I Like Concerts

So after seeing the post over at Slack Lalane 2005: Year of the Live Show, I was inspired to dig through my stubs and offer up my list as well. Good work again fellas!

12/16 Lo Faber Band - Knitting Factory
11/26 Bright Eyes - Landmark Loes Theatre - Jersey City, NJ
11/25 Scarecrow Collection - Knitting Factory
11/25 moe. - Roseland
11/23 Reid Genauer & The Assembly of Dust - Mexicali Blues Cafe - Teaneck, NJ
11/17 Jeff Tweedy w. Glenn Kotche - Tribeca Performing Arts Center
11/16 Dark Star Orchestra - Irving Plaza
11/10 ZZ Top - Beacon Theater
11/7 Ben Folds - Radio City Music Hall
10/29 Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon - Irving Plaza
10/25 Cream - Madison Square Garden
10/18 My Morning Jacket - Webster Hall
10/6 Stellastarr* - Irving Plaza
9/24 The White Stripes w. The Shins - Keyspan Park
8/8 Kings of Leon & The Secret Machines - Roseland
7/31 Brian Jonestown Massacre - Bowery Ballroom
7/30 Dave Matthews Band Island Getaway - Dave Matthews Band, Barenaked Ladies, Robert Randolph and the Family Band & Ray LaMontagne
7/14 Dinosaur Jr. - Central Park Summerstage
6/30 Dr. Dog - Mercury Lounge
6/30 Ollabelle - South Street Seaport
6/21 The Affair - Rothko
5/13 Trey Anastasio - Hammerstein Ballroom
5/12 Weezer - Roseland
5/10 Ben Folds - Town Hall
4/15 Widespread Panic - Radio City Music Hall
4/14 Widespread Panic - Radio City Music Hal
3/27 Black Crowes w. Ben Kweller - Hammerstein
3/5 The Secret Machines - Irving Plaza
2/22 Kings of Leon - Irving Plaza
2/10 moe. - Tsumani Benefit - Roseland
1/27 Bright Eyes - Town Hall

Shows I went to but don't have stubs for so don't know the date...

Regina Spektor - Bowery Ballroom
Ray LaMontagne - Webster Hall
The Redwalls - Mercury Lounge
HAL - Mercury Lounge
Gary Louris & Mark Olsen (of The Jayhawks) - Bowery Ballroom
Medeski, Ribot, Wollerson, Wood & DJ Logic - Bowery Ballroom
Damien Rice - Knitting Factory (probably one of the coolest shows I saw, he played the Tap Room as part of a ASCAP Showcase during the Tribeca Film Fest)

And looks like I'll be hitting Black Crowes with Trey on NYE to close out the year. So not a bad one at all - I'll try to post some links to shows at some point in the next few days.

Donnie Baseball

It's that time of year again when the Sports Writers will be submitting their ballots for the Baseball Hall of Fame. As much as I hold my breath every year that The Hit Man's name we be among those being enshrined, I pretty much realize it's slim to none on it happening. This year does have a particularly weak class of first time balloters which includes Walt Weiss and Hal Morris - so your never know. He was sure first ballot HOFer until his back gave out on him, so throw the guy a bone he played on some truly terrible Yankee teams in the early 90s (a topic I'll discuss another time) and he still gave his all everyday - doesn't that deserve something.

I did find this to be an interesting read about Don Mattingly's qualifications for the Hall though. They make some great parallels between his numbers and Kirby Puckett (who's already in) check out the numbers for yourself.

"Mattingly retired with 2,153 hits to Puckett's 2,304, 442 doubles to Puckett's 414, 222 homers to Puckett's 207 and 1,099 RBIs to Puckett's 1,085. Mattingly posted three more 100-RBI seasons than Puckett, two more 30-homer seasons, won one more MVP award and the same number of batting titles."



But who needs Copperstown when you've got your number retired at Yankee Stadium and you're being groomed to be the next manager of the club. I'll still keep my fingers crossed for him. Though this might finally be the year for Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter - arguably the two guys that legitimizing the role of the closer.

I Love Tuesdays....Top Ten Edition

So I know you've all been waiting, wondering and saying to yourself 'Hey when is the Hits From The Blog guy going to post his top ten albums of the year list?' Well wait no longer today is the day you've been waiting for. And without further ado I present my Top Ten albums of 2005.....


10. Neil Diamond - 12 Songs











9. Magic Numbers - Magic Numbers












8. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois












7. Ryan Adams - Jackonsville City Nights









6. Dr. Dog - Easy Beat












5. Bob Dylan- Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home Soundtrack











4. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema












3. My Morning Jacket - Z












2. Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak












1. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning











I'll post some other albums that I also dug this year later. Please feel free to include your Top Ten in the comments section.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Ever wonder what happened to the kid that played Ralphie in A Christmas Story well I guess the NY Post was wondering too (he's not the one that got into porn that's this guy). Read about it here. Apparently he's buddies with Vince Vaughn and John Favreau and was the inspiration for the 'Guy behind the guy behind the guy' line in Swingers. Who knew?



As has become a tradition TBS will be showing this classic for 24 hours starting Christmas Eve at 8 PM.

Strikes Over Go Out Tonight

So the MTA strike is finally over here in NYC so what better way to celebrate then to go out and see some music. There's an interesting show happening at The Living Room tonight that I was reading about on Brooklyn Vegan...

Chris Thile (of Nickel Creek) And Friends, Living Room

I might have to try and drag my ass down there tonight and see if I can get into this show. Sounds like a good time.

WWJD (What Will Johnny Do?)

While I'm still getting used to the idea of Johnny Damon patrolling centerfield this season for the Yanks I thought this was a pretty interesting article from ESPN.com about his marketability in New York. Apparently last month the Business Sports Daily named him the third most marketable player behind the Captain and A-Rod in the majors - but this was all before he is going to be forced to cut off his signature flowing hair and scruffy beard.

Hannukah Rocks

As a member of the tribe this time of year gets a little grating at times where you're inundated with all things Christmas(though I do have a soft spot for the Boss's rendition of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town). Well the new edition of The Village Voice has done a whole cover story on the 'upstart Jewish music scene' that is embracing their heritage.....

Get Down, Moses

Also if your looking for something to spin at your Hanukkah party you might want to pick up this....

The LeeVees - Hannukah Rocks

It's the brainchild of Adam Gardner (from Guster). I haven't listened to the whole things yet, but did hear some tracks on their website and it ain't too bad - and damn funny to boot. With song titles like 'Applesauce vs. Sour Cream', 'How Do You Spell Channukkahh?' and 'Jewish Girls (At The Matzah Ball) how can you go wrong. They'll be playing two shows on the 2nd and 3rd nights of Hanukkah 11/26 at the Bowery Ballroom and 11/27 at the Paradise Rock Club. So if your in New York or Boston might be a fun show to hit.

Or you could also try and score tickets to Yo La Tengo's annual Hanukkah run at in the 'Boken at Maxwell's (I think the entire 8 night run is sold out - but that's what Craigslist is for).

Here's a great website to keep you entertained while everything is closed on Christmas Eve...

Jews Rock

Take the quiz and see how many you get right. You'll definitely be surprised by some of the musicians that are Jews.

Now for some music, here's a couple of downloads from the person at the forefront of the Jewish music scene everyone's favorite Hassidic Reggae Superstar Matisyahu (who I previously wrote about here)....

Matisyahu - 2005-09-08 - Webster Hall -New York, NY
Matisyahu - 2005-11-05 Revolution - Ft. Lauderdale, FL

And finally if you're looking for some last minute Hanukkah gifts here's a couple of books to pick up....

Bar Mitzvah Disco : The Music May Have Stopped, but the Party's Never Over
Drek: The Real Yiddish Your Bubbe Never Taught You
Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South

Finally a post that my mom would be proud of!

Happy Holidays!!!!

FYI clearly no one knows how to spell this holiday correctly. I was prompted to change the spelling from Hannukah to Hanukkah and vice versa. But I've always gone with two Ns and one K. Listen to The LeeVee's as the address just this problem.

Cut Those Sideburns Mattingly

So I've mostly been posting about music since the baseball season ended, but as I sit here tonight the Yankees have finally made their first big move of the offseason (yes I know they added Kyle Farnsworth) by signing Captain Caveman to a four year $52 million deal. For some reason I've hated Damon more then some of the other Red Sox over the last few years - maybe it was that constant shit-eating grin he always had no matter if the Sox where winning or losing, it always irked me. Though I have to say it's quite the kick in the balls to the Sox which definitely makes me feel better about the deal.

Yes the guy is a legitimate lead-off hitter and we've needed that - we hadn't really had one since Chuck Knoblauch. What I'm mainly concerned about though is his arm - it's better then Bernie's, but that's not saying much.

Johnny better take one last look at that long hair and beard he's going to going from this....

To back to this....

So while I'm having mixed emotions about this right now, once he gets a hair cut and spring training starts I'm sure I'll be more excited about it. I mean look at this potential line-up....

CF - Johnny Damon

SS - Derek Jeter

3B - Alex Rodriquez

1B - Jason Giambi

RF - Gary Sheffield

LF - Hideki Matsui

C - Jorge Posada

DH - Bernie Williams

2B - Robinson Cano

That's a hell of a 1 through 9. Plus the starting rotation ain't to shabby either. So how many days till pitchers and catchers report???

'Roo

Mark your calanders now kids Bonnaroo numero cinco will be the weekend of June 16th - 18th. Looking forward to the artist annoucement which will be coming in the in the next few weeks. For now enjoy some great music from last year....


Brazilian Girls - 2005-06-11 - The Other Tent - Bonnaroo - Manchester, tn
Joss Stone 2005-06-11 Which Stage
Bonnaroo - Manchester, TN
The Secret Machines Bonnaroo 2005-06-11 Manchester, TN
Modest Mouse 2005-06-12 Bonnaroo What Stage Manchester, TN
The Word - 2005-06-12 - Bonnaroo -Manchester, TN
Drive By Truckers - 2005-06-10 -That Tent, Bonnaroo - Manchester, TN
Benevento Russo Duo With Mike Gordon - 2005-06-10 - Bonnaroo - Manchester TN 6/10/05
Jurassic 5 - 2005-06-10 - Bonnaroo - Which Stage - Manchester, TN

Enjoy!!!

I Love Tuesdays

Here are the purchases for the week....

Phish -Live At Madison Square Garden New Years Eve 1995
Ryan Adams - 29

Bad Idea

On the heels of the announcement of Dylan hosting his own show for XM comes this slightly scary story from Rolling Stone....

Bob Dylan Songs Inspire Musical

This is just wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to begin - let's hope that this never makes it to Broadway. Haven't people learned already from such flops as the Lennon and Beach Boys musicals that this is just not a good idea ever.

Breakfast Of Champions

As I went to bed last night I was about 1/3 of the way done downloading the SerialPod show from Saturday night's XMas Jam. So when I woke up this morning I was treated to a heaping serving of the Pod - I seriously suggest grabbing this show. There is some jawdropping stuff here, but I'll let everyone enjoy it on their own.


Also thanks to Justin Kreutzmann for the pic. Check out his great blog as well - Rock And Reel

You can grab the show here...

SerialPod - 2005-12-17 - 17th Annual Christmas Jam - Asheville Civic Center -Asheville, NC

And here's their debut from the night before at the Pre-Jam show....

SerialPod - 2005-12-16 Pre-Jam Party - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC

Enjoy!!!!

SerialPod

Apparently the Trey/Cactus/Kreutzmann trio has a name and will from this day forward be known at SerialPod. Here's the setlists from the last two nights....

December 17, 2005
Warren Haynes Xmas Jam, Asheville, NC
*Cumberland Blues
Chalkdust Torture
On a Plain
^Wave The Ocean
Sweet Thing %
**Waves
**Angel #
**Loose Lucy

^ Nirvana cover % Van Morrison cover ** with Ivan Neville on keys # Jimi Hendrix cover

December 16, 2005 Asheville, NC
Wave The Ocean >
On Your Way Down*^
Iko Iko*^
Sugaree&

*with Ivan Neville on keys^Warren Haynes on guitar&Danny Louis on keys

Hopefully some downloads will be up soon, pretty curious to hear how some of this stuff sounded.

Phall Tour '06??

So this has been floating around the internets over the last couple of days....

Tentative Phish Tour Dates

I wouldn't get too excited though. First off whoever put this together should have consulted spell check before trying to pass this off they spelt Worcester wrong - it doesn't have an 'h' there buddy. Second off come on anyone with a scanner and some letterhead can easily do something like this. In fact when I worked on an MTV show called High School Stories: Scandals, Pranks & Controversies we did a story on this similar prank involving a fake letter....

In June 2000, two seniors made more than 600 copies of the school's master key and mailed it to other students along with a bogus letter from the principal. The school spent $100,000 to change all its locks and threatened to call the F.B.I. That's when the students confessed. They were fined $1,250, required to do 200 hours of public service and denied the right to take part in graduation ceremonies.

Pretty clever huh.

Door #3

So the folks over at Slack LaLane are reporting that Trey Band will now be the support act for the Black Crowes on NYE. Apparently the announcement will be coming later today - hopefully someone confirmed this with Ernest prior to going public with it.


While checking out the Crowes website the other day came across this post about ticket exchanges for the NYE - seems like sales might not be so hot. I know they released some great seats a few weeks back.

Phebruary

Well as Mr. Lesh promised after skipping NYC on his recent tour that he's be back in 2006 he wasn't lying - he's not only going to be back he might as well rent an apartment while he's here. Phil and Friends will be playing a total of eight nights in NYC - February 10-12, 14-15 at the Beacon Theater & 17-19 at the Hammerstein Ballroom (I'm sure this will become 10 shows when it's all said and done).

The tour is being dubbed 'Hell I Still Love New York' - so judging by the name my bet is on Ryan Adams being involved. Though you have to wonder what their relationship is like now after the whole Vegoose debacle of him backing out at the last minute. Anyway despite the fact that I've seen my share of mediocre P&F shows (I even walked out of one once) I've definitely been digging the more roots-y, song based shows he's been doing over the last year - no more mindless noodling jams that don't go anywhere.

Tickets through Phil's online tickets start this Friday or if you want to kick it old school mail order is also Friday as well.

Here's a couple of download's from his most recent tour to kept you entertained till then....

2005-11-26 Chicago Theatre -Chicago, Il
2005-12-08 House of Blues - Atlantic City, NJ
2005-11-23 NJPAC - Newark, NJ

Been Caught Stealin'

Once again I'm stealing stuff from the peeps over at Slack LaLane with these two great links - here's their descriptions of them....

The first is called Pandora, created by the Music Genome Project, and it basically creates a virtual radio station based around your inputted preferences. You can tell Pandora what songs you like, what songs you don't, who your favorite artists are, and like a musical Jewish mother, it'll try to introduce you to as many new bands and tunes as possible.

The second is Music-Map, which allows you to input an artist and find out to which other bands people who like that band also listen. It sounds more confusing than it really is, so just go on over there and see what the hell I'm talking about.

Thanks guys!!!!

The Country Music Station Plays Soft

I don't currently own or subscribe to satellite radio yet. If I did I think I would now have a tough time choosing between Siruis and XM. I'm extremely curious to see what Stern is going to do now that he won't have the FCC on his ass anymore - since from what I've heard he's pretty much been mailing it in for the last year. Today though XM announced a major addition to their line-up of DJ Zimmy who will be on starting in March 2006.


According to XM, 'Dylan will offer regular commentary on music and other topics, host and interview special guests including other artists and will take emails from XM subscribers'. I'm going to have to find someone that has XM by then so I can take a listen to this - should be interesting. This is just another example of how much commercial radio sucks - though I would think most everyone knows that by now.

Hipster Holiday Gifts

Looking for the perfect gift for the hipster music fan in your life well look no further then The Modern Age's 2005 Hipster Gift Guide.

You can also impress your music snob friends at your holiday party by downloading these two indie-rock holiday song compilations from the infinite PET - featuring the likes of Sufjan Stevens, The Walkmen, Yo La Tengo, and Death Cab for Cutie. Grab Volume 1 and Volume 2, apparently Vol. 3 is on it's way too.

Let The Year End Lists Begin

Figured I'd give a plug to the fine folks over at Glide Magazine - since I do contribute to the site. They recently posted their Top 20 Albums of the Year - enjoy.

moe.'s tavern

So the moe. acoustic trio will be playing Coda once again this Sunday night. Get your tickets here. Here's their first two shows....

2005-11-28 Coda - New York, NY
2005-12-04 Coda - New York, NY

If I'm around Sunday I might try and hit this.

Also for those of you headed to see The Black Crowes on NYE while I was bummed to see that My Morning Jacket had to pull out of the show because of complications from lead singer's Jim James pneumonia - they swapped in another killer band in their place by adding The Secret Machines. They will finally be playing a room big enough for their sound and kick-ass light show. Here's a review of their recent NYC gig at Webster Hall (via Live Music Blog).

For those of you out there that haven't seen TSM yet take a listen to their late-night set from Bonnaroo which features their sludgy version of Dylan's Girl From The North Country....

2005-06-11 Bonnaroo - Manchester, TN

How To Create A Hip Year's Best Albums List

One more post for today - yeah I know four in one day, big day for me. As the year winds down we will soon be subjected to everyone's Top 10 albums of the year list. Well my friend over at My Blog Is Poop has some advice for creating yours.

Here's a couple of examples from his post....

Make sure to include an album that just came out. This will lead people to believe that you got an advanced copy months ago and had plenty of time to get into it. But WARNING- BE CAREFUL- make sure it's not something that will become popular or produce a radio-friendly single in the next couple of months. Nothing will kill your indie cred than including the next Killers on your next Hip List.

Before you begin, make sure you pre-empt your list by saying/blogging/writing in your journal that there weren't many great albums out this year and that music sucks in general right now. If you don't, people will assume that you derive pleasure out of making lists about your favorite things. And that's soooo unhip.

Read on here...

How To Make A Hip End of the Year 'Best Albums' List

Good stuff.

Linkage

Here's a couple links to keep you busy today...

Looks like the CBGB saga is finally over. The club plans to close it's doors on Halloween of next year - though owner Hilly Kristal is looking into some new spaces on the LES to reopen.

Here's an interesting one from the Washington Post on indie bands selling their music to be used on tv shows, commercials, etc.

Also for anyone that cares the Grammy nominations came out today - but seriously does anyone really get excited for about this??? Here's the list of nominees - you know there is problem when Mariah Carey gets the most nods.

Self-Promotion

Here's my latest review for Glide Magazine.....

Stubbs The Zombie Soundtrack

25 Years Ago Today

Buy, Play, Trade, Repeat

Here's an interesting Op-Ed piece from the NY Times today about cd copy protection from the frontman for the band OK Go....

Buy, Play, Trade, Repeat

He brings up some great points in the piece. Enjoy.

Phishful Dead Trio

As if the line-up for the Warren Haynes X-Mas Jam wasn't great enough it's just gotten a bit cooler with the addition of Mr. Bill Kreutzman who will join the previous announced duo of Big Red & Cactus to form a trio for the night.


In honor of the announcement check out Slack LaLane for their post of Phish's version of Terrapin Station from 8/9/98 Virginia Beach Ampitheatre.

I Love Tuesdays

Here is the lone purchase for the week....

Ray LaMontagne - Live At Bonnaroo 2005 EP

I previously wrote about this guy here (actually as part of a Bonnaroo preview) for Jambands.com.

Bragging

Just wanted to brag a little bit about my alma mater - The George Washington University's men's basketball team who came up with the win tonight against number #22 Maryland at the BB&T Classic. This was a big win for the Colonials who came into the game ranked #19 in the AP and #20 in the Coaches Poll. This was certainly the toughest game GW has had this season(they've played a pretty soft schedule going into this game), but they proved they belong in the Top 25. There next big test comes at the end of this month when they play at N.C. State .

Juicy Juice

Through the magic of the internet (and someone getting an advance of the album) you can download The Strokes new album here - via Done Waiting (it's due out on January 3rd - so be the first cool kid on your block listening to it a good month before it hits the streets).

You can also watch their somewhat controversial new video here - featuring indie-rock's favorite comedian David Cross. You can read about the controversy here - via The Modern Age

Picture Pages, Picture Pages, Open Up Your Picture Pages....

Saw this the other day - luckily the peeps over at Slack Lalane did too (because I honestly forgot where I found it, thanks guys). There are 75 bands represented, see if you can find them all...

When I first saw that picture it instantly made me think of this classic dormroom poster....

Have fun!!!

The Chairman of the Boards

Looks like Mr. Page McConnell is coming out of hiding again to perform with his old pal and Vida Blue bandmate Russell Batiste at the Lion's Den on December 14th, which is being billed as Russell Batiste & Friends: A New Orleans Musicians Benefit. Here's the line-up for the show....

A New Orleans Musician Benefit Russell Batiste and Friends 9pm
David Russell Batiste Sr.Adam Deitch (Lettuce)Dave Dreiwitz (Ween)Gordon Jones (DJ Williams Projekt)Chris Jacobs (The Bridge)w/ a special appearance by Page McConnell (Phish) Other special guests to be announced!

It's $20 and I'm sure it'll be well worth the admission for a great cause.

Here's a few downloads featuring Batiste....

The Meters - 1991-12-7 - Mensa, Germany
Ratdog - 2002-03-30 House of Blues - New Orleans, LA
Papa Grow Funk - 2002-05-30 BB King's - NYC, NY
Russell Batiste/Chris Jacobs/Stanley Perkins - 2004-12-31 - The Funk Box - Baltimore, MD

Also if you're in NYC and looking for something to do on Sunday night Al, Chuck & Rob (of moe.) are doing another acoustic trio performance at Coda - guess they're making up for not coming through NYC as much as they used to.

Hippie Spring Break

Seems like the folks that put together the Langerado festival have taken a page straight out of the Superfly playbook as they unveiled the initial line-up for their fest. Take a look....

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Wilco, The Meters, The Black Crowes, The Flaming Lips, The Disco Biscuits, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Keller Williams, The Secret Machines, Burning Spear, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, RJD2, Kid Koala, Steel Pulse, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Umphrey's McGee, Drive-By Truckers, Lyrics Born, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, MOFRO, Slightly Stoopid, Brazilian Girls, Rose Hill Drive, Brothers Past and Pnuma Trio.

This is quite the impressive line-up. Glad to see the people are finally realizing the jamband fans are some of the most open minded folks out there who don't just listen to bootlegs of Phish shows.

Heard it's a great time and a small fest to boot - only 15,000 tickets being sold. So grab you're tickets when the go on sale this weekend.

Here's a few shows from previous years....

Umphrey's McGee - 2005-03-12
Keller Williams - 2005-03-13 - Sawgrass Stage
STS9 - 2004-03-06

Dead Soundboards

Just wanted to weigh in on the whole Archive.org /Dead issue, this has become quite the hot topic among live music fans. You know the story is big when the New York Times is even covering it. This whole thing really seems to stand against what the Dead as an organization has always been about. Deadheads are probably the most loyal fans in all of music and to say all of a sudden 'Yes it's great to trade show, but we no longer want this website to make soundboard recordings available to you to download,' just doesn't make any sense to me. Most of these recording have been available for years and years, just now you have instint access to them instead of getting a 15th generation cassette of a soundboard in the mail.

This whole thing is certainly doesn't seemed to be aimed at the older Deadheads. They are the ones that shell out the money for the Dick's Picks and the other archive releases. I think they're going after the kids instead who probably don't have the money to buy up every release the organization puts out and are basically telling them if you want the good shit you're going to have to ante up. Seems like they're just getting greedy here. Don't get me wrong I think it's great they have they're own digital download series. I for one not only download shows, but I buy a good amount of the stuff the put out in the stores and on their website. It's just they seem to be approaching this all wrong. You're going to have fans that will only seek out the free stuff, but I would place a healthy wager on the fact that the majority of their fans are spending money on the official stuff.

Both Phil Lesh and David Gans (host of the Grateful Dead Hour) expressed they're dismay with the whole issue. You can read Phil's reaction at his website http://phillesh.com

As of right now it's being reported that only audience recording will be made available, instead of the initial streaming only policy. You'll have to find your soundboards somwhere else (namely bt.etree who's been flooded with them in recent days - grab them while you can).

Garcia Auction

Every want to own Jerry Garcia's frig? Well now you can, the Sophia Foundation is currently auctioning off some interesting items from Jerry's last home including the dishwasher, bathtub and even the toliet. All the money is going to a good cause.

Link Of The Day/I Love Tuesdays

Just want to thank the fine folks over at Slack LaLane for this great link from an Ebay auction.....

Trey's High School Yearbook

Nothing out this week worth purchasing, but I'm going to take this opportunity to make a recommendation....

Nada Surf - Let Go

My roommate turned me on to this cd and I have thus burned it for a bunch of other people who've also fell in love with this album of perfect wintry pop songs. Go pick it up.

Weekend Wrap Up

Thanksgiving weekend in the New York City area can't be beat if you're a music fan. Over the course of four days I had the opportunity to catch four different bands, at four different venues. I won't bore you all with the details of the shows, but I do have a new band that I've now become a fan of - Scarecrow Collection. I don't really get excited about too many of the 'newer' jambands out there, but after catching moe. at Roseland on Friday night I headed down to the Knit to catch SC - with the promise that my man Lo Faber(formerly of God Street Wine - a band I used to really dig) would be sitting in (unfortunately had to miss out on his solo acoustic set earlier in the night). There was maybe about 30 or so people there, but man was there a lot of energy in the room. These guys play what I would call organic-jamrock - it falls somewhere in the realm of the Black Crowes , ekoostik hookah and Tea Leaf Green - and Lo did sit in for three songs which included the classic GSW song 'Get On The Train'.

Here's a couple SC shows to check out (didn't see anyone taping Friday night)....

2005-08-15 The Brass Lantern - Reading, PA
2005-10-07 Revolution Hall - Troy, NY

And here's moe.'s weekend run....

2005-11-25 Roseland Ballroom - NYC, NY
2005-11-26 Roseland Ballroom - NYC, NY

Unfortunately was too tired to catch the moe. acoustic show tonight at Coda, but looking forward to the download tomorrow. Also for all you GSW fans out there Lo will be playing the Knit with his band on Friday, December 16th - see you there!!!

You Can Get Everything You Want....

Not sure if they do this all around the country, but in the New York City area every Thanksgiving on the classic rock radio station at noon they play Arlo Guthrie's classic social/political anthem 'Alice's Restaurant Massacre'. It's become a tradition that me and my dad listen to it each year. We don't really share much as far as music goes so it's nice that we do this and it's something that I look foward to as well.


So in the spirit of Thanksgiving here's a download from this summer. It's the 40th anniversary of the song this year too. Enjoy all 18 plus minutes of it....

Arlo Guthrie - June 15, 2005 Hudson RiverFest - Nelson A. Rockefeller Park

I Love Tuesdays....Wednesday Edition

Didn't pick up anything in the stores yesterday, but got sent a couple of CDs to review for Glide. Here's what I got....

The Go! Team -Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Various Artists - Stubbs The Zombie (The Soundtrack)

Going to see Reid Genauer & The Assembly of Dust out at Mexicali Blues Cafe tonight - really looking forward to it - haven't seen him in ages and seems like a great way to start off the long weekend of music and eating.

Enjoy Thanksgiving!!!

Lost Weekend

Been out of commission for the last few days because I had my brother's wedding this weekend so unfortunately had to miss out on all the great music that was invading the city. So while I missed out on Huey Lewis sitting in with Umphrey's on consecutive nights, Tea Leaf Green's NYC coming out weekend, Ryan Adams ignoring his audience and the drunken crowd at NMAS - I will make up for though as Thanksgiving weekend in NYC is always jammed packed with some great shows.

You can grab some of this weekend's shows here....

Umphrey's McGee 2005-11-18 Irving Plaza
Umphrey's McGee 2005-11-19 Irving Plaza
Tea Leaf Green 2005-11-19 Coda

I'll hopefully have a better post up tomorrow. Enjoy the music.

Live/Dead

I'm not really into the whole tribute band thing. I really don't understand how anyone can go see a band like Ants Marching or Phix when you can go see other bands play original music - or see the actual band itself. With that being said I do have a soft spot for Dead cover bands - yes I know it's a double standard, but sometimes I just have to hear some live Dead. So last night I had opportunity to catch Dark Star Orchestra at Irving Plaza. This is the second time I've seen them and damn did they play an rockin' show - 9/8/73 from the Nassau coliseum which include a ton of my favorite tunes.

A lot has already been written about the DSO experience, so I won't really bore you with that. But yes they do what they do and they do it well - it's almost a bit eerie how much they sound like the Dead. I only had the opportunity to see the Grateful Dead three times, but have since seen all the subsequent bands on numerous occasions - Ratdog (who I have a bit of a soft spot for), Phil & Friends, The Other Ones, The Dead. While I've really enjoyed seeing these bands it's nothing like hearing those songs played they way they're supposed to sound - not Bobby singing 'Stella Blue' or Phil doing 'Scarlet Begonias'. So do yourself a favor if your a Dead fan and have the opportunity to see DSO go you won't be disappointed.

Here's last night's setlist....

09-08-73 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, N.Y. (Sat)
1: Bertha, Me & My Uncle, Sugaree, BIODTL, Tennessee Jed, L. L. Rain, B. E. Women, Jack Straw, Row Jimmy, WRS Prelude> WRS Part 1> Let It Grow, Eyes> China Doll
2: Greatest, Ramble On, Big River, Let Me Sing, China Cat> I Know You Rider, El Paso, He's Gone> Truckin> NFA> GDTRFB> NFA
E: Stella Blue> Saturday Night

Download the original show here....

1973-09-08 Nassau Coliseum

Self Promotion

Here's my latest review for Glide Magazine....

Variable Unit - Mayhemystics Outbreak

The Circle Of Life

So I'm watching the UCLA/New Mexico State Preseason NIT game last night when the announcers mention that the coach of NMS is Reggie Theus. Well that got the old synapses firing when I say to myself 'Hey didn't Reggie Theus play a basketball coach on a Saved By The Bell type Saturday morning show for NBC called Hang Time? Wait a minute he did!'


Don't know why I found this to be funny. Maybe because I remember that show being so damn cheesy or the fact the during his interview to be their coach he might have brought up the fact that his prior coaching experience was playing one on TV where he had a girl play on a boy's basketball team. Didn't this high school ever hear of Title IX? (Well that's a story for another time I guess). Clearly I watch too much television.

I Love Tuesdays

Here are the purchases for the week....

Wilco - Kicking Television - Live In Chicago
Bright Eyes - Motion Sickness: Live Recordings

The Kids Are Alright

Saw this article in the Washington Post today and thought it was a pretty interesting read. A bunch of high school kids have started a Classic Rock Appreciation Society as an after school club. Good to see the kids getting schooled in the basics, classic rock was a big part of my high school years. The article though does mention their love for the band Chicago - I guess I'll let that slide.

The writer's argument that MTV is still at the forefront of determining what music kids listen to might be a bit off. Not sure if he has tuned into the channel over the last five or so years - if you want to see a music videos now a days you'll have to tune if from 5 AM till 11 AM.

And The Winner Is....

Well I guess it's time for me to finally chime in about MLB's postseason awards on the heels of today's announcement of the ARod as the AL MVP. Seems that everyone outside of New York had already handed the award over to Big Papi before the season was over - he ended up finishing second in the race. Yes ARod stunk it up in the ALDS, but as all diehard baseball fans know the award is voted on before the playoff start. So that aside this guy did have a monster season and became the first Yankee to win the award since Donnie Baseball did it in 1985 - wow can't believe that was twenty years ago.

Check out these numbers....


G: 162
AB: 605
R: 124
H: 194
2B:29
3B: 1
HR: 48
RBI: 130
SB: 21
BA: .321
OBP: .421
SLG: .610


Seems like the bottom line in the voting was that ARod played the field. I won't knock Ortiz he had a hell of a season and had some huge hits down the stretch for the Sox, but he really only plays half the game being a DH while Alex played Gold Glove caliber defense.

Yes I definitely did my fair share of knocking ARod this season for getting a lot of meaningless hits that seem to pad his stats and lack of clutch hits at times, but down the stretch he helped carry this team to the AL East title.

While both Mo and Cano were robbed of the CY Young and Rookie of the Year awards respectively it's great to see Alex's season being validated.

Three Quarter Way There

It's Sunday night and I'm just killing time till The Simpsons/Family Guy/American Dad so figured I'd post about what happened at the Trey show in Utica on Friday night. All I need to say is check out the picture....

You can read all about it over at Live Music Blog ....

Halfway There Becomes Three Quarters

They got some great stuff up from the show including some video.

You can also download here....

2005-11-11 - Utica Memorial Auditorium - Utica, NY

R.I.P. Tribeca Rock

In the ongoing gentrification of Lower Manhatten the Tribeca Rock Club will be closing it's doors next month to make way for a new building of luxury condos. I can't say I will really miss the place, I was probably there less then ten times in its short existence. I did though see a few killer shows there. I was previledged enough to be there the night that Trey sat in with the Seth Yacovone Band for a solid two hours or so with maybe less then 100 people there. I also saw the OM Trio do a post-Phish New Year's show as well as their farewell show there too. So while I certainly won't be that bummed to see it go, it's just one less venue for smaller bands to play. Maybe the Lion's Den will pick up the slack - I'm sure they could use the business and maybe avoid booking so many tribute bands.

So in honor of the Tribeca Rock Club here's a few of shows to check out....

OM Trio Farewell Show - 2004-12-09
Rana - 2004-04-21
Garaj Mahal - 2004-03-05

Be sure to check their schedule, I'm sure they'll be some special farewell shows to check out.

Craigslist Rules!!!

A few weeks ago I stood in line for four hours in hopes of scoring tickets to one or both of the Jeff Tweedy shows at Tribeca Performing Arts Center and all I walked away with was tickets to two shows that I really didn't care to much about and sore legs. But through the miracle of Craigslist I found someone that was willing to part ways with one of their tickets for two tickets to see Buddy Guy - which I'm sure will be a great show (though one has to wonder how John Mayer left him alone long enough to schedule his own dates). Picking up the ticket tonight and I'll probably have a perma-grin till then - can't wait!!!

From what I've read the shows have been great so far, with Tweedy digging deep into his catalog playing stuff from the various groups he's be in - Uncle Tupelo, Loose Fur, Golden Smog and of course Wilco. You can download all things Wilco here - bt.viachicago.org

Here's a couple shows off the tour so far....

2005-11-08 Michigan Theater - Ann Arbor, MI
2005-11-05 Orpheum Theater - Madison, WI

Don't Think Twice It's Alright

So this email showed up in my inbox yesterday.....

From: "Concerts Tonight"
To: "List Member"
Subject: ZZ Top Special Offer!
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 13:20:23 -0800

A pair of free tickets from concertstonight.com!!
Thank you for helping to make this falls concert season a tremendous
success. As a special thank you, you are part of a limited group that
are being offered a pair of tickets to ZZ Top's opening night
performance at the Beacon Theatre this Thursday (Nov 10) at 8pm.

This is ZZ Top's first New York City appearance in 10 years, and you
can be there to groove with the lil 'ol band from Texas as they
play their classics.

The first 50 people to respond by 2pm on Thursday (Nov 10) will have
two tickets waiting for them at the Beacon this Thursday. If you would
like to attend, please send an email to concertstonight@metro-talent.com
with you name and email address. You will receive a email to confirm
your tickets.

For more concert info visit www.concertstonight.com.

So I figured, with a bit of skepticism, what the hell I'll respond they already have my email address and no one was offering to wire millions of dollars into my bank account. A couple of hours later I get an email back saying two tickets will be waiting for me at the box office. So I'm going to see ZZ Top tonight - and you know what it'll probably be fun they don't have an album to promote, so no new material and the Beacon Theater is actually a cool place to see a band like that and more importantly it's free!

I will admit this isn't the first time I've seen them - that happened back in 1994, back in the golden age of Classic Rock radio when I was a senior in high school and saw them play at the Garden.

I'm not going to sit and defend everything they've done or pretend that I'm a huge fan, but go out and pick yourself up a copy of Tres Hombres it's a damn good album. Plus all you Phish fans out there let's not forgot that the boys used to cover not one, but two of their songs.

Here's a couple of downloads from Dimeadozen.org one from back in '94 and one off of this tour....

1994-05-24 Hartford, CT
2005-10-20 Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, Florida

Two Headed Monster

As if the The Sports Guy wasn't good enough, ESPN.com's Page 2 has now added the genius of Chuck Klosterman - who will contribute a column once a month to the site - and I couldn't be more excited (well I did score a ticket to see Jeff Tweedy next week so I'm slightly more excited about that).

If you're not familiar with Chuck go out and pick up a copy of Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puff or Killing Yourself To Live or go and read his monthly column in Spin Magazine and you'll realize why I'm so excited about this.

Here's an brief excerpt from his new column, just to prove my point....

"I am an apolitical person. Absolutely nobody believes me when I say that, but it's true. Every conservative person I know thinks I'm mixing Noam Chomsky's personal Kool-Aid, and every liberal I know seems to assume I want to shampoo Ann Coulter's hair while watching outtakes from "The Passion of the Christ." I have no idea how this happened. For example, I don't have an opinion on abortion. I really, truly do not. You want to have an abortion? Fine; take my car keys, You think abortion is murder? Well, you're probably right. Who knows? Either way, it doesn't have anything to do with me. Do I think George W. Bush is the worst president of my lifetime? Well, of course I do -- but that's not because he's a Republican. It's because he somehow (a) got into Yale, yet (b) claims "the jury is still out" on the theory of evolution."

Halfway There

Well as I stuck to my convictions and didn't go see Trey last night at Roseland I missed out on him debuting his 'new' band during the encore that he dubbed 'Halfway There'......

Yes I'm a bit bummed I missed out on seeing Page (oh how I miss him), but then again if Trey is that jazzed about his new record and band why is he consistently doing Phish tunes? In my opinion that's what people are going to his shows expecting to hear - as well as a sit in by his former bandmates. I doubt anyone is really that excited to see 'Sweet Dreams Melinda' or 'Love is Freedom'.

Anyways you can read about it over at Slack LaLane ....

Play It Leo

And here....

Jambands.com News

Oh John Medeski also sat in during the 2nd encore for 'First Tube' too. I guess the moral of the story is next time I'll think twice about missing Big Red in NYC. I will grab this when it's up for download later today.

I Love Tuesdays

Really nothing that great came out this week, but I did pick this up.....

Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff

I know it's been out for awhile, but looking foward to giving it a spin.

Rockin' The Suburbs (Well Radio City, With A Lot Of Suburban Kids In The Audience)

So going to see Ben Folds tonight. Saw him back in the spring at Town Hall here in NYC and it was great show, he's a lot of fun to see live. He covers Dr. Dre's 'Bitches Ain't Shit' and does it as a ballad - come on that takes some balls. To be honest though the only reason I'm going to tonight is because I got offered a free ticket and love seeing shows at Radio City. He has yet to disappoint me live so I'm going in with a good attitude - despite the feeling it might be the same show I already saw.


Bt.etree has got some of his shows up for download....

8/10/2005 Ravinia Festival - Highland Park, IL
8/24/2005 Mountain Winery - Saratoga, CA

Check it out, he does a good job at mixing in classic Ben Folds Five songs with the newer stuff, and he's got some funny stories as well. Enjoy!!

Vegoose Torrents

A bunch of music from Vegoose is starting to roll in - from both the festival grounds and late night shows. You can download a bunch of stuff over at Bt.Etree.org and Live Music Blog Vegoose Torrents ...


Lots of great non-jambads stuff up already including Arcade Fire , The Decemberists , Devendra Banhart , Beck

And the also have some of the usual suspects up too....
Gov't Mule , Widespread Panic , Sound Tribe Sector 9 , Umprhey's McGee

Enjoy!!!!