[Wayne Kramer, MC5, Detroit and Metal is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

The Robinson brothers, Chris and Rich are brilliant together, and individually as well.   Chris is on tour with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, while Rich is touring in support of his own record: Through A Crooked Sun.

“The sun was a fitting metaphor to examine my life, because in many ways what was going on both nourished me and blinded me at the same time,” says Rich. “I was living this life that was askew. My relationships with the people that were supposed to be my closest seemed damaged. My marriage was not a good fit for either of us and we weren’t facing up to that. Though I love my brother, the fact that my working environment can be challenging has been well chronicled. Nothing was working like it should have been, but by many people’s standards, it was a dream come true.”

Check out more of Rich’s music on his FB page.

Meanwhile – CRB – Chris Robinson Brotherhood is on tour with their own distinctive sound.  Check out this Otis Redding cover.

[The Black Crowes – the Robinson Brothers is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Michelle Kath Sinclair’s documentary “In Search of Terry”  is being funded via KickStarter, a funding platform for artists to be able to develop creative projects without a major corporate entity. Find out more here.

Searching For Terry

We wish her and the producers much success with this project and look forward to the film she is creating.

[Chicago’s Terry Kath is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

[Tom Waits is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

And our friend Bess Rogers has a new release as well.   Here are some samples of what you might enjoy.

Marketa Irglova:  she is best known for her part in the Swell Season and in the film Once, now the Academy Award winning singer and songwriter celebrates her first solo release: Anar.

Joe Henry is a critically acclaimed songwriter and producer, a Grammy-winner, in fact whose 12th release is available today.

Vault Sessions alumna Bess Rogers has a new independent release entitled Out of the Ocean, featuring the single Anchor- and she offers a free download of that song for a limited time at BessRogers.com

[New Releases: Marketa Irglova, Joe Henry, Bess Rogers is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

This week, Will Hoge releases his seventh record, the aptly titled “Number Seven,” via Rykodisc. The new single from the disc is actually the last track, titled “When I Get My Wings.” It weaves together an emotionally poignant story from the vantage of an old man laying his beloved wife to rest after a long and happy life together. The video debuted just last week online, view it below.

YouTube Embed: “When I Get My Wings”

Will Hoge shared with us his musical influences, read about it on the Will Hoge Playlist here, or enjoy a clip of Will discussing the story behind “When I Get My Wings” in more detail:

Will also just kicked off his “When I Get My Wings 2011 Tour” in support of Number Seven. For more information on the dates, go to his website: http://willhoge.com/wired/tour.

And to purchase Willl’s new album Number Seven online,  go here: http://bit.ly/WHitunesEW

Get to know this great musician on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/willhoge

[Will Hoge is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Our own favorite U2 era is in the very early days, when the band was just breaking, as seen here.

Click the photo above to watch U2 live concert video from May 1981

And of course, both bands share a lot of fans, but, just for fun, if forced to choose – which film would you be more interested in seeing?

Word is that a Pearl Jam 20 soundtrack 2-cd set with previously unreleased tracks is available for pre-order now.

While you’re pondering the profundity of that question :)  check out some of the great memorabilia for both these bands here: and let us know your memories of either U2 or Pearl Jam live shows in the comments below.  Where and when, if ever, did you see them live?  What do you remember about it?

[U2 vs Pearl Jam at Toronto is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Monday:
Zebra – Playhouse (Hofstra, Long Island, NY) – 11/13/84

Zebra came out of New Orleans in the late 1970s, destined to be the next big power trio in rock. Knowing they needed a major east coast market to break out of, the band traveled on a regular basis to New York City and Long Island, where they quickly built a loyal following in a number of rock clubs. When they first arrived in New York, it was clear to Zebra that their competition would be fierce. In Long Island, bands like Twisted Sister and The Good Rats were dominating the rock clubs and had a number of labels eager to sign them.

Tuesday:
UFO – Record Plant (Sausalito, CA) – 9/23/75

Formed in England in 1969, UFO began as a hard rocking outfit with plenty of emphasis on space-rock and riff-heavy boogie. Their first two albums bore a passing resemblance to early Deep Purple with a healthy dose of the space-metal of Hawkwind mixed in. These early albums found great success in Japan, France and Germany, but met with general indifference in their native country and the United States. A third live album, which was released exclusively in Japan, showed the band to be an engaging act onstage, but did little toward increasing their exposure. In June of 1973, all this took a turn for the better, when teenager Michael Schenker of the German metal band Scorpions permanently joined the group on guitar. Although Schenker spoke not a word of English, his guitar playing sensibilities communicated plenty with the core band members and it was during this time that UFO’s music really began to jell.

Wednesday:
.38 Special – Long Island (Long Island, NY) – 1/29/85

.38 Special were at the peak of their popularity when they recorded this show for the King Biscuit Flower Hour. Following a format that blended Southern rock with a rock-tinged country sound, the band had carved a niche´ spot on FM play lists that embraced a well-polished production value.
Opening with the rockin’ original “Take Em Out,” .38 Special presents a solid show that is high on musicality as this specific lineup had been together for over five years. One listen and it shows that the band members were seasoned road warriors by this point.
Recorded in Long Island, NY, a stronghold for the band for many years, the group blasted its way through a solid set of best known songs. Carlisi introduces Van Zant as “the hardest working man in show business,” which James Brown would’ve obviously taken exception to. Still, both Van Zant and Barnes deliver unmistakably powerful performances, especially on such up-tempo rockers as “Rough Housin’,” “Stone Cold Believer,” and the radio favorite, “Caught Up In You.”

Thursday:
The Alarm – Metro (Boston, MA) – 6/29/83

Mike Peters can still recall the moment, in 1980, when he came to realize precisely “what direction I wanted to move in life.” At the time, Peters was an ex-member of Seventeen, a Mod revival band from the Welsh town of Rhyl, who’d managed one single and a tour with the Jam before their ambitions all went pear-shaped. Since then, he’d been running a club and a clothing stall in town, but the band members didn’t fall out of touch, and a few months after Peters’ Marquee epiphany, in April, 1981, Dave Sharp, Nigel Twist and Eddie MacDonald were all back rehearsing together. Just two years after that, they were preparing to take their first steps into American soil supporting their close friends, U2.

Friday:
Blue Oyster Cult – Late Show – Palladium (New York, NY) – 2/16/79

Blue Oyster Cult was out hawking its successful live LP, Some Enchanted Evening, when this set was captured for national airplay on the King Biscuit Flower Hour in January, 1979. Much of it contains material also found on the Evening disc, with the obvious substitution of the covers the band always included in its live shows.
The live album had a brilliant remake of the MC5 classic, “Kick Out The Jams,” and a less convincing version of the Animals’ 1965 hit, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” In their place for this tour was a meaty, but not too innovative take on the Steppenwolf gem, “Born To Be Wild.” That song would eventually become a staple of the BOC live show. Some of the material here will engage the listener with themes of science fiction and the supernatural: “Stairway To The Stars,” “E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence),” and “Harvester Of Eyes,” among them. They get down to business later in the set with ballsy versions of “Hot Rails To Hell,” “Godzilla,” and the band’s long time closer, “Cities On Flame With Rock ‘n Roll.” Also featured is the band’s biggest radio hit, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.”

[Rockin’ Download Deals is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Monday:
Joan Baez – Newport Folk Festival – 6/26/1968

In 1968, Joan Baez returned to Newport, as she would in years before and since, to deliver a breathtaking set built around her voice and acoustic guitar. The times had indeed a’changed by that tumultuous year in US history, not only for Baez but for all involved with folk music. Richie Havens, Tim Buckley, and Fred Neil were the folk world’s stars that straddled both folk and rock’s lines but Baez largely stayed on the side of folk even three years after Dylan’s historic electric appearance at Newport. Eventually she would make her own foray into rock ‘n’ roll with Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue in the ’70s, but as the ’60s ended, Baez was still rocking the house (so to speak) with a combination of her vibrato and pointed commentary that rarely failed to get a reaction.

Tuesday:
Band Of Gypsys – Fillmore East – Late Show – 1/1/70

The only LP of completely live Jimi Hendrix recordings to be released during his lifetime, the Band Of Gypsys album found the iconoclastic guitarist with a new rhythm section and soaring to new creative heights. Recorded on the second night of a New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day engagement at the Fillmore East, these performances gave Hendrix the opportunity to showcase new material and fulfill a contractual obligation simultaneously. The circumstances surrounding these shows are now well known; Hendrix had just successfully defended himself against drug possession charges in Toronto and now, due to a contract signed before he was known, was being forced to deliver an album of original material to Ed Chalpin, an entrepreneur determined to exploit Hendrix’s success.

Wednesday:
Canned Heat – Parr Meadows – 9/7/79 (Woodstock 10th Anniversary Concert!)

There have been quite a few high profile events to commemorate the legendary 1969 Woodstock Festival, but one of the most interesting occurred when many of the original musicians who had performed at Woodstock converged in Long Island’s Parr Meadows in Brookhaven, NY to celebrate the 10th anniversary. Unlike later events, this was a true reunion for many of the musicians who played at Woodstock and the audience was treated to performances by the likes of Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Stephen Stills, Johnny Winter, the Rick Danko/Paul Butterfield Band and Canned Heat, among others. Although much had changed in the previous decade and this was a considerably smaller event, the audience was treated to a wealth of memorable music. The King Biscuit Flower Hour folks were on hand and later that fall, they broadcast several highlights from this memorable day.

Thursday:
Mountain – Fillmore East – 12/31/70

There is no better example of Mountain at the height of its powers than this New Year’s Eve concert at Fillmore East. The band was based out of Forest Hills so they were surrounded by friends, family, and an extremely enthusiastic audience. They had recently released their strongest and most cohesive album, Nantucket Sleighride and this great new material combined with the success of their previous album and single, “Mississippi Queen,” inspires the group to play at peak capacity.

Friday:
Grateful Dead – Fillmore West – 6/7/69

This is the third night of this memorable Fillmore West run. An outstanding show from beginning to end, containing several song transitions unique to this show and a wonderful version of “Lovelight” with Janis Joplin sitting in. This is one of the all time classic Grateful Dead shows.
Beginning quietly and in extremely unusual fashion for 1969, they kick the show off acoustically. They open with “Dire Wolf” and continue with an acoustic rendition of “Dupree’s Diamond Blues.” The audience must have had no clue where the band was going with this unusually quiet behavior, as they continue with an acoustic rendition of the rarely played, “Mountains Of The Moon.” This is when things really begin to get strange.

[Download Deals from 1969 Woodstock Artists is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

In his career with America, and later solo, Peek contributed to so many hit songs that are indelible in the minds of millions of music fans worldwide, even if we haven’t heard those songs in a while. We take this moment to send our condolences to the Peek family, and to remember the great music he helped create, including “Ventura Highway,” “Horse With No Name,” “Sister Golden Hair Surprise,” “Tin Man,” “I Need You,” and “Lonely People.”  

A medley of performances by Peek of some of America’s hits follows:

Dan Peek’s former bandmates, Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley, who continued America since Peek left the band in 1977, wrote a tribute to Peek on their site VenturaHighway.com.    Peek’s own site, DanPeek.com simply and movingly reads: “Dan went to Heaven on July 24 2011″

You can listen to four different post-Peek America concerts at http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/america/.

Please share your memories of these songs and this great band in the comments.

[Remembering Dan Peek of the band America is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]