Hidden Track

The Dave Matthews Band continues to do well when included in Cover Wars as they have walked away the winner of last week’s edition when we looked at covers of Burning Down The House. DMB also announced their initial tour dates for 2009 yesterday to promote a new studio release. The tour begins at Madison Square Garden on April 14, which is also the release date of the as-of-now untitled album.

Moving on to this week’s edition, we’ve got the last track on The Beatles’ 1967 release, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Paul McCartney recently performed the first ever live rendition of A Day In The Life by a member of The Beatles at the Liverpool Sound Concert on June 1, 2008.

As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM before starting the playlist below to ensure you listen to full-length clips.

READ ON for the tale of the tape on this week’s contestants…

As we speculated two weeks ago, Rolling Stone’s sources tell the mag that Phish will headline two nights of Bonnaroo 2009 with Bruce Springsteen set to close the festival on

We were looking forward to checking out the Gene Ween Band tour on Thursday night at the Highline Ballroom, but that show and the other remaining shows have been canceled

Looks like the art of the cover song may not just be a jamband thing anymore. Come this Valentine’s Day,  lo-fi indie rockers Times New Viking will honor the Velvet

Now that Guitar Hero and Rock Band have become big hits, video game companies are expanding their rock-game offerings. Electronic Arts has just announced the release of rock-adventure Brutal Legend.

We recently came across a brilliant blog post from an American Jam Fan current living in Beijing comparing that city to the lot scene at a Dead / Phish concert. We asked Sasha of Movin’ On Up, to the (Far) East Side if we could share it with our readers and he kindly obliged…

“1 For $3, 2 For $5”

Riding the 656 bus from WuDaoKou across the city to Wang Jing, cramped in what is easily the most uncomfortable seat on the bus (seriously, epic fail here – the row of seats in front of mine had excessive leg room, while I had zero – T.I.C.), I gazed out the window at the sun, attempting to peek through the haze of pollution that dominates the Beijing sky, shining down on a gargantuan statue of Mao. There are a lot of statues of Mao in China. I mean, A LOT of fucking statues. He is everywhere. I’m actually pretty sure that Mao invented the statue. He invented everything. Al Gore did not invent the internet; he simply stumbled upon some old notes of the Chairman’s that he never had time to attend to.

Today is a rare day for me in Beijing. Today, I wish I was somewhere else. Of course, there are the occasional longings for home (notably the family, friends, food, beers, and bands that I associate with home), but since the moment I arrived here back in August, I have not had a severe longing to be elsewhere on this lovely planet Earth. However, today, there happens to be something special going on in another location – Jamaica, mon. Today, a couple of bands, along with 800 crazy people who enjoy their music, are kicking off the sequel to the best music festival ever (I’m sure Woodstock was cool and all, but I will take Caribbean Holidaze any day). Sadly, due to my proximity to the location of said festival, my lack of vacation days, and my lack of student loans to pay for the trip (again), I am sitting this one out.

READ ON for a comparison of life in Communist China and a Phish festival…