The B List: The 10 Best of Year One

9. The B List: 10 Singin’ Drummers — 06/28/2007

Our list of singing drummers still garners debate more than three months after it was first posted. Let’s just say Karen Carpenter has some loyal fans out there…

It’s too bad that Karen Carpenter’s name is always going to be associated with the battle with anorexia that killed her rather than for her skills as a singer and drummer. Hell, most people don’t even know that Carpenter got her start behind the kit.

Karen formed The Carpenters with her brother Richard in the mid ’60s. The pair went on to record some of the biggest sugary-sweet pop tunes of the century, including We’ve Only Just Begun, Close to You and Top of the World. Karen started out as the drummer and singer for the tandem, but as they became more successful, the record company wanted her out front instead of hidden by a drum set. Carpenter’s skills on the kit were lauded by everyone from Buddy Rich to the readers of Playboy Magazine, which named her the Best Rock Drummer of 1975. We were robbed of Karen’s drumming and voice when she died in 1983 after a long struggle with anorexia.

8. The B List: Side Projects — 11/30/2006

Side projects have been an integral part of music since Bill Haley first took a night off Rockin’ Around The Clock with The Comets to explore his passion for jazz. Artists need plenty of outlets to explore all sides of their creativity, and we put together a list of our 10 favorite side projects of all-time

Gov’t Mule: Warren Haynes and Allen Woody got together with Matt Abst in an effort to give Warren a venue for his already large and growing song catalogue. Combine an amazing first few albums of original material with a steady diet of classic covers, and it was clear the late ’90s that the Allman Brothers Band was no match for the power of the Mule. Warren and Woody left the band and established their one-time pet project as one of the premier names in the jam band scene. Mule’s persevered since Woody’s passing in 2000, playing an estimated 792 shows a year.

7. The B List: Top Ten Big Red Sit-Ins — 03/15/2007

While Ace and I were covering Langerado we we’re lucky enough to have the incredibly talented David Onigman present his well thought out list of Trey Anastasio’s best sit-ins

Easter Jam: 4/11/2004, Higher Ground, Winooski VT

Trey played with three different bands during the closing month of the old Higher Ground (AGP made this list, and he also performed with Orchestra Baobob). But perhaps the largest event was the so-called Easter Jam. Though the Dave Grippo Funk Band was the largest name on the bill, it was a night where everyone knew huge things were going to go down. Indeed, late into the night, after sets by other local bands, Trey took the stage with The Octet, a lineup that had not been seen since Summer 2001.

After playing an hour’s worth of music, Trey started Sand and the rest of Phish took the stage for the ensuing jam and a brief, but high-energy, Chalkdust Torture. Page, Jon and Mike then returned to the stage at the end of Plasma to play Stevie Wonder’s, yep, Higher Ground. This performance actually saw two different bands Trey performed with segue into each other, using a song that both bands played frequently. Pretty heady shit.

6. The B List: A Change Will Do You Good — 11/09/2006

One of the first columns was a list of band member changes that actually helped propel the band to the next level. I’ve seen Jimmy Herring play with Panic three times since this article was posted, and they keep on getting better each time I see them

Jimmy Herring replaces George McConnell in Widespread Panic: Say what you want about Michael Houser, but the man had a style all his own. McConnell, partly hamstrung by the expectations of playing Mikey’s leads, sounded overly generic. Herring, who can play all of Houser’s leads behind his head with his eyes closed, has thrived so far since taking McConnell’s role in the band.

5. The B List: Best of the H.O.R.D.E. — 06/07/2007

We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the first H.O.R.D.E. tour by listing the 10 best acts to ever playing the traveling festival

Blues Traveler: In the summer of 1992 a friend put on Blues Traveler’s debut album, and I was immediately floored. So many questions went through my mind: Is that just one harmonica? Is that singer dude black? What’s up with the scatting? Listening to that CD was my entrance into the world of what would soon be known as jambands. That same summer Blues Traveler played an integral part in organizing the first H.O.R.D.E. tour. Traveler and Popper became synonymous with the festival, playing at least one show on each H.O.R.D.E. tour. Sadly the band hasn’t produced much worthwhile music since their bass player Bobby Sheehan died in 1999. But Traveler is still touring the country on a regular basis.

• 7/30/94: Blues Traveler plays the H.O.R.D.E. in Irvine

4. The B List: Ten Great Muppet Show Videos — 03/22/2007

We still get requests for more Muppet Show videos six months after our original collection of videos was posted

In this clip from the Italian version of the Muppet Show, Animal challenges drumming legend Buddy Rich to a Drum Duel. Man, Buddy Rich is nasty!

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3. The B List: Top 10 Reasons We’ll Miss SCI — 08/02/2007

We know making fun of the String Cheese Incident is too easy, but we had a blast putting this hilarious list together celebrating the end of the Cheese

• The headiest jam names — where will we go to see Inspiration Jam, Initiation Jam, Expression Jam, Evolution Jam and Synergy Jam?

2. The B List: Second Generation Rockers – 05/24/2007

The inclusion of Wolfgang Van Halen on this list of 10 second generation musicians made this post the most read article in the history of this blog by a long shot. Those Van Halen fans are zealous!

Wolfgang Van Halen — Eddie Van Halen shocked the rock world in late 2006 when he announced that his 15-year old son Wolfgang was the new bass player in Van Halen after original VH bassist Michael Anthony pissed off the Van Halen brothers by playing with persona non-grata Sammy Hagar. Eddie claimed “You can’t be in two bands at once,” and fired Anthony. At the time, Van Halen was preparing for an extensive summer tour that never came to pass. Eddie Van Halen’s drinking problems put the kibosh on what would have been David Lee Roth’s return to the band.

Wolfie sat-in with Van Halen a number of times during their 2004 world tour. Before Eddie went into rehab, he discussed the edge his son brought back to the band:

“Wolfgang breathes life into what we’re doing,” says Ed. “He brings youthfullness to something that’s inherently youthful. He’s only been playing bass for 3 months, but it’s spooky. He’s locked tight and puts an incredible spin on our dookie. The kid is kicking my ass! He’s spanking me now, even though I never spanked him. To have my son follow in my footsteps on his own, without me pushing him into it, is the greatest feeling in the world.”

Hopefully the public will have a chance to see Wolfgang in action soon. Eddie is out of rehab, and David Lee Roth is itching to get back on the road.

1. The B List: Sing Me Back Home – 03/29/2007

We fuck around quite a bit on Hidden Track, but I was in an ultra serious mood when I wrote a B List featuring the ten best songs about going home. During a dark moment I listened to Death Cab For Cutie’s version of The Band’s Rocking Chair, which led to an epiphany about making up this list. After that I spent the next four hours listening to every song I could possibly find about going home, and I wrote my little heart out

Sloop John B – The Beach Boys: There seems to be a nautical theme amongst a few entries on this list. I’ve seen the Deadliest Catch on Discovery so I can understand how hard life at sea must be. Sloop John B is a tale of being stuck on a sinking ship. Sometimes we head out on trips or adventures with the best of intentions only to find that thinks don’t work out as planned. I think we can all relate to the lyric “This is the worst trip I’ve ever been on… I wanna go home.” Kinda like Coventry for Phish fans.

The Beach Boys took a traditional West Indies tune called John B Sails and changed the lyrics around a bit to come away with one of the best records of all-time. Brian Wilson and his mates used every studio tool available to them at the time to create the symphonic masterpiece that is Sloop John B. I think perhaps “Crazy” Brian Wilson came to find and re-work John B Sails due to his longing to stop writing, touring, and promoting his music every day of his life. He wanted to return “home” so much so that he spent a few years of his life in bed.

“Why don’t you let me go home”

Honorable Mention: Murder Was The Case, Cover Bands That Don’t Suck, Cherry Poppin’ at Langerado, 10 Best Chick Bass Players and 5 Albums You Need to Hear in 2007