Posts by Ace Cowboy

You take two steps forward, I take two steps back We come together…to smoke…a little crack [youtube]Zt5-wn3fvlw[/youtube] Straight up now tell me, did you really have a full frontal lobotomy? Either Paula Abdul just got the Randall McMurphy treatment or she’s tanked like Namath. We’re no prudes, but if you’re gonna go on national television to represent a seemingly […]

The good people over at SugarMegs want you to stream away…at home, in the office, on the terlet, wherever. So make it your beeswax to hop on this growing-but-already-comprehensive list of New Year’s shows they have available. So get your ass on over there and beg those kinky files for naughty aural sex…  

The fine folks over at Austinist have done some world-class spelunking through the hellish depths of the cyberweb, and they’ve compiled an initial list of bands supposedly playing this year’s SXSW festival in March. I’d lie and say it looks like a “totally tubular and bodacious lineup,” but you’d see right through that charade. I only recognize about six […]

We’ve discussed at length ’round this here rag just how many bands are considering reunion plans in 2007. Speculation continues to surround The Police about a potential reformation this summer, Van Halen may get the old band back together for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and all eyes are focused on Stephen Malkmus for the […]

No! This festival on the site of the 1980 Winter Olympics ain’t exactly cheap (starting at $81 for the full monty), so I take it nobody’s gonna be kicking down a ducat gratis. Buy your own ticket, Michaels, no miracles for you this time. Snoe.down ’07, the all ages, weekend winter music festival hosted by indie-jam rockers moe., returns to […]

For no other reason than rockin’ out to some Stones on this fine morning… [youtube]ZxWPHNjGaHs[/youtube] If you’re curious, this one’s from the famed Montreaux rehearsals in 1972.

And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. About 20 minutes later He invented YouTube and sat in It for anywhere between 6,000 and 1,000 years. The raw footage from An Acoustic Evening with David […]

If you’re familiar with The Lefsetz Letter, you’re aware of the fact that this guy knows his shit, and he’s knows your shit. He’s the Roto Rooter of the music world, sifting through everybody’s shit and cleaning all the pipes. I’m a little late on this, but Lefsetz issued his 2007 Predictions last week, basically […]

Any of you Widespread Panic fans ever wondered what John Bell would sound like if he were a chick? That’d be pretty weird, but I bet someone has. Wonder no more, freaks, your answer has arrived. Jesse Sykes has been around for a few years now, even making New York Times critic Jon Pareles’ list […]

I’ve written about Tea Leaf Green coming to New York and flat-out flooring me so many times that I can’t even find a fresh angle with which to present the blistering 12/28 show at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, New Jersey.

I guess I can talk about how I brought my snobby musician friend who previously had only unflattering adjectives to describe them, only to hear him whisper “I’m totally sold” a few songs into the proceedings. I can talk about the sweet, sweet venue and how it played the perfect host on a sold-out night. I can talk about the impossibly frenetic Wet Spot > Death Cake > Wet Spot that closed the first set, or the beautiful nod to the New York crowd in the wholly original Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues cover, or the utter evilness and sheer nastiness emanating from Josh Clark’s guitar in Bouncin’ Betty.

Mostly, though, I left the Mexicali show elated that TLG had successfully restored my faith in the band after two fairly mediocre shows in October (Irving Plaza and The Vic). I had written after the CBGB show in April that “TLG gets hyperbolically better every time I see them. Tighter. Looser. More Confident. They’ve got the swagger now. They don’t take a night off. They don’t take a note off.”

But whereas I had begun to re-evaluate the above stream of thought after those two shows in October, I walked out of Mexicali Blues that night as committed to their present and their potential as I’ve ever been. This show proved exactly why this band is one of my favorite touring acts in the country today.

With my faith now restored, I can now in good conscience present this sick photo gallery from the show, courtesy of our crafty friend Ted Wong…

The posts have been coming fast and furious, like Tony Romo’s tears. So here’s a recap of what you may or may not have missed ’round these here parts this week: The reviews from New Year’s Eve were rolling in all week: We continued the Trey Anastasio overload with a recap of his Atlantic City […]

The good people over at Weir Freaking have uncovered a set of pictures and video footage of Thursday night’s Nancy Pelosi Presents show in Washington: [youtube]-TALMvGTAGk[/youtube] Ain’t it just wonderful to see the liberals back in power, using their compassionate guilt to take a homeless man off the streets, dress him up in a suit […]

As we mentioned in this space a few weeks ago, newly inducted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is the new Bill Graham. Aunt Bobo, if you will. Pelosi’s put together a House band of Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir, Bruce Hornsby, Warren Haynes and Mike Gordon for tonight’s heady fundraiser, and I think […]

Here’s why I think some of us obsess so much over both live music and sports: In themselves, there’s a natural beauty in watching something incredible and unscripted unfold in real time. But in addition to the ability to reflect upon a trove of both memorable and forgettable experiences, we also get to quantify those experiences through sheer statistics. After all, how often did you find yourself updating your Phish Stats after a nice run and smiling at the latest Notable Gap?

I’m always been a fan of keeping track of show stats, and I think ZZYZX probably created the best derivative form of entertainment in the music industry. Well, the accounting firm for Ace Cowboy & Associates has now officially crunched the numbers for this year’s annual report to the shareholders, and the results for 2006 are in: In all, I caught 86 live performances by 59 different bands at 60 ticketed shows in 37 separate venues. Not bad for my soul, not good for my wallet.

Most sites are done with all the Let’s Look Back at Last Year exercises, but I wanted to wait until every show was given a puncher’s chance to make the list. I’m not gonna break out into a rousing rendition of Mr. Kellerman’s “Let’s join in with one last chorus, visitors, staff and guests…” routine, but join me in taking one last peak at the best performances of the year, as I saw it.

It ain’t quite Nudie Magazine Day, but I’ll do my best to fill the void tonight… Sly & The Family Stone played a dominant role in both the musical background and musical discussion of our New Year’s Eve party. The band that most closely answers the test question “What group is the personification of chocolate […]

Prepare yourselves for an onslaught of song-related puns. Over the next few months, we’re all about to be subjected to clever doozies like “I’ve read the Message in a Bottle, and it says The Police are getting the band back together.” The language is still purposefully vague, the commitments missing completely. But the chatter flying […]

Ever since his Contrarian’s Guide To Ryan Adams, I’ve been trying to engage our friend Chilly JackWater in enough conversation that eventually some vitriol will spit out into the night. Following our meeting at the Greyboy Allstars show on Friday, I mentioned to Chilly that the band was a little too spacey and that this […]

The year’s winding down fast…only five hours left in this revolution as of post time. Hidden Track has only been fully operational for two and half months, but it sure feels like it’s been at least 12 to 14 weeks. And whether you like us or you’re indifferent towards our existence, we plan to bring […]

After reading the setlists from the last few nights of Trey Anastasio’s December run, a guy I know has taken to calling this the Please Love Me Again Tour. Alumni Blues and Sex Machine in Boston, The Landlady and Peaches en Regalia in Albany — what’s in store for Atlantic City this weekend? A Lushington […]

Some friends and I were camped out in the Old Office of the Knitting Factory last night, waiting for The Duo to take the stage for its 88-person fifth anniversary show. The recently departed James Brown serenaded the room through the speakers, and we began to discuss the potential frequency of JB covers we’ll hear […]