Rage Against the Machine is back. The rap-rock-but-better-than-Kid-Rock’s-brand-of-rap-rock-group reunited for the first time in seven years at this weekend’s universally beloved Coachella festival, and choppy amateur videos from the performance are starting to hit that YouTube site the kids are all talking about. But right now choppy’s all we got, so here’s the best one for your amusement:
I wouldn’t quite call this burying the lede, but an interesting tidbit from the band’s stage banter flew far under the radar for its treasonous value:
The frontman addressed the crowd only once between songs, when he likened the current U.S. administration to Nazi war criminals. “They should be shot as any war criminal should be,” he said.
Damn, Zach, that’s some heavy shit for a festival crowd. I’d instead suggest saving those administration-intended bullets for the upcoming Rock the Bells concert with Wu-Tang, just in case some shit goes down. Who we kidding, shit is definitely going down on Randall’s Island. Bring an umbrella and a Kevlar vest.
One week it’s the Flaming Lips at Brown, the next it’s The Hold Steady at NYU. Apparently it’s college time for our resident photographic genius Danfun.
Hey, NYU parents: Maybe this is what your $46,800 a year in tuition, room and board gets ya. For all that money, your kids can dance the Watusi (or however the devil it is you kids dance these days) at a semi-private rock ‘n roll show like the one on Thursday that brought The Hold Steady to NYU’s Kimmel Center.
The intimate concert did open itself to the public, and Dan managed to sneak his wiry frame through the doors to snap the following photos for us. He added, “The crowd was going crazy. NYU students were running up on stage and jumping in the crowd every couple of minutes. I haven’t been a pit like that in some time. In some ways it was really fun, in others it was just a little too crazy for me.”
Too crazy for all us older folk — we’ll just never understand these crazy kids and their newfangled electronic mail. Read on for some more shots from Dan…
I’m not sure how many of youse still watch the David Letterman program nightly, but Thursday’s episode of Late Show featured a great triple-banjo performance by Bela Fleck, Tony Trischka and…Steve Martin. In HD, no less.
That’s fucking badass. Watch it quick before Viacom calls YouTube and makes them forcibly pull it down like a freshman’s pants at a frat party.
As expected, the Coachella Festival quickly became the most blogged festival of the season. Rolling Stone had correspondents Brian Hiatt and Rob Sheffield reporting from the field, as well as Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear checking in sporadically. Spinner had full coverage with a team of bloggers onsite. More locally, the OC Register and San Jose’s Mercury News provided constant updates. With all those people on site and the free AT&T webcast, I almost felt like I was there.
But what else is goin’ down? Let’s check in with some non-Coachella news today:
And remember to read on for some of this weekend’s setlists from Bjork, Roger Waters, The Slip, WSP, Gov’t Mule, Disco Biscuits, Yo La Tengo and more…
Quite a Saturday for the ol’ Cowboy — the setlist looks like this: Reveille > English football > NFL Draft > Kei Igawa’s Yankee victory > NFL Draft > Mo’s first save > IFC Center documentary about horse-fucking called Zoo (no joke) > return home for The Devil & Daniel Johnston > This American Life.
Anyway…before we get to the shit that went down this week, let’s check out this video of Stephen Malkmus singing in an elevator:
The kind folks at ownyourphone.com know how much you wanna hear a bitchin’ Frankenstein every time the phone rings. A real Frankenstein, not that Muzak for Cellular Telephones shit.
Ownyourphone’s service allows you take any part of any song on your computer (no DRM-infected files) and make it into a ringtone. You get one free ringtone already, but because they kinda like us and we kinda like them, you can produce an additional free ringtone or two if you enter glidemagazine as a promotional code.
Sweetness. Now you can set I Wanna Sex You Up as the custom ringtone for your girlfriend’s father and freak the shit out of everyone.
Yesterday we offered a photo gallery from the third-annual Wanee Festival in Florida. Today we continue with shit that shoulda been posted two weeks ago…
Umphrey’s McGee rocked a sold-out crowd at the Nokia Theatre in New York City on April 13th. Things have been heating up for the boys from Chicago, selling out most of the shows they’ve played this year. The Nokia seemed much more crowded than usual, signaling perhaps the need for a bigger space the next time Umphrey’s comes around. Oh well…you can’t stop progress, and this band is clearly progressing in every aspect of its game.
UM came out spittin’ fire, jamming out versions of JaJunk and In The Kitchen. For each of the songs, Umphrey’s raced through the tune before establishing a new chord progression and tearing it a new asshole. Guitarists Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss switched to acoustics in the middle of the JaJunk jam for a change of pace before segueing into In The Kitchen. The guys abandoned Kitchen midway through the song and once again tore off on an extended Jazz Odyssey.
Read on for more great photos from Coach and the rest of the Nokia review…
Rainy days are always perfect for a little taste of the yazz piano. And who better than to take us away like Calgon than the man in the ski cap and the cokenails and the gawdy rings. Thelonious Monk is obviously a legend, but until you sit there and watch him, I mean really focus on the way he plays piano, you can’t know how insanely adriot he is on the keys. It’s uncanny. See for yourself right here:
I bought Straight, No Chaser senior year in college, a fantastic documentary produced by Clint Eastwood. I highly recommend it for any Monk noobs that want to dive further into the man’s repertoire after watching this clip.
Written by
Scott Bernstein on
04.27.2007 |
Allmans,
Beastie Boys,
Jethro Tull,
Leftovers,
Pearl Jam,
RatDog,
The Band,
The Beatles,
The Who,
Tom Waits,
Willie Nelson
Frank Zappa’s legendary albums Over-Nite Sensation and Apostrophe, staples of my days as a Skidmore freshman, have finally received the Classic Albums treatment. For now the whole documentary is available on YouTube, but quick, watch it now before Gail Zappa catches wind of this. Meanwhile, Dweezil and his Zappa Plays Zappa outfit are firing up an extensive summer tour.
Next week Conan O’Brien heads to San Francisco for a weeks worth of shows. Tom Waits, Ratdog, and the Artic Monkeys top the list of bands appearing on Late Night. And speaking of California, be sure to check out the Coachella webcast today through Sunday. Have a good weekend, kiddies.
First, a line change: As per his request, our resident mixologist Dan Alford will bring his tunes to those gloomy Mondays. Dan will take up residence in a new department yet to acquire a catchy-as-shit moniker, in which he plans to kick off your week with a soundtrack suggestion for the days ahead. The Friday Mix Tape will continue with a new driver, so I guess this means bonus cantos for you.
Now, here’s the last Friday introductory paragraph from Dan: This is first half of my favorite driving mix, a 35-minute conglomeration of beats, dub, and a ton of jazz remixes, from MMW to Nina Simone and back. I don’t even remember the lineage of most of the tracks, but if you dig funky drums, hazy music, and breathy vocal tracks, give it a listen. I promise you won’t be disappointed. I’ll be back with the second half when we resume on Monday, May 7th.
(FYI, this marks our 100th post in the month of April…our bosses are likely pissed.)
