I Love Tuesdays

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

The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun

P&F Review

My expectations weren't that high going into the Phil & Friends show on Saturday night. I was a bit disappointed there would be no Ryan Adams appearance and wasn't that thrilled with the line-up he had pulled together - no real lead singer. Despite all that I was ready to hear some Grateful Dead music and to have an interesting cab ride home in a blizzard - which is always a good time.

The first set started off in typical P&F fashion with a warm-up jam that lead into China Cat -> Rider - which was sort of uninspiring. Scarlet with Phil singing wasn't winning me over much either. My mood started to change though as Barry Sless dropped his guitar and moved over to the pedal steel as Scarlet segued into The Wheel, this is when things really started clicking and the band found their groove. They nailed the rest of the country/americana tinged set. Ryan Adams Let It Ride off of Cold Roses fit in nicely and might have been the highlight of the set, until they absolutely nailed Cumberland Blues - a song that may be my favorite of the Workingman's/American Beauty era Dead. The UJB closer put the cap on what ended up being a stellar first set.

As an empty microphone stand on stage went unused in the first set a roadie brought out another guitar during the break and we knew Phil had something up his sleeve for set two. Well as the lights went down the familiar (and a bit slimed down) Warren Haynes made his way to the stage. Probably the easiest of guests to predict to be sitting in during this run, but always a welcomed sight. Set two had more old school P&F show feel - meaning it was much more jammy. Where as Phil was calling the shots in the first set, Warren was at the helm in the second. Set two opened with Shakedown which eventually moved into Viola Lee Blues - the jam vehicle for the set. This set had a more blues-y feel and saw Joan take center stage a couple of times while channeling her best Janis & Pigpen with some great blues raps during Hard To Handle & Caution. Have to admit I was quite impressed with her performance throughout the night especially during these songs. The band weaved in and out of Viola Lee and eventually leading into a sped up version of Bertha. Set finished out with Fire On The Mountain & Not Fade Away which is always the crowd pleaser.

Coming back out for the encore they busted out Strawberry Fields Forever - the venue's proximity to the Dakota certainly made it a fitting selection, plus the Dead always loved playing Beatles tunes too. Warren nailed Comes A Time which has become a love letter to Jerry and they closed out the night with the psychedelic freak-out of The Golden Road leaving us all to head out into the blizzard of '06 with perma-grins on are faces.

Here's the setlist in case you're keeping score at home....

Set I: Jam > China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Scarlet Begonias > The Wheel> Let It Ride, Cumberland Blues, Uncle John's Band

Set II: Shakedown Street > Viola Lee Blues > Hard to Handle > Viola Lee Blues > Bertha > Bartering Lines > Caution > Fire on the Mountain, Not Fade Away

Enc: Strawberry Fields Forever > Comes A Time > The Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion)

Saturday In The Park

Well as New York prepares for it's first snow storm since December (apparently now it's back to being a blizzard) I'm gearing up for what is hopefully going to be a nice little Saturday that I have planned. First up at 2 PM I'll be watching the #8 George Washington Colonials take on the St. Joe's Hawks on ESPN2. I seriously still have a hard time believing that we're in the Top Ten at times. We're finally getting some of the press and respect that this team was lacking all season - hopefully we live up to the hype. We haven't won at Alumni Fieldhouse since 1998, but did beat St. Joe's by 12 earlier this season.

Then later on tonight hitting P&F at the Beacon. Here's the setlist from last night....

Set 1:
New York New York (Barraco singing, RA tune)>
Jam>
Playin' In The Band> Jam>
Cold Roses (RA tune, Joan singing)
West LA Fadeaway (Joan)
No More Do I (Phil & Joan)> Jam>
Love The One You're With (Joan)
Lovelight (Joan)

Set 2:
After Midnight (Joan)> Jam>
Magnolia Mountain (Joan)>
Birdsong>
Unbroken Chain
The Rescue Blues (RA tune, Joan)>
Good Lovin' (Joan)
Help On The Way>
Slipknot>
Franklin's Tower

Food Drive rap
Donor rap
Intros

Encore:
Casey Jones

I'm certainly not as excited as yesterday now that the possibility of Ryan Adams joining them is out, but still should be a good time and maybe Phil has got something special up his sleeve for tonight. Find it weird that he's doing this tour without a big time lead singer. Sure Joan was great singing back-up with The Dead a few years back, but not sure if she can carry the show. I'll give you my review tomorrow.

Bonnaroo Additions

Well it doesn't come as that much of a surprise, but Oysterhead has been added to the Bonnaroo line-up. Superfly is basically responsible for getting this super-group together in the first place during JazzFest '00. This will be the first time the group has played together since '01, but there had been hints about them getting back together for some time now. Hopefully this won't be a one off and they'll do a national tour.


Also Umphrey's McGee and the Disco Biscuits will be playing a special joint late-night show, offering interlocking sets - should be quite the throwdown.

Unfortunately it looks like the most buzzed about jamband around, Tea Leaf Green, won't be making a return appearance to Manchester this year. TLG offers this explanation from their message board....

In the spirit of keeping you all informed so you can plan accordingly, we must announce that Tea Leaf Green will not be performing at Bonnaroo this year. Rest assured that we made every effort to secure an invitation to return to the scene of last summer's spectacular set. Understand that our good friends at Superfly have a policy to try and not have back-to-back performances by the same band two years in a row. Applying this policy, we have been deemed ineligible to play this year. We'd be lying if we said we weren't disappointed. But even though we do not agree with the decision, we must respect it. The fine folks at Superfly have been supportive of us and our music over the years and we look forward to working with them again and again in the years to come. If you are headed to Manchester this year, come a day early and catch our show at the Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga, less than an hour east on June 14. Chins up, Leafers! We'll rock the 'Roo in '07!!!

Here's some music to enjoy. Oysterheads debut, UM breakout set from the '04 'Roo and TDB from the inaugural edition of Bonnaroo....

Oysterhead - 2000-05-04 - Saenger Theater - New Orleans, LA (DSBD)

Umphrey's McGee - 2004-06-11 - The Other Tent - Bonnaroo Music Festival - Manchester, TN

Disco Biscuits - 2002-06-22 - Bonnaroo Music Festival - Manchester, TN

Enjoy!!

Cold Rain & Snow

I'm going to be catching Phil & Friends tomorrow night at the Beacon and I'm quite excited about it - definitely need my Dead fix. Haven't seen any Dead related bands in quite awhile and haven't seen a Phil & Friends show since '01. I got a bit tired of their endless noodling jams that didn't seem to go anywhere, but I'm ready for tomorrow night. Phil revealed his band for the New York run today (from Relix)....

Hours before he is set to begin his New York residency at Manhattan's Beacon Theater, Phil Lesh has revealed his band's lineup. The bassist publicly announced on Sirius Radio that singer Joan Osborne, keyboardist Rob Barraco, pedal steel guitarist Barry Sless, guitarist/fiddler Larry Campbell and drummer Jeff Sipe will join him at both the Beacon Theater this weekend and at the Hammerstein Ballroom next week. Since reviving his Friends band in late 2004, Lesh has rotated players each tour, shuffling over a dozen musicians in-and-out of his lineup in the past two years. With the exception of Sipe, tonight's lineup will mirror the band Lesh used for his San Francisco New Year's Run. Sometime "Friend" Ryan Adams, who first performed with Lesh at the 2005 Jammy Awards, also made a surprise appearance with the bassist on New Year's Eve, as many fans hope he will tonight.

Hoping for Ryan tomorrow night, but would by happy with Chris Robinson as well. Or maybe Phil will deal us a wild card - Trey does live in NYC now.

Oh also there is supposed to be a blizzard that is going to hit NYC tomorrow - though I've heard conflicting reports.

Here's a few shows with some different line-ups.....

Phil Lesh and Friends w. Ryan Adams - 2005/12/31 - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium - San Francisco, CA

Phil Lesh and Friends w. Chris Robinson - Winter Tour 2005 - Soundboard Sampler

Phil Lesh and Friends w. Al Schnier - 2005-05-13 - Warfield Theater - San Francisco, CA

Phil Lesh and Friends w. Warren Haynes - 2003-09-25 - Warfield Theater - San Francisco, CA

I Want My MTV!

You have to love this brilliant article from MTV.com about Sly Stones appearance at the Grammys last night. Who Exactly Was That Weird Guy With The Mohawk At The Grammys? I think my favorite line might have to be this one....

A young person today might know his songs only from oldies radio or the long-running Toyota commercial that used his 1969 anti-racist hit "Everyday People"

And this one is a close second, just for the inclusion of the last name in the sentence...

His band's contribution to funk music is every bit as enduring as James Brown's, and Parliament-Funkadelic, Rick James, Prince, D'Angelo and Jermaine Dupri.

Despite how pandering the first few paragraphs are the article does do a good job in giving in giving a quick course in Sly 101.

Go Back Into Hiding

I think Ace Cowboy and I are mentally linked today. I was going to post my thoughts on Sly Stone at the Grammys last night, but Ace literally said just about everything I was planning on down to the title of his post and his description of Sly - 'Oh My' - I used that last night when im'ing with someone to discuss how I felt about it. So read his post here, and if you didn't get to see what he looked like see below.....


I think the best part of the whole thing was when Sly walked off the stage after performing for about two minutes. Seemed like everyone was expecting to come back on, including the people in the control room who kept going to a wide shot of the stage. My other thought is that they actually had rehearsals for this with Sly - if I was producing the Grammys I think I would had told him to go back to whatever hole his was hiding in because this is no way for people to see him again. It was just plain sad. He makes Brian Wilson look like a perfectly functioning member of society.

A Whole Bunch Of Nothing

Not really feeling to inspired today to write about any in particular. I did see Nada Surf last night at the Merc - it was a warm-up show for their tour that starts tonight in Baltimore. This was the first time I've seen them after being obsessed with Let Go for about the last year or so - I seriously recommend picking this album up. Thought it was a really solid show and the band was very loose as well, seemed like were playing to a room full of their friends. I'm sort of considering going to see them again when they come back to town to play Webster Hall in March just to see them play a more polished show.

Since I'm going to be starting a new job in about a month and going to be traveling a good amount as a part of it I'm making it my mission to see a lot of music before the baseball season starts in April. Here's some of the shows I'm strongly considering hitting....

Umphrey's McGee - Nokia Theater - 2/17
The Strokes - Hammerstien Ballroom (one of the three nights)
Animal Collective - Webster Hall - 3/23
Stellastarr* - Bowery Ballroom - 3/27
The Magic Numbers - Webster Hall - 3/28

Here's what I have tickets for already....

Phil & Friends - Beacon Theater - 2/11
Tea Leaf Green - Knitting Factory - 3/10
Jenny Lewis - Irving Plaza - 3/18

Anyway sorry for the boring post.

Phova

Two Phish posts in two days - guess I'm feeling nostaglic again. Got this video sent to me today thought I'd share....

Phish w. Jay-Z - Keyspan Park - Brooklyn, NY - 2004-06-18

I Love Tuesdays

Here are the purchases for the week....

Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Minus 5 - Minus 5
Jack Johnson & Friends - Curious George: Sing-A-Longs And Lullabies For The Film
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy - Living Dream: The Best Of....

Go Me!

Going to post something non-music related that I'm excited about that relates to me. Today got offered the opportunity to work on a show for the YES Network called Ultimate Road Trip - which I'm extremely psyched about. So essentially I'll be combining two of my passions into one job - television production and the Yankees.


So if you're at the Stadium this year or happen to catch a game on the road and see a camera crew odds are I'll be one of the people with the crew so come over and say hi.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging.....

Phish Parking Lot Set

Every now and then I'll stumble across what I think is one of those rarities that is a must download. Last night as I was checking out bt.etree came across this one....

Phish
November 19, 1994
Indiana University Auditorium - Bloomington, IN
Post Show - Parking Lot Set

This was a post show impromptu bluegrass jam. Line-up consists of Mike (banjo and electric bass), Page (upright bass), Trey (fiddle and guitar), Fish (mandolin), Rev. Jeff Mosier (banjo), Eric Merrill (fiddle and guitar), and Jeremy (banjo and jaw harp).

Here's the setlist from the HPB....

Cripple Creek, Tennessee Waltz, The Old Home Place, Dooley, Mountain Dew, Pig in a Pen, Sweet Baby's Arms, Long Journey Home, Butter Them Biscuits, I'm Blue I'm Lonesome, Midnight Moonlight, Will The Circle Be Unbroken

It sounds great - there is some audience and band banter between songs as they try to figure out what they are going to play next. Also Trey plays the fiddle, which according to the show, he had just picked up three days earlier. Rev. Jeff Mosier and Cactus basically share the vocal duties, with Mosier singing most of the tunes.

Check it out!!

R.I.P. Al Lewis

Al Lewis better known as Grandpa Munster died today at the age of 95. Read about his life here.


I actually voted for him when he ran for governer of New York back in '98 and damn proud of it!

M. Ward Tonight At Warsaw

I'm hitting the M. Ward show tonight at Warsaw at in Brooklyn. If you're not familiar with him I previously wrote about him for a Bonnaroo preview last year here. If you think it's something you might dig here's his set from last year's 'Roo....


M. Ward - That Tent,Bonnaroo Music Festival - Manchester,TN - 2005/06/11

I think there is still tickets available too - and the Warsaw is a cool place to boot. How many times can you see a show in a place that doubles as a Polish National Home and serves Pierogis and Kielbassa in the bar that's attached to the venue? If that doesn't entice you then I don't know what will.

My On The Go List

I remember reading around the time that Almost Famous came out that Cameron Crowe made a mixtape every month and he had boxes and boxes of them. I thought that was the coolest idea and vowed I'd do the same. Well needless to say that never happened. I've probably made about three mix cds in the last four or five years - I'm such a slacker.

Well that's all about to change - well sort of. I'm going to start a new feature here on HFTB called 'My On The Go List'. I've had an Ipod for about two years now and never really make playlists, though from time to time I'll make use of the 'On The Go' feature since I can do it right on my Ipod. So with that in mind here's the first edition of 'My On The Go List'.....

The Decemberists - The Sporting Life
Beach Boys - Cotton Feilds
The Band - Ain't No More Cane
Bright Eyes - Train Under Water
Calexico - Alone Again Or (live)
Iron & Wine - Jezebel
Jack Johnson - Do You Remember
Wilco - Handshake Drugs
Shout Out Louds - The Comeback
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals f. Norah Jones - Dear John
Ray LaMontagne - Empty (live from Bonnaroo)
New Pornographers - Sing Me Spanish Techno
Nada Surf - Blonde On Blonde
My Morning Jacket - The Way That He Sings
Little Feat - Sailin' Shoes
The Kinks - Picture Book
Kings Of Leon - Four Kicks
Jenny Lewis - Handle With Care
The Flying Burrito Brothers - Do Right Woman
Gary Higgins - Thicker Than A Smokey
Gary Jules - No Poetry
The Hold Steady - Certain Songs
Gov't Mule - Simple Man
The Jayhawks - Blue
M. Ward - Sweethearts On Parade
Dr. Dog - Today
Bob Dylan - Sara

Sort of a long one I know, guess I was a little excited about the idea. So I'll try and do this about once a month or so - we'll see what happens. Let me know what you think.

Linkage

While the Arctic Monkeys are the buzz band on the indie blogs, TLG certainly has to take the honor as far as jamband blogs go. Well I finally picked up a ticket to see them play the Knit on March 10th - really looking forward to seeing these boys live. Here's a review of their January 30th show in Grand Rapids, MI (via LMB).

Here's a review of the Dr. Dog show I was at last week (via Glide Magazine). Seriously if you have the opportunity go check these guys out. The show last week was packed and from reading the review there were about 40 waiting outside just to get in. They put on a great, fun live show and their music just makes me happy - what else can I say.

New York magazine waded through all of Ryan Adams solo material to come up with a list of selected cuts to bring you 'What's Good About Ryan'.

Billboard's got a piece on Bonnaroo which includes SuperFly president Jonathan Mayers thoughts on programming the festival. Read it here.

Finally the Washington Post has got this really interesting article on the reclusive Sly Stone and the rumor of a possible reunion with the Family Stone at the Grammys next week - might actually have to tune in now and see if it happens. This would be Sly's first major public appearance since January 12, 1993 when his group was inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. Read it here.

Buy your Sly Lives t-shirt here (from his little sister and Family Stone bandmember Vet Stone).

Kobe Who?

Remember when Kobe Bryant dropped 81 points about two weeks ago against the Toronto Raptors? Well that's old news now. New York City prep-star Epiphanny Prince of Murry Bergtraum High School scored 113 points in a game Wednesday in a 137-32 victory over Brandeis High School. The 113 points breaks a girls' national prep record previously held by Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller who once scored 105 points back in 1982.

In other basketball news my GW Colonials are ranked #10 in the nation by both the AP and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. This is the first time GW has cracked the #10 in 50 years. The Colonials face off against conference rivals Xavier tonight at 7 PM on ESPN2 (read the game preview here). Tune in and see the team that CBS's Seth Davis this past Sunday rated as his dark horse tournament team - predicting them to go to at least the Sweet 16.

Aquarium Drunkard

Wanted to give a plug to a site I've been digging a lot recently Aquarium Drunkard - it's a great place to check out and download some quality music. Over the last week or so they've featured Dylan Covered, live tracks from Colin Meloy's Birchmere show, tracks from the lost Whiskeytown album (here & here), an entire show from My Morning Jacket and MP3s from the Drive-By Truckers and Mofro. So head on over there and check it out and see what you've been missing.

Lots Of Post Today - I Promise

Your friendly neighborhood blogger was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and couldn't motivate to get another post up, but today I'm feeling a lot better and ready to get back to work.

First up on my to do list my thoughts on the Bonnaroo line-up. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with it. While it may be a bit light on the typical jambands you've seen there in the past I think there is a good cross-section of a lot of genres and a lot of bands that will appeal to the jam audience - Bright Eyes, Dungen, Devendra Banhart, Seu Jorge, The Magic Numbers & dios (malos). I'm sure there already is plenty of discussions going on at message boards across the net about the line-up. The jam kids bashing Superfly for not having every jamband in existence on the roster and the indie-kids trying to figure out what the hell a Flecktone is.

The thing to remember is that this is the just the initial line-up and everyone will feel satisfied in the end. Has Superfly let us down yet?? My feeling is that they're trying to expand their audience a bit. They know people that have been there before will want to come back, now their trying to bring a different group of fans to show them what the 'Roo is all about.

Some initial thoughts for the second round of artist additions - SerialPod, The Secret Machines, The Shins and The Flaming Lips.

Back with more shortly.

Bonnaroo & Coachella

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple of days. While I was losing money at Mohegan Sun on Monday and watching the Nets hand the Pistons only their sixth loss of the season last night, two major music festival announced their initial line-ups. First up was Monday's Coachella announcement. As you could expect it was a who' who of the indie rock scene with Depeche Mode and Tool headlinings the two nights. Not to be outdone though as had been the rumor for the past few weeks Radiohead and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will headline the fifth installment of Bonnaroo.

Here's the initial line-ups for both....

Coachella

Saturday, April 29
Depeche Mode, Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros, Common, Damian Marley, Atmosphere, Carl Cox, My Morning Jacket, Ladytron , Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Tosca, Cat Power, Animal Collective, HARD-fi, Derrick Carter, Devendra Banhart, She Wants Revenge, The Walkmen, The Juan Maclean, Audio Bullys, Lady Sovereign, Deerhoof, The Duke Spirit, Editors, stellastarr, Lyrics Born, Matt Costa, The New Amsterdams, The Zutons, Platinum Piped Pipers, White Rose Movement, Chris Liberator, Colette, Imogen Heap, Joey Beltram, Hybrid, Wolfmother, The Like, Living Things, Nine Black Alps, The Section Quartet, Infadels, Youth Group, Shy FX & T Power, Infusion.

Sunday, April 30
Tool, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Paul Oakenfold, Scissor Sisters, Matisyahu, TV on the Radio, Sleater-Kinney, Mogwai, Coheed and Cambria, Gnarls Barkley, Coldcut, Phoenix, Digable Planets, Amadou & Mariam, Little Louie Vega, Mylo (DJ Set), Seu Jorge, Wolf Parade, The Go! Team, Kaskade, Metric, Art Brut, Dungen, The Dears, Jamie Lidell, The Magic Numbers, Los Amigos Invisibles, Jazzanova, Michael Mayer, Mates of State, Gilles Peterson, Gabriel & Dresden, The Subways, Minus the Bear, Be Your Own Pet, Giant Drag, Kristina Sky, The Octopus Project


Bonnaroo
Radiohead, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Phil Lesh & Friends, Beck, Elvis Costello & the Imposters, Bonnie Raitt, Death Cab for Cutie, moe., Bright Eyes, The Neville Brothers, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Buddy Guy, Damian Marley, Ben Folds, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Dr. John, Matisyahu, G. Love & Special Sauce, My Morning Jacket, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Steel Pulse, Mike Gordon and Ramble Dove, Cat Power, Medeski Martin & Wood, Nickel Creek, Gomez, Atmosphere, Steve Earle, Blues Traveler, Amadou & Mariam, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Dresden Dolls, Son Volt, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Jerry Douglas, Soulive, Rusted Root, Devendra Banhart Band, Donavon Frankenreiter, Mike Doughty, Sasha, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, The Magic Numbers, Bill Frisell, Seu Jorge, Bettye LaVette, Dungen, Shooter Jennings, Rebirth Brass Band, Robinella, Andrew Bird, Steel Train, Jackie Greene, Devotchka, Wood Brothers, dios (malos), Toubab Krewe, The Motet, Marah, I-Nine, Balkan Beat Box, Cat Empire

Seems to be a good amount of crossover between to the fests. My thoughts on all of this and more later on today - so stayed tuned for that.