A few months back we reported on the rather sad circumstance surrounding Simone Felice’s departure from HT faves The Felice Brothers (read his open letter for more details). The move has proved to be quite cathartic for the drummer/vocalist/novelist as he channeled his creative energies into a writing songs for a new project called The Duke & The King.
If Cat Stevens had headed to Woodstock during his 70s heyday he may have ended up with a album sounding close to the debut from The Duke & The King. The band, who mix Simone’s heartfelt, confessional lyrics with sweeping folk melodies, will release their debut album Nothing Gold Can Stay on Tuesday - marking the occasion with an album release show at New York’s Mercury Lounge. Let’s check out this incredible kitchen rehearsal performance of The Morning I Get To Hell…
The Duke & The King continue their tour through mid-August, and will then head across the pond for a string of UK dates in September.
The members of Phish kicked off the second leg of their Summer Tour last night at the famed Red Rocks amphitheater in Morrison, CO; playing their first show at the legendary venue in 13 years. While the show won’t be remembered as one of the best they ever played it certainly showed flashes of brilliance and set a good base for the beginning of a four night stand.
Thursday’s concert featured a number of songs that mentioned the surroundings in which the band was performing. Opening with Divided Sky - a staple of the band’s previous performances at the venue - the quartet also threw down The Wedge, Loving Cup and Possum, all with lyrics about mountains. From the moment they took the stage it was clear the band had been practicing. Sure, there was a flub here and there, but for the most part they tore through some of the more complex material.
The highlight of the first set came in the form of the exploratory jam in Stash. Bassist Mike Gordon kept pushing and prodding the improv into new, exciting territory with guitarist Trey Anastasio following Mike and inserting some smart ideas of his own into the jam. If there’s one song to check out from last night’s show, it’s Stash.
READ ON for more from Scotty on night one of Red Rocks…
IFC debuts a new episode of Z Rock on Sunday Night at 11PM featuring harp specialist John Popper of Blues Traveler. Popper returns to make amends for nearly ruining the lads’ career during his last appearance on the show.
[Photo by Jennifer Graylock]
Friday, July 31 [all times Eastern]:
Dave Letterman: Dave Matthews Band [CBS 11:35PM]
Conan O’Brien: Ben Harper & Relentless 7 [NBC 11:35PM]
Jimmy Fallon: Jimmy Buffett [NBC 12:35AM]
Carson Daly: Crystal Antlers [NBC 1:35AM]
Saturday, August 1:
Austin City Limits: Wilco [PBS Check Local Listings]
Peter Seeger: 90th B-Day Party [PBS Check Local Listings]
Live From Abbey Road: Paul Simon [Ovation 11AM]
Saturday Night Live: Phoenix [NBC 11:30PM]
Sunday, August 2:
Kanye West: Live From Chicago Theater [Fuse 4PM]
Spectacle: Elvis Costello w/ The Police [Sundance 9PM]
Follow me @YEMblog tonight for live reports from Red Rocks as Phish kicks off the second leg of their Summer Tour. As always, you can follow all the #Phish action and watch the streams at PhishTwit. Opener calls?
An evening at the Mercury Lounge often proves a real treat. The structure of their shows almost always includes four bands with a time slot of roughly an hour per act. In essence, the evening feels exactly like your run-of-the-mill showcase night a la Arlene’s Grocery. You know, the neighborhood venue trying to reel in a few patrons without giving away drink specials by offering up the stage to wet-behind-the-ears bands playing in front of their poor friends who were given no option but to drop by dressed all biz casual.
Well, the difference with the Mercury Lounge approach is that they put on a showcase night, but comprised of generally really talented on-the-cusp bands with plenty of buzz, generally with some level of overlap in fan tendencies with the other acts on the bill. Hence, it makes for a great way for bands to win over new fans, while fans happily catch the band they came to see, but often leave holding the CD of one they never even heard of. Should one or two of the bands not hit the spot, well there’s always the bar just outside the performance room. You can pop out and pop back in for the next band an hour later. Plus, the price is right.
This past Thursday, the Merc played host to a relatively new band on my radar that is quickly becoming a favorite, Leroy Justice. Having heard from a couple friends in different places and seeing repeat rave reviews from a couple of great writers whose tastes I share, Dave Schultz at Earvolution and Dennis Cook at Jambase, I picked up their new album. The album, called the Loho Sessions just happens to be produced by a guy you might recognize; he goes by the name of Siket. The Loho Sessions has breakout written all over it and it’s a contender for the best this year. The “sounds-like exercise” always reaches for the Black Crowes and Drive-By Truckers, but that makes them sound far too categorical.
READ ON to see what Ryan thought of LJ and Cornmeal…
We’d like to welcome our longtime friend and HT commenter Andy Kahn to the site with an editorial he wrote about the overwhelming acceptance of Phish by the mainstream media over the last few months. You can read more from Andy over at Loudlooppress. Welcome to the team, Andy…
From the mid ’90s until their breakup in 2004, Phish was often mocked by the mainstream press for a variety of reasons, namely their lack of radio and commercial success, relatively weak album sales, their obsessively devoted fan base of neo-hippies who follow them around to show after show (on drugs, always on drugs). With the band’s return at Hampton this past March the common perception of the group is not so common anymore, with Phish now getting treated like any other major act in the industry.
Phish has finally stepped out of the shadow of the Grateful Dead and are getting the respect they deserve. Every article written about them does not need to include a reference to their Dead-like fanbase or similar jamcentric style. Instead, music journos from a wide spectrum of publications are acknowledging the quartet as a band that broke the mold and created their own business model that never relied on album sales and mainstream commercial success but rather focused on the live performance and free sharing of their music amongst its fans.
Showing how far ahead of the curve they were, drummer Jon Fishman - in an interview with Rolling Stone in February 2003 stated, “I could fucking care less if everybody downloads our album off the Internet. We’re not in a position to be screwed by that at all. We have the one thing the Internet can’t touch - live music. If you can actually go out and play your fucking instruments, you won’t be replaced by the Internet. If you’re a good live act and you put on a good show, people will buy a ticket to see your show.”
READ ON for more from Andy on Phish and the mainstream…
While we can only play the guessing game when it comes to what album Phish will cover at their upcoming Halloween festival, fans that are headed to see Bruce Springsteen in the Windy City this fall already know what they’re in for courtesy of the shows producers - Jam Productions. Earlier this week the company leaked to the city’s local papers that The Boss would be treating the folks in the Second City to a full rendition of arguably his best album Born to Run at his show at the United Center on September 20.
Meanwhile rumors are currently swirling around the interwebs that Springsteen plans to tackle a different album from his catalog every night during his five-night run of shows at Giants Stadium.
Finally, with Ryan Adams seemingly retiring from the music business earlier this year it left a big musical void in the life of his former band The Cardinals. While they await a call from the always unpredictable Mr. Moore, the band has lent their expert talents to the stunning Gin Wigmore, backing the New Zealand-bred singer-songwriter on her debut album No Smoke which hits stores on September 25.
Exactly one month ago, on June 29th, I attended a concert in Wellington, New Zealand. The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra performed to a sold-out hometown crowd in one of the country’s most acoustically-pleasing auditoriums, The Michael Fowler Centre, and they blew the roof off the place. Yes, this 12 member, 11-ukulele-ensemble actually blew the roof off the mutha. Eleven ukuleles and one double bass. Yes, that’s right- 11ukuleles. I feel icky just typing that. The ukulele. The red-headed stepchild of the acoustic guitar. Eleven of them on stage at the same time and I actually liked it? Maybe I’ve been in New Zealand too long…
I think its fair to say the ukulele has never been one of my favorite instruments. If I were asked two months ago to come up with a top ten list of my favorite musical instruments, ukulele might rank 37, just behind the French horn. But in the hands of these skilled ukeists (ukeleists? Ukelers?) this four-stringed-mandolin-wannabe not only becomes a pleasing instrument, but an impressive one. (You can see why its taken me a month to write this review- I’ve been struggling with such conflicting internal emotions. Someone hold me.)
The WIUO (as they will henceforth be referred to… since I’m into the whole brevity thing) were founded about 5 years ago in Wellington, New Zealand. The twelve member group play an unusual combination of modern hits, classic rock, kiwi standards and original compositions. In New Zealand, the band is pretty well known, thanks in no small part to a devoted hometown following, many high profile performances, two albums, and the recent success of founding member Bret McKenzie (yes, that Brett. Brit? Briiit.) Internationally, this “international” orchestra has yet to make a very big mark. However, if they continue to play shows like this one, all of that could change. READ ON for more of Neeko’s Uke-tastic review…
On a beautiful Friday at Rothbury, Bill Kreutzmann took a few minutes to talk to a group of the media. He began by recalling a bit of his experience in the festival circuit from his early days with The Grateful Dead.
Billy recalled The Grateful Dead as a “Hippie band from the Haight Ashbury”, who made their 1967 appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival “Sandwiched between The Who and Jimi Hendrix, in that order.” The Who were “Wild and crazy” and it left Kreutzmann to think “Are we gonna follow that ?”
In 1969 at Woodstock the Grateful Dead would have a rough time on stage dealing with mother nature, calling it “Quite a festival” that “was a real hard one for us”, remembering “A lot of electrical problems on stage”. While he said the drummers were safe, “The singers could draw a four inch blue arc.”
READ ON for John’s chat with the legendary Bill Kreutzmann…
at his show at the United Center on September 20.
