Hidden Track Staff

As the Phish fanbase continues to skew older more of the group’s followers have become parents. Just because you’ve got kids doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stop seeing Phish shows. One of our first commenters, Alan Miller, shares his survival guide for Phish-loving new parents…

Last summer, I brought my toddler to SPAC for his first Phish show. I had visited PT to ask for some advice, and wound up with 150 people telling me that bringing my son to a show was a terrible idea and you can imagine all of the insulting comments made on top of that. Yet, there were one or two people who offered some reasonable advice. So, in case there are any new parents reading HT, here’s my survival guide for Phishing with kids keeping in mind that this is based on my own personal experience with a 1 1/2 year old. This summer we’ll be bringing him and his little brother to CMAC.

[#6 on our B List – 10 Kiddie Phish Videos]

1. Change Your Expectations

When my wife and I decided to bring our son to the show, we went in with the assumption that we may see two songs, we may see one set, and, if we were really lucky, we’d make it for the whole show. If you bring your kids to a show, you have to put their needs first. My philosophy was one hour of Phish was better than nothing at all. We also didn’t worry about the highest quality sound or visual experience. We wanted to experience a show with our son.

2. Scout Out The Venue

We went to SPAC the day before the show (not into the venue, but checked out the park) to find out where we would park, eat dinnner and let our boy run out his energy before the show. Now, I fully believe SPAC is the PERFECT place for kids to see a show, for a million reasons–however, if your kid is like mine, head to a park a few hours before the show and let him/her run around like crazy. You don’t want restless legs during the show.

READ ON for more of Alan’s Guide to Phishing With Kids…

Newton Crosby/Wyllys/Kung Fu @ Mexicali, Teaneck NJ: 05/06/2010

Over the past few years, we’ve admired journalist Diana Costello’s writing for The Listening Room and the HeadCount Blog so we’re honored to present her first review for Hidden Track. Hopefully you’ll be seeing her much more of her work on this site in the coming months.

[All Photos By Eric Murray]

You know those nights where you’re just like, “Thank God I’m here right now!” Well, that’s absolutely how I felt Thursday as a continuous flow of outstanding talent took the stage at Mexicali Live in Teaneck, N.J.

Considering the lineup — Kung Fu with Wyllys and Newton Crosby [ed. note – Wade “Wyllys” Wilby is a Hidden Track contributing writer] — I knew it was going to be a good one. But the collaboration between bands and a surprise appearance by Jennifer Hartswick on trumpet kicked things up to the next level.

Newton Crosby started the night off right with some danceable grooves, proving that despite being newbies to the scene, they nevertheless know how to connect with an audience. The rhythm section kept things tight and funky, giving the guitar and keys a solid launching pad for improvisation.

READ ON for more of Diana’s thoughts on Thursday’s show…

As you’ve probably read, the streaming service we used for Friday Mix Tape – Lala – will close on May 31 after the company was purchased by Apple. Current Lala

Words: David Schultz

Focusing primarily on Tibet, the Rubin Museum hosts a wide selection of art from the Himalayas region. It’s not a venue typically associated with music much less one to feature one of the country’s preeminent, though unheralded, guitarists. Then again, as many who have seen Willy Porter would attest, a museum might be the proper locale for his prodigious skills.

The Wisconsin-based guitar wizard’s latest New York City appearance came as part of Naked Soul, the Rubin’s unique twist on the singer-songwriter concert series. In a room with perfect acoustics, Naked Soul strips away everything unnecessary from the performance: no amplification is needed and no electricity is used; every note strummed, beat and sung is heard unfiltered. The elimination of any type of sound system in museum quality environs fosters a warmth and intimacy unparalleled by the majority of basement stages and coffeehouses.

The environs couldn’t have played more to Porter’s strengths as a performer. He possesses the type of talent must be seen in order to be truly understood. It’s one thing to hear Porter play, quite another to see how he coaxes the sounds out of his guitar. His fingers glide across the fretboard with a natural ease that seems otherworldly, as if he’s channeling a higher musical force. Often it’s difficult to believe that many of the sounds coming from his guitar are actually being played with his fingers.

READ ON for more from David on Willy Porter…

Independent artist Ryan Holiday considers himself a music business survivor after releasing more than 10 albums and EPs both as a solo artist and with his former band In Between Blue. For his latest project, Ryan has teamed up with his wife to write a musical. He’s also busy singing with jazz pianist Fred Hersch, writing a new album and rehearsing a “Stereolabesque” project, yet he’s found some time to bitch and moan about file sharing…

Eyes down round and round let’s all sit and watch the moneygoround
Everyone take a little bit here and a little bit there
Do they all deserve money from a song that they’ve never heard
They don’t know the tune and they don’t know the words
But they don’t give a damn
There’s no end to it I’m in a pit and I’m stuck in it
The money goes round and around and around

– The Kinks

Trent Reznor, singer and songwriter of the band Nine Inch Nails, states on his website that “Music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away.” In 1999 Napster revolutionized what is called peer-to-peer file sharing. File sharing occurs in networks which allow individuals to share, search for, and download music files from one another, all for free. The popularity of file sharing has practically destroyed the conventional music industry. Once there were six major record labels dominating the U. S. market. Since 2001, that number has shrunken to four, and file sharing technology has evolved so rapidly that the remaining record companies can’t keep up with the exchange of music. The next logical step, then, is to legalize it.

Although the phrase “legalize it” is more often associated with marijuana use than with file sharing, people can’t be stopped from smoking pot in their homes just like they can’t be dissuaded from swapping music files on their personal computers. According to an article by Sarah Reidel, Napster was “cobbled together by a scruffy-haired high school dropout named Shawn Fanning in the summer of 1999.” As with many internet-based applications, Napster was never intended to operate as it did. In her article, Riedel writes that Fanning’s program, written for himself and his friends, spread to 15,000 users in as little as a week. By 2001, billions worldwide had discovered P2P file sharing. This prompted the Recording Industry Association of America to file lawsuits claiming that Napster was “facilitating the free trade of ‘illicit’ music files [which] amounted to a violation of copyright law.” After years of litigation, the RIAA was able to shut Napster down but by then it was too late: filesharing had become more popular than ever.

READ ON for more of Ryan’s essay on Music and File Sharing in 2010…

If you’re a fan of the one drummer years of the Grateful Dead, you’re gonna love this Steel Cut Oats compilation that longtime HT reader Joe Kolbenschlag has masterfully put together featuring his picks from the October 17 – 19, 1972 shows at the historic Fox Theatre in St. Louis. Joe clearly knows his Dead as you can tell from this essay about the compilation…

After reviewing several shows for a next project, October 1972 seemed ripe for the picking, as we’ve not heard a single note from this extremely fertile period via official release. It’s only a matter of time before the powers that be also draw the same conclusion, and drop us a sweet three or four disc compilation set – possibly featuring an entire show. I hope to have remedied this temporary oversight by delivering four hours of selections from the Fox Theatre run from St. Louis, Missouri – October 17th, 18th, and 19th, 1972.

The middle show on the 18th is easily the most recognizable of the three – found in many collections, and for good reason – it’s a classic. Excellent ’72 energy, tight playing, group telepathy, and most important an explosive 2nd set jam that delivers in spades – it is the centerpiece of this collection – Playin’ > Drums > Dark Star > Morning Dew > Playin’ – 64 minutes of blissed-out Fall ’72 – it’s the first time the band wove multiple songs into the structure of Playin’ In The Band. This sequence is begging for official release.

Each of these shows has its own quirks and characteristics that make them unique in performance, and as actual recordings or ‘sonic journals’ as Bear himself calls them. The first night has its fair share of technical problems during the 1st set – monitors are a huge issue (when aren’t they back then), and it’s clearly a bother to the band more than normal – causing distractions during songs, and followed up with excessive complaints and long breaks after them. The middle show’s recording is heavy on Weir in the mix – which offers the listener a different perspective and appreciation of his playing at this time – his fills throughout add a much deeper flavor than what is normally found, and a pre-cursor to his evolving jazzy style which becomes more prevalent in 1973 and 1974. The final night – another wonderful complete show on its own merit – is marred by more tape hiss than the average tape from ’72, however, probably carries the most democratic mix of the three shows.

• CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD STEEL CUT OATS #5

These nine hours of tapes offered a diverse range of aural challenges, including inevitable ‘cuts’ due to their analog nature. Some excellent tracks were automatically thrown out due to this unfortunate circumstance – specifically the Bird Song from 10.18, Black Peter from 10.19 – only 1 of 4 readings from 1972, and an otherwise uber-melt of a Playin’ In The Band from 10.17. Each of these tracks should be considered outside of this compilation as outstanding; however, they were not going to work in the context of my personal selection criteria. After having an opportunity to recently listen to Vault copies of 10.18’s Bird Song (same problematic cut, yet with obviously better sound quality) and 10.17’s Ramble On Rose (missing on all circulating copies), surprises from these shows still exist, and an official release could spring some new material. On a personal side note – any further cuts, blips, or skips that reside on this collection remain ‘as is’ from the original sources found in the db.etree.org directory – surgery was performed only for the purpose of sequencing, and not on any portion of actual music.

READ ON for more on Steel Cut Oats #5 and a full tracklist…