Hidden Track

Welcome to the seventh edition of Grousing The Aisles — once again, it’s hump day. Last week I focused solely on Jerry Garcia, so we have two weeks worth of new torrents to catch up on. This week we’ll hit Tea Leaf Green, Billy Joel, My Morning Jacket, Phish, The Radiators, and The Rolling Stones.

Billy Joel 03/15/78 Munich, Germany PRO-SHOT Video(DVD)

Billy Joel was one of my favorite artists growing up. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that every summer I went off to sleepaway camp with a bunch of Jews from Long Island. Joel’s greatest hits album was required listening, and by the time I was in high school I couldn’t listen to Only The Good Die Young without vomiting. Years have passed and I once again have gained an appreciation for the piano man. Not only did he create some of the greatest songs of the late ’70s and early ’80s, he also put together a kick ass band that made his live shows incredible.

In early 1978 Joel had been on the road pretty much nonstop for four years. The band taped this performance for Germany’s Musikladen TV show, and the performance is amazing. The torrent above is for a newly remastered DVD copy of that performance, but nearly all of the songs can be found on YouTube as well…

I didn’t take to Wilco right away the way some of my friends did. For me, I had to discover their greatness on my own terms or it was never gonna work out. These days, though, I find myself drifting to their stuff more and more when I ride the subway on the way to […]

There’s nothing quite like watching a good idea become a cool reality.

About three weeks ago I attended and sang at a Diabetes Research Benefit Concert put on by my good friend, The Otrane. Otrane put together a band for the occasion, fittingly called Pancreas, and they put on an incredible show for the assembled crowd. Otrane called on his friends to sit in on songs he always hoped they would play. One of our friends was Jennifer Hartswick, who has recently been singing with the always in-flux band of Trey Anastasio.

Otrane thought no song can better show off Jen’s incredible range and vibrato than Sweet Child O’ Mine, so they decided to take’r out for a spin. That night, Jen and Pancreas pulled off an amazing version of the Guns N’ Roses classic.

Fast forward two weeks to this Saturday: Jen and her husband Wade, two of my favorite people in the world, entered my apartment for a little pre-game hang before the second night of Umphrey’s McGee‘s run at the Nokia Theater. Wade, Jen, Otrane, and our crew of rabid Umphreaks gathered, when someone asked Jen if she would be singing that night with the band. Jen told us that on the subway ride over she had been thinking about asking to sing Sweet Child O’ Mine instead of whatever they had previously agreed on. Otrane’s face lit up like a Christmas tree and the assembled troops agreed this was an amazing idea.

The first concert of the two-night run was just an average Umphrey’s show, which had its moments — hey, a mediocre Umphrey’s show is still on par with the best other bands of the genre have to offer. But we still entered the venue on that second night with high hopes, and we didn’t even have confirmation on what Jen would be playing with them — our crew has a firm “We don’t know want to know what’s going to be played” policy.

The band took the stage for night two and it became clear right away that this was going to be the keeper, this was going to be a serious show…

The night before Halloween in the Year of Our Lord Nineteen Hundred Seventy-Six, Richie Manuel led The Band in an awe-inspiring rendition of Georgia On My Mind for a Saturday Night Live audience. It’s probably the most soulful thing I’ve ever seen a white man sing, and it’s high time we give this man his […]

The night before Halloween in the Year of Our Lord Nineteen Hundred Seventy-Six, Richie Manuel led The Band in an awe-inspiring rendition of Georgia On My Mind for a Saturday Night Live audience. It’s probably the most soulful thing I’ve ever seen a white man sing, and it’s high time we give this man his […]

It used to be cool and inventive when the recently separated Kid Rock sat in with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith and Phish. But his sit-in last night with the legendary Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and the legendary for sucking Nickelback offered up nothing more than a lame karaoke version of Tush, saved only by a […]

It used to be cool and inventive when the recently separated Kid Rock sat in with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith and Phish. But his sit-in last night with the legendary Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and the legendary for sucking Nickelback offered up nothing more than a lame karaoke version of Tush, saved only by a […]

Welcome back to another edition of The Workweek, which in turn means another edition of Hors d’Oeuvres. Just think of it like this: By the time you’re finished reading these articles, it will be that much closer to Friday. I promise. Some of Jerry Garcia’s first pieces of art go up for sale — consider this […]

Welcome back to another edition of The Workweek, which in turn means another edition of Hors d’Oeuvres. Just think of it like this: By the time you’re finished reading these articles, it will be that much closer to Friday. I promise. Some of Jerry Garcia’s first pieces of art go up for sale — consider this […]

I have no idea as to the origin of this photo, but it’s one of the funniest Photoshop jobs in both music and political history…makes for good filler. “We got to this place, a joint, in Fort Worth, Texas. It was burned out, bombed out. The roof wasn’t even on the place any more. And […]

I have no idea as to the origin of this photo, but it’s one of the funniest Photoshop jobs in both music and political history…makes for good filler. “We got to this place, a joint, in Fort Worth, Texas. It was burned out, bombed out. The roof wasn’t even on the place any more. And […]

We’re doling out an added bonus with every post that stinks of blogger autofellatio, so allow us to present your reward up front: Saturday marked the seventh anniversary of the best second set in the popular rock band Phish’s 1999-2000 period, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it. Simply seeing the […]

I learned at an early age to heed the sage advice of those two important wisdom dispensers that regularly preached “Don’t believe the hype.”

That strong warning from Chuck D and Flava Flav against getting caught in a rushing, gushing torrent of positive hysteria has often proven prophetic, but as it turns out after my virginal awakening last night at the Roseland Ballroom, My Morning Jacket is clearly the exception that proves the rule.

Jimmy James Incorporated (any Newsradio fans?) and the disgusting amount of hype surrounding the Louisville-based “post-jam” band blew through New York like Hurricane Gloria last night, and I’m not entirely sure of the last time I’ve exited a show with such a strong first impression or melted face: The caliber of their balls-to-the-wall, fuck-your-face rock from start to finish actually made my brain hurt from all the spastic headbanging I involuntarily enjoyed.

It must’ve been my morning blazer night at the Roseland as well, with more sport jackets per capita than any venue in the country. But the well-diversified crowd came to rock, and from the hot-out-of-the-gate opener to the 36-song encore, MMJ last night exhibited all the qualities that have just about every music blogger out there calling them the “best band in the country.” After that show, I can’t disagree, either because they were that damn good, or because I’m hurting so bad this morning I feel like Terri Schiavo over here…

I learned at an early age to heed the sage advice of those two important wisdom dispensers that regularly preached “Don’t believe the hype.”

That strong warning from Chuck D and Flava Flav against getting caught in a rushing, gushing torrent of positive hysteria has often proven prophetic, but as it turns out after my virginal awakening last night at the Roseland Ballroom, My Morning Jacket is clearly the exception that proves the rule.

Jimmy James Incorporated (any Newsradio fans?) and the disgusting amount of hype surrounding the Louisville-based “post-jam” band blew through New York like Hurricane Gloria last night, and I’m not entirely sure of the last time I’ve exited a show with such a strong first impression or melted face: The caliber of their balls-to-the-wall, fuck-your-face rock from start to finish actually made my brain hurt from all the spastic headbanging I involuntarily enjoyed.

It must’ve been my morning blazer night at the Roseland as well, with more sport jackets per capita than any venue in the country. But the well-diversified crowd came to rock, and from the hot-out-of-the-gate opener to the 36-song encore, MMJ last night exhibited all the qualities that have just about every music blogger out there calling them the “best band in the country.” After that show, I can’t disagree, either because they were that damn good, or because I’m hurting so bad this morning I feel like Terri Schiavo over here…

There’s nothing quite like finishing the long week after the Thanksgiving holiday — we’re a mere three weeks from Christmas and four weeks from New Year’s. But before you get all weekend aggro out there, check out these sexy links: George Harrison passed away five years ago this week. In honor of one of my […]

There’s nothing quite like finishing the long week after the Thanksgiving holiday — we’re a mere three weeks from Christmas and four weeks from New Year’s. But before you get all weekend aggro out there, check out these sexy links: George Harrison passed away five years ago this week. In honor of one of my […]

I’m not very technologically advanced. Sure I’ve got two blogs, a cellular telephone, a handful of DVR boxes and wireless Internets, but if technological stupidity were dirt, I’d cover a full acre or two. I’m clueless 99.44 percent of the time. So I recently coaxed my good friend over at Newmradio to create some podcasts with the Hidden Track audience […]

Tickets go on sale tomorrow for the unofficial kick-off to festival season, the 5th Annual Langerado Festival. We’re counting the days ’til March…

Recently I spoke with one of the festival’s founders and promoters, Ethan Schwartz, about all things Langerado. He filled us in on the origin of the festival, the difference between Langerado and other festivals where police presence has been increased, bands he’d love to see play in the future and so much more…

I was hoping I’d wake up and it would be Friday. Since that didn’t happen, why not spend this lovely Thursday discussing the best ever rock side projects. It’s not easy to come up with a perfect definition for side projects, but since this is a dictatorship, we will say that the band must have started while one of the band members was performing regularly with a larger act.

1. The Traveling Wilburys: One of the few supergroups that has actually produced material that was not only good when it was released but has grown on me even more over the years. If rock n’ roll were like professional wrestling, Petty, Orbison, Lynne, Harrison, and Dylan would be the Five Horseman and could kick any other teams ass. Plus, you gotta love that they skipped right over Traveling Wilbury’s Volume 2, releasing Volume 3 two years after the first record.

Please read on for the rest of The B List…and let’s hear your thoughts at the end.

Sound Tribe Sector 9 keyboard player David “Lars Ulrich” Phipps has started using his laptop for things other than music. Phipps recently used his band’s message board, The Lowdown (snicker), to rant against the torrent site Oink. Your best bet’s to take a moment and read Phipps’ complete open letter from The Lowdown site, but […]