Today begins a regular Thursday column from our friends Rupert & Stan…

It seems Neddy’s Ye Olde Algorithm predicted the future the other day. You see, last Friday’s Mix Tape includes the tune “Welcome, Ghosts” from Explosions in the Sky. Hey, thanks for the welcome, Neddy. We’re psyched to be here.

Ace asked us, Rupert and Stan, from the sports blog, the Ghosts of Wayne Fontes, to contribute a weekly column here on Hidden Track. We’d like to think he thinks we’re kinda funny and insightful, but we think he probably just feels sorry for the readers of our own site who come to read about sports and get 2,000 words about our favorite versions of Harry Hood, Top 101 albums they have never even heard of, and why Phish is like Michael Jordan. Basically, we are a couple music fanatics trapped in a Deadspin world. And we’re here to help.

Thus, we couldn’t be happier to spend some time with y’all every Thursday to chat about some music. Obviously, we’re calling it the “The Story of the Ghosts,” or maybe “SOTG” if you’re into the whole brevity thing. We haven’t really decided the exact direction of the column, but just to give you some idea of where it’s probably headed: We like sincere analysis, dropping a lot of wise-ass comedy and incorporating some odd interview stylings, and we have a bizarre penchant for keeping lists. It’s not uncommon to spend entire workdays hashing out spreadsheets, with elaborate ranking systems, and devising complex mathematical algorithms using a concept known as “averaging” to break down our favorite catalogs of any number of topics.

So that’s us. Since it’s our first day and all, we come bearing gifts. We’re gonna talk about lesser known show, but one that we both agree is nothing short of legendary. The band is Mr. Blotto and this one comes from their annual Chicago festival, Blottopia 8. Read on for more of our first installment…

It’s clear that someone needs to define two terms: “rock and roll” and “legendary performer.” Rolling Stone reports that Madonna and John Mellencamp will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year, leading a group that includes Leonard Cohen, the Ventures, the Dave Clark Five and several others.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was an incredible idea in theory, but the nominating committee has been really stretching the boundaries lately. The Dave Clark Five?! Seriously? That’s like inducting Len Barker into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was a good pitcher who had one outstanding year, but was he worthy of the Hall of Motherfucking Fame? The only rationale we can come up with is that Dave Clark has the same dirt on Jan Wenner that Isiah Thomas has on James Dolan.

Well, what’s done is done. So someone rouse this man from his longstanding place next to Pete Best on the unemployment line and tell him what he’s wonnnnn…

• Click here to watch some HOF-worthy Dave Clark Five videos

It’s a little weird that Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers has given me a better holiday gift than anyone in my family. [The Better] Bruce offers up a mix of the best tracks from this past summer’s tour freely available for download for a limited time through through his website. This amazing compilation features some of Bruce’s best originals, as well as killer covers like Standing On The Moon.

• The Ultimate Bootleg Experience found the best Led Zep aud recording
• Umphrey’s McGee gets by with a little help from their friends on the 56th edition of their long-running podcast series
• My Jazz World kicks down Herbie Mann’s Live at the Whisky A Go Go
• The Roadhouse presents this recording of VH-1′s Storytellers featuring the original lineup of Smashing Pumpkins
• Nazz Nomad pays tribute to John Lennon over at Bleedin’ Out
• Smuggled Sounds looks back on one of Faith No More’s best
• Bootleg Friday makes a strong return with a Little Feat boot from 1973

Finally, the always-on NYCTaper shares his fine lossless recordings of Yo La Tengo, Fiery Furnaces and a band we’re hearing tons about, MGMT…

For the second time today, we hand it over to the new guy, Chuck Myers…

Yesterday, that Ace Cowboy fella wrote a suspiciously shortsighted post about the top-selling albums and songs on iTunes. It’s not news that the typical American consumer is a moron. The typical American consumer is, and always has been, musically ignorant. If I am ever on a cross-country car ride with the typical American consumer, I am driving my car through the guard rail and into the Mississippi faster than you can say “Jeff Buckley.”

It’s easy to look at our current surroundings and think, “My God, it’s never been quite as bad as it is right now.” Well, I’m here to tell you, it has been this bad, and it’s been even worse. How much worse? Find out after the jump…

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings will be down at the Fillmore TLA in Philly this Friday as part of the Free at Noon Concert series. Listen online on WXPN.

We couldn’t hide our excitement and our plays on words when Tea Leaf Green announced that Reed Mathis would be taking over on bass for the foreseeable future. Personnel changes have a way of breathing new life into a band’s music, and Tea Leaf Green’s no exception. Mathis played his first two gigs with TLG this past weekend, and luckily a kind taper uploaded Saturday night’s show to the Live Music Archive within a few hours of the concert ending.

Tea Leaf Green 12/08/2007 DAUD [FLAC, MP3, STREAM]:

Photo by Chris O’Brien

I’m not a big Tea Leaf Green fluffer, so I consider myself pretty unbiased when it comes to analyzing their music. Most of the early reports about new bass player Reed Mathis’ have been overwhelming positive, but I wanted to hear it for myself. Now that I’ve heard him, color me impressed. Not only did the adapting band do a great job with the songs, they also hit some interesting peaks during the jams.

The jam of the night came towards the end of Piss It Away when Mathis led the boys down a dark path for a musical ass-kicking. Both Trevor and Josh came prepared, laying down some nice melodies over Reed’s probing bass lines. Ben Chambers was a solid bass player, but Reed Mathis pushed the members of TLG, rather than just playing along with them. Tea Leaf Green followed up Piss It Away with their Garden trilogy, starting with Part II before segueing into Part I and finally finishing with Part III. Clark earned a roar from the audience when he worked teases of Shakedown Street into the beginning of Garden Part II. Damn heady.

Other highlights from this show include Reed’s bass solo during Hot Dog, and everyone’s playing during what used to be Chambers’ signature song, Franz Hanzerbeak. Supposedly the new incarnation of Tea Leaf Green only had one day of practice as a band before taking the stage on Friday night. If that’s true we can’t even imagine how good this ensemble will be if they stay together for a while. While this audience tape sounds great, treat yourself to the official recording over at livedownloads to hear Tea Leaf Green 2.0. Read on for more GTA…

Ladies and gentlemen, the debut of our newest contributor, Chuck Myers…

Stagger Lee was a bad motherfucker. Depending on who you believe, he might have killed a cop, murdered a bartender, filled a whore’s husband full of lead, fatally shot a man over a dice game and “taken care” of his wife, killed an acquaintance over a stolen hat, or possibly even taken control of Hell from the devil.

So if Stagger Lee Shelton were truly such a mean goddamn bastard, why are so many songs about him completely lame?

It didn’t used to be this way. Songs about Stagger Lee had teeth. They had fire. They had fear and awe and respect and pain and admiration. Songs about Stagger Lee were bad, in the same way Stagger Lee himself was bad. But somewhere along the line, the song “Stagger Lee” became…well, it just became bad.

People in the first half of the 20th century had the balls to take some chances with the song. In 1947, Memphis Slim recalled sitting on his mother’s knee and hearing the story about Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons. Billy was covered in blood from head to toe, and Stagger Lee told Billy’s wife, “You don’t believe your man is dead? Why don’t you look around the corner and see what a hole he has in his head?” That’s some cold-blooded shit that Memphis Slim was singing about. His Stagger Lee was fierce. Read on for the pussification of Stagger Lee…

The White Stripes cancelled the remaining dates on their World Tour back in September when Meg White came down with a case of acute anxiety and couldn’t travel. It seems like Voluptuous Meggers is still wary of getting back on the bus. Jack White recently told the LA Times there’s a chance the White Stripes will forgo touring in the future to focus on studio work a la The Beatles. Because when we think of the White Stripes, we often think of the The Beatles.

Let’s see what else is out there besides the Plant/Krauss at Bonnaroo news…

• SNL’s Fred Armisen lists ten things he bought/got/looked at this year that he loves for Brooklyn Vegan
• Jesse Jarnow recaps Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah shows
• Brian Wilson’s first foray into the exciting career of Camp Counselor
• Beck might have played a tangential role in a double suicide
• Not surprisingly, Sly Stone continues to underwhelm audiences by leaving early and showing little interest in most gigs
• Tickets are on sale now for the 18th annual High Sierra festival
• The NY Post looks at the best of rock music merch
• Al Schnier, Keller Williams, Marco Benevento and several other folks list their favorite memories of 2007 for Jambands.com

Finally, we’re saddened but completely unsurprised to find out that Quiet Riot’s Kevin Dubrow died of a cocaine overdose. The Riot’s quieter these days.

Led Zeppelin may not be headlining next year’s Bonnaroo, but last week’s hot rumor wasn’t too far off the mark. As it turns out Robert Plant will be performing in Manchester, but not with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones or even Jason Bonham. Nashville’s NBC affiliate broke the news that Plant will take the stage with Alison Krauss at Bonnaroo in 2008. Take that, Gillian Welch and JPJ.

Plant and Krauss made the successful Raising Sand album together earlier this year and plan to tour behind the album next year. The staff at Superfly must have been pretty amused with all the attention they received over the possibility of Zeppelin playing their festival, but now they need to produce a lineup capable of turning heads. We’ve doubted these guys before, yet they continue to top themselves each year. But if we find out that James Hetfield is playing the festival with Emmylou Harris instead of Metallica, we’re gonna be pretty pissed.

• Previously on HT: Rumor: Zeppelin/Metallica Headlining Bonnaroo

This just in: The typical American consumer is a giant fuckface. As it turns out, the music-buying public has worse taste in music than we ever could have imagined. MTV published the top selling albums and songs on iTunes this year, and the questionable results make me want to go Picasso on my aural receptors.

Say the results: “Maroon 5′s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long was the year’s most-downloaded album, followed by Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black and Kanye West’s Graduation. Fergie’s ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry (Personal)’ was the most-downloaded song, ahead of West’s “Stronger” and Soulja Boy’s ubiquitous ‘Crank That.’”

No, friend, crank this. Read on for a pair of intensely frustrating Top Tens…

A week and a half ago, the mass hysteria in our little slice of the music world surrounded the Ween shows at Terminal 5 here in what the Allman Brothers webmaster would call “Manhatten.” Now less than a full fortnight later, the mass hysteria in every crevice of the world at large (hello, CNN reports!) surrounds three fraying and graying Brits and an old friend’s son: Zeppelin’s in flight.

So while we frantically search for videos and downloads, first-hand reviews and second-hand energy from the festivities in London, let’s combine the two great hysterias of the past two weeks into a post celebrating this glorious performance of Ween absolutely fuckin’ nailing Zep’s All of My Love back in 2003. You can search high and low for dynamic covers that capture the spirit and power of the original, but I’m not sure you’re gonna find anything better than this.

• We’ll throw in some Phishian Moby Dick love for good measure

We like to fluff Sir Paul McCartney ’round here, so today we offer a countervailing opinion. Our Bad Music Correspondent Eliot Glazer shall now take Macca down a peg or two. Great, Hidden Track, yet another post about aging Brits.

I like “Feliz Navidad” as much as the next guy, and although my heart lies with Mariah Carey’s go-to-for-the-gays, modern classic “All I Want For Christmas,” the holiday song I can truly call my favorite is, naturally, “Wonderful Christmas Time (All The Best!)” by Paul McCartney and Wings. Honestly, what the shit is this song?

Read on for more on why Eliot wants this song to go the way of Linda…

As if we needed another reason to hate the Dolan Family, it appears their ill-timed renovations of the Beacon Theatre will lead to the eviction of the Allman Brothers Band from their usual 73-show March residency in New York.

But the Allmans will plant themselves in New York City for a month, only this year it’ll be in May. And while they’re tight-lipped on new venue info, we’re guessing it’ll be the pretty cool but highly corporate Nokia Theatre in Times Square:

Mayhem in Manhatten!! The Allman Brothers Band will be performing their annual spring fling in New York City during the month of May. The 2008 shows will be between May 5 and May 28. The venue and exact dates will be announced early in the New Year.

The clever spelling of “Manhatten” aside, this comes as great news. We’re definitely going to miss the Beacon, but hey, if the Chicago Bears can re-locate from vaunted Soldier Field to Champaign, Illinois for a season, we can all suck it up while Jon Voight dressed as Willie Nelson for Halloween and his band play a venue down the street from their usual stomping grounds. No biggie.

Still, we really hope it doesn’t turn into a blanket $70 general admission kind of show, like the block Phil & Friends just played. I guess we’ll find out shortly…

• Previously on HT: By The Numbers: Allmans at the Beacon; From One Awesome Derek To Another; The Allmans Beat Out the Gators

This just in: It’s a Good Times Bad Times opener. I’m wrong. You’re wrong. We’re all wrong. Nooo, the defense is wrawwwwng. Ramble On and Black Dog followed. More updates in the comments section as we go along here…

• Click here for some photos of Zeppelin on the O2 stage

Setlist and Video Update: Good Times Bad Times*, Ramble On*, Black Dog, In My Time of Dying, For Your Life**, Trampled Under Foot, Nobody’s Fault but Mine, No Quarter, Since I’ve been Loving You, Dazed and Confused***, Stairway to Heaven, The Song Remains the Same, Misty Mountain Hop, Kashmir.

Encore: Whole Lotta Love, Rock ‘n’ Roll

*Rarely played.**First time played.***First time played since Earl’s Court 1975.

No Immigrant Song? Oh well. Anyway, the fine folks at ITV treated us to our first video look at the music you’ve been waiting to hear:

Real Deal Multimedia: Okay, so that wasn’t it. But this is ITV’s footage. And here’s a longer download or stream from the BBC of Black Dog with some actual music from the event. And here’s a sendspace file of the full Good Times Bad Times. And a .rar file of GTBT and Stairway. And here’s video of Ramble On, Black Dog, In My Time of Dying, and For Your Life as well as The Song Remains The Same.

YouTube videos are starting to emerge, mostly in their entirety (watch ‘em quick before they come down): Whole Lotta Love, Rock and Roll, Kashmir, Stairway to Heaven, and Since I’ve Been Loving You (so far).

The Sun reviews the gig, Rolling Stone’s David Fricke reviews the gig, and a solid, honest review from the Royal Orleans message board follows in the comments section…oh, and Naomi Campbell claims she got mugged.

Want more? Tyler Bell’s blog has THE GOODS. Get over there, post-haste…