Archive: 2008

The members of Led Zeppelin are set to reconvene this month to discuss possible touring plans. The band, who played a reunion show on December 10 last year at London’s O2 Arena, are rumoured to play further live dates this year. Speaking to Rolling Stone, bassist John Paul Jones said: “There is a band meeting […]

Page McConnell will perform as part of the "Big Easy Blowout: a Mardi Gras Benefit Celebration" on January 25 at the Boulder Theatre and January 26 at Cervantes in Denver. All proceeds from the events will benefit the New Orleans Musicians Clinic and Tipitina’s Foundation. In addition to Page, the musical lineup will feature Russell […]

Caribou -the stage name of Canadian musician/producer Dan Snaith–will undertake a lengthy tour of North America this spring. The tour covers most of March and all of April before concluding with a May 4 appearance in Buffalo, NY. British indie progressive group F**k Buttons will provide opening support on all of the tour’s dates, which […]

Clearly, some novelty records are just silly and others are, at least on some level, actually quite serious. Words of Wisdom is certainly of the more serious variety. That's not to say that it isn't light-hearted, just that it has a real purpose.

The real stars of the early show this New Year’ weekend were the same as 2006 but at an even higher level. Bassist Victor Wooten and drummer Dave Weckl simply astound with the fluidity imagination and detail in their playing.

Pretty much everyone that ever played with Jimmy Vivino came out to help celebrate his birthday, as well as promoter Bill Graham’s birthday. Everyone who was on the rumored lineup turned up, plus even more legendary musicians. This was one of the many nights that I’m so happy to live in New York City.

It’s difficult to imagine of a more inaccessible band for small children than Medeski Martin & Wood. In all my years of being the creepy guy in just a trenchcoat and knee high socks at the local playground, I’ve never heard a parent say, “You know what my kid loves? Acid jazz! And he adores five-minutes percussion solos!”

All photos by our main man Danfun

But there I was at 6 pm last night, draped in my weekday business casual in the Time Warner Center’s Borders book store, watching the always-entertaining trio play a bunch of tracks from their new kids album, Let’s Go Everywhere.

A crowd of children sat in front of the band, most of them seemingly digging the music about cats, pirates and choo-choos, while a throng of equal parts hippie and hipster watched behind them, trying their best not to rock out in such a public place. And of all the venues I’ve done the head-bob, right knee-bend and foot tap to live music, Borders may now be a top contender for the strangest of places.

Read on for more of Danfun’s photos from the book store…

We thought the gift-giving season was over, but FestivaLink proved us wrong by releasing a free MP3 compilation of their best recordings from 2007. You can now download eight amazing tracks, including Leftover Salmon playing Down In The Hollow at Red Rocks. Other artists featured include Robinella, Bob Schneider and Diane Jones. FestivaLink will continue […]

Joe Jackson has set U. S. Tour Dates in the midst of a  world tour to support his forthcoming album, "Rain." Jackson will start in late February with a month’s worth of shows in Europe and then make his way to North America for a six-week trek beginning April 1 in Toronto. Coast-to-coast US dates […]

Bob Mould, the genius behind seminal post-punk outfit Husker Du as well as the guiding force behind 90’s alternative-rock heavyweight Sugar, will tour the U.S starting March 5th.  The tour will feature both classic material from Mould’s considerable body of work, as well as new songs from his forthcoming Anti- debut, District Line, hailed by USA Today as “a return to melodic, hypnotic […]

PJ Harvey has announced that she will enter the studio later this month to record a full-length album with regular collaborator John Parish. In a posting today (January 9) on the singer’s MySpace page, an announcement read that the duo are about to "commence work on a collaborative album, a follow-up to their 1996 collaboration […]

The Black Keys ave revealed details of their forthcoming album, produced by Danger Mouse. ‘Attack and Release’ is the Ohio duo’s fifth album and is due out on April 1 in the US. It features 11 tracks and contributions from instrumentalists including Marc Ribot and Ralph Carney — members of Tom Waits‘ band. The tracklisting […]

Amy Winehouse has been photographed sporting a radical new haircut. In a dramatic departure from her black beehive, the singer has given her head the peroxide blonde treatment since returning to the UK after holidaying over Christmas. Source NME

The Greyboy Allstars' set was a definite improvement on the smooth jazz-plagued 2006 Nokia performance, and had the added bonus of the pairing with Soulive, who, as usual, ripped open the jazz/funk/soul template and found new life.

If U2’s The Joshua Tree did not represent such an artistic pinnacle for the Irish group, this Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition might seem nothing more than another contrived piece of commercialism for the holidays.

YouTube can be great for finding any old music video you can think of, but does anyone really enjoy watching pixelated videos on a small computer screen? Watching high-quality DVDs on the big screen provides a much more entertaining and enlightening experience, and thanks to numerous torrent sites you can choose from hundreds of old concerts to download.

We’re always here to help differentiate the gems from the garbage. Once again it’s time for another DVD edition of Grousing The Aisles featuring quality videos from the Talking Heads, Radiohead, the Jerry Garcia Band and plenty of others.

Talking Heads 12/??/1975:

Did you know pro-shot video of the Talking Heads opening for Television at CBGB in 1975 existed? I sure as hell didn’t until stumbling upon this amazing DVD torrent over at thetradersden. Check out this video for a rare look at the early trio lineup of the band that featured just Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and David Byrne. The Heads deliver a 33-minute set that gives us a peak into the revolutionary force they would soon become.

While the quality on this black-and-white video isn’t the best in the world, this DVD still fits into the Must Download Immediately category. We particularly love the rough version of Psycho Killer that can also be seen here on YouTube. You can sense the tension between the band even at this early stage. Now if only the director didn’t cut between shots every 10 seconds we’d really be in business.

Read on to download a high-quality version of Radiohead’s Scotch Mist and six other DVDs you just gotta have…

Resident Curmudgeon Chuck Myers is back, and he’s returned with a special message for one of the brightest jewels in the Queen’s sac…

Happy birthday, Jimmy Page. I mean that sincerely, because you’re one of the greatest guitar players to ever bless the world of rock music. Sure, back when I was 19 and living in L.A. and striving to be in one of those bands like CoxxRokkitt or Pussykatt Sleaze or Stüpïdfüxx, I lost sight of your brilliance due to a myopic obsession with douchebags named Yngwie or Joe. But I found my way back. I am your prodigal son, Jimmy, and your sloppy-ass fretwork showed me the way home.

The problem is, I learned a lot when I was out wandering through the dark world of bad metal. For instance, I learned that the best players in the world can speak volumes through just a couple of notes, but the guys who sound like a coked-out bumblebee usually contribute nothing to a song. I learned that you don’t need leather trousers or big hair to be larger than life. I learned that all the posturing and props and pointy guitars can’t mask the arrhythmic heartbeat of a soulless band.

And I learned that guitar solos are evil.

Now, let’s be clear about something. I’m not talking about a short break in the middle of a song. Those are generally stupid and pointless, but they’re rarely evil. I’m talking about the 15- or 20-minute interlude, where everyone in the band walks backstage and has a smoke or eats a Tofurkey sandwich. Everyone, that is, except for the guitarist, who stands beneath a single blue spotlight and wows the audience with his technical proficiency and his (cough) soulful chops. Read on…

Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell is the rare professional conservationist who spends years of his life traveling on gas-guzzling planes. Leavell, who is best known to us for his monumental piano solo on the studio version of Jessica, visited five continents with the Stones on their recent “A Bigger Bang” tour. Chuck explains how he […]

Photos by David Oppenheimer of Warren Haynes' 19th Annual Xmas Jam 'Pre-Jam' held December 14th, 2007 at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC.

The Black Crowes, the Black Keys, UGK rapper Bun and R.E.M. are among the names newly confirmed to appear at the 2008 South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. They join previously announced performers such as My Morning Jacket, the Breeders, Daniel Lanois and the Kills. Also new to the performance roster for the March […]