Root Down in the Shadow

After dinner and a beer at Boot & Saddle recently, crossing the threshold of the venue was more than going to a concert; it was a chance to go back in time.  For the evening, the talented outfits of Foxhound, Hezekiah Jones , and Ali Wadsworth transformed themselves into Nirvana , the Lemonheads , and Pearl Jam .  On any ordinary night, this would be a stellar line-up without any covers, but just talent alone.  But for this Saturday night, it stood to be an incredible night; recreating a night that many music fans wish they would have ever been a part of. First up was Foxhound.  Normally the duo of Chris Kasper and Kylie Ryan , they recruited some friends to make Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York happen.  Sean Hoots, complete with ripped jeans and a tied on flannel, played an acoustic bass and Tom Bendel was on drums.  Just as Nirvana took some liberties for the live recording, Foxhound made this their own as well as they played the whole album end to end sans &qu

In 1992, Pearl Jam took their grunge sound to television.  They had two very successful appearances with SNL & MTV Unplugged .  The sixth song from the TV appearance, and 7th for the DVD release (with the Ten re-issue ) was 'Porch'.  Besides the obvious difference of the acoustic guitar, the song is extended with a long Mike McCready guitar solo & Eddie Vedder improv.  Also without the electric, the guitar seems more rhythmic.  The song is self edited by Eddie, but the political statement is not muted at all.  Outside of some incredibly young looking and long haired members of the band, the highlights of the video are as follows: 0:49 Eddie Vedder's growl (I'm not sure why this seems so much different than the album) 1:32 Mike McCready guitar solo (including Eddie Vedder falling off of his stool) 2:07 Jeff Ament's drum acrobatics 2:18 the guitar portion speeding up 2:25 Eddie Vedder starts his self tattoo "PRO-CHOICE" on his arm 3:12 Edd

I debated about this song most of the last 24 hours.  Do I write about a seldom heard Pearl Jam song (again), or touch on another song that folks might know.  But after hearing back from my likely initial source for this song,(Thanks Joe!!!!!!!!) I felt I had to go for the first choice.   Today's pick for Pearl Jam Song of the Week , has been a treasured song to me for so long, and this blog has served as a reminder to another who also treasured it according to Joe, "I haven't heard it in a good, long while." So here goes:  Pearl Jam ' Sonic Reducer' has been a favorite of mine since high school.  I really don't know what came first, getting some tapes from Joe or getting my own bootlegs first.  Either way, at some point in high school, I got my hands on the song.  The song was from the Ten era.  From what I can tell, it first became available to fans on the bands vinyl 45 christmas single. Each year the Pearl Jam Ten Club, gives out a freebie to the