Scott Bernstein

The fellas from Give Us The Money Lebowski have played enough festivals to know exactly what works and doesn’t work for hippiejamgatherings. And now they are using that knowledge to put together their own festival, Awesometown, on May 9th and 10th at Snipes Farm in Morrisville, Pennsylvania. For a mere $40 you get two nights of camping, tons of music from a wide range of bands, and maybe if you’re lucky, GUTML guitarist Nick Setteducato will tuck you in at night.

Give Us The Money Lebowski will headline the event each night, bringing the crowd a fun mix of covers and quirky originals. The Breakfast, Allen Aucoin’s Dr. Fameus and Scarecrow Collection are all on board to make sure the event lives up to the name, and look for more bands to be added to the lineup soon. Read on after the jump for the full lineup so far and more information on what’s sure to be such a good time that Walter Sobchak would break Shabbos to attend.

The New York Football Giants shocked the world by pulling off an incredible victory over the heavily favored Patriots in what was one helluva game — it was actually kinda hard to sleep last night in New York City thanks to the roar of the fans celebrating in the streets. Guess you can’t win ’em, all Boston fans. We rank Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ rapid fire parade of hits atop the non-football highlights, followed by the Prince Caspian commercial and the talking Tide stain.

Let’s see what’s cookin’ as we pretend we don’t have the world’s worst hangover:

• Four More Albums: U2 avoids free agency by resigning with Universal
• Lefsetz isn’t down with the Vampire Weekend hype machine
• NMAS’ Luther Dickinson sure knows how to make a room shake
• Ted Rockwell shares his thoughts on a recent Mars Volta show in Boulder
• moe.’s Rob Derhak speaks to the Boston Herald about Sticks and Stones
• The Duo wouldn’t sound like The Duo without Dirty Jerz
• As always Neddy delivers a list of the NYC shows of the week

Finally, Filter Magazine sent Pat McGuire on the road with Band of Horses to document one of their recent tours of the West Coast. The road journal McGuire came back with features many interesting anecdotes and factoids from the road.

This year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival didn’t really feature that much bluegrass, but this week’s episode of Austin City Limits focuses on some of the best traditional style performances from

Did you ever wonder what happened to the stars of classic music videos from the days when MTV actually played music? You know the bee girl from the No Rain video, the janitor from Smells Like Teen Spirit and Rosanna from well…Rosanna. The guys over at YesButNoButYes went about finding out where are they now.

Let’s end the week right where we started with a hot batch of links:

• The Roots have recruited one helluva lineup for their new album
• Les Claypool looked to some jamband legends for help with material for his Quest For Festeroo soundtrack
• The Green Apple Festival expands to eight cities in 2008
• We finally get to hear Jerry Garcia as a sideman 30 years after he recorded an album with Bill Cutler
• Paul McCartney denies media reports that he had angioplasty
• Booker T and the MGs, Issac Hayes and other classic soul artists deliver Stax Does The Beatles on the 26th
• We’d like to wish Largehearted Boy a very Happy Sixth Birthday. How does David keep on doin’ it?
• Download Wisely: Lifehacker’s Top Ten Bit Torrent Tools and Tricks
• Breakfast On Tour reviews a Cornelius/Benevento Russo show

Finally, when we heard that the Black Crowes produced a video for Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution, we were excited to see what the camera-shy Robinson brothers came up with. Let’s just say we weren’t expecting a photo collage reminiscent of one of those video yearbooks they sold at my high school. Take a look after the jump and judge for yourselves…

With Sunday’s Super Bowl rapidly approaching, we thought we’d share a piece we ran about our favorite halftime shows just in case you missed it back in December. Stay tuned after the post for our predictions for the big game.

Nothing encapsulates the questionable marriage of sports and entertainment quite like the Super Bowl. The halftime show of the NFL’s signature event has been transformed over the past 42 years from an afterthought to a main focus of the Big Game. What was once a time for a piss break and a follow-up beer has turned into a big-time production thanks to the major television networks.

Originally the shows were filled with brief performances by a number of different artists celebrating a unifying theme. More recently the NFL decided to hand over the keys to the halftime show to just one legendary artist. What a difference a nipple makes, eh? This year Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been tabbed to perform at Super Bowl XLII on Sunday.

The Gainesville-bred band should look at the past for an idea of what works and what doesn’t work at the big game. Let’s use this week’s B List to take a look at our 10 favorite Super Bowl halftime shows. Read on for the videos…

If there was one band we could resurrect from the jamband and rock graveyards, the proprietors of this here blog would choose God Street Wine. But RANA would be a

Last weekend I finally caught up on organizing all of the amazing shows I’ve downloaded since I started this column 16 months ago. One thing that blew me away was how many incredible sounding (and looking) Steely Dan bootlegs that I’ve grabbed from the torrent and MP3 bootleg sites. I thought instead of being a selfish chazer (Yiddish anyone?), I’d take this opportunity to compile all of the kickass Dan recordings for those who may have missed out in the past.

We’ve got links to 10 of the best Steely Dan bootlegs you could possibly find. Hopefully you enjoy them as much as I am. Let’s check ’em out:

Steely Dan 03/20/1974 FM (FLAC, MP3):

After listening to one of Steely Dan’s rare live gigs from the ’70s, I’m just confused as to why these guys didn’t tour behind any of their legendary albums. The Dan absolutely tore it up in the live setting with a band that included Michael McDonald, Denny Dias and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter. To see what I’m talking about, download this crispy-as-fuck radio show Steely Dan recorded on March 20th, 1974.

I’ve had a copy of this show for years, but the hiss on the analog tape made it unlistenable. But last week a pristine copy of the set made its way to the torrent sites. My old copy has now become my new coaster. The show begins with a high-energy romp through Bodhisattva that features Baxter and Walter Becker trading mind-blowing licks. Do It Again is a little more groovin’ than the album version thanks to McDonald’s work on the Rhodes. Other nuggets on this recording include the nasty solos in Rikki Don’t Lose That Number and a soulful version of Any Major Dude. We can only hope that more crispy recordings from the Dan’s epic 1974 tour surface soon. Read on for much more GTA…

Manhattan hooks many of the best New York City gigs, but Brooklyn has scored one of the most interesting concert series of the young year. The Brooklyn Academy of Music celebrates the music of Paul Simon by presenting Love In The Hard Times, an extraordinary three-part series with performances from Simon, David Byrne, Grizzly Bear, Little Anthony and the Imperials and several others.

Songs From The Capeman starts things off on April 1-6 with its Latin-flavored songs and ’50s doo-wop feel. On April 9-13 Simon, Byrne and a number of other guests present Under African Skies, which explores the material from Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints. Finally, Simon revisits the quiet railway stations, urban rhythms, and immigrant dreams of his greatest American Tunes on April 21-27.

Now here’s a batch of other linkage to help you beat those mid-week blues:

• Levon Helm and Gov’t Mule are just two of the big names in the initial Mountain Jam lineup announcement
• Gnarls Barkley returns in April with the release of The Odd Couple
• Cracked lists Six Musicians With Pasts They Hope You’ll Forget
• Is Sendspace next? Ze Germans attempt to take down Rapidshare
• Neil Young explains the latest delays to his Archives series
• Deaner blogs about a brown dining experience on Ween tour
• The Greenhaus Effect reveals the winners of the 2007 Mikey Awards

Finally, read on for the latest brilliant episode from the Yacht Rock crew. Sit back and watch the story of Kenny Loggins writing Footloose starring Jason Lee…

When the Allman Brothers Band announced that they were moving their traditional March residency to a venue-to-be-named-later some time in May, we figured they would be playing at the Nokia Theater or United Palace Theater.

It turns out the legendary Southern rockers have come to terms with the Dolans and will indeed return to the stage that’s hosted 175 Allmans shows since 1989: The band has lined up 15 shows at the Beacon from May 5 through May 24. We just wish the tickets were a little more reasonable instead of being priced at a mind-blowing $149.99, $99.99 and $59.99. Ouch! [via Live Daily]

Photo by Joe Bouchard

R.E.M. hits the road in late May for what promises to be an extended world tour behind their new album Accelerate. The 2007 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall