Tag Archives: Ron Johnson

Bowlive IV: Night 3, Brooklyn Bowl

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I covered Bowlive IV, night 3 for The Royal Family Records.  My recap was on Brooklyn Bowl’s site and The Royal Family’s site, so that was cool.  Here’s the words below.  -M

Bowlive IV #3 Recap w/ Nigel Hall, James Casey, Igmar Thomas, and More : Tuesday’s 3/12 show w/ Booker T Jones & More

Bowlive alum Alecia Chakour Band opened the evening on this Bowlive Night 3.  Chakour had her own special guests, the stage was filled with musicians including Cochemea “Cheme” Gastelum (sax, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings) and Igmar Thomas (trumpet.)  Chakour’s vocals got the crowd ready for what was about to happen this evening.

By the time Soulive took the stage, it was a little after 10pm, the sold out crowd  loosened up with a funky, ten minute “Steppin.”  Kraz starts to soulfully play The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” before the stage erupts from Neal Evans’ keyboards.  During Kraz’s shredding solo, the audience were singing “All the lonely people” to the band.  What a moment!

Special guests James Casey (sax, Lettuce/Trey Anastasio Band), and Igmar Thomas, (trumpet) both from Bowlive’s past, joined the stage for “Lenny” and “Vapor”, where on Thomas was literally smoking his trumpet.  No Joke.

DJ Logic then joined the stage and spinned with Soulive on “Tuesday.”  Nigel Hall then came out to end the set, and played keys with Neal.  It was more like a Nigel/Neal keyboard showdown.  At first there were three hands on the keys, and that went into a dance, where Nigel and Neal switch sides with each other at the keyboard.  I thought I saw Nikki Glaspie (drums, Dumpstaphunk) peeking behind James Casey and Igmar Thomas with a tambourine in her hand.  The whole band was smiling, the crowd was smiling, it felt like family.  Someone told me it felt like home.  It was certainly beginning to feel that way.

Just when you thought it was setbreak, Alecia Chakour comes back on the stage to sing duet with Nigel.  If you haven’t seen them before, Alecia can sing exactly, on Nigel’s level with her heavy duty pipes and her vixen voice. At one point, Nigel gets on his knees and sings to Alecia, like he’s begging, the crowd goes nuts, the moment had finally arrived at the Bowl.  This was the quintessential Royal Family Records/Bowlive magic that has become commonplace here in Brooklyn in March. Continue reading →

The Warren Haynes Band, Beacon Theater, May 12, 2011

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The Warren Haynes Band is out on tour with their first album as a newly formed band including Warren Haynes, guitar, Ron Holloway, sax, Ruthie Foster, vocals, Ron Johnson, bass, Nigel Hall, piano/keys, and Terence Higgins, drums.  (Set List Below.)

Photo by Allison Murphy

The new album, “Man in Motion” has seemingly found a buzz surrounding the cd, and if you judged the response from opening night in NYC, the crowd is equally excited as it was energized.  I haven’t listened to the album yet, I have a penchant for live recordings, but have downloaded it from iTunes and plan to try to decipher the differences between what I heard at Christmas Jam, Wanee Festival and now at The Beacon.

First set at the Beacon, you could feel the energy amped for the Opening night of the Tour.  A heavy Gov’t Mule-head crowd represented.  I was seated next to the soundboard, and had a perfect shot of Warren and his guitar through the crowd. Unfortunately my neighbor had a few too many drinks a few songs too early, and wanted to be a chatty Cathy with me, while Warren and the band were busy playing.  Sorry guy, didn’t mean to be rude but when I go to a show, I go to listen to the music, not chat with strangers.  Sorry.

I was lucky though, one of my gals stopped by and grabbed me to go downstairs to the ladies room.  Thankfully she ended what could have been my torture for the first set, trying to listen and watch the band while some grabby guy wanted to chat and bump into me.  Thank you sister, you saved me from many bruises…

Photo by View Skewed

So – the scene is set, with the exception of the not such the coolest security guards ever, I can finally dance and listen.  They sound great.  The songs range from rock and roll to bluesy soul, to funky horns explosion.

Warren wails on his guitar.  Warren sings.  Warren banters back and forth with the amazing vocalist, Ruthie Foster.  Foster has this sexy, strong voice which she uses as backup vocals for Haynes, and then her power comes out when she banters with Warren’s guitar licks with her voice.  It’s incredible to watch.

Ron Holloway on saxophone.  Holloway is the man.  Click here for more and YouTube Videos.  Continue reading →

22nd Annual Xmas Jam – TOP TEN

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My Top 10 highlights of the 22nd Annual Christmas Jam in Asheville, NC.

10.  The Christmas Jam Ale was delicious going down.  But it crushed me the next morning.

9.  Dirty Dozen Brass Band opening the Pre-Jam, and setting the tone for the whole weekend.

8.  New band The Last Straw from Nashville TN.  Rocking southern sound, and wonderful nice people.  Can’t wait to see them in NYC!

7.  The Satellite Gallery showcasing incredible photos from Allison Murphy, Danny Clinch (this one being my favorite), David Oppenheimer, Dino Perrucci, Don Van Cleave, Jay Blakesberg, Kirk West, Stewart O’Shields.
Poster Art By: Eugene Serebrennikov (Hyp_inc), Gary Houston, Jeff Troldahl, Steve Johannsen & More

6.  Standing next to Artemis Pyle at the Emerald Lounge – no more than 5 feet from him.  Wow.

5.  VIP tickets for Christmas Jam allowing us to get into the Pre-Jam at the Orange Peel, and extra amenities at the Christmas Jam.  They fed me, and they had a separate bar line (albeit always very long), coat check and private bathrooms.

4.  Steve Miller, a cappella and Carlos Reyes on harp.  Song dedicated to Les Paul.  Breathtaking, goosebumps.

3.  The Warren Haynes Band. No words.  Seriously.  Highlight: Sneakin’ Sally through the Alley

2.  Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes, acoustic, playing Melissa at the Pre-Jam.  Brought me to new heights.

1.  The Players:  Warren Haynes, Ruthie Foster, Ivan Neville, Ron Holloway, Ron Johnson, Terrence Higgins, Kevn Kinney, Audley Freed, Gregg Allman, Steve Miller, John Bell, JoJo Hermann, Umphree’s McGee, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Cody Dickinson and so many more…

Some Cat From Japan, Brooklyn Bowl, 3.25.10

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Some Cat From Japan Set: Hendrix Set.  Will Bernard dedicates the set to photographer Jim Marshall, who pas

sed away yesterday.  Cool.   Jim Marshall has taken the most iconic music photos.  You have seen them.  RIP Mr. Marshall.

Ok.  Now, here we go.  I have not seen any of these guys except Nigel Hall, keys and vocals and Will Bernard, guitar.  I do not know of Scott Metzger, guitar; Ron Johnson, bass;  and Louis Cato, drums.  I was in for a pleasant surprise.  I know better than to disregard insights from friends that know.

There was hardly more than 50 people in the house.  This truly was the antithesis of claustrophobia, and luckily for me I was able to twirl, take notes, get up close and take pictures and dance.  I love NYC for things like this – hardly a crowd yet totally insane rocking out on the stage.  Life is good.Nigel just does his James Brown wailing thing, outrageous on its own.  Will Bernard and Scott Metzger rage out on their guitars.  Ron Johnson keeps that funky bass line chugging along, all the while Louis Cato going sick on the drums.  This is a groove, a funky line that gets my body moving, all the while Hendrix bound through the evening.

Set List: Changes, Isabella, Crosstown Traffic, Manic Depression, Dolly Duger, Hey Joe, Freedom…. That is as far as I got, which is pretty good for me, Ms. Non-Setlist (w/ help from Tony).

Bernard is technically perfect.  He’s way frikkin talented.  The bowlers were making a racous, we heard screaming at one low point of the set, which was absolutely perfect.  I started laughing thinking either the screamers team just won, or she threw a strike.  Either way, it was pretty hilarious to watch these musicians jam while bowling was going on.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard the bowlers before.

This Cat from Japan was soulful, groovy, funk, having fun with those who were there, the crowd was appreciative.  Just have to say when Bernard wasn’t shredding, Metzger was, and both these guys can play that instrument extremely well, both technically and soulfully.  I enjoyed my evening, starting with my favorite Moonalice, ending with checking out a bunch of new guys that I’ve never heard before, and loving every moment.

Again, another smile.  Again, another night at The Brooklyn Bowl.

Moonalice, Brooklyn Bowl, 3.25.10 – Updated

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Preshow: Line: none  Bar: empty  Dance floor: the anti-thesis of claustrophobic  Mood: Chill

I was supposed to be meeting a NYC Twitter crowd (finally!) but I have never met any of these people before, and this was hindering my ability to recognize anyone from a small little Twitter avatar.   Alas, we move on.

Grab a drink and a menu.  Settle on a potato knish and check out the surroundings.  The bowling lanes were packed.  I was having a series of déjà vu’s of the Bowlive craziness that went down while waiting for my food.  I feel at home at The Brooklyn Bowl, the vibe is always perfect.  Tonight was no exception.

Moonalice Set: Pete Sears, keys and bass; Barry Sless, guitar;  Roger McNamee, guitar and vocals;  Ann McNamee, vocals;  John Molo, drums.

Moonalice comes on a little after 8 and plays full through 10:15ish.  It was a nice set, they really sound great with Roger and Ann on vocals, Sless plucks that guitar eerily like Garcia.  I was told he plays the guitar made by the man who made Jerry Garcia’s guitar.  Well, the tone is the same.  Makes sense to me. My heels turn upward into a bouncy hippie jig that comes out only during certain tunes and certain types of guitar plucking, thank you Mr. Sless.   Pete Sears wails those keys, (he sings too!) and the bass.  Um.  When Barry and Pete go off together either while Pete is on bass and Barry is on either the pedal steel or the regular guitar… wow.  They go deep together.  John Molo on drums keeps the beat for everyone in the room, constant, like a metronome.  Close your eyes.  Listen to the groove.  Fun.  Bouncy.  Sweet.

Roger McNamee gives a shout out to the Twitter-verse and the Facebook crowds, which was very cool.

After a team huddle, they played the sweetest Stella Blue.  Sears singing, Sless plucking, Molo keeping time.  Wonderful.  Sless decides to sit for a while at the pedal steel guitar.  It gave the song this sweetness, this intermingling of notes that twinkle…that shine.  Ahhh, Stella Blue.  Barry and Pete then end up going low and fast, grooving together, my feet were bouncing, my eyes were closed, I couldn’t stop smiling.  Thank you Moonalice.

Setlist (thanks Roger!): Down the Road A Piece, Love to Remake, Foxtrot Uniform, Who Can Say? > Daylight,  Fair to Even Odds, Break Out in Handcuffs, Wish We Had, It’s 4:20 Somewhere, Man in Me, I’m Glad You Think So, Stella Blue, Whiter Shade of Pale, Tell Me It’s Okay, Kick It Open, On the Road Again