Archive: 2007

On the recommendation of my indie-bent pal Doc Hoobs, I legally downloaded the 19-track, Pete Townshend-infused Attic Jam off of iTunes. The playlist features songs recorded from Rachel Fuller’s online music chat program, In The Attic. And after just one listen, I’m starting to agree with Hoobs’ viewpoint that by listening to many of the […]

As we (and the entire music blogging community) reported yesterday, Al Gore’s invented an epic global warming awareness summertime concert. The lineup so far looks pretty blah, but now three big names have been tossed into the fray: “ROLLING STONE has learned exclusively that we can add three more music heavyweights to the bill: The Police, […]

We’ve got Neddy’s Arcade Fire review and a slew of Leftovers today, but that all pales in comparison to Max Weinberg’s thoughts on Britney Spears’ ham wallet.   [youtube]aCa9Y5AHiYo[/youtube] I sure miss Andy Richter (still), but Max really has the comedic timing thing down.

Our friend Neddy headed down to Judson Memorial Church last night for a taste of New York’s most hyped week-long event in years. Here’s his report…

I never dreamed that I would climb
Over the moon in ecstasy
But nevertheless, it’s there that I’m
Shortly about to be
‘Cause I’ve got a golden ticket

Willy Wonka was a PR genius, no doubt. I mean, that golden ticket thing made grown men go ape-shit for candy bars. It was the hype machine at its finest and yet, the fact of the matter is, the chocolate was actually pretty damn good. These are the thoughts I had as what seems like the entire city of New York (as well as any portion of the music blogosphere worth a damn) has gone somewhat ape-shit themselves over The Arcade Fire and their super-special week of shows at the certainly-too-small Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village.

The hype was to the point where it was literally impossible for the band to live up to it, but when C-Dawg asked me to be the Grandpa Joe to his lucky Charlie Bucket for Thursday night’s performance, I had no choice but to drag my asleep-at-the-wheel ass out of bed, grab my cane and head into the Large Apple.

Read on for the rest of Neddy’s Arcade Fire @ Judson review, which contains more Willy Wonka imagery and a handful of YouTubes and great photos. Oh, and if you read on ’til the end, we’ve got the 2/13/07 AF download for you.

The end of this week couldn’t come soon enough for me. The NYC weather has been brutally chilly, and I look forward to a three-day weekend. President’s Day weekend also signals the beginning of spring training for baseball players and fans. In covering music and concert news for the past few months, it seems like the music […]

Get the Soulshine Receiver™ out the attic. We’re goin’ camping.

Clear the first week of June on your hippie calendars (or do wooks go by the lunar?): Warren Haynes announced the lineup for the third annual Mountain Jam Music Festival this evening on WDST radio. Warren’s festival, which takes place at Hunter Mountain in New York, has even added a third day of music.

Call us jamband fluffers, but to us the lineup looks solid to quite solid. According to the press release, the following bands will perform:

Gov’t Mule, Umphrey’s McGee, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Robert Randolph and The Family Band, New Orleans Social Club featuring Henry Butler, Ivan Neville, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter Jr and Raymond Webber, Ozomatli, North Mississippi, Tea Leaf Green, New Monsoon, and Backyard Tire Fire. Late night performances as well as additional artists will be announced soon.

This is clearly one festival that’s not kowtowing to the burgeoning hipster crowd, offering a straight-up barrage of jambands. Noodle on.

• A photo gallery from the 2006 Mountain Jam
• 2007 Mountain Jam press release (follows after the jump, too)

One story that’s slipped through most of the live music blogging cracks this week is the demise of another famed outdoor venue: Antioch’s Starwood Amphitheatre. According to the Tennessean, “Starwood Amphitheatre in Antioch has been closed by its parent company, Live Nation, in advance of a likely sale to an undisclosed buyer, a company spokesman […]

Chris Cornell has split Audioslave, the band he formed with three former members of Rage Against The Machine, due to unspecified "irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences," according to a statement. "This is something I don’t want to do anymore," Cornell tells Billboard.com of Audioslave. "There were problems from the very beginning and […]

Wilco has finalized the track list for its upcoming album, "Sky Blue Sky," which, as previously reported, is due May 15 via Nonesuch. The 12-track set includes several tunes that have already been played live, including the title cut, "Walken" and "On and On and On." "I think people may have an idea in their […]

Following an intense performance by Read Yellow, Campaign For Real Time dove head-first into an interactive set that proved why the group is quickly growing to be known as the biggest band to come out of Boston since the Dresden Dolls.

It’s unbelievable how far we’ve come from Al and Tipper Gore’s days of advocating censorship as leaders of the PMRC in the late 1980s. The former vice president today announced a campaign to make people aware of global warming called Save Our Selves, which will culminate in a live multi-venue concert on 07/07/07 dubbed Live […]

You can find some crazy videos when spelunking the depths of YouTube. This week’s edition of The B List presents 12 great clips from the backstage area at concerts. Some are funny, and others are just damn cool to see:

Read on below for a full list of 12 unbelievable backstage videos that span all genres, fantastic clips that include Van Halen, Jimi, DMX and Jay-Z, Leo Kottke, Nirvana, Dylan with Lou Reed and BB King, and Motley Crue’s meat fetish…

The Arcade Fire’s about to begin playing the first few notes of their second New York City show, part of a five-night stand at Judson Memorial Church. I think this tour is in support of the band’s highly anticipated second album “We Can Stab a Rusty Shiv Into the Belly of a Pregnant Broad and […]

With an unpopular war claiming lives overseas, there just couldn't be a more appropriate time for the U.S. vs. John Lennon to be released. This relevant collection from one of the world's most fondly remembered musicians includes anthems inspired by a campaign for peace launched by John and Yoko.

The self-titled debut release from the New York City based quartet Pagoda, embraces indie-folk dimensions and merges it with alternative rock gales.

A collection of unreleased music from late singer/songwriter Elliott Smith will be released this spring. "New Moon" rounds up 24 tracks recorded between 1994-1997. The project is due May 8 via Kill Rock Stars and will also be available as a double vinyl set. Some of the material is understood to have been produced by […]

Jews, call your overbearing mothers and tell ’em that attending the Langerado festival will not hinder your steadfast plans to observe the Sabbath as usual. Services will commence at sundown on Friday with a very special rabbinical leader. Matisyahu, a popular American Jewish reggae artist, performs Sunday, March 11th at the festival, and will be […]

We’re aware this is a music blog first and foremost, but we’d like to present this not-so-funny clip about sparring comedians in this here space. And after all, the over-arching issue at hand, idea theft, has plagued the music community forever. I’ve been following the Joe Rogan/Carlos Mencia feud since the get-go, and it’s a doozy. Rogan accuses Mencia of stealing jokes and Mencia […]

We’re trying something different for this week’s edition of Grousing The Aisles: For your continued enjoyment, we’re adding links to high quality mp3 versions of some of the shows that are featured. Please weigh in and let us know if this is something we should continue. Allright, let’s get down to business here:

Betts, Leavell, Hall, and Trucks 04/23/83 SBD (320kbps MP3):

I didn’t even know this band ever existed until I came upon a torrent of this show from Hobart College. In 1983, the Allman Brothers Band had been broken up for a while, allowing all the members to pursue individual projects. Dickie Betts and Butch Trucks formed a cleverly titled band called BHLT with former Allmans’ piano player Chuck Leavell and Jimmy Hall on harmonica.

This show is one of few that circulate from BHLT’s short tenure. The band plays a number of Allmans classics and a few originals Leavell wrote with Betts (Chuck Leavell features a clip of Rain, one of the originals he wrote with Betts, on his website). BHLT had plans to record but dissolved before that ever became a reality. Luckily for us we can re-live this meeting of southern rock all-stars by listening to this show.

Read on for more from the popular rock band Phish, Clapton and moe…

We confirmed the Bonnaroo 2007 lineup last night, Roger Waters is coming back to the USA, and all is right with the world halfway through the week. Let’s look around the cyberweb and check in on some of the shit that’s out there: Blogcritics.com presents a list of rock’s greatest bass riffs If you don’t have tickets to see […]