Hidden Track

2009 couldn’t have worked out much better for our friends The McLovins. Not only did they play their first gigs in New York City and Boston, they also scored a

A few weeks ago, we told you that U-Melt had signed with Harmonized Records to put out their latest album, Perfect World. Shortly after signing the deal, guitarist Rob Salzer quit the band to attend to “medical needs and new personal endeavors” leaving his mates to find a capable replacement. Today, the band has announced Salzer’s departure and have confirmed that long time friend Kevin Griffin will join the quartet starting in February.

[Photo from 12/4 Soundcheck by Jeremy Gordon]

Griffin comes to U-Melt from stints in NYC-area jambands Reckoning and The Point. Not only does Kevin rip on guitar, but he’s also known for his sax and vocal abilities. It’s never easy to learn a six-year-old band’s repertoire, but Kevin has sat-in with U-Melt on multiple occasions and Salzer will work with him on the in and outs of the group’s music.

The Perfect World National Tour kicks off on February 12 in Ithaca and features an album release party at The Bowery Ballroom on February 20th in the band’s hometown – NYC. For a taste of the new album, head to the U-Melt MySpace Page which will be updated with a new track from the album each week. READ ON for the press release announcing the guitarist switch including the tour dates for the Perfect World tour…

When The Police first hit the reunion road in May of 2007 they reworked a number of their classic songs. Some worked and some didn’t including a half-speed Truth Hits

It’s always tough to come up with just the right gift for a jam fan, so we thought we’d tell you about two incredible charity auctions for once-in-a-lifetime experiences –

Each day this week we’ll share a new installment of our geekiest column, The Number Line, where we analyze the setlists from Phish’s recently completed Fall Tour. On Monday we examined the Fall Tour one-timers and yesterday we looked at the songs played on the tour by studio album. Today, we’ll look at the covers the quartet performed on the 13-show run.

[Photo by Adam Kaufman]

187 – Show Gap From Last Peaches Until MSG1 [via m.phish.net]
39 – Total Instances of a Cover Being Performed on Fall Tour
31 – Different Covers Performed At Least Once on Fall Tour
25 – Total Covers Played Only One Time on Fall Tour (doesn’t include Crimes)
16:52 – Length of Longest Cover According to LivePhish (Cincy Rock & Roll)
8 – Shows With Cover Song Encores (12/5, 12/4, 12/2, 11/29, 11/27, 11/25, 11/24, 11/22)
8 – Songs From Albums Phish Covered on Halloween Performed on Fall Tour (Torn & Frayed, Sweet Virginia, Shine a Light, Loving Cup, Drowned, Rock and Roll, Cool It Down, Oh! Sweet Nuthin’)

READ ON for more Phish Fall Tour Stats geekery…

Over the past six months, every time I’ve searched “God Street Wine” on YouTube I never find any new GSW videos. That all changed last week when former GSW crew