Cake in Oakland

WAS AWESOME.

I'm sorry it has been so long since I posted...too much life.

Cake was so fantastic! Even though I was very short on sleep they rocked the house! Check out the videos of Warpigs, Arco Arena, Haze of Love, and Mexico. I've been seeing Cake for like 15 years and they've always been wonderful. The posts I find the hardest to write are the ones for the bands that are my favorites.


I have nothing else to say than that if you don't own every single album of theirs, go buy em.
If you haven't seen them, fly somewhere.
If you're hitting a Cake show within like 350 miles of Sacramento, I'll see you there.

The Fox Theatere was beautiful! The seats were huge and the hummus before the show was yummy. My dad came so we were in the balcony...sorry pictures are from afar - made for good roof shots.

Karli Fairbanks, Chris Robley and The Fear of Heights, not an Airplane 11-07-08

Karli Fairbanks sounds a lot like Ingrid Michaelson, it was a good opening set which I walked in almost as it finished. There were two chicks with guitars...WOOOO! They both had good voices but in the like 2 songs I got to hear that was what I got from it.

Chris Robley & the Fear of Heights played next and they were good. They are from Portland and they played with not an Airplane at the Imbibe the last time naA toured up in their area. They had really good guitar and the band gave a good vibe. Hahaa today is 11-15-08 and I'm reading my notes from the show and I wrote down 4/5 wear glasses.......apparently that fact was more important to me then.

not an Airplane released their new EP to the Modesto masses at this show, so I was busy. Tonight I'm seeing naA and Chris Robley again and this time I'm not going to miss the guest appearance from Soup's fiddle player (Modesto Band Soup). Maybe I'll write my review closer to the actual show this time so I can remember the significance of 4 our of 5 band members wearing glasses.

Christina Boggs
Rock on Cali

HSB Sunday 10-05-08

Sunday morning Poor Man's Whiskey added a latin flair and played an awesome set! Of note was their Whiskey in the Sky With Diamonds after the Beatles' Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. Today was a special day for one of the Whiskiers...Josh proposed to his girlfriend...She shot him down...on stage, in front of thousands of people....jk. She said yes!

Sorry I don't have more to say about them, they're frikken awesome...I was too busy rocking out to write more. But...I did take pictures!

I do have something to say about this guy....At the end of the night....he was running around with no clothes on. Really. Like....Really no clothes. Uhhh I didn't really need that. kthanks.

Next up was Moonalice, I guess the crowd felt different to me being in front for PMW as opposed to moving back to my tarp for the Moonalice set and having the croud in front of me. It was crowded. Alison Brown and Joe Craven were up next. I love all of Joe Craven's noises and how much fun he has up there. He adds an interesting twist to something a little more blue than Moonalice.

DRUMROLLLLLLLLLL......................................Quite possibly...Wait...no....ACTUALLY my most anticipated set of the day (nothing but love for PMW but I've seen them like 5 times already this year, they're still great I just get them all the time). They were FANTASTIC (I know holy crap that's a lot of caps - its the way I feel okay? If you were standing in front of me I would be yelling it). It truly is amazing how much they play off each other so much. Its like a conversation on the stage. From one topic to the next, each one has something different to say and maybe they have different amounts and things to say on each topic but it is a conversation none the less.

Each person brings their personality to the conversation and they all get to talk. Even then, I don't think my analogy does justice to it, the music is so much better than talking. If they weren't all guys I might use something related to sex, but they are so I won't.

Banjo player, Danny Barnes from Bad Livers played Get it While You Can and it made everyone in the band was really excited to be playing and singing it in a slightly different style. Chris Pandolfi was so psyched to be playing with one of his inspirations and to be able to share the stage with him, I don't know if there was a time during that song when Panda wasn't grinning. Fantastic.

Its funny, sometimes when I'm really into what's going on sometimes I run out of things to say and sometimes it makes me ramble. Jeremy Garrett has a voice like no other! So amazing. When he sings I feel like I can't focus on anything else going on, amazing. Hahaa I'm glad I don't know and talk to him on a regular basis. I think I would have a hard time not watching him talk and listening to the sound of his voice. I think the conversation would be one sided because all I would want to do is listen.

Jesse Cobb is one fanfrikkentastic mandolin player. I don't play the mando (haha and I don't even pretend to attempt it) but my goodness, he sounds so good. Now Ronnie McCoury is an awesome mandolin player too but when Cobby plays, it is so warm. If a teddy bear could play the mandolin that essence would be encompassed by Cobb. I don't have enough words to describe how fantastic their set was. I've been waiting in anticipation to see them again since I saw them months ago. If only I lived on the east coast, or the south. They tour over there more often. They hit the UK and Europe bluegrass scene this year, did a bunch of stops in Germany and there are a bunch of videos of those tour stops on youtube. If you want to catch a song from this set you can see it here: Poor Boy's Delight. They've only been together for like 2 years now - it would be as if you expected a toddler to write a dissertation on elementary particle interation ---this toddler did it---does it. Every new listener, every person who catches a set of theirs is amazed at how breathtaking their music is.

Travis Book, Jeremy Garrett, Andy Hall, Andy Falco, Chris Pandolfi, Jesse Cobb together are awesome songwriters, musicians, artists, pickers, grinners and a fantastic Nashville bluegrass supergroup. The rest of the shots from their set are here.

The Waybacks are local to SF and they started the show talking about it they played the crowd well and during the set I actually got a chance to look areound. They drew a crowd. They were good. I'm sorry though, their greatness was overshadowed by the dusters. I know they were good but I got up for a crowd breather and missed much of their set.

Tea Leaf Green should be renamed four hot guys with skills. The keyboard player has a really awesome unique voice, raspy and clear at the same time and he later played the harmonica. The guitar player also sang - they both had extraordinarily deep voices.

The bass player rocked out. I love it when people enjoy what they're doing so much they can't contain it. Awesome. They invited a guest mandolin player up, Erick McVaddon. This is another band I'll be sure to watch in the future. The lead singer's voice reminds me of Jerry Garcia. They then invited out Dan Lebowitz (who also played this morning with PMW) and he played a steel guitar across his lap. Earlier with PMW he played an accoustic six string. He's really good...

All in all, this year's HSB was better than last year's. They keep getting better. You can check out all the pictures from HSB that I took here.

HSB Saturday 10-04-08

Dry Branch Fire Squad was a little wet this morning as the show opened up with drizzles, they warmed it up though....and played a good set, with a guest appearance from Warren Hellman (thanks for the show!)

If Flogging Molly played bluegrass inspired music they would be the Waco Brothers. I would say this is punk bluegrass, its a new sub genre....I just made it up. Two electric guitars, a bass, drums and a mandolin. I guess having a mando makes them somewhat bluegrass. If the HSB people say they're close enough, I'll accept that. I can't wait to see them again.

Jean Cook came out on fiddle for part of the set. This most definitely gets my surprise punk element award for the day! WOOO. These guys must stretch before their shows because that many high kicks might otherwise pull something. I have a couple videos that I did, one of Plenty Tough and Union Made and another of Neil Young's Revolution Blues. These guys are fantastic. They're not playing in the area any time soon but I'll be watching for them. I really like this music - its a bit rockabilly. Its funny because just as I wrote that down on my notepad they did a Bo Diddly song. They were phenomenal. Here's the set of photos from HSB.

One crispy veggie burger later was Richard Thompson. He is supposed to be a fantastic guitar player...uhhh....I guess he wasn't bad, just not really my style. It was very jazz like. He wore a beret. The highlight of his set was when he played Black Vincent 1952 (because I love the Del McCoury Band and they covered it). Much more noodling around than Del but...sometimes that happens.

The Desert Rose Band played their big hit from 1987 Don't Walk Away, their pedal steel sounded pretty good. Hahaa they've got enough guitars up there --- three....plus the pedal steel, bass player and drummer. The sun really came out as they started.

The Del McCoury Band came out and cleaned up. A couple old songs followed by Moneyland, kind of a scary thought....when the problems of the economy reach so deep into the heart of the country that even bluegrass is affected.

DMB was fantastic as usual, they get the good 'ol faithful award of the day. Pictures from their set (along with the other DMB pictures I have up already).

Welcoming the night was the Global Drum Project. Upon days of thought I found out how this fits into bluegrass....(think the Kevin Bacon game)...
1. Mickey Hart used to play with this little band called the Grateful Dead.
2. Jerry Garcia was also in the Dead.
3. Jerry Garcia's old band Old and In the Way was bluegrass...and Jerry did stuff with David Grisman.

I honestly didn't think I was going to like an hour of drum solo. I guess it really isn't a drum solo - there were four of them up there, that's not a solo.

There were so many percussive items. There were drums, bongos, sticks, metal things, wooden implements of noise, bells, rattles, gourds, symbols, xylophones...it was awesome.

Sunday's review to come.

HSB Friday 10-03-08

As we enter the park from 36th and Fulton the sound of the Jerry Douglas Band can be heard through the trees. We broke through into the meadow just in time to hear the final applause. We fought our way to the merch tent after a brief sighting of Wavy Gravy.

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant started promptly at 5:30. We were back so far...ugh. The sound was very quiet. I was wondering if it was more loud for the last set or if the sound just goes contrary to normal physics for Jerry Douglas and returned to reality for the Alison Krauss and Robert Plant set.

The bits that I could hear was good. Krauss did Down to the River to Pray - they also did a bunch of Led Zepplin songs and T-Bone Burnett came up and did a handful of songs with them too.

Throw Me the Statue 09-07-08

Throw Me the Statue 09-07-08 3, originally uploaded by cmboggs.

This was a fantastic show, Desirae insisted I come to it...and I didn't really protest but this is not normally my blend of music.

It was fantastic. I hope to see them the next time they come. Sadly, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it and didn't take notes.

Check out the pictures from my flickr and the video on my youtube...Sorry about the delay, I had problems getting the names of the songs matched up :)

Rock On Cali

Jay Shaner, The Tumbleweeds and Eric Warren

Saturday night could have been the answer to a sad torn breakup and the need to wallow in self pity and quiet reflection. Sorrowful contemplative country songs were what Jay Shaner opened with before the Tumbleweeds' sets. After a handful, that changed with Aliens. It was the pivotal point in his set, everything got up-beat and foot tapping after that.

Nxes played over the speakers between sets. It was an odd combination especially as Emily Richardson (bass) of the Tumbleweeds started to play along with it after tuning. That was surprising. One benefit of being in the side part of Fox and Goose is that over there they turn down the lights and the roar of the friday night drinking croud is muffled from the next room. Drunkeness leaks in through the open door. The Tumbleweeds played a lively set as usual, I was more than a little dissapointed to discover there would be no cowbell action...Oh well, the show must go on....even without a cowbell. Its funny, I've only seen the Tumbleweeds like 3 or 4 times but I'm already getting to know their songs. Check out my video of the Tumbleweeds doing the problem.


Up next is a permutation of the Tumbleweeds, the Len Brown Society. Last week I saw Buick 6 do just a fantastic marvelous job and then bring Lucinda up. This week the Tumbleweeds did a fantastic job and then they brought up Eric Warren. Warren had a gritty dirty rock sound...It was like turning lemonade into an Arnold Palmer, just a little tea but it makes it so different. I don't tend to notice songwriting but this was phenominal. A song about the perspectives of animals...awesome. "I wonder if the stars are jealous of the sun in the sky," was one of my favorite lines. Checkout the videos of the Tumbleweeds with Eric Warren doing Unborn Child and Cigarette.

Buick 6 and Lucinda Williams

Okay I'm gonna do something I haven't in a while....give you a link. Here. Go. NOW. That was really hard for me to find....and I'm pretty good. That is Buick 6. They started out with a 10 minute ultimate version of pipeline. It was great! They had this little tiny synth on stage...and said they did all instrumentals. They had this washing machine on stage, that caught my eye. You know the drummer is hard core when he changes cymbals during the set. I'm going to correct myself, Butch Norton - not a drummer. Butch is a percussionist. After a few songs he moved up to a second set of gear, had a giant cymbal (about a meter across) and he played the wash tub and a big piece of duct work. Oh, later he played a bird call too... The piece of ducting sounded pretty cool. Chet Lyster played guitar, keyboard and drums (when Norton moved to his second "kit"). While they were both on the drums they did this syncopated routine then the bass and guitar came in.

Bass. My GOSH. The bass player, David Sutton was fantastic. He was really grooving, he made me want to dance. Actually...wouldn't have minded dancing with him....

Five songs into the set there were words. Cinnamon Girl - a great rendition of a personal favorite. They did all covers but they did it wonderfully, they were awesome.

After the intermission Lucinda came out with the band wearing a screaming black shirt with PUNK scrawled across the front. Doug, the lead guitar player continued to wail - alternating between the pedal steel and his other guitars. Lyster broke out the mandolin for a song off Cartwheels, Concrete and Barbed Wire. Lucinda has really talented musicians. I could really just listen to them play. I mean...I can't say enough, REALLY. Sutton is an awesome bass player, with so much rhythm it's not enough to simply play the bass, it leaks out in his need to rock and dance while he's playing.

Lucinda Williams has a really unique method of strumming. She strums up really close to the neck- like around the 12th fret. Towards the end she pulled out her silver electric out and it had sparkles on the strap.....she was workin it :)

Rock on!

Steve Miller Band and Joe Cocker

August 17th 2008 marked the second time I visited Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys California. One special thing about going to Ironstone is the dinner. Last night's dinner had these really great phyllo dough mushroom rolls along with a nice piece of salmon with some tender jasmine rice....those mushroom rolls...MMM the kind of things dreams (hahaha my dreams) are made of.
Gah. The only downside of dinner is that if you have a party of less than 10 you're seated with other people. Why do I always get the drunks?
The people at my table complained about everything, it was so annoying. That aside, the food was great and as the hot head Chef James came around I was more than happy to tell him so.

Joe Cocker came on first and rocked the house. He did a stellar performance of tons of hits. May classic rock never die.
His bass player was awesome, I love chick bass players and she is just another outstanding example of chicks who rock. The croud was pumped when the Steve Miller Band came on! Steve kicked it off solidly and the intensity of the show seemed to grow with each song. If they were tired after the last 40 shows in a row they did a good job of hiding it!

Through countless guitar changes the show carried on through all their greatest hits. I didn't realize how many different keys their songs were in until I took a look at their set list. Wow, enough to keep 2 or more guitar techs busy!
Norton Buffalo is a fantastic harmonica player and percussion virtuoso, my only regret with Norton is the frequency in which I see him limits my ability to gush over his many talents.
I was impressed by the presence that Kenny Lee Lewis commanded during the show, not only masterfully playing what seemed like effortlessly but working the croud at the same time. Maybe it had to do with my seats being on his side of the stage this show but I don't think I've ever noticed his dimples before. Check out my flickr for how helpless I am to the power of dimples and for the rest of my shots from this show. This show was fantastic!

Joe Cocker pictures - http://flickr.com/photos/rockoncali/sets/72157606818464112/

The Steve Miller Band pictures - http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockoncali/sets/72157606818487832/Check the video bar to the right for two videos from the show too!

PMW and Peter Rowan at the Gravenstein Festival

This was a great festival, I've been to the apple blossom festival before...somewhere else in Sebastopol but not the Gravenstein before. PMW opened with a really strong first set, it was nice seeing their old bass player again. Nothing like years of being together to bring out the comfort of established connections and songs to play out on stage. They're all SO good.



Poor Man's Whiskey's second set not only contained Lake County Lady but the infamous Tony Robinson. I think he was in PMW maybe the first time I saw them play...it was awhile ago.....but he fit right back in too.

Peter Rowan was good....better than I expected. I was actually surprised how many of his songs I knew. He played right after the second PMW set on another stage and we stayed through his entire set. I had a yummy vegetarian tamale with kale, squash and artichoke hearts with queso fresco for lunch during his set and it was awesome. Sometimes I feel bad when I don't know my musical roots as well as I should....but then I get over it. I'm better than average, right?


Check my flickr for more pictures from this show (link on the right).

Rock On Cali!