www.NewMusicSeminar.com. Use the discount code NMSNYJB2331 to receive a 20% discount to attend the New Music Seminar and go to all the shows.

NMS New York Music Festival is powered by JamBase.

Carolina Chocolate Drops: 'Country Girl' Video

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:34:00 -0700

NEW VIDEO FOR "COUNTRY GIRL" OUT NOW

North Carolina three-piece Carolina Chocolate Drops have released the video for "Country Girl" off their album Leaving Eden, which was put out back in February on Nonesuch Records. The band will be touring all over the United States this Summer. Click here to get a list of all upcoming dates.

Carolina Chocolate Drops Tour Dates :: Carolina Chocolate Drops News

Roger Waters Adds Final Date of The Wall 2012 Tour

Fri, 25 May 2012 06:00:00 -0700

FINAL DATE OF 2012 TO FEATURE
"THE LARGEST WALL EVER BUILT"

Roger Waters

Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters has announced an historic performance of The Wall which will take place in Québec City on Saturday July 21. This is being billed as the final date of the massive 2012 tour, and is set to feature "the largest wall ever built".

Roger Waters says: "I've always loved playing in Québec. The Québécois are a very passionate and musical people and we'll be playing on the Fields of Abraham. This is going to be completely unlike any of The Wall shows we've done anywhere else in the world."

General public sales will commence on June 5 at www.infofestival.com.

Roger Waters Tour Dates :: Roger Waters News

Yonder Mountain: Kinfolk Celebration Saturday Lineup

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:45:00 -0700

KINFOLK CELEBRATION ADDS MORE ARTISTS

Yonder Mountain String Band announced that Greensky Bluegrass will perform on Saturday August 25 as part of their annual Kinfolk Celebration. Andy Hall from the Infamous Stringdusters will be featured as a very special guest with Yonder both Friday and Saturday as well. Tickets and camping are onsale now at shop.bluegrass.com or 800-624-2422.

As previously announced, Todd Snider and Split Lip Rayfield have also joined the Kinfolk Celebration lineup. The festival will take place August 24-25 at Planet Bluegrass in Lyons, Colorado.

Hangout Music Fest 2012 | Alabama | Photos

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:07:00 -0700

Images by: Brian Spady and Dave Vann

The Hangout Music Festival :: 05.18.12-05.20.12 :: Gulf Shores, Alabama

Jump to Brian Spady’s gallery here!

5/17/12 -5/20/12 - Hangout Music Festival @ Gulf Shores Public Beach (Gulf Shores, AL)View Photos

Continue reading for Brian Spady’s pics from The Hangout...

5/18/12 - 5/20/12 - Hangout Music Festival @ Gulf Shores Public Beach (Gulf Shores, AL)View Photos

JamBase | Sandy
Go See Live Music!

Marco Benevento Adds Summer Tour Dates

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:56:00 -0700

MARCO TO TOUR SOLO, WITH BUSTLE IN YOUR HEDGEROW,
GARAGE A TROIS AND MORE

Marco Benevento

Marco Benevento has lined up a number of headlining shows and festival gigs this summer around the country. In addition to all of these dates, Marco will be announcing a big Fall tour in support of the next studio album shortly. See below for all scheduled tour dates.

Marco Benevento

May 24 | Yoshi's | Oakland, CA

May 26 | Strange Creek Festival | Greenfield, MA

June 1 | Mountain Jam | Catskill, NY

June 8 | Signal Kitchen | Burlington, VT ***Discover Jazz Festival

June 9 | Empire | Portland, ME

June 22 | Madsummer Meltdown | Schuylkill Haven, PA ***w/ Skerik & Mike Dillon

June 24 | The Chameleon Club | Lancaster, PA

June 29 | Cafe Paradiso | Fairfield, IA

June 30 | Iowa City Jazz Festival | Iowa City, IA ***Free

July 8 | High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA

July 10 | Hudson Square Festival Music & Wine Festival | New York, NY ***Free

July 27 | Floyd Fest 11 | Floyd, VA

July 28 | Press Room | Asbury Park, NJ

August 1 & 2 | Dazzle | Denver, CO

August 3 | Telluride Jazz Festival | Telluride, CO

August 10 | moe.down | Turin, NY

Bustle In Your Hedgerow

May 31 | Mountain Jam | Catskill, NY

August 18 | Equifunk | Equinunk, PA

Everyone Orchestra

June 14 | FIBark Festival | Salida, CO

June 15 | Quixote's True Blue | Denver, CO

June 16 | Quixote's True Blue | Denver, CO

August 10 | moe.down | Turin, NY

Garage A Trois

June 26 | Floydfest | Floyd, VA

July 7 | High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA

August 26 | Lazy Daze Festival | Pinecrest, CA

Surprise Me Mr. Davis

July 4 & 5 | High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA

Marco Benevento Tour Dates :: Marco Benevento News

Bonnaroo: Superjam, Artist Addition & Daily Schedule

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:24:00 -0700

?UESTLOVE TO SPEARHEAD THIS YEAR'S SUPERJAM

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival announced that this year's Superjam will feature ?uestlove of The Roots plus some very special guests. No more information is forthcoming, but the festival website urges fans to "stop by their late night set on Saturday night at the festival." Last year's Superjam featured Dr. John performing with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys.

Electric Guest has also just been added to the lineup, and the full schedule has been released. Click here to check it out.

Neon Desert Music Festival: Moby, Sparta, A-Trak, Ghostland

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:23:00 -0700

ONE DAY FEST IN DOWNTOWN EL PASO THIS SATURDAY!

Sparta

The second annual Neon Desert Music Festival will take place this Saturday, May 26th. The all-day, outdoor event will feature 39 bands on 5 stages including:

Moby (DJ Set)
Sparta
A-Trak
Ghostland Observatory
Belanova
Babasonicos

See the full lineup here.

Tickets
• Advance $55: Advance tickets may be purchased on the Neon Desert website and at All That Music, The Headstand and any Western Beverage Liquors locations in El Paso. In Ciudad Juárez, tickets are available at Sounds.

• Military $48: Military tickets are available at all Fort Bliss ticketing outlets including the Main ITR office, PX ITR office and the Soto Physical Fitness Center ITR office.

• VIP $150: VIP tickets are for sale on the Neon Desert website while availability lasts.

• At-the-Door $65: Day-‐of tickets may be purchased at the festival entrance.

Location & Time
• Entrance: Festival-‐goers can enter the event at the intersection of Franklin Street and Oregon Street in Downtown El Paso.

• Hours: Doors open at 11:30a, festival closes at 2:00a.

Aerosmith: New Single, Album Details

Thu, 24 May 2012 06:37:00 -0700

AEROSMITH DEBUTS NEW SINGLE;
UNVEILS NEW ALBUM DETAILS

Aerosmith premiered their brand new single "Legendary Child" by performing the song live on the season finale of American Idol on May 23.

"Legendary Child," available now on iTunes, is the first single from Aerosmith's long-awaited new album. Music From Another Dimension will be released August 28 and is available now for pre-order on iTunes. The track listing is below, along with the new track via Soundcloud.

Eager to bring the new tunes to fans across the country, Aerosmith will hit the road for The Global Warming Tour this summer. The tour kicks off on June 16 in Minneapolis. A full list of dates is below.

Music From Another Dimension tracklisting

1. What Could Have Been Love

2. Beautiful

3. Street Jesus

4. Legendary Child

5. Oh Yeah

6. We All Fall Down

7. Another Last Goodbye

8. Out Go the Lights

9. Love Three Times a Day

10. Closer

11. Shakey Ground

12. Love a Lot

13. Freedom Fighter

14. Up on the Mountain

The Global Warming Tour

6/16 Target Center, Minneapolis, MN

6/19 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH

6/22 United Center, Chicago, IL

6/27 Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON

6/29 Times Union Center, Albany, NY

7/1 Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY

7/3 Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow, VA

7/5 The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, MI

7/7 Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI

7/10 Laval Nature Center, Laval, QC

7/12 Festival d'ete de Quebec, Quebec City, QC

7/14 Salmon Festival, Grand Falls, NL

7/17 TD Garden, Boston, MA

7/19 TD Garden, Boston, MA

7/21 Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA

7/24 Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ

7/26 Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA

7/28 American Airlines Arena, Dallas, TX

7/30 Toyota Center, Houston, TX

8/1 Pepsi Center, Denver, CO

8/4 Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA

8/6 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA

8/8 Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA

Aerosmith Tour Dates :: Aerosmith News

Howlin Rain: East Coast Tour

Thu, 24 May 2012 06:22:00 -0700

SF POWER-PSYCHERS ANNOUNCE EAST COAST DATES

Howlin Rain

San Francisco Bay Area-based power quintet Howlin Rain are undertaking a run of East Coast tour dates in celebration of the release of their third album The Russian Wilds.

Formed by bandleader-singer-guitarist Ethan Miller in 2004, as a melodic off shoot of blazing new-psych innovators Comets On Fire, Howlin Rain caught the attention of uber-producer Rick Rubin, who signed them to his American Recordings label. Rubin has since involved himself deeply with the band's subsequent musical evolution.

Rubin worked closely with bandleader-singer-guitarist Ethan Miller for over a year and a half as he shaped and perfected the material being written for The Russian Wilds. Finally, the band entered the studio with producer-engineer Tim Green, tracking at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, as well as at Trilogy Studios and Hyde Street in San Francisco, recording most of the overdubs at Green's Louder Studios in SF, where Tim mixed the album with crucial input from Rick.

Along with Miller, Howlin Rain is: Raj Ojha (drums, percussion), Cyrus Comiskey (bass), Joel Robinow (keyboards, guitar, vocals) and Isaiah Mitchell (guitar, vocals).

Click here to read our feature on the band

Howlin Rain East Coast Dates

7.24.12 Studio at Webster Hall, NYC, NY

7.25.12 Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington DC

7.26.12 North Star Bar, Philadelphia, PA

7.27.12 Metro Kitchen, Annapolis, MD

7.28.12 Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY

Howlin Rain Tour Dates :: Howlin Rain News

A Chat with Mickey Hart

Wed, 23 May 2012 15:14:00 -0700

By: Dennis Cook

Mickey Hart by Michael Weintrob

Mickey Hart has played some big spaces – Madison Square Garden, The Great Pyramids, Golden Gate Park – but he’s going really BIG with his latest project, Mysterium Tremendum (released April 10), which finds the Grateful Dead percussion shaman casting his attentions into the wide universe. Joined by a crack new band featuring Widespread Panic’s bass powerhouse Dave Schools, percussionist Sikiru Adepoju, vocalists Crystal Monee Hall and Tim Hockenberry, Tracorum drummer Ian “Inx” Herman, guitarist Gawain Matthews and keyboardist/producer Ben Yonas, Hart is translating the light waves of the cosmos into music.

With help from scientists at Lawrence Berkeley Labs and the crew at Meyer Sound, Hart and his gifted team – which includes stellar lyrics by the great Robert Hunter - have merged the noise of space with something more earthly – the Music of the Spheres brought into the dance halls Hart has inhabited since the 1960s. The album incarnation of this project also features guest turns from Steve Kimock, Reed Mathis, Zakir Hussain and Giovanni Hidalgo. It is a work that feels very much of today and a bit of tomorrow, and the material continues to grow and shift as the Mickey Hart Band carries these tunes into the live setting (upcoming shows here). It’s unlike anything else Hart or any of the other Dead alumni have put out, and it shows how engaged with the “new” Hart remains after his many decades making music.

New Album

JamBase: This new record may catch people off guard a bit. I’m not sure folks will be expecting something quite so modern from you.

Mickey Hart: I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or what [laughs]. Are you saying I’m archaic…which would be a really good thing to say to me because I do think I am [laughs].

JamBase: It’s meant entirely as a compliment. It’s a pleasure to hear a veteran of the Grateful Dead sounding so wonderfully contemporary. You’ve been moving in this direction for a few years but it seemed like a lot of ideas fully came together with this album and project.

Mickey Hart: Yes, that’s absolutely correct. It’s a logical extension of my previous work. It does reflect what I’ve done in the past only in a very good way, and adding in the cosmic elements of sounds from the universe put it over the top and gave me direction – a very serious direction and a whole new sonic world. It’s a whole new playground for me and a new arena where the universe is held together in vibrations and what those vibrations sound like. That’s why it’s called Mysterium Tremendum. We are touching on some major mysteries here as we attempt to dance with the sea sounds of the universe. That kind of focused me.

Just starting the album with a tune titled “Heartbeat of the Sun” helps orient people that this is something different than the typical rock record.

The Sun

Oh yes! That was never the intention. I was never trying to make a rock ‘n’ roll record even though I love to rock, to dance, to trance, all the things rock ‘n’ roll does best. It was more about trying to dance with the infinite universe and have some sort of conversation with the cosmic interplay. I was also trying to discover the sonic wonders that lie above the clouds. They’re having a party up there. The sun is really active, and much of the universe is quite active – collisions and a lot of things up there – and when brought into our perception these things are fascinating, and sonically as well. It’s a vast new playground and it opens you up to at least pondering the big questions – How did we get here? Where are we in the universe? Who are we and why are we?

A lot of the questions can be partially answered and others can’t be approached on a scientific basis yet because we don’t have the instruments to calculate them. The instruments that brought these light waves [which are converted into sounds] only existed for us recently. I had thought about the Big Bang being the start of the universe – the downbeat, the One, where the groove began – but back in 1991 we couldn’t measure that. We didn’t even know when the Big Bang was. We thought it was between 10 and 20 billion years ago, but in essence it’s 13.7 billion, which George Smoot spotted and won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of cosmic background radiation. I’ve been working with George, and it’s been really fascinating. I’ve met a lot of great physicists, astrophysicists, and explorers. It’s like the book Songcatchers I wrote for National Geographic. Well, these people I’ve met are catching light waves and radiation and circumnavigating the universe, in a way, and they brought back this information that I’m now turning into sound. The stories of discoveries are very interesting, from Pythagoras to Galileo to Newton to Taiko Brahe to Kepler - men and women who tried to pierce the veil and figure out how we got here.

The comparison to cartography is really apt. As maps of the world changed through direct discovery and actual information, the general outlook on the world changed. This is very much the same process, where our collective vision of the universe keeps getting updated and filled in and refined as they embark on this circumnavigation project.

Early Cartography

I’m getting into the story of The Story. We’ve reached a place technologically where we’re starting to understand what’s all around us. And I’m drawn to the sounds. Lights and visuals are great but I can only understand so much that way. But you give me sound and a whole other sensibility kicks in. I was interested in all this because I’m rhythmist and I’m looking for the beginning of rhythm and vibration. That was the original intention. It started with that and the realization that the natural world is music.

I talked to David Crosby recently. I hadn’t spoken to David in a while and just called to say, “Thank you.” He said, “Thank you for what?” I said, “For turning me on to the idea of the natural universe being music.” Years ago, Phil Lesh and I were sleeping on David’s floor somewhere in Laurel Canyon, and David was so beautiful by waking us up early with the sound of humpback whales singing. It must have been the 60s, and I remember opening my eyes to these eerie but musical sounds. Back then I’d never thought whales or anything in the ocean was music, but now I know music is everywhere – the world is music if you look at it right. David told me after my thank you that it was Freddy Neil that turned him onto the idea. They were in an elevator and Freddy told him to listen to the straps of the elevator pulling them upwards. That was what turned David onto the idea, which he then spread to me.

It’s important to honor and respect the gifts others bestow upon us. I think that’s part of the great love people feel for the Grateful Dead and the music and life you’ve lived in general. You’ve been a catalyst for this kind of stuff for a lot of people.

15th Century drawing of
Music of the Spheres Concept

There’s certain lights in your life that light up and you realize new things - call them catalytic moments. Pythagoras knew it in 400 B.C. with the Music of the Spheres that there were sonorities to the stars and planets and that’s how they all held together in this heavenly clockwork. He applied musical reference to the all the rotating spheres, and he claimed he could hear the sonorities of the spheres. That’s where we got the octave and the fifth and all that. Once I realized that music was just a miniature of what was going on in the universe, well, that piqued my interest. So, we have this thing called music, and the idea is music has a direct connection to the physics of the universe, which made me realize we’re toying with a greater truth here, something wholly other. Music isn’t just an isolated thing you dance to. It’s a replica of the whole enchilada…

…a manifestation of the interconnectivity of the universe.

You got it, man! Here’s the thing: we can now understand it, play with it, dance to it, love to it, die with it, do everything with it. Every culture has a sound. Once I realized that back in the 90s, I realized that this music is something different. There are things in music that we don’t know about – innate things in the vibratory spectrum of music. What powers does this represent? What powers does this have? That’s another reason that [the Mysterium Tremendum project] became very dear to me.

As you embarked on this project there was the practical concern of what musicians will you use to bring it into being. How did you put this group together? In line with the greater themes, there is a resonance between these players that’s unique. It’s an entity one feels as soon as one hits play on this record.

Mickey Hart Band by John Werner

That’s true, and I picked them very carefully for that reason [laughs]. I wanted only the willing. I didn’t want to be with people I was paying to go out into deep space and explore these phenomena. I wanted people who’d go willingly and explore with all their hearts and emotional content. I approached this very carefully and it took me a long time.

Each member is unique individually, and even on paper it raises the question of how such unique musicians would gel.

The vision was there, and the idea was to uncover the nuances of it all and make music of them. Space’s harmonic sounds are very dense and there’s a lot of noise. So, when you get the light – the radiation coming from these objects – they are very dense. When you turn them into sounds it’s quite harsh and not what most would consider music. This is a different kind of sound. This is nothing sub-lunar. We’re thinking above. So, you have to take them and sound design them into music that can be enjoyed and interacts in some pleasant way with the archaic world of instruments.

For all the cosmological implications of this project, there are some very earthy tunes. “Slow Joe Rain” is hearty, intense, and very much a rock ‘n’ roll song. So, there’s a balance of elements where this very sky-minded stuff mingles with things of this Earth.

Mickey Hart Band by Jay Blakesberg

Well, that’s where I live. I like the Earth and I am of the Earth, but the idea now is to pick up on the tunes being sung by all these planets and stars. They’re all singing their own tune and we’re just busting in on their party [laughs]. For instance, if you look at the sun it’s clear it’s having a party up there with solar flares, solar wind, and so on. It’s very active, and it’s very fun to drop in on it. I couldn’t be on the sun – it’s not a place for humans – but I can listen to it and play with it and have some kind of mystical/mythical conversation with it. So, this is a science project but musicological in nature. It uses science seriously in the art.

That’s a challenge to take these two worlds that we often view – consciously and subconsciously – as fairly far apart from one another and meld them. It has to be a challenge to marry these two realms.

Yes, it is…was…is. This is a complex problem that we’re trying to take and play simply enough to have fun and dance with every night. You can do a lot of shit in the studio but jamming with it every night is a whole different bunch of shenanigans. We had to dream up simple systems that would be interactive between the musicians and not just have us pressing buttons all night. We had to figure out how to play with this every night. So, we can play the main elements of the album but we’re able to go to different parts of the universe at will.

In the live setting are you focusing on this record or are you attempting to mingle it with pieces from the rest of your career?

Mickey Hart Band by Jay Blakesberg

We’re mostly doing the record but the Grateful Dead is part of my life’s work and some songs fit perfectly into it. We’ll be soaring along and suddenly out pops “Bertha” or “Fire On The Mountain” and it seems like a natural way to go. I’m not trying to run away from my past when it works. This band doesn’t play all the Grateful Dead material well so I picked the material this band can really sink its teeth into.

In bringing this sort of conceptual work to audiences, how do you convey the larger ideas of this project to folks who’ve come out to drink and boogie and may not be into a science lesson?

You don’t. That knowledge is only meant for those curious ones who want to go deeper. In that case, they can go to The Mysterium section of my website and they’ll see all the individual space sounds and what they look like. This is for the people who want to go deep, not the ones who want to drink beer and jump up and down. I love to play for them and I don’t want to lay my trip on them completely in detail. Some people just want to have a good time, and I want to entertain them because music is about pleasure. But there are people who want to know more, and in The Mysterium I’ll give them the back story and they don’t have to be labored at a concert that this particular galaxy emerged 10 billion years ago and so on. I wouldn’t burden anybody with that, nor would I want ME to be burdened with that. You go out to entertain, and many come to have a nice night out and forget their troubles and be in sound and meet people – all the good things music does. They don’t want to have a bunch of big scientific ideas shoved down their ear-hole, and I understand that.

It’s a sign of the personal work you’ve done that you don’t have those expectations of an audience. It’s a hard thing to let go of as an artist sometimes.

Sonification In Action

Nah, it’s not hard. There are so many sound worlds to investigate. I don’t hold onto much. I hope a whole bunch of people will go above the moon looking for sounds and make some music with the universe. It’s infinite and I could never cover it all. This is called sonification, and the idea is to make sound marks out of things that you wouldn’t normally think of as sonic. Anything that moves has at least two components – a visual and a sonic because it makes vibrations. So, there stimuli coming at us from all over and most of them we can’t feel or sense, but they definitely have something to do with our lives. These [sounds in the Mysterium Tremendum project] are just some of them. We’re not alone out here – we’re part of a MUCH larger thing – but I’m not going to burden the guy who comes out on a Saturday night to blow off some steam and dance with his baby. I’m not going to start telling him all the things I’m telling you.

A lot of the time the truths we need get into us in much more subliminal and poetic ways.

Of course…OR maybe this will spawn a whole bunch of new science, a wave of young scientists that are turned onto physics and stuff sonically. And maybe new curriculum will come into our schools because of this. That’s also a hope.

The marriage of what you’ve done musically and what Robert Hunter has done lyrically resonates on levels beyond normal conscious awareness. He has the ability to work so subtly and beautifully in all the varied projects he’s involved in.

He’s a visionary, and with this one I asked him to look at the concept of Man in the Universe, and he delivered the mother lode. He’s a singularlity.

I think the same goes for you, Mickey. There’s not another musician I could compare you to.

That’s a great compliment! Thank you so much…for better or worse. Maybe nobody even wants to be me [laughs].

From the first time I saw you with the Grateful Dead in 1984, I’ve thought, “That’s a unique animal.”

Well, hopefully I’m not on the endangered species list for musicians [laughs].

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Bonnaroo's 'Adventures in Mardi Gras' Premiere Episodes

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:15:00 -0700

"ADVENTURES IN MARDI GRAS" EPISODES
UP ON BONNAROO365 YOUTUBE PAGE

The debut episodes of 'Adventures in Mardi Gras' are now live on the new Bonnaroo365 YouTube page. Directed by Casey Neistat, these mini-documentaries give a taste of the real New Orleans and Mardi Gras to the uninitiated. The series features music, parades, parties, partners and some true legends of New Orleans. Neistat's films are shot in a spontaneous style, allowing viewers to experience the event first-hand. Watch the Adventures In: Mardi Gras trailer below, and click below for each episode.

Episode 1 - MONK: http://youtu.be/znqCkOoyCXI

Episode 2 - CRAWFISH: http://youtu.be/UieJ8EtG6RA

Episode 3 - FACES OF BOURBON STREET: http://youtu.be/_u9Z5eu5IGA

Episode 4 - 7:00 AM: http://youtu.be/W2e7kep6U9w

Episode 5 - LOWER 9TH WARD: http://youtu.be/cQC9vnrbj5M

The full Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA437DE777D640B44