Archive: 2009

The Langerado Music Festival, at Bicentennial Park in Miami Florida March 6-8, announces additional artists.  Modest Mouse, Gene Ween Band, Deerhunter and Alberta Cross join the already stellar line-up.  Artists already on the bill include Death Cab For Cutie, Snoop Dogg, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Thievery Corporation (Live), Slightly Stoopid and Dashboard Confessional join Flogging […]

Neko Case’s upcoming tour is her largest to date, including two nights at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., two nights at NYC’s Nokia Theatre, and two nights at Trinity St. Paul’s United Church in Toronto. She’s kicking things off at Stubb’s BBQ in Austin March 31 with her longtime band of Paul Rigby, Tom […]

Through an endless string of personnel shifts in the early to mid-Seventies, the Welsh band Man grafted progressive elements onto their earthy pub-rock roots that, combined with their penchant for extended improvisation, inspired rabid devotion in their fans.

Soundscan subscribers received the Billboard Top 200 chart today and I have to say 2009 is off to a great start. The folks over at P4K were quick to congratulate Animal Collective (Merriweather Post Pavilion), Andrew Bird (Noble Beast), and Bon Iver (Blood Bank EP) for cracking into the Top 20 with their new releases. […]

The man behind one of the most recognizable piano intros of all-time passed away this morning at the age of 56. Billy Powell of Lynyrd Skynyrd died at his home in Orange Park, Florida around 2AM. Powell’s death leaves guitarist Gary Rossington as the only living member of the band to survive the 1977 plane […]

From the success of last week’s debut of God Street Wednesday, it’s clear we’re not the only ones who want to see a God Street Wine reunion. We’ve heard from a number of Winos with tales from the road, posters, flyers, photos as well as videos and audio from the band’s heyday. Look for all of that and much more over the next few months each Wednesday on HT.

[Photo of GSW and Al Schnier from Wetlands on 1/3/98 by Joe Madonna]

Up first this week, we’ve got a quartet of high-quality videos from a GSW show at the Wetlands Preserve on February 16, 1999 filmed and uploaded by our friend Joe Madonna. At this point in the band’s career Tomo and Bevo had left. The band held auditions and replaced the longtime members with Pete Levin on keys and Aubrey Dayle on drums. As you can see in this clip of Wendy, Pete and Aubrey held shit down…

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-PA5S4f5UY

It’s also been a big week for the Live Music Archive’s God Street Wine collection. Seven (!?!?!) magnificent soundboard recordings from Michael Weiss of the band’s mid-’90s glory days have been lovingly transferred and uploaded to Archive.org. So far I’ve listened to two of the shows and the quality of both the playing and the recording are top-fucking-shelf.

I’m particularly partial to what appears to be an acoustic show at Peasant’s Cafe in Greenville, NC on November 17, 1994. This crystal clear tape starts off with Tomo laying down station IDs for Deerfield Academy’s radio station before the boys pick up their acoustics and start the show with a cover of All Blues. Next, they launch into a bluegrass-tinged Wendy that’s completely different from the 1999 electric version above.

READ ON to watch the rest of Joe Madonna’s videos from 1999 and to stream seven of Michael Weiss’ tapes from 1994 and 1995…

Next week, former BtN artist Ben Kweller will release his fourth full-length album Changing Horses, but those of you expecting another album chocked full of indie-pop are going to be in for a bit of a surprise. For his latest release, the Texas native ditched the crunchy guitar licks and pop hooks and traded them […]

When you hear the word “acoustic” associated with a concert, it conjures up visions of acoustic guitars and bar stools on stage. The drummer becomes a percussionist; everyone sits on the stools and plays their music without all the decibels and hot dogging. It’s more about the music than the show.

MTV made sure we were all familiar with the concept with their “Unplugged” series. Everyone from Sting to Nirvana to 10,000 Maniacs has played that venue. When your favorite band adds and acoustic set to their show, the tunes are approached differently by the musicians. Sometimes the results are wonderful, ala Springsteen’s Born To Run on the Chimes Of Freedom EP. Other times, not so much, like Motley Crue trying to pull off Girls, Girls, Girls with Tommy Lee on congas. Just can’t get behind that one. Truth in advertising laws aside, inserting the word Semi- between the first two words appearing on the ticket would be closer to what we were treated to at the Aladdin Theater on Friday night.

Los Lobos put a slightly different spin on the acoustic label tonight. They started on time, all five members fanning out at the front of the stage with, true to their word, acoustic instruments. Like a mariachi on steroids, they strummed and harmonized their way through a first set that consisted of mostly Spanish vocals and joyous interplay. When Louie Perez stepped to the mike to sing Saint Behind The Glass four songs in, they were already sweating. From the front row, they looked like they were having the time of their lives. Even Cesar Rosas, the epitome of cool behind his ever present dark shades, was grinning ear to ear.

READ ON for more of A.J.’s review of Los Lobos @ The Aladdin…

The boys at Shitbagz put together the Diamond Dave Edition of Asteroidz. Now THAT’s what we call a crotch rocket. You’ve gotta love a game where you get to shoot Eddie Van Halen. Can you beat my score of 100,000 points? David Lee Roth: The Soundboard Previously on HT: Isolated Devil Noises

Sirius XM Radio are launching Sirius XMU Sessions, a series of in-studio performances from ground-breaking artists. Sirius XMU Sessions will debut on Wednesday, January 28th on Sirius XMU (Sirius channel 26 and XM channel 43) with a performance by indie rockers Blitzen Trapper. This new show will offer up listeners stripped-down performances and in-depth interviews […]

"The Wrestler" is the bonus track on Springsteen's latest album, Working on a Dream. It's a honest tale set to poignant music. It connects in the way we expect Springsteen to connect. However, it is appropriately labeled as bonus material, because it really doesn't fit the rest of the album.

Members of Gomez, Phantom Planet and Maroon 5 have teamed up to form a group entitled Operation Aloha, with plans to release their debut album on May 12. Dajon Everett, Ian Ball and Olly Peacock of Gomez, James Valentine and Jesse Carmichael of Maroon 5 and Sam Farrar of Phantom Planet joined forces with eight […]

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have unveiled a string of North American dates to support the release of ‘Working On A Dream’. The outing kicks off April 1 in San Jose, CA and runs through to May 23 when it wraps up in Springsteen’s home state of New Jersey. As previously reported, Springsteen […]

Wesley Snipes is set to play James Brown in a movie about his life, according to reports. Director Spike Lee revealed at the Sundance Film Festival that the project is “going to happen”, but that Snipes will not be singing in the flick. “I want to hear James Brown’s voice. That’s just my personal taste,” […]

Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist Billy Powell died this morning (Jan. 28) at his home in Orange Park, Fla. He was 56. According to the Associated Press, Powell called 911 around 12:55 a.m. this morning, saying he was having trouble breathing. Rescue crews arrived at the home but Powell was pronounced dead just before 2 a.m. Orange […]

The Boss and The E Street Band head out for a lengthy spring tour starting in San Jose, CA on April 1. READ ON for a full list of tour dates…

[youtube]FY3V4ObYRsA[/youtube] The Hold Steady – Stay Positive

Now that The Dead and Phish have announced plans to tour, we’d like to turn our attention to the next band on our “these motherfuckers need to reunite” list: God Street Wine. GSW came out of the same Princeton, NJ scene that led to the formation of Blues Traveler and Phish in the early ’80s.

[Setlist scan shared by Joe Madonna]

Guitarist Lo Faber and drummer Tom “Tomo” Osander met in 1980 and went on to play in a number of bands together before forming God Street Wine in 1988 with guitarist Aaron Maxwell, bassist Dan Pifer and keyboardist Jon Bevo. GSW played the New York City bar circuit for a number of years, becoming a favorite at the Nightengale Lounge and the Bitter End. The original lineup recorded five albums from 1992 – 1997, a period in which the popularity of the band propelled them into much bigger venues. Bevo and Tomo left the band in 1998 and they called it a career in 1999.

Since that time they’ve only played one show together and they’ve been missed by all the jam fans that loved their Steely Dan meets the Grateful Dead sound. These guys would’ve loved the festival circuit the current generation of jambands enjoy. Each Wednesday, we plan to bring you either a discussion, audio or video from our favorite moments in GSW history. We’re on the lookout for any stories, music or memorabilia from the band’s run, so be sure to leave us a comment if you can help!

Let’s kickoff our first God Street Wednesday column with audio from August 20, 1992 at the legendary Bogie’s in Albany.

READ ON to stream this fantastic GSW show…

While the surviving members of The Dead were down in D.C. for President Obama’s inauguration they took the time to sign a gorgeous Les Paul for our friends at HeadCount and Charity Folks. This black beauty has been put up for auction with all proceeds to benefit HeadCount, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that registered over […]

Keller Williams won last week’s Cover Wars, where we looked at covers of Don’t You (Forget About Me). Ha Ha The Moose was a close second.

Moving on to this week, we look at a song The Beatles recorded during the Let It Be sessions, but didn’t make the album. Don’t Let Me Down was featured as the b-side of the single Get Back. I keep coming back to The Beatles because so many great artists have covered their tunes. Instead of copying and pasting a lot of fun facts and quotes about the song, I recommend just checking out the entry over at The Beatles Bible. For me, it’s all about the measure of 5/4 to start every verse.

As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM before starting the playlist below to ensure you listen to full-length tracks.

Go ahead and click this link to launch the playlist in a new window.

READ ON after the jump for more information, the voting, and for entries that are only embedded with video and are not available on the playlist…