jürgen fauth’s muckworld

OK, so Matisyahu covered the Flaming Lips, Rose Hill Drive and Leslie West raged Mountain’s Mississippi Queen, Sheryl Jones and Booker T did Born Under a Bad Sign (”and that’s fine”), that “smokeshow” Grace Potter got Warren Haynes to take her to the river, Big Head Todd and Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook joined Tea Leaf Green for Pulling Mussles, Chevy Chase is buddies with jamclown Keller Williams, Joan Osborne belted Come Together, Stanton Moore dueled Doug E Fresh, and Page McConnell had the balls to lead jazz heavyweights Nicholas Payton, Christian McBride, James Carter, and Roy Hanes through two Phish songs.

Not too shabby, but that’s to be expected from the Jammys, Relix Magazine’s annual Theater at Madison Square Garden get-together that combines surprise collaborations with pleasant scene fluffing. Also, awards.

The only award that really mattered on Wednesday night, though, was Phish’s Lifetime Achievement Jammy (it’s fun to say!) because it was supposed to lure Trey, Mike, Jon, and Page out of rehab, seclusion, or wherever else they’ve been hiding since the 2004 breakup. The rumor mill had been churning hard, and it sort of worked: all four members showed up, sharing the stage for the first time since Coventry — but they didn’t play together.

Instead, Fishman made a joke, Page was sincere, Gordo wore purple pants, and Trey gave one of those heartfelt, halting speeches that have brought many a Phish show to a screeching stop — except this time he sounded more humble, and more final, than ever: “It was an honor to watch you all dance.”

Then they walked off, and it would have been terribly depressing if Trey hadn’t just finished playing with deliciously cheesy yet surprisingly tight Beatles cover band The Fab Faux. Phish or no Phish, sick or sober, Big Red can still — what’s the technical term? — melt faces. Here’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

More on the Jammys:

• Full setlist at Hidden Track
• Photos at reax
• Relix
• Runaway Dinosaur
• Burlington Free Press

When I first visited Berlin (West) as a wide-eyed teenager, one of the highlights of the trip was running into Einstürzende Neubauten singer Blixa Bargeld in the back room of a shady Kreuzberg bar. Blixa, Alexander Hacke, and the rest of the Neubauten are still making beautiful noise, and watching their 2004 video Palast der Republik, I was happy to get reacquainted with Haus der Lüge, a catchy tune I’ve been singing on all the elevators in town.

Gott hat sich erschossen / ein Dachgeschoss wird ausgebaut!

I’ll take bubbly pop over self-righteous posturing any day, so we’ll lead this post off with the Pet Shop Boys’ brilliant cover of “Where the Streets Have No Name” (with a touch of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”)

With that out of the way, my review of U2 3D is now up at UGO: “You’ll thrill to the sight of a hundred thousand stoked fans! You’ll duck from under Bono’s flying sweat! You’ll read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — in 3D!”

• My review of U2 3D 

U2 3D. Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington, 2008. ***

I solemnly swear not to post about Phish’s Fall tour of 1997 again until, say, 2017, but today marks the tenth anniversary of the show that capped it all, when the udder ball exploded in Madison Square Garden, and it’s worth one last huzzah. The culmination of a remarkable tour and a no less remarkable holiday run, the three-set show featured a strange thing hanging from the rafters which was used to project trippy animation of cheese, olive loaf, and the New Year’s countdown. At midnight, it disgorged giant balloons.

Musically, the band had a hard time topping the previous night, with its bust-out of Allan Toussaint’s Sneakin’ Sally and the greatest encore in Phishtory, which supposedly cost them hundreds of thousands in MSG overtime fees. Still, between Emotional Rescue, a segue-happy second set, and Also Sprach Zarathustra > Auld Lang Syne > Tweezer for midnight (and Page crooning New York, New York to finish it off), 12/31/97 was a spectacular time. You can download the entire run for free; the incredibly funky 12/29 is also available from LivePhish.

Here’s the NYE97 clip from Bittersweet Motel. If you squint, you can make me out dancing like a fool somewhere in the 300s on the far right when the ball bursts.

And that’s enough nostalgia for now — I’ll spend the rest of the day looking forward. So, happy 2008 one and all. Perhaps I’ll see you tonight at the ReBirth? Either way — Prost Neujahr!

Previously:

• Phish Destroys America
• Down By the River
• Izabella

Any project featuring John Medeski is worth whatever Manhattan venues deem to charge, and The Word is no exception. A high-powered gospel/funk/jam outfit featuring Medeski, sacred steel guitarist Robert Randolph, as well as Luther Dickinson, brother Cody, and Chris Chew of the North Mississippi All-Stars, The Word has not played together since Bonnaroo 2005.

Thursday night’s reunion/revival went down at Terminal 5, a brand-new venue way west on on 56th Street with a capacity of 3,000 heads. Supertight hallways and bad crowd management made the place feel like a death trap, but once inside, all was well — especially when the sweet sounds of the Word hit. Using traditionals (and one White Stripes cover) as jumping-off points for gleeful, uplifting improv, they worked their way through a setlist that also included covers of tunes by Stevie Wonder and James Brown as well as the occasional Zeppelin tease.

But you’re better off listening to the music than reading about it, so check out the clips below. My favorite moments included the crowd-surfing maniac during “I Shall Not Be Moved” and the ill shit Medeski was doing to “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which I hadn’t heard live since Springsteen broke every heart at Jazzfest. A special shout out to Ducky from Alaska, whom I see but once a year, and only at shows surrounding the holidays.

Two videos — one from Thursday with a snippet of “Joyful Sounds”, and one TV appearance from a few years ago:

• Buy the album
• Neddy’s Review
• The Wizard of the Word (Jambase)
• All About Jazz Review: The Word
• The Word at bt.etree.org
• Download 6/27/01 from nugs.net

As threatened, here’s one more post celebrating the tenth anniversary of the ‘97 Phish Fall Tour. The cinematography isn’t exactly The Last Waltz, but if you can get past the blur and shake, you’ll be treated to a mean cover of Jimi Hendrix’ “Izabella” leading into a trademark Fall ‘97 porno jam. If you want to skip the guitar heroics and go straight for the bow-chicka-wow-wow, move ahead to about 4:20, which is where things get truly nasty. Res Ipsa Loquitur.

Bonus: 11/28/97 has recently popped up on the web in soundboard quality mp4s, so if you’re in the mood for free Phish, you can download set 1 and set 2. If you feel like paying, I highly recommend 12/7/97, which is worth a ten spot for AC/DC Bag > Psycho Killer alone.

All week, I’ve been checking back on PhilLesh.net, hoping for the promised photos from the show, reasoning that you can’t possibly post about Ryan Adams’ birthday party without at least one good shot of Ryan’s green knit pom pom hat. I’ll update if any hat photos ever surface; in the meantime, my own camera-phone shot of Phil seen through my friend Walter’s white shock of late-era Garcia hair will have to suffice.

The shows? Phenomenal. After Halloween’s cover extravaganza, Tuesday’s sets mingled classic rock standards — Dixie Down, Brown Sugar, Revolution — with Grateful Dead warhorses like Deal and Shakedown, and seeing Phil drop Other One bombs from the rail was bone-shatteringly good. I was just beginning to miss the ballads when Death Don’t Have No Mercy, sung by Jackie Greene, provided a rare treat, topped off by a sweet, sweet Brokedown Palace for which I happened to be the audience member closest to Phil. A deeply satisfying concert, as good as anything I’d ever hope to see from anybody who didn’t use to be in my favorite band.

But Monday was the real reason I’ll keep on coming back as long as this music is getting played. After a first set loaded with primal late-sixties Dead grooves enhanced by Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin on sax, the second set was pure Deadhead heaven. It happened to be Ryan Adams‘ birthday, reason enough for Phil to splurge and extend the show until after 1am for four hours of music filled with some of the best tunes in the Dead catalog, played with vigor, love, and inventiveness.

An informal poll conducted on the way out confirmed what we already knew: “That was profound” and “Wharf Rat dominated my skull.” Walter, who’d come in from Düsseldorf to see Phil for the first time since 1994, could hardly have picked a better time–if you’re going to take a transatlantic flight to a rock concert, this was the night. Two more shows this weekend top off what by all accounts has been a stellar 11-night run. Thank you, Phil.

Phil Lesh and Friends, Nokia Theater, 11/5/07
Set 1 (with Steve Berlin)
Brown-Eyed Women, The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion), Viola Lee Blues > Operator> Viola Lee Blues> Next Time You See Me> Viola Lee Blues, Chest Fever, Sugaree
Set 2 (with Ryan Adams)
Happy Birthday Ryan, Eyes of the World> Scarlet Begonias> China Cat Sunflower> Bird Song, Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad, Ripple, I Know You Rider> Uncle John’s Band> Dark Star> Franklin’s Tower> Dark Star
Encore: Wharf Rat

Phil Lesh and Friends, Nokia Theater, 11/6/07
Set 1: Bertha> Deal, Big River, Gone Wanderin’, Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Cosmic Charlie
Set 2: Brown Sugar> Shakedown Street> Revolution, Beat It On Down The Line> Cryptical Envelopment> The Other One> Death Don’t Have No Mercy> The Other One> Brokedown Palace
Encore: Not Fade Away

Tunes
For your listening enjoyment, audience recordings of Monday’s skull-dominating Wharf Rat encore, Tuesday’s Revolution, and Death Don’t Have No Mercy. Torrents for the Nokia run are up at etree.org in flac format, but if you’d rather grab mp3s, you can download 10/31 (312 MB), 11/5 (247 MB), and  11/6 (229 MB) while the bandwidth lasts.

[audio:WharfRat-071105.mp3]

[audio:Revolution-071106.mp3]

[audio:DeathDont-071106.mp3]

YouTube has a pro-shot clip from the 2005 Jammys, when Ryan first came out as a Deadhead, also with Wharf Rat. If you squint, you can spot me in the audience. Carefully, this clip is brutally cut at the ten minute mark — and Ryan’s not wearing any green knit hats, either.

Reviews on the fan message boards are mixed, but I had a blast at Phil Lesh’s Halloween party on Wednesday night. Halloween’s a major head holiday, and how could you not have fun getting down to Sympathy for the Devil with a room full of hippie witches, blinking aliens, Imperial stormtroopers and the usual assortment of wookies? Phil’s new line-up features the very talented Jackie Greene along with Particle’s Steve Molitz and regulars Larry Campbell and John Molo, and the show was a little heavier on blues jams than on the usual psychedelic freak-outs.

The Werewolves encore was a safe bet, but I don’t think anybody saw the cover of Phish’s Ghost coming. There was an unusual number of first times played (Don’t Let the Devil Take Your Mind, I Put a Spell on You, Boris the Spider, and Sympathy for the Devil) and the second set achieved lift-off with Caution > Voodoo Chile. I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the run, even if my chances of catching any of the rumored sit-ins — there’s talk of Bob, Bob, Ryan, Warren, Levon, and Trey — are pretty slim. I’ll keep adding setlists to this post as we make our way through the Lesh Marathon of 2007.

Phil and Friends, Nokia Theater, NY, NY
Set 1: Shakedown Street> Loose Lucy> Don’t Let the Devil Take Your Mind, Candyman, I Put A Spell on You> Jam> Story of the Ghost> Casey Jones

Set 2: Phil Reads from “The Pit and the Pendulum”, Cryptical Envelopment> Boris the Spider> Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks) > Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)> The Other One> Cryptical Envelopment> New Speedway Boogie> Fire on the Mountain, Sympathy for the Devil> I Know You Rider

E: Werewolves of London

There are no torrents up yet, but here’s the Grateful Dead playing Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London on Halloween ‘91, a show that also featured a truly frightening guest appearance by Ken Kesey, reciting e.e. cumming’s “Buffalo Bill is Defunct” mid-Dark Star to commemorate Bill Graham’s death. You can download the entire show from nugs.net. and archive.org.

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