The first leg of Phish’s summer tour has come to an end, and while I couldn’t make it to any of the shows – most of them were quite a hike from Washington – I’ll be headed to the Gorge in August for the band’s Friday and Saturday shows. I’m eager to see what the band pulls out for leg two, especially since Phish’s new album appears to be coming out in late July right before the band kicks off the second leg of the tour at Red Rocks. But, the magic of Phish 3.0 is that you can watch the show streamed from an iPhone as it happens, and just hours later watch HD video of just about every song from the show on YouTube. With that, here’s a few of my favorites from leg one of the tour:
Artist: The Staxx Brothers Album:We Are The Blaxstonz Release: May 2009
A personal favorite of mine from Bumbershoot 2008, Seattle’s The Staxx Brothers are just about to release their second album, We Are The Blaxstonz. Their first album, 2008’s 12th Street Blues, was a very soulful collection, but the band returns with a tighter groove and more focused effort this time around.
The band, which features four vocalists and four instrumentalists, makes it apparent from the start that vocals are more than something to sing along with for this band. DP Staxx, lead vocals for the group, trades off with the lady vocalists like they’ve been doing it since childhood, and seamlessly pass the ball off to MC Decurrian to break the tracks down and bring out the group’s hip-hop side. “Westsound Union” starts off the album with a jumping-house-party-type vibe, “G-Spot” slows the tempo down and somehow manages to gloss over some ultra-racy lyrics with Rolling Stones-esque blues riff. The album heads back into house-party territory with “1992,” whose chorus will certainly get stuck in your head at least once after a couple listens. “Almost Got Shot in North Minneapolis” sees the band flex MC Decurrian’s aforementioned rhyming skills.
However, just as easily as the band keeps the upbeat tracks coming, the band shows its versatility with stand-out tracks like “Oh Carolina.” Somehow the band manages to slide one of the best new country songs I’ve heard in a long time in between two of the album’s most hip-hop influenced tracks. The track caught me off guard the first time I listened to the album, and I’ve been back to listen to it again many times since then. “Game Recognize Game” and “On Ice” keep a laid-back vibe, and “Little Big Time” and “Jesus in Adidas” finish off the album with the full on energy the albums started with.
The band shows off the new album with a release show Friday, May 8th, at the Nectar Lounge in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Be sure to check out the poster below for more information on that, and check out the two mp3’s below for a sampling of the album:
I just got an exciting package in the mail: a copy the new Ryan Adams & The Cardinals album Cardinology, set for release next Tuesday, along with an autographed copy of the watermarked CD, and an autographed tour poster.
For those of you looking for a way to combine your political passions with the current Halloween season and some free live music, you may be interested in Trick or Vote. Trick or Vote is a nationwide nonpartisan costume canvass taking place on Halloween in a city near you. After a few hours of get-the-vote-out canvassing I’m told that most of the cities will have an after party, complete with (free) local live music.
The Eugene, OR event kicks off the festivities this Sunday the 26th, and I hear it even has belly dancers. How can you go wrong? The rest of the parties happen on Thursday the 30th and Friday the 31st of next week across the country. You can find more information on your city at TrickOrVote.org.
After tens and likely hundreds of thousands of people got shut out of tickets for Phish’s March 2009 return shows, both during presale and this morning’s Ticketmaster stampede, a petition has emerged online to encourage the band the simulcast the upcoming shows in movie theaters nationwide. The band has a precedent of doing this for concerts in the past such as Coventry, and DVD releases like Brooklyn 2004. Anyways, after scheduling their comeback show in a venue with approximately 12,000 capacity despite hundreds of thousands of people trying to get the tickets, and scalpers claiming between $400-$6000 per show on stubhub, this also may be the only way for the band to avoid having thousands of ticketless fans descend on a Virginia parking lot for a weekend of tailgating and (drug-induced) dreams of scoring someone’s lot extra ticket. If you are a Phish fan, a concerned Virgianian, or just a kind soul, do some hippies a favor and sign this petition. After you sign it the website will ask for a donation, don’t worry about that since the signature has already gone through.
This morning, 10/18/08, thousands of Phish phans got shut out of tickets by ticketmaster. Please sign a deal to simulcast at theaters and/or other arenas, your March 6th comeback performance or the whole Hampton run. There are a lot of folks that have supported you guys for many years and should be a part of this landmark show. Just because they couldn’t enter a security check faster than others shouldn’t mean that they can’t enjoy these shows. I believe this would not only benefit the phans but would also help the city of Hampton by not having thousands of ticketless phans descending upon Hampton that weekend. We all want to share in the groove, so please make this happen!
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