photos by Tamara Porras

"I hope people don't expect a lot because all I do is go out there and be me," [Sharon Jones] says. "The band comes out, they introduce me, I come out, I dance, I sing, I interact with the audience. I love when I can get people up to dance. I dance, I jump around. I don't know. I just be guided. Before I go on that stage every night I have that prayer. Me and my girls say a prayer with me before I walk on, I say that extra prayer. That prayer is: "Give me the right things to say, Lord. The right things to come out of my mouth." And that's what I do." [Syracuse New Times]

VH1 Diva Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings wowed NY audiences for seven nights in a row this month while celebrating 10 years of Daptone Records. We posted some pictures from the Tarrytown show. Here's a set from Wednesday's show at Bowery Ballroom (12/14). More below...

Continue reading "Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings completed their 7-NY-show run @ Bowery Ballroom (pics)"

Coming on May 4: the new album from The New Pornographers, entitled Together. Their fifth full-length was produced by the band and Phil Palazzolo, and recorded in Vancouver, Brooklyn, Woodstock, and Catskill, NY. The album is comprised of 9 A.C. Newman songs and 3 Dan Bejar numbers, and features the full eight-person lineup of Carl, Dan, John Collins, Neko Case, Kurt Dahle, Kathryn Calder, Todd Fancey and Blaine Thurier. Additional musicians include Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Zach Condon (Beirut), Will Sheff (Okkervil River), and the Dap-Kings Horns, among other talents.

The artwork for the new album is posted above. There are no sounds from it available yet, but the band has posted pictures from its recording on New Pornographers' site

Lead pornographer A.C. Newman appears at The Bell House's Haiti benefit on Wednesday, January 27th. Also at the even will be The Walkmen (they replaced Cold War Kids who had to drop off), Ted Leo, The Wrens, Sondre Lerche, Eugene Mirman, Rhett Miller and Nicole Atkins. Tickets are still on sale.

photos by Natasha Ryan

"Sharon and the band played a mix of their last two albums, several awesome new songs that they are still working on, as well as amazing covers of Sam Cooke and Gladys Night numbers -- "A Change is Gonna Come"! It was the best concert of theirs that I've seen so far.

The opening act, Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, were tremendous, laying down soulful and energetic spirituals that had us dancing and singing along. It was like the funkiest gospel church service you ever went to with 600 other NYC hipsters.

Then the Dap Kings came on in full force with three backup singers, full horn section, timpani, and five strings players. Holy crap they laid down a powerful sound in that theater!

But of course the true force to be reckoned with was Ms. Sharon Jones herself. She strutted on stage in a shimmery red dress and shiny silver heels -- that that she later discarded because they were getting in the way of her dancing. Sharon gave us an incredible performance lasting nearly two hours straight. Not bad for a woman soon to be 54."
[The Click Heard Around the World]

Daptone had a rollercoaster of a holiday weekend. It all started on Friday the 13th. Daptone's most prominent performer, Sharon Jones, headlined her first of two nights at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square in NYC. She was backed, as always, by the Dap Kings who share members with Daptone's own Menahan Street Band who were the opener that night. One night later, Saturday the 14th, Valentine's Day, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings took the same stage for the second night in a row. Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, another Daptone band, opened that time. And on Sunday they rested, but not for long. That night, Daptone Records' Brooklyn homebase/studio/office was robbed, and just days before ROD STEWART was/is scheduled "to lay down some music". Needless to say, it was not a happy President's Day in Bushwick.

Keep an eye out for Daptone's stuff. Full list HERE.

More pictures of the headliner from Friday night's show, below...

Continue reading "Sharon Jones played Nokia Theatre, pre-theft, in NYC - pics "

photos by Bao Nguyen

DOWNLOAD: Sharon Jones - 100 days, 100 nights (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Menahan Street Band - Make the Road by Walking (MP3)

"Hey, Duffy: This is what soul sounds like: Tribal, earthy, hip-shakin', swerve-throwin' Sharon Jones." [Time Out Chicago]

She played Coachella. She played Bonnaroo. She played Lollapalooza. She played Osheaga. She played the Virgin Festival in Baltimore. And this past Sunday she and the Dap Kings (they were at all those other places with her too) headlined Central Park Summerstage in NYC. Other Daptone family members shared the bill...

Naomi Shelton first lifted her soulful voice into the Daptone family back in the Desco days of the late 1990s. Under her maiden name, Naomi Davis, she gave us "Forty First Street Breakdown," which has become a secret weapon for funk DJs....Naomi has a regular Friday-night residency at the West Village's Fat Cat, during which she and her band regularly blow away the audience with her powerful vocals, popping basslines, and spot-on harmonies (andfor only $3, it's probably one of the cheaper ways to change your life)...

...Menahan Street Band is one of the many projects of Thomas Brenneck, best known, perhaps, as the guitarist for the Dap-Kings, the Budos Band, and Amy Winehouse. Recorded entirely in analog in his Brooklyn home, Menahan Street Band's debut LP, Make the Road by Walking, out October 14, redefines the idea of bedroom project.

Sharon Jones always brings audience volunteers up on stage to dance with her. At the Apollo show she brought a guy named Rik up on stage. I know it was Rik because she brought him up AGAIN Sunday at Summerstage and he blogged about it.

The pictures in this post are from the Virgin Festival. More of those, and some videos from Lollapalooza, below...

Continue reading "Sharon Jones played Summerstage, Lollapalooza, Osheaga & the Virgin Festival (pics, video, tour dates)"

By the way, tickets are on sale for a show by The Budos Band at Highline Ballroom on October 12th.

For those who missed it at the Apollo.....

Continue reading "VIDEO: Sharon Jones, Lee Fields & The Dap Kings rehearsing a James Brown medley"