Love it or loathe it, New Year's Eve is coming. Here are some of this year's NYC concert options, of which there are many.

One of the biggest shows of the night is Coldplay and Jay-Z at Barclays Center. If you've seen pictures of Coldplay's tour this year, you know they have this bluetooth controlled, light-up wristbands that (no matter how you feel about their music) makes for a spectacular interactive experience. And certainly Jay-Z will throw a good party at his own house.

Jay-Z's pal Kanye West is doing a three-night run in Atlantic City right before NYE (12/28-30) at Revel. Tickets for those shows are still available.

Another hip hop option includes Nas at Radio City Music Hall that also features Elle Varner. Tickets are still available.

Azealia Banks is playing a black tie party on top of The Standard Hotel (aka Boom Boom Room). More info is at the facebook event. You can RSVP for tickets ($250 minimum) by emailing unifiedpromo@unifiedpromo.com.

Also in the biggest NYE show race there is also Phish's sold-out night at MSG, part of a four night run at the venue.

If jam bands are your thing, you might also want to catch The Disco Biscuits, who kick off their four-night run at Best Buy Theater tonight (12/26) and then play NYE at The Theatre at MSG (tickets).

Another jammy option is Gov't Mule's two-night run at Beacon Theatre (12/30-31). Tickets for both nights are on sale.

If you're more into dancing, RJD2 will be DJing at Gramercy Theater with Com Truise and Chrome Sparks; and Moby and many others will be DJing at an as-yet undisclosed location (tickets).

Pretty Lights is also doing two sold nights at Roseland Ballroom (12/30-31). Another dance option that you might want to avoid is Afrojack is playing two nights on Pier 94 (12/30-31), but it's worth mentioning that if you get there early on night 1, you can catch opening sets by Diplo and Rusko. Night 2 (aka NYE) is sold out but night 1 is still on sale.

Brooklyn dance party The Bunker is throwing an event at the 70 N 6 St loft (above Public Assembly) with John Roberts, Mike Parker, Bryan Kasenic, and Mike Servito. Tickets for that party are on sale now.

Downstairs at the actual Public Assembly, Gaze 4 Daze is throwing two queer parties. Room 1 has DJ sets by Rizzla, Sebastian, and D'Hana, along with Emcee Ryann Supamakenzi and host Cherlyn. In room 2, they've got MIchael Magnan, Amber Valentine, Telfar, Mursi Layne, host Helen Harris, and live performances by House of Ladosha, Cakes Da Killa, and Abdu Ali. $10 at the door gets you into both parties.

Brooklyn warehouse party group Rubulad is presenting "Party-Go-Round" in three separate secret Bushwick locations near the Jefferson L stop. There will be live music by Friend Roulette, Not Waving but Drowning, Viva, and more; dance parties with music by DJ Shakey, Ol' Stark, DJ Mojo, $mall ¢hange and more; a puppet show, a midnight champagne toast, and more. Admission is $20, the events start at 9 PM, and there will be a party bus to navigate between the three locations.

Matthew Dear and Superpitcher are at Le Bain (tix); Ian Pooley, Pat Mahoney and more at Cameo; Onra, Nick Catchdubs, and Samo Sound Boy are at Williamsburg's Villian (tickets).

Holy Ghost! and Midnight Magic are at Brooklyn Bowl (sold out) and after that, Holy Ghost!'s DFA labelmate Juan Maclean will DJ an afterparty at the same venue (tickets).

Chris Keating of Yeasayer is DJing a BangOn!NYC-presented party at a secret warehouse location in Williamsburg near the Montrose L stop with Felix Cartal, Chordashian, Alex English, Sean Glass, and many others. There will also be live music by Carousel, Suntalk, and more TBA, art installations, an inflatable obstacle course, food trucks, and more. Tickets (more info at that link) are on sale and RSVP is open. Location will be revealed with the purchase of tickets or an RSVP.

If you'd rather dance to classic soul and R&B, there's New York Night Train Annual Dusk Till Dawn New Year's Ball at Home Sweet Home featuring a live performance from Kid Congo and the K-Holes, plus Jonathan Toubin and a crew of DJs.

For the indie rock inclined, you could go see Titus Andronicus at Glasslands which is a pretty small venue for them these days. While So So Glos were originally on the bill for this, they have since dropped off. Dapwell, formerly of Das Racist, is your MC for the evening and tickets are still available.

Right next door at 285 Kent, Florida's (awesomely) mopey Merchandise will visit,  plus Blanche Blanche Blanche, Tonstartssbandht and "speciial guests" (note the two ii's is "speciial") will surely be a wild night. Dive in, tickets ($20) are on sale now.

After that, DJ Rashad, DJ Manny, Sasha Go Hard, and others will play an afterparty at 285 Kent (tickets).

Psychic Ills and Herb Craft are playing Saint Vitus. Tickets for that show are on sale.

Also happening in Williamsburg, They Might be Giants play a sold-out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg (one of three shows there that week; Reverend Vince Anderson and His Love Choir will be at Union Pool (free); and at Knitting Factory it's a night of cabaret hosted by the great Murray Hill (tix).

More indie rock: Blonde Redhead and Beach Fossils are at Irving Plaza. Tickets are still available and you can also win a pair from us.

Swimming Cities and Gowanus Ballroom (55 9th St) are presenting The First Party Ever: Primal Reset for the Year Zero with dance parties by Barney Iller, DJ Shakey, and DJ Tinseltown; live music at midnight by Stumblebum Brass Band; an open bar from 11:30-12:30; visuals; "Serret's patented coal fire hot tub time machine"; "Live birth of the antichrist, according to Doctor Adventure"; and more. $15 tickets are on sale now (or $20 at the door, cash only) and all proceeds go to recovery at Serret Metal Works and the "BOATEL" art hotel project in Far Rockaway that were damaged during Hurricane Sandy.

Meanwhile across the Hudson, The Hold Steady will ring in 2013 with Lucero at The Wellmont Theatre in NJ. Tickets are still available.

Before that, Lucero will do a two-night run at Brooklyn Bowl (12/28-29) with Nude Beach supporting on night 1 and Hollis Brown on night 2. Tickets for night 1, night 2, or both are still available.

Amanda Palmer will be at Terminal 5, playing Prince's Purple Rain in its entirety which will surely be a spectacle. She'll play a set of originals too. Tickets are still available.

If you'd like to party like it's 1929, Spirit Family Reunion are bringing the old time religion to Pianos. Tickets are still available, includes a champagne toast.

More rootsy options include The Punch Brothers and Michael Daves at Bowery Ballroom (sold out); and The Felice Brothers, Yellowbirds, and Mail the Horse at Mercury Lounge (sold out).

The Felice Brothers also play Maxwell's (12/30) a day earlier (sold out), and on New Year's Eve, the Hoboken venue will host "Maxwell's Rockin' & Rollin' Ass Kickin' New Year's Eve Dance Party feat. The Two Giants: Todd-O-Phonic Todd & Mono-O-Phonic Matt Porter." They get their name from being big San Francisco Giants fans, and they'll be spinning "some of the greatest soul, r'n'b, garage, rock'n'rol etc" all night. Admission is totally free, no cover.

My Morning Jacket is doing a sold out pre-New Year's Eve three-night run (12/27-29) at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester.

After that, Capitol Theatre will host Steve Miller Band on 12/30 (tickets) and funky METERS with Dumpstaphunk on NYE (tickets).

For some old school punk, Manitoba (the project of Dictators frontman Dick Manitoba) and Sylvain Sylvain (of New York Dolls) will play Bowery Electric with The A-Bones and Daddy Long Legs. Tickets for that show are on sale.

To keep the party going the next day, head to SOB's for Questlove's holiday party.

Whatever you end up doing, be safe!.

What did we miss?

Heading to Austin? We have a list of shows happening there too. Update: And Chicago too.

Continue reading "A guide to New Year's Eve shows and parties in NYC"

Most people get dressed up for Halloween but burlesque superstar Dita Von Teese will be taking it off for a three night stand at Gramercy Theatre on Oct. 30 - Nov. 1. The show, titled "Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray" is being MC'd by Murray Hill and also features Dirty Martini, Catherine D'Lish, Selene Luna, Perle Noire and Monsieur Romeo. Tickets are on sale now.

If you're a Top Chef fan, you may have seen Dita (who turns 40 on Friday [9/28]) recently on Top Chef Masters where she turned host Curtis Stone into a giggling schoolboy and displayed serious food knowledge as well. You can watch that clip below.

Meanwhile, for all your burlesque needs, head to the Bell House for the 10th Annual New York Burlesque Festival starting tonight (9/27).

Continue reading "Dita Von Teese's "Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray" coming to NYC during Halloween; Burlesque Fest @ Bell House meanwhile starts tonight"

Fergus & Geronimo at BV-SXSW in March (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Happy New Year's Eve Eve! We've already given you a list of concerts and parties happening tomorrow and followed that with even more things to do. Some are already sold out (like 285 Kent and Glasslands). Some still have tickets (like Deer Tick). Here we are yet again with some more options.

Fergus & Geronimo are playing The Gutter (12/31) in Brooklyn with NT, My Teenage Stride, and The City Streets. Fergus will reportedly be "headlining at midnight" and "debuting tons of songs from their FUNKY new album." Brooklyn's NT are working on a new record and they've got a new song from it up for free download on bandcamp called "Reflection."

Superhuman Happiness are DJing at Union Pool (12/31) with DJ Partypants and visuals by BAMiAM.tv. As Superhuman Happiness point out on facebook, this is a DJ set and will be a very different show than their live set at Cake Shop TONIGHT (12/30). Tonight's post-Phish late show is a Dog Gone Blog presented show that features special guest Colin Stetson and DJ sets by Dog Gone Blog, Unicorn Pudding, and like tomorrow's Union Pool show, visuals by BAMiAM.tv.

Dance & Hip Hop DJ collective The Rub is throwing a New Year's Eve party at Southpaw (12/31) with DJ Ayres, Cosmo Baker, DJ Eleven, and special guest DJ Moma. Tickets are still available.

Rub associate Nick Catchdubs is also DJing a New Year's Eve event in Brooklyn, at the Built by MeanRed party at Loreley (12/31) with Jubilee and a surprise guest. Tickets are available.

The Rub will also DJ at Brooklyn Bowl on January 15 for The Freedom Party vs. The Rub. Tickets are on sale.

One more NYE option is Murray Hill's New Year's Eve Extravaganza at Knitting Factory with Dirty Martini, Bridget Everett, Angie Pontani, Neal Medlyn, Trixie Little & Evil Hate Monkey, Amber Martin, and DJ Sirlinda. More expensive VIP tickets are sold out but $45 general admission tickets are still available.

Fliers below...

Continue reading "more NYC New Year's Eve options (Fergus & Geronimo, Nick Catchdubs, Superhuman Happiness, Murray Hill & the Rub included)"

Don Hill (photo by Julian Ungano)

As tweeted by Moby (see above) and many other notable club veterans, and confirmed to me via a call to Don Hill's who said there is a memorial tonight (3/31) at the club (toast at midnight), nightclub owner and legend Don Hill has sadly passed away. Though details are scarce at the moment, some on Twitter are saying he was "found dead in his apartment" "this morning". Update: someone seemingly in the know says: "He passed away at the hospital. Not in his apartment. It was this evening around 7, not this morning." And Bebe Buell adds (in reaction to the last minute midnight toast), "Don's actual memorial will be the biggest coming together of all the people he has helped+supported-those of us who loved him+knew him well." Stay tuned for more info.

Murray Hill calls it the end of an era. Miss Guy says he was the nicest person in nightlife. Justine D agrees. I didn't know him personally, but I always liked seeing him hanging around his club that shared his name. He opened Don Hill's in the early 90's and before that managed the East Village's Cat Club (David Bowie & Peter Frampton played there in 1987). "American Hardcore" author Steven Blush (who also worked at Don Hill's) once wrote...

" I booked [GG Allen] at the Cat Club. His most infamous part of the show is to shit on the stage and throw it at the crowd and got thrown out. I got written up in the Village Voice for the show that I had put on. The irony, of course, is that the manager of the Cat Club was Don Hill and I couldn't work any more at that club after that but we always remained friendly....

...Don Hill is the best club owner in New York. After the Cat Club, when that closed, a couple of years later, Don did what he was supposed to do, which was own his own club. Don has the support of the whole club community of the local neighborhood which is unheard of for clubs. The clubs got a great reputation. Sometimes I wish we were bigger and trashier, but then we wouldn't be Don Hill's."

As posted back in August 2010 when it was announced that Don Hill's was closing for renovations, Steve Lewis wrote...

"Don Hill's was born in April 1993 to much flag waving, fanfare and hoopla. The Smithereens set the tone that night and it has since become a virtual rock and roll hall of fame. Don has booked the joint, hired staff, run day to day and night to night operations, he's answered the phones and I suspect that on some nights he swept out the joint. He will now be joined by superheroes Nur Khan and Paul Sevigny. They will come in with mad skills, new energy and cash to redux the place. They will merge with Don to create more of the same but even better."

Since re-opening with the new partners on board, the club has in fact been the scene of many high profile and hard to get into events, most notably a fashion week show by Iggy Pop. According to Nur Khan, they also "had LCD Soundsystem booked," but "there were complications with production and stage size so we were unable to do the gig." There were rumors this week that the Strokes would do a show there before or after their sold out gig at MSG (I haven't been able to prove those rumors though, or the show fell through).

R.I.P. Don Hill (both of them)

Continue reading "Don Hill, RIP"

photos by Chris La Putt

"I woke up the morning after the Gossip concert and could not get Beth Ditto's breasts out of my head. They were unleashed Friday night at Terminal 5 for one of the hottest concerts I've been to in some time. The energy and fervor lured out of the crowd by the insane vocals of front woman Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie is unmatched. I envy the confidence and drive of Ditto, with her severe bob and bangs, mad makeup, spirit, humor and plus-size fabulousness. I sort of want live in her world. I'm also enthralled with the androgynous Blilie, who also graces the cover of Gossip's latest album cover, Music for Men." [CenterOrch]

Gossip (again), Rye Rye (who has since been added to the M.I.A./Die Antwoord show) & the Phenomenal Handclap Band (who have since added a headlining show at MHOW) shared a bill at Terminal 5 in NYC Friday night (5/2). The show was part of a tour that started at Coachella. More pictures from it, with the headliner's setlist, below...

Continue reading "Gossip, Rye Rye & the Phenomenal Handclap Band played Terminal 5 - pics & setlist"

Les Savy Fav @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple (more by Natasha Ryan)

BROOKLYN KNITTING FACTORY SET TO OPEN / BROOKLYN'S LES SAVY FAV TO PLAY OPENING NIGHT

"The Knitting Factory, a leader in the New York arts scene for over two decades, is proud to announce that our new venue at 361 Metropolitan Avenue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY will be opening September 2009. Brooklyn-based favorites, Les Savy Fav, will perform and host the opening night on Wednesday September 9th. Upcoming shows will feature performances by: Boss Hog, Rasputina, Mayer Hawthorne, Titus Andronicus, The Raincoats, The Spits, Mucca Pazza, Melissa Auf der Maur, cEvin Key, A Wilhelm Scream, Helado Negro, Maps and Atlases, No Neck Blues Band, Dub Trio, Smokey's Secret Family and much more to be announced. Upcoming special events include this year's Williamsburg Fashion Week's Fashion and Arts Premiere, the Miss LEZ Pageant and the Royal Flush Film Festival.

We've been waiting for this news since first finding out Knitting Factory was taking over the Brooklyn Luna Lounge lounge space in April 2008 (which was followed by official confirmation in July of the same year). Since then, Knitting Factory's Manhattan location closed and reopened (and closed again) and lots of people have been left wondering what the deal was.

Tickets for the September 9th Les Savy Fav show are on sale (thx Coma). They also play Fun Fun Fun Fest in November.

Boss Hog is September 10th (tickets). They play ATP NY on September 12th.

The Titus Andronicus/So So Glos show (tickets) is the last date on a long tour that also includes a show at Maxwell's.

Melissa Auf der Maur plays KF on October 17th as part of the Royal Flush Film Festival which makes sense since she made a movie. Tickets for that event are on sale.

And tickets and dates to all of the above mentioned shows are HERE.

More about the space, HERE.

Tim Harrington apologizes to his mom, in the video below...

Continue reading "Knitting Factory Brooklyn opening September 9th w/ Les Savy Fav (tix on sale) ++ other upcoming shows like Boss Hog"

The 7th Annual New York Burlesque Festival will be taking place Thursday, October 1st to Sunday October 4th. Festival venues include the Bell House, BB King's and Le Poisson Rouge.

The fest is being organized by NYC burlesque aces the Pontani Sisters (who performed June 25th at Santos) and Thirsty Girl Productions' Jen Gapay. Applications are currently being accepted for performers.

Three day VIP passes are on sale now. More info, with a video trailer of the 2008 fest, below...

Continue reading "NY Burlesque Festival (Oct 1-4, 2009)"

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the New York affiliate of the ACLU, is one of the nation's foremost defenders of civil liberties and civil rights. Founded in 1951, the NYCLU is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with six chapters and nearly 50,000 members statewide.

In 2007, the NYCLU created a group for Young Professionals (22-40) to support the work of the NYCLU by raising funds, spreading awareness, and building a community of like-minded New Yorkers and advocates for change.

The New York Civil Liberties Union Young Professionals will host the second annual BIG GAY VARIETY SHOW at The Box in NYC on Tuesday March 3rd. Tickets HERE. More details below...

Continue reading "Nellie McKay playing Big Gay Variety Show @ the Box "

photos by Bao Nguyen

DOWNLOAD: Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control (MP3)

As a friend said right after the show, "I'm not sure how anyone can hate on that band". Gossip rocks and Beth Ditto is confident and knows how to entertain, not to mention spread love (except towards John McCain, Rolling Stone, Alanis Morissette, jocks and Pitchfork). Webster Hall was packed tight and it was great when most of the crowd was dancing and going crazy together. That happened during 'Standing in the Way of Control' at the end of the set and then again in the encore. Beth finished the show with a huge crowd-on-stage sing-along. She had the whole place chanting "We are important". Murray Hill helped make the show even more entertaining by MCing before the band came out, after they left the stage the first time, and after they left again (April 15, 2008). More pics below....

Continue reading "Gossip (and Murray Hill) @ Webster Hall, NYC - pics"

A Murray Little Christmas (CRED)

Christmas is just four days away. That means very few people are working, there are a lot less people in the city, and that this long weekend should be full of holiday shows like A Twisted Christmas, Heeb Storytelling at Joe's Pub, and Heebonism @ Knitting Factory. What else can you recommend?

Holiday messages from Sharon Jones & The Pipettes below....

Continue reading "any holiday show recommendations?"