As bassist in the love 'em or hate 'em rock band Phish, Mike Gordon plays the part as if he's sent straight out of Central Casting. Gordon's role in the quartet is the quintessential subdued, foundation of rhythm; on stage he rarely smiles or moves from his spot between muumuu-clad drummer Jon Fishman and gleeful guitar fiend Trey Anastasio. That's not to say that Gordon's bass work isn't outstanding, because it is, but there's never any doubt that Phish is Anastasio's band. So after over two decades playing Derek Smalls to Anastasio's Nigel Tufnel, it's interesting to watch the bassist take charge of his own crew, which he did with confident zeal at Brooklyn Bowl over the course of two nights earlier this week. more ›

This week we saw the new Guitar Hero 5 featuring the late Kurt Cobain. Who approved this? Who knows, but no one is willing to take credit for the avatar, which once unlocked can move beyond the Nirvana catalog and plays tunes by Bush, Bon Jovi and other bands Mr. Cobain would have likely never covered without a slight ironic half-smile on his face. Stereogum aggregates the fallout, which pitted Courtney Love against Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Activision. "Courtney Love very calmly took to Twitter to call out Activision and threaten filing suit. In her words: 'FOR THE RECORD I DID NOT APPROVE KURTS AVATAR FOR GUYITARHERO5. i think Kurt would despise this game alone let alone this avatar ... WE are going to sue the shit out of ACtivision we being the Trust the Estate the LLC the various LLCs Cobain Enterprises'." Once the internet got a hold of all this, a statement from Grohl and Novoselic landed in our inbox, stating in part, "We want people to know that we are dismayed and very disappointed in the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the Guitar Hero game. The name and likeness of Kurt Cobain are the sole property of his estate—we have no control whatsoever in that area. It's hard to watch an image of Kurt pantomiming other artists' music alongside cartoon characters. Kurt Cobain wrote songs that hold a lot of meaning to people all over the world. We feel he deserves better." more ›

Multi-instrumentalist Mike Gordon – revered for his virtuoso bass playing and distinctive singing with the trailblazing jam band Phish – is releasing a new solo album on August 5th, right in the midst of feverish speculation about a Phish reunion; speculation that's been all but confirmed by the band members themselves. As Gordon tells us in this interview, the timing of all this increased Phish chatter is a bit "weird," mainly because he's so excited about touring with his new band in support of the upbeat new record, called The Green Sparrow. more ›