photos by Chris La Putt

King Hippo come to life - Saturday @ NY Comic Con

and just in time for tonight's Walking Dead premiere...

More pictures from this weekend's New York Comic Con at the Javits Center, below...

Continue reading "New York Comic Con 2012 photos (Cosplay enthusiasts, King Hippo, superheroes, Walking Dead, Cobra Commander & more)"

today in NYC
* Whiplash @ UCB
* Chicha Libre @ Barbes
* Eszter Balint @ Barbes
* Federico Aubele @ Joe's Pub
* The Godfathers @ Santos Party House
* Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen @ Littlefield
* The Syd Straw Heartwreck Show @ Southpaw
* Abe Vigoda (Radio Happy Hour) @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Tony Scherr Trio, Norman Vladimir @ The Living Room
* Theophilus London, PO PO, New Look @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* 3rd Annual Anti V-day Riot Gurrl Cover Band Show @ Death By Audio
* Controlled Bleeding, Syphilitic Lust, Occultation, Skull @ Lit Lounge
* Vieux Farka Toure, Ramble Tamble, Invisible Familiars, Very Fresh @ Zebulon
* Jim Campilongo Electric Trio, Stephan Crump, Tony Mason @ The Living Room
* Kyp Malone Valentine's Day Party w/ Chica Vas, Hiro Kone, Grey Gersten @ Glasslands
* Genghis Barbie, Stumblebum Brass Band, Raya Brass Band, Frank London @ Mercury Lounge

The Spiderman musical is having a rough time. In related news, the dude who plays Spiderman is in the band Carney who are playing Bowery Ballroom tonight. Acutally all of Carney play in the musical that was written by U2 who Carney are opening for, along with Arcade Fire, at their show in New Brunswick, Canada on July 30, 2011.

Arcade Fire won "Album of the Year" at the Grammys.

LCD Soundsystem are on the Colbert Report tonight.

A video of Little Scream playing "The Heron and The Fox", below...

Video of Cee-Lo's Grammy performance below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday? (Valentine's Day)"

Metric @ SXSW 2010 (more by Tim Griffin)

tonight in NYC
* comedy @ Union Hall
* Warm Ghost, Rowan @ Zebulon
* Metric, Bear in Heaven @ Terminal 5
* Aa, Wild Yaks, Steel Phantoms @ Cake Shop
* Arms, Honey, Translations, Mitre @ Death By Audio
* Kidrockers w/ The Dig, The Grates @ The Living Room
* Archipelago, Lux Perpetua, Alina Simone @ Silent Barn
* Descender, Wizardry, Music Hates You @ The Charleston
* Pistola, Fake Hooker, Manawi Thorn, Cloudblues @ Don Pedro
* The Postelles, Xylos, Infernal Devices (DJ) @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Silver Apples, Burning Star Core, Love Like Deloreans @ Coco 66
* The Lindsey Buckingham Appreciation Society, Fleetwood Mike @ Union Hall
* Lord Jeff, Invisible Circle, Guardian Alien, The Needy Visions @ Shea Stadium
* Thee Silver Mt. Zion, Sam Mickens' Ecstatic Showband & Revue @ Bowery Ballroom
* The Pharmacy, Golden Triangle, Electric Tickle Machine @ Rocks Off Concert Cruises
* Veronica Falls, German Measles, Frankie Rose & the Outs, Surprisers @ Bruar Falls
* NineLives the Cat, Anton Glamb, Roofeo, 1Dad & DJ Fred Mertz, John Barera @ Glasslands

The Fifth Avenue Street and Record Fair is today in Park Slope. Check out the link to see who is playing on multiple stages near Southpaw and The Gate.

In case you were wondering whatever happened to the Spiderman Musical...

...New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel is reporting that the in-question production is indeed on, with rehearsals starting this summer, previews beginning in October, and an official opening in November. The column also claims that the production has a new Green Goblin in Patrick Page, and producers are apparently seeing potential Mary Jane replacements. Producers for the show, and its publicity team, have not made any official announcements.... [EW]

Veronica Falls play Bruar Falls tonight (but Frankie & the Outs don't despite being originally listed) (Prince Ruperts Drops have been added to the bill). Video from their show last night at Glasslands, below...

A video of Salome playing the BV day party at Emo's during SXSW this year, below...

A video of Excepter playing Knitting Factory last week, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

Mogwai @ MHOW (more by Ryan Muir)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Tribeca Film Festival
* The Dead @ IZOD Center
* The Roots @ Highline Ballroom
* Del the Funky Homosapien @ BB King Blues Club
* El Ten Eleven, The Sway Machinery @ Mercury Lounge
* Mogwai, The Twilight Sad @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Spectrum, Psychic Ills, Cheval Sombre @ Death By Audio
* Peter Bjorn and John, Chairlift, Luke Top @ Webster Hall
* pow wow!, Eula, Elizabeth Harper and the Matinee @ Crash Mansion
* The Fugs, Golden Triangle, White Williams, Acrylics, Further Reductions, Mount Olympus @ The Bell House

Lots of people showed up to the Knitting Factory to be Spiderman.

pow wow! are a 2009 L Band to Watch.

Video of the Decemberists on The Colbert Report the other night, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Stephen Merritt - Coraline sample 1 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Stephen Merritt - Coraline sample 2 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Stephen Merritt - Coraline sample 3 (MP3)

The Magnetic Fields @ Loews Theater (more by Chris La Putt)

MCC Theater presents Coraline, a musical with music and lyrics by Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields. Merritt's delightfully creepy and playful melodies and droll lyrics tell the story of lonely Coraline's discovery of another parallel world that is identical to her own -- with some scary differences. An animated film version of the story, based on the popular children's book by Neil Gaiman (author of the international sensation Sandman and 2009 winner of the prestigious Newbery Award) is currently in theaters. The production, which was adapted for the stage by celebrated downtown actor/playwright David Greenspan is the world premiere of Coraline for the stage.

Performances will begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on May 7 and continue through June 20, 2009. [press release]

Tickets for the show are on sale, as are VIP tickets. (There are also student & under-30 rush tickets available the day of each show). Samples of Merritt's Coraline songs can be heard above.

In other rock musical news:

Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark, featuring direction by Julie Taymor (Across The Universe, Frida, The Lion King on Broadway) with music and lyrics by 22-time Grammy Award-winners Bono and The Edge (from U2) will be holding open casting calls at major cities across the country starting next week. [press release]

The NYC audition is scheduled for Monday, April 13th at The Knitting Factory. Details on the casting call and info for other cities, below.

Advance group tickets are already on sale for Spider-Man, set to open February 18, 2010 at the Hilton Theatre.

Other bands with musicals in the works include Green Day, who are turning their 2004 album American Idiot in a Broadway show. About the adaptation, Billie Joe said to Entertainment Weekly:

It's about coming of age in a really politically-driven climate. It's pretty chaotic, and it's not by any means a conventional way of [doing] a musical. And that's why I liked [American Idiot director] Michael Mayer so much because of what he did with Spring Awakening. When I saw that for the first time I was like, this is not your grandparents' musical. He's going for it. He has a sense of anarchy in the way he approaches his craft.

Will the show have dancing?
Not "dancing" dancing. I don't know how to really explain it. It's got physical and violent moves. It's not like a Lion King thing. It's dirty and it's got a lot of heart and it's got a street mentality. There are no singing cats. No little girls with big curly red hair. It should be pretty cool, man.

Those aren't the only acts making the switch: Yeasayer guitarist Anand Wildeis working on a musical as well. And Amanda Palmer is in the process of producing an Airplane Over the Sea-themed high-school play, opening May 7th at Lexington High School in Lexington, MA.

Full Spider-Man press release below...

Continue reading "Stephin Merritt's Coraline (opening in May), U2's Spiderman (casting call info) & other musical news "

Get On Your Boots, the first single from U2's new album No Line On The Horizon, will be released as a digital download on February 15th with a physical format to follow on February 16 through Mercury/Universal (UK).

Produced by Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, sessions for No Line On The Horizon began in Fez, Morocco, and continued at the band's Dublin studio, New York's Platinum Sound Recording Studios, and London's Olympic Studios.

Released on March 2nd (March 3rd in the US), the album will come in a standard format with 24 page booklet and in digipak format. The digipak includes an extended booklet and the album's companion film "Linear" by Anton Corbijn. A limited edition 64 page magazine will also be available, featuring the band in conversation with artist Catherine Owens, and new Anton Corbijn photographs. No Line On The Horizon will be released on 180gm vinyl. (More on the formats below)

The album cover artwork is an image of the sea meeting the sky by Japanese artist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto.

In related news, Bono and The Edge contributed to Tom Jones's new album, are working on a Spiderman musical, and performed yesterday for Obama in Washington DC.

Listen to the new song at U2's site. Full album tracklist, and list of formats, below...

Continue reading "new U2 song from new U2 album No Line On the Horizon"

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Terror @ Europa
* NY Times Arts & Leisure
* The Lisps @ Zipper Theater
* Mos Def @ Highline Ballroom
* Forro in the Dark @ Joe's Pub
* World/Inferno Friendship Society @ Webster Hall
* Afterworlds, Gates of Heaven & Apple Deaf @ Cake Shop
* Endless Boogie, Psychic Ills & Mike Fellows @ Glasslands
* Camper Van Beethoven & Victor Krummenacher @ Bowery Ballroom
* Tyvik, Psychedelic Horseshit & Kurt Vile @ Less Artists More Condos
* Bear Hands, Holy Hail, Atarah Valentine & Statehood @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Great Lake Swimmers, Haley Bonar & Daniel Martin Moore @ The Bell House
* My Teenage Stride, The Jaguar Club & Bridges and Powerlines @ Union Hall
* Carcinogenic Static (members of Talibam! & USAISAMONSTER) @ Market Hotel
* John Brown's Body, Globesonic, Jenny Scheinman, Haale & Sulha Sound System @ (le) poisson rouge

Jimmy Page was born today in 1944.

Laundromatinee has in-studio audio and video from a session with the Vivian Girls.

Tom Cruise emotional over Travolta death
DRM-free iTunes Store to haunt Apple?
The Golden Globes are Sunday.
Obama gets his own Spiderman comic book.
Dolly Parton picked for Gospel Hall of Fame.
Stevie Wonder Helps Promote Technology For Visually Impaired.
Linksys offers full wireless alternative to Sonos.
Beatles music pulled from Norweigian podcasts.

Move over Animal Collective, Sanjaya's long awaited album is here.

Above is an alternate cover for Jaydiohead.

Below is a video from 7 Worlds Collide. In it, Ed O'Brien (guitar), Liam Finn (guitar), Jeff Tweedy (vocals/guitar), John Stirratt (bass), Phil Selway (drums), and Johnny Marr (guitar), are performing Radiohead's Fake Plastic Trees...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Friday?"