After a few past Cover Wars appearances, the Ryan Montbleau Band can now claim a victory after scoring the majority of votes from last week’s edition when we looked at ten covers of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy. I wouldn’t be a responsible writer if I didn’t point out that Donny Hathaway also deserves much credit as Montbleau’s cover is part Lennon part Hathaway.
This week we’re taking a look at seven covers of Pink Floyd’s Young Lust off of their 1979 epic The Wall. In the ongoing story of The Wall, this tune depicts a part of every rock star’s career that just doesn’t get enough songs written about it. I am talking about banging groupies in hotel rooms.
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Checking on last week’s edition, we had two popular choices for covers of Bell Bottom Blues. Once the votes were counted, Trey Anastasio had a slight edge over Umphrey’s McGee - so Trey takes home his first Cover Wars trophy sans Phish.
This week we’re taking on one of the most ambitious Cover Wars to date. We’ve compiled the most entries we’ve ever had as we take a look at covers of Radiohead’s catalog. Musicians in the 21st century seem to be more reluctant to cover other modern artists than bands were say 30-50 years ago. However, a few artists can be influential enough that bands just can’t help themselves. We saw a little bit of this in the Nirvana Cover Wars as jambands, jazz acts and pop artists paid tribute to the grunge era. We have a similar cross-section of artists this week as well, the contemporary jazz guys love Radiohead.
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Be sure to READ ON after the jump as some of the best covers this week are embedded via video clips and are not included in the playlist above.
EOTO, DJ Logic and a new supergroup, named Agents of Mayhem, made up of Steve Molitz (Phil Lesh & Friends, Particle), Jon Gutwillig (the Disco Biscuits), Michael Travis and Jason Hann (String Cheese Incident, EOTO) and DJ Logic (MMW) performed together on Sunday night at an event called Steal This Ticket. Mike Sherwood attended the gig and filed this report…
Wow! What an awesome time was had down at the Spiegeltent in South Street Seaport on Sunday night. First off, the venue was really cool. Anybody who has the chance to check out Spiegelworld when it comes to your town should definitely go. We entered to find a well-decorated big top tent with a tremendous light rig all around the venue. The music was phenomenal. The night started a little later than anticipated with doors opening almost a full hour and a half later than we were told. Oh well, I knew this was going to be a late night anyway.
DJ Logic warmed things up with about 25 minutes of scratching and house stuff before Michael Travis and Jason Hann joined him onstage. EOTO locked into a quick groove with him before taking over on their own for about 30-45 minutes. If trance is your thing then EOTO should be right up your alley. Even if it isn’t, there is no denying how much fun those two guys are having with this project. There were lots of infectious and danceable grooves from EOTO with some nice peaks to their jams.
Once Barber, Molitz, and Logic took the stage it was on like Donkey Kong. The Agents of Mayhem set was a long exercise in tension/release-untz jamming and was well received by the crowd. There were moments that were jaw dropping. Sadly there were no tapers (although I’d give my left nut to hear a SBD of this, leaked or otherwise). One of the highlights of the night was Barber getting “arrested.” Basically, the production team staged a faux arrest of Barber in the middle of an intense jam. An actual NYPD cop came on stage and demanded Barber’s guitar. He defiantly started to rip in the guys face (the rest of the band was peaking at this point too). After “finally” relinquishing his Becker, Barber gets cuffed and dragged offstage. A bunch of Bisco kids FREAK! Molitz runs around and starts talking to the crowd and telling Trav, Jason, and Logic “Keep playing, we’re not done.” A dark jam ensues prompting the crowd to chant “fuck the police.”
Three schoolteachers from Manhattan’s Urban Assembly Media high school were busted for smoking pot outside the Beacon Theater before the Allman Brothers show on Friday night. The trio lucked out and received only desk appearance tickets, but things descended quickly for the shapers of young minds when the New York Postpicked up the story and ran the names and photos of the three teachers. New York’s number-two tabloid unsurprisingly had a field day with the story, using every trite pot pun in their comprehensive manual of shlock.
If you’ve ever been out on the crowded street in front of the Beacon, you’d realize lighting up out front is one of the dumbest things you can possibly do. While the inside of the venue is a lawless environment, the outside of the venue is police domain. The three teachers have already been re-assigned, pending what should be an interesting department hearing. Whose got their miracle?
