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Skydog: The Duane Allman Story by Randy Poe Most people who know me know what a powerful influence Jimi Hendrix was in my life. He lead me down a wildly diverse but unique musical road. He also gave me some inspiration. I was a black kid who liked his music, he was a black man who played his music. Being an adventurous and slightly obsessive guitar fan I started to listen to rock radio and when I was a kid I heard “Rambling Man”, “Southbound” and “Jessica” on the radio all the time. I loved them because they had lots of guitar. As I read more and associated things…I thought Charlie Daniels was cool. I identified – quite bizarrely – with being Southern, and I mean redneck Southern. So, the Allman Brothers couldn’t be far off my radar. In college I was moving from a metalhead to a blues fanatic and again, the Allman Brothers were there. They were played on the same radio as Metallica and AC/DC and all the classic rock – guitar rock – I loved but they played blues songs and really ...

I don't listen to the Mule as much as I used to but I saved this article months ago and finally read it. Traveling musicians have a rough row to hoe and god forbide they get sick. You can talk about and to any number of old blues, jazz and country guys about this. The jamband world is filled with bands who create a work environment that is beneficial to the band, fans and world. The Dead did it, Dave Matthews does it, Phish did it, the Allmans have gotten better at it, etc. It is appropriately attached to one of my fav songs, Thorazine Shuffle, or back in the old days it was called 5557.

Every year something happens that we don't expect. I am only gonna address to musical surprises of 2006. One was very pleasant and the other was mixed. I was glad that I can say it exists for there to even be a surprise. The bad news is the release of " Boxing Mirror " by Alejandro Escovedo . I am so glad Al is around to give us new music. For those who don't know or haven't listened to the record, Al has Hepatitis and he almost died in 2003. We weren't sure if we'd ever get more music from him. He'd suffered a health setback and as a result he suffered a financial setback b/c he, like most working musicians, he didn't have adequate health insurance. So when I say I am glad to have more music I am sincerely happy that this master of lyric and melody is back out there. The part I don't like is the resulting record. I have grown to like the album more than I did when I first bought it but I have major problems with the production & some of t...