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

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

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

If the trip and surrounding circumstances of seeing Umphrey's McGee Wednesday in Seattle were hectic and confused, the exact opposite could be said about the day of the show in the University of Oregon college town of Eugene. Very few obvious Umphreaks were seen around the sleepy town and even until ...view article

The Northbound drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, as the sun set to the West and the nearly full moon beamed like a spotlight to the East, set the mood for a relaxed and cheerful celebration of the life and music of Bay Area musician: Jim McPherson.17356

McPherson, a blues inspired musician ...view article

Fourteen months ago, on Halloween, Umphrey's McGee played one of the most impressive shows I'd ever seen.  The buzz surrounding the event was undeniable and the actual show was religious.  At the time the band was on the precipice of some major changes.  Light design artist Jefferson Waful was ...view article

With the epidemic-like spread of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games, Rock and Roll music has been packaged neatly into five little buttons as mind numbing, modified studio versions of classic hits are practically put on repeat in households throughout the world. Perhaps to counterbalance this ...view article