Guest Book

Sometimes there's just TOO MUCH good music! I had intended to go to Smith's Olde Bar tonight for the HTN album release party for Tommy Talton -- I know there were plenty of special guests, not to mention a large contingent of famABBly in the house. But I promised Jeff Sipe I'd bring him a copy of Planet Hophead Volume One -- ARU 5/26/1990 -- and he was playing at The Five Spot tonight. I was excited about seeing Jeff's new trio -- here's a review I found: ---------------- This formidable power trio of Austrian guitarist Alex Machacek, 5-string electric bassist Matthew Garrison and amazing drummer Jeff Sipe is impossibly intense, dripping with staggering virtuosity and fertile ideas and seething with the kind of raucous improvisational abandon that we haven't seen since the heyday of Tribal Tech. For fans of acknowledged guitar monsters like Allan Holdsworth, Scott Henderson and the late, great Shawn Lane, the opening track of their new album says it all: "There's A New Sheriff In Town." Machacek's mind-boggling technique -- blazing speed, uncannily fluid lines and daring intervallic leaps -- is an obvious place to begin in singing the praises of this exciting new triumverate. ----------------- I was not disappointed -- this group (I never did find out if they had a name) was electrifying! Even better, my local jazz favorites Genetic Drift opened for Jeff. Many who read my posts will recall my talking about them before -- Duane Trucks is the drummer. First thing when I walked in the door I ran into Duane's dad, Chris. After chatting for awhile with Chris and Duane, Derek comes up to say hello! He did not bring his guitar, instead he came to the club as a fan to enjoy the music. While it would have been nice to see Derek jam tonight, I still had a great time just getting to hang out with him a little bit. I also ran into Todd Smalley and Yonrico Scott and a few other familiar faces. It's gonna be a great after-show party Friday night!