Regina Spektor: BBC Radio 3 Mixing It Session, 29 June 2006

Previously
"Chelsea Hotel" covers & Regina Spektor on the Strokes | MP3s

DOWNLOAD (MP3s)
Keren Ann - "Chelsea Hotel" [more here]
Regina Spektor - "Chelsea Hotel"
The Strokes & Regina Spektor - "Post Modern Girls"
("Chelsea Hotel is a Leonard Cohen song)

"On her new release (one of my favorite albums of the year), Begin to Hope, singer, songwriter and pianist Regina Spektor sings in her native Russian for the first time." [NPR]

"The Strokes, pals who famously gave Spektor her first big break by bringing her on tour as an opener, were among her inspirations. 'The thing that blew my mind first hearing the Strokes was that they were the closest I had heard rock come to classical,' she says. 'Their music is extraordinarily orderly and composed. It's almost like Mozart.' When 'Better,' Hope's first single, needed some oomph, Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi stepped in and lent the song its precise, driving kick." [Village Voice]

"A new film about Leonard Cohen does a remarkable thing: it gets him to talk. And what a pleasure it is. Here's Cohen, for example, on his long-standing reputation as a ladies' man - it was, he says, 'a joke. It caused me to laugh bitterly the 10,000 nights I spent alone.'" [Telegraph]

Regina Spektor's Begin To Hope comes out today. STREAM IT AT AOL MUSIC

Pitchfork gave it a 7.5 yesterday.

TONIGHT (June 13), Regina is playing a free in-store @ Tower Records (4th & Broadway) @ 7:30 pm. You need a wristband to get in. To get one, go there now and buy the album. Later TONIGHT she'll be on Conan O'Brien.

VIDEOS
Samson: WIN HI | WIN LOW | QUICKTIME HI | QUICKTIME LOW
Better: WIN HI | WIN LOW | QUICKTIME HI | QUICKTIME LOW

Last week she played a private/contest show at Angel Orensanz on the Lower East Side.

Previously
Regina Spektor | New Songs, Tour Dates & Presale
Dear CMJ, Love Regina Spektor

Regina Spektor has new songs streaming on her MySpace. A presale starts soon for the following tour dates...

REGINAS 2006 TOUR DATES
Saturday 4/8/2006 Cabaret Music Hall Montreal, QC
Sunday 4/9/2006 Axis Boston, MA
Tuesday 4/11/2006 Warsaw Brooklyn, NY
Saturday 4/15/2006 Theatre of the Living Arts Philadelphia, PA
Sunday 4/16/2006 9:30 Club Washington, DC
Monday 4/24/2006 The Mod Club Toronto, ON
Wednesday 4/26/2006 Martyr's Chicago, IL
Saturday 4/29/2006 Ascot Room Minneapolis, MN
Tuesday 5/2/2006 Fox Theatre- Boulder Boulder, CO
Saturday 5/13/2006 The Independent San Francisco, CA

Previously
Regina Spektor @ Tonic, NYC | Pics
Dear CMJ, Love Regina Spektor

REGINA SPEKTOR
thursday, october 6th at 8pm
at the skirball center for the performing arts (566 laguardia place)
tickets are $7 for nyu students (available now) and $15 for non-nyu
students (available day of show) @ the shagan box office, 566 laguardia place 9

Previously
2nd Rufus Wainwright date w/ Regina Spektor | presale
Dear CMJ, Love Regina Spektor

Rufus Wainwright's November 1st show at the Beacon Theater in NYC is sold out, so he added a 2nd show on November 2nd with Regina Spektor as opener. Tickets go on sale Friday, but are already on pre-sale at Rufus' site.

Previously
Dear CMJ, Love Regina Spektor
Rufus Wainwright in NYC & DC | presales & free Loudon shows

Regina Spektor played what was probably her biggest headlining show yet at Irving Plaza Thursday night (Sept 15, 2005) for CMJ. I was gonna try and go after Arcade Fire @ Summerstage (and before Cloud Cult @ 169 Bar), but then I found out I could get in to Gang of Four @ Hard Rock. Here's a letter Regina sent to her mailing list after the show...

----
Hello every-wonderful/beautiful-one!

i just wanted to send a small note to you all, because i couldn't not send one. i wanted to share some of my happiness and gratitude to everyone who came out to the show at Irving Plaza...Before sound check there were still 26 tickets left, and after, there were none... all full... but i didn't really know what that felt like till i stepped onto the stage... it took my breath away and made me so happy and overwhelmed and i still don't understand where y'all came from... You listened with such generosity of spirit and with such respect towards each other... it was amazing... i thank you with all my heart and i will never forget that magical night. I also would like to thank Langhorne Slim and DeVotchKa who rocked out. If you aren't familiar with their music, check them both out, you'll be glad you did... well... that's all for now... i am back to working hard in the studio, and the memory of the show is already starting to feel like a dream... we'll meet again,

good night,
regina
----

photos of the show courtesy of declared's livejournal.

Previously
Devotchka playing with Regina Spektor @ CMJ show
Regina Spektor @ Tonic, NYC | Pics

Marc Ribot, Pharaoh's Daughter, Regina Spektor, The Klezmatics, Tovah Feldsuh, and Uri Caine will perform at the opening night concert for the New York Jewish Music & Heritage Festival at Kaufmann Concert Hall in NYC. The cheap seats are $48 before charges and the date is Sept. 13 (aka CMJ-eve aka you'll be at Tonic seeing Cloud Cult, Doveman, and Aziz for $8)

Devotchka are playing with Regina Spektor @ Irving Plaza during CMJ 2005. This show is currently on pre-sale.

Previously
Devotchka @ South Street Seaport, NYC | Pics
Regina Spektor @ Tonic, NYC | Pics

Get tickets here for the Regina Spektor's CMJ show at Irving Plaza.

"After a while, she told her parents that she wanted to devote herself to music so she was going to quit her job and live at home. While this meant schlepping back and forth to the Bronx after late night gigs, Regina also knew that she needed to fully dedicate herself to her musical career. She gigged constantly, playing literally hundreds of shows in and around NYC, at such venues as the Sidewalk Café, the Living Room, Tonic, Fez, Knitting Factory, CB’s Gallery, and among others." [ifsm]

That was then. Since releasing her major label debut, Regina Spektor sold out the 500-capacity Bowery Ballroom and opened for Keane at Radio City Music Hall. On Wednesday July 27th she returned to the much smaller Tonic to raise some money for an anti-gun violence organization called PAX. The 8:00 show start at 9:30 with a video about guns. Regina's magic ended around 10:50 which was just enough time for me to get to Mercury Lounge to see sell my tickets to Scissor Sisters.

Continue reading "Regina Spektor @ Tonic, NYC | Pics"

well sort of...
"Liberal Arts” for Air America Radio LIVE at Housing Works Bookstore Café! Wednesday, July 20, 8:00 p.m."

Continue reading "Regina Spektor @ Housing Works Wednesday"

In case you missed her recent show at Radio City Music Hall, or her amazing show at Bowery Ballroom before that (my camera was broken, and I never finished writing my review. It was really, really good), or even if you were at those shows (no clue why I'm wording it like this), you can see Regina Spektor at Tonic on July 27th. It's a benefit show for PAX. What's PAX? I have no clue, but it's a small venue like she used to play before she became a major label big shot. She deserves it of course. Go if you can afford it.

Tickets are $25 and on sale.
Download Regina Spektor's "Us"
Buy her CD @ Insound

For every post I make on this site, there are about 10 more I never get to. Someone I love, but have yet to really post about is Regina Spektor. Somewhat incorrectly lumped into the anti-folk scene, and most famous for singing and touring with the Strokes, she's an irresistibly cute (though many claim it's an act - see future post) singer songwriter with great live shows and albums. I was at her recent 2.5 hour show at Bowery Ballroom and was blown away. I wrote a really long review of it too, but it's sitting unfinished in my to-do pile. I like her new major-label debut album too.

All that out of the way, I was a little disappointed to find out that she's opening for Keane on their upcoming tour. In NYC, that's at Radio City Music Hall. My disappointment stems from that fact that I would love to see her at Radio City, but have very little interest in seeing Keane in the same venue (or at all). If she was headlining, I would be less upset.

(Keane disclaimer: I did enjoy Keane's album for a bit of time last year. I almost saw them live three times, but never have)

Regina has a new video you can check out right here:
WIN: lowest | low | high | highest OR Quicktime

Productshop interviewed her.

All Keane / Regina tour dates below....

Continue reading "Regina Spektor opening for Keane | Video"