Here is the initial lineup for Willamette Week's MusicfestNW, scheduled for Sept. 7-11, 2011 in Portland, Oregon, and it's pretty great. The multi-venue fest includes big outdoor performances by Band of Horses (Sunday, Sept. 11), Explosions in the Sky (Saturday, Sept. 10), and Iron & Wine (Friday, Sept. 9), in addition to shows with everyone from Archers of Loaf to Big Freedia to Butthole Surfers to Neurosis. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 3rd. Check out the full list below...

Continue reading "MusicfestNW 2011 -- dates & initial lineup"

For those not afraid of the possibility of being immortalized on film enjoying a striptease...

"Want to be an EXTRA? A taped performance for the documentary Big City Grind: The NYC Burlesque. Featuring performances by World Famous *Bob*, Tigger, Creamee Stevens, Bunny Luv, Nasty Canasta, Peekaboo Pointe, Legs Malone, Stormy Leather, Melody Sweets and Bambi The Mermaid. Show starts at 8pm. This performance is free but please rsvp for tickets at bigcityrsvp@gmail.com "

And over at Superfine,

"THE UNTITLED BOBBY BARE JR. DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS COLLABORATE WITH SUPERFINE TO PRESENT: AN EVENING SHOWCASING INDEPENDENT MUSIC & INDEPENDENT FILM.

NASHVILLE ROCKER BOBBY BARE JR. MAKES HIS DUMBO DEBUT AND WILL BE JOINED BY SPECIAL GUESTS CAREY KOTSIONIS & BONNIE WHITMORE! ENJOY FREE TITO'S HANDMADE VODKA & PBR AS THEY TAKE OVER THE STAGE AT SUPERFINE BAR & RESTAURANT!"

DOWNLOAD: Alejandro Escovedo - Silver Cloud (MP3)

photos by Chris La Putt, words by Andrew Frisicano

Alejandro Escovedo just played two nights at City Winery with Bobby Bare Jr. opening. Special guests on the first night (6/29) included Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter, who joined Alejandro for a verse-trading encore of Mott's "I Wish I Was Your Mother." The second night (6/30) Alejandro's producer Tony Visconti sat in with the band for songs that included a cover of the Bowie-penned Mott the Hoople song "All the Young Dudes." Singer Tift Merritt was there too; videos of those songs are below.

Alejandro Escovedo plays again at City Winery on Friday (tickets still available), and he's at Vintage Vinyl tonight (7/1) in Jersey. More info and all tour dates are here.

Grab "Silver Cloud," the hard-rocking second track from his new record, Street Songs of Love, posted above. More pictures and videos are below...

Continue reading "Alejandro Escovedo & guests played City Winery - pics, videos and a new MP3"

DOWNLOAD: Alejandro Escovedo - Street Songs (MP3)

Starting tonight (6/29), Alejandro Escovedo & the Sensitive Boys play a string of album-release shows for new LP Street Songs of Love, out today on Fantasy Records. All three are at City Winery, with a sold-out show tonight, and a gig Wednesday, June 30 (tickets) and one on Friday, July 2nd (tickets). The first two feature Bobby Bare Jr. in the opening spot and the third has special guest Willie Nile. If you see Bobby, tell him happy birthday and congratulations on the birth of his new son.

In addition, Alejandro will be in Fords, NJ for an instore at Vintage Vinyl on Thursday (6/1), and will be back in the area for the XPoNential Music Festival in Camden, NJ, on July 16th, and a show at Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, on July 23rd with Megan Mccormick (tickets).

The new album's title track is above, and a live performance of album-opening "Anchor" is posted below. Other tour dates and festivals for the summer are below...

Continue reading "Alejandro Escovedo is here for multiple shows & an in-store"

Calexico...

Calexico have some shows scheduled this summer. Those include at Bonnaroo in June and other festivals like Newport Folk Fest and Ottawa Folk Fest. They'll also play City Winery in NYC for two nights: July 19th (tickets) and July 20th (tickets). All dates below.

Before that, songwriter Alejandro Escovedo & the Sensitive Boys with Bobby Bare Jr will also be doing two nights at the same NYC venue, with shows on June 29th (tickets) and June 30th (tickets). Alejandro's new album, Street Songs of Love, comes out June 29th. He also plays Central Park SummerStage's Simon & Garfunkel benefit night on June 8th. All dates below.

Also on the schedule at City Winery are Clem Snide, who play there on July 16th (tickets) and whose latest LP, The Meat of Life, came out February 23rd via 429 Records. The venue also has shows from Steve Earle & Allison Moorer, Rhett Miller (who have residencies) and Nicole Atkins coming up.

Calexico, Clem Snide and Alejandro Escovedo tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Calexico, Clem Snide & Alejandro Escovedo are all touring, playing shows @ City Winery - 2010 dates"

Joseph Arthur (by Danny Clinch)

Speaking of City Winery, musician Joseph Arthur (who currently has paintings on display at Sundance) is continuing his "An Evening With" series there with different guests. This Friday (1/29) is him with Bobby Bare Jr.. Some tickets are still available.

The rest of those bring equally impressive guests.

Fri Feb 26 w/ Jason Isbell (tickets)
Fri Mar 12 w/ Nicole Atkins (tickets)
Fri Mar 19 w/ Kevin Devine (tickets)
Fri Mar 26 w/ Keren Ann (tickets)

All JA tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Joseph Arthur continues City Winery residency w/ guests (Keren Ann & more) + other 2010 tour dates"

A pair of reunions (Moonshine Willy, the Blacks), a local upstart (Scotland Yard Gospel Choir) and a staggering turn by the Texas-born Alejandro Escovedo highlighted Bloodshot Records' 15th anniversary celebration at a scaled-back Hideout Block Party on Saturday.

The daylong event, which took place under blue skies on an outdoor stage 25 yards from the door of the treasured dive, attracted a sizable crowd for performances by a number of former and current Bloodshot artists.

Almost every song in the Blacks' ferocious, too-short set touched on love -- or, more accurately, what happens when it falls apart. Front man Danny Black, dressed head-to-toe in white and sang like a man who had little but the bottle for comfort, while singer-standup bassist Gina Black (no relation) growled her way through a tormented "Horrorshow."

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir turned out an equally stunning set, building its shambolic indie rock tunes around front man Elia Einhorn's confessional lyrics. "Can I be brutally honest?" Einhorn asked on "Oh Lee," answering his own question with an unequivocal "yes" when he crooned the opening line of "Stop!": "I hope you catch syphilis and die alone." [Chicago Tribune]

The tour has a (free) show in Austin this upcoming weekend (9/19) before coming to Brooklyn's Bell House on September 26th. The lineup there won't have Alejandro Escovedo or the Blacks, who are described above (acts rotate from city to city), but it will include Bobby Bare Jr, Exene Cervenka, Dex Romweber Duo, Cordero, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, The Silos, Ben Weaver and Rosie Flores. 4pm doors / 5pm show. Entry is is only $5, no advance tickets are on sale.

This is the first time I've seen Exene on a bill since her June announcement that she has multiple sclerosis (which came shortly after her band X's 3-night run at Bowery Ballroom). That's awesome that, as she promised, she isn't letting her diagnosis control her life.

Dexter Romweber played some shows with Cat Power in February.

Videos from the tour's Chicago and Wisconsin (8/23) stops are posted, along with all Bobby Bare Jr. dates, below...

Continue reading "Bloodshot Records BBQ coming to Brooklyn w/ Exene Cervenka, Bobbby Bare Jr & more (full lineup, videos, dates)"

Willamette Week's Musicfest NW announces this year's festival line-up which will be held at various venues around the Portland, OR metropolitan area on September 16, 17, 18 & 19. On the heels of the most successful MFNW to date, MFNW 2009 launches with nothing but the hope of a bigger and better festival. MFNW's ultimate aim is to provide Portland with a unique and special musical experience that features all types of acts including nationally renowned artists while still honoring and supporting the special musical scene of the Northwest.

The lineup so far, including the newly-reunited Sunny Day Real Estate, is below...

Continue reading "Musicfest NW in Portland, OR (Sept 16-19) - lineup"

DOWNLOAD: The Decemberists - Perfect Crime (Junior Boys Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Page France - The Ruby Ring Man (live at the Crocodile Cafe) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nirvana - talk to me (crocodile cafe 1992) (MP3)

"I think it's a blow to the scene," said David Meinert, a local promoter and publicist. "Part of the side effect of the mayor's downtown development plan, which seems to have no room for live music in it. The Croc is an institution. At the same time, things change, and keeping a venue open as long as the Croc has been, through all the changes the music scene has been through, is a very difficult job. I feel for any club owner trying to make it in Seattle."

Local musician Chris Martin, a guitarist in local rock band Kinski, called the Crocodile Café "the most exciting club to play in town." [The Seattle Times] (thx Renee)

According to the schedule that is still posted on the club's website "Bobby Bare Jr. and the Decemberists" were supposed to play there on January 26th - which, according to the Tractor Tavern where the show will now take place, is actually Bobby "with members" of the Decemberists. The Decemberists have played with Bobby before, and they're (all of them) scheduled to play Seattle twice just four days later - two of four West Coast shows they have scheduled. It will be the first time they play since cancelling a whole tour due to illness.

Also on the Croc schedule: Atlas Sound, Black Mountain, A Place to Bury Strangers, Tilly & The Wall, Beach House, and Born Ruffians. All Decemberists & Bobby Bare dates below...

Continue reading "Seattle's Crocodile Cafe closed, the Decemberists are back"