Deer Tick at Webster Hall (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As previously discussed, Diamond Rugs is the new "supergroup" featuring members of Black Lips, Deer Tick, Los Lobos and Dead Confederate. To be more specific, they are:

John McCauley- Vocals, Guitar
Ian Saint Pe- Vocals, Guitar
Hardy Morris-Vocals,guitar
Steve Berlin- horns, keys
Robbie Crowell- Bass, sax, keys
Bryan Dufresne- Drums

Guest Musicians:
Bryan Minto- harmonica
Bucky Baxter - pedal steel
Spencer Collum - pedal steel
Oscar Utterström - trombone
JP Frappier - trumpet

They have a record coming via Partisan Records (home of Deer Tick) in Spring 2012, and the band will play their debut show on 12/29 at The Earl in Atlanta with Dead Confederate. Tickets are still on sale. Flyer below.

The Earl performance is right before Los Lobos head to NYC to play a pair of shows on New Year's Eve at City Winery. Tickets are still available for both the early and the late shows. All Los Lobos dates below...

Continue reading "Los Lobos tour dates include New Year's Eve in NYC; Diamond Rugs signed to Partisan, making live debut in Atlanta"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

John McCauley of Deer Tick made it clear at last night's free BV-presented Brooklyn show that they weren't there to protest with the protesters of Occupy Wall Street. Nothing against Occupy Wall Street, but the band more importantly wanted to to help bring attention to the police brutality that is happening to the protesters at Wall St., because everyone has a right to protest.

Everyone also has the right to rock! And Deer Tick rocked for two hours at Willliamsburg venue Death By Audio, a DIY space that the now-Webster Hall-headlining band last played about three years ago. The all ages capacity crowd started lining up at 8pm, the place filled quickly, and the band (no opener) was on around 9. Without the pressure of playing to a paying audience, Deer Tick had fun and played their hearts out. They debuted many new songs live, played a bunch of covers, and lots of classics too. The sound was excellent and loud.

John McCauley has never been afraid of sharing the mic with guest singers, but the past couple of years have also seen Deer Tick increasingly showcasing the singing abilities of other permanent members of the band as well. Most notably, guitarist Ian O'Neil takes center stage at times, but drummer Dennis Ryan also gets to showcase his voice, like he did on one crowd favorite they tested out for the first time last night, that will appear on the band's new album Divine Providence (out 10/25).

Covers included the Replacements, Foreigner, Nirvana (Deervana), The Shivers, Chuck Berry and Michael Hurley (who happens to play Union Pool tonight).

One of the live sort-of-debuts wasn't a Deer Tick song, but one that will appear on an album by yet another supergroup side project. The crowd thought for sure John was talking about Middle Brother when he started to intro the song, but it quickly became apparent that in fact there is now a supergroup #2. Diamond Rugs is its name (Damn I Am On Drugs), and its members include Ian from Black Lips (who also have a Webster Hall show coming up), Hardy from Dead Confederate, Bryan Dufresne from Six Finger Satellite (who was at the show), Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, and John & Robbie from Deer Tick. The Diamond Rugs song they played is a Christmas song, which I called a "sort-of-debut" because it has been played in front of people at least once before (video from the Hamptons below). Stay tuned for more about Diamond Rugs.

To the delight of many who were shouting out requests, Deer Tick played a hard-hitting full band version of "Christ Jesus" and closed the set with the fast and fun Ramones-esque "Let's All Go To the Bar", complete with John McCauley stage dive.

More tour dates HERE. A recent Deer Tick Landromatinee session was put online HERE. More pictures from the Brooklyn show, below...

Continue reading "Deer Tick played a free show @ Death by Audio (pics), played a Christmas song from new project Diamond Rugs"

The 2011 Latin Alternative Music Conference will be a part of NYC from July 6th-9th. Tonight (Wednesday, 7/6) is a big free show at Central Park Summerstage with "Spanish music icons Jarabe De Palo, Mexican songstress Ely Guerra, Afro-Peruvian electronica folk artist Novalima and Miami's DJ extraordinaire Mr. Pauer." Alternatively Mercury Lounge has a show too. Thursday, after the panels at the Roosevelt Hotel, are shows at SOB's (badge-holders only) and Bowery Ballroom. Friday, after more panels, is a big free Celebrate Brooklyn show at Prospect Park with Los Lobos and "Mexican indie rock sensation Hello Seahorse!, New York City's dreamy rock act Zigmat." Saturday is another big free show at Central Park Summerstage with "Afro-Colombian hip hop act ChocQuibTown, Dominican electro merengue act Rita Indiana, Brooklyn's funky multi-instrumentalist Ursula 1000 and New York City's dynamic DJ duo Uproot Andy and Geko Jones (of Que Bajo?!)." It all ends later that night at D'Antigua in Queens with "up and coming homegrown talent featuring Mexican Dubwiser, Elastic Bond, One Chot, Estados Alterados and Una Via" (or at the unofficial closing party back at SOB's).

Leave your recommendations in the comments.

The National show in Prospect Park (more by Amanda Hatfield)

We already knew that 'Celebrate Brooklyn' is hosting an impressive lineup of ticketed Prospect Park Bandshell shows this summer: The Decemberists, Animal Collective, Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver & Cut Copy. And we knew that the 33rd annual series of free shows would start with an Andrew Bird show on June 10th, and that BRIC is also hosting three free 'dance parties' in Brooklyn Bridge Park this summer too.

Now the entire 2011 lineup of "24 free performances, including 20 music concerts, two dance performances, two film screenings with live music, and a family concert" is here! You can check it all out (The Feelies, Real Estate, The Books, Junip, Doveman, Justin Townes Earle, Punch Brothers, Raekwon, Oumou Sangaré, Times New Viking, Ra Ra Riot, Delicate Steve, Buke & Gass and Hal Willner included), below...

Continue reading "Celebrate Brooklyn - complete 2011 Prospect Park show lineup"

"Grammy Award winning roots-rock band Los Lobos has decided to cancel their scheduled performance at The Talking Stick Resort on June 10th, 2010. The band has made this decision based on the current call to boycott Arizona in response to SB 1070.

Through their management, Los Lobos issued the following statement: "We support the boycott of Arizona. The new law will inevitably lead to unfair racial profiling and possible abuse of people who just happen to look Latino. As a result, in good conscience, we could not see ourselves performing in Arizona. We regret the inconvenience this may have caused the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, Casino Arizona, Talking Stick Resort and our fans, but we feel strongly that it is the right thing to do."

The members of Los Lobos are Steve Berlin, David Hidalgo, Conrad Lozano, Cesar Rosas and Louie Perez."

The Mexican-American band are longtime supporters of immigration rights: Their 2006 LP The Town And The City touches on the subject pretty directly. When that album came out, this is what the band's Louie Perez has to say about the immigration issue...

Well, I can't ignore it. I don't think anyone can not be affected by it. Of course, Mexican-American people are more sensitive to it, but you just turn on the news at 11, I don't care where you live, you're going to know about what's going on.

I didn't set out for the record to be about immigration, but it started to go into that direction. I always go back to my neighborhood when I write songs, and in this case it was tempered by what was going on in the news. I was also thinking of the sacrifices my parents made when they came to the U.S. and the fact that if they hadn't crossed the border, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. I wouldn't have a career. I wouldn't have Grammys. I wouldn't have all these things that have happened in the spirit of the American dream.

Los Lobos will be releasing a new album, Tin Can Trust, on August 3rd through Shout! Factory. That's the artwork above. On that same Tuesday, they will play a record release show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC. Tickets are on sale at noon.

Robert Plant is also coming out with a new album this year, a David Hidalgo-Louie Pérez song included...

Robert Plant takes an eclectic dive into Americana roots music on Band of Joy, his first new album since 2007's surprise hit, Raising Sand with Allison Krauss. The album was recorded in Nashville with an all-star group of musicians and is due Sept. 14 on Rounder Records.

Band of Joy finds Plant putting his unique stamp on a wide variety of source material, including versions of Los Lobos' "Angel Dance," "Silver Rider" and "Monkey," both by Minnesota indie "slowcore" band Low, and the Kelly Brothers' 1960s soul classic "Falling in Love Again." [The Star]

Los Lobos will be touring this summer across North America. All tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Los Lobos are releasing an album (Robert Plant too), playing a release show in NYC & other dates (but not in Arizona) "

some upcoming shows @ City Winery in NYC
12/29 - David Johansen
12/30 - David Johansen
12/31 - Los Lobos (early & late)
01/01 - Joseph Arthur & Charlie Mars
01/22 - Bob Mould w/ Jon Auer
01/23 - Bob Mould w/ Jon Auer
01/29 - Joseph Arthur & Bobby Bare Jr.
02/28 - Robyn Hitchcock
03/20 - Rhett Miller

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Full schedule & other upcoming shows @ City Winery's website.

Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook returns in January for its twelfth season celebrating the diversity of American popular song. For 16 nights of pop, folk, cabaret, country, rock, and show tunes, the series will explore the best of the golden age of musical standards through to today's most dynamic contemporary songwriting. The 2010 season - January 13 through March 6 - will bring to the stage some of today's most gifted interpreters of song, including top jazz artist Dee Dee Bridgewater and rock's gritty queen, Marianne Faithfull. It will feature opportunities to hear the acclaimed stage actress Martha Plimpton and Broadway star Leslie Uggams in intimate concert settings. Two of the hottest composers on the theater scene - Jeanine Tesori ("Shrek The Musical" and "Caroline, or Change") and Michael Friedman "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" and "Gone Missing") - will perform evenings of their music along with special guests. The growing presence and influence of Latin music in the American Songbook canon will be represented by David Hidalgo and Louie Perez, two of the founding members of the band Los Lobos. Hidalgo and Perez will explore their four decades of writing and performing songs that are some of the best in Latin roots-rock. The series will close with an evening with one of Broadway's most enduring divas, the fabulous Chita Rivera.

American Songbook will be presented in the spectacular Allen Room of Frederick P. Rose Hall. The Allen Room possesses one of New York's greatest settings - a stunning vista of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline that provides an evocative backdrop for the performers.

TICKETS can be purchased online beginning November 1st at Lincoln Center's website AmericanSongbook.org, via CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office. Tickets for The Friends of American Songbook go on sale October 27th.

Suzanne Vega, Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent, Gabriel Kahane, and Nellie McKay are also playing shows as part of the series.

Dirty Projectors' most recent NYC show was a short set at the Bell House as part of the New Yorker Festival. Their next NYC shows are sold out gigs at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg. Full Lincoln Center schedule below...

Continue reading "Dirty Projectors, St Vincent, Nellie McKay, Marianne Faithfull, others part of 2010 season of Lincoln Center's American Songbook"

The Flaming Lips @ Webster Hall '06

The Flaming Lips are playing a free show on Sunday, April 19th in the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Earth Day Network/Green Apple Fest show also has moe., Los Lobos, DJ Spooky and others on the bill. Chevy Chase is acting as emcee, and the entire event will be streamed online, from 1-6pm that day, via EarthDayTV.net

Other cities, including New York, will also be hosting Green Apple Earth Day weekend events on April 17th - 19th. So far, the only official NYC concert planned is an Earth-Day-volunteer-only "thank you" show with Deep Banana Blackout at the Bowery Ballroom on Sunday, April 19th.

Green Apple Fest brought acts like Islands and Ghostface to different NYC venues on Earth Day weekend in 2006. Last year the Fest with the Earth Day Network coordinated concerts in eight different cities. Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder and Big Head Todd and the Monsters played the New York one.

Also this summer, the Flaming Lips will be playing the Pitchfork Festival on Sunday, July 19. The band is also co-curating and headlining a night of ATP NY in September.

All upcoming Flaming Lips dates, with the full Earth Day fest press release, below...

Continue reading "The Flaming Lips playing Earth Day in DC & streaming online"

Neko Case @ ACL 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

AC Newman's new solo album is out in January on Matador. Fellow Pornographer Neko Case's album "Middle Cyclone" will be released on March 3rd on Anti. Lots of special guests, etc. - all details abelow...

Continue reading "new Neko Case album - Middle Cyclone - out in March"