Posts by Shane Handler

Over the past 15 years, Green Mtn. Concert Services (GMCS), an established leader in Crowd Management and Security have been sought after for concerts and sporting events throughout the Northeast since 1995.  From the Grateful Dead in Highgate, Phish festivals, and  Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, the folks at GMCS have not only spearheaded the safety of the events but also the planning of it.  Glide recently caught up with GMCS President and CEO Kevin Cheney to get a bit more insight to what goes on in the world of security and event services.

Obviously Bright Eyes has entered a new world of discovery that is a few crystals short of entering Enya territory, making The People's Key a love it or hate it recording.  But like Bob Dylan during his Slow Training Coming/Saved era, this will serve as another chapter in his still burgeoning career.  

Low Country Blues, Allman’s first solo album since 1997 and produced by  – who else these days  T Bone Burnett- pays homage to his roots with a reworking of songs from Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Otis Rush, Skip James and more. Burnett has assembled a band that includes guitarist Doyle Bramhall II and Dr. John to capture the spirit of swamps blues and themes of regret, tears and redemption.   Allman’s voice stars front and center, a breather from competing with the guitar acrobats of the fertile gunslingers in his “other” band.

The last time Phish celebrated New Years Eve at Madison Square Garden, it was an overly-hyped comeback show to what would eventually become a turbulent, short-lived second phase of their career.  This time, eight years later, it was a much more comfortable embrace, with the band back on solid ground, an open-ended view of the future, and a proper nod to ghosts of hot dogs past.

The opening to Regina Spektor’s Live In London DVD highlights an orchestral snippet of Guns N Roses’ “November Rain” before jumping into Spektor’s own “On the Radio,” where she sings – “And on the radio/You hear November Rain/That solo's awful long/But it's a good refrain.”   One wouldn’t expect a classical music prodigy to be a hard rock fan, but we also expect one to be such a good percussive piano player, where her ivory talents make for more a pop rock foundation than sleepy melodies.

From one bar story to another, Please Stand By rolls by quick, one Crazy Heart anthem after another, except these guys aren’t has-beens playing bowling alleys.  Amaker’s voice is more spoken word than country howl, which depreciates any old timey gracefulness for a rougher edge. Although Brent Amaker and the Rodeo don’t score any points for originality, these guys are no posers. Grab the bourbon and enjoy.

AC/DC: High-Voltage Rock 'n' Roll: The Ultimate Illustrated History by Phil Sutcliffe is all that you want out of a hardcover/coffee table book:  pictures galore.  And like AC/DC’s power chord repetitive formula, this illustrated history is quite simple to read: big letters, big pictures and big pages.

Yeah, the Gorillaz threw down and it made for of those shows that went by too fast, as the  visual and audio stimulation was non –stop. These studio caressed songs weren’t built for touring, but Gorillaz did a masterful job of reproducing these complex songs into live A+ winners.

Self-described as “sonic brutality,” The UK’s Jim Jones Revue is a powerhouse of vintage 50s punk and soul.  Whipping crowds into a frenzy with their stripped down, piano-heavy, Jerry Lee Lewis flare, JJR is gaining momentum with early praise from the British music press – and nods from notable rockers like Jack White and Chris Robinson.  Now they confirm those praises with their sophomore release, Burning Your House Down. 

The Budos Band has been playing their brand of “Afro Soul” since 2005, where they’ve recorded at their label's own studio, Daptone's House of Soul, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Their brand of Afro Soul can best be described as “Ethiopian music with a soul undercurrent to it, sprinkled with a little bit of sweet 60's stuff on top.