It hardly seems like six months have passed since the beginning of the year, but here we are on June 26. While I’ve failed miserably at fulfilling all of my resolutions I did see a ton of incredible shows. Now I get to rate them, as this week’s B List looks at my ten favorite concerts of the first half of ‘08.
What’s the criteria for this list? Well, obviously I had to be there to catch the show, so I can’t give MMJ @ Bonnaroo “show of the year” honors even though the tapes seem to indicate they deserve it. All I can go by is my gut and how wide of a smile each of these performances induced. Here’s what I’ve got…
10. Jennifer Hartswick - The Blue Note - May 24
[Photo by Adam Kaufman]
I’ve had the pleasure of catching J-Ha at the Blue Note on three separate occasions, but the performance she gave at the legendary jazz club in May was the cat’s pajamas. I brought my cousin to the show, and it was incredible to see how in awe she was of Jen’s voice, trumpet playing and the way Jen took control of the audience. Let’s hope there are more Jennifer Hartswick gigs in store for us New Yorkers. READ ON for Scotty’s top nine shows of the first half of ‘08…
I know we missed our usually Monday morning link dump, so don’t hold it against us that Hors D’Oeuvres are a day late - but everyone loves leftovers though right? So let’s kick the week off and even we’ll throw in few extra stories…
Finally, around this time last year we were wondering about the whereabouts of one Michael Gordon. Well after ol’ Gordo’s name started to pop up on several festie lineups we started to wonder about just what Catcus has up his sleeve when he hits the stage this summer. Turns out the former Phish bass player has a new album that will hit stores on August 5th called The Green Sparrow. Former bandmates Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell make guest spots.
Just the other day I was thinking about how there hasn’t been any Led Zeppelin rumors flying recently. Well, before I could put my thoughts to paper another report of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour surfaced. The Sunday Mirror claims that a tour is now inevitable and could take place as early as the end of this year.
Meanwhile, the latest “friend” of the band to claim stake to the opening duties is Whitesnake’s David Coverdale who told the Mirror that a LZ tour is “very likely,” and that he’s anticipating a call from Jimmy Page asking Whitesnake to open. So that makes Velvet Revolver, the Foo Fighters, and The Cult among the bands claiming to be opening for Zeppelin. Does a LZ gig really need an opening act?
Here’s a recap of shit that went down this weekend:
- The Zappa Trust take a break from lawsuits to put out Wazoo
- Partyin’ Peeps compiles the best videos from The Jammys
- Foo Fighter/Fanboy Dave Grohl writes Metallica a letter
- Vivid Entertainment, the purveyors of the Jimi Hendrix sex tape offer 100k for proof the tape isn’t real
- The New York Times previews the summer festival season
- Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi: the newest species of spiders
- Nedstalgia looks back at three Phish shows from 1993
We recently came across an interesting blog called Brand Upon The Brain, which reveals the stories behind rock’s most iconic logos. You gotta love this post on the history of Megadeth’s Vic Rattlehead. [via LHB]
As I was walking out of the Theatre at MSG last night I mentioned to a friend that the Jammys kinda blew their load by giving Phish the Lifetime Achievement Award. I mean, it just won’t be the same kind of firestarter when Widespread receives their award. Well apparently that wasn’t a big concern for the promoters, as they don’t expect to continue the awards show:
Not only was it the highlight, it was also the peak for the seventh annual Jammys, which celebrates the best in improvisational music. In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, the show’s executive producer and co-founder, Peter Shapiro, announced it would mark the last Jammy Awards as the event morphs into a larger celebration of live music.
“We’ve kind of accomplished what we set out to do. In a good jam you kind of have to take chances and go in new directions,” he told the AP. “That’s why we, on this high … are going to take this momentum in a new direction.”
We’d like to welcome longtime Glide contributor Chad Berndtson to the Hidden Track team. I’ve long admired Chad’s writing (no homo), so this is a big thrill for me. Here’s Chad’s thoughts on the Galactic show last night:
What, no Chevy Chase to sing Fiyo on the Bayou? No 30-guest parade sufficient to make Times Square look like a regular night at JazzFest? Come on now!
Nah, we keed: Galactic lit up B.B. King’s for the Jammys afterparty, and it was a strong show by Jammys standards and a pretty decent throwdown by Galactic standards. Leading off with Bongo the Dog and stretching about two hours and 20 minutes, some of the funktastic quintet appeared a little tired—Ben Ellman’s sax work felt unusually reigned in, and he looked ready to call it a night—but they brought more than enough heat to do the job and send everybody home a-boppin’ after a tight, top-flight, very emotional Jammy Awards. (Look for a play-by-play on the Track today, and some color commentary on Glide soon.)
It took a while to corral—with the Jammys afterparty, things get rolling more or less on New Orleans time anyway—but soon a near-capacity crowd was amply fired, and by 1:30 a.m. Jurassic 5’s Chali 2na and his little brother were proving the big reasons why the ensemble held so much sway, sitting in for seven different songs and stoking the crowd long past its tipping point (or, its bedtime).
Other cameos were at a minimum, but the novelty of seeing eight-year-old Japanese guitar phenom Yuto Miyazawa shred Sabbath’s Crazy Train with Stanton Moore’s note-perfect, hard-punching drumwork behind him was a gas. A scorching solo from ubiquitous saxman Cheme Gastelum two songs later was similarly electrifying—why didn’t he play with the band longer?—and the lovely Grace Potter emerged late in the second hour for Whole Lotta Love. Several additional Jammys holdovers–we spotted photographer Danny Clinch, Tea Leaf Green’s Trevor Garrod, and many others right til the end—also made the rounds, tired smiles aplenty to cork a very involving night. Now, how do they top themselves next year?
The 7th Jammy Awards have come and gone, and, no, Phish didn’t play together tonight. But that was one of the few complaints on a very special evening in NYC. I’m gonna try to write something now, but I’m spent so I apologize in advance for any unsavory errors. Here’s a few notes from the evening.
First off the winners:
- Live Performance of the Year: Gov’t Mule Bonnaroo
- Tour of the Year: D.U.M.B.
- Studio Album of the Year: The Conch - moe.
- Archival Release: Three From The Vault - GD
- Download of the Year: Headphone Jam - Phish
- Live Album: Live at Murat - UM
- Song of the Year: Cadillac - Keller Williams (accepted by Chevy Chase)
- DVD of the Year: Progressions - Disco Biscuits
- New Groove: Cornmeal
READ ON for my list of Jammy highlights and lowlights…
We’ve got less than one week until the 7th Jammy Awards goes down at the Theater at MSG on May 7. The latest round of artist additions includes: Keller Williams, comedian Chevy Chase, MCs Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) and Doug E. Fresh, guitar-icon Leslie West (Mountain), Neo-bop jazz trumpet Nicholas Payton and drum legend Roy Haynes. Chase, who often played piano on his extremely short-lived talk show, will perform with Keller Williams.
Voting for The Jammys closes tomorrow, so be sure to fill out your ballot before you miss your chance. Tickets for Wednesday’s show are still available.
The lineup for the Jammys came out today, and it looks really good to us:
Page McConnell, Booker T. Jones, String Cheese Incident’s Kyle Hollingsworth, James Carter, The Fab Faux, Matisyahu, Sharon Jones and the Disco Biscuits’ Jon Gutwillig and Marc Brownstein are among the initial acts confirmed to play the 7th Jammy Awards. As previously reported, the multi-band gathering will take place at New York’s Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 7. Other confirmed artists include co-hosts Warren Haynes and Grace Potter, Christian McBride, The HeadCount All-Stars, Galactic, Squeeze’s Glenn Tillbrook, Umphrey’s McGee’s Jake Cinninger, Joe Russo, the Los Lonely Boys, Rose Hill Drive, Tea Leaf Green, ALO’s Steve Adams and Big Head Todd’s Todd Park Mohr. As is tradition, the evening’s entertainers will be paired in a number of unique configurations throughout the night. A handful of additional artists will be confirmed in the coming weeks. Voting is now open at www.jammys.com. [Jambands]
Does anyone care to wager a guess on who will play together? I’d kill to see Page McConnell, Jake Cinninger and Christian McBride tear up the Theater together.
Now’s your chance to put our “my band can beat up your band” mantra to good use. That’s because voting for the 7th kinda-annual Jammy Awards has just started over at Jammys.com. We’re doing an informal exit poll, so please let us know who you voted for by leaving a comment below.
Let’s end the week with one more batch of links:
- Neil Young plans to put out an unreleased album from 2000
- You better believe that James Brown truly was a Sex Machine
- We’ve got album art! MMJ releases the Evil Urges sleeve
- No Trey Yet: Slash, Jerry Cantrell, Tom Morello, Perry Farrell and a slew of comedians and musicians team up for the Road Recovery benefit at the Nokia Times Square on April 17
- Apple takes the throne as the number one music retailer in US
- Gov’t Mule makes two early shows available for purchase at MT
- The Telegraph picks the Rolling Stones’ ten best live performances
- Daly City’s Cow Palace gets one last reprieve from certain death
Finally, a tip of the hat to Andrew Bruss who tells us that the Boston Phoenix is reporting that Radiohead will play the Tweeter Center on August 13. Coincidently (perhaps), Radiohead last played the venue formerly known as Great Woods on the exact same date in 2003. We expect the rest of the dates to surface soon.
Last fall Gov’t Mule and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals teamed up for a memorable cross-country tour. It seems Grace and Warren must’ve hit it off, because they will be co-hosting the 2008 Jammy Awards at the Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 7. This isn’t the pair’s first go-around with the Jammys. Haynes has won four Jammys, while Grace and her band won the New Groove award in 2006. Tickets go onsale today at noon through jammys.com, and at the MSG box office without any surcharges.
Photo by Chris Rushin
As we told you earlier Phish will take home the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s ceremony. Hopefully the folks at Relix can get all four members t0 accept the award in person. And perhaps drop a tasty Harry Hood > Shafty > Harry Hood just for a little taste of what we’ve been missing. The full lineup hasn’t been announced yet, but we never met a Jammys lineup we haven’t liked.
