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iClips’ Austin City Limits webcast started a few hours ago and will be providing broadcasts from a diverse roster of artists all weekend long. If you’re looking for advice on what sets to catch, we’ll be watching MMW (9:30PM EDT), Alberta Cross (Tomorrow – 1:30PM EDT), Bon Iver (Tomorrow – 6PM EDT) and Jack White’s The Dead Weather (Sunday – 9PM EDT).

Let’s take a look at some other noteworthy stories…

• Wilco will perform on A Prairie Home Companion this weekend

Coming to you this week on A Prairie Home Companion, we’re broadcasting from the Fitzgerald Theater. Special guests Jeff Tweedy and the alt-rock boys of Wilco will bring the noise while bluegrass belle Patty Loveless will lend us her mountain soul. Also with us, The Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith, the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, and The News from Lake Wobegon. [Prairie Home]

• Rob Mattson will sub for DSO’s John Kadlecik in November

Zen Tricksters founder and Donna Jean Godchaux Band guitarist Jeff Mattson will perform with Dark Star Orchestra this November. Mattson will sub for DSO guitarist John Kadlecik while he is on the road with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir’s new band Furthur. Mattson will also continue to perform with Donna Jean. In related news, 1970s Donna Jean Band keyboardist Devin Greenwood recently joined the former Grateful Dead singer and her current band for a series of shows. [Jambands.com]

READ ON for six more links to keep you busy this weekend…

We received over 300 entries for our Festival 8 giveaway and we’ve whittled down the massive list of entries to our favorite ten Phish-related costume ideas. This was a tough decision as there were about 30 fantastic ideas on our short list, so getting down to ten wasn’t easy. Now it’s your turn to decide who should win a pair of Festival 8 tickets.

Voting starts immediately and ends on October 8 at 11:59AM EDT. Whichever finalist gets the most votes wins a pair of Festival 8 tickets. As a reminder, Phish’s Festival 8 takes place at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California on October 30 – November 1.

Here’s our ten finalists followed by your chance to vote…

#1. Sierra

“Very simple costume:

You duct-tape a bucket to your foot, and written on the bucket is 10/30/09.

Get it?

The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday.”

READ ON for to find out who won our Joy Box giveaway, to read about the other nine finalists and to place your vote for your favorite costume…

To celebrate the release of their latest album, By A Thread, Gov’t Mule treated their family, friends, pre-sale lottery winners, select members of the press and a number of VIPs to a listening party at the gorgeous-yet-comfy Brooklyn Bowl that included a performance by the band. The evening started with the album blaring over the PA multiple times before guitarist Warren Haynes and his band mates took the stage around 9:20.

[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]

As expected, the group played a number of songs from the new album over the course of the 90 minute performance including Any Open Window, Frozen Fear and the blazing throwback Broke Down On The Brazos which opened the show. The new songs all feature that signature Mule sound – equal parts Cream, Double Trouble and ZZ Top. Unlike many other bands, you can actually feel this quartet’s bass-heavy music. In particular, Matt Abts’ Mack Truck-like drumming gets you right in the chest, especially at a venue with a killer PA such as Brooklyn Bowl.

Warren and the boys didn’t ignore the past as they mixed a couple of classic Mule tunes – the tender Beautifully Broken and the intense Thorazine Shuffle – with the By A Thread material and a cover of Alice Cooper’s Is It My Body for the the fairly-subdued crowd. Danny Louis stepped out from the keyboards to tackle some dueling leads with Haynes on Is It My Body. Don’t underestimate Louis’ guitar talents, as he ripped it up from the minute he put on the axe. READ ON for more thoughts and photos…

The band Groundation has been spreading their self-proclaimed “spiritual roots reggae” across the nation as they finish up a massive world tour in support of the group’s latest release, Here I Am. The album shows off the group’s drum and bass-heavy roots reggae meets horn-infused funk with a touch of dub sound that has been a trademark of Groundation’s live shows.

[Photo by Philippe Gassies]

Groundation trumpet man David “Diesel” Chachere has been blogging a behind-the-scenes account of the band’s tour as Diesel’s Diaries. Chachere’s entries tell the story of life on the road for a band on the rise. The group recently performed at New York City’s Sullivan Hall and Chachere blogged about the trip and has been kind enough to let us reprint his entry.

Wednesday Sept 23rd, 2009

Dropping in on the General Assembly; The vicissitudes of road life; We don’t need no stinking air conditioner.

We’re finally in Cleveland, looking forward to our first day off after eight shows in a row. Our second show in New York went well, at Sullivan Hall down in NoHo. After the show the fans constituted a four to one girl to guy ratio, so spirits were high. The next morning I hopped the C and F trains to the Brass Lab in Chelsea and got my horn fixed by the crusty fellow that works there. He fixed my busted bell in no more than seven minutes and charged twenty bucks for it. Then I went back to meet the bus in the Bowery. A friend of Kim’s who owned a restaurant brought us two big cardboard boxes of rice, potatoes, spicy fish and braised oxtail for which I was deeply grateful, and I threw a plate of that down right on top of a chicken mole sandwich from Cafe Habana.

READ ON for more and check out Diesel’s Diaries…

I am sure there are many readers of this blog that either hail from, went to school in or have been to Chicago. Other than deep dish pizza, the other food that Chicago is known for is the Chicago Dog (hot dog).

A Chicago Dog according to Wikipedia:

“Is a steamed, boiled or grilled – but never broiled – all-beef hot dog on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with mustard, onion, sweet pickle relish (usually a dyed neon green variety called “Nuclear Relish”), a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, pickled sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt; sometimes, but not always, cucumber slices. Ketchup is never used on a Chicago-style hot dog.”

There is one place in Chicago that has taken the Chicago Dog to a whole other level, that place is Hot Doug’s.

(Picture taken during my trip to Chicago April ’09)

There is only one Hot Doug’s location which is open from Monday to Saturday 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM (closed Sundays). Also his website has this additional comment regarding the hours ” We also take a whole bunch of holidays off, so give us a call to make sure we’re open (if it’s a holiday).”

READ ON for more of this week’s Friday 4 the Foodies…

Anvil! The Story of Anvil – premiering on VH1 Classic on Saturday at 10PM – tells the story of an obscure Canadian heavy metal band that plays to small crowds

Umphrey’s McGee announced that they will be busting out more musical mash ups at their first visit to Las Tortugas  on Halloween. The group played a number of mash ups

The ’00s haven’t been kind to the jamband genre as many bands who started the decade on the road don’t tour anymore. As we near the end of the decade, we wanted to put together a list of these groups. Sure, a few of these bands play shows occasionally for their loyal fans, but they haven’t hit the road for an extended trip recently.

Without further ado, here’s our list…

1. String Cheese Incident

The String Cheese Incident called it quits in 2007 and ended their touring career with four shows at Red Rocks. The band got back together to appear at Rothbury in July and rumor has it they will hit the road for more shows.

2. Ominous Seapods

The Seapods went on indefinite hiatus back in 2001, but have since regrouped for the occasional show including an appearance at moe.down 10 earlier this month.

READ ON for more bands that didn’t make it out of the decade…