brooklynvegan

February 22, 2009

What's going on Sunday? (besides the Oscars)

Ryan Adams @ MSG (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Patton Oswalt @ Caroline's
* The Toasters @ Highline Ballroom
* Matisyahu & friends @ the Bell House
* Ryan Adams & the Cardinals @ Wellmont Theater

I can't vouch for its authenticity, but someone started SaveDaptone.org to raise money for the record label that was just majorly robbed.

Tonight is the Academy Awards.

Depeche Mode will be here in August.

The Thermals will be here in May.

If there are still tickets, there won't be for long for the Wrens show happening at Bowery Ballroom on March 13th. I'll also say for the first time, that you can catch the Wrens at the BrooklynVegan day party happening at Radio Room in Austin, TX on March 19th (full lineup details coming soon). Check out the new video for "Marked Up", their "still-kinda-new song", below...

What else?

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this post, posted at 8:00 AM in To Do | music | Comments (0)

U2's streaming album & Letterman residency, Jimmy Fallon got Van Morrison & other late night news

Conan O'Brien's last show in his old time slot was Friday night. A drumless White Stripes were the musical guest.

Conan won't be gone for long though. He takes over Jay Leno's slot, one hour earlier, on June 1st. Jay Leno airs his final show in his current time slot on May 29th, and then eventually moves to 10 pm on the same station.

Jimmy Fallon takes over Conan's NBC time slot on March 2nd. His house band The Roots take over NYC around the same time. Fallon's guest have started to be announced...

If Jimmy Fallon is nervous about the premiere of his new gig as "Late Night" host, he'll have Robert De Niro and Van Morrison to lean on. They'll be the guests for his March 2 debut hosting the NBC show...

NBC says Tina Fey, Jon Bon Jovi, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Donald Trump and Serena Williams are among other guests scheduled for Fallon's first week. [Vindy.com]

U2 will be the first band to play five nights in a row on Letterman that same week. "Coinciding with the worldwide release of [their new album] No Line on the Horizon, it's the first time a musical guest has performed an entire week on the CBS late night broadcast." That new album is now streaming in its entirety at MySpace.

Van Morrison's Fallon appearance comes soon after his two shows at the Theater at MSG, and right before the two at the Beacon.

The video from Joaquin Phoenix's recent, infamous appearance on Letterman, below...

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this post, posted at 2:59 AM in TV | music | Comments (3)

The Room is coming, so are the Oscars

The Room

The Room isn't nominated for an Oscar this year, which makes sense since it came out in 2003, and because according to those who've seen it, it's one of the worst movies ever made. Naturally then, there is serious excitement that it is finally coming to NYC. The March 20th screening at Village East Cinema is sold out, but Lindsay says they're adding a second one on the same date at the same theater. Look for tickets to go on sale Tuesday.

Those who were nominated for Oscars include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionare and M.I.A. and Peter Gabriel. Who will win? Find out tonight on ABC.

"It would be a great honor," Mr. Rahman said with characteristic diffidence in a phone interview this week from Los Angeles, where he was preparing to perform at the ceremony. "It would help me to do bigger things."

Ask him what those bigger things might be, however, and he grows even quieter. Naming some Western directors he would like to work with, he sounds distracted, almost bored, as if the future is just too abstract to worry about.

"Baz Luhrmann," he said. A beat, then: "Ridley Scott. I'm a big fan of Ridley." [NY TIMES]

The more independent Spirit Awards were yesterday. The Wrestler did very well. So did Milk.

The Room trailer below...

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this post, posted at 2:37 AM in TV | movies | music | Comments (2)

February 21, 2009

WFMU, Thee Oh Sees, Vetiver, Motel Motel, Phosphorescent

Willie Nelson

The previously announced April 4th Thee Oh Sees show at the Bell House in Brooklyn is doubling as the FreeMusicArchive.org launch party...

The Free Music Archive will combine the curatorial approach that stations like WFMU have played for the last few decades, and the community generated approach of many current online music sites. It'll be a valuable resource for those in search of legal audio; each track will have a clear set of rights associated with it, as determined by the artist, letting podcasters, bloggers, remix artists and music fans know what uses the artist will and will not allow. The project began here at WFMU, but we are just one of several curators who've been gathering audio for the Free Music Archive, freeing archival audio into the public domain, adding to the Creative Commons and building an open forum for participation that we're very excited to share with you. Stay tuned to our pre-launch blog for more previews and announcements as we get closer to launch.

Excepter, Catatonic Youth, and Pink Skull are also on the bill. $10 tickets are on sale. Tickets are also still on sale for the April 5th Thee Oh Sees show at Mercury Lounge.

Speaking of the Bell House, tickets are on sale for the May 7th Vetiver / Papercuts show. Tickets are also still on sale for the May 3rd Vetiver show at Bowery Ballroom.

Motel Motel have a show coming up at the Bell House too. They've been added as opener to the Phosphorescent / Mike Bones show happening there on February 28th. It's the show where Phos will be performing his entire "To Willie" album from start to finish, like he will... at the BrooklynVegan official SXSW showcase at Club DeVille in Austin on Thursday night, March 19th (and he's doing it in LA and San Francisco too). Brooklyn tickets are still on sale. All Phos tour dates HERE.

Video of Thee Oh Sees playing at Cake Shop, below...

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this post, posted at 11:20 PM in To Do | music | tour dates | Comments (0)

Zoroaster @ Europa, Brooklyn, NY - pics

words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Justina Villanueva

Zoroaster

While Ocean/Salome were tearing Public Assembly a new one on Sunday, Zoroaster finished off the evening at Europa... a night that included Neurosis-offshoot A Storm Of Light and the furious sludge-core of Amenra. A Storm of Light came on second (I caught very little of I, Parasite), pulling from their lone LP, And We Wept the Black Ocean Within, as well as dipping into new material which included samples from a newly recruited female vocalist who will appear on future releases. Amenra were next, and I literally cannot say enough things about this band's live show. Take everything pensive out of Neurosis and add in the furious hardcore of Acme, and you might have an idea of what Amenra is doing. Highly recommended.... get your ass to ABC NO RIO on Feb 28th!

Zoroaster were already on stage as I arrived back at Europa from seeing a few moments of Ocean at Public Assembly. Under a thick veil of smog and with a dense set of psychedelic lights, the band burned through material from both their Battle Kommand releases (check out the video for "Tualatin" below), as well as new material from their upcoming full length Voice of Saturn. The band roared... supported by a wall of stacks behind them that might even make Stephen O'Malley blush. Killer band, and if you get the chance to catch them at Scion Rock Fest, DO.

More pictures below...

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this post, posted at 5:14 PM in metal | music | pictures | Comments (1)

What's going on Saturday?

BB King @ the Wellmont Theater in December (more by Tim Griffin)
BB King

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Howlies @ Sound Fix
* Emo Philips @ Comix
* Pow Wow! @ the Annex
* Tristan Perich @ The Stone
* Patton Oswalt @ Caroline's
* PG Six & Mike Wexler @ Rehab
* Delta Spirit @ Bowery Ballroom
* Balthrop, Alabama @ Monkeytown
* Tombs & Engineer @ Death By Audio
* Celebration & Tall Firs Glasslands
* The Hood Internet @ The Bell House
* Buddy Guy & BB King @ Beacon Theater
* My Teenage Stride & Knight School @ the Jackson
* French Kicks & The Pomegranates @ The Bell House
* Get Him Eat Him & Kleenex Girl Wonder @ Union Hall
* Noah & The Whale & Ferraby Lionheart @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Telepathe, Teengirl Fantasy, Hawnay Troof & Silk Flowers @ 92YTribeca

"Just What Conan O'Brien Needed: A big, Abe Vigoda-blessed sendoff. Overnight ratings for O'Brien's final Late Night were up a whopping 44 percent over the show's season average, NBC said today." [E Online]

"O'Brien took a sledgehammer and ax to his stage set this week, giving fans souvenirs. On his last show, taped Friday evening and aired at 12:35 a.m. ET, a construction vehicle was used to tear down a pillar of lights, which was cut up offstage." [AP]

""We're going on to this next gig, and sometimes I read that it's time for Conan to grow up because he's going to 11:30, and I assure you, that's just not going to happen," O'Brien said, to cheers from the studio audience. "I can't, this is who I am, for better or for worse."" [Variety]

Watch the whole episode at NBC's site.

Video of the White Stripes part, below...

What else?

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this post, posted at 4:37 PM in To Do | music | Comments (20)

The Hood Internet (French Kicks vs Get Him Eat Him)

DOWNLOAD: Shut Up, American Boy (Ting Tings vs Estelle/Kanye) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hot Doesn't Run On Cold (Katy Perry vs the Thermals) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: So Blue (Slim of 112 vs Gang Gang Dance) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Lump Sum Of Paris (Bon Iver vs Friendly Fires & Aeroplane) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: A Song For Ice Cream Girls (Wale vs Parenthetical Girls) (MP3)

Hood Internet

The Hood Internet, best known for their clever mashups (some of which you can download above), are in town... Get Him Eat Him and Kleenex Girl Wonder play Union Hall tonight (2/21). French Kicks are at the Bell House. Then, after both, The Hood Internet are DJing the combined afterparty, which is also at the Bell House.

this post, posted at 3:52 PM in MP3 | To Do | music | Comments (14)

Amadou & Mariam - 2009 Tour Dates, new album, streams

STREAM: Amadou & Mariam - Sabali (produced by Damon Albarn) (MOV)
STREAM: Amadou & Mariam - Welcome to Mali (MOV)
Amadou and Mariam

Back on November 21st I asked, "What is the best album of 2008?" In that post I listed the top ten albums according to Metacritic's aggregated critic-rating statistics. At the time, The Bug held the number one spot for his album "London Zoo".

Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali was released on November 17th in the UK and hadn't even been listed on Metacritic yet. It appeared on the site a week or two after that, and it in turn knocked The Bug down to the number two spot. To this day "Welcome to Mali" holds the title of best rated album of 2008... even though it doesn't come out in the U.S. until March 24, 2009.

In June A&M; will visit our country again, to give us some more of their great live shows...

The singer Mariam Doumbia and her husband, the guitarist/vocalist Amadou Bagayoko, have been making music together since they first met and fell in love at the Institute for Young Blind People in Bamako, Mali's capital, three decades ago. Over the last few years, they have achieved remarkable critical and popular acclaim in Europe and North America.

Amadou & Mariam are especially beloved for their live shows - they recently performed in the Africa Express event that was part of the BBC Electric Proms festival; the concert also featured Johnny Marr, The Magic Numbers, Damon Albarn, and Hard-Fi as well as numerous African artists. They will be headlining a Spring tour and will be opening for Coldplay in July.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for a June 8th headlining date at Webster Hall in NYC. Last time they were here was for All Points West.

All dates below...

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this post, posted at 11:56 AM in music | tour dates | Comments (4)

February 20, 2009

Antony & the Johnsons @ Town Hall (night 1), NYC - pics

photos by Toby Tenenbaum, words by Noah Perabo

no Antony did not age, this was the opener!
The Mystery of Claywoman

An eclectic crowd filled Town Hall last night (2/19) for a moving performance by Antony & The Johnsons. The Johnsons was made up of six exceptional players, none moreso than Doug Weiselman whose work on the guitar/clarinet/sax shined all night. Yet it was band leader/pianist Antony Hagerty whose signature vocals stole the show. Throughout the 16-song set, Antony spoke about New York City ("It's good to be home. Yes, this is my home. The funny thing about New York is that no one can tell you it's not your home. It's yours."), about his fears of environmental catastrophe, about books, about philosophy and at times he just stared off, deep in thought while the respectful crowd sat in silence, perhaps deep in thought themselves. His music has that effect: lulling you into a dreamland. He admitted that he too got "taken away" during "Cripple and the Starfish" when he began a verse with the wrong lyrics, then playfully improvised until the music got back to a place where he could start again.

One of the set's highlights came during "Epilepsy is Dancing" a cut from his latest release The Crying Light. Antony's vocals complemented the classical sound of the acoustic guitarist's picking perfectly, creating lush acoustics that filled the room. Another standout was "Fistful of Love" which built slowly into storm of drums, rollicking electric guitar and crescendo piano. The crowd roared with approval at it's conclusion. He closed the show with crowd-favorite, "Hope There's Someone" a beautiful song that balances Antony's outlook of sadness and hope.

The show was opened by a short performance piece titled The Mystery of Claywoman, a 20-minute character-driven philosophical lecture by Michael Cavadias. Only Antony would invite such an act to open the show.

Antony & The Johnsons play Town Hall again tonight (2/20). More pictures from last night, below...

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this post, posted at 6:27 PM in music | pictures | Comments (32)