Holiday Buzz
Three shows in one week crank up the volume on this season's Yuletide festivities

report filed 12/14/99 - 1:10pm - No doubt about it, the holiday season is upon us. Even here in sunny San Diego. Got the official word from Santa himself at Wise Monkey's free outdoor show last Thursday at San Diego State University. Nattily attired and looking sporty in a newly tailored version of his traditional red and white suit, St. Nick was in good spirits addressing the campus crowd gathered near the student union. Taller and thinner than I recall from the last time we crossed paths, the clean shaven Santa's new millennium makeover was literally topped off by an exciting, yet impractical new hairdo that reduced his normally festive cap to little more than a dangling head ornament. Kinda dug Santa's old look better, but then again I never did understand fashion too well...

Music's another story. And there was plenty of the good stuff to go 'round once Santa cleared the stage. For about an hour, the monkey jammed under the sun, as the college kids hung out, ate lunch and recreated. Very low key vibe as compared to the raging dance party and alcohol fueled mayhem of a bar gig, but alot of fun nonetheless.



On Saturday, Tunji and WMO played a show together at Blind Melons in Pacific Beach. I'd heard about this club before, but had never been there. Pretty cool place ... right next to the beach, decent sound system and interesting lighting for taking photos. At least the weird, trippy type I like to take. Anyway, Tunji was in fine form. As the opener of the double bill they only got to play for about an hour. The good news though is that they're hangin' around southern Cal for a few days and will be playing Winston's right here in OB tonight!

Here's some shots of Tunji at Blind Melons -





A few weeks ago I chatted with Charley Orlando of Dexter Grove. Got that article done and sent it off to the Las Vegas Weekly on Monday morning. Also posted it here. The timing was perfect - Dexter was in town that night for a show at Winstons!

And they weren't alone. Jim Loughlin, percussionist for moe. and a talented bassist as well, sat in.


As if that wasn't enough, Dan Mazer, a local banjo phenom also got into the mix. Mazer just happened to be playing a set earlier in the night at Java Joe's, which is right around the corner from Winstons. Believe it or not, there was also a bagpipe player at JJ's who wanted to join in, but he was underage. While that would have been wild, bordering on bizarre, Mazer's banjo stylings added a nice rhythmic texture to the music. And of course, Loughlin was great - thumping grooves or spacing out, the guy can play bass.


Wanna know more about Dexter Grove?

Check out the new -Artist Profile- that was just posted.

OK, let's see what else is going on? The new issue of jambands.com was posted today. Did a "Top Ten HGMN -Studio- Albums of the Millennium," for this month's -Points on a Line- column.

I'm also very pleased to announce that I am working on my first book! Although it's a project I've been developing over the past year or so, I've been holding off on saying anything about it here until the time was right. That time is now. Here's the deal:

"Music For the Mind, Relix Magazine and a Quarter Century of Rock and Roll Journalism," will be the authorized story of Relix. That means full access to the Relix vault of previously unpublished interviews, art and photos. Tracking the magazine from its humble origins as a newsletter for tape traders interested in exchanging tapes of Dead shows, to an internationally distributed music magazine widely regarded as the authoritative voice of a rock and roll generation, Music For the Mind, will be a sweeping epic of the people, bands and music that are all part of the Relix story.

The plan is to focus on the book full time for the next three months. Right now I'm almost midway into somewhere around 40 or so interviews as part of the research. So far I've had opportunity to speak with many of the long-standing contributors, including writers, photographers and editors that have been involved with Relix over the years. Lots of great behind-the-scenes stuff and little known facts are coming to light that I find fascinating and think other folks will too... Also going to be doing a lot of interviews with the performers who frequently found their way into the pages of Relix, as well as all kinds of people that somehow played a part in the Relix story. And then of course there's the actual process of writing the darn thing.

So that's the news here at Anytime/Anywhere Studios. I'll keep ya posted as things develop...