This has been the talk of Asheville for over a year, and it’s filling the necessity for a big time music venue. Sure, there’s the wine and cheese of Thomas Wolfe Auditorium and the overly surly Asheville Music Zone, but there’s never been a chic place to see music. The moniker, “social aid and pleasure club” says it all. The name is borrowed from Mardi Gras Krewes of New Orleans, who use their clubhouses year-round to uphold the spirit of community and “social aid.” They also use it to host events that tweak the pleasurable glands - parties, weddings, and live music. The Orange Peel is on that same path and on their website they state that the venue “has a mission to become not only a live music venue to rival any in the nation, but also to become a community center for cultural arts and events in Asheville. We plan to host weekly artist markets, Sunday morning free-dance experiences, and a regular barbecue or pig-pickin’.”

The owners, Lesley and Jack Groetsch, are not the only masterminds behind this great gathering. They also encourage the community to come up with ideas on how to make the Orange Peel a more vibrant place. It shouldn’t be a problem. The Orange Peel is a renovated old building that used to be popular nightclub decades ago and the spirits should still linger on this hallowed ground. Presently, the music the Orange Peel is getting rivals any venue in the country. It also covers a wide spectrum of musicians, and should satisfy varying degrees of taste, from the crunching blues of Sonny Landreth to the disco cheese of Bjorn Again (an Abba cover band) to the surf strums of Dick Dale.

Here’s a sample schedule:

Friday, Oct. 25 (Opening Night)
Sonny Landreth with Tift Merritt.
Call for times and ticket prices.

Sunday, Oct. 27 — Little Feat and
the Blue Dogs (9 p.m.) $20

Tuesday, Oct. 29 — Soulive with Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. Call for times and prices.

Soulive is thinking person’s funk. I laid witness to these guys last fall and this stealthy trio (Eric Krasno—guitar, Neal Evans—Hammond B-3, Alan Evans—drums) left a sweaty wake of dancers who didn’t know what hit them. Soulive is always dressed to the nines, which intertwines their dedication to laying down serious jazz, R&B, and funk. It’s almost like going to a business meeting with a disco ball doing the demonstrations. The band formed in March 1999 when Alan and Neal invited Eric up for a jam session in Woodstock, NY. That first session was immortalized with the recording “Get Down” (Velour Recordings). It showcased a new band, but it also displayed an incredible confidence. What other band would use their first practice together as their first EP?

The resume is impeccable. Neal Evans is a rhythm devil, incorporating bass lines with his left hand (when I first saw them, I searched in vain for the invisible bass player), while laying down keyboard solos with the right. He creates revolutions on the Hammond B-3 on a nightly basis. His brother, Alan, supplies the other end of the rhythm quotient on drums. His playing is impeccable and wraps a tight package around Eric’s and Neal’s forays into the unknown. Alan’s father had the younger’s hand around drumsticks before walking became a thought. Eric Krasno attended Boston’s Berklee School of Music when he was 14. The crowd he fell into gave him an appreciation of jazz, soul, and blues and bluegrass... as long as it was seasoned with funk. His solos onstage draw from all these genres, and his originality has no parameters.

Catch these guys before they outgrow places like the Orange Peel. It won’t be long. They signed to the legendary Blue Note Records (Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, to name a smattering) in the fall of 2000 and they’ve released two classics—“Doin’ Something” and “Next.” Their popularity has made them mammoths in Japan, and they have just returned from stadium tours opening for the Dave Matthews Band.

Herbie Hancock Trio
Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $35/$25
Charge by Phone at 828.259.5544

This one’s a mystery. Herbie’s website doesn’t mention this show on his tourdates, nor does it say anything about the trio he’ll be with. But, who cares. It’s Herbie and it’s guaranteed to be a night to remember; whether he decides to do Gershwin tunes or delve into the Headhunter vault. Hancock is a legend, a certifiable genius on the keys who performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of 11. His first album, “Takin’ Off” (1963 and featured the classic, “Watermelon Man”) was an instant hit. It also attracted the mysterious Miles Davis who invited Herbie along for a five-year bi-polar ride. His reputation solidified, Herbie began his voyages into electronica with the Headhunters in the 70’s (he had 11 albums on the pop charts in that decade). 1984’s Future Shock again struck platinum as the single “Rockit” introduced the white world to the art of record scratching. It won a Grammy for Best R&B Instrumental, and the video of the track, created by Kevin Godley and Lol Crème, won five MTV awards. “Sound System,” the follow-up to Future Shock, also received a Grammy in the R&B instrumental category.

Hancock’s tight rope experiments with sounds inspired a slew of jazz and R&B artists who still sample Hancock’s vast library to this day. He’s also made a tidal in the film industry, winning a 1987 Academy Award for this composition in “After Midnight.” In 1996, he founded the Rhythm Of Life Foundation. The organization’s mission is twofold: to help narrow the gap between those technologically empowered and those who are not; and to find ways to help technology improve humanity. Furthermore, his latest album, “Future to Future” continues to overstep the boundaries of conventional music.

Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon “Clone”
(Private Music)
Released on October 8.

Perhaps the two oddest birds on the planet have found a singular feather on the anticipated release of “Clone.” Kottke is a 12 string legend. His solo performances have parted crowd’s hairs since the late 60’s, with his ability to fill up a room with wry humor and a guitar that needs no accompaniment. Mike Gordon is the eccentric bass player from the band, Phish. His cerebral bass grooves are a foundation amongst Phish’s constant attraction to anything off the mainstream blip.

Gordon has been a long time fan of Kottke, and he introduced himself to Leo three years ago during one of the guitarist’s tours. Gordon also slipped Kottke a tape of Mike doing bass overdubs to some of Leo’s classic tunes. The guitarist was intrigued and soon a friendly correspondence developed. They got together at Trey Anastasio’s (guitarist for Phish) barn in Burlington, Vermont. After several painful jamming hours, the two finally clicked. The groove they found that day would become “June” on the new album. The two got together a couple of times after that, with the intention of making a record:

“It’s a symbiotic relationship with Leo that stems from a similar sense of humor,” Gordon told Julia Mordaunt, “a similarly warped view of reality and some similar musical tastes. We went to California three times, toying with covers, originals, instrumentals — and we liked the vocal stuff in particular. Only some of the many ideas are being used, since we don’t really want to make a long-winded album.”

The 14-track album gives the musicians plenty of toys to tinker with. The two share vocals while Kottke adds “kitchen” percussion parts along with guitar and Gordon plays bass, piano, electric guitar, and percussion. Recorded at Paul duGré’s (Pontiac Brothers, X) Burbank, California studio, “Clone” also gives the nod to riveting covers like “I Am A Lonesome Fugitive,” which was recorded by blues-rock groundbreaker Roy Buchanan over 30 years ago.

The duo will also go on a mini tour starting in November (they are at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta on November 12, check out www.jambase.com, www.leokottke.com, and www.phish.com for the rest of the dates).

“It’s scary because I really like his shows alone,” Gordon confessed to Mordaunt. “He really sounds complete for one guitarist/singer. On the other hand, we’ve had some jams that seem really rhythmic and invigorating, and I could imagine people wanting to dance” not actually dancing, just wanting to.”

Live From Bonnaroo
(Bonnaroo and Sanctuary Records Group)
Released on September 24.

In the months before the festival, my friend had affectionately called the mammoth event, “Bustaroo.” Surely with 80,000 people in attendance, the cops in small town Manchester, Tennessee would meet their quotas for the next decade. Besides, how could someone create a fun festival with basically a small nation on farm property? My friend and I both missed the festival and our regrets have blossomed with every report. Most of my friends called it the best fest ever. The organization was incredible, and the music rivaled anything that the mud bathers saw at Woodstock 30 years before. A little town was set up in the middle, so no one had to trek outside the grounds, and each person was handed a sample disc of the performers when they walked in the gate. As far as Big Brother watching, the biggest police event involved several D.U.I.’s that were mainly issued to Manchester natives.

Now Bonnaroo has decided to add salt to my wounds by releasing “Live From Bonnaroo” on September 24th. The cuts are all live and demonstrate the freedom of artistry that was interspersed between artists and fans.

(Hunter Pope can be reached at w.h.pope@worldnet.att.net)