“Is that the guy with the old balls?” –Julian McGrath, Big Daddy
That may have been the most asked question over the last 12 months. For the Year of Our Lord Two-Thousand Seven will long be remembered as the ultimate cash grab: Genesis, Van Halen, The Police, The Sex Pistols, Crowded House, and the pulse-having members of Led Fucking Zeppelin all rose from the ash(tray)s for long-coveted reunions, and we’re guessing all the little pills floating around backstage came from doctors prescriptions and licensed pharmacists instead of sketchy backstage characters.
As for your friendly Internet sherpas here at Hidden Track, we’ll look back fondly on our first full year in action, a period that saw us publish 1,127 posts — not bad for two guys draped in business casual collecting fortnightly pay-stubs. We tried to inform and entertain and stay up with the ridiculous nature of the music business that so often frustrates but makes our highs possible. Although, we really just hope that this site over the past year provided a modicum of escapism for your workaday world.
The year began ominously, with news breaking on January 3rd that former 70 Volt Parade lead singer Trey Anastasio had heroin in the car during his late-2006 arrest in Whitehall, New York. And as it continued, we had a little fun with the New Deal’s drummer being a SciUNTZologist. We attracted some serious vitriol with our Top 10 Reasons We’ll Miss String Cheese Incident. We poked a smartass stick at moe. for offering to write my company a jingle a la Full House Uncles Joey and Jesse. We asked whether Dave Clark was fucking Jann Wenner in exchange for Hall of Fame votes. But mostly we just added our voice to the growing cacophony of the world wide webosphere.
So read on after the jump for a full recap of 2007 and The Year That Was…
It’s been dead around here lately. It’s been dead everywhere lately. Scotty’s in Chicago for the Umphrey’s McGee New Year’s run, but I’m so far out of the music mindset right now that I’ve been using YouTube less for epic live performances and new videos and more for old-school commercials I once enjoyed. So let’s check out Robert Loggia endorsing Minute Maid orange-tangerine juice before moving on to our weekly sample of HT Nonsense…
Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and we’ll see what’s what on Monday morning…
People seem to either love or hate the film adaptation of The Who’s Tommy, but you can consider us in the former. Roger Daltrey gives a brilliant performance as the deaf, dumb and blind kid who sure plays a mean pinball; and we love Elton John’s turn as the Wizard. And, hey, at least this flick isn’t as bad as the film version of Quadrophenia.
Friday [all times Eastern]:
Saturday:
- Herbie Hancock plays with Trey Anastasio, Damien Rice, Christina Aguilera and others on Possibilities [TMC 12:25 PM]
- Gorillaz bring their faux show to Harlem’s Apollo Theater [MHD 3:30 PM]
- Bloc Party and Ghostland are featured on this week’s episode of Austin City Limits [PBS Check Local Listings]
Sunday:
- Check out the best mockumentary of all-time: This Is Spinal Tap [VH-1 Classic 1:00 PM]
- Made In Sheffield examines the music scene that formed in the British town during the late ’70s [TMC 3:15 PM]
- Roger Daltrey and Elton John star in the film adaptation of The Who’s Tommy [TCM 6:00 PM]
Only three and a half days remain in a year that flew by, so this will obviously constitute the 52nd and final installment of the Friday Mix Tape for this revolution, the year of our lord two-thousand and seven. We’ve got a baker’s sixpack for this one, which starts off with my favorite track of the year: Frankie’s Gun by The Felice Brothers. If there’s one band to keep an eye on this year, mine eye shall be focused on them motherfuckers.
Six beauties accompany that one, and they’re listed here for your labeling pleasure:
Frankie’s Gun: The Felice Brothers — 11/18/07 — Worcester, MA
Also Sprach Zarathustra: The Popular Rock Band Phish — 11/19/97
Papa Don’t Take No Mess: James Brown — Papa Don’t Take No Mess
The Way It Is: Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers — Hornsby’s Xmas Download
1952 Vincent Black Lightning: Del McCoury Band — Del and the Boys
Armageddon It: Def Leppard — Hysteria
That’s What Love Will Make You Do: Gov’t Mule w/ Luther Dickinson — Bonnaroo 2007
If you’re working this New Year’s Eve, you can take solace in the fact that Radiohead will be doing the same exact thing — only they’ll be playing songs off of In Rainbows for a worldwide webcast and television broadcast. Those of you who have Al Gore’s Current network on your cable systems will be able to watch the broadcast on your television, while everyone else can follow along on Al Gore’s Internet.
And for my final link of 2007, let’s turn our attention to Fiery Furnaces’ new video for Duplexes of the Dead…the linkage will see you in ‘08.
Written by
Scott Bernstein on
12.27.2007 |
AC/DC,
Bob Dylan,
Bruce Springsteen,
Eric Clapton,
Jam Cruise,
Johnny Cash,
Led Zeppelin,
Nirvana,
The B List,
The Who,
Tom Petty
Everyone has been focusing on naming their favorite albums of 2007, but I’m more of a visually oriented guy. Each week I browse Amazon and Netflix to find out what rock-related concerts and documentaries are coming down the pike, and I do my best to check out any that seem worthwhile. There were many flicks both good and bad that made their way into either my DVD player or DVR this past year. This week’s B List focuses on the 10 Best Music DVDs of 2007:
10. The Other Side of the Mirror - Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival
Bob Dylan changed folk music forever when he took the stage at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival with some bona fide electrified rockers. The Other Side of the Mirror examines not only Dylan’s 1965 performance, but also his more straightforward turns at the ‘63 and ‘64 festivals. Murray Lerner’s fantastic documentary gives us 20 songs from Dylan’s three appearances, most of which haven’t been released before.
Read on after the jump for the remaining best music DVDs of the year…
Our Thursday run-in buddies are back for more…so here are Rupert & Stan from the Ghosts of Wayne Fontes sports blog with an important primer for you.
Congratulations, slacker, you finally formed a band. After weeks of scanning classifieds to find a drummer on Craigslist and Music Mates, the lineup is complete, the repertoire is stocked with a couple sets worth of kickass tunes, and everyone is itching to start playing gigs. Congratulations, you’ve completed the easiest part.
Now for the hard part: coming up with the name. Creating – and more importantly, agreeing upon — a good band name is no easy feat. The name must achieve a delicate balance between humor, wit, and distinct uniqueness. Like any good brand, the name has to permeate people’s brains and last in their memories. It’s gotta be something that strikes a cord, like Passive Rape for a triangle/drums duo.
Ultimately, creating the band name is a big decision, because if things go well, this moniker will be larger than the individuals in the band. In fact, the name should last for years, maybe even decades, and potentially outlive all the band members. Thus, we aim to help you in this difficult task set ahead of you. So read on after the jump, where we have concocted a failsafe three-step process for the naming of a band…
Frank Zappa bootlegs will become much harder to come by in 2008 thanks to Gail Zappa and the Zappa Family Trust. The ZFT spent the holiday season sending out cease and desist letters to a slew of non-profit fansites, non-profit tribute bands and even a non-profit festival celebrating Frank’s life.
We understand that the Zappa family wants to protect Frank’s copyrights, but there’s just no need for using such heavy-handed tactics towards a bunch of organizations that have a done a fine job celebrating the Maestro’s life and times. If Gail wants to make some more money, we’d suggest releasing more shit. We’re still waiting for another batch of Beat The Boots to come out.
And finally, we’ve stumbled across a Led Zeppelin reunion recording that puts all the other sources that have surfaced so far to shame. Check it out.
As you’ve no doubt noticed, we’ve taken our foot slightly off the accelerator. It’s tough to post a full slate of nonsense when there’s very little in the way of news coming from the music industry. It’s like Europe in August out there.
Also, I’m in the middle of an English football marathon on the Fox Soccer Channel. It’s Boxing Day, and there’s a full slate of matches taking place in our old mercantile motherland — so I’ve been watching nonstop action from 8 am ’til this very second, on through the next few hours. It’s endurance, really. So to honor my love of all things English and all things Couch, let’s turn to Watford Football Club’s biggest fan to serenade us this afternoon. Man, I fookin’ love this performance…ladies and gentleman, Elton John.
Also, I’m pretty sure that’s the third time I’ve posted this video in this site’s history…
Each year the taste makers of a Yahoo! group named NYC-Freaks come together to throw a party featuring some of their favorite “just about to break” bands. Freaks Ball VIII continues the trend on February 9 at Brooklyn’s Southpaw with a lineup featuring Bustle In Your Hedgerow, American Babies and a mystery band currently labeled The Bearded Ones.
Bustle members and Babies’ Scott Metzger and Sir Joe Russo will both be making their sixth consecutive Freaks Ball appearance, leading us to question whether anyone in the history of rock has been in more up-and-coming bands than those two. We’re still holding onto our Metzger rookie cards, just in case Go Home Hippie finally achieves Soulja Boy status.
Let’s see what else happened while you unwrapped gifts or ate Moo Shu Pork:
Finally, we’d like to congratulate David Pirkle, Butch Weiss and Dean for winning our JamCam Episode 14: Wanee 2007 giveaway. It looks like Boxing Day picked up where Christmas left off for that lot.
