From the first time I heard Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground and Superstition, I’ve always been a huge fan of the clavinet. This electric keyboard manufactured by the Hohner company produces a funky sound that adds plenty of life to any song in which it is used. Since its introduction in the ’60s, the clav has been used in dozens of classic rock, funk, disco and reggae songs. It’s even turned up in the setup of many jamband keyboard players including JoJo Hermann of Widespread Panic and Page McConnell of Phish.

This week’s B List looks at the ten best clav-fueled songs from the ’60s and ’70s. Part two of our look at the clavinet will focus on more modern tracks that use this keyboard, but that’s for a later date.

For now, let’s look at ten classic clavinet-fueled songs…

10. Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder

When most people hear the traditional clavinet sound, they think of Stevie Wonder’s work on both Higher Ground and Superstition. Without a doubt, Stevie put this keyboard on the map. Above, we’ve got a clip of Stevie and Wonder Love tearing it up live in 1973.

READ ON for nine more classic clavinet-fueled songs…

The soon-to-be-demolished Giants Stadium wasn’t the best place in the world to see a rock concert. Many seats are extremely far from the stage and the sound sucks unless you are really close to a speaker stack. That being said, this monstrosity of a venue will always hold a special place in my heart as I saw my first two concerts there way back in 1984 and 1985.

For this week’s B List, we wanted to take a look at the ten most memorable concerts in the stadium’s history. Let’s see what we came up with…

10. Grateful Dead – June 17, 1991

On September 2, 1978; the Grateful Dead played their first of many concerts at Giants Stadium – a relationship that would last until the jam legend’s last tour in 1995. Of all the shows the Dead threw down in East Rutherford, the one from 6/17/91 stands out thanks to the surprising Eyes of the World opener and all sorts of Dark Star teases.

READ ON for nine more memorable Giants Stadium concerts…

While we won’t officially know who will be playing the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival until a week from today (February 9), when Superfly and AC Entertainment unveils the initial line-up, it seems as if Wayne Coyne couldn’t quite wait that long to let the cat out of the bag. Earlier today the enigmatic and always well-dressed Flaming Lips front man revealed to Spinner that his band would be returning to Manchester, TN for the third time in the fest’s nine year history for another late night throw down.

Though it may seem like the psychedelic-rockers would have a hard time topping their epic 2007 appearance that featured a spaceship on stage along with their usual mix of theatrics, Coyne let it slip that the band will be upping the ante this year on Friday night/ Saturday morning around 2:30 AM. After a full set of Lips tunes they will be tackling Pink Floyd’s seminal classic Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety – which the band recently recorded released as an iTunes exclusive, and debuted live this past New Year’s Eve.

The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival will take place from June 10 – 13, with tickets going on-sale for the first time ever on the very same day as the line-up announcement.

After lying in a private collection for over 40 years, some extremely rare footage of Syd Barrett performing with Pink Floyd has been unearthed and restored and will be screened as part of the British Film Institute’s annual Missing Believed Wiped event next month in London.

The found footage is from the seminal psychedelic band’s July 1967 appearance on Top Of The Pops where they played See Emily Play and hasn’t been seen since the show’s original airing.

• List Time: Neddy picks his favorite artists of the decade
• Check out this great visual history of Phish concert t-shirts
• Cover Alert: Fanfarlo tackle Neutral Milk Hotel
• Rolling Stone will launch their new restaurant chain in Los Angeles
• Soundtrack Saturday features the music of Christmas Vacation
• Apple acquires the digital streaming music site LaLa

Finally, For those of you (like me) that haven’t made your way over to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame’s Annex your window of opportunity is quickly coming to an end. As the Hall’s downtown New York outpost will be shutting its doors on January 3 of next year. The Hall currently features an exhibit on John Lennon’s NYC years, and if that not motivation enough check out Ryan’s review from his visit earlier this year.

[Published:03/29/07] Life on the road is tough, so it’s no surprise that many songwriters have used the concept of home as a theme throughout their songs. If I were living with 10 other dudes in a small van, I’d be homesick too. The word ‘home’ may conjure up different images to different people, but it seems the connection is a feeling of security and safety.

In the first six months of this column we’ve tried to focus squarely on the music. But today, this B List takes a look at the lyrics as we check out the 20 best songs about home (in no particular order). As usual, we did our best to find a YouTube video or audio clip to illustrate the songs listed:

1. Sing Me Back Home – Merle Haggard: This death-row tale was written in the late ’60s. As you see in the video, Merle used to play this song at a quick tempo, while the Grateful Dead slowed it down to a funeral dirge in their version. I favor the Dead’s version — nobody was better at emoting that sad soulful feeling like JerBear.

“Sing me back home with a song I used to hear”

2. Home Sweet Home – Motley Crue: Leave it to Motley Crue to write a tearjerker that can be classified as kickass. The number one Hair Metal Power Ballad returns to the B List due to its heartfelt lyrics by Nikki Sixx. I guess between shots of adrenaline and pussy, Sixx got a bit homesick.

“I had to run away high So I wouldn’t come home low”

3. Can’t Find My Way Home – Blind Faith: Blind Faith’s gift to the world is possibly the best song ever written about home. Pre MTV Unplugged Eric Clapton rarely picked up an acoustic. But on the version of Can’t Find May Way Home from Blind Faith’s eponoymous album, Clapton delivers one of his most beautiful performances of his career. To me, Can’t Find My Way Home is about being caught up in the excesses of life so much so that you lose vision of what’s important.

If this was an ordered list I’d have to say this song would probably be number one. My friend Hadley hit the nail on the head when he said “If there is a more hauntingly beautiful tune than this, either the standard acoustic version or the electric one, then I’ve never heard it.”

“And I’m wasted and I can’t find my way home”

Read on for the 17 remaining tunes on this week’s B List…

[Originally Published 7/4/07] We’ve got an abridged version of GTA for this week’s edition — well, less words, more links. There’s something for everyone on the list of streamable shows from SugarMegs, all concerts played on the Fourth of July. Clever, no? Shut it.

• Talking Heads — 7/4/82 — Rock Werchter Fest, Belgium
• Jimi Hendrix — 7/4/70 — Atlanta, Georgia
• Jeff Beck Group FEATURING ROD STEWART, RON WOOD AND TONY NEWMAN — 7/4/69 – Newport Jazz Festival, RI
• Stevie Ray Vaughan — 7/4/81 — Kansas City, Missouri
• Neil Young — 7/4/85 — Austin, Texas
• Pink Floyd — 7/4/77 — New York, NY
• Wilco — 7/4/01 — Grant Park, Chicago IL
• Buddy Guy — 7/4/92 — Sydenham, UK
• Creedence Clearwater Revival — 7/4/71 — Fillmore West, CA
• Radiohead — 7/4/00 – Berlin, Germany
• John McLaughlin — 7/4/86 — Hollabrunn, Austria
• David Bromberg — 7/4/92 — High Sierra Music Festival
• Doc & Merle Watson — 7/4/80 — Charlotte, North Carolina
• Ornette Coleman — 7/4/78 — Berlin, Germany
• Ray Charles — 7/4/96 — Lugano, Switzerland
• Grateful Dead July Fourth Shows: 1969, 1981, 1984, 1987 with the Lucious Bobby Dylan and 1990
• Phil Lesh & Friends — 7/4/01 — Snoqualmie, Washington
• Leo Kottke — 7/4/92 — New York, NY
• Yonder Mountain String Band — 7/4/06 — Cincy, Ohio
• Finally, here are a couple of Phish shows, if you’re into that sort of thing: 7/4/99 in Atlanta and 7/4/00 in Camden

Enjoy your holidays, and try not to blow off your fingers with idiocy…

I’ve always wondered what the real story was behind Roger Waters leaving Pink Floyd in the mid ’80s. Who knows what went on behind the scenes of Roger Waters and David Gilmour’s epic breakup better than the two of them? Britain’s Classic Rock magazine has been re-running interviews that the two rock legends did in 2000 that helps to explain what went down.

Read the Waters interview first, but don’t miss Gilmour’s either. Both chats make you realize why they have left so much money on the table.

Here’s six more links to help you get over the hump…

• N.J. music fans sue Ticketmaster over TicketsNow
• Jeff Tweedy doesn’t understand Jay Bennett’s lawsuit
• Our pal Neddy reviews a recent Assembly of Dust gig
• Eric Clapton Joins Joe Bonamassa Onstage In London
• David Byrne discusses the current state of Indie Rock
• Jools Holland sits in with Booker T. on Green Onions

Finally, who doesn’t love a good reader interview? Publications love having their readers come up with questions and readers love getting the answers to stuff that actually care about. The next subject of Jambands.com’s Reader Interview series will be bassist Dave Schools of Widespread Panic while the next Uncut Reader Interview will focus on Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Click on those links to find out how to submit your question.

This week’s B List looks at ten bands that went on without their fearless leaders. We’re talking about the main creative force not just the lead singer. Team HLA has helped with this post and there have been some healthy debates about what exactly constitutes a band’s leader.

Opinions vary, but here’s what I settled on with their help…

1. The Doors – When anyone thinks of The Doors they think of both Jim Morrison’s songs and voice. Morrison died in 1971 and his three surviving bandmates went on as a trio for two unsuccessful albums before disbanding.

2. The Dead – After Jerry Garcia died in 1995 the surviving members of the Grateful Dead thought better of moving on without Captain Trips for a few years. In 1998 all of them except for drummer Bill Kreutzmann reformed as The Other Ones for that summer’s Furthur Festival. When Billy joined his old bandmates in 2002 they kept The Other Ones moniker for a while until they decided to go back to be calling The Dead for Summer Tour 2003.

READ ON for rundowns of seven other leaderless bands and more…

If you’re ever in need of a good gift idea, this random assortment of music for this week’s Friday Mix Tape comes from my little brother’s Christmas gift this past year. He plopped his entire music catalog onto an 80 gig harddrive and presto, the best gift ever. So, today’s mixtape is just a smattering of different stuff I found in perusing the halls of the new library.

We kick off with the cathartic finale of Roger Water’s live performance of the Wall, Outside the Wall, performed in almost a Celtic feel. Day of the Locusts is a fabulous Bob Dylan song off New Morning, the album better known for hosting Man in Me of Lebowski fame, but less so for the rest of the songs. After hitting the cheerful virtuoso number Big Country by Bela Fleck, Mike Marshall, and Edgar Meyer off Uncommon Ritual, we take a trip back in time for some Bone Thugs n’ Harmony and Tha Crossroads. From there, we have a couple of Bob Marley gems including an extended live No Woman, No Cry and an instrumental demo of Time Will Tell, which sounds like it leaked just before Bob hit the studio to layer on his vocals tracks.

Next, we bounce back to Jerry Douglas for another uplifting instrumental, Snow’s First Fall, off his solo release The Best Kept Secret. Then back to some hip hop with Jurassic 5’s Concrete Schoolyard off their original EP. Finally, we close with the bluegrass pickers on the title track off Josh Bell and Edgar Meyer’s crossover classical album, Short Trip Home. I actually used this tune in my wedding ceremony, yet not one single person recognized it, so was pleasantly surprised to see it appear on the playlist.

Eagle Rock Entertainment’s Classic Albums series looks at the genius behind Pink Floyd’s game-changing release, Dark Side of the Moon.

Friday [all times Eastern]:

• Live From Abbey Road: Suzanne Vega [Sundance 9PM]
• A Colbert Christmas: Elvis Costello [COM 11PM]
• Late Show w/ Letterman: Leona Lewis [CBS 11:35PM]

Saturday:

• Documentary: Moog [Showtime Next 11:10PM]
• Austin City Limits: Ghostland Observatory [PBS]
• Saturday Night Live: Keane [E! 10PM]

Sunday:

• Live at Paisley Park: Prince [VH-1 Classic 11AM]
• Spectacle w/ Elvis Costello: Bill Clinton [Sundance 2PM]
• Classic Albums: Dark Side of the Moon [VH-1 Clas 5PM]