Posts by Scott Bernstein

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival kicks into high gear today for its second weekend of greatness. And thanks to the AT&T Blueroom webcast, we can share in the fun from far distances. Rod Stewart, Norah Jones and Galactic will be among the bands featured on Saturday’s webcast, while Sunday brings us Irma Thomas, Harry Connick Jr., Bonnie Raitt […]

Digging Deep is one of our favorite B List features. We initiated it almost by accident in March with two separate columns, and in each of those editions we scoured YouTube to bring you some interestingly unique cover versions of cool songs. This week we continue this tradition, as we present Digging Deep: Part III.

Sometimes bands play covers to show off their skills; other times they play covers just for fun. This week’s edition of The B List takes a look at 10 songs done more for kicks than to win a Grammy. Read on for some must-watch videos from Jenny Lewis, the Black Crowes, Bob Dylan, Bob Plant & Pearl Jam and many more…

Urgh! A Music War is one of the most criminally overlooked music films ever made. In 1981, the music scene was smack dab in the middle of punk giving way to New Wave. This incredible documentary chronicles the best bands from that insane time period, featuring bands like The Police, XTC and Devo live in […]

As expected, the Coachella Festival quickly became the most blogged festival of the season. Rolling Stone had correspondents Brian Hiatt and Rob Sheffield reporting from the field, as well as Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear checking in sporadically. Spinner had full coverage with a team of bloggers onsite. More locally, the OC Register and San Jose’s Mercury News provided constant updates. With all those people on site and the free AT&T webcast, I almost felt like I was there.

But what else is goin’ down? Let’s check in with some non-Coachella news today:

• Bjork speaks with Jon Pareles about her new album
• An appreciation of Lester Bangs, 25 years after his untimely death
• Poison is releasing an album of covers, including a take on David Bowie’s Suffragette City and Marshall Tucker’s Can’t You See
• A review of Widespread Panic at the Wharf
• Shell will sponsor the New Orleans Jazz Fest until 2010 (and the Lovely SuperDee is down in NOLA enjoying this year’s JazzFest as we speak, so make sure to check out her coverage)
• Pete Townshend performs White Light, White Heat with Lou Reed
• Free music from the Grateful Dead and Umphrey’s McGee
• Neddy lists the shows of the week
• Aerosmith before they sold out
• We have two weeks left to SaveNetRadio
• A look at the past and future of Neil Young’s archive releases
• Thanks to Andy Gadiel for turning me onto the Jack Black soundboard

And remember to read on for some of this weekend’s setlists from Bjork, Roger Waters, The Slip, WSP, Gov’t Mule, Disco Biscuits, Yo La Tengo and more…

Yesterday we offered a photo gallery from the third-annual Wanee Festival in Florida. Today we continue with shit that shoulda been posted two weeks ago…

Umphrey’s McGee rocked a sold-out crowd at the Nokia Theatre in New York City on April 13th. Things have been heating up for the boys from Chicago, selling out most of the shows they’ve played this year. The Nokia seemed much more crowded than usual, signaling perhaps the need for a bigger space the next time Umphrey’s comes around. Oh well…you can’t stop progress, and this band is clearly progressing in every aspect of its game.

UM came out spittin’ fire, jamming out versions of JaJunk and In The Kitchen. For each of the songs, Umphrey’s raced through the tune before establishing a new chord progression and tearing it a new asshole. Guitarists Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss switched to acoustics in the middle of the JaJunk jam for a change of pace before segueing into In The Kitchen. The guys abandoned Kitchen midway through the song and once again tore off on an extended Jazz Odyssey.

Read on for more great photos from Coach and the rest of the Nokia review…

Frank Zappa’s legendary albums Over-Nite Sensation and Apostrophe, staples of my days as a Skidmore freshman, have finally received the Classic Albums treatment. For now the whole documentary is available on YouTube, but quick, watch it now before Gail Zappa catches wind of this. Meanwhile, Dweezil and his Zappa Plays Zappa outfit are firing up an extensive […]

Ask and ye shall receive, folks: Uncle Neddy challenged us to create a B list of the 10 Best Chick Bass Players, and we answered the call.

From the early days of the instrument to the current era, ladies have been at the forefront of electric bass-playing. So many incredible fallopian tubers have added their talents to some of the biggest hits in the history of rock music, and picking the entries on this list was much harder than I had originally thought. Nonetheless, decisions had to be made in spite of the difficulty, so here we go:

10. Melissa Auf der Maur – Auf der Maur played in two of seminal alterna-rock bands of the ’90s: Smashing Pumpkins and Hole. She took over the role of bass player in Hole after the death of Kristen Pfaff and played on the Live Through This tour. After Courtney Love just completely lost her shit, Auf Der Maur played on the last few Smashing Pumpkins tours. Melissa is known for the overdriven tone she employs on her bass work, as well as her beautiful appearance. Billy Corgan would be wise to bring Auf Der Maur back for this summer’s Smashing Pumpkins reunion.

9. Tracy Wormworth – The Waitresses are one of my favorite little known rock bands of the ’80s. Tracy Wormworth made her presence felt with her pointed bass lines in songs such as Christmas Wrapping and I Know What Boys Like. Wormworth went on to play bass with Sting, the B-52s, and Wayne Shorter. Most recently she showed off her chops and personality as the leader of Rosie O’Donnell’s house band on the Rosie Show.

8. Johnette Napolitano – Not to be confused with Arizona Governor Janet, Napolitano is the voice and bass player behind Concrete Blonde. Johnette’s sweet, sweet voice is augmented by a killer set of bass chops. Seeing Concrete Blonde in concert was always a treat, because I would just stare at this beautiful woman with a silky voice who was laying down firm bass lines. After 20 years with Concrete Blonde, Napolitano will be releasing a solo album in late May.

Read on for the rest of this week’s estrogenic edition of The B List…

Ten years ago you never could have convinced me that Widespread Panic would be the biggest ticket seller in that little jam corner of the live music scene. But sure enough, this summer WSP will be the only jamband headlining amphitheater and theater shows by themselves across the country. God bless the power of large […]

Spinal Tap will make its triumphant return to the stage as part of inventor Al Gore’s inaugural Live Earth concert event on July 7th. Original members Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls will look to be fitted like a flesh tuxedo as they rock all the Big Bottoms at Wembley Stadium in London. This Is Spinal […]

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about my high school days at all this week, so I thought I’d check in on some of my favorite bands from the glory days.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw Push Th’ Little Daisies on 120 Minutes, or the time I saw the Spin Doctors play with Blues Traveler at the Academy. Those were heady times, when I was discovering Phish and the groove-incensed songs of Medeski, Martin, and Wood. (Alright…this MMW show isn’t from 1994, but it’s so damn ridiculous that I needed to bring it to everyone’s attention immediately.) So head back in time with me as we go Grousing The Aisles:

Ween 07/01/1994 DAUD (FLAC):

I didn’t know what to make of Ween the first time I listened to Pure Guava. Was this a joke, or were these guys actually serious? I heard my answer the first saw them live; they were a mix of both with a hint of brown. In the summer of ’94, Ween transformed from a two-person act to a full-out rock band when they added Claude Coleman (drums) and Andrew Weiss (bass) to the mix. While I thought playing along with a DAT recorder was inventive, the Ween ‘brothers’ needed the power and energy that live musicians added.

One of the first shows the “band” played was at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. Ween ran through a set of songs that now are all considered legendary epics. From the first note of Touch My Tooter to the end of the Poopship Destroyer, this Ween show rages. Some things never change, as the rabid crowd continually would shout out requests and cheer the beginning of every song. If you aren’t familiar with the early days of Ween, this show is a good place to start your education. Read on for plenty more Grousing The Aisles…