Hidden Track

When I was seven years old my Uncle Bobby gave me a copy of Dave Marsh’s Book of Rock Lists, and I studied it harder than the Torah before my Bar Mitzvah. I’ve got a short attention span, so I loved being able to sit down for five minutes and learn all sorts of new things about rock and roll. And digesting all the lists in that book allowed my eight-year-old self to freak out the adults by telling them 20 things they didn’t know about Bruce Springsteen.

From the day Ace asked me to work with him on Hidden Track, I knew that I’d finally have a chance to share all of the lists I’ve made up in mind since my uncle gave me that book. Now let’s take a look at the 10 best B Lists of Hidden Track’s first year of existence. Click on the title to look back at the actual lists…

10. The B List: Brothers In Arms — 09/13/2007

Recently we put together a list of 10 favorite sets of brothers that jam together

Scott and Seth Avett [The Avett Brothers]

The Avett Brothers of Mount Pleasant, North Carolina may play instruments typically associated with bluegrass, but the sound that comes out is more Nirvana than Bill Monroe. Scott and Seth began writing songs together in 2000 and are beginning to gain national notoriety for their unique batch of originals. In May the boys made their television debut on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. The Avett Brothers will be on the road through the end of the year. Read on…

Twenty-four hours ago we posted, and this is a technical journalism phrase, “a wickedly kickass” photo gallery of the inaugural Echo Project’s first day from the masterful Dave Vann. If you missed it, you can click here and make up for your unforgivable transgression…or you can be a stubborn dick about it. As the legendary philosophers from Black Sheep once directed, the choice is yours.

Thankfully the Illustrious Mr. Vann is back with the second of his three sweet galleries. Saturday mixed the usual festival touring bands like Disco Biscuits, moe., Tea Leaf Green and Perpetual Groove with electronica-based acts like MSTRKRFT, Thievery Corporation (above) and Brazilian Girls, adding a touch of hip hop from Common, folk rock from the Avett Brothers and some singer/songwriter shenanigans from Cat Power. Oh, but there’s plenty more as well, so get goin’…

So read on after the jump for the second of three photo galleries from Echo, and hey, if you’ve got some stories from the festival, let ’em loose in the comments.

Bruce “I was the best keyboard player the Grateful Dead ever had” Hornsby counts many amateur and professional musicians among his myriad fans. And some of these musicians have collaborated

Neil Young seems more synonymous with unruly sideburns and questionable hats than Web 2.0. But the old man’s latest album debuts next Tuesday, and he’s posted four songs from Chrome Dreams II on his new YouTube channel. The new tunes and photo montages follow after the proverbial jump…

When Ace first asked me to work with him on Hidden Track a little more than a year ago, I would have never guessed how much I’d enjoy writing for y’all. One of the first ideas I presented to Ace was a column highlighting the best live shows that turned up on the torrent sites each week. Now please allow me to toot my horn a bit: I began my writing career — really, my first published article — on October 22nd, 2006 by posting the first edition of Grousing The Aisles, and I followed that up with 380 other posts this year, including 48 editions of GTA.

We’ve turned you onto to some terrific shows this year, but a few stand out from the pack. First up is a Steely Dan DVD that is the best unofficial concert video we’ve ever seen. Next up is Crowded House’s American coming-out party from The Bottom Line in 1987. After that we’ve got recent shows from two of our favorite bands: Apollo Sunshine and Wilco. So make the most of your high speed connection and check out the best of Grousing The Aisles…

Steely Dan w/ Michael McDonald 08/12/2006 PROSHOT (VIDEO, AUDIO):

Nearly every shed in America these days has those screens that show video of the concert to people with bad views. Most of the footage from these screens either doesn’t get recorded or gets stashed in the archives of the venue or the performer. Once in a while, though, video from one of these concerts leaks onto the ‘net. The latest of these leaks comes from last summer’s Steely Dan tour, which featured special guest and longtime HT idol Michael McDonald.

The Dan was feelin’ it this night, rolling through magnificent performances of hits such as Hey 19, Green Earrings, and Josie. Mikey Mac adds his husky vocals to the last seven songs of the set, including the kickass My Old School closer. The Steely Dan Orchestra backing band is made up of extremely talented musicians. Keith Carlock is a revelation on the drums — at times there is so much going on that you wonder whether there are two drummers behind the kit. Backup vocalists Carolyn Leonhart-Escoffery and Cindy Mizelle both look and sing beautifully.

The quality of this footage is unbelievably good, allowing a nice look at the ladies as they sing their hearts out during Dirty Work. The crispy soundboard feed that supplies the audio is also top notch, and worth the download by itself. I can honestly say that in my four years of collecting live concert DVDs, this puppy may take the cake as the best in my collection. It’s that good. Read on for more…

At some point mid-afternoon on Friday, I received an instant message saying simply: “Power out at Echo.” I checked the webcast on iClips; it was down as well. So much for eco-friendly festivals — it appeared at that moment as if the inaugural Echo Project would be a total goatfuck of a disaster.

Then something strange happened. Intrepid reports from the festival grounds started rolling in to our headquarters, and the paying customers could not have been more ebullient, a cult-like enthusiasm emanating from Fairburn, Georgia.

The noise beaming from the Echo Project may have angered local residents, but the attendees have returned to their homes and showers with nothing but positive reviews. The clever lineup blending jambands, indie rock, electronica, reggae and hip hop, the grounds, the lacked of a packed-in crowd, the open-air narcotics trafficking…you name it, someone’s gushing about it. The music, well, apparently some melted faces remain in Georgia.

Our man on the scene is back as well, and we’re proud to host Dave Vann‘s incredible photo gallery from the festival. Dave not only photographed the live action on stage, but he set up a portrait booth backstage to capture the artists in various states of coolness. Photos from Saturday and Sunday will follow over the next day or two, but read on after the jump for a gallery of Friday’s events, complete with shots of The Duo, the Flaming Lips, the Disco Biscuits’ late-night set, The Polyphonic Spree, Stephen Marley, GZA and Slick Rick and many more…

Whenever I visit my parents’ house and flip through the channels on their flat screen, I’d often land on The Tube Music Network. I’ve been waiting for my shitty cable

Todd Haynes’ biographical Bob Dylan flick comes out in less than five weeks, but a concert celebration — a celebration of what exactly, themselves? — will take place at New

Awesome, so all that’ll remain is dude armpit-farting the Growing Pains theme song: “Online video leader YouTube has rolled out long-awaited technology to automatically remove copyrighted clips, hoping to placate movie and television studios fed up with the Web site’s persistent piracy problems.”

Either we’re actively trying to set a webosphere record for Most Posts Featuring Bulletpoints In A Two-Day Span or we’re just pushing the envelope on how to look shoddy and