WEEKLY BAND E-MAIL #140.0 August 12th, 2010
By BRIAN ANASTASI bananastasi@comcast.net

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People from all over the country will be gathering together this weekend in North Adams to attend the Solid Sound Festival, a music and arts festival created by Wilco. The Boston Herald enthused "Wilco worshipers unite! Your Woodstock, your Lollapalooza, your Christmas, New Year’s and Fourth of July smashed into one is here!"

The Solid Sound Festival will take place at the sprawling campus of Mass MoCA beginning Friday, August 13th at 8pm and running through Sunday, August 15th at 8pm. The festival will include every one of the band members’ side projects, an eclectic mix of other indie artists, comedy, film, art and exhibits.

Wilco is an alternative rock band based in Chicago. Its name comes from the voice procedure term "wilco" or "will comply." The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt remaining from the original incarnation. Since early 2004, the other current members are guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalists Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgenson, and drummer Glenn Kotche. Wilco has released seven studio albums, a live double album, two collaborations with Billy Bragg, and one collaboration with The Minus Five.

Rolling Stone magazine named Wilco's 2001 album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" on Nonesuch as the third best album of the decade, saying "Wilco's great leap forward was a mix of rock tradition, electronics, oddball rhythms and experimental gestures: a new vocabulary for an overwhelmed, dislocated age where we'd need to draw on both history and invention to survive."

"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" is Wilco's most successful release to date, selling over 500,000 copies. The band won two Grammy(r) Awards for their fifth studio album, 2004's "A Ghost is Born," including Best Alternative Music Album. Wilco released their seventh studio album, "Wilco (The Album)," on June 30th, 2009.

Wilco offshoots performing at the event include drummer Glenn Kotche’s On Fillmore, the Nels Cline Singers featuring guitarist Cline, the Autumn Defense with bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, and keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen’s Pronto. Kotche is also putting up an interactive drum head installation, and Cline will host an interactive guitar pedal exhibit.

Of the other groups and singers performing, it should be noted that Mavis Staples, who spent the first half of the year recording an album with Jeff Tweedy at Wilco's Chicago studio, will be appearing on Sunday night. Also performing will be Bennington, VT trio Mountain Man, Portland, Maine’s Brenda, The Books from North Adams, Avi Buffalo from Long Beach, CA, and Vetiver from the San Francisco Bay area. And Chicago’s Deep Blue Organ Trio, Vermont-based Bread and Puppet Theater company, and comedians Todd Barry, Hannibal Buress, John Mulaney, and Kristen Schaal will also be a part of the weekend.

If there are still tickets available, they will be $99.50, the same price as they were in advance. Children under 6 will be admitted for free.

Here is the video for "Smells Like Content" by The Books:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHNArEfBKdc

Here is the video for "You and I" from "Wilco (The Album)":


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USjuOWLyWIQ

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The new single from Barrence Whitfield and the Monkey Hips has been released on Somerville-based Q Division Records' Q-Dee label. The problem is, the single is just that: a 7" vinyl 45 rpm record. Even though it is on colored vinyl, and even though vinyl is making a comeback of sorts, the fact remains that the majority of people now listen to music via YouTube or downloads from iTunes and amazon.com.

Only 500 copies of the yellow record are available. To listen to "Bulit Like a Rock" b/w "I Love Her So," go to
http:/q-dee.com And copies are available for sale there for $8 each.

Here is a video of Barrence Whitfield and the Monkey Hips performing "Bip Bop Bip" at Cafe 9 in New Haven, CT:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpQbUu8Vj2s

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People are still talking about the new album from Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves, "Come and Get It," which was finally released in the U.S. on Tuesday, August 10th. This is the band's third release. In 2005 Eli Husock and his bandmates released a CD on the tiny Double E Records, followed by the 2008 release of "Roll with You" on Q Division, and now "Come and Get It" on Capitol. The new CD is available at all Newbury Comics locations for $9.99.

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The Route 63 Roadhouse in Millers Falls, which everyone thought was closed for good after the Drunk Stuntmen played there on Saturday, June 26th, is once again open and will start having bands play again on Friday and Saturday nights starting this weekend.

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The Iron Horse in Northampton is having a whole bunch of shows featuring Massachusetts bands in the coming months. Here is the list:

Friday, August 20th, 7pm, Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade
Saturday, August 21st, 10pm, The Stone Coyotes
Tuesday, August 31st, 7pm Lou Barlow and the Missingmen
(a full band show from the member of Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh)
Friday, September 10th, 7pm, The Lonesome Brothers 20th anniversary show; The Ray Mason Band
Saturday, September 11th, 10pm, Fiesta Brava
Friday, September 17th, 7pm, Duke Robillard; The Reprobates Blues Band
Friday, September 17th, 10pm, Appalachian Still
Saturday, September 18th, 10pm, The Big Bad Bollocks
Friday, September 24th, 10pm, The Fine and Dandy Trio; Bella's Bartok
Saturday, October 2nd, 7pm, Ellis Paul
Thursday, October 7th, 10pm, The Alchemystics
Sunday, October 17th, 7pm, Seth Glier
Sunday, October 31st, 7pm, The David Wax Museum
Friday, November 19th, 10pm, The Chandler Travis Philharmonic
Friday, November 26th, 7pm, Roomful of Blues
Saturday, November 27th, 10pm, The Alchemystics
Friday, December 3rd, 7pm; Saturday, December 4th, 7pm; Saturday, December 4th, 10pm, Crooked Still
Sunday, December 5th, 7pm, Winterbloom (Antje Dukevot, Natalia Zukerman, Meg Hutchinson, and Anne Heaton)

For ticket prices and more information on any of these acts, go to
http://www.iheg.com

The Stone Coyotes were asked at the last minute to open for Willie Nelson and Family at Mountain Park in Holyoke this past Sunday, August 8th. They will also be performing at this year's Three County Fair in Northampton.

Here is a video of The Stone Coyotes performing "Plain American Girl" at the Iron Horse back in 2004:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Jbly1JGmU

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The fifth annual New England Blues Festival will be held on Saturday, September 11th at Battis Field in Middleborough. The festival is held to promote blues music in southern New England and to benefit worthy area community groups. This year's line-up includes Wolf and the Jam Daddies, The Walkin' Blues Band, Gerry Dokoto, Bogged Down, Wood Spirit Band, Mark T. Small, and Dan Lawson. Proceeds go to the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center. General admission tickets are $20, and may be purchased online at http://nebluesfest.com/
If you would like to have your tickets mailed to you, there is a $6 fee.

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Django Reinhardt at 100: Gypsy Jazz is the name of a very special show coming to the Calvin Theatre in Northampton on Saturday, October 30th, starting at 8pm. Tickets are $25 and $35, and go on sale to the general public on Friday, August 13th online at http:/www.iheg.com at the Northampton Box Office, or by calling (413) 586-8686.

Jean "Django" Reinhardt was of the first prominent European jazz musicians and remains one of the most renowned and most influential jazz guitarists. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, he cofounded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, described by critic Thom Jurek as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz. Legendary French guitarist Dorado Schmitt has long been at the center of the gypsy music resurgence in the US. In celebration of legendary jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt’s 100th birthday, Schmitt has assembled yet another stellar gypsy jazz unit which includes himself on Lead Guitar (and vocal), Hono Winterstein on Rhythm Guitar, Xavier Nikq on double bass, Pierre Blanchard on Violin, and Peter Beets on Piano.

Here is a video of the lineup that will be at the Iron Horse performing at Birdland in New York City:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a64uyOUw_A

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Information for the Weekly Band E-Mail is taken directly from venue,
band, and musician web sites, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace pages,
as well as blogs, posters, flyers, and e-mails..
Brian Anastasi assumes no responsibility for errors on these sources.