Reel Time: Trey Anastasio Discusses Traveler (Relix)

Photo by René Huemer

As Trey Anastasio prepares to release his first solo studio album, Traveler, since Phish got back together in '09, he sits down to discuss the details with Relix magazine.  Follow the link to read more. 

Phish Webcast This Weekend

Phish has announced their plans to webcast the final three shows on their 2012 Summer Tour, this weekend at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park outside of Denver, CO.

LivePhish.com will offer a multi-camera, HD broadcast of all three shows with high quality audio mixed live. The webcast will be available for purchase via LivePhish.com as a three-day package for $39.99 or for $14.99 per each individual night. 

Dave Matthews Band’s Away from the World : A Preview (Relix)

We at The Showbiz Kids are certainly excited about Dave Matthews Band's upcoming studio album, Away From The World, set to be released on September 11th.  

Follow the link to read Relix contributor, Dylan Gray's preview of the new album. 

Oh Atlanta! Weekend Recap

It was another whirlwind weekend in Atlanta, but we were able to see Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket on Friday night at the Verizon Wireless Amp in Alpharetta and Phish on Saturday night at Aaron’s Amp @ Lakewood.  Both shows were fantastic in their own right, albeit different vibes at both venues.  I was impressed with Band of Horses, a band that I had not seen live before the weekend.  They had the opening slot for MMJ and I must have had an expectation for their set to be more mellow than it was, but I was pleasantly entertained.  My Morning Jacket was impressive, but I was not as familiar with as their music as I thought I was and they slowed things down quite a bit in the middle of their set until ‘Gideon’ led way to more familiar territory.  The first night was the perfect ending to a long day in the car with the family on our way down from Knoxville. 

On Saturday, I was eager to return to Aaron’s Amphitheatre (Lakewood) where the last time I saw Phish play this venue was their impressive two-night, 4^th of July run back in 1999.  There were many highlights to the night for me personally.  I always enjoy ‘Ya Mar’, ‘Maze’ and ‘My Soul,’ so no complaints with the song selection in the first set other than the forced ‘Backwards Down the Number Line’ which provided a much needed bathroom break during set one.

The second set was primarily a showcase of newer tunes until ‘Free’ but the extended jam during ‘Golden Age’ was easily one of my favorite highlights of the evening.  ‘Light’ never got too far out of the driveway before the band slowed things down to make way for ‘Wading in the Velvet Sea.’  Speaking of 1999, ‘What’s The Use?’ was actually debuted at Lakewood that many years ago and ‘Joy’ gave the crowd a breather before the band shredded ‘Run Like An Antelope’ to close the set.  Next year will mark my twentieth year of seeing Phish, so I was pleased to finally see The Beatles’ ‘A Day In The Life’ as the encore.

It was a memorable weekend in Atlanta and I hate that I missed Phish in Charlotte on Sunday….talk about a sick setlist!

-Will Fisher, The Showbiz Kids     

Love for Levon

Several artists are scheduled to perform the “Love for Levon” benefit concert to pay tribute to Levon Helm and to raise money for Helm’s estate and the Midnight Ramble concert series.   

“Love for Levon” will be held at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ in October 3^rd.  Some of the artists include: My Morning Jacket, Bruce Hornsby, Gregg Allman, Warren Haynes, Joe Walsh, Mavis Staples, John Mayer, Ray LaMontagne, Robert Randolph, Eric Church, and Dierks Bentley.

Tickets for “Love for Levon” go on sale Wednesday, August 29^th  via Ticketmaster.

Phish

View from the lawn at Lakewood last night...

On the turntable this Sunday...Who's Next

Who's Next is the fifth studio album by English rock band The Who, released in August 1971. The album has origins in a rock opera conceived by Pete Townshend called Lifehouse. The ambitious, complex project did not come to fruition at the time and instead, many of the songs written for the project were compiled onto Who's Next as a collection of unrelated songs. Who's Next was a critical and commercial success when it was released, and has been certified 3× platinum by the RIAA.

The album has its roots in the Lifehouse project, which Pete Townshend has variously described as intended to be a futuristic rock opera, a live-recorded concept album and as the music for a scripted film project. The project proved to be intractable on several levels and caused stress within the band as well as a major falling out between Townshend and The Who's producer Kit Lambert. Years later, in the liner notes to the remastered Who's Next CD, Townshend wrote that the failure of the project led him to the verge of a suicidal nervous breakdown.

After giving up on recording some of the Lifehouse tracks in New York, The Who went back into the studio with new producer Glyn Johns and started over. Although the Lifehouse concept was abandoned, scraps of the project remained present in the final album. The introductory line to "Pure and Easy", which Townshend has described as "the central pivot of Lifehouse," shows up in the closing bars of "The Song Is Over". An early concept for Lifehouse featured the feeding of personal data from audience members into the controller of an early analogue synthesizer to create musical tracks.[14] It was widely believed that inputting the vital statistics of Meher Baba into a synthesizer generated the backing track on "Baba O'Riley," but in actuality it was Townshend playing a Lowrey organ. A primary result of the abandonment of the original project, however, was a newfound freedom; the very absence of an overriding musical theme or storyline (which had been the basis of The Who's 1969 project, Tommy) allowed the band to concentrate on maximizing the impact of individual tracks.

Although he gave up his original intentions for the Lifehouse project, Townshend continued to develop the concepts, revisiting them in later albums. In 2006 he opened a website called The Lifehouse Method to accept personal input from applicants which would be turned into musical portraits.

The album was immediately recognized for its dynamic and unique sound. The album fortuitously fell at a time when great advances had been made in sound engineering over the previous decade, and also shortly after the widespread availability of synthesizers.

Townshend used the early synthesizers and modified keyboard sounds in several modes: as a drone effect on several songs, notably "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", and as a playful noisemaker, sounding almost like a tea kettle whistle on "Song Is Over". Townshend also used an envelope follower to modulate the spectrum of his guitar on "Going Mobile", giving it a distinctive squawking sound that degenerates into a bubbling noise at the end of the song.

The album opened with "Baba O'Riley," featuring piano by Townshend and a violin solo by Dave Arbus. The violin solo was drummer Keith Moon's idea. The song's title pays homage to Townshend's guru Meher Baba and influential minimalist composer Terry Riley (and is informally known by the line "Teenage Wasteland"). Other signature tracks include the rock ballad "Behind Blue Eyes", and the album's epic closing song, "Won't Get Fooled Again."

Cover artwork shows a photograph, taken at Easington Colliery, of the band apparently having just urinated on a large concrete piling protruding from a slag heap. According to photographer Ethan Russell, most of the members were unable to urinate, so rainwater was tipped from an empty film canister to achieve the desired effect. The photograph is often seen to be a reference to the monolith discovered on the moon in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which had been released only about three years earlier. In 2003, the United States cable television channel VH1 named Who's Next's cover one of the greatest album covers of all time.

An earlier cover design had featured photographs of obese nude women and has been published elsewhere, but never actually appeared on the album. An alternative cover featured drummer Keith Moon dressed in black lingerie, holding a rope whip, and wearing a brown wig. Some of the photographs taken during these sessions were later used as part of Decca's United States promotion of the album.

Who's Next has been named one of the best albums of all time by VH1 (#13) and Rolling Stone (#28 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time). Upon its release it was named the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll.  It was also ranked #3 in Guitar World's Greatest Classic Rock Albums list. Many of its nine tracks are perennial favorites on classic rock radio, especially "Baba O'Riley", "Bargain", "Behind Blue Eyes", and the closing track "Won't Get Fooled Again". The album appeared at number 15 on Pitchfork Media's top 100 albums of the 1970s. The album is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2006, the album was chosen by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time. In 2007 it was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. In 1999 it was the subject of a Classic Albums documentary produced by Eagle Rock Entertainment which has aired on VH1 and BBC among others, entitled Classic Albums: The Who - Who's Next. The album was selected as the 32nd-best of all time by Mojo in January 1996. In 2011, Classic Rock Review named Who's Next its album of the year for 1971.

Track listing: All songs written and composed by Pete Townshend, except where noted.

Side one 

No. Title Length 

1. "Baba O'Riley"   5:08

2. "Bargain"   5:34

3. "Love Ain't for Keeping"   2:10

4. "My Wife" (John Entwistle) 3:41

5. "The Song Is Over"   6:14

Side two 

No. Title Length 

6. "Getting in Tune"   4:50

7. "Going Mobile"   3:42

8. "Behind Blue Eyes"   3:42

9. "Won't Get Fooled Again"   8:32

1995 reissue bonus tracks 

No. Title Length 

10. "Pure and Easy" (Original Version) 4:22

11. "Baby Don't You Do It" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) 5:15

12. "Naked Eye" (Live at the Young Vic 26/4/71) 5:31

13. "Water" (Live at the Young Vic 26/4/71) 6:26

14. "Too Much of Anything"   4:25

15. "I Don't Even Know Myself"   4:56

16. "Behind Blue Eyes" (Original Version) 3:25

2003 Deluxe Edition

The first disc of the Deluxe Edition contains the nine tracks from the original album, followed by six outtakes, of which "Getting in Tune" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" were previously unreleased. Each of the six outtakes were recorded during sessions at the Record Plant in New York in March 1971; the group abandoned this material and re-recorded five of the six tracks again in England later in the year.

Gone Phishing

On the road with Phish

Last night was very special and this evening will be as well for many different reasons...Tonight's Phish show will be my 36th show overall, but Mike's very first show.  I will also have the chance to catch up with some of my best friends from Auburn University, so tonight is shaping up to be an awesome time with one of my favorite bands and some of my favorite people in this world!  More to follow....

-Will Fisher, The Showbiz Kids

MMJ

On the road with My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses

Happy Friday as we at the Showbiz Kids are very excited about what's in store for us this evening. We will be making the short drive from Knoxville down to Atlanta to see My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses tonight at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Alpharetta, GA.  More updates to follow this weekend...

-Will Fisher & Mike Smith, The Showbiz Kids

Taking Justin Bieber to a Phish Show (Relix)

By Mike Greenhaus, Relix

Toronto-bred musician Dan Kanter started performing in clubs when he was only 15 and, over the past 16 years, has collaborated with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Usher, Miley Cyrus, Drake, Ludacris, Boyz II Men, Mary J Blige and Busta Rhymes. He’s appeared on programs such as Saturday Night Live, Oprah, American Idol, MTV VMA’s, Late Night With David Letterman, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Ellen, The Today Show and Good Morning America. He’s also played Madison Square Garden six times. But after Wednesday night, he will forever be known to at least one sect of concertgoers as the man who brought Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to a Phish show. For the past three years, the 31-year-old musician has worked with Bieber, serving as his Musical Director and lead guitarist. He also co-produced Bieber’s platinum-selling album My World Acoustic, appeared in the major-motion picture Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 3D and co-wrote/co-produced the song “Be Alright” on his smash album Believe.

While he’s certainly a fan of pop music and musical theater, Kanter also has deep roots in the jamband scene and has seen Phish live around 60 times (including one New Year’s Eve when he booked it to MSG to catch the Vermont Quartet after performing in Times Square with Bieber and Carlos Santana). After playing him Phish’s music for several years, Kanter finally brought the teen idol to a show in Long Beach, CA on Wednesday night. The Twitter world picked up on the story rather quickly and, soon after, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Phish LD Chris Kuroda would work on Bieber’s next tour. Two days later, Kanter talked with Relix/Jambands.com about his personally journey with Phish, his upcoming shows with Kuroda and the time his wife taught Bieber when to clap during “Stash.”

Click here for the extended conversation.

Phish San Francisco Setlist and The Skinny: Night Three (hidden track)

Written by Scott Bernstein, Glide Magazine

HT faves Phish concluded a three-night stand at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium this evening, bringing a brief, four-show swing through California that started in Long Beach to a close.

[Photo by Lee Fenyves]

The quartet came out of the gates with a series of high-energy rockers in Crowd Control, Party Time and Axilla I. A typically beautiful Reba featured fine interplay between guitarist Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell and once again was completed with the familiar whistling section. Phish kept the energy up throughout the set as Walk Away, Back On The Train and Gotta Jibboo all contained furious and impressive soloing from Anastasio. The guitarist was also “on” for another powerful Roggae jam. Despite struggling with the start of the set-closing David Bowie, the foursome recovered to deliver an above-average take on the classic.
Setlist…

08/19/2012 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

Set 1: Crowd Control, Party Time, Axilla, Reba, Free, Mound > Walk Away, NICU, Back on the Train, Gotta Jibboo > Roggae, David Bowie^[1]

Set 2: Crosseyed and Painless > Light^[2] -> Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley^[2] -> Crosseyed and Painless > Theme From the Bottom > Rocky Top, Boogie On Reggae Woman > Meatstick^[3], Bug, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Ride Captain Ride > Tweezer Reprise

[1] Mind Left Body tease
[2] Crosseyed and Painless tease
[3] Japanese lyrics.

This was the third of three pay per view performances. The intro to David Bowie included Mind Left Body teases by Mike. Light and Sneakin' Sally both included Crosseyed and Painless teases. Meatstick included Japanese lyrics. Alumni Blues was teased prior to Bug. Prior to Ride Captain Ride, Page said, "We had a lot of fun tonight. Thank you guys. I hope we can come back here and play again."

Phish went with a cover of Crosseyed and Painless by Talking Heads to open the second set and used the song as a springboard to open-ended improvisation. A pretty, major-key jam developed which the band gracefully and patiently explored before seguing into Light. There was no break in the free-form rock-improv; the quartet quickly went off on an inspired journey that featured notes of calypso, funk and jazz fusion as well as an arena rock peak over the course of more than 10 fantastic minutes of jamming. The improvisational fireworks weren’t finished yet as Phish pulled off a perfect transition into Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley.

Keeping the trend from the set going, Phish rapidly brushed past the song’s structure and got to the jam. Another transcendent improvisation transpired that featured one nasty peak after another and somehow led back into a reprise of Crosseyed and Painless complete with a spacey finish. All in all, 45 minutes of glorious Phish that needs to be heard to be believed.


Anastasio and Co. harnessed some of the energy and passion from what they had just played and infused it in a spirited Theme From The Bottom. The relentless set continued with covers of Rocky Top and Boogie On Reggae Woman that found the band having the time of their lives with giggles and smiles emanating from stage. Following spot-on renditions of Meatstick and Bug, Phish had one more trick up their sleeve – Ye Ol’ YEM. The band deliciously toyed with the tempo throughout Trey’s solo which just sort of faded, sans peak, into the drum-and-bass section. Anastasio was so enthused he danced around stage and banged on a small percussive instrument as his three band mates funked away. To top it off the group delivered Ride Captain Ride by Blues Image, with its line about sailing off from the San Francisco Bay, and the Tweezer Reprise that went unplayed on Friday as the encore, capping off a fantastic evening.

Here’s The Skinny from Night Three of Phish at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium…

• Venue Capacity / Attendance / Type: 7,000 / 7,000 / Indoor Auditorium
• Previous Shows at Venue: 08/17/2012 and 08/18/2012 – Two Shows
• Number Of Songs / Length – First Set: 12 / 8:16PM – 9:47PM (91 Minutes)
• Number Of Songs / Length – Second Set & Encore: 11 / 10:15PM – 12:01AM (106 Minutes)
• Total Number of Songs / Covers / Originals: 23 / 6 / 17
• Biggest Bustout: Rocky Top – 21 Shows [LTP - 06/10/2012]
• Debuts: N/A
• Weather: 56° and Mostly Clear at Show Time
• Wardrobe: Trey – Black and Green Checkered Long Sleeve Button-Down Shirt and Jeans / Mike – Black T-Shirt and Jeans / Page – Navy Short-Sleeve Button-Down Shirt and Jeans / Fish – Dress
• Average Song Gap: 8.79
• The Spread: Junta – 2, Lawn Boy – 1, Picture of Nectar – 1, Rift – 1, Billy Breathes – 2, Story of the Ghost – 1, Farmhouse – 3, Undermind – 1, Joy – 1, Misc. – 4, Covers – 6
• Longest LivePhish Track / Shortest LivePhish Track: You Enjoy Myself 20:57 / Crosseyed (Reprise) 2:43
• Audio: Live Phish

Poster…

“Photos”…

Scott Bernstein

Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.
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Los Lobos: "Kiko 20th Anniversary Edition" (2012) CD Review

Review by Michael Doherty

I was something of a fan of Los Lobos in the 1980s. Like a lot of folks, I was turned onto them when "Will The Wolf Survive" was released as a single (it got a lot of airplay in Boston). I saw them in concert in the summer of 1989, and they put on a great show. But it was the release of Kiko in 1992 that really won me over. It's a fantastic record, full of surprises and joy. The band clearly was unafraid of taking chances, and it seems each chance they took paid off well. This album quickly became one of my favorites, and it's remained such for twenty years now. (I can't believe it's been twenty years.)

One thing I love about this record is that each song is its own individual world, each song is distinct. They didn't come up with a single sound or idea and then stick with it for the course of the album. Each song is allowed to develop, to go its own course. And miraculously, each course is intriguing. It's one of those rare records that makes you feel - maybe just for a moment - that you don't need any other records. Everything is here.

This record is so full of great, diverse material, that different tracks will stand out for you at different times. That helps make it an album you can return to again and again. And now is as good a time as any to revisit this wonderful record. For its 20th anniversary, Kiko has been newly remastered, and is being re-issued with five bonus tracks.

"Dream In Blue"

From its opening drum rhythm to the entry of its guitar and then vocals, "Dream In Blue" just builds in a perfect way. It's a great opening track. It has a good, positive vibe, and some interesting changes, like daylight melting into night, before the drums begin again, and the line, "Woke up laughing in my bed."

"That Train Don't Stop Here"

"That Train Don't Stop Here" is a fun combination of blues and rockabilly. It's a song to get you dancing. It has a great groove, and then some serious guitar work. It has a false ending, and I love that it comes screaming back in. I only wish it then went on longer.

"Kiko And The Lavender Moon"

"Kiko And The Lavender Moon," the title track, is one of my favorites. I remember this song surprised me the first time I heard this album, partially because of its old-time elements. This is one I'd listen to over and over again in the early days. My memory is that it was my first favorite track from this record.

"Saint Behind The Glass"

"Saint Behind The Glass" is my current favorite, and has been for many years. One day I listened only to this song, like twenty or thirty times, and stopped only because I had to leave my home for some reason or other. It's an incredibly beautiful song, and I sometimes sing it to myself to cheer myself up. It's a song that lifts me up, like a reprieve from mundane cares. It works almost like a fairy tale. If you haven't heard it, I highly recommend you check it out.

Los Lobos did a show at the Santa Monica Pier a few years ago, this song was the highlight for me. The whole show was great, but this one tune made my night.

"Reva's House"

"Reva's House" is one of those great rock songs that sounds like summer. Its sound brings to mind everything that's positive about summer - the possibilities, the excitement, the youth. But Los Lobos can mess with your expectations. Though it has this great positive sound, there is the line, "There's something going wrong." And then this song suddenly changes with the lines, "Could only hear the sound/Of the breaking of her heart." I love them for that.

"When The Circus Comes"

"When The Circus Comes" is another that I sometimes find myself listening to over and over, usually when I'm feeling sad or frustrated or lost. It's an incredible song. Here is a taste of the lyrics: "You left your named carved on a tree/You scratched mine out right in front of me/Didn't mean that much/Didn't mean that much." I completely love this song. This album really has a lot of songs that played important parts in my life, songs I have a strong emotional attachment to. By the way, Phish has covered this one, and included it on a few of their live albums.

"Short Side Of Nothing"

"Short Side Of Nothing" is the one I remember hearing on the radio a lot at the time. It's another really strong track, and another with an honest emotional core. I think that might be part of the draw. Not only did the band experiment and try different things, but they did it while remaining true to the essence of the songs. It's like experimenting to get closer to the truth, rather than just messing around in the studio. Check out these lyrics: "Dreams wash down the gutter/All my hopes in vain/Crows up on the rooftop/Laughing out my name/Here I am on the short side of nothing."

"Two Janes"

"Two Janes" is another that played a significant role in my life. It's an excellent and beautiful and sad song. I like that you can read into it what you wish, to an extent. It's specific in the lyrics up to a point, but a lot is left open.  Those are the songs that so many folks can relate to. Songs like this one make the listener an active participant. Early in the song we learn, "Jane number one looked as happy as can be/Jane number two knew what could set them free/Too many nights hiding under beds/Too many fears to fill their pretty heads." And then near the end, "Jane number one is standing at the gate/Jane number two has the key that holds their fate/Too many angels with brand new silken wings/Too many cries for love but no one hears a thing."  It's an amazing song.

"Whiskey Trail"

It still surprises me that on an album that is one of my all-time favorites, there is one track that I'm not all that fond of. "Whiskey Trail" is the only tune on this album that's just not that interesting or compelling. It's a country rock song, and it's never grown on me. It still might someday, I suppose. 

"Rio De Tenampa"

Kiko ends with "Rio De Tenampa," a delicious tune sung in Spanish. It feels like a last song, but also has that element of a street party, conjuring the image of people following a band down narrow streets, that sort of thing.

Bonus Tracks

This special 20th Anniversary Edition has five bonus tracks, nearly twenty-four minutes of music. The first is a studio demo version of "Whiskey Trail," and while it has more of a raw power and drive than the album version, this remains the one song that doesn't move me. Sorry.

The second is a studio demo version of "Rio De Tenampa," and it's actually quite different from the official version. First of all, it includes verses, which are sung in English. Also, it's more than twice as long as the album version. It's completely wonderful. I love this rendition, and it's quickly become one of my favorites. "I wondered how long these memories would last and dreamed of what tomorrow will bring."

The other three bonus tracks were recorded live in 1992, and were part of the "Holiday House Party With Los Lobos" special on NPR. The first is a seriously cool version of "Peace," which includes a short introduction at the beginning, and an interesting ending.  The second is "Arizona Skies," but with "Borinquen Patria Mia" with lyrics sung in Spanish.  The final bonus track is a groovy live version of "Kiko And The Lavender Moon."

CD Track List

1.Dream In Blue

2.Wake Up Dolores

3.Angels With Dirty Faces

4.That Train Don't Stop Here

5.Kiko And The Lavender Moon

6.Saint Behind The Glass

7.Reva's House

8.When The Circus Comes

9.Arizona Skies

10.Short Side Of Nothing

11.Two Janes

12.Wicked Rain

13.Whiskey Trail

14.Just A Man

15.Peace

16.Rio De Tenampa

17.Whiskey Trail (Studio Demo Version)

18.Rio De Tenampa (Studio Demo Version)

19.Peace (Live)

20.Arizona Skies/Borinquen Patria Mia (Live)

21.Kiko And The Lavender Moon (Live)

Kiko 20th Anniversary Edition is scheduled to be released August 21, 2012 from Shout! Factory and Rhino. Also scheduled for release on that date is the new Kiko Live album, which will be available on CD and DVD. (I'll be reviewing those soon.)

Phil Lesh Covers Gram Parsons, Welcomes Mike Gordon at Terrapin Crossroads

Photo via Maile Hatfield Twitter

Article from jambands.com

Phish bassist Mike Gordon joined Phil Lesh and Friends last Thursday night during their performance at Terrapin Crossroads. Gordon, who was enjoying a night off from the second leg of Phish’s Summer Tour, emerged at the start of the second set for a dual bass jam with Lesh. The rest of the band then joined the bassists for a selection of Dead tunes including “The Wheel,” “Uncle John’s Band,” “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” “I Know You Rider,” “Loser” and “Franklin’s Tower.”

Earlier in the evening, Lesh and Friends continued Album Week at Terrapin Crossroads with a cover of Gram Parsons’ 1973 album Grievous Angel in its entirety. Lesh’s band consisted of his sons Grahame and Brian in addition to guitarist Mark Karan, multi-instrumentalist Ross James, keyboardist Conor O’Sullivan, drummer Scott Paden and vocalist Eliott Peck. Lesh and Friends tackled Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks the previous night.

Album Week continues at Terrapin Crossroads tonight while Phish kicks off the first of three nights at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Check out audio of Gordon and Lesh performing a bass jam at the start of the band’s second set below.

*Here’s a look at last night’s setlist via Phil Zone.*

Performing Gram Parsons’ Grievous Angel

Set I: Return of the Grievous Angel, Hearts on Fire, I Can’t Dance, Brass Buttons, $1000 Wedding, Medley Live from Northern Quebec: (a) Cash on the Barrelhead (b) Hickory Wind, Love Hurts, Las Vegas, In My Hour of Darkness

Phil Lesh & Mike Gordon

Set II: Bass Jam > (Rest of the band enters) The Wheel > Uncle John’s Band, Death Don’t Have No Mercy, I Know You Rider, Loser, Franklin’s Tower

On the turntable this Sunday...Special Things

Special Things is the seventh studio album by the Pointer Sisters, released in 1980 on the Planet label.

The album marked their third venture with producer Richard Perry and featured a more stylized R&B/pop production, launching the group into its most successful period. The album eventually went gold on the strength of the top three gold-certified single, "He's So Shy."

"The Love Too Good To Last" was later included on movie soundtrack "Night Shift" (1982). The album was re-mastered and issued on CD with a bonus track, "Movin' On", in 2010 by Big Break Records.

Track listing:

Side one 

1. "Could I Be Dreaming"   Anita Pointer, Trevor Lawrence, Mario Henderson 3:31

2. "He's So Shy"   Tom Snow, Cynthia Weil 3:37

3. "The Love Too Good to Last"   Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Peter Allen 3:32

4. "Evil"   Geoffrey Leib, Larry Lingle 3:19

5. "Save This Night for Love"   Ellison Chase, Bill Haberman, Art Jacobson 3:25

Side two 

6. "We've Got the Power"   Michael Brooks, Bob Esty 4:53

7. "Where Did the Time Go"   Bacharach, Sager 3:08

8. "Special Things"   A. Pointer 3:08

9. "Here Is Where Your Love Belongs"   Bill Champlin 4:40

2010 re-mastered bonus track 

10. "Movin' On"   A. Pointer, Ruth Pointer, June Pointer, Lawrence, Henderson 3:19

Personnel:

Anita Pointer, Ruth Pointer, June Pointer – vocals

Ollie E. Brown, James Gadson – drums

Nathan Watts – bass

Paul Jackson, Jr., Tim May, Marlo Henderson – guitar

Greg Phillinganes – keyboards, synthesizer, clavinet

Paulinho da Costa – percussion

Raymond Pounds – drums on track 4

Ricky Lawson – drums on track 7, 9

John Pierce – bass on track 6

James Jamerson – bass on track 7

Ben Bridges – guitar on track 4

Mark Goldenberg – guitar on tracks 6, 8

David Williams – guitar on tracks 7, 9

Tom Snow – keyboards, synthesizer on track 2

Lance Ong – synthesizer on tracks 3, 4

Clarence McDonald – piano

John Barnes – electric piano on track 6, keyboards on track 8

Burt Bacharach – keyboards on track 7

Michael Boddicker – synthesizer on track 8

Nathan Watts – percussion on track 5

Don Myrick, Jay Hutson – alto flute, saxophone

Henry Sigismonti – French horn

Chuck Findley, Steve Madaio, Warren Looney, Larry Gittens, Bill Reichenbach, Jr., Slyde Hyde, Gary Grant – horns

Widespread Panic to Release Double Live Album and Box Set

Article published by Relix

Widespread Panic have announced the release of a new double live album, titled Wood, featuring selections from the band’s first-ever fully acoustic 2012 Wood Tour. The tour took place in January and February of this year, with an 11-date, four-city acoustic tour ran through the Washington, DC area, Atlanta, GA, Denver, CO and closed out with a three-night run at the Belly-Up Tavern in Aspen, CO. These were Widespread Panic’s final dates before going on hiatus for the remainder of the year.

The set features acoustic versions, and some new arrangements of Panic originals, including “Tall Boy”, “Ain’t Life Grand” and “Climb To Safety,” a guest appearance by Col. Bruce Hampton on “Fixin’ to Die,” as well as covers including Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers To Cross” and Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.” Wood also features first time renditions of John Lennon’s “The Ballad of John and Yoko” and former Animal Alan Price’s “Sell Sell” from the legendary British film O’ Lucky Man.

Widespread Panic will simultaneously release Wood as a special limited edition 3 LP box set featuring 180 gram vinyl, a 12 page photo booklet with liner notes written by Widespread Panic lead singer John Bell and an exclusive limited edition color letterpress poster made at the legendary Hatch Show Print woodblock letterpress shop in Nashville, TN.

See below for the full track listing. Wood comes out on October 16.

Widespread Panic Wood Double CD Track Listing:

CD I

The Ballad John and Yoko (1/25/12 Washington, DC)

Mercy (1/25/12 Washington, DC)

Imitation Leather Shoes (1/25/12 Washington, DC)

Clinic Cynic (1/24/22 Washington, DC)

Tall Boy (2/11/20 Denver, CO)

Many Rivers to Cross (2/12/20 Denver, CO)

Good Morning Little School Girl (2/10/12 Denver, CO)

Pickin’ Up The Pieces (2/10/12 Denver, CO)

Ain’t Life Grand (2/12/12 Denver, CO)

CD II

St. Louis (2/18/12 Aspen, CO)

Time Waits (2/19/12 Aspen, CO)

Sell Sell (2/19/12 Aspen, CO)

Tail Dragger (2/19/12 Aspen, CO)

Tickle The Truth (1/25/12 Washington, DC)

Fixin’ to Die (1/27/12 Atlanta, GA) (*)

Climb to Safety (1/25/12 Washington, DC)

Counting Train Cars (1/29/12 Atlanta, GA)

C Brown (1/29/12 Atlanta, GA)

Blight (1/29/12 Atlanta, GA)

End of the Show (1/29/12 Atlanta, GA)

(*) With Col. Bruce Hampton on vocals

Bob Dylan Will Play the First Show Back at the Cap

Article originally published by Relix

Bob Dylan will officially reopen Port Chester, NY’s Capitol Theatre . The legendary singer/songwriter will play the first show under the venue’s new management on September 4th. With a capacity of only 1,800, this is one of the smallest shows Dylan has played in recent memory. Bobdylan.com has announced that tickets to the performance will go onsale on August 17 at 10:00am EDT. Pre-Sale tickets will be available through Dylan’s site on August 13 at 10:00am EDT.

Though this is Dylan’s first known performance at the historic theater, he has used the Cap to practice for upcoming tours in recent years. He is one of several artists who have used the space for rehearsals since the venue stopped hosting live music on a regular basis in 1998. As previously reported, the venue’s grand reopening schedule includes performances by The Roots, Bob Weir, My Morning Jacket, Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, moe., Umphrey’s McGee, Steve Miller Band, Guster, Herbie Hancock, Dirty Projectors and many others. The Cap will confirm additional shows in the coming weeks.

The Capitol Theatre Performance Schedule

09/4 Bob Dylan

09/7 The Roots/Bob Weir solo (A Benefit for HeadCount)

09/8 Hugh Laurie with The Copper Bottom Band

09/9 Buddy Guy & Jonny Lang

09/14 The Roots/Dirty Dozen Brass Band

09/15 Big Gigantic

09/19 J Geils Band

09/21 The Roots/Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe

09/22 Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Robert Cray

09/25 Dirty Projectors

09/27 David Gray

09/28 The Roots

10/03 Regina Spektor

10/06 Galactic

10/09 Ben Folds Five

10/10 Fiona Apple

10/11 Warren Haynes Weekend

10/12 Warren Haynes Weekend

10/13 Blues Traveler/Spin Doctors

10/17 Umphrey’s McGee

10/20 Psychedelic Furs w/ The Lemonheads feat. Juliana Hatfield

10/25 Al Green

10/27 Indigo Girls with full band

11/08 Lyle Lovett and His Acoustic Group

11/09 moe.

11/10 Justin Townes Earle

11/20 Ray LaMontagne

11/23 Strangefolk

11/24 Strangefolk

11/27 The Moody Blues

11/28 The Moody Blues

12/27 My Morning Jacket

12/28 My Morning Jacket

12/29 My Morning Jacket

12/30 Steve Miller Band

12/31 Steve Miller Band

01/11/ Roger Hodgson of Supertramp

01/18 Guster

02/02/ Citizen Cope

04/13 Herbie Hancock

Trey Anastasio to release 'Traveler' on October 16th

Trey Anastasio has announced the release date of his latest studio album, Traveler, on October 16^th.

The album was co-produced by Peter Katis (The National and Interpol) and Anastasio last fall at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT.  In addition to members of the Trey Anastasio Band, several guest artists also appear on the album including The National’s Bryan Devendorf and Matt Berninger, Samuli Kosminen, and Mates of State’s Kori Gardner.

As we reported last week, Anastasio’s new single, titled “Scabbard,” comes out on August 21st and will be available on 7” vinyl.

Anastasio will hit the road for a series of dates this fall in support of Traveler . The tour begins on October 18th at The Fillmore in Detroit, MI and concludes at the newly re-opened Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.

Trey Anastasio Fall Tour Dates:

10/18 Detroit, MI@The Fillmore

10/19 Chicago, IL@Chicago Theatre

10/20 Columbus, OH@LC Pavilion

10/22 Stroudsburg, PA@Sherman Theater

10/23 Richmond, VA@The National

10/24 Silver Spring, MD@The Fillmore Silver Spring

10/26 New York, NY@The Beacon Theatre

10/27 Boston, MA@Orpheum Theater

10/28 Port Chester, NY@The Capitol Theatre

In Appreciation of Michael Houser 1962-2002 (Relix)

In Appreciation of Michael Houser 1962-2002

by John Swenson, Relix

On the 10 year anniversary of Widespread Panic guitarist Michael Houser’s death, we present John Swenson’s appreciation which originally ran in the magazine.

No one can truly know how they appear to others, but Michael Houser never had to second-guess him-self on that question. If Widespread Panic, the group named after his college nickname (“Panic”, was a musical manifestation of utopian idealism, Houser was its pied piper, the source of the “lingering lead” central to the band’s motto). Like Jerry Garcia, Houser’s innately kind nature seemed like an extension of his approach to guitar playing; warm and expansive, vibrant but never angry, restless, even hungry for creative play, sensing his audience’s needs in an almost telepathic way.

Michael Houser was the kind of person whose music did the talking for him. You might have called him shy, yet he was always quick to pick up on someone feeling uncomfortable in the room around him and somehow put that person at ease. Through his guitar he managed to extend that talent to arenas full of people. He was first and always a beautiful human being whose heart shone through his demeanor and illuminated his music.

The freshness and energy of the first album, Space Wrangler, is still a revelation today. How many times have I played this album over the years, used it to lift my spirits after a hard day, or introduced a friend to its wonders? When Michael died I played the live records, feeling the pressure of his notes fly, but when I sat down to write this piece I went back to the beginning. As I was listening to the album I opened the sleeve and on the inside gatefold noticed a detail that had completely escaped me until now. There, centered on the fold-out page, is a slightly out-of-focus picture of the band, all standing in the darkness behind Houser, whose image leaps off the page in his white t-shirt. It’s a shocking if inadvertent image of Houser as an angel, someone on a different plane of light from the rest of us, and it’s been there all the time.

There he is, smiling and holding a flower, engulfed in a field of flowers, in the centerfold photo of the Widespread Panic album booklet. Houser’s stirring riff opens the Van Morrison classic “Send Your Mind” and sets the tone for the brilliant Widespread Panic, an album so good it’s still hard for me to imagine in retrospect, as I did when it first came out in 1991, why this group didn’t immediately become bigger than Nirvana. The second track, “Walkin’,” also opens with an irresistible guitar figure that ends up being the root of an impossible-to-forget song. I remember playing this over and over when it came out and marveling that people could still write rock and roll songs of this quality. Houser’s playing is an inspiration on this masterpiece of a record, which also produced the wonderful “Pigeons,” the eerily beautiful “Mercy” with Houser’s spooky outro solo, and the equally beautiful “I’m Not Alone.” What a sequence of songs! “Makes Sense to Me,” the intensity of the “Love Tractor” solo, the way his guitar plays off the horns in “Weight of the World,” the spongy lead at the end of “Barstools and Dreamers.”

When I first saw the group at New York’s Wetlands, they drew a small but already dedicated following. Over the ensuing decade, despite being on a label that was fighting a losing battle in the record industry, receiving virtually no airplay and being dismissed by industry bible_Rolling Stone_, the band built itself up by word of mouth the point where it could headline the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, breaking the existing attendance record for the event. I asked to review that show for Rolling Stone and was told there were “more important” bands to cover (turned out to be the Backstreet Boys). As the main solo voice in the ensemble Houser was essential to the group’s appeal, yet he never played off the rock star trappings. This was not an MTV band.

As great a soloist as Houser was, he always worked inside the group’s dynamic, seldom a lone voice in the spotlight but most often the lead vector of the amazing full-band crescendo WSP achieved on such rave-ups as “Fishwater.” Houser’s style was personal, defying easy comparisons. The way he phrased layers of even-toned notes in his solos reminded me of Indian classical music, lengthy ragas which married composition with improvisation. I suggested he listen to Mike Bloomfield and made a cassette tape copy of an old Butterfield Blues Band record, East-West.” Houser and John Bell invited me on the bus backstage at Stowe, Vermont and popped the tape in the player. We all had a good laugh at the audible scratches on the tape. A month later Michael returned the favor, sending me a tape of a WSP performance from Mud Island in Memphis that he described as “not being too embarrassing.” It was great.

At the beginning of this year I went to Athens to interview the band for a Relix cover story. I don’t think anyone knew at the time that Michael was ill. The band was in high spirits anticipating a big year and Michael laughed in his quiet way as he shared recollections of the band’s early days. There was a feeling in the air that WSP had achieved the most difficult goal popular musicians can aspire to—becoming successful by simply being themselves. None of them projected their happiness over that achievement more than Michael—he seemed to relish remembering how difficult it was for them in the beginning. Sitting in that basement clubhouse at Brown Cat, he looked like a man living every moment of his life to its fullest potential.

I can think of no more fitting epitaph for anyone.