Wednesday night's Jammy Awards, held at Madison Square Garden's WaMu Theater in New York City, found the four members of Phish, reunited on stage for the first time since their final concert in 2004, trading fond memories of their two decades on the road. Honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award, frontman Trey Anastasio made a surprise post-rehab-and-jail-stint appearance, sitting in with Beatles cover band the Fab Faux to handle Eric Clapton's part on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." He then joined his Phish bandmates Mike Gordon, Page McConnell, and Jon Fishman side-stage to hear rock scribe Anthony DeCurtis' introduction. "Remember when I snapped that one day [and said], 'You try getting up at 4:00 p.m. for a photo shoot!'" Fishman recounted to a round of laughs. Ever the jokester, even this drummer-turned-farmer ("This morning as we were getting ready to leave, the post office called to say your geese, ducks, and chickens have arrived," he cracked), could not overstate the importance of the moment.
But the real emotion came from Anastasio, who has battled his share of personal problems in recent years, and now seems healthy, inspired, and motivated to get back to music (he has a new album due out this June). Holding back tears, the guitar god told a crowd of 5,000 ecstatic jam-band fans: "I want to express something that's been on my mind for the last five years. I've always wanted to have a moment to convey to some degree what all this meant to me and the guys — it was always so much bigger than the four of us. I feel like, as a musician we're servants, and musicians from the beginning of time have been there to express the mood and the musical feelings in the air for whatever's going on in that particular culture. It's the greatest joy to be able to translate that, be part of something and watch the scenery around you. That's what it felt like to be in Phish all those years.... Thank you so much for the experience." As for whether phans will see a real reunion sometime in the band's future? "Never say never," Fishman said cryptically backstage afterward.
Celebrity turnout was a bit light at Coachella 2008, perhaps because of a weaker-than-usual lineup and the triple-digit heat, which made the backstage scene kind of tame. Still, we still had a smattering of B-list actors and scenesters trolling the grounds, along with a couple of rock star offspring and one notable parent. Read on for a day-by-day breakdown...
A bit of chaos — some of it comic — unfolded at last night's NME Awards (held at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles), where few of the award winners were big on acceptance speeches. Members of MGMT, who were voted NME's Breakthrough Artist, and Vampire Weekend, who took home Best New Indie/Alternative Band, barely mumbled a 'thank you' before taking their bronzed middle finger back to their tables. But one recipient was particularly unenthused. Lemonheads frontman and founder Evan Dando, who was given the Classic Album award for his band's seminal 1992 record, It's A Shame About Ray, walked offstage and literally chucked the weighty trophy in the garbage can, telling a minder, "I don't want this." Afterwards, he performed two songs from that album solo — the title track and "My Drug Buddy" — to an audience that included celebrity attendees Kelly Osbourne, Danny Masterson, and Bijou Phillips, but then disappeared for the rest of the night and never explained his actions.
Dando's strange antics were just the tip of the iceberg, though. At one point, Osbourne spat at the show's host, Aussie comedian Jim Jeffries, who responded with, "Wow, Kelly Osbourne spitting — that's not what I read on the Internet" — which prompted attendee Sienna Miller to throw a drink at him.
But all hell broke loose once a reunited Jane's Addiction took the stage to play four of their classics, including "Been Caught Stealing" and "Jane Says." Singer Perry Farrell was clearly thrilled to be back and on his home turf. He told the crowd, "I do this in my underpants, but it's not as much fun."
The managers of Sacramento recording studio The Hangar, where albums by many a freak-folker have been made (Devendra Banhart, Vetiver, and Bright Black Morning Light, among others), were surprised to get a call last week from Kanye West's camp looking to book some time in the hippie- and skater-friendly space. The chart-topping rapper had just finished the second date of his Glow in the Dark tour at nearby ARCO Arena, but needed to work on a track for Young Jeezy's upcoming album which, EW.com has learned, is scheduled for release in July. "We thought it was a joke at first," says studio owner John Baccigaluppi, who's also the publisher of respected indie recording magazine Tape Op. "It was certainly an unusual booking for us, but they seemed to dig the studio and all the skate ramps." West hunkered down for two overnight sessions before heading south to San Jose, San Diego, and then Los Angeles, where his Nokia Theater performance drew several famous fans, including Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, and Jamie Foxx.
Motley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee is no stranger to reality TV (remember Tommy Lee Goes to College?), but that doesn't mean he's a fan of celebreality. Following a press conference and performance to announce Motley's new album, Saints of Los Angeles, and this summer's Crüefest tour, the always-outspoken stick-man revealed he could have had Bret Michaels' VH1 gig but turned it down. "They asked me to be on the second Rock of Love and I was, like, 'Are you out of your f----- minds? F--- no!," he told EW.com. "I think it's the stupidest s--- I've ever seen." Crüe singer Vince Neil, ironically, was more forgiving of their Poison peer. "I think it's pretty funny," he said. "Trying to deal with 20 chicks in the same house? You gotta hand it to the guy."
Lee hasn't given up on television entirely, however. He and rapper Ludacris have signed on for Battleground Earth (a show premiering on Discovery's new Planet Green network) in which the two will criss-cross the country in various competitions designed to raise awareness of environmental issues. And just to show he's serious, this weekend Lee heads to San Francisco to join the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart and Phish drummer Jon Fishman on stage at the Green Apple Music Festival, one of eight free Earth Day concerts being held around the country. He's also planning to make the ultimate sacrifice sometime in the coming weeks: "I'm gonna quit smoking," he declared. "Or I'm gonna try."
iTunes doesn’t include live individual American Idol performances or recordings in its weekly chart of the most downloaded songs, but if the online music retailer did, the Idols would likely be landing near the top. Just consider the artists they’ve covered: After David Cook name-checked Chris Cornell’s version of “Billie Jean,” sales jumped from 224 to 14,861 weekly downloads, while Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah,” sung by Jason Castro, shot to the top of the charts with sales of 174,553. As for video performances, after April 9’s Idol Gives Back, six clips hit the top 10, including the Idols’ opening number cover of Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop the Music,” which went all the way to No. 1, beating new videos by Madonna and Mariah Carey. Apple's iTunes store was recently named the top music retailer in the country, surpassing Wal-Mart for the first time. Could Idol be the reason why?
Add a former American Idol top three finalist to the fast-growing list of Archie devotees. Season 5's Elliott Yamin told EW.com at last night's ASCAP Pop Music Awards that he's rooting for young David Archuleta to take the crown this year. "It would be really cool to see a young kid like him win," he said. "I really love his songs, and musically, he's very talented. He plays the guitar, piano... it's nice to see [Idol] bringing out the creative sides of those kids." As for the other male contenders? "No one's really impressed me this season," Yamin maintains. "David Cook is okay, Michael Johns is alright, but it's anybody's game at this point."
As for himself, though still mourning the recent loss of his mother, Yamin was in good spirits walking the red carpet at Hollywood's Kodak theater, relishing his time out of the recording studio. The velvety-voiced singer is hard at work on his second album, which he hopes to have out by the fall, and has recruited Janet Jackson's man Jermaine Dupri to lend a hand with production. "I'm looking forward to seeing what he adds," Yamin says. Also on his wish list: D'Angelo. "I've always wanted to work with him, and I've said it in interviews lots of times. Still, we've never heard from him."
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