by Bill Pearis

As mentioned (and here and here and here), BAMcinemaFest is underway at BAM in Brooklyn (it runs through June 26th), and there's a couple worthy music docs playing this week that you should check out. Tonight (6/22) they're screening Last Days Here, about Pentagram frontman Bobby Leibling's struggles to beat drug addiction and return to the stage. When the movie opens, 50-something Leibling is in bad shape, living in the "sub-basement" of his aging parent's house. But through the help of fan and indie metal label employee Sean Pelletier, there might be hope for Leibling yet.

If that sounds like standard rock doc type stuff, it is, and those who follow metal coverage on BV at all you probably know how everything turns out but it's not really the point. Last Days Here a moving portrait of recovery and, yes, love -- and you can't help but get a little choked up at the end.

I could've used a little more backstory on Pentagram (for that this SPIN article is pretty good at filling in the blanks), and could've done without the (sparingly used) reenactment footage, but the film works on its own terms. Filmmakers Don Argott and Demian Fenton will answer questions after tonight's screening.

Tomorrow night (6/22), BAMcinemaFest hosts The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye which is definitely NOT you're run-of-the-mill rock doc. Filmed over seven years on 16mm, the film follows former Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV leader Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and his partner Lady Jaye through their "Pandrogyne" project, where they sought to become two parts of the same person through body modification surgery. It is crazy, and amazing, and a genuinely touching portrait of real love. You won't forget it.

Director Marie Losier and Genesis will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A which should be pretty interesting and will then be followed by a performance from Thee Majesty, Genesis' current project.

Trailers below...

Continue reading "BAMcinemaFest continues, Pentagram & Genesis included"

by BBG

The crash scene (via subewl)

WEST GOSHEN, Pa. - Fox 29 News has learned that Ryan Dunn of MTV's "Jackass" series died in an early morning crash Monday in Chester County, Pa.

Police in West Goshen confirmed a fatal accident occurred but were not immediately releasing any other details.

The crash occurred in West Goshen Township and kept Route 322 closed between New Street and Pottstown Pike for much of the morning. Motorists were advised to use Ashbridge Street to avoid the closure before the road reopened around 9:30 a.m.

Fox 29 News spoke to the mother of "Jackass" star Bam Margera, who said she has been told Dunn, 34, was killed in the wreck.

Margera's mother also said an unidentified second person died in the crash, which happened around 3 a.m. She said she did not know who was driving the car, and there may have been a third occupant.-[Fox 29 Philadelphia]

Ryan has a brand new show called G4's Proving Ground which just premiered on June 14th. To promote it he posted a "Celebrity Playlist" to YouTube. Watch the promo, posted 18 days ago, and other videos below...

Continue reading "Ryan Dunn of Jackass, RIP "

Sufjan Stevens at Beacon Theater (more by David Andrako)

Tickets for Sufjan Steven's August 2nd's appearance at the Prospect Park Bandshell have flown away. Luckily, the notorious S.O.O.F. will bless the park with a second date on the following night: August 3rd at Prospect Park Bandshell. Tickets for the new Brooklyn show go on AEG/venue presale at 10AM on Thursday (6/17) and noon on Friday (6/17). No word on openers (though we think My Brightest Diamond is opening the first night). We'll keep you posted.

In other SOOF related news, IFC is currently streaming a clip from the film Make:

Directors Scott Ogden and Malcolm Hearn's documentary, "MAKE," is about four artists on the furthest fringes of our society. Isolated by their disabilities, they find a voice and try to make sense of a world that shuns them, through incredible works of art. These are the characters that inspired Sufjan Stevens' album, "The Age of Adz." Stevens, who called the film "a beautiful and insightful look at the sublime task of making art when nothing will else do," based his album's narrative specifically on the life and apocalyptic work of the schizophrenic artist, Prophet Royal Robertson featured in "MAKE."

..."MAKE" includes a soundtrack with original compositions from Sufjan Stevens and Marc Bianchi (Her Space Holiday), along with music by Jim Guthrie, Oneida, Tommy Guerrero, and Au Revoir Simone.

Check out the 17 minute clip below....

Continue reading "Sufjan Stevens adds 2nd Prospect Park show, "Make" documentary screening @ Folk Art Museum"

Kathleen Hanna at Planned Parenthood rally in February (more by Chris La Putt)

Feminist artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman-Leeson's documentary !Women Art Revolution made its theatrical debut at Manhattan's IFC Center on June 1. The film is still screening every day at 4:25 PM through June 16. The film features a score by Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag), an appearance by Yoko Ono and much more. Get your tickets for the remaining days (and go see Wild Flag at Williamsburg Waterfront).

The movie is one example of how "the Riot Grrrl movement still inspires", as NY Times puts it. The article talks about the Kathleen Hanna tribute show that took place at Knitting Factory this past December and discusses the effect the movement has had on today's indie rock scene. Amanda Warner of MNDR said, "I remember it being weird if you saw a girl in a band, and now it's not weird at all, it's just totally normal."

That Knitting Factory show in December not only served as a tribute to Kathleen Hanna, but also the debut of her new band The Julie Ruin. The project formed as a revival of her late '90s solo project Julie Ruin, the moniker under which she recorded one album of the same name in 1998. The new band also features Bikini Kill bandmate Kathi Wilcox and Kenny Mellman, Justin Bond's sidekick in Kiki and Herb. They are currently working on a debut full length. Details on the album are limited but Kathleen posted pictures from an overdub and mixing session for the album back in May.

A Le Tigre documentary titled Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour (pictured above) chronicles the band's 2004 tour and is out now. You can purchase it on Amazon. Last week there was a screening at at Maysles Institute in Harlem which was accompanied by a Q&A with director Kerthy Fix and Le Tigre member Johanna Fateman. Joly was there and taped all 45 minutes of it. If you missed it, check out the Punkcast video below. AND, they do it again on June 26th at the Ace Hotel, complete with Johanna Fateman, Kerthy Fix, AND Kathleen Hanna for the Q&A. All screening dates are listed below.

Kathleen Hanna recently spoke to Spinner, to promote the movie and stuff, and they asked her about Odd Future:

Spinner: Have you been paying attention to the controversy with Odd Future and their homophobic, misogynistic lyrics?

Kathleen: No, not really. They don't seem that interesting to me.

Spinner: Sara Quin just spoke out against them and it created a bit of a media storm.

Kathleen: I feel like, if you don't want to listen to them, don't listen to them. If you do want to listen to them, do listen to them. I couldn't really comment about on exactly what their lyrics are about, because I haven't gotten that deep into it. But if people are writing lyrics that piss you off, hurt your feelings and make you feel like s---, don't listen to it. I don't think the best idea is to have a boycott. Just don't talk about them and they'll go away. The more you talk about them, the more attention they get. Tegan and Sara fans probably wouldn't even know this band existed if they weren't talking about them. I find the whole conversation kind of boring. There are so many great artists that are doing interesting things, that I don't want to focus on boring people.

Ironically (sort of, maybe), Odd Future recently complained that Australians were racist. Australians say no they are not.

Odd Future's lesbian member Syd tha Kyd, who famously responded to criticism that she associates with a sexist group by saying, "That's what I do. I slap bitches", is DJing at PS1 'Warm Up' on July 23. Gang Gang Dance also DJ and Laurel Halo, Miracles Club, and Lunice play live sets on the same date. No word on if any other members of Odd Future will be in town at the time.

Film trailers, dates and a mash-up of Tyler, the Creator's "Yonkers" and Tegan & Sara's "Call It Off" by The Jane Doze, below...

Continue reading "Katheen Hanna, Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin, Odd Future & other Riot Grrrl news (movies, articles, events & stuff)"

In 2001, members of MTV's sketch comedy group The State came together with Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, Christopher Meloni, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Zak Orth, A.D. Miles to star in the David Wain-directed film We Hot American Summer. The film, which initially flopped, is apparently/possibly/according-to-some, now considered a cult classic and in honor of its tenth anniversary, David Wain, Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black (collectively known as Stella) are hosting a celebration of the film at Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 26 "with tons of GUESTS and SURPRISES!!" Tickets for the Brooklyn event go on sale today (6/10) at noon.

Wet Hot American Summer is currently Netflix on demand if you're into that kind of thing.

David also keeps busy working on Adult Swim show "Children's Hospital."

And David Wain hosted a 10th anniversary screening of the movie at the LA Film School theater (in LA) last night (6/9), and will be hosting a reception to celebrate a Wet Hot-inspired art show in Santa Monica tonight. The movie is also screening (sans David) in Boston tonight (6/10). More event info and the movie's trailer, below...

Continue reading "Wet Hot American Summer is 10, parties include a Stella-hosted show in Brooklyn"

photos by Tim Griffin

Gruff Rhys @ Club DeVille

Austin venues Mohawk and Club DeVille border each other. If there's a loud show at Mohawk, a quiet show at DeVille will suffer. Thus, back on May 27th, as Gruff Rhys was taking the Deville stage he announced, "The idea is to play as many songs as we can... Before the Melvins kick in next door." Luckily, ultimately it wasn't a problem. H0key.net was there:

"The sweetness dripped heavy, especially on songs like 'Honey All Over' and 'If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme).' Gruff didn't go overboard, however. The fact that the Melvins and some other sludge metal type bands were playing next door helped out. It also gave an opportunity for Gruff to flex his wit.

Gruff also flexed his technological ability. The amount of noise gadgets that filled the stage exceeded my expectations. There were these wobbly, red light tipped, noise makers he shook every once in awhile. He had a tiny metal box with a red light shining on itself that produced sound. The coolest gadget for me was the record player he used to drop in effects and other items during songs. It's such a practical use for an old technology that you can get away with using it live and not have to drop major coin for a big computer box thingy to play sounds when needed."

Tickets are also still available for the June 18th screening of Gruff's movie Separado! at BAM where there will be a "Q&A with co-director and film subject Gruff Rhys" (we weren't sure last time we mentioned it).

More pictures from the Austin show, some videos from the Brooklyn show, and all tour dates (including a whole bunch of newly announced European shows), below...

Continue reading "Gruff Rhys played Knitting Factory & Club DeVille (pics), will do a Q&A at BAM with his movie (and other dates)"

Anvil opening for AC/DC in 2009 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Canadian metal trio Anvil, despite never breaking up and continuing to release albums, faded into obscurity in the mid-80s. They came back into the public eye after the 2008 documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil (which is now on Netflix on-demand). Since then lots has happened for the band. Among their list of recent accomplishments, they appeared at BAM and Gramercy Theatre, opened for AC/DC in NJ, and even played Bumbershoot.

They recently released their first full length album since the documentary's release, and fourteenth album overall, Juggernaut of Justice. The album was produced by Bob Marlette (Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper) in Dave Grohl's studio. In support of the album, the band is touring Europe this summer, hitting many festivals along the way (hopefully it goes better for them than it did in the movie), and hitting a few American cities in July including NYC where they will play the relatively intimate Bowery Ballroom on July 30. Tickets are on sale.

P.S. if you're looking for "Thumb Hang," that was a bonus track on the VH1 re-release of their 13th self-released album "This is Thirteen".

All tour dates and Story of Anvil trailer and stuff, below...

Continue reading "Anvil released their 14th album, touring (dates)"

Nick Zinner at MoMA in 2010 (more by Bao Nguyen)

The Met is hosting an evening with Cinema 16 on June 3. The event features Nick Zinner and Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Shahin Motia of Oneida, and MV Carbon of Metalux performing an original score for six short experimental films. Admission is free with museum admission. No reserved seats; space is limited.

Films:

Poeme Electronique (1958), dir. Edgard Varse and Le Corbusier
Screen Test: Salvador Dali (1966), dir. Andy Warhol
The Face (1967), dir. Herbert Kosower
Seeing the World (1937), dir. Rudy Burckhardt
Stone Welcome Mat (2003), dir. Gina Carducci
NY, NY (1957), dir. Francis Thompson

Speaking of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and movies, Karen O recorded a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" with Trent Reznor for the upcoming film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The film is the second adaptation of the Swedish novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson, and the first in English. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is written by Steven Zallian and directed by David Fincher.

Check out Karen O and Trent Reznor's take on "Immigrant Song" in the trailer for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as well as the preview video for Cinema 16 at The Met below.

Continue reading "Nick Zinner, Brian Chase & friends playing w/ films @ the Met, Karen O & Trent Reznor covered Led Zeppelin (listen)"

David Byrne at Prospect Park in 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

David Byrne is releasing Ride, Rise, Roar on DVD and Blu-Ray this Tuesday (5/31) via Eagle Rock Entertainment. It's a documentary shot during his '08/'09 tour. The film, directed by David Hillman Curtis, consists of rehearsals, interviews, and live footage of the tour which included performances of Talking Heads classics in addition to material penned by Byrne and Brian Eno for their 2008 album Everything That Happens Will Happen. The film originally premiered at SXSW 2010. Watch the trailer below.

Sean Penn as Cheyenne

Byrne recently teamed up with Will Oldham (who just released a single for charity) to record original music for the film This Must Be the Place, named after the Talking Heads song of the same name. The film was directed by Pablo Sorrentino and is Sorrentino's first film to be shot in English. The film stars Sean Penn as a rock musician named Cheyenne. His character fronts the band Cheyenne and the Fellows, named after Siouxsie and the Banshees, and his appearance was inspired by Robert Smith of The Cure (as you can tell in the above picture).

According to a Consequence of Sound interview with Will Oldham, David Byrne was asked to write music for a demo that Cheyenne and the Fellows would record in the movie, and the script said that the music from the demo is reminiscent of Prince Billy...

"He was required to make up music for this band in addition to scoring the movie. So, he remembered that we had met [at a BBQ at Bjork's house] and wrote me, "Listen I was hired to make music that sounded like you which sounds kind of like a silly task." I replied with, "Well they hired you so why don't we make music that sounds like us" so that's what we did and we wrote four or five songs together for this fictional band."

Arcade Fire (who covered the song "This Must Be the Place" as a B-side to the "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" single) are releasing a deluxe edition of The Suburbs August 2 via Merge. The release will consist of the DVD Scenes From The Suburbs (directed by Spike Jonze), an 80-page booklet featuring stills from the film, behind the scenes photos from the film's production, and lyrics, an extended version of "Wasted Hours," and two new tracks; "Culture War" and "Speaking In Tongues" feat. David Byrne. Listen to the David Byrne collaboration below.

--

Speaking of Merge Records, Merge artist East River Pipe tweeted, last night... "met David Byrne [at the Anna Calvi] show tonight! Pretty cool, huh!?!?!" Even cooler is that David Byrne was checking out Anna! Maybe Brian Eno suggested he check her out. We have pictures from the Bowery Ballroom show coming soon.

---

David Byrne is also featured on Red Hot Organization's Red Hot + Rio 2, the sequel to 1996's Red Hot + Rio (which Byrne was also featured on). As we previously mentioned, the compilation brings Brazilian musicians and contemporary indie artists together to record a modern tribute to the late '60s Brazilian Tropicalia movement. Other artists on the compilation include Beirut, Devendra Banhart, of Montreal, Javelin, Beck, and more. The album will be released June 28 in partnership with Entertainment One Music.

Videos and songs and stuff below..

Continue reading "David Byrne wrote songs w/ Will Oldham (for 'This Must Be the Place') & Arcade Fire (for 'Suburbs' deluxe edition) & stuff"

GK photos by Brook Bobbins

DOWNLOAD: Matthewdavid - "Noche Y Dia / San Raphael" (MP3)

Matthewdavid

Alpha Pup Records is hosting a monthly event at Knitting Factory Brooklyn starting with the previously announced show this Saturday (5/28) with The Gaslamp Killer, Matthewdavid, Daddy Kev, and Mux Mool. Tickets are still on sale.

Above, we have an MP3 of the track "Noche Y Dia / San Raphael" off Matthewdavid's recently released Outmind. Download it for free (and grab "Like You Mean It" if you haven't already too). The recently-released video for the same song is below.

Even more recent (released this month via his Bandcamp) is "a blue tape" which you can stream in full below. To quote the Needle Drop, "If you're looking to space out, explore textures, and contemplate life, here's your chance."

Matthewdavid also plays 285 Kent on June 4 with Sun Araw who has other shows coming up too. Matthewdavid's friend Flying Lotus has some shows coming up too.

The Gaslamp Killer @ Terminal 5

The Gaslamp Killer was recently in NYC to open for A-Trak at Terminal 5. Pictures from that show (that Clipse also played) are in this post. More of them, with more dates too, below...

Continue reading "Matthewdavid released 'a blue tape' (listen) ++ another MP3, Gaslamp Killer pics & upcoming shows too"