Hidden Track

Scott Metzger is a free agent again. And if the music world were as financially rewarding as professional sports, the 29-year-old guitarist would surely command a healthy contract above the market rate.

Metzger wisely de-Part-ed everyone’s favorite late-night technojamband in late July, ending the odd mismatch that saw him playing straight rock in a group that mostly fused together trance, boredom and epileptic seizures. Chalk it up to a learning experience or call it decent exposure, the end result is a reinvigorated songwriting guitarist with a narrower focus and a newfound determination.

I sat down with Metzger to see what lays in store for New York City’s rock scene and the rest of the country, and what follows is a Chris Farley-style “That’s awesome!” interview jumping from topic to topic and back to previous topics. But fans of Metzger, and those unfamiliar with him, will certainly come away impressed with his intellect, his honesty, and most of all, his love of having fun on stage.

My hard-hitting questions didn’t cause him to make the face above — it’s possible his underwear was as brown as his shirt in this Six Flags’ Great Adventure photo from the Nitro ride — but Metzger did open up about possible plans for a Bustle In Your Hedgerow tour, the long-awaited Danjaboots album, the status of RANA, a job offer from James Brown, his father’s methodone clinic, teaching kids to rock, and learning to play Metallica on a nylon-string acoustic guitar. Get on it…

It may be Monday, but we can take some solace in the fact that we have a short week in front of us. Remember, New Year’s is only five weeks off at this point, so start making those plans, concert or otherwise… Hall of Fames officially jump the shark after the Long Island Music Hall […]

Here’s the story you’ll hear 32 times today: “Michael Richards exploded in anger as he performed at a famous L.A. comedy club last Friday, hurling racial epithets that left the crowd gasping, and TMZ has obtained exclusive video of the ugly incident.” Come to think of it, besides Jackie Childs and that family that George busts […]

I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan of the self-aggrandizing weekly recap most bloggers enjoy, but considering we’ve published 70 posts on this here rag in less than a month of full-scale operations, there’s bound to be some shit that’s slipped through your cracks. Hmm, maybe there’s a better way to say that… […]

Sports fans around the country were saddened to learn that former Michigan head coach and athletic director Bo Schembechler had died at the age of 77. Perhaps the group of people most surprised by the mellow-harshing, morbid news was a Columbus-based punk band called the Dead Schembechlers. In the wake of the ol’ ballcoach’s passing, […]

My good friend Russ Kahn — better known in some circles as the entreprenurial young man that created the “101 Songs” Phish poster — took his sweet-ass time posting his usual encyclopedic concert and/or festival summary. But good things come to those who beg slackin’ slackers to get the fuck motivated, and Russ’ finished product is easily the best personal summary of Vegoose anywhere on […]

You can breathe again, it’s Friday. While you get your plans together for tonight, check out these items from Al Gore’s Interweb: MSG officially announces that it has leased the Beacon Theater, and if they change the name I will chain myself to the marquee Beck wants to be a jamband Guitar pyrotechnics from Wednesday night’s Umphrey’s […]

It’s become moderately fashionable to over-appreciate and impersonate the genius of Michael McDonald. After living in the wayback of the public consciousness for the better part of two decades, the former Doobie’s legacy and career were resurrected by two important events: First came the Ain’t No Mountain High/Ain’t Nuthin’ Like the Real Thing MCI commercials […]

Marco Benevento knows his math. The bearded hipster pianist wisely chose to set up a regular Wednesday residency at Tonic on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in November, which fortunately for all of us, has five Wednesdays. As Cosby would say, that’s “One, two, three, four, fiiiiive Marco Wednesdays.” Bonus.

Last night’s over-before-it-started, 70-minute show marked the middle gig of Marco’s Novemberstand, a (mostly) solo performance full of experimental covers and spacey loops. Somehow he ended up with more equipment on stage than most full bands, but like a musical polygamist, I’m pretty sure he spent a little time with every one of them: the grand piano, the electric piano, the tiny keyboard, toy circuits, drum pad, you name it. Still, the per instrument set-up to play-time ratio couldn’t have been lower than 5:1. I made that up, but it sounded good.

Marco began with Randy Pink Floyd’s Fearless, then followed that stellar beginning with terrifically tickled homages to Thelonius Monk (Bye-Ya), Leonard Cohen (Seems So Long Ago, Nancy) and Radiohead. He even played a lesser known Duo tune off Best Reason To Buy The Sun, Welcome Red, before saying something like “Joe [Russo] is gonna kill me for playing that.” But if a recording of this show ever surfaces, that Monk tune — a grand piano jazz performance devoid of all his typical layers of sound — floored me more than any of his other inventiveness.

Marco eventually called up to the stage his occasional collaborator and preferred rock shredder Scott Metzger for three songs near the end of his set. The lowercase duo kicked it off with a Combustible Edison tune, hightailed it into the capitalized Duo’s Abduction Pose and finished it up with a Happy Birthday-infused cover of Ween’s Birthday Boy (read on below for a couple of videos I shot of these last two). As much as I loved the solo stuff, Metzger took the night’s proceedings to a higher level, his understated-ness notwithstanding.

You’ve got two more chances to see Marco & Friends down at Tonic this month. Next Wednesday features the keyboardist with three drummers — Sir Joe Russo, Bobby Previte and Mike Dillon (and where there’s a Mike D there’s usually a Skerik, but…). Make it your beeswax to get down there and see what unfolds…

Just think, one week from today we’ll all be off and celebrating the turkiest of all days. We’re almost there, and to help you get to the short week faster, check out this list of 19 bands that have never played Bonnaroo. Why not an even 20? Because that’s how I roll. Keep in mind the band […]