When spirituality comes to mind, it seems most often images and associations with well practiced religions such as Christianity and Judaism are the first to surface. With his thoughtful lyrics though, set to a musical style at it's most basic classified as a fusion of reggae and rock, Trevor Hall embraces a different meaning of spirituality.

Friday August 14th was a night of firsts. I'd never been to Mishawaka, I'd never seen these bands all at the same show, and I'd never really talked to any of them.

Have you ever been in the situation where you go to the music store for a particular album and you end up buying something you never intended? It seems like a foolish question, everyone has been there right? I have been in this situation countless times, I am looking for something and I find that one of my favorite artists has new material out as well. What makes my purchase of New Tide by Gomez more remarkable is that I did not know anything about the band before I walked into the store.

It was another packed night at The Starry Plough and Live Dead defied all odds by playing three sets in a row, opening with an acoustic and then following with two electric sets. It felt like you really were at a Dead show as these guys didn’t give a hoot about time, they were just there to play music and have a fabulous time with their fans, which is of course what being a Dead Head is all about.

I saw my first Phish show at the Hampton Coliseum in 1995 when I was 16 years old.  I had such a great time that I lied to my parents in order to go see them again at Hershey Park a few days later.  At the time, I knew nothing about Phish; I didn’t know any of its songs, any of its members names, or that the drummer wore a dress and played a vacuum.  I just knew that when I saw that first show at the Spaceship in ‘95 it was filled with so much positive energy, I wanted to co

There have been very few bands that have impressed me lately in the musical landscape. In an effort to avoid sounding like a music snob, I partly blame myself. My styles have changed and I am not as obsessed with music as I once was. Still, there is a side of me that blames the artists, media and record labels for stealing a little bit of thunder from something I once cherished.

Have you ever been to the Taste of Chicago? All in all it is a fantastic experience, one not to be missed but there are always headaches that go along with attending, ie the heat and humidity, long lines and traffic. Every year even if it is just for a moment you ponder how nice it would be not to have to deal with the headache. This is the best way I can describe the Death Cab for Cutie show at Red Rocks in Morrison, CO on July 14th 2009.

The demographics of a show that contains any member of The Grateful Dead is not as easily predicted as you may think. Wednesday night’s show at Innsbrook Pavilion, near Richmond was peppered with the usual suspects, to be sure.

Nineteen year old Adam Oberlin has been looking forward to this show for weeks. The recent Hampton, Virginia high school graduate got tickets from his parents, who are also Primus fans, from “way back,” according to Adam’s mom, Stacey. “It’s awesome that Adam digs this, too,” offered the father, as they all sprinted past me for a good location at the stage, as a family.

On Friday, July 3rd, The Dead Guise, one of the Bay Area’s best Grateful Dead cover bands played a wonderful two-set concert at The Starry Plough that drew quite the crowd.