Archive: 2009

The gents in Umphrey’s McGee put a video up of them rehearsing Sex Farm Woman by Spinal Tap on their blog – The Floor… Umphrey’s McGee – Sex Farm Woman

Woody Allen is a lot of things to a lot of people – actor, director, writer, comedian, creepy pervert. But he’s also a highly accomplished jazz musician as seen in Wild Man Blues airing Wednesday at Midnight on IFC. This documentary features Allen and his entourage, including now-wife and former step-daughter Soon-Yi Previn, on their […]

Marco Benevento has built a solid reputation as a world class piano player and an imaginatively creative and dexterous composer. His contribution as one half of the Benevento/Russo Duo has exposed him to many, many fans that found out about the band almost solely through word of mouth. Since releasing his 2008 solo album, Invisible Baby, Benevento has been out on the road with a prized collection of musicians focused primarily around the albums contributors; Tea Leaf Green’s Reed Mathis, Critters Buggin and Tori Amos drummer Matt Chamberlain, and Andrew Barr from The Slip.

Jack White’s newest offering stomped into NYC on a humid July night and crunched to a sold-out-fired-up house in Terminal 5.  This time the “supergroup” comes equipped with Allison Mosshart from The Kills, Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age and Jack Lawrence best known as playing bass in White’s other “supergroup” The Raconteurs.  Before we get to them though, a word or twenty about the opener Screaming Females. 

Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys has a cancerous tumor in his left salivary gland that requires immediate treatment, according to a press release. As a result, the group has canceled all of its upcoming tour dates, and will push back the release of its forthcoming album, "Hot Sauce Committee Part 1." "Luckily [the […]

LCD System are set to release a new collection of remixes based around their ’45:33′ mini-album this summer. The remixes will be issued on a series of 12-inch vinyl singles, while all of them will be collected together for a full expanded version of the album, which is out on September 14. The project originally […]

Mike Gordon and his band will embark on a 20-plus date Fall Tour beginning just after Labor Day in Brooklyn, NY and winding down at the beginning of October in Burlington, VT. The headlining club tour features a return to Park West in Chicago, Barrymore Theatre in Madison, State Theatre in Falls Church, and first […]

The past 16 months have been nothing short of an intense journey for STATE RADIO.  The Boston-based trio toured relentlessly, bringing their blend of rock infused with reggae/ska influences to sold-out crowds of thousands from New York to Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles. They were hand-picked by Tom Morello to open for Rage Against […]

Singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile has announced the dates for her “Give Up The Ghost Traveling Show” beginning September 10th at The Depot in Salt Lake City, UT.   The tour will make stops at legendary venues across the country including Chicago’s House of Blues, New York’s Beacon Theatre and The Wiltern in Los Angeles.   Tickets go on […]

As the undeniable cultural momentum of this age finds reminiscence rock bands from Blur and My Bloody Valentine to Creed and Third Eye Blind reuniting for triumphant and remunerative victory lap tours, Seattle’s Harvey Danger is doing what it does best: the exact opposite of what logic and ambition demand. From an announcement on the band’s […]

Last Sunday, I took the F train to Dumbo to check out Bridge Flea, the new flea market started by the same people behind Brooklyn Flea in Ft Greene. My visit was not bargain shopping orientated, it was food motivated. I went to try the lobster roll that the Red Hook Lobster Pound was selling.

The Red Hook Lobster Pound has only been open a short while but their lobster roll is as good as Brooklyn Fish Camp’s which usually is my one lobster roll per summer (at $26 can only afford one/summer). According to their website the lobster rolls are made from their homemade mayo, and JJ Nissen Top Split Rolls (the original lobster roll bread that they truck down from Maine). Even though the line was long (the lobster rolls were $13.00, half the price of what you would find anywhere else) it moved fast. It was great to see the rolls brushed with butter and placed on the flat top grill. The lobster salad was extremely fresh and each sandwich was made to order. This is one fine lobster roll.

I need to make it out to their store in Red Hook at some point.

Red Hook Lobster Pound
284 Van Brunt Street
Brooklyn
646.326.7650

Oh if you want another reason to go, the booth around the corner had made to order fish tacos as well. Take the trip to Brooklyn this Sunday, have some lobster and fish tacos. You’ll wonder why you haven’t done so already.

Other goings on in the foodie-verse this week:

Terroir announced on their twitter feed that Pig Roasts are taking over Hearth on these Tuesdays: 7/21, 7/28. 8/4, 8/18 http://bit.ly/cyJHI Pig stuffed w pork sausage/3 course menu/$42 pp +$18bev. (I already called for reservations.)

READ ON for the rest of this week’s goings on in the foodie-verse…

The twitter feed for Leg Up Management – who manage Animal Collective – has been updated with the following message… Animal Collective confirmed to get first officially licensed Grateful Dead sample! “Phil Lesh loved the track please pass this to the guys” Gorilla Vs. Bear thinks they know what track and what sample it is.

If you’ve read any of the interviews Mike Gordon has done since Phish got back together you won’t be surprised to see that he’ll be touring again with his solo band. There are many Phish fans, myself included, who feel last year’s The Green Sparrow was the best solo release by any member of the […]

For the second year in a row, Naukabout – a Cape Cod-based lifestyle brand – will present a music festival at the Barnstable County Fairgrounds on August 8, 2009 featuring a slew of jam and rock bands from around the country. Rusted Root, the Ryan Montbleau Band and Pete Francis & Barefoot Truth lead the […]

Hot on the heels of a successful lunchtime set at the makeshift Third Man Records store in downtown New York, Dead Weather continue their Horehound publicity tour by visiting Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this evening. Jack White is no stranger to NBC’s Studio 6B as the White Stripes were the last musical guest on […]

There’s tireless chatter nowadays about the Internet, piracy, and the demise of the music industry as we once knew it. It is indeed a truism to say that album sales have entered a free fall and the major record labels are flailing about as they plunge toward their impending doom.

The thing is, they have it all wrong. The problem has little to do with the Internet or its savvy swashbucklers. They are not in fact the source of this industry implosion. Nope, the answer is much simpler. All it takes is a simple comparison of the great albums of today versus those at the height of the music industry bull market – the renaissance if you will: the 1980s. Today’s albums still have almost all the pieces in place: great songwriting, check; pleasing vocals, check; clever promotion, check; loyal fans, check. So, that leaves just one missing ingredient: a mean mother beast of a guitar solo.

Hit songs of the late ’80s almost always included a masterpiece of axe-wielding showmanship. On today’s albums, particularly on the great indie rock ones, the guitar solo is de-emphasized almost to the point of non-existence. Well, for this listener, long before the jam bands it was all about the glam bands and I for one love the guitar solo and miss it. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look back at the monster hits of the 1980s – the monster ballads to be precise – and take a close look at those epic guitar solos.

Skid Row – I Remember You (guitar solo from 2:37 to 3:18)

Listening to a monster ballad guitar solo is like judging a dive. There are myriad key factors to evaluate in unison over the course of a very short time. The key elements of these power solos include mastery of such variables as degree of difficulty, technical prowess, useless showboating, number of notes, and of course, squeal. While Sebastian Bach always stole the Skid Row thunder, in large part due to the fact that he kinda looked like a blonde Kristen Stewart, Dave “the Snake” Sabo co-founded the band before Bach ever joined and put the band on the map with guitar playing like this. Judges say? 9.2.

READ ON for more legendary monster ballad guitar solos…

Dan Auerbach best known as half of The Black Keys, will embark on a North American tour beginning November 5 in Columbus, OH. The tour, which includes shows at New York City’s Webster Hall, Nashville’s Cannery Ballroom and Philadelphia’s Theater of the Living Arts, arrives on the heels of Auerbach’s solo debut Keep It Hid, […]

Datarock’s highly anticipated sophomore album, Red, will be out September 1st on Nettwerk. To gear up for the release, the Norwegian tracksuit-clad phenomenon Datarock is taking over North America with a 26-city tour beginning August 28 and wrapping up in October. Expect the same tracksuits, more songs, and bigger shows. Don’t miss Datarock on tour […]

Just two brief days before the upcoming Northwest String Summitt, Glide Magazine got a unique opportunity to check in and chat with one of the two producers of the festival, Greg Friedman about what the festival is all about, what exactly goes into making it all happen, and what are his favorite memories from the last eight years of working the magic behind the scenes.

With the first six months of 2009 beginning to feel like a distant memory, figured it was time to continue with a tradition we started last year around this time, by taking a look at my favorite albums from the first half of the year with a little something we’ve dubbed Top 6 Of The First 6.

Maybe I’m getting old, but this list is dominated by mainly roots and Americana-tinged albums, so for those of you expecting Animal Collective somewhere here you may be sorely disappoint. So let’s get at it…

6. Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band – Outer South

Outer South may technically be Conor Oberst’s second “solo” release in as many years, but it would be hard to call this record a true solo effort. While Oberst’s prolific songwriting tendencies may rival that of Mr. Mandy Moore, his latest effort with the Mystic Valley Band is a collaborative affair, with band members contributing and singing their own songs often making you forget you’re listening to a record that has the wordy, singer-songwriter’s name attached to it. The album itself is chocked full of breezy, ’70s influenced country and folk-rock, mixed with the aughts indie-sensibility making it hard to avoid giving them the tag of an updated version of the Traveling Wilburys.

READ ON for the rest of Jeff’s Top 6 Of The First 6…