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Videos: Phish at Bethel Woods
Mike McKinley
May 30, 2011
Phish started their Summer Tour with a 3-night run at Bethel Woods in Bethel, NY this past weekend. The Phish Team posted these high quality videos of "Waves" from night one and "Backwards Down the Number Line" from night two. I'm sure something from night three will surface soon. (Update - "46 Days" from night three now posted)

It sounds like they're off to a great start. The "Waves" intro and outro especially -- the band is playing with the experimentation and patience I think a lot of fans have been longing for (or longing for more of) since they've returned in 2009 (Phish 3.0). In other words, to dig a little deeper with the group improvisation.

Likewise, "BDTNL" shows the band stretching out and moving together in that one-of-a-kind Phish way. Happy Summer.

"Waves"



"Backwards Down the Number Line"



"46 Days"
Hippy Fiasco Rides Again - Richmond, VT
Mike McKinley
May 26, 2011
We covered the origins of Nathan Moore, Chad Galactic and Liz Bunny's Hippy Fiasco last summer when they put together a spontaneous tour in California. In short, Nathan flew out to California to play a festival that ended up going belly up and he didn't get paid. Instead of flying back home and eating the cost of the flight, he cancelled his return flight, teamed up with Chad and Liz, got a hotel room and booked an impromptu tour mostly at people's houses and mostly promoted through Facebook. They set out for a larger tour this time -- a jaunt around the country, four months long, ending on Independence Day at High Sierra Music Festival. And it's evolved into a larger concept: Nathan plays just about anywhere someone hosts a "Fiasco" and they're streaming it 24/7. Yes, the camera is on. It's always on!

I got my first experience when some nice folks in Richmond, Vermont hosted a Fiasco last Friday night. Nathan is attempting to create something that's more involved than the typical folk-y singer/songwriter show. He asked everyone in the audience to become part of the "Moorechestra" -- handing out shakers, hand puppets, a toy xylophone and kazoos, and asking for sing alongs. As you can imagine, it creates a mixed result. But when it works, it's big. At the bottom of the page there's a recording of the post-show stream where Nathan and I discuss this approach of taking it over the top, the train wrecks, and the beauty of it working. In the spirit of creating in the moment and creating something unique with your audience each night, we also discuss how Nathan will be attending his first Phish show on May 31st in Holmdel, NJ. I told him when it feels right, just close your eyes and wiggle. He'll do fine -- it's already in his blood. Check it out below.

But first, here are a few videos (sorry, a bit dark) I shot from the Vermont Fiasco -- Nathan serenading a lamb.




And here's Nathan playing a request of "Trying to Catch Me a Jesus" to a "Creeper" (a person watching/chatting on the live stream) post-show.




Here's the post-Fiasco stream -- notice an appearance by SoM Contributor and I Shit Music creator Adam King singing about inverted kazoos and discussing Mormon caves.
Don't Be a Dick‚ Go to a Benefit Show
Drew Stoga
May 23, 2011
If you didn't spend all your money on a Rapture bunker‚ there are a few great benefit shows coming up in NYC you should know about. There are worse things that you could do with your time and money than see a great show and help some folks out at the same time.

Tomorrow night (May 24th) at Brooklyn Bowl‚ the city's fanciest bowling alley/music venue is the True People's Ceremony for Tohoku Disaster put together by MMW's longtime Japanese promoter Taichi Komatsubara. The show boasts a ridiculous lineup and all proceeds will go towards relief efforts in Japan via the Think the Earth Project. Here are the details:

8:30 Mago (John Medeski & Billy Martin)
9:00 Medeski‚ Martin & Mike Rivard
9:15 Club d'Elf w/ Hassan Hakmoun‚ Brahim Fribgane‚ Medeski‚ Mat
Maneri‚ Steven Bernstein‚ Rivard & Dean Johnston
10:00 Marshall Allen
10:45 Marco Benevento
11:30 Wicked Knee
12:15 Collaboration with various artists

Next on my radar is a benefit for another longtime MMW associate‚ producer/engineer Scotty Hard. Scotty is an amazing talent who has worked with everyone from Antibalas to Wu Tang. In 2008 he was paralyzed from the waist down when a stolen car crashed into the taxi that was taking him home.

A number of amazing benefits for Scotty have taken place in the last couple years (follow the Scotty Hard Trust to keep up) the next one is going down June 3rd at the East Village club Drom. This show is part of the three-day Music Frees All Festival organized by Antibalas drummer Miles Amtzen and also has a stellar lineup:

Mago (Medeski& Martin)
EMEFE w/members of Antibalas and more
Ben Perowsky's Moodswing Orchestra
Mokaad
Nyle x Naysayers
DJ Afro-Marc
plus many special guests.

Get out there and do your part. Listen: Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - "Grandfather's Gun"
Mike McKinley
May 12, 2011
Listen to "Grandfather's Gun" off of JFJO's upcoming record The Race Riot Suite, due out August 30, 2011 on Kinnara/Royal Potato Family.

Grandfather's Gun by jfjo

From JFJO about Race Riot Suite:
The Race Riot Suite was written by Chris Combs for the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey quartet (Brian Haas piano, Chris Combs lap steel, Josh Raymer drums, Jeff Harshbarger bass) plus horn quintet. In January 2011 the band recorded the piece at Tulsa's hallowed Church Studio with guest horn players Jeff Coffin (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band), Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob, Levon Helm), Peter Apfelbaum (Hieroglyphics, Don Cherry), Mark Southerland (Snuff Jazz), & Matt Leland (a founding JFJO member).

In 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma was home to the most powerful and affluent African-American community in the country. In one of the largest racial conflicts and cover-ups in America's history "Black Wall Street" was burned to the ground. The Race Riot Suite is a long form musical work that tells the story of the evolution & destruction of one of America's greatest cultural epicenters in one of the least understood atrocities of the Jim Crow era.

The Suite serves as vehicle for insight & reflection on the event itself, as well as a tool for understanding the ways in which these issues continue to pervade our modern day culture and society. In addition the suite is a celebration of the vibrant and resilient Greenwood community that has risen from the ashes again and again, and continues to endure to this day.

The 1921 Riot was essentially a real-estate motivated ethnocide, with Tulsa's oil-elite and KKK ridden local government and press working to take advantage of the racially tense climate that pervaded Jim Crow era Oklahoma. Much of the Greenwood neighborhood was rebuilt after it's destruction, once again becoming a cultural centerpiece of the Midwest through the 30's & 40's. Many of Jazz's biggest names regularly stopped through Tulsa on their way to and from New Orleans, Kansas City, and Chicago.

The district was destroyed yet again by the city in the early 1980's in the name of "urban renewal". Interstate 244 now cuts through the heart of Black Wall Street, while the new Drillers Ballpark rests atop the ashes of the Greenwood neighborhood of years past. Finding ourselves in the midst of an a beautiful local Tulsa pride movement, our community must ensure that Greenwood's independent, locally owned businesses are warmly embraced.

Video: Dan Deacon - "Surprise Stefani"
Mike McKinley
May 10, 2011
I recently revisited Dan Deacon's last record‚ Bromst, after shelving it for some time -- it's still great. The first thing that popped in my mind was that Deacon is just about due for something new -- it sounds like he's working on a record with his Ensemble. After the release of Bromst‚ he toured with the Ensemble (most of the time he performs solo‚ creating quite the freak out with the audience). When they came to Burlington in 2009‚ Deacon was on the cover of the current issue of State of Mind and somebody traveling with the group grabbed a stack of magazines‚ cut out a photo of his face‚ and made Dan Deacon masks for everyone in the band. He proclaimed something along the lines of, "We have State of Mind to thank for making it real scary up here." (You can read the interview here by the way, it's awesome...)



I came across this video for "Surprise Stefani" off of Bromst on Vimeo, produced by Newfoundland Tack -- it was chosen as one of the Staff Picks last week. Great stuff.

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