photos by P Squared Photography

"At Glasslands watching my bros King Khan and BBQ enter the wormhole of love"
- Sean Ono Lennon

King Khan @ Glasslands

The King Khan & BBQ Show brought their tour with Bloodshot Bill through NYC last week for shows at Santos Party House (4/11) and Glasslands (4/13). We caught the Glasslands show, which was sold out, and like he's done before, Bloodshot Bill joined King Khan on stage at the show. Were you there? Sean Ono Lennon was (as you can see above). If you were, what did you think?

More pictures from that show below...

Continue reading "King Khan & BBQ played Glasslands w/ Bloodshot Bill (pics)"

Lee Ranaldo on stage w/ Dinosaur Jr. in 2012 (more by Gretchen Robinette)

The Lee Ranaldo Band, which features Lee along with his Sonic Youth bandmate Steve Shelley, Alan Licht, and Tim Luntzel, are about to head to Spain and Portgual for a short tour this month, and upon returning to NYC they'll play a hometown show at Union Pool on April 28. Admission for that show is $12 at the door and openers TBA. They've got some other dates coming up this year too, all of which are listed below.

Meanwhile, Lee and Steve's past Sonic Youth cohort Thurston Moore is on tour with his band, Chelsea Light Moving, and that tour hits NYC TONIGHT (4/5) at Bowery Ballroom with Prana-Bindu and Marco Fusinato. Tickets for tonight's show are still available.

Thurston also contributed to Joyful Noise's new "Cause & Effect" series, which pairs an influential solo musician with an artist they've influenced on a split 7" single. Thurston's 7" has a track by Talk Normal on the b-side. The series also includes Dinosaur Jr/Sebadoh's Lou Barlow paired with Dumb Numbers and The Jesus Lizard's David Yow paired with Child Bite. You can stream the Thurston Moore/Talk Normal 7" at Pitchfork and listen to the other two below.

Thurston Moore and ex-wife/Sonic Youth bandmate Kim Gordon (separately) are also set to play the Yoko Ono-curated Meltdown Festival in London which goes down from June 14-23 at the Southbank Centre. Other artists performing include Yoko Ono herself with the Plastic Ono Band, Patti Smith, Iggy and the Stooges, Siouxsie Sioux (her first show in five years), Reggie Watts, Deerhoof, Savages, Marianne Faithfull, Immortal Technique, Ryuichi Sakamoto with Alva Noto, Sean Lennon with Cibo Matto, Boy George and more TBA. More info at the festival's website.

Meanwhile, you can catch Kim Gordon in NYC at the recently expanded "Night of Improvised Round Robin Duets," which takes place during the Red Bull Music Academy NYC residency at Brooklyn Masonic Temple on May 1. Kim will be joined by Andrew Bird, Robert Glasper, Questlove, Andrew WK, James Chance, Julia Holter, Thundercat, and many more. Tickets for that show are still available.

All Lee Ranaldo dates are listed, along with the Joyful Noise 7" streams, below...

Continue reading "Lee Ranaldo Band touring; Thurston Moore w/ Lou Barlow & others on Joyful Noise 7" series, playing Yoko Ono's Meltdown"

Then there's Mystical Weapons, an improv duo that came about after Sean Lennon became friendly with Deerhoof's Greg Saunier, and Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda suggested the two try playing together. The resulting album is a really cool, eclectic, loosely powerful collection of experiments with some basic structure.

"All the music is improvised, which is one of the guidelines," Lennon explains. "Then there would be verbal guidelines, which were sometimes based around instrumentation or a key signature or a concept or mood."

"A song like 'Dirty Neon' was as simple as saying, 'All right Greg, you play piano this time and I'll play drums,'" Lennon continues. "And then 'Mechanical Mammoth' was all about playing the ARP 2600 on an atonal setting so the intervals on the keys weren't 12-tone but kinda random. Some songs were about just using the kalimba and the last song, 'Consortium Musicum,' was about playing toys live. I'm really proud of that one because it's very atmospheric, even though it's just us sitting cross-legged, playing toys." - [CBC]

Or you could go see them play live Saturday night (1/12) at Big Sky Works in Williamsburg. They've stopped selling advance online tickets, but you can buy them at the door. $15, 9 PM.

Flyer for the show and video are below...

Continue reading "Mystical Weapons (Sean Lennon & Deerhoof's Greg Saunier) releasing album, playing NYC this weekend"

Our thoughts go out to the victims and families of today's school shooting in Connecticut.

Sleigh Bells @ Pitchfork 2012 (more by Chase Turner)

The Men @ Pitchfork 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

TPOBPAH @ Bowery Ballromm, 9/19/2011 (more by Diana Wong)

today in NYC
* Jan Bell @ Barbes
* Yo La Tengo @ Maxwell's
* Trevor Dunn Solo @ The Stone
* The Kickdrums @ Knitting Factory
* The Rascals @ The Capitol Theatre
* Little Boots, Doorly @ Webster Hall
* Bassam Saba's Al-Madar @ Joe's Pub
* The Vacant Lots, Heaven @ Glasslands
* Paul Banks of Interpol @ Webster Hall
* Monster Magnet @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Star Killer, Panzie*, Ssik @ Mercury Lounge
* Nada Surf, Eternal Summers @ Bowery Ballroom
* White Laces, Honeydrum, Vows @ Cameo Gallery
* John Roderick, Jonathan Coulton @ City Winery
* Antibalas, Red Baraat @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
* Bobby Keys & The Suffering Bastards @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Naam, Tournament, Dead Stars, Blackout @ The Ancheron
* Sleigh Bells, Grizzly Bear, The Antlers, Cults @ Terminal 5
* Janeane Garofalo, Judah Friedlander @ Eastville Comedy Club
* Pete Seeger, Jackson Browne, Harry Belafonte @ Beacon Theatre
* Hilly Eye, Trophy Wife, Flown, Thurn & Taxis @ Death By Audio
* The Men, Widowspeak, Lust for Youth, Sacred Bones DJ set @ Saint Vitus
* The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Heaven's Gate @ Brooklyn Night Bazaar
* ZZZ's, Romans, These People, Robbers, Paula Carino, Erica Smith @ Pianos
* Andrew Cedermark, Heaven's Gate, Secret Mountains, Gem Trails @ Union Pool
* Free Time, Scott & Charlene's Wedding, Journalism, Water Child, Spires @ Muchmores
* Gigamesh, Chrome Sparks (DJ Set), Lou Teti, Computer Magic (DJ set) @ Glasslands
* Tom Blacklung and the Smokestacks, Dull Edges, Zula, The Flag, Dead Night @ Cake Shop
* Dethklok, All That Remains, Machinedrum, The Black Dahlia Murder @ The Roseland Ballroom
* Chat Logs, Fuckton, Guerilla Toss, The Dreebs, Quiet Hooves, Blanche Blanche Blanche, Bubbly Mommy Gun, Cloud Becomes Your Hand @ Shea Stadium
* Unstoppable Death Machines, Japanther, Guardian Alien, Lionheart, Gold Tooth, Role Model, ZZZ's, @ Paper Box

Follow @BrooklynVegan on Twitter.
Follow @bvChicago for just Chicago stuff.
Also follow @bvAustin for just Austin stuff.

Be our friend on Facebook too, and BV Austin's friend on Facebook and BV Chicago's friend on Facebook.

Follow BrooklynVegan on Instagram.

DIIV made their network television debut last night on The Late Show with David Letterman where they performed "Doused" which you can watch below.

Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples are making a follow-up to 2010's Grammy-winning collaboration, You Are Not Alone. They were on The Colbert Report last night, joined by Sean Lennon and the Harlem Gospel Choir and performed the John Lennon // Yoko Ono tune "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." Watch that below.

Burial is following his incredible Kindred EP, which was released earlier this year, with a new single, "Truant" b/w "Rough Sleeper" on Monday (12/17) via Hyperdub. You can now stream both of those tracks below.

Continue reading "What's going on Friday? (Hanukkah night 7)"

Today is John Lennon's birthday, and so Yoko Ono is giving Lady Gaga an award, in Iceland. John would've been 72. Check out a gallery of the former Beatle's drawings (like the one above) over at the Huffington Post. Yahoo Canada takes a look at some of his letters.

Joe's Pub is celebrating John's birthday tomorrow. Symphony Space honors the man in November. Glasslands gets down in December.

Speaking of Lennons, Martha Wainwright's new album Come Home to Mama, which is also streaming at NPR, was recorded "mostly at" Sean Lennon's home studio in New York City. We're giving away tickets to see Martha at Le Poisson Rouge on Thursday (10/11) via our Facebook.

We are also giving away tickets to The Walkmen's 10/18 show at Terminal 5 with Dum Dum Girls; and Doveman: The Burgundy Stain Sessions featuring Owen Pallett, Dawn Landes, and Steve Salett at Le Poisson Rouge on 10/12.

Speaking of Doveman shows and Wainwrights, help support marriage equality later this month at the Beacon.

In other milestones, Rage Against the Machine's self-titled debut turns 20 this year. To commemorate, the band are reissuing it as a box set, with "never-before seen early concert footage and full 2010 Finsbury Park Victory Concert along with remastered debut album, original demos and treasure trove of videos and music." Yours for only $136.

Likewise, Rancid are celebrating their 20th anniversary by releasing their entire discography as a huge box of 7"s. Pre-orders began today.

To quote Merge Records, "You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur Jr., the groundbreaking album from the masters of alt-guitar rock, turns 25 this fall. To celebrate, Merge Records is releasing Chocomel Daze, a rare live show (featuring the classic, original line-up of J, Lou, and Murph) recorded in 1987 at Dorrnroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands. Limited edition on 150-gram vinyl for the first time, this release follows their recent I Bet on Sky." Listen to one of the tracks at the bottom of this post.

Other new Merge releases include the Mountain Goats, Mark Eitzel, Mount Moriah and The Music Tapes.

Mark Eitzel is going on tour later this year.

Rick Ross dropped a new mixtape called The Black Bar Mitzvah. Give it a listen over at bvChicago.

The downside of Louis CK's massive, self-ticked tour: his Emmy-winning FX show Louie won't be back until 2014.

Bummer All Tomorrow's Parties news: ATP Japan has gone from postponed to canceled.

AND more stuff below...

Continue reading "ALSO: John Lennon's Birthday, Rancid & RATM box sets, ATP Japan, Trail of Dead, Kylesa, Luyas, Black Keys & more"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger

South Street Seaport kicked off their season of free River to River shows on Friday night (6/26) with a headlining set by Sean Lennon's band The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.Blood Orange aka Dev Hynes of Lightspeed Champion opened the show. Pictures from the show are in this post.

The next Seaport show was Sunday afternoon when My Teenage Stride played a set at the Fulton Market as part of the Sound Bites Sunday series of shows that continues on July 3rd with The Hairs. The next free Friday show is this Friday, July 1st with Lower Dens and Dirty Beaches. The full list of Seaport shows (not counting the Beekman Beer Garden ones), and more pictures and videos from Friday, below...

Continue reading "The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl) played the Seaport w/ Blood Orange (pics, video)"

by Rachel Kowal

Rufus Wainwright & Doveman @ LPR (photo by Nicole Gitau)

After missing the last two Burgundy Stain Sessions, I was glad to be back for the fifth installment of Doveman's salon-style shows at Le Poisson Rouge. Between the rotating cast of musicians and the experimental, anything-goes attitude, you never quite know what you'll get over the course of the evening.

Though multiple artists are on the bill, the layout is rather unconventional. Instead of a series of individual performances, all of the artists collaborate and contribute to one long set. It's not seamless, but that's kind of the point. "My goal is for things to be kind of gloriously sloppy here," the host, Thomas Bartlett admitted at one point.

Bartlett (aka Doveman), kicked off the evening with a soft, melodic song on the piano, but it wasn't long before he was joined by a trumpeter and clarinetist who deftly made their way through the crowd and onto the stage, playing all the way. After a few Doveman songs, The GOASTT, aka Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl (of Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger) jumped up from their perch on the side of the stage. Easily one of my favorite parts of the evening, the GOASTT portion ranged widely in emotion and style. One minute it was French spoken word (Lennon) peppered with onomatopoeia interjections (Muhl) and the next featured smooth accordion-rich melodies.

After a few more from Doveman, there was a one-song interlude to "give the band a break" and Barlett welcomed his friend Nathan to the stage to deliver his wildly entertaining "lesbian separatist murder ballad" about the Manson family. Though it sounds odd, it's really the frenetic pacing that keeps things interesting and keep me returning month after month.

As promised, Rufus Wainwright joined in after the break, to wild applause from the audience. Fresh from their Kate McGarrigle tribute at Town Hall, Bartlett and Wainwright (McGarrigle's son) played a few touching covers in addition to one from Wainwright's own discography, "April Fools."

At some point, Muhl and Lennon returned for the grand finale, which, after much buildup and back story turned out to be a cover of "Across the Universe" (with Lennon on backing vox). Apparently, it was the first time Wainwright and Lennon played the song since their collaboration nearly a decade ago for the post-9/11 peace show organized by Yoko Ono. Of course after the Beatles cover, which sent chills down my spine, the encore (the Neil Young cover song "Only Love Can Break Your Heart") was just icing on the cake.

I can only wonder what next month's show will bring.

--

No guests have been announced, but tickets are on sale for the June 24th show at LPR. Doveman also plays a free show in Prospect Park with Junip and the Books five days earlier. Rufus has some stuff coming up too.

Rufus Wainwright @ Prospect Park (more by David Andrako)

Despite the addition of Rufus Wainwright to the bill, and stellar past shows, tickets are amazingly still on sale for Doveman's show at LPR tonight (5/26). The Goastt, aka Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl, were recently added to the show too. There's always surprise guests (like Justin Bond) and an all-star backing band too.

Rufus was also just added to another show too, one that also still has tickets on sale, and one that now boasts an extremely impressive lineup of gay icons. Rufus Wainwright, Justin Bond AND Liza Minelli (!) were all added as special guests to the Sandra Bernhard show happening June 8 at Town Hall. The date will be the world premiere of Sandra's new show "I LOVE BEING ME, DON'T YOU?" The poster confirming this info is below.

Speaking of Rufus (and Justin) at Town Hall, he and Martha just played the venue two nights in a row in honor of their mother with Justin Bond, Norah Jones, Antony Hegarty, Emmylou Harris, Teddy Thompson, Jimmy Fallon, and others. Rolling Stone was there the first night:

Although the three-hour concert was billed as "A Celebration of Kate McGarrigle," the prevailing mood was naturally somber. McGarrigle wrote and sang heartrendingly personal songs throughout most of her life; hearing them now that she's gone was emotional, to say the least. Performers and audience members alike could be seen tearing up during highlights like "I Eat Dinner (When The Hunger's Gone)" (a sweet duet between Harris and Thompson), "Go Leave" (a deeply felt rendition by Hegarty), "(Talk to Me Of) Mendocino" (sung by both Wainwright siblings with Jones), "Tell My Sister" (a wonderfully torchy performance by Martha Wainwright) and most of all "Proserpina" - the last song Kate McGarrigle wrote before her death, a sad, lovely, honest tune that brought nearly everyone back on stage to close the night's first set.

Continue reading "Rufus Wainwright (and Liza Minelli!) will join Sandra Bernhard @ Town Hall (where he recently played 2 nights for Kate)"

fireworks @ the Seaport in 2010 (more by Chris La Putt)

INITIAL SOUTH STREET SEAPORT CONCERT LINEUP
June 24: The Ghost of a Sabre Tooth Tiger (Sean Lennon) + TBA
June 26: My Teenage Stride (Sunday)
July 01: Lower Dens & Dirty Beaches
July 03: The Hairs (Sunday)
July 08: The Wake & Weekend
July 10: Pow Wow! (Sunday)
July 15: The Radio Dept. & Asobi Seksu
July 16: 4Knots Music Festival (Saturday)

All Friday shows start at 7pm. Sunday shows, which are the return of our own Bill Pearis' Sound Bites series (but now on Sundays instead of at lunch), begin at 2pm. Both are part of the annual River To River Festival at The Seaport.

More free Seaport dates, shows and bands TBA, including maybe a Mad Decent Block Party.

DOWNLOAD: Asobi Seksu - Trails (Deerhoof remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Asobi Seksu - Perfectly Crystal (Beach Fossils/Spirit Animal remix) (MP3 premiere)

Asobi Seksu

Shoegazey rockers Asobi Seksu's new album Fluorescence was released via Polyvinyl in February. You'll notice at Polyvinyl's site that the download comes with four bonus tracks, three of which are remixes of the song "Trails", one of which is done by Deerhoof. Download that Deerhoof remix above if you don't already have it. Also grab the Beach Fossils remix version of "Perfectly Crystal" which is making its premiere in this post.

As previously mentioned, Asobi Seksu have a big headlining show coming up at Bowery Ballroom, and that show happens to be TONIGHT (4/7). Openers are Zaza and Consortium Musicum. Consortium Musicum are Greg Saunier of Deerhoof & Sean Lennon.

Asobi also recently announced some May dates with White Lies including a 5/24 show at Antone's in Austin where Asobi recently played SXSW for the fourth time. White Lies have good taste in openers. School of Seven Bells and Sun Airway open their upcoming Terminal 5 show.

And speaking of Beach Fossils, they have their own big show right around the corner. I'm talking about their Friday (4/8) headlining show at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Craft Spells, Crinkles, and "Unannounced Special Guest." Tickets are still on sale.

In related news, The Drums play a sold out show at Mercury Lounge tonight (4/7) and other upcoming shows too.

All Asobi & Beach Bossils tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Beach Fossils remixed Asobi Seksu (MP3 premiere), both play big shows this week w/ special guests (and other dates)"

today in NYC
* Nir Felder @ Barbes
* Spooky Ghost @ The Stone
* David Wax Museum @ Joe's Pub
* Martial Canterel @ Home Sweet Home
* Mandingo Ambassadors @ Barbes
* Greg Giraldo benefit @ Beacon Theatre
* Soldiers of Fortune, Water Fai @ Zebulon
* Henry Rollins spoken word @ Joe's Pub
* Hannis Brown, Dead Cat Bounce @ Sycamore
* Huey Lewis and the News @ Gramercy Theatre
* Arms, Hospitality, Radical Dads, Translations @ Pianos
* Soft Black, The Vacant Lots, Will Cam, J'ac @ Maxwell's
* The Loom, Pearl and the Beard, Team B @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Nicole Atkins, The Gay Blades, Mon Khmer @ Bowery Ballroom
* Anna Ternheim, Sonya Kitchell, Nigel Hall @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Janet Hamill (poetty) @ St. Marks's Church
* Rhys Chatham Brass Trio, Tony Conrad, Face the Music @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Consortium Musicum w/ Sean Lennon & Greg Saunier of Deerhoof @ The Stone
* Larry Campbell (The Music of Neil Young Live Rehearsal show) @ City Winery
* Bouncing Souls, Anti-Flag, Full Speed Ahead, The Great Explainer @ Stone Pony
* Cubic Zirconia, the Popo, Machinedrum, Party Supplies, Anika (DJ) @ Mercury Lounge
* The Big Terrific Comedy Show w/ Max Silvestri, Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate @ Cameo Gallery

Check out This Week in Indie.

The National (who played the Studio @ Webster Hall last night) are playing a private fashion week show tonight.

Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier (who played Europa last night) is playing with Sean Lennon at the Stone tonight.

Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson are responsible for the programming at the Stone this month.

Patti Smith & Lenny Kaye are doing poetry at St. Mark's Church (no advanced tickets).

Grimes have a new (unofficial but band approved) video that you can watch below...

Fellow Canadians Braids have a new video too. Also below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

Floored by Four @ Summerstage (more by Paul Bachmann)

The December 6th show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC:

• is a 50th birthday party for Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda who used to be married to Dougie Bowne who she has a long history of playing music with, used to date Sean Lennon who she frequently collaborates with, and who is now engaged or married to guitar wizard Nels Cline of Wilco (Wikipedia says their wedding was scheduled for late November in Japan, so if that's true, congratulations to them!)
• will feature a live performance by Floored by Four aka Mike Watt, Dougie Bowne, Yuka C. Honda, and Nels Cline. It will be their 2nd live show ever which means their first must have been that Summerstage show with M Ward
• will feature a Nels Cline solo set "+ friendly jamming after 10:30pm"
• will include a set titled "Yuka & Miho cover Cibo Matto" which I assume means a Cibo Matto show, but without any of Yuka and Cibo's other band members?

Nels Cline will also be back at the same NYC venue on February 26th for "The Nels Cline Singers and ROVA perform 'The Celestial Septet'". Tickets are on sale for that too. All Nels dates below.

Will Nels Cline, Mike Watt, Yuka Honda, and/or Dougie Bowne play with Yo La Tengo at Maxwell's this week? I don't know, but it would be pretty cool.

Will Nels Cline's Wilco bandmate Jeff Tweedy play with Yo La Tengo at Maxwell's this week? Very likely.

Will Sean Lennon show up and play at all at LPR on 12/6? Maybe? Will Yuka Honda play with Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl aka The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger at Rockwood Music Hall on January 8th? Maybe?

Can Yuka Honda, Dougie Bowne, Sean Lennon, and Nels Cline all be in the same room and everything be completely normal? Apparently?

Oh, and speaking of turning 50, don't forget tickets to Henry Rollins' upcoming shows at Joe's Pub go on sale Friday at noon.

Enjoy some birthday cake, with all Nels Cline tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Yuka Honda turning 50 -- Floored by Four w/ Mike Watt & her spouse Nels Cline playing 2nd gig ever, Cibo Matto show too"

words and photos Benjamin Lozovsky

Nels Cline did surprisingly more broad-stroke painting then guitar bludgeoning during the second of two sets at Le Poisson Rouge Tuesday night. Given his recent deeply ambient solo effort Coward and Wilco's gentler turn on their latest self-titled release, you might expect Cline to light a forest fire having returned back with his long time band, avant-jazz rock champions The Nels Cline Singers.

Not to say that there weren't still plenty of ear-pinching moments or spazzy band-wide outbursts or relentlessly spiraling guitar solos that left you reaching for Dramamine (all in a great way), but overall the set see-sawed slightly more towards intricate ballads then a tempest-like onslaught.

Seemingly always prone to moving in some outlandish direction though, Cline entertained a more trans-continental aesthetic on his new Singers record Initiate, and those instances live came off as the most energetic. Digging deeper into his traditional jazz pocket while taking his spastic space noise into the realm of samba, latin rhythm and even tribal pounding, like on "King Queen," Cline, along with bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola seemed enlivened by the challenge of intertwining Afro-Cuban and Brazilian fusion with a screeching electronic, even industrial façade. Little bits of latin percussion, performed by special guests Yuka Honda and Sean Lennon, added even more nuance and contrast to the intensity of the Singers in the grove.

Nels Cline has various other dates coming up. More pictures from the LPR show below...

Continue reading "The Nels Cline Singers played Le Poisson Rouge (pics)"

Sean Lennon & Irina Lazareanu @ Milk Studios

...according to Sean Lennon and model/musician/birthday-girl Irina Lazareanu who brought up their sadness at Pete not being at the party multiple times throughout the night. Sean said that Pete made it as far as JFK, but was met by cops who forced him to turn around and fly home.

Irina Lazareanu, Adam Green & Charlotte Kemp Muhl

The party was hosted by Irina Lazareanu (both Pete and Sean's ex girlfriend) (she was even engaged to Pete). Irina, in addition to chain smoking, performed with Sean, Sean's current girlfriend and bandmate Charlotte Kemp Muhl and Adam Green (and Adam's girlfriend (?) Cory Kennedy who played tambourine on a song). Pete was supposed to be a part of the supergroup too. They said they rehearsed with him in mind (at which point Sean said he could now get metal and they played a Sabbathy tune). They also played an Adam Green song, a Bob Dylan song, the Twist, and some other stuff.

Sean, BP Fallon & Lenny Kaye

BP Fallon opened the show both as DJ and then as frontman of his own band that included Lenny Kaye on guitar and Sean Lennon on drums. Not counting the photo of Leigh Lezark on the wall, that they were supposedly selling for charity, I didn't see any Misshapes there (they were also on the flyer). Paul Simon and Yoko Ono, both rumored as unannounced guests, were nowhere to be found either. Someone told me Bruce Willis was there, but I didn't see him. Oh yeah, and Adam Green had a black eye. More pics and stuff coming later.

UPDATE: Two videos below...

Continue reading "Pete Doherty never made it out of the airport.."

Seems unlikely, but that's what they're claiming.

Continue reading "Pete Doherty is playing NYC tonight??"

photos by Kevin Mazur/ Wire Image

"Yoko Ono, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Bette midler, freaking amazing!" - nico843

Yoko's Plastic Ono Band will be playing a special show at BAM's Gilman Opera House on Tuesday, February 16th. The show includes guest spots from original/former Plastic Ono band members Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Jim Keltner. Other guests include Justin Bond, Kim Gordon, Bette Midler, Thurston Moore, Mark Ronson, Scissor Sisters, Martha Wainwright, Haruomi Hosono, Paul Simon and son Harper Simon, and current Ono Band members Cornelius, Yuka Honda and Sean Lennon.

Continue reading "Yoko's Plastic Ono Band played BAM w/ Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Scissor Sisters & more (pics)"

"WE ARE PLASTIC ONO BAND on February 16 sold out immediately! Due to popular demand, a special dress rehearsal show featuring Yoko Ono and her core band (Sean Lennon, Yuka Honda, and Cornelius) has been added. They have never done anything like this before and probably never will again. This will certainly be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and while no special guest artists are slated to rehearse, you never know..." [Bam]

by Andrew Frisicano

Jemina Pearl @ Williamsburg Waterfront in July (more by Bao Nguyen)

Ex-Be Your Own Pet singer Jemina Pearl is already a week into her January/February tour across North America. The trip finishes with a show ("with special guests") at Brooklyn's Union Pool on Saturday, February 13th.

While we're on the topic of special guests and Union Pool, The Ghost Of A Saber Toothed Tiger, the psych-pop band fronted by Sean Lennon, play the venue "with guests" on February 19th. Last time they performed, in November, the band consisted of keyboardist Yuka Honda, drummer Yuko Araki and singer/bassist Charlotte Kemp Muhl. Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, a group that Lennon & Honda both perform with, bring a ton of guests to their show at BAM on February 16th.

The former BYOP-bandmates of Jemina & co-songwriter John Eatherly, Jake and Jamin Orral of JEFF the Brotherhood are touring (with a New York City show) too.

So far it's been quiet on the newsfront for Jemina in 2010, minus a blog post about her injured toe (which hopefully doesn't affect her on tour). Gross toe pic and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Jemina Pearl - 2010 tour dates include Union Pool where Sean Lennon is also playing (with guests)"

Yoko's Plastic Ono Band will be playing a special show at BAM's Gilman Opera House on Tuesday, February 16th. The show includes guest spots from original/former Plastic Ono band members Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Jim Keltner (one former "member," Ringo Star, isn't scheduled to be there, though he is in NYC on Jan 14th). Other guests include Justin Bond, Kim Gordon, Bette Midler, Thurston Moore, Mark Ronson, Scissor Sisters, Martha Wainwright, Haruomi Hosono, Paul Simon and son Harper Simon, and current Ono Band members Cornelius, Yuka Honda and Sean Lennon. Tickets are on sale.

Plastic Ono Band (sans guests) will also be at this year's Noise Pop Festival in San Fran on Febraury 23rd. The group's new sprawling record, Between My Head And The Sky, the first 'Ono Band' record since the '70s, came out last September. A flyer for the show is below...

Continue reading "Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band playing BAM w/ lots of special guests (Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Bette Midler) (tix on sale)"

DOWNLOAD: Memory Tapes - Bicycle (MP3)

The intial lineup for Noise Pop 2010, which takes over San Francisco February 23rd to March 1st, has been updated. Newly announced acts include Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Cornelius, Yuka Honda, Sean Lennon), The Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative performance, !!!, Harlem, Deerhoof, Memory Tapes, The Fresh and Onlys, Scout Niblett, Far (Reunion Show), The Mumlers, P.E.E (Reunion Show), Mirah, Laura Gibson, Nico Vega, Japanese Motors, Princeton, Free Energy, The Growlers, Nurses, Magic Wands, The Lonely Forest, The Hot Toddies, Tempo No Tempo, Judgement Day. The full current lineup is posted below.

Tickets and passes for most of those are on sale now. Tickets for Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Deerhoof) on February 23rd and the Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative shows go on sale on Sunday, January 10th.

Memory Tapes, chillwave Jerseyan Dayve Hawk, is one of the acts scheduled for the fest. He's going to be in the UK for a short run of shows this January, and he's confirmed that US dates and a European tour are forthcoming. The song "Bicycle" off his debut, Seek Magic, is above. The album is being re-issued on Feb 8th, "with an exclusive 48 minute 4 track CD2 through Urban Outfitters and digitally exclusively via iTunes".

UPDATE: Memory Tapes is opening for Atlas Sound at The Bell House on February 3rd. Tickets are still on sale.

More info on Noise Pop 2010 below...

Continue reading "Noise Pop expands 2010 lineup - updates include !!!, Far, Yoko Ono & Memory Tapes who is touring soon "

photos by Ezra Caldwell

BV: And you also played on the new Doveman record, The Conformist, which came out October 20th.

Bryce Dessner: Yeah the three of us, my brother and Bryan from [The National] all play on that record. We're kind of like the house band, so we back him up for a bunch of those songs.

A more public album release show happens in NYC, tonight (11/1), at Mercury Lounge. Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl will be there again, but this time as headliner of the show. Doveman plays right before them and as a member of their band. White Circle (Josh Wise of French Kicks) is first of fourth on the bill. The talented Julianna Barwick plays right before Dovemen. Sounds like a great way to spend a Sunday night.

On November 3rd Doveman is going out on tour with The Swell Season, though the Swell Season's Radio City date isn't listed as one of the shows he'll be opening. More pictures from the apartment show, and all tour dates, below....

Continue reading "Doveman & friends played an apt (pics), NYC show tonight (w/ Sean Lennon), 2009 Tour Dates (w/ the Swell Season)"

by Bill Pearis

Fake Male Voice @ Glasslands in February (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

Thanks to everyone who came out to our day party at Pianos yesterday. There were almost too many highlights to count. We've got four more parties still to come, three of which are today/tonight. Lots of great options all around today (10/23). I'm trying to highlight some of the ones you may not know about.

DAYTIME:

BrooklynVegan has another free day party today, this one on the harder-edged tip with Los Angeles' Nebula, Brooklyn's Naam, BV day party veterans Crystal Antlers, Goes Cube (read our interview with the band) and Austin's awesome Ume at Fontana's (105 Eldridge, NY, NY) today from 1 - 7. First band on at 2. Set times and flyer below. Free Miller beer and Vitamin water.

Over at Crash Mansion, there's a cool mid-day party (4 - 7) put on by the folks at Beyond Race with the lovely and mellow Helado Negro, Kiss Kiss, L.A. power poppers Army Navy and London's awesome Pete & the Pirates. who played a great set at the Bell House on Wednesday Night. Don't forget, Pete & the Pirates also play the Brooklyn Vegan Bowery Presents day party Saturday (10/24) at Pianos.

There's a lot going on in Brooklyn today too. The new Kemado Studios called The Co-Op (87 Guernsey St, Brooklyn) (which I hear is a pretty cool space) has Harlem, Viva L'American Death Ray Music, and Smith Westerns.

The Village Voice is putting on a day party at Knitting Factory with Javelin, Portland's Shaky Hands, Headlights and Orba Squara.

And then at Bruar Falls there's a kind of potentially amazing line-up, including Fake Male Voice (Tunde of TV on the Radio), mi-gu (Yuko of Cornelius and Plastic Ono Band) with Sean Lennon and Yuko Honda, as well as Ladybug Transistor, James Husband (Jamie of Of Montreal) and Hard Nips. This one is not free, $8 admission. Starts at noon.

Night stuff HERE. Fliers and set times below....

Continue reading "CMJ 2009 - Bill's Friday daytime picks"

by Andrew Frisicano

April 11th will be ISSUE Project Room's 6th anniversary. We're amazed at how much has happened in this period of time. ISSUE started on East 6th street as an impromptu and spontaneous music, experimental cinema and performance venue...quickly gaining attention and expanding from 60 performances a year to over 250. By 2005, ISSUE had to leave the East Village and migrated to an iconic and beautiful silo along the banks of the Gowanus Canal. This unusual and extraordinarily fun location was voted "Best Art Bayou" by the Village Voice and named "New York's Best Kept Secret" by the Whitney Museum.

Producing amazing performances by Rhys Chatham, Anthony Coleman, Marianne Amancher, Elliott Sharp, Jandek and WFMU's own Kenny G, ISSUE Project Room enjoyed its stay at the silo immensely but then had to move once again. This time to its current location at the Old American Can Factory at 232 3rd Street in Brooklyn. This room, the "sanctuary", was formerly a rehearsal studio for a circus troupe. Instead of trapeze artists, we've now got Stephan Moore's 16 channel hemispherical speaker system hanging from the ceiling, enabling us to move sound over and around the heads of the audience.

This past year we found out that we were awarded a rent free, 20 year lease on the elk's club room at the former Board of Education building at 110 Livingston Street. It's a pretty amazing room and an amazing opportunity to build a kind of "Carnegie Hall of the Avant Garde" for the next 20 years. It's up to us to bring it up to code and move in, though...so we'll be fundraising for the time being...getting ready for the future. [ISSUE Project Room via Free Music Archive]

One highlight (of many) is Moby's "first-ever live electronic/ambiant performance" on Friday, April 24th. Tickets for the show are on sale now - regular and VIP. The full package includes: "an intimate pre-performance cocktail party with Moby [to] hear advance tracks from his forthcoming album, meet and talk with the artist, and enjoy a sneak-preview of his new music video directed by David Lynch." Not surprisingly, Moby was one of many artists who recently appeared at Radio City Music Hall to help raise money for the David Lynch Foundation. Moby was also a part of the Issue Project Room fundraiser that took place at Santos Party House last year (that Tony Conrad also performed at).

On ISSUE Project Room's actual birthday, April 11th, Pitre, with special guest avant-composer/filmmaker Tony Conrad, will perform original composition ED09 "with a 17-piece string/woodwind ensemble". Tickets are on sale. ISSUE Project Room is where Tony teamed up with Genesis P-Orridge (of the reunited Throbbing Gristle) for two shows earlier this year. Video from one of those shows below.

The IPR schedule also has a Tuesday, April 21st show with producer and SNL music supervisor Hal Willner featuring Sean Lennon, Yuka Honda, Chloe Webb and special guests. Tickets to that are on sale. One of the albums Hal recently produced is the new Marianne Faithfull. Still waiting to hear if he'll be back at Prospect Park this year.

Noveller/Sarah Lipstate (who is playing Cinema 16 at the Bell House on Sunday, April 19th) performs at the ISSUE Project Room on Saturday, April 25th as part of artist-in-residence Duane Pitre's Bowed Harmonic-Guitar Ensemble.

Some videos and the venue's full April schedule, below...

Continue reading "Issue Project Room is 6 -- April (pre-move to Livingston St) benefit/birthday schedule w/ Moby, Hal Willner & more"

Joan as Policewoman will play shows at 8 and 10 pm at the Stone in NYC on New Years Eve. The 'Annual End The Year Improv Night' with John Zorn happens at the same venue three nights earlier. Other names on the Stone's schedule for December (curated by Jennifer Charles) include Gary Lucas, Erik Friedlander, Doveman, Alan Licht, Hal Willner's Parade (Yuka Honda & Sean Lennon), Elysian Fields, JG Thirwell, and Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog (tonight, Sunday December 7th).

January's schedule, curated by Craig Taborn, doesn't have many names
I recognize, but February, curated by Shannon Fields of Stars Like Fleas, has Twi the Humble Feather, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, Chris Schlarb, Diane Cluck, Jon Natchez, Kelly Pratt, Lexie Mountain Boys, Megafun, John Zorn, Ecstatic Sunshine, Sam Amidon, and Tristan Perich,

For other NYC shows on New Years Eve, browse HERE.

Joan Wasser (as Policewoman) and at least one band member also contribute to Gramercy Arms.

Marc Ribot is also playing December 9th at Blue Note and December 11th at Knitting Factory.

Nada Surf @ Bowery Ballroom in August (more by Chris La Putt)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Blip Festival
* Bowieball @ Santos
* Brian Posehn @ Comix
* Budos Band @ BAM Cafe
* Tombs @ Death By Audio
* Twisted Sister @ Nokia Theatre
* a craft fair @ Knitting Factory
* Yuka Honda & Sean Lennon @ Joe's Pub
* Vampire Weekend & Fiasco @ Terminal 5
* The Nouvellas & Mighty Fine @ Zebulon
* Owen & Caithlin De Marrais @ Mercury Lounge
* Yeasayer, Suckers & Gates of Heaven @ MHOW
* Cloak/Dagger & Psyched to Die @ the Charleston
* Stellastarr*, The Postelles & Native Black @ Pianos
* Phonograph, Salt & Samovar @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Nada Surf, Delta Spirit & Gramercy Arms @ Bowery Ballroom

Check out the Raconteurs video for "Old Enough" (featuring Ricky Scaggs and Ashley Monroe) below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"