Faith No More announces their first east coast show in more than a decade - to be held on July 5, 2010 to benefit the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn (OSA). The show will be a part of a series of benefit concerts for OSA to take place at the Williamsburg Waterfront this summer.

The band, which regrouped in 2009 after a 12-year hiatus, said in an official statement they, "only hope that the experience of playing together again will yield results erratic and unpredictable enough to live up to the legacy of Faith No More."

"The benefit shows will help fund the restoration and preservation of parks in North Brooklyn, and subsidize the cost of free concerts at the Williamsburg Waterfront," said Stephanie Thayer, OSA's Executive Director. "As nearby McCarren Park Pool is being renovated, OSA is pleased to continue its tradition of bringing outdoor music to North Brooklyn."

Tickets will be available to the public on Friday March 19th at 12:00pm EST at Ticketmaster.com, charge by phone 800.745.3000 and at the Nokia Theatre Times Square Box Office, where there is no service fee.

The Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn (OSA) www.osanb.org is a nonprofit organization helping to preserve and enhance green space in North Brooklyn. OSA raises funds, links community volunteers, and works in partnership with elected officials and agencies to develop new parks, and improve existing parks in Williamsburg/Greenpoint.

The Williamsburg Waterfront is located at North 8th Street & Kent Avenue on the East River in Brooklyn, NY.

This is the first Williamsburg Waterfront concert announcement of 2010 and the first time a show at the space will cost money. Last year I don't think they could get the details worked out in time.

A series of eight free Pool Party shows will also return to the space this summer, thanks in part to the help of local politicians.

McCarren Pool also used to have a mix of pay and free concerts in the same Brooklyn neighborhood before it had to close which inspired the creation of the concert series at Williamsburg Waterfront (essentially McCarren Pool's replacement). Central Park Summerstage and Prospect Park's Celebrate Brooklyn series at the Prospect Park Bandshell also have a mix of free and "benefit" concerts each summer.

One of the "benefit" shows in Central Park this summer will be the just-announced Hot Chip show. The National play one of the shows in Prospect Park.

As pointed out by Stereogum, there's a person who definitely won't be at the Pains of Being Pure at Heart Seaport show tonight.

Brooklyn shut up ! most of your bands all suck and you are total wanna bees ! The pains of being boring at heart ....oh it must hurt being so bland - Jay Reatard on Twitter

Jay played his own outdoor NYC show in Manhattan on July 1st, and a show in Brooklyn the very next day. Did that one not go so well? Video from that show below...

Continue reading "Jay Reatard vs. Brooklyn & The Pains of Being Pure at Heart"

Issue Project Room during a benefit w/ Moby in April (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has generously granted $1,133,000 to ISSUE's capital campaign to renovate 110 Livingston!

We are humbled, honored, and inspired to have been selected as grant recipients for capital support. This award provides us with critical funding towards the $1.725 million necessary to complete a first phase of construction designed to: bring the jewel box theater space to code; install the necessary systems for soundproofing and performance; make renovations; and begin presenting as early as Fall 2010.

Once renovated, the new space at 110 will be home to more than 4,000 programs reaching more than 1,000,000 people across the next two decades. We are overjoyed at being so close to realizing this historic opportunity. -Issue Project Room

ABC No Rio in Manhattan just landed a very similar deal.

Tonight (7/10) Issue Project Room hosts the feedback choir of Lesley Flanigan with Luke Dubois on laptop. Issue Project has a full upcoming schedule, which includes a Saturday, July 25th show with Michael Gira and Wooden Wand. Gira will "be playing many unrecorded songs (to be included on Gira's next album, a Swans/Angels of Light hybrid) as well as songs from the Angels of Light and Swans catalog."

The New York Times talks more about Issue Project Room's money. Check out some of that below...

Continue reading "Issue Project Room gets more than $1 million from Brooklyn Borough President to renovate its new building"

"In this monologue, conservative talk show host Jay Mundy lambastes New York City yuppies and hipsters, individuals that he assesses as self-loathing and who have been so psychologically disturbed by their earlier life experiences that they seek to become outcasts and start anew as "New Yorkers."" -Jay Mundy

Continue reading "Jay Mundy returns with another Williamsburg rant (listen)"

photos by Lori Baily

Vivian Girls were the last-minute/secret early-opener. More pictures from Friday night's show below...

Continue reading "Brooklyn vs. Baltimore (Dan Deacon, etc) @ the 1896 - pics"

HELLO EASTERN SEABOARD!

big news: FRIDAY'S SHOW HAS -MOVED- [from Danbro] TO: "THE 1896 -- 215 INGRAHAM ST @ GARDNER AVE

repeating: this Friday's -$3- epic mega show w/ Baltimore & Brooklyn bands has -MOVED-

here's the new info:

| THE 1896 |
215 Ingraham St @ Gardner Ave | East Williamsburg / Bushwick, Bklyn
L-Jefferson | 8pm | all ages | --| $3 |--

all other details remain the same, two stages, bands playing staggerred one after the other, great times, two towns coming together, etc

pro PA system on both stages, in two beautiful -heated- rooms, both w/ vaulted ceilings & great sightlines.

More Friday night show details below...

Continue reading "THE 1896 is the new location of Brooklyn vs. Baltimore "

Friday January 30th @ DANBRO STUDIOS WAREHOUSE (tentative)

:: BKLYN vs. B-MORE BATTLE MARATHON!
:: 2 stages, bands from Brooklyn on one, Baltimore on the other
:: --| $3 |--

:: DAN DEACON
:::: Thank You
:::::: Future Islands
:::::::: dj Dog Dick

:: secret guests tba
:::: secret guests tba
:::::: These Are Powers
:::::::: USAISAMONSTER

| DANBRO STUDIOS WAREHOUSE |
268 Meserole Ave @ Bushwick Pl | East Williamsburg, Bklyn
L-Montrose, JM-Lorimer, G-Broadway | 8pm | all ages | --| $3 |--

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound perform "Baltimore Is the New Brooklyn" in the video below...

Continue reading "Broooklyn vs. Baltimore marathon @ Danbro - Dan Deacon, These are Powers, secret guests & more for $3"

photos by Ryan Muir

For the a second time this year, Ryan Muir took pictures of Yeasayer at Music Hall of Williamsburg. It was also the second night of their tour-ending, two-show, homecoming run at the Brooklyn venue this weekend.

"[The two shows at Music Hall] definitely have a homecoming feel. At this point we've played, not all over the world, but we've been back and forth to Europe several times and we played in Australia. We played all over the States. And the Williamsburg Music Hall is one of my favorite venues I've ever played in and, you know, Brooklyn is definitely our home. I have family there and I have friends there and it's been our kind of spiritual center. So yeah, it does have a homecoming feel. And it's kind of Christmas time thing so we're doing like a little Christmas party the day before the second show. I really don't know if it was appropriate to play two shows there, you know, but it seemed like maybe . . . And we'd already sold the one out. I don't know. It's good. I would've maybe rather had just one big bang show, but it's also we have a lot friends that we wanted to have open up and play with and stuff, so it's still good." [Yeasayer's Chris Keating to the Village Voice]

Continue reading "Yeasayer @ MHOW (Feb '08, night 2), Brooklyn, NY - pics"

photos by Zach Dilgard

"Last night, they played "New York Story" in honor of Lady Jaye, who died fairly recently. She was a member of the band and Gen's wife/collaborator. You could see the tears in Gen's eyes as s/he was singing it. The whole band had to take a moment and cry a bit after the song ended. The song and its accompanying video art always get to me. But this particular performance was the most touching and genuine moment I've ever experienced via live music.

And it was so cathartic. After the band, and the audience, paid tribute and got it out of their system...the rest of the show was pure joy." [Worship the Glitch]

Continue reading "Psychic TV @ Europa, Brooklyn, NY - pics"

photos by Ryan Muir

Ryan got off the Bedford L stop at North 7th St. in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn last night around 1 AM. The sidewalks and streets were filled with people celebrating Obama's win. At one point the cops decided they needed to clear the street out a little, possibly so a garbage truck could get through. One reader wrote into Gothamist...

We were trying to get onto the sidewalk, as requested but hard to do when it is packed. The police pushed my boyfriend because he wasn't moving fast enough and when he spoke back to them the incident escalated.

He was basically thrown to the ground, hit with billy clubs and then arrested for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest & obstructing governmental administration. Others who got arrested were only given a summons, however a police officer hurt himself while arresting my boyfriend. That is why he is still in central booking in Brooklyn.

Continue reading "Obama revelers party in Williamsburg, clash w/ police on Bedford (some pictures from last night in Brooklyn)"

Parts & Labor @ Siren Fest 2008 (more by Leia Jospe)

Saturday August 30th @ HARKET MOTEL

:: CLASSIC BKLYN BAND ROUNDROBIN
:: a bill straight outta Tommy's Tavern!
:: bands'll set up in the round & play 1 song each at a time!

:: PARTS AND LABOR
:::: Aa / BIG A little a
:::::: Pterodactyl

photos by Ryan Muir

Was Jeff Tweedy on edge last night at McCarren Pool (August 13, 2008)? Did he not like the crowd? I ask because of a few jabs he took during their approximately 2.5 hour mesmerizing (yes, I have a huge crush on them) set. I think he gave me a complex.

There was the "something is missing tonight" comment which after an awkward pause turned out to be about a gong that was on stage at their Cambridge Tanglewood show the night before. Jeff missed the gong, so drummer Glenn Kotche then did his best to recreate the sound of it.

Then there was the part when Jeff said something like, "Matrix [guitar tech] has heard that song we just played a lot of times, and he says we never played it that well. At least that's what I think Matrix meant when he said 'I cant wait to get out of here'. Just Kidding. He said he loved it". I can't remember the exact quote, but it was weird.

Jeff also criticized us for clapping the wrong beat to one song (which was pretty funny actually - not that the other stuff he said wasn't...) - he called the Brooklyn crowd 'free thinkers' - the term his father used for Bob Dylan (who played a show in a different section of Brooklyn one night earlier). Later Jeff told us to scream on his command because it made him feel powerful and helps him affirm what he is doing with his life (or something like that).

And last but not least there was the comment that definitely had only one meaning. That was the one when Jeff straight up dissed Brooklyn for not clapping in unison. He said something like, "Are you all too cool to clap?! Would it be better if we add the "Love Will Tear Us Apart" drum beat to it?!"" I realize Jeff is a comedian, but now there is also one person I know that considers him a mortal enemy for that one. Also, I mean, did he look at the crowd? It wasn't exactly a 'Pool Party'. This Brooklyn McCarren Pool show was definitely filled with the kind of (mostly male) people who like Wilco more than they like Joy Division (at least that's the generalization I'm going to make).

Great, packed show. Great setlist. 'Total Pros' is a good way to describe Wilco. It's also the name of Wilco's backing 3-piece horn/clarinet section that they had on tour and at this show with them. Jeff said Wilco would be back when they finished their next record. I can't wait for them to come back, and for the new record which I hope utilizes the full power of guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Glenn Kotche this time. They're working on the new album in between all this touring (that also included recent stops at the Baltimore Virgin Fest and Lollapalooza). (insert McCarren Car Pool jokes here). The Brooklyn setlist, and more of Ryan's beautiful pics below....

Continue reading "Wilco @ McCarren Pool, Brooklyn, NYC - pics & setlist"

Amy spotted the above sign in Red Hook today.

You probably already heard that Converse is giving away a song written by Pharrell Williams, N.E.R.D., Santogold and Julian Casablancas "as part of the brand's Century celebration". I put the whole press release for that one below....

Continue reading "Converse recording artist Santogold filming in Red Hook"

the Brooklyn Museum, April 3, 2008 (The Brooklyn Paper / Adrian Kinloch)

Outside the Eastern Parkway art institute, hundreds of protestors started gathering at around 6:30 pm to greet more than 1,000 Museum supporters as they entered for cocktails and hors-d'oeuvres of miso-marinated cod and spicy taro with caviar.

Celebrities including designer Marc Jacobs and tennis legend John McEnroe were also on hand.

Protesters condemned the Museum's decision to honor Ratner, some holding signs reading, "Con Artist" and, in a particularly nifty bit of memory, "Dung Deal," a reference to the Museum's 1999 controversy over its "Sensation" exhibition, which featured a painting of the Virgin Mary adorned with elephant dung.

Joining the protesters was former city Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Marilyn Gelber.

Referring to the protesters outside, Borough President Markowitz -- a major support of Atlantic Yards -- smiled and said, "It shows that this is a great country." [Brooklyn Paper]

High Places @ Market Hotel, Brooklyn, NY (mercurialn)

For rock bands this is a great time to be weird and independent in Brooklyn. After years in which the sound of New York was defined by various shades of retro monochrome -- the new wave minimalism of the Strokes, the disco-punk of the Rapture and LCD Soundsystem, the moody Anglophilia of Interpol -- a new generation is making music that is indefinably eclectic and complex, and finding acclaim around the world. [NY Times]

somewhere in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY (Incandenza)

Park Slope ranks the No. 1 most creative neighborhood in the borough with 3,500 independently employed designers and independent artists in residence. Williamsburg comes in No. 2 with a little less than 3,000 "self-employed creatives," followed by Brooklyn Heights (around 2,600), and BoCoCa (around 1,700). Red Hook and Prospect Heights tied for fifth place with 1,600 each.

The majority of self-employed creatives in each neighborhood are classified as "independent artists" and earn an average of $20,000 per year according to SEC filings--a figure that reflects substantial underreporting. [The New York Observer] (via)

The barge’s historical mission and the popular “Circus Sundays” will continue, but the concerts, which have encompassed almost every form of music from a swing-era revival big band to a Southern solo blues guitarist, are now a thing of the past.

So says Capt. David Sharps, president of the historic former railroad barge, which is docked at Red Hook.

The reason, he says, is that he has been asked not to serve liquor at his concerts, due to liability concerns, by Greg O’Connell, the Red Hook developer who gives him space to dock his barge for free. Even if the concerts went on without liquor, he said, they would degenerate into a “BYOB [bring your own bottle] type of affair,” Sharps fears. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

I present to you two lame videos by confused "artists" - both using lame stereotypes. The first song is supposed to be about "emo bitches", and the second one was.... performed by some....

Continue reading "Emo Bitches vs. Williamsburg"

What does a Hula Hoop have to do with a crowded urban expressway? Much like the automobile, the hoop relies on the basic laws of physics administrated by the simple machine of the wheel, the greatest of human inventions. Notably, there are no macroscopic wheels to be found in animals or plants. It is a purely human construction. And yet the wheel has come to symbolize spiritual transcendence, reincarnation, yin and yang, Chakra, the wheel of life, the calendar, the seasons, astrology, and divinity. We are contained by the rotations of the planets and moons around the sun; we are all cosmically connected by vast circular motions in the solar system. Is it no wonder, then, that this geometric phenomenon has been appropriated both for the modern convenience of the automobile and for the amusement proffered by a plastic toy? [Sufjan Stevens (PDF)]

Continue reading "Sufjan Stevens performed "BQE" @ BAM"

The Ponys @ the 2005 Antlantic Antic (MORE)

The 33rd annual Atlantic Antic Street Festival (on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn) happens this Sunday September 30th from 10am to 6pm. Atlantic Antic is not your average street fair - it rules, and there's tons of free music. The rock-n-roll highlight is usually the stage offered by Magnetic Field. This year they've got:

12:15pm Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves
1:15pm The Mighty Fine
2:15pm The Black Hollies
3:15pm The Swinging Neckbrakers
4:30pm Mary Weiss (of The Shangri-Las)
6:00pm (inside) Gabby Glaser (of Luscious Jackson)