This is the week...

So a lot of big doin's this week, The biggest is The McLovins playing with The Groove Smugglers at Infinity Hall on Saturday night. Tiickets to this are sure to sell-out, and there are limited seats still available.

see Infinity Hall for ticket details

Pete "Phanart" Mason is doing pre-orders for his new book edited with Taraleigh Weathers, PhanFood: From the Kitchen Pot to the Parking Lot. This is a recipe book focusing on the myriad gastronomic creations you're likely and not so likely to find on lot. This is a follow-up to Mason's PhanArt: The Art of the Fans of Phish. They are accepting pre-orders for the bok and a launch party is planned for December 11th at Nectar's in Burlington Vermont, featuring music by Dopapod. All net profits from PhanFood will be donated to local food banks and food charities. This is an awesome cause and you will get some fantastic ideas and recipes for your next tail-gate party. There's a link to the Phanart page over to the right, stop by and check out what Pete's doing..

After a 3 week break, looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday night, come in costume if you can and come ready to jam, it's gonna be a smoker!

Red Square 10/09/10 Albany, NY

While driving through western Massachusetts on my way up to Albany, the changing leaves provided a stark witness to the end of summer and the onset of the fall. The time of harvesting is here, and all the hard work and effort of the spring and summer has paid off, with the band’s audience savoring the benefits of the fall’s bounty. So far October is shaping up as a water-shed month, the release of the Cohesive collaboration, their first return to Albany since May and the upcoming Infinity Hall Halloween extravaganza are all reasons to be excited this month.

I got to the venue a bit early, and had a chance to spend some time with local Albany promoter Greg Bell. Bell has been promoting shows in the Capital Region for the past dozen years and has been working with The McLovins for the past two years. He was the promoter of shows at the now-closed Revolution Hall in Troy, and currently holds shows at Jillians, Northern Lights and Red Square in Albany. The last time the band performed in a Bell show was the Revolution Hall closing show featuring 7 Walkers back in May. Greg has always done a good job of pairing the band up with some very solid musical performers, and tonight’s match-up with Consider The Source would prove to be another winning combo. The band last played Red Square last October on a shared-bill with Jimkata, Dr. Jay and The Love Prophets, and had a nice turnout. This time around it’s a longer opening set in support of Consider The Source, and a great turnout is expected.

Consider The Source are ready to embark on a tour of Israel and Turkey and had chosen to record a tour promotional video at Red Square. They run through their soundcheck and then enlist Carol, the McLovin’s manager, to step behind the camera for them. They get 2 solid takes of their performance, and then it’s time for The Mclovins to soundcheck. The band runs through a truncated version of Milktoast Man and This Town and after some treble tweaking, the sound is all set.

The band mingle a bit with some fans as the bar starts to fill up, a constant stream of fans file up to the band and get in a bit of talk and chatter before the show, a nice turnout for McLovination, with Phanart, Aimee and Scott, Jeanette and Dan Bennett showing up for the show. The band turned in an exceptional set, the fact that they were opening for a band that they had so much respect for probably had a bit to do with it, but they’re on cruise control right now, taking in all the energy and excitement thrown at them and channeling it right back out in their music. I can’t remember a false step or a miscue in the past couple months, they’ve been that steady.

There’s a couple weeks off now, the next show is their Halloween Celebration at Infinity Hall on October 30, the Groove Smugglers are the openers.

Greg’s back and got an amazing recording of the show, special thanks to Ed Guidry (tufflitestudios@yahoo.com) for providing the feed from his on stage Neuman u89i microphones, it helped give the set such a full sound.

download here

You need to feel Cohesive

Cohesive is the first collaboration between Tom Marshall, Anthony Krizan and The Mclovins. It's both a fresh sound and a masterful reminder of the Jam band heroes of our time.. When the dark invades your mood, you need to feel Cohesive...

Available on:

You can view exclusive making of "Cohesive" video at Relix.com