Hidden Track

Televised Tune: On the Tube This Week

Pavement honcho Stephen Malkmus released Mirror Traffic with his band The Jicks on August 23. On Tuesday, the group visits Jimmy Fallon and on September 20 in Detroit will kick off

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Neutral Milk Hotel To Drop New Box Set

One of the biggest stories in the world of music this year is undeniably the public return of Jeff Mangum. The reclusive Neutral Milk Hotel front man, who has performed

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Friday Mix Tape: Atypical Hurricane Mix

Hurricane Irene is bearing down on the East Coast as we speak, so for this week’s Friday Mix Tape we thought it only fitting to focus on hurricane/storm-themed songs. However,

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Briefly: Phish Live Bait Volume 6

The last scheduled Phish shows of the summer take place next weekend at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park near Denver. To help get the fanbase even more excited, archivist Kevin Shapiro

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Bloggy Goodness: Tumble Bee

On November 8, singer-songwriter Laura Veirs will release her first album of children’s music called Tumble Bee: Laura Veirs Sings Folk Songs For Children. Inspired by the birth of their

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Chicago Eats: Sausages and The Purple Pig

Chicago, Chicago that toddlin’ town.

Frank Sinatra certainly sang it straight up about The Windy City.

Words cannot express how thrilled Chris and I were when our favorite band Phish announced they were playing three nights at the famous UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois, this year. We have friends in Chicago that we don’t see nearly enough and the prospect of Chicago eats for a week had us salivating. We had many fun culinary experiences during our stay, but three restaurants topped the pack. I will tell you about our adventures in eating at Hot Doug’s and The Purple Pig this week. Stay tuned for next week’s article about our fantastic meal at Girl and the Goat.

HOT DOUG’S


While planning for the Phish run, one theme came up repeatedly: SAUSAGE! Chicago is well known for its tubular meat—whether it be in the form of the famed Chicago hot dog, Polish sausages or the more creative gourmet sausage sandwiches—and we were determined to try them all. Chris insisted that we spend at least one lunch at Hot Doug’s – otherwise known as “The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium.”

Hot Doug's Specials Menu


Hot Doug’s is a bit of an enigma. It is a tiny space by Chicago standards, and their hours are 10:30am – 4:00pm six days a week. You are almost always guaranteed to wait in line—sometimes for hours—while you drool at the thought of eating these encased masterpieces. Doug Sohn creates all of his sausages in-house, and each sandwich receives careful consideration in pairing the ingredients.

READ ON for more on Hot Doug’s and The Purple Pig…

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Televised Tune: On The Tube This Weekend

The season VH1’s Storytellers that just finished has been among the best in the series’ 15-year run. You can catch repeat of episodes airings featuring HT faves My Morning Jacket,

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Hidden Track Editorial: How Ticketmaster is Getting Social Backwards

As an enthusiast of all things live music and social media, a number of people pointed me in the direction of stories on Fast Company and Mashable regarding Ticketmaster’s new integration with Facebook. The gist of it is that ticket purchasers can opt-in to a new feature allowing your Facebook friends to see the exact seat location of your purchases for sporting events and concerts. This is available for the 300+ venues utilizing the pick-your-own-seat interactive seat map.

The immediate uproar in the comments section of the major blogs was that this is a stalker’s dream and typical concerns of privacy. These kneejerk reflexes are completely unfounded as the customer opts-in to this feature. Plus, you shouldn’t be Facebook friends with your stalkers anyway.

But here’s how I think it got it wrong and conversely how Ticketmaster could take a major bite out of how scalpers get all of the best tickets, something the company claims it tries to battle to the best of its abilities, despite ticket buyers having their doubts.

What if instead of having the social integration take place after the purchase occured, it happened before tickets went on sale? READ ON

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