For the second episode in the Jazz in the Present Tense series here at Stormy Mondays, we’re pointing our ears across the Atlantic to hear what Europe has to offer. First is beat master/keyboardist Bugge Wesseltoft, who is featured in the Icons Among Us documentary that was the inspiration for this series, with the late night breathy vocal vibe of You Might Say.

Britain’s Polar Bear released a concept album for its self-titled disc so I’ve included the first two tunes here which cover both the fun, fluid horn-centric side of the band and the deconstructionist madness too–the disc is worth hearing in its entirety. Also from the Isles is Led Bib with the excellently and appropriately titled Squirrel Carnage, and then it’s Norway’s young organ trio Solid with Complicated Shoes. They know how to title their tunes over there. Guitarist extraordinaire Wolfgang Muthspiel gets help from my favorite drummer Brian Blade on the beautiful Gnadenwald from a show in June of 2006, and we finish out with acid jazz mainstay The James Taylor Quartet and their killer rendition of The Theme from Starsky and Hutch. Get your dose of Huggy Bear, and as always, enjoy!

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With Thanksgiving now behind us and Hanukkah and Christmas quickly approaching, we thought we’d get into the holiday spirit. While there isn’t too much we’ve found this year in the way of hipster holiday music, we will put our stamp of approval on Bob Dylan’s oddly enjoyable first foray into the realm of yuletide tunes – Christmas In the Heart.

The 15-track set, the 34th studio album in Dylan’s long and storied career, mixes the traditional classics with a handful of originals.  All proceeds from Christmas In The Heart will benefit Feeding America, a charity which provides food to over 25 million people in the United States each year. Last week Dylan released the video for the bawdy, polka-infused barroom number Must Be Santa that features Zimmy at a raucous 1950s-era Christmas party in a top hat and long-haired wig. Yup, you read that right…

Jim DeRogatis has a long-held reputation as a firebrand, and he’ll be the first to remind you he’s more than a bit of a contrarian. But we’ve always found those labels a little disingenuous, especially for someone so obviously passionate about not only music, but about being as much reporter and informed critic as opinionated scribe.

In a music critic landscape circa 2009 that’s as much lazy, laurels-resting old hands as unedited, brutally overwrought bloggers, credit the man for valiantly bucking both trends. He’s best known as the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, but DeRo is also a prolific author, blogger and, with Greg Kot, his opposite number at the Tribune, host of Sound Opinions, to us one of the few music radio talkshows that’s as informative as it is passionately music geeky.

This fall came his latest book, a visual history of the Velvet Underground called The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side (Voyageur). We caught up with DeRo a few weeks back on that and other pressing topics.

HIDDEN TRACK: Being a well documented Velvet Underground fanatic, this must have been a fun one for you. Tell me about the genesis of this book.

JIM DEROGATIS: Voyageur Press has been doing a number of coffee table art books devoted to bands and memorabilia. They did one on Led Zeppelin and I’d contributed an essay on “Houses of the Holy” to that. They had this notion of doing a Velvets art book and they called me up and said could you do the connective tissue historical essay and corral some other writers, and I said, well shit yeah, Merry Christmas. They’ve very generously put my name on the cover.

I have a shelf full of a dozen if not more Velvets and Lou Reed and John Cale books, but being even a huge fan as I am, there is a tremendous amount of artwork in this book that I’d never seen before. It’s nice to be given that context to do some of the writing. The goal wasn’t to do a definitive history for fans, it was to show them a lot of the art they hadn’t seen before, rounded up in one place.

READ ON for more of Chad’s chat with Jim DeRogatis…

On Thursday morning at 9AM, you’ve got a tough choice to make. Hopefully you’ve got DVR and won’t have to pick between Biography’s profile of Jerry Garcia and Palladia’s airing of The Last Waltz. If you don’t have DVR, watch The Last Waltz at 9AM and catch the Garcia Biography re-airing at 3PM.

Monday, November 30 [All times ET]

• Wetlands: Story of an Activist Rock Club [Sundance 10:15AM]
• Classic Albums: Nirvana’s Nevermind [VH1 Classic 2PM]
• The Beatles: A Hard Day’s Night [VH1 Classic 4PM]
• Woodstock: Now & Then [VH1 Classic 7PM]
• David Letterman: Weezer [CBS 11:35PM]

Tuesday, December 1

• Film: Woodstock [VH1 Classic 3PM]
• Fleetwood Mac: Soundstage [Palladia 5PM]
• Elton John: Me, Myself and I [Palladia 7PM]
• David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust [VH1 Classic 11PM]
• Carson Daly: Cold War Kids [NBC 1:35AM]

Wednesday, December 2

• The Who: Quick Ones [Palladia 9AM]
• US Music Festival: Part 3 [VH1 Classic 11AM]
• Jeff Beck: Live at Ronnie Scott’s [VH1 Classic 3:30PM]
• KISS: Extreme Close Up [VH1 Classic 5:30PM]
• Spectacle w/Elvis Costello: The Police [Sundance 10PM]

Thursday, December 3

• Jerry Garcia: Biography [Biography 9AM]
• The Band: The Last Waltz [Palladia 9AM]
• Grace Slick: Biography [Biography 10AM]
• Jimi Hendrix: Biography [Biography 8PM]
• Conan O’Brien: Rod Stewart [NBC 11:35PM]

We thought we’d help you ease your way back into the work week with this hilarious video of The Muppets covering Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody…

The Muppets – Bohemian Rhapsody

After two completely different shows in Albany, Phish kept fans on their toes once again tonight at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, ME. While there weren’t the crazy 20-minute-plus jams of Saturday night’s show, there were plenty of bust outs and fan favorites. The quartet played Meat for the first time since the summer of ’03, Nellie Cane for the first time since the summer of ’00 and dropped the first Weigh since December 30, 2003.

The show also featured a lengthy encore of Freebird, Carini and Waste. Freebird was performed a capella for the first time since December 29, 1998. For the first time this tour Phish gets two days off in a row before performing the first of three shows at Madison Square Garden starting Wednesday.

Phish
November 29, 2009
Cumberland County Civic Center
Portland, ME

Set 1: Possum > Down With Disease, Nellie Cane, Weigh, When The Circus Comes, Kill Devil Falls, Water In The Sky, Stash, Meat, Undermind, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove

Set 2: The Moma Dance, Rock and Roll > Light > Crimes of the Mind > Pebbles and Marbles, 2001 > Golgi Apparatus > Cavern > Run Like An Antelope

Encore: Freebird, Carini > Waste

When you have a group of Phish-loving friends, you find all sorts of differing viewpoints on what and how Phish should play. Among the camps, you have those Phish fans who like anything the band does, you have those who are only impressed by the bust outs and those who couldn’t care less about the songs and just want the band to jam. Outside of a few instances of far-reaching improvisation – namely the Susquehanna Sand and the Merriweather 46 Days – Phish hasn’t strayed too far off script since their return in March…until last night’s second of two concerts in Albany.

Following a fun first set that contained a number of rarities and well-played originals, the band started the second set by jumping into the deep end of the pool – two 20-minute-plus songs that contained more peaks than the Alps. The set started innocently enough with Seven Below. After jamming on the main theme of the tune for a few minutes, drummer Jon Fishman changed the beat he was laying down while the other members of the band went off in different directions as well, leading to a bit of spacey dissonance. I thought the Seven Below jam had just fallen apart and that the quartet were about to end the tune, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

After a few quick minutes of each member traveling their own path, guitarist Trey Anastasio linked up with bassist Mike Gordon on a few gorgeous patterns of notes that got Fishman’s attention. What had been a dark, minor key jam had been transformed to a pretty major key jam as only Phish could do. At this point, Fishman, Gordon and keyboardist Page McConnell started to follow Anastasio’s lead, patiently building the gorgeous “butter jam.” That’s not to say the other members of the band rolled over, they each added all sorts of dark accents to add some depth to what Big Red was laying down.

READ ON for more of Scotty’s thoughts on Phish in Albany…

As I mentioned about Wednesday’s show, Phish concerts come in all different shapes and sizes, and that’s what makes them so appealing. What made last night’s show so great were all the curveballs thrown at various points in the show. Whether it was dusting off Jimmy Dale Gilmore’s My Mind’s Got a Mind of Its Own, busting TV on the Radio’s Golden Age to the delight of the indie segment of the fanbase or debuting the reggae-tinged original Tomorrow’s Song; the quartet kept fans guessing all night long.

As soon as guitarist Trey Anastasio barreled through the solo in AC/DC Bag it was clear he was firing on all cylinders and extremely excited to be on stage. Maze gave Anastasio a chance to channel all of his pent up energy for good as he delivered one rapid-fire run of notes after another. The first bust out of the evening came after a long discussion by Anastasio and bassist Mike Gordon which ended with the band settling in on the first My Mind’s Got A Mind Of Its Own since 2004. The other bust out of the set was Two Versions of Me off of Undermind, which hadn’t been played since November 28, 2003. The line “no more Phish in the sea” was met smiles instead of groans as the state of the band couldn’t be better…for now.

There’s no doubt the first set was good, but the second set was where the magic happened. The fan-favorite My Friend, My Friend was met with cheers and hugs. The ensemble impressively nailed the tune. Out of the chaotic conclusion of My Friend came a song that had most scratching their heads at first. Then, many in the crowd started putting it together that Phish was covering TV on the Radio’s Golden Age. The band made the tune their own adding a light, happy jam at the end that had everybody pumping their fists.

READ ON for more from Scotty on Albany Night One…

After a spectacular two-night stand in Philadelphia, Phish returns to The Knick tonight for the first time since December 1, 2003. Phish first played the Knickerbocker Arena – currently named the Times Union Center – on December 9, 1995 and has returned to the venue a total of nine times leading up to tonight’s show. I’ll be offering my thoughts on the both Albany shows @YEMblog starting immediately. Other options for experiencing the concerts from home include Phishtwit and Hoodstream.

READ ON for the setlist once the show starts [via Phish.net]

In the three years since U-Melt released their last album, The I’s Mind, the New Yorkers have debuted – and road-tested – a batch of inventive compositions that are just screaming for the studio treatment. We’ll get our chance to see how ten of these songs turned out when Harmonized Records releases U-Melt’s third studio album, Perfect World, on February 23.

While most of U-Melt’s songs have more twists and turns than an episode of Mad Man, the title track of the new album is a straight-forward ballad with inspired lyrics and beautiful three-part harmonies. George Miller’s earnest vocal delivery, Zac Lasher’s delicate synth soundscapes and guitarist Rob Salzer’s soulful shredding all help make Perfect World a winner.

Until we get to hear how the quartet interpreted Perfect World in the studio they built in Brooklyn, we can still dig on the live versions such as this one from April 12, 2008 that was filmed by videographer Ali Holmes…

U-Melt will hit the road hard starting in February, but for now your only chance to catch them is at Sullivan Hall in New York City on Dec. 4.

You got to hand it to KISS. They have been living the rock and roll life to an almost cartoonish degree for 35 years. They are in the middle of a tour that encompasses most of North America as well as most of the fourth quarter of 2009. They recently released their umpty-dozenth cd, Sonic Boom.

The marketing typhoon that sells KISS, the product, has been out in force, selling everything from the $1,200 Live 35 box set, featuring every minute of every concert on the current tour, to $1,000 meet and greet premium packages to KISS g-strings, panties and key chains. Is everything in between included, you ask? Damn Skippy, partner.

I have to admit that when tickets first went on sale, I had dismissed the idea of seeing KISS 2.0; Gene Simmons on bass and Paul Stanley on guitar are the only original members with sporadic members Eric Singer on drums and Tommy Thayer on lead guitar. I last saw KISS when I was in college and, as was the custom of the time, had become quite inebriated by the time the curtain went up. READ ON for more from AJ on catching KISS…

Just in case you haven’t heard, the Mimi Fishman Foundation has launched another charity auction. The auction includes a whole lot of Phish posters (mainly signed posters from late summer tour and a few Pollocks), as well as several New Years Eve packages with YMSB & UM & much more!

The auction continues the Foundation’s strong support for the Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual Impairments.  In addition, the auction also features a “Rock the Earth” section with many rare signed items (Bob Weir, Dave Matthews, etc). The auction closes for bidding on December 7, 2009. To view and/or bid on the auction, as well as read about the charities the auction supports, please visit http://www.mimifishman.org/auctions/

After one long month of waiting since the shows, HBO will finally debut their their four-hour Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary concert film at 8PM on Sunday. Here’s the program’s lineup, for those who want a peek.

Friday, November 27 [all times Eastern]

• Tom Petty: Live at the Grand [Palladia HD 3PM]
• Documentary: Jazz Seen [Ovation 3:30PM]
• Conan O’Brien: Chicago [NBC 11:35PM]

Saturday, November 28

• Austin City Limits: Tribute to Jimmy Reed [PBS]
• Saturday Night Live: Shakira [NBC 11:30PM]
• World Stage: Coldplay [Palladia 7PM]

Sunday, November 29

• The Beatles: Video Retrospective [VH1 Classic Noon]
• Spectacle: The Police [Sundance 7PM]
• Concert Film: Rock and Roll HOF 25th [HBO 8PM]

History will not look kindly on the show Phish played at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia last night. The band threw down one of the best, if not the best, show since they reunited on Tuesday night featuring a dream setlist filled with blockbusters. We all knew what would happen the next night – a standard Phish show. And that’s indeed what happened, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a standard Phish show.

[All photos by Jake Krolick from Philly Night 1 Photo Gallery on Glide]

Phish gigs come in many different shapes and sizes with last night’s show fitting in the Rock Show category. Every member of the band seemed to be feeding off of the energy of the crowd. Some showgoers sing along with the lyrics of each song, not in Philly. This was a crowd that just wanted to move and thrash the night away. Phish complied by delivering a number of potent tunes like 46 Days, Tweezer Reprise, Kill Devil Falls and Wilson. The audience roared their approval during the high-energy parts of the night and swayed en mass throughout the softer moments.

Nothing exemplifies the rock feel of this show more than the marvelous Tweezer for the second set. Phish took plenty of time finding the proper groove as soon as the jam started. To use a football analogy – once the groundwork had been laid, guitarist Trey Anastasio found the hole up the middle and scored a big touchdown. Anastasio kept hooking up with bassist Mike Gordon on a number of creative repeating patterns while drummer Jon Fishman kept the beat intense and keyboardist Page McConnell asserted a few counter-melodies for good measure. While Tweezer may not have veered too far off script, it was powerful and a show of force.

READ ON for more from Scotty on Phish in Philly – Night Two…

My DJ Partner Lax Class just sent me this stone groove of a mix from AliOOft. It’s a Nu Disco and Re Edit saunter through some great old dance classics as well as some great tracks from 100 bmp legend Mark E. This is the perfect mix to prep the kitchen with and will most certainly help on your drive to Albany. Happy Thanksgiving from Wyllys. Whatever you do…DON’T LOOK AT YOUR PHISH TICKETS.

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