It’s become moderately fashionable to over-appreciate and impersonate the genius of Michael McDonald. After living in the wayback of the public consciousness for the better part of two decades, the
Marco Benevento knows his math. The bearded hipster pianist wisely chose to set up a regular Wednesday residency at Tonic on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in November, which fortunately for all of us, has five Wednesdays. As Cosby would say, that’s “One, two, three, four, fiiiiive Marco Wednesdays.” Bonus.
Last night’s over-before-it-started, 70-minute show marked the middle gig of Marco’s Novemberstand, a (mostly) solo performance full of experimental covers and spacey loops. Somehow he ended up with more equipment on stage than most full bands, but like a musical polygamist, I’m pretty sure he spent a little time with every one of them: the grand piano, the electric piano, the tiny keyboard, toy circuits, drum pad, you name it. Still, the per instrument set-up to play-time ratio couldn’t have been lower than 5:1. I made that up, but it sounded good.
Marco began with Randy Pink Floyd’s Fearless, then followed that stellar beginning with terrifically tickled homages to Thelonius Monk (Bye-Ya), Leonard Cohen (Seems So Long Ago, Nancy) and Radiohead. He even played a lesser known Duo tune off Best Reason To Buy The Sun, Welcome Red, before saying something like “Joe [Russo] is gonna kill me for playing that.” But if a recording of this show ever surfaces, that Monk tune — a grand piano jazz performance devoid of all his typical layers of sound — floored me more than any of his other inventiveness.
Marco eventually called up to the stage his occasional collaborator and preferred rock shredder Scott Metzger for three songs near the end of his set. The lowercase duo kicked it off with a Combustible Edison tune, hightailed it into the capitalized Duo’s Abduction Pose and finished it up with a Happy Birthday-infused cover of Ween’s Birthday Boy (read on below for a couple of videos I shot of these last two). As much as I loved the solo stuff, Metzger took the night’s proceedings to a higher level, his understated-ness notwithstanding.
You’ve got two more chances to see Marco & Friends down at Tonic this month. Next Wednesday features the keyboardist with three drummers — Sir Joe Russo, Bobby Previte and Mike Dillon (and where there’s a Mike D there’s usually a Skerik, but…). Make it your beeswax to get down there and see what unfolds…
Just think, one week from today we’ll all be off and celebrating the turkiest of all days. We’re almost there, and to help you get to the short week faster, check out
Because sometimes you just gotta share cool shit with your friends… I love the brief description of this video on YouTube: “Just because you dont know how to play the
Comets on Fire updates the grind of the ‘70s with clean production and melodic piano noodling putting it in a context both timeless and contemporary. All this is accomplished within a framework that would please Iron Butterfly. Avatar is a great way to keep listening to old-school “hard rock” without being accused of being out of touch with the music of today.
Like the Magic Numbers’ recent debut before them, Mohair is bound to make another dent as new classic pop songwriters from across the way.
Less than 10 months after releasing the most critically acclaimed album of the year – Fishscale – Ghost is back and as strong as ever with the surprising and equally
Music legend Willie Nelson has written and recorded a new, topical song called "Whatever Happened To Peace On Earth?" to speak out about the current political climate and world conditions.
We’ve gone grousing the aisles once again to help you get over this week’s hump. This edition returns to our jambandian roots, with a few clever diversions into classic rock. We’re moving beyond torrents and opening up the floor to streaming shows, as well as MP3 downloads. Don’t worry, we’ll alert you as to what’s what.
Benevento/Russo Duo – 11/3/2006 Matrix (FLAC)
bt.etree.org/details.php?id=501756
Compliments to The Duo — it’s a very fan-friendly move to allow tapers to record matrix versions and spread them within days of the show. The sound quality on this particular show is amazing, and it helps that the band kicks the proverbial asses of Something For Rockets, Becky and 9×9. The Duo gets better every show they play, and we look forward to watching their continued upward trajectory.
Read on for more on The Clash, The Who, The Santana, The Umphrey’s, The Phish, The Grateful Dead, The J. Geils Band and more…
The lineup for the 5th Annual Langerado Music Festival is now officially out there, and it looks pretty damn good. Save all your anti-jamband bullshit for Coachella, ya hipster doofus, this one’s gonna be down and dirty.
The Langerado Music Festival is known for kicking off the country’s festival season each March by attracting thousands of music lovers from all over the country to sunny South Florida. Today, the region’s premier music festival makes its first announcement regarding the artist line-up for its fifth annual event, happening at Markham Park on March 9, 10, and 11, 2007. Reputed for always gathering a diverse collection of today’s hottest artists, 2007’s Langerado Music Festival is thrilled to host Widespread Panic, Trey Anastasio, moe., O.A.R., Matisyahu, Micheal Franti & Spearhead, Paolo Nutini, The Disco Biscuits, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Toots and the Maytals, Los Lobos, Blackalicious, Yerba Buena, Girl Talk, Explosions in the Sky, Rodrigo y Gabriela and many, many others. Visit http://www.langerado.com for the complete list of confirmed artists, with more artists still to be announced.
Good lord, I know it’s a pipe dream, but what I wouldn’t give to see Trey take the stage with Stevie Malkmus and MMW. Greyboy, Toots, Tea Leaf Green, The Slip, Bela, moe., Panic, and look out for Band of Horses, Apollo Sunshine, Sharon Jones and Assembly of Dust — this thing is a dream lineup for this here sucker.
Tickets go on sale to the public December 1st, and the late-night shows will be announced shortly. Read on for the full lineup, and let us know what you think — are you a holier-than-thou hipster that’s pissed there’s no Death Cab for M. Ward, or are you a satisfied wook ready to sling phatty grilled cheese in the lots?
