More than a dozen compelling West Coast bands known for their improvisational instrumentation, including Karl Denson’s Greyboy Allstars, ALO, New Monsoon, Moonalice, and the Monophonics, highlighted the festivities at the 17th annual Petaluma Music Festival, presented once again at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds on July 27.

Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket, and over 25 other acts rocked Napa Valley at the annual BottleRock festival on Saturday, May 25. The music was magnificent, the weather cooperated well enough, and concert attendees rounded out their experience – and perhaps their bellies – with a wide variety of muscats, chardonnays, and provincial farm-to-table cuisine. (This report only covers Saturday.

Moonalice, the long-time San Francisco Bay Area improvisational band of masterfully skilled characters led by Roger McNamee, triumphantly played the starring role in the famed Bandshell at Golden Gate Park on December 18 at a celebratory event dubbed, “HOWL: A Collective Cathartic Release Under the Last Full Moon of 2021.”  

The inaugural Days Between Festival, celebrating the legacy of late-Grateful Dead patriarch Jerry Garcia and the musical score he left embedded in our soul, was upbeat and a resounding success in northern Mendocino County, California on August 6 and 7, even amidst the rage of north-state wildfires and Covid-19 pandemic 2.0. Proof of vaccination or a negative, very-recent Covid test were required for entry.

Echoing the '60s psychedelic happenings around Stanford University, Bert Keely has woven two remarkable careers - as a pioneering Silicon Valley computer engineer and a wonderfully versatile guitarist. During the dotcom boom, the band he co-created - the Flying Other Brothers - made some phenomenal music, worth a new listen and now collected in the new limited-edition box set Circle Back! A 20-year retrospective featuring the Flying Other Brothers, Circle Back!

In the midst of the “Fare Thee Well:  Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead”, Grateful Web talks to Roger McNamee of Moonalice.  McNamee shares candidly Moonalice music, technology, their philosophy and vehement choice to live and play by their own credo -- perhaps similar to that of the Grateful Dead – to thrive – and have fun -- in today’s music industry. 

GW:  Hello Roger.  Where are you at?