Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire at Southpaw 2/9 (via)

Action Bronson at Southpaw 2/9 (via)

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire and Action Bronson shared a bill at Southpaw last night (2/9) with support from Soul Kahn and Kyle Rapps, and included special guest Illustrate. They were joined on stage by El-P, Despot, and Kool AD & Heems of Das Racist, who are all featured on eXquire's "Huzzah" remix (where was Danny Brown?!). Action Bronson has a show tonight in Austin, where he will return in March for SXSW.

Last night's show was one of the last at Southpaw, which is closing this month. Their website lists shows happening through February 19, including M.A.K.U. Soundsystem and I Jah Bones TONIGHT (2/10). Tickets for tonight' show are available. There's also a huge show presented by iHeart Dilla taking place on February 15, billed as "One Song: A Forever Fresh Farewell to Southpaw," with Nitty Scott, Illustrate (who was a guest at last night's show), Warren Britt, Jesse Abraham, Top $ Raz, MC Eleven, Tanya Morgan, and many others. The flier for this show with all the performers listed is below.

Continue reading "El-P & others joined Exquire & Action Bronson @ Southpaw (which is closing in 10 days)"

May 2003 flyer...

Less than a month before Park Slope club Southpaw is gone forever, and Southpaw mainstay DJ team The Rub has announced that after their final party at Southpaw this Saturday (2/4), they're moving to the bigger Bell House down the street (relatively speaking). Read the trio's entire long goodbye to Southpaw, and check out their final Southpaw flyer, below...

Continue reading "The Rub moving to the Bell House, eulogize Southpaw (where they'll play one more time)"

this image will soon only exist in pictures (and Seinfeld)...

The NY Times reports:

Bleecker Bob's will close its store at 118 West Third Street at the end of April, according to a manager, Chris Wiedener.

"It's kind of disappointing," said Giancarlo Caccamo, 19, a customer at Bleecker Bob's on Thursday evening, upon learning the news. The vinyl records that pack the wooden bins and milk crates in the cluttered, narrow space are an increasingly endangered species, said Mr. Caccamo, who was in search of a record by Mott the Hoople.

The store's closing seemed to sound a death knell for vinyl itself. "I just love the warm fuzz that you get," he said. "There's nothing like that sound."

Javier Medina, 43, who began shopping at Bleecker Bob's in the 1970s and has worked there as a salesman for the last decade, was more concerned about the loss of a piece of history. "This place should be a landmark," he said while chatting with Gary Rookard, 53, who sells glass pipes on a table outside. "Everybody in the world knows it."

Watch the Beastie Boys video "Open Letter to NY" (Bob's shoutout included), below...

Continue reading "Bleeker Bob's closing (but not becoming a Starbucks)"

Riverboat Gamblers @ CBGB in 2006 (more)

As discussed, Gothamist revealed the other day that a new CBGB was in the works. People have since run with that news and more information is surfacing. The East Village Local (at the NY Times) writes:

The CBGB brand -- and the merchandising empire that comes with it -- changed hands three months ago, a representative of the new owners told The Local.

"We bought the entire estate, the physical assets of the former club. They dissembled it as a theatrical unit so in theory they could put it back together -- say, 80 percent they salvaged," said the spokesman for the new owners, who wished to remain anonymous in anticipation of an announcement in the coming weeks regarding the return of the legendary club. "There are all kinds of tapes, photos, and the global trademarks and licensing."

The spokesman added that his group bought the CBGB estate from Lisa Kristal, the daughter of the founder of the club, Hilly Kristal. A man who answered the phone at Ms. Kristal's number had no comment regarding the transaction.

Dana Kristal has now commented on the sale. "We don't know that it was completely sold, or whether my sister is part owner," he said. "Whoever says they're the owner says they have a partner and they're not saying who it is. My sister and her lawyer say they made a deal where only my sister can use the name in a film for up to seven years. I asked him, 'Do you mean I can't use the canopy?' and the lawyer said, 'Yes.' If there is a new owner - I don't know - I would like to find out from the actual owner if we can use the canopy or not."

In related news, that tweet I linked to about the CBGB festival has since been deleted

Southpaw, July 2009 (more)

And, it's true:

"A long-standing Park Slope concert hall will close and become a tutoring school now that the hood caters more to kiddies than roadies, owners say.

Southpaw -- the legendary music venue that hosted the likes of Patti Smith and Joan Jett -- will close on Fifth Avenue and Sterling Place by the end of February, according to co-owner and music guru Mikey Palms.

"I'm kind of over Park Slope -- it's not a destination for nightlife anymore," said Palms, who also owns Public Assembly NYC in Williamsburg. "It's time to go."

He said a firm called New York City Kids will soon replace the grocery store-sized house of music, offering academic tutoring and rock climbing for tots." [Brooklyn Paper]

Southpaw in 2010 (more by BBG)

According to many with connections to the Park Slope club (some who emailed me and some who are tweeting), Southpaw is closing on February 20 (possibly because "The venue's been sold."). The 5th Avenue Brooklyn venue was getting ready to celebrate their 10th anniversary in a big way too, which would make this news, if confirmed, even sadder.

Home of The Rub, Nuclear Family, numerous soul shows, many hip hop ones (like the upcoming Action Bronson/eXquire gig), and even a lot of indie rock at one time (just off the top of my head I remember seeing Sufjan Stevens, John Vanderslice, Andrew Bird, Mogwai, Davila 666, Mannequin Men, Keren Ann, Metric, Neko Case, Sondre Lerche, Bob Log III, Sharon Jones, and Negative Approach there), Southpaw has been a great piece of the NYC music scene for almost a decade. Unfortunately, possibly due to the increasing popularity and number of Williamsburg venues, and newer competition from Union Hall and the Bell House (not to mention Littlefield), shows have been somewhat less frequent there in the past few years (especially notable indie rock ones).

Stay tuned for more info, and an official confirmation (one way or another). Meanwhile check out their schedule (which at the moment has four shows on it past 2/20).

Gothamist has a story today, and it says:

"We have it on good authority that the legendary venue is still alive in spirit, and angling to take over a new space in Manhattan. With the contents of the original club still around in a basement somewhere, if all goes according to plan it will even look like the old space. We'll update when we have more information, which should be filtering in over the next few weeks."

In related news, I noticed that there's a CBGB Twitter which claims to be "official", and on it they tweeted earlier this month, "who would you like to see at the #CBGB Music Festival this summer? No band to big or to small."

Continue reading "'CBGB' planning new club in NYC? summer festival?"

by Andrew Frisicano

photo by Joseph O. Holmes

Issue Project Room will be moving into its new home at 110 Livingston Street on January 25th. To launch it, there will be a series of four shows with Dutch festival Gaudeamus Muziekweek. Those nights will include, among other things, a performance of Gyorgy Ligeti's "Poème Symphonique" for 100 metronomes and sets by the Wet Ink Ensemble and International Contemporary Ensemble.

Before that though, the folks at Issue will be closing out the Old American Can Factory room with a concert tonight (Friday, January 20th). That'll feature Jonathan Kane's February, Talibam! and MV Carbon & Tony Conrad. Jonathan Kane's February will also use the occasion to release a live album recorded at the space. Listen to a sample from that at the Free Music Archive. Tickets are on sale.

The New York Times reports that there is some work to be done by the group, which is $1.3 million short of its total construction budget. Still, moving in is a huge step. It's been four years since they first announced the new venue, and it'll be interesting to see how the space evolves.

Upcoming shows in the new theater include: Jozef Van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch playing a release show for their collaborative album Concerning the Entrance into Eternity (tickets), Title TK (the trio of Howie Chen, Cory Arcangel and Alan Licht) on February 11th (tickets) and a reading with Thurston Moore and his poetry publishing company Flowers & Cream on February 23rd (tickets).

Listen to a clip of Van Wissem/Jarmusch playing from the new album on WNYC's New Sounds live, below. There are also videos from two performances that already happened at the the gorgeous 110 Livingston Space...

Continue reading "tonight is Issue Project Room's final show @ Old American Can Factory (110 Livingston here they come)"

The Court Tavern is closed indefinitely, owner Bobby Albert said on Wednesday.

The venerable New Brunswick club was shut on Wednesday. Albert declined to comment further on the club's closing when reached at his North Brunswick home.

There was no notice of its closing posted at the club at 124 Church St., its website or its Facebook page. Music promoter Andy "Diamond" De Nicolo said that he was not alerted of the club's closing, nor did he known how the situation would affect upcoming shows scheduled there, including the high-profile concert by city punk legends Ensign on Friday. [myCentralJersey.com]

Lenny Kaye with Patti Smith at E2NY 2011 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

The Continental, which no longer hosts shows, but is still a bar located on 25 3rd Ave in Manhattan, is hosting their Annual Reunion this Sunday (1/15). The lineup includes The Waldos (with Walter lure), Lenny Kaye (of Patti Smith Group), CJ Ramone, Murphy's Law (who are headlining the afternoon matinee portion), Electric Frankenstein, The Independents, Heap, and more. The full lineup with set times is listed below...

Continue reading "Continental reunion show this Sunday"