Upstate, NY Scene: Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble

My wife and I recently attended Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble in beautiful Woodstock, NY. We had decided to take a mini vacation in the beatiful Catskill mountains of New York. We fell in love with this area a few years back while attending a wedding and since then we have made it a point to go back as much as we can. This time we stayed in the small mountain town of Phoenicia, NY(13 miles from Woodstock). Nestled amongst the Catskills, the tiny lodge we stayed in was affordable ( 67 bucks a night!)cozy and not a bad view in sight. The only sounds out our window were of the river. Amazing. Spiritual.

After a few days of relaxing, hiking ( as much as we could considering I have a pregnant wife) and just taking in the natural beauty of this area and the laid back life-style it was time to go to Levon's house/studio. Of course, we had scoped it out prior and from the pine tree lined street it looked amazing. "Gates" opened at 6:00. We got there about 6:15 and were greeted by some of Levon's staff who seemed so excited for the event and even more excited that this was our first time. We pulled into the grassy parking lot near Levon's pond. Again, the natural beauty of this area stood out. Beautiful pond, pine tree's and of course the infamous Overlook mountain. Stunning. And for this show, you know that everyone is there for Levon. I think it's safe to say that there was not anyone at this show who was just bored on a Saturday night and decided to drop $150.00 on a ticket to see Levon. Smiling faces everyone. Beer in coolers, a few joints being passed around. A small, chilled and friendly crowd.

Doors open at 7:00 and it is first come basis as far as seating goes. My wife and I find a few seats upper left balcony, about 40 feet in front of Levon. Perfect. A Local Woodstock band opened the show. Pretty mellow acoutsic stuff. Not to bad, good way to warm up the show.

After about an hour of this, Levon comes out; looking frail, and very old. But with that Levon smile! Right off the bat his band; four horn players, Levon, his daughter, a piano player and Larry Campbell. They unleash into "The Shape I'm In". Classic. From there we got a mix of The Band songs, songs off of his last two albums, a Dylan song, and two Grateful Dead songs. Between songs, after the applause all that you could hear were the sounds of crickets and frogs coming from outside. It was kind of surreal. The set-list was amazing, his house was amazing, he was amazing. The night was magical. They advertise this as Levon and 200 of his closest friends. I know that Levon is not my friend and that I dropped 300 bucks for this show. But on this Saturday night I honestly felt like I was hanging with my friends taking in music from what I consider an American Treasure.

-Nick Haugh

Livetronica Sampler 3.22.11

Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Ozric Tentacles This British group has proven innovative throughout the years offering a space-rock meets psytrance sound that remains alive to this day. Though never having a major record label, Ozric Tentacles has produced 28 albums of diverse psychedelia throughout its career. The band met at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 and truly fathered livetronica music with its use of sequencers and synthesizers. Simply put, there would be no livetronica without Ozric Tentacles. www.ozrics.com Octopus Nebula Colorado’s Octopus Nebula has certainly hit its stride as of late with its constant touring and increased festival interest. The group expands on the deep sounds of highly regarded acts such as STS9 and Shpongle but also carves a path of its own with its fresh takes on synthesizer tones and sampling in the live setting. Octopus Nebula Live at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on March 26, 2010. www.octopusnebula.com Big Gigantic Big...

Buckethead: Gimmick or Guitar God?

Words & Photos By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) At what point does the gimmick overshadow the performance? The obvious answer is Buckethead. The man is an amazing guitarist but something is not right in this world. The idea a performer who dons a KFC chicken bucket on his head for a concert has always intrigued me, and some of his side projects such as Colonel Claypool’s Bernie Bucket of Brains have been huge successes. However his performance last weekend in Fort Collins simply left me perplexed. From his robotic dancing, to his nunchuck display, to the fact the he performed with an iPod rather than a band all added to my confusion. Going into the show I was ready to be blown away, despite rumblings of disgruntled fans from the previous night’s show at The Gothic. Buckethead had had some sound issues and some missed cues in Denver but I was still trying to be positive for the show in Fort Collins. It did go off without a hitch technically but that was the least ...

The Origin of MusicMarauders

Words By J-man "What should I name this fucking thing?" I asked myself in the midst of a joint in my Upstate, NY apartment. "It's got to be something with just 'Music'in the title. Nothing more specific than that, as we'll be covering a wide variety of genres." One more drag on the joint yielded the memory of driving down Woodward Ave. in Detroit, listening to Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders. "MusicMarauders! That's it... It completely encompasses what we do in the sense the we are 'maraudering' or 'pillaging' for music," I thought as I stared out of the window at about three and a half feet of fresh Upstate snow. First things first, the domain had to be registered. "Do I have ten dollars in my account?" I thought to myself from a position of just scraping by. Pulling out my shiny, rarely used debit card, I put it to the test and was able to secure MusicMarauders.com. "What's next?" I ...

MUSICMARAUDERS

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