photos by Tim Griffin

Passion Pit

It's now Saturday and Fun Fun Fun Fest's second day is already underway and streaming on Pitchfork.

Yesterday, Friday, while BBG was holding down the black stage (which Danzig eventually played), Tim (who ran into Ryan Gosling more than once), was handling most of the other music the Austin fest had to offer. A quick selection of Tim's pictures from Friday continues below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 -- Day 1 in pics (part 2) -- Passion Pit, Reggie Watts, Omar Souleyman & more)"

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

Black Joe Lewis himself brings a classic James Brown howl and a raunchy sense of humor to some great talking blues moments, but what makes these guys much more than just a gimmick are the musical skills that underlie everything they do. They just groove. With another year of shows under their belt, white dude band mates Zach Ernst (guitar) and Bill Stevenson (bass) have ratcheted up their swagger enough to share the stage comfortably with their charismatic frontman.-[Hippies Are Dead]

The above review comes from the March 25th date show at Bowery Ballroom, the first of two shows at the venue for tourmates Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears and Those Darlins (they did it again the next night). The pair's trek is still ongoing, terminating soon in Santa Cruz before Black Joe Lewis heads to an appearance at Coachella.

After a couple weeks off, Black Joe Lewis will reemerge in Mississippi at the tail end of April for a few dates before heading out on tour with Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings. Those Darlins will still be going strong with their seemingly neverending tour. Both bands will eventually loop back to the NYC-area to play Maxwell's within a day of each other; Those Darlins play Maxwell's on 6/11 (tickets) and Black Joe Lewis hits Maxwell's on 6/12 (tickets). Neither has a NYC show scheduled at that time, but both have plenty of free days right around then (free summer shows TBA?).

Both Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears and Those Darlins recently dropped some new material. BJL's new and-Jim-Eno-produced LP, Scandalous, as well as the new Those Darlins LP Screws Get Loose, are out now. All dates and a couple of videos, below...

Continue reading "Black Joe Lewis & Those Darlins still on tour, schedule more shows (including gigs @ Maxwell's a day apart)"

Those Darlins at ACL (more by Tim Griffin)

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, who will release their Jim-Eno-produced-LP Scandalous on March 15th, will hit the road for a US tour in late March with Those Darlins, kicking off on 3/22 in Atlanta and closing down shop on the West Coast at the now sold-out Coachella (not to be confused with Bro-chella). Bowery Ballroom gets the look, and twice, as the bands will play the venue on March 25th and 26th. Tickets are still available for both shows (3/25, 3/26).

For Those Darlins, the Black Joe Lewis dates are a cakewalk- the band is currently on tour and have multiple dates from coast to coast before and after those dates well into the spring and including SXSW. All of the dates are in preparation for a pair of releases via the OH WOW DANG label: a new 7-inch due on 2/1 ("Be Your Bro" b/w "Let You Down" -- cover art below) and their second full-length Screws Get Loose due on 3/29.

All Black Joe Lewis and Those Darlins dates, together and separately, are below.

Continue reading "Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears touring w/ Those Darlins (who have some releases coming)"

Central Park Summerstage (more by Chris La Putt)

The schedule for the 2010 SummerStage series, which has music not just at Central Park, is out, and there are some great looking shows to highlight.

At Central Park, the first "rock" show happens on Saturday, June 5th with Living Colour, Ebony Bones!, Pillow Theory and CX KiDTRONiK. Baaba Maal, who just played Irving Plaza, will be at Central Park too on Monday, June 14th The Tinariwen show on Saturday, June 26th also features Syrian beat & mikeman Omar Souleyman. Gil Scott-Heron plays Central Park in June and Marcus Garvey Park in August.

There's also El Guincho, Bostich and Fussible and others in Central Park on July 7th. Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff plays Central Park on Sunday, July 11th. Raphael Saadiq performs there Saturday, July 17 at 3pm. The Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba/Fool's Gold show on Sunday, July 25th will also feature "West African electronica" band Burkina Electric.

On Wednesday, July 21st, there'll be a Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Friends Central Park gig hosted by Lewis Black with John Oliver, Rob Riggle, Wyatt Cenac, Adam Lowitt and Rory Albanese.

There's also music from St. Vincent, Tune-Yards and Basia Bulat on August 1st at Central Park. The xx play with Jack Penate and Chairlift there on August 8th. At the same spot, Public Enemy play an August 15th day show to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Fear of A Black Planet, and the Specials play on August 22nd with Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears and $mall ¢hange.

The borough-wide shows kick off with Jay Electronica in Red Hook Park on June 1st. Also at that park is Dan Deacon on Tuesday, June 15th. White Rabbits play East River Park on August 12th.

There's lots of great jazz too: McCoy Tyner plays with Ravi Coltrane, Esperanza Spalding and Francisco Mela as part of the CareFusion Jazz Festival on June 23rd. He also plays in the Charlie Parker Jazz Fest, which comes at the end of the summer with an incredible lineup. McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Scott, Jason Moran and the Bandwagon and Revive da Live play during the day at Marcus Garvey on Saturday, August 28th. Then the next day, James Moody, Catherine Russell, Vijay Iyer and The JD Allen Trio play at Tompkins Square Park.

The park benefit shows include John Butler Trio and State Radio on June 15th (tickets on sale), The Flaming Lips on July 26th, The Black Keys with the Morning Benders on July 27th and 28th, Hot Chip/Hercules & Love Affair/Holy Ghost on August 4th, Govt' Mule on August 11th (tickets), and one of the four Pavement shows September 21-24. Plus there's a "songbook of Simon & Garfunkel" benefit on June 8th.

Not all "Summerstage" shows are in Central Park anymore which drives home the point even further that the name of the venue in Central Park is actually "Rumsey Playfield" which hosts non-"Summerstage" shows too. Those so far include Coheed/Torche, CAKE, Ween, and Broken Social Scene.

The full Summerstage free show schedule is below...

Continue reading "Summerstage (Central Park & elsewhere) - full 2010 lineup "