Voltron

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2009, our free weekend festival in Golden Gate Park put on by a local billionaire. Went yesterday for a couple of shows and today for several more. I forgot the camera yesterday but brought it today. Oddly enough, Elvis Costello has played the festival for several years and released a bluegrass album this year and he wasn't present. Robert Plant, on the other hand, came back unannounced and played with one or two acts yesterday. Odd. Anyway, no photos of my own, but yesterday we saw Okkervil River and then Steve Martin with his banjo and bluegrass band. Good stuff, but just a warm-up for today. At noon, we sat down for a fantastic show by Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3. The 3 are Peter Buck (guitar), Scott McCaughey (bass) and Bill Riflind (drums) and they are great together with Robyn. I highly recommend seeing them and at least getting their latest album Goodnight Oslo. Here are some shots: Robyn Peter Peter, with Bill in the background Scott Jammin' Next up was Billy Bragg. Like Robyn Hitchcock, I have seen Billy play many times. He was in fine form and talking about universal healthcare and California's budget problems and playing Woodie Guthrie and all was well. Love that guitar. Spotted some local fauna as we moved to the next stage. My son took this shot: On to the Chieftans, who had many guests including the Mexican players and dancers who are featured in a recent album/shows. Sounded great, wasn't close or interested in getting closer to shoot the many pieces. While I took a break to take the boy home and check on my daughter, my wife and her sister checked out the 85 year old Earl Scruggs who was awesome, and Dr. Ralph Stanley and two or three generations of other Stanleys with the Clinch Mountain Boys. We have seen both several times and they are serious mountain musicians. Great stuff and I should have left the camera with her. Anyway, I came back for Neko Case and she did not disappoint. Really sounded great, bantered with the crowd and generally fawned over SF and the free festival with so many dogs in attendance. Good stuff and she will be back in November so I probably will pay to see her again. Last but not least, were Amadou & Miriam of Mali. They are great, and the fact that they are both blind and married makes their story even cooler. Great stuff, although the set change was brutally long and it was getting late. Another highly recommended live act, and their recordings are bitchin' too. You can't see it in the pictures so well, but Amadou's bad-ass Telecaster is shiny gold and he can play the crap out of it.

Not a single pic? Really? REALLY?

The Decemberists -- Always the Bridesmaid - A Singles Series

Look, who doesn't need a little glitter in their life? It was very cool of Nate, Ian and Stretch to make the trek westward and meet Jeff and me in Manch. It was a good time even though we didn't listen to any gear or really talk about it much at all. Wait, maybe it was good because of that. Thanks again fellas!

The Avett Brothers -- I and Love and You This is a very nice new record in the alt country genre.

Good move. I thought it had a high correlation with your tastes.

7 Worlds Collide -- The Sun Came Out Cool record: "2009 two CD release from this project led by Neil Finn and featuring members of Radiohead, The Smiths, Wilco and others. Seven years ago, Neil Finn and friends first got together to perform some live shows and release the resulting live album. In December 08/January 09, Neil did it again, only this time bigger and better! He assembled a group of his friends and fellow artists in Auckland, New Zealand to record a brand new album of all new and original material. The cast list this time includes Neil, Sharon and Liam Finn, Bic Runga, KT Tunstall, Johnny Marr, Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche (of Wilco), Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway (of Radiohead), Lisa Germano, Don McGlashan and others."

I don't know why you would want to do that. Congrats on getting them back, better than new!

I'm touched, man.

Strictly for the album title:

I'll see what I can arrange.

The Precious just arrived today and I have been fighting to wait until after work to try it.

Happiest of birthdays to you Steve! You are still my hero for resurrecting my amp. I hope you have a great day! Cheers!

I just recorded that live record this weekend, but I need to break it up into tracks and save it down to 24/88.2. Should be good stuff.

Madness -- The Liberty of Norton Folgate I just started listening but it is cool to have new a Madness record.

You didn't even mention the $3 stainless steel wedding band! MexicanDragon needs to replace that platinum band he lost to the sea. . .

Giant Posty pic scares me a little. McCoy Tyner seems like he is going to play until he drops. I have seen him a number of times over the last few years and the more recent ones were actually better than the earlier ones. He is in fine form.

Have a good one Wayne! Cheers!

We're only at 3 years, but it would look nice with his silver [chest] hair.

18th Anniversary Present

Archie Shepp & Horace Parlan -- Trouble In Mind Retard Records Needledrop

Peter summed it up pretty well. The JH|13s are killers, but JH Audio is not up to the task of handling the volume of orders that it received following the big debut at CanJam. They are nice and all, but they have not set up the right procedures for dealing with custom orders on an inherently custom item, and they lack communication and especially pre-approval of final decisions. It would be really smart for them to set it up so that before they cast the molds and apply the artwork they sent the purchaser a summary saying what they are doing, what color IEMs, what artwork with what colors, etc, then you could stop them from making mistakes or using judgment that you disagree with. With my pair, for example, if they had been straight with me about the limits of their artwork capabilities I would have told them to do something simpler than what I provided to them. As it was, they received my image and said it was possible for them to use do it, and they never said that they would simply etch the basic shape of the design and then hand-paint it in. Also, they never asked me whether silver glitter paint was a good idea instead of the gold with a black outline that I sent them. If they had asked me the simple question of what single color should they paint the design, I probably would have said black and left it at that. I still don't like the silver glitter, but I am afraid to send them back for fear of them changing the IEMs themselves or starting down the Ed and Peter path of many reiterations and many mistakes. For reference, here is what I sent: And here is what I got, even though this picture looks better than they do in real life:

Gallo Reference 3.5, or go cheaper and get the older model. Great speakers with deep bass that can be made to go deeper with a separate amp. Devore Gibbon 9s on the used market would be another option. I have heard 801/2Ds several times, and the lower end B&Ws don't sound like them so I think it would be a waste of time/money. The 804s suffer from a very pinpoint sound so that you hear nice, clear sound but it is coming out of one speaker on the right and the other on the left. The speakers never melt away and the soundstage is not cohesive.

Vic Chesnutt --At the Cut

Kenny Drew -- For Sure!