Several Bay Area musicians who were already friends on and off the stage appeared together at The Fillmore in San Francisco on June 9 to spotlight Blue Rose Music’s stable of artists, and of more importance to raise money and awareness for the Blue Rose Foundation, which commits itself to preschool scholarships for impoverished children.

His regional dialect has become global without being worldly. He is still very relatable and full of soul as he took the audience on a wild ride thru his musical journey of life. While the Sensational Space Shifters band backing him up continued with a smokey sweet guitar solo, he grabbed the tambourine, and it took on an instrumental balance to his vocals. It was no longer a child’s play toy of percussion but a jingling charm added to his one and only Robert Plant vocals; vocals that have come to define what it means to be the lead singer of a band.

SPAC, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center is one of those venues that has always been a special place to visit. The concert shed is located in the State Park, a couple of miles from downtown Saratoga Springs, NY. Saratoga State Park is known for its healing springs. The waters are rumored to be magical. FDR bathed in these spring waters during the Great Depression as a treatment for his Polio.

After a successful tour together last year, classic rockers and long-time friends Steve Miller and Peter Frampton return on the road together again for some summer shows.

The temperature was perfect, and there was an early start to the night with the leader in British funk, The New Mastersounds. The Wales Ambassador, Eddie Roberts and his boys took the stage and wasted no time at all. Their flavor of funk is a unique, intricate, classy guitar-heavy instrumental sorcery. On this night, they even added a horn section to join them. As a side note, once at an ARISE Music Festival press conference that I was leading, I unexpectedly asked Roberts why he thinks that the tiny area of Great Britain produces so much brilliance in music, art, literature, etc. It was an idea that always baffled my mind how an area the size of Kansas can make so much beautiful art. His answer was brilliant. He responded after a pause with, “Misery.” Everyone in the room got a laugh, and one of my life long-burning questions was revealed. When their set came to an end after only 45 minutes, Roberts thanked the crowd and said that it seemed short, but that was because they are so used to often playing for 3 hours plus.

Once ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill began dishing out shared vocal duties, truculent lead solos and iron-fisted bass lines with hard-working drummer Frank Beard at the helm on a warm Tuesday night at Chicagoland’s Ravinia, it became hard to keep track of the star-studded hits that just kept rolling down the rocker pipeline at full force.

Formed in Buffalo, New York, Aqueous has been pushing the limits of the jam world since 2006. Lucky for Denver, Aqueous hosted a sold-out show at the historic Bluebird Theater on June 9th.

Three bohemian bands and a world-famous clown came together June 2 at the UC Theatre in Berkeley, California, for a benefit for the Seva Foundation, a global health organization with a core vision of “A world free of blindness.” Emceed by Seva co-founder Wavy Gravy, who remains on its board of directors, Rising Appalachia, Dead Winter Carpenters, and The Sam Chase & the Untraditional marked Seva’s 40th anniversary by visibly invigorating the swaying, dancing crowd.

Kicking off their “Stay Human” tour,  Michael Franti & Spearhead had a soul shining performance at Red Rocks Amphitheater on June 1st.   The evening started off with Franti leading a yoga jam session at Red Rocks. Taking in all the beautiful views of Colorado, this put out some great vibes for the beautiful Colorado night.

The Disco Biscuits’ annual Colorado Bisco Inferno run is officially in the books, and what a weekend it was. Beginning with a three-night run at Denver’s Ogden Theatre, and capped by a massive performance Sunday night at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater, the Philadelphia quartet delivered top-notch jams, bust-outs, and covers that had even the most experienced Biscuits fans reeling for more.