Union Transfer rendering

Lots of interesting stuff to report in the world of live concert promotions...

NYC concert promoter Bowery Presents, who already has expanded to NJ, Boston, Maine, and Canandaigua, NY (not to mention MSG, Jones Beach, the Meadowlands, Radio City, etc), is opening a new music venue in Philadelphia this month. In partnership with Philly's one and only Sean Agnew of R5 Productions, and Avram Hornik and Mark Fichera of Four Corners Management, Union Transfer is...

... "named after the original train depot station that occupied the building [and] was developed by the group to meet Philadelphia's need for a mid-sized live music space and will accommodate 600 people. The general admission venue boasts a flexible capacity and can manage up to 1,000 people for larger crowds. Located at 1004-26 Spring Garden St, steps from Center City, Union Transfer is slated to open on September 21, 2011.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah headline the very first show at the new space. Felice Brothers, Shellac, Mogwai, Tune-Yards, RJD2, Langhorne Slim, Little Dragon, CSS, Odd Future, Dum Dum Girls, Friendly Fires, The Black Angels, Boris, SBTRKT and many others are also already on the initial schedule.

In perhaps less exciting news for Bowery Presents, Mercury Lounge talent buyer Jay Belin has reportedly moved on and started booking Irving Plaza, Gramercy Theatre and the new Paramount Theatre in Huntington, Long Island for Live Nation.

The Paramount Theatre is...

...located on New York Avenue a block and a half north of Main Street. The space is the former home of the nonprofit Inter-Media Arts Center (IMAC), which closed its doors in 2009 after 26 years of hosting jazz, folk and blues concerts.

The 1,500-capacity venue has been undergoing renovations for months. Among the changes, there will be a VIP lounge on the balcony and a member's only "Founder's Room" with a separate entrance in addition to the general admission floor.

"With both the architecture and the vibe of the venue dedicated to quality sound, hospitality, and experience, The Paramount is sure to be a hotspot for all of Long Island, and especially for Huntington," the founders said in a news release." [Long Island Press]

Upcoming shows at the Paramount include Rusted Root, Elvis Costello, The B-52's, Weird Al Yankovic, BB King, Willie Nelson, the Pixies, Brand New and Ray Davies.

Speaking of moving on, Rock Shop booker Jack McFadden aka Skippy has moved to the music capital of Texas. He is still booking the Brooklyn club (and other NYC rooms) though. You just won't see him there as much.

Speaking of expanding, the race is on to see who can open in Chicago first. Will it be Brooklyn Bowl? or City Winery?

Speaking of Brooklyn Bowl, and last but not least for this post, the Wetlands is having a Class of '96 reunion at Brooklyn Bowl on Sunday (9/11). Ex-employees of the famed Tribeca club who will probably be in attendance include Rocks Off founder Jake Szufnarowski, Bowery Ballroom (and Union Transfer co-booker) Johnny Beach and of course ex-Wetlands owner and current Brooklyn Bowl owner Peter Shapiro. Brooklyn Bowl hosted a Wetlands get together of sorts in 2010 too, though that one was on a much sadder note, as it was to remember Wetlands' very first employee Dave Nolan who died of a heart attack last year.

World Cup @ The Rock Shop

Jack "Skippy" McFadden recently controversially parted ways with Union Hall and The Bell House where he was the main talent buyer (booker) since both clubs opened. Well, not only didn't it take long for Skippy to get another job, he'll be working just a few blocks from both of his old rooms at Park Slope's new Rock Shop. The Bowery-affiliated club (which is not part of Bowery Presents) has a show capacity of 120. Jack says "it looks and sounds like a mini Mercury Lounge, but with that new car smell. High ceilings, great sightlines, a very cool and welcoming place for bands and fans alike."

Skippy will be the exclusive booker of the new venue (which I guess means no Diane). He'll also be bringing bigger shows to other clubs he's partnering with around the city. He hasn't named them, but he'll basically be freelance-booking shows that would have fit into the Bell House, into other venues.

The Rock Shop schedule hasn't been announced yet, but the first shows are: July 7, 9, 10, 13-17, and there will be a "grand opening" on August 2nd. The August 2nd artist won't be announced until that day. Check BrooklynVegan.com around noon that day to find out who it is.

Kings Crescent (mem. of fiery furnaces), csc funk band (x mem of talibam,gwar,usaisamonster), and superhuman happiness (mem. of antibalas) are scheduled to play there on August 6th.

by Bill Pearis

a day by day Week in Indie-like guide to this week's Northside Festival...

The Hundred in the Hands

The Northside Festival is back for a second year, and I really do think the roster of bands playing over the next four days is pretty impressive: here's bigger bands, more out of town bands, more bands in general. More than plenty of good -- great even -- options to justify the $50 badge. (Most of us spend $50 in four days here anyway.) The bulk of the venues are within walking distance of each other, so why not make good use of the badge and hop around as much as possible.

For opening night (tonight, Thursday, June 24th), if you had to stay in one place the whole night, it's hard to top the line-up at Knitting Factory with DOM, Cloud Nothings and Wavves. It's sold out for tickets, but you can still get in with your badge as capacity allows. Wavves new album, King of the Beach, is going to surprise people expecting Nathan Williams to do more of the same lo-fi haze -- it's a ridiculously catchy set of tunes that drops the sludge and scuzz of his first two releases. Cleveland's Cloud Nothings are good too, much more rockin' live than their recordings might suggest, with a real basher of a drummer. I've yet to see Dom live, maybe tonight's the night. Dom also plays our showcase at MHOW on Saturday night.

Former Bell House/Union Hall booker Jack "Skippy" McFadden (along with the Gothamist folks) has put together a solid schedule of local talent at Coco66, with '90s-loving Mr. Dream, plus Pacific Theater, The Forms, Caveman, Bird of Youth, Luke Folger.

Elsewhere: The Hundred in the Hands are at Warsaw (10PM), opening for Au Revoir Simone (who have a new remix album coming out). THitH's new EP, This Desert, will appeal to folks who liked the dancier side of '90s shoegaze (Curve specifically comes to mind).

Austin's YellowFever, in town for the Voxtrot farewell shows, play Union Pool at 10:45PM. If you've never seen them, please try and correct that. It's a solid show overall, with Air Waves, Aa, Coasting and PC Worship.

ARMS, which is former Harlem Shakes guitarist Tom Goldstein's new band, >play their harmony-laden atmospheric pop at Bar Matchless at 10:30pm. If you miss them, they're also at Barge Park on Sunday.

And it should be a sloppy drunk night down in The Charleston's basement with My Teenage Stride, I'm Turning Into (2/3's of which are also in MTS, and they curated this show) and German Measles.

The full schedule is at Northside's site. More Northside suggestions as the weekend progresses. Stay tuned.

The Hundred In The Hands's new video for "Tom Tom" below...

Continue reading "Bill's 2010 Northside Festival picks (Thursday) "

Skippy @ the Bell House (more by Jonny Leather)

As you may have heard, Jack "Skippy" McFadden has parted ways, presumably not on great terms, with the Brooklyn venues he booked: Union Hall and The Bell House. Skippy essentially was the man behind the music at Union Hall. He then went on to help build the Bell House from scratch, giving him a "small" and "big" venue to play with for both local and touring bands, comedians, burlesque and other local events. He's even part owner of the Bell House.

It was his eclectic taste and encyclopedic knowledge of indie rock that helped him compete in a Bowery/AEG/LiveNation world. His accomplishments include Peter Bjorn & John's first NYC show in the basement at Union Hall, a large amount of money raised for Haiti at the Bell House and too many shows to count over the past four years (by the likes of Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes, Andrew Bird, Nada Surf, The Thermals, The National, Charlotte Gainsbourg and many more). His upcoming shows include two nights of Unrest.

He won't say much at the moment, presumably for legal reasons, but he would tell me that he's "grateful for the opportunity and some really wonderful times" and that it'll be one of his "life's biggest regrets that it didn't work out given the amount of effort I made. At both venues." Good luck Skippy.

What the future holds for those venues is unclear, but it seems some shows are already jumping ship to Littlefield and elsewhere. Stay tuned for more details.

photos by Jonny Leather

'@Joslynm congrats on your pop culture trivia expertise!' - Pat Kiernan

Pat Kiernan

Jimmy Fallon

"Without being too cheesy, I have to say there was a really beautiful spirit at last night's concert. The venue was sold out and aside from the silent auction, Bell House raised $35,000.00 for Save the Children and Partners in Health. I missed the first hour or so because I had to stop by my place, but got there in time to see Jimmy Fallon do a Neil Young impression. Then Freelance Whales played. You all should check them out. They're getting crazy attention right now and they are based out of Queens. Now that's special! Anyway, it was good times all around. Cat Power and Pavement records and CDs were given away for trivia knowledge, Ted Leo who also has shows in town, was adorable and even though Cold War Kids pulled out of the show, the Walkmen did an amazing job closing the show." [Petunia Eats]

The long show ran from 7pm-2am with, as pointed out, the Walkmen closing out the night. Actress Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) and her band The Leisure Class were a surprise guest that Ryan Muir said were "blowing me away. Now they are covering St Vincent. 'Marry Me'". (St. Vincent herself played covers at the Haiti benefit that happened at Music Hall on Saturday). NY1's Pat Kiernan (possibly who I wanted to see the most on the bill) hosted trivia. Eugene Mirman introduced him as the guy you see every morning on TV if you don't have Fios.

All artists, including Here We Go Magic, played short sets. If you want to see more of them (HWGM), they play as a headliner at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday.

More pictures and some videos (by Tim Duffy of Pop Tarts Suck Toasted) from the Bell House (in alphabetical order), below...

Continue reading "Jimmy Fallon, Pat Kiernan, Ted Leo, Walkmen, the Wrens & others played a Haiti benefit @ the Bell House - pics & video "

Field Music didn't make it, but there was a special reunion set by Pulsars, followed by the super duper Wye Oak who played before special guest Rumours last night at The Bell House in Brooklyn (12/3).

As advertised (at the last minute anyway), Rumours was a Fleetwood Mac cover band. Cover song experts Loser's Lounge made up the band and a rotating cast of singers came to the stage to play individual tunes. Those vocalists included Dave Hill dueting with Erika from Au Revoir Simone, Will Sheff dueting with Beth Wawerna, Matthew Caws, Britta, Sharon Van Etten, Wye Oak, and many more. The show was in honor of Bell House booker Skippy. Well, it was his birthday party, and he even came out to help perform "I Don't Wanna Know" with Mia Riddle. The full setlist (which did not include AC Newman or Eugene Mirman - both must be out of town) with a couple of videos below...

Continue reading "Rumours (indie all-star Fleetwood Mac band) played the Bell House w/ Wye Oak & Pulsars - video & setlist"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Loney Dear - "Airport Surroundings" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: AC Newman - "Submarines of Stockholm" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Matador Records Intended Play sampler 2008 (ZIP file)

Loney Dear

I'm excited for Ida Maria, but those shows are a month away. As for this week, you may remember Loney Dear are in town to play two shows with fellow Swedes Melpo Mene. For most of us this will be our first taste of their new album, Dear John, which is out on Polyvinyl on Jan. 27. If the track at the top of this post, "Airport Surroundings," is any indication, the new album is going to be a lot more synthy. And is it just me or does that track start out sounding a little like Warnen G's "Regulate"?

In addition to Melpo Mene (who I wrote about before), the Mercury Lounge show Wednesday (12/10) night also features locals Boy Genius who are getting ready to record their new album with producer Mitch Easter (R.E.M., Pavement, and his own band, Let's Active). The Bell House show on Friday (12/12) is part of Union Hall/Bell House talent booker Skippy's 40th birthday party. Takka Takka and Alina Simone are also on the bill. There could be other surprises too, you never know.

Melpo Mene also has a couple shows in addition to the ones with Loney, Dear. He'll play Rockwood Music Hall on Thursday (12/11, 11PM) and and an early (6PM) free show upstairs at Cake Shop on Friday (12/12). Go see him if you can.

Next Thursday (12/18), why not hit Stanton Public from 8-10 for the AC Newman's Get Guilty listening party? It's free beer n' booze too, you just need to RSVP at Insound. You can get one track from Get Guilty on Matador's free download Intended Play sampler, and another MP3, both at the top of this post. Plus, Carl just announced some 2009 tour dates.

One final pick for this week: I highly recommend checking out School of Seven Bells at Mercury Lounge on Monday. Their debut, Alpinisms, is one of my favorite albums of 2009, and the band just got back from opening for M83 so I have a feeling they probably won't be playing places this small for much longer. And when they can get all their crazy equipment working, it's a mezmerizing show. Some of their videos below...

Continue reading "Loney Dear, Boy Genius, School of Seven Bells & more in This Week In Indie"

photos by Bryan Bruchman

Magnetic Field in Brooklyn is closing down, and this is sadly their final week of shows. Last night's show featured The A-Bones and special guests the Condo Fucks. Bryan Bruchman (aka Subinev) was there to document the action....

Continue reading "the A-Bones & the Condo Fucks (Yo La Tengo) @ Magnetic Field's final Friday night of shows, Brooklyn, NY - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Versus - Deseret (MP3)

Peter Moren, Carl Newman & the happy couple @ Union Hall, Nov 10, 2007 (cred)

Eugene Mirman now pronounces you man & wife, Nov 10, 2007

Union Hall can now call itself home to at least two major indie rock weddings, and both weddings involved The New Pornographers' Carl Newman, and Union Hall mainstay comedian Eugene Mirman, in one way or another. The first wedding (August 4, 2007) WAS Carl Newman's, and (luckily then) Carl merely played at the second one. Carl and Peter of Peter Bjorn & John did a set of covers at the private Saturday night show that also included sets by Dean & Britta and The Mugs (not the Muggs). Congratulations to Union Hall's booker Skippy, and his new wife Courtney. More photos like the two in this post, at Flickr. Read an interview with Skippy (Jack McFadden) at Gothamist.

For Peter, that meant his third show at Union Hall. His first was with Bjorn and John - their NYC debut back in January, and his second was just one night before the wedding - he was the not-so-secret guest on Friday night's David Kilgour show....

Peter played a short impromptu set of songs he's working on for an upcoming solo album, working out arrangements in advance of his "real" solo show at Joe's Pub on November 19. Stress on "working them out." There were stops and starts, flubbed lyrics... but luckily Moren's a real charmer so nobody seemed to mind....[Sound Bites]

BUT, ends up....

the real treat was after the night's show (including David Kilgour and Euros Childs) was supposed to be over.

1990s indie faves Versus reunited for their second show since breaking up in 2001. This wasn't the start of a reformation, however -- this was a 40th birthday present for former Teenbeat labelmate Matthew Datesman, who has logged time playing drums for various bands on that influential Arlington, VA label, including True Love Always, Aden, and currently Flin Flon. Teenbeat prez and Flin Flon singer Mark Robinson (who still looks like he's 25) was one of the 50 or in attendence, most of whom were super-psyched to be seeing Versus. [Sound Bites]

Versus reunion, Nov 09, 2007

And as if that wasn't enough, Michael Showalter's new comedy album Sandwiches & Cats is out this week. What does that have to do with Union Hall? Well, it was recorded there! Stream it now at AOL.

As you probably know by now - mostly thanks to Michael Showalter & Eugene Mirman's weekly Sunday night show "Tearing the Veil of Maya", Union Hall has become - along with UCB and Rififi, one of the best places to catch a show by one of NYC's many "alt-comedians". Aziz Ansari, David Cross, Jon Benjamin, Leo Allen.....the list goes on.....

Sarah Silverman poses with a super-fan, Nov 1, 2007

That's right - Sarah Silverman herself was the the "surprise" at Todd Barry's 20th year in comedy celebration at Union Hall earlier this month.

Upcoming shows at Union Hall include Daniel Kitson, Travis Morrison, and Oppenheimer. Eugene Mirman & Immaculate Machine played their Sunday night.