On labor day weekend Jeremy Gordon and Carla Danca headed to the ninth annual moe.down and filed this report on the festival…

Is there a way to better sum up a beautiful weekend in upstate NY than Abigail Washburn’s proclamation to those gathered on the slope Saturday evening? “What a wonderful festival, where a band throws a party, invites all their friends, family, favorite musicians and the best fans to share the weekend.” Even after a summer of soaring gas prices and packed with festivals, the moe.rons didn’t hesitate to make the trek up to moe.down 9 at Snow Ridge Mountain in Turin, NY. The annual thank you party drew a wide assortment of sounds that brought fans young and old out to the main stage and beer tent set among the chair lifts and rolling slopes of the Tug Hill region of the Adirondacks that makes up moe.’s backyard.

One difference between moe.down and most other festival this summer was apparent at the side stage; this was truly a show for the fans by the fans. In the beer tent, hand-picked new generation acts were given multiple sets to allow them to truly show off more than just a quick taste of their skills. U-Melt started the festival off on Friday evening with three sets including a tribute to Michael Jackson on his 50th birthday that included Billie Jean, Wanna be Starting Something and ended with the entire tent entranced into their own version of the Thriller video.

READ ON for more thoughts and photos from moe.down 9…

We sent Jeremy Gordon and Carla Danca into the world of Camp Bisco. Luckily, they came back unscathed and filed this report from Mariaville…

The reviews for Camp Bisco 7 are in and what a fantastic success. From Brownstein’s proclamation of “Best Camp Bisco Ever” to ILCC’s owner Frank Potter acknowledging the fabulous vibe of the event. The three day festival’s 2nd year at the Mariaville, NY site went smoothly for all…well maybe not for all.

Whether fans were enjoying bands like The Bridge, local favorites Jimkata or DJs MSTRKRFT and Ralph Lawson, many left the weekend shaking their heads, eager to hear more. The festival hosted a wide variety of sounds with the progressive sounds of U-Melt, trance DJ Prometheus, next generation jamband RAQ and indie- fence straddlers !!! (Chk Chk Chk). READ ON for more from Jeremy and Carla…

Fans of the Dead were treated to something special this past week in NYC. The week started off with a Dark Star Orchestra show on Friday followed by a moving Phil and Friends show at Jones Beach on Sunday and finishing off with an upbeat Mickey Hart Band at Irving Plaza on Tuesday, there was something for everyone.

This year’s incarnation of the Mickey Hart Band adds SCI’s Kyle Hollingsworth to the keys, good friends Steve Kimock on guitar and George Porter on the bass, Jen Durkin on vocals, and Walfredo Reyes Jr., Sikiru Adepoju, and of course Mickey Hart on drums and percussion. Playing old favorites and new Robert Hunter songs, the band tore through the material, moving from the disco of Shakedown Street to African inspired beats and chants to the old school soul of Motown. Grateful Dead classics such as Eyes of the World, Sugaree, Scarlet Begonias>Fire on the Mountain took center stage and Good Lovin’ had the floor jumping to end the first set.

READ ON for more from Tuesday night’s Mickey Hart Band show…

Is there anything better than dirty Southern Blues? You know, the kind where you turn the radio down so your mother won’t hear the lyrics and knock on your bedroom door…

“We fucked on the table, We fucked on the floor, We rolled down the stairs and we fucked a little more”

While you’re trying to think up the answer to that one, just remember that from where this bands hails, the Deep South is an hour flight north.

Well, JJ Grey and Mofro came out hard at the Williamsburg Music Hall on May 30 with the title track from their latest album, Country Ghetto. With the horns blazing behind him, JJ Grey took center stage first on the harmonica and then later on the electric piano, as the crowd sang along to his stories of hard living and good eating in the lands of swampy Jacksonville, Florida. READ ON for more of Jeremy’s words and photos from JJ Grey and Mofro’s show at the Williamsburg Music Hall…

“If you don’t have a ticket, you ain’t getting in tonight,” proclaimed the burly bouncer at the door of the sold out Bowery Ballroom last Saturday night.

Starting the evening off was the white-faced-but-naked-to-the-waist, duo of the Awesome New Republic. With their indie cover versions of Thriller and Eye of the Tiger, they held the crowd’s attention as they waited for the New Deal to appear. Finally with the lights going low Darren Shearer appeared on the stage and announced, “Thanks everyone for coming out tonight, you always make this place feel like home” and you knew something was about to go down.

For the first time since December ‘06, Darren, Jamie Shields, and Dan Kurtz put aside their other projects and returned to the Bowery stage with their original livetronica sound. With quick hand gestures, subtle eye movements, and an uncanny ability to improv, The New Deal weaved the jams through a handful of songs and teases during their two sets. The crowd responded with yells of encouragement, fist pumping, and grinding to the beat, while shaking the dance floor and bar below.

READ ON for more of Jeremy’s review and photos from the Bowery Ballroom…

When last we saw RAQ they were putting the finishing touches on an epic weekend run at the Blender Theater for the Green Applefest, yet less than a month later the band returned to lower Manhattan for a more personal event.

On September 11, 2001 Scott Hazelcorn went to his office at Cantor Fitzgerald, and like many people that fateful day never returned home. Scott had a lifelong dream to work with children, and from that dark day forward his friends and family joined together to help realize that dream by forming the Scott Hazelcorn Children’s Foundation to benefit Camp Haze. Camp Haze is an opportunity for the youngsters who lost loved ones, either on that day or from another tragedy, to come together for a week long all expenses paid camping adventure.

This year, much to the delight of Scott’s younger brother Eric, the members of RAQ both current and past performed dressed in their finest threads at the Ten Ton Ball. The proceeds from this amazing evening of music went towards the Scott Hazelcorn Children’s Foundation. READ ON for more on the Ten Ton Ball…

With disco lights a blazing Tea Leaf Green took to the stage at the Highline Ballroom on April 18. Leading the New York City division of the Green Apple Festival, the band warmed up with such favorites as Bootlegger, One Reason, and Devil’s Pay; but it was the trippy Panspermic De-Evolution that really stole the first set. Aaron Redner of Hot Buttered Rum String Band joined the band on fiddle for a rousing Ophelia before the band went to break.

Highlights of the 2nd set included Kali-Yuga, Criminal Intent (again with Redner sitting in) and a rousing Tequila to send the fanbase into the night. The biggest surprise of the night was the inclusion of Las Vegas and Deep River back into the cataloge, songs that haven’t seen the light of day since Ben Chambers left.

While Steve Adams (of ALO) did a fine job filling in on bass, (and was greeted warmly by the faithful with fake moustaches) I think the band was truly missing the spark that Reed Mathis provides. Hopefully Tea Leaf Green can bring in Mathis fulltime and regain the heights we saw at the Blender last September.

READ ON for more of Jeremy’s photos and links to audio of the shows…

Maybe it was the recent studio time the band did in London and Philadelphia, maybe finally after two years Disco 2.0 is starting to emerge whole again, or maybe it’s just the damn fact that Barber is just happy to stand on two legs. But one thing the fans can agree on is that the Disco Biscuits rocked the sold out Nokia Theatre in NYC this past weekend.

Highlights from the first night included the Vassilios>Spaga jam and the Above The Waves> Confrontation> Caves of the East> (and yes I did just name almost the entire 2nd set) and from the 2nd night include Resurrection> Spacebirdmatingcall and M.E.M.P.H.I.S.> Lunar Pursuit.

Read on for more of Jeremy’s review and killer photos from tDB’s Nokia run…

U-Melt triumphantly returned to their old stomping grounds last Friday and Saturday at the recently refurbished Sullivan Hall in NYC. In their first shows back since New Year’s Day, U-Melt started up where they left off by opening with Through The Prism - a song begun over two weeks ago during their residency in Boston.

Moving deftly through old favorites Marvin the Pussy, Air, and Folded, were placed the classic covers of Once In A Lifetime sang by keyboardist Zac Lasher and Cosmik Debris by drummer George Miller. Added to all this was the debut of a new tune: Twilight’s Song. Such tracks as Disclaimer/Disillusion segued into a hot Elysian Fields to end the second set. Finally, with the first night drawing to a close, the band sent the crowd dancing off into the night with the upbeat trance jams of Bubblehouse.

The second night can be summed up in three words: The Sullivan Palindrome. As a band known for dedicating an entire night to Frank Zappa or an entire set to Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamond, to take six of their own songs and wrap them around each other in a Mobius strip or a palindrome is pure delight to any fan.

Read on for more of Jeremy’s review and amazing photos of U-Melt…