DOWNLOAD: Juana Molina - Un día (MP3)

Juana Molina plays a free Central Park Summerstage show tonight (July 8th) with Curumin and El G. After that she doesn't have many dates scheduled. She plays some festivals in Japan and Europe, but she'll be back in NYC for a show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday, August 20th. Tickets to the show go on AmEx pre-sale at noon, and regular sale on Friday, July 10th at noon.

Curumin also plays SOB's on July 15th, and Southpaw on July 26th. All dates below.

The title track off Juana's last record, 2008's Un Día, is posted above.

A video for that song is below. Her label Domino's description of the video is pretty on the money: "Juana Molina...looking as if she's being reflected in a mirror from Middle Earth." That clip and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Juana Molina & Curumin - Summerstage tonight & other upcoming shows (MHOW, SOB's, Southpaw & more) "

Bela Fleck & Toumani Diabate, Savannah Music Fest '09 (Savannah Grandfather)

Celebrating its twentieth anniversary, City Parks Foundation is pleased to announce the 2009 season schedule of its flagship free performing arts festival, Central Park SummerStage. Internationally acclaimed for presenting world-renowned and emerging talent from around the globe and New York City's own backyard, the Central Park SummerStage season promises to be as electrifying as ever with a calendar chock-full of culturally diverse programs in multiple disciplines including music, dance, word, film, and comedy.

The 2009 Central Park SummerStage season is marked by innovative collaborations and will open on Friday, June 12 at 8:00 PM with a performance by the critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Josh Ritter and his band for the evening, The New York Pops.

City Parks Foundation also welcomes The Metropolitan Opera for the first time ever to Central Park SummerStage as The Met launches its free Summer Recital Series of outdoor concerts in neighborhood parks on Monday, July 13 at 8:00 PM with a special performance of opera arias and popular songs headlined by the Tony Award-winning baritone Paulo Szot and featuring Lisette Oropesa (soprano), Alek Shrader (tenor), and Vlad Iftinca (piano).

Central Park Summerstage will host 31 free programs this summer. Musical highlights include M Ward, Josh Ritter, Juana Molina, Q-Tip, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Bettye Lavette, Béla Fleck and Toumani Diabaté. The whole schedule is below...

Continue reading "Central Park Summerstage - full 2009 concert schedule "

AT 9 o'clock on a recent morning Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were already half an hour into a rehearsal at the rock club Terminal 5 in Manhattan. As N.F.L. executives and a television production team watched, they were tightening their miniset of four songs -- dropping verses, streamlining segues -- to fit their 12-minute slot as the halftime entertainment Sunday at Super Bowl XLIII, expected to reach tens of millions of viewers.

"My take on the Super Bowl?" Mr. Springsteen said after rehearsal. "Fundamentally it's a 12-minute party."

Few musicians anywhere consummate symbolic occasions and mass events better than Mr. Springsteen. He's used to working on a stadium scale, and for decades his concerts have been nonstop singalongs that perfectly embody the yearning for community in his lyrics. In an era when pop hits can be as ephemeral as a deleted MP3 file, Mr. Springsteen has spent much of his career laboring to write durable songs about American dreams, from "Born to Run" to "Promised Land." [NY Times]

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Curumin @ Nublu
* Metallica, Machine Head & The Sword @ Prudential Center
* Thurston Moore & Mats Gustafsson, John Olson w/ Okkyung Lee & C.Spencer Yeh, more @ Glasslands

The show that was supposed to be at Vanishing Point tonight was cancelled moved to Silent Barn.

Tickets are on sale for the shows Paul Simon is playing at the Beacon Theatre.

Someone told me that Metallica will be showing the Superbowl on a screen at the show tonight. Someone else told me that Metallica was at The Sword show at Bowery Ballroom last night.

Bruce Springsteen is playing the Super Bowl Halftime show.

Springsteen says Wal-Mart album deal was mistake.

Springsten going on tour.

Bruce performing "This Land is Your Land" in 1985, in the video below...

Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat May Be Kept In Museum

Aa played Death By Audio last night. Video from that below...

Mahogany played Santos Party House on January 27th. Video from that below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on (Superbowl) Sunday?"

NY Mag's next 'indie rock' event takes place this Saturday with Islands. The one after that will take place on September 28th and be called "Campfire by the Canal"...

Unlike all those years you spent at Boy Scout camp, no group push-ups, map making or log carving will be required for you to feel the love at this special campfire celebration at The Yard in Brooklyn. All you'll be asked to do is sit back and enjoy a full set by José González. We're also giving you hilarious tales of summers gone by performed by members of the Upright Citizens Brigade. Campfires never looked this good.

Tickets on sale in August 2008

And that's not it for Jose and NYC in 2008. He'll be back again to perform two more times in December, again in Brooklyn, but this time at BAM:

Red Hot + Rio 2
The Next Generation of Samba Soul

Dec 4 & 5 at 8pm

An all-star benefit tribute to the music and culture of Brazil, Red Hot + Rio 2 salutes Samba Soul, the post-tropicália movement of the 70s that merged elements of North American soul music with Brazilian rhythms. Mixing samba with R&B, soul with baião, pioneering artists like Jorge Ben Jor and Tim Maia signaled a cultural awakening that changed the direction of Brazilian music forever. The concerts at BAM bring together the newest generation of Brazilian and international artists who represent the legacy of this influential musical style.

Featured artists: CéU, Curumin, Bebel Gilberto, José González, Otto
Backing band: Kassin +2, Moreno Veloso, Domenico, João Parahyba Sr. & son
Music Directors Kassin & Mario Caldato, Jr.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit BrazilFoundation's AIDS-related projects.

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
Running time: 120min, no intermission
$25, 45, 65

BAM tix go on sale to the general public on September 2nd. All Jose G dates below...

Continue reading "Jose Gonzalez - 2008 Tour Dates (BAM, NY Mag @ the Yard)"