Happy Birthday Steve Kimock!
My man north of the border, Cam, is back for another post…. – Pete
Oct 5 – If you’re anywhere near Teaneck, New Jersey, head over to Mexicali Blues to catch Steve Kimock, George Porter Jr., Robert Walter, and John Morgan Kimock and celebrate Steve Kimock’s birthday.
Steve Kimock is one of the more versatile guitarists I’m familiar with. His long and ever evolving career has now spanned over three decades, and he has shared the stage with many “big names” as well as showing up to guest with lesser known entities.
Kimock grew up in the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania region and moved to the Bay Area in the 1970s. After playing with folk-rock band the Goodman Brothers and several other bands, Steve co-founded Zero in 1984. The band had a lifespan of 16 years and played its brand of rock to both San Francisco and national audiences. Kimock was also the leader of the critically acclaimed band KVHW, featuring Steve on guitar, Zero band mate Bobby Vega on bass, Frank Zappa alumnus Ray White on 2nd guitar and vocals, and drummer Alan Hertz, more recently with Garaj Mahal.
More recently Steve has led the Steve Kimock Band (SKB), which, when not on hiatus, plays primarily original instrumental compositions in styles ranging from jazz to prog-rock. The only permanent musician in SKB, apart from Steve himself, is ex-Santana drummer extraordinaire Rodney Holmes.
Since 2006 the SKB has been on a hiatus which has allowed Steve to sit in with many bands spanning a range of genres, including Banyan, Everyone Orchestra, the Allman Brothers, Porter Baptiste and Stoltz, Dark Star Orchestra, Zilla, and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey – to name just a few.
A check today reveals that Steve will be touring with Ratdog later this month on a 14 show, 12-city tour including a date on Halloween. A typical Kimock performance, whether in one of his bands or sitting in with others, involves multiple guitars. Sometimes Steve will play one of his many electric guitars or dazzle fans with his slide work on his Lap Steel. The different guitars provide different sound and textures that vary the music. Steve is a huge “gearhead” and provides detailed answers to various questions from fans on the ‘Gear’ section of his website.
During his Bay Area years, Kimock periodically played with Grateful Dead related bands (even earning him the title of “… the best guitarist nobody ever heard of” from Jerry Garcia). Despite the fact that he rarely plays Dead material in his own band (in part to not to be viewed as derivative of the Dead scene) his career and persona have been intertwined with Grateful Dead related music – he has performed with Phil & Friends, The Other Ones, the aforementioned Rat Dog, and Dark Star Orchestra to name a few.
Music, tour dates, and the all-important page dedicated to Steve’s gear can be found at www.kimock.com.
Special thanks to my good friend Azer for his contribution to this post.
Zero – Gregg’s Eggs – 8/10/2007 at Gathering of the Vibes, Bridgeport, CT
Banyan – Full Show stream from 8/4/07 – Cervante’s Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver (Kimock on Guitar)
Check out the Steve Kimock Band’s latest, Eudemonic.
SK’s Official Site
Queens of the Stone Age: Boobs Version
I can’t call myself a fan of Queens of the Stone Age, but the gratuitous violence and bare breasteses in the following video put me well on my way… click the large poster… probably NSFW for most of us…
Ickmusic @ Genesis “Turn It On Again 2007”
I’ll try very hard to avoid the cliché of saying Genesis “turned it on again” last night at Giants Stadium, but I’ll be damned if I can find a better metaphor at the moment. From the opening blast of “Duke’s Intro (Behind The Lines)” to the last bit of “Invisible Touch” (we skipped the encore in favor of not sitting in the nightmare that is Giants Stadium traffic) the group delivered a dynamic and energetic set of hits, classics and rarities spanning their 40 year career.
There are very few times that I can say that I was actually glad to be in ‘nose-bleed’ section. This is one of them as it really allowed us to take in the massive stage and light show. The band performed while dwarfed by the enormous backdrop and flanked by high definition video screens. I’d venture to say the experience was on par with Pink Floyd or U2’s Popmart tour. While the band performed, video and images danced across the stage reflecting the band’s 70’s art-rock leanings.
Set highlights for me are almost too many too mention but standout performances of “No Son Of Mine”, the once again relevant “Land Of Confusion” and haunting “Firth Of Fifth” / “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)” through “Mama” (complete with Phil scaring the crap out of the crowd during his “Ha-Ha”) all come to the forefront. While I could complain that favorites like “Misunderstanding”, “That’s All” and “Illegal Alien” were not included, I found that I really did not miss them. I walked away feeling fully satisfied and with a giant smile on my face.
Oh, also of note is the fact that each of the North American shows are going to be made available to purchase at TheMusic.com. If you did not have the chance to catch the show and want to hear it, you can order any of the 22 shows.
Here’s the setlist:
“Duke’s Intro (Behind The Lines)”
“Turn It On Again”
“No Son Of Mine”
“Land Of Confusion”
“In The Cage” / “The Cinema Show” / “Duke’s Travels” / “Afterglow”
“Hold On My Heart”
“Home By The Sea” / “Second Home By The Sea”
“Follow You, Follow Me”
“Firth Of Fifth” / “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)”
“Mama”
“Ripples”
“Throwing It All Away”
“Domino”
“Drum Duet”
“Los Endos”
“Tonight, Tonight, Tonight”
“Invisible Touch”
“I Can’t Dance”
“The Carpet Crawlers”Pearl’s Favorite Great-Grandson
If you could find a picture of me in ’92 (though I doubt any exist) you’d see a young, scruffy, ‘musician-type’ wearing flannel shirts, drinking too much coffee and very likely listening to Pearl Jam. They were one of ‘my’ bands. You know the bands that you find long before everyone else does. I’ve had a long string of such bands in my lifetime but Pearl Jam is by far the one that started it all.
Somewhere between “No Code” and “Binaural” I lost touch with the group, and with last year’s self titled record they drew me back in. While I love the songwriting and band itself, the real draw was always Eddie Vedder and his voice, his passion, his vision. So I was giddy when I read over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends that he was producing a soundtrack worth of solo material. I’ve had a week to listen to the record over and over and I have to say it far exceeded any unrealistic expectation I may have put on it. The tunes range from the dirge and strum of “Society” to the hope of the uplifting track “Hard Sun”, which is a cover of an obscure track by the group Indio and which I’ve provided below for everyone to sample. Have a listen and see how hard it is to not be singing along by the end of the tune.
Eddie Vedder –
Hard Sun(MP3)Buy Into The Wild: Amazon |
Into The Wild (Movie): Official Site
Ickmusic Inbox: Intensive Care
Montreal based quartet Intensive Care show a great deal of promise in their debut EP 2805. While the recording itself lacks a certain depth you can see past it for the clarity of the group’s vision in songwriting. Complex and moving, the band clearly knows its identity and has little difficulty sharing it. The multi-layered vocal crescendo of the epic 7 minute-plus “K” builds to quite the satisfying resolution with vocalist Philippe Manasseh pleading in earnest with an unseen spirit looking into his soul. There are missteps along the way, but this band appears to be at its best when they’re at their most epic and glorious. I’d recommend this to fans of Radiohead or Sigur Rós. I look forward to hearing more from this group.
Intensive Care –
Break Me Up, Machine(MP3)Purchase 2805: CD Baby |
Link: Official Site | MySpace
Ickmusic @ ACL: Day Three Recap
Here’s the last of the Austin City Limits Festival recaps: Day Three comin’ at ya!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Yo La Tengo – This was the perfect way to kick off the day. We had a late Denny’s breakfast, with a couple cups of coffee. It turned out that no caffeine was needed, though. The Yo La Tengo wall of sound tore through us like a jet engine. We showed up in time to hear their take on the Beach Boys’ “Little Honda”, one of my faves from their ’97 album, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One.
The jet engine experience came during the last song of their set , as the trio tore into “The Story of Yo La Tango” [yes “Tango”]. It was fun to watch Ira Kaplan enter “the zone” during these feedback and distortion frenzies. Georgia Hubley, Kaplan’s wife, kept the rhythm, and burly bassist James McNew laid down those steady bass lines that made my first live – albeit brief – Yo La Tengo experience a memorable one.
The Story of Yo La Tango(mp3)Here they are doing “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind” at ACL..
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG6aYSUJDFM 336 278]
The National – We caught the first few songs from Brooklyn’s The National. The only exposure I really have to them is through their latest album, The Boxer. I picked it up on eMusic a few months ago. Matt Berninger’s vocals remind me of that Peter Murphy type vibe. I got to hear my favorite, “Slow Show”.
Here they are singing “Mr. November” @ ACL…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Oo5h8UyjRQ 336 278]
Sound Tribe Sector Nine – I wish I could have seen the full set by electronic jam band STS9. I may be wrong, but I think they’re all instrumental, right? We only dropped by for a couple – late in the set – and we already felt like we were late to the party, so off we went….
Ben Kweller – ..We saw the first three or four tunes of Ben’s set. Ben’s got some chops on guitar, and he had the power trio thing going too. He’s 26, but looks like he’s under 20 (form a distance). He has some great rock star moves, thrashing and flailing about like a red-maned 21st century Leif Garrett. There was an overabundance of upper teen-aged girls there for his set, too – which I had no problem with at all, mind you. But alas, my bro and I were soon off to our next musical adventure…
Here’s Ben slowing it down with “Old Hat”…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14gioX9PI6E 336 278]
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals – We only caught a couple of tunes this time around, but my wife and I enjoyed a Grace & the Nocturnals set back in April at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival here in Arizona. So we had enough time to catch her on the Hammond B3, and rockin’ the Flying V front and center. Talented singer and a talented band. But… I don’t know. I just don’t get a”WOW” out of the experience like a lot of others do.
Common – One of the two full sets of the day that we caught was Common. I’ve seen a few hip hop shows in my day – well, pre-90’s hip-hop that is. The last hip-show I probably saw the “Jam ’88 Tour”- which was LL Cool J , Public Enemy, Whodini, and Run D.M.C (among some others that I can’t remember).
But it was worth the wait, because Common is one of the few hip-hop artists today that I can enjoy. Kanye’s a huge talent, but just too much of an ass. Others I hear are just too cliche – money, violence, misogyny.. it’s been played out for a while now. I’m sure there’s a ton out there I would like if given the chance though.
Common was a late announcement to ACL. Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela were slated to perform, but cancelled the week before. A number of people, then, were probably expecting R&G on the stage, when out popped Common. There were other gospel, R&B, and soul acts performing at ACL, but it was great of the organizers to bring in the intelligent hip-hop sound.
Common brought along a DJ, a drummer, and a keyboard player. The “band” hip-hop feel, a la the Roots, probably won over a lot of the crowd from the start. But it was Common’s smooth, slick lyrical flow that endeared the crowd to him. Performing songs like “Black Maybe”, “Drivin’ Me Wild” (with Lily Allen samples in the background), and “Go”, Common was in charge, commanding respect from the overflowing crowd at the Dell stage. Even my bro, who has little history with the rap/hip-hop genre, was converted.
Here he is rockin’ da (mostly) white folks with “The Light”…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyhyajm_WTQ 336 278]
Lucinda Williams – My intention going in to the festival was to enjoy Lucinda way up close, but as we found out quickly, ACL has a way of scheduling your time for you, rather than the other way around. So, while we caught a good part of Lucinda’s set, it was from far back in the grass, closer to the nearest beer tent than to the stage. We heard some good ones. Among them, “Joy”, “Essence” and a cover of the Doors’ “Riders on the Storm”.
Amos Lee – Favorite set of the day went to Philly soul-folkster Amos Lee. My whole family has loved “Arms of a Woman” ever since I snuck it on to a Wiggles CD (along with Metallica’s “Whiskey in the Jar”- get’ em started young) a couple years ago. It’s the perfectly crafted, perfectly sung, soulful love song. Like Amos Lee himself, the song is criminally under appreciated.
I hate to be an advocate for the placement of a song in a commercial, movie, or TV show, but if any song can appeal to a wide demographic of people, this one is it. This one’s a HIT folks!
From the moment Amos came out on stage with his Fender and went into “Dreamin”, the crowd was his. There is no other reaction than to be awed when you get to experience a voice like this live. The mainstream/ MTV / popular radio world seems so distant, otherworldly, and laughable when you hear a person like Amos sing. Effortless, smooth, and heavenly, quite frankly. For me, he’s on the same level as a Raul Malo: a voice from the gods, yet somehow managing to exist just below the radar.
It really hit home toward the end of the set, when Amos sang a steamy Isley Brothers ballad. The ACL setlist page lists it as “I Wanna Know”, but I think it may have been ” I Wanna Be With You”. Regardless, it transfixed the crowd. After the show, my bro remarked how he didn’t want that song to end.
Amos closed the set with a killer version of “Arms of a Woman”. Here’s a funny “It’s a Small Youtube world” moment: the first Youtube video I found of “Arms of a Woman” was shot directly behind me. I was shooting my own video (it ended up being too large for Youtube). My large melon is the centerpiece of this clip (and a sobering reminder that I’m losing my hair!):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GdhYdGPBFs 336 278]
My Morning Jacket – I have to admit my expectations were probably a bit high for this set. I was front and center a couple of years ago at the Henry Fonda Theater in L.A., where MMJ came out and blew the roof off the place. The acoustics were perfect, my positioning was ideal, and I guess I was spoiled. For the ACL set, we were behind the soundboard to the right, and it covered about half of the stage (the sound quality could have been better too).
MMJ is definitely an entertaining bunch. This set featured a beach backdrop, the band decked out in tropical beachwear (including a long blonde wig on lead singer / guitarist Jim James), a metal detector guy roaming the stage for the whole set, and a half dozen hula girls holding pineapples. Sure, it was funny and different, but unnecessary, I thought. Maybe it was just me, but I found that it distracted from the music. But that’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable. Andrew Bird joined in for a great version of “Golden”, a beautiful acoustic MMJ tune. They played some off their most recent studio release, Z. And the highlight for me: the majestic rocker “One Big Holiday”.
Here, MMJ sings “Lay Low” at ACL….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vIihrgLYaI 336 278]
Wilco – I had only one gripe about ACL: My Morning Jacket and Wilco came on at the same time. Our decision was to start with MMJ and catch the last portion of Wilco’s set.
As we walked up to Wilco’s set, and heard them wrapping up “I’m the Man Who Loves You”, I immediately regretted not devoting all of my time to them. Live and learn I guess.
We saw the last few songs, which reached back to A.M. and Being There: “Red Eyed & Blue”, “I Got You”, “Casino Queen”, and “Outtasite (Outta Mind)”. I can’t get enough of Tweedy, Cline and the boys, and look forward to their return to the Arizona desert.
Here’s a cool sidestage view of Wilco doing “Handshake Drugs”…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLkGDu2M_us 336 278]
Bob Dylan – As the festival headliner, Bob was the last one to go on. We made an attempt to get somewhat close to the stage, but found very quickly that it was futile to try. Tens of thousands of people were jockeying for a decent position to check out the legend. So we settled for a couple football fields back, and hoped to at least check out the large stage video screens. Well, guess what Bob didn’t allow for his set? Close-ups.
So as “Rainy Day Women..” kicked in from a distance, and I mean a distance, and all we could see on the giant screens was a distant shot of the stage. We gave it a few verses and called it a festival.
Wrapup: More than a week has passed since the festival wrapped up, and I still have that “post-good time” depression that we experience from time to time.
ACL was the one of the most well organized, seamless festivals I’ve ever attended.
- Every act started and ended exactly as scheduled.
- No cars / parking allowed anywhere near Zilker Park.
- An army of shuttle buses zipped the tens of thousands of us between the park and downtown Austin with little delay.
- Volunteers were available throughout the park to help anyone with any question.
- The abundance of BAR tents made getting a beer a BREEZE. $4 for a 16 ouncer. $7 for a larger souvenir cup.
- Plenty of port-o-potties, even without the few that got torched on day one. I still feel for the ladies though, as some of these toilets were looking quite nasty by the end of the days.
- Note to self: hit the merchandise tent on Day 1 next year. I waited till the last day and couldn’t find any shirts for myself or my kids (the wife got one, don’t worry).
- The Waterloo Records Tent gave fans the opportunity to get autographs and pictures with some of their favorites. I got the chance to meet Steve Earle. Can’t beat that!
- The Eats area was awesome. Plenty of variety along the long line of food tents.
- The giant mist-spraying fans were a godsend in the 95 degree heat.
I already miss the experience. If you love music, add this to your list of things to do before you move on to the great festival in the sky. Or if you’re like me, join me every year for the foreseeable future!
Thanks again ACL and Austin, Texas. See ya next year.
My Previous ACL Posts: Thanks Austin | Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap
Official ACL Festival Site: http://www.aclfestival.com
Reunion Fever: Led Zeppelin
You know, most folks are geeked out over the Van Halen reunion (and being a guitarist who grew up in the 80’s I should be one of them) but I’m more excited to hear what Led Zeppelin sounds like with 20 years between them. What will the set list look like? Will they stick to the versions we all know and love or will they favor some new arrangements? And most importantly, will they play “Stairway To Heaven”? All burning questions…
To coincide with the reunion, Rhino Records will be releasing a 2-disc ‘definitive’ collection with the tracks being personally selected by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones.
Preorder Led Zeppelin “Mothership”: Amazon
Links: Official Site | Mothership Site
Ickmusic Inbox: Listen to Ryan Scott
If life was fair and I could get paid for doing this, I’d be able to devote my time to discovering more music. My inbox is filled with what I’m sure are lots of quality tunes, but – as the song goes – “time won’t let me”. Well, here’s one from the inbox – Ryan Scott.
Ryan Scott, 24, has been tooling around NYC for the last six years or so – inspired by the sounds of the 70’s. I always get a kick out of reading the “Sounds Like” section on MySpace music pages. Ryan opts for these: “Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Bill Frisell, Chris Whitley, Stevie Wonder, Randy Newman, Curtis Mayfield, Daniel Lanois, Steely Dan, Prince Rogers Nelson, , Jon Brion, Jimi Hendrix.”
There’s some good tunes on his MySpace. I encourage y’all to go check out some of them. Here’s one:
Ryan Scott –
5 O’ Clock News(mp3)Link: Ryan’s MySpace page.
Ryan’s debut album, Smoke & Licorice will be released next week. I’ll get a link up to buy a copy as soon as I find one. His label’s web site (Velour) doesn’t have one available at the moment.
Ickmusic Live: The Clash – Buy or Die!
If you’ve been checking in with Ickmusic for a while, you know by now that I can’t go very long without a Clash or Joe Strummer post. So without much setup, here’s a great audience recording of a late 1978 gig at London’s Lyceum Ballroom. Find out a lot more background on the show at Black Market Clash (a fantastic live Clash / Strummer resource – click here for the home page with the frames).
RIP Joe. We miss you.
The Clash – Buy or Die !!!
The Lyceum
London
From the Sort It Out” Tour
December 29th, 19781. Safe European Home
2. I Fought the Law
3. Jail Guitar Doors
4. Drug Stabbing Time
5. Cheapskates
6. The City of the Dead
7. Clash City Rockers
8. Tommy Gun
9. White Man in Hammersmith Palais
10. English Civil War
11. Stay Free
12. Guns on the Roof
13. Police and Thieves
14. Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad
15. Capital Radio
16. Janie Jones
17. Garageland
18. Complete Control
19. London’s Burning*
20. White Riot** The last two tracks come from the 12/28/78 show at the Lyceum
Whatever Happened to Terence Trent D’Arby?
Why, he changed his name to Sananda Maitreya in 2001 after a series of dreams and moved to Italy. Duhh.
But seriously, he did. And he’s still active on the scene. You can cruise over to Sananda’s web site and see what he’s been up to.
One of the things you’ll find is a link to a full 2010 concert in Basel, Switzerland, including this one, “It Ain’t Easy”…
This song is one of TTD’s biggest hits from his great debut, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby, and takes top billing as my favorite TTD tune. Enjoy. And go show Sananda some love.
Sananda Maitreya’s Official Site | Facebook