Ryan Dembinsky

Phish was not the only band to take advantage of the fact that New Year’s Day fell on a Saturday night this year, as the Black Keys too capped off

Hopefully folks are finally starting to roll in to the Big Apple after the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles horror stories, as we know it hasn’t exactly been a smooth ride. Blizzard 2010 has taken its toll on anyone heading out for the holiday run, as the travels have almost begun to rival those of Coventry. In fact, one of our friends coming from Boulder actually got stuck in Louisville and had to rent a Dodge Ram to drive through the middle of the night, while another had to cancel their entire trip coming from Florida as their were no flights until the 4th of January. It’s been grueling to say the least.

Well, we’re wishing the best for everyone, and hopefully it’ll all be worth it in the end. And inasmuch as New York City probably seems like a colossal pain in the ass at this point to anyone visiting for the week, there’s still plenty of reason for it to feel like a vacation. In fact, New York City is a blast in the winter assuming you’re willing to brave the elements and a few crowds. The holiday spirit is still in the air, and there’s no shortage of great activities to keep you busy.

With that in mind, we thought we’d take a stab at pointing out a few ideas that might be of interest to fill the days prior to showtime. We’ll spare you the obvious, as I’m sure everybody knows the basics: there’s the tree, ice skating, the museums, the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, the Stock Exchange, Central Park and all the usual suspects.

Eat in Korea Town: Everyone knows about Chinatown, but just a short skip away from MSG is the delicious, and much less intrusive younger brother, Korea Town. K-Town technically runs from 31st and 36th Streets between Fifth and Sixth, but definitely just head to 32nd Street between 5th and Broadway, as that stretch has tons of great restaurants in a concentrated area. Each restaurant tends to have a specialty, but in my experience it’s hard to go wrong. The best bet for a cold winter day if you can handle some spice is Seoul Garden at 34 West 32nd St. Note that the restaurant is located on the 2nd floor, so it’s a tad hard to find. They specialize in a dish called Soon Du Bu, which is a delicious spicy stew made from natural tofu, but also comes with the option of beef or seafood. You also crack a raw egg into the stew and it’s so hot, it cooks right into the broth. It’s one of the world’s great winter dishes. They also have good Korean Barbecue for the less adventurous eaters.

READ ON for more places to visit in NYC…

Longtime Cartoon Network collaborator and great nephew of John Coltrane, Flying Lotus, packed a quite wallop in his latest video. Coming in at just one minute and forty seconds, this

You’ve gotta love when a band comprised of three guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer – none of whom really do much singing – tackles Mariah Carey’s, Always Be My

While working at a deli during college, somebody once gave me a great piece of advice. We were screwing around and trying to devise ideas for tasty new sandwiches when this particular gentleman said, “Just make what tastes good to you. If you like it, other people will too.”

In retrospect, it’s a pretty obvious statement, but it really stuck with me as over the years I’ve come to realize that it applies to many other art forms beyond that of crafting a delicious sandwich, not the least of which is music. Sure, different people have different tastes, but by and large, if something is of high quality, it’s logical that it will likely be perceived that way by a broader group. So, with that little mantra in mind, I wanted to point to a specific personal musical preference (and equally obvious observation) as it pertains to Harry Hood.

Harry Hood jams tend to be significantly better with heavy distortion on Trey’s guitar.

I mentioned this in passing a while back (under R in our Summer Tour A to Z piece), but today I wanted to put a little meat on the bones so-to-speak. In the 3.0 era of Phish, it’s no secret that Harry Hood is one song that has been a little slower to make its full return to grace. Upon coming off the shelf post-breakup in 2009, the band initially fumbled for a period of time in getting the composed parts down, but they quickly resolved that issue. Yet, to this day – save for a few exceptions  like the Greek Theater, Thompson Boling Arena, and MSG I – the jams haven’t quite reached that “lift off” level. You know the ones where you’re in your car and get lost in the song, only to look down at the speedometer and realize your driving 95 miles per hour and missed the exit five miles back?

READ ON for a few examples of the Harry Hood X-Factor…

As the flood of year-end album lists continues to roll in (yeah, yeah, we’re working on it), one album that seems to be popping up with some regularity is the

Among all the fleeting genres that show up briefly as a blip on the popular culture radar screen only to quickly fade away, there are a few that really manage to stick, and ultimately define a sub-culture or even a generation. We’ve seen it to varying degrees with genres like punk, heavy metal, or rock n’ roll itself; all essentially made up terms that went on to mean everything.

For better or worse, another one that stuck was “alternative.” Initially, an outcrop of the grunge scene, alternative went on become an all-consuming pop culture multi-beast; taking hold of not just music, but cinema, fashion, and art as well. Alternative was everywhere, which begged the question: to what exactly is this an alternative? It was a brand, a marketing gimmick that was consumed – no, devoured – by the mainstream.

Yet beyond the irony of it all, it also represented a relatively heroic period in popular music whereby genuinely awesome bands ruled the radio. Pop culture, the mass media, and most of all, kids, were actually listening to good music. It was one of those rare times in modern music history where to some extent, the best bands were also among the biggest, most famous, and widely listened. READ ON for more from Ryan…

Yesterday, Daft Punk revealed their official video for Derezzed (via MTV), the most quintessentially “Daft Punk” song on the soundtrack for the upcoming movie sequel, Tron: Legacy. Fans of the

With Hanukkah already underway and Christmas right around the corner, it’s officially that time of year. You know, the one where you feel sick from overeating for a month straight