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