Grace Potter & The Nocturnals @ Prospect Park in August (more by Chris La Putt)

Weekly Davespeak: I understand you have another album planned with T-Bone [Burnett] this year..

Grace Potter: Actually, we've already finished the record. We were in L.A. for a little under two months. We recorded the entire album in a very amount of time. It is coming out in October.

That T-Bone Burnett-produced album, Medicine, is set for an October 27th release on Hollywood Records.

The band will be on tour with Brett Dennen this fall. That jaunt includes a November 20th show at Terminal 5. Tickets for the whole tour are on presale now. Tickets for the NY show are also on AmEx presale. General sale starts September 11th at noon.

Grace Potter's last NYC show was with Deer Tick in Prospect Park. Deer Tick also just announced yet another NYC show.

The band has post-tour plans for a four-night New Years Eve run in their homestate of Vermont, a January gig at Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble in Woodstock, and a show after that in Jamaica (not Queens) with Gov't Mule (Grace is very popular in the jam band scene). All upcoming tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - 2009 tour dates (Terminal 5)"

photos by Jim Brueckner

"Half a century ago, Pete Seeger helped found the Newport Folk Festival, a weekend notorious for its dichotomies- Rhode Island high society and scrappy folk singers, old time traditions and new sounds, social rebellion and responsible activism. At this year's 50th anniversary, the festival came full circle for Seeger and other Newport regulars.

In addition to appearing and performing for the umpteenth time, Seeger was honored with an all out stage show courtesy of indie rockers the Decemberists. With frontman Colin Meloy narrating and guitarist Chris Funk playing the part of Seeger, plus Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) as Bob Dylan, the crew reenacted an infamous scene from the 1965 festival: the moment when Bob Dylan "went electric." According to Rolling Stone, while Funk was miming a frazzled Seeger attempting to unplug Dylan's raucous reinvention, Meloy quipped, "This was back in the day when the PA system was fueled entirely by burning wood. Pete was back there cutting the wood, and he became so overwhelmed with emotion that his hatchet almost slipped and severed the power cables."

Seeger knew the sketch was all in good fun and soon joined the Decemberists on stage for a sing-a-long. Gillian Welch, Fleet Foxes, and even Seeger's grandson Tao joined in on the jam. The 90-year-old legend even cranked out a solo or two. After all, as festival promoter George Wein said Saturday, "Pete Seeger is the Newport Folk Festival."" [American Songwriter]

While we were busy worrying about the weather and All Points West here in NYC, The Newport Folk Festival was turning 50 up in Newport, Rhode Island (Aug 1-2, 2009). NPR was there and has archived streams of many of the performances. We have more pictures (from the first day for now), and some videos (including one of the Bob Dylan reenactment), below...

Continue reading "Newport Folk Fest 50 - Day 1 pics, video, audio (Pete Seeger, Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, Shara Worden as Dylan & more)"

The 50th annual Newport Folk Festival will take place at Rhode Island's Fort Adams Park on Saturday, August 1st and Sunday, August 2nd. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, May 6th at 10am

Pete Seeger, who is a cofounder of the Festival and who just celebrated his 90th birthday with a show at MSG, will be playing both nights. On Sunday, he'll be joined by Judy Collins, who is also performing a free Folks on the Island show Sunday, July 26th on NYC's Governors Island.

Saturday acts at the Fest include Billy Bragg and Tom Morello, who just shared a stage with Iggy Pop at NYC's Nokia Theatre, and the Decemberists, who have a big summer tour that's stopping at NYC's Radio City Music Hall on June 10th, Fleet Foxes, who have tour dates including All Points West, and the Avett Brothers, who are on tour and playing NYC's Irving Plaza on June 12th and 13th. Langhorne Slim will be there too (he's also at Lollapalooza this summer). Iron & Wine are playing both this, and ATP NY.

Sunday's show is heavy on big-name folkies with Collins (mentioned above), Joan Baez and Arlo Guthrie all performing. Arlo Guthrie is also playing a free show at Castle Clinton in NYC this summer.

Neko Case, playing Sunday, just did two nights at NYC's Nokia Theater and will be at All Points West, among other festivals.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland will be there. Perkins and Co. played the Bowery in March, and their summer tour includes a May 20th show at the Bell House in Brooklyn (tickets), and the Clearwater Festival (another project founded by Seeger) on June 20th and 21st in Croton-on Hudson, NY.

Also on Sunday is Deer Tick, whose big summer includes opening for Jenny Lewis at MHoW on June 9th, headlining the Bowery on July 24th (tickets go on sale Friday, May 8th at noon), and playing a free Celebrate Brooklyn show at Prospect Park on August 7th.

Full Newport Fork Festival info below...

Continue reading "Newport Folk Festival - 2009 lineup & tickets info (Pete Seeger, Neko Case, Iron & Wine, The Decemberists & more)"

Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival is taking place this year August 28th-30th at Golden Gate Park. Tickets for the fest go on Visa presale Wednesday, April 15th at 1pm ET, and general sale Sunday, April 19th at 1pm ET.

Like last year, the San Francisco fest shares a headliner with NJ's All Points West. In 2008, it was Radiohead. In 2009, it's the Beastie Boys.

Also on the schedule for the fest is the Dead Weather, Jack White's new band. Dead Weather plays its first show tonight (April 14th) at the Bowery Ballroom.

M.I.A., Ween, TVOTR, Mastodon, Os Mutantes, Extra Golden, Tom Jones, and many others are also playing. Full Outside Lands line-up and poster below....

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 festival lineup, Dead Weather tonight"

Lily Allen @ Bowery Ballroom last night (more by Bao Nguyen)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Questlove @ 92YTribeca
* Roman Candle @ Union Hall
* Brett Dennen @ Webster Hall
* Lissy Trullie @ Mercury Lounge
* Reggie Watts @ the Studio @ WH
* Dave Hill's Madea Goes to Jail!! @ UCB
* Rokia Traoré @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Thank You, Mi Ami & Miracles @ Cake Shop
* Goblin Cock, Orphan & Warship @ Highline Ballroom
* the BQE Project playing to silent film @ the Winter Garden
* John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders @ Le Poisson Rouge
* The Submarines, The Morning Benders & Dawn Landes @ The Bell House
* Abigail Washburn with Casey Driessen and Ben Sollee @ Joe's Pub
* Robbers on High St, La Strada & The Silent League @ Union Pool

"The daughter of a diplomat, Malian singer Rokia Traore grew up assimilating European and African cultures, and in her 10-year career, she's developed a sound that uses elements of Malian tradition in her own way. Traore's fourth album, Tchamantche, is just out, and it's her best and most daring work." Rokia plays the early show at LPR tonight. John Wesley Harding, Eugene Mirman and friends are the late show.

Dufus and Diane Cluck are playing Union Pool tomorrow.

Cinematic Orchestra play a free show tomorrow.

Ben Sollee will be back in April to play Le Poisson Rouge.

Demetri Martin's TV show is on tonight.

Joly posted some new live No Age videos. Watch them below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

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...)"

Like Yo La Tengo, Matisyahu is playing eight NYC-area Hanukkah shows this year. This is not the first time Matisyahu did this, but I think Yo La Tengo has been doing it longer. Also, Yo La Tengo has more indie cred. Yo La Tengo tickets are on sale. Matisyahu tickets are on sale (presale code = SHINEBRIGHT). All Matisyahu dates below...

Continue reading "Matisyahu vs. Yo La Tengo - Hanukkah show tickets on sale"