Words: Carla Danca
Photos: Jeremy Gordon (TO FOLLOW)
With the sun finally out in full force and only bright fluffy white clouds in the sky, Day 2 of Mountain Jam had the makings of a perfect day. I hurried over to the mountain to catch The Macpodz and their vibrant horns started the day out right. Brett Dennen kept it going with more smooth roots rock that was easy and familiar, perfect for those who might still be recovering. Something that struck me was that unlike most afternoon slots at festivals, there were a lot of people out on the hill; apparently Mt Jam organizers know how to pick them.
By afternoon it was beautifully cool and breezy, and I was excited for Gomez to take the stage. Seducing the crowd with their infectious song, Airstream Driver, I like them more with every listen. With the perfect mix of raspiness and grit, How We Operate shows the range this band has. From easy pop to hard hitting rock they blend all sorts of sounds and keep me wanting more.
The day rolled on with Jackie Greene who may be young but his talent shows. He included a nod to the Grateful Dead in New Speedway Boogie as well as a personal favorite of mine, Velvet Underground’s Waiting for My Man. The Hold Steady made sure to give fans a taste of their new album including their new single Memphis. READ ON for more…
The first day of Mountain Jam, held at beautiful Hunter Mountain in the northern Catskills of New York, had something for everyone.
I started the day with Marco Benevento Trio and a cover of MMJ’s Golden that was so beautiful even a butterfly was drawn to the stage. Next up was PBS (Porter Batiste and Stoltz) with a set so filled with funky grooves that it seemed to call down the rain, with some help from an on-stage rain dance of sorts by George. Railroad Earth and Tea Leaf Green had the crowds dancing and smiling despite the on again / off again showers. By the time Umphrey’s was up and the lights had begun to fade, things really started to move. Warren got in his first sit in of the day with a cover of The Rolling Stones’ Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, as Umphrey’s wrapped up its set.
But this is Gov’t Mule’s festival and it wouldn’t be their style to let anyone go home without a serious taste of what they bring – Warren tearing into that guitar so furiously that picks were flying off stage like dirty cigarette butts. With covers from Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, The Grateful Dead and Neil Young, I’m not sure if there is anything that they can’t make their own. George Porter joined then on stage and the second set ended with Tea Leaf Green’s Josh Clark and Trevor Garrod joining in for a stunning Cortez the Killer, while the crowd helped out in a sing-a-long.
If you could made it to late night however, you were in for a something special. Girl Talk fronted an all out party on stage complete with dozens of girls dancing on stage while tossing toilet paper streamers and even an inflatable whale into the crowd. His thumping set was filled with all your guilty pleasure songs from the past 20 years—the ones you can’t resist singing along to when you’re alone in the car. Inside, Eric Krasno and Chapter 2 gave a different kind of dance party, with some straight up rock and roll including a cover of Hendrix’s Manic Depression.
READ ON for more of Carla’s thoughts and Jeremy’s photos from Hunter…
While Phish continues to rehearse at the DCU Center (aka The Centrum) in Worcester, the Hidden Track team is getting ready to hit the road for what promises to be an amazing time touring with Phish. We’ll have plenty of coverage from each show including photos and reviews. For updates live from the scene of the crime be sure to follow the YEMblog Twitter feed.
Photographer Chris Cartelli took a trip down south to attend last weekend’s Amberland Festival which was thrown by jam-rockers Perpetual Groove at Cherokee Farms in Lafayette, Georgia and delivered these shots…
Years ago, when I was working for Legal Seafoods in Boston, Mass there was – and still is – a great restaurant in Cambridge named The East Coast Grill. The Chef/Owner, Chris Schlesinger, created an amazing hot sauce there called Inner Beauty Real Hot Sauce that was bottled and sold outside the restaurant in stores. Regrettably, that sauce is no longer made for retail sale, although legend has it you can go to East Coast Grill and ask Chris for some and he will provide it to you.
Anyhow, forward to the present. I recently attended the Hot Dog Hootenany at The Astor Center and had the chance to meet the guys behind Wheelhouse Pickles. I was talking to John, one of the guys behind Wheelhouse, when we got on the subject of hot sauces. He told me I had to try his Minor Threat Sauce.
These guys have come oh so close to duplicating one of my favorite all time hot sauces (except I thought It could be a little bit hotter, but that’s me). If you like flavorful spicy sauces rather than just really hot sauces, check out Minor Threat, it will make everything you eat taste that much better. I know, I have already gone through several jars since I was given my first bottle by the Wheelhouse crew.
READ ON for more about Minor Threat sauce and this week’s links…
This evening marks the end of Jay Leno’s reign as host of NBC’s Tonight Show. Incoming Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien will be Jay’s last guest in what should be a nice passing of the torch. Iconic singer/songwriter James Taylor will be the final musical guest. Leno will follow his 17 years on the Tonight Show by taking over the 10PM slot for the Peacock.
Friday, May 29 [all times Eastern]:
Mountain Jam: Gov’t Mule [iClips 9PM]
Jay Leno: James Taylor [NBC 11:35PM]
Jimmy Kimmel Live: Flo Rida [ABC Midnight]
Saturday, May 30:
Austin City Limits: Sufjan Stevens [PBS Check Local Listings]
Mountain Jam: Gene Ween Band [iClips 5:45PM]
Rock Docs: Women of Sunset Strip [VH1 Classic 10PM]
Sunday, May 31:
Mountain Jam: The Brew [iClips Noon]
Rusted Root: Live From Philly [HDNet 4:50PM]
Dave Matthews Band: Weekend On The Rocks [Fuse 7PM]
The music of Phish has been used in movies and for tv shows but the quartet’s music has never been featured in a video game… until now.
A developer for Harmonix – the makers of the popular Rock Band series of games – has announced that the downloadable content for the week of June 2nd will include a live version of Wilson as part of the Bonnaroo Pack. Other songs included in the Bonnaroo Pack will be Ben Harper and Relentless7′s Shimmer & Shine, Coheed and Cambria’s A Favor House Atlantic and The Running Free, Shooter Jennings’ Steady at the Wheel and TV on the Radio’s Wolf Like Me. Quite a varied selection of tunes.
All tracks are original master recordings and these tracks will be available for purchase as part of the Bonnaroo Pack or as individual tracks for Xbox 360 and PS3 systems. Each track costs $1.99 or you can purchase the entire pack for $9.99. We hoped for a straight-up Phish Pack of Rock Band songs, but this is certainly a start. [via Rock Band Forums, HT - @mdphunk]
Love both bands, love one & hate the other, tolerate one & swear by the other, regardless of your allegiances there’s no denying the long history that Phish and the Dave Matthews Band share. Clearly the band members enjoy playing together as displayed by Dave’s choice of words and delivery of this quote that my friend Chris and I have always been huge fans of…
“It’s always a massive honor to come and share the stage with Trey Anastasio”. – Dave Matthews, 2/28/2001.
The history between the two bands continues this weekend when DMB takes the stage for two shows at Fenway Park with Willie Nelson opening up both performances before Phish plays a Fenway show of their own on Sunday. Then, both bands head to the Big Apple early next week for Phish’s three shows at Jones Beach and DMB’s special intimate show at the Beacon Theatre on Monday celebrating the release of their new album Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King.
With that in mind, we’re taking this opportunity to look back with a special audio history detailing the numerous collaborations there have been between the two bands over the years…
1994-04-20 Virginia Horse Center, Lexington VA (Phish)
You Enjoy Myself (w/Dave Matthews Band)
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READ ON to hear the rest of the DMB/Phish collaborations…
Formed in 1990 around the core of guitarist/singer/songwriter Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino, Calexico has been delivering their own brand of eclectic music starting with their debut album Spoke in 1996. Acting more so as a collective, besides Joey & John, the band’s revolving door of musicians over the years helped to formulate a sound that is as unique as it is pleasant. Drawing from music such as mariachi Tejano music and Southwestern country music, Calexico’s live shows are eclectic and exciting.
For those who are familiar with this band, you will know that when it comes to live performance Calexico delivers in a huge way. This show documents a stop in Stockholm, Sweden on the tour supporting their then most recent album Feast of Wire. This show in particular has the band playing at the absolute top of their game with a setlist that is strong in both substance and in the order they are played. There is a consistent flow through out and the production of this recording is top notch. I’d even dare to say that it is one of the greatest live recordings I have ever heard in my life.
After shelling out money for all those shed shows this summer, money is probably tight for hitting your local record shop for some new tunes. Well luckily the folks over at Sub Pop have got you covered as the seminal indie label are offering up their free Cyber Sex Digital Sampler. The 14 track download includes a who’s who from their current roster with tracks from Fleet Foxes, Iron & Wine, Vetiver, Flight Of The Conchords and more.
Finally, in what is sure to be continuing trend in bands embracing emerging technology Wilco has released their very own free iPhone app. Wilco (The App) will allows fans “to track the band’s tour dates, check out photos, keep up to date on Wilco’s latest news, and stream songs and videos”.
With more and more jobs from an ever-growing number of industries being outsourced to India – and other countries where the labor is cheap and the girls are pretty - one day in the future you might point your browser towards our slice of the web to find a new, cheaper set of contributors in place.
It’s not such a farfetched scenario. Two years ago a California-based newspaper set up a web cam at City Hall in Pasadena and hired two writers based in India to cover the City Council and this week the editors of the New Haven Advocate hired Indian freelance journalists to write the paper. Among the assignments given to the outsourced writers was a profile of the best Grateful Dead tribute band on any continent, the Dark Star Orchestra.
Writer Vijayalaxmi Hegde interviewed DSO drummer Dino English, researched the band’s history and wound up putting together a pretty good feature. We asked longtime DSO fan The_Rick to tell us what he thought about Vijayalaxmi’s article and he said “it’s like every other Dark Star article I have ever read.” As much as we hate to say it, we agree. Luckily for American journalists the staff of the Advocate faced major challenges locating and hiring the Indian writers and they didn’t even wind up saving much money. So for now it appears my job is safe, but don’t be surprised if one day you’re getting your Phish news from a writer in Bangalore instead of Burlington.
It’s not often we point you to shows on the Open Source Archive, but our friends from Chicago – Van Ghost – recorded their set opening for the Derek Trucks Band back in April, mixed and mastered it in protools and uploaded the files to the aforementioned Open Source Archive for our listening pleasure. Van Ghost’s sound has gone a bit more to the rock side of things recently thanks in part to the addition of Nick Cassarino on electric guitar and the band’s tendency to open the arrangements up a bit. You can download or stream the show here and don’t miss vocalists Michael Harrison Berg and Jennifer Hartswick’s harmonies on a cover of The Faces’ Ooh La La.
Here are six more shows we found on the Open Source Archive…
GSW guitarists Lo Faber & Aaron Maxwell teamed up to play a few songs at Mexicali this past Saturday night and our friend Michael Weiss was in attendance. He shot this quick clip of Lo & Aaron rocking Mile By Mile…
Also, in keeping with last week’s theme of International God Street Wine, we wanted to point you in the direction of a German magazine named Sonic Reducer. The latest issue contains a terrific interview with Lo conducted by our pal Sascha Knapek. Head over to their website to download a PDF of issue #13. While most of the magazine is written in German, Sascha left the Lo interview in English.
Finally, our show of the week is another pristine soundboard from Eric Budke’s collection – 10/08/1993. This show took place at the Municipal Cafe in Hartford and I’d suggest feasting your ears on the Who’s Driving, Bring Back The News > Goodnight Gretchen sequence that kicks off the second set – 28 sublime minutes of God Street right there my friends.
We’d like to welcome Charlie Wheeler aboard as an occasional HT contributor. Charlie is a guitarist, band leader and you can check out more about the Charlie and his band, the Charlie Wheeler Band at charliewheelerband.com.
Let’s face it, rock ‘n roll is finishing a distant 6th in the race for popular music. The popularity of pop, country, new R&B, Hip-Hop and Punk has elbowed rock music back to the middle of the pack, alongside of late ’60′s Brazilian jazz and western Pensylvanian polka.
As a true blue, dyed in the wool rocker, I naturally lean towards the classic blues influenced rock music. My emotions are stirred easily by the raw power of Stevie Ray’s strat, the time tested despair of Gregg Allman’s vocals, the meaty phatness of Billy Preston’s keys. So what in the heck happened to our beloved rock ‘n roll?
I submit that there were a few contributing factors to this “rock ‘n roll recession.” First and foremost, DUI laws have absolutely pounded the live music scene. Rock is far and away the most prevalent genre played in the bar circuit. Over the course of a rock show, we can feel harmony, be fraught with emotion, become agitated, experience elation and then usually, in the end, be brought down emotionally by the artist to a servicable state of mind. It’s tough to get that type of remedial treatment from a psychotherapist, trust me I know. This soul food is a lot like Lobster; it’s available, but you can’t have it as much as you deserve… primarily because no one wants to have their buzz killed by some badge wearing mustachio who’s sniffing your breath while you’re handing him your license and registration.
in 1996. Acting more so as a collective, besides Joey & John, the band’s revolving door of musicians over the years helped to formulate a sound that is as unique as it is pleasant. Drawing from music such as mariachi Tejano music and Southwestern country music, Calexico’s live shows are eclectic and exciting.
This show in particular has the band playing at the absolute top of their game with a setlist that is strong in both substance and in the order they are played. There is a consistent flow through out and the production of this recording is top notch. I’d even dare to say that it is one of the greatest live recordings I have ever heard in my life.
