2007

Jack Kerouac ruined my life. I had fantastic grades in high school. I was a hard worker, I went to class, had plenty of what ‘they’ call potential. I was well on my way to being a successful, productive member of capitalist American society. I could’ve been a banker, a businessman, a scientist or something respectable.

Then, I read On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Within two days of reading those final two words — “Dean Moriarty” — I quit the baseball team, bought a guitar and thought about smoking reefer. I started a poetry club at school and began saying things like “dig that, man!” In a word, I became “beat.”

I’ve since grown out of my immature, pseudo-beatnik phase and moved onto a mature, unrealistic-beatific phase (my Zeppelin phase remains the same). I got myself a day job, a cell phone and a 401k. But the profound impact of Kerouac and Moriarty goes on like the road. I still think about smoking reefer, and I occasionally listen to subversive jazz records. That mad, sympathetic desire for the American night still drives through my soul like a lone ‘38 Hudson sneaking up the Jersey Turnpike at 4 AM from parts unknown headed to destinations undetermined. I can’t shake that feeling…and I really don’t want to.

All of this mad-crazy fabulous energy was reawakened from slumber yesterday when I snuck out of work early like a grey dawn ghost and hoofed it down to the New York Public Library on 42nd and 5th. You see, the “scroll” has come home to Manhattan, part of a comprehensive exhibit about the embodiment of “Beat,” Jack Kerouac. For those of you not familiar with the Kerouac mythology, the “scroll” is the original 120 foot run-on-paragraph manuscript of the groundbreaking Beatnik utterance, On the Road. If you believe the legend, Jack speed-typed it out in a three-week insomniac haze of coffee and pea soup in his wife’s NYC apartment in 1951. It’s the original improvisational jam session of the literary world: a soul blown jazz-sax solo of stream-of-consciousness, over a rhythm section of real-world American-road experience.

Read on for more of Neeko’s semi-coherent ramblings and literary erections…

Much like a eunuch in an orgy, I watched many of my friends and colleagues enjoy the shit out of the gaming tables last night but experienced no pleasure for

You gotta love a band with a sense of humor, and no one keeps us in stitches like the Beastie Boys. The B-Boys summoned the immortal words of William Martin

Two of our favorite artists joined forces recently when the White Stripes took to the studio with Beck at the board producing three new tracks. Beck also contributed vocals and

Is there anything cooler than the Live Music Archive? Where else could you possibly download or stream more than 44,000 shows by 2,650 different artists? If you listened to one show from the archive a day, it would take you over 120 years to make it through all the shows currently on there.

This week’s edition of Grousing The Aisles looks at three shows that have been uploaded to the LMA over the past few days, and we’ll also point you in the direction in a buncha other cool shows on that site.

Derek Trucks Band 11/8/2007 DAUD [FLAC, MP3, STREAM]

It’s clear that Derek Trucks has been spending more time with his solo band than playing with the Allman Brothers Band. The chemistry between Trucks and the members of his band is undeniable. Keyboardist Kofi Burbridge excels at laying down beautiful melodies, allowing Trucks’ solos to soar. Vocalist Mike Mattison’s soulful voice adds an extra layer of bluesy goodness to the mix. The dynamic rhythm section of Todd Smallie on bass, Yonrico Scott on drums and Count M’butu on percussion have jelled nicely providing a steady danceable beat.

The Derek Trucks Band showed off their potent formula for a crowd that seemed to lap it up at a recent show in Collingswood, NJ. Gonna Move works oh-so-nicely as a peppy opener, leading into a more bluesy segment of Volunteered Slavery and I’ll Find My Way. Trucks finally works some of his instrumental magic during a powerful solo during the traditional Hurts Me Too. Other highlights include Mattison’s growling delivery of Get Out of My Life Woman, as well as the impressive interplay between band members during My Favorite Things. Derek and his band bring their powerful show to the ‘burbs this weekend hitting Bridgeport, CT on Thursday, Englewood, NJ on Friday and Mamaroneck, NY on Saturday. Read on for more downloads…

You should see the looks I get when I tell people that Crowded House put on the best concert I saw this summer. I saw about 30 concerts over that three-month period running the gamut of artists an styles including The Police, Muse, Tea Leaf Green and the White Stripes. But like James Brown and women, Crowded House’s epic performance at the Masonic Lodge in July beat them all.

Photos by Adam Kaufman

LiveDownloads.com started selling official recordings from every show on the band’s North American tour, so this week I finally downloaded the band’s August 19th gig from the House of Blues in Chicago to see if the magic continued throughout the run.

Most people don’t realize that Crowded House shows fit most of the criteria normally associated with jambands. First of all they never play the same setlist twice. The show from Chicago features many songs from 1991’s Woodface including There Goes God, Italian Plastic and Weather With You; all of which I didn’t get to see at the Masonic Lodge. The band played most of the songs from their five albums throughout the tour, giving them plenty of opportunity to mix things up nightly. Read on for much more…

We got a well needed chuckle this afternoon at these witty LOL-Cats pictures of Kurt Cobain singing on MTV Unplugged — we always thought there was something hilarious about Cobain’s