For the May installment of Phish’s Dinner and a Movie archival stream series, they’ll go all the way back to Summer 1993 for a performance from Great Woods in Mansfield, MA. The non-profit Groovesafe is beneficiary of the night’s fundraising efforts, through the Waterwheel Foundation.
The July 24, 1993 show was an early popular tape to trade in the 90s, and the second performance for Phish at the venue, where they have to date performed 17 times to date. Featuring stand out versions of “Stash,” “Mike’s Song” and “Weekapaug Groove,” as well as the return of “The Mango Song” after a 150 show gap, the seamless segue from “2001” -> “Split Open and Melt” makes this well worth listening to on Phishtracks.com.
Groovesafe is an initiative to stop unwanted touching and sexual assault at concerts. The mission of this nonprofit is to create a no tolerance environment with an emphasis on building a consent culture. GrooveSafe focuses on educating bands, venues, and fans on tactics that aim to make the live music experience safer. Groovesafe’s longterm goals include educating people on how to respond to assault, how to take action as an active bystander, and tips on staying safe.
Watch an interview with Groovesafe founder Ashley Driscoll here.
Summer 1993 Doniac Schvice
Dave Seigal, executive chef of the Michelin-acclaimed Cull & Pistol Oyster Bar as well as its sister seafood emporium, the Lobster Place Seafood Market, are both located in the heart of NYC’s Chelsea Market. Dave has been a Phish fan since the early ‘90s and has graciously provided recipes for this month’s dinner: Steamed Mussels with Green Coconut Curry and a Thai Salad. Recipes can be found here.
Dinner And A Movie returns this Tuesday with Phish’s July 24, 1993 show from Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts in Mansfield, MA Join us on the couch at 8:30PM ET at https://t.co/5qSvZFl2Dvpic.twitter.com/qwtGBnj83N
Tune in before the show at 6:30pm on the Relix Twitch channel for The Dude of Life Band, who will perform a free livestream on the The Relix Channel, live from Relix Studio.
Dinner and a Movie airs on Tuesday, May 25 at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT via webcast.livephish.com.
Phish – July 24, 1993 – Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts, Mansfield, MA
Set 1: Llama, Horn, Nellie Kane > Divided Sky, Guelah Papyrus, Rift, Stash, The Mango Song > Bouncing Around the Room, The Squirming Coil
Set 2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Split Open and Melt, Fluffhead > Maze, Glide > Sparkle > Mike’s Song > Yerushalayim Shel Zahav > Weekapaug Groove, Purple Rain > Hold Your Head Up, Daniel Saw the Stone > Good Times Bad Times
Encore: Golgi Apparatus, Free Bird
This show saw the first Mango Song since May 17, 1992 (150 shows). Fish teased Bouncing Around the Room before Mango. Maze contained Also Sprach Zarathustra teases from Trey. Page teased Under the Boardwalk in Mike’s Song.
In May 1971, when Paul McCartney teamed with his wife Linda for his second solo album, Ram, the critics greeted the occasion with guns drawn.
To many fans and music journos, McCartney was viewed as “the man who broke up the Beatles” (he wasn’t, of course; it was John who first asked for “a divorce”). At that juncture, he was also at odds with his brother Beatles over management, so they weren’t inclined to say anything nice about him or his music, especially with all their bank accounts frozen due to the legal machinations. And while Lennon took the PR offensive early and did many interviews to spin history, including the book-length “Lennon Remembers” in Rolling Stone, McCartney was hidden away in Scotland literally inventing the D.I.Y. rock aesthetic with his debut album, McCartney. The majority of his follow-up, credited to Paul and Linda McCartney equally no less (take that John and Yoko!), was largely recorded in two sessions in New York City with session players and the New York Philharmonic.
While the delightfully eclectic Ram received the full production values missing on his handcrafted debut, and while it topped the album charts and yielded a number-one single with “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” it was savaged in the press.
The Village Voice called it “a bad record,” NME “unrelieved tedium” and Playboy accused McCartney of “substituting facility for any real substance.” Rolling Stone’s Jon Landau called it “incredibly inconsequential” and “monumentally irrelevant.”
Now keep in mind that Rolling Stone was totally in Lennon’s corner at this juncture, all for the access that sold issues. It was recently revealed that magazine founder Jann Wenner went as far as having a critic rewrite his initially glowing review of McCartney’s solo debut into a pan, all to please Lennon. And let’s face it, Rolling Stone has an absurdly long history of getting it all wrong – of panning a multitude of masterpiece albums in its initial reviews. That includes everything from Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced?, the debut discs of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath to Neil Young’s Harvest and Nirvana’s Nevermind.
As time went by, Ram slowly became noticed for what it is, maybe Paul’s best solo album after Band on the Run, by critics and especially a younger generation of indie-minded musicians. With its 2012 reissue, it’s reevaluation to an ahead-of-its-time classic was complete, with raves in outlets like Pitchfork, Mojo, AllMusic and the like. Music vlogger Elliot Roberts has put the sentiment, that the McCartneys may have created “the indie pop genre” with the disc, into a much-viewed video on YouTube.
The latest evidence of the quirky album’s mighty appeal, especially to younger musicians who weren’t even born at the time of its release, is the drop-dead spectacular new tribute album, RAM ON: The 50th Anniversary Tribute to Paul & Linda McCartney’s RAM (Spirit of Unicorn Music, distributed by Cherry Red Records).
RAM ON is the brainchild of powerhouse L.A. multi-instrumentalist/producer Fernando Perdomo and Denny Seiwell, the drummer on the original album and many of the biggest hits of Macca’s band, Wings, including “My Love” and “Live and Let Die.”
After Seiwell received McCartney’s blessing via text, the duo gathered together over 100 musicians to make it a reality. Veteran guitarist David Spinozza and trumpeter Marvin Stamm returned to recreate their parts from the original sessions – on the off-album single “Another Day” and “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” respectively. Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone, bass ace Will Lee of The Fab Faux, Carnie Wilson (Wilson Phillips), Dan Rothchild (Heart, Sheryl Crow), Pat Sansone (Wilco), Joey Santiago (Pixies), Eric Dover (Jellyfish), Durga McBroom (Pink Floyd), Dave Depper (Death Cab for Cutie) are just some of the contributors.
Unlike some tributes which favor radical reinvention, RAM ON works to stay close to the feel, sound and fun-loving spirit of the original. To keep true to the groove, the duo began by first tracking Seiwell’s drum parts as he played along to the original album, on a kit including the original snare drum used in the 1970/71 sessions. Guitarist Spinozza also used his original axe on the remake of “Another Day.”
In recreating all the musical textures on this slyly sophisticated release, Perdomo and Seiwell went with organic sounds, with period instruments like the Wurlitzer Electric Piano, Fender Rhodes and surely a bevy of vintage guitars vs. their sampled counterparts. The playing, engineering and mastering here is all first-rate. It’s like turning the Instagram sharpen tool onto an old family photo to reveal more delicious detail in your past. Perdomo’s skill at bringing a new sheen to vintage sounds was earlier evidenced in his contributions to Echo In the Canyon, the 2019 Netflix musical documentary on the LA/Laurel Canyon music scene of the ‘60s.
Ram was one of rock’s most stylistically diverse albums at the time of its release. It mixes the quaint ukulele folk of “Ram On,” with screaming rockers like “Monkberry Moon Delight,” the acoustic blues of “3 Legs” with fully orchestrated suites like “Back Seat of My Car” and “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.”
High praise should go to the many lead vocalists who had the task of trying to match the many voices of Paul McCartney at his peak, from the gentle crooner to the tonsil-ripping rocker.
Wilco’s Pat Sansone nails the vocal vibe on “Ram On,” while Nick Bertling recreates all the musical fabric of this seemingly accidental sounding masterpiece, from the reverb piano arpeggios of the opening to its footstomp rhythm and ukulele strums. Timmy Sean comports himself with the proper vocal gusto on both “Smile Away,” which features a slide guitar solo from Elton’s string man Davey Johnstone, and especially on the extra manic “Monkberry Moon Delight.” The latter is one of highlights of both the original and this tribute disc. Dan Rothchild also hits the nail on the head in his duo of lead vox on the. album opener “Too Many People” and “Heart of the Country.”
Paul was definitely deep into the ganja at the time he penned these incomprehensible lyrics, the kind of madcap nonsense (that’s a compliment, folks) for which Pink Floyd’s acid waylaid founder Syd Barrett is so revered. This track, and so many on this album, just capture an army of musicians having fun, pursuing simple, communal sonic joys rather than trying to make the grand artist statement. Beach Boys’ offspring Carnie Wilson and Rob Bonfiglio do a great job on “Long Haired Lady,” while someone called The Dirty Diamond (?) and Durga McBroom, Pink Floyd’s recent femme fatale tour vocalist, nail the dirty blues of “3 Legs.”
Perdomo and Seiwell do take subtle liberties with the orchestrations as heard in “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.” The intro on the tribute features some beautiful vibraphone chording, something that sounds as if it was lifted from “Pet Sounds”-era Beach Boys. It made me go back to the original album to find that it wasn’t there in Macca’s version. This is one of many smart little additions from the tribute’s producers that make the listening experience so rewarding.
The secret spice of Ram, and much of the Wings’ output for that matter, is the background vocals by Linda McCartney. No less an authority than the curmudgeonly Pete Townsend has praised her contributions. It’s a sometimes wavery, sometimes pitchy but always honest and human sound which, if stripped from the album, might’ve cost it a key ingredient in its appeal. In retrospect, Linda’s voice is a sonic signature that gives Ram and Wings a truly unique character. Imagine “Whiter Shade of Pale” without the organ, “Strawberry Fields Forever” without the mellotron, and you see what Linda’s absence might mean.
Lauren Leigh, Emily Zuzick, Beatrix Coyle, Jody Quine, Cyndi Trissel, Cait Brennan, Marisol Koss are among the vocalists called upon to perform Linda’s parts. The background vocals are expertly arranged throughout and include more than a dozen voices on tracks like “Monkberry Moon Delight.”
In addition to wrangling this cast of 100, Perdomo wears many hats instrumentally, playing many of the acoustic and electric guitar and some keyboard parts.
RAM ON will make more people realize just how great and groundbreaking Paul and Linda’s initially maligned 1971 offering is.
For the variety of sounds, its performances and sheer reckless joy, it should be placed among his and the Beatles’ best. It is an album made by a man who was done with making grand lyrical statements or politicking through sound, at least for the moment. And the way he worked, his ability to do things from personal joy and not to please or outdo the Beatles’ myth is something that may indeed have served as a kind of template for the indie pop sound. Sure it was shoegazing, a reflection of his commitment to his relationship, family and the simple joys of life and love in the country, but it was five-star. Word from Seiwell, who remains close to Paul, is that he is pleased with the result of Perdomo and his old drummer’s efforts.
That should be enough for you to check it out, don’t you think?
KeyTracks: Monkberry Moon Delight, Ram On, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”
For more, check out this recent interview with Seiwell and Perdomo with Elliot Roberts on his podcast
Guitarist and composer Marc Ribot has shared the first single, “The Activist,” off the upcoming album from Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Hope, due out on June 25.
album art for “Hope”
Described by the Village Voice, Ceramic Dog’s bark is just about equal to its bite. The music snarls and snaps with self-awareness, righteous fury, and, inevitably, cynical detachment. The group also features bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith of the avant-garde based group Secret Chiefs 3. With this ferocity in mind, Ribot speaks of the first single, “Hope.”
I like to rant. Ranting is a kind of semi-involuntary spewing of something that seems to be very urgent. This particular rant came up after going to a lot of Activist meetings. Now, don’t get me wrong: some of my best friends are Activists. I’ve even been accused of being one myself (although after reading Astra Taylor’s essay “Against Activism” I try to aspire to being an organizer, or at least a radical).
Anyway— I got frustrated at a couple of meetings because of people trying to posture as the most super rad instead of getting things done. Later, I was supposed to be working on a reasonable position paper of something: but stuff like this came out instead: “I don’t accept sidewalks, I walk on my hands in heavy traffic, and even that is a compromise. I don’t accept gravity, or teeth! I don’t accept you, or what the mainstream media refers to as your cute little (and I quote) “doggie.” Shahzad and Ches (my Ceramic Dog comrades) thought it was funny, so we started doing it live/improvised— and eventually came up with this jam. Party!
Marc Ribot
Ribot as born in Newark, NJ and played guitar in various garage bands while studying under mentor, Haitian classical guitarist and composer Frantz Casseus. After moving to New York City in 1978, Ribot was a member of the soul/punk Realtones, and John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards (1984-89). Between 1979 and 1985, Ribot also worked as a side musician with Brother Jack McDuff, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Chuck Berry, and many others. Pre-order Hopehere.
Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – Upcoming Shows June 6 – Co-presented Burlington Discover Jazz Fest @ The Backyard at Nectar’s, Burlington, VT –
June 6 – Co-presented Burlington Discover Jazz Fest @ The Backyard at Nectar’s, Burlington, VT –
Lo-fi artist Jxst J , releases a new single “Alone” with a hilarious and entertaining music video. Teasing his debut album “How to Pronounce Jxst J.” After spending his formative years in. LA playing in bands and making music videos, the multi-talented artist is now. Brooklyn-based, where he continues his synesthetic approach to music.
Jxst J
The song “Alone” will have you closing your eyes and bopping your head back and forth as his soothing. voice goes perfectly over his low-fi beats. Drawing from genres like dream pop, indie, and trip-hop, he seamlessly blends acoustic and. electronic elements for a sound that is as eclectic as it is catchy. He achieves a polychromatic sound that shows off his mix of stretched samples, acoustic instruments, analog synths, and his silky vocals.
As for the music video somehow just goes perfectly with the song easily putting a smile on your face. Although a simple music video, Jxst J is able to make the most out of it making it seem to go flawless with the song. It is most definitely a video that will have you want to watch it every time you listen to the single “Alone.” Jxst J (aka James Pratley Watson.) is a visual artist just as much as he is a musician. Before Jxst J he was recognized for his lo-fi visuals with his band Pratley. Now he is bringing his visual literacy to Jxst J with a trippy, arthouse aesthetic shot primarily on super 8 film
He plans to release a music video with each. song over the summer until the album “How to Pronounce Jxst J” full release this fall.
The world-renowned Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox will be kicking off their worldwide tour with over 60 shows in the US and Canada this fall.
The time-twisting musical collective known for putting pop music in a time machine is set to make “The Grand Reopening Tour”bring PMJ back to thrill music-starved audiences, performing some of modern music’s biggest hits in the classic styles of bygone eras.
Just seven dates into the Welcome to the Twenties 2.0 Tour, PMJ creator Scott Bradlee pulled the tour off the road. With many of the shows sold out, a global pandemic took its toll, silencing live music for more than a year. The Grand Reopening Tour will feature an ensemble of multi-talented singers and musicians. Bringing Bradlee’s generation-spanning arrangements alive night after night. The core ensemble is often joined by surprise guests to make each concert unique and unpredictable.
Since embarking on a touring career in 2014, Postmodern Jukebox has performed on bigger and bigger stages. As they’ve traversed the globe, including memorable shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Most recently, PMJ reimagined the beloved theme from Friends via the evolution of music styles throughout the 20th century.
October 7 – Detroit, MI – Fillmore October 8 – Munhall, PA – Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall October 10 – Portsmouth, NH – The Music Hall October 11 – Portland, ME – State Theatre October 13 – Northampton, MA – Academy of Music October 14 – Beverly, MA – Cabot Theatre October 15 – York, PA – Strand Theatre October 16 – Rahway, NJ – Union County Performing Arts Center October 17 – Huntington, NY – Paramount October 19 – New York, NY – Town Hall October 21 – Easton, PA – State Theatre October 22 – Atlantic City, NJ – Borgata October 23 – Wilmington, DE – Grand Opera House October 24 – North Bethesda, MD – Music Center for Strathmore October 26 – Rochester, NY – Kodak Center October 27 – Plattsburgh, NY – The Strand October 28 – Troy, NY – Troy Music Hall October 29 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall
Oliver Wood has released, Always Smilin’ a compilation of songs recorded over the past couple years. The frontman of The Wood Brothers didn’t head into this solo project with the intent to create an album. It just grew organically from sessions held with friends, old and new. The list of collaborators reads like a who’s who of contemporary roots music: Chris Long, Jano Rix, Susan Tedeschi, Phil Cook, John Medeski, Tyler Greenwall, Phil Madeira, Aaron Lipp, and Carsie Blanton.
The album’s name, Always Smilin’, comes from the lines of the opening track from Oliver Wood, “Kindness.” The folk ditty highlights Wood’s knack for turning a phrase, as he croons in his distinguished soulful voice:
I know a man He’s always smilin’ I said how do you do it Do you lean into it?
Despite the upbeat tempo, it’s not a happy-go-lucky song. It’s about the indelible capacity of the human spirit to find hope in the face of adversity. The rest of the album follows suit, leaning into that propensity for seeking out hope, often through communing with kin or faith in spirituality.
Although an album made like this from random sessions with a variety of people could sound like a modge-podge, Wood’s deep-seated values seem to be the thread that holds it all together.
The music and melodies meander playfully across genres – folk, country, and even a couple gospel covers (“The Battle is Over (But the War Goes On)” and “Climbing High Mountains (Tryin’ To Get Home)”). There’s an easy-going freeness that flowed organically from creating without a destination in mind. The journey takes the listener through a soundscape created by this handful of musicians, masters of their craft, as they do what they enjoy doing best.
And that joy shines through. That feeling is infectious. The album will leave you smilin’.
Key Tracks: Kindness, Fine Line, Soul of This Town
The 2021 American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Music Awards kicked off their four-day virtual celebration with the reveal of this year’s ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards, acknowledging diverse entertainment acts that comforted and inspired the world throughout 2020.
Composers’ Choice Awards recognize winners chosen by the ASCAP composer and songwriter community. The 2021 recipients share a common theme in that each of their projects tells a story of humanity’s triumph over adversity. Some recipients include John Batiste and Trent Reznor as film score of the year for the highly acclaimed Disney film Soul, Raphael Saadiq as television score of the year with Lovecraft Country and Gustavo Santaolalla as video game score of the year with The Last of Us Part II.
Gustavo Santaolalla plays score from The Last of UsPart II
This year’s awards also includes winners in two new categories, documentary score of the year and top streaming films, an expanded number of awards presented for streaming series.
Through May 20, acceptance speeches, exclusive photos, videos and streamed performances will be featured on the ASCAP and ASCAP Screen social media pages. Highlights include a tour of Studio Ferber in Paris, where Lionel Liminana and David Menke composed for top streaming film winner Last Days of American Crime and a brief saxophone solo from Lenny Pickett, Saturday Night Live musical director and winner of the top rated television series with co-writer Howard Shore.
Introduction by Paul Williams (ASCAP President and Chairman)
For a complete list of Screen Music Awards and winners, check out the ASCAP website.
Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD) have an ambitious summer ahead of them, with weekend runs spread out across the country, including one night at Artpark in Lewiston.
JRAD bassist Dave Dreiwitz will miss three shows this summer, including the Cleveland, Artpark and Boston shows. Replacing Dreiwitz temporarily is Jon Shaw of Portland for, Oregon’s Dirty Revival.
They Grateful Dead tribute/supergrou start their summer with a pair of sold-out three-night runs at Connecticut’s Westville Music Bowl and make a headlining appearance at Peach Festival in July.
As we continue to navigate these uncharted waters, here are all of our dates so far for 2021. Thank you for your patience. Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Band statement
For tickets and more info visit JoeRussosAlmostDead.com, and for a detailed look at each show’s ticket availability, peruse the graphic below.
Trevor George Smith Jr., better known by his stage name, Busta Rhymes, celebrates his 49th birthday today.
Born in Brooklyn in 1972, Busta Rhymes later moved with his family to Uniondale, Long Island where he and fellow MCs’ Charlie Brown, Dinco D, and others formed the hip hop group Leaders of The New School who released their first album, A Future Without a Past, in 1991.
It wasn’t until 1995 when Busta’s solo career kicked off. With the release of his debut album, The Coming in 1996 which was highly praised by the hip hop community at the time. Lead singles such as “Woo Hah!! Got You all in Check” ( which was later remixed featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard) brought Busta Rhymes into the public eye, securing a #8 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
Busta’s work carried into the 21st century, collaborating with famed hip hop producer Dr. Dre on his fifth studio album Genesis released in 2001. Instead of making a quiet exit from the scene like other MCs from the golden era of hip hop, Busta stayed relevant by continuing to work and collaborate with trending artists of the 2000s.
Continuing to keep the music interesting in 2020, Busta Rhymes delivered his 9th studio album Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God which featured the single “Look Over Your Shoulders’ ft. Kendrick Lamar. For hip hop enthusiasts, “Look Over Your Shoulders” might be the perfect balance of old-school meeting new-school, and it never sounded so good.
2021 marks the 25th anniversary of Busta Rhymes’s debut full-length album, The Coming, which recently received a deluxe reissue.
Radio City Music Hall announced plans to reopen with 100% capacity for vaccinated audiences, in response to Governor Andrew Cuomo pulling back on COVID-19 restrictions in his announcement on Monday May 17. New York State is now following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance to allow vaccinated New Yorkers to forgo wearing masks in most indoor settings which changes the game for venues across New York State.
Radio City Music Hall originally opened back in December of 1932 and is known for being one of the staple venues in New York City. It’s home of the Rockettes which are a widely known and respected precision dance company. It currently has a capacity of 6,015 people which means it can now hold performances for vaccinated crowds of that caliper.
James Dolan, owner of Radio City Music Hall accompanied Cuomo during the press conference announcing the roll back on mask restrictions and what that could mean for his venue. All sorts of plans for the venue were mentioned including the 20th anniversary of the Tribeca Film Festival which will take place on July 19th, the city’s NBA playoffs (being held at Madison Square Garden), and Radio City Music Hall offering 100% capacity future shows only for fully vaccinated audiences. The fully vaccinated 100% capacity shows will start to take place after the Tribeca Film Festival comes to a close.
While unsure how the venue will incorporate checking vaccination statuses of ticket holders for upcoming events but Robert Mujica, senior advisor to Cuomo, has said that people could use their CDC vaccination cards, or the Excelsior Pass in either its app form or a printout from the Excelsior Pass website to prove their vaccination status.
For more information visit Radio City Music Hall’s website.
