Three years after playing their last shows together, the OM Trio reformed for a three-night run in its adopted hometown of San Francisco. Drummer Ilya Stemkovsky was kind enough to write down his thoughts about getting together with his old bandmates for a two-part edition of Tour Diary:
Friday, February 16th, 2008 9 PM Fillmore Auditorium
San Francisco, CA
All photos by Larry Mills
Dust Up opened the second show. We love playing this tune because, simply, it’s badass and dispells any rumor that we’re “jazz.” Maybe a collection of our most epic tunes graced this night. Anew —- Bulbous>Mesh>Bulbous —– Phobophobe with Jake from Umphrey’s on guitar (something that worked well back in the day). We felt even more comfortable the second night. We didn’t want it to end. Read on for more of Tour Diary…
Three years after playing their last shows together, the OM Trio reformed for a three-night run in its adopted hometown of San Francisco. Drummer Ilya Stemkovsky was kind enough to write down his thoughts about getting together with his old bandmates for a two-part edition of Tour Diary:
Thursday, February 14, 2008 6:00 PM Lennon Rehearsal Studios
San Francisco, CA
All photos by Larry Mills
So…you really can’t get further apart from each other than the members of the OM Trio. Bassist Pete Novembre lives in Santa Cruz, CA… keyboardist Brian Felix in Chicago, IL… and drummer Ilya Stemkovsky in Lakewood, NJ. When the opportunity to come together and play our first concerts in over three years arose, naturally, we knew we would have limited rehearsal time. Read on…
Our good friend Luke Sacks offers an out-of-towner preview of Wilco’s upcoming five-night stand at the Riviera in Chicago, which takes place on February 15-20 A previous commitment — okay,
You may be well familiar with the bands featured in this section, but Some Dude from Hits from the Blog wants to ensure there’s No Jambandfan Left Behind…
You know how they say that Christopher Columbus didn’t really discover America he just “encountered” it? Well that’s sort of how I feel about how I came to start listening to the music of Okkervil River.
How I can really lay claim to discovering a band that has been releasing albums (and I’m sure touring relentlessly) since late last century? I first encountered this Austin-based act some time last summer when every music reviewer was drooling over their latest offering, The Stage Names, a wordy, bombastic album with ruminations on the daily life of someone who happens to be in a rock band.
The reviews piqued my interest, but it wasn’t until I caught their performance on Conan that I knew they’d be my latest musical obsession. The song they played was big, brawny and cluttered with sound; it seemed like they could fall apart at any moment, but somehow lead singer Will Sheff’s vocals came in and tied it all together. Read on after the jump and take a listen to their cinematic tales…
Rupert and Stan from the Ghosts of Wayne Fontes blog do everything for the keeeedz. So let’s turn our attention to their regular Thursday nonsense…
While kids like you and me were busy tasting dog food and puking at church, a rare breed of kids prefer composing sonatas and jamming with blues legends. Mozart allegedly learned to play the harpsichord at age three, Ricky Scaggs performed with Flatt & Scruggs at the tender age of seven, and Herbie Hancock played piano with the Chicago Symphony at age 11. Were talking about the Doogie Howsers of music. These are the rugrats who quite miraculously develop virtuoso mastery of an instrument at a freakishly early age. So today, we’ve scoured the interwebs to take a look at some of today’s rising geniuses.
Since we believe musical talent is hereditary, we’ll also take the opportunity to speculate which musical masterminds may have tapped some groupie ass and unknowingly produced these small wonders. Read on for the five best…
The 8th Freaks Ball — El Ocho Loco — is coming. There’s no sense waiting around for Zeppelin to get back together, so get involved with the real deal in
Dave Vann and Margaret Pitcher danced among the crowd of 8,000 at a non-New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration — Dave shoots, Margaret writes…
In what could become a resurrected tradition, Phil Lesh & Friends threw an epic Mardi Gras party in San Francisco on Saturday, the group’s first since February 2005, when the friends included Chris Robinson and members of Railroad Earth.
P&F is rightfully regarded as an ever-shifting and evolving unit, which makes the experience of their live shows both an exciting and risky prospect. On this night the band was definitely on, delivering an amazing performance that unexpectedly brought us into the wee hours of the morning.
Read on for more of Dave Vann’s amazing photos from the Mardi Gras event, more of Margaret’s great review and a great recording for stream or download…
Hidden Track’s adorable boyfriend/girlfriend team of Jeremy Gordon and Carla Danca hit up RAQ this past weekend…he shoots photos, she talks.
Coming in from the bitter cold last Friday, RAQ was ready to turn heads on the first of a two-night run at Mexicalli Blues Café in Teaneck, NJ. Starting the night off with a nod to New Jersey was Lembo, quickly followed up with another fan favorite, Brother From Another Mother. The band didn’t waste a moment heating up the night with an upbeat jam that set the mood for the 90-minute first set.
RAQ showed off its many faces, moving from almost metal-esque sound to smooth ballad pieces and back around to bubbly bouncy songs that left the house moving in their wake. The lively first set brought out a huge variety of songs that spanned their entire catalog. Each of the band members was able to show off his range, but the band stayed tight by working in a cohesive rhythm. Even when the energy in the room was seemingly at its max, the quartet kept it going by finishing off the set with an Otis Spode > Wax that left the crowd ecstatic.
Read on for more great photos, audio from the show and a full report…
You may be well familiar with the bands featured in this section, but Some Dude from Hits from the Blog wants to ensure there’s No Jambandfan Left Behind…
Being a music blogger you’re generally a few steps ahead of the curve when it comes to discovering new bands. While your friends are talking about how great The National is we’re on to whatever unsigned band Stereogum or Daytrotter are pimping that week. Case in point the band that has been the darlings of music blogs for past eight to ten months: Vampire Weekend.
Odds are you haven’t heard of them, or if you have you may have dismissed them because of their silly faux-Goth sounding name, much the way I did when I first heard of a band called Widespread Panic back in the mid ’90s — raise your hand if you thought they were a metal band too.
The boys of VW had been on a meteoric rise, at least in New York since people got their hands on their self-produced Blue CD-R (not be confused with Weezer’s Blue Album). The Village Voice and the New York Times both profiled them last year. They sold out the Music Hall of Williamsburg in the fall, and tonight and tomorrow they’ll hit the Bowery Ballroom for two sold-out shows — all this based on a three song EP and single; their full-length album hits stores today. So read on to see what their “Upper West Side Soweto” sound is all about…
Rupert and Stan from the Ghosts of Wayne Fontes blog are fine Americans, and on this glorious Thursday they’re back to explain their experience…
This week, it’s time to stir the pot a little bit. We decided to take a crack at breaking down the Top 10 Weekapaug Grooves of all time, ranked in order.
It’s kind of a crapshoot, but worth a shot. Anyway, the focus here is on the actual Weekapaug as opposed to the full Mike’s Groove in its entirety — that’s a whole different animal altogether and deserves its own list. As always, we welcome your recommendations and expletives in the comments.
Let it be known that these picks are solely the views of Stan and Rupert and do not reflect the views of the HT brass, unless specified. Also, you’re on the honor system here, as a few of these are available on Live Phish (so go buy the newly uploaded Dayton and Durham soundboards, particularly the Amazing Grace jam). We’re providing the songs, except for a few, which are official releases and only samples. Okay, enough yapping from us, here’s goes nothing…
10. 12/31/1998, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Paying homage to everyone’s favorite nymphomaniac Minneapolite, this particular Weekapaug follows up the obvious show opener with a little more 1999 teases to open the song. This is where this New Years show really starts heating up. After a quick, fast funk groove, the energy in MSG swells when Trey gets the machine gun out about two-thirds of the way through. Pound for pound, this probably isn’t the mightiest of all Weekapaugs, but it’s solid from beginning to end, and it’s one where you can feel the floor of the Garden bouncing through your headphones.
Read on for as we count down the 10 best Weekapaugs of all-time…
