I hope the folks in Greensboro, NC and Florida got the same treatment we got from RatDog here in Philadelphia before ending their Fall Tour.  Two weeks after our country rejoiced and welcomed a new sign of hope in the free world with the election of Barack Obama, Ratdog brought the house down. The stage was full of election remnants.

JFJO are just back from a tour of Europe where they hit a slew of festivals and turned on a whole new world of fans. At The Cork Festival in Ireland, they won the Guinness Award for "Best New Band," meanwhile Reed Mathis returned with a treasure trove of soundboard recordings from the tour, so we might even get a limited edition release of JFJO in Europe '08. Fingers crossed. Back in the U.S., look for JFJO to maintain a high touring profile throughout '09.

Umphrey's McGee's one-of-a-kind pre-order campaign for their highly anticipated new studio release, Mantis (January 20, 2009 / SCI Fidelity Records) is already being recognized as a brilliant and innovative use of digital technology. The power of this new pre-order concept is in the hands of the fans.