Jonah Matranga

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Brooklyn Book Festival
* Apollo Sunshine @ Sound Fix Records
* Jonah Matranga & the Gay Blades @ Maxwell's
* Pink Reason, Woods & friends @ the Lucky Cat
* Signal & Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
* Trouble & Minsk @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Loved Ones, Franz Nicolay & others @ Knitting Factory
* The Cult @ Irving Plaza (moved from Roseland Ballroom)
* High Places, Soft Circle & Matteah Baim @ Death By Audio

Though both secretly scheduled to perform at Saturday's Lightning Bolt show, neither Fucked Up or No Age showed up

Video of Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin last night on SNL below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

Continue reading "Nick Kroll & John Mulaney - Comix shows & a taping"

Continue reading "My Morning Jacket on Saturday Night Live (videos)"

by Black Bubblegum

El-P & Aesop Rock @ Webster Hall - May 10, 2008 (jennyapplebaum )

"WHEN I SAY DEF, YOU SAY JUX! DEF!"
.....
"DEF!"
......

Okay, it wasnt THAT bad, but while fellow Cardboard City crew member Shia Labeouf (seriously) was readying his second appearance on Saturday Night Live (with My Morning Jacket), El-P was realizing he was in trouble by the first song. El-P tore into "Smithereens" with all of the frustration made apparent in the video, but when he commanded the Webster Hall crowd "Get the fuck up!" and "Jump!", he only got participation from a couple dozen.... for 30 seconds. Maybe it's all the darkness and post-apocalyptic doom and gloom, or the borderline paranoid "the government is going to get you" John McCain=Barack Obama=Hillary Clinton rants, or that a good portion of the crowd could have come to see Dizzee Rascal (though doubt it), but Saturday at Webster Hall was probably one of the most stoic crowds that I have ever seen at a hip hop show.

Continue reading "El-P, Aesop Rock & Dizzee Rascal played Webster Hall, a new blog & album, Cardboard City, Shia LaBeouf"

My Morning Jacket @ Coachella 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

Catch My Morning Jacket this weekend at the musical guest on SNL. Tour dates below...

Continue reading "My Morning Jacket - 2008 Tour Dates, Saturday Night Live"

Video from last night's episode of Saturday Night Live below.....

Continue reading "Jack Johnson/Dave Matthews/John Mayer - SNL spoof (video)"

Gnarls Barkley's appearance on SNL last night didn't feel like a dress rehearsal at all. Videos below...

Continue reading "Gnarls Barkley on Saturday Night Live (videos)"

Gnarls Barkley are playing Saturday Night Live tonight (April 12, 2008). Santogold is playing Conan O'Brien on April 28th, and then the Virgin Megastore in Union Square the next day. Gnarls Barkley played Highline Ballroom Thursday night. So did Santogold. Various Gnarls & Santo videos below.....

Continue reading "Gnarls Barkley playing SNL, Santogold playing Conan & Virgin"

by Black Bubblegum

Don't know if I am going to start an internal war here with our resident comedy expert Klaus Kinski, but here goes... One of my favorite commercials from the Tim & Eric Awesome Show, "Lazy Horse Mattresses" featuring SNL's Will Forte....

Continue reading ""Lazy Horse Mattresses" featuring SNL's Will Forte (video)"

(danceasaurus_rex) 'watching SNL'

Continue reading "videos of Vampire Weekend on Saturday Night Live"

Wilco, Feb 15-20, 2008 @ The Riviera in Chicago

Once again, Wilco (on Saturday Night Live)...

Continue reading "Wilco - 'Walken' live on SNL (video)"

March 1, 2008 SNL ticket (fakebook)

Wilco played Saturday Night Live last night. One of the songs they played was 'Hate It Here'. Watch below....

Continue reading "Wilco - 'Hate It Here' on Saturday Night Live (video)"

Wilco was just awesome on Saturday Night Live.

Vampire Weekend continue to blow up - see above SPIN magazine cover, and watch them as the musical guest on SNL next week.

This week's SNL video promos featuring Wilco & Ellen Page of Juno below...

Continue reading "Wilco on SNL tonight, Vampire Weekend next week & on SPIN"

Continue reading "There will be Milkshakes for Old Men"

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.

Nov 29, 2007 - NY Islanders game (CRED)

I did a search to see if there was anything behind the "Joanna Newsom and Andy Samberg are a couple" comments, and it ends up there is.

January 7 - Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg & more. Tickets are on sale.

the fifth in a series where we asked comedians to tell us what was good this year....

Because the man does so damned much, Fred Armisen is one of the hardest individuals to sum up in a pre-list blurb. He's 50% of ThunderAnt (the other 50% is Carrie Brownstein of Sleater Kinney). He just released a DVD called Jens Hannemann: Complicated Drumming Technique. He has also been doing some live gigs. And in addition to being a senior member of SNL, Fred's mug can be seen in scads of movies and TV shows (check out his resume on IMDB). Being equal parts artist and entertainer, he's absolutely one of my favorite people in entertainment and I am triple-dog-delighted he took the time out to share with BV the things he enjoyed in 2007 - Klaus

- - -

10 things I bought/got/looked at this year that I love.

Paul McCartney, The McCartney Years DVD - It has live McCartney footage from 1976 that is amazing. He plays these really busy bass lines and sings at the same time effortlessly. I don't know how someone is able to do that so well. And I love that lefty Rickenbacker!

Petra Haden, Don't Stop Believin' - This is on a compilation album called Guilt By Association that came out this year. Her voice is just the greatest ever and the guitar solo part kills me. She's working on an acappella version of movie soundtracks right now that is unbelievable.

The Apple iPhone - It makes me feel like I am finally in the future. When I was a kid, this is what I imagined I'd be using in the 2000's. If you tap a business name into the map application, it finds it for you AND gives you the phone number AND gives you directions INCLUDING how to avoid traffic at that precise moment. I mean, are you kidding me? Thank you inventors who work at Apple!

God Of War 2 for Playstation - It's more complex than the first one but also more difficult. I liked it a lot, but couldn't finish it past the flying horse fights.

Steve Martin, Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life - Mr. Martin writes about the part of his life when he was a stand up comedian. His focus on working on every detail of his act is fascinating. At age fifteen he was already giving himself notes in a notebook. "Relax. Don't shake."

dlisted.com - This celebrity gossip site seriously makes me laugh out loud. The guy who writes this is SO funny! I look at this probably ten times a day. I was going to quote some of his stuff but I say just go to it and read it.

continued below....

Continue reading "Best of 2007 by Fred Armisen"

DOWNLOAD: Doveman - Sunrise Melody (MP3)

Fred @ UCB for SNL, Nov 17, 2007

Don't forget that Fred Armisen does Jens Hannemann @ Knitting Factory tonight (Nov 29). His Drag City labelmate Azita will be opening the show, not to mention some comedy by Chelsea Peretti & Jon Glaser. That show starts at 10, but get there early for a night of Tonic-like performances by Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and Doveman! (the early show is @ 7).

Did you see Fred on 30 Rock? You can watch the whole episode online. More where that above pic came from, @ The NY Times.

The writers strike (as seen in the photo above) has caused two NYC shows to look for a new home. That means 150 lucky people are going to see a live performance of Saturday Night Live at the UCB Theatre, and another 150 will get to see 30 Rock.

Proceeds from the sale of tickets to "30 Rock" - priced at a modest $20 - will go to the Writers Guild strike fund, the Web site says.

The writers' strike, which began 10 days ago, immediately shut down production of "SNL" and "30 Rock" because so many of the stars also write the shows. [NY Post] (via)

For a more sure bet, stop by the UCB at 9:30 tonight for a performance of the Dave Hill Explosion with special guests Lady Bunny and Touching You. Tickets are still available.

CONTEST: Win a pair of tickets to see Figurines & Dappled Cities at Mercury Lounge tonight now by emailing BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM(subject: Figurines). Include your first and last name. One winner will be picked right away and emailed back.

dick in a box @ Flavorpill Halloween party, NYC - Oct 31, 2007 (CRED)

* nurse your hangover
* Sufjan Stevens plays BAM
* Decemberists DO NOT play Terminal 5
* Crown Point Festival continues
* Shakey's Record Fair at APT
* Rogue Wave is playing Bowery Ballroom
* Tiny Vipers is opening for Rogue Wave
* Port O'Brien are opening for them too
* Q-Tip is DJing at Club Love
* Isis is at Irving Plaza Fillmore
* The Thermals are playing Warsaw
* The Coathangers are playing Death By Audio
* Be Your Own Pet are at Maxwell's
* Phil Lesh & friends are at Nokia Theatre
* Bon Jovi plays another show at the Prudential Center
* Figurines & Dappled Cities are at Mercury Lounge

So many big indie rock choices to choose from tonight (with now one less than there was) - not good considering I feel like I should not leave home for at least another day or two.

The Sex Pistols embarrassed punk rock on Leno. Then they did it again on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (kind of boring and horrible) Video below. What else?

Continue reading "What's Going on Thursday?"

From Saturday night's episode, but without Bon Jovi or the Foo Fighters....

Continue reading "VIDEO: SNL - Iconoclasts: Charles Barkley & Bjork"

Spoon (after cancelling three shows) was on SNL Saturday night (the same place Bon Jovi will be playing this Saturday) - another reason why October 6th was a big night for music in NYC. Britt Daniel, Jim Eno, Rob Pope, Eric Harvey, Sigur Ros, LISA LOEB, Seth Rogen, Mark Rogen, Judd Apatow, Aziz Ansari, and others were later spotted hanging with Andy Samberg and crew at the SNL afterparty going on at Compass. SNL Videos below...

Continue reading "SPOON & other Saturday Night live VIDEOS"