THOUGHT SAUSAGE TO CHEW ON:
WSP'S LOCAL CONNECTIONS
(And Random Show Tips)
By Kent Kimes
Editor
Seminal jam band Widespread Panic has several connections to the Grand Strand beyond Monday through Wednesday's sold-out three-night stand at the House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach.
We'll discuss a few here and pass on some tips if you're headed to the H.O.B. for any of the shows - or just to hang out and soak up the vibe.
While Widespread Panic has legions of loyal fans and sells out huge venues across the country, the band earned its success the old fashioned way, gigging relentlessly, touring and playing in excess of 200 dates per year, which found the group performing at old Grand Strand haunts such as The Purple Gator and The Afterdeck, both clubs on Restaurant Row.
According to meticulous fan site www.everydaycompanion.com, WSP performed July 7, 1991 and May 8, 1992 at the now-defunct Purple Gator (the building still standing at Magnolia Town Center across from The Tiki at The Afterdeck/Thee Dollhouse); and April 9, 1993, Sept. 22, 1993 and July 22, 1994 at The Afterdeck.
The House of Blues opened at Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach in 1997, and from that point on, the band appeared there for multiple nights from 1997-2000.
And WSP has the distinction of being the last rock band to perform at Myrtle Beach Speedway, back in the summer of 2001, a show produced and staged by the H.O.B., and drawing slightly more than 8,000 concert-goers (including yours truly).
RANDOM TRIVIA
• WSP lead guitarist Jimmy Herring, the newest member of the band, also sat in with the Jerry Garcia-less reincarnation of the Grateful Dead, known as The Dead, so he's like jam band royalty. The Fayetteville, N.C. native was also one of the featured performers at local bass guitar master Steve Bailey's Bass at the Beach seminar in February 2004 at the Ocean Dunes Conference Center. During that appearance at Bass at the Beach, he told the crowd he lived in Myrtle Beach for six months in 1985 playing at the long-since defunct Miscue Lounge.
• The last time WSP performed along the Grand Strand, the band's three-night stay at the House of Blues in November 2003 was officially recorded by the group and released separately as: "Live at Myrtle Beach," "Uber Cobra'' and "Night of Joy.'' (And I was there, for one night.)
• Lead singer/guitarist John Bell - or J.B. as he's commonly known - of Widespread Panic, is an avid golfer who was featured in an article in the July 2001 edition of Maximum Golf magazine, and he has likened a day on the course to one of his band's shows. "You have to play it where it lies - and that's what we do musically," he told me in a July 2001 interview. He's been known to bring his clubs along when WSP performs here.
USEFUL NUGGETS
If you're looking for Widespread gear before Monday's show, check out Loose Lucy's at Broadway at the Beach. It's at 1314 Celebrity Circle. Call 946-6165 or visit www.looselucys.com.
If you want to get primed for Panic, then listen to Scott Mann's "Headshop" a jam band show at 9:30 p.m. Sunday on WAVE 104.1 (www.wave104.net) featuring like-minded groups such as the Grateful Dead, Phish, String Cheese Incident, and The Allman Brothers Band. The "Headshop" has a segment every week called the "Weekly Panic Attack" and "I do a full two hours of WSP on a special version of the show every year in August in memory of their original guitarist Michael Houser who died from cancer on August 10th 2002,'' said host Mann in an e-mail.
SHOW-BOUND
If you're heading to any of the shows Monday-Wednesday at the House of Blues, here are few tips:
For you avid tapers, recording gear is okay to bring inside, and item check will be available, but cameras, weapons, backpacks and drugs are prohibited. (See page 13 for more tapers' tips.)
If you plan to tailgate before any of the shows be forewarned that law enforcement will be onsite and illicit drugs won't be tolerated. (This is pertinent, because at the 2001 show at the speedway, Horry County and Myrtle Beach narcotics officers nabbed 47 folks on various charges including simple possession of marijuana, distribution of cocaine, heroin, hallucinogenic mushrooms and Ecstasy.)
North Myrtle Beach Public Safety officers will be there, according to Nicole Aiello, the city's public information officer.
And don't get any bright ideas about getting there and setting up camp for a couple of days: overnight camping in the venue's parking lot is not allowed.
Sales of alcohol - or any merchandise for that matter - is prohibited in the parking lot and so is alcohol consumption.
Other than that, if you want to gather before the shows, and you're not doing anything illegal, then you're welcome to commune, said Jacquie Tedesco, H.O.B.'s general manager.
Perhaps a safer pre-party alternative is the H.O.B.'s Sugar Shack Deck, which will open at 3 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, with Happy Hour from 4-7 p.m. featuring $3 margaritas, $2 domestic beers and $2 vodkas. There is no cover charge.
Other places to sink a drink and/or get some grub at Barefoot Landing prior to the shows include Dick's Last Resort, Bully's Pub and Grill, Fire Island Grille, Wild Wing Café, and TBonz Gill and Grill. Go to www.bflanding.com for more info.
Bring some food, dude. Canned food, that is. The Community Kitchen of Myrtle Beach will be on-site before all three shows accepting canned foods from 4:30-7:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information, call 444-9383.