Hidden Track

[Originally Published: December 21, 2006]

As we approach Christmas, this week’s B List takes a look at the ten great rock and roll Christmas songs. I’m Jewish, but hey, if Bette Midler and Neil Diamond can make Christmas albums, I can at least list my favorite songs.

1. Run Rudolph Run – Chuck Berry: One of the oldest songs on this list (1958), Run Rudolph Run has been performed by everyone from Dave Edmunds to the Grateful Dead to Bryan Adams. I always found it cool (because laziness rules) that Berry just stole the chords from Johnny B. Goode and added new seasonal lyrics, yet 50 years later, Run Rudolph Run is still in regular airplay on the radio.

2. Santa Baby – Madonna: Eartha Kitt, Madonna, Kylie Minogue and the Pussycat Dolls all cover this one — it seems like every 10 years the slutty popstar of the era records a new version of this classic. Madonna is still the sluttiest.

3. Merry Xmas (War Is Over) – John Lennon: John and Yoko wrote this one in 1971, and while it’s not exactly the most uplifting song, it’s got Christmas in the title. The melody is haunting, and the words still ring true today 35 years later.

Read on for the rest of this week’s edition of The B List…

Lots of news came out of the moe. camp yesterday as the indie-jammers announced a slew of tour dates, the initial snoe.down lineup and a few of the guests for

To say Umphrey’s thrives in the Midwest would be the understatement of the year, and this fourth installment of Dream Focused drives the point home with a hammer, if say, that hammer was swung by Quincy Jones. Yes folks, the groove further develops on this legendary fall tour by the sextet from Chicago with perhaps its most glaring examples.

[Photo by Tammy Wetzel]

We start off this episode in Ann Arbor, MI at the pristine Michigan Theater. The run of Sociable Jimmy > Sweetness > Bottom Half is an exercise in patience and space. The outro jam to SJ floats away in an Andy Summers wash of tones from the guitar players and drifts into Sweetness. Sweetness then takes on a life of its own with its trademark mellow head it then escalates slowly to a rock peak usually saved for songs of a heavier nature.

Once we get near the end you can start to hear Bottom Half being teased and it gets pretty heavy. When Bottom Half gets to the jam we are treated to a Jaco vocal jam of Can’t You See by Marshall Tucker Band, showcasing the band feeling the vibe out of the jam and making the most of the moment which was pretty much the unspoken mantra of the fall tour.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/scosweethalf.mp3]
Sociable Jimmy > Sweetness > The Bottom Half

READ ON for more tasty improv including the Wormbog of all Wormbogs…

Jam Cruise 8 will set sail from Ft. Lauderdale on January 3rd filled to the brim with amazing artists and the band fans who love them. Today, we’ve got our fourth Jam Cruise Files column which profiles a band or musician scheduled to perform on the MSC Poesia between January 3 & 8. This installment of JC Files features bassist George Porter Jr. who will front a SuperJam on JC8.

Name / Jam Cruise 8 Gig: George Porter Jr. / Host of George Porter Jr. Super Jam [Thursday, January 7 – Pool Deck 5:45PM]
Bands: George Porter Jr. and the Runnin’ Pardners, The Funky Meters, The Meters, PBS
Past Jam Cruise Experience: Guest Artist (JC5), The Funky Meters (JC6), PBS (JC7)
2009: Tours with PBS & John Scofield and The Piety Street Band,

Hidden Track: Can you tell us a little bit about your experience on your first Jam Cruise?

George Porter Jr.: All I can remember was that I played a lot, music that is. My wife and I had a great time and I knew I was coming back the next year…we paid for our room before we got off the ship!

Hidden Track: What was your favorite Jam Cruise moment?

George Porter Jr.: The Jam Room – I was there all the time. There were some great moments in there, sorry they were not recorded, so you had to be there because it all just went away.

READ ON for the rest of Jam Cruise Files – George Porter Jr. …

A number of legendary Fender Stratocaster players inlcuding Ronnie Wood, Joe Walsh, David Gilmour and Brian May assembled at London’s Wembley Arena on September 24, 2004 for a concert that