Archive: 2009

Jay Bennett, the former Wilco multi-instrumentalist, passed away in his sleep on early Sunday morning (May 24) due to unknown causes. He was 45. Bennett was best known for his work with Wilco, the group for which he wrote and recorded on 1996’s "Being There," 1999’s "Summerteeth" and 2002’s "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," as well as […]

This weekend marks the moment we’ve been waiting for since we said goodbye to summer last year, as we officially say hello to Summer ’09 (or the Summer Of Jam as we’re calling it around these parts). With a nice long weekend ahead, we know you’re probably just counting down the minutes till you can […]

We’d like to welcome back U-Melt keyboard ace Zac Lasher for the third set of entries from the Tour Diary he kept for Hidden Track. For parts one and two, Zac wrote about U-Melt’s journey through America’s Heartland. Now, we bring you the final installment of Zac’s Hidden Track Tour Diary…

4/27 – On the road to Tulsa

The county gets really big out here. Being from the Northeast, I’m used to everything being really close together. Not here. Another day of driving hours and hours with absolutely nothing around for miles and miles and miles gives me time to reflect. I found out about the pretty serious electronic music scene in eastern Colorado… I gotta say, it’s pretty hip – we opened for an electronic act that rocked the house at the Fox in Boulder, and on Saturday in Denver we played next door to a big electronic music circus complete with fire-dancers, stilt-walkers and live-painters. It was all very Burning-Man.

I’m very into that kind of scene, so I definitely enjoyed it, but it did all make me wonder as to the place of Rock ’n Roll in today’s (and tomorrow’s) world. It seems to me that electronica is a new kind of folk music. It doesn’t really require musical training, and it doesn’t require hours of rehearsal with a band. You just need a laptop, some key software and the inspiration and tenacity to learn how to use it, and you can get a crowd into a frenzy playing your produced tracks. READ ON for more of Zac Lasher’s Tour Diary…

A video of Trey performing If I Could with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra last night has surfaced (HT- Coventry Blog)… Trey w/ BSO – If I Could Previously on HT: Trey Anastasio in Baltimore Setlist

Bonjour mes amis, I have returned from my vacation to the Paris, the City of Lights. One of my new discoveries my first week back is a new ice cream truck that I came across on University Place called Van Leeuwen Artisanal Ice Cream. I was on my way back from dinner with my brother and his kids the other night when we stumbled on the bright yellow truck…

We tried the vanilla bean which was very rich and full of flavor. After doing some research, I found out the the trucks have been out and about for almost a year in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. According to an article written on the Farm Fresh Creative blog, which published an excerpt from the creative brief written by Ben Van Leewen, the Van Leeuwen trucks uses quality products for everything (read below):

“To give you an idea of the product, we use hormone free milk and cream from small family farms in New York State, cane sugar and egg yolks. We never use milk powder, corn syrup, stabilizers, or preservatives. We age organic Bourbon and Tahitian Vanilla Beans in oak barrels with vodka for 4 months to extract them. We use pure Sicilian Pistachios, hand picked by small family farmers on the slopes of Mount Etna in Bronte. We use Tonda La gentile origin certified Hazelnuts from Piedmont. We source our chocolate from Michel Cluizel in France( they use no Soya Lechitin!). We use Quinn Farms Hudson Valley red currants. We have set out to make the best readily available super-premium ice cream while also educating consumers on why slow food produced ingredients taste better.”

READ ON for this week’s links and more on Van Leeuwen’s…

The Band – Rocking Chair

Once again, iClips will be broadcasting live from the Summer Camp Festival all weekend long, but unlike past Summer Camp webcasts this year’s webcasts won’t be free. Day passes run $19.99 making the $29.99 weekend pass a much better value. The broadcast schedule includes five sets of Umphrey’s, five sets of moe. and tons of […]

Phish guitarist and singer Trey Anastasio reached deep into his bag of tricks for his performance tonight with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Charm City. Among the Phish classics Anastasio performed with the ensemble was If I Could – a song Phish hasn’t played in nearly nine years. An emotional highlight […]

Overall it is a solid effort for the duo, with top notch production and a few odd vocal choices; but it is far from the ruin implied in its title.    

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will play three shows at Giants Stadium in New Jersey this fall before the arena is torn down, the Boss announced onstage last night (May 21) at a concert at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ. The shows will take place on Sept. 30 and October 2 […]

Massive Attack vocalist and musician Robert "3D" Del Naja has revealed plans for a huge world tour to support the release of their long-anticipated fifth album out in October via Virgin/EMI.   The British electronic act has already confirmed more than 40 dates in the U.K. and Europe, beginning with three shows at London’s 5,000-capacity […]

Wilco have announced the release of their own iPhone application. The application, which can be downloaded for free on US iTunes beginning today (May 22), allows fans to track the band’s tour dates, check out photos, keep up to date on Wilco‘s latest news, and stream songs and videos. The application can also be used […]

Gov’t Mule has a announced a July release planned for "By a Thread," the follow-up to 2006’s "High and Mighty" and the band’s first new studio album in three years. Recorded earlier this year at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studios outside Austin, TX, the 11-track effort is set to hit shelves July 28, though presales for […]

Over the past few years Panicstream.com has turned into a must-visit portal for Spreadheads wanting the latest information about Widespread Panic. One of my favorite features of the site is their collection of iPod-ready MP3 downloads from dozens of shows spanning the band’s entire 23 year career. Here’s six more great bootlegs to keep your […]

After 33 seasons of football, 2009 will be the last year that the Giants and Jets will call Giants Stadium home before moving into new digs across the lot for the 2010 season. In a move that seems fitting, New Jersey’s native son Bruce Springsteen will play the stadium’s final concerts. Bruce & The E […]

For the latest installment of their Bisco Inferno series of Colorado concerts, the Disco Biscuits have booked Red Rocks for their first headlining show at the iconic amphitheater on May 30. Along with two sets of Bisco, concertgoers will also be treated to sets by legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold, Lotus, DJ Z-Trip, the New Deal, Orchard Lounge and RJD2. Tickets for both the Red Rocks event and the Biscuits’ warm up show at the Ogden in Denver on May 29 as well as two-day passes are onsale via Ticketmaster.

[Photo by Jason Woodside]

We spoke with Disco Biscuits bassist Marc Brownstein about how the event came together and what fans can expect. Here’s what he had to say…

Hidden Track: How far in advance does the band plan the setlist for a special show like Bisco Inferno? Does the surroundings at such an epic venue affect the thought process on song selection and what “type” of Biscuits show you are going to construct?

Marc Brownstein: We have been thinking bout the setlist for Red Rocks for months. It keeps changing though because Magner keeps coming in with new amazing songs.

HT: Can you tell us about your experience at Red Rocks in 2001 opening for Phil Lesh and Friends?

MB: What a day. It was pretty cool to get a standing ovation after the Thieving Magpie. Then, watching Phil and Warren tear that place up – it was really a treat.

READ ON for more from Marc about next weekend’s Bisco Inferno…

Ben Harper & Relentless7 – Shimmer & Shine

Tonight, Tea Leaf Green takes the stage for the second of two shows at the 8×10 Club in Baltimore with their acoustic alter-ego Coffee Bean Brown opening each show. CBB shows off a completely different, mellower side of the group’s music. These rare Coffee Bean Brown sets are in celebration of the first release from their own Tea Leaf Green Partnership imprint on June 2nd, Coffee Bean Brown Comes Alive, which features music recorded at the now-closed Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction in September of ’07.

I caught Tea Leaf’s two-setter at Irving Plaza on Saturday night and it got me thinking about the band’s past. TLG blew up in the New York City area in 2005. They first caught the attention of a number of my friends at a Rocks Off cruise after a Trey Anastasio show at the Hammerstein in May of that year and they packed the Knitting Factory and Coda on their next two trips to the Big Apple in September and November 2005. 2006 brought more of the same for Tea Leaf as they made the giant leap from the Knit to Irving Plaza in the blink of an eyelash and sold out the 1,000+ capacity venue upon their return at a magical show in March of 2007.

But just as quickly as it came, the momentum seemed to grind to a halt. TLG was scheduled to play two shows at the much smaller Highline Ballroom during Thanksgiving week last year and had to cancel one of the shows – which I’ll go ahead and speculate was due to lack of ticket sales. I caught the show they did play and let’s just say there was plenty of room for me to dance. READ ON for Scott’s thoughts on Tea Leaf Green at Irving Plaza…

The Dead performing at Shoreline in Mountain View, CA on May 14th, 2009.

Black Moth Super Rainbow‘s Eating Us is out 5/26 on Graveface and we have all sorts of twisted, hairy things happening surrounding its release, including a contest with ten different independent retail stores and varied BMSR-related prizes, Eating Us listening parties across the country, additional tour dates in late June and July and more. Tour […]