Ted Leo, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Sun Airway, Booker T, Ra Ra Riot, and Emmylou Harris are some of the artists NPR is streaming from Camden, NJ (hear Philly) this weekend.

Brian Wilson played the Highline Ballroom [Sunday] night as part of its sister club's month-long Blue Note Jazz Festival, and though the two-set show featured his entire current Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin album of Gershwin standards, it wasn't jazz, really, but no less demanding--and rewarding.

The Beach Boys' beloved creative genius brought a 12-piece band of multi-instrumentalists/vocalists--and a local female string section--and all lived up to his contention that it's one of his best bands ever.

The Gershwin album, which was conceived under the aegis of his hero George Gershwin's estate, led off the second set--the first being a breathtaking recreation of Beach Boys classics ranging from the ultra-romantic 1963 ballad "Surfer Girl," his first composition, to the symphonic "Heroes And Villains" of 1967. While Wilson's ability to sing his signature falsetto vocal leads and harmonies is long gone, guitarist Jeff Foskett was downright spooky in mimicking it on hits like "Don't Worry Baby" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice." [Examiner]

As mentioned in that review, Brian Wilson's three shows at Highline Ballroom this week are part of the ongoing and inaugural Blue Note Jazz Festival, a month-long celebration of Blue Note's 30th Anniversary. The fest includes a ton of shows including the recent Aloe Blacc, Idle Warship, and Larry Graham gigs. Brian finished his run Tuesday night, while, Dave Brubeck (who just turned 90) and George Wein & the Newport All-Stars each began their own three-night run at Blue Note Jazz Club. Advanced tickets to the Dave Brubeck shows are sold out, but you can line up to sit be at the bar on a first come, first served basis (if you're 21+). Tickets are still on sale for George Wein.

The festival also includes many other shows we've mentioned before including the Jimmy Scott shows at The Blue Note on June 23. Tickets are still on sale.

The recently mentioned Bjorkestra show at Highline Ballroom on June 14 is also part of the festival. As discussed, tickets are on sale and can be purchased with a 50% discount by using the access code "BIGBAND."

The Chaka Khan shows at BB King's on June 18 are also part of the festival. Tickets are still on sale.

The festival also includes the Roy Ayers and Pete Rock show at Highline Ballroom on June 22. Tickets are still on sale.

Bootsy Collins

Bootsy Collins, who just played Bonnaroo, brings his previously announced Blue Note festival show to BB King's on June 26....

"Bootsy Collins was just one more band on our to-do list -- we didn't expect him to nearly steal the whole festival. After an annoying hour-plus wait that had the crowd chanting "bullshit," Collins instantly won the fans back in his favor by bringing THA FUNK. Everything was on the one after that. Lead guitarist Blackbyrd McKnight melted minds, while original P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell provided the ballast. A special mid-set run found the band tackling classics by P-Funk, Jimi Hendrix, and Sly and The Family Stone." [American Songwriter]

Tickets are still available for the NYC show.

Tickets are also still on sale for the two Roberta Flack shows at BB King's on June 24.

Questlove is presenting Mo' Meta Blues I at The Blue Note on June 20 and 21. Both days consist of an early show and a late show. Mo' Meta Blues I features Questlove on drums/electronics, Booker T on organ/keyboards/vocals, Eric Krasno on guitar, and Christian McBridge on bass. Tickets are on sale.

The following night (6/23), The Roots will present Mo' Meta Blues II - Paid In Full 25th Anniversary featuring Black Thought and Rakim at The Blue Note. There will also be an early and a late show. Advance tickets for table reservations are sold out, but you can still get in at the bar on a first come, first served basis (if you're 21+).

English R&B singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer Estelle plays two shows at Blue Note on June 24, her only upcoming appearances. Tickets are still on sale.

Al Kooper & Organ-asm play BB King's on June 29. Tickets are on sale.

"The Music of Stax Records" featuring Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Eddie Floyd and Lester Snell is happening on June 26 at Highline Ballroom. Tickets are on sale.

Last but not least, we want to highlight the Dances of Vice presentred Powerhouse Stomp II: a musical tribute to the classic cartoons of the 1920s, '30s, and '40s on June 29 at Highline Ballroom featuring Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra. Sounds fun and tickets are on sale.

Check the Blue Note Jazz Festival's website for the full schedule. A selection of related videos below..

Continue reading "Blue Note Jazz Fest continues -- Brian Wilson, Dave Brubeck, Bootsy Collins, The Roots, Roberta Flack, Estelle & more"

Booker T. Jones released The Road From Memphis earlier this month (5/10 via Anti-) with a notable list of guest artists. The Roots act as Jones' backing band on the album, and Matt Berninger of The National, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket, Lou Reed, and Sharon Jones all provide guest vocals. The album is produced by Jones, Questlove, and Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliot Smith), and was recorded by Gabriel Roth of Daptone Records.

Booker T plays The Bell House in Brooklyn tonight (5/24). The Bo-Keys, who were originally listed as an opener, no longer seem to be on the show though. The show is instead being opened by DJ Toddophonic Todd. Tickets are still on sale.

The Brooklyn show is one of his few this summer. All tour dates, a video, a Tiny Desk concert, the album tracklist and more, below....

Continue reading "Booker T. Jones released a guest-filled album on ANTI, plays Brooklyn tonight & other dates"

Memorial Day Weekend officially opened the summer, and for those in the Pacific Northwest it also brought Sasquatch Music Festival (pictures from all three days are coming soon). Now the lineup for its Labor Day cousin, Bumbershoot 2010, has been announced. That fest, happening at Seattle, WA's Seattle Center September 4th-6th, will include headliners Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Weezer, Hole, Rise Against, Neko Case, The Decemberists, J. Cole and "one more very special guest to be announced soon."

Tickets (including non-Mainstage 'economy' passes) are on sale now. The rest of the lineup (by day) for the seven-stage festival is posted below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2010 lineup (Bob Dylan... Hole... Mary J Blige)"

photos by Graeme Flegenheimer

"From the moment you set foot inside the main gate at the Fair Grounds Race Course, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is like a music and food lover's "Choose Your Own Adventure" novel, with nearly every option inciting pure sonic and culinary bliss. A morning beignet in the Gospel Tent with Arthur Clayton & Purposely Anointed? A lazy afternoon perked up by some Crawfish Monica and the Drive-By Truckers joined by Booker T? How about a stroll to the Gentilly Stage for the sounds of Spoon and the Dirty Dozen horns, stopping for a quick bowl of gumbo along the way? Etta James and a Soft Shell Crab Po-Boy, anyone? All signs point to yes...

...Now in its 40th year, the 2009 edition of Jazz Fest continues to ramp up post-Hurricane Katrina, expanding to its full complement of 12 stages, up from nine last year, and seven days, up from six in recent years. The event's first of two weekends boasted music from nearly 200 acts, including the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Crescent City native Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Joe Cocker, Erykah Badu, James Taylor, Earth Wind and Fire, Pete Seeger, Hugh Masekela, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Etta James and many more." [All About Jazz]

Jazz Fest ran from April 24-26 & April 30-May 3 at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, LA. More pictures from the first weekend of the festival below...

Continue reading "a set of pictures from New Orleans Jazz Fest 2009 "

by Andrew Frisicano

Drive by Truckers @ Coachella 2009 (by vonlohmann)

Drive-By Truckers played twice at Coachella on Saturday, April 18th. First, the band played their own afternoon set, then they sat in as the backing band for Booker T. Jones (of Booker T. and the MGs).

The Truckers are a perfect festival act, with a three-guitar posse that looks great across a field and sounds even better with a flat pint of beer and the beginnings of a sunburn (both things I have in my possession now). Now that they've had some time away from the whole Skynyrd mythologizing business, DBT is one of few bands that can rightly claim to be pushing Southern rock forward as a distinct beast from country music. [LA Times]

The Drive-By Truckers also support Jones on his new CD, Potato Hole, out April 21st on Anti.

Jones is in the midst of a TV residency. He's performing with The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, from April 20th to April 22nd, before going out on his own tour (including some dates with DBT behind him). That tour stops at NYC's Joe's Pub (without Truckers) on Wednesday, June 10th. Tickets are on sale.

DBT's Patterson Hood (pictured above) also has a short tour scheduled in support of his own new album, Murdering Oscar (and Other Love Songs), out Tuesday, June 23rd on Ruth St. Records (details below). Will Johnson (of Centro-Matic), who contributes to Patterson's album, opens those tour dates.

The night of the album's release, June 23rd, Hood and backing band The Screwtopians will play a Brooklyn show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. The next night, Wednesday, June 24th, the band plays Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for June 23rd and tickets for June 24th both go on AmEx presale Wednesday, April 22nd at noon. General sale starts Friday at noon.

Even sooner, Hood plays at the Pete Seeger 90th Birthday celebration at MSG on Sunday, May 3rd.

Info on the new Patterson Hood album, and all Hood and Jones tour dates below...

Continue reading "Drive-By Truckers & Booker T. played Coachella - new albums & 2009 tour dates (BTJ & Patterson solo)"

Crystal Castles @ MHOW - New Years Eve (more by Ryan Muir)

Al Green @ the Wellmont Theater - Nov 2008 (more by Eric M Townsend)

Superfly Productions and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The eighth annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 11 - 14 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. Every year Bonnaroo seeks to make history by offering unique and exclusive performances by rock's greatest legends as well as its most significant newcomers. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2009 lineup will total over 120 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days. Tickets go on sale exclusively through www.bonnaroo.com on Saturday, February 7 at 12:00 PM Eastern.

As rumored, Bruce Springsteen (who just played the Superbowl Halftime show) and Phish (who just had some trouble selling tickets to other shows) are headlining this year's Bonnaroo. Nine Inch Nails (who played Lollapalooza last year), Beastie Boys, David Byrne (who has two shows coming up at Radio City), Wilco, Al Green, Erykah Badu, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (who are also playing Coachella), Andrew Bird (who just played Carnegie Hall), The Decemberists, Bon Iver, Animal Collective (who are very popular right now), Neko Case, Jenny Lewis, Santogold, Grizzly Bear (who have a new album coming out), St. Vincent, Ted Leo, Crystal Castles, and many others are also on the bill according to the now-officially announced initial lineup.

Coachella announced their initial lineup less than a week earlier.

Metallica played Bonnaroo in 2008. Metallica played NY & NJ this past weekend.

Full (initial) 2009 Bonnaroo lineup below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo announces initial 2009 lineup (Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Beastie Boys, NIN, Wilco, Animal Collective...)"

Headliners Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure are among the 130-plus acts set for the tenth COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL (APRIL 17, 18 AND 19) at the beautiful Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, the same grounds where the COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL debuted in 1999. Other artists confirmed for America's most critically acclaimed music festival include Morrissey, Amy Winehouse, Franz Ferdinand, My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Thievery Corporation, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the complete line-up is listed below).

This marks the first ever U.S. festival appearance for McCartney who is currently supporting his latest release ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS.

"I have heard that Coachella is one of the greatest festivals in the world. I'm really excited to get out there and rock!" McCartney says.

Tickets for COACHELLA go on sale Friday, January 30 at 9:00 AM (PT) at all Ticketmaster locations.

Throbbing Gristle and the rest of the full (real) line-up (as of 1/30) is below:

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - OFFICIAL lineup announced (My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Morrissey, The Cure, Antony, Amy Winehouse...) - tix on sale"

DBT @ T5 (more by Chris La Putt)

Jason Isbell has a show coming up in NY, but his old band Drive By Truckers are playing not that far away at Starland Ballroom in NJ even sooner - on January 22nd to be exact, and tickets are still on sale. All tour dates, and a very long "Best of 2008" by Patterson, below...

Continue reading "Drive By Truckers - tour dates & Patterson's 2008 favorites"

danfun snapped some shots at the show last night....

Booker T & the MG’s were sooo awesome; when they started playing “Green Onions” and “Big Train” on stage, people were flippin’ out! There were a bunch of random women dancing all over the place… it was sort of amusing/funny/cute. And when you throw in Sharon Jones for a touch of soul (especially with a song like “Sitting on the Dock” by Otis) and lots of vocal improvs… it was damn near perfect. [cdnpio]

They do it again today at noon.

Other shows last night: Paul McCartney & Franz Ferdinand

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings @ the 2007 Moers Festival (CRED)

Speaking of the Dap Kings, Sharon Jones has a bunch of free NYC shows coming up - including one today, and one tomorrow with Booker T & the MG's. River to River's site describes tonight's (June 13 - 7pm) show like this:

This 1992 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, responsible for creating the spare and punchy “Memphis sound,” performs a soulful show with guest vocalist, “Queen of Funk,” Sharon Jones.

It's a perfect (and free) alternative to Franz and Paul. BAM's website says this about tomorrow's Brooklyn show:

Booker T. & The MG's with special guest Sharon Jones
June 14
As the studio band that backed Otis Redding and Sam and Dave, Booker T. and The MG's are true patriarchs of rock and roll—and the classic track "Green Onions" only furthered their fame in their own right. In a match made in soul heaven, Booker T. and band are joined by Sharon Jones of Dap-Kings fame, whose sound smolders like a hot night in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia.

The Brooklyn show starts at noon - timed to coincide with your lunch hour.

All tour dates, and new album info, below......

Continue reading "SHARON JONES & The Dap Kings - new album & 2007 Tour Dates ++ shows TODAY & TOMORROW w/ Booker T"