a Sasquatch 2011 patron (more by Josh Darr)

The new year is approaching, and while you're making last minute plans and thinking up your resolutions, you can also start thinking about what festivals to attend in 2012. Here are some updates on next year's US festivals (not in any particular order).

SXSW, which is taking place from March 9-18 in Austin, with the music portion form March 13-18, has already announced a bunch of bands. If you register before January 13, you'll be able to save a bit.

New Orleans Jazz Fest is taking place from April 27 - May 6. The lineup includes The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Foo Fighters, Bon IverMy Morning Jacket, Feist, Janelle Monae, and others. The full lineup is below. Tickets are on sale now.

Sasquatch is taking place this year from May 25-28 in Gorge, Washington. 4-Day passes will be on presale through New Year's Eve, and general sale starts February 11. New for 2012, "Patrons who purchase a 4-day festival ticket will be allowed re-entry from the Festival grounds! This will not apply to any other ticket, only the 4-day pass."

Bonnaroo will be taking place from June 7-10 this year in Manchester, TN. Presale tickets have sold out but tickets will go on sale to the general public in the coming months. Also check out a Spotify playlist of the Bonnaroo staff's favorite songs of 2011.

Coachella, will take place over the course of two weekends this year (April 13-15 and 20-22). Other than a fake lineup poster that has been floating around, no artists have been officially announced yet.

Noise Pop will be celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2012 from February 21-26 in San Francisco. So far the lineup includes Archers of Loaf, Built to Spill, Big Freedia, Surfer Blood, Grimes, Bleached, John Vanderslice, Ume, and others. Check out the full list below.

Austin City Limits is taking place from October 12-14 in Zilker Park in Austin. Souvenir 3-day passes and early bird 3-day passes have sold out but regular 3-day passes are on sale now.

Lollapalooza will take place in 2012 from August 3-5 in Grant Park in Chicago. Tickets will go on sale this spring. As BVChicago mentioned, Lollapalooza is also taking place in Chile and Brazil this year.

Bamboozle, now in a new location, is taking place from May 18-20 in Asbury Park in New Jersey this year. So far the scary lineup includes Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, Skrillex, Blink 182, Incubus, and Mac Miller. 3-Day wristbands are on sale now.

Bumbershoot is taking place from September 1-3 at Seattle Center in Seattle, WA. Tickets are available and Bumbershoot are currently having a holiday sale where single day tickets are half off (originally $150, now $75).

NYC's own Governors Ball, which took place at Governors Island in 2011, has been moved to the bigger Randall's Island and will take place over the course of two days, June 23 and 24. Like last year, there will be no overlapping sets. Compared to the others listed here, this is not quite a big "festival", but unlike anything else listed above, it does happen in NYC. Artist announcements and tickets are coming soon.

Current NoisePop and Jazz Fest lineups below...

Continue reading "2012 Music Festival Roundup (Jazz Fest, Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, Noise Pop, ACL, Coachella, Bamboozle, SXSW, Bumbershoot & more)"

The founding members of The Beach Boys, one of the world's most legendary bands in popular music history, will reunite for a global 50th Anniversary CELEBRATION in 2012. Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks will come together for a new studio album and commemorative catalog releases with Capitol/EMI and a 50-date international tour to begin in April with a headlining performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival ("Jazz Fest") as well as other exciting events to be announced.

Brian Wilson says, "This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys and it will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again."

Mike Love says, "We got together at Capitol Records and re-recorded 'Do It Again.' Brian and I wrote that song which went to number 1 in Great Britain, Australia and elsewhere some 44 years ago. Brian paid me a compliment saying, 'How can a guy sound that great so many years later?' Later on, while working out some harmonies on a new song Brian had written, I got a chance to return the compliment. It was a thrill to be around a piano again with Brian, Alan and Bruce and experience firsthand the brilliance of Cousin Brian's gift for vocal arrangements. I am very much looking forward to David Marks joining us and thrilling with his surf guitar licks. Music has been the unifying and harmonizing fact of life in our family since childhood. It has been a huge blessing that we have been able to share with the world. Wouldn't It Be Nice to Do It Again? Absolutely!"

Al Jardine says, "The Beach Boys were recently inducted into the California Hall of Fame. From our humble beginnings as brothers, cousins and friends, we have been honored to sing the praises of California, and I'm really excited for our fans to be able to see us again in concert on the world stage, and to celebrate our 50th anniversary together with a new studio album."

Bruce Johnston says, "I will be looking forward to singing Brian Wilson's melodies and Mike Love's lyrics once again in concert with many of the original band members, but imagine what we all could come up with vocally in a recording studio atmosphere under Brian's musical direction."

David Marks says, "I'm really looking forward to celebrating this important milestone in The Beach Boys' history with the other guys, and with Capitol Records - where it all began 50 years ago. It means a lot to me that we can all reunite and pay tribute to the fans who have kept the music alive."

More of the announcement with more people saying stuff, and the announcement in video form too, below...

Continue reading "Brian Wilson officially reuniting with The Beach Boys, planning 2012 tour & new album"

by Andrew Frisicano

The annual NYC Winter Jazz Fest starts tonight (Friday, 1/7) and continues Saturday with shows that go late into both nights at a handful of Greenwich Village venues. Like last year's fest - a huge success that spawned a similar festival in the summer - one pass gets you into any of the venues. All are in close proximity, and show hopping is encouraged. You'll also be rewarded for staying put: Take, for example, Saturday's lineup at LPR, which features two guitar slingers, Charlie Hunter and Nels Cline (as Stained Radiance with painter Norton Wisdom), in consecutive sets. For the number of acts (46 on Saturday night alone) at the price ($25 for one day, $35 for both), the festival is pretty can't lose.

Jazz resource and show promoter Search and Restore has two showcases as part of the fest. They'll be celebrating the fact that their Kickstarter campaign met its $75,000 (!) goal. As a result they'll be launching an ambitious project to film four jazz shows a week over the next year (and post the results online as part of an expanded site). Congrats!

Also this weekend are a set of shows at Cornelia St. Cafe that are also part of the APAP conference (the ostensible reason for the Winter Jazz Fest, the show at City Winery tonight, the show at 92YTribeca tonight, GlobalFEST and others). Your Jazz Fest passes won't work there, but the lineups include Theo Bleckmann/Gary Versace/John Hollenbeck, Jon Irabagon & Mike Pride and Mario Pavone's Totem Quartet.

Saxist Tim Berne, who played Cornelia St. Thursday night with his band Los Totopos, will be at the Stone twice on Saturday. The second set is listed as "Tim Berne Duo," with keyboarist Matt Mitchell, but he mentioned that the whole band (Ches Smith on drums and Oscar Noriega on woodwinds) would be appearing. Mitchell will be at the venue on Sunday night too, to play with John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet (who blew away a packed Bitter End at Jazz Fest 2010).

Check out the full Winter Jazz schedule below...

Continue reading "Winter Jazz Fest this weekend, shows @ Cornelia St. Cafe & other APAP events"

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 "

DOWNLOAD: Etta James talks smack about Beyonce (MP3)

Etta James @ BB King's in 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

This is not a joke: 71-year-old Etta James actually threatened to beat the crap out of Beyoncé Knowles -- and it's caught all on tape!

The war is all over Etta's song, "At Last " -- Beyoncé sang the tune at Obama's 1st Inauguration Ball on Jan. 20th ... but last week at a concert in Seattle, James was still pissed.

While on stage, Etta told the crowd, "Your President, the one with the big ears ... he had that woman singing my song. She gone get her ass whipped."

She continued, "The great Beyoncé ... I can't stand Beyoncé," according to audio from Crown City Media.

Ironically Etta didn't kick up this sorta fuss when Beyoncé portrayed her in "Cadillac Records." [TMZ]

TMZ later pointed out that the song is not even an Etta James song. She covers it too. The Chicago Sun Times says that "both Beyonce and President and Mrs. Obama were stunned by music legend Etta James' strong verbal whiplashing." Etta James told the Daily News she was just trying to get a laugh and meant no harm. Etta is definitely known for her between song banter at her live shows. Speaking of which...

Etta James returns to B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in NYC for three shows in May. Tickets are on sale.

Etta is also one of many artists who will be Jazz Fest in New Orleans this year...

American rock superstars Bon Jovi have been added to the already star-studded music lineup of the 40th anniversary New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Presented by Shell, organizers announced today. Making their first-ever Jazz Fest appearance, Bon Jovi will perform on Saturday, May 2. The 2009 Jazz Fest is scheduled for April 24-26 & April 30-May 3 at the Fair Grounds Race Course.

Bon Jovi joins Wynton Marsalis, Dave Matthews Band, James Taylor, Sugarland, Joe Cocker, Ben Harper, Tony Bennett, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kings of Leon, Neville Brothers, Wilco, Bonnie Raitt, Allen Toussaint, The O'Jays, Erykah Badu, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Dr. John, Etta James plus hundreds of others previously announced to appear at the historic edition of the Festival.

Etta James also has a show scheduled in Atlantic City. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "ETTA JAMES disses Beyonce & Obamas (MP3), offends & apologizes ++ 2009 TOUR DATES (BB Kings, Jazz Fest)"