The Duke & The King at Mercury Lounge in 2009 (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

The Summer BBQ Blow Out Festival is coming to City Winery this Saturday (8/6). The fest features a lot of food by gourmet chefs and performances by Midnight Magic, Computer Magic, New Villager, and Punches. TIckets are still on sale now and we're also giving away a pair. Contest details below.

The Duke & The King are also playing their album release show at City Winery on Saturday (8/6), though the show is completely separate from the Summer BBQ Blow Out which is outside. Tickets are on sale now.

Lots of other interesting things are happening at City Winery in the upcoming months as well. Bebel Gilberto is continuing her residency at the venue throughout the month of August. Tickets are on sale for all of her upcoming dates including 8/17, 8/24, 8/27, and 8/31.

Martha Wainwright will kick off her own residency at City Winery in November. Tickets are on sale now for 11/11 and 11/21. As mentioned, Martha also plays NYC this month at Cooper Square Hotel on August 22 as part of Joe's Pub's Summer Salon Series.

Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave) aka The Nightwatchman plays the NYC venue on September 1 as a short run of September dates in between his US tour with Incubus and his UK tour with Rise Against. The tours are in support of his recently released EP Union Town and the upcoming full length World Wide Rebel Songs. Tickets for the 9/1 City Winery show are on sale now. All Tom Morello dates below.

Keren Ann plays City Winery on September 30 and October 1 before she heads out on a European tour in November. Tickets for both shows are on sale now. All Keren Ann dates below.

As mentioned, Jay Farrar is playing City Winery on October 14 and 15. He's since added a third show at the venue on October 16. Tickets for all three shows are available.

Marianne Faithfull is playing a three-night run at the venue from December 18 to 20. The shows are her only scheduled US shows at the moment. Tickets for all three shows are on sale now. All Marianne Faithfull dates below.

All dates and Summer BBQ Blowout contest details below...

Continue reading "Duke & the King, Bebel Gilberto, Keren Ann, Tom Morello, Jay Farrar, Marianne Faithfull, Martha Wainwright & other shows"

Midnight Magic @ MHOW in Feb (more by Chris Gersbeck)

Finger on the Pulse and City Winery are presenting the first annual Summer BBQ Blowout Festival outdoors behind City Winery on August 6 from 12 to 4 PM. The festival features a number of different chefs grilling all day and musical performances by Midnight Magic, Computer Magic, New Villager, Punches (members of Finger on the Pulse) and others. Tickets went on general sale via City Winery today (6/16).

Midnight Magic also has some shows coming up. They play a Northside show with YACHT and The Miracles Club at Music Hall of Williamsburg on June 19. Tickets are still available. They also open for Cut Copy at Prospect Park on August 11. Tickets are still available. Midnight Magic also play a PS1 'Warm Up' show with Justin Miller and others on September 3.

Full Summer BBQ lineup and flyer below...

Continue reading "Summer BBQ Blowout Festival behind City Winery & other Midnight Magic shows"

photos by Samantha Marble

DOWNLOAD: Gators! - Dinner With the Band theme song (MP3)

The Sword @ IFC House in Austin

IFC House at SXSW this year was a venue dedicated to all things IFC. Bands performed in front of video cameras for webcasts and possible IFC channel tv coverage. They had everyone there from Neon Indian to Broken Social Scene to The Sword who played a show in conjunction with a Dinner With The Band party at the venue. Chef & DWTB show host Sam Mason, and show creators Greg and Darin Bresnitz, were among those in attendance at the packed metal and food event. Pictures from that show are above and below.

The IFC Channel's rock 'n roll cooking show, Dinner With the Band, kicks off its official first season, with ten new artists, on Tuesday, April 27th (it then airs on the cable channel every Tuesday at 10:30pm). That's still two weeks away, but another party in the show's honor will happen at Santos Party House in NYC tonight (4/12). The free event will feature DJ sets by Au Revoir Simone and Vega, and live performances by Gators! (they wrote the show's theme song - MP3 above), Bad Brilliance, and CX Kidtronik. Andrew WK, along with Sam and Thu Tran, host the night which simultaneously celebrates Thu's IFC show "Food Party" (whose new season starts in two weeks too). "There will be FREE Thu Tran inspired munchies, beer and Sam Mason signature cocktails from 7-8PM". The flyer, along with more pictures from the Austin show, below...

Continue reading "The Sword played an IFC party in Austin (pics), Au Revoir Simone & Vega DJ a free one in NYC tonight (flyer)"

photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

Sharon Jones (and fan) & the Dap Kings @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn

Brooklyn venue Southpaw has two Daptone Records-related shows in its future. Lee Fields & The Expressions, whose new album actually came out on Truth & Soul, will return to the club on December 18th for a show with their T&S labelmates Michael Leonhart & The Avramina. Tickets are on sale. The Budos Band play Southpaw on January 16th. Tickets are on sale for that too.

Lee Fields and The Budos Band shared a not-actually-CMJ bill with their Daptone labelmates Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, and The Menehan Street Band at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on October 23rd. It was a private show that the Brooklyn label set up to showcase its artists while CMJ was in town.

"The headliner, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings along with guitarist Binky Griptite, was truly the anticipation of the night. This frantically dancing and singing queen wasn't afraid to bring the audience on stage or get down and dirty with her sassy self. Bereft of the glitz and glamor of the previous act, Jones was perfectly quaint in her dark jean jacket and slacks. Her voice had more power than anyone that night, and it's no surprise that she is Daptone Records' star. Outrageously genius, Jones and Griptite ripped the stage apart and threw it at the audience with a grin. Good thing this was the kind of audience who knew how to throw it right back." [Performer Blog]

The pictures in this post are from that Brooklyn show.

Naomi Shelton and The Gospel Queens (aka the Gospel Queens of Brooklyn) play every Friday night at Fat Cat.

Sharon doesn't have any NYC shows coming up, but she and the Dap Kings are going on a short tour in December which includes a NJ date. Recently the group performed with Phish in California.

She and the Dap Kings will also be appearing on television TONIGHT (11/24). If you've been near the Bedford L in Brooklyn lately, you may have noticed the mural. Dinner With The Band, "A new series from IFC with tasty meals and rocking tunes", is on IFC every Tuesday at 11pm (starting tonight). Set your DVR.

As previously mentioned, chef Sam Mason will cook not-necessarily-vegan meals with guests that include Final Fantasy, Les Savy Fav, Men, Kid Sister, Flosstradamus, Yacht, and... Sharon Jones.

"Dinner With the Band" started as an online show conceived by Darin and Greg Bresnitz, brothers who were both passionate about music and food. (Mr. Mason is still devising ways to get musicians more involved in the kitchen. "I wanted to help, but he didn't let me," said Kid Sister, a Chicago rapper who appears on a coming episode. "He was real in-control.") When the brothers asked Mr. Mason to host in 2006, they "didn't really know who he was," Darin Bresnitz recalled.

Mr. Mason added, "No joke: they Googled 'tattooed hipster chef', and I came up." [NY Times]

You also know series creators Darin and Greg by their DJ duo name: Finger on the Pulse. The prolific twins seem to be everywhere - that includes their stint as contributors to this very blog. Appropriately enough, one of their posts here included nine remixes of Daptone songs (4 Sharon Jones tracks included), and you can still download every one of them.

The artists that appear on the IFC show play music in addition to cooking. Check out two clips from tonight's Sharon Jones episode, along with more pictures from Knitting Factory, below...

Continue reading "Dinner With The Band on IFC (tonight) w/ Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings + upcoming Daptone shows & Knitting Factory pics"

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings @ Radio City (more by Natasha Ryan)

"The new six-part IFC Original Series, DINNER WITH THE BAND is the first alternative cooking show combining culinary delights, musical performances and conversations with some of today's most acclaimed indie rock artists.

On DINNER WITH THE BAND, Sam Mason, the tattooed and celebrated NYC chef (Tailor, WD-50), invites a band to his Brooklyn loft where he shows them how to add his signature culinary spin to their favorite "on-tour" food. In the meantime, Chef Mason and the artists converse on food, music, and life while cooking together. After they "chow down" they "get down" as each act takes to the loft's stage to play a rockin' musical set.

Bands with dinner reservations this season include, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Kid Sister and Flosstradamus, Les Savy Fav, YACHT, Final Fantasy, and MEN.

Chef Mason, who recently took on Iron Chef Morimoto on Iron Chef America, is the former pastry chef of New York's WD-50 and current proprietor of SOHO's contemporary dining and cocktail parlor, Tailor. A modern day pioneer of avant-garde cooking and a James Beard nominee, Mason brings a casual approach to his dishes that stimulate the palate as well as the dialogue.

DINNER WITH THE BAND will debut on IFC in November 2009."

IFC recently picked up Dinner With the Band which was previously made just for the Internet.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings have a handful of shows scheduled between now and the end of the year, and one of them is taking place at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on December 5th. Tickets are on sale. All dates below...

Continue reading "Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - 2009 Tour Dates (Starland Ballroom) +++ Dinner With the Band (on IFC)"