From: Matt Laurence <mlaurenc@world.std.com>
Subject: God Street Wine
Reply-To: mlaurenc@world.std.com
Organization: The Internet
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 18:52:04 GMT


Well, whoever had the fine taste to recommend God Street Wine
to the good pholks of the Net, I MUST heartilly second the 
recommendation. I caught these guys at Ed Burke's in Boston
just this past Thursday with Rich and Jeff. We were initially
skeptical because they said they'd go on at 9:45, and didn't go on 
until 11:15, which is even later than PHISH used to go on when 
they started late (which they did often, many of you will recall - 
Townsend 1991, for example, started about 3 hours late, if I 
remember correctly). But When they finally came on, GSW had
the tiny bar rockin' non-stop from the first song to the last. It was
a truly joyous experience.

I can understand some of the comparisons with Phish that have
been posted, though they are more straighforward in many ways.
They aren't quite as varied stylistically, nor do they have the
same whacked out sense of humor or out-there jams, but they
have similarly fun songs that REALLY groove. Most tunes are easier
to follow rhythmically than some Phish songs, but the jams are
just as intense and many of the chord progressions are just as 
inventive and unpredictable. GSW really has fun playing, and it 
shows. Plus, seeing them in a small club, like any band, adds a
HUGE element of interaction between band and audience. Singer
and guitarist Lo Faber actually jumped off the stage and into the
audience at one point to groove and to watch the other guitarist 
(Aaron Maxwell) take a killer solo. 

The crowd was VERY into it, dancing frenetically through both 
sets, even forming a good-natured mini mosh-pit during one
particularly grooving tune (which was fun and totally safe,
unlike some slam-pits I've been subjected to). There were two
identical twins there too, women who looked like they had to 
be in their 40s and bundled way up in matching red overcoats,
hats and sunglasses, but they were as into the music as anyone, 
dancing with just about everyone and forming limbo-lines with
their scarves,  and generally putting on a great floor show, much
to everyone's amusement.

A full 3.5 hours later, the exhausted crowd was quite disppointed
when GSW finally left the stage, but they hung around and talked
to an appreicative bunch of folks (until the HUGE bouncer started 
shouting for everyone to get out). Their CD "Bag" which has been
out for all of about 3 weeks now, is great, and almost captures the 
live intensity of killer tunes like "Hellfire," "Nightingale," "Feel the Pressure" and "Goodnight Gretchen." With 12 songs and 71 minutes
of top-notch music, it's a good investment, and the $12 ALL goes to
the band instead of some record exec if you buy it at a show. Plus they gave me some free bumper stickers when I bought the CD.

All in all, I can't recommend these guys highly enough! They'll
be in and out of Mass. and New York for the next few weeks; here's
a schedule:

12-12  UNH - call UNH for info (or the Wineline at 914-762-3697)
12-16  Seven Willow St., Portchester NY
12-17  Maxwell's, Hoboken NJ
12-18  Hotel Rhinecliff, Rhinecliff NY
12-19  Embree's, Housatonic MA
12-23  Fore and Aft, White Plains, NY
12-25  Wetlands Christmas show, NY
12-26  T.T. The Bears, Cambridge, MA
12-30 and 12-31  Fore and Aft, (with Spin Docs, I think)

All these shows are 21+ except the Wetlands and Seven Willow
Stree shows, which are 18+. I plan on catching a few more, and
it would be to everyone's advantage to see these guys wherever
you can. They seem to allow taping (at least they did at Burke's),
but that might depend on the venue. So good luck, and enjoy!

Matt
Newsgroups: rec.music.phish