Posts by Jeffrey Greenblatt

After a long hiatus and some considerable urging of Scotty, thought it was time to revive a column we seem to reference a lot, but have not seen a new entry from since mid-March – Better Than Noodling. So with that out of the way, let’s dig in with probably the best music act to come out of the great state of Idaho since Paul Revere & The Raiders (yup I just referenced a band that wore tri-corner hats and dressed in 1770s colonial garb, deal with it) some 40+ years ago – folk singer Josh Ritter.

Besides being a native of the 43rd state, Ritter probably holds the distinction as the only singer/songwriter out there who studied neuroscience, before switching to a self-created major of American History Through Narrative Folk Music. A move I’m sure that probably didn’t sit too well with his parents at first – who both happen be neuroscientists themselves, but has paid dividends in Ritter’s song craft as his work is loaded with literary and historical references. READ ON for more on Ritter’s folk-rock…

In an effort to promote their latest release The Stand-Ins – the follow up to the acclaimed The Stage Name and their second album in as many years – Austin indie-rockers (and former BtN act) Okkervil River asked a number of their musician friends to contribute cover versions of each song that appears on the […]

826NYC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. This is clearly an organization that we can get behind. The nonprofit will once again be holding their Revenge Of The Book Eaters benefit concert, this year at […]

As we mentioned earlier, we’re less than a week away from the release of Rhino’s latest Grateful Dead vault release Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978 on September 30. The 2 CD set, culled from the band’s run at the Sound & Light Theater outside of Cairo, is also being packaged with a DVD […]

Like many folks in NYC, I’m slowly coming to grips with the fact that I will have my first baseball free October in thirteen years. I guess that’s a good thing with all the concerts I have lined up next month, or at least I keep telling myself that. There have been many heartfelt tributes […]

Wilco may be ardent supporters of the Junior Senator from Illinois’ bid for the White House, but they don’t discriminate when it comes to getting the message out about exercising your First Amendment rights. The band is currently offering up a free download of their cover of The Band’s version of I Shall Be Released […]

Over the last few years, the Southern-fried soul, rock and blues outfit MOFRO has given Wilco a run for its money in the lineup change department. With the 2007 release of Country Ghetto, the band officially changed its name to JJ Grey & MOFRO and added the Hercules Horns to the mix. JJ Grey, the […]

A couple weeks back, we mentioned that Neil Young had announced the dates for the 22nd installment of the Bridge School Benefit. Now, we’ve got a line-up to share. The all-acoustic shows, which will take place at the Shoreline Amphitheater on October 25 and 26, will feature appearances from ZZ Top, Norah Jones, Jack Johnson, […]

It only made sense that we’d wrap up our Jamband Graveyard week with a tasty ode to the bands that filled up all those Maxell XL-II’s that came flooding in and out of our mailboxes packed in bubble mailers on a weekly basis back during the tape trading heyday. Sifting through tape lists and getting […]

Our look into the Jamband Graveyard wraps up this afternoon with a double-shot. Today, we’re going to feature a couple of bands whose names were routinely seen on bills at The Wetlands – and for all I know played there on the same night. First up is the highly underrated Albany, NY act the Ominous […]

Ok, sure, I’m a bit late to the party on writing a traditional review of the inaugural Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, but with that being said I thought I’d just weigh in with some observations on the three day fest that took place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park a little less than a month ago with a bit of an open letter to it. So without further ado…

Dear Outside Lands-

First things first, so lets get this out of the way: I throughly enjoyed the time that I spent walking the grounds, seeing music and enjoying the general vibe of very well organized fest. How can anyone complain about the eclectic line up that was packed with both local and national powerhouse acts? Or one of the best food selections you’re going to encounter at a large scale event. Bringing in local vendors to serve high-quality fare was a welcome change of pace from what you’d find at the majority of multi-day events. Anyone that had the BBQ oysters, the pulled pork or the tasty Mexican food can back me up on this.

But with that being said, in order to make this a destination for out-of-towners or just a return trip for the locals there are probably some things we need to talk about before I can commit to returning for version 2.0. We know with anything in its first year there are bound to be some hiccups and no matter how much planning goes into it things will pop up at the last minute that you just didn’t think of. So we know that your hard at work thinking about next year. Here’s just some things that as an attendee might be useful…

READ ON for more of Some Dude’s open letter…

Normally, we don’t tend to give much space to hardcore acts around these parts, but yesterday an interesting music video was making it way around the internets that featured the music of Minor Threat. The folks over at Mean magazine (yeah I’ve never heard of it until now, too) have recruited Oscar-winning actor Sir Ben […]

Technically, as Scotty pointed out to me the other day, today’s band isn’t quite in the Jamband Graveyard. But when the band in question has only played a handful of select dates over the last few years and its members have full time commitments with other bands it’s safe to lump them into this category […]

A few months back we dug into the YouTube vault and dedicated a week’s Pullin’ ‘Tubes to all things Classic Rock. With The Dead reforming, Ernie hitting the road and the imminent return of Phish, we haven’t been this excited about all things jam in quite some time. With that in mind, we thought we’d […]

Australian hard-rockers AC/DC will release their latest studio effort, Black Ice, on October 20. The album – their first in over eight years – will be sold exclusively at Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and through the band’s website. The Aussie-rockers have also announced the North American leg of their Rock ‘N Roll Train tour – their […]

Earlier this year, prog-rock progenitors Yes were forced to cancel their 40th anniversary tour when lead singer John Anderson fell ill with acute respiratory failure and was ordered by doctors to rest for six months. In an effort to avoid disappointing their fans, the rest of the band have decided to relaunch the tour sans […]

Thought today we’d give some space to our friends across the pond as last night they held the ceremony for the annual Nationwide Mercury Prize – which is awarded to best album by a British or Irish artist. Among the 12 albums to make this year’s shortlist were the likes of Robert Plant & Alison […]

Earlier this year, it was announced that the historic Beacon Theatre, which has played host to an astounding 180 Allman Brothers shows, would be closing its doors in order to undergo a much needed renovation, courtesy of Cablevision who had inked a 20-year deal to lease the venue back in November 2006. While rumors have […]

The 2008 festival season isn’t quite in the books yet, but you can start planning your ’09 thanks to the folks at Goldenvoice. The California-based promoters behind Coachella have confirmed the world-renowned festie will return to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA from April 17 – 19. Goldenvoice also revealed that its country music […]

Neil Young will kick off his North American tour next month with DC4C and Wilco splitting opening slots for the 20 show run. In the midst of the first set of dates, Young will take up residency for two nights at the Shoreline Amphitheater for his annual Bridge School Benefit. This will be the 22nd […]