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JAMBANDS.COM
A fan's perspective of visceral vibrations

BY ANDREW SOMERVILLE

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The build! You feel it. You love it. You live it. If you're like me, an aficionado of guitars and drums building to an orchestral climax, than you've experienced this subsequent cerebral orgasm. And these extended moments of musical bliss -- moments that float off the fingertips of improvisational conductors -- never get replicated or worn-out because every night a new twist is added.

Fans eat up this extended improvisation and every night they arrive by the vanload for a new dose of the unexplored. Not only has this fan mentality of " if you play it, we will come " allowed jam bands to tour tirelessly without having to succumb to a high-five from Carson Daly on TRL, it's also allowed them to avoid being manipulated by studio executives who want to produce a radio-friendly album full of watered-down computerized fluff.

Although the sound of today's jam bands is more diversified than its predecessors, the idealistic spirit, comradery, and fan support is still the common backdrop that binds rock-improv originators like the Grateful Dead to modern-day groups like Phish and The Slip. And such a backdrop is also available on the Web, on sites like WWW.JAMBASE.COM. One of the most comprehensive and helpful portals for the jam band community, JamBase offers a complete daily list of all the jam bands playing live in a town near you. If you scroll down the " What's Your Scene " box, highlight San Diego, JamBase will provide with a list of all the bands playing within a 50-mile radius on the specific day you select. From there, you can visit a band's Web site by double clicking on its name.

This useful site also has many in-depth interviews, reviews, and previews of the many bands performing throughout the U.S. JamBase encourages people to participate in the community by writing their own show reviews that may be posted on the site. There are chances to win weekly ticket giveaways, and fans have the opportunity to receive free tickets to shows if they're interested in doing some promotional work for bands associated with the site. You can also purchase discounted tickets through JamBase. Finally, there is plenty of live audio to listen to and download by clicking the " audio " icon that will link you to numerous MP3 sites.

Issue Date: May 14, 2001





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