photos by Chris La Putt

"Wow Tift Merritt's voice is even more spectacular & nuanced in RL than on my iPod. Best river to river performance yet"
- Tara Lannen-Stanton

While Jay Reatard was playing a free NYC show in Stuyvesant TOWN yesterday (7/1), Sarah Lee Guthrie, John Irion, and alt-country star Tift Merritt were playing a free NYC show (courtesy of the River to River Festival) in Stuyvesant HIGH SCHOOL (which is where the originally-outdoor show was moved to due to the threat of rain). More pictures below...

Continue reading "Tift Merritt, Sarah Lee Guthrie & John Irion @ Stuyvesant High School in NYC - pics "

Tift Merritt (by Chris LaPutt)

Singer-songwriter Tift Merritt has summer shows scheduled up through August 9th, when she plays the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Those dates also include a stop at the Newport Folk Festival on August 1st.

Before those though, Merritt will perform in NYC tonight (July 1st) at a free show with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. The gig was supposed to happen at Nelson A. Rockefeller Park, but...

"Due to a threat of inclement weather, tonight's Tift Merritt/Sarah Lee Guthrie/Johnny Irion show has been moved to Stuyvesant High School at 345 Chambers St. Start time is still 7pm. Space is limited, so the first come, first served system will be in effect. "

The Jay Reatard show, also scheduled outdoors tonight, is still on (as far as we know), and the Celebrate Brooklyn gig with MGMT, Kuroma and Suckers at the Prospect Park Bandshell is -- as always (allegedly) -- rain or shine.

Tift Merritt's 2005 Lost Highway release, Tambourine, earned her a Grammy nomination for the Best Country Album of the Year. Her newsest album, recorded live and acoustic, is called Buckingham Solo. It came out earlier this year, and is available through Fantasy Records and on iTunes. She discussed that record and played live on WNRN in April. That, with all tour dates, is below...

Continue reading "Tift Merritt tour dates (free NYC show moved inside tonight)"

Phenomenal Handclap Band in Stuvesant Town (nevbrown)

The above scene was photographed during the June 17th Phenomenal Handclap Band show in Stuvesant Town, part of the 2009 Music on the Oval series of free shows at the apartment complex. I seriously can't wait for the Jay Reatard show there on July 1st. Last night (June 24) was the Easy All Stars show. Forro in the Dark and Kaki King also have shows coming up there. Jay Reatard will also play Music Hall of Williamsburg while he is here.

If you needed another chance to see the Phenomenal Handclap Band this summer, they've just been added to the bill of the Friendly Fires show happening at LPR on August 12th. Tickets are on still sale. Friendly Fires will also play Music Hall of Williamsburg during that trip.

Or, you can catch PHB tonight (6/25) at Santos Party House. It's the band's album release party, and the venue is also hosting the bi-weekly Adult Swim Summer at Santos party with Jon Glaser, Cheeseburger, A.C. Newman and The Pontani Sisters. The Adult Swim part is totally free, and we have two pairs of tickets to give away to the PHB part. Details of that contest, along with videos from the Stuy Town show, below...

Continue reading "Phenomenal Handclap Band played Stuytown (kids), playing LPR (win tix) & LPR w/ Friendly Fires (who also play MHOW)"

Due to threat of inclement weather, The Avett Brothers show scheduled for tonight at Rockefeller Park has been forced to move indoors. Please join us at Stuyvesant High School, 345 Chambers Street, for the show at 7 pm.

Sucks for Juana Molina and Feist.

Hopefully the same doesn't happen to St. Vincent tomorrow.

I wouldn't call their music life-changing or anything, but I love it on CD, it sounded great live, and you should definitely go check out Toumani Diabate @ Metrotech during lunch today if can. It's not every day he and his kora make it out of Mali. In fact, as TOUMANI HIMSELF TOLD US at least two times during last night's show (July 18, 2007) at (the rain location) Stuyvesant High School, we are very luckly to be in the presence of a kora master such as Toumani Diabate. Like a lot of "world music", the show was as much a cultural experience as it was a musical experience. That's especially true when you have entertainers as outgoing as Toumani and crew. I'll post more about that, and more pics later, but for now here's one of Toumani explaining to the crowd what a kora is...