Karl Denson has announced that he will join The Rolling Stones on saxophone for nine shows in Australia and New Zealand on their 14 On Fire tour.  The shows start at the end of the month in Adelaide and run into late November.  The acclaimed reedman, songwriter and bandleader is best known for fronting the prolific touring juggernaut, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, who regularly perform over 150 shows a year. Their most recent album, New Ammo, was released in February 2014.

Nice Spring weather. Check. Tucked away in the scenic foothills of Virginia. Check. Easily accessible. Check. Polite and accommodating staff and police. Check. Well laid out stages and concessions. Check. Lightning bugs and even the tail end of a meteor shower. Check. Festival go-er friendly priced tickets. Check. Wide variety of talented performers. Check. The Infamous Stringdusters. Check. Anders Osborne. Check.

The beach has always defined my summer. Whether as a child anticipating two weeks at the shore for the other 50 weeks each year, as a teen working at a summer camp and spending every daylight at or near the water’s edge, or in my twenties when I learned the fun of service industry work and living on my own at the Delaware Beaches; beach and summer have been synonymous. Four decades are staring me in the face and now, after just a few experiences in the past few years, I will add shows at The House of Blues to that list of the signs of summer.

Slightly Stoopid kick-started their Summer Sessions tour July 9 at Eugene's Cuthbert Amphitheater with a skanking, Rastafied set of dub-infected fusion.  The open-air venue, tucked along the banks of Oregon's Willamette River, provided a sparkling setting for a sun-splashed evening of righteous rhythms and knowing grins.

If Colorado gets frigidly cold in January and February, with temperatures well below zero, we have great music entertainment to get close in and soak in that body heat. A now decade old tradition in Boulder is cozying up at the Boulder Theater for George Porter Jr. and Kyle Hollingsworth’s Pearl Street AllStars Jam.

The String Cheese Incident celebrated its 20^th anniversary as a Boulder band during a three-day New Year’s Eve run at the 1^st Bank Center. Out of all the big name jambands that got their start in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I can say with certitude that SCI has evolved the most from its incipient incarnation. On its first night, it opened with a Sgt.