Archive: 2011

We’re sad to report that STS9 has canceled its upcoming winter tour as bass player David Murphy sets off to undergo timely and necessary cancer treatment following the band’s appearance at Mayan Holidaze this weekend. Murph shared the following thoughts through STS9.com… Greetings Family,Friends and Fans, I’m writing to share with y’all some news I’ve received recently. […]

There were plenty of rumors circulating that Prince would perform with Lettuce and Maceo Parker at Brooklyn Bowl for last night’s Soul to Soul II benefit, but The Purple One didn’t show. He may have been pooped after thrilling the MSG audience at his own gig. Our pal Sunil caught a ridiculous version of Love […]

With tonight’s premiere of American Idol – Season 10, we  will surely be finding something else to do. However, this season’s opener puts one of music’s biggest names in the judge’s seat. Steven Tyler has been in the spotlight for almost 40 years. He’s best known for his lips, his colorful scarves and a parade of hit songs that became radio staples. So is it any surprise that he’s joining American Idol?  Here’s what Three Grown Men have to say…

Kevin Smallwood:

Let’s be honest and call a spade a spade: Aerosmith has never been a cool band. They are like the jean jacket of the music industry. And like the jean jacket, they occasionally experience a cultural revival that is little more than a rehashing of novelty and nostalgia.

When this sort of sad decline takes place, you’ll often see either one of two things: 1. the lead singer will gracefully accept that his time in “that” spotlight is over and move on to other projects, good or bad (see: Robert Plant) or 2.  The lead singer will desperately cling to his fame by fighting his former band-mates, suing them and taking their songs on tour with a new band (see: Roger Waters, John Fogerty).

These are the generally accepted principles of aging classic rock stars. And Steven Tyler is not a classic rock star; Aerosmith may technically dip their toe in the classic rock genre because of Dream On and Sweet Emotion – but the majority of their career was spent on MTV with big hair and spandex pants.

READ ON for more of 3GM’s take on Steven Tyler…

The lineup for this year’s Coachella dropped early this morning and it’s no joke. Goldenvoice put together a well-rounded bill that starts with headliners Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, The Strokes and Kanye West and includes HT faves The Felice Brothers, Tame Impala and Trampled By Turtles.

Here’s a look at the lineup in poster form…

Coachella 2011 takes place at Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA on April 15 – 17. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 AM PST.

READ ON for an A to Z (or ! to Z) rundown of the bill…

The Avett Brothers New Years Eve show at the Asheville Civic Center.

Rounder Records is excited to announce that Robert Plant has confirmed a 12-date North American tour. Beginning April 8 in Louisville, KY, this will be the third leg of touring on these shores in support of the triumphant release of his latest album, Band of Joy. The touring band is the same that made the […]

Singer-songwriters David Crosby and Graham Nash will launch a spring tour in theU.S. with a March 25 show in, Long Beach, CA.  While Crosby and Nash’s legendary vocal harmonies will be the centerpiece of the show, they will be accompanied on the road by an ace-backing band featuring James Raymond (keyboards), Dean Parks (guitar), Kevin McCormick (bass), and Steve DiStanislao (drums).  The initial on-sale date for tickets is January 21. […]

Rush has announced the remaining dates for the band’s ‘Time Machine Tour.’ The new string of dates begins with a gig at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, S.C., June 8 followed by New Orleans Arena June 10; Austin at the Frank Erwin Center June 12; El Paso at Don Haskins Center June 14; Phoenix at U.S. […]

With the Coachella line-up announcement serving as the official kick-off to the annual U.S. festival season, festival organizers Goldenvoice have revealed details for the 2011 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.  The 12th Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival is set for Friday, April 15, Saturday, April 16 and Sunday, April 17 at the beautiful […]

After sharing a bill at The Wiltern in LA this month, The Low Anthem will join Iron & Wine on the road for two weeks in April. Before that, the band will embark on a headlining tour in support of its forthcoming album, 'Smart Flesh' (2/22, Nonesuch), including a performance at NYC's Bowery Ballroom March […]

Kaki King will return to her acoustic roots this winter for a national tour that will make stops at renowned venues such as the Moma in New York City, Yoshi’s in San Francisco and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.   For this next phase, King has decided to take all of these musical experiences back to […]

J Mascis debut solo acoustic record Several Shades of Why  is coming out on March 15th and he has just announced a headlining tour. in support of it. The trek begins on March 10th in Ithaca, NY and will be passing through such cities as New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, ending on May […]

As we reported last week, JEMP Records put out three releases from Phish’s Summer Tour 2010 today via iTunes and through select record stores. Live Phish engineer Jon Altschiller’s original live mixes have been lovingly remastered by Fred Kevorkian for these new releases.

Our friends at JEMP have provided us some remastered tracks to share, so you can sample the quality of these releases. They also sent a few blurbs about each performance written by Phish archivist Kevin Shapiro to give a little background on these shows.

Show #1 = 06/27/2010 – Merriweather Post Pavilion

• Sample: Meatstick > I Saw It Again

Kevin Shapiro on 6/27/10: On Sunday June 27, 2010, Phish played their sixth headline show (since 1998) at Merriweather Post Pavilion and the second show of a two-night stand to a hot, sticky summer crowd.  Merriweather Post is a wooden-roofed music amphitheater designed by Frank Gehry with excellent acoustics and a capacity of about 19,000.  The band opened set one with “Walfredo” which includes lyrics about Phish’s first visit to the venue opening for Santana in 1992.  This rarity, performed only a half dozen times and for the first time in a decade, began a string of breakouts.  The number two spot featured Bob Marley’s “Mellow Mood” (played for the first time since 2003’s IT festival), “Divided Sky” and 2010’s first “Tela”.  A couple more covers, Clifton Chenier’s Bayou swinging “My Soul” and Norman Blake’s “Ginseng Sullivan”, were clustered mid-set along with “Sample In A Jar.”  Set one wrapped up with “Brian And Robert” – bookended by Phish classics “Bathtub Gin” and “Run Like An Antelope”, the latter of which contained teases of “Brian And Robert.”  Set two was a seamless affair rooted in the show’s theme song, “Saw It Again” (also played at Merriweather for the first time since IT).  This playful set hinged on exploratory playing and transitions like “Meatstick” > “Saw It Again” > “Piper” > “Ghost” which, like the rest of the set included deft teases of “Saw It Again”.  Phish sealed the fate of this uncommon set by weaving their debut of the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” back into “Saw It Again”.  The remainder of the show: “Contact”, “You Enjoy Myself” (with teases of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”) and Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” also included multiple nods to “Saw it Again” among its sonic treasures.

READ ON for samples of the other two releases…

“Why don’t you do more Cover Wars that feature vocal harmonies?” I was asked last week. A great question, and obviously the motivation for this week’s selection. Helplessly Hoping is a track from the 1969 self-titled debut album from Crosby, Stills & Nash. The song makes heavy use of alliteration, a device that Stephen Stills – who wrote the song – humorously points out at the trio’s performance at Woodstock (which was the band’s only second live performance). After Graham Nash says it’s one of “one of the best ever written”, Stills quickly says into the microphone, “Helplessly Hoping Her Helicopter Hovers Nearby”.

The Contestants:

Leading off this week we’ve got the Cover Wars debut of Acoustic Syndicate, a band from North Carolina known for their strong harmonies. Source: 12-28-2002

READ ON for more covers of Helplessly Hoping…

Phish bassist Mike Gordon returns to the road once again with his solo band for a three-week tour that crosses the country. The MGB’s run starts on March 5th at the McDonald Theatre in Eugene, OR and wraps up at the Higher Ground near Mike’s current hometown of Burlington on March 26th. While Gordon’s last […]

At last year’s SXSW music fest, John McCauley of Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit debuted their new roots-rock supergroup, which at the time was dubbed MG&V after their collective last names. After a busy 2010 for the members’ full time bands, and a name change to Middle Brother, […]

Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance this past weekend at the annual Light of Day benefit concert in Asbury Park. Among the tunes Springsteen performed was the Nebraska chestnut Atlantic City. Check out this exceptional clip of The Boss laying into his classic tune… Bruce Springsteen – Atlantic City

[Originally Published: September 28, 2010]

The Wind Will Carry Us, a poem, a moment and after that—nothing.
Behind this window the night is trembling, and the earth stands still in its course, vague things lie behind this window, you and I, uneasy…

And it is the window, the view out there, one is forever focused upon—this space we seek, to see the soul within in a moment of independence, a moment of pure clarity, which in any life is but a fleeting glimpse of eternity before, again, one drifts inwards, into that reserved area of mystery we all occupy at one point. Indeed, the wind beckons.

We ponder the Great Unknown. Only, sometimes, as the saying goes, it ponders us, too. We ruminate over a true landmark in independent cinema marking its 40th anniversary in 2010 with a remastered-print screening at New York’s Museum of Modern Art on October 27. And thus, we celebrate Barbara Loden’s searing vision of the iconoclastic soul on a road trip through a season in hell in this edition of Hidden Flick, Wanda.

The late Loden was married to famed and controversial director Elia Kazan. She was an actress in a few traditional Hollywood productions before writing, directing, and starring as the title character in the 1970 film about a woman who gives up her children to her husband after a rather abrupt and quick divorce. With only the clothes on her body, a purse and a few dollars, Wanda takes to the open highway, and never quite looks back. Wanda is always moving forward. But, in many respects, despite her bold departure from her family, Wanda still clings to the ideal of the man who can make it all happen for her. To her slow realization, she learns that men are just as fucked up as women. READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick…

The last thing many would expect from Anaïs Mitchell would be a foray into psychedelic folk rock. This transition period, though, signals that Anaïs Mitchell is not only a voice to watch out for, but to actively pursue.

The Australian dance/synth poppers Cut Copy will be traveling the states soon in support of their forthcoming new album, Zonoscope. The trio will be kicking things off in Miami at the Ultra Music Festival and they will then head north all the way into Canada, drop down to California and will finish things out in […]