Posts by Ace Cowboy

Two fine upstanding cities played host to the music world this weekend, with the Vegoose and Voodoo music festivals taking place in Las Vegas and New Orleans respectively. We’ll have photo galleries from each multi-day orgiastic aural experiences some time this week, and we’re also on the active lookout for pics from any other weekend […]

Hey, so this may qualify as blogger auto-eroticism or patently unnecessary self-aggrandizement, but an astute reader points out that today’s Seattle Times piece on Rodrigo y Gabriela not only quotes our review of the acoustic duo’s Webster Hall show back in April (the seventh graf), but they’ve re-printed our attempt at coining a genre: Mariachi […]

We’re less than a month away from the highly anticipated theatrical debut of Todd Haynes’ mostly authorized Bob Dylan biopic, I’m Not There. But many of us are probably just as interested in the film’s 34-song soundtrack, an album loaded with heavy hitters that comes out the day before Halloween. Indie darling Stephen Malkmus joins […]

Sixteen years ago today the world lost the man perhaps most responsible for this site’s possible existence. Bill Graham escaped Nazi Germany, stole Buddy Hackett’s car, discovered Santana, delivered Otis Redding to white audiences, brought the Allman Brothers to national prominence, indirectly kicked Zeppelin out of the United States, put on The Band’s Last Waltz and promoted just about every worthwhile show and festival that didn’t conclude with a fatal stabbing.

Photo by Michelle Vignes

He’s a truly memorable figure. So on this day, the anniversary of his untimely death returning in a helicopter from a Huey Lewis & The News concert, we honor the man some consider to be the best supporting actor in the history of music.

• Read the book: Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out
• Previously on HT: Live Nation CEO Changes Name to Bill Graham

I’m all for alleged OiNK founder Alan Ellis’ freedom from prosecution and cult hero status, but someone needs to help this dude out with his analogies. Ellis told The Telegraph he shouldn’t be in trouble because his site doesn’t sell music to people, he just directs them to it. Here’s some specious reasoning: As far […]

As we discussed earlier this morning, the popular file-sharing and questionably legal OiNK site came down when British and Dutch authorities arrested the alleged 24-year-old proprietor, who lives in Middlesbrough and whose fear of prosecution is probably growing bigger than hometown manager Gareth Southgate’s teeth. So that guy’s dunzo, for sure. But are you safe? […]

The midday doldrums usually set in around this time, and the only two things that pep me up are the non-dulcet tones of my employer’s biteless bark and a good show from the Sugarmegs streaming server. Let’s concentrate on the latter… Today we’re featuring five great concerts from everyone’s favorite decade. And while most other […]

Oh, wait, this whole thing is illegal? “British and Dutch police said they shut down Tuesday the website OiNK, the world’s biggest source of pirated pre-release chart albums. OiNK distributed albums often weeks ahead of their official release date. More than 60 major album releases had been leaked onto the Internet so far this year.” Looks like you’ll have to move onto the next music theft palace. RIP OiNK.

We take some comedic pot-shots at moe. from time to time, mostly because they’re a band with a good sense of humor. If a group’s clever enough to re-create the fight scene from Raising Arizona on its tour blog at a time when rumors of “the band’s creative differences” ran rampant, surely they can take a little ribbing from a couple of jerks with a website.

But, shit, sometimes moe. just deserves what they get. And either the moe. organization conspired to pass along its best inside joke yet that sailed wildly over my head, or some pranksters hacked into the band’s listserv over the weekend. Otherwise, I’m not entirely sure what explains the following mass e-mail, a note about corporate partnerships with its fans that included this dubious last paragraph:

If you work for a company that would possibly like to talk about some marketing opportunities, whether it be sponsorship, partnering, or possibly having moe. write a song for an ad, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me. We owe everything to our fans and if we could team up with some, we think it would be a lot of fun and ultimately, beneficial for everyone.

Wait, is that for real? Are times that tough for the self-described indie-jam rockers that they’re praying Tampax will make Don’t Fuck With Flo their new jingle? Do you, moe. fan, have an in with T.G.I.Fridays, and if so, could you possibly get Happy Hour Hero into the weekend rotation? Was The Conch‘s Blue Jeans Pizza the band’s effort to kill two jingle birds with one stone? This e-mail has left me with more questions than answers, and most of them surround moe.’s newfound evolution into Uncles Jesse and Joey in Full House. C’mon, you watched it too.

• Related video: Thirty-six minute Vegoose webcast of moe.
• Read on after the jump for the full letter from the band…

Three of our favorite guitarists showed up on other people’s stages this weekend, sending message boards into fits of excessive geekery. Former 70 Volt Parade lead singer Trey Anastasio sat in with Phil Lesh & Friends in Glens Falls, almost 13 years after Big Red threw the White Album down in the same locale. If […]

Stick this one in the Better Late Than Never file…yeah, we just saw it. We’re hearing mostly positives from Van Halen’s resurrection n’ resuscitation tour, but this version of Jump from Greensboro on 9/29 is just nasty. And I’ve switched back to using nasty in the bad way, not as in “How nasty was that, […]

Neil Young seems more synonymous with unruly sideburns and questionable hats than Web 2.0. But the old man’s latest album debuts next Tuesday, and he’s posted four songs from Chrome Dreams II on his new YouTube channel. The new tunes and photo montages follow after the proverbial jump…

Todd Haynes’ biographical Bob Dylan flick comes out in less than five weeks, but a concert celebration — a celebration of what exactly, themselves? — will take place at New York’s Beacon Theatre on November 7th. Lovely. The talent lineup for I’m Not There: In Concert consists of: Calexico Cat Power The Roots My Morning […]

Awesome, so all that’ll remain is dude armpit-farting the Growing Pains theme song: “Online video leader YouTube has rolled out long-awaited technology to automatically remove copyrighted clips, hoping to placate movie and television studios fed up with the Web site’s persistent piracy problems.”

Either we’re actively trying to set a webosphere record for Most Posts Featuring Bulletpoints In A Two-Day Span or we’re just pushing the envelope on how to look shoddy and feign professionalism simultaneously. Regardless — or irregardless, as the kidz say — we’ve rummaged through the always awesome Live Music Archive to bring you some […]

Hey, that circled date on the Gregorian calendar suggests it’s Robert Hall Weir‘s 60th birthday. Here’s to our favorite short shorts-wearin’, cowboy croonin’, dyslexic rock star out there. May you power slide forever, Bobby… [youtube]MPgyJYpSmms[/youtube] So in honor of Mr. Weir’s milestone, let’s take a group trip back to the famed rhythm guitarist’s 34th birthday. […]

In the course of a half-hour we discussed some more pertinent topics with Reid, including but not limited to Radiohead’s label-less album, the reunion of the original members of Strangefolk at their tour manager’s recent wedding, the experience of an asskicking in business school, the joy of fatherhood, the awesomeness of chick books and much more. It’s unabridged, so make yourself comfortable, but it’s a great read…

We throw more content up on this here rag than two asshats with demanding day jobs probably should, so we’re guessing you’ve missed some goodies here and there. So as part of our first anniversary coverage, you’ll see us roll out some self-aggrandizing Best Of sections this week. Indulge, and enjoy. With apologies to our […]

As we noted in this morning’s Hors d’Oeuvres, members of Arcade Fire joined The Boss on stage in Ottawa last night. The fortified E Street Band ran though its first State Trooper since 1984 and a version of Arcade Fire’s Keep the Car Running from Neon Bible. And now some video has surfaced: State Trooper […]

Assembly of Dust returned home from its most recent tour and found itself answering questions virtually no folk-infused rock band has had to answer. The buzz surrounding the eight-show run with JJ Grey & MOFRO wasn’t necessarily about the quality of the music or the sad frequency of collaborations, but rather the bizarre backstage skirmish that followed the band’s gig at The Roxy in Boston.

Photo by Adam Kaufman

If you’re picturing frontman Reid Genauer standing over the Roxy’s manager like Muhammed Ali triumphantly towering over Sonny Liston, repeating “That’s folkin’ rock, motherfucker, that’s the taste of singer-songwriter fists of fury” over and over, then, well, you’re probably alone. So for the real story, and for much more from the tour and beyond, Genauer and I both took some time from our day jobs to discuss Assembly of Dust’s mini-tour with JJ Grey & MOFRO.

The reported ‘fight’ was only a small part of the story, and in the course of a half-hour we discussed some more pertinent topics, including but not limited to Radiohead’s label-less album, the reunion of the original members of Strangefolk at their tour manager’s recent wedding, the experience of an asskicking in business school, the joy of fatherhood, the awesomeness of chick books and much more. It’s unabridged, so make yourself comfortable, but it’s a great read…