Yard Dogs Road Show: May Dates & Bonnaroo!

Fresh from a wildly successful European debut, the West’s sexiest, surliest performance troupe hits the road this may for their Cabaret Blitz! tour. Then, catch them in Manchester, Tennessee this June for their Bonnaroo debut!

Consider Yard Dogs Road Show’s “Cabaret Blitz!” a polite challenge to all that is prevailing in American culture. There is poetry everywhere and it must be acknowledged! Collaborating for these shows with regional and local artists, the groups billed along this very special run represent a menagerie of west coast cabaret and circus arts. Many of them have never shared the same stage. They come with open hearts to engage a decorated and poetic civilization. Dress code: A formal rendition of your inner carnival - something stitched and stunning and nearly falling off.

Born from the saloon vaudeville that toured the Wild West in the late 1800's and slammed into the underworld of modern American road culture, Yard Dogs Road Show create a timeless and surreal union of ancient theatrical alchemy and modern pop culture. It’s a true story on stage: sword swallowers, dancing dolls, fire eaters and hobo sunset poetry - all animated by the live sounds of the Yard Dogs cartoon band. Yard Dogs Road Show is pure visual and sonic voodoo. The times have demanded it and here it is: “The new emergence of road show nobility.”



Cabaret Blitz! Show dates include:

Fri May 4 / Showbox /Seattle, WA w/ Circus Contraption
Sat May 5 / Nightlight / Bellingham, WA w/ Dream Science Circus
Sun May 6 / The Commodore / Vancouver, BC w/ Tarran the Tailor and the Ancient Rugged Revival
Mon May 7 / Capitol Theater / Olympia, WA w/ Femme De Fabrique
Tue May 8 / Wonder Ballroom / Portland, OR w/ March Fourth Marching Band
Wed May 9 / McDonald Theater / Eugene, OR w/ Vagabond Opera
Thu May 10 / Ashland Armory / Ashland, OR w/ Vagabond Opera
Sat May 12 / Fillmore Auditorium / San Francisco, CA w/ Rosin Coven and others TBA
June 14-17 / Bonnaroo Music Festival / Manchester TN

There is some speculation as to the origin of the Yard Dogs Road Show. Not for the want of mystery but for the difficulty in translating an experience that was navigated by the overly-romantic and sleep deprived. Shows came and went leaving very little time to fully comprehend what was going on. Some say the carnival-inspired performance art of the Yard Dogs Road Show began as a three piece jug band performing in road houses and dance halls and at informal gatherings, including Oregon’s modern day acid tests with Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters. Some say they traveled in a 1967 Ford Galaxy 500 and the evolution of their show revealed itself in the flames of a campfire on Dog Creek Road: dancing dolls with feather fans, an hombre in silver sunglasses eating fire, a dreamy guitar boy with golden locks, a bearded swami capable of conjuring the supernatural . Others say this story is complete hogwash and it was actually the brainchild of a unemployed “cowboy” and his faithful muse – transient artists with an incredible talent for brainstorming impossible ideas while under the influence of poppy tea and wishful thinking. By chance these conversations were overheard by an ambitious young poet who decided to actualize them for the sake of all impossible dreams everywhere.

Either way, that was seven years ago, and the unlikely troupe of gypsies has been performing on stages ever since.

With the publication of his book, Hobo: A Young Man’s Thoughts on Trains and Tramping in America (Random House / 2003), straw boss and founding member Eddy Joe Cotton and the Yard Dogs Road Show surfaced into the mainstream media, including recent recognition in SPIN Magazine. Bringing rock & roll to theatre and theatre to rock & roll, they have collaborated with Teatro Zinzanni, Cirque Du Soleil, and Burning Man and have performed such renowned festivals as Vegoose, Oregon Country Fair and Wakarusa.

Bob Dylan - Infrared: by Elliott Landy

Subject - "Bob Dylan - Infrared", an Elliott Landy photo most-recently used on the cover of "The Collection, Volume 4 - Nashville Skyline/New Morning/John Wesley Harding (Reissue), released in 2005 on Sony records.

This three-disc entry in Sony's "The Collection" series of classic album compilations delivers fans three of Mr. Dylan's most experimental and exciting recordings ­ 1967's John Wesley Harding (which introduced "All Along The Watchtower" and introduced us to Dylan's "country side"); 1969's Nashville Skyline (which featured the timeless "Lay Lady Lay" and a host of Dylan-penned country classics ­ including a duet with Johnny Cash called "Girl From The North Country" ­ as well as another great Landy cover shot); and 1970's New Morning, which included Dylan standards such as "If Not For You" and "One More Weekend". Sony, it seems, did not want to include music from Dylan's Self Portrait album, which was released earlier in 1970 and confused/frustrated the heck out of critics and fans alike (although it did include a striking album cover painted by Dylan himself).

In Elliott's own words (from his book "Woodstock Vision") - "Everyone liked the Big Pink photographs I'd shot for The Band, and shortly afterward Al Aronowitz, a writer and friend of Dylan's, asked me to photograph Bob for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post."

"I rented a little VW bug and drove up from the city to Bob's house in Woodstock. This was during the height of his fame, when he had been seen publicly only once in a couple of years, and many people thought he had died in a motorcycle accident." Aronowitz introduced us. Bob told me how much he liked the Band photos, grabbed his guitar, sat on an old tire, and began playing while I took pictures. It occurred to me that millions of people would be thrilled to be ten feet away from Bob Dylan while he was playing, but he was so casual, it seemed normal to me."

"He suggested some other things. 'This is what I do up here, take a picture,' he said while putting the garbage cans away. He sat on the step of his equipment van and then in front of an old British cab he had. After a while he asked to use the camera. For some of the pictures I used infrared color film, which made the leaves bright red."

"Although he was comfortable with me, he was nervous in front of the camera, and his uneasiness made it difficult for me. I was never the kind of photographer to talk people into feeling good, I let them be the way they were and photographed it. Usually it worked out, because I flowed with whatever mood they were in, without resistance until things lightened up."

"He asked me to come back with the pictures when they were ready, which I did the following week. He liked the photos, and we started to hang out a bitŠHe was very happy, in love with his lovely and gracious wife, Sara, and his family. He was hiding from the world, savoring the magical experience of having young children. That's why I didn't publish the pictures for many years. He cherished his privacy and didn't want any media attention on his family."

"I was very impressed with Bob. He was a very special person. He intuitively understood what was going on in a situation. There was a feeling you got when you were with him that was exciting. I believe it was the flow of creative energy surrounding him that sort of spilled over onto you. Over the years I've seen him walk into rooms, even in the presence of other very famous people, and suddenly everyone's attention becomes totally focused on him. It's difficult to have this type of charisma: people always want a piece of you."

Shot at his Byrdcliff home in Woodstock, NY, 1968

by Mike Goldstein

Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © MusicDish LLC 2007 - Republished with Permission

String Cheese Incident's Final Summer Tour

Boulder, Colorado – Today, independent music pioneers The String Cheese Incident announce their 2007 Summer Tour – which also marks the beginning of an end for the band and their community. In the fall of 2006, The String Cheese Incident announced it would make no plans beyond summer 2007, as SCI guitarist Billy Nershi would be leaving the group to explore a different musical path.

Since the band’s inception, The String Cheese Incident has emerged as one of today's most significant independent bands. Born in 1993 in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, SCI has since released 6 albums, 3 DVDs and countless live recordings from their relentless tour schedule. Their 14 year history is packed full of surreal experiences, epic moments, groundbreaking involvement and huge accomplishments. They have been recognized for their commitment to musical creativity and integrity, for their community spirit and philanthropic endeavors, and for their innovative approach to the business of music.

When The String Cheese Incident’s growth first started gaining momentum over a decade ago, the landscape of the music industry was like the wild west from where the band came. With the major-label business model failing and the age of the internet just dawning, The String Cheese Incident began to rethink the traditional rock-n-roll dream. Once the band decided to go for it and make music completely on their own terms, they never looked back.

The String Cheese Incident went on to carve out a completely different approach to the business of music; truly pioneers of a new way of “making a band.” With the World Wide Web as their tool, SCI was able to easily disseminate information such as tour dates, release information, and other news to their growing fan base. Rather than doing business on such terms as “the bottom line,” The String Cheese Incident opened companies, such as a ticketing and a gear company and a fan travel agency to truly cater to the audience and their needs. Their record label, SCI Fidelity Records, operated on the same ideals; they embraced tape trading and downloadable music, eventually offering the SCI’s “On the Road” series, where every show the band played was made available for download on the internet. Whether they realized it at the time or not, The String Cheese Incident was inventing grassroots band development. Today, literally hundreds of bands are using some version of this same approach to growing a band.

The String Cheese Incident’s commitment went well beyond their immediate community and even beyond the music community in general. Early on, the band took a serious interest in giving back to the communities that they visited, and they where among the first performers to encourage “Green” shows and tours. SCI’s support helped give rise to such not-for-profit organizations as Conscious Alliance, Rock the Earth, and Head Count. In 2002, when the band’s right to sell tickets to their own shows became threatened by ticketing giant Ticketmaster, the band stood strong for the independent music community and filed a lawsuit against the company. All the while, The String Cheese Incident stayed committed to music as a creative endeavor, not just in their recordings but also in their live performances. The list of SCI’s special guests and collaborators is long and diverse. Their annual events such as Horning’s Hideout and holiday shows such as New Year’s and Halloween helped redefine the concert experience and garnered the band a reputation as live music vibe innovators.

Now, on the heels of five sold-out, home-state shows for their annual “Winter Carnival,” the band announces their 2007 Summer Tour, which stops in markets that hold plenty of SCI history (such as the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and Colorado) and features some of the band’s favorite kinds of shows - namely weekend camping events with plenty of musical friends in tow (a long weekend in Oregon and the “Big Summer Classic” festival at Camp Zoe).

Dates begin on July 12 with a three night run at the legendary Beacon Theatre in New York City. Then the band skips to the west coast for two nights in the Bay Area at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre on July 21 & 22, with special guests Sound Tribe Sector 9 on Saturday and Railroad Earth on Sunday. The weekend of July 27-29 will include three nights in Oregon, at a venue still to be determined (visit the band’s website for more information and details as they become available). Then, the “Big Summer Classic” will return in the form of a three-day camping festival on the weekend of August 3-5. In the tradition of the inaugural BSC tour in summer of 2005, the weekend festival will feature a slew of SCI’s musical friends. Confirmed so far are Los Lobos, Yonder Mountain String Band, JJ Grey & MOFRO, The Wailers, EOTO and many others to be announced. Visit www.bigsummerclassic.com for more information. The tour will end at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, where it all began.

The String Cheese Incident Summer Tour list of dates is as follows:

June 15 Bonnaroo Manchester, TN
July 12 Beacon Theatre New York, NY
July 13 Beacon Theatre New York, NY
July 14 Beacon Theatre New York, NY
July 21 Greek Theatre Berkeley, CA with Sound Tribe Sector 9
July 22 Greek Theatre Berkeley, CA with Railroad Earth
July 27 Venue TBA Oregon
July 28 Venue TBA Oregon
July 29 Venue TBA Oregon
August 3 Camp Zoe Salem, MO Big Summer Classic
August 4 Camp Zoe Salem, MO Big Summer Classic
August 5 Camp Zoe Salem, MO Big Summer Classic
Produced with Peak Experience. Special guests include Los Lobos, The Wailers, Yonder Mountain String Band, JJ Grey & MOFRO, Greyboy Allstars, EOTO and many others TBA
August 10 Red Rocks Morrison, CO
August 11 Red Rocks Morrison, CO
August 12 Red Rocks Morrison, CO

Tickets on sale Tuesday, May 8 at 10 am MST at www.stringcheeseincident.com

Umphrey's McGee Rev's Up for Spring

On April 3, 2007 Umphrey’s McGee releases a double disc album – a spontaneous and intriguing follow-up to their highly touted spring 2006 studio release Safety In Numbers. Titled The Bottom Half, disc one features ten songs that did not make it onto Safety In Numbers, while disc two offers outtakes, alternative versions of songs, a cappella recordings, and other bits from the band’s 2005 studio sessions. As with Safety In Numbers, famed album artist Storm Thorgerson has designed the artwork for The Bottom Half.

Safety In Numbers attracted mountains of attention for Chicago’s rising stars during 2006. The highly anticipated album charted on Billboard’s Top 200 and on the coveted “Heatseekers” chart, and received a “4 Star” review in Blender magazine. Also in 2006, Umphrey’s McGee sold out shows in theaters coast to coast, appeared at Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, and made their late night TV debut on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. In addition, Guitar Player Magazine recently featured the band’s guitarists – Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss – on their list of “Best Unsung Guitar Heroes.”

Umphrey’s McGee will tour this spring/summer in support of their new release. The list of stops includes a few very special apperances in their hometown of Chicago. The band will perform the National Anthem at U.S. Cellular Field for the Chicago White Sox home opener on April 2nd. This marks the third time Umphrey's McGee has sung the National Anthem at U.S. Cellular Field. Later in April, look for the band to headline the city’s inaugural Green Apple Festival. Umphrey’s performed this Earth Day festival last year in New York City, and is honored to now bring the earth-friendly event to their hometown. Umphrey’s will headline the festivities at the Lincoln Park Zoo on April 22nd, in addition to a very special intimate Vic Theatre performance on April 21st. A portion of the proceeds for the show, and 100% of the sales from an exclusive show poster, will be donated to a Chicago environmental organization to be determined.

The current list of confirmed tour dates is as follows:

April 03 Iowa Memorial Union Ballroom Iowa City IA
April 04 The Blue Note Columbia MO
April 05 The Pageant St. Louis MO
April 06-07 Egyptian Room - Murat Centre Indianapolis IN
April 11 Calvin Theatre Northampton MA With Brothers Past
April 12 Avalon Theatre Boston MA With Brothers Past
April 13 Nokia Theatre Times Square New York NY
April 14 9:30 Club Washington D.C. With Brothers Past
April 15 Water Street Music Hall Rochester NY
April 17 The Opera House Toronto Ontario
April 18 Penn's Peak Jim Thorpe PA
April 19 The Town Ballroom Buffalo NY
April 20 Newport Music Hall Columbia OH
April 21 The Vic Theatre - Green Apple Music and Arts Festival Chicago IL
April 22 Lincoln Park Zoo - Green Apple Music and Arts Festival Chicago IL
May 02-03 The Workplay SoundStage Birmingham AL
May 04 House Of Blues New Orleans LA
May 05 Granada Theatre Dallas TX
May 06 Beale Street Music Festival Memphis TN
May 25-27 Summer Camp 2007 Chillicothe IL
June 02 Mountain Jam Festival Hunter NY
July 18-21 10,000 Lakes Festival Detroit Lakes MN

More dates to be announced.

It has been a quick rise for Chicago’s Umphrey’s McGee. Their virtuoso playing and edgy songcraft recently compelled RollingStone to choose Umphrey’s “a band to watch” in their annual Hot Issue. Relix magazine put them on the cover of their December 2004 issue and the prestigious Chicago Music Awards bestowed upon Umphrey’s McGee the coveted Best Rock Entertainer of the Year award. Booked coast to coast by the Monterey Peninsula Booking Agency, the band recently sold out three nights at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom, two nights at Irving Plaza, San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium, and the list goes on.

www.umphreys.com