Dead Milkmen @ Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

The NYC Descendents / Suicide Machines show is one day before both bands descend upon the first-ever Riot Fest East at Festival Pier in Philly on 9/24! The killer lineup also includes Dead Milkmen, Naked Raygun, X (playing Los Angeles in full like they'll do two nights in NYC), Hot Water Music, Weston, Samiam, Plow United, The Menzingers (who play Santos on 6/24), Excitebike, Shot Baker, Larry and His Flask, The Holy Mess and more. Tickets for the Philly festival go on sale Friday (6/24) at 10 AM. A Flier and more info below.

Riot Fest East is also one day of the 2nd annual Philly F/M Festival: "A Four Day Event To Promote Music and Film In The City of Brotherly Love To Occur Thursday, Sept 22nd - Sunday, Sept 25th 2011."

The second annual festival will take place over four days, largely in the Fishtown / Northern Liberties neighborhoods of Philadelphia, which in recent years have become a cultural center for music and arts in the city. This year's festival will feature over 15 indoor and outdoor venues with capacities between 100-5,000. Participating venues include: The Festival Pier, Trocadero Theater, TLA, World Café Live and The Ukie Club.

Modeled after successful long-standing events such as SXSW and CMJ, Philly F/M looks to establish itself as the premiere multi-venue music and film festival for the U.S. East Coast entertainment and tourism market. Last year's festival took place in 30 venues with 300 artists and over 60 films from around the world. Philly F/M 2010 attracted 13,000 visitors across all events with little or no "headline" artists. This year the festival will host at least fifteen 'headline-level' artists of all music genres, more than 100 artists total. Attendance projections for the festival is more than 25,000 paid attendees, which will include a core group of at least 5,000 all-access badge holders.

The whole initial F/M lineup and Riot Fest too, below...

Continue reading "Philly gets a Riot Fest (which is part of the F/M Festival) -- lineup announcements"

Alejandro Escovedo @ Clearwater Fest 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

From the opening power chords of "Always a Friend" from "Real Animal" to the finishing frenzy of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog," Alejandro Escovedo performed energetic versions of favorites ("Castanets"), selections from the upcoming "Street Songs of Love" album (the title tune was a standout) and covers of the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" and "Sway."

He remembered recently deceased friends and collaborators Alex Chilton (the Box Tops, Big Star) and Stephen Bruton ("Crazy Heart") with a passionate "Sister Lost Soul." He thanked Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter for standing by him during his bout with hepatitis-C in the new "Down in the Bowery." And he debuted "Gotta Have Faith" with "This is the one from the new album that the guy from New Jersey sings on." Bruce Springsteen would have been proud of the economy of the introduction.

This was the third of nine shows the band is playing before the June 29 release of "Street Songs of Love." Afterward, fans pleaded for a promise to return on the next leg. Cross your fingers now. It's not too early to start wishing. [Cincinnati.com]

The above review is from Alejandro Escovedo's gig on Friday, April 2nd at Southgate House in Newport, KY. He plays tonight (4/8) at the lovely Tarrytown Music Hall in Westchester with his band, and Graham Parker opening. Tickets are still on sale.

The show is one of the only NYC-area stops on his current tour. The other is an afternoon at "Concerts In The Studio" held in Freehold, NJ (about 90 minutes from NYC by train) on Sunday, April 11th. The shows take place in a photo studio next to the home of the hosting couple, Mark & Elaine who seem to be drawing a highly respectable group of performers for their shows. Also on the schedule is a gig with X members John Doe and Exene Cervenka on May 1st. Info on those and other upcoming shows is at their website.

All Alejandro dates and videos of both the studio and Alejandro (who was at SXSW), as well as the tracklisting for the above-referenced new album, are below...

Continue reading "Alejandro Escovedo on tour, tonight in NY, Sunday @ 'Concerts In The Studio' (where John Doe & Exene are also palying)"

O'Death @ Rehab (brooklyn ski club)

From Brooklyn (10/30) to Manhattan (12/5) and everywhere in between...

Continue reading "O'Death - 2008 Tour Dates "