Posts by Ace Cowboy

It’s been awhile since we broke out the good China…let’s go show-diving:  Traffic — 11/18/70 — Fillmore East [.asx] Flaming Lips — 2/8/88 — Norman, Oklahoma [.asx] (early shit!) Richard Thompson — 10/12/88 — Fillmore SF [.asx] Professor Longhair — 8/23/75 — Philly Folk Festival [.asx] Richard Manuel solo — 1986 — Woodstock NY? [.asx] Seriously, I […]

In scanning the blog’s archives, I realized there’s one name that’s gone almost entirely unmentioned: Jaco Pastorius. A preliminary search turns up two drops of the Jaco name, but for a bassist this ludicrous, that’s just not nearly enough. So let’s change things up and pay homage to the man that put Come On, Come […]

Friday’ll be a tough day at the ol’ office. At week’s end I’ll be forced to endure a full day of occupational nonsense and anticipatory anxiety before heading out to Brooklyn for Grace Potter & the Nocturnals at Southpaw for the second show of my own personal Green Apple Music & Arts Festival. I’ve been a huge fan of Ms. […]

Like the famed postal creed, neither Nor’easter nor visa restrictions nor Justice Department bureaucrats nor transportation delays could stay two badass musicians from excitedly kicking off their spring tour at New York’s Webster Hall.

It took quite a bit of effort for Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela to emerge onto the stage last night, braving inter-government shenanigans, mistaken identity, record rainfall in the Northeast and their own version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The pair began this epic journey in Mexico, moved through Los Angeles, were diverted to Atlanta, then flew up to — where the fuck?, Rodrigo asks — Baltimore, until finally a train brought them into New York proper. For us.

Hype can be a dangerous concept, and self-imposed hype can be even trickier. I couldn’t have been more excited about my first live glimpse of these characters, and not for one second did they let me down in any regard. Read on for more thoughts and pics and videos from an amazing night with Rodrigo Y Gabriela…

This morning we linked to the New York Times article about the Last Stand of Tonic, the minimalist Lower East Side performance space with the some of the best acoustics in New York. We opined the eventual loss of Tonic not too long ago, and at this point, we’re all out of whine and tears. […]

It may sound like the first line of the critically acclaimed Full House theme song, but What Happened to Television? is actually the new album from the back-in-full-force Greyboy Allstars, and it debuts to the masses tomorrow. But fuck this “tomorrow” shit: You can head to their website today and stream the entire album. Go ahead. I’m not […]

If you’re among the luxurious Americans taking advantage of cheap, imported, enormous flat-screen televisions, turn on InHD right now for a showing of Sam Jones’ wonderful documentary about Wilco’s road to recording Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. Here’s what youse missed so far: [youtube]cJbLvQkCwRc[/youtube] If you missed it altogether, InHD […]

I’m all jacked up on mimosa, frittata and lox, and to paraphrase John Lennon, I’m just sittin’ here watchin’ the rain come down and down. Who knew this would be the weekend I learned Nor’easter was meteorological jargon for “It’s gon’ rain!”? As my pants hang on the door in a poor effort to dry […]

Can you still have fun, Trey? Well, probably not that type of fun any more.

The population of Washington County, New York is about to increase by one: Former frontman for the popular rock band Phish, Trey Anastasio, will be required to move to the area as part of the guilty plea he just accepted.

And if all goes well for Big Red in the county’s drug treatment court, Trey could then cop to a reduced charge and remain out of jail on a long probation:

If [Trey] does complete the 12-month program, McKeighan will sentence him to 5 years of probation and would entertain a request by Anastasio’s lawyer to withdraw his guilty plead to a felony charge of attempted fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Instead, he would be allowed to enter a subsequent plea to a misdemeanor charge.

It’s a good thing Trey didn’t have all that much in the car with him at the time:

Anastasio spoke softly as he answered McKeighan’s questions. He admitted illegally possessing more than a half-ounce of the prescription painkillers Vicodin and Percocet, the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and heroin when he was pulled over by Whitehall Police the morning of Dec. 15. He was driving through the village on his way to Vermont when he was seen swerving.

Is it me, or is that a lotta gum? That’s a lot of gum! We’re thinking this arrest was the best thing that ever happened to him, in the grand scheme. And he may have “spoke softly,” but at least he spoke at all — we figured the lack of stage banter post-hiatus would carry over into the courtroom. Eh, I say we all just mainline some smack and put this whole strange episode behind us.

Previously on HT: Now Trey’s a Real Rock Star; Full Timeline of Trey’s Ordeal
And read on for a couple of pics of Crimson Dego’s Courthouse Experience…

I like to kick cute puppies and punch little kids. But I’m a sucker for old people. So obviously I perked up when The Zimmers, the so-called oldest rock band in the world, planted a great version of My Generation on the world wide web. According to the description on the sorta-popular video-sharing YouTube website, “Documentary-maker Tim Samuels […]

No matter how badly we want it to, the ridiculous controversy surrounding tired schlock-jock Don Imus just won’t go away. Unemployed Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton continue to steer the ship into the murky waters of race, and Imus’ television simulcast has been yanked off the air like a shaky Vaudevillian. Enter one of my musical […]

The site was down for a few hours this morning, and I’m not sure we’ve finished ironing out the 40-foot cockroach in the system. Stick around, and hopefully soon we’ll return to flagrantly pissing off the String Cheese Incident and Particle fanbases while fluffing The Duo, Scott Metzger and Umphrey’s McGee. Many apologies, but hang with us, we’ve got a […]

Rumors of Phil Lesh’s new band sucking balls have been greatly exaggerated.

Maybe this temporary, mismatched hodgepodge was as bad as people said on Monday night, a glorified bar band. But last night, Phil and his conglomerate of new and old friends rocked a 400-person club around the corner from my apartment with sick sound and great lights. So really, what’s not to love? We laughed, we head-bobbed, we danced like white people: a night to remember.

We knew right away this night would take a 180-degree from the prior when John Molo stood outside the club as we walked up to SOBs. There he stood, looking healthy and standing tall, receiving what I could only imagine were some of the warmest handshakes and hellos of his life. People actually cheered as he walked in, and again when he hit the stage to throw down his sticks. Do drummers usually get standing ovations before concerts? In this case, everyone knew his return to the lineup would steady the kit and anchor the shaky band.

The group emerged from the shadows just after 8:30, and we strapped on our game faces. Warren Haynes rumors circulated, the lights dimmed and the flicker of lighters and a waft of smoke permeated the room. We were ready for Take II.

Read on for many more photos and the rest of my review from SOBs…

As our friend Richard suggested to me, this is “improper concert behavior at its cringiest.” Agreed, that’s what we like to refer to as unfettered douchebaggery. [youtube]oyiftU7GL90[/youtube] Some friends weigh in: Deputy Girardin decried the moves of the chick in the Mom Jeans at the beginning, to which Monk excellently replied, “She keeps coming around on […]

Idolator posted the shot of the Irving Plaza sign coming down, and now they’ve captured the new sign going up. And if you’re like us, the only redeeming part of this photo is that the always-satisfying Galaxy eatery next door managed to sneak into the picture. Otherwise, good lord, that sign’s uglier than a hair-lip.  Previously […]

The lineup at this year’s Bonnaroo festival is really one of the coolest collections of festival talent ever assembled. I mean, look at that roster — it just doesn’t stop, and there’s something for everyone. But the cool managed to get even cooler when the organizers added legendary saxomaphonist Ornette Coleman to the bill a […]

Big Red’s long local nightmare may soon be over. The latest from The Post Star: Ernest “Trey” Anastasio, the former frontman of the jam rock band Phish, has been offered a plea deal with a reduced drug possession charge, which, if he accepts, could wrap up his case Friday. Check back on Friday, when we’ll […]

Most reviews I’ve read of last night’s performance are as down on the former Grateful Dead bassist as anything ever written on the world wide web. As we expected, for the first of two super-stealth shows Phil brought along newcomer Larry McCray and fast friend Larry Campbell on guitars, Particle’s Steve Molitz on keys, Christina Durfee […]

Al Gore’s been quite successful so far in inventing a seven-continent, 24-hour rock concert, and today he’s sticking it to Hidden Track. A month ago we relayed a reliable double-sourced rumor that Live Earth would take place at Shea Stadium, and our sources maintain that was the case. Only today, the Live Earth folks kicked us […]

String Cheese Incident is quickly becoming the Sugar Ray Leonard of the jamband world. We’re pretty sure the band announced its retirement some time between the fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the global Y2K freakout fakeout. Yet here we are, one quarter through the Year of Our Lord 2007, and dates continue to emerge from the Madison House corporate headquarters. Here’s the latest from the SCI camp:

We’ve gotta hand it to SCI for a job well done booking an undercard that’s strong to quite strong. It’ll take an awful lot to get people to converge on Salem, Missouri for the String Cheese Coventry, but we’re guessing Greyboy, JJ & MOFRO, Los Lobos, The Wailers and Yonder Mountain will help draw a sizeable crowd.

Catch ’em before they go (for real): SCI also hits Bonnaroo, three nights at the Beacon, the Greek, and somewhere in Oregon before Sam Malone sells the bar and the band hangs it up during a three-night stand at Red Rocks. That is, presumably, until they replace Billy Nershi and get back out on the road.

Read on for the full list of SCI’s Summer 2007 tour dates…