I Love Tuesdays...Thursday Edition

Here's the lone purchase for the week....

Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

Denied

Tried to get tickets for The Reconteurs show at Irving today, but seemed like the show sold out in less then a minute. I was on at 12 on the nose and before the clock on my computer even turned to 12:01 Ticketmaster was telling me that there were no tickets left. So if anyone out there has one or two tickets to spare let me know, would love to catch this show.

If not will probably be hitting the Josh Rouse show at Town Hall that night instead. Go pick up his new album Subtitulo - it's damn good.

The Reconteurs @ Irving Plaza

Jack White's pop-rock side project with fellow Detroit resident Brendan Benson - The Reconteurs - will be playing Irving Plaza on April 7th. This is only American show scheduled besides an appearance at this summer's Lollapolooza.



Tickets go on sale March 30th, at noon - good luck, this is going to be a hot ticket.

Swan Song

Check out Chuck Klosterman's last two pieces for Spin - My Backpages - 1990 & his review of the looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong-awaited Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy. Am I really to believe that this album is finally going to see the light of day??

We'll see where Chuck ends up now that he's left Spin, but definitely a move for the best as Spin changes formats yet again and for the worse. Glad I found out the news before I sent in my renewal form.

Don't Be That Guy

Head on over to The Greenhause Effect for a great post on concert t-shirt etiquette. Check it out here.

Scalpers Suck

I was pretty optimistic that I'd roll up to the Beacon last night and find a reasonably priced ticket outside. Boy was I wrong. What I found was about 10-15 ticket scalpers roaming the block harassing anyone and everyone who was trying to buy or sell extras. Slightly frustrating. Sure if I wanted to pony about 150 bucks I could have bought one off these guys, but a) that was way out my price range and b) no way was I going to support these guys who made it impossible to buy a ticket off anyone without them barging in and throwing cash at people. The scalpers were not only walking the block in front of the Beacon, but also standing in front of bars and restaurants in the area - they've definitely got a bit more resourceful.

So the moral of the story here is don't buy tickets from scalpers and please don't sell your extras to them. Sure I was slightly frustrated and disappointed that I didn't get in, but hey they probably got stuck with a fist load of tickets they couldn't get rid of.

March Madness

The Allman Brothers Band are wrapping the annual run at the Beacon this weekend. I think I'm going to try and score a ticket for tonight's show. So if anyone out there is reading this and has an extra they want to sell let me know.

Some rumors floating around are that the estranged Brother Dickey Betts will be showing up tonight and also that John Hammond will be sitting in as well.

Langerado Torrents

Justin over at Live Music Blog has returned from Jam In The Dam and has been nice enough to collect a bunch of torrents from Langerado for all your downloading needs. Check it out here.

So stop by welcome him back and grab some tunes.

The Way Back Machine

Last night caught Lo Faber at Sin-e with Ace Cowboy and while it might not have been the all old school setlist I was hoping for it was still a fun time and man did some of those songs make me feel quite nostalgic. God Street Wine was probably the first jamband band I got into after the Dead and Phish. Seems like that whole wave of mid-90s jambands are all but gone - Leftover Salmon, Ominous Seapods, Strangefolk (well the original line-up), etc.

So in honor of that here's some vintage shows....

God Street Wine - 1994-10-27 - Fox Theatre - Boulder, CO

Ominous Seapods - 1995-02-11 - Phi Delta Fraternity House - Dartmouth College - Hanover, NH

Strangefolk - 1997-04-05 - University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, NC

Leftover Salmon - 1996-08-09 - Round Mountain Music Park - Round Mountain, NC

Enjoy!!

Jazzfest Late Night

Superfly has announced its initial late-night line-up for Jazzfest. Here's the lowdown from Relix....

Throughout the two weekend festival, Superfly will present a number of artists aboard the Riverboat Cajun Queen including a John Medeski-bolstered version of Garage a Trois (4/28), The Radiators (4/29) and The Greyboy Allstars (5/4). In addition, Superfly will present a series of double bills at the Big Easy’s Contemporary Arts Center, the site of the company’s earliest shows, including Gov't Mule / Galactic with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (5/5) and The Meters/Robert Randolph and the Family Band (5/6). Other notable Superfly During JazzFest performances include Umphrey's McGee at the Republic (4/29) and a Frenchmen Street Festival : A Benefit for the Rebuilding of New Orleans (5/4)

I Love Tuesdays

Here are the purchases for the week...

Ben Harper - Both Sides Of The Gun
Loose Fur - Born Again In The U.S.A.
Josh Rouse - Subtitulo

Jenny Lewis @ Irving

Head on over to Fresh Bread for a review of the Jenny Lewis show from Saturday night. I had a ticket to go, but was a on a shoot all day and couldn't muster enough energy to make it there. Was kind of bummed that night and even more so now that I read the review - but definitely needed the rest.

Hopefully she'll be back again soon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Check out how freaky tall the Watson Twins are in those pictures.

Odds & Ends

Sorry for the lack of posts, but work has kept me pretty busy the last week or so. I will try and get back into the habit of getting stuff up on a regular basis though.

So just a couple of things to report on. Seems like the Allman Brothers shows at the Beacon have been hot from what I've been reading. Guests have been a plenty including over this past weekend Taj Mahal and Ben Harper. Plus the decided they'd also pay tribute the probably the greatest live album ever made by performing Live At The Fillmore East in the order it appears on the album on it's 35th anniversary. Damn, I've got to get me to one of the remaining shows.

In other Allman's related news Gov't Mule is set to headline the second annual Mountain Jam on June 3rd & 4th at Hunter Mountain in Hunter, NY. Also scheduled to appear are Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Mike Gordon and Ramble Dove, MMW, Michael Franti & Spearhead, DJ Logic, the Benevento/Russo Duo, John Brown's Body, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, The Wood Brothers, Shannon McNally, The Benzos, Joey Eppard and The Trapps. Looks like a great line-up so far.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

It's been a bit of a crazy week for me, so once again apologize for the lack of posts. Hope everyone is having a great St. Patrick's Day. Heard way too much bagpipe music from the office since we're right off the parade route on 5th Avenue. Anyway big win for GW last night - too bad I had to miss it because of work. We take on the Dukies tomorrow - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we pull the upset.

In other news the initial line-up for Lollapalooza has been announced and looks pretty damn good. Hometown heroes Wilco are among the headliners.

More posts this weekend. I promise.

I Love Tuesdays

Nothing great out this week, but got this to review for Glide Magazine....

Derek Trucks Band - Songlines

Unfortunately some of the DTB's gear was stolen in Florida. Check out this report from Jambands.com....

Last Thursday while Derek Trucks was in New York City with the Allman Brothers band, nine hundred miles away some of his gear was being pinched. Indeed, the Derek Trucks Band trailer was stolen in Atlanta and individuals in the southeast in particular are encouraged to keep an eye out for the following pieces of equipment with the listed serial numbers:

Pearl 5-piece Drum Kit (Black) (SN# 652623, 642341, 83233, 6526231, 652163)
Fender Super Reverb Combo Amp
(blackface) with Weber speakers by Jenson (SN# A13225)
Fender Super Reverb Combo Amp (blackface) with Pile Driver speakers (SN# A06896)
Hammond B-3 Custom foot switch(SN# pending)
Hammond Leslie amp – 147 model (SN# H25474)
Hohner Clavinet E7 (SN# 3447 410)
Yamaha Motif keyboard (SN# IHO1189)
Ampeg SVT Bass Head (1974) (SN# 112149)
Matchless Chieftain 2X10 combo amp (’96)

Anyone who has any information about the theft should contact the band through its website.

No Respect

For those of you that read my blog on a semi-regular basis you how big a fan I am of my alma mater The George Washington University men's basketball team. Well it's been a frustrating 24 hours for me after watching the NCAA Selection Show last night - so I'm just going to rant a little. I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with the NCAA Selection Committee. What were they thinking when they decided they'd give GW a number 8 seed in the tournament? How is this possible? This is a team that lost only one game during the regular season. Went undefeated in conference play. And most importantly was in the Top 25 for the entire season. So explain please will someone explain the low seeding to me? Most people had us penciled in at a number five at worst. Seeding us number 8 means essentially is saying we're not even a Top 25 team.

That's not the worst of it. Ok sure if you want to give an 8 seed I guess I can live with it if I have to, but where to they get off having them play UNC Wilmington a nine seed in North Carolina? How does this reward a team that had their best season in over 50 years? A team that won the Atlantic 10 regular season title two years in a row and who is getting their best player back from injury this week? Just doesn't make sense to me. Why weren't we put in the DC region at least? Yes I know they had one of the worst S.O.S. in all of Division I basketball, but we're not talking about a team out of the America East or the Northeast Conference.

Anyway just had to vent. The news doesn't get any better for the Colonials if they win their first round match-up they'd be pitted against a little team of Durham, NC - seriously could we have been screwed anymore????

Odds & Ends

Haven't been to good at posting much of anything this week - I'll blame it on starting a new job that has kept me pretty busy. Despite my lack of posts I did manage to squeeze in a couple of shows. Wednesday night saw Nada Surf for the second time in about a month. Definitely a tighter show then I saw at the Merc, but think they played for a little too long and played a few too many slow tunes that kind of took the crowd out of it for some stretches. Love them though. Go pick up their last two albums - seriously go and do it today.

Friday night I finally got to see my first Tea Leaf Green show at the Knit. These guys definitley lived up to most of the hype - though thought the mix was a bit muddy. When you cover The Velvet Underground, The Beatles and Bob Dylan in the same show along with some great original stuff you'll make a fan out of me and get me out to see you again. Also thanks to the heady people at VH1 you can hear a snippet of their tune 'Sea Monkeys' on I Love Toys - I'm sure you can figure out what it was used for.

This may be good news or bad news depending on how you look at it, but TLG has been asked to play as part of Dave Matthews Band Island Getaway this summer on Randall's Island - with Gov't Mule and Bela Fleck & The Flecktones (plus more to be announced). Definitely a big break for them, but do you really want to attract the DMB fans to your shows? Discuss.

Green Apple Music Fest

The Green Apple Music & Art Festival has finally revealed their line-up and concert schedule -check it out here. Slightly underwhelming if you ask me, but still some decent things to check out. Unfortunately just seems like a regular weekend of music here in the city, though obviously more jamband focused. Thought there would be more interesting bills somewhat in the spirit of the Jammys - though here's to hoping to some quality sit-ins.

Any guess on the 'Very Special Artist' listed to be playing Bowery Ballroom to close the festival out?? I'm gonna go with Ernest Anastasio III.

Leave your guesses in the comment section.

I Love Tuesdays

Here are the purchases for the week...

The Books - Lost And Safe
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
The Wood Brothers - Ways Not To Lose

Odds & Ends

Not too much going on to post about today. Starting my new job on Monday - which I'm really excited about, so if my post become somewhat sporadic blame it on the new gig. I'll try my very best though to get stuff up - I'm sure it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Anyway, apparently Hookaville - the multi-day bi-annual festival hosted by Ohio jammers ekoostik hookah - is turning 25. The event will be taking place on May 26-28 at Legend Valley. Already scheduled to take part is Blues Traveler (look for a big summer from them), Yonder Mountain String Band and Great American Taxi, with more to be announced. From what I've read this is a really solid, small festival.

It's been a rough year or so for hookah who have had a bunch of line-up changes with most notably Ed McGee leaving the band (though they have invited their original guitar player back, who hasn't played with the band in over ten years). I have been a fan of these guys for awhile and had the pleasure of catching a few of their NYC shows. They really never seemed to catch on outside the Mid-West, which was a shame - they're a great song oriented, roots-jamband and actually put out a couple of really solid albums too.

Here's some hookah for you to enjoy. I serious recommend checking them out if you don't know them....

ekoostik hookah - 2002-07-27 - Frontier Ranch - Kirkersville, OH (SBD)

ekoostik hookah - 2001-02-10 - Newport Music Hall - Columbus, OH

ekoostik hookah - 1998-08-29 - Frontier Ranch - Kirkersville, OH (SBD)

ekoostik hookah - 1996-06-13 - The Odeon - Cleveland, OH (SBD)

Spinning

I really couldn't care less about when magazines get bought and sold, hire and fire editors and all that stuff - well except a little bit when it come to magazines I read. Well Spin magazine was recently sold and editor-in-chief Sia Michel was fired and replaced by former Blender editor-in-chief Andy Pemberton. Ok so who cares? Well with Michel leaving, Chuck Klosterman has decided to pack it in as well. I swear I think his back page feature he'd been doing was the only reason I keep reading that magazine. Well it's probably for the best for Chuck since Pemberton said the magazine is going to focus on a 'younger demographic'. Great more coverage on bands I couldn't give a shit about. Read about here. (via Gawker) Looks like that re-subcription letter they just sent me will be going right in the trash.

Baseball Is Back!

I may be one of only a handful of people that are excited for the Yankees spring training opener today, but it's been a long winter without baseball. So yes I will be tuning into the YES Network today at 1 P.M. to watch all the excitement of Grapefruit League Baseball. Sure the regular players only play about an inning or two and you have guys running laps around the field while the game is going on, but hey it's baseball and I'm excited.

Gorillaz To Play Apollo Theater

Fictional cartoon band the Gorillaz will play the famous Apollo Theater on April 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6. The band will recreate last year's album Demon Days with the guest musicians featured on the album. Already confirmed are De La Soul, Ike Turner, Bootie Brown of the Pharcyde, Neneh Cherry, Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder, UK rapper Roots Manuva - and more to be announced.

Tickets go on sale March 10th at 11 A.M. via Ticketmaster. This could be really cool, though heard mixed things about when the toured a few years back behind their debut album.