Speaking from the stage of the Beacon, James L. Dolan, the chairman of Madison Square Garden, said: "I told Gregg before, our apologies for last year. That won't happen again."

Over a 20-year span that ended in 2009, the Allman Brothers Band played some 190 shows at the Beacon, more than any other act, returning annually in March for monthlong residencies that made the band synonymous with the theater.

But earlier this year the band lost its traditional booking to a Cirque du Soleil show, "Banana Shpeel," and had to hold its 2010 residency at the United Palace Theater. Meanwhile, "Banana Shpeel" delayed its official opening until May, and then closed quickly after receiving poor reviews.
[NY Times] (via heartonastick)

In related news, Gregg Allman "will release his first solo record in 14 years on January 18, 2011 [via Rounder Records]. Called Low Country Blues for the coastal Georgia region Allman calls home, the record was produced by T Bone Burnett, recorded at his Village Recorder studio in Los Angeles and features Dr. John on piano, guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, and Burnett's brilliant go-to rhythm section: bassist Dennis Crouch and drummer Jay Bellerose."

by BBG

The Secret Sisters perform with Elvis Costello, T Bone Burnett and Jakob Dylan

Jack White. T-Bone Burnett. Carl Broemmel of My Morning Jacket. These three stellar names all had their hand in recent/upcoming releases from The Secret Sisters, a pair of harmonizing not-secret Alabama sisters that dabble in classic-country inspired rock. The duo released their debut 45 on Third Man Records in August featuring a ripping cover of Johnny Cash's "Big River" (Jack White fan's take note, it rules), and are prepping their T-Bone Burnett-produced self-titled debut (featuring slide guitar from Carl Broemmel) for release on 10/12. Stream a few songs at their site, and more at their myspace. In preparation, the duo will play a solo show at Joe's Pub TONIGHT (9/16), tickets are still available.

It's the same place that Carl Broemel will bless on 10/20 on his night off from Terminal Five shows with My Morning Jacket.

Secret Sisters are also on board to play the Academy of Country Music Honors on 9/20 in Nashville, as well as NYC again one month later (10/20) as part of The Speaking Clock Revue, T-Bone Burnett's benefit show at Beacon Theater (with Jim James of MMJ). Tickets go on AMEX presale on Monday (9/20) and go on sale to the general public on 9/27 at noon.

photos by Chris Gersbeck, words by Rachel Kowal

"Modest Mouse without a cloud in the sky!" -rojacaliente

"If this were Make A Wish and you were going to die in 20 min, just long enough to play Freebird, we wouldnt play it -Modest Mouse" -georgeferris

"Modest Mouse is testing my love for them by keeping the kid awake with their heavy bass and drumming two blocks away. /fistshaking" -woolyknickers

Lightning may have shut down Modest Mouse in July, but for last night's rescheduled show, the weather was nearly perfect (if not a bit chilly).

This time, the opener was the Americana singer/songwriter Marcellus Hall and his backing band. The pairing was a bit odd. Modest Mouse prompted people to shout along to every song and to rush the stage. Marcellus Hall's performance had people turning around to admire the setting sun over the Manhattan skyline and leaving polite pockets of space throughout the crowd.

After Marcellus Hall's relatively short set, the anticipation for the headliners steadily grew, but more than thirty minutes passed before they marched on stage. As if making up for their severely truncated show last July, Modest Mouse then played a lengthy set - nearly 2 hours long when you factor in the encore.

"Welcome back!" Isaac Brock said by way of introduction. They kicked off the show with "Gravity Rides Everything." Taking no time to get into the show, the crowd enthusiastically sang along from the opening verse. (fittingly, the song contains the line, "Everything will fall right into place.") Isaac Brock hardly talked between songs. He didn't need to. The audience was wholly engaged. Each song was met by cheers and triumphantly extended fists. After all, for many of the people present, this was take two.

From "Cowboy Dan" to "Autumn Beds," the band pulled songs from throughout their career and readily switched between the more raucous and reserved. The pump organ, banjo, glockenspiel, accordion, and trumpet made regular guest appearances that nicely punctuated the set and revealed the surprisingly decent sound quality. The stage lights - which were absent during opening set - certainly helped to set the mood for Modest Mouse.

The band closed their initial set with "The View," leaving the audience with the soothing sound of electronic crickets to underlie their cries for more. After an unusually long wait (10 minutes), they returned for another five(ish) songs before finally concluding just short of 10:00, saying, "Thank you all very much. Have a good night" and delivering a PSA discouraging "driving while drinking and drinking while driving." Luckily, Brock didn't say anything about smoking and riding the subway.

--

Isaac Brock and gang have one set of shows left on their calendar, on October 23rd and 24th at Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View, CA as part of the annual Bridge School Benefit. The band will join a reformed Buffalo Springfield. Pearl Jam, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett's Speaking Clock Revue (with Elton John & Leon Russell, Elvis Costello, Ralph Stanley, Neko Case and Jeff Bridges, they play NYC on 10/20), and Grizzly Bear among others.

The Bridge School Benefit lineup by day, more Waterfront pics and the Modest Mouse setlist is below...

Continue reading "Modest Mouse played Williamsburg Waterfront again (pics, setlist), playing Bridge School Benefit in CA (lineup)"

T Bone Burnett will premiere The Speaking Clock Revue - a multi-artist concert extravaganza - on October 16 at the Wang Center in Boston and October 20 at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Both evenings of the Revue will feature performances by Elton John & Leon Russell, John Mellencamp, Elvis Costello, Gregg Allman, Ralph Stanley, Jeff Bridges, Punch Brothers, Karen Elson, and newcomers The Secret Sisters. In addition, Neko Case and Jim James from My Morning Jacket will join the lineup in Boston and New York respectively.

The concerts will be presented in a revue format with a house band consisting of the players featured on numerous Burnett-produced recordings. Tickets for The Speaking Clock Revue will go on sale Monday, September 27 at noon, through Ticketmaster.

All net proceeds from these shows will be donated to The Participant Foundation to support music and arts education programming in public schools."

The T Bone benefits were inspired by the new documentary, Waiting for "Superman". More info on that and the shows in general, with the documentary trailer and tour dates, below...

Continue reading "T Bone Burnett hosting multi-artist benefit concerts, Elton John & Leon Russell playing shows (dates)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and Skeletons are two bands that have to be seen live, not only for their talents (which are considerable), but because their current live sets are basically unrepresented on record. The last albums for both were in 2008 (Ceramic Dog with Party Intellectuals and Skeletons with Money) and there have been plenty of changes since. First off, new personnel: Ceramic Dog frequently performs with violinist/melodica player/singer Eszter Balint, and Skeletons, shortly before their show at (Le) Poisson Rouge on February 2nd, went from a quartet to a trio. As three, their avant-pop jams and grooves were expansive with the help of some pedals and electronics. The band is led by a recognizable core aesthetic - but exactly what that is is hard to pin down. The band is both scientific and effortless in its interlocking pulses. Skeletons Big Band, their vehicle for long-form compositions (and another unrecorded project) layers jazz dissonance in a similar way, but with a dozen-member lineup.

Ceramic Dog similarly bends between extended jazz improvisation and a traditional song-based rock set. Songs seem to spontaneously come together, sometimes without introduction, as if variations on the previous tune. They pound out noise and blast beats, and then counter with a tender guitar figure and melodica. There are music stands in front of the musicians, but those seem to be of only occasional interest (then again, Eszter puts on her reading glasses to get a better look, and Marc's specs are attached by a croakie so they don't slide off his perpetually bent posture). Drummer Ches Smith reaches into his bag and tosses a piece of sheet music at bassist Shahzad Ismaily. It doesn't land that near him, and anyway he's already into the song by that point. Lyrics enter just in time for the song to end.

Like the shifting Skeletons' line-up, Marc Ribot can be found in different musical settings (eg. his Albert Ayler-influenced Spiritual Unity, solo, on a forthcoming country record with Bill Frisell & Buddy Miller, and as a sideman on records like the new Jakob Dylan album, details below). The only way to catch either band is live, and I recommend you do before they evolve again. More pictures, info and tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog, Skeletons played Guitar Fest @ LPR (pics), Neko Case on new Jakob Dylan album, more dates"

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals @ Prospect Park in August (more by Chris La Putt)

Weekly Davespeak: I understand you have another album planned with T-Bone [Burnett] this year..

Grace Potter: Actually, we've already finished the record. We were in L.A. for a little under two months. We recorded the entire album in a very amount of time. It is coming out in October.

The band will be on tour with Brett Dennen this fall. That jaunt includes a November 20th show at Terminal 5. Tickets for the whole tour are on presale now. Tickets for the NY show are also on AmEx presale. General sale starts September 11th at noon.

Grace Potter's last NYC show was with Deer Tick in Prospect Park. Deer Tick also just announced yet another NYC show.

The band has post-tour plans for a four-night New Years Eve run in their homestate of Vermont, a January gig at Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble in Woodstock, and a show after that in Jamaica (not Queens) with Gov't Mule (Grace is very popular in the jam band scene). All upcoming tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - 2009 tour dates (Terminal 5)"

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Elvis Costello's new album 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane' will be released by Hear Music on June 2nd.

The record was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded by Mike Piersante during a three-day session at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studio.

Joining Costello were Jerry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin), Jeff Taylor (accordion) and Dennis Crouch (double bass), some of the most highly regarded recording artists and musicians in traditional American country music, Bluegrass and beyond.

Several of these songs, including "Down Among The Wines and Spirits", were given their first public performances during Costello's acclaimed solo appearances as part of "The Bob Dylan Show" in late 2007.

The album includes ten previously unrecorded songs. "Sulphur to Sugarcane" and "The Crooked Line", were co-written with T Bone Burnett while, "I Felt The Chill" marks Costello's second recorded songwriting collaboration with Loretta Lynn.

Costello revisits two songs from his catalogue in string band style. Both songs were originally written for Johnny Cash. "Hidden Shame" was indeed included on Cash's album, "Boom Chicka Boom"...

....Select US tour dates featuring musicians from the album -- dubbed "The Sugarcanes" -- will follow in June and August, 2009.

The new Elvis album track list, a video segment from Elvis's Sundance TV show "Spectacle" (with Jenny Lewis, M Ward, and Zooey Deschanel), and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Elvis Costello - new album & 2009 Tour Dates (Beacon Theatre, Count Basie, Telluride & Bonnaroo) "

photos by Eric M. Townsend

The extroverted Plant and introverted Krauss met halfway on the album, and they did so onstage at the Borgata Sunday night, entering with big smiles from opposite sides as the band kicked into "Rich Woman," the New Orleans hit from the mid-1950s.

What followed was a two-hour, country music-style revue, with the two singing in unison sometimes, but with Plant taking the lead for a few songs, then Krauss, then both stepping aside for Burnett to sing a few. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Continue reading "Robert Plant & Alison Krauss @ MSG Theater, NYC - pics"