by Fred Pessaro // BBG

D'Angelo / Elvis Costello + Princess / Chris Rock & more @ Carnegie Hall

Amidst a snowy midtown backdrop, Carnegie Hall generated a little heat when the Michael Dorf-produced Prince Tribute opened last night (3/7). Stacked with performers giving props to the man in purple and paisley, the lineup featured some of the same names from the previous evening's "rehearsal" at City Winery, as well as surprise appearances from names like Chris Rock and more. Backed by The Roots with guitarist Wendy Melvion (of Prince's backing band The Revolution), D'Angelo show-closing numbers "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" / "1999" were the clear highlights of the evening, with performances from Bilal (doing "Sister" and channeling Keith Sweat circa 1990s), Bettye LaVette ("Kiss"), Sandra Bernhard ('Little Red Corvette") and Fdeluxe ("High Fashion/Mutiny") also causing impromptu aisle dances. Fun night, and it was great to see people up and out of their seats, wilding out in a buttoned-up place like Carnegie Hall.

More pics from last night including the setlist, The Waterboys, The Roots, Eric Leeds, Diane Birch, the Cardigans' Nina Perrson, DeVotchka, Bhi Bhiman, Kat Edmonson, Blind Boys of Alabama, Citizen Cope & Alice Smith, Talib Kweli, Princess (Gretchen Lieberum & Maya Rudolph) and all iterations there within, are below.

Continue reading "D'Angelo, The Roots, Elvis Costello, Bilal, Chris Rock, Bettye LaVette & more played the Prince tribute @ Carnegie Hall (pics) "

As mentioned, City Winery founder Michael Dorf is presenting a tribute to Prince at Carnegie Hall on March 7, his next in a long line of tribute shows he's done at the historic Manhattan venue. Since we last spoke, the lineup of great musicians that will be performing at the show has been expanded. It features Elvis Costello, The Waterboys, Talib Kweli, Booker T, DeVotchka, Bettye Lavette, Sandra Bernhard, Bilal, Blind Boys of Alabama, Bhi Bhiman, Amos Lee, Citizen Cope & Alice Smith, Maya Rudolph's Prince tribute group with Gretchen Lieberum, Princess, house band The Roots, and perhaps most excitingly, R&B singer D'Angelo (who we're still waiting on that new album from). Tickets are still available and proceeds will benefit underprivileged youth.

Meanwhile, Prince recently posted a lyric video for a new song, "Screwdriver," to his website and revealed another new track, "Chapter & Verse," which you can stream below. You can buy "Screwdriver" and a remix of that song, AND another new song that came out today called "Breakfast Can Wait" at a mysterious website called 3rd Eye Girl. According to Questlove, "#BreakfastCanWait is WOW." Check it out.

In other related news, Elvis Costello and The Roots, who are both on the lineup for the Prince tribute, are releasing a collaborative album this year according to an interview that Questlove did with Billboard. Questlove says of the album, "We had 13 or 14 songs, but then we said, 'Ooh! Wait a minute! Let's replace four of these songs with four better songs! And now we have the tightest 12-14 song collection out of about 20 songs that we made." No release date, title, or any other info has been revealed yet, but Questlove assures us, "I can just say that it is brilliant."

Elvis Costello also plays a cancer benefit with The Who at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden on February 28.

Stream the new Prince songs below...

Continue reading "Roots & Elvis Costello collaborating, added to Carnegie Hall Tribute to Prince (who released new songs)"

Rain Machine at BAM in 2010 (more by Vincent Cornelli)

As mentioned, the free Afropunk Festival returns to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park on August 25-26. You can check out the full schedule for the fest at the bottom of this post. On the Saturday (8/25), the Green Stage will be headlined by Erykah Badu and the Red Stage by Das Racist. On the Sunday (8/26), the Green Stage will be headlined by TV on the Radio following sets by Toro y Moi and Reggie Watts and the Red Stage will be headlined by Janelle Monae.

Speaking of TV on the Radio, Kyp Malone's solo project Rain Machine has a NYC show coming up, that will take place soon after Afropunk at Union Pool on September 1 with Soft Location and Slowdance. No other Rain Machine dates to report at the moment.

Sinkane, who also plays Afropunk Fest, continues his residency at Zebulon tonight (8/20).

2012 Afropunk Fest schedule is below.

Continue reading "the Afropunk Festival 2012 schedule & a Rain Machine show"

TV on the Radio at Catalpa 2012 (more by Toby Tenebaum)

As mentioned, the free Afro-Punk Festival is returning to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park on August 25-26. Since then, the lineup has been expanded, and now joining the initial announcement of Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Toro y Moi, Das Racist, Reggie Watts, and more is TV on the Radio (who will be headlining), Sinkane, Alice Smith, Flatbush Zombies, Radkey, Joe Jordan Experiment (JJX), and Purple Ferdinand.. Plus, the following DJs have been added: The Supasonics, Grits and Biscuits, DJ Pete Smoke Les, Stack-Aly, Roofeeo and VENUS X GHE20GOTH1K.

There will also be a Bites & Beats Food Truck Festival, an Afro-Punk Spinthrift Market, a motorcycle show, and a Nike Battle For the Streets Skate Competition, hosted by Alex Corporan and Billy Rohan. More details on these are below.

The updated lineup, flier and an Afro-Punk exclusive film, I Am Other, are below.

Continue reading "Afro-Punk Festival expands lineup (TV on the Radio, Sinkane, Alice Smith, food trucks, art vendors, bike show & more)"

Omar & fan @ Tribeca Film Festival - Apr 22, 2010 (Sylvia Hatred)

The new date for the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group show at Highline Ballroom is September 17th. Tickets are on sale. The Mars Volta member's film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last night. As you can see above, Omar was in attendance.

Squeeze & Cheap Trick play Radio City Music Hall in NYC on July 13th. Tickets just went on sale.

Alice Smith has scheduled a last-minute acoustic show at Highline Ballroom... tonight, Friday April 23rd. Tickets are on sale.

The May 3rd Chapterhouse and Ulrich Schnauss show at The Bell House sold out. Tickets are on sale for a 2nd show one day later with the same lineup.

Matmos and So Percussion will be playing at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Wednesday, June 9th. Tickets are on sale now.

Saturday night's show at Bruar Falls is free and going to be packed.

Also free: the shows at Grand Central for Earth Day today.

words & photos by Chris La Putt

I spent all of Friday night checking out three very diverse and entertaining shows at Joe's Pub (literally three separate ticketed shows, one after each other). First up were the bluegrass band The Steep Canyon Rangers from North Carolina. They were quite a force to be reckoned with, even without their occasional band member and comedian Steve Martin who joined them the last time they were in New York City.

The quality of their harmonies were impressive, especially in "Sylvie", like a more simplistic Dirty Projectors, but not at all plain acapella style. As one reviewer
writes, "the Steep Canyon Rangers again demonstrate that a band can be musically innovative while reaching into the past. Like other younger bands, Steep Canyon Rangers straddle the blurred edges of traditional and progressive bluegrass; that they do so as successfully as they do is a testament to their continued and expanding appeal." The ended their set with a song dedicated to Tiger Woods entitled "Lovin' Pretty Women" which you can see in the video below along with more pictures and the recap of more of the night...

Continue reading "The Steep Canyon Rangers, Sophie Madeleine, Kristina Train & Alice Smith @ Joe's Pub in NYC - pics & video"

Fischerspooner @ MoMA in November (more by Ryan Muir)

Fischerspooner will be playing a live show at Irving Plaza in NYC on New Year's Eve. Tickets are on sale. They also have a pair of DJ dates scheduled in Europe.

Speaking of New Year's Eve, shows for the night are coming together. Some NYC NYE events we've mentioned before include Patti Smith's multi-night run at Bowery Ballroom (sold out), Dean & Britta then The Felice Brothers at Southpaw, Antibalas at Knitting Factory, The Obits & Eli "Paperboy" Reed at The Bell House, Roky Erikson at Maxwell's, Clutch at Starland Ballroom, and The Detroit Cobras & The A-Bones then Titus Andronicus at Mercury Lounge.

Some we haven't mentioned include Lee Burridge at Santos Party House (tickets), Trouble & Bass at Europa (flyer below), Alice Smith at Joe's Pub (tickets), and Chuck Berry (who replaced the Dan Band) at BB King's (tickets - early and late). Tons of jam-friendly options this year: Soulive at Music Hall of Williamsburg, The Word at Terminal 5, Gov't Mule at the Beacon, The Disco Biscuits at Nokia Theatre, and most importantly, Mariah Carey at Madison Square Garden.

Phish have a four-night run in Miami.

For other out of town shows, The Black Keys and Kurt Vile play Chicago, where Jesus Lizard are also doing multiple nights and Jens Lekman is at the Empty Bottle (for three nights in a row actually). Girl Talk also plays Chicago that night- a sold out show at The Congress Theater. Crystal Castles are at Logan Square Auditorium. (Chicago wins)

Guns n Roses cover band Mr. Brownstone are playing Boston.

Pink Floyd cover band The Flaming Lips will be in Oklahama City's Cox Center, where they'll perform Dark Side of the Moon in full at midnight. They'll be assisted by OK's Stardeath and White Dwarfs. Flaming Lips are also reportedly planning an iTunes-only release of their own version of the album.

What else?

The Flaming Lips flyer, other flyers, and all Fischerspooner tour dates, below...

Continue reading "New Year's Eve options in NYC include Fischerspooner ++ Flaming Lips performing 'Dark Side of the Moon' in Oklahoma "

Orchestra Baobab

"2008 BAM Rhythm & Blues Festival at MetroTech Jump Starts a Summer of Soul Featuring Music Superstars Oleta Adams, Meshell Ndegeocello, The Skatalites, Alice Smith, Orchestra Baobab, Phoebe Snow, Lionel Loueke with Somi, Otis Clay and Ryan Shaw, Leela James, and Richie Havens with Marcus Carl Franklin"....

Continue reading "2008 BAM Rhythm & Blues Festival at MetroTech "