Cosmic Vibes Has A New Home

Please stop by and visit the new home of Cosmic Vibes @ Cosmic Vibes Live.

Thank you for your support.

The Future Of Cosmic Vibes

Hello friends,

Thank you for reading and becoming a fan of The Cosmic Vibes Blog. Many of your comments, emails and feedback out in the field have inspired and driven me to continue on this journey. I've gone from writing the blog, to photography, now video and lately providing support for local and national live music, venues, and festivals through Twitter, Facebook and You Tube. All of the work done here has paid off in ways that I never thought possible. It has allowed me to obtain all access media passes at concerts and festivals, meet cool people from bands, meet fans that have the same passion for seeing and documenting the experience of live music. Most of all it has allowed me to help promote fellow musicians and artists, which is what gives me the most satisfaction out of this project. Now it's to the point where I think of it and treat it as a business.
The future of Cosmic Vibes is going to focus on bringing the concert experience home to the fans. Providing fans with one place to go for an events calendar, pictures and videos from shows, links to local DC/Baltimore bands, music venues and festivals. The Blogger format is no longer the easiest and most effective way for me to deliver those things to the reader. For the past 6 months I have been building a new site that can accomplish all of those goals without the fan leaving the site to go find video or photos from events. The new site will eventually allow other fans to contribute their reviews, photos and videos from their experience at shows. The site is now up and running. I still have work to do as it will always be a work in progress, however it is ready and loaded with photos, videos, concert calendar, Live Music Archives widget, and blog page for reviews.

From now on I will be posting everything over at Cosmic Vibes Live. I hope you will join me on my new journey and thank you for joining me here at The Cosmic Vibes Blog.

The Infamous Stringdusters: State Theatre Falls Church VA.

The Infamous Stringdusters and Trampled By Turtles brought their Fly Palomino Tour to The State Theatre in Falls Church Friday night 11/12/10. With many choices of great music in the DC metro on this Friday they managed to sell out The State. Believe me it was a great night of music right here in Falls Church VA. A long line in front of the venue left fans waiting outside to miss some of the super fast paced, progressive bluegrass of Trampled By Turtles. They literally wail on their instruments. The banjo player strums his banjo like it's a guitar. I heard a lot of people in the crowd saying they had never heard of this band. Who are these guys they rock?  How do they have so much energy? How do they play their instruments so fast? All I can say is WOW. This band was awesome. They brought so much energy into the room and prepped the crowd for The Dusters. I am sorry I missed them at Del Fest but it appears they have blown up since, and the fans are digging them. Here is a video of one of the performances by TBT @ The State on CosmicVibesLive you tube channel.

After the crowd was well warmed up from TBT, The Infamous Stringdusters took the stage around 10 pm kickin it off with Fork In The Road, and keeping that face paced energy going with the fiddle tune Y2K. After God's country the boys thanked TBT saying "we didn't know these guys before but we're in the midst of fifteen shows with them and every night they just keep blowing our minds, we love it. We love em so much we're gonna have them at The Festy next year." "Was anyone at The Festy? Well if you weren't at The Festy ask one of those people near you screaming about it. Or maybe they don't want you to know".
The Festy was an absolutely amazing experience and you should go next year if you love bluegrass, mountains, and people who love music. We'll be there again for sure! This band's sound and energy continues to improve every time I see them. Here is some video footage from the next song Getting Down The Road This is where they really started getting into the groove. The night continued to get better and more intenese as they jammed out Black Rock, Hit Parade of Love, When Silence is The Lonely Sound>Rain> and back into Silence. Aside from being on that stage, it doesn't get better than a watching bunch of guys on stage having fun playing music. You can see it in their faces that they are just having a blast.  It provides an even better experience for the fan. I know it does for me at least.
Next up was "High On A Mountain Top" a tune written by theirs and everybody's bluegrass hero Del McCoury, then ripping into tune after tune through a 18 song set. Ending the show with amazing encore performance by unplugging their instruments, getting out on the floor and doing an acoustic version of "The Weight" by The Band with all of the fans singing back up. There is no better way to connect with the fans then to let them be a part of the show. This part was a lot of fun, and looking back at the video it's definitely one of those give you the chills moments.

Check out the encore performance of The Weight on CosmicVibesLive

Below are links to audio recordings of both ISD(setlist provided) and TBT at The State. Audio provided by Josh Ungar. Thank you tapers for keeping the shows alive. Thanks also to Christina for figuring out the setlist.

Infamous Stringdusters on Archives

Trampled By Turtles on Archives

 For photos from the TBT/Stringdusters show @ The State click the links below.

The Infamous Stringdusters

Trampled By Turtles

Music and Whiskey at The Whiskey In Annapolis

The Whiskey in Annapolis held it's Whiskey Rebellion celebration last Saturday with great music and party goers in 18th century garb. Along with plenty of top shelf whiskey being doled out by folks that could tell you anything you wanted to know about whiskey, it's history and the rebellion.

The music consisted of solo acts, and duets on the downstairs stage. Full bands of a few different genre on the main stage up stairs. The sets were staggered so that when one act would finish downstairs the fans would be advised to head upstairs for the next band. The Whiskey a very spacious and accommodating venue for patrons and musicians alike. A very well run establishment I must say.

The music kicked off at 4pm on the downstairs stage to a pretty decent size mid afternoon crowd with Ace Elijah. The music was continuous from then until close. I can only report on what I saw and here is what I saw

Moonliscious DC area Funk/Rock/Jam band started it off on the upstairs stage with a forty five minute funky original set. Followed by Maybe Not Even a blues/rock band out of Annapolis MD. I really dug this bands sound, their choices for covers as well as their originals. They were followed by Small Targets out of Philadelphia. The music continued on downstairs with the beautiful voice and guitar playing of Christie Lenee. At 9:10 pm the much anticipated arrival of the amazing bluegrass band The Whiskey Rebellion on the upstairs stage. The high energy quartet went off the rails with Ozzy, Ran like hell with Pink Floyd, and went down to Deep Ellum for the blues. They performed some of their original numbers as well for a solid seventy five minute bluegrass set in front of a whiskey energized audience. The Cheaters rock band of the mid atlantic region continued the energy with some high energy original rock n roll. Finishing off the night to close out the party on the main stage also from Annapolis Sweet Leda. The night got too late for me to stick around for them but I heard they were great. The whole whiskey event was a lot of fun and it's a great venue. So get on down to The Whiskey next time you visit Annapolis. As they're known for showing off and supporting some of the best local bands of the Mid Atlantic region.

Thank you to Christina for organizing this great event and congrats to a job well done, also to The Whiskey for putting on the event, sound man Ruckus for all of your help with the recordings and making sure the sound was great all day, also to the great staff and all of the great musicians who participated in the event. It was an awesome day of music, fun and meeting new friends. I hope we can do it again next year.

Click on the links below to see photo footage from each of the bands on the upstairs stage at The Whiskey Rebellion. Also stay tuned for video footage from the bands at CosmicVibesLive you tube channel coming soon.

Moonliscious

Maybe Not Even

Small Targets

The Whiskey Rebellion

The Cheaters

The Whiskey Rebellion Party @ The Whiskey in Annapolis

Hello friends, music and whiskey lovers. Next Saturday 11/6/2010 The Whiskey in Annapolis MD will host it's Whiskey Rebellion Party with 14 bands for 10 bucks (Whiskey Live CD included with admission). Celebrating the rebellion of American citizens who rose up against the government in 1794 after the taxation of Whiskey. There will be continuous live music from 4PM-1:30AM featuring world class bluegrass band The Whiskey Rebellion, Sweet Leda, The Cheaters, Jim Davies, Ace Elijah, Skribe, Small Targets, Maybe Not Even, Christie Lenee, Moonliscious, Carter Grant, Joe Rathbone, Throwin Cat, and Dean Rosenthall.

Jim Beam, Makers Mark and Wild Turkey will be joining the party with tastings and give aways as well as other artists and activities to take you back to the original Whiskey Rebellion era.

Come and join us for a fun filled day of music, good folks, free burgers and dogs from 2-4 and tax free alcohol.

Stay tuned to Cosmic Vibes for updates through out the week, day of and of course after the event for photos and wrap ups.
 

Stringdusted At The Festy Experience

Columbus Day Weekend The Infamous Stringdusters celebrated their inaugural festival, The Festy Experience. Taking place in the rolling hills of Appalachia at the beautiful grounds of the Devils Backbone Brewery in Nelson County VA. With 360 degree panoramic mountain views, beautiful weather, friendly folks and a stacked line up, I couldn't think of a better place to spend a fall weekend.

The Infamous Stringdusters played ninety minute sets both nights in front of The Festy Stage crowd as well as late night campsite jams for those willing to brave the late night cold. The second round of those late night jams lasting until 5 am Monday morning.
 

Other artists to grace the presence of the crowd on The Festy Stage throughout the weekend included Stillwater N.J. jamgrass band Railroad Earth whose sound was so good and crisp, I remember it reflecting off the nearby mountains to create a "surround sound" feel. Also legendary flat picker Tony Rice and his band The Tony Rice Unit, The sweet and soft voice of Aoife O'Donovan, and energetic banjo playing from Gregory Liszt of Crooked Still from Boston MA., Virginia native and guitar legend Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, and last but certainly not least the instrumental extravaganza Toubab Krewe from Asheville NC

The Festy presented lots of opportunities for impromptu jams and collaborations, a musicians and music lovers delight. The collaborations began early on Saturday with Travis Book, bass player of The Stringdusters joining Sara Siskind for a portion of her set, then joined by Andy Falco (Guitar) shortly thereafter. At one point Sara telling the crowd "why have one duster when you can have two". Sara also explained her love of music to the crowd simply and beautifully, "I don't know I just love music so much, that if I couldn't play it every day I would just die".

The Mandolin player of Love Canon joined the newly formed Misty Strings of Charlottesville VA. for a fantastic and one of my favorite sets on the Southern Stage. Fiddle player of Love Canon joined Larry Keel as well as Larry's brother Gary Keel on guitar. Trees on Fire were joined by fire dancers on the side of the Southern Stage, and to finish off The Festy, members of The Infamous Stringdusters joined Toubab Krewe for some bluegrass/african jams. Stay tuned to the CosmicVibesLive You Tube channel for videos from many of these awesome performances.

From arrival to departure at The Festy Experience we just felt right at home, charmed with that good ole southern hospitality. A big thank you to Devils Back Bone Brewery, our friends at Starr Hill Brewery (for letting us put our flyers out), our awesome neighbors (on both sides at camp), Stephanie at Make It Bigger Mama Publicity, The Artist Farm, CERBERUS Productions, LLC and of course The Infamous Stringdusters and all the bands. We had an amazing time and we can't wait until next year's Festy Experience.

Please enjoy some photos from The Festy Experience by clicking on the individual links below.

Robinella

Sara Siskind

Crooked Still

The Tony Rice Unit

Trees On Fire

The Infamous Stringdusters (night 1)

Railroad Earth

Morwenna Lasko & JPUN Quartet

Misty Strings

Larry Keel and Natural Bridge

The Infamous Stringdusters (night 2)

 

Fall Vibes: The Festy Experience 2010,> 9:30 Club shows,>"Owl O Ween" Hawk Mountain

Hello friends,
I just wanted to fill you in on some things that are happening in the future at Cosmic Vibes and some things I will be covering this fall. There hasn't been much to post about since the Gov't Mule show. I've been busy playing drums in the band Moonliscious and will be playing my first show with them at Second Chance Saloon this Saturday night 10/02. I've also been busy doing outdoor activities such as Brookside Gardens "Wings Of Fancy" butterfly garden and Big Meadows Campground in Shenandoah with my girlfriend Christa. What an amazing place at Big Meadows. It was absolutely beautiful, quiet, friendly and down right peaceful. We hiked Dark Hollow Falls and The Meadow. We saw a 6 point buck, lots of birds, a family of skunks, and lots more. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, we did not see any bear. It's a great place to take the whole family. Stay in a tent, camper, RV or rent a cabin, whatever your pleasure.

I posted some new photo links from our Big Meadow trip, last weeks "Harvest Moon" and more in the outdoor and wildlife section on the right column. Also in the right hand column on the top are links to my new CosmicVibesLive You Tube channel . There you can view various videos that I recorded from various concerts. Videos from Tea Leaf Green, Gov't Mule, local DC area bands, some of the players at Del Fest Academy and more. The You Tube channel will be part of my new website.  I will be dropping the Blogger format sometime in the near future and starting my own website Cosmic Vibes Live. It is now under construction and part of my new ideas for the future of Cosmic Vibes.

For the time being stay tuned right here to the Cosmic Vibes Blog as I will be bringing you reviews and photos from The Festy Experience in Nelson County VA on 10/9 and 10/10. The Festy is featuring two nights of The Infamous Stringdusters, Josh Ritter, Toubab Krewe, Larry Keel, Tony Rice, Crooked Still and more. Tickets are still available so come on down and enjoy the fun. The nice folks at Festy were kind enough to provide me with all access photo passes, so I will be able to provide you with a better view of the action. A big Thank You to them, and we can't wait to get down there for some bluegrass and Devils Back Bone beer.

Coming to DC this fall>Yonder Mountain String Band at the 9:30 Club 10/23, The Black Crowes at the 9:30 Club 11/13 and 14, Railroad Earth at the 9:30 Club 12/10. Stay tuned for photos, reviews and or setlists from these shows as well. I hope to see you out at one or all of them.

Last but not least Christa and I will be heading up to Hawk Mountain in PA. Halloween weekend. My boss highly recommended it to us, knowing that we are bird lovers. We will be heading up for "Owl O Ween" for some owl, eagle and hawk watching. Stay tuned as I hope to get some footage of some of these awesome birds, and hope to give you my recommendations for visiting Hawk Mountain in the future.

Thanks again for stopping by The Cosmic Vibes. Please go out and support live music in your town.

See you at the next show or on the next trail.