[Originally Published: 12/07/2010]

When it comes time for selecting songs for Cover Wars, I often skip a song because there are just too many covers of it. I Put a Spell on You, a song from 1956 written and recorded by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, is a prime example. So tough choices need to be made, we can’t include every version – because let’s be honest, who wants to listen to this song 30 times in a row (though, someday I’m going to write the All Along The Watchtower Cover Wars and we are going to include a LOT of them)? So, we’re going to cap it at 11 versions, try and make it a diverse sampling – if I didn’t include your favorite, feel free to let me know in the comments. On a personal note, I’ve loved this song since its inclusion on a favorite VHS tape from my childhood titled Baseball Funny Side, or at least I’m pretty sure that’s the one.

The Contestants:

The Animals recorded this cover on their 1966 album Animalisms. The song just seems built for Eric Burdon. There is a great version of him singing it in 2008 on YouTube but emedding is disabled, so you have to click here to check it out.

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The Allman Brothers Band and Santana kicked off their co-bill tour earlier this week in Darien and at that first show the two acts didn’t collaborate. That changed last night at Jones Beach in Wantagh, New York when Carlos emerged for an incredible Mountain Jam > Smokestack Lightning > Mountain Jam sequence during the Allmans’ set. Carlos took the first solo and made it count…

Santana w/ The Allman Brothers Band – Mountain Jam

ABB guitarist Derek Trucks’ wife Susan Tedeschi also made an appearance during the Allman Brothers set when she led the group through a cover of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright. The tour continues tonight at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey.

[Originally Published - October 11, 2011]

Whenever I tackle a song by The Beatles for Cover Wars, I like to head on over to see what Alan Pollack has to say on the song’s topic and the in-depth musical analysis he provides on his website, a must-bookmark site for any Beatles fan or musician. The absolute basics: Released on The White Album, written by George Harrison and Eric Clapton guests on lead guitar.

This Cover Wars has been a long-time coming as I have started compiling it at least once in the past but did not complete it as there is such a large number of exceptional covers of the tune. But today, I present to you these 14 covers of While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

The Contestants:

Artist: Jake Shimabukuro
Album: Gently Weeps
The Skinny: Leading off this week is ukelele extraordinaire Jake Shimabukuro who consistently wows audiences everywhere he plays. Shimabukuro’s cover is well known and is the inspiration for his 2006 album Gently Weeps.

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There are no shortages of live performances from Shimabukuro of this song on YouTube with multiple clips having 1,000,000+ YouTube views. This one is the most popular, shot in New York City’s Central Park:

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Legendary guitarist Carlos Santana recently signed on with the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for a two-year residency at the casino’s House of Blues that will include 80 shows per year. Santana spoke with the L.A. Times about the run, which will feature performances billed as “Greatest Hits Live: Santana – Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today” and shared insight about how the shows will be structured.

The 64-year-old axeman told the Times that he plans to “create some experimentation” by stepping into the “unknown” during a setlist-less mid-show segment for which he will call upon some friends. “To me, the unknown is inviting African musicians to join us, or Buddy Guy or Derek Trucks or Ben Harper, people from Phish, Warren Haynes — that’s what ‘Tomorrow’ is bringing to the House of Blues.” Phish opened for Santana during the Summer of 1992 and again for a swing through Europe in 1996.

“I call it a living laboratory,” he said. “We play the beginning [of a set] and we play the end, but in the middle, we’re going to create some experimentation so you can witness a backward flip into the unknown. In other words, there’s no set list in the middle. We will create something so you can just close your eyes and go on a journey with us.”

[LA Times]

This isn’t Santana’s first foray into the world of Vegas shows as he finished a two-year run of shows referred to as “Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through The Hits” this past November at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s The Joint. Las Vegas’s House of Blues, with a capacity of 1,500,  is much smaller than The Joint, which holds 4,000. Carlos tells the Times he looks forward to staying put in Vegas and aims to return to the studio for a grand total of three albums.

As you can imagine, tickets won’t be cheap. Members of Santana’s fan club will be able to purchase tickets for $172.50 a pop through the fan club’s website. Tickets for the first batch of shows, which kicks off on May 2, go on sale through the fan club this Monday, February 27, at 10AM PST.

Steve Kimock, the David Nelson Band, Jesse McReynolds and members of Railroad Earth and Moonalice will come together on June 10 for a late night concert at the 33rd annual Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, CA billed as “A Tribute to the Life of Owsley “Bear” Stanley and the Musical Spirit of Jerry Garcia.” The show, which is set to run from 9PM to 3AM, will take place in Harmony Hall on the festival grounds at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

The Kimock, Nelson and McReynolds-led band will perform all of Bear’s Choice as part of the tribute to Owsley, the legendary chemist who passed away earlier this year. Those who purchase Three Day Plus, Whole Festival, VIP or a separate Friday night ticket will be able to attend what’s sure to be a special tribute to Jer and Bear. Primus, the Flaming Lips, Michael Franti & Spearhead and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals are just a few of the acts scheduled to play the Harmony Festival’s five stages over the course of the three-day event.

Here’s links to six other stories worth reading this afternoon…

• List:  Four Ways Technology Will Change The Jam Band Scene
• Prince Interrupts L.A. Residency to Head Up California Coast
• Cameron Crowe’s Pearl Jam Documentary To Make PBS Debut
• Coldplay Fans May Not Put Out, But They Are Safe Drivers
• Brian Wilson Hints at Beach Boys’ 50th Anniversary Reunion
• Bonnaroo X Has Officially Sold Out, Only VIP Tickets Remain

Finally, Santana received the Beacon of Change award before yesterday’s Braves-Phillies MLB game in Atlanta. The legendary guitarist used the platform to rail against new immigration laws that are on the books in Georgia and Arizona. “This is the United States. This is the land of the free. If people want the immigration laws to keep passing, then everybody should get out and leave the American Indians here,” Santana said in an impromptu press conference following remarks about the new laws according to the AP.

Its no secret that Santana’s 1999 guest-heavy album Supernatural helped expose the guitar legend to a brand new audience – selling an astounding 15 million copies along the way. While the axeman has revisited the format on his last two studio releases, his latest record will take a similar route, but with a twist as Carlos will put out an album chock full of classic rock covers. Joining the Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer will be a diverse roster of artists including Nas on AC/DC’s Back In Black, Joe Cocker doing Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing and Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) on Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love.

• List Time: 10 Essential Summer Records
• Plans are in the works for a Michael Jackson museum in Gary, IN
• Cover Alert: Ben Lee tackles Modest Mouse
• Spiritualized to perform We Are Floating In Space at Radio City
• Download This: How To Destroy Angels’ Free EP
• Are Robert Johnson’s albums 20% faster than intended?

Finally, with the summer music festival kicking into high gear, who among us hasn’t fantasized what it would be like to come up with our dream lineup of acts to play our very own festie? Well, the fine folks over at Billboard are giving you an opportunity to do just that with their Fantasy Festival Game. Through a number of  head to head match ups you’ll get a chance to select acts to play the headlining slot, main and seconds stages and the dance tent, so give it a shot and see what you end up with.

Earlier today we found out that TBS has signed Conan O’Brien for a deal that gives our second favorite ginger an 11PM show on the basic cable station. While this NY Times article reveals how the deal went down, we’ve got a question about the show’s house band. Will Max Weinberg join Conan on TBS or sell his soul to Jay Leno?  If not, we’re sure Jimmy Vivino is up for it.

Speaking of Jimmy, we were really hoping Conan’s next show would be based in NYC – so that we can get Vivino back in the Big Apple – but alas the Times’ article mentions O’Brien will continue to produce his show in L.A.

Before we go out and enjoy the weather, here’s a quick link dump…

• Phish leaves its mark on Coachella and Stagecoach
• Show Review: Barr Brothers & The Low Anthem
• Oral historian Nicholas Meriwether has been chosen as the first UCSC Grateful Dead Archive archivist. We’re jealous!
• Jack Bruce says that Cream won’t reunite again
• Pitchfork talks to Matt Stone about South Park
• What happened to P-Funk’s Mothership? [via TDS]

Finally, Santana has tapped legendary rocker Steve Winwood to open an extensive summer tour that kicks off on June 30. Santana generally invites his opening acts to sit in, so we can only imagine the possibilities of Stevie and Carlos tearing up a Black Magic Woman or a Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys. The Santana Fan Club presale starts tomorrow at santanafanclub.com.

Santana – Incident At Neshabur (Live)

As we’re sure you’ve heard by now, Michael Jackson passed away this afternoon after paramedics found him in a coma at his home near Los Angeles. We’d like to pay tribute to the “King of Pop” by re-running an old column from March 6, 2008 featuring jambands covering his songs…

You’ve probably heard the bad news by now, Michael Jackson is at risk of losing his Xanadu of weirdness, Neverland Ranch. Unless he can come up with a cool $24.5 million to avoid foreclosure, it’s so long to everyone’s favorite funny farm. Well, don’t fret folks. We’ve arranged a Michael Jackson tribute concert to help raise money to save Neverland Ranch.

This week’s edition of Bust Outs includes some of the best and brightest musicians we know paying homage to the King of Pop himself. We had no idea what we were getting into with this one, because we were quick to discover that the Neverland Ranch edition should probably be segmented into a 12 part mini-series, but regardless we’ve weeded it down into a single veritable powerhouse of Michael Jackson teases, jams, and full length covers. So, get out your tight black pants and dancing loafers, because this is undeniably the best Bust Outs yet.

Read on for Jacko covers from the likes of Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Santana, Phish, RAQ, The Biscuits, Miles Davis, PGroove and more…

Southern jammers Widespread Panic brought their Travelin’ Light touring festival  – remember that lineup? – to Berkeley, CA’s historic Greek Theatre in 1998, but the Athens-based band didn’t get to play a typical two set show at the Greek until they returned for a three night stand in 2001. The first two shows of the run are no joke, but the sextet turned it up a notch for the final show when they welcomed Bay Area resident and master guitarist Carlos Santana to join them for the first half of the second set.

Santana added his signature sound to the Panic original Casa Del Grillo before the ensemble tackled three covers in a row including two Funkadelic gems – Red Hot Mama and Maggot Brain. Carlos expertly shreds his way through the first solo in Maggot Brain with the late Michael Houser joining in for some nice call and response action during the second solo. Let’s take a look…

More Widespread Panic Videos:

• Surprise Valley (10/31/2000)
• Vacation (02/09/1996)
• Happy Child (06/24/2000)
• Mr. Soul (11/21/2001)

North Carolina based indie-label Merge Records has a big 2009 planned to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The label, which is home to acts like Neutral Milk Hotel, She & Him, Arcade Fire and Spoon, is rolling out a box set of material that includes 14 curated compilation CDs, a remix album and a covers comp that features non-Merge artists covering songs from the Merge catalog. In addition to all this they will also celebrate with a five-day festival dubbed XX Merge that will take place from July 22 – 25 with four nights of shows at Cat’s Cradle and a final night at Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill.

Already on board to perform are label founders Superchunk, M. Ward, Spoon, Conor Oberst, the Broken West, and Destroyer, with more artists both “expected” and “unexpected” to be added in the coming weeks.

If you can’t make it down to Carolina for what should be an amazing five days, than maybe you’ll be able to hit one of these recently announced tours…

• Aerosmith and ZZ Top to team up for a summer run
• The Features hit small clubs for a 15 date May tour
• Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne maps out a lengthy tour
• White Rabbits criss-cross the country starting in late May
• Road warriors Gov’t Mule reveal some non-festival Summer dates
• The Today Show’s Summer Concert Series includes KoL & DMB

Finally, Carlos Santana has signed an exclusive deal with the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino to become Las Vegas’s first rock artist to have a residence show. The legendary guitar-slinger will hold court at The Joint through 2010 with a show called Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits and will be the only place to catch the band west of the Mississippi through 2010.

With all the talk about Goldenvoice’s foray into the NYC area festival market, it’s easy to forget that their Coachella Festival is just three short months away.

The lineup for this year’s festival in the desert should be announced later today, with the usually reliable URB confirming that Portishead will headline Saturday’s festivities. URB also claims that Radiohead won’t be playing Coachella, but it seconds the notion the band will appear at the east coast version of the event. Advantage: East. So what else are we lookin’ at on this holiday…

• Santana enlists the Derek Trucks Band for a springtime arena tour
• God Save Everything About ‘Em: The Sex Pistols consider heading into the studio together for the first time in 30 years
• Peter Gabriel shares his passion for technology
• Matthew Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces discusses life in the critically acclaimed band [via LHB]
• Indie bands attempt to win over the next generation of music fans
• Outsourcing facemelters: America’s biggest live entertainment companies look to establish a foothold in China
• Mike Patton wouldn’t be opposed to a Faith No More reunion
• Crowded House progeny Liam Finn aims to prove the critics right with the release of his debut solo album on Tuesday
• Neddy runs down the shows of the week in New York City

Let’s close this holiday edition by taking a look at the coolest piece of music gear to come out of the NAMM trade show in Anaheim: Metasonix’s Fucking Fucker G-1000 tube amp. The aptly named Fucking Fucker contains two independent amplifiers labeled “happy” and “angry,” because “one sucks your face, the other gnaws your foreskin off.” That kinda sounds like this girl I met through JDate.

Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone and Carlos Santana are among the major names that will be performing at Radio City Music Hall on September 18th as part of The Dream Concert. The Dream Concert was put together by the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation to benefit the building of a memorial on the National Mall. Tickets go on sale this Monday at 9am and are priced at $250, $500 and $1000. The concert may be pricey, but it’s for a worthy cause.

• moe., Mastodon and Robert Randolph are among the first wave of additions to the jam-unfriendly Vegoose lineup
• Rhino is releasing an incredible four-disc Heavy Metal Box in October
• Queen’s Brian May will soon be Dr. Brian May
• Nine Things I learned about business from the White Stripes
• Greg Kot speaks with Eric Clapton about this weekend’s Crossroads Festival [via Siwook]
• Now you can own Jerry Garcia’s bidet!
• Crawdaddy! is unimpressed by music blogs
• Book your hotel rooms, malnourish your dogs…Mike Greenhaus weighs in on a possible Phish reunion
• Lefsetz finds that tickets for the $3,000 Dave Matthews concert in the Hamptons are available for $250
• Best Week Ever lists the top 10 songs that should have been in Guitar Hero Rocks The ’80s
• Neddy reviews an average Widespread Panic show
• Zach Galifianakis does a video for Kanye West
• Sirius will be giving a sneak preview of the Grateful Dead channel from August 1st – 9th
• A Q&A with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Never Mind The Bollocks…Here’s The Sex Pistols will be reissued on vinyl in October on the 30th anniversary of the initial release
• David Gans will be giving a class on looping at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peach Ranch on September 28 – October 1

Have a great weekend, and if you are around tonight check out the webcast of the Flaming Lips rockin’ their home state…do it. What else?

The end of this week couldn’t come soon enough for me. The NYC weather has been brutally chilly, and I look forward to a three-day weekend.

President’s Day weekend also signals the beginning of spring training for baseball players and fans. In covering music and concert news for the past few months, it seems like the music world treats January and February very similar to baseball’s spring training. Every band, musician, and music festival has used these months to prepare and get their tour dates and lineups together before the peak concert season begins in earnest again in March and April.

The comparison to sports has also been addressed by Idolator, who recently posted a list of musical free agents. It seems like everyday a music festival releases its lineup or a band member announces they’re going solo (goodbye Audioslave?). News items have been coming in fast and furious as everyone prepares for “the season,” which is exciting to cover. Yet I’m really excited for the season to begin so I can actually see the concerts and festivals we have spent the last two months announcing. In the meantime, help speed the long weekend’s arrival by checking out these great links from around the world wide web:

• After a Jimi Hendrix energy drink broke down the walls of decency, it was only a matter of time before Santana opened a theme restaurant
• Wilco has announced the tracklisting for their new album Sky Blue Sky 
• A once-in-a-lifetime supergroup helps to celebrate The UStorm Foundation’s first birthday on March 31st (wow, look at that)
• Addison Groove Project is preparing for their final four shows as a band
• Nickel Creek is also heading out for a long final tour
• Check out the best of King Crimson on YouTube
• Umphrey’s McGee made the third disc of “Jimmy Stewart” – The Second Album available free as the 39th installment of the podcast series
• We couldn’t resist sharing the best movie monologues (via Sand)
• As we reported, Roger Waters kangfirms his North American tour
• This afternoon at 3 pm, Howard101 on Sirius Satelitte Radio will play the best musical performances from 25 years of The Howard Stern Show
• Rush will release Snakes and Arrows on May 1st

Do you have any interesting plans this weekend? Inquiring minds want to know….

Back in November I posted a B List plugging 13 of my favorite instrumentals. This week, we revisit that concept — here are 13 more great ones to debate. I tried to be a little more obscure with this list, so check out these nuggets:

1. Groove Holmes – The Beastie Boys: This great Beasties tribute to acid-jazz legend Richard “Groove” Holmes was featured on 1992′s Check Your Head.

2. Freeway Jam – Jeff Beck: Jeff Beck solos over Max Middleton’s funky keyboards on one of the best tracks from 1975′s Blow By Blow.

3. Moti Mo – Medeski, Martin, and Wood: I get chills every time I hear MMW’s arrangement of this King Sunny Ade track. Chris Wood lays down a solid bass line, allowing John Medeski, Billy Martin and the horns a chance to build the theme to multiple climaxes. Just like a woman.

4. Star Wars Theme Song – Meco: Also Sprach Zarathrustra wasn’t the only symphonic song to get the disco treatment in the late ’70s. Meco Menardo, a famous music producer, attended the Star Wars premiere and was so impressed he rushed into the studio to make a dance version of John Williams’ theme song.

5. The Happy Organ – Dave “Baby” Cortez : Cortez entered a studio in 1959 to record a song called “The Cat and the Dog.” He was struggling with his voice and decided to just jam out with his band on an old standard called Shortin’ Bread. The recording engineer pressed record as Cortez turned the song into one of the first funky grooves. The rest is history: The improvised song that was recorded in one take hit number one upon its release.

Read on for eight additional instrumental classics from The Commodores, Santana, Joe Satriani, Tea Leaf Green and more…