Hidden Track

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been pointing you in the direction of a fantastic new website called Epicurean Musician that features interviews with musicians about every aspect of food.

Don’t ask me how it happened, but somehow back in high school, my closest friends and I became massive John Denver fans. We only saw him play once live, but

If you live in New York City, there are some cool new food spots you may – or may not – have heard about that opened within the last few months that are fun, cool and well within anyone’s budget.

[Photo by Robyn Lee from Serious Eats review of Sigmund on 11.5.09]

First up is Sigmund Pretzel Shop located at 29 Avenue B in the East Village. Sigmund has been open since early November last year and has been featured on The Martha Stewart Show and written up by Serious Eats, The NY Times, Blackbook, and The Village Voice amongst other publications. According to the Village Voice article…

The shop is the brainchild of Russian-born pastry chef Lina Kulchinsky who learned classic Viennese pastry under Alex Grunert when they were both at Bouley (he’s now at Blue Hill). Kulchinsky says she always had a fascination with German and Austrian confections and breads. Instead of baking traditional Bavarian pretzels, Kulchinsky explains that she’s making pretzels that are in the German style but also “very New York.” That’s because an old-school Bavarian baker would probably balk at flavoring pretzels with ingredients like gruyere and smoked paprika, caramel and pecans, or cheddar and jalapeno, as Kulchinsky does.

As I work in the East Village, I made a trip over there last Tuesday and can say Believe the Hype! Our office has tried the sandwiches: Roast turkey with gouda and apple, Ham with greens and gruyere (both served hot and heated IN AN OVEN, not a microwave) as well as the Smoked salmon with dill cream cheese. For $7 , they are filling and a great value. The pretzels are also great just noshing and dipping into any of their sauces (whipped butter, wholegrain mustard, honey mustard, beet-horseradish mayo, herb goat cheese, cream cheese and nutella). The best thing they sell though is their Chocolate chip cookie which now has risen to easily become one of my favorite NYC cookies.

READ ON for more of this week’s Friday 4 the Foodies…

This Sunday at 3PM, HT Faves The McLovins take the stage at Brooklyn Bowl for a free show. Does it get much better than McLovins + Brooklyn Bowl + Free,

Words: Mike Sherwood

THE BEAST

The Hydra known as Umphrey’s McGee carved its way through the Northeast this past weekend, leaving a path of sonic destruction in its wake. For those who are unfamiliar with Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra was a 9 headed beast that Heracles had to slay as his second of twelve labors. In 2010, I don’t think the son of Zeus would stand a chance if he had to contend with the increasingly mythic Umphrey’s McGee.

Umphrey’s McGee – A Day In The Life

Umphrey’s McGee is made up of six musicians (Brendan Bayliss, Jake Cinniniger, Joel Cummins, Andy Farag, Kris Myers and Ryan Stasik), sound caresser Kevin Browning, light magician Jeff Waful and another “head” representing an organization of people who are committed to pleasing UM’s diehard fanbase in fresh and innovative ways. When you couple the collective talents of the band members and the dedication of their support staff, you have the makings of a band that seems destined to make their own mythology in the jam scene and beyond…

THE SHOW

I was fortunate enough this past week to be able to catch three UM shows in four nights. The first of which was at the Nokia Theatre in Manhattan last Thursday. Having lived in Manhattan for eight years prior to moving to Boston last summer, I was very much looking forward to another Nokia show.

READ ON for more of Mike’s thoughts on Umphrey’s at the Nokia…

For the first time in nine years, the God Street Wine website has been redesigned. Of particular note is a comment at the top of the page stating “you should

This week’s episode of Saturday Night Live featuring first-time host Zach Galifianakis and musical guest Vampire Weekend shouldn’t suck, in fact it should be pretty sweet. Ezra Koenig and the

Remember when Phish would put together a summer tour and we weren’t privy to all of the machinations that go into putting the dates together? Clearly, the band and its management are trying to break away from the typical shed to shed summer tours that the group has played in the past and as part of attempting to play unique venues they need to get approval from the towns/cities where these shows are held.

[Yesterday’s Meeting – ©Merrick Chase / Telluride Photography.Net]

For instance, let’s take the proposed Phish shows that AEG Live and Telluride Bluegrass are attempting to hold in Telluride on August 9th and 10th. We first learned about the possibility of these shows through a terse tweet from the Telluride News on February 17. Later that evening, Telluride radio station KOTO broadcast a report that featured an interview with Telluride Jazz director Paul Machado and Telluride Bluegrass Festival director Craig Ferguson in which the pair laid out all of the approvals that would need to be obtained before an official offer could be made to the band. That interview gave us all a behind-the-scenes look at the hoops promoters must jump through to hold Phish concerts in atypical venues.

Over the past few weeks, these potential Phish shows have cleared a number of “hurdles” including yesterday when Telluride’s arts board put the shows on the town’s calendar. Next, the promoters need approval from the town council next Tuesday. That would leave AEG and Phish to work out a deal that would bring the band to town, a deal that may have already been agreed upon so that the band could leave the dates open on its schedule.

READ ON for more on the potential shows at Wrigley and Telluride…