today in NYC
* ASSSSCAT 3000 @ UCB
* Omar Lords @ Zebulon
* Laura Veirs @ Joe's Pub
* Ed Vallance @ The Ace Hotel
* Fred Armisen, Azita @ Union Pool
* Bjork @ New York Hall of Science
* Cherish The Ladies @ City Winery
* Pretty Good Friends @ Union Hall
* Theologian, Alberich @ The STone
* School of Rock @ Highline Ballroom
* Screaming Females @ Generation Records
* Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Il Abanico, Dear Lions, The Split @ Spike Hill
* Guns N' Roses, The Chelsea Smiles @ Terminal 5
* The Queens of FELA on Broadway celebrate the Grammy's @ Knitting Factory
* Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys @ B.B. King Blues Club and Grill
* Soft Spot, Parmaga, Buffalo Stance @ Death By Audio
* Beast Make Bomb, Shake the Baron, Sea Monsters, Flagland @ Glasslands
* James Blake (DJ set), The Chain, Airhead @ Le Poisson Rouge
* English Dogs, The Casualties, Toxic Holocaust, Havok @ Europa
* Psychobuildings, Amil Byleckie Band, Trip Dicks @ Big Snow Buffalo Lodge
* Daniel Neumann, Maria Chavez, Alfredo Marin, Zeljko McMullen, Doron Sadja, Tristan Shepherd, Mario Diaz de Leon, Ben Vida, Sabisha Friedberg @ Roulette
* Communion featuring David Wax Museum, Aoife O'Donovan, Jones Street Station, Julia Easterlin @ Public Assembly

Check out some photos from Arcade Fire's 2004 show at Mercury Lounge on the BrooklynVegan Facebook.

Hopefully Bjork is feeling better.

Follow @BrooklynVegan on Twitter.

In case you were wondering, no Slash (pictured above) is not in the current lineup of Guns N Roses that plays Terminal 5 tonight.

The Grammys, now overshadowed/advertised by the tragedy that is Whitney Houston's death, air tonight on CBS at 8 p.m. EST. A last minute Whitney tribute was put together for the TV show and will include Jennifer Hudson and Chaka Khan.

In related and also sad (no disrespect to Whitney!) news, Foster the People and Maroon 5/Adam Levine are performing with the reunited Beach Boys at the Grammys. Adele will also be peforming on the show, but Justin Vernon will not be (because he refused to agree to whatever horrible collaboration they wanted him to do).

As previously mentioned...

Bon Iver was nominated for four high profile Grammys (though not "Album of the Year" which is what Arcade Fire won). Adele & Katy Perry nominated for a zillion, and other nominees include The Black Keys, Foster the Peepee, Cee Lo, Duck Sauce, Robyn, Cut Copy, Skrillex, Deadmau5, Coldplay, Radiohead, Mumford & Son, Mastodon, Wilco, Death Cab For Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Jay-Z, Kanye West, The Civil Wars, Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm, Fleet Foxes, Gillian Welch, Steve Earle, Patton Oswalt, Louis CK, Weird Al, Danger Mouse, Memory Tapes, TV On the Radio, and A Tribe Called Quest.

The Kills played a 10th Anniversary show at Terminal 5 last night. More about that later, but you can check out the video from their performance on Letterman two nights earlier, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday? (Grammys)"

The founding members of The Beach Boys, one of the world's most legendary bands in popular music history, will reunite for a global 50th Anniversary CELEBRATION in 2012. Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks will come together for a new studio album and commemorative catalog releases with Capitol/EMI and a 50-date international tour to begin in April with a headlining performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival ("Jazz Fest") as well as other exciting events to be announced.

Brian Wilson says, "This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys and it will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again."

Mike Love says, "We got together at Capitol Records and re-recorded 'Do It Again.' Brian and I wrote that song which went to number 1 in Great Britain, Australia and elsewhere some 44 years ago. Brian paid me a compliment saying, 'How can a guy sound that great so many years later?' Later on, while working out some harmonies on a new song Brian had written, I got a chance to return the compliment. It was a thrill to be around a piano again with Brian, Alan and Bruce and experience firsthand the brilliance of Cousin Brian's gift for vocal arrangements. I am very much looking forward to David Marks joining us and thrilling with his surf guitar licks. Music has been the unifying and harmonizing fact of life in our family since childhood. It has been a huge blessing that we have been able to share with the world. Wouldn't It Be Nice to Do It Again? Absolutely!"

Al Jardine says, "The Beach Boys were recently inducted into the California Hall of Fame. From our humble beginnings as brothers, cousins and friends, we have been honored to sing the praises of California, and I'm really excited for our fans to be able to see us again in concert on the world stage, and to celebrate our 50th anniversary together with a new studio album."

Bruce Johnston says, "I will be looking forward to singing Brian Wilson's melodies and Mike Love's lyrics once again in concert with many of the original band members, but imagine what we all could come up with vocally in a recording studio atmosphere under Brian's musical direction."

David Marks says, "I'm really looking forward to celebrating this important milestone in The Beach Boys' history with the other guys, and with Capitol Records - where it all began 50 years ago. It means a lot to me that we can all reunite and pay tribute to the fans who have kept the music alive."

Continue reading "Brian Wilson officially reuniting with The Beach Boys, planning 2012 tour & new album"

Two days after he plays Wellmont Theater (on 6/9, tickets), Brian Wilson will start a three-night NYC run at Highline Ballroom with first-come-first-served seated shows on June 11th, 12th, & 13th. The performances, like at the Wellmont show, and a recently-added CT show, will see Brian performing "Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin in its entirety, along with a selection of solo and Beach Boys classics." Tickets for all three shows are on sale.

Updated tour dates below...

Continue reading "Brian Wilson adds 3 NYC 'Gershwin' shows & other dates"

Brian Wilson released Brain Wilson Reimagines Gershwin last year, an LP that put his own spin on classics by the American composers. Now comes word that Wilson will take those revamped classics on the road and play the album in its entirety "as well as classics from the Beach Boys back-catalogue." He'll be doing that all across Canada in June and in Europe in September, but first he'll kick things off on June 9th at Wellmont Theater in NJ. Tickets for that one are currently on AMEX presale and go on regular sale March 4th at noon.

Wilson also recently completed a second "reimagining" LP, one where he revisits Disney songs, though no release date on that yet. A Gershwin video and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Brian Wilson performing 'Gershwin' in its entirety on tour (and Beach Boys songs too)"

"The Beach Boys continue to tour approximately 150 shows a year in multiple countries. At this time there are no plans for my cousin Brian to rejoin the tour. He has new solo projects on the horizon and I wish him love and success. We have had some discussions of writing and possibly recording together, but nothing has been planned." [Mike Love]

The non-reunited Beach Boys play a free show in Coney Island on Thursday night.

All Beach Boys tour dates below...

Continue reading "Mike Love says Beach Boys not reuniting (though the "Beach Boys" are playing Brooklyn Thursday & other dates) "

The full schedules for this year's Asser Levy/Seaside concerts and MLK Wingate Field shows are posted below. The Seaside series in Coney Island will go on despite the debate over the bandshell's renovations. There's still one TBA on the Seaside schedule (which we have some hints about).

Full schedules for both are below...

Continue reading "2010 Coney Island & Wingate Field concert schedules"

Asser-Levy Park bandshell (Lisanne!)

The initial/partial schedule for the 2010 Seaside Summer Concert Series at Asser-Levy Park in Coney Island is posted below. The series of free shows kicks off on July 15th with Neil Sedaka and Brenda Lee. After that, there's a July 22nd show with the "Beach Boys" (Mike Love/Bruce Johnston) and Happy Together Tour (Flo & Eddie of the Turtles, Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, & others), a July 29th show with George Thorogood and the Destroyers and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and date-TBA shows with Belinda Carlisle (whose GoGos tour was recently canceled) and secret guest (the B-52s?), John Legend (who plays Brooklyn Bowl tonight) and Aretha Franklin, plus Latin Night. (schedule via Sheapsheadbites).

The Seaside concerts happen Thursdays at 7:30pm at Asser Levy/Seaside Park (West 5th Street and Surf Avenue) in Coney Island/Brighton Beach, across the street from the New York Aquarium. For now they still happen in the above-pictured bandshell, though things may get fancier in the future.

There's also the associated 28th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series, which happens Mondays at Wingate Field (located on Brooklyn Avenue between Rutland Road and Winthrop Street opposite Kings County Hospital). That kicks off with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic and The Ohio Players on July 12th. Acts for the other nights of the series are TBA. Dates are below.

The full lineup (with most of the schedule) is posted below...

Continue reading "initial Coney Island & Wingate Field 2010 free concert lineups ("Beach Boys", Belinda Carlisle, Neil Sedaka & more) "

Brian Wilson @ Hammerstein Ballroom last November (more by Tim Griffin)

Paul Zollo: You've been regarded as a musical genius throughout your career. Has that put too much pressure on you?

Brian Wilson: No, it doesn't put pressure on me. The only thing that puts the pressure on me is having to live up to my name, you know. As who I think I might be or should be or am. According to people, what they think I should be. You know, everybody goes through it. I'm not the only one who goes through that. Everybody goes through it.

PZ: But not everybody is the driving force of the Beach Boys. You had the pressure to produce sunny, happy songs, even if you didn't feel that way. What was that like?

BW: I was on the spot. You know what it was, though, that's when I was younger. Right? When I was in my twenties I was on the go all the time, producing, writing, you know, just creating all the time. It was such that it was a big burden on my shoulders. I took on a lot of karma and burdens on my shoulders. For some unknown reason, I just found myself involved in a name dilemma. After my twenties, when I was in my thirties and forties, I had age dilemma problems.

I say to myself, "I miss the feeling of being young." I say, "OK, so I do. That's established." Then I go through that, I get back on the track, and I say, "Yeah, but I got a great brain. Maybe I don't feel like taking a sprint every ten seconds down the street, but I have a great brain." Know what I mean?

There are no NYC shows on the tour (at this point), but four of the scheduled gigs are an NJ Transit or LIRR train ride away. Those dates are on sale now:

October 26 - Count Basie Theatre Red Bank, NJ (tickets)
October 27 - Bergen Performing Arts Center Englewood, NJ (tickets)
November 8 - The Capital One Bank Theatre Westbury, NY (tickets)
November 13 - Community Theater at Mayo Morristown, NJ (tickets)

Continue reading "Brian Wilson - fall US tour (4 NY metropolitan-area shows)"

photos by Tim Griffin

"Brian was really into the music and in command- He did about 50 minutes of Beach Boys stuff (including a great Marcella), than after intermission did the whole That Lucky Old Sun album-it was really good. Midnight's Just Another Day was better than the album. Encores of Johnny B Goode, Fun, Fun, Fun, Help Me Rhonda, Surfing USA and Love and Mercy- Truly a great show-Hammerstein Ballroom has great sound too- far better then the Beacon.
In all honesty-the show far exceeded my expectations." [ian rusten]

Continue reading "Brian Wilson @ Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC - pics"

Tickets are on sale for a November 21st Brian Wilson show at Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. He's going to perform his entire new album "That Lucky Old Sun" in addition to "hits" which hopefully means you won't leave asking for a refund. All dates and a video Brian did for the Black Cab Sessions, below....

Continue reading "Brian Wilson performing 'That Lucky Old Sun' - 2008 dates"

Brian Wilson @ Bluesfest in Canada - July 2008 (doraflood)

In response to several disgruntled fans, Brian Wilson and his wife and manager Melinda Wilson have decided to refund fans'tickets for his July 11th New York City concert at Hammerstein Ballroom.

Fans complained that the show, which was a benefit for the Stand Up For A Cure cancer benefit, ran up to several hundred dollars but had poor visibility for some seats, and only contained a 75-minute performance by Wilson. Wilson performed with a scaled-back band, and his setlist lacked Beach Boys or solo rarities.

Melinda Wilson chatted with fans on brianwilson.com and said that Brian wanted to refund the money to fans who were unhappy by having them send their ticket stubs to their publicist for reimbursement.

Melinda said in her various messages: "Brian saw the posts and asked me to respond. He's really sensitive to all of your feelings and doesn't want to offending anyone. He wanted to make this offer to keep everyone cool (as he said)... With the exception of the charity show, most of these ticket prices are less than they have been in the past. On (July) 17th, the show (in Brooklyn, New York's Coney Island) is FREE please take advantage of that. Hope this clears the air for you. Thank you for being Brian's fan." [KBS Radio]

Brian Wilson has upcoming shows at Hammerstein Ballroom and other places. Brian Wilson is releasing a new album in September....

Continue reading "Brian Wilson's new solo album: "That Lucky Old Sun""

New York-based non-profit, Stand Up For A Cure, has announced that Bon Jovi will kick off the Stand Up For A Cure 2008 Concert Series, which will also include performances by Andrea Bocelli, an evening with Jerry Seinfeld, and Brian Wilson over the upcoming year. In a year-long effort to raise funds towards eradicating lung cancer, the Concert Series will feature high-profile performances by some of world's most beloved artists in intimate settings. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's lung cancer research efforts will benefit from the Stand Up For A Cure 2008 Concert Series.

Brian and his formidable ten-piece band will be presenting a number of his classic compositions as well as a collection of his greatest hits that will please everyone in the room.

Continue reading "Brian Wilson - 2008 Tour Dates (Hammerstein Ballroom, charities, UK, Hollywood Bowl)"