We’ve seen some terrific shows thus far this fall, and one of the best was Page McConnell tearing it up with PBS at B.B. King’s on September 26. [Photo by
With Election Day upon us, I just wanted to use this opportunity to implore everyone to exercise your constitutional right today and go out to the polls and vote in
No big surprise, after we looked at six covers of And It Stoned Me last week – the Jerry Garcia band version was the clear winner. Jerry’s soulful late-JGB style vocals are pretty damn hard to compete with.
For Election Day, I figured we’d throw together some covers of Neil Young’s Rockin’ In The Free World. Much like Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA, the song’s seemingly patriotic chorus is contrasted with negative imagery and politically themed verses.
As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM before starting the playlist below.
RSS Readers: Click Here to launch the playlist
READ ON after the jump for a collection of contestants that are included via YouTube videos and not on the IMEEM playlist…
In May we featured up and coming act The Weather Underground as one of our Blips artists to watch. The L.A. quartet had quite a six-month stretch – a cross
Over the past six months, we’ve been honored to run Jennifer Kirk’s engaging series about all sides of the presidential election: Land of Confusion. Today, she shares her final thoughts about today’s election…
[Image from RalphSteadman.com]
“This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it — that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.”
This quote comes from the late, great Hunter S. Thompson. It was made in 1972 and sadly, it still rings true to this day. Today is a day, that no matter what happens, will remain in our memory for years to come. It is a day that we have to make a collective decision on how the direction of our country will go for the next four years, and perhaps longer. It is a day that we make a statement to the rest of the world as to who we are and who we aim to be. A day that no matter the outcome — we must still stand, united. I sincerely hope that our divisions can one day be mended come January 20 when one of the candidates takes office. Our country and our model of government are still very young in the eyes of the world. So late today, or most likely, tomorrow — we will find out what our statement will be to the world, but more importantly what that statement says of ourselves.
Over the past few months we have looked at several issues that are quite prevalent today, including: race and freedom of speech, military service, terrorist attacks and gun control, our countries crumbling infrastructure, poverty and the economics of touring, the economic and housing downturn, protests, faith in the youth of America, and finally, one of my personal favorites — who Johnny Cash would vote for in today’s election.
READ ON for more of the election day edition of LoC, and be sure to head over to Rebirth of Slack for HT Founder Ace Cowboy’s prediction…
Every Friday for the past two years, my morning commute has been made that much better by the few seconds I get to hear the Ebony Hillbillies. Situated at the Grand Central end of the Shuttle, the quartet of banjo, fiddle, upright bass, and percussion produce this simple brand of bluegrass for the waves of crowds.
Because of the frequency of the shuttles, I usually do not get to hear much of their music (rushing as I am to get into work), but what I do hear never ceases to put a smile on my face. There is something about traditional American string music that I have always had an affinity for — its pureness, singularity to the instruments, the virtuosity that is so readily apparent. Even in an underground and damp venue like a subway stop, the sound of their music coming through the tiled hallway seems to lift my step.
On first glance, Wednesday night’s concert could not have been any more different. A MacArthur Genius Grant winner and a (child) prodigy teaming up to play a complex amalgam of classical and bluegrass-influenced compositions in the most hallowed hall in all of America. As soon as my wife emailed me that Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile were playing together at Carnegie Hall, I stopped what I was doing at work and rushed to purchase tickets.
READ ON for more of Jeremy’s Meyer/Thile w/ Mark O’Connor review…
It happens to most pantheon-worthy sidemen eventually; there are no hard and fast rules for these things. But it's still a bit of a shocker that Lifeboat, out this month and one of the best albums of 2008, is Jimmy Herring's first proper solo effort. It's yet another side of a remarkably inventive guitarist shaped by his experiences in everything from Aquarium Rescue Unit and Jazz is Dead to Phil Lesh & Friends and Widespread Panic.
“I’m going back to the country/cause country’s what I am” Grayson Capps sure as shit is country, he is “eatin’ cornbread and raising hell” an singing about “Big Ole Woman”, but how many other good ole country boys pontificate on Oscar Wilde and Salsamaggiore, Italy? Grayson Capps has got more then a little poet in him, a whole lot of living to talk about and with the help of the Stumpknockers backing him up he explores his roots and then manages to fly above them on Rott-N-Roll.
For the better part of a decade, The Bad Plus have been stirring up a musical stew that defies easy description. Drawing on sources as diverse as classical, jazz, rock,
