Rufus Wainwright in Poughkeepsie Feb. 2010 (more by Eric Townsend)

NY TIMES: So the new album incorporates a bunch of recent projects.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT. It has my own album, songs, life, imagination; it has the Shakespeare sonnet project I worked on with Robert Wilson in Berlin; and it has an aria from my opera, which premiered in London a couple of weeks ago and is coming to Toronto. And people in New York, you can start holding your breath -- that's all I'm gonna say...

Rufus Wainwright's newest LP, All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu, came out April 20th. He'll be touring Europe in support of that through most of May into June. This summer he'll keep busy with various shows including a bunch in Canada, Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center in Long Island on July 11th, and a Celebrate Brooklyn show at the Prospect Park Bandshell on Tuesday, July 20th. Tickets for the Brooklyn show go on Live Nation, Venue and WFUV Radio (password = SONGS) presale today at 10am. A non-Ticketmaster presale is happening now. General sale starts Saturday (5/8) at 10am. According to Rufus's website, "This special [Brooklyn] performance will include a selection of songs from the Judy Garland show performed with piano accompaniment." Whether that applies to all or part of the show seems unclear.

Speaking of ticketed shows in Prospect Park this summer, it was just announced that The Dead Weather are playing one too. Tickets for that go on sale Friday.

All Rufus tour dates and a video from his recent appearance on IFC show Dinner With the Band, below...

Continue reading "Rufus Wainwright playing Prospect Park, other dates (presale) "

photos by Samantha Marble

DOWNLOAD: Gators! - Dinner With the Band theme song (MP3)

The Sword @ IFC House in Austin

IFC House at SXSW this year was a venue dedicated to all things IFC. Bands performed in front of video cameras for webcasts and possible IFC channel tv coverage. They had everyone there from Neon Indian to Broken Social Scene to The Sword who played a show in conjunction with a Dinner With The Band party at the venue. Chef & DWTB show host Sam Mason, and show creators Greg and Darin Bresnitz, were among those in attendance at the packed metal and food event. Pictures from that show are above and below.

The IFC Channel's rock 'n roll cooking show, Dinner With the Band, kicks off its official first season, with ten new artists, on Tuesday, April 27th (it then airs on the cable channel every Tuesday at 10:30pm). That's still two weeks away, but another party in the show's honor will happen at Santos Party House in NYC tonight (4/12). The free event will feature DJ sets by Au Revoir Simone and Vega, and live performances by Gators! (they wrote the show's theme song - MP3 above), Bad Brilliance, and CX Kidtronik. Andrew WK, along with Sam and Thu Tran, host the night which simultaneously celebrates Thu's IFC show "Food Party" (whose new season starts in two weeks too). "There will be FREE Thu Tran inspired munchies, beer and Sam Mason signature cocktails from 7-8PM". The flyer, along with more pictures from the Austin show, below...

Continue reading "The Sword played an IFC party in Austin (pics), Au Revoir Simone & Vega DJ a free one in NYC tonight (flyer)"

IFC is creating a cuisine-oriented programming block to air Tuesday nights.

After a successful six-episode run of "Dinner With the Band" that began in November, Rainbow cabler is ramping up its episode order to 10 and teaming it with "Food Party" as an hourlong block.

"Band" teams chef Sam Mason and an indie band, which performs on the show, at a Brooklyn loft. Conversation ensues about life on the road and the food the musicians eat while touring.... Programming block will air from at 10 p.m. beginning April 27. [Variety]

Ten artists will be appearing on the new season, among them Murder City Devils who will be here taping the show during the trip that also brings them to Nokia Theatre (NYC) and Theatre of Living Arts (Philly). Tickets for those (three) shows are still on sale. The full list of 2010 'Dinner With the Band' artists (which you have a chance to be in the audience for), and a video of Les Savy Fav performing on the preview season, is below...

Continue reading "upcoming artists appearing on Dinner With The Band (new IFC season premieres in April) "

"Williamsburg/Lower East Side types - Models okay." [FOTP]

Video of Yacht performing on the recently-aired episode (the last of the preview season of the IFC show), below...

Continue reading "Dinner With the Band needs audience members "

The Mountain Goats @ Webster Hall in November 2008 (more by Faith-Ann Young)

tonight in NYC
* The Loom, Kath Bloom @ Bruar Falls
* McCoy Tyner Trio w/ Gary Bartz @ Blue Note
* Mickey Leigh & Legs McNeil @ Barnes & Noble
* The Mountain Goats, Final Fantasy @ Webster Hall
* Kurt Vile, Small Black, DJ Rezound @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Over the Rhine, Lucy Wainwright Roche @ Highline Ballroom
* Dynasties, Darlings, Video Daughters, Equestrian @ Glasslands
* Russian Circles, Young Widows, The Phantom Family Halo @ Bowery Ballroom

I'm making an effort to post "What's Going "On" first thing each day. As it scrolls down the page, you can always find it by clicking the "What's Going on Today?" button in the homepage sidebar. If things come up throughout the day, they'll be added to the post or the comments (which of course everyone is always encouraged to do as well).

Kurt Vile plays a free set at tonight's Fader Bowl at Brooklyn Bowl, along with Small Black and DJ Rezound. Vile will be back in February as part of his tour with Fucked Up.

The Mountain Goats and Final Fantasy play Webster Hall tonight. Tomorrow it's the Bell House. Both are sold out. Tickets are still available for the Webster Hall show.

Final Fantasy also appears on Dinner With The Band tonight. Video of a new song played on the episode, below...

I Slept With Joey Ramone is a new book by Joey Ramone's brother Mickey Leigh and Legs McNeil who are both appearing at Barnes & Noble Tribeca (97 Warren St.) at 7pm today ("The evening will feature a Q&A, book signing and an intimate discussion with the authors. Plus: Witness a candid one-on-one interview between authors Mickey Leigh and Legs McNeil.").

The Loom appear at Bruar Falls tonight. If you miss them, you can also try and see them when they open the late Rural Alberta Advantage show at Mercury Lounge on January 9th.

Legendary pianist McCoy Tyner, who got his start in John Coltrane's band, bring his trio for three nights at Blue Note with alto saxist Gary Bartz.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

Sharon Jones (and fan) & the Dap Kings @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn

Brooklyn venue Southpaw has two Daptone Records-related shows in its future. Lee Fields & The Expressions, whose new album actually came out on Truth & Soul, will return to the club on December 18th for a show with their T&S labelmates Michael Leonhart & The Avramina. Tickets are on sale. The Budos Band play Southpaw on January 16th. Tickets are on sale for that too.

Lee Fields and The Budos Band shared a not-actually-CMJ bill with their Daptone labelmates Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, and The Menehan Street Band at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on October 23rd. It was a private show that the Brooklyn label set up to showcase its artists while CMJ was in town.

"The headliner, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings along with guitarist Binky Griptite, was truly the anticipation of the night. This frantically dancing and singing queen wasn't afraid to bring the audience on stage or get down and dirty with her sassy self. Bereft of the glitz and glamor of the previous act, Jones was perfectly quaint in her dark jean jacket and slacks. Her voice had more power than anyone that night, and it's no surprise that she is Daptone Records' star. Outrageously genius, Jones and Griptite ripped the stage apart and threw it at the audience with a grin. Good thing this was the kind of audience who knew how to throw it right back." [Performer Blog]

The pictures in this post are from that Brooklyn show.

Naomi Shelton and The Gospel Queens (aka the Gospel Queens of Brooklyn) play every Friday night at Fat Cat.

Sharon doesn't have any NYC shows coming up, but she and the Dap Kings are going on a short tour in December which includes a NJ date. Recently the group performed with Phish in California.

She and the Dap Kings will also be appearing on television TONIGHT (11/24). If you've been near the Bedford L in Brooklyn lately, you may have noticed the mural. Dinner With The Band, "A new series from IFC with tasty meals and rocking tunes", is on IFC every Tuesday at 11pm (starting tonight). Set your DVR.

As previously mentioned, chef Sam Mason will cook not-necessarily-vegan meals with guests that include Final Fantasy, Les Savy Fav, Men, Kid Sister, Flosstradamus, Yacht, and... Sharon Jones.

"Dinner With the Band" started as an online show conceived by Darin and Greg Bresnitz, brothers who were both passionate about music and food. (Mr. Mason is still devising ways to get musicians more involved in the kitchen. "I wanted to help, but he didn't let me," said Kid Sister, a Chicago rapper who appears on a coming episode. "He was real in-control.") When the brothers asked Mr. Mason to host in 2006, they "didn't really know who he was," Darin Bresnitz recalled.

Mr. Mason added, "No joke: they Googled 'tattooed hipster chef', and I came up." [NY Times]

You also know series creators Darin and Greg by their DJ duo name: Finger on the Pulse. The prolific twins seem to be everywhere - that includes their stint as contributors to this very blog. Appropriately enough, one of their posts here included nine remixes of Daptone songs (4 Sharon Jones tracks included), and you can still download every one of them.

The artists that appear on the IFC show play music in addition to cooking. Check out two clips from tonight's Sharon Jones episode, along with more pictures from Knitting Factory, below...

Continue reading "Dinner With The Band on IFC (tonight) w/ Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings + upcoming Daptone shows & Knitting Factory pics"

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings @ Radio City (more by Natasha Ryan)

"The new six-part IFC Original Series, DINNER WITH THE BAND is the first alternative cooking show combining culinary delights, musical performances and conversations with some of today's most acclaimed indie rock artists.

On DINNER WITH THE BAND, Sam Mason, the tattooed and celebrated NYC chef (Tailor, WD-50), invites a band to his Brooklyn loft where he shows them how to add his signature culinary spin to their favorite "on-tour" food. In the meantime, Chef Mason and the artists converse on food, music, and life while cooking together. After they "chow down" they "get down" as each act takes to the loft's stage to play a rockin' musical set.

Bands with dinner reservations this season include, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Kid Sister and Flosstradamus, Les Savy Fav, YACHT, Final Fantasy, and MEN.

Chef Mason, who recently took on Iron Chef Morimoto on Iron Chef America, is the former pastry chef of New York's WD-50 and current proprietor of SOHO's contemporary dining and cocktail parlor, Tailor. A modern day pioneer of avant-garde cooking and a James Beard nominee, Mason brings a casual approach to his dishes that stimulate the palate as well as the dialogue.

DINNER WITH THE BAND will debut on IFC in November 2009."

IFC recently picked up Dinner With the Band which was previously made just for the Internet.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings have a handful of shows scheduled between now and the end of the year, and one of them is taking place at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on December 5th. Tickets are on sale. All dates below...

Continue reading "Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - 2009 Tour Dates (Starland Ballroom) +++ Dinner With the Band (on IFC)"

The video quailty on these Dinner w/ The Band things is really good...

Continue reading "VIDEO: Tokyo Police Club on Dinner w/ The Band"

Not long after making bagels, El-P busted out this jam....

Continue reading "VIDEO: El-P Dinner w/ The Band - 'the Overly Dramatic Truth'"