2008

Yesterday Scotty gave us the first part of his three part Newport review, but Luke Sacks also attended Saturday’s festivities and offers his opinion:

The Newport Folk Festival holds a special place in the history of rock and roll and conjures up some great imagery. After all, Bob Dylan plugged in and changed the course of music forever at the festival back in 1965. Dylan was almost booed off the stage during his performance that year but since then, the music landscape, and that of the festival, which has been around since 1959, have both changed drastically.

[Photo by Drew Granchelli]

This year’s festival was heavy on the rock but light on the folk as far as the bigger acts went. Aside from some rock musicians playing solo acoustic sets of their electric songs, there weren’t many folk elements to be found in the music. There was plenty of mellow acts – She and Him, Richie Havens, Son Volt and the Cowboy Junkies to name a few – but no big folk name. READ ON for more…

If you’re paying really close attention, you know I had a good weekend when Cover Wars doesn’t make it onto the blog on Tuesday. Well yeah, my car may still smell like wet festival, but the trip that brought me to two ports (Newport for the Folk Festival and Bridgeport for Gathering Of The Vibes) was totally worth it. Following up from last week, PBS has walked away as the clear winner of the Spanish Castle Magic edition.

“Everyone knows rock n’ roll attained perfection in 1974; It’s a scientific fact”. This is according to Homer Simpson in the episode Homerpalooza, where he is questioning the need for “new bands” as he has realized he is out of touch with the music of the young people. Frankenstein was actually released in 1973, though Homer may have been referring to a specific experience WITH the song and not just the song’s release. The song titled originally titled “Double Drum Solo”, the Edgar Winter Group renamed the tune Frankenstein in reference to the fact that it had been spliced together from numerous separate recordings. The result? One of the most bad-ass rock instrumentals ever written.

You gotta register/login to IMEEM to listen to the songs below in their entirety:

READ ON after the jump for some versions not included in the playlist, voting, info on each version and much much more of the original Cover Wars…

The Police delivered a tight, action-packed 90 minutes of rock last night at Jones Beach, where they played their penultimate gig. Stewart, Sting and Andy treated the fans to a

If you’re a music fan and have never been to the Newport Folk Festival, you are truly missing out. You can’t ask for a more picturesque setting to enjoy music from a wide range of genres. Yes, that’s right, the “folk” part of the festival’s title doesn’t exactly ring true. This past weekend in Newport we were treated to outstanding performances from folkies, rockers, hipsters, jammers and the King of the Parrotheads. The only downside was a fierce hour long storm.

The two days of action at Newport’s Fort Adams, a coastal fortification that was opened in 1799, couldn’t have been more different from each other. While the Phishheads reigned supreme on Saturday the parrotheads took over on Sunday. Yet, I was more impressed with the smaller acts that I found at the Waterside Stage and the Harbor Stage than those rockin’ the Main Stage.

My adventure started around Noon on Saturday when I arrived on site to catch the end of the Young @ Heart Chorus’ set, which featured members ranging in age from 72 to 88 singing a number of rock tunes including I Wanna Be Sedated and the Talking Heads’ Heaven. The choir isn’t just a gimmick, these senior citizens offered outstanding arrangements delivered with style and gusto.

READ ON for more of the first part of Scotty’s Newport Folk review…

“The more you live, the more you’ll find, a reason to rewind,” improvised vocals from Umphrey’s McGee’s Brendan Bayliss on a “Jimmy Stewart” inside of Nemo.

Umphrey’s McGee has found the time to rewind, and re-listen, as they released a compilation album of their own brand of non-linear improvisations culled from 2007, Jimmy Stewart 2007. The band released the album in a limited press of 2000 copies, as well as on iTunes. Along with the album, the band has released 10 of their own favorite full shows from 2007 exclusively on iTunes, entitled CompendiUM.

Guitarists Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger, along with archivist Jon McLennand explained the history behind Umphrey’s own version of non-linear improvisation they call “Jimmy Stewart.”

A “Jimmy Stewart” is a set amount time each night that is dedicated strictly to improvisation, Bayliss said. The band sets aside a specific portion of each show for their own brand of improv. They also use “Stewarts” as an improvisational exercise for songwriting while on the road. In addition, it serves to seamlessly give fans, as well as the band, something different every night.

READ ON for the full story behind Umphrey McGee’s “Jimmy Stewart 2007″…

If you’ve ever seen Ween live then you can surely understand how much energy, talent and strength drummer Claude Coleman adds to that band. Sadly, it seems that Claude is