Well, I’ve got a big problem. It’s my turn to write an introduction to my favorite piece and to say thank you, but if I wanted to thank all of the people who helped make Hidden Track the 1,892 most read blog in New York City it would take up the whole front page of the site. I guess I could try to limit it and just say thanks to some. Yet, I’d feel awful not thanking each person who has written a post, gave us a tip, offered encouragement, shot photos, commented on a post, added HT’s feed to their RSS reader, gave us advice or made us better in some way, shape or form.

Yet I need to thank you – the reader. We’ve come so far in the last 24 months, and I still get a huge smile each time someone leaves a comment and responds to what we’re putting out there. Ace taught me so much and I’ll be eternally grateful to him for starting this site, bringing me aboard and putting together an amazing team. Most of all, he set an incredibly high standard as an editor and writer and made me realize that each post counts. Ace made sure to teach me about journalistic standards, because the reputation of this blog – and us as writers – depended on it. While I still struggle with grammar, I’ll never stop trying to keep this rag’s reputation as good as it was the day he left.

So, I wound up thanking quite a few people after all. Let me also thank Dave, Rupert and Some Dude – a guy who I seriously couldn’t do this without – for helping to establish HT’s current tone and contributing incredible posts each week. Thanks to the Glide guys for all of their unwavering help, support and of course deciding to start this blog. Thanks to the folks on PT, The Bort and Team HLA for linking, reading and lending a hand. I literally have a list of about 75 other people to thank, but I think I’ll just send them a note to spare y’all for any more self-serving ridiculousness.

So without further ado, it’s time for my favorite piece. This anniversary has made me extremely nostalgic and I can’t stop thinking about the beginning. The first good piece I ever wrote, and the day I knew I had a shot at this thing was a post about a band made up of 16 year old Umphrey’s fans, Tribute to Whigg.

READ ON to take a look at The Royal Tennenbrah’s Saga Continues…

Much ado was made over the youthful inexperience of the Umphrey’s crowd after this picture popped up on message board after message board, culminating with an epic thread over at Phantasy Phish that referred to the kids up front as The Royal Tenenbrahs. And while I disagree with much of the overall tone of the thread’s content, even I had to laugh at that.

Recently, I saw a thread on an Umphrey’s message board urging me to check out a video of some guy’s band playing an Umphrey’s song.

I’m always down for checking out the future cover artists of America, so I gave it a spin. Not too bad, and in fact, the guitar players are pretty damn ripping. I decided to check out the band’s Myspace page and check out a few pictures: Turns out, they all look 15 or 16 years old.

Then I noticed the kid with the red hair that is playing the more difficult passages and thought, “Hey, that guy kinda looks familiar.” I thought maybe I had seen him at a show or something, somewhere. Then it hit me: “Holy shit, that’s the teenaged redhead smoker from the Tenenbrahs! (front right corner)

At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but then I looked at another picture of these guys:

Sure enough, it’s him. The teenage smoker on the rail’s got a pretty good band. And the story of The Royal Tenenbrahs continues. Next thing you know, the 13 year old kid in the Dead tie-dye is gonna be running for Congress.

So many people poke fun at Umphrey’s for having a really young fanbase, but screw those shitheads. I wish I could shred like that when I was 15 or 16, or however old these kids are in actuality. I wish I could play a great Miss Tinkles Overture and stand in the front row at killer rock shows when I was that age. Listen haters, the kids are all right!

Today’s jambands were fans of bands first, and these guys could be the future one day. So just remember this in a Wyld Stallyns kind of way: We were the ones who told you about Tribute to Whigg way back when. We are your Rufus.

And if you think those fans are young, check out the next generation of Umphrey’s fans rockin’ out down the pipeline…

Oh yeah, the kids are all right.

Scott Bernstein

Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.

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