Posts by Ace Cowboy

For this week’s installment we turn south once again, continuing the nonstop coverage of Langerado into which we’ve somehow fallen. But, for us, the true beauty of the Interweb lies in the ability to live something in reality and then live it all over again online. And for alla’youse that didn’t get a chance to make […]

We’re planning to bring you as much coverage of the kickoff to festival season as possible, just because we can. And if you think we’re gonna play it straight, you’ve got the wrong guys (or you’ve fucked with the wrong Marine).

Some photos are posted below and individual set reviews and downloads are forthcoming, but here are some general news and notes from Langerado…

–I want to resist the massive, ongoing My Morning Jacket bukkake film the music blogs are creating together, but they really are that damn good: They just fuck your face more than any band I’ve ever seen. MMJ’s especially talented at hitting that high peak and wailing on it for a while instead of letting it back down, and every time that happens I picture Kelly Preston in Jerry Maguire screaming “Don’t ever stop fucking me!” Every single time. Um, am I alone in that?

–The Swamp Tent wasn’t all that crowded for Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, and I’m thinking this was probably the biggest mistake many people made during the festival. I’m all for moe., but Malkmus’ band is incredible and the Langerado faithful have fewer opportunities to see his shows. Throw in the fact that he’s an equal opportunity employer –- the chicks in the band are fucking amazing — and this was a must-watch performance. SuperDee turned to me at one point and said, “He really makes me want to do heroin.” I think she was kidding, but I agree.

—Michael Franti really fits in well in South Florida. He asks “How you feeeeelin’?” more than most Jewish mothers and grandmothers I know. If this whole musician thing doesn’t work out for him, I suggest Franti move down there and open up a delicatessen specializing in chicken soup. Franti’s set was enjoyable, the highlight being the cover of What I Got > Sesame Street > What I Got.

Read on for more thoughts and briefs from the weekend that was…

A handful of news stories broke while your friendly HT staff concentrated our efforts on the kickoff to festival season down at Langerado. It kinda reminds me of Die Hard With a Vengeance. We fell for it hook…line…sinkah. So let’s take a look at some of the shit that went down outside the state of […]

Another glorious day in the Florida sunshine, 85 degrees with a breeze and a 90 percent chance of fucking awesomeness. There’s something about Langerado that’s really challenging every band bring its very best.

We’ll take it, and we’ve been treated to some truly mesmerizing festival performances this weekend. So piggybacking on top of yesterday’s photo gallery, here are 20 more shots to whet your appetite for more coverage to come. Our friend Teddy served as the staff photographer for the weekend, and we thank him for all the photos contained herewithin (except for the last one).

I love this shot above, a cigarette-smoking Elgin Park and beefed up Karl Denson during the amazing Greyboy Allstars set. We got the good Greyboy today, the rockin’ funky give-it-to-us Greyboy. Is it just me or has Greyboy been so much better since Barry Bonds joined the band? Jeeez, test Denson’s urine. Nobody puts on that kind of muscle mass after the age of 35. Before you discount it, remember that Greyboy is from California. BALCO anyone?

Read on for 19 more of Teddy’s great photos from the second day of the Langerado festival, including Toubab Krewe, The Slip, Soulive, JJ Grey & MOFRO, Michael Franti, MMW, My Morning Jacket and the Disco Biscuits…

It’s 2 am on the East Coast, and I’m earnestly tired. I honestly forgot how draining these days are: 10 hours of nonstop live music in the sun on three stages with anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 people to navigate.

The day itself was, in a word, prettyfuckingawesome. I’m not sure how any band combination for the rest of the weekend will top the Assembly of Dust > Tea Leaf Green > Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings triumvirate we caught from 1 to 4 pm today, but I’m certainly willing to field offers over the weekend’s remainder. Every band we saw brought its A-game to Langerado, ensuring that every muscle in my body is sore. I can hardly type. I’m in terrible shape apparently.

It’s an interesting crowd at Langerado. But, rest assured, this guy is here:

Obviously we’ll have plenty more about the actual music as we proceed this weekend and into next week, but I’d like to first offer these pictures, which I’ve always been told are worth, like, a thousand times a word…

Former 70 Volt Parade lead singer Trey Anastasio kicked off this year’s Langerado festival with a three-hour show at Ft. Lauderdale’s Revolution. So what was Big Red’s first song out of rehab, on the road and not at the Y? Shine. The more things change, the more things stay the same. I moved around quite a bit, considering how […]

Scotty’s already down in Florida and I’m out the door. Trey awaits at the Revolution tonight, and then scores of our favorite bands will likely greet us with fantastic aural hospitality over the next three days. I purposely didn’t excerpt The B List post below, so scroll down for 10 awesome YouTube videos featuring must-watch […]

On a day rife with major news announcements in our cosy corner of the music world, I offer youse our regular Tuesday department for your consumption… Think The Gourds’ unique take on Gin and Juice was both clever and well-played? Well, this clip puts it to shame. To shame, I says. Check out this fucking […]

My one-year-old nephew is gonna be fuckin’ stoked to hear this news: Children’s entertainer Laurie Berkner will be one of the headliners at this year’s Green Apple Music & Arts Festival. Having just spent an entire afternoon at my kin’s birthday party listening to Berkner’s entire catalog, I can safely say that the tradition of wacky jamband lyrics will surely remain alive at this particular festival.

Check out the list of the other headliners at the upcoming three-city Green Apple festival, courtesy of Mike Greenhaus at Relix:

Bob Weir and RatDog, Taylor Hicks, Decemberists, Umphrey’s McGee, the Disco Biscuits, Greyboy Allstars, Kaiser Chiefs, Stephen Marley and world-famous children’s performer Laurie Berkner are among the artists scheduled to headline the second annual Green Apple Music and Arts Festival.

As previously reported, the world’s largest Earth Day celebration will expand to three cities this spring, simultaneously taking place in New York, San Francisco and Chicago from April 20-22. Produced by Relix Magazine and Peter Shapiro and presented by JP Morgan Chase, Green Apple is a direct descendent of New York’s famed Wetlands Preserve, which meshed music with activism. In total, Green Apple will present over 150 performances in 60 music venues.

It’s certainly not as powerful as I had hoped for, especially in New York, but at least I know I’ll be solidly entertained for a pleasant three-day span next month. Read on for many more details on which artists are playing in which cities, as well as what the people of New York, San Francisco and Chicago are in for…

Guitarist Benjamin Curtis of the ridiculously fluffed trio The Secret Machines is calling it quits. According to his brother Brandon on the band’s message board, “After 7 and 1/2 years of playing music together Benjamin has decided to no longer be a part of the band. It is a sad day but also an exciting one as he […]

Get the opening torch ready for a run towards Tonic: Marco Benevento and Joe Russo have announced The Duo will kick off April’s three-city Green Apple Music & Arts Festival in New York with two acoustic shows.

The Duo’s on its way back east from three recent gigs in Colorado and Chicago as half of the wonderful Zeppelin super-impersonsators, Bustle In Your Hedgerow. Marco and Joe will re-unite with Scott Metzger and Diamond Dave Dreiwitz for another gig in New Jersey on St. Patrick’s Day, then the duo will kick off the Green Apple proceedings in about six weeks on the Lower East Side:

We’ve heard the rumblings, we’ve heard the requests, and while we aren’t ready to load up the van and hit the road for an extended tour just yet, we do have a treat for the home team. We are doing our part and going GREEN to kick things off at the Second Annual Green Apple Festival. We will be playing two very intimate ACOUSTIC performances at Tonic in New York City on April 19th as part of the Official Green Apple Music Festival Kick Off! Tickets will be available through DuoTicketing beginning on Friday, March 2nd. Tickets will be $15 in advance and $20 on the day of show. There will be TWO shows, one at 8pm and one at 11pm. The shows are an 18 and over. Check out the goings on in your neck of the woods and head over to greenapplefestival.com.

Sir Joe Russo will also close out the Green Apple fest on Sunday, April 22 with his old bandmates from Fat Mama. The now-official reunion of this underappreciated jazz outfit comes on the heels of the A Big YES…and a small no quasi-Fat Mama reunion show at vibraphonist Kevin Kendrick’s 30th birthday, and if that gig is any indication of Fat Mama’s cohesiveness in the face of time off from each other, we’d all be wise to make it to this Sunday gig. In the words of The Duo’s humorous management, this festival “begins and ends when Joe Russo says.”

Read on for more on Marco’s newest live release and newish trio, plus some amazing photos from Bustle’s Chicago show on Friday…

You really gotta love The Roots. I must admit I’m not a huge fan of most of the hip hop genre in general, but how can you go wrong with a group of talented artists that actually play their own instruments, write great songs and cover all subsections of music extremely fucking well? You can’t, methinks. In […]

The week begins with a whiff of giddy anticipation: The First Lieutenant and I are headed southbound for Langerado for three days of headiness in the South Florida warmth. Scotty and I will channel our inner Tricia Takanawa and do our best to bring you slutty, ethnic reports from the field. But that’s the glorious […]

Our friend Marc recently unearthed this music-on-the-web gem, and you’d have to be batshit crazy not to play around with this resource for a little while. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the greatness that is Musicovery.

Flanked by my esteemed colleagues Neddy and Double J, I attended last night’s benefit concert to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Old Knitting Factory. Times Square’s Town Hall hosted Michael Dorf‘s celebratory concert, with proceeds going to benefit John Zorn’s The Stone. The Knit founder offered us a slew of performances from incredible artists like Marc Ribot, Zorn, Medeski […]

Every music genre and corresponding subculture has levels of cool. But until I saw this eye-opening (and eye-lining) news report, I had no clue just how cool emo kids really were. You gotta love a news report that features intentionally ironic and probably fake websites as its source materials. J-School, baby, J-school. [youtube]Ri6ySOHoDfk[/youtube] I like […]

Just a little morning filler ’til you get that third cup of coffee mainlined in there… From the good people at StreamStash come these gems: The Sheik of Araby — Django Reinhardt [Live at Birdland] How High the Moon — Sarah Vaughn [Live 1957 Mister Kellys] The Letter — Joe Cocker [Live at Fillmore East 1970] […]

I don’t find many Dylan parodies particularly funny. Too easy, ya know? For me, Dylan-based high comedy was entirely contained to the recent No Direction, Period video, and that’s about it. But someone — I’m not even sure whom — put together this extremely well-produced, seven-track album of Dylan signing Dr. Seuss books, and it’s fucking […]

For several years following the turn of the millennium, Warren Haynes was playing everywhere, with everyone. Lately, though, the hardest-working seemingly homeless man in show business has been noticeably absent from the spotlight.

But according to Haynes’ website, the takes-all-comers guitarist is headed back to the Large Apple in support of his soon-to-be-released live album:

In celebration of the release of Warren Haynes Presents: The Benefit Concert Volume 2, Warren and many of the artists on both Volume 1 and 2 will be taking part in 2 very special events on Wednesday March 28th. At 5pm there will be a CD signing at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square followed by an All-Star Performance at Irving Plaza. A limited number of tickets to this show, along with a guaranteed place in line for the signing, will be given away FREE with purchase of The Benefit Concert Volume 2 at Virgin Union Square beginning at 9am on Tuesday, March 6th. A very limited number of tickets to the Irving Plaza show will be on-sale to the public on 3/9.

I couldn’t care less about getting his Herbie Hancock on a newly purchased disc, but if the Warren & Friends show of yore are any indication, this could be an epic night in the making. We’ll have more on the special guests as news rolls in…

Read on below for a full tracklisting of the forthcoming Benefit Concert CD

I think everyone from Brazil has a “Gilberto” in their name somewhere. But my favorite Gilberto right now is the country’s current Minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil. Flash back 38 years, though, and you’ll read about how Gil, one of the true leaders of the Brazilian Tropicália psychedelic movement, was arrested by the military and subsequently […]