Archive: 2007

Some days they giveth gifts, and sometimes, on that same day they taketh, too. [youtube]_rn6AEVXpeo[/youtube] If Oscar Peterson wasn’t the greatest piano player, he’s certainly on the short list.

Oscar Peterson, whose early talent, speedy fingers and musical genius made him one of the world’s best known jazz pianists, has died. He was 82. Peterson died yesterday (Dec. 23) at his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, said Oliver Jones, a family friend and jazz musician. He said Peterson’s wife and daughter were […]

Looks like Jay-Z can loosen up his tie a little more. The iconic-rapper-turned-record-exec announced Monday (December 24) that he will step down from his post as president and CEO of Def Jam Records. According to The Associated Press, Hov said now was the right time for his exit. "It’s time for me to take on […]

Like most other secular Semitic folk, the neurotic Jews that run Hidden Track typically associate the Christmas holiday with Chinese food, blockbuster movies, casino trips with the Asians and beach-dominated Caribbean vacations. Sadly we’re not publishing this post with the sand ‘neath our feet, so we’re loading up the molester-white van and taking you all to Jamaica, to a musical resort that Dave Chappelle tells me is “right near ‘da beach.” Boooyeeee.

Mid-December brought the respective and crossover fanbases of Umphrey’s McGee and the Disco Biscuits down to the Greater Antilles for an all-inclusive Caribbean Holidaze music vacation. Fans shuttled back and forth between the Hedonism III and Breezes resorts, the former of which featured early afternoon and evening sets from the two aforementioned bands, plus the stellar Benevento/Russo Duo, Keller Williams, Mad Professor, Tom Hamilton and the Beatles-Floyd supergroup known as Brain-Damaged Eggmen.

Our friend Dave Vann knows his way around an f-Stop, and he agreed to snap some photographic evidence of bands melting faces and fans raging their tits off. So read on after the jump for a full photo gallery from Caribbean Holidaze, featuring pictures and YouTube videos of all the live acts, the gorgeous scenery and a climate many of us long for at this very moment. And since we weren’t there ourselves, feel free to leave a first-hand report or observation in the comments…

We’ve been pretty harsh on STS9 in the past, so on the day before Christmas, it’s only fair we recognize a cool thing they’re doing for their fans. STS9 is teaming up with iClips to offer free webcasts of their upcoming shows at The Tabernacle in Atlanta on December 28-31.

Fans that weren’t able to score tickets to the nearly sold out run will be able to surround their screens with heady crystals while watching a five-camera feed from the shows. We’d usually throw in a joke about feeding Phipps’ daughter here, but we’ll move on since these guys are also donating $12,000 from this year’s NYE shows to Rock Against Cancer. Good stuff.

Now let’s start the abbreviated holiday week off right with some linkage:

• Levon Helm, Bruce Hornsby and Bela Fleck head the MerleFest lineup
• Mike Gordon, Luther Dickinson and others look back on 2007 for the third installment of Jambands.com’s Auld Lang Syne
• Take Live Nation’s 50 Moments That Revolutionized Music quiz
• Stereogum previews studio albums due for release next year
• Despite a slew of reunions, the concert industry slumps into 2008
• VH-1 teams with CBS to offer Classic 60 Minutes
• Tom Waits returns in August to cities he hasn’t played in decades
• Are The Paradise’s days as Boston’s top rock club numbered?
• Ickmusic remembers Joe Strummer five years after his death

Finally, read on after the jump for a very special Christmas Eve video treat…

We’ve twice discussed the unexpected gifts that some of our favorite musicians are proffering for Christmas, and now we can add Phil Lesh’s name to the growing list: The best bomb-dropper outside the U.S. military kicked down seven soundboards from his 10-night stand at the Nokia Theatre in New York. Ten crazy nights, like a […]

While there have been previous, not to mention extensive, archival reissues of Elvis Costello’s discography in recent years, the third one begun earlier in 2007 may end up being the best of the lot. At least if subsequent titles demonstrate the comprehensive logic of My Aim Is True 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.

John Mayer and a boatload of musical friends will be onboard Mayercraft Carrier cruise, setting sail in February Mayercraft Carrier is set to leave the Port of Miami on the Carnival Victory luxury ships on February 1, 2008, sail to Freeport, Bahamas, and return on February 4. Mayer will be joined by a group of […]

Every Time I Die, Relient K, and The Academy Is highlight an initial list of acts released by organizers of next summer’s 14th annual Vans Warped Tour. Other names included in the first batch of confirmed performers are Gym Class Heroes, The Briggs, TheBronx, From First to Last, The Street Dogs, Reel Big Fish, Norma […]

The Mountain Goats will kicki off headlining tour early next year behind their new studio album, "Heretic Pride," which hits stores in February. The duo–ever-present singer/guitarist John Darnielle and bassist Peter Hughes–kicks off the brief run Feb. 19 in Anchorage, AK, with a total of 11 shows in seven cities confirmed through the first week […]

Director Anton Corbijn recreates Curtis’ struggles in Control, basing the script on the autobiography, “Touching From a Distance,” by Curtis’ widow. The urban decay and paranoia of late 1970’s Manchester, England is conjured vividly from the film makers black and white imagery, which later gave birth to the “Madchester” scene a decade later.

I was flippin’ through the channels last night when I came across a Dennis Hopper-narrated documentary on punk. I realized after a few minutes that I was watching an episode of Seven Ages of Rock about the Punk Age. The BBC and VH-1 Classic spared no expense creating these fascinating documentaries about the history of […]

The world moves on a woman’s hips; the world moves and it swivels and bops… It’s Friday, it’s 3 pm, and many of you will be off for the next few weekdays for a holiday that I believe celebrates the birth of Santa. So let’s get straight to the point here: The following video could […]

You walk into the Paul Robeson Theater, a former church tucked away in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene, and the first thing that springs to mind is the timeless middle-school assembly. Should we say no to drugs, or to crime, or is someone about to raise a little more awareness about The AIDS? Are the 8th grade elections coming up? Four-day school weeks, motherfucker, promise me!

So you take your seat next to a lovely blonde and wait for the band that’s scheduled to play this hidden gem. They come out, they begin to tune, and instantly your drawn to the awesome acoustics of the small auditorium. The music bounces off the walls and the band immediately sounds the best they’ve ever been. Then it hits you: This may be the coolest venue you’ve never heard of, and you want everyone you’ve ever fancied to play on that stage…post-haste.

American Babies took that stage at 10:30 last night, part of the Paul Robeson Concert Series that’s begun to bring more rock acts to this underutilized venue. I’ve seen the Babies — Tom Hamilton and Scott Metzger on guitar, Jim Hamilton on bass and Sir Joe Russo at the kit — more times this year than any other band, and last night may have been their finest show of 2007. Read on…

It’s time once again to consult the 8 Ball that is Uncle Neddy for his last dabbling in mixology for the Year of Our Lord Two-Thousand Seven: “Here are some live tracks from the latter half of this year. Thanks always to the tapers and others who make these great tunes readily available. As usual, these being live recordings, the quality varies, but it’s all good. Here’s to much rockin’ and rollin’ in 2008.”

01 While You Were Sleeping — Elvis Perkins in Dearland: 3 December 2007
02 Pilgrims — Widespread Panic: 29 September 2007
03 The General Specific — Band Of Horses: 6 September 2007
04 Time Travel Is Lonely — John Vanderslice: 22 September 2007
05 Fake Empire — The National: 17 August 2007
06 Trapeze Swinger — Iron and Wine: 29 November 2007

• CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK’S FRIDAY MIX TAPE

Live Nation moved one step closer to an imminent showdown with Ticketmaster by forging a partnership with CTS Eventim, a global ticketing technology platform. The artist formerly known as Clear Channel Entertainment poses the first real threat to Ticketmaster’s reign of terror since the long lost days of Ticketron.

We’re sick of paying $2.50 for the honor of printing our own tickets, so we welcome any relief competition gives to the consumer. Then again, Live Nation isn’t quite the Ralph Nader of the entertainment biz, so maybe we will just have two companies sucking us dry. Yeah, that’s the more likely option. I sense we’re gonna get the fingercuffs from both ends on this one.

So let’s get the Friday before Christmas started with a hearty batch of links:

• Jack White’s working on three new albums; don’t ask him what’s on ’em
• Led Zeppelin Rumor of the Day: Headlining Glastonbury
• The Smashing Pumpkins offer four new tracks exclusively via iTunes
• Look for Rush to return to some familiar venues next summer
• Del McCoury and High Sierra Music team up to announce DelFest
• January will bring us unusually worthwhile re-issues of Beck’s Odelay and Van Morrison’s first six albums
• The SNL cast stages another strike show at Comix on January 7
• Stream Andrew Bird’s breakout performance from Bumbershoot, courtesy of KEXP

And the long-awaited 11th episode of Yacht Rock debuts at the Knitting Factory on December 27. What soft rock all-stars are they gonna skewer this time?

The folks over at KEXP, that venerable institution of all things musically cool, have put together a third mix tape, culled from their back catalogue of live, in-studio performances.

The title track that opens Delta Moon’s Clear Blue Flame is a song about moonshine. Yes, it’s that kind of album. The subject matter, however, is of little importance. This is an album where the gritty blues rock riffs, country twang and trademark duel slide guitars are at the forefront.

Fomred with a pair of ex-members of English punk-pop pioneers The Jam, spin-off group From the Jam will launch an American tour in January, playing the music of their former band. The group–featuring Jam bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler, along with singer/guitarist Russell Hastings and guitarist/keyboardist Dave Moore–will kick off a 13-city run […]

Locals plan to establish an Allman Brothers Band museum at the Big House – the Vineville Avenue home where band members lived as they rose to worldwide stardom. Beyond the museum, which the Big House Foundation hopes to open in 2009, there are plans to establish new music programs in a partnership with Bibb County […]