Archive: 2007

U.K. pop darling Lily Allen, who just wrapped up MTV’s "Discover and Download" tour, is returning to the States for a club and theatre tour book-ended by showcase and festival appearances. To kick things off, the singer will play a pair of showcases at the South By Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas – March 14 […]

After recording an EP and touring with Calexico, as well as taking time off to rear his infant daughter, Iron & Wine principal Sam Beam has wrapped his next studio album, "The Shepherd’s Dog." The 12-track set is due in late September via Sub Pop and will be supported with a two-month fall tour of […]

After a year’s hiatus, the Shortlist Music Prize is returning this year to recognize noteworthy 2006 albums that have not yet sold 500,000 units in the United States. Ten finalists will be announced from the present total of 61 nominations; the winner will be unveiled on a date to be determined. This year’s Listmakers are […]

Blues Traveler singer and harmonica player John Popper was arrested after the vehicle he was riding in was clocked going 111 mph, the Washington State Patrol said Wednesday. Popper, 39, was arrested Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 90 near the Spokane/Lincoln county line, the Washington State Patrol said. Inside the black Mercedes SUV, officers found a […]

The Slip's switch from loose jazzed-out odysseys towards verse/chorus/verse-oriented songwriting has played a big part in their recent break into the mainstream. This same progression is what has led many critics in the blogosphere to obsess over the aspect that they have gone from the “Jam-scene” to the “Indie scene.

After this post I’m off to Florida for some rest and relaxation…oh, and also an adult dose of great music and general good times at Langerado.

Before I check out (I’m already checked out mentally), you should check out the latest edition of Grousing the Aisles. This week we’re featuring a rare 1990 Bruce Hornsby show, the Cracker duo in Pittsburgh, an amazing Leo Kottke gig, and one of Addison Groove Project’s farewell shows. Enjoy the cold weather, suckers!

Bruce Hornsby 12/16/90 SBD (FLAC):

Over the three years that Bruce Hornsby was a member of the Grateful Dead he didn’t have many opportunities to play gigs with his own band. Hornsby only played six shows with The Range in 1990 after he joined the Dead, and that list includes this terrific show from the Concert Theater in Ventura, California.

For this performance Hornsby augmented the Range’s lineup with Shaun Murphy (Little Feat) and Laura Cramer on backing vocals. From the On The Western Skyline opener through the rest of the show, the ladies’ voices make a strong impact, giving a rare vocal fullness to Hornsby’s greatest hits. During recent shows Bruce may play one or two of his radio hits, but on this night he played them all. Hornsby also played Jacob’s Ladder and The End of the Innocence: two songs he wrote that were made famous by Huey Lewis and Don Henley, respectively.

Hornsby is energetic and enthused throughout the entire show. In many interviews Hornsby has complained about the rigid structure that had become entrenched in the routine of being a member of the Grateful Dead. Throughout this show Hornsby sings and plays piano like a man being let out of a cage. I’ve been searching for a Range show from this time period for a while, and it was worth the wait. If you like Bruce, you’ll love this show.

Read on for more music from Kottke, Cracker and the Addison Groove fellas…

We’ve got a juicy rumor that seems to be making the jump to fact. A number of industry sources have indicated to us that the North American segment of the Live Earth festival will be held at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens.

Hey, Gore, Shea is a shithole. Perhaps the organizers were feeling a bit of nostalgia, as the home of the Mets will be closing after the 2008 baseball season.

Aside from the word of our sources, here’s another clue: The Mets will be away from the park from June 29th to July 11th, giving the organizers and field crew plenty of time to assemble and take down the stage and production elements.

The 07/07/07 Live Earth is a 24-hour festival billed as the “The Concert for a Climate in Distress.” Al Gore, the main spokeperson for the worldwide event, says it will take place at seven separate locations, each one on a different continent. Confirmed locations include London’s Hyde Park, Johannesburg, Shanghai, and Sydney. The venue in Antarctica has yet to be announced, but I have a feeling that will be an easy ticket no matter at which igloo the bands play.

The performers that have been announced at press time are:

* AFI * Akon * The Black Eyed Peas * Bloc Party * Bon Jovi * Corrine Bailey Rae * Damien Rice * Duran Duran * Enrique Iglesias * Fall Out Boy * Faith Hill * Foo Fighters * Genesis * John Mayer * John Legend * Kanye West * Keane * Kelly Clarkson * Kenna * Korn * Lenny Kravitz * Maná * Melissa Etheridge * Paolo Nutini * Pharrell Williams * The Police * Ray LaMontagne * Red Hot Chili Peppers * Robin Thicke * Sheryl Crow * Snoop Dogg * Snow Patrol * Tim McGraw

Read on for more on the storied history of rock concerts at Shea Stadium…

Every week in Wednesday Intermezzo we throw you a link to the latest edition of the Grateful Dead’s Taper’s Section. If you haven’t been clicking on that link and downloading all the tracks on the page, you are truly missing out. David Lemieux and the archive staff are releasing tasty rare nugget after nugget each […]

During the final day of February 2007, New Yorkers were treated to Sparklehorse’s second show in Manhattan in six months, a feat considering it took five years for 2006’s astonishing Dreamt For Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain to finally be released.

On a day rife with major news announcements in our cosy corner of the music world, I offer youse our regular Tuesday department for your consumption… Think The Gourds’ unique take on Gin and Juice was both clever and well-played? Well, this clip puts it to shame. To shame, I says. Check out this fucking […]

The Chairman of the Boards, Page McConnell, will be playing his first gig in promotion of his new solo album on April 4th at New York City’s Gramercy Theater. Page’s band will be the same group he played with at moe.down, only with Gabe Jarrett (Jazz Mandolin Project, Vorcza) replacing Jon Fishman on drums. Ticket […]

My one-year-old nephew is gonna be fuckin’ stoked to hear this news: Children’s entertainer Laurie Berkner will be one of the headliners at this year’s Green Apple Music & Arts Festival. Having just spent an entire afternoon at my kin’s birthday party listening to Berkner’s entire catalog, I can safely say that the tradition of wacky jamband lyrics will surely remain alive at this particular festival.

Check out the list of the other headliners at the upcoming three-city Green Apple festival, courtesy of Mike Greenhaus at Relix:

Bob Weir and RatDog, Taylor Hicks, Decemberists, Umphrey’s McGee, the Disco Biscuits, Greyboy Allstars, Kaiser Chiefs, Stephen Marley and world-famous children’s performer Laurie Berkner are among the artists scheduled to headline the second annual Green Apple Music and Arts Festival.

As previously reported, the world’s largest Earth Day celebration will expand to three cities this spring, simultaneously taking place in New York, San Francisco and Chicago from April 20-22. Produced by Relix Magazine and Peter Shapiro and presented by JP Morgan Chase, Green Apple is a direct descendent of New York’s famed Wetlands Preserve, which meshed music with activism. In total, Green Apple will present over 150 performances in 60 music venues.

It’s certainly not as powerful as I had hoped for, especially in New York, but at least I know I’ll be solidly entertained for a pleasant three-day span next month. Read on for many more details on which artists are playing in which cities, as well as what the people of New York, San Francisco and Chicago are in for…

Guitarist Benjamin Curtis of the ridiculously fluffed trio The Secret Machines is calling it quits. According to his brother Brandon on the band’s message board, “After 7 and 1/2 years of playing music together Benjamin has decided to no longer be a part of the band. It is a sad day but also an exciting one as he […]

Internet radio continues to get screwed. So we’ve asked frequent HT commenter and all-around good guy makeithappen77 from Some More From The Road to break down just how badly these Internet radio stations are getting the shaft…

After learning about the decision of the Copyright Royalty Board to increase the royalty rates for music broadcast on Internet radio, I felt prompted to make a few impassioned arguments against it. But as I did more research, I learned that my initial under-informed reaction was more correct than I dared hope.

As with most far-reaching legal decisions, well, I guess I can sum it up by saying there’s a lot of information on the topic. I’ve got certain information, all right? Certain things have come to light. And, given the nature of all this new shit, you know, it’s not just, it might not be just such a simple…uh, you know?…I’ve got information man! New shit has come to light!

Leave it to me to distill all the legalese and get you to the point. The decision handed down by the Copyright Royalty Board significantly raises the per-play rate schedule for each song broadcast on an Internet radio station retroactive to January 2006. And that’s going to pose significant problems for many Internet radio stations, as well as plenty of non-mainstream artists. Read on for more of makeithappen’s in-depth analysis on why this is a bad shake…

An uncharacteristically short three years after their last disc, 2004’s "To the 5 Boroughs," the Beastie Boys are putting the finishing touches on a new record. "Hopefully that’ll be out this summer, too," group member Adam Yauch tells Billboard. Though he remained characteristically tight-lipped about details, Yauch says the Beasties plan to air out some […]

With a clearly undersold US Airways Center for The Who, following a Tuesday night’s sold out serving of Bob Seger, the The Who’s name couldn’t have been more relevant in Phoenix. Hello? The Who just happen to be a title contender for the “world’s greatest rock band ever” – right up next to The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Who know, maybe it’s just a Wednesday night thing. However, this is The Who, and whether its rock operas, drug overdoses, operatic falsettos, windmill guitar riffs or the long awaited new album (Endless Wire), The Who’s name speaks for itself.

This new documentary follows Hosoi’s career from young skating prodigy to the top of the skateboard world and his status as a certified “rock star” living a notorious life style with endless money to burn. Thats when his life begins a descent into crystal-meth addiction and an eventual arrest that led to him spending just over four years in a Hawaiian prison.

Get the opening torch ready for a run towards Tonic: Marco Benevento and Joe Russo have announced The Duo will kick off April’s three-city Green Apple Music & Arts Festival in New York with two acoustic shows.

The Duo’s on its way back east from three recent gigs in Colorado and Chicago as half of the wonderful Zeppelin super-impersonsators, Bustle In Your Hedgerow. Marco and Joe will re-unite with Scott Metzger and Diamond Dave Dreiwitz for another gig in New Jersey on St. Patrick’s Day, then the duo will kick off the Green Apple proceedings in about six weeks on the Lower East Side:

We’ve heard the rumblings, we’ve heard the requests, and while we aren’t ready to load up the van and hit the road for an extended tour just yet, we do have a treat for the home team. We are doing our part and going GREEN to kick things off at the Second Annual Green Apple Festival. We will be playing two very intimate ACOUSTIC performances at Tonic in New York City on April 19th as part of the Official Green Apple Music Festival Kick Off! Tickets will be available through DuoTicketing beginning on Friday, March 2nd. Tickets will be $15 in advance and $20 on the day of show. There will be TWO shows, one at 8pm and one at 11pm. The shows are an 18 and over. Check out the goings on in your neck of the woods and head over to greenapplefestival.com.

Sir Joe Russo will also close out the Green Apple fest on Sunday, April 22 with his old bandmates from Fat Mama. The now-official reunion of this underappreciated jazz outfit comes on the heels of the A Big YES…and a small no quasi-Fat Mama reunion show at vibraphonist Kevin Kendrick’s 30th birthday, and if that gig is any indication of Fat Mama’s cohesiveness in the face of time off from each other, we’d all be wise to make it to this Sunday gig. In the words of The Duo’s humorous management, this festival “begins and ends when Joe Russo says.”

Read on for more on Marco’s newest live release and newish trio, plus some amazing photos from Bustle’s Chicago show on Friday…

You really gotta love The Roots. I must admit I’m not a huge fan of most of the hip hop genre in general, but how can you go wrong with a group of talented artists that actually play their own instruments, write great songs and cover all subsections of music extremely fucking well? You can’t, methinks. In […]

There seems to be no turning back now…How’s that for famous last words? The Police continue to add tour dates to their itinerary at a blistering pace. These guys are the anti-Van Halen. Today, in the latest salvo, the trio announced its first European tour in nearly 24 years. And you can also look for the band to […]