getting a little bit D.U.M.B. this weekend

Last night, one of my favorite bands and a band that has gone from intolerable to one that I kinda like sometimes began a co-headlining tour which is plagued with the worst name ever:

the D.U.M.B. Tour.

The two bands playing are the Disco Biscuits and Umphrey's McGee; if you mix the four words up and form an acronym, you get D.U.M.B. Pretty dumb, don't you think?

Check the logo, which is a combination of UM's four-leaf clover and tDB's odd little circle logo:

To me, it looks like some brilliant promoter came up with a D.U.M.B. idea, and this is the result.

I kid. Seriously, I've been advocating these double bills for years as a way for small- to medium-sized bands to cross-pollinate their audiences. My first pick to do something like this was Brothers Past and Perpetual Groove. One northern band, one southern band, both with pretty fanatical (though small and virtually nonexistent outside their home territory) fanbases. Set an early start time, alternate headlining spots in clubs around the country, watch fanbase grow exponentially.

Well, it didn't quite happen like that.

Instead, let me tell you the tale of two bands that fell in love with each other so deeply that some of their respective fans got sick of the other group's music. I don't know when or where it happened (though I believe it was in Amsterdam for the first Jam in the 'Dam), but this is the situation with the Disco Biscuits and Umphrey's McGee.

Umphrey's McGee and the Disco Biscuits stumble around Amsterdam.

Thanks to PT's SleekLazy for hooking up the photo for me

Some people are sick of seeing the two bands packaged together: they are playing this five show southern tour and Trancegression, a co-headlining festival in mid-July in Colorado (a trip I had to unfortunately cancel). Together, they're also the main attractions for Caribbean Holidaze, a destination festival (that I am happy to be attending). Others know that creatively the musicians play off of each other rather well. Many (myself including) hope for a return of the Brain Damaged Eggmen, a hybridized band featuring members of both groups that plays Pink Floyd and Beatles' covers, exclusively.

Umphrey's McGee has grown on me since I first saw them. My opinion echoes the complaints of many others: technically, they are extremely talented musicians, but much of their music lacks soul. Also, I find that a majority of their jams sound like they were ripped straight out of a Phish setlist. But sometimes they rock pretty hard, and some of their podcasts featuring soundboard recordings of crispy material get regular playback on my work computer.

I really like the Disco Biscuits, and I kinda like UM. But that combination wasn't going to get me to drive to Atlanta on Saturday to see them. However, the D.U.M.B. promoter had a good idea: add a solid Georgia band to the lineup to play a late night show. The fact that the band is Perpetual Groove, one of my top three groups to see live, made the decision to collect the crew and trek to Georgia a no-brainer. Of course, the fact that I have a lovely lady whom I can't wait to see doesn't hurt, either.

What will hurt is leaving Perpetual Groove's late night show (starting at 10 p.m. and ending at 2 a.m.), getting in the car and driving right back down to South Florida in time for the hometown D.U.M.B. show at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre. Normally the ride back home after a show is brutal, especially if you leave immediately following an eight-hour rage-fest. I'm not saying that this one won't be brutal, but the fact that there is a show the next day is a bright light at the end of a long tunnel.

Tickets for all the D.U.M.B. Tour shows, including tonight's in Portsmouth, VA and tomorrow's in Raleigh, NC, are available here. Hope to see you out.

all shirts 10 bucks at Shirt Empire

Shirt Empire has all their shirts on sale for $10. Shipping is only $5.

Pretty cheap for some decent items. Almost all of their styles marry music and design, so they're the type of style I usually jump on.

This is the one I just bought:

product page can be reached by clicking on the shirt

What do you think?

new instrumental Trey Anastasio album to be released...

Good news from the Geigh 4 Trey camp; the former Phish guitarist, current ward of the New York State Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives is coming out with a new, all-instrumental album which promises to revisit the Afro-Cuban big band sound that is so infectious, especially when compared with the lite-rock, easy listening crap that currently dominates his repetoire.

The line-up of musicians of the disc give me hope that it will be a good one:

The Horseshoe Curve was recorded with producer Bryce Goggin at The Barn, as well as Trout Recording in Brooklyn, NY. Alongside Anastasio, the band includes sax players Dave Grippo, Peter Apfelbaum and Russell Remington; trumpeter Jen Hartswick, trombonist Andy Moroz, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, drummer Russ Lawton, percussionist Cyro Baptista and bassist Tony Markellis.

Now that's a lineup that I can get into. Fat Tony on bass and Russ Lawton on drums are the rhythm core of the original trio Trey played this music with when the guitarist began to feel that his Phish was getting a bit stale in 1999.

The horn section is a bit on the large size, but features two of the three O.G. Giant Country Horns (Remmington and Grippo), and some of Trey's more recent brass collaborators, including Jennifer Hartswick, who seems to be his muse in many ways. I don't really have an opinion on keyboardist Ray Paczkowski.

The last time I saw Trey live I walked out of the show. Granted, it was his festival set at Langerado, he was repeating a number of songs from the night before, and I had other things to do and see (like rush back to the club to see the Disco Biscuits crush the crowd until after 4 a.m.), but he underwhelmed the hell out of me. I had a good time the night before at his club show in Fort Lauderdale, but it was nothing that was that good. The man can still play guitar real well, and he (and his band... credit where credit is due) was responsible for many of the best nights of music I experienced.

This wasn't one of those nights, probably because he wasn't playing the songs that touched me so back when I spent every dime and all my free time on going to see Phish shows. The new tunes just don't do it for me in the same way. There were moments of improvisational brilliance—however short and fleeting—but they were few and far between. But there is no guitar tone like Trey's guitar tone.

I'm not going to go into the man's legal troubles and what I think of them here, except to say that I really hope that this album is the beginning of Trey Anasatasio's come back. He is way to talented to burn out and fade away, and I truly hope that he is albe to overcome the chemical demons that have been plaguing him the last few years.

And maybe, just maybe I'll get the chance to see another Phish show.

Here's hoping.

You can preorder Trey Anastasio's new album, The Horseshoe Curve, here.

Michael Jackson's Punch-Out!!

Yesterday's 8-bit video put me in a old skool mood, and then I see this in my Inbox this morning. It's a sign, people!

I used to love playing Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. I remember sitting in my buddy Matt Levy's bedroom when we were little kids and playing the bosses at the end of the game over and over and over and over again before we finally finished the game.

Funny, but I don't remember this level...

Was it just me or did the makers of the game intentionally make Mike Tyson way too difficult?

I wonder what they'd say about Iron Mike nowadays... I don't think they'd be making him the star of his own video game, that's for sure...

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

I know that it seems like I'm on a bit of an unnecessary Daft Punk kick over here. Which of course I am. The beginning of last week's tour pumped me out so much for the show I'm going to see later this summer that I've been listening to the French robots quite a bit lately.

Another unintended side effect of the tour's recent kick-off is the reemergence of a considerable amount of Daft Punk-related material on the web.

Take these videos. None of them (except the last one) is officially sanctioned. They're all a video of the same song but they couldn't be more different. I like how art of one kind influences art of another, but there is no expectation of how the influence is going to manifest itself.

This first pick is entitled Daft Hands, and the creator of the video has claimed that he created this masterpiece in one take. Dunno if that is the case or if he is being a little dishonest, but regardless it's pretty incredible. I do not have the coordination to do something like this at all.

For a little more musical talent (though not digital talent, the last d00d had that in spades), here is an a cappella version from the Carleton College Singing Knights. They have a pretty interesting set of songs that they perform on a regular basis; videos of most of them can be found at YouTube. If you've ever tried to sing anything in harmony, you know how difficult what this group of guys is doing truly is.

Click here (damn Flash-based pages) for an uber 8-bit version. If anyone know what game this is from (I'm looking at you, Perc) please let me know.

If those Nintendo throwback graphics brought you back to the future, then this one will bring you back. I spend at least ten hours a week with my feet planted firmly in front of my television, standing with a plastic guitar in my hands. I'm super-anxious to get my hands on a modified Play Station 2 so that maybe I can play things like this (though no where near as well).

And here, finally, is Daft Punk's version from their animated film Interstella 5555

pro shot Daft Punk video!

Until now, if you wanted to see the epic audiovisual experience that is Daft Punk live in concert, you either had to see them play live yourself (which I strongly--and repeatedly--urge you to do) or watch grainy, compressed audience video shot by amatuers.

That all changes now.

These two videos capture the robotic duo playing live this past weekend at London's O2 Wireless Festival. These videos (which not only are pro shot but also utilize multiple camera angles and some pretty spiffy editing) were broadcast on UK Channel 4 (note to American broadcasters: there is an audience for this stuff and you should maybe think about giving the consumers what they want).

"One More Time" / "Aerodynamic"

If the setlists bear any resemblance to last year, this tune was played near the middle of the set. I think that the twilight conditions verify that. Funny, I never in a thousand years would have thought that Daft Punk would begin their set while it was still light out.

"Rollin' & Scratchin' / "Da Funk" / "Superheroes"

Last year, this was the encore. I wish i would have brought a container to put my brain into after it ended, since my mnd slowly but surely dripped out my ears during the set.

How long until Brooklyn?

girl's feet cut off on amusement park ride

I love amusement parks. I especially love roller coasters: the faster and twistier the better, as far as I'm concerned.

That's why this story made my stomach turn. I've been on rides like this a million times, and though they're not my favoirte, it is a pretty cool sensation toleave your stomach up top as you free fall.

The most disturbing part of the story? A quote from an unidentified witness at the scene:

"The people on the ride just came and hit the ground," she said. "When I got up there, the lady she was just sitting there, and she didn't have no legs. ... And she was just there, calm, probably in shock from everything."

So you don't go away sour on amusement parks (especially roller coasters!!), here is a video of my favorite thril ride, the Volcano at King's Dominion in Williamsburg, Va.