Over the past three years, Bear Creek has increasingly become the staple festival of the southeast. With festivals such as Langerado taking steps towards extinction, Bear Creek has flourished, and has put together lineups that seem to outdo years past, which seems hard to believe. The heavy hitting ...view article

“Happy birthday America!” exclaims Brendan Bayliss, lead singer and co-lead guitarist of all-American proggy tonk boys Umphrey’s McGee after a captivating, full band a cappella rendition of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ at the Denver (area) Gothic Theatre on Independence Day 2010.  Yes, the ...view article

Located on the banks of the Des Moines River, the Simon Estes Amphitheater was the site of yet another Umphrey’s McGee ‘musical-Mona Lisa’. A truly beautiful setting for a night that would include some of summer’s most electric moments. The ever-present feeling of the impending Fourth of ...view article

Cas Haley, the runner up from the 2007 season of America's Got Talent, just released his second album, and his first from Easy Star Records.  The album, Connection, is a cool mix of reggae, rock and pop, and puts Cas squarely in the spotlight and out of the shadow of Terry Fator, the ventriloquist.  ...view article

Get it while it’s hot people!  Yep, Umphrey’s McGee is as fiery as ever, and was hot as blazes in the ragin’ cajun and cool as a cucumber House of Blues in New Orleans.  After a wild day and a half of Bourbon Street seafood, cover band, stripper and overdosed slushy shenanigans (I’m talking ...view article

Red Rocks Amphitheater was built for Umphrey’s McGee.  Well, more likely, in their 12th year as a band, Umphrey’s has meticulously groomed themselves to the point that the fruits of their labor are best understood within the walls of  the naturally acoustic canvas provided at The Rocks.  Nestled ...view article

We rose some time after dawn in a small bed and breakfast lodge in Sacramento and I was still suffering a bit of barrel fever from all the whiskey I'd drowned myself in the night before.  We had traveled East from San Francisco through the night to get a jump on the day.  We'd be riding plum through ...view article

San Diego was visited by an embarrassment of musical riches on this particular Tuesday night. In patchouli-soaked Ocean Beach, the city's own beachside Haight Ashbury, Leftover Salmon's Vince Herman led his Great American Taxi side project through an evening of bluegrass-tinged, southern-fried rock.

Further ...view article

My first exposure to the avant-garde jazz trio Medeski Martin and Wood (conveniently known as MMW) was at the State Palace Theater during a Jazz Fest weekend in 1999 New Orleans.  MMW was still relatively new, but had the distinction of opening for Phish in 1995, which stamped them with the Phish ...view article

For no other reason than seeming regional proximity, San Diego is sometimes overshadowed by the Los Angeles/Orange County megalopolis; that seemingly unending, 150 mile slab of asphalt and concrete that stretches from the dusty San Fernando Valley in the north to quaint San Clemente to the south.  ...view article