Archive - Sep 2008

Eggs and I attended the New Monsoon show that took place at Warehouse Live on September 20, where we heard of an acoustic set three members of the band planned to play the next night. The non-publicized event took place at Club Dub Dub (formerly the Jellyphish Lounge), one of our absolute favorite venues in Houston. We've caught a few acoustic shows there that have blown us away, so we were excited to learn that we'd get to experience another performance in this unique setting so soon.

Read more about the night and watch videos after the jump

Phil Ferlino, Bo Carper and Jeff Miller of New Monsoon

The last day of a festival is always a little bittersweet, and this held true for us as we greeted Saturday, September 13, 2008 at the Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival. Performers included The Shotgun Brothers Band, Cornmeal, Ben Miller Band, Green Mountain Grass, Big Smith, Dirtfoot, Hot Buttered Rum, My-Tea Kind, and Perpetual Groove.

Read the full Mulberry Mountain Saturday review after the jump

In the process of trying to expand my work as an author, and with a little help from our buddies in Andrew's Ave., I finally took on the operation of writing an album review. It sounded like such an easy task - until I actually began working on it, that is. So hopefully I am able to do these talented gentlemen some justice.

Read more on the new album, after the jump!

Houston is still dealing with the problems that Hurricane Ike left behind, including restoring power to a good chunk of the city. While we are slowly putting everything back together, so is Houston's music community. Most of Houston's venues now have power pumping into them again, but several shows were canceled or postponed before everything returned to an operational level. We had originally planned to see Redman, Steven Kellogg & the Sixers, and the Silver Jews all last week, but due to the lack of power - and the strict curfew in place - they all ended up moving on to the next city. New Monsoon, as we reported a few weeks ago, were set to record their Houston gig at Warehouse Live on Saturday, and with the help of the venue's staff, they ended up pulling off the show. It started and ended earlier than usual (we arrived at 8:30 and New Monsoon was well into their first set. We ended up missing openers Green Mountain Grass), but it still went on. The highlight of the show included a stirring version "Alaska" which has quickly become one of BOT's favorites. Green Mountain Grass ended up playing an impromptu acoustic jam in the middle of the ballroom floor during New Monsoon's set break, so all wasn't lost after missing their supporting set. Lighting duties were covered by Matt "Jonezy" Jones, who did a brilliant job working the different colors with the mood and pace of the music.

Feel free to browse a selection of images from the night's events after the jump

Wilcobama (photo from Brooklyn Vegan)

You might remember that I recently posted a video which featured two of my favorite bands, Wilco and Fleet Foxes, collaborating together on the Bob Dylan classic "I Shall Be Released." You might also remember that it was quite good. Wilco decided to take advantage of the mass amounts of blog hype over that video, and released a clean, crisp soundboard copy of the cover for the world to download. There is a catch though. To get the mp3, you have to hop on over to their site and pledge to vote in the upcoming Presidential election.

If you have been living in a cave for the past year, the election pits Democratic nominee Barack Obama against Republican candidate John McCain. If you pay attention to our blog, there is no question about who BOT's votes are going to, but our opinion doesn't matter in this case. What does matter is that you head on over to your local voter registration center or online resource to get yourself signed up. It will take only a few minutes, so download the free music and give it a listen while registering.

Friday, September 12th was the first day of the Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival that found bands playing on all three stages. The biggest draws of the day included both jam heroes Leftover Salmon and up-and-coming indie bluegrass band The Avett Brothers. A full day of music preceded those headliners, and we were there to take full advantage of the long schedule of events.

Read about the day after the jump

Thursday, September 11 was the first day of the 2008 Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival, and BOT's very first experience with the event. Starting at 1pm, music filled the festival grounds located near Ozark, Arkansas. Performers included Charliehorse, Elephant Revival Concept, Green Mountain Grass, Hackensaw Boys, Mountain of Venus, and New Monsoon.

Read the full Mulberry Mountain Thursday review after the jump

Just wanted to log a quick update about our post-Ike status - Eggs and I still don't have Internet access at home, which kind of makes running a website difficult. I've been doing what I can from my day job, but I can't exactly sit around blogging all day without feeling super sketchy. We've managed to post our photo and video reviews from the Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival, and our written reviews of each day will hopefully be up in the next couple of days.

The 12am - 6am curfew in Houston has been extended "until further notice," which blows big time as far as shows (and our sanity) are concerned. Thankfully, our friends at Warehouse Live relieved some of our stir craziness this past weekend by hosting New Monsoon and Green Mountain Grass on Saturday. We were even fortunate enough to attend an acoustic show featuring Bo Carper, Jeff Miller and Phil Ferlino of New Monsoon the following night at one of our favorite Houston venues, Club Dub Dub. We'll try to get our reviews, photos, and videos from those shows up as quickly as possible after we've finished our Mulberry coverage.

This weekend will find Eggs and myself fleeing the disaster zone to find some much-needed musical relief at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. We're not attending as members of the press this time around (phew! It's been almost a year since I've been able to say that about a festival), so we're looking forward to relaxing, catching several bands we've never seen before, and making some new friends. We're still planning on posting coverage, it'll just be scaled back.

Thanks for bearing with us through these difficult times - we hope to be back up and running normally very soon!

New Monsoon at Warehouse Live

Rumors have been flying over the past few days about a purported secret Band of Horses Austin City Limits Music Festival aftershow. Sixth Street venue The Parish Room officially announced the show yesterday, so it's not exactly a secret anymore. And it's also not exactly a secret that we are ecstatic about this unexpected development - The Parish Room is a pretty small space, so this is sure to be an intimate/incredible experience. Fuck yeah!

Anyway, tickets went on sale at 10am today; they're $18 in advance, and $21 at the door. I wouldn't bank on getting them at the door, though - this show is guaranteed to sell out. Get 'em online here.

Opening for Band of Horses will be fellow ACL performers James McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards. A portion of the proceeds from the concert will benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide access to affordable healthcare for Austin’s low-income, uninsured working musicians.

UPDATE: Looks like tickets have already sold out online. Not sure yet if any tickets have been reserved for sale at the door - will update if we receive any more information.

Hot Buttered Rum - "Honkytonk Tequila":

View more videos from Saturday, September 13, 2008 at the Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival after the jump