The 2012 New Yorker Festival happens October 5 - 7, bringing together writers, musicians, filmmakers, chefs, deep thinkers and all other sorts of creative types. Highlights for the 13th annual fest include "Portlandia Live" with Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and special guests performing sketches live; Atul Gawande and the band Vampire Weekend; Sasha Frere-Jones and the singer Norah Jones; Alec Wilkinson and the neo-bluegrass band Punch Brothers; Ariel Levy and the singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams; John Seabrook and the indie-folk band Beirut; and Ben Greenman and singer, songwriter, and producer Raphael Saadiq.

Other notable events: the Wachowskis will present their new film Cloud Atlas with co-director Tom Tykwer; Mad Men's John Slattery hosts a panel on "period acting"; Paul Muldoon will interview Patti Smith and loads more meetings of minds.

Tickets to the 2012 New Yorker Festival will go on sale on Friday, September 14 at noon. Full line-up is below.

Continue reading "New Yorker Festival 2012 schedule (Portlandia, Beirut, Vampire Weekend, Lucinda Williams, Raphael Saadiq, Punch Brothers and more) "

by Klaus Kinski

If you like music, comedy, literacy, food, eyeglasses, politics, small vintage leather messenger bags, journalism, the literati, people taking notes, men who sit with their legs crossed a little too tightly, and Molskine journals, then I bet you were all over BV's recent post about the 2011 New Yorker Festival which features events taking place all over the city from September 30th through October 2nd, 2011. At least, I hope you were all over it because tickets for a majority of the events semi-sold-out shortly after they went on-sale on September 9th. I say "semi-sold-out" because, well, there are actually a few opportunities to get tix between now and showtime. According to The New Yorker Festival website:

Friday, September 30th, at SVA Theatre: Ten per cent of tickets to all events will be available at the theatre, at 333 West 23rd Street (between Eighth and Ninth Avenues). Tickets will be sold on Friday, September 30th, from 12 noon to 4 P.M. First come, first served.

At the door: A limited number of tickets will be sold at the door to each event one hour before start time, with the exception of Morning at the Frick, Come Hungry, the Cartoon Caption Game, Beyond Words, High on the Hog, Inside the Artist's Studio, and Sunset on Spruce. First come, first served. Cash only.

On Sunday, October 2nd, Nancy Franklin will moderate an exclusive "Bluth family reunion" panel, featuring the creator of "Arrested Development," Mitchell Hurwitz, and the cast: Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, David Cross, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter.

The event will take place at Acura at SIR Stage37 (408 West 37th Street) at 4 P.M. Tickets are $30 and will go on sale here beginning at noon E.T. on Wednesday, September 21st.

Swoon. So now, besides Radiohead, I have yet another show to worry about not getting tickets to.

In other Arrested Development-related news, Alia Shawkat, famous for her role as Mae "Maeby" Fünke, has been moonlighting as a jazz vocalist. On Thursday September 22nd 2011, Alia makes her debut as a jazz vocalist when she hits the stage at Littlefield in Brooklyn. Supercute! opens. Tickets are on sale now!

Complete New Yorker Fest schedule below...

Continue reading "New Yorker Fest adds Arrested Development reunion (the TV show!), more ways to get tix..."

Below you'll find a preview of this year's New Yorker Festival schedule. Tickets will go on sale at 12 noon E.T. on Friday, September 9th.

Continue reading "New Yorker Festival 2011 schedule (St. Vincent, The National, Galifianakis, Aziz Ansari, Scissor Sisters & more)"

Regina Spektor at Tibet House Benefit 2010 (more by Chris La Putt)

The New Yorker Festival is back (Oct 1-3), and will feature a variety of events including a premiere of The Social Network to Werner Herzog to Pee Wee Herman to the dude from Beetlejuice who yells at his kids, and everything in between. So far the musical interview lineup includes Regina Spektor, Yo Yo Ma, Justin Timberlake (promoting "The Social Network") and James Taylor. Sometimes those include short performances, though no performances have been announced so far. Tickets go on sale 9/10 at noon, and all festival details are below...

Continue reading "2010 New Yorker Festival - lineup & ticket info"

Tickets for 2009 New Yorker Festival events go on sale at noon. That includes the Dirty Projectors, House of Ladosha, Jubilee, and Liturgy show happening at the Bell House on Friday, October 16th. You can browse the full schedule at their site, and I've listed a few more select choices below...

Continue reading "New Yorker Festival tickets on sale @ noon"

Neko Case @ All Points West 2009 (more by Chris La Putt & Tim Griffin)

Neko Case has some new stops on her fall North American tour. Her previously announced date at Beacon Theatre on November 16th, with Joey & John of Calexico opening, seems to only have single tickets available. One of the new shows is a performance the night before (11/15) at Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ. Tickets for that go on sale Friday, September 18th at noon. Joey & John of Calexico open NY & NJ (and a few other dates on her tour).

Case is also on the lineup for the New Yorker Festival (October 16th-18th). More specifically, "Neko Case talks with Sasha Frere-Jones: A Conversation with Music" happens at 7:30 p.m. at Acura at Stage37 on 508 West 37th Street on Saturday, October 17th. Tickets for that and all New Yorker Festival events also go on sale Friday at noon.

The singer recently stopped by NPR's World Cafe Live for a session on September 11th. She's currently on a short UK tour, that included a stop in Nottingham on September 12th...

Neko Case took us on a whirlwind tour of her wildlife theme park with songs from Blacklisted, Tigers Have Spoken and Fox Confessor, all evidence of her growing stature as one of alternative country's most original writers.

Orchestrally, "Middle Cyclone" was a quieter number, her backing singer Kelly Hogan playing a poignant musical box.

Hogan supplied most of the spoken intros. "Things That Scare Me" opened a group featuring "People Got A Lotta Nerve", "Fever" and "I'm An Animal". "Hold On, Hold On" was a cracking product of the redhead's partnership with the Sadies. [This is Nottingham]

Continue reading "Neko Case updates tour schedule (Wellmont Theater), New Yorker Festival tix on sale Friday"

DOWNLOAD: Liturgy - Ecstatic Rite (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: House of Ladosha - Burning Like Paris (MP3)

photos by Lori Baily

Liturgy @ Glasslands

Friday | October 16
Brooklyn Playlist | A Special Concert Featuring Bands from the County of Kings
With Dirty Projectors, House of Ladosha, Jubilee, and Liturgy.
Curated by the New Yorker staff writers Sasha Frere-Jones and Kelefa Sanneh.
8 P.M. The Bell House ($25)

Tickets to all events may be purchased starting at 12 noon E.T. on September 18th, at newyorker.com/festival or by calling 800-440-6974.

Liturgy played with Larkin Grimm, Extra Life, and Zs at Glasslands on September 3rd. The rest of the Liturgy pictures from that show are below...

Continue reading "Liturgy - Glasslands pics & New Yorker Fest show details "

Neko Case @ the 2009 Newport Folk Festival (more by Jim Brueckner)

"During the weekend of October 16th through October 18th, The New Yorker will present its tenth annual Festival, a three-day series of events that brings together some of the world's most talented and distinguished people in the fields of literature, art, film, music, humor, business, food, politics, design, and science....

...Pop-music offerings will include interviews with and performances by Neko Case, Bon Iver, Steve Earle, and Loudon Wainwright III; a pub-rock reunion with Ian Hunter, of Mott the Hoople, and Graham Parker, of Graham Parker and the Rumour; and a panel discussion about the music industry with Jace Clayton, Josh Deutsch, Melvin Gibbs, Danny Goldberg, and Livia Tortella. In addition, a special Brooklyn Playlist concert at Brooklyn's Bell House, curated by Sasha Frere-Jones and Kelefa Sanneh, will feature Dirty Projectors, House of Ladosha, Jubilee, and Liturgy."

The New Yorker Festival is happening from October 16th-18th. "This year, the acclaimed New Yorker Festival celebrates a decade of highlighting the people on the cutting edge of contemporary culture. Join us for our tenth anniversary as we bring together today's most talked-about personalities from the worlds of literature, politics, music, and film." Look for the lineup in the week before tickets go on sale Friday, September 18th at noon.

Speaking of SFJ, The 2008 New Yorker Festival has announced everything you need to know. Which events would you recommend? (thx Hiro)

Fiona Apple interviewed @ New Yorker Festival, NYC- Oct 6, 2007 (CRED)

Yo La Tengo @ New Yorker Festival, NYC- Oct 6, 2007 (CRED)

* Be Online B'd
* Tall people took a stand
* Diplo DJ'd at Hiro Ballroom
* Arcade Fire played Randall's Island
* Arcade Fire played in the crown on the Island
* LCD Soundsystem, Blonde Redhead, & Les Savy Fav played too
* Bruce Springsteen was in Philadelphia
* The Melvins played a couple of shows
* Mark Ronson played Webster Hall
* Sigur Ros played three mini shows
* Sharon Jones played the Apollo
* Spoon played Saturday Night Live
* Caribou played Bowery Ballroom
* David Byrne talked about bicycles
* What else went on Saturday & Sunday

DOWNLOAD: Tunng - Bricks (MP3)

David Byrne & Classic Riders Bicycle Club @ Town Hall - Oct 6, 2007 (CRED)

Mr. Byrne, dressed in black and sporting his cool taxi-yellow bike helmet (see our previous StreetFilm here) then rode onto the stage and locked up. Moments later Hal Ruzal, NYC bicycling icon and mechanic at Bicycle Habitat, emerged from behind a curtain to pick his lock with a variety of tools. Mr. Ruzal’s advice on not getting your bike stolen? “Have a bicycle lock that is real expensive, and a bicycle that’s really cheap.” True dat. [StreetFilms]

Continue reading "David Byrne talked bikes, covering Fiery Furnaces ---------------------- Thrill Jockey box set ---- Tunng"

review & photos by Bao Nguyen

Sigur Ros & Heima director Dean DeBlois

While thousands flocked out to Randall's Island to see Arcade Fire and friends, I was one of the lucky few to catch the early screening of Sigur Rós' new film, Heima, which documents the band's 2006 summer tour of Iceland.

continued below...

Continue reading "Sigur Ros - Heima screening & acoustic performance - pics"

After seeing Mark Ronson @ Webster Hall, Bao made his way up to Hiro Ballroom for Sasha Frere-Jones' 2nd annual New Yorker Dance Party w/ Diplo on the decks....

Continue reading "Diplo & S/FJ @ Hiro Ballroom (New Yorker Festival)"

DOWNLOAD: Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: David Byrne - My Fair Lady (MP3)

David Byrne went to the better of the two shows I think...

Went to see Animal Collective and Vampire Weekend at Webster Hall last night (Oct 1). VW was really good — poppy, but fairly skewed too, with bits of soukous guitar thrown in from time to time, as if it was just a way of playing lilting guitar and not a specific African style. They’re not a “world music” act by any stretch; these various styles of playing are all just out there now, to be used when appropriate. I wondered if they sounded a little like early Talking Heads, a little bit, maybe, which of course wouldn’t bother me. They got the crowd moving, which is pretty impressive for an opening act. Catchy tunes too. I’d heard some on an EP or demo CD. They said they’re working on an album now. [Read about Animal Collective's set @ David Byrne's blog]

A few days later David was a special guest at one of Lucinda Williams' Town Hall shows.

This Saturday, David is talking about bikes. He's also talking in Boston on October 10th. (and as a commenter pointed out) It was announced at tonight's Wordless Music Series show, that David Byrne is playing two "Wordless" (with words) shows on January 24th & 25th.

Vampire Weekend's only listed tour dates are in Europe.