Dr. Dog, Gutter Twins Engage the Power of the Riff

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Looking (and spasming) like the Blues Brothers' distant cousin, Dr. Dog frontman Scott McMicken lead his band through a set of meat and potatoes riffage that made believers out of the afternoon crowd. Though the group stuck mostly to familiar poses, the most exciting moments came when things threatened to spiral out of control, like the swirling honky tonk breakdown during "The Old Days."

Across a field, the Gutter Twins (former Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs) released a little bit of evil into the breezy afternoon air. Their churning slabs of sexy psychedelia are meant to be consumed late at night in smoky barrooms, so they sounded a tad out of place. However, that didn't stop them from gaining some converts with their slow-burning tales of obsession — most notably on their cover of Massive Attack's "Live With Me."

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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