Bowerbirds @ Mercury Lounge 4/27 (more by Chris La Putt)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Todd Barry @ Caroline's
* Tanya Morgan @ Southpaw
* The Roots @ Highline Ballroom
* Forro in the Dark @ Music on the Oval
* Toby from Youth Group @ Living Room
* Bowerbirds, Megafaun @ Bowery Ballroom
* Mahavishnu Project @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Stepping Off "The Corner" @ Rockefeller Park
* The Duhks, Red Molly @ Madison Square Park
* The Sundelles, Little Girls, Browns @ Cake Shop
* Juana Molina, Curumin, El G @ Central Park Summerstage
* The Church, Adam Franklin (Swervedriver) @ Irving Plaza
* Taigaa!, Your Nature, Susu, Pursesnatchers @ Death By Audio
* Handsome Furs, Dri, The Cinnamon Band @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Friend With Benefits (reading series) w/ Jeff Lewis, Dave Hill, more @ Bruar Falls
* Latin Alternative Music Conference w/ Los Hollywood, Domino Saints, more @ Mercury Lounge
* Telecult Powers, Totally Dad, Peopling, Manburger Surgical, Gay Bomb, Peter J. Woods @ Glasslands

Iron Man is screening for free as part of Riverflicks at Pier 54 and 14th St, while Reality Bites plays at McCarren Park's SummerScreen.

You have your choice of New vs. Old with both Jet at Gramercy Theatre and
Def Leppard, Poison and Cheap Trick at Jones Beach Theater happening tonight.

Juana Molina, Curumin and El G play a free show at the Central Park Summerstage tonight. Other free music includes a tribute to Miles Davis' On the Corner at Rockefeller Park, Forro in the Dark at the Stuy Town Oval, and The Duhks and Red Molly at Madison Square Park

The Church come all the way from Australia for their gig tonight at Irving Plaza with Swervedriver's Adam Franklin.

The Roots reside at Highline Ballroom.

Bowerbirds' Upper Air just came out yesterday on Dead Oceans. They play tonight with Megafaun at the Bowery Ballroom

Tonight at the Bruar Falls: "CAPESHOK and IMPOSE present: "FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS" a new reading series featuring stories from the world of rock and roll tour horror! featuring readings by JEFFREY LEWIS, DAVE HILL, CHRIS LEO, PEPI GINSBERG, ALICIA JO RABINS."

Andrew Bird is (essentially) on tour through November. See an interview with Bird on QTV and a performance of "Fits and Dizzy Spells," below.

On August 1st, Mike Watt (as part of the supergroup Floored by Four) will be opening for M. Ward (who will play without his own supergroup Monsters of Folk) at the Central Park Summerstage. Check out a Dirty Laundry interview with Watt, below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

photos by Ryan Muir, words by Black Bubblegum

More than ten years later, The Van Pelt returned to NYC, playing Brooklyn for the first time ever on June 13th as part of a show at Coco66 that the band curated for the Northside Fest.

There were a lot of people in Greenpoint feeling all '90s Saturday night when The Van Pelt reunited as part of the Northside Festival.

The strangest moment of the night happened during the anthemic closer "The Speeding Train" when a drunken Van Pelt enthusiast-turned-awkward dancer/mosher acted aggressively enough to start a fight in the crowd. All this while we were hearing about the beauty of the puppy's chin. Singer and occasional Take the Handle contributor Chris Leo quipped that the moshers had missed the Agnostic Front show. It made it feel even more '90s that there was some sort of debate going on about the ethics of moshing.

Regardless, the show was about as incredible as anyone who followed the band way back when could have asked for. It seemed like the band stuck more often to songs from Sultans of Sentiment, but this song, which served as the encore, comes from their first record Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves. It is called "Magic Fantasy (We Are Provincial)." -[Take The Handle]

The Van Pelt aren't done with touring yet either. They've scheduled a pair of shows along the east coast - June 21st in Philly at Kung Fu Necktie with Blacklist and This Frontier Needs Heroes, and the previously mentioned show with Frodus at The Black Cat in DC on June 20th. The Phlly show will be taped to broadcast by WPRB.

You can also catch Van Pelt front-man Chris Leo (brother of Ted who was in the crowd at Coco 66 on Saturday) at a reading this Friday night, June 19th at Bar Matchless in Brooklyn. Check out an interview with Chris Leo at the site Vol.1 Brooklyn.

Catch Ted Leo at one of his two upcoming NJ shows, or at the free one he's playing on a pier in NYC this summer.

The Van Pelt's first show back was at SXSW, and also with Frodus. Frodus played two shows down in Austin, and recently played Brooklyn too.

More pictures and video from the Brooklyn reunion show, below...

Continue reading "The Van Pelt played Coco66 (pics) ++ more shows & a reading "

words & photos by Black Bubblegum

The Van Pelt played their first show in 10+ years at the Radio Room in Austin on March 21st as part of the Slip/Lovitt Day Party which also included sets by Young Widows (who are playing Brooklyn on April 1st), Pygmy Lush, Cursive (who played a BV party at the same venue two days earlier), and Frodus.

The Van Pelt occupied the slot before Frodus (which was before Cursive) on the main stage, and I was glad that I was able to catch all of their set before the rambunctiousness of Frodus. Talent obviously oozes out of the Leo clan (guitarist/vocalist Chris Leo is Ted's younger bro), as I found The Van Pelt's live show to be heartfelt, melodic, and just plain gorgeous. Here's to hoping that NYC gets a shot to see them again. For those unfamiliar with the band, there's a little history below the rest of the pictures, below...

Continue reading "The Van Pelt reunited @ the Radio Room (SXSW) - pics "