It tears us up every time we hear him drawl that Southern drawl, and we’ll have that opportunity once again: Levon Helm returns to New York’s Beacon Theatre on March 7th and 8th, about one year removed from last year’s awesomeness.
Interestingly I’ll be at the Beacon this evening, in what can only be described as a truly underrated night of music in the Large Apple: We’ve got Andrew Bird at the Beacon, Ween at Terminal 5, Cold War Kids at Webster Hall, Lou Donaldson and Lonnie Smith at the Village Vanguard, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals at the Highline, The Breakfast at the Lion’s Den and a handful of other acts. So if you’re hangin’ in tonight, youse got some serious ‘splainin’ to do.
Tickets for the Levon Helm Band, by the way, go on sale Friday, December 7th at 10 AM through Ticketmaster only. That last part is weak…
Get ready for more makeshift, mediocre, misguided Fillmores: The Wall Street Journal today published a fine feature on the world’s largest concert promoter, and it appears the current business model just ain’t generating enough capital for Live Nation. The company will now attempt to morph into a record label, memorabilia dispenser and employer of seasonal workers. Let’s see whose identity they can steal for those new growth drivers. Read on for the full story…
Kudos to the good people at Farm Aid for the best turnaround this side of Bonnie Tyler. HD Net will feature highlights from September’s concert this Sunday at 6PM (as they did last Sunday as well, but we missed it). Hopefully we’ll get plenty of the Allmans, Neil Young and Willie Nelson, with a side order of Derek Trucks and the Counting Crows. Tune in to find out what made the cut.
Get up offa that thing, and welcome my tired honkey ass home from what feels like a lifetime of traveling the wide open spaces of these United States. I’ve learned I’m way too soft for life on the road, yet my colleagues and I still negotiated eight cities in nine days over a two-week span (broken up only by Thanksgiving, a day in which we, I think, appreciate small pox blankets).
At many times I felt trapped in a Steve Miller Band song, hitting all four corners of the country and roaming the Midwest for good measure. And like Miller, I can now, in fact, claim that I “went from Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma.” That actually happened, though Philadelphia, Atlanta and L.A. were not on our itinerary. Wait, now that I think about it, what no-good fonzanoon managed Steve Miller’s tours? What kind of geographic dolt set that shit up? That guy deserves a swift kick in the vas deferens and perhaps a rabbit punch to the man-tits.
I’d like to thank 1st Lt. Scott Bernstein for holding down the fort as brilliantly as could be expected with minimal aid and support (‘cuz my bullshit post about Levon Helm from Arkansas ain’t really considered “help”). And rest assured, as we go forward, we’ll bring you our best effort and some special year-end features — we promise they won’t be as awful as the rest of the schlock out there.
So stay tuned, because we’re gonna rock your shit. Now enjoy some JB.
We’re getting closer and closer to Led Zeppelin’s return, which takes place in London just one week from Monday. The new issue of Rolling Stone contains a terrific feature by David Fricke about the circumstances that led up to the reunion, as well as a report from one of the band’s tightly guarded rehearsals. Jason Bonham got us excited when he described Zeppelin’s first attempt at playing No Quarter: “When the riff came in, there was this look that went around. It was brilliant.” Bring it on fellas, and then bring it to the States next summer.
Let’s see what else is happening on this final day of November:
Radiohead announced a batch of European tour dates in June and July, leading to speculation they will play the states in May
Neddy and I are off to see Andrew Bird this evening while the rest of this city hits Terminal 5 for Ween’s two-nighter…so in order to get Neddy on my good side before the show, we’re gonna pimp out another one of his efforts.
I’m letting ye olde algorithm choose the mix again this week, with the one caveat being that I’ve restricted the choices to music released or recorded during 2007. So here’s a random — literally and figuratively — mix of this year’s infinite crop of tunes, including a couple live tracks of varying sound quality. There’s even two songs performed within a day of each other, interestingly enough. Enjoy.
01 Can’t Leave Her Behind — Stephen Malkmus & Lee Ranaldo: I’m Not There
02 Welcome, Ghosts — Explosions In The Sky: All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
03 All This Time — Heartless Bastards: Atlanta 9 June 2007
04 Wet and Rusting — Menomena: San Francisco 8 June 2007
05 Underwater (You and Me) — Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Some Loud Thunder
06 Firecracker — Steel Train: Daytrotter Session
The Guardian’s list of the 10 Most Dangerous Musicians caught our eye when it was published a few weeks back. There have been some crazy motherfuckers that played music, but there are also a slew of rockers who retire to the bus after the show to read Harry Potter and sip on Orange Coolattas. If G.G. Allin, Spade Cooley and Jim Gordon are the among the most dangerous, who would qualify as least dangerous?
We asked our friends at Team HLA and on The Bort to come up with a list of 10 rock stars they wouldn’t run away from in a dark alley:
10. Beck:
Read on for nine more rockers who look meek, but could probably still kick my ass…
Rotary Downs was smack dab in the middle of recording their latest album when Hurricane Katrina forced the band to flee for higher ground. The New Orleans based quintet documented their experience both before and after the storm hit as they survived the odds to put out Chained to the Chariot. Current TV is currently airing a brief documentary featuring the Katrina footage along with a taste of one of their dynamic performances:
We came across the ultimate compilation of Prince’s unreleased studio tracks from 1982 – 1997 thanks to The Ultimate Bootleg Experience. T.U.B.E. constantly kicks down primo stuff, but this collection raises the bar. We especially like the demo version of what turned out to be I No from the Lovesexy album. Here’s hoping T.U.B.E. keeps those gems comin’ at the same pace they are now, and here’s to also hoping Prince doesn’t sue the pants off these guys.
While many in the music world obsess over the schadenfreude that is Strumpet d’Winehouse, we’ll continue to celebrate the sheer awesomeness of the Dap-Kings’ best frontlady. So we couldn’t wait to share yesterday’s now-streaming interview with the Lovely Miss Sharon Jones from her appearance on NPR’s Fresh Air with Daptone co-founder and Dap-Kings bass player Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth.
The provocatively funny and wholly interesting interview promoting her 100 Days, 100 Nights album runs about 40 minutes, with some fine music from Jones and Winehouse thrown in for good measure. What’s astounding is her unbelievable humbleness in the face of her late-blooming fame, and clearly my favorite part is when she talks about not buying expensive shoes because of all the people out there with no feet or legs. As long as she can still strut and cluck and dance around that stage, we don’t care what the fuck she’s got on those feet. Long live the current first lady of soul.
It feels like forever since we posted a Grousing The Aisles, but it’s only been two weeks. We’re gonna make up for lost time by posting three incredible soundboards by legendary artists and linking to an additional five at the end of the piece As my mom likes to say “Don’t ever say we never gave you anything.” Let’s get down to business…
Sly and the Family Stone 09/01/1969 SBD [FLAC, MP3]
Much has been made about Sly Stone’s reappearance onto the scene. Sly clearly has seen better days, so instead of looking at his present, let’s take a look at a golden oldie from the days when crack was just the line on your ass. Just this week we came across an incredible soundboard of Sly and the Family Stone’s groundbreaking performance at the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969. You can hear the urgency in Sly’s voice as he sings early versions of songs that would soon be classics.
The whole band absolutely kills this material throughout the set. M’lady brings the funk, Sing A Simple Song shows a bit of a harder edge and Stand! gives the crowd a feel for the more political side of Stone’s music. All of Sly’s musicians are having a great night, especially bass player Larry Graham. Other highlights include a bombastic Dance To The Music and the whole filler, especially the guitar-driven Thank You (Fallentime Be Mice Elf Again). If you want to see what Sly and the Family Stone was all about, download this set or check out the Woodstock video, but whatever you do don’t pay $75 to see them play. Read on for tasty boots from Paul Simon, the Dead and more…
If Tea Leaf Green replacing Ben Chambers with Reed Mathis was a steal, then the Black Crowes replacing Paul Stacey with Luther Dickinson will go down as the best deal this side of the Louisiana Purchase. The Crowes announced the move on Tuesday as they spilled the beans on details about their new album. Warpaint will be released via the Crowes’ new imprint Silver Arrow Records on March 4th.
Dickinson makes his Crowes recording debut on Warpaint and will join the band on a world tour supporting the album throughout 2008. Before anyone starts scouring Northern Mississippi for another Allstar, keep in mind that Luther will probably keep his role in NMAS. At least that’s what Mike Greenhaus thinks, and we trust him. This won’t be the first time a Robinson brother will be in a band with Luther Dickinson, as Rich played in the short lived Circle Sound with Luther last year. Read on for more about the Crowes big move…
We never thought that visiting Vineland, New Jersey — the armpit of America’s armpit — would be in our plans next summer, but yesterday’s announcement that C3 Presents will be holding a festival in Vineland puts the city square in our plans.
C3 Presents, the brains behind Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits festival, always seem to know how to put together a varied and exciting lineup that can draw a diverse crowd. The new festie will be held on a 500-acre privately owned farm on August 8th – 10th.
Interestingly, Vineland takes place only one week removed from Lollapalooza, which means they are ultimately competing with themselves. We don’t really care about that; we’re just psyched to check out what’s sure to be an epic festival about two hours from NYC. Read on for more about Vineland…
We’ve been blown away by the flood of amazing new rock documentaries about old bands. No Direction Home was brilliant. Amazing Journey was awesome. Runnin’ Down A Dream beats ‘em all. And everything we’ve heard about Julien Temple’s Joe Strummer documentary makes us feel like a couple of custies for not seeing it yet. USA Today examines the trend, filling us in on what it takes to bring these artists’ stories to the screen.
Somehow I find myself typing this post from a hotel room in Little Rock, Arkansas. Yeah, I’m on the road again, and this time there’s no Vegas. Work, she is a whore.
At least now I can say I’ve spent a solid night in the great state that spawned two American heroes: Billy Jeff Clinton and Levon Helm. Both men make me swoon, but only one drums like a monkey, the bestest monkey on the planet. But in honor of this little trip, let’s take Levon out from behind the kit and flash back to 1990 to see him belt out Roy Orbison’s Mean Woman Blues in a purple astronaut’s jacket of sorts. So hot, that chaqueta.
Is there anything more awesome — or awesomer, if you will — than that man’s voice? I mean, was that God guy kidding when he bestowed throat cancer on this fella? It reminds me of the time George Costanza’s hand model career fell prey to a hot iron. Y’all.
