Living Colour in black and white circa 1988

Living Colour's genre-breaking debut album Vivid, which spawned hits "Cult of Personality" and "Glamour Boys," is 25 years old this year and the band will be playing the album in full on tour this spring, including the previously-mentioned NYC show at Irving Plaza on April 6. Tickets are still available.

You can see them sooner than that when Living Colour joins 24-7 Spyz at Highline Ballroom on January 21 for a charity event called "Million Man Mosh." Proceeds go to benefit the legal defense of Spyz guitarist Rony Drayton's son Donovan who was recently released on bail after serving five years in Riker's Island without a conviction." Tickets are still available. Flyer for the show is below and you can read more about the case here.

A stream of Living Colour's Vivid, show flyer and a list of all tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Living Colour celebrating 25 years of 'Vivid' on tour (dates), also playing NYC benefit with 24-7 Spyz"

Best Coast is in fact opening for Green Day on their rescheduled tour dates, including the NYC show on April 7 at Barclays Center. Tickets for that show are on sale now and all tickets purchased for the original January 16 date will be honored.

Tickets for the Low show at the Concert Hall go on sale today at 10 AM.

Tickets for the Metal Alliance tour with Anthrax, Exodus, Municpal Waste, and Holy Grail that hits NYC for an Irving Plaza show in April go on sale today at 10 AM.

Tickets for the Allman Brothers Band shows at Beacon Theatre go on sale today at 10 AM.

Tickets for the Deathfix show at Knitting Factory go on sale today at 10 AM.

Tickets for The Black Crowes shows at Capitol Theatre and Terminal 5 go on sale today at 10:13 AM.

Living Colour are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Vivid, by playing it in its entirety at Irving Plaza on April 6. Tickets for that show go on sale today at 10 AM.

World/Inferno Friendship Society are playing Irving Plaza on March 29 with Rasputina and Stolen Babies. Tickets for that show go on sale today at 10 AM.

John Joseph with Vernon Reid at Bowery Electric 11/6/2012

Last night's Rock for Light benefit featured a rotating cast of musicians who all sat in on Bad Brains songs at Bowery Electric. The show, part of a benefit to aid victims of Hurricane Sandy (as well as Amnesty International), featured Bad Brains frontman H.R., as well as John Joseph of Cro-Mags, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, members of Antidote, TV on The Radio, The Mob, Extra Life, and many many more. Watch the entire performance below, right beside the setlist.

In related news, get pumped up for the new year by checking out Cro-Mags when they team with Sheer Terror for a show at Highline Ballroom on Dec 30. Tickets are still available.

Bad Brains have a new album on the way, too, due on November 20.

If you didnt make it to Bowery Electric, you can still contribute to help out victims of Hurricane Sandy. Donate to the American Red Cross here. You can also donate to Amnesty International here.

Continue reading "watch last night's entire Bad Brains tribute concert w/ John Joseph, Kyp Malone, Vernon Reid, and even H.R. (video)"

Central Park Summerstage (more by Chris La Putt)

The schedule for the 2010 SummerStage series, which has music not just at Central Park, is out, and there are some great looking shows to highlight.

At Central Park, the first "rock" show happens on Saturday, June 5th with Living Colour, Ebony Bones!, Pillow Theory and CX KiDTRONiK. Baaba Maal, who just played Irving Plaza, will be at Central Park too on Monday, June 14th The Tinariwen show on Saturday, June 26th also features Syrian beat & mikeman Omar Souleyman. Gil Scott-Heron plays Central Park in June and Marcus Garvey Park in August.

There's also El Guincho, Bostich and Fussible and others in Central Park on July 7th. Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff plays Central Park on Sunday, July 11th. Raphael Saadiq performs there Saturday, July 17 at 3pm. The Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba/Fool's Gold show on Sunday, July 25th will also feature "West African electronica" band Burkina Electric.

On Wednesday, July 21st, there'll be a Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Friends Central Park gig hosted by Lewis Black with John Oliver, Rob Riggle, Wyatt Cenac, Adam Lowitt and Rory Albanese.

There's also music from St. Vincent, Tune-Yards and Basia Bulat on August 1st at Central Park. The xx play with Jack Penate and Chairlift there on August 8th. At the same spot, Public Enemy play an August 15th day show to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Fear of A Black Planet, and the Specials play on August 22nd with Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears and $mall ¢hange.

The borough-wide shows kick off with Jay Electronica in Red Hook Park on June 1st. Also at that park is Dan Deacon on Tuesday, June 15th. White Rabbits play East River Park on August 12th.

There's lots of great jazz too: McCoy Tyner plays with Ravi Coltrane, Esperanza Spalding and Francisco Mela as part of the CareFusion Jazz Festival on June 23rd. He also plays in the Charlie Parker Jazz Fest, which comes at the end of the summer with an incredible lineup. McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Scott, Jason Moran and the Bandwagon and Revive da Live play during the day at Marcus Garvey on Saturday, August 28th. Then the next day, James Moody, Catherine Russell, Vijay Iyer and The JD Allen Trio play at Tompkins Square Park.

The park benefit shows include John Butler Trio and State Radio on June 15th (tickets on sale), The Flaming Lips on July 26th, The Black Keys with the Morning Benders on July 27th and 28th, Hot Chip/Hercules & Love Affair/Holy Ghost on August 4th, Govt' Mule on August 11th (tickets), and one of the four Pavement shows September 21-24. Plus there's a "songbook of Simon & Garfunkel" benefit on June 8th.

Not all "Summerstage" shows are in Central Park anymore which drives home the point even further that the name of the venue in Central Park is actually "Rumsey Playfield" which hosts non-"Summerstage" shows too. Those so far include Coheed/Torche, CAKE, Ween, and Broken Social Scene.

The full Summerstage free show schedule is below...

Continue reading "Summerstage (Central Park & elsewhere) - full 2010 lineup "

SummerStage 2009's last show of the year (more by Chris La Putt)

"On Tuesday, June 8, 2010, City Parks Foundation will welcome guests to the SummerStage 25th Anniversary Celebration in association with Michael Dorf & City Winery, an annual fundraising benefit, to support CPF's free year-round arts programming. This year's benefit will feature the songbook of Simon & Garfunkel with unique duets performed by Shawn Colvin, Aimee Mann, Dar Williams, Loudon Wainwright III, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Joan Osborne, Stephen Kellogg, Dean & Britta, Cory Chisel, The Holmes Brothers, John Forte, Valerie June, John Roderick, Ricky Skaggs, Willie Nile, Paula Cole, Alejandro Esovedo, Ollabelle (house band) and many more.

Tickets for this benefit will run you from $1000 to $25,000. Tickets to the other "benefits" (aka regular old ticketed shows) at the venue, are much cheaper. Those include John Butler Trio / State Radio, The Flaming Lips, The Black Keys, Hot Chip, Gov't Mule and Pavement.

The 2010 SummerStage series has also expanded its free shows outside of Central Park to include parks in all five boroughs. Look for free "Summerstage" music, theater and other events this summer in Brooklyn's Von King Park and Betsy Head Park, Bronx's St. Mary's Park and Crotona Park, Queens' Springfield Park, and Marcus Garvey Park East River Park in Manhattan, and others. Those parks have always had free shows, but for whatever reason, they are now "Summerstage".

The free-show lineup is 100% ANNOUNCED being slowly released (we're posting it all day today) (also check out the full free Celebrate Brooklyn lineup). Some of the Summerstage lineup, along with the list of theater productions (happening in all of the above-mentioned parks), is posted below...

Continue reading ""SummerStage" expands into other parks, theater events, annual fundraising benefit & some other shows announced"

Sondre Lerche @ MHOW in September (more by Tim Griffin)

Sondre Lerche will be one of the many acts at the now-sold-out Bell House Haiti Benefit tonight (1/27). Sondre goes on tour after that with opener JBM. JBM is NYC songwriter Jesse Marchant, who's now signed to Partisan Records. The label will release his debut Not Even in July on April 13th. For some JBM right now, check out his recently-posted Daytrotter Session.

The pair travel the US for all of February - they'll play a NY-area show at Maxwell's on Saturday, March 6th. Tickets are on sale

Sondre is also scheduled to be at the Michael Dorf-produced Music of the Who show at Carnegie Hall on March 2nd. That show includes a lot of big names and City Winery regulars. They include Living Colour, Robyn Hitchcock, Matt Nathanson, Sondre Lerche, Postelles, Bettye LaVette, Mose Allison, The Smithereens, Gaslight Anthem, Bob Mould (of Hüsker Dü), Fab Faux, Asaf Avidan, Willie Nile, Vanessa Carlton, Rich Pagano, Nicole Atkins and Steven Bernstein & The Music Unites Choir. Tickets are on sale.

Finally, Sondre Lerche plays NYC's City Winery on Tuesday, March 23rd. Tickets are on sale. All dates below...

Continue reading "Sondre Lerche playing City Winery, Who Tribute @ Carnegie, NJ & touring (dates) w/ JBM (who is on Partisan Records) "

Janelle Monae @ MHOW in April (more by Tim Griffin)

This summer Afro-Punk, BAMcinematek and Toyota will present the 5th annual Afro-Punk Festival, taking place July 3rd - July 8th, 2009 in the heart of Brooklyn, NY. The festival is the definitive destination for the global Afro-Punk community and audiences yearning to experience true AP culture!

Headliners at this year's fest include Pure Hell and Whole Wheat Bread on July 4th, Living Colour and Earl Greyhound on July 5th, and Saul Williams and Janelle Monae on July 6th.

Schedule and more info, below...

Continue reading "Afro-Punk - 2009 Brooklyn festival dates & lineup (Janelle Monae, Living Colour, Earl Greyhound, Saul Williams...) "

Kid Cudi @ Knitting Factory last night (more by Kyle Reinford)

today in NYC
* O'Death on a boat
* GBH @ Irving Plaza
* Iamx @ Blender Theater
* MGMT @ Highline Ballroom
* Paul Weller @ Nokia Theatre
* Living Colour & Earl Greyhound @ (le) poisson rouge
* Nada Surf & Fountains of Wayne @ Knitting Factory
* The Kooks, Stellastar and Illinois @ Summerstage

Read an interview with Will Calhoun of Living Colour at Howard Wolfson's blog gotham acme.

What else?

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Twi the Humble Feather - finale (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Twi the Humble Feather - before the morning lights (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Twi the Humble Feather - for the sorcerer forest (MP3)

Twi

there is legend and rumor of a new interstellar adventurer, by the name of twi, who came to be by the will of an ancient sorcerer forest existing unknown in a nameless galaxy. those aware of this rumor say twi seeks the wisdom of vast green worlds, as well as the sating secrets of sound. inspired by the adventures of this new mythical character, the trio 'twi the humble feather' compose guitar and vocal based music depicting environments recently visited by twi; such as magical castles and forests, and various realms of the uncharted cosmos.

Saturday, Sept 6 at Sound Fix Records in Brooklyn, 8pm:

The Burg for Barack - a grassroots fundraising event featuring La Strada, Twi the Humble Feather, and Amber Rubarth. Plus a cupcakes-and-brownies-galore bake sale, and a silent auction including fine apparel, jewelry, yoga classes and spa packages, and more from stylish neighborhood boutiques and stores. 100% of the proceeds go to the Obama campaign. $5 suggested donation at the door.

Brooklyn acoustic guitar-and-voice trio Twi the Humble Feather is coming off a series of opening gigs for Jose Gonzalez earlier this summer and the release of their sci-fi/fantasy concept album "Music for Spaceships & Forests" in June (out on non-label Friendly Ghost Recordings). The FGR site reports that the band is in the process of prepping a new piece for live performance called "Twi Presents the Antek Songs," as well as its second album. Other upcoming shows include opening for Japanese popster Shugo Tokumaru at Mercury Lounge (tix still on sale), a show at Williamsburg DIY gallery/space Paris London West Nile, and a free Wordless Music Series gig at (le) poisson rouge.

Speaking of Obama benefits and (le) poisson rouge, the West Village venue ia hosting a fundraiser of its own on September 10th. Living Colour, The Family Stand, Earl Greyhound, Danielia Cotton, and Viva Mayday are on that bill.

These aren't the first Obama events of the year, and they certainly won't be the last. Another, The Audacity of Jokes II, takes place Monday September 15th at Comix. It will feature Fresh Prince creator Andy Borowitz, SNL's Fred Armisen, comedian and Barack impersonator Kyle Grooms, Last Comic Standing alum Amy Schumer, and Weird Al surrogate Jonathan Coulton. Tix $45 ($100 VIP).

See a video of the Twi guys at Goodbye Blue Monday HERE, and Kyle Grooms's Barack above the tour dates below....

Continue reading "Twi the Humble Feather tour dates & other Obama benefits"

Ani Difranco, RZA & Steve Albini @ 2005 New Yorker Festival (CRED)

The eighth annual New Yorker Festival happens in NYC from October 5-7, 2007. Though not completely announced yet, this year's lineup will include all of those you see in the title, and more....

Continue reading "Diplo, Fiona Apple, Sigur Ros, David Byrne, Roseanne Cash, Yo La Tengo & more for the 2007 New Yorker Festival"