The schedule for next weekend’s Outside Lands festival has finally come out and the event’s main stage, Lands End, will feature a dream sequence of The Original Meters followed by MGMT followed by two sets of Phish on Friday. A blogger for SF Weekly didn’t feel the same way and put “there are plenty of ways to avoid Phish” as the first item on his list of 5 Things to Like About the Outside Lands Festival Schedule.
@YEMblog tweeted a link pointing Phish fans in the direction of the blog post leading to dozens of comments taking the author to task for his poorly written shot at the band. Outside Lands 2011 starts on August 12 and continues until the 14th in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
We’ve got six more stories of note to help you get over the hump…
Finally, while we’re overjoyed that Widespread Panic will be returning to the Georgia Theatre on October 9, and while we understand that this “undersell” will raise money for Tunes For Tots, the $151 face value screams sticker shock. We hope the loyal fans in the band’s hometown are able to make their way in despite the hefty price tag.
Phish rolls into Lake Tahoe for a pair of shows on August 9 and 10 adjacent to the Harvey’s Resort and Casino. Before the second show, on August 10, the Phamily Poker Classic 2 will take place inside of Harvey’s with all proceeds benefiting The Mockingbird Foundation – a non-profit organization run by Phish fans that generates charitable proceeds from the Phish community. If you like poker and are hitting the Tahoe shows, this Texas Hold Em Event has your name written all over it.
The entry fee is $120 with at least half of that fee going into the prize pool. The prize pool also includes plenty of non-cash prizes that will be raffled off individually during the tourney. Only 100 spots are available and at this time a few seats are still available. You can purchase your spot in the Phamily Poker Classic 2 here. Over the years MBird has given away over $600k to support music education for children. Please help this most worthy cause by donating or by participating in fun events such as the PPC2.
Here’s a batch of six interesting stories to keep you busy this hump day…
Finally, Brooklyn’s Union Street Preservation Society, featuring former HT contributor Alex Borsody, was the subject of a lengthy Daily News article today as the Americana roots group prepares to release their first EP, Spring to Rust, on Sunday. USPS will celebrate the release with a performance at the Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn on Sunday at 7:30PM.
Back in the ’70s Creem Magazine was at the forefront of the rock music criticism renaissance with esteemed writers Lester Bangs, Dave Marsh, Greil Marcus and Cameron Crowe among its contributors. The print edition of the magazine ceased publication in the late ’80s and an online edition – launched in 2001 – hasn’t gained much traction. Despite the hard times endured by the magazine industry of late, a group of investors and the team that currently runs the online version have revealed that Creem will return to its roots as a print mag later this year.
According to an article on Today’s website, the team behind Creem “envision the quarterly publication as part of a broader music network that includes mobile apps and streaming music videos — all with the aim of attracting old and new readers.” Creem would be launched as a limited-edition rag with 150,000 to 200,000 editions printed each quarter. We look forward to seeing the return of Creem and will keep you posted on future announcements about the launch date.
While we wait, here’s six lovely links to get you over the hump…
Finally, Pete Townshend of The Who was so impressed by The Kinks after performing with them in Chicago back in 1969 that he fired off a letter raving about the gig and having some super kind words for Ray Davies and his band. That note, penned on Holiday Inn stationary from The Who’s next stop in Columbus, has surfaced all these years later. Check it out.
My favorite album of 2008 by a long shot was Consolers of the Lonely by The Raconteurs, so I was thrilled to see that Jack White, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler have signed on for their first gig in two years. The Raconteurs will perform at the first-ever MI Fest, which is slated to take place at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI.
Let’s hope this is just the first of many dates in the future for The Raconteurs and that they return to the studio soon. You can catch the group at MI Fest on September 17th along with Sheryl Crow, Mitch Ryder and plenty of other acts.
Here’s a look at six stories of note this hump day…
Finally, the organizers of the Outside Lands festival, which takes place next month in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, have announced a batch of late night shows. The Meters, the Warren Haynes Band and STS9 are just a few of the acts scheduled to perform at a variety of San Francisco venues.
Jamtronica pioneers the Disco Biscuits have offered a new studio track via the group’s BandPage by RootMusic. All you have to do is “like” the page in order to stream or download the studio version of Great Abyss for free.
Check out the track and let us know what you think.
Here’s a healthy hump day serving of six fresh links…
Back in 2008 and 2009, David Byrne hit the road for a fantastic tour that featured a mix of Talking Heads classics and material from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, a wonderful album he worked on with Brian Eno. A documentary filled with footage from that tour called Ride, Rise, Roar has been put together by filmmaker David Hillman Curtis.
Ride, Rise, Roar will be available on DVD starting May 31. Head over to Pitchfork to get a taste of the film and to see the hit-laden tracklist.
Finally, Pearl Jam’s Ten Club has a reputation as one of the more fan-friendly ventures going, but the band’s fans were not pleased with how the pre-sale for tickets to the PJ20 event at Alpine Valley went yesterday when a new system led to many being unable to pull ducats. An announcement on PearlJam.com states that, “we will IMMEDIATELY begin building a new, state-of-the-art system to avoid ever putting you through the pain-in-the-ass-ness of yesterday.” The public onsale goes down on June 4.
In one of our favorite pairings of the summer, the latest Return To Forever lineup – billed as Return To Forever IV – featuring keyboardist Chick Corea, drummer Lenny White, bassist Stanley Clarke, guitarist Frank Gambale and Jean-Luc Ponty on violin teams up with Dweezil Zappa’s Zappa Plays Zappa for a lengthy tour that hits 32 U.S. cities in August and September.
For a full list of dates and ticketing information head to RTF’s website.
Cover Alert: Bon Iver cover two of Bonnie Raitt’s biggest hits
Also, we wanted to remind everyone that our giveaway for a pair of tickets to Phish’s Super Ball IX festival and three copies of the quartet’s Phish Live in Utica box set is still underway. You can enter a total of three times with full details available in our initial post. Good luck!
Last August Warner Bros. Records released a press statement saying that Van Halen would record a new album and tour in 2011. Yet since that announcement we haven’t heard much about the group’s plans. That changed today as we now know that Van Halen, featuring David Lee Roth on vocals, will headline a touring festival of Australia called Soundwave Revolution from Sept. 24 – Oct. 4.
While there’s no word on any possible U.S. tour dates, this is certainly a step in the right direction for those Van Halen fans who are itching to hear new material and see more shows. Alice Cooper, Bad Religion, Hole and Panic! at the Disco are among the bands who will be joining Van Halen at various Soundwave Revolution stops.
Let’s take a quick look at six other stories of note…
Finally, we’ve been really excited about one of our favorite groups from childhood, The Cars, reforming to record a new album and to tour. The Cars played their first show in nearly 25 years last night at The Showbox in Seattle. Slicing Up Eyeballs has a few videos of the comeback gig and will update the post when better quality clips surface.
After Live Nation’s disastrous attempt to change the name of Irving Plaza to the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, you’d think we were safe from another name change for a while. Well think again as the iconic venue will be now be known as Irving Plaza Powered By Klipsch. The speaker manufacturer also struck a deal with Live Nation to rename Miami’s Bayfront Park Ampitheater to Klipsch Amphitheater at Bayfront Park.
We’ll just keep calling Irving Plaza by its old name, thanks.
Here’s a quick tour of the ‘nets for six stories of interest…
Finally, the Mimi Fishman Foundation has just unveiled a new set of auctions that includes the chance to have lunch with Phish drummer Jon Fishman. You can also bid on drum heads that Fish used on the band’s 2010 tour as well as drumsticks and much more.
While the future of Gorillaz may be unclear, the band is still putting out product. On Monday the animated act put an iPad app up for sale through iTunes called the Korg iELECTRIBE Gorillaz Edition, a virtual analong beatbox that allows you to remix songs from the group’s latest LP, The Fall. The program includes 128 new sounds created by the band and 64 ready-to-use pre-programmed patterns by Gorillaz, Stephen Sedgwick and Korg.
Finally, Bon Iver has announced the details of the group’s sophomore album, which is self-titled and due to drop on June 21st. The album features 10 tracks written by Kanye West’s BFF Justin Vernon. Here’s a 50 second teaser clip to give you a taste of the new LP…
Way back in January 2010 Neil Young was honored as the Person Of The Year by MusicCares, an organization that gives musicians in need financial and medical assistance. A veritable who’s who of artists paid tribute to Young that evening by performing his classic songs. On May 31 we’ll finally get to see what went down that night thanks to a new DVD/Blu-ray containing 17 covers from the event.
Tracks we’re particularly interested in seeing include Wilco’s take on Broken Arrow, Ben Harper performing Ohio, Down By The River by John Mellencamp and T. Bone Burnett and Heart of Gold by James Taylor.
We’ll help you get over the hump with links to six interesting articles…
Finally, those hoping LCD Soundsystem will put out their last show on DVD are in luck. According to a response on the band’s official Facebook page, a release is in process and the band’s footage is “much nicer” than the Pitchfork stream. Considering the quality of the stream was pretty damn good, we’re in for a treat. No word yet on when the planned DVD will come out. [via CoS]
The latest installment of the Neil Young Archives Performance Series, entitled A Treasure, is set for a June 14 release. This 12-track album collects some of the best moments from Young’s ’84 – ’85 U.S. Tour on which he was backed by a potent ensemble of musicians referred to as The International Harvesters. Included in A Treasure are five previously unreleased songs and plenty of fantastic tunes you won’t find on any of Neil’s greatest hits collections.
Finally, Bob Dylan performed in mainland China this evening marking his first performance in that country. Dylan tailored the setlist as to not offend government officials with tunes that are clearly protest songs. Reaction from Chinese fans included in a Reuters’ article on the show was mixed with our favorite coming from 24-year-old Yin Yang, “I know his songs from karaoke, but I’m really not that familiar with him.”
Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bob Weir as well as former GD managers Rock Scully and Sam Cutler as well as roadie Steve Parish share remembrances of the late Owsley “Bear” Stanley for a fascinating article posted at RollingStone.com. Hart proclaims that Bear was “responsible in great part for the Grateful Dead” and also feels that “music in general was never the same” after Owsley’s “brew” hit the scene.
Here’s six stories of note to help you get over the hump…
And finally, HT contributor Wyllys is bringing his New York Hustler Ensemble back to NYC for a performance on May 13 at Sullivan Hall. In addition to core members Jennifer Hartswick, Natalie Cressman and Zac Lasher, Wyllys will be joined by guitarist Chris Michetti (RAQ/Conspirator) for this special Friday The 13th gig. Tickets are currently available through TicketWeb.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament broke the news that the band will soon enter the studio to record a new album. Ament explained that a disc of 25 demos has circulated among members with the hopes that 12-15 tracks would “float to the top.” The colorful bassist also told Billboard that a potential festival announcement – for an event that would celebrate the band’s 20th Anniversary – will likely come next month.
Let’s take a quick tour of the ‘nets for six other stories…
Finally, we were saddened to learn that guitarist Melvin Sparks passed away yesterday in his Mount Vernon, NY home. Annabel Lukins penned this touching tribute to the jam scene fixture for jambands.com. R.I.P. Melvin.
Longtime readers of Hidden Track might recall that my favorite Phish song is Harry Hood and my favorite version of that tune was performed on October 20, 1994 at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida. I recently took part in Online Phish Tour’s inventive Tales of Mental Tangle series in which two Phish fans debate a topic relating to the band. I made the case for my favorite Hood, while OPT’s Guy Forget argued that the Harry Hood released on A Live One was indeed the best.
Head over to OnlinePhishTour.com to read the article and to vote for either version of Harry Hood. Enough with the blatant self-promotion, here’s six links to stories of interest that don’t involve me…
Finally, HT faves Umphrey’s McGee are asking fans to offer feedback on their favorite songs of 2010. Kevin Browning will take the results of this survey and craft the “supreme Hall of Fame show” from top vote-getters in a seamless, two-set show format. As a bonus, the band is offering a deep discount on all 2010 UMLive recordings until March 15. In other UM news, the band has released a “commercial” for UMBowl II which parodies the Volkswagen promo that aired during the Super Bowl…
