Archive: 2010

Six years after filming their New Year’s show at the Riviera in Chicago, which was released the following year as Wrapped Around Chicago, prog-jammers Umphrey’s McGee will film all three upcoming New Year’s Run shows at the same venue for a future DVD release. [“Settling Into The Riviera” via UM Facebook] The band also announced […]

If the story of Well and Goode sounds preposterous, it is. Midas Well and Upton O. Goode are none other than Brendan Benson and Mark Watrous.

What did Bob Moog do for the history, development, course and future of Music?  His inventions have done no less for music than the inventor of the wheel has done for transportation!

Phish @ DCU Center (The Centrum), December 27th Phish kicked off a five-show NYE Run tonight at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA. At the group’s first of two performances at the venue formerly known as The Centrum, Phish delivered two mostly standard sets filled with songs that referenced the previous day’s weather, which made […]

Since 2003, devoted Chicago bluegrass fans have traveled near and far every Tuesday night to catch the city’s resident acoustic outfit, Sexfist. While the name may spark visions of earsplitting metal, sweaty moshpits, B.O. and raging fits of testosterone, fear not! I assure you that the acoustic four-some are devoted bluegrass traditionalists right down to their suits and ties; heck they even share one mic!

Contrary to what their name entails, Sexfist specialize in traditional, finger-lickin’ bluegrass crossed with a steady mix of rock renditions and original compositions. They have a reputation for delivering high-energy performances branded with articulate picking and fluent harmonies. Really, when it comes down to it, very few Chicago bands throw hootenannies quite like Sexfist. These days the band can be found playing every Tuesday night at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago. It was there where Hidden Track caught up with banjoist Chuck Oakton, and eventually bassist Bradley Longwood, to chat about the Chicago bluegrass experience.

Hidden Track: Where do your stage names come from?

Chuck Oakton: They’re porn names. It started off as a basic middle name followed by the street you grew up on. But, occasionally that wouldn’t work out so well, like sometimes it would be perfect. Like James our old dobro player he had the perfect Sexfist name, it was Michael Wildwing (laughs). Most of them are porn names and a couple of them are made up to sound like porn names, because you want there to be a consistency…like some people’s are pretty lame. Like Eric’s (guitar), I forgot exactly what Eric’s was, he’s Clutch Johnson, which is a great porn name but his middle name isn’t Clutch (laughs). So mostly it’s our middle name followed by the street we grew up on but it varies.

READ ON for more of our chat with members of Sexfist…

Dave Schools of Widespread Panic recently spoke with Billboard’s Gary Graff about the bassist’s plans for 2011, which includes touring with Stockholm Syndrome and celebrating the 25th Anniversary of his main band. The article reveals that filming for a Widespread Panic documentary – set to include both newly shot and archival footage – began at […]

While your ears will likely already be filled with plenty of Phish this week, why not add another heaping helping? This week’s Stormy Monday is a mix of vintage Vermont goodness drawn from three show in the early nineties: 4/25/93 in Geneseo, NY; 12/31/92 in Boston, MA; and 5/14/92 in Port Chester, NY. The first […]

With Snowpocalypse 2010 descending onto the a large hunk of the eastern seaboard yesterday, dumping upwards of 20-plus inches of snow and bringing more than a few things to a halt including the cancellation of last night’s scheduled NFL game in Philadelphia. As we wake up to this wintry mess, which here in Manhattan means […]

With just days left in 2010, don’t think that there isn’t still time to discover some albums that may have slipped under the radar over the last 51 weeks. Since it’s part of our unwritten pact with HT readers to make sure that happens, we wanted to point you in the way of one of […]

You don’t have to love metal to enjoy the 2008 documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil featuring a Canadian metal band whose best days were behind them, sort of like the genre. The film airs tonight at 10:30PM on VH1 Classic. Monday, December 27 [All Times Eastern] Anvil – The Story of Anvil [VH1C 10:30PM] […]