We welcome our newest Featured Columnist – Brian Bavosa – to the Hidden Track family, where he will bring his bi-weekly diatribes about life, liberty and the pursuit of Gamehendge. Take it away, Brian…

First off, let me welcome you to my new home. So, please wipe your shoes – or take them off all together if you please – for this is my humble, plush and shaggy electronically carpeted confines, affectionately dubbed Postcards From Page Side. My name is Brian Bavosa, music fan and journalist, whom some of you may have met at some of our favorite shows over the years.

[Photo by Pete Tschudy]

The rules of “Page Side” will be simply, or all together non-existent. It will be imperfect, like me, but with every intention to tell it like it is, from the perspective a a boy who grew up rocking out to the same tunes that have kept me in this scene right up until today. The column will include lots of stuff: from history lessons and live reviews, to interviews and I’m sure a few black-and-blues. PFPS promises to have a little bit for everyone, including the long-winded, tongue-twirling malarkey that I’ve been know to spout from my musical pulpit on occasion. Just try and debate me on Jagger vs. Bowie’s wardrobe of the 1970′s or the best Harry Hood ever and I’ll talk your ear off until it bleeds. My girlfriend can attest to that.

Think of me as Hidden Track’s utility ballplayer, who sometimes will go deep for a walk-off homer, play all nine positions if needed and always will be the first with a shaving-cream-pie-to-the-face after a big win during the post-game, TV interview.  But whatever the case, I invite you to stop by and peruse, have a cup of coffee and make this column a regular read, as all things Page Side shall focus on the reason we are all here: the mighty, transcendent power of MUSIC and all of the trimmings that go along with it.

Sure, I’ll go on tangents about Phish – my all-time favorite and a band I spent time being a beat-writer of sorts for on the road for certain publications – but will not be my only focus, despite the column’s name, but more of an inspiration, or jumping off point, and also aim to give you some of my insights into what else makes the world of music so special and meaningful.

READ ON for more of Postcards From Page Side…

Now, a little bit about myself. You may have seen some of my scribblings on JamBase.com, in Relix Magazine, at Jambands.com, within Surrender to the Flow or worked with me at Rolling Stone or HeadCount – all publications and organizations I am or have been involved with to some degree, and have to thank in part for leading me to this new column, which I am extremely excited to be bringing to you at Hidden Track every other week.

My background is a typical one of sorts, and completely unique in others. From my first Phish and Grateful Dead shows in ’94 to falling in love with the music of God Street Wine and The Samples at legendary places like the Wetlands Preserve, I’ve not only grown up and cut my teeth in the suburbs of and concrete jungle of New York City, where I am simply trying to take my own, over-sized bite, but also, quite literally, tens of thousands of miles on the road and tour. I’ll have much more on those adventures as this latest, writing adventure organically unfolds, I promise.

While I am currently the VP of Recruiting & Sales for a leading Wall Street Staffing firm and do have what I consider to be a successful career away from music, it is clear where my true love lies – and vacation days are spent.  Somewhere along the way to arriving here, I was able to snag Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees In English Literature and Writing from Fairfield University and SUNY New Paltz, the half of my life that certainly got drunk one night and slept with a musical bad boy to produce the likes of myself as we know it today: a musical, bastard child of sorts – the best kind, in my opinion.  After all, what about rock-n-roll is boring?  Nothing.  That’s what makes it so groovy, ya dig?

Coincidentally, this debut column hits the web exactly one week shy of my 30th birthday (cupcakes can be mailed to me here, c/o Hidden Track, and my favorite are Red Velvet if you really wanna welcome a guy properly) as, let’s face it, being a kid at heart is what it, and music, is all about: losing yourself and letting go.  So despite my expanding waistline (I told you I liked cupcakes, didn’t I?) and ever increasing adult worries (who the hell needs that insurance, anyway?), I promise to keep the starry-eyed perspective of a concert-going teenager whose lid was just blown off for the first time, when appropriate, while attempting to mix that with the “real world” and parking lot lessons and ideas that I’ve also accumulated along this journey.

I will spare no expense in delving into the vaults of audio recordings, videos and pictures to help make the all around experience that much richer.  I will channel my inner Shakespeare, Lefsetz, Garcia and Van Gough, mix them in a blender and hopefully pour the results in a musical, (hopefully) intelligent cocktail on these here pages.  So, please stay tuned every other hump-day for a slice of musical life and perspective in the form of a Postcard from the perspective I’ve known best over the years: Page Side.  Thanks for coming along…I hope you enjoy the ride.

[Photo by Graham Lucas]

-Bavosa

Brian Bavosa

Brian Bavosa is one of Hidden Track's Featured Columnists and contributes bi-weekly in Postcards From Page Side. He also cut his teeth working at Rolling Stone, being JamBase's main, Northeast correspondent since 2005 and writes for Relix, Jambands.com, Surrender to the Flow, and is also an Artist Relations rep for HeadCount. When he's not being a musical scribe & superhero, he is the VP of Recruiting & Sales at a major, Wall Street staffing firm and can still be found somewhere on Page Side at just about every Phish show.

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