My Brightest Diamond @ Bowery Ballroom, Feb. 2013 (more by Caroline Harrison)

The 2013 season of Lincoln Center's free Out of Doors festival happens from July 24 to August 11 at various outdoor venues in and around Lincoln Center. The centerpiece of this year's season is "KRONOS at 40" which is being dubbed "a festival in a festival," with 12 performances happening between July 24 - 28. is a series of events in collaboration with The Kronos Quartet. They include premieres and commissioned work by Kronos Quartet; Mark Dendy Dance & Theater Projects; Red, Hot + FELA LIVE!; Superhuman Happiness; Mariana Sadovska; Jherek Bischoff; Dan Deacon; Amon Tobin and performances by Asphalt Orchestra (performing The Pixies' Surfer Rosa); My Brightest Diamond; Emily Wells; The Gloaming; Found Sound Nation; Dan Zanes; Ozomatli, and more.

Other highlights include Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra, Rubén Blades, Nick Lowe, Allan Toussaint, and Jason Isbell. You can read more at Lincoln Center Out of Doors' website, and the full schedule is below.

Continue reading "free 2013 Lincoln Center Out of Doors fest ("Kronos at 40," Amanda Palmer, Nick Lowe, My Brightest Diamond & more)"

Frightened Rabbit @ T5, Nov. 2010 (more by Lionel Bergeron)

SXSW has just announced another round of bands for the 2013 edition of the annual music festival that will happen March 12 - 17. This brings the total current number of acts to around 1300. Someome of the highlights include Vampire Weekend, Frightened Rabbit, The Thermals, Black Lips, Camera Obscura, Merchandise, Bleached, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Eagles of Death Metal, Parenthetical Girls, Indians, Night Beds, IO Echo, KEN Mode, Prince Paul, Pure Bathing Culture, Sepalcure, UK motorik post-punks TOY, Finnish instrumentalists K-X-P, Toronto's Moon King, UK indie rockers Splashh (not Brooklyn Splash with one "h") and loads more. Head to BV Austin for the whole Round 3 list.

"WXPN, the nationally-recognized leader in Triple A (Adult Album Alternative) music and noncommercial radio service of the University of Pennsylvania today announced the lineup for the 2012 XPoNential Music Festival presented by Subaru. Wilco, Counting Crows, Avett Brothers, Dr. Dog, The Hold Steady, Kathleen Edwards, Diego Garcia, War On Drugs, John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders and many more acts will play the weekend festival at Camden County's Wiggins Park and the Susquehanna Bank Center located on the Camden waterfront from Friday, July 20th - Sunday, July 22nd.

This year, WXPN has extended the festival to include Susquehanna Bank Center performances on Saturday and Sunday nights. WILCO, THE AVETT BROTHERS and DR. DOG will perform on Saturday, July 21 and COUNTING CROWS will perform on Sunday, July 22. Lawn seat admission to both Susquehanna Bank Center shows is included with the purchase of a 3-Day Pass to the XPoNential Music Festival. "

XPoNential Music Festival tickets are on sale. Full lineup below...

Continue reading "XPoNential Music Festival 2012 lineup announced"

Bill Callahan @ MHOW in July (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook returns to the elegant Allen Room in January for its fourteenth season celebrating the diversity of American popular song. For 16 nights the series will explore the best of the golden age of musical standards through to today's most dynamic songwriting. The music of Broadway, Latin culture and hip-hop, bluegrass, rock, and pop will be presented, along with three evenings devoted to great American composers and lyricists. The 2012 season - January 11 through February 11 - will bring to the stage some of today's most gifted interpreters of song, including Tony Award winners Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, and LaChanze, as well as the "Queen of British Musicals," the great Elaine Paige. In keeping with American Songbook's tradition of honoring great composers and lyricists, those being celebrated this season are William Finn (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Falsettos), folk icon Woody Guthrie, and Jule Styne (Gypsy, Funny Girl). A relatively new composer on the scene, multiple Tony-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) will open the series with a new rap composition about Alexander Hamilton. Also performing in the rap/hip- hop vein is the exciting ensemble Ozomatli.

From the rock canon will be J.D. Souther, performing songs he wrote for Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles as well as newer compositions, guitar god Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth doing an acoustic set, and the wildly expressive Merrill Garbus, known as tUnE-yArDs.

Singer/songwriters, both emerging and veteran, are part of American Songbook as well. Diva of the demi-monde Keren Ann is part of the series, as is the man whose deep voice and masculine presence has earned him the nickname "The John Wayne of Indie Rock," Bill Callahan.

The spectacular Allen Room is located in Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center on Broadway at 60th Street. 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 14, 2011 at Lincoln Center's website www.AmericanSongbook.org, via CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, at the Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office. Tickets for the Friends of Lincoln Center go on sale November 3, and single tickets go on sale to the public beginning November 14.

Continue reading "Lincoln Center's American Songbook 2012 Season (Thurston Moore, tUnE-yArDs, Bill Callahan, Keren Ann & more)"

Memorial Day Weekend officially opened the summer, and for those in the Pacific Northwest it also brought Sasquatch Music Festival (pictures from all three days are coming soon). Now the lineup for its Labor Day cousin, Bumbershoot 2010, has been announced. That fest, happening at Seattle, WA's Seattle Center September 4th-6th, will include headliners Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Weezer, Hole, Rise Against, Neko Case, The Decemberists, J. Cole and "one more very special guest to be announced soon."

Tickets (including non-Mainstage 'economy' passes) are on sale now. The rest of the lineup (by day) for the seven-stage festival is posted below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2010 lineup (Bob Dylan... Hole... Mary J Blige)"

ACL 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

October 8-10, 2010 | Zilker Park, Austin, TX

"The Austin City Limits Music Festival began as a modest, two-day event and now, as it enters it's 9th year, has become a perennial American music experience. Taking place at the heart of Austin, Texas in the legendary Zilker Park, ACL Festival has grown to 3 days, 8 stages and over 130 bands."

Continue reading "Austin City Limits announces 2010 festival lineup (Eagles, Muse, Phish, Strokes, MIA, LCD, Spoon, Gayngs, more) "

Celebrate Brooklyn '09 (more by Chris La Putt)

The Celebrate Brooklyn series' 2010 schedule is out. Check out the free (or $3 suggested donation) shows that will be happening at Prospect Park this summer below.

There's the previously mentioned shows with Norah Jones, Konono No. 1, Sonic Youth (who have Talk Normal and Grass Widow opening for them), Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings with Budos Band, Swell Season and the Low Anthem, Metric, The Roots and Allen Toussaint, all for free. The ticketed benefit shows are Rufus Wainwright on July 20th, Dead Weather on August 3rd, and already-sold-out shows with Passion Pit and The National.

The full schedule is below...

Continue reading "Celebrate Brooklyn's 2010 Prospect Park concert lineup"

"STREET SCENE, one of the nation's longest running music festivals, will celebrate its 25th anniversary with two full days of music Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29. The Black Eyed Peas, M.I.A., Thievery Corporation, Modest Mouse, The Dead Weather and Cake are among the more than 35 acts that will bring the streets of downtown San Diego's East Village neighborhood alive with music and entertainment from 4:00 PM to midnight daily. The venue site will include Tailgate Park (adjacent to Petco Park) in the heart of East Village, incorporating 14th Street as the main thoroughfare and bordered by Imperial Avenue to J Street."

Continue reading "San Diego's Street Scene Festival announces 2009 lineup"

photos by Ailecia Ruscin

The Flaming Lips are hitting at least 17 music festivals this summer. Of that 17, four have already happened. There was Summer Camp, Jam on the River and Sasquatch. And then there was last weekend at Wakarusa in Lawrence, Kansas (home of Williams S Burroughs from 1981-1997). Like Jam on the River, Wakarusa was heavy on the jam bands. STS9, Lotus, Galactic, Tea Leaf Green, and Keller Williams were all on the bill. So were Mates of State, Dr. Dog, Cake, Tilly and the Wall, Bettye Lavette, Old 97's, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Arrested Development, Built to Spill and many more. And like a lot of summer festivals, Wakarusa was forced to deal with rain delays and related artist cancellations. And there was camping....

People of all ages find elaborate ways to set up their campsites, entertain themselves, sleep comfortably, at least as well as you can in 85 degrees, and grill up some grub. Since it's equal parts music and camping at Wakarusa, having the right supplies improves the experience. T.J. Baker, 23, Lawrence, said sleeping comfortably is key. Hammocks are the best, he said.

"I'm envious I don't have one with me, especially for napping," he said, looking at a yellow hammock his friend was sound alseep in. Eric Blakie, 22, and Jake Via, 23, both from Buffalo, N.Y., made the 16-hour road trip for the festival, so there was no going back for that forgotten toothbrush or towel... [Lawrence Journal]

As you know by now, Flaming Lips have integrated nudity into their already-over-the-top stage show. That stayed true at Wakarusa and one of the girls even seemed to be sending NYC a message. We read you loud and clear...

Continue reading "Wakarusa 2008 pics, sticks, Flaming Lips, more nude women"