Hidden Track

Remember last month when the Black Crowes said farewell to their fans with a six-show sold-out run at the Fillmore in San Francisco by performing a cover of the Rolling Stones’ The Last Time? Well apparently it wasn’t the last time for the Crowes, as the band has put off an indefinite hiatus long enough […]

We’re sad to report that STS9 has canceled its upcoming winter tour as bass player David Murphy sets off to undergo timely and necessary cancer treatment following the band’s appearance at Mayan Holidaze this weekend. Murph shared the following thoughts through STS9.com… Greetings Family,Friends and Fans, I’m writing to share with y’all some news I’ve received recently. […]

There were plenty of rumors circulating that Prince would perform with Lettuce and Maceo Parker at Brooklyn Bowl for last night’s Soul to Soul II benefit, but The Purple One didn’t show. He may have been pooped after thrilling the MSG audience at his own gig. Our pal Sunil caught a ridiculous version of Love […]

With tonight’s premiere of American Idol – Season 10, we  will surely be finding something else to do. However, this season’s opener puts one of music’s biggest names in the judge’s seat. Steven Tyler has been in the spotlight for almost 40 years. He’s best known for his lips, his colorful scarves and a parade of hit songs that became radio staples. So is it any surprise that he’s joining American Idol?  Here’s what Three Grown Men have to say…

Kevin Smallwood:

Let’s be honest and call a spade a spade: Aerosmith has never been a cool band. They are like the jean jacket of the music industry. And like the jean jacket, they occasionally experience a cultural revival that is little more than a rehashing of novelty and nostalgia.

When this sort of sad decline takes place, you’ll often see either one of two things: 1. the lead singer will gracefully accept that his time in “that” spotlight is over and move on to other projects, good or bad (see: Robert Plant) or 2.  The lead singer will desperately cling to his fame by fighting his former band-mates, suing them and taking their songs on tour with a new band (see: Roger Waters, John Fogerty).

These are the generally accepted principles of aging classic rock stars. And Steven Tyler is not a classic rock star; Aerosmith may technically dip their toe in the classic rock genre because of Dream On and Sweet Emotion – but the majority of their career was spent on MTV with big hair and spandex pants.

READ ON for more of 3GM’s take on Steven Tyler…

The lineup for this year’s Coachella dropped early this morning and it’s no joke. Goldenvoice put together a well-rounded bill that starts with headliners Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, The Strokes and Kanye West and includes HT faves The Felice Brothers, Tame Impala and Trampled By Turtles.

Here’s a look at the lineup in poster form…

Coachella 2011 takes place at Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA on April 15 – 17. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 AM PST.

READ ON for an A to Z (or ! to Z) rundown of the bill…

As we reported last week, JEMP Records put out three releases from Phish’s Summer Tour 2010 today via iTunes and through select record stores. Live Phish engineer Jon Altschiller’s original live mixes have been lovingly remastered by Fred Kevorkian for these new releases.

Our friends at JEMP have provided us some remastered tracks to share, so you can sample the quality of these releases. They also sent a few blurbs about each performance written by Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro to give a little background on these shows.

Show #1 = 06/27/2010 – Merriweather Post Pavilion

• Sample: Meatstick > I Saw It Again

Kevin Shapiro on 6/27/10: On Sunday June 27, 2010, Phish played their sixth headline show (since 1998) at Merriweather Post Pavilion and the second show of a two-night stand to a hot, sticky summer crowd.  Merriweather Post is a wooden-roofed music amphitheater designed by Frank Gehry with excellent acoustics and a capacity of about 19,000.  The band opened set one with “Walfredo” which includes lyrics about Phish’s first visit to the venue opening for Santana in 1992.  This rarity, performed only a half dozen times and for the first time in a decade, began a string of breakouts.  The number two spot featured Bob Marley’s “Mellow Mood” (played for the first time since 2003’s IT festival), “Divided Sky” and 2010’s first “Tela”.  A couple more covers, Clifton Chenier’s Bayou swinging “My Soul” and Norman Blake’s “Ginseng Sullivan”, were clustered mid-set along with “Sample In A Jar.”  Set one wrapped up with “Brian And Robert” – bookended by Phish classics “Bathtub Gin” and “Run Like An Antelope”, the latter of which contained teases of “Brian And Robert.”  Set two was a seamless affair rooted in the show’s theme song, “Saw It Again” (also played at Merriweather for the first time since IT).  This playful set hinged on exploratory playing and transitions like “Meatstick” > “Saw It Again” > “Piper” > “Ghost” which, like the rest of the set included deft teases of “Saw It Again”.  Phish sealed the fate of this uncommon set by weaving their debut of the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” back into “Saw It Again”.  The remainder of the show: “Contact”, “You Enjoy Myself” (with teases of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”) and Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” also included multiple nods to “Saw it Again” among its sonic treasures.

READ ON for samples of the other two releases…

“Why don’t you do more Cover Wars that feature vocal harmonies?” I was asked last week. A great question, and obviously the motivation for this week’s selection. Helplessly Hoping is a track from the 1969 self-titled debut album from Crosby, Stills & Nash. The song makes heavy use of alliteration, a device that Stephen Stills – who wrote the song – humorously points out at the trio’s performance at Woodstock (which was the band’s only second live performance). After Graham Nash says it’s one of “one of the best ever written”, Stills quickly says into the microphone, “Helplessly Hoping Her Helicopter Hovers Nearby”.

The Contestants:

Leading off this week we’ve got the Cover Wars debut of Acoustic Syndicate, a band from North Carolina known for their strong harmonies. Source: 12-28-2002

READ ON for more covers of Helplessly Hoping…

Phish bassist Mike Gordon returns to the road once again with his solo band for a three-week tour that crosses the country. The MGB’s run starts on March 5th at the McDonald Theatre in Eugene, OR and wraps up at the Higher Ground near Mike’s current hometown of Burlington on March 26th. While Gordon’s last […]

At last year’s SXSW music fest, John McCauley of Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit debuted their new roots-rock supergroup, which at the time was dubbed MG&V after their collective last names. After a busy 2010 for the members’ full time bands, and a name change to Middle Brother, […]

Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance this past weekend at the annual Light of Day benefit concert in Asbury Park. Among the tunes Springsteen performed was the Nebraska chestnut Atlantic City. Check out this exceptional clip of The Boss laying into his classic tune… Bruce Springsteen – Atlantic City