2008

For the past two years Rob Salzer of U-Melt has been our go-to Mets fan. On the occasion of Shea Stadium’s closing and tonight’s U-Melt show at the Highline Ballroom, we asked the guitarist to share his thoughts on the Metropolitans home from 1964-2008. Take it away, Rob…

Many people say Shea is a dump, and needs to go. That may be true for current stadium standards, but also seems to be a superficial idea seeing as how the money needed to build Citi Field could actually feed an entire third world country.

That said (and I really think it needed to be said), I think more Mets fans loved Shea than otherwise. The very first baseball game I ever attended was in Spring of 1982, when I was all of three years old. Clearly, I can’t remember much about the experience – but I do know the Mets we’re playing the Cardinals and took the game to the tenth inning. Fittingly, they lost one to nothing against the then superior Cardinals.

READ ON for more from Rob about the closing of Shea Stadium…

It’s been quite the week around these parts. We all knew Hidden Track would have plenty of coverage of the Phish Reunion, but we didn’t realize how many major news

Back in 2007, auctioneers Bonhams and Butterfields sold more than $1.1 million worth of former Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully’s memorabilia from his days with the band. On Sunday, Bonhams will auction off More Skeletons From The Closet from not only Scully, but also from the collections of Dead keyboardists Vince Welnick and Ron “Pig Pen” McKernan.

There are some incredible gems among the 174 lots that B&B plans to auction, and if we had won the lottery we’d have a big list of stuff we’d want. So, let’s play pretend. For this week’s B List we look at the ten items we’d most want from Sunday’s auction if we had an unlimited budget.

1.1956 Chevrolet Bel-Air

This gorgeous old beauty was used by the band to transport none other than Captain Trips, Jerry Garcia.

2. Rock Scully’s Attache Case

Here’s a chance to own the case that transported Jerry Garcia’s drugs! Okay, we’ve got no proof whatsoever, but we’d just assume this badass attache housed the good stuff.

READ ON for seven more artifacts we’d buy if we had a million dollars…

Just before Hampton came alive again, Phish keyboardist Page McConnell hit the road for a four-night jaunt with Porter, Batiste and Stoltz. On Friday night, the quartet brought the MOODOO to NYC’s B.B. King’s. Andrew DeRosa kindly contributed a full report which we’ve teamed up with Jeremy Gordon’s typically stunning photographs. Let’s take a look…

“Good funk, real funk, is not played by four white guys from Vermont.” However, good real funk comes out the pores of George Porter Jr. and Russell Batiste. George Porter is a living legend. He’s up there with Larry Graham– except George Porter never got cheesy. He left that to Art Neville. With Art Neville out of the line up, the other members of the Funky Meters are unhinged. With the addition of cow-funker Page McConnell we’ve got some shit yo.

The first few tunes the band was warming up and I could barely hear Page in the mix. I wondered if this would be the case all night– a shy Page playing some back-up all night. As Brent Mydland once described his roll in the Grateful Dead, Page was “adding color”. He played a nice version of Jealous Guy, which sounded closer to the Donny Hathaway version with such a solid rhythm section behind him. It was weird hearing Page play clean piano from a Yamaha rather than the Baby Grand. After Jealous Guy, the rest of the set saw the band warmed up, locked in and inspired. Brian Stoltz can really take off on guitar and has the ability to dial in his tone. However, sometimes he just sounds like a talented New Orleans bar band guitarist– good, not great. I can’t say enough good things about Porter and Batiste. They are motherfuckers. The real deal.

READ ON for more from Page McConnell and PBS at B.B. King’s…

The big question before delving into the August release from former HT Blip artist The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, The Whole Fam Damnily, is if the big sound from