Dan Reed Network - Seven Sisters Road

This section is for news about the current activities of the ex-Dan Reed members and changes to the website

So any concert dates, CD releases, other performances, website changes, website connections will be announced here

Site Update: The path to the forum has slightly changed. It is now here.

It's a funny old world. One minute, we know not very much about whatever happened to the DRN guys.

And then, Dan discovers mine and Anthony's sites.

And then, we all discover myspace.

AND THEN, Blake Sakamoto walks into my store with my wife. Yes indeed people. Oktobre set me up.

I met Blake yesterday and let me tell you - he frackin' rocks ! He's working on some non-music things right now.

I never thought that by moving to Portland we'd actually meet any of the guys.

MELVIN BRANNON NEWS

With the discovery of this myspace thing, it seems no-one noticed Melvin Brannon appear. Here's the update. Melvin now calls himself SPOONIE BEE (I kid you not)

He does some solo stuff, and also works with Love Cursed and The Toledo Show.

Dan Reed is now posting regularly at Seven Sisters Road Forum - in the forums, we have created the Temple of Saraswathi - a sanctuary to discuss sensitive subjects such as spirituality, religion, politics, corporate globalization, activism, etc. The idea for this forum came from Dan Reed, himself.

Dan Reed is currently residing in Israel where he is working with Palestinian and Israeli musicians. Before this, Dan spent 5 months in India, Dharamsala, Amritsar, Goa, and the Lucknow area. The picture below shows Dan at a farmer's strike in Mumbai, India in November 2005 with 100,000 farmers.

I have given the homepage a facelift... more to come real soon...

Well, finally, nearly 3 years later than expected, Dan Reed releases new music :

It's an EP called SHARP TURN, and it's available exclusively as a digital download from iTunes, Napster, MSN Music and more

Dan Reed's release is through UMe Digital (Universal Music Enterprises), the world's first digital-download-only music label from a major record company (an imprint of the Universal Music Group)

Full details are here

Melvin is the man. Sorry, THE MAN. After years of being DRN fans, my wife Oktobre & I finally got to meet one of the ex-members in person. And what a cool guy he is.

I noticed a short editorial in the local paper about The Edgar Winter band and that they were playing a free concert here in Grand Rapids at the Celebration on the Grand Festival. Of course, Melvin once played with the Edgar Winter band.

So, this evening, we went to see the outdoor concert, just for something to do. I'd never actually heard any Edgar Winter and it was actually really good - mixing up funk, blues, rock and jazz.

And that bass player - looked kind of familiar.... He played a damn funky bass solo during Frankenstein. And Edgar Winter says 'Melvin Brannon' on the bass. It really was our man Melvin on the bass. We couldn't believe it.

During the last song we made our way down to the side of the stage to where we thought the band were going to come out. Only to realize we chose the wrong side. And we waited during the loud and flashy firework display in case they came our way. But then the security guy tells us they are signing stuff on the other side.

So off we run to the other side but the band are gone from the stall. We go to the backstage entrance and I ask a 'security guy' if I could PLEASE go through, but of course he says NO.

And then we could see Melvin, about 30 feet away, chatting with people. We waited and we waited. And as a couple of minivans came through ready to collect the band, I went to the other side of the tents to try and sneak through a gap.

And of course, whilst I did, he went to where we were waiting and Oktobre got to talk to him and tell him about our 7sr site. She asks him to wait and then yells for dumbass me to let me know I was about to miss him.

But I didn't. I ran round, and there was Melvin Brannon. And what a great guy he was to meet, friendly and approachable. I told him how I saw DRN in London and Manchester. We exchanged contact details and he said how he was doing a lot of stuff. I said I was surprized to find him here with Edgar Winter and he said he was filling in for the regular bass player.

And that was about it, to finish, I told him how DRN's music brought my wife and I together through this site

Hopefully, I'll be able to get in touch with Melvin through his details and get some real updated news for you all...

ARCHIVED 2003 news can be found here

ARCHIVED 2002 news can be found here