2009

Tour Dates: Post Phish w. Kimock & Friends

Jeffrey Greenblatt January 6, 2009 2 Comments

With the imminent return of Phish in March it makes sense that there would be some late-night shows popping up in the area to cash in on the scores of

Review: Widespread Panic @ Pepsi Center

Brent Berman January 6, 2009 4 Comments

I love snowboarding and I love Widespread Panic, so when Panic announced they were taking New Year’s Eve on the road to play two shows at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO I knew I had to be there. To channel the band’s famous Sit and Ski run in 1996, I headed to Breckenridge to snowboard a few days before the shows to get my adrenaline up and have a little fun. I was so close to the Mile High Room in Breckenridge, which led me to start thinking about the good old days when the boys would play every song I was familiar with and enjoyed over the course of two sets.

[All photos by Ian Rawn of Playindead.org and atlantaphotog.com]

I headed to these shows with my girlfriend and decided the most efficient way for us to see as many shows as possible, was to go with a package deal at the Crowne Plaza which included a room at the Crowne, wristbands for after-shows, a shuttle for New Year’s, and a private after-show through Sage and Spirit Travel. I couldn’t pass this up.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was obvious that no one else passed it up either. This was more than the usual hippie hotel as there were dreadlocks, vending, girls in patchworks, patchouli, dogs and a couple other familiar scents.

We got to the Crowne Plaza on the 29th, ready for the after-show party with the Everyone Orchestra at Cervantes in Denver. The show was amazing. The Colorado hospitality was like none I had experienced in a long time. During the show, three people were painting in the audience, which was very cool. Hippies were everywhere and generosity abound. The show was going strong when I left at 2:00 AM and I heard it went on until five in the morning. However, I had two more nights of shows and this 31-year-old body doesn’t quite bounce back like it used to.

READ ON for the rest of Brent’s review of Panic NYE in Denver…

Pullin’ ‘Tubes: The Life Of Springsteen

Jeffrey Greenblatt January 6, 2009 No Comments

As we previously declared 2009 is shaping up to be The Year Of The Boss – with his latest E Street Band backed album – Working on a Dream –

Briefly: Gene Ween Band Reschedules

Scott Bernstein January 6, 2009 No Comments

After a nasty case of either pneumonia or the boogie woogie flu that led to the cancellation of a number of tour dates, Ween vocalist Aaron Freeman has just announced

Hidden Flick: Intermission

Randy Ray January 6, 2009 9 Comments

[Originally Published 07/01/2008]

We enter an intermission in our bi-weekly search for the ever elusive Hidden Flick, and look at films that were once praised but have since been somewhat forgotten. As we walk up to the ethereal snack bar and pile up on the keg-sized Popcorn, boxes of Raisinettes, Red Vines, SnoCaps, Peanut M&M’s (Jesus, take it easy, fatso), Goobers, and 99-ounce Diet Cokes (trying to cut back a little?), we ponder yesteryear’s sublime cinematic pearl.

This installment of our Intermission column—appearing every ten issues if one is either an accountant, an obsessive fan, or prone to keep track of these mathematical things—will focus on the 1979 coming-of-age film Breaking Away, based in Bloomington, Indiana, and featuring a squadron of snotty college dorks racing each other on steroid-enhanced bikes, while another quartet of less-than-privileged town folks—sons of the almighty “Cutters,” limestone quarry workers in Indiana who helped build the very university in which they occasionally drive by and mock the Richie Riches—ponder their next step as they move away from the warm comfort of high school and look ahead into the abyss that is one’s future when colleges aren’t exactly knocking on your SAT door.

Breaking Away was the little film that could as the 1970s came to a close. The film was a winner before a shot had been printed as it featured an Academy Award-winning script by Steve Tesich, ace casting of future stars-to-be Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Dennis Christopher while also amassing a stellar supporting cast of seasoned veterans: Paul Dooley—who played the coolest, most realistic dad in cinematic history—Barbara Barrie, who was humor, warmth and pathos-personified, and Bad News Bears veteran Jackie Earle Haley, the cool kid who was only 3 feet tall in that baseball film (O.K. I exaggerate. He was 2’10”), but hey, he could hit a ball 400 feet, smoke a pack of Marlboros (it WAS the 70s), date that hot chick that had the hair-wings blow-dried just right, ride a killer motorcycle, and score tickets to the Stones show at the heady age of 12.

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick: Breaking Away…

Dan Tymynski: Wheels

Jason Rooks January 6, 2009 No Comments

Dan Tyminski’s rise to fame came through years of touring as a vocalist and guitarist for bluegrass megastars, Alison Krauss and The Union Station. Then, a few years back, he became a household name when he was thrust into the spotlight as the vocalist for the hit single, "Man of Constant Sorrow," from the hit movie, O Brother Where Art Thou?. With his second solo release, Wheels, Dan Tyminski creates an ensemble of virtuoso pickers to compliment his strong tenor voice without ever getting in the way of the song.

Heavy Water Experiments: Heavy Water Experiments

Bob Lange January 6, 2009 No Comments

Prog is a genre not particularly known for being understated. Restraint is a quality seldom found among its purveyors. Heavy Water Experiments is not quite a traditional prog band, but clearly wear their prog influences for all to see. However, they manage to do it without the esoteric musical exercises and unabashed bombast that seem to be the norm.