It seems rather hard to believe, but 2010 marks the 20th anniversary for venerable jam-act moe. The band will mark the occasion starting with a short Northeast tour that kicks
For the second episode in the Jazz in the Present Tense series here at Stormy Mondays, we’re pointing our ears across the Atlantic to hear what Europe has to offer.
With Thanksgiving now behind us and Hanukkah and Christmas quickly approaching, we thought we’d get into the holiday spirit. While there isn’t too much we’ve found this year in the
Jim DeRogatis has a long-held reputation as a firebrand, and he’ll be the first to remind you he’s more than a bit of a contrarian. But we’ve always found those labels a little disingenuous, especially for someone so obviously passionate about not only music, but about being as much reporter and informed critic as opinionated scribe.
In a music critic landscape circa 2009 that’s as much lazy, laurels-resting old hands as unedited, brutally overwrought bloggers, credit the man for valiantly bucking both trends. He’s best known as the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, but DeRo is also a prolific author, blogger and, with Greg Kot, his opposite number at the Tribune, host of Sound Opinions, to us one of the few music radio talkshows that’s as informative as it is passionately music geeky.
This fall came his latest book, a visual history of the Velvet Underground called The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side
HIDDEN TRACK: Being a well documented Velvet Underground fanatic, this must have been a fun one for you. Tell me about the genesis of this book.
JIM DEROGATIS: Voyageur Press has been doing a number of coffee table art books devoted to bands and memorabilia. They did one on Led Zeppelin and I’d contributed an essay on “Houses of the Holy” to that. They had this notion of doing a Velvets art book and they called me up and said could you do the connective tissue historical essay and corral some other writers, and I said, well shit yeah, Merry Christmas. They’ve very generously put my name on the cover.
I have a shelf full of a dozen if not more Velvets and Lou Reed and John Cale books, but being even a huge fan as I am, there is a tremendous amount of artwork in this book that I’d never seen before. It’s nice to be given that context to do some of the writing. The goal wasn’t to do a definitive history for fans, it was to show them a lot of the art they hadn’t seen before, rounded up in one place.
READ ON for more of Chad’s chat with Jim DeRogatis…
On Thursday morning at 9AM, you’ve got a tough choice to make. Hopefully you’ve got DVR and won’t have to pick between Biography’s profile of Jerry Garcia and Palladia’s airing
We thought we’d help you ease your way back into the work week with this hilarious video of The Muppets covering Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody… [youtube]tgbNymZ7vqY[/youtube] The Muppets – Bohemian Rhapsody
The first time I saw the film Once, starring the duo that comprises The Swell Season, I went alone on a random, rainy Thursday afternoon. Given that my boyfriend of six years and I were officially participating in the cliché is the “temporary break,” it is safe to say that my movie selection was not the smartest choice I’d ever made.
After two completely different shows in Albany, Phish kept fans on their toes once again tonight at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, ME. While there weren’t the crazy
When you have a group of Phish-loving friends, you find all sorts of differing viewpoints on what and how Phish should play. Among the camps, you have those Phish fans who like anything the band does, you have those who are only impressed by the bust outs and those who couldn’t care less about the songs and just want the band to jam. Outside of a few instances of far-reaching improvisation – namely the Susquehanna Sand and the Merriweather 46 Days – Phish hasn’t strayed too far off script since their return in March…until last night’s second of two concerts in Albany.
Following a fun first set that contained a number of rarities and well-played originals, the band started the second set by jumping into the deep end of the pool – two 20-minute-plus songs that contained more peaks than the Alps. The set started innocently enough with Seven Below. After jamming on the main theme of the tune for a few minutes, drummer Jon Fishman changed the beat he was laying down while the other members of the band went off in different directions as well, leading to a bit of spacey dissonance. I thought the Seven Below jam had just fallen apart and that the quartet were about to end the tune, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
After a few quick minutes of each member traveling their own path, guitarist Trey Anastasio linked up with bassist Mike Gordon on a few gorgeous patterns of notes that got Fishman’s attention. What had been a dark, minor key jam had been transformed to a pretty major key jam as only Phish could do. At this point, Fishman, Gordon and keyboardist Page McConnell started to follow Anastasio’s lead, patiently building the gorgeous “butter jam.” That’s not to say the other members of the band rolled over, they each added all sorts of dark accents to add some depth to what Big Red was laying down.
READ ON for more of Scotty’s thoughts on Phish in Albany…
As I mentioned about Wednesday’s show, Phish concerts come in all different shapes and sizes, and that’s what makes them so appealing. What made last night’s show so great were all the curveballs thrown at various points in the show. Whether it was dusting off Jimmy Dale Gilmore’s My Mind’s Got a Mind of Its Own, busting TV on the Radio’s Golden Age to the delight of the indie segment of the fanbase or debuting the reggae-tinged original Tomorrow’s Song; the quartet kept fans guessing all night long.
As soon as guitarist Trey Anastasio barreled through the solo in AC/DC Bag it was clear he was firing on all cylinders and extremely excited to be on stage. Maze gave Anastasio a chance to channel all of his pent up energy for good as he delivered one rapid-fire run of notes after another. The first bust out of the evening came after a long discussion by Anastasio and bassist Mike Gordon which ended with the band settling in on the first My Mind’s Got A Mind Of Its Own since 2004. The other bust out of the set was Two Versions of Me off of Undermind, which hadn’t been played since November 28, 2003. The line “no more Phish in the sea” was met smiles instead of groans as the state of the band couldn’t be better…for now.
There’s no doubt the first set was good, but the second set was where the magic happened. The fan-favorite My Friend, My Friend was met with cheers and hugs. The ensemble impressively nailed the tune. Out of the chaotic conclusion of My Friend came a song that had most scratching their heads at first. Then, many in the crowd started putting it together that Phish was covering TV on the Radio’s Golden Age. The band made the tune their own adding a light, happy jam at the end that had everybody pumping their fists.
READ ON for more from Scotty on Albany Night One…
