A few years ago, I was on a surf trip in San Diego. Weather wasn’t cooperating so I ducked in to a Bikram Yoga class in La Jolla.

Ever done Bikram? It’s 90 minutes of strenuous yoga in a room heated to over 90 degrees. And it’s generally taught by humorless, robotic drill sergeants who tell you when you can take a sip of water and how to breathe (not that there’s anything wrong with that!).

At this class, I was standing in front of the requisite row of mirrors, sweating balls, trying not to touch the fat shirtless hairy guy next to me when I noticed something strange. There was a not unattractive person standing a row behind me. If that wasn’t strange enough under the circumstances, he was also telling jokes. I think he made the drill sergeant laugh! That was truly shocking.

After class, in all my sweaty, red faced glory, I realized the handsome joker was none other than Steve Poltz, San Diego superstar. Steve had a great band called The Rugburns, co wrote “You Were Meant For Me” with Jewel, and has recorded a whole album of songs he sang into an answering machine (remember those?).

We’ve been friends ever since. Technically, we were kind of friends before, but we hadn’t seen each other in years and we’d never seen each other wearing a speedo (him) or an ocean of sweat (me). I might be kidding about the speedo.

Steve is coming to play The Tractor Tavern on Sunday night. We caught up on the phone as he drove up from Oregon, where he had just opened for Styx!!

I asked him how that came about:

stevestxy1

And what it was like for him to open for Styx:

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And then the big question… Steve, are you secretly Canadian??

stevecanadian

And finally, why he chose to record his new CD Dreamhouse the old fashioned way — on 2 inch tape:

stevemakesacd

Go see Steve on Sunday at The Tractor. He is one of the greatest storytellers of all time. You won’t be disappointed!

Just sayin’ . . . .

(Thanks to The Stranger’s Slog.)

When great music hits the web, you know your friendly neighborhood MD is on it!

Vanguard just released their summer sampler that features music from many Mountain favorites and some new names as well. The album includes music from the Indigo Girls, Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, Stacy Clark, Trevor Hall, and The Robert Cray Band, just to name a few.

So where is this music, you say? Well friends, it’s right here. (That’s your cue to click on the link! No spam, I promise.)

Take a listen to this great music, and be sure to leave a comment below with your favorite track.

An actual conversation between me and Robert Plant:

Shawn: I share my birthday (July 23) with Allison Krauss.
RP: So you’re a Leo, then?
Shawn: I’m on the Cancer/Leo cusp. So I’m very sensitive…about my hair.
RP: *genuine laughter*

That was about it, maybe with a couple of fan-to-God pleasantries thrown in for good measure. This was a few years ago now, just as RP and AK were releasing their amazing Raising Sand record. But as conversations with Rock Gods are few and far between, I remember it like it was yesterday.

Robert is getting set to release a new album on Sept 14 called Band Of Joy. Allison is taking a hiatus from this disc, as is T Bone Burnett who helmed the last project, but lots of the players including Buddy Miller are back. And RP had the great good sense to enlist Mountain favorite Patty Griffin to sing on many of the songs.

Band of Joy Track Listing:
1. Angel Dance
2. House of Cards
3. Central Two-O-Nine
4. Silver Rider
5. You Can’t Buy My Love
6. I’m Falling In Love Again
7. The Only Sound That Matters
8. Monkey
9. Cindy I’ll Marry You Someday
10. Harm’s Swift Way
11. Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down
12. Even This Shall Pass Away

Care to hear a song? Check out “Angel Dance”. It’s a Los Lobos cover!

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Robert Plant – “Angel Dance” (Los Lobos)

We had a visit from “Emerging Mountain Artist” Gin Wigmore. She was very effervescent, intoxicating even. But it turns out her parents weren’t lushes. They named her Virgina, then nicknamed her Ginny, until she took advantage of their weekend trip to Australia to get her first tattoo. At age 14. Then she became Gin and Gin she’s remained.

02 Hey Ho
Gin Wigmore – “Hey Ho”

Gin just wrapped a tour with Jamie Cullum and swung by the station to say “G’day”. Take two minutes and find out what makes Gin tick:

Here we are, post interview, looking like some kind of crazy before and after photo. Not sure who’s before though…

If you attended the Jimmy Cliff show at The Zoo last night, you might not have realized but you were in fact sitting in limbo!

I was in the backstage area after making some stage announcements when I overheard a very heated discussion between The Promoter, The Tour Manager, and a woman I’m pretty sure was Jimmy Cliff’s wife. She was French or French Canadian, very petite, but adamantly refusing to let Jimmy Cliff go on stage until he got paid! She was trying to get The Promoter to wire transfer the money to Jimmy’s bank account right there, backstage at The Zoo.

As I looked around at the pastoral setting with the sun beating down on the happy capacity crowd of nice looking Seattlites, turbo hippies and children, I thought to myself, this doesn’t strike me as the kind of fly by night shifty set up that would bilk and artist out of his share of the receipts, but Madame Cliff was having none of it.

Finally, a truce was reached and Jimmy Cliff hit the stage in all his Tigger meets Santa splendor. I just caught of glimpse of the reggae superstar as he hit the stage.

Then I joined the jubilant crowd! Here’s a little movie of Jimmy playing “Sitting In Limbo”.

A few things you don’t see everyday that you will see when you check out this little movie: bands wearing matching uniforms (except Jimmy of course!), back up dancers, and a Seattle crowd on their feet dancing!

To sign up for the Bike MS Ride, or to get more information, click here. If I can do it, you can too!

Intern Gavi has all the makings of a great A & R person at a record label. An A (Artist) and R (Repetoire) person finds bands before anyone else and lures them sign a contract with said record label. They also dole out advise and help shape artist’s careers. For a fabulous song/story about an A & R relationship gone wrong, listen to “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles…

Anyway, Gavi has great ears; that’s an absolute requirement for an A & R person. But she also gets incensed when other people take credit for her discoveries, and THAT is how most A & R people spend their days. Here’s Gavi’s latest discovery, and I can vouch that she brought him to my attention long before that guy from The Office tweeted about him!

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It’s official. Once Rainn Wilson (aka “Dwight Schrute” on NBC’s The Office) tweets about you, you’ve made it. But I’d also like to think that my recent discovery of soulful Andy Grammer will help pave the way for Piano Princes to emerge as frontrunners in the music industry.

Before I continue, credit is most definitely due to friends & brilliant singer/songwriters Jason Reeves and Makana Rowan who originally introduced me to Mr. Grammer while cruising through Studio City, California.

“Keep Your Head Up,” a-soon-to-be radio friendly hit, is instantly contagious and inviting. Grammer has the vocal stylizing of Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, the swagger of Jason Mraz’s “Wordplay” and the charm of Michael Buble. Put that together and he is destined to crush millions of teenage-to-soccer moms’ hearts nationwide. This upcoming artist has already played sold out shows at LA’s savvy EL Rey Theatre and New York City’s Lion’s Den (turned Sullivan Hall).

So take that Dwight.

Fact: I found Andy before you did.

Fact: He is bound to be famous.

Fact: Bears beat Battlestar Galatica.

Love always,
Intern Gavi

To find Andy Grammer: twitter.com myspace.com

I did it last year, and I’m doing it again this year: The Bike MS Ride in September. You can ride various distances, from 22 to 92 miles, through Skagit, Whatcom and Island Counties on September 11 and 12. (Last year I rode 59 miles: I may go for 74 this year. Maybe.)

My favorite parts were the early morning ride through the flat and fragrant farmlands outside of Mt. Vernon, and the midday ride over the Deception Pass Bridge onto Whidbey Island. Breathtaking! And these people really have it together for this event: Meals, amenities, stunning scenery, stocked rest stops at multiple sites, and of course post-ride festivities with music and a beer garden to celebrate your achievement. (Kind of essential, if you ask me!)

When you ride, you raise money to support MS research, programs and services dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals affected by MS.

Click here for all the details about the ride, and to sign up. It’s challenging but fun, the people are great and the course gives you a perfect slice of the beautiful Northwest. My training starts now, and I’ll be putting some action-packed video of my adventures here on my blog.

Meanwhile, here’s a ride down a volcano I did last week when I was on vacation in Maui. This isn’t me, but it could’ve been:

Saturday. Bartells. Bellevue.

Decided to bring The WGD to my personal appearance at the new Bartells in Bellevue. We met lots of listeners and some folks who had no idea who we were, but enjoyed getting a hug along with their prescription. Charlie behaved beautifully and graciously received many pats on the head and compliments on her shiny coat. She also enjoyed a new dog toy, purchased at… you guessed it, Bartells.

(Knew who we were)

(Knew who we were)

(Enjoyed hug)

Sunday. KMTT HQ. Seattle.

The WGD accompanied me to watch The Avett Brothers in The Lounge. I asked their label person if it would be ok, and she replied, “They live on farms! Of course dogs are OK!” Good thing too because Charlie wasn’t the only four-legger in attendance, her friend Bentley, who is in fact, as big as a car, joined as well.

Normally I like to get all kinds of behind the scenes gossip for you but I’m afraid the band was preoccupied chatting with a certain member of The Mountain staff, and no I’m not referring to intern Gavi! Let’s just say this person learned their lesson about monopolizing bands after Charlie took care of business in his office.
Here’s The WGD looking a bit… proud:

And here’s my favorite song from The Avett Brothers’ Lounge. Watch till a hoedown ensues!