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Pastimes : Deadheads -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: portage who wrote (24797)	1/12/2001 11:03:50 AM
From: JakeStraw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 49844

I guess that's playing by numbers! :^)

To: portage who wrote (24797)	1/12/2001 11:05:33 AM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 49844

I saw a Steve Morse/Dixie Dregs show a few months ago. Steve only played electric but a couple of tunes were playful like bluegrass but that's still a reach. The show was among the best I saw last year. I highly reccomend it.

To: portage who wrote (24797)	1/12/2001 10:35:46 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 49844

After the gold rush Dot-com collapse puts future of 94-year-old music hall in limbo www0.mercurycenter.com BY TRACY SEIPEL Mercury News Dot-coms come and dot-coms go. But when one of the San Francisco music scene's most cherished venues is in danger of becoming a secondary victim of the dot-com shakeout that's more than just troubling. It's potentially tragic. The Great American Music Hall is one of the city's oldest live music clubs. The 5,000 square-foot concert hall, which opened in 1907, has hosted legendary performers ranging from jazz greats Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie to rock icons Van Morrison and the Grateful Dead. So how did this ornate little gem of a hall end up as collateral damage in the implosion of a Net start-up? Last May, the music hall -- which has changed ownership several times over the decades -- was nudged into the 21st century after being sold to a Net company called Riffage.com for an undisclosed sum. Palo Alto-based Riffage began as a music Web site that sought to market new recording artists to listeners via the Internet. It offered free downloads of sample songs and a place for unsigned artists to sell CDs online. In its purchase of the landmark club, the Music Hall's general manager Tony Caparelli said, Riffage.com got a brick-and-mortar operation that could serve as a live showcase for its online mission. And that came to pass. By September, regular Webcasts of some of the club's shows were available online. ``It was a great idea,'' said Caparelli. But by December, Riffage.com ceased operations after it could not find additional financing. While the online component went silent, the music continued at the music hall. Enter the Diablo Management Group, a Danville-based asset management company charged with selling off the assets of Riffage.com -- including the Great American Music Hall. Reached this week, officials at Diablo said they intend for the club to continue to operate, ``unchanged for the foreseeable future,'' said Diablo Management Group chairman, CEO and owner Richard Couch. ``I am looking at several proposals that may result in the acquisition of GAMH by an individual, a group of individuals or a company,'' he said. ``We have not decided how to deal with the GAMH at this time. This piece is not as immediate a question as some of the other pieces.'' Riffage.com's other assets include a database business and a Southern California record company. Couch would not comment on potential buyers of any of the assets, nor the value of any of those assets. Couch is familiar with the venue's storied past. ``I am very sensitive to the fact that there are other businesses in the community that rely upon the relationship with this (GAMH) community,'' he said. ``I am acutely aware the GAMH has a fairly clear mission and fairly clear operating strategy, and our plan is to support that however we can.'' So as it has for the last 94 years, the Great American Music Hall stage will continue to host an eclectic concert slate until further notice. Caparelli is confident the outcome will not affect the music hall or its thriving business. ``It's just a prediction, but why would anyone want to come in here and change a successful operation?'' he asked. Why, indeed?

To: portage who wrote (24797)	2/8/2001 11:56:22 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 49844

The Great Ralph Stanley at Bluegrass Fest James Sullivan Thursday, February 8, 2001 sfgate.com:80/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/08/DD162562.DTL Is bluegrass the new swing? And if so, do bluegrass fans want to hear about it? It's a sticky business, this cyclical revival thing -- glomming on to an age-old tradition, then shoving it aside for the next hot ticket. Still, Dolly Parton, Steve Earle and the Coen brothers are doing it. There's no denying that there's been a resurgence of interest in old-time music. And we're in the midst of a great showcase for it. The second annual, 10- day-long San Francisco Bluegrass & Old-Time Festival settles into its back half tonight and tomorrow with Ralph Stanley at the Freight & Salvage. After a Saturday night at the Noe Valley Ministry featuring NoCal bluegrass with a woman's touch, this lovingly tended festival concludes Sunday at the Sweetwater with the Laurel Canyon Ramblers featuring that dirty Dawg, David Grisman. San Francisco Bluegrass & Old-Time Festival: Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow at the Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison, Berkeley. Tickets: $19.50. Kathy Kallick Band, Any Old Time String band, Dark Hollow, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez, San Francisco. Tickets: $16. Laurel Canyon Ramblers with David Grisman, 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Sweetwater Saloon, 153 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. Tickets: $20. Call (888) 649-8101 or go to www.sf bluegrass.org.