Every Memorial Day Weekend Perpetual Groove fans from across the country gather at Cherokee Farms in Lafayette, GA for the group’s annual festival – Amberland. Over the course of the three-day event, Perpetual Groove throws down six separate sets, front man Brock Butler plays a set dubbed “Brockfest” and PGroove side project Lazy B & the Recliners get a set of their own. There’s also a chili cookoff and a Cornhole Toss Off Tourney on Saturday afternoon plus free downloads for those with wi-fi.

As in the past, each of Amberland weekend’s three nights will feature a distinctive theme with the first night being a tribute to the band’s long out-of-print self-titled LP in which PGroove will perform the album in its entirety. Night two’s theme is ABC – or Anything But Clothes – where fans are encouraged to fashion outfits out of unconventional materials. For the final night, the group will host a Jersey Shore costume party that’s sure to be ridiculous. Tickets for Amberland are available now for $85.

We’ve teamed up with Perpetual Groove to offer our readers two pairs of passes to the event as part of our Everybody Wins When We Plug Something And In Return They Offer Us Free Shit To Give Away program. To enter, simply leave a comment below detailing your favorite PGroove moment. Whether it was a complete show, a single song or otherwise, give a brief description of your favorite PGroove moment. We’ll randomly pick two of the entries and the winners will each receive a pair of tickets to Amberland 2010.

Only one entry per person is allowed and the contest ends on May 13th. We’ll pick the winners at random and announce the winners on the 14th.

This was originally supposed to publish last Tuesday, where it would have been nice and topical, but time got away from me as I took a little vacation to the West Coast, but I’m back. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, numbers which multiply together to equal 420 in case you never went to college, is the opening track on Bob Dylan’s 1966 release Blonde On Blonde.

The Contestants:

The Black Crowes: In addition to performing the song live, The Black Crowes also contributed a studio take to this 1995 disc for NORML that also includes Gov’t Mule performing Don’t Step On The Grass, Sam, and Widespread Panic’s studio take of And It Stoned Me, amongst other tracks. Source: Hempilation: Freedom is NORML

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READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…

Yesterday was a big day for news about late night shows and hosts as we found out that MGMT will appear as part of the Live On Letterman series on May 11, Green Day has been tabbed to perform on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as part of Stones Week and Conan O’Brien will make his long-awaited return to television on 60 Minutes this Sunday.

As far as MGMT, the psychedelic rockers will perform a number of tunes at the Ed Sullivan Theater on May 11 that will be webcast at 8pm EST via CBS.com, and will air before the group’s appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman later that same night. The group also added a few dates to their seemingly massive summer tour. You can see a complete list of dates at the band’s website.

We had previously told you that Phish will rock a tune from Exile on Main Street as part of Stones Week on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, but now we know the rest of the lineup for the week. Punk pop act Green Day will kick things off on May 10 followed by country star Keith Urban on the 11th. Sheryl Crow takes a stab at the Stones on the 12th before Phish returns to Late Night on the 13th. Finally, the documentary Stones In Exile about the recording of the legendary LP will premiere on the show to end the week on the 14th.

Speaking of exiles, Conan O’Brien will finally return to the boob tune this Sunday for an interview and profile on CBS’ 60 Minutes. Conan, who is currently on tour, risks losing his severance package if he talks shit about NBC, so it will be quite interesting to see what he has to say.

Back in 2005, Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell achieved runaway viral success with SNL’s second-ever Digital Short, Lazy Sunday. During  Parnell’s appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon back in March, Samberg “ambushed” his former cast mate to perform the song live the first time…

Andy Samberg & Chris Parnell – Lazy Sunday

Perusing the handbill for the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, one can’t help but notice the degree of music related content prevalent throughout this year’s festival. From high profile documentaries, to risqué themed narratives, to films with excellent soundtrack material, the Tribeca Film festival provides music-loving film buffs with plenty to ponder seeing.

Since few folks actually have the time and energy to really dig into the festival in great depth, we thought we’d give a brief rundown of some of the compelling content to be on the lookout for as many of these films will surely find their way to wider releases over the course of the coming year.

Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage – Already one of the most highly regarded films at the festival regardless of genre, this Rush documentary is garnering some serious praise. From interviews with contemporary heavyweights like Billy Corgan, Kirk Hammett, and Jack Black, to heaps of rare live and behind the scenes footage, Rush fans may finally have their defining documentary. By most accounts, this is one of the highlights of the entire festival and a masterpiece for fans of either the band or music films in general.

Last Play at Shea – Set to the music of Billy Joel’s final performance at the storied ballpark in Flushing, Last Play at Shea ties together the history of the stadium, it’s Amazin’ Mets, and one of its most beloved musical performers in what sounds like a pretty touching documentary. Review

READ ON for more musical-themed flicks at the Tribeca Film Festival…

With the addition of a number of bands that appeal to the Pitchfork/Stereogum crowd, we’d say the inaugural Nateva Music Festival is having an identity crisis, but isn’t variety the spice of life? Old idioms aside, what first looked to be a jamband festival has now added the likes of She & Him, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit and The Constellations. Jam fans fear not, they’ve also added HT faves The McLovins, Drive-By Truckers and The Brew. Click here for the complete lineup for the event which takes place in Oxford, ME over the Fourth of July Weekend.

A bunch of killer Americana acts have been added to the lineup for the 12th Annual Pickathon Festival taking place at Pendarvis Farm near Portland, OR on August 6-8. Dr. Dog, Punch Brothers and Fruits Bats will each perform twice joining Bonnie Prince Billy & The Cairo Gang, Heartless Bastards, These United States and Langhorne Slim on the bill for the intimate event.

Pretty Lights @ Roseland Theatre – April 13, 2010

Back in Sacred Heart grammar school, Mr. Shields was the roving music teacher. With an upright Baldwin piano on wheels, Mr. Shields would twice weekly enter the classroom to instruct us on the finer points of his interpretation of music. “What is music?” he would ask at the beginning of each class. “Music is sound”, we’d answer in unison. “That has what three qualities? he would ask. “Rhythm, melody and harmony” we would echo back. Twice a week. This was the prerequisite quizzing we got before being allowed to explore the delicate intricacies of “Kumbaya” and the choral arrangement of Sounds Of Silence.

I probably have Mr. Shields at least partially to thank for my open mind regarding music. Between the classical and folk introduced to me on that old Baldwin and what there was around my home, I pretty much was open for anything. I’ve been to dozens of symphony concerts, choral masses, open mike nights and one person shows over the years and, with very few exceptions, really appreciated the music. Hip hop, rap, techno, emo, death metal, and quartets of both the string and barber shop varieties, I’ve seen a little of everything.

But as I have aged, I’ve become a tad more selective in spending my entertainment dollars, gravitating more toward the solid rock and singer songwriter acts that fall in my comfort zone. I had my ‘Rave Phase’ back in the mid nineties. We’d hook up with a bunch of friends and head off to a warehouse in the industrial section. We’d take E and dance for hours and drink like fish, stay out till three and have a great time. The DJ’s played house and techno and kept the party going in shifts, never letting the beat drop. Mainstream acceptance of the rave culture was still years away and computer geeks of their day were still figuring out that they could make wonderful music with the assistance of a powerful laptop and a file full of samples.

Fast forward about 17 years. I’m at the Roseland Theater in Portland for Pretty Lights. The guy in front of me in line is expounding to his two friends about how this should be fun, cause DJs aren’t really musicians. They only use other’s music, he was saying, almost like parasites. They can’t write their won stuff, they just distort other’s hard work. This guy won’t shut up. In his dubious opinion, he was about to witness the musical equivalent of summer reruns on shuffle. If I may quote no less a scholar than Bugs Bunny, ‘What an ignoraminous!”

READ ON for more from A.J. on Pretty Lights in PDX…

“When you look at a city, it’s like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it.” Hugh Newell Jacobsen

Of course what Mr. Jacobsen forgets is that a city is an impolite and imperfect marriage of those aspirations. Who does the city belong to and who owns its cultural heritage, episode three of HBO’s Treme asks. Davis McAlary assumes it belongs to him and the musicians of Treme. That no military police can tell him how to act in front of his house and that his rich white neighbors can’t possibly understand the specific history of the neighborhood and even invokes Trombone Shorty’s name in the discussion.*

*Funny moment: Early in the episode Davis, whom is white, unemployed, a part-time musician and a longtime music snob – i.e. a HIPSTER – is railing against gentrification when it’s an older gay couple, whom he’s (wrongly) assumed have no ties to the area. Later on he’s inspired to sing proudly about the group of strippers that have moved into the neighborhood and even uses the line, “You can call it gentrification, but I call it good!”

The musicians on the other hand, have their own ideas about their place in New Orleans. Delmond Lambreaux suggests that while New Orleans loves its music, it doesn’t have nearly as much love for its musicians and almost begs Trombone Shorty to leave the city for greener pastures in New York or Europe. Even the famous Dr. John, during rehearsals for a benefit at Lincoln Center worries that he’ll be criticized for not presenting the Mardi Gras Indian songs with enough “respect”.

READ ON for more on episode three of HBO’s Treme…

“I believe whatever doesn’t kill you, simply makes you… [takes off his mask] stranger.”

…transformed into another image, and another drifting away, without beginning, or end, to always be, and not knowing what to do next, trapped in time, and fading into the mists of history, a glimpse of blissful eternity…

Ahhh…eternity, we’ve hit upon that word. Again. THAT word, buried below, like some lost remnant on an island where time has no meaning; and space, even less, just the two concepts engaged in immortal combat, as it were, with each other. Climb aboard as we venture out there into eternal bliss (or, is it madness?) in the first episode of the fourth season, and a nod back to the final episode of the third season, with a journey through the American version of a science fiction novel written by Stanislaw Lem, Solaris.

Transformed into another image, this film was produced by James “I’m King of the World” Cameron betwixt his minor Kate y Leo celluloid ride upon the waves of joyful rompery before remembering that they are, in fact, on the tragic Titanic (didn’t they see the movie? Didn’t they hear about the iceberg?), and a tiny 3-D science fiction docudrama called Avatar, starring an evil jarhead, the cool Latino chick from LOST, a miscast Ripley Weaver, and a bunch of little fairies and birds that are quite fascinating to watch when a) high, and b) catching the overwrought film on a towering 26-story screen.

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick, Solaris…

Quite a meeting of the musical minds went down at the National Mall this past Sunday where 150,000 people came out for a rally in support of action on climate change. Bob Weir, Sting, The Roots, John Legend, Jimmy and Passion Pit were among the artists who performed over the course of the event. Sting rocked a smattering of Police classics backed by The Roots including Fragile, One World and this take of Message In A Bottle…

The Roots w/ Sting – Message In A Bottle

Head to Jambands.com for their report on Sunday’s performances.

On May 11, The National will release their highly anticipated fifth studio album High Violet – which is currently streaming on the New York Times website. As a way of celebrating the release, the Brooklyn-via-Ohio act will commandeer the vacant space at 13 E 4th St (next to the killer record store Other Music) in Manhattan’s East Village and turn it into their own playhouse by curating five nights of yet to be announced events at what they are dubbing The High Violet Annex. More details will be released in the week ahead at highviolet.com – where you can also grab yourself a free download of the album’s first single Buzzblood Ohio. Just don’t tweet it!

If you can’t make it to NYC for what is sure to be a special week of events, than maybe you’ll be able to hit one of these recently announced tours…

• Tortoise take the post-jazz-rock on the road this summer
• ’80s Nostalgia Alert: Billy Idol puts together a massive tour
• Silversun Pickups hit the road with Against Me! for 11-dates
• Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros extend their current run
• Recent Jagjaguwar signee Peter Wolf Crier lines up club dates
• Singer-songwriter Patrick Watson heads out for a short May trek

Finally, with Bonnaroo less then two months away, organizers revealed the rest of the acts that will be joining The Flaming Lips in performing late night sets over the course of the weekend. Filling out the schedule will be a diverse mix of acts to choose from: hip-hop to jam to electronica to shock rock. Here’s who’ll be hitting the stages and tents as you party into the wee small hours – Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Thievery Corporation, Galactic, The Black Keys, Deadmau5, Daryl Hall & Chromeo, Clutch, Bassnectar, Kid Cudi, GWAR, The Disco Biscuits, Dan Deacon Ensemble and B.O.B.

Phantasy Tour user _Duanebase_ stands out from the rest of the users on the PT Phish message board by constantly posting great MP3 downloads in the forum. His latest thread contains links to tagged, high-quality MP3s of each show the Grateful Dead played during Fall ’89.

I recently became a fan of this period after watching the Crimson, White and Indigo DVD release, so this thread was just what I was looking for as I wanted to quickly put together a collection of soundboard recordings from this fantastic era in Grateful Dead history. If you’re only looking to add a show or two, may we suggest the “Formerly The Warlocks” gigs from October 8 and 9 at the Hampton Coliseum. Thanks to _duanebase_ for taking the time to tag, upload and share these files with the rest of us.

• PT: Grateful Dead – Fall Tour ’89

Widespread Panic’s Spring Tour may still have two weeks to go, but that hasn’t stopped the Southern jammers from announcing their plans for the summer. The lengthy excursion starts with three shows at Red Rocks in Morrison, CO on June 25 – 27 and includes headlining slots at High Sierra, All Good and the Forecastle Festival. Also, the Athens-based band will make a rare trip to the Northeast during the summer for shows in New York City, Danbury and Boston before finishing the trek down south with two gigs at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Charlotte, NC.

Here’s the full list of dates…

June 25 – 27: Red Rocks – Morrison CO
June 29 – Cuthbert Amphitheater – Eugene OR
July 2 – High Sierra – Quincy CA
July 3 – Botanical Gardens – Boise ID
July 6 – Orpheum Theatre – Omaha NE
July 7 – Orpheum Theatre – Minneapolis MN
July 9 – Forecastle Festival – Louisville KY
July 10 – All Good Festival – Masontown WV
July 13 – LC Pavilion – Columbus OH
July 15 – 17 – Chicago Theatre – Chicago IL
July 20 – Tower Theatre – Upper Darby PA
July 22 – Radio City Music Hall – New York NY
July 23 – Ives Concert Park – Danbury CT
July 24 – Bank of America Pavilion – Boston MA
July 30 – 31 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Charlotte NC

Presale information will be posted on WidespreadPanic.com soon. Panic’s current tour continues tonight at The National in Richmond, VA.

It seems hard to believe that it’s been five years since Canadian indie-rock collective Broken Social Scene released their self-titled third album. Since then, BSS’s individual members have gone on to find success on their own with the likes of Leslie Feist, Kevin Drew, Jason Collett – as well as members of Metric, Stars and Apostle Of Hustle – all having logged time in the band. After putting out a couple of albums under the Broken Social Scene Presents moniker, the Toronto-based act is back with their latest offering Forgiveness Rock Record via their longtime label, Arts & Crafts.

The album features songs written by the band’s recent core six members – Drew, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff, Andrew Whiteman, Charles Spearin and Sam Goldberg, but features guest appearances from just about every BBS alumni you can name. The band recently stopped by the The Late Show jamming an even dozen band members onto the stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater for this performance of Forced To Love…

Broken Social Scene kick off their lengthy world tour on May 1 at the historic Fillmore in San Francisco, and includes stops at the Pitchfork Festival in mid-July and a tour closing show at Central Park Summerstage on Sept. 18.

The first weekend of Jazz Fest has come and gone down in New Orleans, where the rainy weather put a bit of a damper on the festivities  at the Fairgrounds and elsewhere around town. While we wait for our correspondent to return from the Crescent City with a full report, there’s been plenty of fantastic coverage around the ‘nets…

Blind Boys of Alabama – Amazing Grace

• Jambands.com: Lionel Richie, the Black Crowes and Elvin Bishop Perform Despite Rainy Conditions, MMJ at Preservation Hall, Semi-Reunions and Late Night Surprises
• Glide Magazine: Simon & Garfunkel Review
• NOLA.com: Mud Fails to Ruin the Fun at Jazz Fest, The Radiators Jam on a Set of Pre-War Blues, Allman Brothers Take It Over The Top, Levon Helm at Jazz Fest, Preservation Hall Gets a Little Help From Friends, My Morning Jacket Earned Its Rep as Great Live Band, The Sun Shined at Jazz Fest Even if Simon & Garfunkel’s Harmonies Didn’t,
• JamBase: Day 1 – Photo Gallery and Best Of, Day 2 – Photo Gallery and Best Of, Day 3 – Photo Gallery and Best Of
• USA Today: Jazz Fest Lets The Fun and Sun Shine In After Wet Weekend
• NewOrleans.com: Weekend 1 – Renewal, Joy and Resurgence
• Spinner: Simon & Garfunkel Deliver at Jazz Fest, Better Than Ezra Cover Stones and Petty, My Morning Jacket Takes New Orleans Jazz Fest to Streets, Lionel Richie Charms Soaked Jazz Fest Crowd,

MMJ – Thank You Too