This week’s Stormy Monday celebrates the music of The Band – potentially the greatest music ever made. The covers begin with Ohio’s own ekoostik hookah killing Don’t Do It, a
Every morning on my way to work I pass one of the largest American flags I’ve ever had the distinction to see first hand. And every morning since the inauguration – and release of Umphrey’s McGee’s Mantis – as I wait patiently sitting at that stop light while staring at that flag I tend to bounce my thoughts back and forth between the president’s speech and the opening line to the title track of Mantis…
We believe there’s something here worth dying for…
Oh, how those lyrics ring true for our country’s past, present and future. People have fought and died to defend the ideals that our government originally set forth.
Obama touched on this issue, too, and spoke of an era of responsibility with these great words from his inauguration speech:
What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
READ ON for more of this week’s Land of Confusion column…
Over the next 10 days we’ll keep you updated on events happening down in the Hampton area during next weekend’s Phish shows. Up first, we’ve got some interesting news for
We’d like to welcome our new Midwest correspondent Benji Feldheim to the team with his review of a recent Gene Ween Band show…
[All photos by Allison Taich]
Gene Ween tried something different.
Armed with only an acoustic guitar, a harmonica and himself, Aaron “Gene” Freeman led about 100 people in a drunken singalong during a private party Jan. 30 at Tonic Room in Chicago. About halfway through, he forgot the words. But it’s Gene Ween, so who cares? At least that’s what the audience thought.
“What’s the second verse?” Gene said through a smile when he stopped in the middle of Marble Tulip Juicy Tree.
Amidst hoots and hollers, a few people obliged him and shouted the next few words. He jumped right back into the bouncing rhythm of the song with a scream and was back on point.
The intimate, one-man-show is a new thing for Gener, as he playfully reminded the patient crowd of this a few times. Not only was Gene playing his songs without the full electric energy of the band Ween, but he was also missing his musical partner and soulmate, the axe-wielding Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo.
READ ON for more of Benji’s Gene Ween solo acoustic review…
If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the freak-folk movement of the last few years, you’re probably already familiar with the the name Marissa Nadler. For the majority
VH1 Classic will air the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster tonight at Midnight. Released in July, 2004 the film features unprecedented access to the band members as they recorded
White Stripes – We’re Going To Be Friends (Conan’s Last Show)
Last week, Umphrey’s McGee announced that they will be making webcasts of five upcoming shows available at iClips.net for $5 per show or $20 for the whole series. This comes on the heels of the Allman Brothers’ working with drummer Butch Trucks’ Moogis company to offer webcasts of every note the legendary Southern rockers play during the fifteen shows on their 40th Anniversary run at the Beacon Theatre starting March 9. Webcasts create a win-win situation where fans get to experience shows they can’t attend in person live as they happen and bands get a new income stream.
I’ve reached the point in my life where my time off is limited and I can’t travel to see as many shows as I used to. If I can’t travel to see my favorite band play, I’d be happy to pay for the ability to follow the action on my computer. In the case of the Allmans, it’s not a traveling issue as much as ticket availability and the cost of the tickets. As usual, tickets to the Beacon run are sold out. but for the first time ABB fans can experience all of the March Madness live as it happens from the comfort of their homes. Sign me up!
READ ON for more on webcasts and to leave your opinion on ’em…
After a successful run of shows celebrating the release of Moodoo last September, Page McConnell will team up once again with funksters PBS for “The Return of Moodoo” at Tipitina’s
Welcome to the final edition of our series titled Coventry To Hampton filling you in on the four members of Phish and what they’ve been up to these past five years. Part one featuring bassist Mike Gordon debuted on Monday, Part two featuring keyboardist Page McConnell was posted on Tuesday, Part three featuring Trey Anastasio was posted Wednesday, Part four featuring drummer Jon Fishman was posted yesterday.
Sure, Phish hasn’t played a live concert since Coventry, but there has been a whole bunch of Phish material performed and archival releases over the past four and a half years. In fact, there have been five official CD releases, four DVD releases and even more online audio and video downloads.
To stream the playlist below, be sure to register/login to IMEEM.
A compilation of SOME of the Phish material played by the members since Coventry.
Click here to launch this playlist in a new window
The realization that a Phish reunion was imminent came when the band joined together publicly for the first time since Coventry. On May 7, 2008, the four members of Phish reunited onstage at the 7th annual Jammy Awards at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden to accept a lifetime achievement award. The band didn’t perform together at the ceremony, although Trey sat-in with the Fab Faux and Page played as part of a jazz supergroup put together by the event’s organizers. Phish also won the Download of the Year award for their release of The Headphones Jam.
READ ON for more on the events leading up to Phish’s return as well as a full list of all archival audio and video releases since Coventry…
