Weird Al and Bonarroo phone bank (including Mike Birbiglia and Eugene Mirman...

With help from Eugene Mirman, Chris Gethard, Mike Birbiglia, Portugal. The Man and more, Weird Al just began announcing the 2013 Bonnaroo line-up on the Bonnaroo YouTube page which happens June 13 - 16 in Manchester, TN. Weird Al just announced Pretty Lights, Wilco, A$AP Rocky, and The xx, and over the next hour, more artists will be announced. We'll update this post as more announcements come.

Other artists playing include Passion Pit, Kendrick Lamar, David Byrne and St. Vincent, Jim James, Big K.R.I.T., Billy Idol, Grizzly Bear, Japandroids, Foals, Wild Nothing, Deap Vally, Killer Mike, Lord Huron, Divine Fits, Nas, Beach House, The Gaslight Anthem, Local Natives, Dirty Projectors, Baroness, The National, The Vaccines, Holy Ghost, Death Grips, R. Kelly, Alt-J, Purity Ring, Cat Power, Wu-Tang Clan, Bjork, Tame Impala, Animal Collective, The Tallest Man on Earth, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Paul McCartney, Earl Sweatshirt, Four Tet, Father John Misty, Swans, A-Trak, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Cults, AraabMuzik, DIIV, Charli XCX, Matthew E. White, Frank Turner, JEFF the Brotherhood, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Calexico, Two Gallants, and more.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Saturday (2/23) at noon EST.

There's also now a video of Daniel Tosh announcing the initial lineup, which you can watch, along with the current list of announced names, below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2013 lineup announcement underway"

Live From Daryl's House, Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates's TV show, which Sharon Jones has starred on, is hitting the road for some live dates including 4/11 @ Wellmont Theater, 4/14 @ the Borgata, and 4/21 @ Beacon Theatre. All three are with special guests Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and Allen Stone. Tickets for the NYC show and for the NJ show go on sale today at noon.

speaking of Beacon Theater, Magnetic Fields tickets also go on sale at noon.

All dates for Daryl and John Oates, and the Wellmont show poster (which points out a chef will be there too), below...

Continue reading "Daryl Hall bringing 'Live From Daryl's House' & Sharon Jones on the road (dates)"

today in NYC
* Mike Birbiglia @ UCB
* Bad Religion @ Irving Plaza
* Yuko Fujiyama @ The Stone
* Underworld @ Roseland Ballroom
* Nuclear Power Pants @ Silent Barn
* Japandroids, Oberhofer @ Maxwell's
* John Oates, Mutlu @ The Bell House
* Mt. Desolation, JBM @ Mercury Lounge
* Eugene Robinson, Man's Gin @ Union Pool
* The Moondoggies, Hollis Brown @ Mercury Lounge
* Matt & Kim, Donnis, The So So Glos @ Webster Hall
* Nat Baldwin, Buke & Gass, Delicate Steve @ Zebulon
* Oh No Oh My, The Suzan, Family Cactus @ The Rock Shop
* Karlsson & Winnberg (Miike Snow DJ set) @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Safari, Juston Stens & The Get Real Gang, Brian Ashby @ Pianos
* Zach Layton, Alex Waterman, Ryan Sawyer @ Issue Project Room
* Excepter, Messages, Up Died Sound, Blissed Out @ Shea Stadium
* Easter Vomit, Dirty Dishes, Total Slacker, Quilty @ Knitting Factory
* Liturgy, Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk, Lesbian, Light Hits @ Glasslands
* Sewn Leather, Narwhalz of Sound, The Babies, Yellow Fever @ Showpaper 42nd Street Gallery
* Our Hit Parade starring Bridget Everett, Kenny Mellman & Neal Medlyn @ Joe's Pub
* John Hodgman, Ira Glass, Dave Hill, Shaina Feinberg and Mary Feinberg, Jane Feltes, Eugene Mirman, Jessi Klein @ Dave Hill
* Nate Wooley, C. Spencer Yeh, Ryan Sawyer, Chicago Luzern Exchange, Mike Pride & Kirk Knuffke, Cloud Becomes Your Hand @ Death By Audio

The Excepter, Messages, Up Died Sound, Blissed Out show originally at Coco 66 has been moved to Shea Stadium. Also:

:: "The Excepter show on October 27th will be our last for some time.
:: We are taking time off to deal with a private health issue. All door
:: and table proceeds from the show will go to offset medical costs.
:: Come to support! LIFE IS LONG / LOVE IS STRONG" - EXCEPTER

--

The Books have a new video for "I Didn't Know That". Check it out below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

photos by Ryan Barkan

John Oates & The Bird & The Bee & the baby @ the El Rey Friday night

The Bird and the Bee, a jazzy [L.A.] synth-pop duo, has a fantastic single (with an unprintable title) ["Fucking Boyfriend"] imploring a hesitant beau to be a real boyfriend already. It's a sassy chastening of noncommittal dudes. But when vocalist Inara George sings it while very clearly pregnant, as she did at the sold-out El Rey Theatre on Friday, the tune has an even blacker sense of humor.

"This song has more meaning when I'm like this," George said, pointing to her stomach to room-wide chuckling. Her husband, the director Jake Kasdan, may have protested that he made it official a long time ago. But it was one of many arched-eyebrow moments in a set of smart, fluffy pop made by two talents not taking themselves at all too seriously.

The pair's El Rey set was heavy on Hall & Oates numbers, and though indie rock has long since resuscitated that band's reputation as secret songwriting savants, George and Kurstin revealed them as crack arrangers as well. Kurstin's an effortlessly gifted keyboardist, and alongside a sprawling backing band (featuring opener Juliette Commagere, very able with guitar and vocal duties), the group dug deep into hits such as "Kiss on My List" in ways that snide hipster peers couldn't replicate. [LA Times]

The Bird and the Bee played L.A.'s The El Rey Friday (3/5), where John Oates made a surprise appearance during their Hall & Oates-heavy set, which is fitting considering that the duo's new record is a Hall & Oates tribute album. Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates comes out March 23rd on Blue Note. The album has eight covers and one Bird and the Bee original. Their version of "I Can't Go For That" is streaming exclusively below. That track, album tracklist and more pictures from the LA show, below...

Continue reading "The Bird & the Bee (& baby) played LA w/ John Oates (pics), releasing Hall & Oates tribute album (stream a track here) "