photos by Chris La Putt

As you probably heard, Occupy Wall Street marched up to Times Square on Saturday evening for an "Occupation Party", complete with a Shepard Fairey designed invite (see above). Chris didn't go all the way to Times Square, but he did run into the march when it hit 34th St aka right near Comic Con at the Javits. Chris's pictures, and videos from Tom Morello's recent appearance, below...

Continue reading "Occupy Wall St march to Times Square pics, the Shepard Fairey designed invite, Tom Morello singing 'This Land is Your Land'"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Public Enemy

STEREOGUM: What appealed to you about getting involved with All Tomorrow's Parties?

GEOFF BARROW: I just like that, for the most part, you wouldn't want to be there if you aren't actually into the music. It's not like Coachella where there are loads of girls walking around in bikinis and stuff like that. It's basically people enjoying what is often some really indulgent music. For us, it's like a Charlie in the Chocolate Factory moment. You win the golden ticket and you get to see how the candy is made. You get to choose the bands that play with you, which is just ... amazing. It's like, wow, yes, please.

STEREOGUM: Who in particular are you most excited about seeing?

GEOFF BARROW: We've been really lucky over the years. We've done three of these ATP festivals and it's always such a good experience. I'm always, always, always very into watching Public Enemy. Also, Ultramagnetic MCs because they are just mental and so important to hip hop. I'll also be watching Swans ... with earplugs. I want to watch everything. I want to watch as much as I possibly can.

Jeff Mangum played his second of three Asbury Park sets on Sunday (10/2), though like his Friday show, we don't have pictures of his set (he doesn't like pictures). We do have pictures of a lot of other sets from Sunday though, and they continue, along with shots of the general Asbury Park scenery (the conclusion of our ATP NJ 2011 coverage), below...

Continue reading "I'll Be Your Mirror 2011 -- pics from ATP Sunday (Public Enemy, Company Flow, Thee Silver Mt. Zion, Deerhoof, Earth & more)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Swans @ Paramount Theater

You saw pictures from Friday and Portishead from Saturday (and Portishead Sunday). Here are the rest from that 2nd day in Asbury Park. They continue below...

Continue reading "I'll Be Your Mirror 2011 -- pics from ATP Saturday (Swans, Ultramagnetic MCs, Battles, Beak, Horrors & more)"

Shepard Fairey getting ready for ATP in Asbury (photo by Abbey Braden)

today in NYC
* Ad Week
* Whiplash @ UCB
* Hot Tub @ Littlefield
* Feist in a church
* Brain Cloud @ Barbes
* Chicha Libre @ Barbes
* Sam Sparro @ Dominion NY
* Deer Tick @ Death By Audio
* Jon Brion @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Shellac, Helen Money @ The Bell House
* Ancient Ocean, Jesse Sparhawk @ Zebulon
* Alexa Wilding, Cristina Black @ Mercury Lounge
* The Bangles, Antigone Rising @ Highline Ballroom
* Reverend Vince Anderson & His Love Choir @ Union Pool
* Explosions in the Sky, The Antlers @ Wellmont Theater
* The London Souls, Superhuman Happiness @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Woodsman, La Big Vic, Arches, Crinkles @ Cameo Gallery
* The Psychedelic Furs, Tom Tom Club, Maniac @ Irving Plaza
* Jeff Mangum, A Hawk & a Hacksaw @ Paramount Theater (NJ)
* Har Mar Superstar, Marijuana Death Squad @ Bowery Electric
* Lacrymosa, Sasha Dobson, Jes Hudak, Sveta Bout @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Kallathon, Dolovotre, Shataan, Kuxan Suum, Mutilation Rites @ The Acheron
* The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, The Toothaches, Small Wonder, Fables @ Shea Stadium
* Tony Scherr Trio with Anton Fier and Rob Jost, Jim Campilongo Electric Trio with Stephan Crump, Tony Mason @ Living Room

If you're going to Mangum tonight in Asbury Park, look out for Shepard Fairey artwork. He installed it all over the boardwalk area for ATP weekend. There is also a gallery on the boardwalk dedicated to him and he DJ'd last night.

What else?

All Tomorrow's Parties returns to the USA this September in the new location of Asbury Park, N.J. bringing an I'll Be Your Mirror event to the iconic waterfront. For the inaugural U.S. I'll Be Your Mirror, Portishead will curate and headline their firrst East Coast shows since 1998 on the Saturday & Sunday.

As well as Day Tickets, ATP have to date been selling two types of weekend pass - "Three Day Jeff Mangum" passes that include Jeff Mangum's Friday show and guarantee access to one of the Portishead shows (as well as everything else at the festival) and "Three Day Portishead" passes that do not give access to Jeff's Friday show but give guaranteed access to both Portishead shows as well as the rest of the festival. Today we announce a third type of weekend pass...

Portishead have invited Jeff to play an extra show on the Sunday night of the festival. Therefore this week we release new "Three Day Jeff Mangum Sunday Passes" - these give access to all three days of the festival to passholders who will see Jeff Mangum on the Sunday night and are guaranteed to see one of the two Portishead shows. The original Three Day passes for the event are now called "Three Day Jeff Mangum Friday Passes."

That means Jeff is playing Asbury Park three times, twice during the actual festival (see above), and, as you know, once on Monday (10/3) at Paramount Theatre (the day after ATP and not actually part of the fest itself). The Monday show has been sold out for a while now, but ATP are releasing a few more tickets for it. "To buy email feedback@atpfestival.com with JEFF MONDAY TICKETS in subject line, and tell us how many tickets you want. We will respond as soon as possible. Payments must be made by Paypal." A Hawk and a Hacksaw (ft. Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes) open the show.

ATP NJ has a few other lineup additions including Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 (they first reunited to play the Animal Collective ATP that recently happened in the UK), avant guitar hero Marc Ribot, avant sax hero Colin Stetson, avant comedian Reggie Watts, and others. Also: "Today we are also very pleased to announce that in conjunction with The Jonathan Levine Gallery, renowned artist SHEPARD FAIREY (who has created the art for this event and will also DJ) will be presenting an exhibition of his art over the weekend entitled Revolutions: The Album Cover Art of Shepard Fairey. More details of the exhibition will be confirmed soon."

The updated lineup is below, along with updated Jeff Mangum tour dates (he added a few other shows recently too)...

Continue reading "ATP NJ adds another Jeff Mangum show, a new kind of pass & some more bands to the lineup"

by BBG

Would you call it Weird Roots? Madlib and Doom aligned in 2004 to form Madvillain. Their debut LP Madvillainy for Stones Throw included the song "Accordion". Now The Roots have banded together with Weird Al (!) to record a cover of "Accordion". Listen below.

Weird Al was on Fallon last night (hence the meeting up of the two artists), though the cover is not what was performed on air (it was performed during soundcheck). Listen to the cover (which Questlove posted online), and watch the Roots and Al perform "Beer Barrell Polka" (a Fallon web exclusive), below. No word on if "Weird Roots" will release any more material, but you can hear a new-er Madvillain song from their forthcoming LP in a Stones Throw podcast.

As previously discussed, The Roots are in the midst of a series of Blue Note Jazz Fest shows at the Blue Note. Tonight (6/21), Questlove presents the second night of Mo' Meta Blues I, his supergroup consisting of Booker T on organ/keyboards/vocals, Eric Krasno on guitar, and Christian McBridge on bass. Tomorrow (6/22) is Mo' Meta Blues II, The Roots tribute to the 25th anniversary of the seminal Paid in Full LP. Rakim will join the crew at the venue as the band performs the album in its entirety. All four remaining shows are sold-out (early and late each night), but 21-plus'ers can still get in at the bar on a first come, first served basis.

The Roots will also perform at the launch of "Rebuild the Dream" at Town Hall in NYC on Thursday (6/23) "Van Jones calls this new wave of energy the "American Dream Movement". Along with The Roots, artists/DJ Shepard Fairey and other celebrities will be appearing at the campaign commencement." We're unsure of how you can get yourself in this show, but you can watch it online and learn more at their website.

Doom is (supposedly) scheduled to appear at Rock The Bells 2011.

Check out both versions of "Accordion" below.

Continue reading "The Roots covered Madvillain with Weird Al, playing Rebuild the Dream event @ Town Hall after Blue Note shows"

Updated ATP flyer

"Can we assume they'll be added to ATP, which starts a few days after the Bklyn date?," asked a commenter in the comments of our post announcing the Swans show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and that commenter was dead on.

ATP NJ (aka "Ill Be Your Mirror") has updated its previously announced lineup to include Swans, Peanut Butter Wolf (who will be DJing), Battles, Deerhoof, Jim Thirwell's Manorexia, and Oneida (who will again perform in Ocropolis formation, like in 2009) "ONEIDA PRESENTS THE OCROPOLIS III which will take place at the Asbury Lanes Bowling Alley - the band will perform continuously throughout the day, sometimes with guests from the rich array of musicians also performing in the festival, sometimes alone and mostly improvised."

Though 3-day passes for the Asbury Park Fest, which include your only shot at seeing Jeff Mangum, are sold out (now called the Jeff Mangum Three Day Pass), tickets are still available in multiple incarnations for the three day celebration, including a new "Portishead Three Day Pass" which allows "passholders to see everything else from Friday-Sunday as well as giving priority access with the day pass holders to BOTH Portishead shows on Saturday and Sunday" (the pass doesn't include entry into Jeff Mangum). The "Portishead Three Day Pass" will go on sale at 10AM EST Thursday (4/21) and individual day passes are currently on sale. The versions of the 3-day pass that are sold out only guarantee you one night of Portishead. "Existing Day ticketholders or Jeff Mangum Three Day pass holders who wish to switch to a Portishead Three Day Pass should contact ATP via feedback@atpfestival.com before May 30th."

The current lineup is below.

Continue reading "ATP NJ adds 'Portishead 3 Day Pass', expands lineup (Swans, Oneida, Battles, Deerhoof, more)"

"Are we happy or sad if exit through the gift shop wins? #obeygiant" - Shepard Fairey

"Earlier [in January] I noted that Banksy had finally spoken about the artist Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash) profiled in his now Oscar nominated film Exit Through the Gift Shop . Still, suspicions run fairly rampant that he either doesn't exist or is merely the latest prank creation by Banksy. Guetta has now given sworn statements that the artwork is his own, as he's the subject of a copyright lawsuit initiated by photographer Glen E. Friedman. The two Run DMC images above should make that fairly obvious (as well as several others after the jump).

Friedman is arguing that Guetta used, without credit or permission, his iconic photo of Run DMC on invitations, artworks, merchandise and promotional materials. The Hollywood Reporter broke this story, connected some of the dots between many of the people involved, and then suggested it's basically the same situation as the Associated Press vs. Shepard Fairey case surrounding the Obama 'Hope' image. It's not, and for number of reasons which I'll get to in a second..." [Boing Boing]

That said, the real human who is known as Mr. Brainwash made an appearance Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards where "Exit" won best documentary, and he will be at the Oscars, but the LA Times says...

The big question as of Sunday morning remained whether Banksy himself would show up to the Oscars. On the red carpet before the [Independent Spirit Awards], Guetta engaged in some playfulness. "We'll see. This is like the movie: Can we explain the movie? No. Can we know that the movie is real or not? No. Can we know if he's going to show up? I don't know."

But then he also said that, indeed, he and the reclusive street artist could have a plan. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't know," he said, offering a coy smile.

By the way, Exit Through the Gift Shop is on Netflix on-demand.

The Washington Post talked to Thierry on the ISA red carpet too. That interview and other videos (including Exit Through The Pet Shop), below....

Continue reading "Mr. Brainwash (possibly real) being sued, was at Independent Spirit Awards, will be at the Oscars (but will Banksy?)"

Shepard Fairey is also DJing the event on Sunday

ATP Asbury Park ("I'll Be Your Mirror") has released the second wave of artist announcements including many of Portishead's choices for the bill! We already knew about Jeff Mangum, Bonnie Prince Billy, Shellac, Chavez and more. New additions include, not surprisingly, Portishead-related acts Anika and Beak> (and this time Anika will be performing live and not just DJing). There's also now a rare reunion of The Pop Group, an Ultramagnetic MC's reunion (WITH Kool Keith), Silver Qluster (Simeon of Silver Apples and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster/Harmonia), Thee Siliver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Mogwai, Earth, The Horrors and more. The full list is below.

Jeff Mangum also just announced a slew of other shows aside from ATP Asbury Park, including a UK ATP.

More details, a bigger Shepard Fairey-designed poster, and the full schedule below...

Continue reading "ATP NJ lineup expands (Pop Group & Ultramagnetic MCs reunions, Mogwai, Horrors & more Portishead-picked bands)"

Shepard Fairey, who just completed a giant mural on Houston St, has added a similar looking decoration to the upstairs bar at Bowery Presents music venue Music Hall of Williamsburg. The permanent installation is two murals on adjoining walls. True story: "Listening to a playlist including Metallica, Fugazi, and Band of Horses, Fairey's pasted posters feature images demonstrating his disdain for the dysfunctional democracy and the need for campaign finance reform."

Fairey's NYC murals (with the Music Hall one being advertised as the only indoor one) are to promote his upcoming exhibition at Deitch Projects, and "as part of the OBEY phenomenon aimed to enhance the urban landscape". The first chance to see the mural is at the Hellyeah show at the venue tonight (4/27). It will also be the last time to see it since Pantera fans will surely burn the Band of Horses-loving wimpy artwork to the ground. More pictures of the art below...

Continue reading "Shepard Fairey murals installed @ Music Hall of Williamsburg"

Just ran into Shepard Fairey right after watching exit through the gift shop. Well planned Shepard -Wheelaa

Houston and Bowery (via)

(via)

Artist Shepard Fairey, who unlike Banksy is not afraid to show his face, started work on a mural yesterday at the corner of Houston and Bowery, just a few blocks from Landmark Sunshine Cinema where Exit Through the Gift Shop, a doc directed by Banksy and featuring Fairey, is screening. A picture of the completed mural is below.

The mural is a promotion for May Day, Fairey's upcoming show at Deitch Projects, which'll be the last exhibit ever at Deitch (which is closing).

Work on it continued into the night (and should continue today... someone that lives across the street just told me it appears to be now finished...) - you can see the progress and the completed mural in the pictures below. One of the videos reports that the mural will be up for 6 months. That video and others with more pictures and details on the exhibit are below...

Continue reading "Shepard Fairey made a mural on Houston, last-ever exhibit at Deitch Projects opens in May"

[On new record Li(f)e] Sage Francis' biting and sardonic wordplay now further empowered by talented musicians including producer Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine) and Jim Becker and Tim Rutili of acclaimed Chicago outfit Califone. Francis has also enlisted a roster of uniquely talented songwriters including exGrandaddy frontman Jason Lytle, Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie, Tim Fite, members of Calexico, DeVotchKa, and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse - each of whose compositions were then interpreted by Francis and the band. [Sage Francis news]

The album, with the Shepard Fairey cover art posted above, comes out May 11th on Anti-/Epitaph Records. All tour dates and videos (including one of Francis collaborator B. Dolan and Providence's What Cheer? Brigade street band performing a song off his new Fallen House, Sunken City live) are below...

Continue reading "Sage Francis - new Anti-album & 2010 tour dates"

BOSTON -- A street artist famous for his red, white and blue "Hope" posters of President Obama has been arrested on warrants accusing him of tagging property with graffiti, police said Saturday.

Shepard Fairey was arrested Friday night on his way to the Institute of Contemporary Art for a kickoff event for his first solo exhibition, called "Supply and Demand."

Two warrants were issued for Fairey on Jan. 24 after police determined he'd tagged property in two locations with graffiti based on the Andre the Giant street art campaign from his early career, Officer James Kenneally said. One of the locations was the railroad trestle by the landmark Boston University bridge over the Charles River, police said.

Fairey, 38, of Los Angeles, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Brighton District Court, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney. Wark said Fairey would also be arraigned on a default warrant related to a separate graffiti case in the Roxbury section of Boston. [Huffington Post]

This not the first time Shepard has been arrested - not even close. That's one of many subjects he talks about in his interview with Henry Rollins that you can watch in the videos below...

Continue reading "Shepard Fairey arrested in Boston on the way to his opening"

On buttons, posters and Web sites, the image was everywhere during last year's presidential campaign: A pensive Barack Obama looking upward, as if to the future, splashed in a Warholesque red, white and blue and underlined with the caption HOPE.

Designed by Shepard Fairey, a Los-Angeles based street artist, the image has led to sales of hundreds of thousands of posters and stickers, has become so much in demand that copies signed by Fairey have been purchased for thousands of dollars on eBay.

The image, Fairey has acknowledged, is based on an Associated Press photograph, taken in April 2006 by Manny Garcia on assignment for the AP at the National Press Club in Washington.

The AP says it owns the copyright, and wants credit and compensation. Fairey disagrees. [Yahoo News]

Continue reading "AP says Shepard Fairey's Obama poster infringes copyright"

Headliners Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure are among the 130-plus acts set for the tenth COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL (APRIL 17, 18 AND 19) at the beautiful Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, the same grounds where the COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL debuted in 1999. Other artists confirmed for America's most critically acclaimed music festival include Morrissey, Amy Winehouse, Franz Ferdinand, My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Thievery Corporation, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the complete line-up is listed below).

This marks the first ever U.S. festival appearance for McCartney who is currently supporting his latest release ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS.

"I have heard that Coachella is one of the greatest festivals in the world. I'm really excited to get out there and rock!" McCartney says.

Throbbing Gristle and the rest of the full (real) line-up (as of 1/30) is below:

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - OFFICIAL lineup announced (My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Morrissey, The Cure, Antony, Amy Winehouse...) - tix on sale"

The cross-cultural collaboration of N.A.S.A.'s debut album The Spirit of Apollo has been carried over to the album artwork. Each album will contain artwork for five interchangeable covers by popular artists from varied backgrounds and cultures.

Shepard Fairey is also about to release a Bad Brains poster.

N.A.S.A. play Le Poisson Rouge in NYC tonight for free (1/29). When I first started hearing about tonight's show, I thought "yeah,I covered that already" and "that came up fast". Only now am I realizing that tonight's show is a newly added record release party which is not to be confused with the group's show at the same venue scheduled for March (which is on sale).

All dates, more art, and that video below...

Continue reading "Shepard Fairey, Sage Vaughn, Marcel Dzama, Mark Gonzales & others create art for N.A.S.A. (who are in NYC) "

by Black Bubblegum

Kevin Seconds @ Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Kevin Seconds is hitting the road. Not literally, because that might bloody his knuckles, but the folkin' punk rock legend will tour the seabaring portions of these United States (the east/west coasts) starting Jan 31st and concluding in late February including THREE NYC shows and one on Long Island! The Long Island show (TBA) takes place on Feb 17th with ex-Groovie Ghoulies frontman Kepi Ghoulie. The two then continue on Feb 18th with a double header....a FREE daytime in-store at Generation records with KS & KG followed by a show that night at Pianos. The next night, Feb 19th, the pair take on Europa (tix here). Full tour dates are below.

...And speaking of punk frontmen who recently played Fun Fun Fun Fest, John Joseph and his Cro-Mags (Jam) have scheduled a show of their own at Europa on March 29th with Maximum Penalty and Dump Body. Tickets are on sale.

...And while we're on the subject of NYHC legends who played Fun Fun Fun Fest, Bad Brains are the subject of a new upcoming documentary! Details are sketchy at best, including the title of the film, but their myspace page professes that the film is "currently in post production" and "follows the music and the life of the Bad Brains from 1979 to present day". Film trailer below.

Bad Brains print by Shepard Fairey

Meanwhile, wheat-paste-ninja-turned-media-mogul-turned-Obama-Campaign-poster-designer Shepard Fairey will release a limited edition silk screening of the band on his website "in a few weeks". It's a collaboration with the mighty Glen E Friedman, check it out above.... pretty much rules.

Oh, and did we mention Daryl Jennifer of Bad Brains has a solo album due this spring?!? Details are sketchy, but as they arise, we'll post 'em.

We didn't catch the show, but HR recently appeared on the bill of an Inauguration show at Le Poisson Rouge here in NYC. How was that one?. The Bad Brains only upcoming date is at the Langerado Fest in Florida on Friday March 6th.

Documentary trailer & tour dates below...

Continue reading "Kevin Seconds tour dates, a Cro-Mags show, Bad Brains documentary, Shepard Fairey poster & Daryl Jennifer solo"

Today is the last day to register to vote in some states, so hurry.

Win Butler, Will Butler, Regine Chassagne and Jeremy Gara of the Arcade Fire will be playing a free concert on Sunday, March 2nd at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio in support of Barack Obama's bid for the Democratic nomination. The show is at 7 p.m., first come first serve.

They will also be playing a free show at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland on Monday, March 3rd. Doors are at 7 p.m., and the show is 18 and over, first come first serve.

Though the Arcade Fire is known as a Canadian band, Win and Will were born and raised in the U.S. (and spent their formative years in Texas), Regine is a dual citizen whose dad served in Vietnam, and Jeremy Gara is just a really nice Canadian who likes playing music and is sick of explaining to Americans what universal health care means.

Will.i.am also came out with another video for Obama. That and one by the Arcade Fire below...

Continue reading "Arcade Fire (members) playing for Obama in Ohio (for free)"

"The concert is expected to coincide with the release of a new two-CD best of compilation, Mothership, on 13 November." [BBC]

"Shepard Fairey, the artist/designer/illustrator who created the Andre the Giant Has a Posse sticker campaign and whose artwork graces album covers for artists like The Black Eyed Peas, 311, and the Smashing Pumpkins, announced last Friday that he has been commissioned by Led Zeppelin to design the packaging for their forthcoming Mothership greatest-hits collection." [The Daily Swarm]