Bonerama
2009-07-04
Waterfront Blues Festival
Portland, OR

Lineage: KBOO FM>tuner>HD>CD Wave>TLH>FLAC

Set List
1. instrumental
2. fly right to me?
3. close the door
4. shake your regulator
5. ??>>
6. ??
7. certain girl
8. turn on your love light
9. instrumental

Recorded from KBOO FM a local all volunteer radio station. There are always reception problems and drops in sound from this station. Maybe it's just where I live. Anyway, I have tried to find and fix all the drops in sound. This year not all the first day was broadcast. Not sure why. Etta James canceled and was replaced by Keb Mo' but his recording contract wouldn't allow his broadcast.

twofthrs



When Bonerama struts onstage with its four-trombone frontline, you can guess it's not quite like any rock 'n' roll band you’ve seen. When they tear into vintage New Orleans funk, there's no questioning from which city these guys hail. And when those ’bones start ripping into Hendrix and Led Zeppelin licks, all stylistic bets are off.

Even in a city that doesn't play by the rules, New Orleans’ Bonerama is something different. They're not a traditional brass band, but they've got brass to spare—even with no trumpets or saxes in sight. They can evoke vintage funk, classic rock and free improvisation in the same set; maybe even the same song. Bonerama has been repeatedly recognized by Rolling Stone, hailed as “the ultimate in brass balls” and praised for their "…crushing ensemble riffing, human-feedback shrieks and wah-wah growls." Bonerama carries the brass-band concept to places unknown; what other brass band could snag an honor for "Best Rock Band" (Big Easy Awards 2007)? As cofounder Mark Mullins puts it, "We thought we could expand what a New Orleans brass band could do. Bands like Dirty Dozen started the ’anything goes' concept, bringing in the guitars and the drumkit and using the sousaphone like a bass guitar. We thought we could push things a little further."

New Orleans’ fertile club scene was directly responsible for Bonerama getting together. Trombonists Mullins and Craig Klein were both members of Harry Connick's band, where they'd been since 1990. Both were looking to supplement this gig with something a little less structured. "Harry sets the bar pretty high, and you have to play it the same way every night for everyone to follow."

The big chance came in the summer of ’98, when Mullins had a weekly residency at Tipitina's in the French Quarter. The club was then turning weekly slots over to some of the city's favorite musicians, including Allen Toussaint and Cyril Neville; Mullins got charge of Wednesdays. Word got out one week that he and Klein were staging their trombone super-session and everybody they knew wanted to get involved. "It seemed that half the trombone players in town showed up," Klein recalls. "At the end of the night we had them all onstage, maybe fifteen trombones at once. It sounded like a freight train; a big wall of sound coming right at you."
	

Maybe someone from NOLA can help with this set list.