We totally biffed discussing last weekend’s Merlefest, but we can live vicariously through a number of tasty downloads Neddy offers up over at of the week. Take your pick from Grisman & Rice, The Tony Rice Unit or the legendary Midnight Jam from 1992. Neddy also shares a recording of my all-time favorite Widespread Panic bootleg: Burlington ‘97. Talking about biffs, I passed up a ticket to that show.
Let’s take a look at ten must-download shows that hit the ‘net:
And once again, don’t forget about Largehearted Boy’s 2008 Coachella Live Music Downloads and Streams page for the latest and greatest from last weekend’s festival. The mp3s of The Raconteurs’ set sound especially sick.
After taking 2004 off from touring the boys in Widespread Panic have hit it hard the past couple of years. Today they’ve announced another batch of dates that will take them from the West Coast to the East Coast in June and July. Panic hits a number of familiar venues like Red Rocks and the Verizon Amphitheater in Charlotte, and play their first Canadian shows in over a decade.
Everyone’s been raving about WSP’s recent shows where they’ve busted out a number of classics. Hopefully they’ll keep it up throughout the summer. Be sure to check out Widespread Panic’s On Tour page for a complete list of dates.
We’d like to welcome back Jon McLennand to the HT family. Jon, who puts together Umphrey’s McGee Podcasts, lays out the facts behind the demise of Vegoose. Without further ado, here’s the first Mind of McL…
The super-saturated festival market has taken another victim, as it looks like there won’t be a Vegoose Festival in 2008.
As the post-millennial music festival explosion rocked music fans from Manchester to the middle of the ocean, the promoters have been happy to provide us with ever expanding opportunities to spend a weekend watching music, at times with a new twist — the destination. The ripples of the Phish hiatus, which forced untold thousands of kids to search for something else to listen to, brought a desire for new acts to be introduced into the fold of the jam rock festival.
Following Bonnaroo’s lead, many jamband festivals began looking less like jamband festivals as the lineups diversified to incorporate acts from across all genres. The growing myriad of festival options, all seeking variations on the same formula, started looking the same. The ubiquitous Flaming Lips were earlier pegged on HT as a harbinger of the ill effects of the festival circuit. Who hasn’t seen Wayne Coyne’s white suit in three time zones?
READ ON for more of McL’s thoughts about the possible death of Vegoose…
Vivid Video, the home to numerous celebrity sex tapes over the years, is set to release their latest consisting of eleven grainy, black and white minutes of an Afro’d man that may or may not be Jimi Hendrix. Check out TMZ for a clip.
The film shows a naked man who resembles Hendrix, the guitar legend who died in 1970, wearing a bandanna in his Afro, having sex with two brunettes in a dimly lighted bedroom. His full face appears on screen for only a few seconds, with his eyes closed. In other portions there are flashes of his profile. But his hands, bedecked with rings, roam large on the screen at times. The film has no audio.
Vivid Entertainment said that after an extensive inquiry led by private detective agencies, it stands by the Hendrix film as the real thing.
According to the sex-film distributor Howie Klein, who sold the tape to Vivid, the film surfaced when a collector discovered a tin labeled “Black Man” in a box of rock memorabilia bought at an unidentified auction in London.
The film has circulated for years among Hendrix fans, who have long debated its veracity. So, who’s shelling out the 40 bucks to let us know if they think it’s real?
After impressing a total of two Foo Fighters fans with the initial lineup for the Virgin Mobile Festival, the promoters of the event have dropped the hammer by announcing the addition of Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Iggy Pop and Wilco.
Now THAT’s a lineup! Event promoter Seth Hurwitz isn’t finished yet, so stay tuned for some last minute additions. The Virgin Mobile Festival takes place on August 9-10 at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore. Say hello to Bubs for us.
Let’s start off with a few more festival announcements:
The Outside Lands festie released the daily artist lineups
Del McCoury finalizes plans for the inaugural DelFest
R.E.M., NIN, STP are set to headline the Voodoo festie
The Guardian unveils the leaked lineup for Glastonbury ‘08
Finally, Umphrey’s McGee and Gov’t Mule are teaming up for a special co-bill at Red Rocks on August 31. Presale tickets are available through Umphrey’s Ticketing and Mule Ticketing today at noon. UM will also be playing a rare acoustic show on September 1 at the Fox Theatre in Boulder.
After a successful return to the road last year, Stevie Wonder is gearing up for another summer tour. So far only four gigs have been announced, be we agree with Brooklyn Vegan that these dates are the tip of the iceberg. Tickets for the Jones Beach show go onsale this Saturday at 10AM.
I had to miss Stevie’s epic show at MSG complete with Tony Bennett and Prince cameos due to a wedding in November, so this is my shot at redemption.
May 2 – Jazz Fest, New Orleans LA
June 18 – Jones Beach, Wantagh NY
June 26 – Summerfest, Milwaukee WI
June 28 – Grant Park, Chicago IL
I’m not sure how the Mr. Blotto fans get the word around, but they sure know how to dominate some Cover Wars and they are the winner of last week’s Pinball Wizard edition.
After ten weeks of writing Cover Wars, I think it is time for a change in format. Previously, we’ve been putting up multiple versions of the same song for comparison. What I’m going to do for the next ten weeks is pick an album and select different artists for each track. This week’s selection will be Led Zeppelin’s 5th album, Houses of The Holy.
You will need to register/login to Imeem to hear these tracks in their entirety:
The company that theoretically killed rock radio as we knew it, is looking to get back some its cred with it’s latest format – eRockster – which is inspired by the diverse line up of Coachella. The company launched their latest format over the weekend as a planned stunt to coincide with the fest. Here’s some info:
The company unveiled the format, known as eRockster, over the weekend at the Indio, Calif., festival in a “pirate radio” stunt that pre-empted the regular programming on Clear Channel-owned KAJR-FM in Indio, which usually airs adult contemporary music. Voices of the DJs were masked and the station played only music from acts that performed at Coachella this year or in previous years.
Song selection will grow from the 1,000 tunes it played over the weekend, to some 5,000 tracks, including music from the Ramones, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Grandmaster Flash, Johnny Cash, Pavement and Dr Dre. Many of the tunes come from acts that haven’t played Coachella, but still fit the mold.
Its music selection is bigger and less automated than the typical “Jack” station, another eclectic programming concept that has a little over 1,000 songs in active rotation and relies less on DJs.
You know this kind of sounds like what rock radio was like before CC came in and decided that people only wanted to hear a rotating list of certain songs – go figure.
With disco lights a blazing Tea Leaf Green took to the stage at the Highline Ballroom on April 18. Leading the New York City division of the Green Apple Festival, the band warmed up with such favorites as Bootlegger, One Reason, and Devil’s Pay; but it was the trippy Panspermic De-Evolution that really stole the first set. Aaron Redner of Hot Buttered Rum String Band joined the band on fiddle for a rousing Ophelia before the band went to break.
Highlights of the 2nd set included Kali-Yuga, Criminal Intent (again with Redner sitting in) and a rousing Tequila to send the fanbase into the night. The biggest surprise of the night was the inclusion of Las Vegas and Deep River back into the cataloge, songs that haven’t seen the light of day since Ben Chambers left.
While Steve Adams (of ALO) did a fine job filling in on bass, (and was greeted warmly by the faithful with fake moustaches) I think the band was truly missing the spark that Reed Mathis provides. Hopefully Tea Leaf Green can bring in Mathis fulltime and regain the heights we saw at the Blender last September.
READ ON for more of Jeremy’s photos and links to audio of the shows…
