Kid Congo Powers @ Spider House (BV-SXSW 2010) (more by Tim Griffin)

The next free Vice Garage show at Knitting Factory, Wednesday, July 28th, will feature the ex-Cramp/Bad Seed garage rocker pictured above, with support from the supercampy Hunx & His Punx. RSVP for it here (and for the show in Austin the next night).

The previous Vice garage show featured the reunited Oblivians. Tonight (7/21) Jack Yarber/Oblivian plays a Brooklyn show with his own band at Southpaw. Tickets are still on sale.

Kid Congo Powers will be back in New York, as part of his September tour dates, for a show on Friday, September 17th at Brooklyn Bowl with the K-Holes. Tickets ($5) are on sale.

And another band that played our SXSW day show at Spider House in March, UK's Jim Jones Revue (ex-Thee Hypnotics), is in NYC for four shows this week: Thursday, July 22nd at Mercury Lounge, Maxwell's on July 23rd and Knitting Factory on July 24th. More info here. (And on top of that, they open Smashing Pumpkins' sold-out Terminal 5 show as part of Spin25 on July 26th along with Kill Hannah.)

Updated Kid Congo Powers & Jim Jones tour dates, flyers and videos are below...

Continue reading "Jim Jones & Jack Oblivian here, Kid Congo playing w/ Hunx"

The Oblivians...

The Oblivians, whose upcoming reunion and solo shows we outlined previously, have added another date for the NYC area. In addition to the free Scion Garage show at Knitting Factory on July 1st (RSVP is now closed), they'll be playing a July 2nd gig at The Irish in Kearny, NJ (a mile away from the Harrison PATH station). Andre Ethier opens the Scion show, and for New Jersey Andre & his old group The Deadly Snakes reform to open the show. Tickets are on sale.

Other recent shows at the Kearny Irish American Association include Ted Leo, Titus Andronicus and Screaming Females.

The previously mentioned Jack Yarber (Oblivian) show at Southpaw on July 21st (tickets) is actually part of a larger tour that Jack shares with fellow Memphis garage-punk act John Paul Keith. All of their tour dates are below...

Continue reading "another Oblivians show & updated Jack Yarber solo dates "

The Oblivians will be playing the next free Scion Garage show at Knitting Factory on Thursday, July 1st. The garage rock band has reunited sporadically since breaking up in 1998 - Vice writes that this show marks their "return to NYC for the first time in 13 years." Opening the show will be Andre Ethier, the Deadly Snakes member, not the LA Dodgers outfielder (Vice says other Deadly Snakes members are also in his band). RSVP for free entry.

The Oblivians, who also have an Ohio show coming up, reunited in 2009 to tour with the Gories, who also have NYC reunion shows coming up, set for July 29-31.

Reigning Sound, the band fronted by Oblivians' Greg Cartwright, have tour dates that include a June 19th show at Southpaw and a June 20th show at Maxwell's.

Jack Yarber aka Jack Oblivian (who played a solo Scion Garage show earlier this year) plays Southpaw on July 21st. Tickets are on sale for that.

The last free Scion Garage show was on May 27th with Cheap Time and Bad Sports. Flyer for the upcoming Knitting Factory show, and some videos, below...

Continue reading "The Oblivians are reuniting again (for a free NYC show!)"

Jack Oblivian @ the Clubhouse in Tempe, AZ - Nov 5, 2009 (grtaylor2)

Neither Jack Oblivian or Mannequin Men have tours announced at the moment, but both will be in Brooklyn on January 14th to play an intimate free show...

Continue reading "Jack Oblivian & Manneqin Men playing free Brooklyn show "

It was my first time seeing Reigning Sound live, and it was certainly worth the drive to Detroit. The city's garage-rock faction was well represented. I'm told that was Detroit Cobras guitarist Mary Ramirez front-and-center for most of the night, singing and dancing like a superfan. Head Reigning Sound honcho Greg Cartwright, a legend in garage-rock circles for his work in the '90s with the Oblivians, was appreciative, taking several opportunities to thank everyone for coming out on a Monday night and calling Detroit "my home away from home."

Highlights of the evening for me included rousing versions of "Stop and Think it Over" by Cartwright's other former band, Compulsive Gamblers, and "You're so Strange," the final track off of Albums of the Aughts honoree "Time Bomb High School." [mlive]

Just a quick reminder that ex-Oblivians will have a strong garage rock presence in the area starting tonight (11/19) with the Reigning Sound tour hitting Maxwell's in Hoboken. The A-Bones, who also have a gig lined up at Mercury Lounge on New Years Eve with the Detroit Cobras, open the NJ show. You can also catch Reigning Sound Friday night (11/20) at Southpaw (that time with the Jay Vons as support). Tickets are still on sale.

From there the band heads north to finish up their tour with dates in Buffalo and Toronto. That means they definitely won't be sticking around long enough to cross paths with fellow Oblivian Jack Obvlivian who plays his own show at Southpaw on Sunday (11/22). Tickets for that are on sale too. All dates below...

Continue reading "Reigning Sound are here (Maxwell's tonight, Southpaw Friday), but not long enough to catch Jack Oblivian (Sunday)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Jack Oblivian (left)...

Jack Oblivian & The Tennesse Tearjerkers and John Paul Keith & The One Four Fives both just left Lucero's current North American tour that runs for another two weeks. Instead, the bands will detour up North (from their native Tennessee) for a seies of shows that include a performance at Brooklyn's Southpaw on Sunday, November 22nd. Tickets are on sale.

Jack's newest LP, Disco Outlaw, came out in May on Goner Records. Who is Jack?

Jack Yarber (aka Jack O and Jack Oblivian) is an underground hero--a well-respected, longtime member of garage rock's top royal family. The Memphis-based singer/songwriter/guitarist has been around since the early '80s, playing with Mississippi punks Johnny Vomit and the Dry Heaves, Memphis new wavers the End, garage rockers the Compulsive Gamblers, and, of course, the influential Oblivians. Yarber continually reinvents himself, mashing all his influences--a lil' bit country, a lil' bit Southern soul, and a whole lot gritty rock--into something all his own. [The Stranger]

Jack also plays in The Oblivians (hence the name) with Eric Friedl (aka Eric Oblivian) who also owns and runs Goner Records. A great video introduction to Jack is posted below with all tour dates...

Continue reading "Jack Oblivian & The Tennesse Tearjerkers - 2009 Tour Dates"

Lucero @ Maxwell's - June 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

Lucero's sixth studio album and major label debut, 1372 Overton Park, is due October 6 on Universal/Republic Records. Produced by Ted Hutt (The Gaslight Anthem) and featuring horn arrangements by legendary Memphis session player Jim Spake (Al Green, John Hiatt, Solomon Burke, Cat Power), the record marks a decided turn toward the Memphis soul sound that has long informed the band's records from afar.

Lucero will support that new record on an extended North American tour this fall. LUCERO RAMBLIN' ROADSHOW & MEMPHIS REVUE is "a traveling roadshow featuring Amy LaVere, Cedric Burnside with Lightnin' Malcolm, Jack Oblivian, John Paul Keith & the One Four Fives and The City Champs" (openers change throughout the tour). The NYC show is on October 17th at Webster Hall. Tickets go on AmEx presale Wednesday, August 5th at noon. General sale starts Friday, August 7th at noon.

The band played a three-show NYC run in June that included a set at the Big Apple BBQ in Madison Square Park where they had a very special guest. Videos from that and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Lucero - Universal album & Ramblin' Roadshow Tour Dates "