The Flaming Lips – This Here Giraffe
The new God Street Wednesday feature on Hidden Track seems to take me down memory lane more than any other column on the site. I guess that’s because for me, God Street Wine’s peak came at a time when I had
nothing to do but blow off classes in college and listen to music.
[Photo by Charlie Watts]
Back in the early ’90s, God Street Wine was just as much a part of the emerging “jamband scene” as anyone including the eventually more popular Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic or Phish. Granted GSW wasn’t selling out arenas the way Phish began to in 1994, but on the “small room” circuit, GSW brought just as much to the table as anyone other than Phish at that time.
GSW had a nice mix of quirkiness – with Aaron Maxwell’s booming vocals adding a little theatrics to the mix – and straight up rock and roll. They may not have been Phish with the extended jamming and 30-minute Tweezers. And they may not have been John Popper when it came to arranging music or wailing out solos. But one thing GSW always did was write a fun song and play the hell out of it live.
READ ON for more of Luke’s essay and some live God Street Wine…
Every now and then, you get surprised. It doesn’t happen every day, getting really surprised, I mean. I raised two children (and their friends) through their teenage years so there have been times in my life I was surprised to find there was any cereal left in the cupboard in the morning. But finding a twenty dollar bill in the pocket of a two dollar shirt from the local thrift store kind of surprised isn’t as common as one might think.
Surprise is a totally perception based premise. Let’s face it. If you knock on the door and a naked, middle aged man or woman answered, your reaction would most likely be one of surprise, shock, perhaps even outrage. But if you were raised in a nudist colony (Naturalist preserve to be politically correct), your reaction to the birthday suit welcoming committee would be more along the lines of “Morning, Mom, Dad” as you brush past them to the cupboard to get more cereal. Everything’s relative.
So I had tickets to see James Morrison open for Adele Tuesday night at the Wonder Ballroom. Here was my perception of these artists prior to walking up the stairs and through the double doors into the hall. Musically, I was familiar with what I heard on the radio; Morrison’s soulful Nothing Ever Hurt Like You and Adele’s Chasing Pavements, Right As Rain and Cold Shoulder which she performed on Saturday Night Live (I had tuned in to see the Sarah Palin vs. Tina Fey stare down).
READ ON for more of A.J.’s review of Adele and James Morrison…
Just sayin…….
08/09/04 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
Set I: Chalkdust Torture, Bathtub Gin> Runaway Jim, Walls of the Cave, Loving Cup
Set II: All of These Dreams, Limb By Limb, Lifeboy, Crowd Control, Seven Below> Stash> NICU, Bug, Contact, Character Zero
Encore: David Bowie1
1 First Bowie encore since 11.16.97 and only fifth time in history
[All Setlists Sourced From Phantasy Tour]
06/29/95 Jones Beach Amphitheatre, Wantagh, NY
Set I: Runaway Jim, Taste, The Horse> Silent in the Morning, The Divided Sky, Cavern, Rift, Simple, Split Open and Melt, Carolina
Set II: Free> David Bowie, Strange Design, You Enjoy Myself, Acoustic Army, A Day in the Life
Encore: Theme from the Bottom
06/28/95 Jones Beach Amphitheatre, Wantagh, NY
Set I: Axilla, Foam, Fast Enough For You, Reba, Punch You in the Eye, Stash, Fluffhead, Chalkdust Torture
Set II: Sample in a Jar, Poor Heart, Tweezer> Dave’s Energy Guide> Tweezer> Gumbo, Sparkle, Suzy Greenberg, Harry Hood, Tweezer Reprise
Encore: Sweet Adeline, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
READ ON for more setlists from Phish’s last time through town…
2008 was quite a year for artistic revival. Portishead remerged from a 10-year hiatus to create an album wholly beyond themselves. Mickey Rourke overcame a bruised reputation to achieve an incredible portrayal of, well, himself. Now, it appears that Georgia-based southern rockers Bloodkin have set the benchmark for artistic rediscovery in 2009.
Those of you longing for the days when Ticketmaster sold tickets for Live Nation events just might get your wish. The Wall Street Journal just reported that Ticketmaster and Live
Last year we introduced you to the lush indie-folk music of Portland, Oregon’s Blind Pilot. While the duo gained notoriety for their bike tour last year, the band will be
Derek Trucks Band – Down Don’t Bother Me
When Phish announced they were returning to the stage for three shows on March 6-8 at the Hampton Coliseum, the only jamfans who weren’t happy were those running the Langerado
Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy has added two Chicago shows at the Vic Theater to his solo tour schedule. The shows, which were announced on a popular Wilco message board by