photos by Erik Erikson

"While Bad Brains sound has shifted from hardcore and punk to dub and reggae, they still mix it up for the audience coming to see them. Opening with a pounding set of their signature aggressive sound, the music of guitarist Dr. Know and bassist Darrel Jennifer along with drummer Earl Hudson was tight and very intact. Yet, one of the more interesting experience's to everyone was watching singer H.R., dressed in a valor jump suit with a dress shirt and tie underneath and knit hat, H.R., who has battled drug addiction and years of abuse to his body doing this profession simply looked burnt out. Slurring many of his words and mumbling in between songs, at points Jennifer would look at him and laugh, yet while his annunciation skills were not as top as the band's sound, it was still an overall experience watching him perform."
-[Officially a Yuppie]

Bad Brains played the second of their two night stay in NYC at Music Hall of Williamsburg with GZA on 4/18, just one night after the band played Irving Plaza with H2O. The NYC shows were part of a short run of dates for the band who also played Philly with GZA and who will be at Bonnaroo this year. Pictures from the Brooklyn show adorn this post.

Meanwhile, HR will be presen at a Benefit for Lucinda's Children, a two-night show to help out Lucinda Gallagher in the wake of her passing late last year.

Last December our close community of friends, musicians, and music lovers lost one of its own when Lucinda Gallagher took her own life, leaving behind two amazing children. These young teenagers, now in the care of Lucinda's dear friend, both have their mother's rock and roll spirit. Like her, they are bright and soulful and have a deep appreciation for music as gifted budding musicians.

In order to raise funds for these children a two-night concert spectacular will be held at The Bowery Electric on April 29th and 30th... [and] in addition to the live show, an auction and raffle will be held which will include items donated by Mary Louise Parker, Fender, Bob Gruen, Danny Clinch, The Morrison Hotel Gallery & many more. 100% of the proceeds from the auction and concerts will be placed in a trust for Lucinda's kids.

The first night of the benefit will feature performances from Marah, Jesse Malin, Jimmy Gnecco & Dave Milone, Jim Boggia, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Petter Ericson Stakee & "very special guests" (tickets for 4/29), while the second night boasts appearances from Tommy Stinson (of The Replacements & Guns n Roses), HR (of Bad Brains) , Alan Vega (of Suicide), James Maddock, Aaron Lee Tasjan and more (tickets for 4/30).

GZA returns to Music Hall of Williamsburg in June.

Pictures from the Bad Brains show are below.

Continue reading "Bad Brains played shows with GZA (pics); HR playing a Benefit for Lucinda's Kids w/ Alan Vega, Tommy Stinson & more"

Pete Seeger @ Clearwater Festival 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

City Winery will be hosting a three-night oil spill relief benefit, dubbed Reclaim The Coast, on July 23rd, 25th and 30th. The lineups vary for each...

July 23rd: Pete Seeger, Richard Barone, James Maddock, Elysian Fields, Mike Doughty, Lucy Wainwright Roche, The Roches, Julie Gold, Peter Yarrow (More TBA)

July 25th: Ian Axel, Ed Romanoff, The Madison Square Gardeners, Paula Valstein, The Spring Standards, The Wellspring, Rich Pagano (More TBA)

July 30th: Marshall Crenshaw, Martin Rivas, Christina Courtin, Among the Oak & Ash, Jay Nash (More TBA)

Tickets for all three are on sale.

They'll also have a packed house for "Channeling Chilton - A night of Alex Chilton's Music" on July 28th. The confirmed lineup includes Yo La Tengo, Marshall Crenshaw, Jody Stephens, Jon Auer, Doug Garrison, Rene Coman, Alan Vega, Jon Spencer (of the Blues Explosion), Fran Kowalski, Chris Stamey, Lesa Aldridge (Elizabeth Hoehn), Jay Proctor (of Jay & the Techniques), Bill Cunningham, Gary Talley, Terry Manning, Evan Dando, Jesse Malin, Danny Kroha (of The Gories). In light of the recent passing of founding Big Star bassist Andy Hummel, it should be an emotional night.
Tickets are on sale.

More info on the Gulf Coast relief effort are below...

Continue reading "City Winery hosting a 3-night Pete Seeger Oil Spill relief benefit & Big Star tribute night"

Fuck Buttons @ Bowery Ballroom in November (more by Jake Forney)

Fuck Buttons, already set to play ATP NY's birthday party lineup on September 4th in upstate NY, will be coming to NYC as part of a short May tour much sooner. The show is in Brooklyn at Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 21st. Ticket info to come.

The band has a new 12" single, "Olympians," coming out on ATP Recordings on April 12th. In addition to that song, there are remixes by Spiritualized's J. Spaceman and Suicide's Alan Vega. Its cover and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Fuck Buttons - new 12" single & 2010 tour dates (MHOW)"

DOWNLOAD: Liars - Scissor (MP3)

Liars announce details of an expanded edition of their eagerly awaited fifth studio album, Sisterworld, out on March 9th 2010.

This version comes with a second CD of remixes and reinterpretations of all 11 tracks on Sisterworld from artists including Thom Yorke, Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio), Bradford Cox (Deerhunter / Atlas Sound), Melvins, Alan Vega (Suicide), Chris & Cosey (Throbbing Gristle) and Blonde Redhead. Full tracklisting to follow in the coming weeks.

Says Angus Andrew, "On this project we wanted to help develop and expand the role of the remix, particularly to engage artists less acknowledged for their work in the field. They were asked to 're-interpret' the song by any means necessary and the result is definitely the most exciting collaborative effort we've been involved in."

Liars also announce a string of North American tour dates in support of Sisterworld. The tour sees fellow LA band Fol Chen supporting Liars on all dates. The first single from Sisterworld, Scissor will be released as a digital single February 16th, 2010.

You can download "Scissor" for free above. Liars' North American tour is happening in April and includes shows at Bowery Ballroom (4/15) and Music Hall of Williamsburg (4/18). The main album's tracklist and all dates below...

Continue reading "Liars - 2010 Tour Dates & new album w/ expanded 2nd CD featuring Thom Yorke, Tunde, Bradford, Melvins & more "

by Andrew Frisicano

After canceling his October 19th appearance at MoMA because of a "sports-related injury," John Cale has rescheduled his talk at the museum for Monday, February 15th. The event connects with the museum's now-closed Looking at Music: Side 2 exhibit. Tickets for the event, billed as a film screening, must be purchased in person. Information on how to get them is posted below.

John Cale won't be playing any music there (that we know of) but he did have a show recently - he played his 1973 album Paris 1919 in full on Friday, November 21st in Cardiff, UK. Videos from that are posted below too.

Some other Velvet Underground members (Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule) are appearing at NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Tuesday, December 8th. Hopefully you already have a ticket because, as documented in the comments, not only is the event sold out, but due to a human error, some people who bought tickets were later informed that the event had sold out before their purchase

While at NYPL, get in the holiday spirit by checking out Charles Dickens' own copy of "A Christmas Carol", marked-up by the author for his own public performances of the book.

Brooklyn Central Library has events coming up as well (which are free). It hosts a conversation between Suicide's Alan Vega and music writer Tony Fletcher on Thursday, December 10th. The event, in lower level of Dweck Center, is free. (The VU event promotes "The Velvet Underground: New York Art," while this one coincides with Fletcher's new book "All Hopped Up and Ready to Go," described as a "history of the NYC music scene from 1927 to 1977.") Vega & Suicide played ATP NY in September. They're going to be at ATP UK (with Iggy & the Stooges) in May.

The Brooklyn Library event is one of a few upcoming promotional appearances for Tony and his new book (another is at Cake Shop). Flyer below.

The BK Central Library has some noteworthy live music too (vs. these talks about music): on the afternoon of Sunday, December 20th (4pm) it presents "Classical Interludes: yMusic"...

This uniquely configured chamber ensemble, comprised of string trio, flute, clarinet and trumpet, is equally comfortable in the often overlapping classical and pop music worlds. This concert is the premiere of Gabriel Kahane's Concerto for Trumpet and Small Ensemble and a new work by British composer, Simon Hale. The rest of the program will draw on contemporary classical works by composers such as Arvo Part and Nico Muhly and arrangements of instrumental pieces by Sufjan Stevens and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

yMusic is a sextet whose members have backed Sufjan, The National, Doveman and many others. Rob Moose of the group plays a solo show at the Stone two days before. The group will be at Archipelago series at Galapagos in April (the next Archipelago on December 18th features NOW Ensemble, which shares flutist Alex Sopp with the group).

John Cale videos, MoMA ticketing info and more, below...

Continue reading "John Cale's rescheduled MoMA visit, Tony Fletcher's new book on music from NY, Alan Vega in a library & more"

Guitarist Gary Lucas is well-known for his collaborations, which include a five-year stint with Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band (playing on Doc at the Radar Station and Ice Cream for Crow), co-writing songs on Jeff Buckley's Grace and many, many more.

Lucas is currently in the midst a three-day run of NYC shows (May 10th-12th). He performed his original guitar score to film Paint What You Remember at the Jewish Museum on the 10th. On the 11th, he performed the music of Tom Waits at the release party of book Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits at the Center. And his last gig is tonight, May 12th, at the Gershwin Hotel where Gary is playing the music of John Lennon at the Give Peace a Song Cabaret.

The guitarist's next big appearance is the 20th anniversary show for his psych-rock group Gods and Monsters which takes place on Thursday, June 11th at the Gramercy Theatre "with Ernie Brooks (Modern Lovers) bass, Billy Ficca (Television) drums, Jason Candler (Hungry March Band) alto sax, and Joe Hendel (The Latest Show on Earth) keyboards and trombone, with special guests including Alan Vega, Lenny Kaye, Peter Stampfel, Jon Spencer, and Dean Bowman". Tickets are on sale.

Lucas' YouTube channel is massively stocked with well-shot live footage of the guitarist in a number of musical settings. Clips of Lucas with Gods with Monsters at the Bowery Poetry Club in June 2008 are posted, along with all dates, below....

Continue reading "Gods & Monsters' 20th anniversary @ The Gramercy w/ guests ++ other Gary Lucas tour dates"

our deepest apologies to anyone who was expecting (respectively) to enjoy themselves at a dance show last night and instead felt the cold sting of a series of bullshit moves. The situation was unfortunately out of our hands but we greatly appreciate everyone who was looking forward to seeing us and especially to the people at Granada & C3 entertainment who worked with us empathetically amidst the long winded accusations. Though we can't change what CC apparently thinks of us and Granada, we at-least deserve an opportunity to defend our side of the story. Our explanation goes as follows:

Shortly after playing our set in Austin, Crystal Castles asked if they could use our guitar which we gladly agreed too. Shortly after the set the crew packed our gear and helped us load out. An FX pedal they used during their set was packed into our guitar cab (unbeknownst to us). Upon arriving back at my apartment we found it and immediately got ahold of their sound engineer offering to return it promptly. We were told to bring it to Dallas. The next day we arrive at the Granada in Dallas only to be asked to leave the premises by personal request of Crystal Castles via Tom Windish of Windish Agency. We handed the pedal to a sound guy and packed our shit without so much as an explanation for CC Party. Considering we were thrown out of the press pit during the show by their management, accused of mindfully drinking their booze, botching our guest list, and contentiously commenting this to our manager, the fact that they still have the nerve to accuse us of theft is flat out insulting. Do they truly think we'd stupid enough to compromise our reputation as a band, and ruin a rapport with a band we were initially honored to play with for a goofy FX pedal? Treating gigs like these flippantly is just something we don't do. That would be flat out moronic. We still have great admiration for Crystal Castles as artists and in all honesty they seemed very nice in Austin. But the lack of intervention to the arrogance of their management leaves me somewhat disappointed. Granada has already begun working out refunds and compensation. I commend their compassion for the fanbase they've built in Dallas. It's unfortunate that can't be said about the other party involved. I did a radio interview today explaining this shit storm (if things haven't already been made Crystal Clear) (MP3).

-Alan

Read more about the cancelled Crystal Castles show on Gorilla Vs Bear.

Sounds like all "Alan" Palomo aka "VEGA" stole is someone's name.

The previously announced Throbbing Gristle tour has been extended (thx anon). Now there is a second chance to see the reunited band if you don't have a ticket to their sold out shows in Brooklyn and Chicago. Tickets go on sale Monday at 11:55am for an April 28th show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple with Alan Vega (Suicide) and Emeralds. Their first show at the same venue happens 12 days earlier which is before they play Coachella and San Francisco, but not LA:

The U.C.L.A. event has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond TG's control.

Discussions are ongoing to find a replacement event at a venue TBC.
Details will be posted here as soon as they are available.

The new Chicago date is on sale now. No word yet if the format of the new dates will be the same (two sets) as the old dates. All tour dates, including a couple in Europe, below...

Continue reading "Throbbing Gristle add 2nd NYC & Chicago shows, cancel LA"