World Music Central’s list of musicians, scholars and music industry professionals who left us in 2008.
Jimmy Carl Black, 70, musician and singer. Mr. Black was a drummer and vocalist best known for his membership in the group The Mothers of Invention with Frank Zappa. Mr. Black was also a member of the groups Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band and The Grandmothers. His discography includes Ella Guru The First Album, Strange News from Mars with Jon Larsen, Tommy Mars and Bruce Fowler and The Jimmy Carl Black Story with Jon Larsen.

In a struggling scene, those who survive fight to do so. The Radio Riot, a Jan. 9 local music festival, is a left hook against apathy and oblivion.  Mike Mann, frontman of The Hex Bombs, which founded the Radio Riot label that gave the festival its name, said it seems sometimes that venues don't know how to book shows.

For the guys in My Morning Jacket, this time last year offered some of the last peaceful moments they would enjoy before a fuse was lit and the ensuing explosion changed their lives.  December and January were a breeze. February brought rehearsals. But everything changed in March when the band performed at Austin's South By Southwest music festival. It debuted a new album at the festival, which is overrun by industry insiders and fans alike, and the buzz for "Evil Urges" was heard nationwide.

AT&T Blue Room has added a bunch of videos to its site that, like many of the others, cater to the folks that were unable to attend a given festival or that were able to attend and want to relive part of the experience. Only a handful of bands are featured on the site, but the selling point is that Blue Room offers a virtual front row seat, as well as backstage footage and interviews. These free webcasts have become immensely popular among consumers nationwide.

The site is best utilized during the actual festivals, when large portions of sets (sometimes full ones) are streamed live and on-demand. This past year, Blue Room has collaborated with SPIN to bring interviews and concert videos from events like Mile High, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo. Bits and pieces of Austin City Limits remain on the site, featuring artists like The Raconteurs and Jakob Dylan. Performances from SF's Outside Lands Festival by Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, as well as Cake, are posted on the site's What's New page.  Read more »

Quite possibly the most prestigious musical event today, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has hit the big 4-0 and in turn, has outdone itself in booking nothing less than the cream of the crop. The 2009 lineup is incredibly diverse, both stylistically and chronologically, and will take music from jazz, pop, rock, soul, gospel, folk, salsa, blues, R&B, funk, and lots of music rooted in Louisiana, such as Cajun and zydeco. The event is scheduled to take place the weekends of April 24-26 and April 30-May 3 and it's a wonder how they've managed to cram hundreds of artists into a mere seven days. There are so many artists that one wouldn't know where to start unless they have a specific genre in mind. So for now, let's extract some of the rock bands that will be playing.

Although an official schedule has yet to be released, the lineup has been broken up between the two weekends. During the first weekend, Dave Matthews Band will be featured as one of the headliners (sadly, sans the original sax player). Wilco, who strangely drew in a larger crowd than Rage Against the Machine at Lollapalooza, will undoubtedly be received with open arms.  Read more »

The independent event production team, Across-the-Way Productions, just announced exciting additions to the already colorful initial lineup for their celebrated annual music and arts festival, FloydFest. Now in its 8th incarnation, the festival will take place July 23-26, 2009 in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia. Since its inception in 2002, FloydFest organizers have prided themselves in providing a safe and welcoming ground for a global community forum, and musical showcase steeped in Appalachian roots.

Below is a press release by Jim Walsh of Big Hassle Media regarding the 20th Annual Warren Haynes' Christmas Jam.  This year was said to have gone swimmingly and raised an outstanding amount of money to benefit Habitat For Humanity.  Asheville, NC received a lineup of artists that few other musicians other than Haynes could conjure up.  The festival featured a selection of musicians from some of the most historic rock n' roll groups, including John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin and of course, Haynes' original group, The Allman Brothers Band.  Here's what Walsh had to say about the event:  Read more »

The winter months are usually a somber time for the jam band community, seeing as festivals like High Sierra, 10K, and Wakarusa don't roll around until the summer. These next couple months, however, seem to hold a lot more jam rock-centered festivals than in previous winters. It's sometimes nice to vamp on the same chord progression for an extended period of time and let the music build over it. All music is repetition, but this aspect provides equilibrium for many people. Some folks, whether they be Deadheads or not, are still very much rooted in the improv-based 60's rock n' roll scene. Many feel a connection to this type of music for different reasons, be it the counterculture, the drugs, or the peace and love vibe (although this hasn't been present in some of today's concert events). People of all ages are drawn to events like these to both be entertained and to take part in a mutual exchange of musical energy between their favorite bands and thousands of other fans. A common misconception is that a festival of this caliber implies an attempted Woodstock recreation with masses of tye-died flower children, but nowadays, the term jam band encompasses far more than Wah-driven psychedelia. Plus, many aren't held on farms or in parks. If you couldn't make it to Warren Haynes' Christmas Jam or Caribbean Holidaze, here are some upcoming jam band festivals that might catch your fancy...  Read more »