2010

Briefly: Levon Celebrates His 70th

The Sixth Annual Mountain Jam came to a close last night with a set by Levon Helm’s Ramble On The Road ensemble featuring a slew of special guests including Ray

Read More

Pullin’ ‘Tubes: Bonnaroo Week ’10

Back in 2002, the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival’s inaugural edition played host to around 50 mostly jam-oriented bands across four stages on a 700-acre farm about an hour southeast

Read More

The Plimsouls: Live Beg Borrow & Steal: October 31 1981 Whiskey

The Plimsouls were virtually alone as an authentic rock and roll band within the lemming-like procession of New Wavers that followed the punk explosion of 1979. In this Halloween 1981 recording from the Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles, this group's savvy fusion of influences is absolutely galvanizing.

Read More

Joker’s Wakarusa Recap: Day Three

Our pal The Joker from the Coventry Music blog has made his way to Arkansas to cover this weekend’s Wakarusa Festival in Ozark, AR for HT. Here’s The Joker’s report on the third day of the festival…

By the third day at Wakarusa I felt like I was hitting a groove. I had learned the layout; I knew the strategy of getting around. I knew how to meet up with friends easily. I had learned the secrets of how to bend the rules. Actually on day three there seemed to be very few rules – there were only suggestions. Because of my comfort with the festival vibe and the high caliber of music, Wakarusa Day Three was one of the most enjoyable days I have had at a festival in years.

I continued the strategy of staying out of the sun most of the day until the Black Keys came on the main stage at 5PM. I absolutely love Dan Auerbach’s dirty guitar tone. The Black Keys delivered huge riffs, soulful singing and on point performances of most of the new songs from their new record Brothers. It was well worth standing in 100 degree heat to see it.

Zappa Plays Zappa was up next, also on the main stage. Since seeing this incarnation of the Zappa Plays Zappa band live I have gained a new appreciation for Frank Zappa’s music. The musicianship in the band Dweezil has put together is astounding. I loved the Wakarusa set and was especially excited to hear two of my favorite Zappa instrumentals – Peaches in Regalia and Apostrophe.

READ ON for more of The Joker’s take on Wakarusa…

Read More

Joker’s Wakarusa Recap: Day Two – A Tale of Two Festivals

Our pal The Joker from the Coventry Music blog has made his way to Arkansas to cover this weekend’s Wakarusa for HT. He’ll be sending reports each day on both the scene and the music. Here’s The Joker’s report on the second day of the festival…

Friday at Wakarusa was another amazing night of music. During the day it was – I’m using the technical term here – hot as balls. Because of the heat the main goal during the day for the majority of festivalgoers was staying in the shade and trying to get some sleep. I would say that 40% of the festival goers didn’t even come out to play until the sun was going down.


Staying in the shade and out of the sun was also my priority. The schedules at night are stacked full, and I knew that if I wanted to make it out all night I needed to save my strength.

  • Joker’s Wakarusa Recap: Day One

The first music I saw came at 6:30pm when ALO played in the Revival Tent. ALO always impresses me with their positive, melodic songs and funky jams. At the start of the ALO set the Revival Tent 3/4 was full with festivalgoers laying down in the shade, choosing a cool place to rest rather than intentionally seeing ALO. That changed for most about halfway through the set as ALO had the tent standing up and at minimum bobbing heads to the funky groove of Possibly Drown. By the end of the set the tent was at capacity with everyone dancing to the infectious grooves.

READ ON for more from The Joker on Wakarusa Day Two…

Read More

View posts by year