Posts by Neddy

Three more fantastic new music recommendations from Aaron Stein.

Two more new music recommendations from Aaron Stein.

Put another dime in the jukebox, baby, for four new music recommendations from Neddy.

Three more fantastic new music recommendations from Neddy.

Three groovy-heavy new music recommendations from Neddy.

Three new music recommendations from Neddy that stick more to the beaten path.

Four amazing new music recommendations from Neddy.

Three new music recommendations from our favorite tastemaker – Neddy.

Two more new music recommendations from Neddy.

Two more mellow new music suggestions from Neddy.

Three recent jazz albums Ned thinks you’ll love.

Three recent albums you need to hear as picked by Neddy.

Ned hips us to three must-hear releases from Broken Social Scene offshoots.

Our pal Neddy kicks off a new column in which he’ll check in with two or three new albums worth hearing.

Aaron Stein lists six up-and-coming bands you need to see live this year.

We wanted to celebrate the release of 7-DVD Clifford Ball set today with a remembrance of that weekend from our pal Neddy…

“Beautiful man… I don’t know how you do it…”

The Clifford Ball. It was the end and the beginning. It was, yeah, just a couple Phish shows, but it was also the rift between two eras. For me and the band. In my mind there are some distinct periods in the history of the band which I described in my blog here. The Ball was a distinct shift where Phish went from being a band that was big enough to tour with their own grand piano and fill arenas to a band that was big enough to put on a massive festival on their own and compel tens of thousands of people to schlep to remote locations. This was the birth of “big Phish.”

It was also a distinct shift for me. The summer had officially started with my graduation from college in May. When the summer ended I would be in graduate school. It was a real life bar mitzvah moment: time to become an adult. The woman I love(d) would go from being a girlfriend to being the person I lived with. But before all that, there was the summer. Phish announced their dates in the spring – a pretty minor stretch of shows, 11 in total, all in the middle of August, starting out west and working their way toward the big bash at an Air Force base in Plattsburgh. The highlights were a you-crazy? 4-night run at Red Rocks and something they were calling The Clifford Ball, which, to hear the Phish literature describe it, was just about as much fun as you could have in upstate New York.

READ ON for more of the Clifford Ball installment of Nedstalgia…

A week ago, My Morning Jacket rang in the new year in NYC by imploring us all to “celebrate good times… come on!” Well, the NYC Freaks are doing just that, throwing a kick ass celebration at the ninth annual Freaks Ball this Saturday at Southpaw in Brooklyn. This is the show that got Robert Randolph and the Duo started and has featured Bustle In Your Hedgerow, The Campbell Brothers, Apollo Sunshine, Ollabelle, Skerik & Mike Dillon and a whole bunch more. Saturday night should be just as special, with The New Mastersounds headlining with their uber-funk straight from Brittania.

Of course, there’s plenty more on the bill. Danjaboots (Joe Russo & Scott Metzger) will open the night with a rare countrified set of songs about drinkin’, fightin’ and f$%^’in; then the Rodney Speed Experience will set the mood with some classic rock for ya. After NMS. the late night party will get handed over to Rana playing a rawking midnight set. All in all a pretty damn good night. In addition, the night will start off with a special sneak preview of the new Derek Trucks album Already Free and there will be beer specials on Sixpoint brews from 8-10. So come early and often, the Freaks would love you to join ’em: there are still a limited number of tickets left.

We’re aiming for a kick ass celebration with lotsa birthdays, babies being born, not to mention starting the countdown on the last 10 days ’til the country changes hands… what will you be celebrating? Let us know what you’d like to celebrate on Saturday night by leaving a comment below, and we’ll pick a winner for two tickets to the gig on Friday afternoon.

READ ON for more details and downloads from FBIX artists…