One of the best benefits of living in Manhattan’s Upper West Side has to be the ability to walk over to the Beacon Theater for the Allman Brothers’ annual mega-run of shows every March. While Gregg Allman’s fight with Hepatitis C put the kibosh on this year’s run, the band is already making plans to celebrate their 40th anniversary of the historic theater in March of 2009 with a slew of special guests.

We can’t wait to see who the Brothers invite to the stage. Hopefully they’ll bury the hatchet with former member Dickey Betts in honor of the anniversary.

Let’s take a gander at what else is cookin’ today…

• The Yankees are eyeing Springsteen and/or Macca to close their stadium
• Corporate papa Glide Magazine takes a look at Maine’s UpNorth Festival
• Wolfgang expands its Vault by adding memorabilia from LA’s Ash Grove
• The Doors finally appear ready to settle their long-running bitter law suit
• WCAX TV examines the increasing likelihood of a potential Phish reunion
• Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page to perform a Led Zep tune at the Olympics
• Bob Lefsetz pays tribute to moe.’s management and Al approves
• Traveler’s John Popper and Producer Steve Lillywhite remember LeRoi

Finally, Olympians in Beijing who tried to access the iTunes store have found that access to the site has been cut off. Apparently a few athletes downloaded a Free Tibet compilation prompting Chinese officials to put the iTunes Store behind the Great FireWall of China. Seems a little overzealous to us.

Only Jim Morrison could create controversy nearly four full decades after his death. Sam Bernett, who managed the Rock and Roll Circus nightclub in Paris, just released a book in which he claims that the official tale of the Lizard King’s death isn’t true. Bernett claims that Morrison didn’t die of heart failure in his bathtub, and instead was found slumped over in a bathroom at his club after OD’ing on heroin. We would tend to dismiss Bernett’s account, but the guy did go on to achieve success as the Vice President of Disneyland Paris.

Former Circus employee Patrick Chauvel, who says he was present the night Morrison was carried out, has backed up Bernett’s story. At this point, does it really matter how he died? Let’s just let sleeping lizards lie.

In other newsy news, we’ve got a stockpile of links to share with ya today:

• The White Stripes rocked a fishing vessel in Canada on Wednesday
• Jefitoblog gives us Part Two of the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Queen
• The Roots are headlining the Hip Hop Honors tour this fall
• End-of-the-world stocker rocker John Popper has copped a plea
• Famed acid-slinger Owsley submits to a rare interview
• Genesis plans to release a book, and a live DVD/CD set
• Kudos to Stereogum for their tribute to O.K. Computer
• Michael Franti and Spearhead will spend the fall asking how ‘ya feelin’
• The rumors were true: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will soon be releasing a new album
• Bob Weir feels jambands get hurt the worst for file-sharing
• The Disco Biscuits get the full treatment from their alma mater
• Band Of Horses and Zach Galifianakis played a benefit for New York Cares
• A unique version of That’s It For The Other One is among the many highlights in this week’s Grateful Dead Taper’s Section. The Dead have also started a Grateful Dead Hour podcast series featuring music from old and new episodes of the show
• RAQ has announced a full fall tour
• SuperDee reviews a recent Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey concert
• Justin Kreutzmann provides a preview of The Who: Fragments DVD
• Col. Bruce Hampton is the subject of the Roanoke Times’ podcast
• Let’s all thank hippies for creating the modern economy

As always, if you are seein’ any shows this weekend, let us know what you are up to by leaving a comment below…we’re dying to know your plans.

Welcome to the first 2007 edition of Grousing The Aisles. We’re still waiting for someone to recognize from where the title of this department was taken. The winner may or may not receive a set of steak knives.

GTA this week checks out a few shows from this weekend’s NYE festivities and takes a look back at a classic Dead show and a must-hear Rick Danko project. Also added to the weekly mix are a few early ’70s gems from The Doors and David Bowie. Let’s jump right into the fray and see what’s what, shall we?

Rick Danko, Jonas Fjeld, Eric Anderson 12/04/94 SBD (FLAC)

Regular HT readers may have noticed at this point that both Ace Cowboy and I are totally geigh for The Band, and more specifically Rick Danko. Guilty as charged your honor, as no singer or musician can convey emotions in their voice like Ricky D. In 1991, Danko recorded an album with Jonas Fjeld and Eric Anderson — cleverly titled Danko/Fjeld/Anderson — on which all three musicians’ styles converge to form a new style all its own (the trio then followed up their debut with Ridin’ On The Blinds). This show features plenty of songs from both albums, as well as some traditional songs and a couple of incredible Band tunes. Highlights include Stagefright, Ragtop, and It Makes No Difference. Read on for more downloads…