Columns

We’d like to welcome back U-Melt keyboard ace Zac Lasher for the third set of entries from the Tour Diary he kept for Hidden Track. For parts one and two, Zac wrote about U-Melt’s journey through America’s Heartland. Now, we bring you the final installment of Zac’s Hidden Track Tour Diary…

4/27 – On the road to Tulsa

The county gets really big out here. Being from the Northeast, I’m used to everything being really close together. Not here. Another day of driving hours and hours with absolutely nothing around for miles and miles and miles gives me time to reflect. I found out about the pretty serious electronic music scene in eastern Colorado… I gotta say, it’s pretty hip – we opened for an electronic act that rocked the house at the Fox in Boulder, and on Saturday in Denver we played next door to a big electronic music circus complete with fire-dancers, stilt-walkers and live-painters. It was all very Burning-Man.

I’m very into that kind of scene, so I definitely enjoyed it, but it did all make me wonder as to the place of Rock ’n Roll in today’s (and tomorrow’s) world. It seems to me that electronica is a new kind of folk music. It doesn’t really require musical training, and it doesn’t require hours of rehearsal with a band. You just need a laptop, some key software and the inspiration and tenacity to learn how to use it, and you can get a crowd into a frenzy playing your produced tracks. READ ON for more of Zac Lasher’s Tour Diary…

A video of Trey performing If I Could with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra last night has surfaced (HT- Coventry Blog)… Trey w/ BSO – If I Could Previously on HT:

Bonjour mes amis, I have returned from my vacation to the Paris, the City of Lights. One of my new discoveries my first week back is a new ice cream truck that I came across on University Place called Van Leeuwen Artisanal Ice Cream. I was on my way back from dinner with my brother and his kids the other night when we stumbled on the bright yellow truck…

We tried the vanilla bean which was very rich and full of flavor. After doing some research, I found out the the trucks have been out and about for almost a year in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. According to an article written on the Farm Fresh Creative blog, which published an excerpt from the creative brief written by Ben Van Leewen, the Van Leeuwen trucks uses quality products for everything (read below):

“To give you an idea of the product, we use hormone free milk and cream from small family farms in New York State, cane sugar and egg yolks. We never use milk powder, corn syrup, stabilizers, or preservatives. We age organic Bourbon and Tahitian Vanilla Beans in oak barrels with vodka for 4 months to extract them. We use pure Sicilian Pistachios, hand picked by small family farmers on the slopes of Mount Etna in Bronte. We use Tonda La gentile origin certified Hazelnuts from Piedmont. We source our chocolate from Michel Cluizel in France( they use no Soya Lechitin!). We use Quinn Farms Hudson Valley red currants. We have set out to make the best readily available super-premium ice cream while also educating consumers on why slow food produced ingredients taste better.”

READ ON for this week’s links and more on Van Leeuwen’s…

The Band – Rocking Chair

Once again, iClips will be broadcasting live from the Summer Camp Festival all weekend long, but unlike past Summer Camp webcasts this year’s webcasts won’t be free. Day passes run

Phish guitarist and singer Trey Anastasio reached deep into his bag of tricks for his performance tonight with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Charm City. Among

Over the past few years Panicstream.com has turned into a must-visit portal for Spreadheads wanting the latest information about Widespread Panic. One of my favorite features of the site is

For the latest installment of their Bisco Inferno series of Colorado concerts, the Disco Biscuits have booked Red Rocks for their first headlining show at the iconic amphitheater on May 30. Along with two sets of Bisco, concertgoers will also be treated to sets by legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold, Lotus, DJ Z-Trip, the New Deal, Orchard Lounge and RJD2. Tickets for both the Red Rocks event and the Biscuits’ warm up show at the Ogden in Denver on May 29 as well as two-day passes are onsale via Ticketmaster.

[Photo by Jason Woodside]

We spoke with Disco Biscuits bassist Marc Brownstein about how the event came together and what fans can expect. Here’s what he had to say…

Hidden Track: How far in advance does the band plan the setlist for a special show like Bisco Inferno? Does the surroundings at such an epic venue affect the thought process on song selection and what “type” of Biscuits show you are going to construct?

Marc Brownstein: We have been thinking bout the setlist for Red Rocks for months. It keeps changing though because Magner keeps coming in with new amazing songs.

HT: Can you tell us about your experience at Red Rocks in 2001 opening for Phil Lesh and Friends?

MB: What a day. It was pretty cool to get a standing ovation after the Thieving Magpie. Then, watching Phil and Warren tear that place up – it was really a treat.

READ ON for more from Marc about next weekend’s Bisco Inferno…