Bloggerhythms

As good as Gary Louris is The Jayhawks were never quite the same band without his partner and co-founder Mark Olson so it's good to see the latter back in the lineup after a long absence of more than a decade. The duo recently revived the highly regarded quintet who rocked out in front of a packed audience last Saturday night at the old Keswick Theater, a locally famous, art deco, former movie venue in the suburban Philadelphia village of Glenside. The lineup for the evening consisted of the best supporting cast Louris and Olson ever assembled during the band's long history. In addition to Louris on electric guitar, harmonica, and lead vocals and Olson on acoustic and lead vocals the band included original members Marc Perlman on bass and long-time songwriting member Tim O'Reagan on drums. He and Karen Grotberg, their keyboard player during their glory years, also helped out with the singing. The set started off a bit unpolished and the sound mix wasn't what it sh...

No doubt about it, "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida," the 1968 album and song by Iron Butterfly, is a relic from a different age. Every classic rock fan has an opinion about this 17:05 track that took up an entire side on the vinyl disc from which it came. It's a song that listeners either love or hate. There appears to be no middle ground. While it's really quite a simple composition based around a very famous riff it represents all of the excesses of the psychedelic era: extended guitar jams featuring both fuzz and wah-wah pedals, lots of electric organ, and long drum solos. The title is based on the phrase "In The Garden of Eden." The San Diego quartet featured organist, singer, and songwriter Doug Ingle and seventeen year old electric guitarist, Erik Brann. The rhythm section of Lee Dorman on bass and Ron Bushy on drums rounded out the lineup. The band wasn't a one hit wonder (their followup LP, Ball , also went into the top ten) but "In-a-Gadda-da...