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!!!!

I Love Tuesdays

Here are the purchases for the week....

Trey Anastasio - Shine

Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith