7/7/2005: Back home and the livin's easy...

...Well I finally have myself more or less adjusted to
reality in the post-High-Sierra world. It's funny
because at first I felt bummed out that I wasn't going
to wake up and see 10 different bands today. Then I
started checking the listings and my mood lightened...

Thanks to this beautiful city, you could see almost as
much music as High Sierra right here in our little
town. Life is good!

The Festival was awesome as usual. Topping the list of
great bands I've never seen are Kinky, London Street,
Hit & Run Bluegrass, the Dead Kenny Gs, Meltone
(a.k.a. Jampan), and a handful of others that I can't
even remember.

One of those acts (London Street) graces us with their
funky soul music at the Elbo Room Friday night.
Tonight we'll get to see the last show of Samantha
together with the Ritual. With a slew of special
guests on the agenda this should be a great gig. Also
in town both nights this weekend is all-star band
Motherlode featuring the rhythm section from the
Greyboy Allstars and cats from Karl Denson's and
Robert Walter's bands. And out at the beautiful Greek
Theater Widespread Panic is playing a three show run.

It's almost like High Sierra never ended...

|||||| THURSDAY 7/7 ||||||

Samantha & the Ritual | Alektorophobia @ Great
American Music Hall $12
This will apparently be the last gig with Samantha and
the Ritual together and I’ll bet the energy will be
pretty intense. Samantha is a soulful rocker with some
serious vocal talents and the Ritual jams hard led by
keys guru Jordan Feinstein. Sharing the bill is
Alektorophobia featuring singer/songwriter/guitarist
Eric McFadden and drummer/percussionist Wally Ingram.
With five special guests listed on the bill this show
is a recipe for some serious jammin’. I’ll be there.
http://www.samanthamusic.com/

Aphrodesia @ Sweetwater (Mill Valley) $8
Abour as big and bad as an 11-piece Afrobeat orchestra
can be! Aphrodesia fills the room with funky beats and
powerful horns, and having two hot chicks as lead
vocalists doesn’t hurt the act either…
http://www.aphrodesia.org/

|||||| FRIDAY 7/8 ||||||

Swoop Unit Lite Happy Hour @ House of Shields $FREE
Funky drummer Adam Willis brings 3 of the cats from
Swoop Unit to his 6-9 happy hour gig this Friday.
They’re excellent soul-jazz players all so it should
be some good times in the big dark bar.

Motherlode @ Boom Boom Room $15
Friday and Saturday shows. Funkay funkay funk-AY! This
too-good-to-be-true all-star collaboration is made up
of Zak Najor (drums, Greyboy Allstars), Chris
Stillwell (bass, Greyboy Allstars), Cochemea Gastelum
(sax, Robert Walter), Chuck Prada (percussion, Robert
Walter & Black Eyed Peas), George Sanders (key, B Side
Players), and Mr. Brian Jordan (guitar, Karl Denson).
Awww look out now, this is gonna be funky boogaloo
soul-jazz madness. I’ll try to catch one of the
nights, probably Saturday…
http://www.boomboomblues.com/cgi-bin/calendar/index.pl?Calendar=cal_boomboom&View=Day&DateID=7/8/2005

London Street | Guitarmageddon @ Elbo Room $10
These girls were one of the most raved-about acts at
High Sierra this year. They’re a drums/bass/vocal trio
that has roots in old school R & B, funk, and soul.
And they do it in a style all their own with passion
and musicianship. Guitarmageddon and Jethro Jeremiah
open up. I’m thinkin’ this might be the place to be on
Friday night, give me a shout if you’re headed out…
http://www.londonstreetmusic.com/

Widespread Panic @ Greek Theater (Berkeley) $35.50
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday-afternoon shows. The
southern jam-rock kings (behind the Allmans of course)
are giving us three (expensive) nights at one of the
sweetest venues anywhere. It took me a little while to
warm up to these guys but after finally seeing them I
get it. They’re soulful and talented musicians and
these outdoor shows should be great.
http://widespreadpanic.com/

|||||| SATURDAY 7/9 ||||||

Motherlode @ Boom Boom Room $15
Friday and Saturday shows. I might catch ‘em Saturday.
See above…
http://www.boomboomblues.com/cgi-bin/calendar/index.pl?Calendar=cal_boomboom&View=Day&DateID=7/8/2005

Widespread Panic @ Greek Theater (Berkeley) $35.50
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday-afternoon shows. See
above.
http://widespreadpanic.com/

Stymie & the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra @ Tongue &
Groove $7
If you get down to the sound of old school funk and R
& B, Stymie and his band have your number. They remind
me of the good Sly Stone stuff, very authentic with
that vintage R & B soul sound.
http://stymieluv.com/

|||||| SUNDAY 7/10 ||||||

Khaled @ Stern Grove $FREE
Come and spend a lovely afternoon in the newly
renovated grove! This Algerian singer mixes up a
unique blend of funk, reggae, and Arabic music.
Joining him on stage are other world-reknown
percussionists, vocalists, and Djs. If you head down,
give me a shout. I’ll be down there somewhere.
http://sterngrove.org/index.php?template=2&page=5

Widespread Panic @ Greek Theater (Berkeley) $35.50
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday-afternoon shows. See
above.
http://widespreadpanic.com/

|||||| WEDNESDAY 7/13 ||||||

John Ellis & Will Bernard @ Boom Boom Room $8
This gig has the potential to be pretty nasty. John is
the sax playin’ madman from the Charlie Hunter Trio
and Will is one of SF’s funkiest guitarists
(Motherbug, Frequinox, TJ Kirk). Joining them will be
Charlie’s drummer Derrek Phillips and bassist Alan
Hampton from Jason Moran.
http://www.johnaxsonellis.com/index.htm