The Heavy Pets Tour Report – 9/28/2011

Words by Jeff Lloyd

“Immediately following the Catskill Chill Festival, most of us headed to Philly for a few days off.  I caught up with the boys from Dopapod on Wednesday the 14th at the Blockley and was invited to sit in.  They are a smoking band and we played a raucous jam – one of the most fun sit-ins of my career.  We will be announcing a few Southeast dates with them soon.  The Pets reconvened the next evening for another throw-down at the 8X10 in Baltimore.  We have a long history with them – they gave us a chance on our very first tour (2006) and we are always pumped to get back in there.  After a particularly fiery set, we were joined by the legendary Tab Benoit and his band, who had played in town earlier that night and caught the end of our show.  They weren’t ready to stop playing for the night and neither were we, so the 8X10 graciously allowed the music to continue and kept the place open.  A mega-jam ensued, followed by a mega-hang including many drinks, and a passionate, mouthwatering discussion of New Orleans cuisine.  We drove through the night to Massachusetts, in time to get to our hotel and catch some shut-eye before our evening performance at the (more…)

SunFest Review 2011 – Part 2

SunFest – April 27^th-May 1^st, 2011 – Downtown West Palm Beach, FL – Part 2

Words & Photos by Adam E. Smith

Day 4

An early afternoon of gathering my wits and temporarily relaxing organs that may or may not be stressed in the oxidization of alcohol ended abruptly when confirmation came that I had hit the SunFest jackpot. Local (more…)

KETCHY SHUBY – NEW RELEASES & HURRICANE GIG

With a name derived from a track on Peter Tosh’s ground breaking record Legalize It, Ketchy Shuby began as a fresh Latin-infused Miami reggae act and has since transformed into their unique brand of “Downtown Soul.” By incorporating elements of psychedelic rock, soul, Afrobeat, blues, jazz and reggae, Ketchy Shuby truly produces “music for our city.” They are spearheaded by the wildly charismatic guitarist/vocalist Jason Joshua Hernandez-Rodriguez and saxophonist Rob Smiley, who you may recognize from his frequent sit-ins with Fusik and special guests appearances with Lather Up! and Square’d at the Hurricane Bar & Lounge over the last few weeks. He returns with his primary for this week’s rendition of the BLP Rockout with your Cookout. You may also recognize Chip Gardner, Mack Moore and Danny Naval from their other project, Fusik.

Study up by taking advantage of the FREE downloads of their albums No Time To Hate and Energy EP.

WeMerge & BLP

With so much exciting music and burgeoning artistic talent spreading across the state these days, it is great to see people coming together to support it all. The more we share, the more we grow. Evidenced by the latest edition of WeMerge Magazine in which the BLP Babble column debuted its residency. The continuing efforts of the music and arts scene to support all the talented local acts are a real boon for us all. So everyone, pick up a copy and keep WeMerge’s message in mind…support the scene or there will be no scene to support!