by Bill Pearis

The 85th Academy Awards happened last night (and a little bit into today) with Argo nabbing three Oscars, including Best Picture. Adele and her producer/songwriting partner Paul Epworth accepted the Best Original Song Oscar for "Skyfall" right after the singer performed the song onstage. Kind of weird to see Epworth, who 10 years ago fronted highly-politicized postpunk band Lomax, onstage in a tux. The other music-related award went to Rodriguez documentary Searching for Sugarman. Too bad the couldn't have gotten him to perform as well. He'll be performing in NYC in April for two shows -- both of which are sold out.

In other news, Best Live Action Short went to Curfew which was written and directed by its star, Shawn Christensen, who some of you may remember as frontman of early-'00s band stellastarr* (who haven't officially broken up but are on indefinite hiatus).

There were plenty of other musical performances, though, as last night's ceremony was a themed celebration of "music in films" and featured more singing and dancing than we've gotten in a few years. The highlight for me was certainly the tribute to Bond themes, culminating in Shirley Bassey belting out "Goldfinger" and showing she's still got an amazing set of pipes at age 76. If you missed the very long telecast (over four hours) hosted by Seth McFarlane, the whole thing is streaming at Hulu.

Adele's theme song from Bond flick Skyfall was one of the five nominees for Best Song in the 85th Academy Awards which were announced this morning (1/10). Other nominees include Norah Jones' "Everybody Needs a Friend" from Ted; Scarlett Johanssen and Joshua Bell's "Before My Time" from documentary Chasing Ice; "Pi's Theme" from Life of Pi; and "Suddenly," one of the new songs penned for the new version of Les Misérables. Not the most exciting list (songs by Karen O, Fiona Apple, Arcade Fire, and Rick Ross were on the eligible list) but at least we got five noms this year -- only two songs were nominated in 2012 (they changed the eligibility rules after that happened). Videos and streams for all five are below.

Also nominated was Searching for Sugar Man, the terrific documentary about '70s cult musician Rodriguez. The DVD of that film is out January 22.

Steven Speilberg's Lincoln and Ang Lee's Life of Pie led this year's nominations with 12 and 11 each, respectively. Nine films were nominated for Best Picture this year: Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty.

The 85th Academy Awards will be given out February 24th in Los Angeles. A full list of nominees are below.

Continue reading "Oscar reveals 2013 nominees (Adele's "Skyfall" included)"

YACHT @ Treasure Island 2011 (more by Autumn Andel)

today in NYC
* ASSSSCAT 3000 @ UCB
* Joe Budden @ Irving Plaza
* Todd Rundgren @ City Winery
* YACHT afterparty @ Public Assembly
* The Oscar Show at the Pit
* Fred Armisen, Azita @ Union Pool
* Pauline Oliveros, Triple Point @ The Stone
* Marc Ribot Really the Blues @ Iridium
* JabberJosh, Bezoar, Xaddax @ Death By Audio
* Royal Baths, Pigeons, Invisible Circle @ The Suffolk
* Johnny Cash 80th Birthday Tribute @ The Grand Victory
* Big Ups, Ritz Riot, Cut Your Teeth, Fuck 666 @ Cake Shop
* Billy Martin & Wil Blades Duo, Baker's Dozen @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Sharon Van Etten, Carter Tanton, Glass Ghost @ Bowery Ballroom
* Chappo, Rioux, The Wellington Papers, Jackpot, Tiger @ Glasslands
* YACHT, Jeffrey Jerusalem, Bobby Birdman @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* White Out, Anders Nilsson, Eleven Twenty-Nine, Loren Connors @ Zebulon
* The Viscounts, Amy Sheehan & The LoveHowl, Brian Bonz, Robin Bacior @ Pianos
* Nullsleep, Casper Electronics, Crudlabs Sound System, Selectronics @ Shea Stadium
* The Netherlands, Fall of the Albatross, Exemption, Beyond The Throne @ The Acheron
* The Pharmacy, Liquor Store, Osekre and The Lucky Bastards, The Spooks @ Big Snow Buffalo Lodge
* Nico Muhly, Nadia Sirota, Vijay Iyer, Prasanna, Nitin Mitta, Tania Leon, Zack Glass, Michael Reisman, The Collegiate Chorale, Brooklyn Youth Chorus @ Park Avenue Armory
* Wyatt Cenac, Baratunde Thurston, Charlotte Macdonald, Alex Koll, Kyle Bostic, Hannibal Buress @ Knitting Factory

YACHT headlines Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight, and then walks next door to DJ the afterparty at Public Assembly.

The Oscars are on tonight.

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Check out Islands' new video for "Hallways", below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday? (Oscars)"

Sharon Van Etten @ BV-SXSW 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Sharon Van Etten, who recently opened for and played with The National, contributed backing vocals to a song The National wrote for the movie "Win Win". That song, "Think You Can Wait", is on the shortlist of 39 songs eligible to be nominated for an Oscar. That list, reprinted in full below, also includes songs by Jonsi and She & Him.

In other Sharon news, after the show sold out today, it was revealed that she is the secret guest playing with Ted Leo at Maxwell's on New Year's Eve! (not the first time they've shared a bill). She's also appearing on WNYC's Soundcheck on January 17th. You can buy tickets to attend the afternoon taping at the Greene Space. You can also still buy tickets for other shows she has coming up which will be in support of her new album.

Continue reading "Sharon Van Etten is Ted Leo's special guest, playing the Greene Space, shortlisted for an Oscar (sort of)"

Congrats Trent. Sorry Banksy.

Continue reading "Trent Reznor wins Oscar, 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' doesn't"

"Are we happy or sad if exit through the gift shop wins? #obeygiant" - Shepard Fairey

"Earlier [in January] I noted that Banksy had finally spoken about the artist Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash) profiled in his now Oscar nominated film Exit Through the Gift Shop . Still, suspicions run fairly rampant that he either doesn't exist or is merely the latest prank creation by Banksy. Guetta has now given sworn statements that the artwork is his own, as he's the subject of a copyright lawsuit initiated by photographer Glen E. Friedman. The two Run DMC images above should make that fairly obvious (as well as several others after the jump).

Friedman is arguing that Guetta used, without credit or permission, his iconic photo of Run DMC on invitations, artworks, merchandise and promotional materials. The Hollywood Reporter broke this story, connected some of the dots between many of the people involved, and then suggested it's basically the same situation as the Associated Press vs. Shepard Fairey case surrounding the Obama 'Hope' image. It's not, and for number of reasons which I'll get to in a second..." [Boing Boing]

That said, the real human who is known as Mr. Brainwash made an appearance Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards where "Exit" won best documentary, and he will be at the Oscars, but the LA Times says...

The big question as of Sunday morning remained whether Banksy himself would show up to the Oscars. On the red carpet before the [Independent Spirit Awards], Guetta engaged in some playfulness. "We'll see. This is like the movie: Can we explain the movie? No. Can we know that the movie is real or not? No. Can we know if he's going to show up? I don't know."

But then he also said that, indeed, he and the reclusive street artist could have a plan. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't know," he said, offering a coy smile.

By the way, Exit Through the Gift Shop is on Netflix on-demand.

The Washington Post talked to Thierry on the ISA red carpet too. That interview and other videos (including Exit Through The Pet Shop), below....

Continue reading "Mr. Brainwash (possibly real) being sued, was at Independent Spirit Awards, will be at the Oscars (but will Banksy?)"

today in NYC
* Evillive
* Oscars
* Asscat 3000 @ UCB
* Louis CK @ Caroline's
* Emily Wells @ Ace Hotel
* Rob Curto @ Barbes
* Baby Soda @ Barbes
* Bear Hands @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Hannibal Buress @ Knitting Factory
* D.R.I., Mucky Pup @ Starland Ballroom
* Lupe Fiasco @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Joe Mande, James Harris & more comedy @ Beauty Bar
* Lionel Loueke Trio w/ Jason Moran @ Jazz Standard
* Ted Hearne, loadbang, Andy Akiho @ Littlefield
* Bird Names, Key Demo, Animal Hospital @ Zebulon
* Bruce Lamont, Lichens, Kevin Hufnagel, Cocaine and Abel @ Union Pool
* The Pendulum Swings (Jason Trachtenburg), Gigi & Pop @ Bruar Falls
* Cellular Chaos, Satanized, Drums Like Machine Guns, White Suns @ Cake Shop
* Pretty Good Friends w/ Michael Showalter, Eugene Mirman, Kumail Nanjiani @ The Bell House

Disney Hipsters

Listen to Donald Rumsfeld and Louis CK on Opie & Anthony, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

P.S. 22

"Because English singer-songwriter Dido, who is nominated with Rollo Armstrong and A.R. Rahman for "If I Rise" from 127 Hours, was not available for tonight's show, the producers have recruited Florence Welch from Florence + the Machine to appear with Rahman. Welch is coming off a standout performance in the opening number of the Grammys.

Along with the best original song nominees, tonight's show also will feature the P.S. 22 Chorus, an elementary school chorus from Staten Island, N.Y., who will make a joyous musical appearance singing "Over the Rainbow," according to The Hollywood Reporter." [BAM's Blog]

P.S. 22 recently posted a newer cover of Ariel Pink's "Round And Round" (newer than the one they posted in January). Check that out, and a Katy Perry cover they did at an Oscar press conference (they're going to sing with Katy Perry on Oprah on Monday), below...

Continue reading "Florence Welch & P.S. 22 on the Oscars (Dido couldn't make it)"

Florence & The Machine at Terminal 5 (more by Chris La Putt)

"ARETHA TRIBUTE
Enough to put Aretha six feet under.
Note to Christina... SUBTLETY! And just because you're in the public eye that doesn't mean anybody wants to pay to see you. What planet are you living on? AND LOSE THE HAND!
As to why Florence and Martina were there...can you say DEMOGRAPHICS?
At least Jennifer Hudson can sing, even if she does look like a completely different person."
[Bob Lefsetz]

The NYC show comes during a run of summer shows that include other headlining performances and some gigs with U2 as part of their 360 Tour. All dates are listed below.

In the meantime, you can catch Florence Welch on the Oscars in a couple of weeks. She'll perform "If I Rise" from the 127 Hours soundtrack with composer AR Rahman . Video of last night's Grammys performance is below.

Speaking of U2 (who's Spiderman Broadway musical is getting hammered right now), tickets are still available for their show at the Meadowlands on Jul 20th with Interpol who also open a bunch other dates on the rescheduled tour.

Interpol are now on tour with School of Seven Bells and will play their headlining show at Radio City Music Hall this week (on 2/17). Tickets are still available. In March they head to Europe with Matthew Dear before returning to tour even more leading up to their run with U2. All dates for everyone and a video from the Grammys below...

Continue reading "Florence & the Machine playing Summerstage, touring w/ U2 before Interpol do (2011 tour dates)"

"The PS22 Chorus is an elementary school chorus from Public School 22 in Graniteville, Staten Island (New York). It is composed of 60-70 fifth-graders, and is directed by Gregg Breinberg. Students are assigned to the chorus after an annual auditioning process at the beginning of each school year. PS22 is the largest elementary school in Staten Island which draws students from a wide cross section of ethnic groups and socio-economic levels. The chorus meets twice a week during school hours to practice, and performs throughout the year at school functions, local events, and on special requests. It has been featured on several major national news and music networks after its videos had gained international attention within the popular video-sharing site YouTube. As of January, 2011 the chorus's videos have been watched more than 27,000,000 times." [Wikipedia]

Their first appearance on this site came when they appeared on stage with Crowded House at Wellmont Theater. You might also know them as the children's chorus you hear on Passion Pit's "The Reeling."

Check out some brand new videos below, shot by filmmaker Jonathan Kalafer, of the group during some improv sessions and one of them doing an acoustic version of MGMT's "Kids" (a song they were already famous for covering). A recent one of the chorus covering Freelance Whales and some other ones are down there too...

Continue reading "PS22 going to Academy Awards, covered MGMT (new videos) "

Music (Original Score)
"How to Train Your Dragon" John Powell
"Inception" Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech" Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours" A.R. Rahman
"The Social Network" Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Eugene Mirman @ Bell House earlier this month (more by Ryan Muir)

tonight in NYC
* The Beets @ Ace Hotel
* Sourvein, Ramps @ Charleston
* Summer Cats, Onward Chariots @ Bruar Falls
* Xenia Rubinos, Arrington De Dionyso @ Pianos
* Hans Chew, Soft Black, Zachary Cale @ Union Pool
* Kidrockers w/ Beach Fossils, Bottle Up & Go @ Living Room
* Data Dog, Dearling Physique, Eric Lindley @ The Cameo
* RJD2, Break Science, Happy Chichester @ Highline Ballroom
* Title Tracks, Pretty & Nice, Gold Drum, Mussels @ Cake Shop
* Care Bears On Fire, Tangents, Jack Skuller @ (early) Cake Shop
* Awesome Color, Tyvek, Talk Normal, CSC Funk Band @ Market Hotel
* Little Women, Ryan Power, Buke and Gass, Sam Mickens @ Death By Audio
* Jason Anderson, White Pines, Matt Jones, The Long Eye @ Public Assembly
* Tearing the Veil of Maya w/ Eugene Mirman & Michael Showalter @ Union Hill
* Washed Out, Small Black, Pictureplane, Oneohtrix Point Never @ Mercury Lounge

Washed Out and Small Black play two nights in a row at Mercury Lounge together.

Awesome Color and Tyvek's tour together (which includes SXSW) comes to Market Hotel for a show with Talk Normal (who'll be at SXSW too) and CSC Funk Band. Talk Normal goes on tour with Xiu Xiu and Tune-Yards after that.

Little Women are a twisted, beyond-energetic jazz quartet that's putting their first full-length, Throat, out April 13th on Aum Fidelity. (((unartig))) recently put together a video retrospective on the group. They play Death By Audio tonight with Ryan Power, Buke and Gass and Sam Mickens.

"The sound awards usually go to the loudest movies, which mean "Avatar" or "The Hurt Locker" this year. "Avatar" may have the edge because this category favors blockbusters like past winners "The Dark Knight" and "King Kong." But I'm betting on "Hurt Locker" here for two reasons. There's a lot of love for this film and voters will want to spread it around. Secondly, it probably strikes voters as the loudest film because it's about bombs going off (or not going off). Recent winner in this category was another war movie up for best picture, "Letters From Iwo Jima."" [LA Times]

RJD2 hits Highline Ballroom tonight. While in Philly he was interviewed by Joe Walker of Breakfast at Sulimay's. Check that out below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday? (besides the Oscars)"

by Ryan Barkan

Duffy @ Lollapalooza 2008 (more by Bao Nguyen)

The cola war has been heating up globally in the last couple of months with music as the weapon of choice.

Pepsi's image rebranding campaign, including a new smile-esque logo, launched right after Christmas with a tv commercial featuring The Apples in Stereo song, "Energy". They then went deep during the Super Bowl, dropping a spot featuring Bob Dylan and Will.I.Am singing "Forever Young" as the beverage's new anthem.

Coke counters with a European spot for Diet Coke that features a playful Duffy doing things on her time during an encore break at a concert. In the commercial, she sings a cover of Sammy Davis Jr's "I Gotta Be Me."

When Sara Tate, a senior planner at the London advertising agency Mother, was asked to find a new face for Diet Coke, she knew what she didn't want. "Definitely no rent-a-face," says Tate, whose ad with Duffy will launch on British television, before rolling out across Europe. "We steered clear of yet another glamorous star with a six-figure fee who will promote anything if the price is right. The public is getting smart to that. We wanted someone who is well known, but not hugely famous. Someone who is on the rise, for whom fame is recent enough that they remember what it is like to have a regular life. Duffy was a perfect fit because, although she is extremely successful, she's still incredibly down to earth." [Via Times Online]

Coke's second attack is from Justice - Coke enlisted the duo along with Ed Banger Records' So_Me to design a glow-in-the-dark bottle and provide the soundtrack, their massive jam "D.A.N.C.E.", to a commercial. The bottle will be available in clubs throughout Europe. See the bottle in the commercial below.

The third assault from the Coke comes in their Full Throttle NHRA spots; three of the five have licensed songs: The Faces has "Blue Moon" by the Mavericks, The Machine kicks it country with Merle Haggard's "Working Man Blues", and Left Behind features Operator Please's "Zero Zero."

The final wave occurred as I was writing this article. A one-two punch during the Oscars with both The Boy Least Likely To's "Be Gentle With Me" and Sea Ray's "Revelry" showing up in Coke spots during the telecast on ABC (no video available yet). For those not familiar with the band, Sea Ray broke up in 2005.

Other Notable Licensing News:

Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing (Duffy, Justice, Sonic Youth, Franz Ferdinand, Radiohead, Sea Ray & more...) "

DOWNLOAD: Motel Motel - Coffee (MP3)

Todd Barry in the Wrestler

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Les Paul @ Iridium
* Ferraby Lionheart @ Pianos
* Jimmy Eat World @ Terminal 5
* Whiplash @ UCB w/ Patton Oswalt
* It is It comedy @ Pianos w/ Todd Barry

Aziz Ansari was born today in 1983.

And a belated happy birthday to Yoko Ono who was born February 18, 1933.

If Pianos sticks to set times, you could potentially start the night with the free 8PM It is It comedy show . The lineup is Todd Barry (of The Wrestler), Chelsea Peretti, Kevin Williams, and Rob Cantrell. Then you could stick around for most of Ferraby Lionheart's set. It's his last residency show. Then you could jump in a cab and get to the UCB Theatre on 26th St. and see Leo Allen's free weekly Whiplash show. One of this week's guests is Patton Oswalt who just got done playing multiple nights at Caroline's.

As Todd told San Francisco Comedy Blog, he plays Mickey Rourke's boss at his day job. Mickey lost the Best Actor Oscar to Sean Penn at last night's Academy Awards which closed with a recorded cover of Bob Dylan by Beck. Mickey did win the Independent Spirit Award though.

Kate Winslet won best actress for The Reader. Nico Muhly composed the soundtrack to that movie.

M.I.A. did not win an Oscar.

Vicodin earrings.

Cheap Ballet tickets.

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday.

They're giving away 2 VIP tickets to the REM tribute at Carnegie Hall to the the person who uploads the best video of themselves covering R.E.M. to YouTube.

Motel Motel were added to the upcoming Phosphorescent show.

Paul Weller won a Brit Award. U2, who are streaming their new album at MySpace, performed at the ceremony. Video below..

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

...was "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat". You can find it on the new War Child Heroes CD.

M.I.A.'s baby boy (Pink is the New Blog)

M.I.A. who wouldn't risk her health to perform on the Oscars, and Peter Gabriel who wouldn't compromise his integrity to perform on the Oscars, lost the title of "Best Song" to Slumdog's Millionare's "Jai Ho", the song credited to A.R. Rahman who also won a few minutes before that for the entire soundtrack too.

You can hear "Jai Ho" in the video below...

Continue reading "M.I.A didn't win the Oscar, but Slumdog Millionare still did"

Slumdog Millionare's soundtrack does it again.

Continue reading "Slumdog Millionare's A.R.Rahman wins Best Score -------------- Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto"

The Room isn't nominated for an Oscar this year, which makes sense since it came out in 2003, and because according to those who've seen it, it's one of the worst movies ever made. Naturally then, there is serious excitement that it is finally coming to NYC. The March 20th screening at Village East Cinema is sold out, but Lindsay says they're adding a second one on the same date at the same theater. Look for tickets to go on sale Tuesday.

Those who were nominated for Oscars include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionare and M.I.A. and Peter Gabriel. Who will win? Find out tonight on ABC.

"It would be a great honor," Mr. Rahman said with characteristic diffidence in a phone interview this week from Los Angeles, where he was preparing to perform at the ceremony. "It would help me to do bigger things."

Ask him what those bigger things might be, however, and he grows even quieter. Naming some Western directors he would like to work with, he sounds distracted, almost bored, as if the future is just too abstract to worry about.

"Baz Luhrmann," he said. A beat, then: "Ridley Scott. I'm a big fan of Ridley." [NY TIMES]

The Room trailer below...

Continue reading "The Room is coming, so are the Oscars "

IM ON TV!

TODAY I WENT ON T.V

I did CNN HEADLINE NEWS

CNN LATIN AMERICA

AND TAVIS SMILEY ON PBS WHICH WILL AIR AS I POST THIS!!!

tomaro
im gonna do
al jazeera
france 24 and
ap t.v

I want you to know that , everyone has been asking me on the shows to talk about the sudden popularity im experiencing, the babies, the grammies the oscars etc

and i want you to know that this has been part of the plan from day 1.

this is the only oppotunity i have had to do something about the genocide in Sri Lanka and im seizing that oppotunity

so for a lil while im gonna go from being

M.I.A. TO I. Y. F.

IN YA FACE!!!!!!!!!!!
[M.I.A.]

She left the above message on her MySpace blog before the Grammys. On the Tavis Smiley show she talked about being accused of being a terrorist, being the only Tamil in the Western media which gives her the platform to speak for the Tamil civilians, not to be confused with the Tamil Tigers. Watch the video below...

Continue reading "M.I.A., still pregnant?, on TV - planned to be popular, doing something about Tamil civilian genocide (video)"

The Dark Knight, the superhero thriller that was expected to make history as the first comic-book adaptation to take a best-picture nomination, and Gran Torino, which the Hollywood veteran starred in and directed, were left out of the contest for Oscar's top prize.

Instead, the far more serious Holocaust-themed The Reader took the fifth berth and its director, Stephen Daldry, also managed to slip into his category.

The other nominees announced for top prize in the 81st Academy Awards Thursday morning in Los Angeles followed the script of the prognosticators: the era-spanning fable The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which led the crowd with 13 nominations; gay-themed political biopic Milk; TV-landmark drama Frost/Nixon; and romantic crowd-pleaser Slumdog Millionaire. [USA Today]

Continue reading "M.I.A., Peter Gabriel & others were nominated for Oscars"

Continue reading "Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly - Oscars video"

She won the Independent Spirit Award too. More photos & the full list of Oscar winners below....

Continue reading "Diablo Cody (Juno), No Country For Old Men, & the complete list of 2008 Oscar Winners"

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova @ the Oscars, Feb 24, 2008

'There is a certain poetry in a Grafton Street busker playing the Oscars," grins Glen Hansard.

"I feel like a plumber at a flower show. The indie rocker in me wants to say it's a load of bollocks, but if you are gonna get an award in this life, why not try and get yourself an Oscar?" The 37-year-old Dublin musician's life has the kind of fairy-tale arc that would make a good film, if it hadn't already been turned into one.

Hansard is the co-star of Once, a shoe-string budget feature (made for under £100,000) about an Irish busker and his platonic relationship with a Czech immigrant, played by 19-year-old Marketa Irglova. From extremely humble beginnings ("We never even thought it was going to get released, we just thought we might sell some DVDs after gigs"), it went on to win an award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and become one of the art-house hits of the year, grossing $7 million in its first three months. Hansard and Irglova have been invited to perform their duet "Falling Slowly" at tomorrow's tonight's Oscars, where they have been nominated in the Best Original Song category. [Telegraph]

UPDATE: 2: Watch their performance & acceptance speech.

Next up: Radio City Music Hall, and another tour.....

Continue reading "The Swell Season (Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova) @ the Oscars, playing Radio City, Coachella, 2008 Tour Dates"

RZA gets busy @ Studio B, NYC - Feb 22, 2008 (Tod Seelie)

* The Academy Awards
* W.A.S.P is playing Irving Plaza
* The Magnetic Fields are @ Town Hall
* Chrisette Michele is at Highline Ballroom
* Headlights & Evangelicals are @ Mercury Lounge
* Wye Oak, Pontiak & The Selmanaires are playing Cake Shop
* Super Furry Animals & Times New Viking are playing Bowery
* Dalek, Russian Circles, & Young Widows are playing Maxwell's
* Atlas Sound, White Rainbow & Valet @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Demetri Martin, Will Ferrell & Zach Galifianakis @ Radio City Music Hall

For a Sunday there are a lot of good shows going on, not to mention the Oscars. Given all the competition, I'm guessing the Cake Shop show featuring one of Merge Records' latest signings unfortunately won't be getting much attention. More Wye Oak tour dates below.

Sorry for taking a few days off of "What's going on" posts. What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday? (Wye Oak, Oscars)"

Seth Meyers on strike - November 5, 2007 (CRED)

He (Lorne Michaels) is wary about what is going to happen this weekend when this venerable sketch show returns after more than three months. So for Saturday's return he has enlisted Tina Fey, an "SNL" alum, and the country singer Carrie Underwood............Mr. Michaels said that even with her familiarity with the show, he picked Ms. Fey as host because "it was just the right time for her." He noted that she had won a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild award and a Producers Guild award in recent months, "all in stealth fashion." Next week's host is Ellen Page, star of the Oscar-nominated film "Juno." After that things get murky until May when Shia LeBoeuf and Steve Carell are committed, largely because both have films ("Indiana Jones" for Mr. LeBoeuf and "Get Smart" for Mr. Carell) opening this spring. [NY Times]

If the general public had any say in the matter, this year's best picture Oscar would go to Juno rather than joint favourites There Will be Blood and No Country For Old Men. For good measure, 20-year-old Ellen Page would scoop the best actress award while Johnny Depp would be named best actor for his turn in Sweeney Todd. Each is considered a long shot, at best, to win an Oscar this Sunday.