Though it doesn't say it on their website, Mike Birbiglia promises that he's performing "Sleepwalk With Me" at Comic Strip Live tonight (12/12).

UPDATE: Mike's show starts at 8:30 and tickets go on sale at noon.

I don't know what time it starts and ends, but if it's done early enough you can then head to UCB West for this week's edition of Whiplash with Leo Allen and guests.

Alternatively, you can spend your Monday night with Kurt and Kristen in Brooklyn at Littlefield. Their guests at Hot Tub this week include Michael Showalter.

Head back to UCB West on Wednesday after work for a live WFMU broadcast of "7 Second Delay" with guests Lou Reed and Suzanne Vega.

UPDATE: Lou Reed is also making an appearance at Book Court tonight.

In other "live" comedy news, tickets are on sale for Star Talk Live at The Bell House on Sunday, December 18th. The lineup includdes Neil de Grasse Tyson, Eugene Mirman, and John Hodgman.

One night after that is the Hot Tub Holiday edition at Littlefield with Kurt, Kristen, Jon Glaser, Hannibal Buress, Adam the Real Man, and musical guest River City Extension.

Speaking of Hannibal Buress, he opened two shows for Aziz Ansari at the Bell House on Saturday night. We posted pictures.

Speaking of the Bell House, Rocket from the Tombs plays there tonight!

George Wein & Pete Seeger

Clearwater, founded by Pete Seeger, honors George Wein (founder of the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals) with the first annual "Power of Song Award." Performers include Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Suzanne Vega, Joan Osborne, Guy Davis, David Amram, Toshi Reagon, Lucy Kaplansky, George Wein and others to be announced soon. Proceeds benefit Clearwater's educational programs. For more on Clearwater visit www.clearwater.org.

Pete Seeger at Clearwater 2009 (more by )

The 2011 edition of the Clearwater Festival boasts some big names over its two days, June 18th and 19th, in Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. Founder Pete Seeger will be joined by Drive-By Truckers, Martin Sexton, Indigo Girls, Josh Ritter, Arlo Guthrie, Suzanne Vega, Billy Bragg (who plays NYCx3 a month later), and man other artists who are listed elow. Tickets are still available.

In related news, Martin Sexton will play four NYC shows before that Clearwater appearance, as part of a residency at City Winery. Tickets are sold-out for Martin Sexton on June 2nd, 3rd, & 4th at the venue but he just added a fourth late show on 6/4, and tickets are still available.

All Martin Sexton tour dates and the full Clearwater lineup is below.

Continue reading "Clearwater Fest 2011 lineup & other Martin Sexton dates"

photos by David Andrako

The Mountain Goats stopped by NYC's Greene Space on Wednesday (earlier in the day than his third in a row Bowery Ballroom show) for a live WNYC "Soundcheck" radio appearance along with Suzanne Vega. Each artist performed three songs, Suzanne's were from her new play, and John's were from his new album "All Eternals Deck." Listen to the whole show, check out the setlist, and see more pictures from it, below.

Oh, and speaking of the Greene Space, "Battle of the Boroughs", the Bronx edition, goes down at the venue tonight (4/1).

Continue reading "Mountain Goats & Suzanne Vega played a few songs @ Greene Space (pics & WNYC stream)"

Mountain Goats @ Planned Parenthood Rally (more by Chris La Putt)

The Mountain Goats will kick off a tour on March 24th in Richmond, VA. That includes THREE SOLD OUT Bowery Ballroom shows with Megafaun on March 28, 29 & 30, and now a March 30th WNYC Greene Space appearance with Suzanne Vega as well (I think Billy Bragg was originally on the bill too). Tickets for that 2pm appearance which will be broadcast on WNYC, are on sale.

All tour dates, a UK run included, below....

Continue reading "Mountain Goats sell out 3 Bowery shows, add Greene Space (updated 2011 tour dates)"

Spoon @ Radio City in March (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

Spoon, whose next show is at the MAHA Music Festival in Omaha, Nebraska, will be coming to New York soon as part of their handful of dates opening for Arcade Fire. Those include the shows at Madison Square Garden on August 4th and 5th (which Owen Pallett also opens).

Spoon's upcoming tour dates also include Matador's Lost Weekend, Austin City Limits, and a free September 12th show at Clark, NJ's Oak Ridge Park (a little more than an hour by train from NYC). There they'll headline the 13th annual Union County MusicFest. The free five-day fair will have two days of music, Saturday, September 11th and Sunday, September 12th. The first night's bands include The Bravery, Soul Asylum, OK Go, Mike Peters and Friends, Willie Nile, Jesse Malin and the St. Marks Social, and 61 North. Joining Spoon on the second night are Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Nils Lofgren Acoustic Duo, The Zombies and Suzanne Vega. More bands are still to be announced.

All Spoon dates below....

Continue reading "Spoon playing NJ's free Union County MusicFest & other dates "

Former Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule will make an extremely rare joint public appearance on Dec. 8 at the New York Public Library. The three will discuss the Velvet Underground's music and legacy with rock journalist David Fricke as part of the "LIVE from the NYPL" series.

The unprecedented reunion of the legendary New York band comes on the heels of the publication of "The Velvet Underground: New York Art," a new compendium of previously unseen photographs, poster and cover designs by Andy Warhol, Lou Reed's handwritten music and lyrics, underground press clippings and other reviews, flyers, handbills and posters. The book, published by famed Italian book house Rizzoli, contains a recorded conversation between Reed and Tucker as well as contributions from Vaclav Havel and Jon Savage.

The event will take place in New York City at the Celeste Bartos Forum in the NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 5th Ave. and 42nd St. General admission tickets are $25, and $15 tickets are available for library donors, students and seniors through the NYPL website. [Billboard]

The book that the library event is celebrating (The Velvet Underground: New York Art), is not the one pictured above. The pictured book is another new one (by music critic Jim Derogatis) called The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side.

The Velvet Underground changed lineups many times. Notably missing from the library event are John Cale (alive and well) and Sterling Morrison (RIP). The band formed in 1965. Doug Yule replaced John Cale in 1968. Lou Reed left in 1970, and then the band didn't even break up until February of 1973. Drummer Maureen Tucker was in the band the longest (though technically she's not an original member - the very first drummer was Angus MacLise - RIP).

Lou Reed is playing (or maybe not actually playing) music at Columbia's Miller Theatre on Friday, February 5, 2010.

On October 30th, Lou Reed joined Metallica at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame concert at MSG in NYC for a rendition of "Sweet Jane". It will be aired on TV Thanksgiving weekend, but you can watch audiences videos of it below. Metallica just returned for two headlining shows at the same venue the other day.

Moby performed "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" at a concert in Paris on November 13th. Video below.

One day later (11/14), Lou himself performed in Prague with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jirí Belohlavek. It was a concert in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution (not to be confused with Lou's band with a similar name). Renee Fleming joined Lou for a beautiful and operatic version of "Perfect Day". Suzanne Vega also performed at that show. Check those videos out below too...

Continue reading "3 Velvet Underground members reuniting in a NYC library, Lou Reed played w/ Renée Fleming (video) + 2 new VU books "

Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook returns in January for its twelfth season celebrating the diversity of American popular song. For 16 nights of pop, folk, cabaret, country, rock, and show tunes, the series will explore the best of the golden age of musical standards through to today's most dynamic contemporary songwriting. The 2010 season - January 13 through March 6 - will bring to the stage some of today's most gifted interpreters of song, including top jazz artist Dee Dee Bridgewater and rock's gritty queen, Marianne Faithfull. It will feature opportunities to hear the acclaimed stage actress Martha Plimpton and Broadway star Leslie Uggams in intimate concert settings. Two of the hottest composers on the theater scene - Jeanine Tesori ("Shrek The Musical" and "Caroline, or Change") and Michael Friedman "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" and "Gone Missing") - will perform evenings of their music along with special guests. The growing presence and influence of Latin music in the American Songbook canon will be represented by David Hidalgo and Louie Perez, two of the founding members of the band Los Lobos. Hidalgo and Perez will explore their four decades of writing and performing songs that are some of the best in Latin roots-rock. The series will close with an evening with one of Broadway's most enduring divas, the fabulous Chita Rivera.

American Songbook will be presented in the spectacular Allen Room of Frederick P. Rose Hall. The Allen Room possesses one of New York's greatest settings - a stunning vista of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline that provides an evocative backdrop for the performers.

TICKETS can be purchased online beginning November 1st at Lincoln Center's website AmericanSongbook.org, via CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, or at the Frederick P. Rose Hall Box Office. Tickets for The Friends of American Songbook go on sale October 27th.

Dirty Projectors' most recent NYC show was a short set at the Bell House as part of the New Yorker Festival. Their next NYC shows are sold out gigs at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg. Full Lincoln Center schedule below...

Continue reading "Dirty Projectors, St Vincent, Nellie McKay, Marianne Faithfull, others part of 2010 season of Lincoln Center's American Songbook"

photos by Fresh Bread

Steve Earle and Allison Moorer played one of the first shows at the newly-opened City Winery in NYC on Thursday night (1/8). It wasn't just any show though. It was a "pairing"...

"Pairings is a unique 'blend' at City Winery: an intimate concert series served with fine wine that will take place on City Winery's main stage every Thursday evening, starting in January 2009. Each concert will be preceded by an optional tasting or private dinner, followed by personal performances from some of today's most respected musicians."

Venue owner Michael Dorf (of Knitting Factory fame) made an introduction, and then Steve Earle's set kicked off with "Christmas In Washington" which included a multiple minute story about Obama and the upcoming inauguration followed by "My Old Friend the Blues." The rest of his 90-or-so minute set was spattered with old ("Copperhead Road", "Jerusalem", "Guitar Town") and new ("Down Here Below", "Tennessee Blues", "Days Aren't Hard Enough").

Allison Moorer opened and then later joined her husband Steve on stage for some songs. Her set ended with a cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" which had everyone cheering, when she said during the intro, "It is nice to have a new president that can...talk."

Earle also mentioned his next CD will be an album of all covers by his friend Townes Van Zandt (RIP) who his oldest son, Justin Townes Earle (also a musician), is named after.

More pictures of the performers and the venue below...

Continue reading "Steve Earle & Allison Moorer @ City Winery, NYC - pics"

photo inside City Winery (Michael Dorf on stage) (from Eater)

In addition to a functioning winery and 21,000 square foot restaurant/event space, City Winery is also equipped with a full stage, state-of-the-art sound system and in-house A/V-making it one of the most interesting venues to ever hit Manhattan. Whether you are planning a private party, a public concert or an intimate evening of music and/or the spoken word, City Winery's stage and staff can accommodate a variety of live performances and cultural activities that will appeal to sophisticated New Yorkers, and wine connoisseurs, alike.

All known upcoming City Winery events are listed below...

Continue reading "shows @ City Winery (Philip Glass, Rufus Wainwright, etc)"

Steve Earle & Allison Moorer @ Judson Church (more by Chris La Putt)

Will City Winery be a hit? The idea that music events and high-end private parties could generate additional revenue convinced Matthew Sperling, managing director of equity capital markets at Jefferies & Co., to become one of the winery's first investors. It was a decision he says he came to ``over many bottles of wine.'' And, of course, he's making his own barrel.

Dorf admits that ``the credit crunch is affecting my nerves.'' One investor has pulled out, and the $15,000 premier barrel category hasn't had any traction in the past three weeks. Still, a third of the barrels have been sold to a diverse group of New Yorkers, from group president of JP Morgan Mutual Funds George Gatch to supermodel Petra and artist Chuck Close.

Dorf is taking no chances. This week he's launching a ``community barrel'' category (about $1,500) for those willing to share with five like-minded strangers. (Think of it as the latest singles opportunity.)

He's also revamping next year's music plans.

``My idea of having Sting appear at a $1,000-ticket concert would have worked six months ago, but the game has changed in the past five or six days,'' he says. Thursday night ``pairing'' events start in January, with Grammy Award-winning Steve Earle and his wife, Allison Moorer, followed by singer-songwriters Suzanne Vega and Marc Cohn. [Bloomberg]

Continue reading "will City Winery survive in this economy?"

Maceo Parker in Prospect Park, 2006 (more)

Tickets are on sale for the following Brooklyn shows....

May 30 - Lose Your Shit Party w/ Escort, Herbaliser (DJ Set), Dego from 4Hero, DJ Smallchange

Jun 1 - 651 Arts Presents: Toshi Reagon plus Sharde Thomas & The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band

Jun 18 - Jazzfest & boomBOOM Presents: MACEO PARKER & TBA

Jul 10 - Brooklyn Hip Hip Festival: REVIVE DA LIVE featuring Chris Dave with special guests Bilal, Smif & Wessin, Chip Fu, Ladybug Mecca , and surprise guests TBA

Jul 31 - APPLES IN STEREO / Earlimart / Posion Control Center

Aug 21 - SUZANNE VEGA plus CHRISTINA COURTIN

With music now available with a single, offhand click, it's easy to forget that songs are not born whole, polished and ready to play. They are created by artists who draw on some combination of craft, skill and inspiration. In the coming weeks, the contributors to this blog -- all accomplished songwriters -- will pull back the curtain on the creative process as they write about their work on a songs in the making.

Continue reading "measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes & Andrew Bird tour dates"

Continue reading "Hal Willner's Vintage Disney Film Music @ St Ann's (benefit)"

J&R’s Downtown Musicfest 2007 features a series of free concerts in City Hall Park in NYC from August 23-25. The lineup includes Israel and the New Breed, Lyfe Jennings, Chaka Khan, J. Holiday, Suzanne Vega, Kevin Michael, Deemi, Eldar, Deborah Cox, Bruce Hornsby Trio featuring Christian McBride & Jack DeJohnette, and more. More info HERE, and below...

Continue reading "Chaka Khan, Suzanne Vega, Bruce Hornsby & other free shows in City Hall Park"