It seems like every week iClips brings us another killer webcast. This weekend they’ll be simulcasting parts of the Voodoo Festival live from New Orleans. Today we get to check out performances by former Drive By Trucker Jason Isbell, JJ Grey and MOFRO, Toots and the Maytals among others. Toubab Krewe, New Orleans Social Club and Dumpstaphunk headline Saturday’s schedule, and we’ll be watching Paolo Nutini, The Black Crowes and Plain White T’s on Sunday. Sweetness.

Remember to return next week (or just read us daily) for a killer Dave Vann photo gallery from the Voodoo Festival, but for now, check out these links:

• This guy refuses to shave his beard until Metallica releases a new album
• Let’s Go Crazy: Prince targets an 18-month-old kid for infringement
• Stevie Wonder’s mother inspired him to go back on tour
• Greg Kot fluffs the shit out of Fiery Furnaces
• Stream a recent Spoon concert from Washington D.C. on NPR
• Where can I buy a set of these punk rock baseball cards?
• Robert Plant feels like Superman
• Popmatters calls Ween’s La Cucharacha “LOL Hilarious”
• Lotus releases Cut Paste Repeat: Lotus Remixed
• Jay-Z becomes a Storyteller for VH-1
• British authorities rule that Elton John is not a child pornographer

And, finally, can you believe Sammy Hagar is 60? Now we really feel old.

Papa Neddy is a clever sonuvabitch, and while he’s preparing to take his kids around to collect some Fun Size Snacks, he made us a Friday Mix Tape…

When is a pillow case not a pillow case? When it’s redeployed as a candy sack in late October. So open that thing wide, cause we’re coming at you with bonus tracks. That’s right, boys and girls: a special Halloween edition for all of you. Enjoy!

01 Frankenstein — Phish: October 31, 1994
02 The Boogie Monster — Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere (2006)
03 Dracula — Medeski, Martin & Wood: Shack Man (1996)
04 Monsters — Band of Horses: Everything All The Time (2006)
05 Zombie — Fela Kuti: The Best, Best of Fela Kuti (2000)
06 They Are Night Zombies!! — Sufjan Stevens: September 29, 2006
07 This Place Is Haunted — Devotchka: How It Ends (2004)
08 Ghost — Apollo Sunshine: Apollo Sunshine (2005)
09 Halloween Head — Ryan Adams: June 20, 2007

• CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK’S FRIDAY MIX TAPE

Artists have used nudity in their work since the days of the Greek Empire, so it’s no surprise that a few rock bands have used images of the naked body on their album artwork. Some bands use nudity to stir controversy, while a few others actually summon artistic intent to make their naked decisions.

For a while during the ’70s and ’80s it seemed like every week there was a new controversy over album art, but we don’t hear about that as much anymore. Two big factors have led to a decline in artists submitting albums with graphic covers. First, the obvious: CDs have a much more limited space for album artwork than vinyl. But more importantly, Wal-Mart has taken over physical distribution of albums, and they don’t stand for anything with even a hint on controversy. Apparently no one ever takes off their clothes in Bentonville, Arkansas.

This week’s B List takes a look at 10 controversial album covers that would never find their way into the racks at Wal-Mart (and, hey, nice racks). Some of these are quite graphic, so we’re gonna post them all after the jump and issue a big fat Not Safe For Work warning before we get down to business. So read on for our quick study of titties and penises on album covers…

Sixteen years ago today the world lost the man perhaps most responsible for this site’s possible existence. Bill Graham escaped Nazi Germany, stole Buddy Hackett’s car, discovered Santana, delivered Otis Redding to white audiences, brought the Allman Brothers to national prominence, indirectly kicked Zeppelin out of the United States, put on The Band’s Last Waltz and promoted just about every worthwhile show and festival that didn’t conclude with a fatal stabbing.

Photo by Michelle Vignes

He’s a truly memorable figure. So on this day, the anniversary of his untimely death returning in a helicopter from a Huey Lewis & The News concert, we honor the man some consider to be the best supporting actor in the history of music.

• Read the book: Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out
• Previously on HT: Live Nation CEO Changes Name to Bill Graham

I’m all for alleged OiNK founder Alan Ellis’ freedom from prosecution and cult hero status, but someone needs to help this dude out with his analogies.

Ellis told The Telegraph he shouldn’t be in trouble because his site doesn’t sell music to people, he just directs them to it. Here’s some specious reasoning:

As far as I am aware no-one in Britain has ever been taken to court for running a website like mine. My site is no different to something like Google. If Google directed someone to a site they can illegally download music they are doing the same as what I have been accused of. I am not making any Oink users break the law. People don’t pay to use the site.

Yeah, and the companies that sell assault weapons and chemical components to terrorists aren’t doing anything illegal either, because they’re not weapons until they’re used by the terrorists. I’m tired of tawdry excuses and incessant rationalization — if Ellis is gearing up for a court battle that will “set a huge precedent” and “change the Internet as we know it,” then he should know that proposed defense holds no water and it’ll be punched with more holes than the walls in GOB Bluth’s office, post-pool table. See, Alan, that analogy sucked, too.

Nazz Nomad provides interesting tracks for us to check out on a regular basis over at Bleedin’ Out. Just this week he posted an interesting mix of bands his wife hates and songs related to sleep. Nazz doesn’t just post random MP3s, he develops a fun topic and then finds the best songs that relate to what he’s writing about in his posts. It’s a great service, so keep up the good work, Nazz.

• Music-hole’s mega post contains bootlegs from Eddie Vedder, Bruce Springsteen, Garbage and a ton of other great bands
• NYCTaper brings us a lossless download of Monday’s Morrisey concert
• You gotta hear this Guns N’ Roses live at Deer Creek bootleg
• Licorice Pizza introduces us to Marqui Adora
• My Jazz World kicks down a vinyl rip featuring symphonic versions of blacksploitation movie theme songs [ed. note: outta sight, sistah!]
• Eight covers of Everybody’s Talkin’ from Midnight Cowboy [via Gehr]
• My Blog Too found a crispy Tom Waits bootleg from 1976
• It’s not everyday we come across Depeche Mode shows
• Simon and Garfunkel play all their hits at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968

What’s your favorite MP3 blog? Be a mensch and discuss your favorite below…

How much does it suck to have a show scheduled in Boston this weekend during the World Series? Just ask a frustrated Ryan Montbleau…

The music industry hit a low point during the 1980s when nearly every band the record labels threw at us focused more on style than substance, makeup over music. Bands like Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Culture Club were more interested in selling their merchandise than concert tickets. The problem for those trendy bands is that once the trend was over, so were their careers.

Live touring bands didn’t have the same problem because they grew their fanbases organically. People that were into Stevie Ray Vaughan really liked his music and weren’t just interesting in buying a “Stevie Say Relax” T-shirt. This week we’ve got an all-new edition of Grousing The Aisles featuring four tremendous shows from the ’80s that have recently surfaced on the torrent sites.

Miles Davis 07/15/1984 FM [FLAC, MP3]

Since it seems so patently obvious to do so, we haven’t doused too much praise upon Miles Davis in our one-year existence, but we certainly recognize the legendary trumpet player’s contributions to both rock and jazz. Not only did Miles create incredible music, he also had a knack for discovering extremely talented musicians. One of those finds was John Scofield, who toured with Davis from 1983-87. Recently we came across a crispy Miles Davis recording from 1984 that features both Scofield and future Rolling Stones bass player Darryl Jones.

Miles was playing an accessible brand of jazz during the ’84 tour, but there were still plenty of mind-blowing improvisations each night. Scofield sounds great throughout the show, but the standout performer on this boot is Darryl Jones. Jones does a nice job of holding things down, while Scofield, Davis and keyboard player Robert Irving go nuts during a nasty version of Jean Pierre. Also of note are funky Miles/Scofield jam sessions in Code MD and Star People. Even Miles’ cover of Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time sounds terrific on this awe-inspiring recording thanks to Jones’ beautiful fills. We highly recommend this one for even the most casual of jazz fans. Read on for three more great GTA downloads…

You may remember Neeko from his oft-inane comments and his one-time contribution that he still uses to impress septuagenarian women…he’s ours now.

As a “huge fan” of The Hidden Track, it is my huge honor to now be called contributor to The Hidden Track. Not since my awkward threesome in that Bucknell U. sorority-house have I been so eager to “contribute”…I mean, man, I really dig this blog re-lig-i-ous-ly. I think Abe Cowboy, Robby Bernstein and the rest of the guys do a fantastic job and really give it their all. To paraphrase the Phil Lesh song, Donor Rap, these guys really have ‘a lot of guts’ to do what they do…

In spite of my overwhelming admiration for HT, I think it’s relatively easy to find it lacking. Sure, daily posts full of “links,” and “news,” and “jokes,” and “music” are ‘relevant’ and all…but where is the art, man? Where is the poetry? I haven’t seen one decent haiku in all the months this blog has been published! And that’s what the people really want, isn’t it? Haiku. That’s what they want.

Instead of boring you with my own self-indulgent art, I spent the last three weeks traveling back in time to visit with some of the great contemporary American poets. I schooled them in all things jam-band…I played them all the epic shows, the epic jams, the sit-ins, the bust-outs, the encores, the openers…and here is what they came up with. The finest American Poets of the past 150 years inspired by the crunchiest, headiest jams in the universe…so let’s hear it:

The Haunted Stolen Beard
Lo! That my ears were gently cupped in cotton!
My spirit soars aimlessly, bewildered by noodle jams.
Oh God! I weep. I weep!
Weary of Weir, he torments my ear.
Is it all that you wear, poor lost-soul Weir, but short shorts and short shorts?
Behold! Weir now wears abducted Jerry-beard.
-Edgar Allen Poe

Hippie, My Likeness
Hippie, my likeness,
You look so much like me, hairy, bearded there,
I now suspect a style of theft;
I now suspect there is some of myself in your patchwork, and
also in your sandals.
For nature-boy is enamored of me, and I of him,
But toward him it really pisses me off, honestly,
That hippie stole my god-damned nature-boy style,
getting all the hippie chicks,
I dare not tell you how pissed Walt Whitman is, brah.
-Walt Whitman

Read on for four more poems from Cummings, Frost, Pound and Ginsberg…

Sly Stone took himself higher than most, and the resultant burnout saw the funk legend living the life of a complete recluse. But the comeback trail beckons, and Sly and the Family Stone will make their first NYC appearance since 1974 on December 7th at B.B. King’s. How long Sly will actually take the stage that night remains to be seen. If the band’s recent European tour is any indication, don’t expect much more than 20 minutes worth of Sly singing inaudibly and banging on a keyboard. And oh yeah…expect to pay $85 for that opportunity.

• The space that was CBGB’s will now house an upscale designer boutique
• Bloggers are pissed that OiNK has been shuttered
• HT Friend Dan Alford looks at the recent Grateful Dead vault releases
• You’ve heard about Dumbledore: Vulture presents 10 Other Fictional Characters Who’s Outings Won’t Shock Us That Much
• Johnny Marr feels The Smiths will reunite sooner rather than later
• Mars Volta have announced both a New Year’s concert in San Francisco and a February release date for their new album
• Cake relaunches their Unlimited Sunshine traveling festival in December
• Wow, it’s been 22 friggin’ years? Glen Friedman shares photos and audio from his visit with the Beastie Boys in 1985
• Former NHL’er Shjon Podein tells us about how John LeClair got him into Phish towards the end of this ESPN article

And tickets for the upcoming Mighty Mighty Bosstones reunion concerts are harder to come by than World Series tickets. Who’s got my extraaaa?

As we discussed earlier this morning, the popular file-sharing and questionably legal OiNK site came down when British and Dutch authorities arrested the alleged 24-year-old proprietor, who lives in Middlesbrough and whose fear of prosecution is probably growing bigger than hometown manager Gareth Southgate’s teeth.

So that guy’s dunzo, for sure. But are you safe? Is your identity known to authorities, and if it is, will the RIAA or the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry come after you? Well, a note on OiNK’s now-defunct site says you may be facing your worst nightmare: “A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site’s users.” TorrentFreak has more.

I’d doubt the authorities would have either the wherewithal or the bullocks to go for the gusto and track everyone down, but this is the Holy Grail of lists, the chance to scare everyone straight and hunt down the 180,000 worst offenders. It’s like shooting down Con Air. This alleged OiNK mastermind has nothing to offer except his ‘customers,’ and I wouldn’t be shocked if a massive, merciless legal campaign began in earnest this morning. Or not. Who the fuck knows? Thoughts?

• Previously on HT: Stop Stealing Food from STS9’s Children

LiveDownloads sells live concert recordings from some of the biggest touring acts in the country, but they also feature smaller bands like The Wood Brothers.

Oliver and Chris Wood formed the aptly named Wood Brothers in 2005 after a long geographical separation kept the familial duo from collaborating. Their debut album, Ways Not To Lose, is a well-crafted collection of songs, but the band displays more passionate emotion and grit on the LiveDownloads recording of their show from the Newport Folk Festival on August 6th, 2006.

Oliver and Chris grew up in Boulder, Colorado, until each brother went their own way to start their careers as musicians. Chris settled in New York City, where he formed Medeski, Martin and Wood in 1991. Oliver’s path took him to Atlanta, where he honed his guitar and vocal stylings as the leader of King Johnson. The Wood Brothers reunited in 2005 to form a badass guitar/bass duo that blends a potent mixture of folk and blues, with a shot of jazz thrown in for good measure.

Read on after the jump for more of Scotty’s review and a link to download…

The midday doldrums usually set in around this time, and the only two things that pep me up are the non-dulcet tones of my employer’s biteless bark and a good show from the Sugarmegs streaming server. Let’s concentrate on the latter…

Today we’re featuring five great concerts from everyone’s favorite decade. And while most other blogs are tripping over themselves to tell you what’s the best of the new, these five will provide a nice taste of what we think are the best of what’s old. The recording quality’s hit or miss, but the music is all hit. All hit.

• Ornette Coleman Sextet — Berlin, Germany — 7/4/78
• Pat Metheny/Jaco Pastorius/Bob Moses — Boston, MA — 1975-76
• Paul Butterfield/Rick Danko — Seattle, WA — 10/29/79
• Tom Waits — WLIR recording — Roslyn, NY — 10/10/77
• David Bromberg — WLIR recording — Hempstead, NY — 8/26/78

Does Rick Danko weasel his way into every nostalgic post on HT? Mayhaps.

Oh, wait, this whole thing is illegal? “British and Dutch police said they shut down Tuesday the website OiNK, the world’s biggest source of pirated pre-release chart albums. OiNK distributed albums often weeks ahead of their official release date. More than 60 major album releases had been leaked onto the Internet so far this year.” Looks like you’ll have to move onto the next music theft palace. RIP OiNK.

We take some comedic pot-shots at moe. from time to time, mostly because they’re a band with a good sense of humor. If a group’s clever enough to re-create the fight scene from Raising Arizona on its tour blog at a time when rumors of “the band’s creative differences” ran rampant, surely they can take a little ribbing from a couple of jerks with a website.

But, shit, sometimes moe. just deserves what they get. And either the moe. organization conspired to pass along its best inside joke yet that sailed wildly over my head, or some pranksters hacked into the band’s listserv over the weekend. Otherwise, I’m not entirely sure what explains the following mass e-mail, a note about corporate partnerships with its fans that included this dubious last paragraph:

If you work for a company that would possibly like to talk about some marketing opportunities, whether it be sponsorship, partnering, or possibly having moe. write a song for an ad, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me. We owe everything to our fans and if we could team up with some, we think it would be a lot of fun and ultimately, beneficial for everyone.

Wait, is that for real? Are times that tough for the self-described indie-jam rockers that they’re praying Tampax will make Don’t Fuck With Flo their new jingle? Do you, moe. fan, have an in with T.G.I.Fridays, and if so, could you possibly get Happy Hour Hero into the weekend rotation? Was The Conch‘s Blue Jeans Pizza the band’s effort to kill two jingle birds with one stone? This e-mail has left me with more questions than answers, and most of them surround moe.’s newfound evolution into Uncles Jesse and Joey in Full House. C’mon, you watched it too.

• Related video: Thirty-six minute Vegoose webcast of moe.
• Read on after the jump for the full letter from the band…