While there’s been plenty of fan-shot video uploaded to YouTube from God Street Wine’s reunion shows, the quality isn’t always the greatest and more often than not we only get snippets of a song, not the whole enchilada.

[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]

There are a few exceptions and luckily one of the them features one of my favorite GSW songs – When She Go. This reggae-tinged GSW original opened the second show at the Gramercy on July 10. YouTube user lifeisokay was really close to the stage and captured the boys nailing the tune. Take a gander at the best fan-shot clip to surface so far…

If you missed out on any of my recaps, be sure to check ‘em out:

• Gramercy Theatre: July 9
• Gramercy Theatre: July 10
• Irving Plaza: July 16
• Irving Plaza: July 17

Any Major Dude Will Tell You is the third track on the 1974 Steely Dan album Pretzel Logic. Here’s a funny excerpt from Blinded by the Lyrics…

“Okay, friends, break out your Steely Dan decoder rings. Starting with the release of their debut album Can’t Buy A Thrill back in 1972, no group has trafficked in more oblique, head-scratching, and just plain weird lyrics than Steely Dan. Case in point: Have you ever seen a squonk’s tears?, an enigmatic line from “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” off the Pretzel Logic LP.’

What on earth is a squonk? As they used to say on the old Laugh-In television show, “Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls!” Actually, don’t both bother, because the word squonk is not found in any dictionary.

It turns out that squonk is a piece of jabberwocky, a completely made-up word referring to a mysterious animal, that due to its abject homeliness, spends most of its time crying. Credit for coining squonk goes to William T. Cox, who introduced the word in his oddly named book Fearsom Critters of the Lumberwoods, with a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts. To quote from Mr. Cox’s volume: “The squonk is of a very retiring disposition, generally traveling about at twilight and dusk. Because of its misfitting skin, which is covered with warts and moles, it is always unhappy; in fact, it is said, by people who are best able to judge, to be the most morbid of beasts.”

Two years after Steely Dan introduced listeners to the mythical squonk in “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”, Genesis included the song “Squonk” on their A Trick of the Tail album, wherein Phil Collins sang: Stop your tears from falling / The trail they leave is very clear for all to see at night.

The Contestants:

God Street Wine: The earliest recording on the Live Music Archive of God Street Wine performing this cover dates back to 1990. So when GSW played it last Friday, it was a good 20 years since that night at The Wetlands. Resident GSW expert ScottyB pointed me in the direction of the performance below from 1994. Man, the way they perform the intro makes it sound more like The Grateful Dead than Steely Dan. Source: 9-16-1994

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

I woke up this morning wondering if what I’d experienced over the last two weeks was real or just a dream like the eighth season of Dallas. Just as quickly as the God Street Wine reunion came, it’s over – for now – as the NYC-based quintet finished the four show run with a scorcher at Irving Plaza this past Saturday evening. These four shows were the rare case of reality living up to the lofty expectations thrust upon this reunion after nine long years of silence from the GSW camp.

[All pictures by Mike Wren]

Friday’s lack of jams was remedied by an improv-filled first set featuring lengthy versions of Driving West, Hellfire and Imogene which showed off the band’s impressive non-verbal communication that comes from playing hundreds of shows together during the ’90s. While last weekend’s minor-key Hellfire jam was on the dark and dirty side, the Irving version went the other direction: a major-key round of improv filled with light and beautiful melodies – a butter jam if you will. Both guitarists got equal time to shine during this most memorable jam of the run. The tight rhythm section of Dan Pifer (bass) and Tom “Tomo” Osander (drums) propelled their band mates to glory in the Hellfire jam like offensive linemen clearing the way for the star running backs.

Irving Plaza, NYC
July 17, 2010

Set One: Nightingale, Driving West, Better than You, Hellfire, The Ballroom -> 6:15, Feather, Straight Line, Imogene

Set Two: Good Dream, Snake Eyes, Princess Henrietta, Strange as it Seems, Tina’s Town -> Cheap Utah Blues -> Deep Drag, Diana, Borderline

Encore1: Ticket to Ride, Sweet Little Angel

Encore2: Other Shore -> Into The Sea

Seven sets into the action God Street Wine were still dusting off old songs they hadn’t played yet. Lots of lines hit home in the reggae-tinged Ballroom including “the dancing on the floor has begun,” “so many years have gone by since I looked into your eyes” and “I feel so old” – all of which received huge applause from the attentive crowd. Two of the first-time in ‘10 tunes on this night were Feather and Diana off the quintet’s self-titled 1997 release. Feather, an anthemic rocker, was equal parts Tom Petty and Black Crowes and stood out on a night filled with stand outs. Diana also had that rootsy sound typical of songs on the self-titled LP and shined thanks to gorgeous harmonies, Jon Bevo’s electric piano work and Maxwell’s slide work.

• GSW Reunion: #1, #2, #3
• Audio: Scott Brown’s Recording
• Video: Borderline

When listening to some of GSW’s later material like Diana and Feather and comparing it to the early material such as the prog workout Deep Drag, it was crazy to hear how much the group’s sound had changed in just about seven years. You can only imagine how many different phases of evolution the band’s music would’ve gone through had the original lineup been able to stick together through the ’00s. Yet, this weekend wasn’t about focusing on what might’ve been and was more about enjoying what was.

READ ON for more on God Street Wine at Irving Plaza…

Along with The Wetlands, the 712 Club, the Nightingale Bar and the Fore-N-Aft, New York City’s Irving Plaza holds a special place in God Street Wine lore as one of the “home” venues for the band. Unlike the Gramercy, IP was the site of many special GSW shows during the group’s hey day.

[All photos by Joe Madonna]

Let’s compare the group’s four reunion shows to a typical high school reunion. If last weekend’s concerts at Gramercy were the more formal part of the reunion at a hotel ballroom, last night’s GSW show at Irving felt like the after party in the basement we all used to hang out at back in the day.

Set 1: Epilog, Wendy, Big Papa, Lighthouse, Crazy Head -> Goodnight Gretchen -> Hammer and Spike -> Stupid Hat, Bring Back the News

Set 2: Stranger, Mile By Mile, Epiphany, I Still Like You -> Water -> Feel The Pressure -> Morning Cigarettes -> Waiting for the Tide, Get on the Train (with Love Light Tease)

Encore: Any Major Dude, Brick House

Encore2: Thirsty

Opening with Epilog – a tune drummer Tom Osander picked as his favorite God Street Wine original in our interview with him – the quintet seemed more comfortable on stage and were a bit looser than at the Gramercy shows. That’s not to say that musically they didn’t nail it again, because they did, the members of the band just seemed less intent on not messing something up and more intent on enjoying the experience.

• GSW Reunion: Night One, Night Two
• Audio: Scott Brown’s Audience Recording
• Video: Crazy Head, Epilog, Morning Cig

Over the course of two lengthy sets God Street Wine mixed originals that weren’t performed last week with some of their best material that had already been played at the Gramercy. I liken the repeats to getting to spend some bonus time with a long lost friend after finally reconnecting last weekend. The band’s comfort level came through in the repeats and songs like Gretchen, Epiphany and Waiting For The Tide were even better the second time around.

READ ON for more on God Street Wine @ IP…

Wait, what year is it? God Street Wine and Ray’s Music Exchange were playing on the same night last week? We round out our look at the week that was with Boston’s world/jazz/fusion collective Club D’Elf and we lead off with Reid Genauer & The Assembly of Dust. Enjoy.

[Thanks to belexes for this week's photo]

And we continue to take all the selected tracks, normalize them, create some simple fades and put it into one easy to download MP3 for you.

Click here to download the Last Week’s Sauce Podcast

Artist & Title: Assembly of Dust – Light Blue Lover, Sometimes
Date & Venue: 2010-07-08 Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, NY
Taper & Show Download: Z-Man

Taper Z-Man often shows up in this weekly feature, but the tapes are normally from down south. I guess Z-Man had some business to attend to in New York, so this show by Reid Genauer & The Assembly of Dust got taped. Jason Crosby, who opened the show, joined AOD for the majority of their set supplying fiddle and keyboards. The audio selection is from the encore which features one of AOD’s newest tunes and an old Strangefolk classic. Reid and the gang next play Friday July 23rd in North Conway, NH with The Brew supporting. Hey speaking of reunions, what do you say Reid?

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READ ON for tracks from Club D’Elf, GSW and Ray’s Music Exchange…

We’re four days removed from the first two shows of the God Street Wine reunion and I’m still sporting a smile as wide as Montana. Not only did I get to see one of my favorite bands of all-time play two killer shows for the first time in nearly 11 years, but I’ve got two more heaping helpings of GSW in front of me on Friday and Saturday. Despite my big talk in the first installment of God Street Wednesdays 17 months ago, I never thought I’d write one of these columns smack dab in the middle of a run of four God Street gigs.

[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]

It’s tough to see a band you love break up with no chance of a return in sight. This quintet gave me – and obviously tons of other Winos – many special nights in the ’90s and the thought of not ever getting to see these five guys play these songs ever again was painful. GSW fans have waited patiently for our moment and now that it arrived, we aren’t taking it for granted. With that in mind check out the HT premiere of Epiphany from last Saturday night’s show featuring video shot, edited and synced by Mike Wren and soundboard audio recorded by Eric Budke…

God Street Wine – Epiphany (Live at Gramercy ‘10)

Looking ahead at this weekend’s Irving Plaza GSW shows, there’s a whole host of originals and covers that weren’t performed at the Gramercy.

My Top Ten Most Wanted are…

10. Into The Mystic
9. Hammer and a Spike
8. The Ballroom
7. Get On The Train
6. Upside Down & Inside Out
5. Water
4. Epilog
3. Dig A Pony
2. Wendy
1. Bring Back The News

We’ve got one pair of tickets to Saturday’s GSW concert at Irving Plaza that our pal CC donated to us so that we could find a good home for the ducats. If you are 100% able to go on Saturday, leave us a comment detailing the God Street Wine original you’d most like to hear. Early tomorrow morning we’ll randomly pick one of the comments and give the commenter the two tickets. Don’t enter more than once and the contest closes at 11:59PM this evening (July 14). Good luck and we hope to see you at Irving.

God Street Wine @ Gramercy Theatre, July 10

After the second night of God Street Wine’s reunion at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City, I’m convinced that the band’s fans have been punked. Outside of a few lyric flubs, the quintet powered their way through every song performed this weekend with little difficulty. We’re not talking about a pop band either, these were complex tunes with proggy transitions. There’s no way a few weeks of rehearsal went into these concerts, GSW was simply too tight for that to be the case. The assembled Winos had their expectations met and exceeded all weekend long.

[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]

One of the elements of GSW’s music that originally drew me in was the diversity of styles filling the group’s original songs. That variety was on display last night as in the first three songs alone they easily slid from the white-bred reggae in the lilting When She Goes to the jazz-fueled tones of Molly to the powerful, take-no-prisoners Goodnight Gretchen. It’s hard to peg down this group’s sound because it changes so much from tune to tune.

Molly gave guitarist Lo Faber a chance to shine while Goodnight Gretchen turned into a showcase for guitarist Aaron Maxwell’s talents. The same diversity found in the group’s originals can be found in the six-stringers’ solo styles. For his Molly solo, Faber channeled Buddy Guy producing one stinging blues riff after another. Maxwell’s Goodnight Gretchen solo was a beaut based on two chords in the same vein as Frank Zappa’s Inca Roads or Phish’s Reba. Aaron slowly built up the jam with beautiful, cohesive phrases before finally exploding with quick bursts of notes at the peak of the jam. Even Jerry’s tone got some love as Lo utilized an autowah – think Estimated Prophet and Fire On The Mountain – for a Driving West solo that if you closed your eyes you might have thought Garcia was playing. It’s almost as if GSW has six different guitar players thanks to all the different tones and styles Maxwell and Faber are capable are providing.

READ ON for more from God Street Wine @ the Gramercy…

God Street Wine @ Gramercy Theatre, July 9

Nearly nine years after their last public gig, God Street Wine “was brought back” last night at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City and delivered a tight, dynamic performance that showed exactly why the quintet has been missed by fans who started a Facebook group and blog columns pleading for their return.

[All photos by Adam Kaufman]

This was more than a reunion of band, this was a reunion of a highly loyal fanbase. Winos from around the country assembled in the intimate venue exchanging hugs and high-fives well before the NYC-based group took the stage around 9PM to the strains of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

While most of the seven billion people in the world could care less that God Street Wine was getting back together, the seven hundred people in the Gramercy wouldn’t have wanted to be any other place on this night. For many, the show was almost like returning to high school or college for an evening, getting to re-live a part of our childhood and adolescence without the acne and Zima.

“So come on in, we’re starting over. Put down your money, and be like us”

Filled with lyrics about renewal and fitting in with a community, there really was no other choice for the opener but Borderline, as HT’s Jeff Greenblatt presciently pointed out to me via text message a few days ago. Ticket time was 8PM, so the crowd had an hour to build up energy and the place exploded by the first chorus of Borderline. Guitarists Lo Faber and Aaron Maxwell were both in fine voice, which hardly mattered since the crowd was singing along so loudly.

READ ON for more of Scotty’s thoughts and Adam’s photos…

As if we weren’t already excited enough about God Street Wine’s reunion concerts, which start tomorrow and Saturday at NYC’s Gramercy Theatre, longtime friend of HT Michael Weiss has posted a few clips from rehearsal that show the boys tearing it up. Take a look-see…

God Street Wine – Rehearsal Videos

A small amount of tickets for the Gramercy shows are being released today. They will be available via Ticketmaster and the Irving Plaza box office.

As Barry Manilow sang, “Looks Like We Made It.” We’re a mere two days away from the first of four God Street Wine reunion shows in the band’s hometown of New York City. We recently spoke with GSW drummer Tom “Tomo” Osander about the upcoming shows, what led to his departure from the group, the future beyond the four gigs and plenty of other topics.

[Photo by Robin Roo]

Hidden Track: How much rehearsal time do you guys plan to spend re-learning the material for the four shows?

Tom “Tomo” Osander: Everyone’s been relearning songs on their own for the past few months. I fly in to NYC a few days before the Gramercy shows and we’ll be rehearsing for a couple of days then. A lot of this stuff is ingrained in the brain and muscles from so many years of doing it but there have been some surprises; what’s this section or did I really sing on this song? In one case I even blanked an entire song. I had no recollection of a tune called Chop. Selective memory or something!

HT: How will the setlists for these gigs be chosen?

TO: Lo devised a fairly democratic method of choosing tunes to work on. Basically we had a master list of our entire repertoire over the years which came to about 130 songs not including covers. Each of us then grouped the tunes into songs we wanted to play, song we should play and songs we didn’t want to play. These lists were then whittled down to form a “Top 65″, again not counting covers. The idea being that we’d have very few repeats from night to night, everyone would get to play a good share of their favorites and Lo got to exercise the math side of his brain that’s been at ease for the last while while he’s been dissecting the ins and outs of New Orleans history.

Temporary set lists were put together from that 65 plus a few covers and these are what we’ve been working on to see how they sit. When we get together next week we’ll get a better grip on what’s working and what, if any, don’t seem to be up to snuff. At that point we can rejig the set lists for the four nights. READ ON for more of our interview with Tomo…