After a long day, when the hustle and bustle of New York City seems to be just a little too much to take, I often find myself escaping and reveling in the beauty that the city, and its numerous attractions, have to offer. Such landmarks include NYC’s music venues, from the legendary Blue Note Jazz Club to Radio City Music Hall to the Mecca itself, Madison Square Garden. Which led me to think that focusing on the history and roots of one such venue, the fabulous Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side, would make for a great Postcards From Page Side column. So join me for a walk through its hallowed halls and allow me to share some of my favorites concerts that have occurred there over the years.
[Via The Monitor]
Originally the “brainchild” of Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel and designed by Walter Ahlschlager, “The Beacon,” as it’s affectionately referred to, opened on Christmas Eve in 1929 and was originally a venue for vaudeville shows, movies, drama and opera productions. Starting in the 1970’s when a pair of Stephen’s – Metz and Singer – bought The Beacon, music concerts as we are used to them today, took over as one of, if not the main focus of the property. One such act, The Allman Bros. Band, which hosts an annual March residency, has performed over 200 shows there since 1989 – some of which made my list of personal, favorite shows.
In 2009, the venue underwent a $10 million renovation to restore some of its former grandeur. Besides the magnificent architecture that gives the Beacon a leg up on most of the other venues in New York (except maybe it’s “younger sister” Radio City Music Hall), the theater also boats one of the best sounds systems around. With no bad seat in the house, whether you be on the floor, the loge, or the lower or upper balcony, there is a pristine auditory pleasure, along with the allusion that you are almost on to of the band. In other words, it’s cozy, especially from the balconies, as you almost feel as you are looking down on the band from certain vantage points.
READ ON for more on NYC’s Beacon Theatre…
In today’s day and age, it’s virtually impossible to keep a secret. With social media chirping and tweeting away with constant alerts, and Facebook and the like wasting away our free time and clogging our inboxes, it’s amazing that Perpetual Groove is about to host their tenth annual Amberland festival this upcoming Memorial Day weekend – with most of you being none the wiser. As the saying goes, Amberland is not a place, but a state of mind. Please allow me to explain why.
Now, to fully understand and appreciate Amberland, one must understand the band that so graciously hosts it as well. PGroove guitarist/vocalist Brock Butler was gracious enough to chat with me about this year’s upcoming festivities. An event that initially started in a friend’s backyard, Perpetual Groove, which also includes bassist Adam Perry, drummer Albert Suttle and keyboardist John Hruby, returns to Cherokee Farms in Lafayette, GA for the group’s biggest shindig yet.
Historically easing into the weekend, the band performs in-the-round at a casual setting and treats the early arrivals to such rare treats as some side projects, special guests or cover tunes on Friday night. This serves as a warm up and whets the appetite for six, full sets of proper PGroove over Saturday and Sunday, which always serves as the meat to this overly stuffed musical sandwich. READ ON for more about Amberland X…
While we are still a month-plus away from the kickoff of Phish’s most ambitious Summer Tour since the late ’90s, and several months away from their ninth festival – Super Ball IX – it’s a good time to take a look at how one very important aspect of the Phish festival model has changed before anyone has even stepped foot onto the grounds at Watkins Glen. Just as Phish is offering tiered pricing options for their standard, summer shows (typically $45 for lawn tickets and $60 for pavilion seats) they also have offered several “VIP” options for the festival for those a little fatter in the wallet. So let’s breakdown the main options for those camping on-site at Super Ball IX…
General Admission – This option is the standard festival ticket that have been fans only option since the band’s first festival, the Clifford Ball in 1996. At a reasonable price nowadays, $200, Phish is allowing patrons to pay in installments for this, and all other options, a very wise move in this still-hurting economy. This is and forever will be the standard, Phish festival experience that 95% of the masses will enjoy, and the one that many of us grew up with: Pull up in your car, park, pitch a tent and figure the rest out as you go – much like the music of Phish and the spirit of their festivals.
READ ON for more of this week’s Postcards From Page Side…
For three Wednesday nights in March and April, guitar maestro Steve Kimock has assembled a rotating cast of All-Stars to accompany him for a residency filled with completely improvisational, free-form jamming. I was able to catch the middle of these three nights at New York City’s Sullivan Hall last Wednesday, which featured a truly stellar lineup of Marco Benevento (The Duo/GRAB) on keys, Adam Deitch (Lettuce/Pretty Lights/Break Science) on drums and Marc Friedman (The Slip) on bass joining Kimock. The results were inspired, daring and overall, very impressive.
[All photos by Marc Millman]
While I have included links to videos and audio below, for one to truly grasp the events of this evening, one needs to understand Kimock’s, and these other super-talented musicians’, schools of thoughts. While Benevento and Friedman are well known on the jamband and indie scenes, and have played together in many instances prior, this was the first time that these four musicians had formally played a gig as a whole. Deitch was in my mind the wild-card on this evening, bringing an impressive funk and hip-hop swagger to the fold that I wasn’t quite sure how it would fit into this scene of loose, laidback, patient, and at times, very psychedelic playing. In the end, Deitch held the backend down, but never really stepped into the spotlight as I would have hoped to showcase his nasty chops.
Incorporating some Kimock numbers throughout the evening, things really seemed to open up with the first set cloer of 5 B4 Funk. A number that relies on heavy bass thumping, Friedman crushed the low-end and had the near sell-out crowd bobbing and moving. You’re The One was another highlight as it really kick started a fiery set two and allowed Kimock to really get cooking – something I wish he’d do more of, frankly. While he is the most impressive guitarist I have ever seen in terms of sound, tone and technicality, he manages to stay true to his philosophy of exuding patience in nearly any situation. That may be the reason that I have always found his fans to be jazz lovers, as you really need to focus, peel back the layers and pay attention to gain the full effect and receive the ultimate payoff.
READ ON for more of this week’s Postcards From Page Side…
For my first ever Friday Mix Tape, I thought what better idea than to help unwind after a crazy week of work than a simplistic session of instrumental tunes? If
For as long as debates shall rage, Phish and the Grateful Dead will always be compared to one another — for better or worse. So in today’s column, I will simply add a slight twist to that comparison by focusing on two of their most ambitious and exploratory triumvirates. Ladies and Gentlemen, let us take a look at the contenders by measuring the tale of the tape: Help on the Way > Slipknot > Franklin’s Tower in the Dead’s corner VS. Mike’s Song > I am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove in Phish’s. Apples and oranges, you say? Incomparable? First set versus second set material? Well, for the sake of today’s PFPS we will try and take a look at each and how they stack up against each other. I also an intrigued to know what your thoughts are, and invite you to way in with PFPS’s first poll in a while.
Help > Slip > Franklin’s
One of the Dead’s most prolific opening sequences, this trio set the stage for many a barn-burner over the years. While also also played in this traditional order, with very few breaks from the formula – as opposed to some mega Mike’s Groove sandwiches – Help > Slip > Franklin’s could be called the predictable sequence, but as we know, it is anything but.
Allowing room for weaving, bobbing and exploratory space, Help on the Way in particular always caught that dark edge that made it seem like a storm brewing and doom impending or a slithering serpent wrangling along its belly. Slipknot! seemed to be the psychedelic glue that held this trio together and often times spring-boarded some of the most memorable conclusions in Franklin’s Tower that exist. From the sprawling guitar licks in its opening, to its anthematic line, “If you get confused, just listen to the music play!,” there is no mistaking Franklin’s Tower. It represents an emotional payoff at the end of the mysterious journey, while offering a feel good, danceable vibe.
READ ON for a look at Phish’s song suite and to vote…
This week, featured columnist Brian Bavosa shares an inside view of the super-intimate taping of My Morning Jacket’s VH1 Storytellers…
On Thursday, February 24th, I was lucky enough to have won a contest that gained me a pair of tickets for the first taping of VH1’s 2011 Storytellers season. The band was none other than My Morning Jacket. The entry required more than just basic info, but actual written responses and potential questions from the fans, which made the entire experience of being one of 30 winners out of thousands and thousands – as the staff told me while waiting on line – extremely memorable. But what I will never forget about this night is the magical and zany world of Jim James (a.k.a. Yim Yames), his space-cadet, yet loveable personality and storytelling, and especially hearing many of band’s biggest songs in a truly intimate, 110 person setting.
[Photo via Blog.VH1.com]
Taking place at the NEP/Metropolis Studios on 106th Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan, it was a unique setting for this surreal event. Yes, it was somewhat nerve-racking having to wait on line for hours before entry, but after I settled into my front row seats, directly in front of guitarist Carl Broemel, I realized how I was about to see a band that has easily sold out Radio City and played MSG on New Year’s Eve in a space that seemed fit for a small party. After numerous instructions and camera finagling by VH1, the band entered to thunderous applause around 8PM and played non-stop through the taping for exactly the next two hours. The setlist was vintage MMJ, and even included some nods to their upcoming release, Circuital.
The sense of nervousness amongst band and crowd was further witnessed when James first started telling a story about how he was struck by divine inspiration over a carton of eggs in the early morning and how the sunlight reflected off of them. He seemed to get lost in his childlike, philosophical brain before finally deciding to step away from the mic and play the next track. There were comical moments, especially when James told of the band’s early years and the Brown/Cream colored van that they toured in, and how his Grandmother told him that bars are “dark and lonely places,” a line he eventually used in the song Golden.
READ ON for more from Brian on MMJ Storytellers…
This week, Hidden Track featured columnist, Brian Bavosa, sits down with JGB lead guitarist, Stu Allen to chat about life, love, this weekend’s Brooklyn Bowl sell-out shows, and of course, all things Jerry…
As the saying goes, “Seeing The Grateful Dead was like going to the circus. But, going to see the Jerry Garcia Band was like going to church.” Nothing could be closer to the truth in my eyes. And thanks to the “Keepers of the Flame,” the JGB, we have a chance to receive the sacrament often, as witnessed this past weekend at Brooklyn Bowl for two, sell-outs shows, and a nice chat with lead guitarist/vocalist, Stu Allen.
Allen was gracious enough to sit down with me on President’s Day over a few casual drinks to talk about the JGB’s shows this past weekend, about what makes him and the band tick, while addressing the most difficult of questions of what it’s like to be compared to the almighty – all answered in his slow, humble way – a fierce contrast to his inspired, emotional and flat-out rocking style of playing that surely channels Garcia, but trust me, he makes all his own. “Everyone’s got their own take on what Jerry and the Dead were doing. Even inside of that, everyone in the band has their own take on what they are doing,” he says. “With us (the JGB), we want to convey that vibe, but I don’t mind stepping outside of that and kind of pushing the envelope outside of that, depending on the crowd or whatever.”
For anyone that has ever loved or been inspired by Jerry Garcia, it’s been tough to get your true fill over the past 16 years. There has seemingly been an overwhelming branching off of bands to cover his music, whether it be your local Dead cover band, or Dark Star Orchestra, who are historically accurate in the renditions of shows, to the Bob Weir and Phil Lesh incarnations and collaborations such as the current touring Furthur. And then there is the JGB, which was founded by Garcia Band alumni and keyboardist, Melvin Seals, shortly after Jerry’s death in 1995.
READ ON for more of Postcards From Page Side…
In this week’s column, featured columnist Brian Bavosa takes a look at the The Dead’s legendary Europe ’72 tour, along with the impending 60+ CD release…assuming you were lucky enough to snag one.
The old saying goes: There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert. If that’s the case, what can one say about an entire tour? Especially one as special, and as much of a landmark as the famed 22-show, Spring run of 1972? Often lauded as one of The Dead’s high-water marks, Europe ’72, as it is commonly referred to, is quite simply an extremely important time in the band’s history.
[Europe ’72 artwork by Kelley/Mouse]
So, when the announcement came that The Grateful Dead would officially be releasing the entire tour in a 7,200-copy pressing, $450, limited edition boxed-set, even the most die-hard of Deadheads were at least slightly taken aback. However, within four days of the pre-sale, the allotment was sold-out, leaving many who wanted to purchase this historic piece of history out of luck.
The band quickly decided they would still release more units – at the same price tag of $450 – but without the commemorative packaging, something that simply doesn’t sit right with me and a number of others. Today’s column will focus not only on the magical time of the Spring of ’72 in Western Europe, but also allow me to chime in -and ask your opinion through PFPS’s 2nd ever poll – about what The Dead should have done after the initial sets sold out.
READ ON for more of this week’s Postcards From Page Side…
For a number of years now, I honestly feel the single, best kept secret in our scene has been the music of a single man: Brock Butler. Best known for his guitar playing and frontman persona of the Athens-based quartet Perpetual Groove, Butler has also thrived in an unconventional way in the solo spotlight.
[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]
Admittedly a friend since about ’03, Butler and I instantly formed a brotherhood of sorts, even joking at times that eventually we would start our own band simply titled, “BBBBBBBBBBBB…” (like the sound you make when you run your finger across your vibrating lips). Clever, I know, especially considering I can barely play a spoon. But, with Brock leading the way, I’d doubt anyone else would even notice. I’ve not only been lucky enough to call him a friend, but also stood by and been amazed by his lyrics, music and overall presence on more than a number of occasions. We’ve slept on each others couches and I have interviewed him in a number of formal settings, focusing mostly on PGroove. But today, as I said, I am going to let you in on the other half of his existence, which is simply a boy and his guitar.
Growing up in Virigina and studying in Savannah, Georgia, Butler and company finally settled down in their current home of Athens, a well-known breeding ground for artists as diverse as R.E.M. and Widespread Panic. And while Butler’s greatest notoriety is gained from his mammoth sounds with PGroove, he is simply a man who is seemingly in no rush and always tries to get lost in the “slow groove.” His solo shows won’t usually garner any huge touring notice, for he is much better known for sunrise sets on Jam Cruise, an impromptu late night hotel room session, or simply in any place where the mood strikes him. Drawing from a catalog of classic covers, heartfelt originals, delicate loops and gentle humor, I’m confident to say that Butler is a well guarded secret that once you hear, won’t be easy to get out of your head.
READ ON for more from Brian on Brock Butler…
