The Guitar Channel

Liquid Tension Experiment reunion tour

In other reunion news, the prog-rock supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment (Mike Portnoy - drums, John Petrucci - guitar, Jordan Rudess - keyboards, and Tony Levin - bass) will embark on a short, 10th anniversary tour in June. Here are the dates and locations:

June 21 - Bethlehem, PA - NEARfest
June 23 - New York City - BB King's
June 25 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theater
June 27 - Downey, CA - Downey Theater
June 28 - San Francisco, CA - Bay Area Rock Fest

via Blabbermouth.net

Return To Forever tour dates announced!

Finally! Here are the announced dates and locations for the much anticipated Return To Forever reunion tour:

May 29, 2008      Paramount Theatre Austin #1       Austin, TX      
May 30, 2008     Paramount Theatre Austin #2     Austin, TX    
May 31, 2008     Verizon Wireless Arena     Houston, TX    
June 1, 2008     Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie     Dallas, TX    
June 3, 2008     Paramount Theatre Denver     Denver, CO    
June 4, 2008     Kingsbury Hall     Salt Lake City, UT
June 6, 2008     Schnitzer Concert Hall     Portland, OR     TBA    
June 7, 2008     Britt Music Festival     Medford, OR     TBA    
June 8, 2008     The Paramount - Seattle     Seattle, WA    
June 9, 2008     The Centre in Vancouver For Performing Arts    
June 11, 2008     The Grand at the Regency Center #1     San Francisco, CA
June 12, 2008     The Grand at the Regency Center #2     San Francisco, CA
June 13, 2008     Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk     Los Angeles, CA    
June 14, 2008     Dodge Theatre     Phoenix, AZ      
June 17, 2008     Fox Theatre     St. Louis, MO      
June 18, 2008     Holland Performing Arts Center     Omaha, NE    
June 19, 2008     Orpheum Theatre     Minneapolis, MN    
June 20, 2008     The Chicago Theatre     Chicago, IL         
June 21, 2008     Freedom Hill Amphitheatre     Detroit, MI    
June 22, 2008     Murat Theatre     Indianapolis, IN         
June 24, 2008     The Plain Dealer Pavilion     Cleveland, OH
June 25, 2008     Sony Centre     Toronto, ONT, Canada    
June 26, 2008     Ottawa Jazz Festival/Confederation Park     Ottawa, ONT, Canada    
June 27, 2008     Place des Arts - Pelletier Hall     Montreal, QUE, Canada    
June 28, 2008     Saratoga PAC - Freihofers's Jazz Festival     Saratoga Springs, NY    
July 2, 2008     Utenos Arena     Vilnius, Lithuania    
July 4, 2008     Congress Hall     Warsaw, Poland
July 5, 2008     Budapest Arena     Budapest, Hungary    
July 6, 2008     Belgrade Arena     Belgrade, Serbia
July 8, 2008     L'Olympia     Paris, France
July 9, 2008     Vienne Jazz Festival     Vienne, France
July 10, 2008     Via Jazz Festival     Madrid, Spain
July 11, 2008     Cap Roig Festival     Girona, Spain
July 12, 2008     Lorca Festival     Lorca, Spain
July 13, 2008     TBD Valencia, Spain     Valencia, Spain
July 16, 2008     TBD Neuhardenberg, Germany     Neuhardenberg, Germany
July 18, 2008     Montreux Jazz Festival     Montreux, Switzerland    
July 19, 2008     Grugahalle     Essen, Germany    
July 21, 2008     Indigo2     London, England    
July 23, 2008     Nice Jazz Festival     Nice, France
July 25, 2008     TBD San Sebastian, Spain     San Sebastian, Spain
July 30, 2008     The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theatre     Miami, FL    
July 31, 2008     Ruth Eckerd Hall     Clearwater, FL
August 1, 2008     House of Blues Orlando     Orlando, FL
August 2, 2008     Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center     Atlanta, GA    
August 4, 2008     Merriweather Post Pavilion     Columbia, MD 
August 5, 2008     Mann Center for Performing Arts  w/ the Flecktones  Philadelphia,  PA
August 6, 2008     Bank of America Pavilion w/ the Flecktones     Boston, MA    
August 7, 2008     United Palace     New York, NY

Joe Satriani Guitar Center Sessions tour

Following the release of his new album Professor Satchafunkilus And The Musterion Of Rock on April 1st, Joe Satriani will embark on an 11-city Guitar Center Sessions clinic tour. Dates and locations are below. The clinics will feature question-and-answer segments, autograph signings, and live performances by Satriani.

April 01 - Natick (Boston), MA
April 02 - Manhattan, NY
April 03 - Plymouth Meeting (Philly), PA
April 04 - Rockville (DC), MD
April 05 - Chicago, IL
April 06 - Englewood (Denver), CO
April 07 - Phoenix, AZ
April 08 - Hollywood, CA
April 09 - San Francisco, CA
April 10 - Clackamas (Portland), OR
April 11 - Seattle, WA

via Truth In Shredding

Current listening

Here's a quick rundown of what I've been listening to lately.

NEW STUFF

Tim Miller - Trio 2

Awesome Holdsworthian jazz. Great writing. I love Miller's acoustic/electric tones.

Whoopgnash - Lack Of Education

Also Holdsworthian, but far more "out there" than Miller. Great guitar work by John Erickson.

Paul Gilbert - Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar

Gilbert's follow-up to Get Out Of My Yard. Great tones and writing.
 

OLD STUFF

Mathieson, Laboriel, Colaiuta, Landau - Live at The Baked Potato

I actually prefer the follow-up, Another Night At The Baked Potato, but this one is growing on me. Landau is awesome as usual.

Larry Carlton with Robben Ford - Live In Tokyo

Saw these guys in Chicago recently; great show. As a result I've been revisiting this disc. Well worth picking up.

Free downloadable Paul Gilbert song

Kudo's to Laurie at Truth In Shredding for spotting this: Paul Gilbert's new album Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar was released in Japan on January 23rd (look for my review soon). Mascot Records will release the album in Europe on March 31st. Shrapnel Records will release the album in the US on April 8th. Mascot is currently offering the track "Bultaco Saturno" as a free MP3 download through their site (here is a direct link to the file). I highly recommend downloading this song; it's one of my favorite tracks on the album.

Machacek/Eckhardt/Minnemann - Live 1/25/08 video

Some great footage of guitarist Alex Machacek's gig at the Baked Potato on Jan 25th, 2008. With Marco Minnemann on drums, and Kai Eckhardt on bass.

Exclusive interview: Prashant Aswani

I had the pleasure of interviewing Prashant Aswani at the NAMM show this past January. Prashant and I discussed the new Xtone series guitars from ESP, his upcoming album, and more. This exclusive interview has now been published at Modern Guitars Magazine.  Enjoy!

Prashant Aswani interview

Jimmy Herring to release solo album this fall

Guitarist Jimmy Herring (WSP, ARU, Project Z) will be releasing a solo album on Abstract Logix this fall. Joining Herring on this release will be Jeff Sipe on drums, Oteil Burbridge on bass, Kofi Burbridge on keyboards and Greg Osby on saxophone. Not sure if Derek Trucks will be involved as I originally heard back in December. Either way this should be an incredible album. 

Allan Holdsworth cover story - April 08 Guitar Player Magazine

The April 2008 issue of Guitar Player magazine has an excellent cover story on Allan Holdsworth. Complete with an extensive interview and comments from other top players, it may be the best Holdsworth article I've ever seen in print. Highly recommended!

UPDATE: An extended version of this interview is now available online.

Alex Machacek - "Austin Powers" from Mexico workshop

I normally don't post this many videos, but there's some good stuff popping up on YouTube lately. Here's some more excellent footage of Alex Machacek from his recent workshop in Mexico. This is the song "Austin Powers" with Hernan Hecht (drums), and "Chumino" Guardado (bass).

Paul Gilbert - "Technical Difficulties" from Canberra Clinic

This is Paul Gilbert at Better Music in Canberra Australia on Feb 28th.

Video of Alex Machacek in Mexico

Here is some footage of a recent Alex Machacek workshop performance in Mexico.