Rock On Cali!

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival X - HSB 2010 Friday

2010-10-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

This makes the 5th year (I think) that I've been to HSB and it's still wonderful. I wasn't as pumped for the line-up as I have been in years past but it was still great.

Sadly, Friday I missed Poor Man's Whiskey because we ran late to the festival. We did manage to get a good spot for the Arrow Stage though and the Waybacks were a refreshing start to my weekend. Sarah Dugas brought a sultry warm presence to the normally all male group. I've seen the Waybacks a number of times but I think this is my first time seeing Warren Hood play with them, definitely a good addition. I'm hopeful I'll be able to catch them again soon. Waybacks Pictures

After the Waybacks came 7 Walkers featuring Bill Kreutzmann, George Porter Jr, Papa Mali and Matt Hubbard. 7 Walkers Pictures

Sarah Lee & Johnny played at 4:30, it was interesting to see them play in this setting. Earlier this year I saw them play with Sarah Lee's dad, Arlo Guthrie and they were pretty good. They definitely had more energy playing in the park. Sarah Lee & Johnny Pictures

The Subdudes were awesome as usual and still as full as zest as they always have! Subdudes Pictures

Saturday and Sunday to come!

Arlo Guthrie and Family

2010-04-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

This season I've had the privilege of taking in the entire American Heritage series at the Mondavi Center in Davis and it has been amazing. Being able to see Merle Haggard for the first time was a treat and to add to my firsts this year, last night I had the pleasure of seeing Arlo Guthrie and his family. Opening the show Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion played a few songs and really warmed the room up. There was literally an entire family up there with sometimes 10 and 15 people being on stage. Between each one of the songs Arlo told a story and I'm not sure if it was part of the shtick but the kids and adults would sit down on the edges of platforms on the stage as if they were really listening to story time with grandpa Arlo.

When people from the audience began to request Alice's Restaurant Arlo made a comment about the movie Groundhog Day, and what it would be like for groundhog day to be half an hour long. I can't blame him for not wanting to do that song, it is from many many many years ago and I can only imagine how many times he's played it by now. I was happy that he played the motorcycle song, I dare you to listen to it and not smile. Everyone from the family contributed to the show in some way, some of the kids I would guess are only 2 or 3, it was cute. Most of the songs were unrecognizable to me but it certainly was a pleasure to see a folk legend like Arlo Guthrie in the flesh.

To see the rest of my pictures click here.

Jónsi (of Sigur Rós) at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley 04-15-10

2010-04-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

This show was great! I've never been to a show at Zellerbach before and it was beautiful, although a little on the soft side, the sound had a great mix for the room. Sorry for a lack of close shots, this was a seated show.The opener made for a slow start but you could feel the anticipation rise as the set change drew to a close and the house lights flashed to draw us back into the auditorium. Sigur Ros hasn't been to Berkeley since 2008 and if my research is correct, Jónsi hasn't toured here since then either.There was quite a bit of excitement about the sets for the Jónsi tour and with good reason. The whole show was more than a concert, it was more like a musical. I really enjoyed the accompanying effects, the video, the sets, the lights...all of it. I'm not a die-hard Jónsi fan so I can't really say that I noticed a big difference between his recorded stuff and the live versions but it was still great as a whole. Good job, come back soon! For more pictures click here.

Cake in Oakland

2009-03-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

WAS AWESOME.

I'm sorry it has been so long since I posted...too much life.

Cake was so fantastic! Even though I was very short on sleep they rocked the house! Check out the videos of Warpigs, Arco Arena, Haze of Love, and Mexico. I've been seeing Cake for like 15 years and they've always been wonderful. The posts I find the hardest to write are the ones for the bands that are my favorites.

I have nothing else to say than that if you don't own every single album of theirs, go buy em.
If you haven't seen them, fly somewhere.
If you're hitting a Cake show within like 350 miles of Sacramento, I'll see you there.

The Fox Theatere was beautiful! The seats were huge and the hummus before the show was yummy. My dad came so we were in the balcony...sorry pictures are from afar - made for good roof shots.

Karli Fairbanks, Chris Robley and The Fear of Heights, not an Airplane 11-07-08

2008-11-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

Karli Fairbanks sounds a lot like Ingrid Michaelson, it was a good opening set which I walked in almost as it finished. There were two chicks with guitars...WOOOO! They both had good voices but in the like 2 songs I got to hear that was what I got from it.

Chris Robley & the Fear of Heights played next and they were good. They are from Portland and they played with not an Airplane at the Imbibe the last time naA toured up in their area. They had really good guitar and the band gave a good vibe. Hahaa today is 11-15-08 and I'm reading my notes from the show and I wrote down 4/5 wear glasses.......apparently that fact was more important to me then.

not an Airplane released their new EP to the Modesto masses at this show, so I was busy. Tonight I'm seeing naA and Chris Robley again and this time I'm not going to miss the guest appearance from Soup's fiddle player (Modesto Band Soup). Maybe I'll write my review closer to the actual show this time so I can remember the significance of 4 our of 5 band members wearing glasses.

Christina Boggs
Rock on Cali

HSB Sunday 10-05-08

2008-10-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning Poor Man's Whiskey added a latin flair and played an awesome set! Of note was their Whiskey in the Sky With Diamonds after the Beatles' Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. Today was a special day for one of the Whiskiers...Josh proposed to his girlfriend...She shot him down...on stage, in front of thousands of people....jk. She said yes!

Sorry I don't have more to say about them, they're frikken awesome...I was too busy rocking out to write more. But...I did take pictures!

I do have something to say about this guy....At the end of the night....he was running around with no clothes on. Really. Like....Really no clothes. Uhhh I didn't really need that. kthanks.

Next up was Moonalice, I guess the crowd felt different to me being in front for PMW as opposed to moving back to my tarp for the Moonalice set and having the croud in front of me. It was crowded. Alison Brown and Joe Craven were up next. I love all of Joe Craven's noises and how much fun he has up there. He adds an interesting twist to something a little more blue than Moonalice.

DRUMROLLLLLLLLLL......................................Quite possibly...Wait...no....ACTUALLY my most anticipated set of the day (nothing but love for PMW but I've seen them like 5 times already this year, they're still great I just get them all the time). They were FANTASTIC (I know holy crap that's a lot of caps - its the way I feel okay? If you were standing in front of me I would be yelling it). It truly is amazing how much they play off each other so much. Its like a conversation on the stage. From one topic to the next, each one has something different to say and maybe they have different amounts and things to say on each topic but it is a conversation none the less.

Each person brings their personality to the conversation and they all get to talk. Even then, I don't think my analogy does justice to it, the music is so much better than talking. If they weren't all guys I might use something related to sex, but they are so I won't.

Banjo player, Danny Barnes from Bad Livers played Get it While You Can and it made everyone in the band was really excited to be playing and singing it in a slightly different style. Chris Pandolfi was so psyched to be playing with one of his inspirations and to be able to share the stage with him, I don't know if there was a time during that song when Panda wasn't grinning. Fantastic.

Its funny, sometimes when I'm really into what's going on sometimes I run out of things to say and sometimes it makes me ramble. Jeremy Garrett has a voice like no other! So amazing. When he sings I feel like I can't focus on anything else going on, amazing. Hahaa I'm glad I don't know and talk to him on a regular basis. I think I would have a hard time not watching him talk and listening to the sound of his voice. I think the conversation would be one sided because all I would want to do is listen.

Jesse Cobb is one fanfrikkentastic mandolin player. I don't play the mando (haha and I don't even pretend to attempt it) but my goodness, he sounds so good. Now Ronnie McCoury is an awesome mandolin player too but when Cobby plays, it is so warm. If a teddy bear could play the mandolin that essence would be encompassed by Cobb. I don't have enough words to describe how fantastic their set was. I've been waiting in anticipation to see them again since I saw them months ago. If only I lived on the east coast, or the south. They tour over there more often. They hit the UK and Europe bluegrass scene this year, did a bunch of stops in Germany and there are a bunch of videos of those tour stops on youtube. If you want to catch a song from this set you can see it here: Poor Boy's Delight. They've only been together for like 2 years now - it would be as if you expected a toddler to write a dissertation on elementary particle interation ---this toddler did it---does it. Every new listener, every person who catches a set of theirs is amazed at how breathtaking their music is.

Travis Book, Jeremy Garrett, Andy Hall, Andy Falco, Chris Pandolfi, Jesse Cobb together are awesome songwriters, musicians, artists, pickers, grinners and a fantastic Nashville bluegrass supergroup. The rest of the shots from their set are here.

The Waybacks are local to SF and they started the show talking about it they played the crowd well and during the set I actually got a chance to look areound. They drew a crowd. They were good. I'm sorry though, their greatness was overshadowed by the dusters. I know they were good but I got up for a crowd breather and missed much of their set.

Tea Leaf Green should be renamed four hot guys with skills. The keyboard player has a really awesome unique voice, raspy and clear at the same time and he later played the harmonica. The guitar player also sang - they both had extraordinarily deep voices.

The bass player rocked out. I love it when people enjoy what they're doing so much they can't contain it. Awesome. They invited a guest mandolin player up, Erick McVaddon. This is another band I'll be sure to watch in the future. The lead singer's voice reminds me of Jerry Garcia. They then invited out Dan Lebowitz (who also played this morning with PMW) and he played a steel guitar across his lap. Earlier with PMW he played an accoustic six string. He's really good...

All in all, this year's HSB was better than last year's. They keep getting better. You can check out all the pictures from HSB that I took here.

HSB Saturday 10-04-08

2008-10-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

Dry Branch Fire Squad was a little wet this morning as the show opened up with drizzles, they warmed it up though....and played a good set, with a guest appearance from Warren Hellman (thanks for the show!)

If Flogging Molly played bluegrass inspired music they would be the Waco Brothers. I would say this is punk bluegrass, its a new sub genre....I just made it up. Two electric guitars, a bass, drums and a mandolin. I guess having a mando makes them somewhat bluegrass. If the HSB people say they're close enough, I'll accept that. I can't wait to see them again.

Jean Cook came out on fiddle for part of the set. This most definitely gets my surprise punk element award for the day! WOOO. These guys must stretch before their shows because that many high kicks might otherwise pull something. I have a couple videos that I did, one of Plenty Tough and Union Made and another of Neil Young's Revolution Blues. These guys are fantastic. They're not playing in the area any time soon but I'll be watching for them. I really like this music - its a bit rockabilly. Its funny because just as I wrote that down on my notepad they did a Bo Diddly song. They were phenomenal. Here's the set of photos from HSB.

One crispy veggie burger later was Richard Thompson. He is supposed to be a fantastic guitar player...uhhh....I guess he wasn't bad, just not really my style. It was very jazz like. He wore a beret. The highlight of his set was when he played Black Vincent 1952 (because I love the Del McCoury Band and they covered it). Much more noodling around than Del but...sometimes that happens.

The Desert Rose Band played their big hit from 1987 Don't Walk Away, their pedal steel sounded pretty good. Hahaa they've got enough guitars up there --- three....plus the pedal steel, bass player and drummer. The sun really came out as they started.

The Del McCoury Band came out and cleaned up. A couple old songs followed by Moneyland, kind of a scary thought....when the problems of the economy reach so deep into the heart of the country that even bluegrass is affected.

DMB was fantastic as usual, they get the good 'ol faithful award of the day. Pictures from their set (along with the other DMB pictures I have up already).

Welcoming the night was the Global Drum Project. Upon days of thought I found out how this fits into bluegrass....(think the Kevin Bacon game)...
1. Mickey Hart used to play with this little band called the Grateful Dead.
2. Jerry Garcia was also in the Dead.
3. Jerry Garcia's old band Old and In the Way was bluegrass...and Jerry did stuff with David Grisman.

I honestly didn't think I was going to like an hour of drum solo. I guess it really isn't a drum solo - there were four of them up there, that's not a solo.

There were so many percussive items. There were drums, bongos, sticks, metal things, wooden implements of noise, bells, rattles, gourds, symbols, xylophones...it was awesome.

Sunday's review to come.

HSB Friday 10-03-08

2008-10-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

As we enter the park from 36th and Fulton the sound of the Jerry Douglas Band can be heard through the trees. We broke through into the meadow just in time to hear the final applause. We fought our way to the merch tent after a brief sighting of Wavy Gravy.

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant started promptly at 5:30. We were back so far...ugh. The sound was very quiet. I was wondering if it was more loud for the last set or if the sound just goes contrary to normal physics for Jerry Douglas and returned to reality for the Alison Krauss and Robert Plant set.

The bits that I could hear was good. Krauss did Down to the River to Pray - they also did a bunch of Led Zepplin songs and T-Bone Burnett came up and did a handful of songs with them too.

Throw Me the Statue 09-07-08

2008-09-23T16:36:00.001-07:00

Throw Me the Statue 09-07-08 3, originally uploaded by cmboggs.

This was a fantastic show, Desirae insisted I come to it...and I didn't really protest but this is not normally my blend of music.

It was fantastic. I hope to see them the next time they come. Sadly, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it and didn't take notes.

Check out the pictures from my flickr and the video on my youtube...Sorry about the delay, I had problems getting the names of the songs matched up :)

Rock On Cali

Jay Shaner, The Tumbleweeds and Eric Warren

2008-09-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday night could have been the answer to a sad torn breakup and the need to wallow in self pity and quiet reflection. Sorrowful contemplative country songs were what Jay Shaner opened with before the Tumbleweeds' sets. After a handful, that changed with Aliens. It was the pivotal point in his set, everything got up-beat and foot tapping after that.

Nxes played over the speakers between sets. It was an odd combination especially as Emily Richardson (bass) of the Tumbleweeds started to play along with it after tuning. That was surprising. One benefit of being in the side part of Fox and Goose is that over there they turn down the lights and the roar of the friday night drinking croud is muffled from the next room. Drunkeness leaks in through the open door. The Tumbleweeds played a lively set as usual, I was more than a little dissapointed to discover there would be no cowbell action...Oh well, the show must go on....even without a cowbell. Its funny, I've only seen the Tumbleweeds like 3 or 4 times but I'm already getting to know their songs. Check out my video of the Tumbleweeds doing the problem.

Up next is a permutation of the Tumbleweeds, the Len Brown Society. Last week I saw Buick 6 do just a fantastic marvelous job and then bring Lucinda up. This week the Tumbleweeds did a fantastic job and then they brought up Eric Warren. Warren had a gritty dirty rock sound...It was like turning lemonade into an Arnold Palmer, just a little tea but it makes it so different. I don't tend to notice songwriting but this was phenominal. A song about the perspectives of animals...awesome. "I wonder if the stars are jealous of the sun in the sky," was one of my favorite lines. Checkout the videos of the Tumbleweeds with Eric Warren doing Unborn Child and Cigarette.

Buick 6 and Lucinda Williams

2008-09-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Okay I'm gonna do something I haven't in a while....give you a link. Here. Go. NOW. That was really hard for me to find....and I'm pretty good. That is Buick 6. They started out with a 10 minute ultimate version of pipeline. It was great! They had this little tiny synth on stage...and said they did all instrumentals. They had this washing machine on stage, that caught my eye. You know the drummer is hard core when he changes cymbals during the set. I'm going to correct myself, Butch Norton - not a drummer. Butch is a percussionist. After a few songs he moved up to a second set of gear, had a giant cymbal (about a meter across) and he played the wash tub and a big piece of duct work. Oh, later he played a bird call too... The piece of ducting sounded pretty cool. Chet Lyster played guitar, keyboard and drums (when Norton moved to his second "kit"). While they were both on the drums they did this syncopated routine then the bass and guitar came in.

Bass. My GOSH. The bass player, David Sutton was fantastic. He was really grooving, he made me want to dance. Actually...wouldn't have minded dancing with him....

Five songs into the set there were words. Cinnamon Girl - a great rendition of a personal favorite. They did all covers but they did it wonderfully, they were awesome.

After the intermission Lucinda came out with the band wearing a screaming black shirt with PUNK scrawled across the front. Doug, the lead guitar player continued to wail - alternating between the pedal steel and his other guitars. Lyster broke out the mandolin for a song off Cartwheels, Concrete and Barbed Wire. Lucinda has really talented musicians. I could really just listen to them play. I mean...I can't say enough, REALLY. Sutton is an awesome bass player, with so much rhythm it's not enough to simply play the bass, it leaks out in his need to rock and dance while he's playing.

Lucinda Williams has a really unique method of strumming. She strums up really close to the neck- like around the 12th fret. Towards the end she pulled out her silver electric out and it had sparkles on the strap.....she was workin it :)

Rock on!

Steve Miller Band and Joe Cocker

2008-08-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

August 17th 2008 marked the second time I visited Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys California. One special thing about going to Ironstone is the dinner. Last night's dinner had these really great phyllo dough mushroom rolls along with a nice piece of salmon with some tender jasmine rice....those mushroom rolls...MMM the kind of things dreams (hahaha my dreams) are made of.
Gah. The only downside of dinner is that if you have a party of less than 10 you're seated with other people. Why do I always get the drunks?
The people at my table complained about everything, it was so annoying. That aside, the food was great and as the hot head Chef James came around I was more than happy to tell him so.

Joe Cocker came on first and rocked the house. He did a stellar performance of tons of hits. May classic rock never die.
His bass player was awesome, I love chick bass players and she is just another outstanding example of chicks who rock. The croud was pumped when the Steve Miller Band came on! Steve kicked it off solidly and the intensity of the show seemed to grow with each song. If they were tired after the last 40 shows in a row they did a good job of hiding it!

Through countless guitar changes the show carried on through all their greatest hits. I didn't realize how many different keys their songs were in until I took a look at their set list. Wow, enough to keep 2 or more guitar techs busy!
Norton Buffalo is a fantastic harmonica player and percussion virtuoso, my only regret with Norton is the frequency in which I see him limits my ability to gush over his many talents.
I was impressed by the presence that Kenny Lee Lewis commanded during the show, not only masterfully playing what seemed like effortlessly but working the croud at the same time. Maybe it had to do with my seats being on his side of the stage this show but I don't think I've ever noticed his dimples before. Check out my flickr for how helpless I am to the power of dimples and for the rest of my shots from this show. This show was fantastic!

Joe Cocker pictures - http://flickr.com/photos/rockoncali/sets/72157606818464112/

The Steve Miller Band pictures - http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockoncali/sets/72157606818487832/Check the video bar to the right for two videos from the show too!

PMW and Peter Rowan at the Gravenstein Festival

2008-08-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

This was a great festival, I've been to the apple blossom festival before...somewhere else in Sebastopol but not the Gravenstein before. PMW opened with a really strong first set, it was nice seeing their old bass player again. Nothing like years of being together to bring out the comfort of established connections and songs to play out on stage. They're all SO good.

Poor Man's Whiskey's second set not only contained Lake County Lady but the infamous Tony Robinson. I think he was in PMW maybe the first time I saw them play...it was awhile ago.....but he fit right back in too.

Peter Rowan was good....better than I expected. I was actually surprised how many of his songs I knew. He played right after the second PMW set on another stage and we stayed through his entire set. I had a yummy vegetarian tamale with kale, squash and artichoke hearts with queso fresco for lunch during his set and it was awesome. Sometimes I feel bad when I don't know my musical roots as well as I should....but then I get over it. I'm better than average, right?

Check my flickr for more pictures from this show (link on the right).

Rock On Cali!

The Definite Articles and The New Trust

2008-06-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

The dramatic build up, she's totally stressed out yet strangely confident and he's cool and collected, they meet through friends and hit it off immediately...it has a certain predictability to it....cut to clothes falling to the floor---

Almost any of the Definite Articles songs could be part of the score to some romantic drama. It would work so perfectly, the ebb and flow of their music is so rhythmic and comforting.

Gosh...Don't ask me why I'm head over heels into this music, its not even a style that I gravitate towards. Thankfully for me a few weeks back I didn't have anything particularly important to do (that was the last time I held off making plans because an out of town guest might want to go out) but it all worked out because I stumbled upon the Definite Articles. The mesmerizing cello transports you to another place. I can't describe it. Its like their songs could capture the ocean and give it a soul to speak through.

I'm sorry I don't have any photos or video from this show, I went straight from bible study only to arrive and find the posted start time was wrong on both band's websites. Had I realized earlier that I didn't have my camera I might have driven the twelve minutes home to get it. Alas, as it was I hadn't had dinner and the door guy recommended Pieces, a nearby pizza place. I got a pesto-sun dried tomato-mushroom-feta-mozzarella slice. It was huge, filling, yummy and guilt ridden. That's about 10pts for that piece....but I packed the remainder of my salad for lunch the next day. Uhhhhhh the people at the pizza place made me uncomfortable and I think it threw my vibe off for the rest of the night. Anyways, if you goto pieces on 20th Steet in Sacramento, bring cash. If you don't have cash, there's a wamu atm across the street.

The New Trust was on first and they had a male bass playing lead singer and two females in the band, a guitar player who sang back up and a chick that did drums. All in all, it was a good show, a great show even!

Sunday June 15th CBA Father's Day Bluegrass Festival

2008-06-26T13:51:00.001-07:00

.......drove from Sacramento to Grass Valley Sunday Morning (see the matches post for why), and caught the tail end of the Doyle Lawson set. Goldwing express was funny...

The afternoon set of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver was AWESOME. I love seeing them. Anyways.....hahaa the Sunday update is holding up other show reviews so its shorter than Saturday's hahaa.

Rock on!

The Matches, Scissors for Lefty, Brilliant Red Lights 06-14-08

2008-06-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Brilliant Red Lights opened the show BRILLIANTLY! The bass player, Evan, has great hands and he used them very well...the guy worked it! A special little treat too included the drum line from McClatchy High School in Sacramento (and the guy walking to the left of one of the drummers actually came out and played the keyboard rigged up with some sort of sling hahaa it was great!
Scissors for Lefty...eh...struck me as 80's glam rock. I was reallllllly not a fan of their wardrobe selections, in fact...I bordered on grossed out. Their pants were so tight, I feel like I KNOW them well now. Sadly though, I liked the lead guitar player's style on his fender. It was mint julep in color *pause* but it had a really crisp rockabilly sound, and that was good. The pictures don't do his guitar justice. Also on a equipment note, the bass player had this tiny bass and it had hot pink strings....
The Matches WERE FANTASTIC! Every time I see them they're awesome. I'm sorry I don't have anything constructive to say.
Justin is a fantastic bass player. And he's photogenic when I'm standing in front of him.
I got a fair amount of cool light shots.
Jon is fantastic....
And photogenic too! Shawn is hot and good and photogenic as well...but all the times he was close enough to get good shots of I was rockin out too hard to get a good shot. I think the girls next to me were irritated. Muh...OH WELL.... oh and Ben Young rocks a mean triangle.
And check out my youtube for concert footage!

Saturday June 14th CBA Father's Day Bluegrass Festival

2008-06-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

...Saturday morning I kinda slept in. The Doerfel family were good again and Grasstowne was pretty good too.

Prepare for family pictures.

Friday June 13th CBA Father's Day Bluegrass Festival

2008-06-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Friday morning
...started out with the Doerfel Family and they were adorable! All these little red heads and blondies, it was great! It turns out that Tj (the oldest Doerfel) married Angelica Grim last week (congrats guys)!
Angelica came out and did a few with them towards the end of this set, touring together the last couple years certainly makes her already part of the family and the comfort level with the rest of the family made that clear.

Belle Monroe and her Brewgrass Boys came up during the hot part of the morning and were fantastic! The banjo player, Jordan Klein wailed up there and they were super friendly when I went down after their set and bought a cd.

Finishing up the morning session was the BladeRunners, now featuring Patrick Sauber. I've seen them a few times, both the BladeRunners in different formations and Sauber with others as well. They only seem to get better, their voices harmonize so well!

After lunch was another set with Blue Highway, a less formal dressed situation but most definitely themed in the gospels. Up after Blue Highway was the Wilders, this was their last set of the weekend and Ike came out in this awesome grey suit and these fantastic sunglasses that reflected the crowd.

The Dan Tyminski band did another fantastic job on their next set. I'm always impressed to find out that not only do people play multiple instruments, but the do it so well! The banjo player, Ron Stewart picked up the fiddle again for another tune and rocked it for Turkey in the Straw but...sorry to say, he was overshadowed by Justin Moses who plays fiddle, banjo, guitar, and he makes that dobro sing! The stage lights hit the face of the dobro and its exuberance was not only reflected by the sweet sounds but it transcended through the senses and sparkled glints of light all over the stage.

Thursday June 12th CBA Father's Day Bluegrass Festival

2008-06-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

Okay...so I've decided for the near future I'm not going to include links....everyone can google. Here's some instructions.......select text, right click, scroll down dropdown menu for SEARCH GOOGLE FOR "text"

That business aside....this year's festival was great, better than I expected!

Crooked Still is Aolfe O'Donovan on vocals and rhythm guitar, Brittany Haas on fiddle, Gregory Liszt on banjo, Tristan Clarridge on cello and Corey Dimario on double bass....they were this year's experimental grass component of the festival. Experimental really? Hahaha I guess to the more traditional bluegrass aficionado they were experimental but, the only experimental part I noticed was the fact that there was a cello in it. They did a great job, check out my youtube for footage of them.

Next up on Thursday morning was Chris Jones and Ivan Rosenberg, wow. WOW. Chris Jones...the audience member wouldn't be blamed for having high expectations of an IBMA award winning song writer and someone who's been around bluegrass as long as Ivan has, you pretty much expect them to come to the table with something. Well....come they did. They were fantastic, makes me wish they toured through here more often. They're certainly going to be on my watch list for upcoming shows. That dobro sang and complemented Chris' warm deep voice like cinnamon in apple pie.

Finishing the morning up were the Wilders and they harmonized well together and the mandolin/dobro player wailed up there. Hahaha I thought it was funny that the mandolin player pulled out his toothpick when he changed to the dobro the first time...like mkay time to get to it.... Honky tonk habit was introduced by the lead singer "we don't really have a hit, but if we did, this would be it." I thought their rendition of Big John was great too...too bad I didn't get a video of it.

After the Dinner session Blue Highway came on and the guitar player did some pretty good Ralph Stanley impressions. The mandolin player had a cool and interesting picking style, maybe some great bluegrass father in the sky started that picking style but he chopped at the mandolin and it had a really great sound. They've been together for 14 years (although they don't all look old enough for that). Rob on the dobro won IBMA dobro player of the year 9 years in a row. NINE YEARS IN A ROW! WOW!

The Wilders came up for their second set and I love the fact that they're all completely rockin out, I think that the fact that they all get into it really increases my appreciation of their music.

The Dan Tyminski Band did a great job! They're playing again tomorrow so I'll talk about them then!

Poor Man's Whiskey

2008-06-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

were awesome! Not that I'm shocked in the slightest....they're always awesome! Check out my youtube for a great acoustic version of Beer Goggle Blues! Sorry to be brief...I'm playing catch up

Poor Man's Whiskey

2008-05-12T17:11:00.001-07:00

Wow, this show was just as awesome as the night before! Sorry so slow to post a follow-up....you know....shows shows shows.

Here are some pictures to calm you....calmate...calmateeeee

I knew at one time...like the night before....what the little wooo wooo dealio was called....now I'll just call it the woo woo machine. Not to be confused with a hoo hoo.

Chris wailed as usual. I don't mean to sound any less than completely impressed but....I haven't seen him play a bad set yet....so...........................maybe its more of an absence makes the heart grow fonder bit? I dunno...as the story goes, he was trained in classical violin and came over to the blue side so I guess that could explain his exacting awesomeness...but we'll never know. Until someone can offer me a better explanation I'll continue believing that. Continue believing that Chris is a fantastic fiddle player and can play no wrong note!

Rock on Cali

-Christina Boggs

Poor Man's Whiskey...

2008-04-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

Was so fantastic last night at the blue lamp, I'm going to tahoe tonight!

I'll be at the divided sky in tahoe tonight catching PMW again, show starts between 9:30 and 10:00 according to the girl who answered the phone there a few hours ago.

Got some darkish pictures from last night - the good ones are actually from when the guys from Isabella joined the boys up on stage!

More next week when I have a chance to recover! Hahaa wooo hooo! Rock on Cali!

The Infamous Stringdusters

2008-03-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Holy crap. That was.......bluegrass......plus 6 hot men.....multiplied by the blue goose's awesome atmosphere....FANFRIKKENTASTIC.

I have been babbling all day long, mostly incoherently about how wonderful last night's show was. I feel like I can't write a complete sentence.

They.were.awesome. That's all I can say.

*okay, i'm going to try and pull it together*

Normally, I preview music before I go to shows. I really thought that I had listened to The Infamous Stringdusters before and I thought I wasn't into them. I really was just tagging along because it was live music and I owed my pops a show because he's coming to see the Matches with me in SF in a couple weeks and he doesn't like punk/powerpop (in general). Because I thought I had listened to them before and wasn't interested, as well as being busy lately with school and whatnot...I didn't do my research. SHAME ON ME.

GOSH. They were fantastic. I didn't think that I could love all band members equally but I feel so torn....Jeremy had a voice so smooth and warm that you almost would wish that he would only sing...except he wailed on the fiddle. The guitar player Andy had super crisp quick finger working down to a science!

During the show the guys did a song that the Del McCoury Band does and Jesse did it justice, so much energy through the whole show! If there was any one instrument that was a little underrepresented last night it would be the dobro...I didn't realize how little I really was hearing of the dobro until the end of the set when the guys huddled around and did the last 5 songs or so completely acoustic and without amplification!

I thought I was impressed with Andy Hall on the dobro but now...hmmm maybe he would have taken the cake if the dobro's sound had been a little louder. Chris the banjo player was the strait man of the bunch...just stood there with a focused look on his face....could have caught his banjo on fire! Last to mention but most certainly not least, Travis...the bass player, wow. GOSH......This is a band of smokin hot men. I'm so taken....really wow. ***Ladies....no wedding rings! (that's all i'm going to say about that....tehehee) Uhhh where was I....Travis....AWESOME SINGER. Really. My favorite song of his was Poor Boy's Delight....annnnnnnnddddd fade to MUSH. Awesome!

My only disappointment is that I can't make it after all to tonight's show in Tahoe. Hopefully they come back to Northern California/Eastern Nevada/Southern Oregon again soon!

PS...sorry about the lame pictures......I thought the show was going to suck and I didn't bring my camera so I only have the shots from my phone.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass - Sunday October 7th

2008-03-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

Poor Man's Whiskey wins the Best California Bluegrass award with me. Octoberfest came to Golden Gate Park for a brief half hour on Sunday morning--complete with leiderhosen and dancing pretzel tossers.

The guys started the set out with a song about Rasputan the Lover. Then they did Whiskey Dream and I Ain't Gonna Spill My Whiskey on the Dancin Floor. I feel like a parent choosing my favorite child..but I'm going to choose and today's favorite child are the solos...Wow. Chris did a great job at bringing that fiddle to life and a blond curly haired Eli did a fantastic job of finishing the show off with an explosive screaming guitar solo.

I regret more now that I missed their longer set from Friday morning. As usual they brought a crowd-drawing set to the star stage. I'm torn. I would love them to be getting the exposure of a larger crowd of later in the day but, I do like them in the morning. And they have an effect on crowds, getting everyone in the audience up on their feet and dancing...starting the day off right.

Up next were the Sadies. Travis had such a powerful voice. Such strength, made me look up from the last review I was jotting down. I had written down in my notes some references to them having a surf sound (you wouldn't know by seeing the suit-clad, sunglass wearing guys up on stage) and I wrote that I could hear a Tom Petty influence at the same time when I heard them do Lonely Guy it made me instantly think of Chris Issak. I picked up the program to check where they were from (Toronto) and I noticed the program writer felt there were enough "sounds-like" comments to mention it in the 5 line description of their style. Wow. Travis sings with so much passion, I could compare some of his facial expressions to Mick Jager. As their set moved on they brought up Mom and Dad. Dad even brought out the harmonica at one point. I love musical families. I guess rather than coming from a musical family I come from a music appreciating family...

Heartless Bastards ended up being 2 guys and a chick. Technical difficulties added to the stress of these guys. Someone nice from backstage brought the girl a new amp to use....the lead singer did have a nice gritty voice though...

I just found this sitting here...alll unnnnposted...and i'm gonna put it up sans photos because i'll never post it if i wait to post the pictures...and i've been waiting to post again till i finished this...so here it goes

Melee Shows!

2008-01-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

I know this is a little out of character for me to be putting promotion stuff on here...but you never know...someone might search me and they might not know about Melee coming to the area...

I'm going to be at the SF and the Orangevale shows, hope to see you all there! Let me know if you're coming and we'll meet up! Wooo Hoo!

Hey there folks! I know that some of you developed quite a love for melee like I did when they came through on the last two GHTs with BFS....if you're interested in seeing them again....here's their tour schedule.

If you message me that you're going to the SF show or the Orangevale show, then.........i'll give you a bonus when you come see me.....it might be an awesome CD you don't have, it might be a bag full of sugar-free halls cough drops.....hmmm some picks of various shapes and hardness (is that the right word?) orrrr maybe something else still!

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Jan 17 - The Boardwalk - Orangevale, CA
Tickets

Jan 18 - Slims - San Francisco, CA
Tickets

Jan 19 - Jillians - Vegas, NV
Tickets

Jan 20 - The Glass House - Pomona, CA
Tickets

Jan 22 - The Marquis Theatre - Denver CO
Tickets

Jan 23 - Kilby Court - SLC, UT
Tickets