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     Greetings and welcome to this week’s Reservoir Music Notes. Well, we all know by now that Whitney Houston died this week. I actually got the news just before my deadline last week, but I decided not to write anything about it because, well, her music just ain’t my bag! But, she did have an amazing voice and was a force to be reckoned with in music, so I decided not to let her pass without at least a mention. The girl could sing! I only wish her career had been guided by someone other than Clive Davis, so she might’ve had a real music guy in her corner. She could’ve been another Aretha, had her material not been so white bread! RIP Whitney.

      “Howlin’ For Hubert,” a celebration of the musical legacy of the late Hubert Sumlin and his influence on every guitar hero of today, has been confirmed for February 24th at New York’s legendary Apollo Theater. The evening will benefit the Jazz Foundation of America.  The concert will feature performances by Doyle Bramhall II, Eric Clapton, Gary Clark Jr., James Cotton, Shemekia Copeland, Billy Flynn, Barrelhouse Chuck Goering, Buddy Guy, David Johansen, Steve Jordan, Danny Kortchmar, Dr. John, Keb Mo, Todd Mohr, Ivan Neville, Robert Randolph, Keith Richards, Kenny Wayne Sheperd, Larry Taylor, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Jimmie Vaughan, Jimmy Vivino, Willie Weeks, Jody Williams, Kim Wilson, and other special surprise guests.
      After playing for a lifetime and lifting the world with his blues, it is hard to believe that a legend like Hubert, who influenced so many in the music world, could die penniless. That is why this tribute to Hubert will benefit the Jazz Foundation of America, with 6000 musician emergency cases a year, saving jazz and blues one musician at a time. A fund in his honor will be created from this concert as it was his wish that no musician would ever have to go through this again. 

     For twenty two years the Jazz Foundation of America (JFA) has been committed to providing jazz and blues musicians with financial, medical, housing, and legal assistance as well as performance opportunities, with a special focus on the elderly and veterans who have paid their dues and find themselves in crisis due to illness, age, and/or circumstance.  JFA keeps hundreds of jazz and blues legends in crisis, from eviction and homelessness by paying rents and mortgages, and finding creative dignified solutions to heal their darkest hours, as they have always been there to heal ours.

     Quiet and extremely unassuming off the bandstand, Hubert Sumlin played a style of guitar incendiary enough to stand tall beside the immortal Howlin' Wolf. The Wolf was Sumlin's imposing mentor for more than two decades, and it proved a mutually beneficial relationship; Sumlin's twisting, darting, unpredictable lead guitar constantly energized the Wolf's 1960s Chess sides, even when the songs themselves were less than stellar. 
      A member of The Blues Hall of Fame, Hubert’s singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions". Listed in Rolling Stone's The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time as well as a four time Grammy nominee he is cited as a major influence by many artists, including Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Robbie Robertson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix.

     Tickets are sold out, if they even were ever offered to the public, but if you can talk, buy, squirm, or otherwise gain admission into this once in a lifetime event, you’ll have a memory that will last a lifetime!

     If you can’t get in to the “Howlin’ for Hubert” Concert, here’s the best of the rest for this week.

     Wednesday, February 22 – ROBERT CRAY BAND is at Tarrytown Music Hall tonight. As I mentioned last week, Robert was on the bill for Stevie Ray Vaughn’s last concert, and has always been one of Eric Clapton’s, and my, favorite guitarists. He writes good songs and can wail with the best of ‘em! Recommended!

     Friday, February 24 – Really good RnB band, complete with horns and chick singer, are at The Colony in Woodstock tonight. I’ve heard a lot about SISTER SPARROW AND THE DIRTY BIRDS, and the clips I checked out on the internet sounded really good. What’s better than old school RnB? Definitely worth checking out. Also tonight up in Hudson at Club Helsinki, the truly formidable ALEXIS P. SUTER will school you in The Blues and more. Veteran of about a hundred Midnight Ramble opening slots, and dozens of shows with Levon on the road, Alexis was nominated this year for a Blues Music Award in the category of Best Soul Blues Female Artist, so you know she’s gonna bring it! And all you gotta do is bring yourself (and a few friends).

     Saturday, February 25 – There’re four very interesting shows tonight. HOT TUNA is at The Egg in Albany. Great venue, great band. Hope they’re playing electric. For you downstaters, the great Cajun band, BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO, is at BB King’s in Manhattan. I always liked these guys, ever since I heard their killer cover of the Derek and The Dominoes classic, “Why Does Love Have to be so Sad”. Also in Manhattan, JIMMY DESTRI, keyboard player in Blondie for many years, even into their current incarnation, seems to be out on his own and playing tonight at Joe’s Pub. I would really like to check this out, but I’ll probably wind up at The Bearsville Theater for THE KANE BROS. BLUES BAND. Formed in Woodstock in 1972, these guys broke up in 1977, but not before impressing Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and James Cotton. During their 30 year break, they conquered many worlds in music and got back together in 2002. Their audio clips sound most blueswailing, and I’m gonna make this a Pick of the Week. How d’ya like them apples? More info at www.bearsvilletheater.com.

     Sunday, February 26 – Today was George Harrison’s birthday and there are celebrations planned for several clubs in Manhattan. Don’t know any of the bands, so I’m not recommending any of them, just sayin’, if you dug George’s music, you’d probably have fun at any of them. More info at www.villagevoice.com, click on Calendar section and select date. Former Woodstock resident, TODD RUNDGREN pulls into City Winery in Manhattan tonight for the first of two shows.

     Monday, February 27 – Todd wraps it up at City Winery and “In Performance at The White House: Red, White, and Blues” airs on PBS tonight at 9PM. This might be a show worth Tivoing, or whatever you use to record TV shows. The show features Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, BB King, Keb Mo, Gary Clarke, Jr., and Trombone Shorty, with Booker T as musical director. WOW! This is a Pick of the Week, my first ever TV pick! Maybe the President will join them for another round of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”. LOL.

     Tuesday, February 28 – If you missed VAN HALEN at their Café Wha? performance last month, you can catch them tonight at Madison Square Garden. Also, legendary guitarist, LEO KOTTKE, starts a two night run at City Winery in Manhattan. Kottke is the foremost living proponent of acoustic trance guitar in the style popularized (well, at least to his core cult following) by the late great John Fahey. He ain’t gonna rock out, but you will be mesmerized. Leo finishes up tomorrow night, Wednesday, February 28.

     Happy Leap Year! See you next week.

    
 

     Greetings, and welcome to my 50th column of Reservoir Music Notes! And baby, it’s cold outside, so come on inna my kitchen and warm yourselves up by my fire!

     Last night, I braved the frigid temperatures to have a joyous time at The Fab Faux concert at UPAC in Kingston. What can I say about The Fab Faux that I haven’t already said in previous columns? Well, a lot, actually.

     Racing to arrive on time so as not to miss the opening songs, I explained to my companion that the band was known to perform complete albums in each set. Therefore, as an example, I said that if they did the White Album, and opened with “Back in the USSR”, you wouldn’t want to walk in on “Dear Prudence” and kill the continuity. Well, we did manage to arrive just in time to hear the opening strains of…”Back in the USSR”! Once again, my musical instincts did not fail me!

     Sadly, after “Dear Prudence”, they moved to a program of greatest hits. And I say “sadly” simply because it’s so nice to hear those albums in their entirety in the song order that has been imprinted on your mind for, like, ever! But it wasn’t really “sadly”. It was actually an ecstatic celebration of a certain time in our history when anything seemed possible and the future looked bright, and, of course, a celebration of the greatest success story in entertainment history, i.e. The Beatles!

     When the band launched into “I Saw her Standing There”, it was an in your face reminder of how much fun The Beatles were when they first appeared on the scene. Just a simple rock n roll song with a cool guitar solo. So simple, yet so profound! But mostly, fun, fun, fun (to quote The Beach Boys).

     Fab Faux really hit their stride with “I am the Walrus”, John Lennon’s psychedelic anthem with some of the most complex production values and audio effects ever, which the band somehow managed to duplicate perfectly! From there on out, it was just one moment of joy after the other!

     Guitarist Jimmy Vivino shone on “While my Guitar Gently Weeps”.  Guitarist and keyboard multi-instrumentalist, Jack Petruzelli blew everybody’s mind with his tour de force vocal on “Oh Darling”. Drummer Rich Pagano channeled Ringo to an amazing degree, right down to his body language and drum tunings, both of which captured the absolute essence of the Beatle drummer! Guitarist Frank Agnello sang a beautiful “Something”, and of course, the visual  centerpiece was always the tall, pale, blond, rail thin bass player, Will Lee, with his chalk stripe pants, outrageous stage moves, and note perfect bass musings, who closed the show with “I’m Down”!

     To make a point about The Fab Faux that I’ve made before and will probably make again, when Jack sang “Oh Darling”, as I said, it was a tour de force, and Jack sang it so powerfully that everyone in attendance HAD to take notice (Jack received a standing ovation for his performance), but what it drove home, at least to me, was what a truly amazing job Paul McCartney did on the original record! As great as Jack was on this song, it made you realize that Sir Paul’s take on it was even more powerful, and it made you appreciate, once again, how good The Beatles really were! This is something that The Fab Faux do over and over again. They give the listener deeper insight into the music of The Beatles, and that may be their greatest accomplishment, even greater than playing these timeless classic songs perfectly. Like a fine musician who tailors what he plays to the song he’s playing, The Fab Faux serve The Beatles music, and IMHO, do it better than any “tribute” band. “It’s not a tribute. It’s a recreation”! After a Fab Faux show at The Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan a few years ago, a fan walked up to Jimmy Vivino and blurted out, “Wow Jimmy! I don’t usually like cover bands, but you guys were great”. To which Jimmy replied quizzically, “Cover band? Do you consider The New York Philharmonic a cover band”? Pretty much says it all! This is the classical music of my generation, and every generation to come after rediscovers and loves The Beatles, and that’s why they are the best band ever! And the funny thing is, when I was younger, I was a Rolling Stones fan. I loved The Beatles too, but The Stones were my favorite band for twenty years. Ironically, The Stones had the bad boy image, while The Beatles were thought of as cute and cuddly. The real truth is that the two bands switched realities for images. The Beatles were juvenile delinquents, where The Stones were mostly middle class kids! And as time has gone on, I’ve grown to appreciate The Beatles more and more. I doubt that any artist will ever equal them, in either creative or financial success. And while The Stones are rock royalty, The Beatles, and people forget this, were Gods! My heartfelt thanks to The Fab Faux for doing what they do and bringing so much joy to so many people, and to Chris Silva at The Bardavon/UPAC for making this review possible by graciously hooking me up to attend this concert. A splendid time was guaranteed, and had, by all!

     After The Fab Faux, this week’s naturally gonna be a little bit of a letdown, but there’s always some cool stuff to do, and this week’s no exception, so here we go with this week’s live music picks.

     Wednesday, February 15 – GUNS AND ROSES return to The Ritz! Now known as Webster Hall, The Ritz on 13th Street in Manhattan was the site of a legendary and historic concert by the bad boys of hair metal back in 1987. I remember it well because it was one of the few events that I actually could not get in to! And I had carte blanche at The Ritz! My friend Tommy Tully was the stage manager! Didn’t help. Now, for a mere $125, that historic night can be relived with Axl Rose and his band of hired help. I think the original ticket price was $15. Still, would like to be there. And Webster Hall is changing their name back to The Ritz, for this one night only, to commemorate the historic nature of the event! For those of you on a tighter budget, ZIGABOO MODELISTE, drummer and founding member of The Meters, and drummer for Keith Richards’ first spin off band, The New Barbarians, stops off at The Highline Ballroom in Manhattan. This is the perfect gig for Richards to pop in at. He’s probably in town because he’s doing the Hubert Sumlin Jazz Foundation benefit at The Apollo Theater next week, and it’s just like him to show up unannounced for his old bandmate’s show. No guarantees, but the last time I felt this way, it was for Dave Edmunds and Rockpile’s show at The Bottom Line, and if you know your history, you know how that worked out! In other news, guitar whiz JOHNNY LANG pops in to BB King’s and RICHARD THOMPSON continues his three day all request run at The City Winery, both in Manhattan.

     Thursday, February 16 – RICHARD THOMPSON finishes up at City Winery and LUCKY PETERSON is at The Catamount in Mount Tremper for a rare, intimate acoustic show, the first of three shows in our area this week.

     Friday, February 17 – Okay, fasten your seatbelts, because we’re gearing up for a great weekend! The great ARETHA FRANKLIN starts a two day run at Radio City Music Hall and LUCKY PETERSON continues his run through the Hudson Valley with a full band show at The Bearsville Theater. Hard rock band TESLA are at Irving Plaza and the most bluesworthy RONNIE EARL will be blueswailing at BB King’s, both in Manhattan. Out in Brooklyn at The Brooklyn Bowl, OTIS DAY AND THE KNIGHTS, the RnB band immortalized in “Animal House”, will be rockin’ out for the faithful. Finally, at The Bardavon in Poughkeepsie, Stanley Kubrick’s paen to the nuclear age, DOCTOR STRANGELOVE, a Perry family favorite, will have a special showing at 7:30 pm.

     Saturday, February 18 – ARETHA finishes up at Radio City, PETER FRAMPTON rolls into The Beacon Theater, DAVY JONES of The Monkees is at BB King’s, it’s STRICTLY BLUEGRASS night at Banjo Jim’s, all in Manhattan, and the legendary SKATALITES, with mostly original lineup, are at The Brooklyn Bowl.

     Sunday, February 19 – LUCKY PETERSON finishes up his visit to the Hudson Valley with a show at The Falcon in Marlborough, and this week’s Pick of the Week, living legend DION, performs at the 92nd Street YMCA, now known as 92Y.

     Monday, February 20 – Winner of 8 Blues Music Awards and 4 time GRAMMY nominee, MARCIA BALL, brings it at City Winery. This woman can rock and get down with the best of ‘em! Opening this show will be multiple GRAMMY and Best of the Beat Award winning band, BEAUSOLEIL, a fabulous double bill that makes this my second Pick of the Week!

     Tuesday, February 21 – DION ain’t done yet! Tonight, he’s at Joe’s Pub downtown. Catch him! Dion’s much more than you think, even if you’re a fan. He’s even done a blues album!

     Wednesday, February 22 – ROBERT CRAY at Tarrytown Music Hall. Robert is one of Eric Clapton’s favorites, and was the third guitarist on the bill with Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eric the night of Stevie’s helicopter crash. Yeah, he’s in THAT kind of company!

     Actually, it’s shaping up to be a pretty awesome week. Have a great one!

     Greetings and welcome to this week’s Reservoir Music Notes!

     Well, the week I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived! The Fab Faux will be making their first appearance in the Hudson Valley this week! If you don’t know who The Fab Faux are, taking a look at last week’s column will give you a good idea. In short, The Fab Faux are the best Beatles band on the planet! Rather than try to write something new, I’m going to reprint what I wrote about the band last week, because I think that said it all pretty well. On Saturday, February 11, The Fab Faux, make their first trip to the Hudson Valley, with an appearance at UPAC in Kingston. If you don’t know them, The Fab Faux is a band that performs the music of The Beatles. They’re not a tribute band though, and make no attempt to look or dress like The Fab Four. What they do do, is to play the music, note perfect. As they say on their website, “It’s not a tribute. It’s a recreation.” And it is! When they do “Within You, Without You”, guitarist Jimmy Vivino plays the part on sitar! When they do “Savoy Truffle” or “Got to Get You into my Life”, a horn section appears. For “She’s Leaving Home” or “Eleanor Rigby” a string quartet walks onstage. They even have additional singers for a double tracked vocal! These guys are so good that when listening to them, they have at times, actually made the music of The Beatles clearer! What I mean is, you can hear the musical parts being played better than on The Beatles’ records! Not always, but often! The Fab Faux actually give the listener new insight into what The Beatles were playing on their records! And the musicians are top notch! The bass player is Will Lee from The Late Show Band, whom no less than Paul McCartney praised as one of the world’s best bassists, and the guitar player is Jimmy Vivino from Conan O’Brian’s Band, who also spends time in The Levon Helm Band, as well as numerous other projects, all first rate! This is the closest you’ll get to the Fab Four today! They often do a complete Beatles album in each set. I’ve seen them do “Sgt. Pepper”, “Rubber Soul”, “Revolver” Magical Mystery Tour”, “The White Album”, and “Abbey Road” as well as the psychedelic singles “All you Need is Love”, “I am the Walrus”, “Strawberry Fields”, “Penny Lane” and “Hey Jude”. The Beatles themselves never performed these songs live, but The Fab Faux do, and they do them perfectly! I’ve never before written about a live show in the main body of this column, but this is really special, so I’ve broken with tradition for The Fab Faux (and The Fab Four)! If you  like The Beatles, (and who doesn’t), I strongly suggest you catch this show! If you only go to one show this Winter, make it this one! I guarantee you will be amazed and fascinated. Obviously, it’s this week’s Pick of the Week!

     And now on to the best of the rest!

     Wednesday, February 8 – As mentioned last week, THE YARDBIRDS and VANILLA FUDGE are touring together. The new Yardbirds have two original members who have done a great job replacing Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck! The new band is quite good and faithfully reproduce all of their immortal hits of the 60’s! Vanilla Fudge should be bringing back their unique semi-heavy metal take on classics like “You Keep me Hangin’ On”, their biggest hit from the 60’s. Last stop in our area is at the Tarrytown Music Hall. Very recommended!

For those of you downstate, there are three fine shows tonight. GEORGE CLINTON AND THE P-FUNK ALL STARS will be funking it up at BB King’s and BERNARD FOWLER, backup singer for The Rolling Stones for the past two decades, will be at The Highline Ballroom, both in Manhattan. Out in Brooklyn, PRIMUS rolls into The Music Hall of Williamsburg.

     Thursday, February 9 – THE JACK GRACE BAND brings their old school, rockin’, wry brand of Country music to Keegan Ales in Kingston. This is my second Pick of the Week. These guys are great! And it’s free!

     Friday, February 10 – Downstate – AL KOOPER at BB King’s and GUNS AND ROSES at Roseland Ballroom. Upstate – JERRY MAROTTA’S Birthday Party at Keegan’s. Further upstate – PETER FRAMPTON at The Palace Theater in Albany. Comments – Al Kooper has been on the charts for over a half century. Starting with The Royal Teens, then as a founding member of The Blues Project and Blood Sweat and Tears, in his spare time finding the time to play on records by Bob Dylan, BB King, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper, Cream,  and The Rolling Stones, discovering, signing, producing, and playing on the first three records by Lynrd Skynrd, producing the first Tubes record, and writing the hit song, “This Diamond Ring” for vastly underated pop bubblegum star, Gary Lewis and The Playboys. Mister Kooper continues his illustrious career to this day with various assemblages like The ReKooperators and The Funky Faculty. I’d say his resume speaks for itself, wouldn’t you? Guns and Roses today is Axl Rose and whoever he hires. As such, much of the subtleties are bound to be lost, but I’d still love to check this out. Jerry Marotta was the drummer for Peter Gabriel, The Indigo Girls, and on countless records. There will be many special guests here tonight. Peter Frampton is best known for his pop records of the 70’s, but before that, he was in the first version of Humble Pie, and is said to be an excellent guitarist, so this could possibly be good.

     Saturday, February 11 – As previously mentioned, if you’re in the Hudson Valley, it’s THE FAB FAUX at UPAC in Kingston. Pick of the Week! See above! Further upstate it’s PETER WOLF at The Egg in Albany. Peter is the former lead singer for the J. Geils Band. His solo records have been sort of pop-ish, but the J. Geils Band was one of the rockin’-est blues bands ever to live, especially their first two albums, “The J. Geils Band” and “The Morning After”, both of which I highly recommend, and both of which you should pick up, or load down, or whatever it is you kids do! In the City, one of the best jam bands, TEA LEAF GREEN will be holding forth at The Brooklyn Bowl. These guys are really great musicians, very innovative and very creative and original. And check out THE KILLS at Terminal 5 in Manhattan. Don’t know much about this mixed sex duo, but my girlfriend digs ‘em, and that’s good enough for me!

     Sunday, February 12 – The immortal DOCTOR RALPH STANLEY AND THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS make a rare stop in Manhattan at BB King’s. You gotta check these guys out! Doctor Stanley is probably the last living original Bluegrass artist. Even if you don’t dig Bluegrass, good music is good music! And this is good music! GUNS AND ROSES reprise Friday night’s show, this time at Terminal 5. Up in the Hudson Valley, country-rock royalty POCO rides into The Towne Crier in Pauling. Don’t know if this will be the full band or just the trio they’ve been touring as lately, but if you like ‘em, you’ll love ‘em!

     Tuesday, February 14 – Downstate, RICHARD THOMPSON begins the first of three nights doing all request shows at the City Winery in Manhattan. Upstate, it’s Tuesday, so it’s BEN ROUNDS’ Open Mic Night at The Catamount in Mount Tremper.

     Wednesday, February 15 – RICHARD THOMPSON, Night 2.

     Thursday, February 16 – Downstate – RICHARD THOMPSON, Night 3. Upstate – LUCKY PETERSON at The Catamount. Catch this great artist in the most intimate venue you’re ever likely to see him in. Highly recommended!

     That’s it for now! See this space next week for my review of the Fab Faux show and other musings on the state of music and the music business. Until then, Vaya con Dios!

    

     Greetings! And welcome to this week’s Reservoir Music Notes. They announced the preliminary lineup for Mountain Jam this week. The usual suspects are back (Warren Haynes, Michael Franti), but this year’s festival will be headlined by Stevie Winwood! Also new to the Jam this year will be The Word, a new band consisting of sacred steel ace, Robert Randolph, John Medeski, and The North Mississippi Allstars! They should have called it The Wow! Other new acts added this year will be Lukas Nelson ( Willie’s son),  The Carolina Chocolate Drops, and local bands, Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds and Connor Kennedy. AND Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue will return for the third time. Sounds like they’ve done it again!

     Friday night, I took my own advice and went over to The Bearsville Theater for the Jonny Monster Band, and they were even more impressive than the first time I saw them! Jon opened their set solo acoustic with a resonator guitar, doing a short set of old school blues. Not as comfortable onstage without his band and electric guitar, he nevertheless managed to pull off a very competent set. Gotta give him props just for doin’ it, ya know!  Then the band came on, and you could tell immediately that they were all at home now! Roaring into their set, I was struck by how good the rest of the band were. At my first exposure to Jonny, the guitar playing was so mindblowing that I barely noticed the rhythm section! Chalk it up to the element of surprise! This time, knowing what to expect, I had the room to relax and listen to the whole band. Drummer Roger LaRochelle is a dynamic powerhouse who never loses sight of the groove and fits Jonny’s guitar playing perfectly! Bassist Pete Newman just stands there playing the exact right notes. This is a band of equals! But, of course, the focus is always on Jonny, as it should be. He’s the one who’s making you sit there thinking, “Can this kid really be as good as I think he is?”. Over and over again, Jonny Monster answered that question with a resounding “Yes!”. I’m telling you, catch them once and you’ll be hooked!

     This year is the 50th anniversary of The Rolling Stones! While still waiting for an official announcement, rumours abound! One is that Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor will be back on board! Do it to me one more time baby!

     GRAMMY awards are next week. Should be the usual snooze fest, but maybe there’ll be some good performances. One can only hope.

     Almost all of this week’s live music picks are in the city, or at least downstate.

     Friday, February 3 – Okay! You’ve got THE YARDBIRDS and VANILLA FUDGE at Irving Plaza and THE CANNABIS CUP BAND in a BOB MARLEY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION at BB King’s, both in Manhattan. Over at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, THURSTON MOORE of Sonic Youth continues his trek through the Northeast. And at The Towne Crier in Pauling, GARLAND JEFFREYS alternately rocks and punks it up for his fans.

     Saturday, February 4 – MARSHALL CRENSHAW joins the aforementioned Mister GARLAND JEFFREYS at Maxwell’s in Hoboken and if it’s the first Saturday in the month, it’s the BLUEGRASS JAM at Banjo Jim’s in Manhattan. This one starts early, so be forewarned. Call for showtimes.

     Monday, February 6 – It’s the last night of STEVE EARLE’S residency at City Winery in Manhattan, so if you haven’t caught his act yet, don’t miss this one.

     Tuesday, February 7 – Well if it isn’t the Pick of the Week! MARK LANEGAN, of the sadly overlooked and very underrated Seattle grunge band, Screaming Trees, stops by at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan. I love Screaming Trees and if there’s any way I can make it to this, I will!

     Wednesday, February 8 – THE YARDBIRDS and VANILLA FUDGE reprise Friday’s show, but tonight it’s at the Tarrytown Music Hall.

     Here’s a heads up for next week. On Saturday, February 11, The Fab Faux, make their first trip to the Hudson Valley, with an appearance at UPAC in Kingston. If you don’t know them, The Fab Faux is a band that performs the music of The Beatles. They’re not a tribute band though, and make no attempt to look or dress like The Fab Four. What they do do, is to play the music, note perfect. As they say on their website, “It’s not a tribute. It’s a recreation.” And it is! When they do “Within You, Without You”, guitarist Jimmy Vivino plays the part on sitar! When they do “Savoy Truffle” or “Got to Get You into my Life”, a horn section appears. For “She’s Leaving Home” or “Eleanor Rigby” a string quartet walks onstage. These guys are so good that when listening to them, they have at times, actually made the music of The Beatles clearer! What I mean is, you can hear the musical parts being played better than on The Beatles’ records! Not always, but often! And the musicians are top notch! The bass player is Will Lee from The Late Show Band, whom no less than Paul McCartney praised as one of the world’s best bassists, and the guitar player is Jimmy Vivino from Conan O’Brian’s Band, who also spends time in The Levon Helm Band, as well as numerous other projects, all first rate! This is the closest you’ll get to the Fab Four today! They often do a complete Beatles album in each set. I’ve seen them do “Sgt. Pepper”, “Rubber Soul”, “Revolver” Magical Mystery Tour”, “The White Album”, and “Abbey Road” as well as the psychedelic singles “All you Need is Love”, “I am the Walrus”, “Strawberry Fields”, “Penny Lane” and “Hey Jude”. The Beatles themselves never performed these songs live, so this is really special! I’ll be on this again in my next column, and I can tell you right now, this will be my Pick of the Week next week!

     See you then!

     Greetings, and welcome to this week’s Reservoir Music Notes. The great Johnny Otis (“Willie and the Hand Jive”) and the great Etta James passed away this week. Ironically, Etta was said to have been discovered by Johnny. Two more immortal legacies go into the history books!

     This week I’m profiling one of the most exciting young guitarists around, Jon Klenck, AKA Jonny Monster, and it’s not hard to see where his name came from - He is a monster guitarist! I’ve already written about how the Jonny Monster Band blew my mind on New Year’s Eve at Backstage Productions in Kingston. In that article, I said that if you drew a line from Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn to Jonny Monster, you’d be overstating the case, but not by much! To those two illustrious axeslingers, let me also add Johnny Winter, because that influence is also there in Jonny Monster’s playing. But that’s the league this kid is playing in! He’s really that good!

     And Jonny’s no Jonny Come Lately to the Blues music he plays so skillfully. He’s done his homework, as evidenced by his occasional solo acoustic shows where he goes back to the roots of the Blues, performing material by the likes of Robert Johnson and Leadbelly.

     Based in New Paltz, the band consists of Jonny on guitar and vocals, Pete Newman on bass, and Roger LaRochelle on drums and vocals. They play all over the Hudson Valley and New York City, and last year opened for Johnny Winter at The Bearsville Theater. I wasn’t there, but I’m sure Jonny held his own in the showdown with Johnny, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the student bested the master! And now The Jonny Monster Band triumphantly returns to The Bearsville Theater this Friday night, January 27, for a free show in the Artist in Residence series. This show is on “Don’t Miss” status!

     The band released their self titled CD last year which showcases Jonny’s high energy, aggressive guitar style. These guys are way beyond the average boring blues band. This is really exciting, rockin’ music! More info at www.jonnymonsterband.com and on Reverb Nation, My Space, and You Tube.

     Other recommended shows this week are:

Thursday, January 26 – TODD RUNDGREN stops by the City Winery in Manhattan. Not a huge Todd fan, but he is good, always interesting, and this might make a good ending to the week in the city before heading to Woodstock for the weekend.

Friday, January 27 – Well, I’m gonna make THE JONNY MONSTER BAND one of my Picks of the Week, because he’s great, he’s young, he’s exciting, it’s close by, and it’s free, but there are three other shows tonight alone that could easily qualify for Pick of the Week status. Over at The Orient in Poughkeepsie, we have up and comers, THE RYAN MONTBLEAU BAND. Excellent band! Up at Club Helsinki in Hudson, THURSTON MOORE from Sonic Youth is in the house, and you know what? Game day decision! If you feel like driving, or live near Hudson, this has got to be a great show, so, Pick of the Week #2! And finally, BLUE CHICKEN is back at The Town Crier in Pauling. This band consists of Jim Weider and other members of Levon Helm’s Band, so you know what level of musicianship you’re getting with these guys – top notch! The Towne Crier is closing soon (hopefully reopening in another location) so this may be one of your last chances to hear some great music in the historical building.

Saturday, January 28 – Pick of the Week #3! LENNY KRAVITZ at Radio City Music Hall! Now I know many people are iffy about Lenny, for various reasons. Whatever! The first time I saw Lenny Kravitz, I only went because I was in the neighborhood with nothing to do, and I could get in free. I wasn’t a huge fan going in, but I was a huge fan coming out. Lenny is like a harder rockin’ Grateful Dead, in spirit. His music is all about recapturing the love from the 60’s, rock and roll, and more. He, too, has done his homework, he knows where the music came from, and he respects the old masters of all forms of music, from Rock to Jazz and beyond! Plus, the Hudson Valley's own Gail Ann Dorsey is playing bass for Lenny this tour!

If you are in the city tonight, and wanna rock harder than Lenny, there’s always Lemmy! As in MOTORHEAD and MEGADEATH at Madison Square Garden! Motorhead never fails to please! THE RYAN MONTBLEAU BAND continues their visit to New York with a show at Brooklyn Bowl. SLOAN WAINWRIGHT is at The Towne Crier. Not that familiar with Sloan’s music, but in my book, if your name’s Wainwright, you deserve a listen! Closer to home, THE WIYOS  pull into Club Helsinki and UNCLE ROCK returns to Utopia Studios for another Kidtopia. This is a great event for the entire family.

Monday, January 30 – STEVE EARLE continues his residency at City Winery in Manhattan. Next week is the last week of Steve and Allison’s residency, so don’t wait until the last one and find something’s come up and you can’t make it! And slide guitarist par excellence, CHRIS DUARTE will be amazing patrons at BB King’s in Manhattan.

     Got enough to do this week? Have a great one!

     Greetings and welcome to this week’s edition of Reservoir Music Notes. Could it be? Is Winter finally here? Most people I know were trying to trick themselves into believing Spring was already here, but Mother Nature said, “Not so fast!”. I braved the cold last Friday night to go to The Bearsville Theater for the fifth installment of The Bearsville Sessions series, and I was very happy I did! Bearsville Sessions V focused on the British Invasion of the early 60’s, the musical movement that brought us The Beatles, The Stones, The Dave Clark Five, The Searchers, The Kinks, The Animals, et al. Even though I was an Elvis fan at 5 and was exposed early on to the original great masters of Rock n Roll, this was the music I cut my teeth on as a teenager, and it still holds up! The Bearsville Sessions Band is a collection of great local musicians, and they always have some cool special guests on tap. This week was no exception, as one of the highlights of the night was luthier extraordinaire, Joe Veillette’s version of the Unit 4+2 classic, “Concrete and Clay”. Keyboardist and guitarist Ross Rice also outdid The Zombies on “Tell Her No”! In fact, quite a few of the performances this evening outdid the originals, and that’s sayin’ something! Most of it was due to the band’s versions rockin’ a bit more than some of the originals. A lot of this music was overproduced on record, (IMHO), due to many of the original groups being assigned staff producers who didn’t really understand Rock n Roll, or were learning on the job. So now, with the passage of half a century, a good little rockin’ band can actually match or exceed some of those great records we grew up with, just by rockin’ it harder! Drummer Eric Parker was on fire, as was guitar player, Adam Widoff. Oh hell, the whole band was on fire, including the background singers! My thanks to Jodie Sleed at The Bearsville Theater for making it all possible. A splendid time was had by all!

     In Grateful Dead news, a feature length documentary of Jerry Garcia is in the works. Filmmakers Malcolm Leo and John Hartmann have secured the rights to Garcia’s music for the movie, so this could be the definitive doc of Garcia. No release date yet, but the film will have a huge audience, that’s for sure!

     In other Grateful Dead news, bassist Phil Lesh has announced plans to open Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California, in the same neighborhood where The Dead had their rehearsal studio for years. TC will be a combination performance space/ restaurant with a strong commitment to community. There will be a house band and special guests and the whole thing is modeled on Woodstock’s own Levon Helm’s Midnight Rambles, where Lesh has been a guest several times. The venue will open in March with Phil and Friends, before closing for extensive remodeling, and then a grand reopening in March 2013. This comes hot on the heels of Grateful Dead guitarist, Bob Weir, reopening the legendary Mill Valley venue, The Sweetwater, so it looks like The Dead are starting their own Branson in Marin County!

     In other news, singer and poet Patti Smith has recorded a tribute to Amy Winehouse for her next record. Patti is the perfect person for this job! She wrote the lyrics as a poem for Amy when she died, and then put it together with some music her bass player, Tony Shanahan, had. The music and poem matched perfectly, and the results can be heard on Smith’s next record. No release date yet. In other Patti Smith news, the singer is reported to be working on a film adaption of her National Book Award winning “Just Kids”, which focused on her relationship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The book was great, and hopefully the movie will be too.

     Here’s the live music picks for this week.

Friday, January 20 – Busy, busy weekend. Most of the music this week seems to be focused on the weekend. Tonight, we’ve got an acoustic show with guitarist STEVE KATZ, formerly of The Blues Project, Blood Sweat and Tears, and The Even Dozen Jug Band (which also featured David Grisman, Maria Muldaur, and a pre-Lovin’ Spoonful John Sebastian). Sharing top billing with Katz will be fingerpicking wizard, STEFAN GROSSMAN, and it all happens in our backyard, at The Rosendale Café. Then they do it all over again Saturday at an early show at The Turning Point in Piermont, at 6:00 PM.

At The Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie, the great MAVIS STAPLES will put the area’s finest sound system through its paces. If you didn’t already know, Mavis is a member of the first family of Rock, Soul, and Gospel, The Staple Singers, who I saw at The Fillmore East many times. Now solo, her last CD was produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. I’ve heard some of the tracks, and it’s killer! Mavis is a member of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award sitting on her mantelpiece, so you’re in for a treat if you go!

Up at the beautiful Club Helsinki in Hudson, TEDDY THOMPSON (son of Richard Thompson) brings his unique musical stylings to our neck of the woods. Teddy’s good. You won’t be disappointed.

At The Towne Crier in Pauling, we have the great blue eyed soul singer and Springsteen cohort, SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY, who has a new band called The Poor Fools. No more Asbury Jukes, but Southside knows what he’s doing, so I don’t expect any major changes. Which is to say that they’ll still kick ass!

Closer to home, we’ve got PROFESSOR LOUIE AND THE CHROMATICS at The Bearsville Theater. These guys never disappoint, and just keep getting better and better!

For those of you downstate, there are two good shows in Manhattan tonight. Americana great, ROBERT EARL KEEN, pulls into Irving Plaza, and roots rocker, ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO, is at the City Winery.

Saturday, January 21 – Steve Katz and Stefan Grossman reprise their show from Friday night, but this time at The Turning Point in Piermont. Take notice, this show starts at 6PM!  THE SMITHEREENS are at BB King’s in Manhattan tonight. Their last CD was all Beatle songs, so expect to hear some of that. It’s BLUEGRASS NIGHT at Banjo Jim’s on 3rd Street, and KIDTOPIA returns to Utopia Studios in Bearsville, with RATBOY JR.

Sunday, January 22 – One of the best Grateful Dead tribute and jam bands, THE ZEN TRICKSTERS, rolls into The Brooklyn Bowl, the converted bowling alley that’s been rockin’ more than bowling pins lately!

Tuesday, January 24 – The always amazing JOHNNY WINTER rocks BB King’s in Manhattan. He’s old now and sits in a chair to perform, but still rips out those notes at blinding speed! There’s a new upscale supper club in Manhattan called Feinstein’s at The Regency, and that’s right, it’s in The Regency Hotel. It’s a throwback to the days of glamorous ballrooms in hotels and PETULA CLARK starts a two week run tonight. It’s actually Tuesday through Saturday, this week and next. No Sundays or Mondays. Expect to dress up and spend some money, and it’s not gonna be rockin’, but she will have to do everything from her string of hits back in the 60’s, and those are mostly great records, so this should be a fun trip down memory lane.

Wednesday, January 25 – If it’s Wednesday, it must be ROSS RICE AND THE VERY SEXY TRIO at The Catamount in Mount Tremper.

That’s it for this week, but a quick heads up. Next Friday, January 27, The Jonny Monster Band returns to The Bearsville Theater for the Artist in Residence series. This will likely be my Pick of the Week next week. I already wrote about Jonny Monster blowing my mind on New Year’s Eve, but in honor of this show, I will be doing a full profile of The Jonny Monster Band next week. This is one you won’t want to miss, unless you hate lightning fast, inventive blues licks played on the electric guitar with a solid backing band. If so, stay home and watch tv, but if you love the blues, specifically electric blues, and great guitar playing, you’re gonna wanna be there for this.

     Have a great week and stay warm!

     Greetings readers! Once again, we lost two pretty important people this week. Fred Milano of the original Dion and The Belmonts passed away January 3rd at 72, and we also lost Tommy Ardolino, the drummer for NRBQ. Two great groups that lost original members this week. I guess everybody’s getting to that age.

     I have nothing profound to propound about this week, so I’m just going to get straight to my live music picks.

     Wednesday, Jan. 11 – The great ROBERT GORDON returns to BB King’s in Manhattan. He’s older, grayer, and paunchier, but he stills rocks out with the best of them! If you go, request “The Way I Walk”. KENNY VANCE AND THE PLANOTONES carry the doo wop torch into the City Winery in Manhattan. Kenny was an original member of Jay and The Americans and is still singing great! ROSS RICE AND THE VERY SEXY TRIO are at The Catamount in Mount Tremper for their regular biweekly Wednesday night gig. There’s also an unusual gig this evening in that it’s a spoken word reading, but it’s music related. Inquiring Minds Book Store in Saugerties hosts RAUNCH AND ROLL, readings by authors Howard Massey, Robert Burke Warren, and Jeremy Wilber from their original writings. Massey will read from his recently published book “Roadie”, inspired by the life of the immortal Ian Stewart AKA the sixth Rolling Stone; Wilber from his book, “Miles From Woodstock” about the heady days in Woodstock back in the day; and Warren from his original writings. Should be quite interesting!

     Thursday, Jan.12 – The inimitable BOOTSY COLLINS, late of P-Funk and James Brown’s band, stops by to funkify BB King’s in Manhattan.

     Friday, Jan. 13 – My friend, TODD WOLFE, formerly Sheryl Crow’s guitarist, brings his electric blues band to the Roundout Music Lounge in Kingston, but I will have to skip Todd this time around, as I will be at The Bearsville Theater for this week’s Pick of the Week. THE BEARSVILLE SESSIONS BAND, in their fifth installment of the series, focuses on The British Invasion. Now, this is the music I cut my teeth on, the band is great, so I gotta be there! But for those of you seeking something a little less raucous, RHETT MILLER, frontman of Americana rockers, The Old 97’s, makes a rare local appearance at The Orient in Poughkeepsie (He lives in New Paltz). Also tonight is the (usually) weekly jam at the home of Stephen and Dona Crawford. All are invited. The address is 49 Webber Lane, Olivebridge.

     Saturday, Jan 14 – If you’re upstate, THE BEN ROUNDS BAND rocks The Catamount in Mount Tremper. If you’re downstate, SKOLLIE, a great band consisting of Blondie Chaplin, Anton Fig, and Keith Lentin, is at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn. Blondie has spent the past couple of decades singing and playing guitar with The Rolling Stones, and before that, toured with Rick Danko and was a member of The Beach Boys. Anton Fig has been playing drums in the David Letterman Late Show Band since forever. Keith has played with Chris Spedding and a host of others.

     Monday, January 16 – Last week, when I recommended STEVE EARLE at City Winery, I didn’t realize that his gig there was a residency that runs every Monday night from now until Feb. 6, but that’s what it is, so it’ll be here again next week and every week through Feb.6. Catch at least one of them. If you dig Jazz, there’s a great club in Manhattan on Broadway and 105th called Smoke, and they do! Some of the hottest jazz guys in New York call this club their home, and every Monday night, they have THE SMOKE BIG BAND. Ellington, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Count Basie. You get the picture? Smoke’s jam session will blow your mind!

     Tuesday, Jan. 17 – The new version of NRBQ is at The Iridium in Manhattan tonight. Piano player, Terry Adams is the only original member, but I’m sure they’ll still rock as hard as ever. For you upstaters, check out the open mic at The Catamount in Mount Tremper, hosted by Ben Rounds.

     For a more complete listing of musical events in the Hudson Valley, check out www.hvmusic.com, a great resource for musicians and music fans. They have a great calendar, musicians wanted and available, items wanted and for sale, open mics, and more, all for free. And they also host and post this column, along with The Townsman and my website, www.reservoirmusiccenter.com.

     Have a great week!

     Well, it’s a new year, and I’m experiencing a mild case of post-annum depression. Either that, or I’m struggling to recover after going out two nights in a row, but whatever it is, it was worth it!

     First though, let me wish everyone a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year. The new year starts in January because it’s the first month following the Winter Solstice, when the days start getting longer after December 21, the shortest day of the year. So it really is a time of renewal and rebirth.

     I started my New Year’s weekend off by driving up to Tannersville to see my old pals, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center. The OPAC has been closed for 25 years and this was the first event there since they re-opened, and let me tell you, it must have inspired the band, because they were on fire! By the time they got to the third song, “Louisiana Lady”, I was convinced it was the best I’d ever seen them play. It was a shorter set then they usually have played at The Bearsville Theater in past years, but thoroughly enjoyable all the same. They ran through most of their hits, skipping only “Lonesome LA Cowboy” and “Glendale Train”, and closing with Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”. The new OPAC theater is a beautiful building and a great place to hear music and I hope they are planning to present more shows in this venue.

     On New Year’s Eve, I ventured into Kingston to catch Pitchfork Militia and The Johnny Monster Band at the new BSP, formerly Back Stage Productions. Pitchfork put on their usual great show and I was struck by what a great guitarist frontman Peter Head has become. As I was watching Pitchfork, I was thinking that they are really the only local band that I really like, but guess what? I found another! Within seconds of starting their first song, The Johnny Monster Band had my jaw on the floor! I had heard good things about them, but I was totally unprepared for the sounds coming from the stage! This kid is the real thing! If I said there was a straight line between Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Johnny Monster, I might be overstating the case, but not by much! Johnny Monster is a monster guitarist! If these guys are playing anywhere near you, do not miss them! They will blow your mind! In the next few weeks, I will be profiling both of these bands in this space, so look out for that.

     A few weeks ago, a friend told me about a young singer/songwriter from Stamford, NY, who he thought was really good. He pressed a CD into my hands and asked me to have a listen. Now lots of people give me CD’s to check out, and the percentage of real quality music is usually pretty small, so my expectations were not high, but from the opening chords of the first song, I realized I was listening to someone pretty special. Pete Jacobs is in his last year at the Berklee School of Music and has assembled a band of mostly other Berklee students to play his intricate Beatle-esque songs. Everything about this record, “Thoughts upon a Window”, is top notch and professional, from the writing and playing, to the production and engineering.

     The Beatle influence is front and center, but Peter’s songs are not derivative or slavish copies of the Fab Four. They stand on their own as high quality songs in the same genre, and very impressive ones at that. There are rockers here as well, and Peter says he is influenced by modern bands like Radiohead, Coldplay, The Shins, and I’m pretty sure I heard some Foo Fighters in there too. But please understand, Peter’s music goes beyond his influences. He’s taken what he could from the music that influenced him and added his own touch to make it completely his own.

     The band, who may book themselves as The Pete Jacobs Band, or sometimes Electric Evolver, plays mostly in New York and Boston (they’ve also played at WAMC’s Linda Studios in Albany), but Pete has never lost touch with his Delaware County roots. Whenever he’s home, he makes it a point to play some smaller gigs, sometimes solo acoustic, in and around his hometown of Stamford. If you get the chance, catch him. Pete Jacobs could be amongst our next generation of great electric singer/songwriters! More info at www.petejacobsmusic.com.

     On a sadder note, after my deadline for my last column, I heard about the passing of Dan ‘Bee’ Spears, Willie Nelson’s longtime bass player, and Sean Bonniwell, driving force behind The Music Machine, the 60’s garage rock one hit wonders who recorded the great “Talk Talk”, still one of the best of it’s genre, and not an easy song to play. Rest in Peace fellas. You made a lot of people happy while you were here. The tough question is though, where’s Willie gonna find another bass player who can follow his meandering sense of time? LOL.

     Oh, and did I mention that this column begins my second year writing it, and as if to celebrate the occasion, hvmusic.com has added me to their website, www.hvmusic.com, a great resource for Hudson Valley musicians and music fans.

     My live music picks will now run from Wednesday to the following Thursday, which may engender some repetition in consecutive weeks, but will also give y’all more time to plan your outings, so I think it’s a fair trade off. Here’s this week’s picks.

     Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012 – Tonight’s the last night of LITTLE FEAT’s three night stand at The City Winery in Manhattan.

     Saturday, Jan. 7 – The very accomplished guitarist, MICHAEL POWERS returns to Club Helsinki in Hudson. This guy can play, and he’s an old friend of mine, so please support him. We need more of Michael in the Catskills.

     Sunday, Jan. 8 – STEVE EARLE and ALLISON MOORER make their first appearance at Club Helsinki. This is one of my two Picks of the Week. MICKEY HART of The Grateful Dead rolls into The Highline Ballroom in Manhattan for one night.

     Monday, January 9 – STEVE EARLE and ALLISON MOORER drive South after Helsinki and show up at The City Winery in Manhattan, this time with Woodstock’s own HAPPY TRAUM in tow.

     Wednesday, Jan. 11 – The great CHRIS THILE, with his PUNCH BROTHERS bandmate, MICHAEL DAVES, make a stop at Club Helsinki. Thile is one of our best mandolin pickers, and if Daves is on the same stage as Chris, he’s gotta be pretty awesome too. My second Pick of the Week.

     Welcome 2012! May it be better than the last! Start it off by having a great week y’all!