In our Best of Rock issue, we ran a photo essay about Baltimore’s awesome music scene. You may have noticed a picture of a dude in a crazy-looking black-and-white shirt and thought to yourself, "Why the hell does that guy have a microphone cord wrapped around his face?" When I first looked at it, I shrugged him off as some weirdo art-school dropout who probably fronts a so-so glam-rock band. Turns out he’s in this kick ass hardcore group called Double Dagger — and I was lucky enough to randomly catch this noisy bass-drums-vocals trio when they opened for my friend’s band last weekend at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington D.C.

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6/22/94. 12/31/95. 12/11/97. Phish diehards know these dates as some of the band's finest concerts. But the retired jam band have finally officially released what I think is their most supreme concert document: a May 1993 show from Durham, New Hampshire. (Bootlegs of this show circulated online for years — my own CD-R burn is scratched to hell — but the sound quality isn't nearly as great as this official release.) If you're going to own any live Phish show, make it this one. There's some incredible improv stuff. Thanks to bassist Mike Gordon, "Reba" moves beyond mere two-chord jamming. And the fifteen-minute "Stash" is one of Phish's best live versions ever — an excellent example of Trey Anastasio's machine-gun-style guitar soloing and the band's ability to move between tension-and-release-powered grooves. Also cool: Page McConnell's funny cover of Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" and a bonus thirty-minute "You Enjoy Myself" from 5/5/93. Many of you may hate this band — as one of my bosses maintains, "I love everything about Phish but their music" — but this show might make you a convert. And many more of you will think there are better examples of Phish's live shows. If so, which ones? Also: how long do you think until Phish reunite?

[Photo: Getty]

Two weeks ago, a New York bar owner banned the classic Irish song "Danny Boy" from getting played on his jukebox on St. Patrick's Day: he claims that it gets too much love and that it's more appropriate for a funeral. So let's pick a new anthem for the holiday. I'd nominate one of two Pogues songs. First, there's the amped up folk-punk jam "The Sick Bed of Cuchulain," on which frontman Shane MacGowan pays tribute to the death of Irish heroes. But I'm more partial to the funny, moving ballad "Fairytale of New York." True, it’s about a super-dysfunctional relationship and takes place on Chrismas Day. But if you're singing this in a bar while you're blind-faced drunk, the meaning of the words doesn't really matter — which is why "Danny Boy" is such an appropriate song. What would you pick? One rule: No Enya.

[Photo: Getty]

Last night was my first time going to the Hall of Fame awards show and I got to hang out in the press room with a crowd of papparazzi, television crews and journalists. While it wasn't the actual ceremony held in the Waldorf Astoria's Ballroom (three floors up), it was still pretty badass, like an awesome version of high school detention but with tasty food and comfortable chairs. It was a hoot watching the papparazzi interact with inductees like Madonna (who wouldn't answer any questions — WTF?), the Dave Clark Five and the Ventures: the photographers shouted relentlessly for them to stare directly into their lens, while the television camera crews violently cursed the photographers because they were blocking the sightlines of celebs on the dais. Richard Belzer came out and played air guitar; Leonard Cohen kept cool (also: no questions) as photogs shouted for him to take off his glasses (he didn't); Patti Labelle made a plea for the next President to end the war. But the funniest (meanest?) moment had to be when handlers announced new Saturday Night Live castmember Casey Wilson would come out for a photo op — and most of the crowd shouted, "Who's that?!?" Ouch!