Widespread Panic Honored - GA Hall of Fame

Photo by Kelly Lambert.
See more photos at athensonline.com


WIDESPREAD FAME EARNS ATHENS BAND STATE HONOR
By BETH JONES - beth.jones@onlineathens.com for Athens Online


ATLANTA - Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools looked a little ill at ease as he posed for photographs before the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards.

The band has played more than 2,000 shows in front of thousands of screaming fans, but Schools admitted this was the first time he'd walked the red carpet.

"I'm not nervous," he said. "I just don't want to scuff up the red carpet."

Saturday marked the 30th anniversary of the awards show, which was held at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Joining Widespread Panic as inductees into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame were Keith Sweat, R&B singer from the new jack swing era and host of a syndicated radio show; DJ Hamp Swain; Fred and Dinah Gretsch of Gretsch guitars; the late Christian singer and songwriter Dottie Rambo; and rapper and actor Chris "Ludacris" Bridges.

When Widespread Panic prepared to take the stage to perform, the night's co-host Monica Pearson said of the crowd, "I think they're ready."

And they were.

They may have sat at tables covered in linen tablecloths and paid $75 for their tickets, but this was not the type of audience to clap politely or clink on a wine glass.

When Widespread Panic took the stage at the end of the show, music fans in their suits and cocktail dresses rushed to the pit below the stage to hear the band play "Up All Night."

They danced and hollered through the band's second song, "Ain't Life Grand."

Chuck Leavell, known for playing the keyboard with bands like The Rolling Stones and The Allman Brothers Band, presented the award to Widespread Panic.

"I love these guys," Leavell said. "Even though they've never been embraced by mainstream radio, they've sold over 3 million records. . . Widespread Panic has proved you can be successful by doing things your own way."

The members of Widespread Panic, all dressed in suits, filed onto stage behind guitarist/vocalist John Bell, who took the mic to give the band's thanks.

He talked about the early days of the Athens band, which formed in 1986. He talked about weekly gigs at Athens' old Uptown Lounge and going to Waffle House afterward.

"We were not looking to this day 20 years in the future," Bell said.

Watch

JB's acceptance speech

Over the years, Widespread Panic has toured relentlessly, landing in Pollstar's Top 50 Tours every year for the past decade, and played more than 2,000 shows over their career.

The band's popularity reaches far outside the South. This year, the mayor of Denver named June 27 Widespread Panic Day to honor the band's 32nd sold-out show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre - more than any band in the venue's history.

John Keane, an Athens producer who has a long history of working with the band, made the drive to Atlanta to see Widespread Panic's induction.

"I know they're glad to have stayed together this long and stuck with it," he said.

Check out>> the video:
Members of Widespread Panic talk about the honor of being inducted before the Georgia Music Hall of Fame ceremony


Jimmy Herring CD Debuts October 21


from jimmyherring.net

The first solo record from Guitar maestro Jimmy Herring considered by many musicians and fans to be one of the hottest guitarists on the planet. It is surprising that it took him this long to launch his debut record after founding or performing with outstanding bands and projects - the Legendary Aquarium Rescue Unit, Project Z, Frogwings, Jazz is Dead with Billy Cobham, Alphonso Johnson,
T Lavitz, Allman Brothers, The Dead, Phil Lesh, Justice League and currently fulfilling guitar duties for jam band phenom, Widespread Panic.


pre-order now available!

This outstanding effort which insiders and fellow musicians calling it an absolute musical masterpiece is full of surprises that elevates Jimmy's already fantastic reputation to be an outstanding guitarist.

Jimmy Herring wrote six of the tunes along with Kofi Burbridge who wrote two tunes as well. They also do scintillating versions of Wayne Shorter's Lost as well the Overture from Walt Disney's Jungle Book.

Get ready for one of most impressive musical statements by one of our very favorite musicians.
Jimmy Herring (Guitar); Oteil Burbridge (Bass); Kofi Burbridge (Piano, Keyboards); Jeff Sipe, aka APT Q-258 (Drums); Special Guests : Greg Osby (Sax); Matt Slocum (Keyboards); Derek Trucks (Slide Guitar); Bobby Lee Rodgers (Leslie and Rhythm Guitar); Ike Stubblefield (Hammond B3), Tyler Greenwell (Drums), Scott Kinsey (Organ)
You can read more here at abstractlogix.com


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Update on Halloween Show

10/31/05 Halloween in Vegas

from widespreadpanic.com:
New Shipping information: Due to hurricane Gustavo, we will not be able to get our ticket supply from UNO until the end of the week, so we have made a few adjustments to our Ticketing schedule.

Mail Order will now ship out Sept 17th 2day delivery via FedEx
AND
the Public On Sale Date is now Sept 26th.

If you do not receive you tickets by Sept 24th, give us a call and we will be glad to check on your order. Thanks for all your patience.
-end-


Heya'll,
As you know Halloween is inevitably one of most anticipated shows of the year as the band is known for their outrageous stage productions and costumes. This year is no exception with the show selling out 8,000 capacity Civic Centre in just minutes. Past Halloween shows have included themes such as Mars Attacks, where a space ship crash landed onto the stage, and a Mardi Gras themed Bourbon Street.
Always a great time to be had and this year in New Orleans should be wildfun.

I wonder what the boys will costume themselves with this year?

Take a look at last years pics from Asheville.

See ya there!?!

Win Widespread Panic - Mud Island Tickets



Widespread Panic Wednesday
10/15/2008
7:30 PM
Mud Island Amphitheatre
(Memphis, TN)


Memphis Flyer online is giving away tickets to Widespread Panic's Mud Island show Oct 15th. They'll be giving away tickets for rows 5 through 1
each week!

Try your luck here and keep trying each week.

Good Luck!

Nola.com: Widespread Panic Returns for Halloween



Widespread Panic returns to New Orleans for Halloween;
on sale date pushed back to Sept. 26

Posted by Keith Spera, Music writer, The Times-Picayune


Georgia jam band Widespread Panic is returning to the UNO Lakefront Arena on Halloween for the first time since 2002. The band performs at the arena Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

Pre-sale mail order tickets are already sold out; the remaining allotment of tickets were originally scheduled to go on sale to the public on Sept. 12. However, promoter Live Nation has pushed back that on-sale date to Sept. 26 because of the lingering effects of Hurricane Gustav.

Panic's Halloween stands at the Lakefront Arena -- the longest run was three consecutive nights -- have typically sold out well in advance. Fans travel to New Orleans from around the country, and in years past have camped on the arena grounds. However, no camping will be allowed after this year's shows, says arena manager Marco Perez.

On Halloween night, many fans wear costumes, as do members of the band. The musicians surprise fans with unexpected covers sprinkled into their improvisational roots rock 'n' soul. At the 2002 Halloween show, those covers included War's "Slippin' Into Darkness," the Little Feat instrumental "Skin It Back," James Brown's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine)" and rapper Nelly's "Hot In Herre."

Two New Orleans favorites will open the shows. Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews opens the Oct. 31 show, and Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk is on the bill for Nov. 1.


Palladia airs Rothbury w/ Widespread Panic


Palladia TV formerly MHD (on Dish Sat) will air portions of the Rothbury 2008 festival in HD this weekend.

The hour show will include Dave Matthews, Gomez, Primus, as well as Widespread Panic performing Love Tractor.

Recorded in Rothbury, MI 7-5-08

Panic Books Denver Arena for New Year's Eve


Widespread Panic ringing in New Year

Widespread Panic will wrap up 2008 and ring in the New Year in Denver with a pair of concerts Dec. 30 and 31 at the Pepsi Center.

Tickets go on sale to Widespread Panic's fan club, via mail order, on Monday, and to the general public on Oct. 11.


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Sept 20th Hall Of Fame Awards

CONGRATULATIONS WIDESPREAD PANIC


30th Annual Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards

Dates: Sat, Sep 20, 2008
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Phone: (770) 491-9494
Location: Thomas B. Murphy Ballroom, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta
The Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards celebrates its 30th anniversary with a gala event.

Confirmed 2008 inductees include: Group: Widespread Panic; Pioneer: Fred and Dinah Gretsch; Songwriter: Keith Sweat; Posthumous: Dottie Rambo; Non-Performer: Hamp Swain. Individual tickets and tables are available through the Friends of Georgia Music Festival, Inc.. For further info or to purchase tickets, call (770) 491-9494. The 30th Annual Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards will be telecast live at 8:30 p.m. on Sat. Sept. 20 on GPB.


Thumbs up and down from Snowmass Sun




from Snowmass Sun.com

Thumbs up: The so-called “jazz” shows this past weekend were some of the best in memory. Widespread Panic draws a crowd that parties like no other group. It was interesting to watch the transition from the younger Widespread crowd to Bob Dylan’s old fogies. But the fogies do rock.

Thumbs up: John Fogerty’s (Fogerty’s fogies?) high-energy show was one of the best of the weekend even though far fewer people showed up to see it. It’s rare to see a band that has so many songs entrenched in our minds. Hardly a song was sung that the crowd didn’t know by heart. I haven’t seen a show like that since The Kinks’ 25th anniversary tour that, by the way, would be an excellent band to book for our “jazz” show.

Thumbs down: The results are in and about 95 percent of the Village agrees –Bob Dylan sucked. As a matter of fact, there’s a persistent rumor that it wasn’t even Dylan that stood stock-still like a wax figurine and butchered song after song. The idea that this primadonna wouldn’t allow himself to be photographed or allow the video cameras to show the concert on the big screen is the reason for this suspicion. Some thought he was lip-syncing, but it’s inconceivable that anyone could possibly record such a bad set of songs and then present them as a live concert. He may be a living legend, but he is the definition of “sucks.”

Thumbs down: During the Dylan show the security Nazis were running through the crowd confiscating cameras. These overzealous power hungry punks should be curtailed. Hassling the fans is not good customer service no matter what the eccentric stiff on the stage demanded. In the day and age of a camera on every phone, the days of no cameras in concerts are over. Good riddance.

Thumbs down: Running out of toilet paper in the porta-potties Friday night was a problem that should’ve easily been anticipated. You know how many people are entering the venue and there should be a mathematical equation that can compute how many squares per person will be needed. Maybe the porta-potty people thought that the crowd was full of Sheryl Crow clones using two squares per wipe.

Thumbs up: The Village Market reports that cigarette sales doubled on Friday. Indeed, it appeared that everyone at the Widespread show was smoking something or other. This made a joke of Snowmass Village’s ridiculous smoking law. It was a great idea, but it doesn’t work.

Thumbs up: The Widespread crowd packed our little village. Parking bled onto Fanny Hill with over 200 cars parked out there on Saturday morning. Traffic jams clogged Owl Creek on Thursday. The lodges were full for two nights, perhaps busier than any given week in the winter with the exception of Christmas week. However, I hear that many lodges weren’t too happy with the guests. Rooms were overstuffed flophouses that were trashed when the party moved on. The all–night partying disturbed other guests who were unlucky enough to be accidentally staying in Snowmass over those two nights. There will need to be a lot of assessment before hosting Widespread Panic again. I say bring them back once a month.

Thumbs down: I know from my experience that five days of concerts is stretching the limited resources of Snowmass. The extra day is one day too many. Employees were strained and service likely suffered because of it. While we are assessing whether to bring back that Widespread group of hard partying folks, we should talk seriously about whether it is smart to hold five days of concerts.

Thumbs up: Yonder Mountain String Band was a breath of fresh air on Monday. These guys play some mean Bluegrass. Like Fogerty the night before, the attendance had shrunk even more as each day saw less and less concert-goers. This is another problem with the five-day schedule – it destroys Monday’s concert attendance – which is a disservice to the bands that play their heart out on that day.

Thumbs up: The minor problems I mention arise simply because the Jazz Aspen/Snowmass concerts are a victim of their own success. By all appearances this event did very well. The weather cooperated beautifully, waiting until 5:30 p.m. on Monday for the Yonder Mountain boys to wrap up their set to change dramatically to full-blown winter. It was a perfect weekend and Jim Horowitz and his team deserves a huge congratulation for pulling it off so well.

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