The Mike Gordon Band, dormant since March, returns to the stage this weekend at moe.down 11 in Mohawk, NY. Today, we found out those won’t be the only dates for the five-piece as the sleuths over at Phantasy Tour have found listings for a November 18 show at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, IL and a November 27 date at the intimate Port City Music Hall in Portland, ME. We’re sure a full announcement can’t be too far behind these leaks. We’ll let you know when the full list of dates come out.

When a musical act has a rabid fanbase, it becomes tough for said act to keep the inner workings of their organization from the fans. Many times this leads to all kinds of speculation about what goes on “behind the curtain,” especially when something particularly controversial happens without much of an explanation from the band.

For this week’s B List we put together a list of five questions for which we’d love to know the answers. In many cases, the answers may never be known or can only be answered by the people involved – who aren’t talking. Yet, for conversation’s sake we’re going to put these questions out there…

1. What did the fax that the Allman Brothers Band sent to Dickey Betts say?

Back in May 2000, the Allman Brothers Band – supposedly – sent a fax to founding member Dickey Betts informing him that he had been replaced by Jimmy Herring. According to an Entertainment Weekly article, the fax implied he needed help with a substance abuse problem. We’ve always wondered exactly what the fax said. Was there small talk before the deed was done? “Hey Dickey, How’s the weather in Sarasota? Oh, by the way, we went another direction after 30 years, give our best to the fam.”

2. What was in Trey Anastasio’s backpack?

While promoting 2005’s Shine LP, 70 Volt Parade lead singer Trey Anastasio repeatedly referred to a backpack he took with him to visit producer Brendan O’Brien. We’ve always wondered what was in said backpack. A copy of The Phish Companion? Some Clif Bars and some cold green tea? The moments from Page’s day he received in the mail?

READ ON for three more unanswered questions…

The Avett Brothers have been on a seemingly non-stop tour ever since releasing the critically acclaimed  I And Love And You last September. So it really should come as no surprise that the North Carolina-based act’s next release will come in the form of a live album, which will be simply titled Live, Volume 3. The 16-track album, which will also be released on DVD, was recorded at a hometown gig at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte on Aug. 8 of last year and features a mix of songs from the band’s career including Murder In The City, When I Drink and Pretty Girl From Matthews.

• List Time: Top 10 Songs Over 10 Minutes Long
• U2, Damian Rice & Glen Hansard to appear in Irish music doc
• Cover Alert: Shout Out Louds tackle Band Of Horses
• Frank Zappa bust will be unveiled on September 19 in Baltimore
• Download This: Talking Heads – The CBS Demos, 1975
• Rounder Records celebrates its 40th anniversary with box set

Finally, for those that are looking to get a head start on planning a music-cation for next summer than you might be interested in knowing that on July 1, 2011 psychedelic-rockers The Flaming Lips will perform their break-out album The Soft Bulletin in its entirety at London’s Alexandra Palace, as part of All Tomorrow’s Parties Don’t Look Back season. Joining The Lips on this special night will be Dinosaur Jr., who will perform their 1988 album Bug, and Deerhoof, who will tackle their 2004 record Milk Man. Tickets will go on-sale starting tomorrow at 10 AM UK time.

Sometimes less is more. Effort that is. This week, you’re only getting tracks from three different bands, but I’m giving you fat sections of music from all three entries. Those of you who download the weekly podcast (and yelled at me last week for not including a download link) will be settling in for an hour’s worth of music from a Jazz Duo that somehow captured the hearts of jamband fans years ago, a trancefusion band in the midst of an impressive summer tour playing large stages and the brownest band on the scene.

After not delivering last week, the Last Week’s Sauce Podcast is back, click here to download.

[Thanks to tgakidisfor this week's photo]

Benevento Russo Duo – Blues For Allah, Best Reason To Buy The Sun
Date & Venue: 2010-08-27 Highline Ballroom – New York, NY
Taper & Show Download: nyctaper

Joe Russo stated in an interview with JamBase in February of last year that, “I don’t care who comes to see our band; if you like our music, that’s great. But the first time someone yelled a Phish song at us when we were playing as The Duo, I got really fucking pissed. I was like, ‘That’s it, all we are now is this [band] that has to do with Phish.” This problem I’m sure has continued to grow as since that interview was published, he is now also touring with Phil Lesh and Bob Weir. It seems as though he may have gotten over it though, as The Duo last week performed the long GD composition Blues For Allah.

No future tourdates for the Benevento Russo Duo are currently on the books, but Marco Benevento is playing with Garage A Trois alongside Skerik, Mike Dillon and Stanton Moore; they play tomorrow at Doug Fir in Portland, OR. Joe Russo resumes his drumming duties with Furthur on September 16th in Eugene, OR.

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Video of The Duo playing their BIG HIT Becky…

READ ON for tracks from the Disco Biscuits and Ween…

Yonder Mountain String Band @ Red Rocks, August 27

What do you do when the time is getting late, the crowd is slowly clearing out and you’re losing energy, but the band won’t stop playing? You stay and enjoy the music. Well, at least that’s my opinion. It’s always a coveted show at Red Rocks: it always seems to be the big stop on every band’s tour, and for the boys of Yonder Mountain it was no different. Bassist Ben Kaufman at one point remarked, “I can’t believe we get to do this,” and later mandolinist Jeff Austin, always excited and always smiling, told us, “This is our favorite part of the year.” And they did their best to prove it to us. On Friday, Yonder Mountain String Band played for well over three hours, starting at 9 and not finishing until after 1 in the morning.

[All Photos by Jason Woodside]

Split Lip Rayfield started the evening at 6PM, and after that set came 90 minutes of Leftover Salmon. By 8:45pm, the sun had gone down, the buzzing of the crowd had settled and the carpets had been laid down on stage to accommodate Yonder Mountain’s modest stage set-up. It wasn’t long after that Austin, Kaufman, Adam Aijala on guitar and Dave Johnston on banjo walked slowly on stage and broke right into Looking Back Over My Shoulder.

Even though it was an exciting moment – the first chords of the main event, a night of Colorado bluegrass – it was hard to get into at first. Because of Yonder’s affinity for the simple acoustic bluegrass, and because they are accustomed to smaller venues, they seemed to have a bit of a hard time filling the space. There is a lot of open air at Red Rocks Amphitheater. But, once my ears got used to it, and the crowd settled a bit more, it was easier to listen to each note.

READ ON for more about Yonder Mountain at Red Rocks…

To say it’s been a rather intense summer for Simone Felice may be a bit of an understatement. This past June, The Duke & The King front man underwent emergency open heart surgery as a result of Aortic Stenosis resulting in the cancellation of his band’s summer tour dates. Just weeks after the surgery Simone made somewhat of a miraculous recovery, joining his former band mates The Felice Brothers on stage at the Clearwater Festival and played a handful of solo acoustic shows in support of his album Live From A Lonely Place – which was recorded around the same time.

Now with his health issues behind him, Simone can now concentrate on promoting his band’s sophomore album Long Live the Duke & the King, which will be released in the UK on September 27, with its stateside release to hopefully follow soon after. The Duke & The King, who will head across the pond of a series of dates throughout England, Ireland and Germany, recently dropped this video for their album’s first single – Shaky…

At the Prague stop on last year’s In Rainbows tour, 50 Radiohead fans shot the concert using flip cameras and the footage was edited together to create the free-to-download DVD Radiohead – Live in Praha. Not only did the band approve of this project, but they gave the editors a soundboard recording of the show to work into the final product. You can download the DVD in a variety of formats here.

Let’s take a look at Idioteque from Radiohead – Live in Praha…

Radiohead – Idioteque

Yesterday we posted the first part of Wade Ellis Wilby’s latest installment of our Storytellers series about the effect Steely Dan’s Aja had on him growing up. Today, we bring you his anecdotes on Side Two of the LP…

Peg

So girls were obviously a huge part of any 17 year old’s life. No scientific breakthrough there. The great groove to this song was really what drove me to it as well as the fantastic harmonies and slick guitar work. But Peg…something was up with this broad. She was the starlet that hung in poster form on some guys wall in the 60’s. She was from a time far away from ‘97 but I smelled what they were stepping in. She loved the limelight, and this guy loved seeing her in the limelight. Did she exist without it? Did he think about her when she wasn’t in a movie?

I had all kinds of crazy emotions and feelings about woman at this time. I had a girlfriend of three years at this point whom I loved VERY much and love to this day. This song made me think about why you love someone and if there are any situational ethics involved with love and attraction. I mean, we were meeting TONS of broads out on the road and this song made me realize those girls probably thought we ceased to exist once the lights go out and we pack up the gear. We go from star to student in a matter of hours and what did we matter to these girls whom hours ago wanted to sleep with all of us…even the light guy? Oh well…if Peg had any consolation advice to offer I heard it: “It Will Come Back To You.”

Home At Last

12/29/95. Not the summer or even ‘97, but needs to be addressed for this anecdote. I was one of the lucky ones who was there for the life-changing Bathtub>Real Me>Bathtub segue from the Phish NYE run in ‘95, hallowed as one of the best segues the band has done to date. However, the counter culture was still being explored by this up and comer and I decided to take more LSD than I was accustomed to at this point in time.

READ ON for more from Wade on the songs of Aja…

I’ll never forget the calls I got about Umphrey’s McGee’s performance at The Tabernacle in Atlanta back on February 6th telling me what a special show had taken place and that I needed to hear the show pronto. While the music holds up on tape, it’s tough to get a feel from the audio of the band/audience interaction that made this night so incredible. Thanks to the band and longtime friend of HT and UM LD Jefferson Waful we can finally see the inside story of that magical evening in the ATL.

Waful, who has 20 years of experience in television, radio, and print media, directed a short film that features HD video shot from the soundboard at The Tabernacle. He put together a 3-part documentary filled with clips of the show as well as behind-the-scenes and backstage footage including interviews and humorous outtakes. Without further ado, here’s the premiere of Umphrey’s – The Tabernacle…

Wade Ellis Wilby presents Hidden Track Storytellers. This is a creative writing workshop for fiction and nonfiction stories & poetry inspired by music.

My father turned 60 the other day which got me very nostalgic about the many great things he has taught me over the years. One of the greatest lessons I inherited was his vinyl collection. Back in the day, people use to write on album covers like high school year books. So not only do I have an amazing collection of classic rock and jazz, i also have love notes from my mom to my dad etched forever on the covers of so many historical records…Abbey Road being one of them – the album is covered with little pictures of “jan loves lew” – cute right?

Well, sometime after I ruined the family record player by trying to scratch with a Grado needle, and sometime before my friend bequeathed to me his turntables, I was left with only a cassette Walkman. It is at this point my Dad hands me two tapes : Aja and Gold, two monsters from the Steely Dan vault. This is the summer of my junior year in high school – 1997. And I didn’t know that when I pressed play on Aja, I would be entering into a deep part of the counter culture that only so many people were “in” on. The rest of the majority would pass off Steely Dan as “jazz fags”. Not my father, and certainly not me. And I have to tell you…the weed helped.

By now, I was deep into Phish and weed had saved my life two years earlier. I was a hot headed kid who just LOVED violence. The weed helped mellow that side of me out and opened me up to many different cultures and types of music and people. I am SO happy I decided to fire up before taking that first walk with Aja down my suburban street in Enfield, CT. It got me into that slippery, slithery vibe that is “The Dan”. Below is a story full of memories and lessons I associate with the record Aja. I hope you enjoy this trip through my youth and the summer of 97. (Went Rage Tales Not Included)

READ ON for more of this installment of Storytellers…