Columns

Our pal Parker Harrington – aka @TMWSIY – put together a wide-ranging survey about Phish Summer Tour 2010 and received nearly 1,000 responses. Parker has kindly permitted us to share the results with our readers…

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and voting! Tried to reach out to a varied cross-section of the fan base through Twitter, YEMBlog, PT, PhishPosters, What.CD, and many other message boards and fan groups. This should be a pretty good snap shot of what the fans think.

Killing in the Name takes this one hands down. Was this partly due to the ‘recency’ effect or getting sandwiched in an epic Harpua? The Rover and I am the Walrus, of course, made strong showings as well. My pick would be Free Man in Paris. While I didn’t really know it before, I loved it. Poor little Lit ‘O Bit with only seven votes. Likewise, note the lukewarm reaction to Waits’ Cold Water. It will be interesting to see which, if any of these, make a return visit in the future.

READ ON for the rest of the results from the Summer Tour survey…

Umphrey’s McGee’s download portal, UMLive.net, has been completely revamped and the new iteration of the site launched this afternoon. Now, you can search by song, read band member’s comments on

As Barry Manilow sang, “Looks Like We Made It.” We’re a mere two days away from the first of four God Street Wine reunion shows in the band’s hometown of New York City. We recently spoke with GSW drummer Tom “Tomo” Osander about the upcoming shows, what led to his departure from the group, the future beyond the four gigs and plenty of other topics.

[Photo by Robin Roo]

Hidden Track: How much rehearsal time do you guys plan to spend re-learning the material for the four shows?

Tom “Tomo” Osander: Everyone’s been relearning songs on their own for the past few months. I fly in to NYC a few days before the Gramercy shows and we’ll be rehearsing for a couple of days then. A lot of this stuff is ingrained in the brain and muscles from so many years of doing it but there have been some surprises; what’s this section or did I really sing on this song? In one case I even blanked an entire song. I had no recollection of a tune called Chop. Selective memory or something!

HT: How will the setlists for these gigs be chosen?

TO: Lo devised a fairly democratic method of choosing tunes to work on. Basically we had a master list of our entire repertoire over the years which came to about 130 songs not including covers. Each of us then grouped the tunes into songs we wanted to play, song we should play and songs we didn’t want to play. These lists were then whittled down to form a “Top 65”, again not counting covers. The idea being that we’d have very few repeats from night to night, everyone would get to play a good share of their favorites and Lo got to exercise the math side of his brain that’s been at ease for the last while while he’s been dissecting the ins and outs of New Orleans history.

Temporary set lists were put together from that 65 plus a few covers and these are what we’ve been working on to see how they sit. When we get together next week we’ll get a better grip on what’s working and what, if any, don’t seem to be up to snuff. At that point we can rejig the set lists for the four nights. READ ON for more of our interview with Tomo…

The next issue of the Village Voice comes out tomorrow and the cover story hits home – a profile of the Nitrous Mafia and the destruction left in their wake.

We’re less than two weeks away from what looks to be the biggest and best Camp Bisco yet, as Camp Bisco 9 runs from July 15 – 17 at Indian

Ween @ Aragon Ballrom, June 25

Words and Images: Allison Taich

On June 25, 2010 Chicago fans of the brown gathered around the city’s Aragon Ballroom to witness the triumphant return of Ween to the Windy City. It had been three long years since the eclectic-rockers had performed in the area, and it was clear they had been missed.

Over the course of two-and-a-half hours the proprietors of brown lavished fans with songs spanning their 20+ year career.

At nine o’clock sharp the guys of Ween casually strolled onstage and tuned up their instruments. The audience cheered wildly in anticipation as lead singer Gene Ween offered a brief hello. Soon after, the band set into the evening with the solemn sea tale She Wanted to Leave. Between the disenchanted lyrics of love and loss, and an eerie blue glow cast upon the stage, it felt that Ween began with the end.

As the set progressed the band journeyed onward and pumped out gem after gem from their vast catalog of original songs. Naturally, Ween showcased their trademark ability to consistently transition between a variety of musical genres and personas. Together the quintet traveled to the edges of space with the sedative Zoloft, delivered the callused fist pumping honky tonk Piss Up a Rope and even embraced the virtuous smooth jazz jam Your Party. The sleek presence of Your Party was enhanced by keyboardist Glenn McClelland’s handiwork. With each lyrical break McClelland’s fingers fluttered across the keys adding a lustrous finish to an already suave melody.

READ ON for more of Allison’s thoughts and photos from Ween…