Cyro Baptista and his Beat the Donkey take an art form that can easily grow tired from weeks on the road, and continually transform the stage into a lively circus atmosphere each night.
Three red wines from California’s 2001 Sonoma County vintage make up the second issuing on the J. Garcia label, produced under an agreement between Clos du Bois and the estate of late Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia. Like last year’s inaugural bottling, the labels of the Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel wines are based on paintings by Garcia.
Production of the Cabernet and Merlot was limited to 12,000 cases, while only 8,400 cases of the Zinfandel have been released. Each carries a retail price of $15. More information can be found at jgarciawine.com.
Source billboard.com.
In the past few years, fans leaving some concerts have discovered a souvenir far better than a T-shirt: a live recording of the show they just attended. Bands including the Allman Brothers, moe. and Billy Idol have sold instant concert discs, and the Pixies and the Doors plan to launch similar programs this summer. The recording-and-burning company DiscLive estimated on April 12th that it would gross $500,000 selling live discs this spring alone.
But in a move expected to severely limit the industry, Clear Channel Entertainment has bought the patent from the technology’s inventors and now claims to own the exclusive right to sell concert CDs after shows. The company, which is the biggest concert promoter in the world, says the patent covers its 130 venues along with every other venue in the country.
“We want to be artist-friendly,” says Steve Simon, a Clear Channel executive vice president and the director of Instant Live. “But it is a business, and it’s not going to be ‘we have the patent, now everybody can use it for free.'”
Artists net about ten dollars for every twenty- to twenty-five-dollar concert CD that’s sold, no matter which company they use. But with Clear Channel pushing to eliminate competition, many fear there will be less money and fewer opportunities to sell live discs. “It’s one more step toward massive control and consolidation of Clear Channel’s corporate agenda,” says String Cheese Incident manager Mike Luba, who feuded with Clear Channel last year after promoters blocked the band from using CD-burning equipment.
The Pixies, who are booking a fall reunion tour with several probable Clear Channel venues, say Clear Channel has already told them DiscLive can’t burn and sell CDs on-site. “Presuming Clear Channel’s service and product are of equal quality, it may be best to feed the dragon rather than draw swords,” says Pixies manager Ken Goes. “Still, I’m not fond of doing business with my arm twisted behind my back.”
Clear Channel doesn’t plan to stop Phish, Pearl Jam, the Who or other bands that make live recordings available days after the show. It has also granted one-dollar licenses to a few up-and-coming bands to record and sell instant CDs of their own shows. But Clear Channel executives maintain that they have the right to stop anyone who tries to infringe on the patent. Many say this strategy prevents inventors from jumping into a marketplace and creating further innovation. “We’d like to see this industry opened up to everybody,” says Erik Stubblebine, founder and vice president of Hyburn, a Phoenix company that has sold instant CDs for dozens of concerts in the past three years. “They’re trying to squeeze us.”
Source rollingstone.com.
Dave Matthews Band will add to its already bountiful live album catalog with the June 29th release of The Gorge, a six-CD box set recorded in 2002.
The set features unedited recordings from each show of a three-night stand at the scenic Gorge amphitheater in George, Washington. For fans who find the $49.99 price tag too hefty, the DMB is also releasing a $19.99 version that condenses the concerts down to a pair of CDs and a DVD. The track list for the shorter The Gorge set was picked by the band’s Warehouse fan club.
The larger box is a limited-edition set and will only be available through davematthewsband.com, which is currently taking pre-orders. The smaller set will be available through the site and also through retail. In addition to concert footage, the DVD also includes the short documentary A Look Inside the Gorge, the “Grace Is Gone” video and a short about the making of the video.
The Gorge (shorter version) track list:
Disc One
Panta Naga Pampa
Rapunzel
Song that Jane Likes
Fool to Think
You Never Know
Granny
Gravedigger
Everyday (#36)
Two Step
Disc Two:
Drive In, Drive Out
The Space Between
Kit Kat Jam
Lie in Our Graves
Proudest Monkey
Warehouse
DVD track list:
Grey Street
Ants Marching
Don’t Burn the Pig
What Would You Say
Loving Wings
Where Are You Going?
Seek Up
Halloween
Tripping Billies
Source rollingstone.com.
In a message posted on Phish’s website, band leader Trey Anastasio has announced with the below letter that the band will cease to exist after 21 amazing years together.
Last Friday night, I got together with Mike, Page and Fish to talk openly about the strong feelings I’ve been having that Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it’s still on a high note. Once we started talking, it quickly became apparent that the other guys’ feelings, while not all the same as mine, were similar in many ways — most importantly, that we all love and respect Phish and the Phish audience far too much to stand by and allow it to drag on beyond the point of vibrancy and health. We don’t want to become caricatures of ourselves, or worse yet, a nostalgia act. By the end of the meeting, we realized that after almost twenty-one years together we were faced with the opportunity to graciously step away in unison, as a group, united in our friendship and our feelings of gratitude.
So Coventry will be the final Phish show. We are proud and thrilled that it will be in our home state of Vermont. We’re also excited for the June and August shows, our last tour together. For the sake of clarity, I should say that this is not like the hiatus, which was our last attempt to revitalize ourselves. We’re done. It’s been an amazing and incredible journey. We thank you all for the love and support that you’ve shown us.
Source phish.com.
