January 24, 2008

Rupert and Stan from the Ghosts of Wayne Fontes blog are fine Americans, and on this glorious Thursday they’re back to explain their experience…

This week, it’s time to stir the pot a little bit. We decided to take a crack at breaking down the Top 10 Weekapaug Grooves of all time, ranked in order.

It’s kind of a crapshoot, but worth a shot. Anyway, the focus here is on the actual Weekapaug as opposed to the full Mike’s Groove in its entirety — that’s a whole different animal altogether and deserves its own list. As always, we welcome your recommendations and expletives in the comments.

Let it be known that these picks are solely the views of Stan and Rupert and do not reflect the views of the HT brass, unless specified. Also, you’re on the honor system here, as a few of these are available on Live Phish (so go buy the newly uploaded Dayton and Durham soundboards, particularly the Amazing Grace jam). We’re providing the songs, except for a few, which are official releases and only samples. Okay, enough yapping from us, here’s goes nothing…

10. 12/31/1998, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Paying homage to everyone’s favorite nymphomaniac Minneapolite, this particular Weekapaug follows up the obvious show opener with a little more 1999 teases to open the song. This is where this New Years show really starts heating up. After a quick, fast funk groove, the energy in MSG swells when Trey gets the machine gun out about two-thirds of the way through. Pound for pound, this probably isn’t the mightiest of all Weekapaugs, but it’s solid from beginning to end, and it’s one where you can feel the floor of the Garden bouncing through your headphones.

Read on for as we count down the 10 best Weekapaugs of all-time…

Digging Deep is one of our favorite B List features. We initiated it almost by accident last March with two separate columns, and in each of those editions we scoured YouTube to bring you some interesting and unique cover versions of cool songs. This week we continue this tradition, as we present Digging Deep: Part V.

1. We just can’t get enough of the Felice Brothers, who make their first headlining appearance in NYC at a sold out Mercury Lounge on February 1. The Felice Brothers recently toured with Bright Eyes, leading to a number of incredible collaborations including stellar covers of Neil Young’s Walk On and Tom Petty’s Walls. Have you ever seen Conor Oberst so animated and genuinely excited? Read on for the Walls video and nine other incredible clips from the likes of Arcade Fire, the Flaming Lips, Widespread Panic, Beck and many more…

You’d be hard-pressed to find many people who know more about the music of the late Elliott Smith than Dave of The Rawking Refuses to Stop. Now Dave’s done us

It’s official, so get ready for The Neville Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, Santana, Sheryl Crow, Widespread Panic, Dr. John, Al Green, Diana Krall, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, The Raconteurs, Irma Thomas and thousands more. So The Raconteurs land on two festival bills in the span of a week — be careful, Young Jack, don’t step all over Franti/Keller Festival Territory.

Make sure to check out last year’s full JazzFest gallery from our man Danfun, and read on after the jump for the full release…ahhh, full release.