FOUR NIGHTS celebrating the incredible, dynamic, explosively creative jazz, instrumental, and adventurous music being made in New York City.

May 9th: A Marathon of Concerts in Greenwich Village
May 10th: Medeski, Martin & Wood & ?? at Brooklyn Masonic Temple, featuring So Percussion, Steven Bernstein, Vernon Reid & more!!
May 11th: Night Of The Living DIY in Brooklyn, Seattle, Norway & more...
May 12th: Improvised Round Robin Duets at 92Y Tribeca

Lovingly and tirelessly organized by Adam Schatz of Search & Restore, and Brice Rosenbloom of BoomCollective.

The 2012 Undead Music Festival (formerly known as Undead Jazz Fest) starts Wednesday (5/9) with three shows in Greenwich Village, including a Tonic reunion happening at Le Poisson Rouge on Wednesday, 5/9. (There's a Tonic Reunion tonight at The Stone tonight, 5/7, too, unreleated to the Undead fest.)

Other Undead performers include Medeski, Martin & Wood at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on Thursday (5/10) and a multi-venue "Night of the Living DIY" on Friday (5/11) which includes the previously mentioned Bjorkestra show at the new Shapeshifer Lab (which meanwhile is hosting two nights of Undead-presented shows with Nels Cline, Tim Berne & Jim Black).

Four days passes are still on sale. More detailed info (performers, tickets) is available at the Undead Music website and the full schedule is below.

Continue reading " Undead Music Fest this week: a 2nd Tonic reunion, Medeski, Martin & Wood & much more (full lineup, schedule, dates)"

Founded in June 2010 the Undead Jazzfest is new kind of festival, bringing together an incredible array of artists from the new jazz and improvised music community currently exploding in New York City. With no headliners, affordable tickets, unorthodox venues and no drink minimums, the Undead Jazzfest aims to shake the public perception of what jazz can be today, celebrating the incredible music being made in a setting that is inviting to both the veterans and curious new fans.

Encompassing eleven venues over its four days (6/23 - 6/26), the Undead Jazzfest will feature appearances from more than 50 bands including names like Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Mountains and many others. The full list of participating bands is below. Four day passes are on sale for $45 until 4/28. The price increases to $50 after.

Undead Jazzfest is also responsible for curating another show outside of said festival, this one going down at Central Park Summerstage on June 11th with Medeski Martin & Wood, Josh Roseman's King Froopy All Stars and Jim Black's AlasNoAxis. It's one of many free 2011 Summerstage shows that have been announced.

AND, Undead Jazz presents a show at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (4/25) with Orchestre National de Jazz with Daniel Yvinec and John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble with special guests Theo Bleckmann , Kate McGarry and Uri Caine. Undead Jazz also presents Todd Sickafoose's Tiny Resistors and Mary Halvorson Trio at the same venue on May 18th.

Full Undead Jazzfest 2011 lineup below.

Continue reading "Undead Jazzfest 2011 lineup announced, tix on sale now, and other related shows too"

by Andrew Frisicano

"Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Marc Ribot (but were afraid to ask)" is the first of the Stone's new Monday night seminar series and, as previously mentioned, it happens tonight (1/4). The first 13 of those events, which the venue describes as "a special series of workshops, lectures, seminars and Q&As on a variety of fascinating subjects by some of the world's most unique, cutting edge musical thinkers," are laid out below and cover a huge spectrum of musicians and topics.

Ribot will be performing as part of the NY Guitar Festival on January 14th (doing a live improvised score to Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid") and playing with his stellar group Ceramic Dog on February 2nd at (Le) Poisson Rouge (with Skeletons, who played NYE and New Year's Day shows at Zebulon, opening). Tickets for the LPR show, which is also part of the NY Guitar Fest (more on that later), are on sale.

Another interesting, very different Q&A event is also coming up. On February 23rd, Santos Party House will host "Ask Andrew W.K. Anything: An intimate evening of unpredictable performance." Presumably the event is being held to further address the internet rumor that Andrew W.K. is an actor who plays the part of Andrew WK. Tickets are on sale. In other news, he's re-releasing his formerly-import-only-record Close Calls With Brick Walls with a new "lost" disc Mother of Mankind on February 23rd, and he's on this year's Warped Tour.

More info on the Andrew W.K. event and the Stone's seminar series are below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot & Andrew W.K. answer your questions and other upcoming events (The Stone, Santos, LPR & more)"

by Andrew Frisicano

two of these three guys will be there (one w/ Jenny Scheinman, also on the cover)

NYC's Winter Jazz Fest will be happening Friday, January 8th and Saturday, January 9th at a handful of Village venues. Both nights include more than a few worth-while acts (Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Jamie Saft's Whoopie Pie, Vijay Iyer Trio, Jenny Scheinman & Jason Moran, the late-night triple-play of Mary Halvorson, Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition and Tyshawn Sorrey Guitar Trio). Tickets for Friday-only and Saturday-only are on sale, and two-day passes are available too. The full schedule is below...

Continue reading "NYC Winter Jazz Festival - January 2010 @ various venues "

Hold Steady @ Bowery Ballroom - June 8, 2009 (Photo by Alex Reside)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Booker T. @ Joe's Pub
* Gil Scott-Heron @ SOBs
* Olof Arnalds @ Sycamore
* Julianna Barwick @ Pianos
* The Budos Band @ Stuy Town Oval
* Antibalas @ Rock Off Boat Cruise
* The Mummies, The Back CC's @ Southpaw
* Bloodhorse, Medusa, Pollution @ Union Pool
* Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood @ Izod Center
* Survival, Exactly, Gates of Heaven @ Glasslands
* Deastro, The Upwelling, Le Mood @ Mercury Lounge
* Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes @ Beacon Theatre
* Vernon Reid, Jamie Saft's Burning Genitals @ The Stone
* The Hold Steady, Gost Trio @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Rooftop Films w/ Glass Ghost @ Brooklyn Tech High School
* Apostle of Hustle, Forro in the Dark, Brian Bonz @ Bowery Ballroom
* Vision Festival w/ Marshall Allen, Sun Ra Arkestra @ Abrons Arts Center
* The Decemberists, Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 @ Radio City Music Hall
* Brightblack Morning Light, Mariee Sioux, Zomes @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Zambri, The Drums, Last Year's Model, The States, Do You See The Dark @ Annex
* John Medeski/Billy Martin/Charlie Hunter/John Ellis, Big Sam/Joe Russo/Otis Grove @ Sullivan Hall

Happy 1-year anniversary to Max Silvestri's Big Teriffic party which takes place tonight at Cameo (located behind the Lovin' Cup Restaurant). Kurt & Kristen and many other comedians are on the bill.

Stuyvesant Town's weekly Music in the Oval series starts tonight with a set by The Budos Band.

Deastro plays Ghostly International's 10-yr Anniversary Bash on Friday June 12th, as part of the Northside Festival. Catch them tonight at the Mercury Lounge.

Jamie Saft premieres his Burning Genitals trio with the dual drums of Mike Pride and Bobby Previte tonight at The Stone. They'll play material from their forthcoming Veal Records release, "Crabz."

Eugene Mirman gave this year's commencement speech at his alma matter, Lexington High School. Yes, that's the same school that produced Amanda Palmer's "With the Needle That Sings in Her Heart" earlier this year. Video of the speech, below...

Fanfarlo are offering their new album for $1.00. Video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

Since the closing of LES spot Tonic in 2007, The Stone has been one of the venues that's attempted to fill the void left by the experimental-music-friendly space.

Like Tonic did, The Stone frequently brings on guest curators (not coincidentally Stone founder John Zorn was one of Tonic's most regular hosts and played at Tonic's final show). Now, with guitarist Grey Gersten's monthlong May curatorial run ending Sunday, May 31st, former Tonic co-owner Melissa Caruso Scott comes out of booking retirement to take the reigns in programing the first two weeks of June at The Stone.

Speaking about her choices Scott said, "These artists played some of my favorite Tonic shows and I can't wait to see them again." Her picks include Japanese musician Yuka Honda, who's also playing a Summerstage show with Mike Watt, guitarist Charlie Hunter, Elysian Fields, Vernon Reid, Joan as Polcewoman, cellist Erik Friedlander, and more. Her full schedule is posted below.

Speaking of Friendlander, he plays on Yoko Ono's new DON'T STOP ME! EP (out June 9th Via iTunes Exclusive Digital Download), and you can also catch him live on June 5th along with saxophone player Colin Stetson at the Abrons Art Space Recital Hall. The show is presented by The Manhattan New Music Project, and tickets are on sale.

Before the time of both Tonic and The Stone, the original Knitting Factory on Houston Street featured an ecclectic mix of avant and experimental music (frequently with Zorn and others). The co-founder of that venue, show promoter and current owner of City Winery Michael Dorf, will curate the second half of the June at The Stone.

Acts on his schedule include Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers (who have completed their Pianos residency and are also playing Citysol), Ethan Iverson (of the Bad Plus) with saxist Tim Berne, and Marc Ribot, the guitarist who's had considerable presence at each of the aforementioned venues -- gigging regularly at the Knit on Houston St, getting arrested for protesting the closure of Tonic, and hosting several nights of his 55th-birthday retrospective at The Stone in mid-May.

Check out the full June schedule for The Stone, below...

Continue reading "Tonic owner returns, joins City Winery's Michael Dorf to curate John Zorn's club The Stone in June - full lineup"