So, I'm not too sure where I'm going with this, but I'm a sucker for documentation, in case you haven't noticed by browsing around my website. So what's the harm in taking it one step further? I used to document how I ranked every DMB song that I was familiar with, in terms of my favorites to least favorites…. And I'm talking every version of every song that I had in my possession. Mind you of course, that at the time, this was late '97 and what I had consisted of a few albums, Red Rocks, and a handful of bootlegs I had purchased from a local record shop. Never the less, I could see the insanity mounting very early. The next phase of documentation came in the form of this "Personal DMB Timeline" that still exists today on the website.. It didn't really have a name when I started it and I only kept it up for a few months only semi-seriously… but it was cool none the less. About a year ago one afternoon, I was bored and decided to pick it back up and attempt to fill in the holes. For most people, I assume this would be near impossible to do after several years of not keeping up with it. Though I somehow managed to pull it off, with relatively impeccable accuracy.

The last form of "documentation", I suppose would be considered my cdr list. This, of course is extremely common, and expected of those who trade. Its second nature to keep a list of shows that you have. I first found it necessary to put together a list of what I had back in the summer of 2000, when I first got into trading beyond the occasional b&p, or trade to pick up a show that I attended. At the time though, my collection was still at the point where I could sit down and make a list of what I had off the top of my head. But very soon after, this would no longer be the case, and as the phenomenon of downloading full shows became a part of my routine, my collection seemed to grow at ridiculous rates. Aside from personal use to help me figure out what to download next, it was never really put to any other use until I created this website, [ERRNINE's Dave Matthews Band CDR List], which consisted, naturally, of solely my CDR list. I didn't know the first thing about creating a website, so the idea of putting together what I have today was just unfathomable. That was about the extent of the purpose of my list until July 2002. At that point for not much of a reason other than boredom, I decided to convert my list to more of a database. I guess it was the first real step I took towards setting some kind of goal as to how much I'd like to collect as a trader. I set my goal at a ridiculous level, basically using the list of another trader, Jesse Newton, as a basis of where I'd like to be. I don't know Jesse personally, and I'm relatively positive he has no idea who I am. I have traded with him on more than one occasion, but with a collection of well over 1100 shows, I'm sure he's traded with a ton of people who he'd never remember beyond the trade. Ever since I discovered this guy's list in the fall of 2000, I've been in awe of it. I believe he was at approximately 500 shows when I first discovered it. Being at 50 shows myself, I couldn't imagine having 500 shows. His collection from that point on was the epitome of what I could ever want my collection to be. I was convinced that if it existed, he had it! Over the next two years, by the time my own collection hit 500 shows, his had more than doubled, not only blowing my mind, but giving me a hell of a lot more to shoot for.

More or less, I imported his list into an excel spreadsheet I had set up, and started marking off the shows that I had. Needless to say, there were very few that I had, that couldn't already be found on his list. So, the obvious advantage to this was that I could obviously now have it laid out in front of me which shows I had compared to which shows I needed in order to complete my ultimate collection. It also allowed me to do some nifty sorting to easily let me see for example, a list of Dave & Tim shows I had, or a list of shows I had that were played at Trax, or a list of shows that were of DSBD quality.

As of late January, 2003, I took the database to the next level. Amidst of spree of downloading over 50 shows in a single week, sending my collection well past the 500 mark, I became intrigued by the idea of how my collection grew to 500 shows and wondered what it might look like charted out on a timeline. Years ago, I had the idea of documenting when and how I acquired shows. I guess I've always looked upon trading as sort of a business, even though money isn't involved. I suppose there are a lot of positive aspects to having that kind of attitude towards it, just for the sake of affecting my work ethic in school and career in general. I wanted to treat it like a business because when I started downloading so many shows in late 2000, while setting up a lot of trades, and taking on a lot of b&p's, I realized that it was essential to keep everything straight. I didn't want to loose track of things, or disappoint people because I was unorganized. Granted, my idea never really took off until I started this database, where it became relatively easy to record the date that I received a show when I mark it off the list. To this day, I still don't keep a record of trades and b&P's and the status of each for the simple fact that I don't do all that much trading anymore per say to have that be necessary.

If anybody is actually still reading at this point, I sincerely congratulate you, because I am well aware of the pointlessness of this entire rant. But honestly, I suppose I'm just doing this for myself, and if anybody else is remotely interested, I might as well invite them to read on. I believe I'd almost enjoy reading comparable information about somebody else that cares about this hobby as much as I do. Which brings me to my next point.

Nobody I know treats the Dave Matthews Band quite how I do. Some more-so than others. This is not to say that I feel that I'm a bigger fan, or that they're more important to me than they are to anyone else I know. I am blessed to know a great group of people who are incredible fans of the band including many of my closest friends, loved ones, and family. In so many ways though, it's a much different experience for me. For many years I've considered myself to be much more than a fan of the band . Its easy to classify it as an obsession, or hell, an extreme obsession. But I chose to look at it as more of a lifestyle choice. The Dave Matthews Band is a lifestyle… and it goes well beyond planning your summers around when the band is going to be in the area, or planning a trip to another state to coincide with the band rolling through the same state. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not wondering where they came from and where they're going. Not necessarily as people, or individuals, but as a band. I have been "obsessed" with the evolution of this band in addition to the evolution of my "fandom"… and its evident all over this website.
I've developed an incredible ability to see the band's career as a timeline in my head. Dates of performances and classic shows intertwined with the world of taping and trading fill my head. Everything seems to happen for a reason with this band. Everything seems to have a special importance in my opinion. This thought process I'm sure is something that quite a few people participate in. There are a couple of message boards that I read and occasionally post on where I do feel that while there is a lot of pointless complaining and insulting, there are a lot of people that I consider to be pretty well educated on what I like to call the "technical" aspects of DMB's history. How many people know what the importance of 4.06.94 is? Or under what circumstance a certain song debuted? I recently came across a set of 4 DMB trivia quizzes on antsmarching.org. I was skeptical at first, because I had only previously seen trivia that asked ridiculous questions like, "What country was Dave born in?" Questions like these are almost silly and pointless, aside from the fact that the answers to these types of questions should inherently be second nature to nearly anybody that considers themselves more than a casual fan. Questions that dive deeper into these "technical" aspects of the band and their history, I find to be much more challenging, and a much greater measure of really how educated one is on the fine points of the this band got to the point that they are when you're watching them on stage. Furthermore though, after completing the 4 quizzes available on antsmarching.org, I felt compelled to create a quiz or two of my own, with the thought of further challenging those who care to be challenged. The process was a bit harder than I had originally planned for. I was able to think of questions or topics to ask, but the real challenge came in trying to come up with the 3 other choices besides the correct answer. To me, creating a multiple choice question seemed to make the question too easy! The answers seemed to be obvious, as they were staring at me. But for the sake of standardizing the answers and administering the quiz online, multiple choice would be the most practical format.

Again, do I have a point? I don't know. I suppose I'm merely setting the stage as to what kind of fan I am. What I pay attention to. What I care about. What I spend so many hours thinking about as a fan.

Do some of us really know that much more about the band than they do themselves?? This is a question that was brought to my attention last night. I suppose I've thought about it in the past, but I've never really given it genuine serious thought. I guess I'd start off by saying, without hesitation, that I am virtually positive that I know far more about the Dave Matthews Band than Dave Matthews himself…or any other member of the band for that matter. There are many reasons why I am so certain of this, but a few immediately come to mind. The most obvious concerns the issue of #40 and its return over 4 years ago. After its birth in mid 1995, it was only played a handful of times.. I want to guess 8 times. It went away for 3 years, which in mid 1998 seemed like an eternity. For a period of time until Dec. 1998, #40 was a common request among fans at concerts and radio shows. Dave however made it very clear that he hadn't the slightest clue of what that song was. Now, it is understandable that with the countess number of songs finished, started, aborted over the years, there's no way for Dave to remember every guitar riff and song that he comes up with. But I never quite understood how someone could have no idea what a song that was played several times only 2 or 3 years earlier was. My initial thought was, how could it be possible for all these fans to know a song and Dave have know recollection of it himself? Fans have tapes of shows. MP3s had been floating around for some time. The band records every performance they play. Doesn't it bother him that fans keep requesting a song that he doesn't know of? Why wouldn't he exercise his ability to sit down and do the tiny research that would be required to find a recording of this song the he created, and is apparently somewhat of a "cult" fan favorite… Does he realize the level of detail that is documented of everything that is the Dave Matthews Band. Ranging not only from every setlist, jam, guest, but to transcriptions of nearly every improvised lyric of intros to Two Step or entire performances of Grey Street, Raven, #41, Say Goodbye, and Kit Kat Jam. The list goes on, and the examples of detail are endless. By Dec. 1998 though, Dave did slowly bring back the beloved #40… though over the next 2 years, never really got to be longer than 2 minutes, and never included much more than Dave solo and some light cymbal work by Carter. I'd love to know HOW Dave actually went about remembering this song.

But furthermore, I beg to ask the question, if a fan were to mention say…. "Anyone Seen The Bridge" to Dave…. (and I'm talking the jam, not the message board)…. Would he know what the hell they were talking about? Its obviously as well known among fans who have any sort of knowledge of their live show, tape trading, looking at setlists posted on any fan-run website. Though its never shown up on the official website's real-time setlists or any officially released live albums. Why has it been neglected by the crew all these years, when wasn't it their sound guy that gave the jam that name in the first place? I just have a hard time believing that in the process of putting out a live album like "Live in Chicago" there wasn't someone along the way that could have said, or suggested, "Hey, why isn't this jam given any acknowledgment, they way it is everywhere else in the fan community…."

Would Dave know the date of Peter Griesar's last show with the band? But how many of us fans would spit out 3.23.93 without so much as a thought. I realize that by the nature of the fact that we're fans, it would be more common for one of us to know a piece of trivia such as this… but I wonder because up to a certain point, Dave and the band once cared about "documentation and history" for the fact that up until sometime in 1995, they numbered each of their songs as they were considered finished. This died sometime around #41, presumably when they were creating songs for Crash. Why after 41-something songs and 5 years did they just decide to abort this tradition? It seemed like for a time someone thought it'd be interesting to know the order that they had written songs, or to be able to know down the road what the tenth song completed was. Or for lack of a better alternative have a defaulted name for songs that they couldn't think of titles for. Antsmarching.org has pieced together an accurate list of these songs have even continued the list to the present including every known finished song by the band. The list has reached the 90's already. It's certainly extremely interesting to someone like me. Though I wonder if Dave ever thinks about or cares anymore how long its been or when say, Rhyme & Reason debuted. These songs are supposed to be his livelihood right?

I've got a pretty narrow road I'm traveling down when it comes to my life/career goals. I'll spare people the details of what I plan to do for the fact that it has nothing to do with the band, obviously… and I'd like to keep some relevance to this writing. However, despite this narrow road on which I'm traveling… one detour which I'd love to take would be working for the band. I'm not so much talking about being a roadie that helps build the stage or sets up their daily buffets of food, even though that all would be cool in itself… I'm more so talking about having a position that would bare some kind of deeper importance. This thought kind of expands on the previous topic I wrote about. Its safe to assume that there are a lot of fans in the Internet community that have a deep knowledge of the band and their history. I obviously consider myself to be one of these fans. I tend to wonder if there is anyone in the DMB camp, corporate or otherwise, that could be classified as one of us fans. Is there anyone working behind the scenes who's secretly praying for a surprise performance of "Exodus" or wondering if they'll ever bring back "Get In Line". Furthermore… I wonder if the band ever gets requests for songs like this. But I'm not talking just a fleeting request in passing by a fan who's meeting Dave for the first time along with 15 others. I'm talking about a request from someone who might actually have the luxury of sitting down with Dave or someone else in the band and having a serious conversation with them about one of these tunes, or if the band themselves ever think about playing some obscure song again. For as long as I've cared, I always said that if I had a chance to sit down and talk to Dave, I'd love to ask him if they ever stood on stage and thought about what affect they would have on some of their fans, albeit a small portion of them, if they played some completely unexpected song like #34 or Blue Water…. While many fans may not have any idea of what's going on, for some of us it would be an experience that would seemingly be a "dream come true". Because of course, so many of us practically live for those unpredictable and off the wall performances that define a show, a tour, a year, or even their entire career.
But why would I like to work for the band? I get the feeling like there really isn't anybody with the kind of ambition and wonder that many fans like myself have. Two painfully obvious examples of this are the Warehouse fan club, and the official website. I'll talk about the Warehouse another time, but for now, I'll concentrate on the website.

Lets face it... the official website is next to useless. Sure, its no worse than any other band's website, but as a band with such a strong fan presence on the internet, if not the strongest, the website is WEAK. I will give them one thing. The real time setlist feature has finally been something unique that most every fan can appreciate, and it gives us insane fans something to do and look forward to when we can't be at every show night to night. Sure, I plan my dinners around sitting in front of the computer and vigorously hitting the refresh button to see the next song pop up, even though I know damn well that the page refreshes on its own every 2 minutes. But we live for the thrill of the possibility that something unexpected will happen. Finally, the official website offers something that feeds the hungriest of fans, in a way that no other fan website could ever pull off.

Well, aside from this wonderful feature, the site is useless. I happen to favor antsmarching.org as the authority on all things regarding the band's history - particularly in terms of setlists and touring. The amount of research and energy put into their database is astounding and nothing but believable. Most any question I have can most likely be answered somewhere on that site. But why is it that we're forced to turn to a fan website for answers that the band should be providing answers for? I guess the simplest answer would be that a fan website, naturally, is run by fans who know what fans want. Ding Ding Ding.... There's my point.... The official website is probably run by some schmoe in a business suit that's paid to post lyrics, crappy photos, and lame bios that can be found just about anywhere you stumble. Put someone in there that knows something... someone that can relate to what a fan might care about, beyond your casual fan who's looking for an introduction to the band.

Is it aggravating to anyone else that this band, who's cornerstone and trademark has been touring, before 1999, their "tour archive" consists of a painfully incomplete list of shows most of which was taken from the vastly incomplete and incorrect nancies tour archive. Why bother? Its just pathetic to me that a band with enough money to do anything or pay anyone to do something *right*, doesn't do much of anything. It takes one person to work 40 hours a week, who would surely consider his or her job to be the coolest in the world, to take over and pull together the most incredible site you can imagine. Imagine the crew at antsmarching.org spending "full-time" working on the official site, with all the resources that would seemingly be available to them. Don't get me wrong though... I'm not necessarily worshiping the guys at antsmarching.... while I'm a fan of their website.. There are certainly things that could be done better over there too, in my opinion... and I've certainly had my run-ins with the guys in charge... specifically over my song evolution archive... which you'll notice, ever since has been renamed the "infamous" song evolution archive.

So, with all that said.. Doesn't it make sense? What I wouldn't give to really see what goes on behind the scenes of the Dave Matthews Band. Sometimes it amazes me that things have come this far for them. I guess that just speaks measures about the music itself.

Well, if you've made it to my website... I'm sure it has something to do with trading shows. Whether you're looking to find a show you attended, looking for a trade, or looking for coverart for some of your shows... you all care something about having the live DMB experience on CD.

We all know, obviously that for as long as the Dave Matthews Band has been in existence, they've encouraged taping and trading of their live shows. Up until 1995 when the selling of bootleg shows became more and more of a problem, the band had allowed tapers to plug into their soundboard, usually resulting in clean, crisp, pristine recordings of shows. At the time though, these master recordings were copied onto your average maxell II analog tapes, and copied over and over, as they made their way all over the country. It wasn't until 1998 that CD's became the popular medium to use in trading. Thankfully though, the conversion to cdrs allowed for many of these original recordings that once traded hands in FAR inferior quality over generations of tapes, to be preserved in their original form, and copied over and over without the loss of any quality. In the last 5 years, original sources have flooded the trading pool giving collectors like me what seems to be an endless number of shows to acquire.

How could you turn down one of those 1993 soundboard recordings?? Though most of us have never experienced a show at Trax, being able to collect half the shows that were played there in such high quality allows us to throw it in the stereo, close our eyes, and imagine what it was like.

When I look at my collection, or see lists of shows that are available from this time period... its certainly easy to get overwhelmed. Its easy to think that you have just about every show the Dave Matthews Band has ever played at your disposal... But on the other hand, I tend to think this: How did people know that this band was as good as they were? Or that they'd ever be as good as they are today? Lets face it... some of those early shows aren't as great as we make them out to be. They were raw... rough around the edges.. But most importantly... they were the beginnings of what we have today. But those people couldn't have felt that way back in 1992.

What led me to think about this was the way over the past few years, so many of these original recordings surfaced. It amazes me that so many people had the foresight to pull out their equipment to tape a show at a Frat party... but then keep the tapes safe until half a decade later, so that they could be converted to CD.

It turns out I was wrong in my thinking.... While it seemed that somehow, just about every night, there was some genius there with a tape recorder, this was hardly the case.. For instance, in 1993, roughly 166 shows were played. Of them.. at most, a little more than a third of them are available to the community with relative ease and in their highest form. The numbers are much less for 1992 shows... And there are virtually no crisp copies of 1991 shows available.

This sets up my point. Today, the band themselves tape every show and every soundcheck. I've been told that each show can require upwards of 60 cds worth of recording. that's one CD recording each of the 20 or so channels feeding into the soundboard, times roughly 2-3 discs of length for a show. They've been doing this for many years now. Not only to catalog their own performances, but for use in future releases, and most interestingly, to catch jams and new songs that come out of soundchecks when the time comes to push out a new album.

I'm not sure exactly how long they've been doing this. Surely in the early days it could have gotten a bit costly to record every performance they put on. But I think its safe to assume that at least most shows were taped by the band back in 92-93.

You ever wonder what they do with these massive loads of tapes/CDs? Where do they keep them? I guess I always imagine this secret "Vault"... just full, floor to ceiling with cataloged shows and soundchecks. Imagine having access to this vault. To say I'd be a "kid in a candy store" would be an EXTREME understatement. I can not imagine the gems that exist within the confines of those imaginary walls. I mean.. for two reasons.... One... think of the last 7 years even. Since only audience taping has been allowed, while the taping community has done an overall stellar job, especially in the last 3 years... think of the excitement at the thought of having even a fraction of the shows from 95 on in that pristine DSBD quality, the way we do for 1993. Think of how EVERY show exists in this format in this "vault".... It amazes me that some DMB extremist hasn't done the research and set up a ploy to break into the vault and steal as much as they could manage! The second reason.... aside from just having the shows... think of these soundchecks! Sure, a lot of times they can be a little boring.. or they're just playing the same old stuff... but occasionally, you get some random song that they were working on for a period of time that never surfaced in the live setting... or they're thinking about bringing back a performance of Exodus... soundcheck it, but never actually play it... The possibilities are endless!

Oh, and hey.. lets not forget about demos from studio recording sessions... Sure.. we got LUCKY and got our hands on the Lillywhite Sessions.. but had it not been for an individual or two.. they could have forever been sentenced to the vault... "Shelved" if you will... and left to our wildest of imaginations....

Who gets the HONORED privilege of searching through the vault looking for jams they once played when they're writing new songs? Who searches for the perfect show to be released commercially... Who found Red Rocks and decided that this was the ONE... or Luther College... who makes those decisions?? And don't you think there are many of us who could probably rattle off a list of dates that would be AWESOME for official release without having to search through a room of tapes and CDs I just can't imagine how phenomenal it'd be to have access to this place.. Truly DMB heaven...

Remember the first time you heard the Dave Matthews Band live? How about getting your hands on your first show on tape or cd? I guess today, more and more fans get their first live show at their local Best Buy... picking up one of the officially released albums. DMB's first officially released live album, Live at Red Rocks, was released in October of 1997. Before this point, fans were forced to dive into the world of trading, or, as what happened in my case, stumble upon some bootlegs for sale at your local independent record store. Yeah, I was foolish and spent 30-70 bucks a show nearly 10 times over.... but at the time, I barely knew that trading existed, let alone knew how to get involved. Plus.. I had all these mysterious cds available to me for a price that... dare I say it... was worth it to me. So some people were making a quick, illegal buck off my stupidity.. but I was going home just as happy as they were.

For me, this was the fall of '97. Around the same time, I was being introduced to the new and growing world of mp3s, and I had discovered the nancies digest, which I read religiously. This was still a good year before the time of cd burners for me though... so burning mp3s and such just wasn't an option quite yet... In reading through my nancies digest... occasionally I'd run across this term... "b&p"... I remember not knowing what the hell that meant.. Of course with a little inquiring, I figured it out.. So I was gonna check it out..

I suppose this is where you could say I officially got into trading... acquiring shows the way it was meant to be.. through the mail, fan interaction, j-cards, spinning tapes, no high speed dubbing.. etc, etc. I was at the bottom of the totem pole. With nowhere to go but up. A couple of my first shows - 12/12/93 & 2/18/97... I'll never forget getting the package in the mail.. Was it really this easy?? Well.. I popped in the tapes, and much to my disappointment, they sounded horrendous. I was the victim of countess generations of quality loss and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Not to mention.. these shows were on tape! No way could they stand up to my cd collection, even if I had spent hundreds of dollars on them.

For the next year, I was skeptical at best when it came to getting my hands on new tapes. I continued buying new bootlegs... until I had ten or twelve of them. At the time, who could ask for much more?? I did make a few more attempts at getting some tapes though. They were shows that I had gone to recently and simply weren't showing up at the record shop. Each time though, the tapes were barely audible and flat out disappointing. However, I was starting to get into burning cds.. and my massive mp3 collection was quickly becoming volume after volume of compilation cds. I was happy without the whole trading thing.. and with mp3s, I never had to deal with it.

That brings me to March of 2000. In my continuous reading of nancies, I had picked up on some new things in the world of trading. The newest idea was the ".shn file"... A new format that compresses your .wav file by 50% but most importantly, does not alter the quality of the sound, the way mp3s do. At the time, I still didn't understand exactly how they worked, or how I could benefit... but I soon came across something called DDS which stood for Digital something or another.. They basically set up these trees that helped distributed shows in .shn format... The recipients could convert the .shn files to .wav and then burn them.. and that's all there was to it! I managed to get myself into one of these trees... I sent out my 9 blank cds.. and a couple weeks later, I got them back.. full of these .shn files..

I converted the first file, which happened to be from 3.23.93.. and to my surprise, this sounded GOLDEN! As perfect as perfect could be! It put my old bootlegs to shame, and sounded as good as Red Rocks & Live & Luther College... So just like that.. 4 new shows.. and they immediately became favorites.. A month later, I got one more set of shows from this DDS thing, before for some reason, it shut down. But I had the bug, and I wanted more of these great sounding recordings!

Though I had around 20 shows at this point.. I still considered myself at the bottom of the pit.. but soon things would change.. drastically. That summer, with the start of the 2000 summer tour, I was all about getting these new shows to hear the songs from the new album, which of course became known as the Lillywhite Sessions. I got hooked up with a guy who must have picked up on my great enthusiasm for getting my hands on this stuff, and agreed to burn 5 shows for me. By the 2nd week of the tour, I had already acquired the first 5 shows of the tour.. and this was unheard of, to get shows so quickly, in any prior effort to get shows I had been to. Previously, I felt like I had to really get lucky to read about someone offering one of these "b&ps" for the particular show I was looking for, and then be one of the first 2 or 3 people to respond to get accepted for the b&p. I had previously allowed at least a couple months before I could ever think of getting a show I had been to.

I suppose at this point, I considered myself to be at the next level of trading. Suddenly, I had things to actually trade, I had the confidence and knowledge to go out and find a particular show I was looking for, set up a trade, and get it! The summer of 2000 went wonderfully, and by the end of the tour in September, I was pushing 75 shows. I was on top of the world!

As soon as I thought things were moving fast.. things started to move a whole lot faster! That fall, we finally got a high speed internet connection at home. I distinctly recall reading everything I could about .shn files, ftp servers, something called 'etree'... Again, this whole new world was opening up, and now, I was able to just connect to somebody online, and download all these shows all day, all night.. at blazing speeds! I was learning so much about the band and about trading, I could hardly keep it all straight.

Then word of these Digital Soundboards started circulating.. at this point, DSBDs from 92-95 were common... but post '95 was unheard of.. It seemed some people had there hands on one from July 17, 1999... and believe me.. anyone who was able to score a copy at this time was absolutely THRILLED... I managed to find someone generous enough to hook me up.. and when I got it in the mail.. I was almost afraid to listen to it, in fear that I might ruin it! I believe I made a copy right away, and safely put away the original. Man, I really felt like I had made it as a trader.. I had something that everybody wanted! And that's what it was all about.. having those special shows that would command almost anything! I was definitely at the next level of trading.

In the coming months a couple more post '95 DSBDs surfaced in the community. I was thrilled once again to get my hands on each and every one. But again, just as I was getting a handle on things.. a whole new phenomenon was upon the community. The highly controversial IEM recording began leaking to message boards in short clips, revealing on stage conversations of the band in between songs, and a sound quality that on first listen, rivaled that of DSBDs.. The only catch.. some drop outs here and there, and a mix that often made Boyd inaudible, and Carter & Stefan sometimes overbearing.. Never-the-less.. this was the thing to have.

This is where the controversy of "hoarding" caught fire. These people were thought to be more or less at the top level of trading. They had it all... a lot of it... and they allegedly kept it close to themselves for no one else to have. As much as these accused traders denied having many of these desired shows... I believe most definitely, that "hoarding" did occur. It usually dealt with speculated DSBDs, IEMs, and even copies of the Lillywhite Sessions. I managed to finally meet one of these "hoarders" online sometime in the spring of 2001. Man, did he ever have the hookup.. He would tell me about things that existed that I could only dream about! And he actually hooked me up with a few things to prove it. There was only one condition.... that I keep it for myself and not tell anyone that I had it... Well.. I agreed.. I had to do what I had to do.. and honestly, I had no intention of ever "hoarding" this stuff for myself... at most, I would use it to get shows that I really wanted.. only because I knew how badly others wanted them... at this point, the couple shows I was hooked up with were various IEMs.. that were not wide spread..

Again, I had moved up in the world of trading.. I was on the brink of being in this precious inner circle of traders who had it ALL... It all culminated one afternoon when this guy offered to hook me up with something new he had coming in.. a DSBD copy of 12/13/00... Today regarded as one of the truly classic shows of DMB's career... and at the time, still regarded as the PRIME show to ever want in such pristine quality - primarily for the epic performance of Exodus with Warren Haynes. He set me up with a private login to his friend's ftp server, and before I knew it.. I had the ultimate. This was the show he proclaimed that if he got, he'd have no desire to go on trading.... and for someone in the inner circle to say that.. I knew it was HUGE! He assured me that I was the only person he was giving this to, and that I was literally one of only 5 people to have it.

WOW.

For a day, I felt like I was on top.. But sure enough.. the next day, all hell broke loose on the message boards.. People accusing others of hoarding.. people denying it.. and finally those people breaking down and engaging in an "I dare you to release (insert show)" war... That afternoon, 12/13/00 leaked to the message boards.. along with a few other shows & IEMs. It was certainly a memorable day in the trading community.. and I was no longer as special as I was the day before.. but I was still just as happy to have what I did.

The amazing thing is.. shortly after, when a flurry of IEMs and Matrix recordings hit the boards.. things suddenly died down.... Since then.. over a year and a half has passed. Not one new post '95 DSBD has leaked with that much publicity among the message boards. IEMs have since fallen far out of favor.. and people don't even talk about it much anymore. It makes me wonder if those inner circles still exist, or if they really came crashing down that afternoon..

I've continued my downloading frenzy since, and of course, as you all know, I've surpassed the 500 mark. I'm not sure if I consider myself at the highest level of trading.. Though its become really hard to simply find somebody to actually trade with. Nobody ever seems to have much that I don't already have! I've pretty much stuck to downloading, because I can casually search out shows that I don't have.. The one person to keep me going though is the elusive Jesse Newton.. whose 1100 show collection keeps me believing that there's still a world of shows out there that I haven't yet discovered. I wonder what'll happen next.

There are issues I've touched on in this article that I wish to expand on further.. but I'll save that for another time and will address them in a more focused fashion.

There's one important issue I failed to directly address in the previous article. Perception. When I used to listen to my old tapes and old mp3s, they sounded horrible. Insane hissing, obnoxious crowd noise, distant music... it was flat out BAD. At the time though, I just didn't seem to notice it as much. I mean.. some of my early tapes sounded REALLY bad.. but those early bootlegs, and more so, my early mp3s.. I used to listen to them all the time.. and while they didn't sound GREAT.. I'd get used to them.. I'd adjust my ears, and pretty much deal with it.

That changed over time.. as soon as I got used to hearing these high quality recordings, I didn't want anything to do with the old stuff. I couldn't bare to listen to the bootlegs that I had spent hundreds of dollars on. Hell, I had replaced half of them with higher quality recordings of the same shows. I guess the more I downloaded, the more I was able to pick and choose what I wanted. Thats the beauty of downloading... you can download one track.. check it out.. if its good, keep going.. if not, delete it. Well.. before I knew it, I was a far cry from the mentality of being happy with anything I could get my hands on. I became spoiled from the ability to download so much so fast. Well, I suppose its natural... but it didn't really dawn on me until I met someone online who approached me for a b&p. He was just starting out and was at the point where he'd be thrilled with just about anything he could get. At one point, he randomly asked me for a show that was played in his hometown back in '95 that some of his friends had attended. Right away when he said the date I was pretty sure I didn't have it, but more sure that it was most likely pretty rare. He didn't actually know the date besides that it was in his town in '95. Within minutes I was able to give him the date and setlist.. which in itself amazed him. This is someone who knew very little of the possibilities that existed in the trading community. Minutes later I had the pleasure of informing him that I had located the show online for download and that it was on the way! This naturally floored him. Again, minutes later, track one was complete, and less than 10 minutes after the thought of finding this show entered his mind.. I was listening to it. It amazed even me.

Unfortunately, the recording was horrible.. but I let it play on just to check it out. Soon I realized... When did I get SO PICKY?? I used to listen to shows that sounded like this all the time.. and I was more than happy to have the opportunity to hear any of it. But now, I can just reject shows because they're not good enough for me? Wow.. that moment finally made me realize that things really changed since I had started trading... and that I was moving up. It was only partially that I was getting into these inner circles of hook ups.. and getting rare shows. It was about my perception of the music, and how one thing used to be adequate, but over time looses its magic. It certainly made me think twice from that point on before I rejected a show just for sound quality. Even when something sounds a little less than perfect, there is always a time and place where that particular show might just fit the situation perfectly.

Well.. as of recently, that whole theory has been more or less thrown out the window anyway. I no longer discriminate against recordings, but only because I've gotten to the point where I just want EVERYTHING I can get my hands on. Its more about completing the collection than downloading shows to listen to. If I never listen to a lot of these 500 shows, it won't bother me. But its nice to know that I have the option of listening to anything on the shelf.

back to top >

For almost a year, I've been searching for ideas as to how to make www.errnine.com unique. Everyone knows that nobody really needs another fan-run website with the same old crap you can find anywhere... like lyrics, an incomplete discography, band history, or "news"... I mean, when I started this website, it was nothing more than a list of shows... hence the name ERRNINE'S Dand Matthews Band CDR List. I suppose I could have, or.. should have changed the name when I started expanding the site... giving it a more nuetral, or relavent name like jimithing.org or crashintome.net. But I opted to stay with the original name just out of principal... as a tribute to the original concept.. that and... nobody probably really cares what I name it, besides the fact that it probably would be easier to remember if it had a different name.

Relatively soon after putting my list online, I decided to post some cover art that I had been working on at the time. Granted, it was a major obstacle because at the time I knew VERY LITTLE about creating websites. So posting thumbnail images and whatnot was quite a challenge. But ultimately, I was looking for a way to lure more traffic to the website, hopefully creating more trading opportunities.

Around the same time, I came across "Andy's Cover Art Index." It was a comprehensive list of all shows that were known to have cover art available on the web, and a list of websites where they could be found. I assumed that because it was such a great idea, that it had to recieve a lot of traffic. I decided that I had to get in on the action, and contacted Andy about getting my website listed on his site. Soon after, I appeared on the list, and before I knew it, the vast majority of traffic to my website was coming from people linking from the cover art index. Mission accomplished!

I added cover art sporatically for the next year and a half, and traffic held pretty steady. But the summer of 2002 hit and I was faced with some free time, and time to contimplate what I could do to take the website to the next level. I had added my Personal DMB Timeline, Guide to Trading, & Top Picks list... but there was nothing that made the website really unique and attractive to anyone in the community.

The Song Evolution Archive was the next concept to develop, and after countless hours of research, I was able to put together a list of the most unique performances of most songs that DMB performs... that outlines different intros/outros and eras of the songs listing dates when these performances occured. After a bumpy introduction which I may explain at a later time, it didn't get the reaction I had hoped for. It seemed to only get a few hits a day, and aside from a few postive comments from visitors, I wasn't getting the vibe that I ahd expected... as I hoped that people would embrace it as a really great resource and something they would consult often. Never the less, I stayed confident that in time, more people would discover it and it would gain the respect that I feel it deserves.

The next addition to the website was this little writing project. It wasn't intended to bring more traffic.. but just hook a few people who might be interested in reading what I have to say about the DMB culture. Though after all this time, it was obvious that far and away, the main attraction of the website was my cover art collection. The index, though it was recieving very infrequent updates, still got a ton of usage, and thus I saw a lot of that traffic my way.

I decided to act on an idea that I had many months earlier - to take over the cover art index and bring it into a new era. I was a loyal user, as I knew many others were.. but I was growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of updates. I wasn't sure if the site was just going to die one day and it'd be over. With that said, I questioned how much Andy really cared about the website, or if he even realized how loved it was by so many people. Granted, I understood that most likely, it was due to him being really busy with other things in his life and the website wasn't high on his priority list... understandable.... But I had to ask... would he be interested in merging our websites? I could take it over, redesign it, host it, and give him the credit for the initial concept.

I was ecstatic for the prospect that the amount of traffic that once fell upon his website would now be passing solely through mine. I'm not sure how to define this feeling.... whether its that I get a charge out of reaching as many people as possible, or if I just want to hear what people think of what I've put together here. Maybe I just have a dream of making a real impression on the community and having people know who I am, and not just because I make frequent posts on a message board. I once got talking to someone from Portugal online about trading and I passed along my website and offered to burn a couple shows for him... and to my astonishment, he not only knew my website, but used it often! To know that its reached people all over the world is truly an amazing feeling.. and it certainly makes the hours I've spent developing the website worth it.

Well, a couple days after approaching Andy about taking over the index, I finally recieved a response. I was nervous that my idea would be shot down.. but to my surprise, he was all for it! And it was a real relief, because I had already redesigned the website and had it ready to go at a moment's notice! With his consent, the new cover art index went online!

It seems almost ridiculous to me at times, but I really am honored to host such an amazing resource. One that I know is truly unique and is one that hundreds, if not thousands of people use regularly. Its inspired me to create a ton of new cover art as of late. Something to the tune of 30 new covers. Most of them from 1993-1994... since the selection seemed to be weak for those years. I truly want to see this resource explode! and if I have to make it happen myself.. I'll do whatever I can to make it happen!

I suppose all I have to do now is figure out how to promote it and inform as many people as possible!

Since Cover Art has been the latest topic of discussion, I thought I'd expand on another area of thought. I've seen a few posts on various message boards that discuss using cover art. I've used cover art for as long as I've collected shows, but to my surprise, a majority of responses to the initial topic of cover art was somewhat negative. There was quite a bit of talk about how people were reaching "this number of shows" and it was time they move into large binders... and that using jewel cases and cover art was almost absurd.. not to mention a real strain economically. I've wondered over the years how people with large collections stored their shows and I've seen several different solutions. Though it seems that VERY FEW people with collections of more than a couple hundred shows use jewel cases and cover art. I admit, it is a little crazy... and I've kept up with it almost out of habit. But with everything else aside.. it just seems that for people with such enormous collections, isn't it more important to use something like cover art?

Ask yourself the question... What is the point of cover art? It gives track listings and such... but most importantly, it gives a show its identitiy! There's a visual association thats made when you have the art to ago along with a show... because lets face it... when you have 500+ shows, theres no way in hell you're listening to ALL of them, and you know something unique about each of them. I could say with some level of confidence that when I had 200 shows.. that I could go through each one and tell you something special that would make that show worthwhile to listen to... But after a point.. some shows become just another date... For instance, with roughly 550 shows, roughly 80% of those shows have cover art. The rest are in jewel cases and are labled with a sharpie with the date and disc number. Beyond that, I know nothing about many of those shows. And if I pull one off the shelf to listen to.. its purely for the "mystery" factor.. And once I listen to the show.. unless theres something really magnificent about it, or I can really make a strong association with the date of the show, I wont remember anything about the show. Though, if it had cover art, I'd be MUCH more likely to remember something about it, at the very least, if the show was something I'd want to listen to again one day.

If someone has 500 shows, or roughly 1200 cds in binders with simple labeling of date and disc number.. aside from the great "classic" shows and some personal favorites... how could you ever keep them straight? Besides a list, how could you remember what you had? It seems cold to me.. impersonal.. If I gave someone a list of 500 dates, would they be able to go through and tell me when of those shows they did and didn't have? But if I gave you a list of 500 images... you can't say they wouldn't be much more likely to recognize having a show through imagery rather than recoginzing a date. And BELIEVE ME... I'm damn good with dates. but I hardly believe I'd feel anywhere near the way I do about my collection had I not kept up with using cover art. It'd be nothing more than a stack of cds with some pen scribbled on them. Filled with great music... but thats all.

And beleive it or not, keeping up with jewel cases and cover art has cost me next to nothing! Hell, even the cds have been virtually free. Assembling 550 shows has cost me almost NOTHING. How on earth is that possible you ask?! Allow me to breifly explain.

1. CDRs: For the past two years, the day after Thanksgiving has been VERY good to me. I've camped out in front of Best Buy in hopes of taking advantage of some phenomenal deals. And did I ever! 2 years ago, with rebates considered, they were giving away 110 packs of cdrs for free. Granted, it was supposed to be one per customer... but going with 3 people, and waiting through the lines a few times each, we managed to massage the system and pull away 12 packs of these things! Do the math.. thats 1320 cds! This year wasn't quite as lucrative.. but we still pulled a few hundred. Needless to say, I'm still going through the first year's cds... Though I'm almost through them. But all that, for no more than a few hours of my time.

2. Jewel Cases: This has been another stroke of luck.. but it has come with a small price. I've had to buy jewel cases, mainly double and triple cases in bulk a couple times over the years. I usually purchase 100 or so of each, at a time. It usually runs roughly 40-50 cents a case. I've been lucky though, and have been able to split the cost of the cases with my brother, even though I keep the master collection with me, therefore using the vast majority of the cases myself. That handles part of the cost. However, 2 summers ago, I had an order of 200 cases that were supposed to be shipped to my parent's house. Instead they were shipped to my apartment at college. Though at the time, the large 30 pound box was nowhere to be found when I called the management at my apartment building who should have signed for the package. After several attempts to locate the box, it was assumed to be stolen. And a new shipment was made.. this time to the correct address. The beautiful thing is that the next month when I returned to my apartment, I opened the door to the original box of 200 cases! So, I really made off! Oh.. and a year later.. I ordered double cases again... and somehow, I once again got two packages! And this was a completely different website this time... So.. call me crazy.. but luck has definately been on my side!

3. Cover Art: Ink does go fast.. and its definately not cheap... but I've managed to make a cartridge go a LONG way. Printing vibrant covers or covers with a lot of black come few and far between... Its not all that important to me anyway... I can have washed out pictures, or covers with a lot of white, and have them be just as effective as the vibrant ink sucking covers that many people want. I do splurge occasionally, so that I can get a nice spectrum of color when I look at all the shows lined up on my shelves. And as far as paper goes.. I dont use photo paper.. because its simply not worth it... again, I can achieve a good result by using heavy card stock paper.. which isn't that expensive... and a package includes a couple hundred sheets! So you'll be good for a long while!

Thats that! the only other component is the shelving that I use... which are these great black plastic stackable shelves that hold 40 jewel cases a piece. They run about 8 bucks each.. and I've bought them on a few occassions over the past couple years.. I'm using 14 shelves at the moment with 4 empty ones on the side. So thats 144 bucks over 2 years... thats as much as a cheap piece of furnature... so its more than worth it!

Well, in closing... I'm ALL FOR using jewel cases and cover art. I wouldn't want it any other way... and I encourage everyone to do the same. Even if it does cost a few extra bucks a long the way... How much money do you already throw at this band for concert tickets, cds and dvds... your live show collection should be just as important as anything else! so go for it! You'll be happy you did.

Okay, I'm anticipating this article to be relatively short, because there isn't a whole lot to say on this subject... but it has been on my mind as of late. So, the seemingly unthinkable has happened... a new Dave & Tim tour has been announced. After 4 years, I was beginning to think it was just not going to happen.. at least no time soon. Though a new tour has been announced, there was still a 4 year break.. and it begs the question.. what did the two of them think about this? Obviously there were probably some scheduling conflicts and Tim's desire to get on with his own solo career which explains the main reasons why its been 4 years. It is sure though, that Tim at least never got the opportunity to forget about Dave, as it seems every other night there was some DMB fan looking for the latest scoop as to whether or not Dave and Tim would get together again.. Tim's response usually consisted of him saying that he'd be open to the idea, but can only wait for a call from the DMB camp. Well, after 4 years, the call was made... but I wonder... who made that call? I would want to hope that Dave made the personal call to Tim to discuss the possiblity of playing together, and when schedules worked, managment made it happen. But I can't escape the feeling that it was probably Dave's people calling Tim's people (however many "people" he has.. no offense Tim..)

Dave is certainly not shy about introducing Tim as his "good friend" Tim Reynolds. Is it that out of the question to expect that Dave would prefer to call a "good friend" himself to arrange playing together for the first time in 4 years? I just wonder what kind of relationship they have outside of playing a month or two every couple years... things had to have been closer back in the mid 90's when he was coming out on tour and recording in the studio. Dave always seemed to really love playing with Tim...the intimate settings, the looseness of the music... He has to be completely psyched about the upcoming tour... He hasn't had that opportunity in so long.. Dave can't be above wondering how mind-blowing some of his more recent tunes will sound with Tim backing him. Surely he must be more excited than I am to hear them... which would be insanely excited!

I'm assuming that Dave & Tim have not spoken since they last played together.. which seems almost unnatural. Don't they have the desire to keep up with what eachother is doing? I know Tim has taken the time to listen to DMB's newer albums when they each came out... he seems to have enjoyed them. Would he have given them more than a listen or two? He must be a "fan" on some level... to be able to sit in with them over the years, knowing all of these songs inside and out... well enough to add what he has added to each of them. On the flip side though, I couldn't see Dave sitting down and listening to one of Tim's more recent albums. When they're playing together, Dave seems to almost worship Tim... but somehow, things just don't add up - off stage.

And while this article has focused on Tim... the same question goes for Dave's other musician friends in the industry... anybody who has been a semi-regular guest over the years... Hell.. even the rest of the band.. I know they're not the best of friends outside of playing together.. but would it be unreasonable for Dave to give Carter a call in February to catch up.. maybe Dave could tell Carter about some new stuff he's working on. How does that all work? Or do they just get so sick of eachother, that until they're scheduled to get together to rehurse for an upcoming tour, they stay far away from eachother... How much do they think about "work" during their vacations? Obviously Dave doesn't get very far from his guitar.. but do any of the other guys think of what they could be doing next in the context of the band? I'd like to think they do... and if they don't... I could only wonder how things could be inevitably that much better if they did....

Well, in recent weeks, there have been a few indications that provide some insight into the quesions I posed in the previous entry. As of an interview with Tim Reynolds on February 28th, he revealed that he had recently spent a week in a Seattle recording studio with Dave doing some work on Dave's upcoming and very secretive solo effort. It also reveals that this Dave & Tim tour has more or less been in the works since before Sept. 11, 2001, which is a great indication that the two had been in some kind of contact over the past 4 years.

This puts my mind at ease that this tour did not come about through "representatives" of each artist in a circumstance where neither of them had hardly, if at all, spoken to eachother since their last performance together.

On the contrary, the question as to whether or not the band got together or spoke much during the offseason was made a bit clearer recently thanks to an individual who was lucky enough to meet and spend a weekend hanging out with Stefan last weekend in a very informal setting. It seems that he was able to ask the right questions at the right time in order to probe into Stefan's mind to get an idea of how the band works off stage... While Stefan was reluctant to openly share hard information about Dave's current solo project, he was open about the song writing process and the fact that he felt as though he had barely spoken to Dave since the summer tour, even though they did have the short winter tour. Stefan said that he needed to catch up soon and that the band had plans to get together in May for rehursal.

He made it clear that with each of their personal lives, it made it difficult to get ahold of one another, let alone actually get together with them. He did say that he had hoped to catch a couple Dave & Tim shows this spring. Does this mean he may be sitting in to play with them?? Well, one could only hope that would be the case! When better to sit in than at Radio City Music Hall... rumored to be in the works to be taped for an upcoming official release.. Being as though I will be in attendance that night, I certainly wouldn't have a problem with Dave bringing him out for a few tunes, if not the entire show! What a great twist to what is an already sure-to-be-amazing show..

I was fortunate enough to have a rare opportunity to sit down with Butch at the band's hotel bar in Cincinnati a few months ago before their 6.24.03 Riverbend show. Knowing what a great opportunity this was, I had to muster up whatever questions I could think of. Seeing as how it was only a few shows into the 2003 summer tour, my opening question seemed appropriate. Had you asked me prior to that day if I thought the band got together and rehearsed before a tour, I would have probably guessed yes because on one hand, to think that after several months of not playing together, they could use more than just a long sound check to get back into the swing of things. On the other hand, it always seems that early on in a tour, the band always seems to be a little rustier than they should be. Their playing seems a bit apprehensive and they seem unable to explore the songs very deeply. I know it takes time for them to feel really comfortable with their playing and things get considerably better as a tour wears on, but I'm always a bit surprised that they aren't more criticized by the general public for being a little too sloppy at times when they have tens of thousands of paying fans to see their exquisite musicianship. Don't get me wrong… I'm not intending on bashing the band's playing here. Despite my feelings, I was still surprised to hear Butch's response when I asked him how much they rehearse before a tour. He informed me that until this 2003 tour, they had never rehearsed. This statement can only apply to tours back through 2000, but never the less, it is still amazing. One of the biggest bands in the world don't feel the need to rehearse at all after months of vacation from the road? Despite my comments on them being rusty at the beginning of tours, this was still impressive in my book..

They did however rehearse for the first time this year… and it was obvious when you look at the set lists and notice how many incredible surprises there were - how many songs that had not been played in years that came out and became regulars from the very first shows of the tour - how on two-night stands there weren't a single repeat to be found in the set lists. These were things that were very uncharacteristic of the Dave Matthews Band prior to this year. Typically, they open a tour with your everyday run of the mill DMB songs that are staples every year. Then with each show after, one or two news songs will debut for that tour.. The first two nights of the '03 tour saw thirty-something tour debuts, a huge surprise without a doubt!

Most years, a few weeks prior to a tour, the band members are sent tapes of live performances from the previous year, most likely consisting of the regulars but also maybe some songs that they hadn't played in a few years to give them ideas for what to play that year. They're expected to listen to these tapes to reacquaint themselves with their music because we all know that in the off season, you probably wont find any of them sitting around listening to their own music that they spend over half the year playing night after night on the road. But to have so many old and rare songs come out this year proves why rehearsal this year, was a great idea!

As a follow up, I asked Butch how each of the band members go about remembering songs that hadn't been played in years. I couldn't imagine that they all remember every song they've written together, especially when many of them are rarely, if ever played anymore. Much to my surprise Butch claimed that they never really have much of a problem remembering songs. All it takes is a few run-throughs to get changes down and they're set. This apparently is especially true for Leroi. As amazing as that all seemed, I had a really hard time taking it too literally. On several occasions Dave has revealed that he couldn't remember a song or on other occasions, it was clear that he was maybe having trouble with lyrics - more than just a botched line or two.. I wonder though, when Dave is going through the process of remembering or rememorizing lyrics, does he refer to written lyrics, or would he listen to a tape a few times to remind himself?

Another question I managed to ask Butch about was the "Vault" I refer to in a couple of my previous entries. Unfortunately, he seemed to unintentionally skirt around my question, mostly because he had a tendency to lead a conversation adrift… but he did indeed confirm that there was a "vault" of sorts where all of these live recordings and soundchecks exist in a library format. I couldn't help but to wonder who and how many people might have access to this unbelievable heaven-like place. He explained how there was an extensive database that each recording was logged into and they had a process to identify any noteworthy jam or song or if the band on a particular night felt like the show was stronger than most, they'd put a "red flag" on it. It is from these recordings that official releases might be drawn from.. or those pre-tour tapes that get distributed to the band, or ideas for new songs arise.

Again, unfortunately due to Butch more or less doing a lot of rambling, I wasn't able to get much more out of him. The conversation seemed to often turn to his children or wife, or late night Monopoly games with his family. All very interesting things and all proving what a great individual Butch is. I definitely look forward to having another opportunity to talk with him again. Maybe next time I can buy him a Bloody Mary or something…