Scott Bernstein

The popular rock band Phish doesn’t get enough credit for revolutionizing the music industry. The boys from Vermont came up with a number of innovative ideas that both made them money and made their fanbase extremely happy. One of those brainstorms was the launch of the Live Phish download program on December 31st, 2002.

Phish teamed up with Nugs.net to offer MP3 and SHN downloads for sale within 48 hours of the end of each show. For a mere $13, Phish fans were able to ignore unreliable audience recordings and download the band’s official mix each night.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Live Phish download program, Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro will stream a special edition of From The Archives on Live Phish radio at 1 PM. We can’t wait to see what Kevin has in store, as he never disappoints. We’re hoping we finally get the Albany YEM we’ve been seeking for 12 years.

• Previously on HT: Opening Up Phish Archivist Kevin Shapiro
• And read on for a must-see video of a unique and awesome take on Stash…

The girl in this video is Ann Marie Calhoun, and she’s currently out on tour with Steve Vai. But she’s also making these badass clips on YouTube — this one is fantastic.

Over the past few months we’ve been very lucky to have our friend Dale contribute some wonderful shows to the Grousing The Aisles mix. Dale doesn’t mess around with average shows — he only brings the best of the best from his collection. Every show Dale suggests to us winds up being a winner we’ve never come across before, so we asked him to pick three killer sets for this week’s column.

So excuse us while we put our feet up, and let Dale spread his wings and fly:

Pink Floyd 11/16/1974 SBD [MP3]

If you don’t already have this bootleg, stop whatever you’re doing (hell, even if it’s sexy time) and download it now. You have to hear this pristine multi-track SBD recording made by the BBC on November 16, 1974. This is the 2nd set and encore of the band’s performance that night: a full performance of Dark Side Of The Moon followed by an Echoes encore.

Now, even if you already have this recording in your collection, you’ll probably want to download this new version. All of the processing applied to previous versions has been eliminated through the use of a source closer to the original BBC tapes, and many previous versions in circulation did not include the Echoes encore. This is seriously an amazing treasure of a recording, possessing the ability to make Dark Side Of The Moon sound fresh and new to the ears. Best of all, it does not sound like a bootleg and it does not sound 33 years old.

Read on for two more epic downloads from Zeppelin and Zappa…

We’ve said often that 2007 will forever be known as the year of the reunion. And now it looks 2008 will offer more of the same. Return To Forever, one

Wired Magazine set up what many superlative speakers and tall tale tellers believe is the most epic meeting of musical minds since Bach met Mozart in 1764. The writer of

We’d like to nominate Jeffrey Sofer’s 40th Birthday celebration for best party of 2007. Sofer, heir to the Turnberry fortune, threw himself a $2 million bash at an executive airport near Miami. Most people usually pay a band to play Get Down Tonight or 1999 at their parties, but Sofer actually hired both KC and the Sunshine Band and Prince to perform at his event.

Prince played a full set at the party, chock full of classics like Cream, Controversy and Let’s Go Crazy. The Miami Herald reports that the Purple One seemed happy during his performance, but we’ll need to see a YouTube before we believe that. [via thedailyswarm]

So let’s see what else is goin’ down on this marvelous hump day:

• Jason Bonham plays coy when asked about a potential Led Zep tour
• Rhapsody jumps into Facebook with a taste of their subscription model
• Cold War Kids gives their fans a free EP for the holidays
• Jay and Conan returning without writers? More time for the musical guests!
• New York Mag breaks down Pitchfork’s Top 100 Tracks, pie-graph style
• You can hear a simulcast of Widespread Panic’s NYE concert on Sirius
• Rolling Stone’s Joe Levy finds out what everyone already knew about vinyl
• Benji and Mike get Dead Sirius on the latest installment of Cold Turkey
• Amy Winehouse spent some time talking to police yesterday
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Carl sounds off on The Mitchell Report
  

Finally, Tori Amos interrupted a recent concert in LA to urge writers to “Stop sucking the cock of the infested corporate clone.” You fuckin’ tell ’em, girlfriend. Check out the video after the jump…

Excuse the passive voice, but it’s best to say this plainly: The Allman Brothers Band is a much better group since the filming of their last concert DVD in 2003.

One of the best things to come out of Amy Winehouse’s downward spiral (besides Schadenfreude, of course) is that Sharon Jones got the Dap-Kings back. The Lovely Miss Jones heads

When bands team up with Web 2.0 companies, they usually come up with some lame gimmick to convince their fans to join their service. But kudos to Tea Leaf Green and Eventful for teaming up to create a contest that’s actually beneficial to their supporters. TLG fans who sign up for Eventful will have a chance to “demand” where the band plays an upcoming show. The city that gets the most demands gets a Tea Leaf show, including an opening set by acoustic alter ego Coffee Bean Brown. While Las Vegas is currently winning, our vote goes to Jena, Louisiana. They totally need to Address that Community.

Let’s start the week with the best link dump this side of Zelda:

• Largehearted Boy’s master list of 2007 Best Of lists continues to grow
• The New York Guitar Festival kicks off on January 18th with a unique Dylan-inspired concert that’ll bring you back 40 years
• Long Island’s Looney Tunes record shop returns after a devastating fire
• Here’s the strangest case we’ve seen so far of “pulling a Radiohead“
• Marvin Gaye’s divorce album finally will be reissued
• NYCTaper picks his five favorite shows of the year
• Uncut put together online footage from Led Zeppelin’s reunion
• Neddy runs down the shows of the week in New York City
• Hey hey, look who Gail Zappa is suing this week

Finally, we think we may have stumbled across the lineup for next year’s Vineland Festival. The show poster follows after the jump…

The writer’s strike is starting to seriously cramp our style. How many times can you watch the same reruns from Dave and Jay over and over? We love watching new

Just in case it wasn’t obvious, now is probably not a good time to be working for a record company. Geffen and Interscope gave 15 employees quite the holiday present