April 22, 2009

We’ve got another God Street Wednesday submission this week. This one comes from longtime GSW fan Jamie Aresty. Take it away, Jamie…

“A long and weird song,” according to Lo Faber, Mantoloking Town is the tune that I think best sums up the music of God Street Wine. Lo Faber’s extended opus to a scenic beachfront town, which, according to Wikipedia, is the “wealthiest community in New Jersey,” would often produce some of the most interesting jams that GSW would ever create.

It’s also fitting that the best version of this tune, written about the wealthiest community in New Jersey, took place in one of the wealthiest towns in America – Greenwich, CT [insert your favorite sarcastic comment about rich CT people here]. This column often seems to revisit the year 1994, which has me wondering – is it because ’94 was truly GSW’s best year or is it simply because so many good recordings from that year on the Live Music Archive? Regardless, I want to take you all back to that year, to that wonderful Saturday evening of July 30^th, 1994 at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park on the shores of the Long Island Sound, in Greenwich, CT.

::fires up the Hidden Track time machine::

GSW was scheduled to play the night before at Pearl St. in Northampton, MA, up the road from where I lived at the time. I’m not exactly sure what happened up in Northampton, but there was a rift between the band, the opening band (Soup), and the management at Pearl St. And as a result, GSW never took the stage. Lo announced at the beginning of the Greenwich show that to make up for the mishap in Northampton, they would play “one long set” for everyone who showed up the night before.

READ ON for more about the best Mantoloking Town ever played…

Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring piece featuring recordings of shows that took place the previous week. Thanks to Distant Jay for this week’s photo.

Artist & Title: The Dead – Dupree’s Diamond Blues
Date & Venue: 2009-04-18 – DCU Center, Worcester MA
Taper & Show Download: Chris LaPorte

Sorting through the large amount of tapes pulled from the first week of Dead tour, I felt it appropriate that we lead this week off with the same song that was the focus of last week’s Cover Wars. The Dead continue their tour tonight in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dead.mp3]

Bonus Video:

READ ON for tracks from DMB, MMW, Widespread Panic and Wilco…

I caught the last show of Umphrey’s McGee’s recently completed Northeast run at the Nokia and I was blown away by how good the lights were. Lighting director Jeff Waful

Axe slinger Steve Kimock’s a most curious musical creature, and the only thing I know for sure is that I’ll follow him anywhere. A slight man with an ostensibly unassuming, almost chameleonic way about him, he speaks “guitar” – speaks it fluently, lyrically and intensely, but without the ostentatious stage presence that looks as if, by merely playing a few notes or progressions, he’s trying to wrangle a crazed wolverine or perform emergency surgery. He’s unhurried as hell; you listen on his time, not the other way around, and if you’re patient about things, you get a tremendous reward in the end.

Maybe what’s most appealing about Kimock is that no matter what the context or how spacey his licks, tender or corrosive his tones, or protracted his solos, he somehow exudes a warmth and texture in what he does that prevents it from sounding clinical. Cerebral, yet warm? To these ears, not even Derek Trucks can manage that all the time – virtuosity with candor, dazzling skills with palpable comfort.

Since more or less putting the Steve Kimock Band on hold a few years ago, Kimock’s been doing a little bit of this and that, lending his talents to bands in need (RatDog, for one), forming ad hoc ensembles with old friends and new sparring partners alike, and not quite committing to one thing or another for very long. READ ON for more of Chad’s Steve Kimock Crazy Engine review…