jürgen fauth’s muckworld

Stumbling into a performance by John Medeski isn’t all that difficult in New York City — I’ve recently seen him with The Word, Warren Haynes, and John Scofield, (and he’s all over the I’m Not There soundtrack) — but his original groove jazz combo has proven much more elusive lately.

So on Saturday, Dan, Jocelyn, and I took the quick roadtrip up to the Fairfield Arts Center in Bridgeport, CT for a healthy dose of MMW. I expected Bubblehouse and other well-worn MMW tunes, but this year, the trio is up to new tricks. They got together to write new songs before the tour, they’re expanding them during the shows, and they’ll then return to the studio to record an album. They plan on repeating this process in the summer and fall for three new Medeski Martin and Wood albums this year.

The new material was mesmerizing. Fresh, unheard-of grooves, mercurially shifting between jazzy, spacey, freaky, and funky, sometimes ripping in that balls-to-the-wall MMW style, sometimes cute, like when Medeski played the B3 with his melodica. When one of the befuddled ushers tried to make me move in the middle of an extended improvisation, I was so absorbed I could barely defend my seat. I’m looking forward to the album evolving out of this and just might have to get their kids’ CD Let’s Go Everywhere for my niece.

• MMW Official Site
• MMW on Wikipedia
• Tour Dates
• Download MMW from etree

Here’s a video of “Think”:

With regular guitarist Mark Karan ill, Bob Weir’s Ratdog is currently touring with Steve Kimock, beloved originator of the K-Wave. Last week’s way-sold-out show at Summer Stage assured everybody who cared to know that wherever they play Grateful Dead music, it’s still “one of the safest places in the world“–and one of the funnest, too. More from Some Dude. Related: Dan compiles GD segues from ‘78.

July 9, 2007 - Central Park Summerstage -New York, NY
Jam > Tomorrow Never Knows > Playin on the Band > Ramble On Rose, El Paso, Corrina, The Weight, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl > Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Stuff > Dear Prudence > Bird Song (reprise) > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower
E: U.S. Blues

Listen to Dear Prudence or download the entire show from etree.

[audio:rd2007-07-09t12_Dear Prudence.mp3]

Seen Anything Good Lately?
Whenever this question gets asked, either the music’s too loud or I’m preoccupied with chasing down hors d’oeuvres, so here’s a more considered answer. For my money, the best current releases in New York are Once, Away from Her, and Day Night Day Night — and The Host is still playing, too. You might also like The Wendell Baker Story, Severance, and Hot Fuzz. (I haven’t seen Brand Upon the Brain!, 28 Weeks Later, or Rolling Like a Stone.) If you happen to find yourself in Germany, you must not miss INLAND EMPIRE. Also, Ray Pride informs us that Nicholas Geyrhalter’s Our Daily Bread premieres on TV next week.

This Week in Dead History
Much thanks to Daniel A. and Ace Cowboy for reminding me of the Taper’s Section, where Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux releases new mp3s every week. I’ve just barely scratched the surface but so far I’ve dug The Music Never Stopped (4/27/78), Dark Star (5/7/72), and Estimated Prophet>Uncle John’s Band (4/12/82.) Tons more where that came from.

Must Be A Good Cause If They Have a Button
You might have noticed the button on the sidebar enticing you to support the National Book Critics Circles’ efforts to save book reviewing. More from Lizzie Skurnick, AWFJ, and Salman Rushdie on The Colbert Report.

Rebel without a Pause
As you can see, the new camera appears to be well-suited for bones, skaters, and strange brides. It has also been indespensable in our ongoing attempts to solve the Mansion Mystery:

Speaking of the neighborhood: for those who like to order in, Joey in Astoria’s Floozgrl maintains a Flickr pool with handy Astoria menus.

Extreme Navelgazing
Google Book Search reveals that through the magic of MySpace, Lauren Cerand and myself have now become characters in Twins.

The Graphic Novel Was So Much Better
GalleyCat found the trailer for Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. The first comic book adaptation I can get behind since Ghost World.

The sidebar is home to an automated list of items I highlight in my feed reader (which, in turn, is also available as a feed) — but some of them deserve their own post. Here’s a roundup of the more interesting bits I found around the web lately:

• Watch all of Todd Haynes’ outlawed Barbie doll spectacular Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story on Google Video. Bonus: Lukas Moodysson’s latest. [via Ray Pride]
• The Friday Mix Tape: when he’s not scienceing Mouth of the Beast recordings or haunting the Knitting Factory after midnight, my friend Dan Alford is blogging groovy compilations at Hidden Track. Get his mix of Herbie Hancock covers here.
• Terrence McKenna’s Ex-Library: in what sounds like a tragic Name of the Rose tie-in, Quizno’s lays waste to the treasure trove that was the late psychedelic visionary’s library. [via Gpod]
• Long Island Nazis on Metafilter
• On her blog, Nina Hagen supports Britney.
• RSS Geekout: for those of us who use news readers to digest the interwebs, there is now Yahoo! Pipes and xFruits for remixing RSS feeds. For example, you can now read muckworld on your cell phone.[via Lifehacker]
• Cahiers du Cinema is now available online, in English. Very handsome and full of David Lynch. [via David Hudson]
• Marcy’s vomit comes in third at the Debutante Ball’s favorite line contest.
• If you’re still reading and looking for something else to click, go vote on our Oscar poll.