Leroi Moore Has Passed Away

[trippin6strings]

R.I.P Mr. LeRoi Moore.
Your genius music will always live on.

Edit: Good vid with the Happy Bday. Just to see his smile at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jd4NAz8 ... re=related

holy shit that is beautiful

[taparoo]

Thursday, August 21, 2008


Still at a loss

I lost one of my dearest friends in this world. I haven't been able to stop the tears at night before going to sleep. He took me under his wing and taught me to never to be afraid to explore. For that's when you truly find who you are.

He drove me CRAZY sometimes, but I now know why he did. I often said things to him like "man, you must be crazy to think that this will work". And he'd just say..."trust me". It's that daredevil attitude that kept me on my toes on stage, as well as in every moment I spent with him just hangin' out. I miss him terribly. And always will.

Rest in peace, my brother.

Power to stage left!

[ut4ever8]

Someone will probably have to re-up this at some point, but for those of you that have been unable to download the show from the 19th, here is Bartneder that they opened with. Pretty amazing...

http://www.sendspace.com/file/e5bo27

Thanks Matt. I heard the news the other night at a bar right after I had just put on The Dreaming Tree on the jukebox. I still can't believe he's gone. He seemed like such a good guy.

[CWMCALL]

Very interesting read...I copied it from another board and I don't know the source so take it for what it is worth.

From:
"Bob Lefsetz" <bob@lefsetz.com>

Subject:
LeRoi
Date:
Friday, August 22, 2008 2:05:03 PM

I saw the Dave Matthews Band open for Phish at the Santa Monica Civic.

I do what Chip tells me. He'd told me I had to come see Phish at the
Variety Arts Center and I'd watched them blow up. The DMB was his new band.

I didn't know that the Santa Monica Civic had a false floor, that it was
suspended in such a way that when they started playing "Ants Marching"
and the college-aged audience dressed in the same exact clothing as the band members themselves erupted and started moving up and down that the floor would too. I'd never heard the number before, I haven't forgotten it since.

During the break, before the headliner took the stage, I went with
Chip to a side room, just east of the auditorium itself, that resembled nothing
so much as an elementary school classroom, to hang out. It was there that I met Boyd, Carter and LeRoi. Maybe LeRoi, I can't remember exactly, it was
fifteen years ago...

This was before Dave became not only a TV star, but a cultural icon,
before his humor became widely known. They were just another band. Who kept getting bigger and bigger, whose fanbase kept growing. I followed them to the Palladium, all the way to Staples and the Hollywood Bowl. And got to know their manager, Coran Capshaw, along the way. Not incredibly well. Which is probably why he wanted to have lunch on Tuesday. To talk in an environment different from backstage.

On the way to the Peninsula, I heard "Where Are You Going" on No Shoes
Radio, Kenny Chesney testified not only about Dave, but the band's drummer.
I told Coran and Chip this when we sat down. Coran told me Kenny had a place on St. John too. They were buddies.

It was that kind of conversation. Catching up, filling in the little
details. Telling me about the status of the band. How they'd mixed it up, how
they were playing better than ever before, with Tim Reynolds on the road with them and two replacements for LeRoi.

LeRoi had been in an ATV accident. This I knew. But Coran told me
the details. The four-wheeled vehicle flipped over backwards upon him. He broke ribs, had a collapsed lung, his shoulder was hurt, they had him in an induced coma for a week. And three days after he came to, LeRoi checked himself out. Against the will of the doctors.

And after being home, he got an infection. The nurse taking care of
him had LeRoi readmitted to the hospital. Where he was on both heart and lung machines. But he pulled through.

The story was told with seriousness, but no drama. There was no
question, LeRoi
was coming back. Certainly by the first of the year. We started
talking about
other things. The challenges of maintaining a superstar act in these
confusing
times, ticketing, Music Today. And an hour later, the phone rang.

Coran carries both a BlackBerry and a Razr. He picked up the Razr.
He was
listening rather than talking. And after two minutes or so, he
flipped the
phone closed and became wistful, let us in on his mental soliloquy.
That was
LeRoi's assistant. They'd called 911. LeRoi's lips had turned blue.
They were taking him to the hospital. He had a blood clot.

Coran traced it back to the infection that had put LeRoi back in the
hospital
weeks before. He'd had a hard time fighting back. And he hadn't gone
into the
process in the greatest shape, he had diabetes, other health problems.

LeRoi had flown to L.A. for rehab, he was staying at his house here,
just miles
away. Suddenly the story took on a different feel. Somewhere in the
landscape
visible from the Peninsula deck, this story was playing out.

Then ten minutes later, the phone rang again.

But this time, the call was longer. Chip and I engaged in
conversation. For
the better part of ten minutes. And when Coran flipped the phone
closed again,
he said:

"He died."

A jolt just went through my body, writing this. I've never been in a
situation
like this before. I might have met this guy, but in a perfunctory
way, I don't
know him. But he's part of the lifeblood of Coran and Chip's world.
And he's a
human being, like the rest of us. And he's now gone.

Chip put his head in his hands. Coran stared into space. I was in
shock.
Trying to decide the best thing to do. Feeling that I needed to
excuse myself,
that they didn't need an intruder, I was just about to stand when
Coran got up,
said "I've got to deal.", and walked off.

Chip asked, WHAT NOW?

I realized that I needed to stay. As long as Chip needed to.

I figured this was L.A. LeRoi had probably gone to Cedars. The news
would be
on the wire, on the Internet, in a matter of minutes. I told Chip
that Coran
was probably trying to beat the press to the punch, in addition to
alerting the
rest of the band.

DO THEY PLAY?

I didn't know. It could go either way. Maybe they were too fucked up
to play.
Or maybe they'd say this is what LeRoi would do.

Chip called Dan, founder of the agency. Told him and asked him the
question
too. The gig scheduled for that night, in Staples Center, only hours
away, did
it happen? Dan said what I did. Maybe, maybe not.

And then it became that moment in "Almost Famous". The plane crash
scene. When
suddenly truth passes between human beings. Chip and I have a deep,
honest
relationship, but we touched on subjects we'd never delved into before.

Then, after about forty minutes, we left.

In the car to Felice's house, the shock truly set in. I realized why
you needed
the living around you when someone passed. If you were alone, you
drifted away.

Felice was on her exercise bike, watching "Oprah". I could barely
speak. She
realized something was wrong. I ultimately got the story out. It barely
registered. How could it? You go to lunch and a band member dies,
DURING
LUNCH? News like that bounces right off of you, it doesn't stick.

And it seemed that only Coran, Chip and I knew. I kept going online.
The
band's Website had not changed, there was nothing in the Google News.
I was in
the loop, but no one else was. This never happens in 2008, where
everything is
instant, where everybody knows everything all the time.

I spoke with my mother. But I basically listened. I called Chip two
hours
later, as we'd agreed. He still didn't know whether the band would
play. He
said he'd call me back. A little after six, he told me to come on down.

By time we got to Staples, the news had just broken. Maybe by going to
Hollywood Presbyterian, the vultures had missed the story. Ambrosia
had written
a press release, the news was now out, Chip's BlackBerry was going
berserk.

The halls were almost empty. Dave was talking to a gray-haired
gentleman.
There were no festivities, there was no buzz, but in less than an
hour, the band
would take the stage in front of thousands.

Coran's number two said the band had had a meeting, uttered "Back to
the van.",
their mantra, to remember where they'd come from, their brotherhood.

We went to catering. Coran nodded his head, but stayed glued to his
phone. It
was positively bizarre.

And twenty minutes after the time on the sheet, the Dave Matthews Band
took the
stage.

I don't know how you play under those circumstances.

And being in L.A., the roar of the crowd was muted to a degree.
L.A.'s jaded,
everybody plays L.A., a concert here isn't just enough of an event!

But the band is firing on all cylinders. Coran's checking the set
list as we
stand behind the lighting board, he tells me they're going to play my
favorite,
"The Dreaming Tree".

The ten minute number calmed my nerves. Music is a magic carpet
loaded with
oils and other soothing potions, it's just what you need when you
don't know
what you need, when you've got more questions than answers.

And they played "Ants Marching", with even more ferocity than they had
fifteen
years before. Their cover of "Sledgehammer" had more power than Peter
Gabriel's. But the highlight of the evening was unexpected, a
rendition of
Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House".

Only played for the first time live two weeks before, the number is
unmistakable. It starts with an ethereal guitar, the drum pounds and
then...

"Watch out
You might get what you're after"

Whatever the audience expected, this exceeded it. I'd say the band was a
freight train, but it was more like a 747, that had DRIVEN all the way
from
Charlottesville to Los Angeles and was burning rubber at the airport
before
finally coming to a rest... THE TIRES WERE SMOKING!

And just like a modern jet, EVERYTHING was working. It has to in
order to move.
And boy was the band moving. Musically. There were no dance steps,
everybody
was almost rigid in his place. But Carter's arms were churning, Dave was
spitting into the mic like he was seventeen, and he needed to show the
bullies,
who he was, where he was coming from.

"I'm an ordinary guy
Burning down the house"

This was not the hair band eighties. The members of the DMB were
wearing the
same clothes that had covered them backstage. They were not stars,
they were
MUSICIANS!

There was nothing on tape, no loops, no hard drives. This night
they'd had to
conjure the fire from scratch. They'd had to reach down deep and do
it one more time, knowing that their brother was
not only gone, but was never coming back.

EVERYDAY

"Pick me up, love, from the bottom
Up on to the top, love, everyday
Pay no mind to taunts or advances
I'm gonna take my chances on everyday"

The video of the hugger played on the hi-def screens. The audience
sang along,
knowing every word. That's just what we've got, every day. Until we
don't.

I don't know what happens when people die. Is this really the end?
LeRoi had
called his business manager just that morning, left a voice mail
before the
crisis, did he know this was going to be his last day on this mortal
coil? And
the recipient of this message, he didn't receive it until after LeRoi
expired.

The audience was cascading in a virtual wave, going up and down in
place, not
the artificial arena exercise, but something inspired by the music.
We were in
unison.

"Jump in the mud, mud
Get your hands filthy, love
Give it up, love
Everyday"

Get up from that couch! Go out into the bright sunshine. Dial your
crush and ask her
for a date. It may be messy, but maybe not. Don't be somnambulant,
get out of
your own way, don't only embrace life, but eat it up. Everyday.

[markTR]

Good read

[Reckless]

The first song on this page:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... 172b891fc9

Code: Select all

Mike Sokolowski (of Soko) shared this unreleased version of "In November Sunlight" featuring a never-before-heard sax recording by LeRoi Moore with me the day after LeRoi passed. Alot of you may be familiar with Soko's CD of the same name from '96 which features this title track but is a completely different recording than the version presented here. Soko has been working on a completely new recording of the entire INS CD and as Mike went back thru all the '95 takes listening to what they had recorded he discovered this beautiful LeRoi sax take recorded for original INS release but Soko ended up going with a slightly slower take for the final version of the track. He decided to build the new version around this original, slightly faster, '95 sax part as he thought it was wonderful & felt it should see the light of day. Everything else you hear on this track has been recorded over the last year as they have been working on the new version of the INS CD.


I was talking with Mike the day that LeRoi passed and the next morning I found this gem in my inbox from Mike and it literally brought tears to my eyes. I called Mike and asked him if he would mind if I shared it with others and he said he would be "honored". Mike also suggests pulling out your copy of "Code Magenta" featuring LeRoi Moore, Greg Howard & Dawn Thompson if you haven't played it in a while as he says it features some of LeRoi's best work and has been quite uplifting in this time of pain & loss.


So, thank you Mike for sharing this recording of LeRoi with the rest of us and special thanx to LeRoi Moore for all the music he has given us, his fans & the world. Your contribution to our lives can never be measured and will of course be sorely missed.


Rest In PEACE LeRoi, your light will shine on thru the music!

Please remember this is only a rough mix & not the final mix that will appear on the forthcoming, re-recorded "In November Sunlight"

NOTE FROM MIKE SOKOLOWSKI:

You gotta listen past the raw, bass-heavy nature of this mix. This is not even a mix, per se, just some tracks quickly exported out of my computer program for us to listen to as we work on the record. In fact, Houston and I had been talking about sending a clip to Roi, but kept holding back, wanting to wait for a nice mix. Big regret, as I think he would have been surprised to know that there was a take that good in the can from those sessions. But I believe that in some way, he's hearing it now.


The thing about LeRoi -- and the reason so many millions of people feel a sense of personal loss -- is that his music was completely devoid of bullshit. Like any musician, he had musical peaks and valleys, but he never played an inauthentic note. No musical exhibitionism from LeRoi Moore; it was always pure communication. That's why, even though he lurked in the shadows of the bandstand, didn't sing the songs, or rap to the audience, people felt they knew him. And they DID know him -- they knew the essence of who he was, because he made the choice to speak honestly through his horn. To use his horn to actually reach people, and not simply (or simplemindedly) to try to impress them. He could start anywhere in the measure, end anywhere in the measure, and it always flowed. It was an effortlessly beautiful floating and weaving of melody, phrasing and dynamics expertly controlled -- like a captivating storyteller. Never forced. Never clever for cleverness' sake. It wasn't jazz, it wasn't folk, it wasn't rock, it wasn't classical. And it wasn't about eclectically mashing those together in a conscious way. LeRoi's music was the result of a brilliant and open-minded student of music taking it all in and speaking back to us, naturally.


Houston used to tell him that he was in his "top five," and LeRoi would scoff at that notion, modest and obviously made uncomfortable by the suggestion. But damn it, it's true for me, too. Sure, you've got your Coltrane and you've got your Wayne Shorter and maybe a couple of others -- absolute unequivocal masters of the instrument -- but if I could have called any living saxophonist to play my music and serve it the way I envision it to be and without having to explain it, it would have always been him. A kindred spirit, a master musician whose level I won't attain in a couple of lifetimes, and a beautiful person who simply breathed when he played. God Bless you, LeRoi. I miss you and I think you'll dig this take.


-- Michael Sokolowski, Thursday, August 21, 2008

[Blake]

kang and cwm, thanks for posting those. both very good to read.

[Freddie Freeloader]

what was the voice message LeRoi gave to his biussness manager?

[GSR]

[bassman462]

When I found out the first thing I did was put Listener Supported in the DVD player and watched it. Man, this fucking sucks.

[checkii]

it was weird, through a lot of the show tonight Dave, Stefan, and Rashawn seemed like they didnt even want to be there. I am curious to hear the lyrics for Sugar Will. I couldnt catch exactly what he was saying.

[bassman462]

what songs did he use bass clarinet on?

[SimsUK]

Reading is hard.

[Coldchillin]

Kind of a long thing to double post on, eh?

[SimsUK]

Um, huh?

Oops.