by Andrew Frisicano

Many of the weekend's 9/11 memorials chose to mark the anniversary with music. The official commemoration at Ground Zero included performances by Paul Simon (who performed "The Sound of Silence"), James Taylor (who played "You Can Close Your Eyes"), the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Video of those tributes are below.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Wordless Music Orchestra commemorated the anniversary with three pieces of music for string quartet--Ingram Marshall's "Fog Tropes II," Osvaldo Golijov's "Tenebrae" and Alfred Schnittke's "Collected Songs Where Every Verse Is Filled with Grief"--and the debut of an orchestrated version of William Basinski's "The Disintegration Loops dpl 1.1." The musicians played seated at the center of the Temple of Dendur (where St. Vincent recently performed) while the audience faced them and the looming sandstone structures.

The afternoon's second half was dedicated to Basinski's piece, which has served as a 9/11 elegy since its creation. That relationship will continue: before the start of the program, it was announced that the work would be a permanent fixture at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The full room listened in reverential silence to Maxim Moston's live arrangement, which unfolded over a reflective 40 minutes. After the last note died out, conductor Ryan McAdams paused for a several-minutes-long moment of silence, before giving way to a round of applause, which both composer and arranger were in attendance to receive.

The entire concert is streaming (with some insightful commentary between pieces) and the live version of "The Disintegration Loops dpl 1.1" will be available as a limited-time download at NPR Music.

Videos are below...

Continue reading "Wordless Orchestra at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (and other 9/11 memorial shows that happened too)"

by BBG

A Tribe Called Quest takes it to the stage.

The Sundance Film Festival is the pre-eminent independent film festival in the US, and 2011 features some interesting competitors in the way of music (and music related) film. First up is a new documentary on a legendary hip hop crew, A Tribe Called Quest. directed by Michael Rapaport (yes, that one). Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest chronicles the internal battles between Q-Tip & Phife Dawg and features appearances from Nas, De La Soul, The Roots, Mos Def, Kanye West, Large Professor, Prince Paul, all four members of ATCQ, and many many others. Trailer for the film is below.

Elgin James has distanced himself from his FSU past, and now he's stepping behind the camera for a new film etitled Little Girls. James serves as Director and Screenwriter for this feature...

"Amidst the stark landscape of the Salton Sea, two 15-year-old girls test the limits of their friendship when one follows the other to Los Angeles. Cast: Juno Temple, Kay Panabaker, Leslie Mann, Kate Bosworth, Kyle Gallner."

I didn't see the words "edge", "core", or "scene" anywhere in that synopsis. And yes, that Leslie Mann and Kate Bosworth.

James Taylor & Carole King will be the subject of Troubadours "A musical journey tracing the lives and careers of ...[these] pillars of the California singer/songwriter scene, which converged in and around LA's Troubadour Club in the late 1960s and early 1970s." This documentary is directed by Morgan Neville, who helmed docs on Stax Records, Iggy Pop, Johnny Cash, and many others.

Last but not least, Sing Your Song examines the man that I best knew for soundtracking my favorite Beetlejuice scene, Harry Belafonte. Besides sunny songs, the film "unearths his significant contribution to and his leadership in the civil rights movement in America and to social justice globally."

Full list of Sundance films is here, and you can check out the (must see) ATCQ trailer below.

Continue reading "A Tribe Called Quest documentary & other Sundance films"

Regina Spektor at Tibet House Benefit 2010 (more by Chris La Putt)

The New Yorker Festival is back (Oct 1-3), and will feature a variety of events including a premiere of The Social Network to Werner Herzog to Pee Wee Herman to the dude from Beetlejuice who yells at his kids, and everything in between. So far the musical interview lineup includes Regina Spektor, Yo Yo Ma, Justin Timberlake (promoting "The Social Network") and James Taylor. Sometimes those include short performances, though no performances have been announced so far. Tickets go on sale 9/10 at noon, and all festival details are below...

Continue reading "2010 New Yorker Festival - lineup & ticket info"

The pop star-heavy schedule for this year's free Toyota-sponsored Today Show concerts that bring screaming fans and tourists to Rockfeller Plaza on Friday mornings at 7am, has been announced. The shows kick off with Sting on May 14th (that one should be fairly subdued), and continue with people that include Maroon 5, Maxwell, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber (this one will be completely nuts), ....Full lineup, more info and and other Sting shows below...

Continue reading "2010 Today Show Rockefeller Plaza concert lineup, Sting, etc"

Tickets are on sale for the Them Crooked Vultures show happening at Roseland Ballroom in NYC.

Carole King & James Taylor are going on a Troubadour Reunion tour. There are two shows at MSG. Tickets are no on sale.

Tickets are now on general sale for Puscifer's upcoming NYC shows.

Tickets are on sale for the upcoming D.R.I. & Rumpelstiltskin Grinder show at Europa.

"Cinematic Titanic is the new feature-length movie riffing show from the creator and cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000." It happens live at Nokia Theatre on April 17th. Tickets are on sale.

Tickets are on sale for Coachella.

A few more hours left to get Radiohead Haiti benefit tickets (currently up to $400 a ticket).

Bruce Springsteen & Tom Morello @ MSG (BMoreSweet)

U2 closed the second night of the MSG Rock & Roll Hall of Fame shows on October 30th. At the first (10/29), it was Bruce Springsteen & Billy Joel (before one big group sing on Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher")...

After "Badlands" much of the drained audience began leaving and then rushed back to their seats when Billy Joel sat down at the piano and launched into "You May Be Right," "Only The Good Die Young" and "New York State Of Mind." (The pair were uniting the kindred spirits of New Jersey and Long Island, Springsteen explained.) "Higher and Higher" wrapped up the night. The official set list had the show ending at 11:36:55 (yes, they thought they had it down to the exact second), but the final notes rang out at 1:31 a.m. Six straight hours of music, and that was just the first of two nights. [Rolling Stone]

Bruce was actually there both nights (one of many possibly "filling in" for Eric Clapton, who canceled last minute on the second). Those in attendence on the 30th got to see U2, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith sing together on "Because the Night." (And U2 + Mick Jagger (another unannounced guest) + Fergie + Will.i.am sing "Gimme Shelter"...). Ray Davies, Lou Reed, and Ozzy Osbourne all performed with Metallica. Many played with Stevie Wonder. Full setlists below.

HBO will be airing four hours of highlights on Thanksgiving weekend.
(November 29th at 8PM ET).

Bruce's current tour wraps up November 22nd in Buffalo. He was at Giants Stadium earlier this fall, playing the last concerts ever there. U2 also played the venue for two nights in September, and will be back in Jersey in 2010 as part of their just-announced tour.

Set lists for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame shows are below...

Continue reading "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame hosted 2 very long shows @ MSG (setlists), will air on HBO Thanksgiving weekend"

1. Paul McCartney - Great Day
2. Coconut Records - Wires
3. Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation - All The King's Horses
4. James Taylor - Carolina On My Mind [live]
5. Warren Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart
6. Adam Sandler - Real Love [live]
7. Neil Diamond - We [early take]
8. Wilco with Andrew Bird - Jesus, etc. [Live Summer '08]
9. Adam Sandler - George Simmons Soon Will Be Gone
10. Coconut Records - I Am Young
11. Maude Apatow & Larry Goldings - Memory (from Cats)
12. Warren Zevon - Numb As A Statue
13. Ringo Starr - Photograph
14. John Lennon - Watching The Wheels [acoustic]

There was a screening of "Funny People" in NYC yesterday. "Funny People is the new Judd Apatow movie that stars Seth Rogan, Adam Sandler, Leslie Mann, and Raaaaaaaandy. As you can see in the track listing above, the soundtrack features a live Wilco song that was recorded when they were playing shows last year with Andrew Bird who joined them on stage. Some video examples of that below.

Wilco came to NYC this week to play a big show at Keyspan Park in Coney Island (7/13). That show also featured many special guests including Leslie Feist who most likely flew in mainly to join Wilco for their appearance on the David Letterman show which aired last night (7/14), but was recorded yesterday afternoon which gave Jeff Tweedy plenty of time to make it over to the movie screening (which he was spotted at). Letterman video below...

Continue reading "Wilco - w/ Feist on Letterman (video), w/ Andrew Bird on the Funny People Soundtrack (Raaaaaaaandy.......)"

photos by Graeme Flegenheimer

"From the moment you set foot inside the main gate at the Fair Grounds Race Course, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is like a music and food lover's "Choose Your Own Adventure" novel, with nearly every option inciting pure sonic and culinary bliss. A morning beignet in the Gospel Tent with Arthur Clayton & Purposely Anointed? A lazy afternoon perked up by some Crawfish Monica and the Drive-By Truckers joined by Booker T? How about a stroll to the Gentilly Stage for the sounds of Spoon and the Dirty Dozen horns, stopping for a quick bowl of gumbo along the way? Etta James and a Soft Shell Crab Po-Boy, anyone? All signs point to yes...

...Now in its 40th year, the 2009 edition of Jazz Fest continues to ramp up post-Hurricane Katrina, expanding to its full complement of 12 stages, up from nine last year, and seven days, up from six in recent years. The event's first of two weekends boasted music from nearly 200 acts, including the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Crescent City native Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Joe Cocker, Erykah Badu, James Taylor, Earth Wind and Fire, Pete Seeger, Hugh Masekela, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Etta James and many more." [All About Jazz]

Jazz Fest ran from April 24-26 & April 30-May 3 at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, LA. More pictures from the first weekend of the festival below...

Continue reading "a set of pictures from New Orleans Jazz Fest 2009 "

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May 8th @ Carnegie Hall.....

Continue reading "2008 Rainforest Benefit @ Carnegie Hall - Feist, Brian Wilson, Billy Joel, Sting, etc...."