Upcoming Show: Mark Olson – Cedar Rapids @ CSPS 2/13/08

Posted on January 12, 2008 by mike

Former Jayhawk and Creekdipper Mark Olson is coming back to Eastern Iowa in February. He was in Iowa City in August at the Mill touring for his first solo album The Salvation Blues. The tour continued through the Fall followed by a run through Europe and now he’s back in the States on an ever-growing list of dates which includes Cedar Rapids!

Mark’s new album The Salvation Blues is very stripped-down and personal view of a man dealing with loss in his life– the resulting catharsis is strikingly, achingly beautiful and shows Olson at the top of his craft. Providing familiar harmony vocals on three of the tracks is former Jayhawk Gary Louris.

Gary Louris’s new album titled Vagabonds will be released on Rykodisc on February 19th.

The packaging of the CD that I have is a small replica of a hardback book complete with dustjacket! The CD itself is stamped as if the book was either checked out or possibly stolen from the San Bernardino County Library in Joshua Tree.

Mark will be performing at CSPS which is the walk-up art gallery and performance space in the New Bohemia area of Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 8PM. The tickets are $13 in advance and $16 the day of the show. If you haven’t been to CSPS you should make an effort to get to one of the best music venues in Eastern Iowa. It is a cozy, intimate, non-smoking venue that is the perfect way to see an artist like Mark perform.

Download “Clifton Bridge” from The Salvation Blues

NPR Radio Show with Video from November interview and performance of Mark Olson

Mark Olson’s MySpace Page which has four songs from The Salvation Blues.

Mark Olson’s Facebook Page which has three songs on it.

Visit HackTone and click on Mark’s album to hear more tracks.

Upcoming Show: Galactic with Chali 2na and Ohmega Watts – The Majestic Theatre, Madison, WI 2/21/08

Posted on January 1, 2008 by mike

The Majestic Theatre in Madison is shaping up to be a place that’s getting good acts. Since Luther’s Blues closed, I was concerned that the Barrymore was going to be the only place getting shows. I like the Barrymore– I saw Tortoise with Daniel Lanois back in 2006, but a city like Madison needs more than one venue especially during the school season. In January the Majestic will have the Greyboy Allstars, and on Thursday, February 21st they will be getting the New Orleans instrumental funk act Galactic. I did a review last year of their album From the Corner to the Block which track-for-track paired them up with some noted MC’s.

Interestingly, they will be on the road for Mardi Gras, playing the Cabooze in Minneapolis the previous night rather than their home turf. Maybe they’ll bring their own version of Mardi Gras to the snowy Midwest.

The Galactic Upcoming Shows Page

Video of Galactic with Chali 2na at Bonnaroo 07 Performing “Think Back.”

Upcoming Shows at the Majestic and links to order tickets.

Upcoming Shows at The Cabooze and links to order tickets.

Upcoming Show: The Greyboy Allstars at The Majestic in Madison 1/21/08

Posted on December 29, 2007 by mike

The Greyboy Allstars

The Greyboy Allstars are kicking off a 16-date tour focusing mostly on the Midwest and South in support of their What Happened to TV? album in January and the beginning of February. They are coming to three cities I can hit– Minneapolis on 1/17, Chicago on 1/18 and Madison, WI on 1/21. Out of the three, it seems like Madison would be the most likely show for me.

KEXP is hosting a streaming archive of the Greyboy Allstars in-studio show from March.

The Greyboy Allstars on Myspace

Jan. 17
Minneapolis, MN
The Cabooze
Buy Tickets

Jan. 18
Chicago, IL
House of Blues
Buy tickets here:
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Jan. 19
Pittsburgh, PA
Mr. Smalls Theatre
Tickets on sale Dec. 22

Jan. 20
Ferndale, MI
Magic Bag
Buy Tickets

Jan. 21
Madison, WI
Majestic Theatre
Buy Tickets

Jan. 22
Indianapolis, IN
Music Mill
(more info coming soon)

Jan. 24
Dallas, TX
House of Blues
Buy Tickets

Jan. 25
Austin, TX
Waterloo Records & Video
5pm

Jan. 25
Austin, TX
La Zona Rosa
Buy Tickets

Jan. 26
Houston, TX
Warehouse Live
Buy Tickets

January 28
Atlanta, GA
Smith’s Olde Bar
Buy Tickets

Jan. 29
Atlanta, GA
Smith’s Olde Bar
Buy Tickets

Jan. 30
Asheville, NC
The Orange Peel
Buy Tickets

Jan. 31
Birmingham, AL
Workplay Theatre
Tickets on sale Dec. 21

Feb. 1
New Orleans, LA
Tipitina’s
Buy Tickets

Feb. 2
Oxford, MS
Proud Larry’s
(more info coming soon)

Upcoming Show: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals with Brandi Shearer at The Redstone Room in Davenport 2/11/08

Posted on December 26, 2007 by mike

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are kicking off an early ’08 headlining tour with dates sponsored by Amoeba Records with Brandi Shearer in support. They will be making a stop in Davenport at the Redstone Room on Monday, February 11th. Tickets will be $13 in advance and go on sale today (12/26) and will be $15 at the door.

We’ve talked about Grace here before. I had a chance to see her open for Gov’t Mule in Des Moines, and she and her band put on a very powerful performance. They certainly held their own opening for the Mule. As much as I enjoyed the opportunity to see the legendary Gov’t Mule in concert, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed that I wasn’t seeing more of Grace and her band. So, here is my chance to see her headlining a show! According to the e-mail I got from the folks at the River Music Experience the people who saw her last show at the Redstone Room said it was the best they’ve seen there.

I haven’t heard of Brandi Shearer before I got wind of this show. She is the first act signed to the new record label run by the Amoeba Music record stores. So, this tour with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals is being sponsored by Amoeba as a way to promote their new artist and her album Close to Dark. After listening to the free download mp3’s and the streaming audio samples I think this is a really good pairing. Brandi has a bluesy, smoky voice that compliments Grace’s. Grace has been known to come out and sing with the bands she’s toured with, so maybe we’ll see some of that with Brandi, too!

Amoeba is going to be giving away a zip file of mp3’s every couple of weeks to promote Brandi as well as the Gram Parsons catalog. Week one has two tracks from Brandi. One is a 128Kbps live track from Brandi covering Gram Parsons’ “Hickory Wind” as well as a 320Kbps version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” The Christmas mp3 is a nice one just Brandi and an acoustic guitar. The zip file also includes the first track “Close Up The Honky Tonks” in 128Kbps from the new Flying Burrito Brothers live album Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals with Brandi Shearer presented by Amoeba Music Tour Dates:

January 14th
Jack Rabbits
Jacksonville, FL
8:00PM doors

January 15th
Soul Kitchen
Mobile, AL
8:00PM doors

January 17th
WorkPlay Theater
Birmingham, AL
7:00PM doors

January 18th
3rd & Lindsley
Nashville, TN
8:00PM doors

January 19th
Smith’s Old Bar
Atlanta, GA
8:00PM doors

January 20th
Newby’s
Memphis, TN
7:00PM doors

January 22nd
House of Blues
New Orleans, LA
8:00PM doors

January 23rd
Stubb’s BBQ
Austin, TX
8:00PM doors

January 25th
Mongolion Brewery
Flagstaff, AZ
8:00PM doors

January 29th
Troubadour
West Hollywood, CA
8:00PM doors

January 30th
The Independent
San Francisco, CA
8:00PM doors

February 2nd
Media Club
Vancouver, BC
8:00PM doors

February 8th
Bluebird Theater
Denver, CO
8:00PM doors

February 9th
The Bottleneck
Lawrence, KS
8:00PM doors

February 10th
The Blue Note
Columbia, MO
8:00PM doors

February 11th
The Redstone Room
Davenport, IA
8:00PM doors

Click Here to get the first week mp3 download from Amoeba.

Upcoming Show: Tortoise and Umphrey’s McGee 12/30/07 in Chicago

Posted on November 28, 2007 by mike

In what seems to be an interesting and slightly headscratcher lineup, Tortoise will be opening for ChiTown Jamband Umphrey’s McGee on Sunday, 12/30/07 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. This show will be part of a three-night stint at the Aragon culminating in a very special 10th Anniversary New Year’s show.

I guess it might make some sense– both bands are “Chicago Bands Done OK” so they’d be playing for local crowds. And, although Tortoise fits in the Post Rock genre, they’ve been flirting with the jam scene a bit by playing Bonnaroo two years. Umphrey’s is a band that likes to toy with progrock and jazz so in some respects is a band in kindred spirit. It would be interesting to see if they collaborate on anything. Certainly both bands can improvise in a live setting.

Umphrey’s is giving away mp3’s of their show in Georgia on 10/14/07. I guess they weren’t able to use their live engineer to record it and clean it up for sale on their site so they are giving it away. It includes a new song-in-progress “Jazz Odyssey” and a cover of “Young Lust” by Pink Floyd. It comes in two zip files. Click Here for the post on their Facebook page which includes links to download.

Upcoming Show: Thrill Jockey 15-Year Anniversary Show in Chicago 12/14 and 12/15

Posted on November 5, 2007 by mike

Thrill Jockey 15 Poster Per the fine folks at Pitchfork, Thrill Jockey, The Empty Bottle, and Time Out Chicago have announced the details of the US version of the Thrill Jockey Birthday Bash in the UK on November 11th and 12th.

$50 will get partygoers two nights of Thrill Jockey Post-Fun at the Logan Square Auditorium on Friday, December 14th and Saturday, December 15th. The shows will include long-time label acts including Eleventh Dream Day, Brokeback, The Sea and Cake, Califone, Trans Am, Freakwater as well as newer acts School of Language, Thalia Zedek, Frequency, Archer Prewitt, Pit Er Pat and others.

Suspiciously missing from the roster is Tortoise, but maybe the promise of “guaranteed surprises” will get us some kind of appearance.

The sequence of the acts is unknown– so we don’t know which night a particular band might play, and as such the $50 gets you both nights. A deal anyway you look at it, really. Especially when you consider that you will be getting the very cool and very rare Super Epic Thrill Jockey Mega Massive Mix done by Girl Talk side project Trey Told ‘Em. 70-minutes of mashed Thrill Jockey.

According to the PF article, the mix will be available in very limited quantities through Thrill Jockey or Trey Told ‘Em’s online orders.

The PF article also gave us the official name for Thrill 200— Plum. Available 12/4 in the US and 12/3 in the UK.

Click Here to download the Trans Am excerpt from the Super Epic, etc. (hosted by Timeout Chicago).

Visit the Trey Told ‘Em MySpace Page to hear the very cool over-seven-minute Tortoise Mix!

Upcoming Show: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals with Gov’t Mule at Hoyt Sherman in Des Moines 11/2/07

Posted on October 17, 2007 by mike

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals will be taking their act for a run this Fall supporting Gov’t Mule. On this tour they will be stopping at some key Midwestern cities including Madison, Minneapolis, Chicago and St. Louis. In addition to those stops they will pause briefly in Des Moines at the Hoyt Sherman Theatre on Friday, November 2nd.

Grace Potter has been gathering some PR steam lately. I was watching the ABC TV show “Men in Trees” with my wife this weekend and heard “Apologies” from her new album over the ending scenes of the show providing a seemingly poignent mood to it.

I’m planning to hit the show– it’s only a couple of hours from Cedar Rapids. I’m using this show as an excuse to brush up on Gov’t Mule. I’m pretty familiar with their relationships with the Allman Brothers Band, Derek Trucks, and that camp, but really nothing else. I’m pretty disappointed in the dearth of “free” content available on the web for me to sample. Their MySpace page only has tracks from their new album Mighty High– which is a dub/reggae album. Really interesting, but probably not representative of what I might hear live. I finally found a blog called “Here Comes the Flood” that posts mp3’s and included a show from Holland in July of this year. I downloaded the three sets and put them on the iPod. I like what i hear so far!

Here is Grace Potter and the Nocturnals new video “Ain’t No Time” taped at the 8X10 in Baltimore this Summer on YouTube. Here is a higher quality version on Vimeo.

Here are the dates Grace Potter and the Nocturnals will be playing this year:

October 17th	Millennium Center	Winston-Salem, NC	6:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 18th	War Memorial	Nashville, TN	7:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 19th	Tabernacle	Atlanta, GA	7:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 21st	Alabama Theatre	Birmingham, AL	6:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 22nd	Felix’s Fish Camp (92 FM WZEW show)	Spanish Fort, AL	5:00PM doors, all ages, Matt Nathanson supporting
October 24th	Gibson Rooftop	Memphis, TN	5:30PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 25th	Vogue	Indianapolis, IN	7:00PM doors, 21+, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 26th	Riviera Theatre	Chicago, IL	6:00PM doors, 18+, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 27th	Madison Theatre	Covington, KY	7:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 28th	Royal Oak Theatre	Royal Oak, MI	6:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 30th	Barrymore Theatre	Madison, WI	6:30PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
October 31st	O’Shaugnessey	Minneapolis, MN	6:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 1st	Voodoo Lounge	Kansas City, MO	6:00PM doors, 21+, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 2nd	Hoyt Sherman Theatre	Des Moines, IA	6:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 3rd	The Pageant	St. Louis, MO	6:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 6th	Orpheum Theatre	Flagstaff, AZ	7:00PM doors, 21+ unless accompanied by an adult, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 7th	4th & B Concert Theatre	San Diego, CA	6:00PM doors, 21+, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 8th	Henry Fonda Theatre	Los Angeles, CA	7:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 9th	The Fillmore	San Francisco, CA	supporting Gov’t Mule
November 10th	The Fillmore	San Francisco, CA	supporting Gov’t Mule
November 13th	Big Easy Concert House	Boise, ID	7:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 14th	Roseland Theatre	Portland, OR	7:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 15th	Commodore Ballroom	Vancouver, BC	7:00PM doors, 19+, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 16th	Moore Theatre	Seattle, WA	6:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 17th	Gallatin County Fairgrounds	Bozeman, MT	5:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Gov’t Mule
November 30th	Highline Ballroom	New York, NY	7:00PM doors, 16+, support TBA
December 1st	Theatre of the Living Arts	Philadelphia, PA	8:00PM doors, all ages, support TBA
December 6th	Paradise Rock Club	Boston, MA	8:00PM doors, 18+, support TBA
December 7th	Paradise Rock Club	Boston, MA	8:00PM doors, 18+, support TBA
December 28th	Higher Ground	Burlington, VT	8:00PM doors, all ages, support TBA
December 29th	Higher Ground	Burlington, VT	8:00PM doors, all ages, support TBA
December 31st	Higher Ground	Burlington, VT	8:00PM doors, all ages, support TBA
January 4th – 9th	Jam Cruise 6	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	TBA, with Warren Haynes, Michael Franti, Galactic, Soulive, Toots & The Maytals & many more
January 11th	House of Blues	Lake Buena Vista, FL	8:00PM doors, all ages, supporting Galactic
February 20th	Ridgefield Playhouse	Ridgefield, CT	TBA

Time to play b-sides

Mike Roeder muses over things musical

Category Archives: Upcoming Show