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Miles Davis

...died on this date in 1991 from a stroke related to complications from pneumonia.

There are so many killer versions of Miles' bands over the years. I went hunting on YouTube to find some representative pieces and realized that even within eras (especially the electric phase from 69 - 74) the variations on the line-up make it really hard to cherry-pick without ignoring something amazing.

So here's my feable attempt to spread some Miles today. Three clips. First up is Miles & Trane from the late '50s, then one from the "classic quintet" featuring Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, et al from 1964 (dig Herbie's piano solo about 8 minutes in) and finally the electric band at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970...

way-back machine v35: Grateful Dead

...at Boston Garden, Boston, MA, on this date in 1991..

Yahoooooo! What a show! What a night! The old Boston Garden!

Dig the setlist...a peak show of the Hornsby era...all of the spark and playfulness he brought to the band.

I kind of lost the love after Hornsby left, though the fall '93 tour had its moments. It was really sad to watch them peter out, especially after the resurgence of '87-'91. In retrospect, ploughing on after Brent's death seems not only insensitive, but damaging to them psychically.

Let's leave on the high note, though...after this show me and my buddy Steve drank a case of beer and built a tower with the cans in the hotel's elevator. Ha.

Grateful Dead: Eyes of the World
from Boston Garden, Boston, MA, September 26, 1991

Burning Dervish Volume Four

Burning Dervish Volume 4: Obvious Songs of the Season-Autumn

It is what it's named...Autumn's just kicking in here in Brooklyn. The weather has been lovely and the warmth promises to be in the air for at least a few more weeks.

Playoff baseball...football pools...and before you know it, Halloween.

Download the mix and enjoy the tunes - and the season, too...

• My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion, The Flaming Lips, At War with the Mystics
• Summer's Almost Gone, The Doors, Waiting For The Sun
• September Gurls, Big Star, #1 Record/Radio City
• September Song, James Brown, Soul on Top
• One September Day, Nina Simone, Four Women: The Nina Simone Philips Recordings
• Early Autumn, Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers, Tough!
• Autumn In New York, Johnny Smith, Walk, Don't Run!
• Autumn In New York, Frank Sinatra & Billy May, Come Fly With Me
• September Song, Frank Sinatra, Point Of No Return
• September In The Rain, Frank Sinatra, Sinatra's Swingin' Session! And More
• The September Of My Years, Frank Sinatra, Sinatra At The Sands
• Autumn Leaves, Frank Sinatra, Where Are You?
• Autumn Leaves, Jimmy Smith, Incredible Jimmy Smith at the Organ
• Autumn Leaves, Miles Davis, Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings 1963-1964
• October In The Railroad Earth, Jack Kerouac with Steve Allen, The Beat Generation

Download Burning Dervish Volume 4: Obvious Songs of the Season-Autumn here.

way-back machine v34: One for Woody

...at Roseland Ballroom in NYC on this date in Y2K...

Allen Woody was the bass player in Gov't Mule and before that for the Allman Brothers Band. He died earlier in the year 2000 and this show was a memorial and benefit for his wife and daughter.

Phil Lesh & Friends played first. I personally think Roseland is a lousy place for sound unless you are in one of a few sweet spots but it was great seeing Phil up close. This was the era of what many thought was the best version of the band: Phil, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Rob Barraco and John Molo. They smoked in their shortened set as demonstrated below...

This show was also Warren's reunion with the Allmans, though minus Derek Trucks (Jimmy Herring was the second guitarist at that point). Lots of special guests sitting in with the bands throughout the night and on the MP3 below the Allmans are joined by Rich & Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes...

For the final track below "Gov't Mule & Friends" was Warren Haynes, Matt Abts, Berry Oakley Jr., Gordie Johnson and another ABB allum, Johnny Neel...

The Black Crowes also played their own set but they give me a headache so none posted here today!

Enjoy -

Phil Lesh & Friends: Jam > Unbroken Chain
Allman Brothers Band: Dreams
Gov't Mule: Shine On You Crazy Diamond

McCoy Tyner Trio with Pharoah Sanders

.McCoy Tyner Trio with Pharoah Sanders at the Blue Note, New York, NY, September 21, 2006

I waited years to see this show. I have passed up or missed so many chances to see McCoy and/or Pharoah, but this series of shows at the Blue Note in honor of Coltrane's 80th birthday got me off the couch.

Only myabe 5 pieces stretched over a roughly 60-minute set but their version of "Afro Blue" was worth the (steep) price of admission all by itself. It was so exciting to hear McCoy's sound on the piano in person after years of listening to him on record. And Pharoah, well he definitely aired it out. Some really great playing. And effortless...man.

Charnett Moffett was on bass. He was the bass player on one of my all-time favorite records, which I recommend to anyone who likes loud music, Sonny Sharrock's Ask the Ages. The drummer, Eric Kamau Gravatt, was the weakest link, I thought. He was a little stiff and seemed distracted by his gear, constantly fiddling and tweaking.

They are at the Blue Note until Sunday, go if you can.

Rob Tyner of the MC5

...died of a heart attack on this date in 1991.

It is hard to write anything brief about the MC5. First off, everything about them is fascinating - the band members, their manager, the scene they came out of, their music and lyrics, their legacy, their intellects, their ass-kicking, their politics...and Rob Tyner was a character amongst characters.

I'll tell you what, I will do what I do best here, which is offer up some good music. I'll let other folks who are better-suited fill you in on why you should take a minute today to kick out the jams for Rob Tyner:

Motor City Music Rob Tyner Bio

An excellent four-part tribute to Rob with lots of trivia and info.

The two tracks today come from their last record, which really makes you wonder what they would have done next had they kept it together. This record is amazing and these two tracks are the cream:

MC5: FutureNow and Over and Over
from, High Time

Roger Waters in NYC, night two

Roger Waters, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, September 13, 2006. Night two of two.

Same setlist as night one, but in this case that's exactly what I was hoping for! Here is a fun look at one of the props from the show...

Setlist:
In The Flesh
Mother
Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Have A Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Southampton Dock
The Fletcher Memorial Home
Perfect Sense Parts 1 and 2
Leaving Beirut
Sheep
Speak To Me/Breathe
On The Run
Time
The Great Gig In The Sky
Money
Us And Them/Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse
Band Introductions
Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)
Vera
Bring the Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb

At the end of each disc of the recordings of the show there is a Nick Mason interview from Q104.3 Classic Rock broadcast on 9/12/06.

Download the show:
Disc one
Disc two

Roger Waters in NYC, night one

Roger Waters, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, September 12, 2006.

This was the first of two at MSG. Yes, I went to both. Amazing shows. I even got a little teary...Made me remember being 15...ha...

This review appeared on NYTIMES.com:

"September 14, 2006
Music Review
Fending Off That Great Gig in the Sky
By SIA MICHEL

The idea of an album may seem increasingly hoary in a singles-oriented, downloading age, but the sellout crowd for Roger Waters at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night paid a lot of money to hear his band recreate a record — in sequence, in its entirety. Granted, the record was “The Dark Side of the Moon,” the 1973 rock masterpiece by Pink Floyd, Mr. Waters’s old band. It lingered on the Billboard 200 chart for almost 15 years and has sold about 34 million copies worldwide. And as long as there are potheads, water beds and freshman philosophy majors, it will continue to sell thousands of copies every month.

Part of the eternal appeal of the album is its trippy, vague seriousness. It seems to be a concept album about the difficulties of staying sane in a corrupt modern world. It seems to encourage people to rebel. It seems to encourage people to maintain a childlike state of purity. It seems to address issues like mortality (“Time”), greed (“Money”), war (“Us and Them”) and madness (“Brain Damage”). In short, it sounds really deep when one is zonked out on drugs at 3 a.m. “The Dark Side of the Moon” helped create the template for what a Great Album is conventionally supposed to be: a thematic, sonically adventurous social critique with brain-frying cover art.

The show drew a wildly diverse crowd, ranging from graying men in suits to entire families, including a fivesome in matching Pink Floyd T-shirts. Such was the reverence for the record that even the ringing bells that opened “Time” received a standing, cheering ovation.

Mr. Waters, the bassist and self-proclaimed “creative genius of Pink Floyd,” credited with the lyrics to “Dark Side,” performed with a backing band that included Nick Mason of Pink Floyd on drums and a guitarist-singer who expertly imitated David Gilmour, the Floyd member who retained the legal rights to the band’s name after it split acrimoniously in the 1980’s.

Mr. Waters took the stage in a roving spotlight, pumping his fist as if he had just won a prizefight. Before he plunged into the album, he played many Pink Floyd classics, including “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” a tribute to his eccentric, reclusive former bandmate Syd Barrett. When the face of Mr. Barrett, who died this summer, appeared on the giant video screens, the crowd saluted him with raised lighters and cellphones and the loudest singalong of the evening, which is saying a lot: some die-hards even mimicked the ka-ching of cash registers during “Money”.

As “Sheep” closed the intro, one of Pink Floyd’s trademark inflatable pigs flew about the arena, with “Impeach Bush Now” scrawled on its backside. On the main video screen, Mr. Waters offered antiwar commentary throughout the show and compared Tony Blair to Genghis Khan and the Son of Sam during his awkward new song, “Leaving Beirut.” His agitprop alternated with retro kitsch visuals like squiggly amoebas, human brains, floating pills, space rocks and, naturally, Mother Earth.

As dated as many “Dark Side” lyrics seem now (“And everything under the sun is in tune/but the sun is eclipsed by the moon”), there were plenty of chill-inducing quadraphonic-sound moments, and a disturbing reminder that one day we will all head off to “The Great Gig in the Sky.” During “Time,” as Mr. Waters sang, “Shorter of breath and one day closer to death,” a close-up of his wrinkled face appeared on the video screens. Later, as the album’s final song, “Eclipse,” ended, the arena filled with the sound of a beating heart. That’s some pretty heavy stuff for a Tuesday night."

Setlist:
Set I
In The Flesh
Mother
Set The Controls For the Heart Of The Sun
Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Have A Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Southampton Dock
The Fletcher Memorial Home
Perfect Sense Parts 1 and 2
Leaving Beirut
Sheep

Set II
The complete Dark Side of the Moon

Encores
Band Introductions/The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)
Vera
Bring the Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb

Download the show:
Disc one
Disc two

Two other lousy things happened on September 11, too...

..obviously nowhere near as momentous, but enough to give music fans pause...

Peter Tosh, one of the original Wailers, was murdered on this date in 1987 and Mickey Hart, who I personally find one of the most self-important and ridiculo