The Derby, The Fight of the Century, The Near Perfect Game from Wanger in the Bronx…with a Sports Saturday like that, it’s hard to think about live music. But I
Let’s start the weekend off right — here’s a video so recently uploaded to YouTube that it’s gotten only 109 views. This needs some well-deserved pub. The revolutionary Billy Preston dabbled in
As you may remember from last week’s edition, our resident mixologist Dan Alford is taking his downloadable act to Mondays. This line change left a gaping void in the authorship of
Shit. We’re 10 months away, and already next year’s March is filling up fast. We’ve got the annual pilgrimage to Langerado, a fantasy baseball draft in a city to be named later, and now…uh
If someone were to mention the phrase “tramps at the mall,” my mind would almost immediately conjure up images of That Group of skanky high-school chicks with hoop earrings, makeup-caked faces and gobs of chewing gum
Vegas is played out. Montreal has become passé. Atlantic City is for Gotti Kidz and Camaro drivers. Sadly, the list of killer bachelor party destinations is dwindling dangerously. So when
Remember the night back in October when Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy took a swing at some jerkoff fan that hopped on stage? [youtube]5wmAvy7C2co[/youtube] Well, the Yankee Hotel Facepunch heard ’round
Tom Hamilton’s putting his energies into the wrong band. Brothers Past is good at what they do, and I’m sure it’s more lucrative. But I can’t say that BP’s music has ever ensnared me quite like his American Babies side project did at the Knitting Factory last night. Given a proper upbringing, the Babies can grow into Monsters.
Hamilton’s slimmed-down version of American Babies — a powerful quartet featuring brother Jim Hamilton on bass, Sir Joe Russo on drums and Scott Metzger on guitar — expertly showcases his incredible songbook. I don’t mean to trip on over-enthusiasm here, but this show for me catapulted Hamilton onto the list of great young songwriters. His originals strike the perfect lyrical and musical balance between wide commercial appeal and misunderstood critical acclaim.
Capitalistic endeavors will likely lead him to pursue success for his more well-known band, but watching this semi-supergroup made me wish he’d put the Brothers in the Past and concentrate on bringing up the Babies.
Before we dive into an obvious theme below, let’s kick off the proceedings with a rippin’ version of Medeski Martin & Wood’s Think from the Umbria Jazz Festival in 2001.
Well-preserved archival live music’s not very tough to find, if you’re looking in the right spots (and you’re not a wall-eyed doof). And when I’m bored at work, or when I wish
