Earlier today we launched the Hidden Track Facebook Page on the social networking site as a way to connect with our readers. We plan to post links to noteworthy articles and videos exclusively on Facebook each day and we’ll have a giveaway for our “like”ers each month. Come on over and join us.
Before we take off, if you’ve ever watched Bill Walton call a basketball game you know that he loves throwing in random Grateful Dead references. We love this parody article that The Sports Rag posted about Walton’s ESPN bosses writing a memo instructing him to cut the shit. Enjoy the weekend!
Back in 2005, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, the youngest of Bob Marley’s eleven children, released his critically acclaimed third studio album – Welcome to Jamrock. The album, which showcased Marley’s signature dance-hall sound and earned him two Grammy awards, also featured number of notable guest appearances from the worlds of reggae and hip hop. Among the collaborators, which included his brother Stephen and Black Thought, was rapper Nas, who teamed up with Marley on the track Road To Zion.
The duo hit it off so well that it that it inspired them to collaborate on an full length album together, which they’ve been working on since 2008. The fruits of their label will finally be heard when their debut Distant Relatives hit stores on May 18. The pair, who will hit the road hard this summer with a headlining tour that includes high profile appearances at Bonnaroo and Gathering Of The Vibes, recently dropped their first video for As We Enter…
A couple of weeks ago, Dave, Jeff, Scotty and I attempted to tackle the collaborative project of creating our defining list of favorite jam band studio tracks. Ultimately, we came away with about 75 different entries and not a whole lot of uniformity. So, needless to say it’s still a work in progress. But in the meantime, I figured we could open it up and see what everybody else thinks while listening to a few favorites in this week’s mix tape.
To begin, we have Widespread Panic’s should-have-been-a-hit-single, Airplane, off of Ain’t Life Grand and then on to the defining version of Divided Sky from Junta with its beautiful acoustic intro and glockenspiel pings. Next up, it’s the jaw dropping vocal finale fireworks from Hot Buttered Rum’s Poison Oak and the systematic ambiance of Atmosfarag in all its Browning family (no relation) glory. Finally, we have two of the all-time studio epics in moe.’s Rebubula from No Doy, which is also featured on their new Smash Hits: Volume 1, and the Disco Biscuits’ Home Again.
So, what are your favorite jam band studio tracks? To be continued…
Just a reminder to our Furthur-lovin’ readers that tickets for the group’s Nokia Theatre doubleheader go on sale today at Noon. You can purchase tickets to the July 28th show, the July 29th show or a special triple package that gets you a ticket to one of Furthur’s sold-out shows at MCU Park in Brooklyn this coming June. Clicking on the links in this post credits HT with a commission at no cost to you. Thanks for your support.
By the time you read this posting, we will more than halfway through the last day in April, paving the way for the month of May which means there are a lot of holidays you should be planning for.
First up is Cinco de Mayo Wednesday May 5th
According to the website Mexonline, this is the history of Cinco de Mayo:
The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some limited recognition in other parts of Mexico, and especially in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It is not, as many people think, Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually September 16.
Since Cinco de Mayo usually involves drinking and tequila, you definitely want to get some food in you at some point during that day. Metromix did a great piece recently called Cheat Sheet: Takeout Taquerias. Their opening line for the article reads: Before you lick, suck and swallow this Cinco de Mayo, load up at one of these killer taquerias.
READ ON for more of this week’s Friday 4 the Foodies…
With the second weekend of the New Orlean’s Jazz & Heritage Festival upon us, it seems appropriate that we turn to the NOLA funk institution Galactic who have dropped their latest video for Heart Of Steel. The clip, which acts a big love letter to their hometown, also features an appearance by Soul Queen of New Orleans – Irma Thomas – who sings on the track…
Galactic will hit the Acura Stage at 3:15 at the fairgrounds tomorrow, and than later in the evening will play the Howlin’ Wolf for a classic Crescent City throwdown with the Funky Meters and the Rebirth Brass Band.
Tonight, the Hold Steady will make their first appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman since guitarist Steve Selvidge and keyboard player Dan Neustadt joined the band. We’ll see if the group becomes the target of a Letterman skit as they did the last time they visited The Late Show in 2008.
[Photo by Mark Seliger]
You can also catch more of the Hold Steady at Noon today live World Cafe Live at NPR.com as part of the Live Friday series of broadcasts.
Friday, April 30 [all times EDT]
Film: Reefer Madness [IFC 11:35AM]
Genesis: When In Rome [VH1C 7:30PM]
Dave Letterman: the Hold Steady [CBS 11:35PM]
Jimmy Kimmel: Devo [ABC Midnight]
Saturday, May 1
Austin City Limits: Drive By Truckers [PBS]
Soundstage: Counting Crows [Palladia 6PM]
Saturday Night Live: Vampire Weekend [NBC 11:30PM]
Seventeen years ago today, Phish played a show at Le Spectrum in Montreal not too far from their hometown of Burlington which I feel is among the best in the band’s history. From the numerous teases to the fun banter to wild bouts of improv to the bust outs, the quartet put it all together on this evening for a performance that deserves more recognition from the fanbase.
What makes this particular gig so good? Glad you asked, because this week’s B List lists ten reasons you must download this show. Here we go…
10. The Split Opener
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On April 21, 1993 – six shows prior – Phish finally became comfortable with the Split Open and Melt jam, settling in on a sublime groove that was later tacked onto the end of the Demand on Hoist. Thus, the Golden Age for Splits was started and continued for a few years including the bombastic version that opens this show. READ ON for nine more reasons…
Welcome to back to Strange Brew our monthly column dedicated to – as you probably have already guessed – beer. Each month, we’ll take a close look at a new or notable brew, or just one we think you should be drinking, all without too much beer geekiness.
For this month’s Strange Brew, we head off of the continental United State to our 50th state to feature a trio of beers from the Maui Brewing Company. The eco-friendly brewery was founded only a few short years ago in 2005 by Garrett Marrero, and unlike the majority of commercially available beers they have been exclusively canning their award-winning offerings since ’07.
Maui Brewing Co.’s commitment to greening extends beyond just canning – which make their products easily recyclable – they also make their own bio-diesel fuel from recycled vegetable oil from their brewpub which the company’s delivery trucks run on, donate their spent grain to local farmers for feed and compost and will soon will be running their facilities on solar power.
Why You Should Drink Them: Don’t let the fact that these beers come in cans fool you. Over the last few years the trend of craft breweries canning their products has been on the rise – it’s cheaper than bottling, and contrary to popular rumors aluminum cans don’t give your beer a metallic aftertaste. While I can fully endorse all three of their beers the star of the show is their CoCoNut Porter, which I can assure you tastes like no other beer you’ve had before. READ ON for more of this month’s Strange Brew…
For this week’s edition you will be serenaded by two of the best tenors in the live music scene: Jim James of My Morning Jacket and Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses. Sorry Jon Gutwillig, while your vocal stylings are also included, you just didn’t make the cut.
Artist & Title:Band Of Horses – Thirteen Days, Older Date & Venue: 2010-04-24 Walnut Creek – Raleigh, NC Taper & Show Download:Charles Fox
Leading off this week we’ve got the Band of Horses performing a great cover of a J.J. Cale song followed by a track from their upcoming album Infinite Arms. These two tunes were played in sequence, but I edited out some crowd noise/band introductions in between them. Band of Horses play tonight at the House of Blues in Orlando.
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BoH plays Compliments live at Trädgårn, Göteborg 2010/04/17
READ ON for tracks from the Disco Biscuits & Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe…
Focusing primarily on Tibet, the Rubin Museum hosts a wide selection of art from the Himalayas region. It’s not a venue typically associated with music much less one to feature one of the country’s preeminent, though unheralded, guitarists. Then again, as many who have seen Willy Porter would attest, a museum might be the proper locale for his prodigious skills.
The Wisconsin-based guitar wizard’s latest New York City appearance came as part of Naked Soul, the Rubin’s unique twist on the singer-songwriter concert series. In a room with perfect acoustics, Naked Soul strips away everything unnecessary from the performance: no amplification is needed and no electricity is used; every note strummed, beat and sung is heard unfiltered. The elimination of any type of sound system in museum quality environs fosters a warmth and intimacy unparalleled by the majority of basement stages and coffeehouses.
The environs couldn’t have played more to Porter’s strengths as a performer. He possesses the type of talent must be seen in order to be truly understood. It’s one thing to hear Porter play, quite another to see how he coaxes the sounds out of his guitar. His fingers glide across the fretboard with a natural ease that seems otherworldly, as if he’s channeling a higher musical force. Often it’s difficult to believe that many of the sounds coming from his guitar are actually being played with his fingers.
After months of build up, Phish 3D finally begins its one week run in theaters nationwide tomorrow. To help promote the release the filmmakers have uploaded the complete Loving Cup from the movie as well as excerpts from Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan, Undermind and Suzy Greenberg to YouTube along with this one-minute, extended trailer…
Just a couple of weekends back, scores of independent music stores around the country participated in the third annual Record Store Day. Now that the dust has settled and receipts from the day have tabulated, we are happy to report that RSD was once again a huge success with a number of stores around the country reporting some of their biggest single-day sales ever.
Here are some of the highlights according to Billboard – Other Music had the best single day in their 14 year history, Exclusive Company’s RSD 2010 sales increased 102% from RSD 2009, Twist N Shout reported the best sales they’ve ever had in a single day and RSD 2010 was Sonic Boom’s single biggest sales day in their 12 year history. Congrats, and we can’t wait till next year’s batch of exclusives hit shelves!
Finally, with the exact future of industrial-rockers Nine Inch Nails up in the air, it seems like Trent Reznor already has a new project up sleeve launching a new website with a mysterious video for a project called How To Destroy Angels. The band, which also features Reznor’s smokin’ hot wife Mariqueen Maandig (previously of West Indian Girl), will release their debut self-titled, six-track EP this summer and already have a bevy of social media pages that you can following their progress on – Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and Vimeo.
The second weekend of Jazz Fest is upon us and one of the more intriguing shows in the French Quarter takes place at Tipitina’s French Quarter late night on Saturday where Bonerama will be joined by Mike Mills and Scott McCaughey of R.E.M. Mike and the Bonerama boys have a bit of history after the R.E.M. bassist sat in with them last October at the Future of Music Coalition show in Washington D.C. for a few choice covers.
Tickets for Bonerama @ Tip’s are onsale now. Also, just a reminder that Tipitina’s Webcast Series continues tonight with a broadcast of Railroad Earth starting at 10PM CDT followed by Karl D tomorrow night.
Let’s take a gander at a few choice links of interest this hump day…
Finally, Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman loves sports and loves talking about sports. For his latest Steve Gorman Sports! podcast, Gorman spins the Rolling Stones’ Exile outtake Plunder My Soul and chats about attending the upcoming Kentucky Derby on Saturday. [via Swampland]
The hottest tickets in the U.K. this year seem to be ducats for Gorillaz’s performances tomorrow and Friday night at Camden’s Roundhouse. While tickets sold out immediately, you’ll be able to watch some of Friday’s show at Gorillaz.com and the Gorillaz’s Facebook page through a live stream that will be embedded on each site. The action starts at 5PM EDT. [HT - Wilson]
