#Guitarmy w Tom morello leaving the park (via)

"The Occupy movement that mobilized thousands of protestors last fall was mostly quiet through the winter in New York, as both the cold and the NYPD chased demonstrators out of their makeshift camp in Zuccotti Park. But the movement officially relaunched on May 1st in honor of International Workers' Day, with organized protests taking place throughout the U.S. and with Tom Morello, Das Racist and other musicians staging a May Day concert in downtown Manhattan.

"I traveled 3,000 miles to march with you today," Morello told a diverse crowd of Occupiers during a ceremonial "mic check" in Bryant Park. "It is an honor to march these streets with you, to sing these songs with you, letting the powers that be know that we will be heard."

Morello led a "guitarmy" of hundreds along Fifth Avenue from Bryant Park down to Union Square. An Occupy Tumblr had already supplied the setlist - including Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and tunes from Morello's own World Wide Rebel Songs LP - and many had cheat sheets taped to the sides of their guitars, as they strummed and sang protest songs along with the rocker. As the band of marches inched its way into Union Square, a much larger rally commenced featuring Das Racist, Dan Deacon, and Immortal Technique on stage...." [Rolling Stone]

How was your May Day? Pictures and videos of the May 1st party in Union Square, below...

Continue reading "Tom Morello, the 'Guitarmy', Dan Deacon, Das Racist & others marched & occupied Union Square (pics, video)"

Reverend Billy in the 2009 Coney Island Mermaid Parade (more by Barry Yanowitz)

It's election day today. Don't forget to vote. You can find your NY polling site here. Once there you have the option of voting for Reverend Billy Tallon for mayor. Billy is glad he ran. Check out a letter he posted today, entitled "Glad I Ran", below....

Continue reading "It's voting day. Reverend Billy is glad he ran"

You can support Reverend Billy for Mayor by attending the benefit at Highline Ballroom tonight (7/27). More details and the flyer below...

Continue reading "Reverend Billy for Mayor? (benefit tonight) "

photos by Leia Jospe

The Maccabees

Interview Magazine: Anything special planned for the U.S. tour?

The Maccabees: We met a New Yorker the other day called The Reverend Billy. He's an anti-consumerist guy who walks around to the Disney stores and bludgeons Mickey Mouse teddy bears or goes into Starbucks with a choir and sing free-trade songs. I met him at an interview the other day in London and I gave him my email because I wanted him to come emcee the gig. I figured I might say it to you and he might read it and come out so I quit bugging him.

Reverend Billy marched in the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island on Saturday (6/20). Later that night, The Maccabees, along with Miike Snow, and Hatcham Social played their first of two NYC shows together. It took place in Williamsburg - at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Round two for the UK bands goes down tonight (6/22) at the much smaller Mercury Lounge. How was the show? And how were Hatcham Social at Don Hill's and Cake Shop? More pictures from MHOW below...

Continue reading "Maccabees, Miike Snow & Hatcham Social @ MHOW - pics "

photos by Barry Yanowitz

"The tradition of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade began in 1983, when the first event of this kind was conceptualized and organized by Dick Zigun, who is sometimes dubbed the "Mayor of Coney Island", and who was the founder of the non-profit arts group Coney Island USA.

The parade pays homage to the Coney Island Mardi Gras parades of the early 20th century. During this era, Coney Island was the primary amusement park destination for those in the New York area. Like the much larger annual Village Halloween Parade, the mermaid parade embodies the spirit and artistry of Mardi Gras." [Wiki]

Despite the rain, this year's Mermaid Parade went down as planned in Coney Island (Brooklyn, NY) this afternoon (6/21). Harvey Keitel, with his wife (the queen) by his side, was the the king (Neptune) of the parade. More pictures (NSFW), below...

Continue reading "pictures from the 2009 Mermaid Parade in Coney Island"

(King Khan and) BBQ @ MHOW, CMJ (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Fastball @ Maxwell's
* Jim Gaffigan @ Town Hall
* Arlo Guthrie @ Carnegie Hall
* Harry Connick Jr @ City Center
* Fishbone @ Knitting Factory
* Real Estate @ Cake Shop (free, late)
* Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio @ Iridium Jazz Club
* They Might Be Giants @ (le) poisson rouge
* Devon Williams & The Feverfew @ Cake Shop
* Ewan Pearson & 2020 Soundsystem @ Studio B
* The So So Glos, Lidia Stone, Radiates & Banzai @ Silent Barn
* El Guincho & Prefuse 73 (both DJ sets) @ (le) poisson rouge
* Gang Gang Dance, Marnie Stern & 18th Dye @ Santos Party House
* Amazing Baby, MBAR, The Muggabears & My Best Fiend @ Mercury Lounge
* King Khan & BBQ Show, Golden Triangle & The Jacuzzi Boys @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

What do you think of Fishbone in 2008? They play Knitting Factory tonight.

King Khan is also at Bowery Ballroom on Sunday. That show is with Vivian Girls.

Dr. Lonnie Smith (master of the Hammond B3 organ) and Jim Gaffigan (comedian) also continue their multiple night NYC runs on Sunday.

The Game was born today in 1979.

Tina Turner hits MSG on Monday - the same night Snow Patrol play their small venue show at Bowery Ballroom.

"I feel like I invite music into my life rather than solicit it. I like peppering my career with very successful music as opposed to going out in a very highly competitive field and missing a lot to get the occasional hit. I have the luxury of doing that because film is my primary career." - says John Travolta on singing in Bolt.

They Might Be Giants play Apollo 18 in its entirety at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (early). El Guincho and Prefuse 73 DJ Le Poisson Rouge tonight (late). They Might Be Giants play Le Poisson Rouge again on January 31st. El Guincho plays Le Poisson Rouge on December 2nd.

The Real Estate show tonight at Cake Shop is a free late show after the 4-band bill Devon Williams is playing.

Todd P isn't currently listing any shows, but says, "...a bit of a quiet spell for me. Don't worry though, there are a whole lot of secret(ish) shows in the works, plus some much much bigger plans still in the early but very time consuming stages..."

The Christmas tree lighting @ South Street Seaport is today. The Big Apple Chorus will be there today and every weekend until Christmas. Ice skating and other (more fun) live music is coming to the Seaport soon too. Rockefeller Center's tree gets lit on December 3rd.

Jdimytai Damour, RIP

Video of Reverend Billy preaching in Union Square on Buy Nothing Day (Black Friday) (yesterday) below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

Gang Gang Dance @ the Studio (more by Gabi Porter)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Jim Gaffigan @ Town Hall
* Dr. Lonnie Smith @ Iridium
* Slick Rick @ Highline Ballroom
* Harry Connick Jr. @ City Center
* Little Dragon @ (le) poisson rouge
* Mr. Brownstone & Satanicide @ Irving Plaza
* Phosphorescent & Virgin Forest @ Bell House
* El Ten Eleven & Abigail Warchild @ 92yTribeca
* Gang Gang Dance, Marnie Stern & Zs @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Amazing Baby, Suckers, Tigercity & Kristina Lieberson @ Mercury Lounge

Rakim's show at Southpaw tonight was cancelled, but he is playing Knitting Factory on December 19th.

Chicks on Speed's show at Highline Ballroom tonight was cancelled, but they are DJing at Le Royale on Saturday.

Little Dragon share a country, a record label, and band members with Jose Gonzalez. They're currently on a tour of the United States that includes a show at Le Poisson Rouge tonight.

Jimi Hendrix's birthday was yesterday. He was born in 1942. He died September 18, 1970 at age 27. BB King's is having a tribute tonight.

Happy Buy Nothing Day. Dance Your Debt Away at Union Square at 3pm.

Some videos for Black Friday below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Friday? (Black Friday / Buy Nothing Day)"

The Cockettes

Though free shows are becoming scarcer and scarcer in NYC as September approaches, September 6th now offers three all-day possibilities. This one is part of the annual LES Howl! Festival, takes place in Tompkins Square Park, and looks sort of like this:

Tompkins Square Park, Sept 6, 2008
1.00 p.m. Middle Collegiate Choir
1.30 p.m. Blonde Boy Wilson with On Davis
1.40 p.m. "Bang the Drum for the Brothers,"J. Fitzgerald creates a dazzling spectacle of rhythm and rhyme.
2.05 p.m. TIMBILA
2.25 p.m Baby Soda
2.45 p.m. Tin Pan
3.05 p.m Reverend Billy
3.25 p.m. Trachtenburg Family
4.05 p.m. Becky Wreck
4.20 p.m. Ari Up's Slits
5 p.m. THE COCKETTES and the Thrill Peddlers
6 p.m. The House of HOWL PRESENTS THE HOUSE OF BON VIVANT'S BALLHOUSE TRIBUTE

That's just the schedule of one stage on one of the three days though. The rest of the Tompkins Square Park part of the schedule can be found on Howl's very confusing website.

The other free shows on Septmeber 6th are the East Village Radio Fest at South Street Seaport and the Monser Island Block Party in Brooklyn.

The entire Howl! Festival runs from September 5-11 and involves approximately 30 different venues including the Living Room, Element, Bowery Poetry Club, Niagara, Rehab, St Marks Church and Vaishnava Academy For the Performing Arts.

The Cockettes...

a psychedelic drag queen troupe founded by Hibiscus in the late 1960s in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. The troupe performed outrageous parodies of show tunes (or original tunes in the same vein) and gained an underground cult following that led to mainstream exposure.

In 1971, over differences in philosophy, the group split into two separate groups, the Cockettes and The Angels of Light. The Cockettes continued to work as paid performers while the Angels of Light chose to do free theatre without admission charge.

The Cockettes were the subject of a 2002 documentary, The Cockettes... [Wikipedia]

... (...how many original members there still are I'm not sure...) are also playing a few shows at The Theaters at 45 Bleeker Street (in addition the one in the park listed above).

photos by Eric M Townsend

Eric stopped by the ball after the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island on Saturday (June 21, 2008). More pictures below....

Continue reading "photos from the 2008 Mermaid Parade Ball in Coney Island"

Reverend Billy & friends outside CBGB last night - April 17, 2008 (jeremoss)

Reverend Billy joined Rebecca Moore & friends at a planned protest outside a party happening inside the new John Varvatos store which happens to be inside the former home of CBGB. George Bush calls Reverend Billy's visit to the Bowery "unbelievable", "a special moment"....

Continue reading "Reverend Billy & friends protested John Varvotos (CBGB)"