Norah Jones at LPR w/ Doveman in 2011 (more by Vincent Cornelli)

Stones Fest 2012, a tribute to the Rolling Stones similar to Petty Fest and Dylan Fest, is going down on February 22 at Webster Hall. Billed as "A Night To Get Drunk And Celebrate The Music Of The Rolling Stones," the fest will feature appearances by most of the same people who usually play these events, Norah Jones, Adam Green, Jesse Malin, Nicole Atkins, Jason Sudeikis (of SNL), Jessie Baylin, Tad Kubler (of The Hold Steady), The Sheepdogs, Jon Herrington (of Steely Dan), Jody Porter (of Fountains of Wayne, Sammy James Jr. (of the Mooney Suzuki), Jack Dishel (of Only Son), Todd Youth, Alec Higins (of Alberta Cross), Danny Clinch and the Tangiers Blues Band, Steve Schiltz (of Hurricane Bells/Longwave), Justin Long, Antony Ellis (of 5 O'Clock Heros), Jason Roberts, Petter Ericson Stakee, The Uptown Horns, and many more surprise guests. Tickets go on sale Thursday (1/26) at noon. $2 from each ticket will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

The show happens about three weeks before a different Stones tribute happening on March 13 at Carnegie Hall with The Mountain Goats, Glen Hansard, TV on the Radio, and others. Tickets for that show are still on sale.

Speaking of Norah Jones, she's set to release her Danger Mouse-produced LP, Little Broken Hearts, sometime this year and follow it with a tour. Norah Jones and Danger Mouse previously collaborated on 2011's Rome. Check out an acoustic performance of the song "Black" from that album below (via Rolling Stone).

Video below...

Continue reading "Stones Fest happening @ Webster Hall w/ Norah Jones & more (not long before the tribute @ Carnegie Hall)"

Craig Finn, Tad Kubler & friends @ Bowery Electric last night

Though Brian Fallon cancelled, there was still plenty of talent to go around at last night's 1st-of-three BrooklynVegan-sponsored Replacements tribute shows at Bowery Electric. The Hold Steady's Craig Finn & Tad Kubler performed a cover of "Within Your Reach" which you can watch below (courtesy of jukeboxgraduate) along with a video of the encore performance of "Bastards of Young" that had Craig Finn, Titus Andronicus's Patrick Stickles, Jesse Malin, Tommy Ramone and others all on stage together.

If you missed the show, you have two more chances to experience it tonight (11/17). The early show is sold out though, but tickets are still available for the late one. Tonight's guests will not include Craig, but you will get:

Alex Levy
Anthony D'Amato
Danny Sage (D Generation)
Dave Hause (The Loved Ones)
Don DiLego & Bree Sharp (Beautiful Small Machines)
Jesse Malin
John Eddie
John Gallagher (American Idiot)
Matt Pinfield (MTV's 120 Minutes)
Matt Sweeney
Nicole Atkins
Paul Bearer (Sheer Terror)
Ted Leo
Tommy Ramone
Walter Lure (Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers)
& MORE

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Meanwhile Craig Finn has announced a solo tour in support of his upcoming album which he also posted a song from. No NYC dates for now, but you can see all the other dates, listen to his new song and watch the videos from the Replacements event, below...

Continue reading "Craig Finn covered the Replacements (video), posted a new song (stream), touring solo in February (dates)"

Petty Fest is returning to NYC this October, though unlike previous years, this year there will be "Two Nights To Get Drunk And Celebrate The Songs Of Tom Petty." The fest is taking place October 5 at Music Hall of Williamsburg and October 6 at Bowery Ballroom. The fest is (almost) the same lineup of musicians that usually get together for things like this, like Norah Jones, Nicole Atkins, Jesse Malin, Sammy James Jr. (The Mooney Suzuki), Jody Porter (Fountains of Wayne), Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady, Josh Lattanzi of The Lemonheads, and others. Interesting additions inclue Har Mar Superstar and Jonny Corndawg. I hope they do a duet. And of course there will be "surprise guests". Tickets for both nights go on sale Thursday (9/1) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (8/31) at noon. $2 from each ticket will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

Jonny Corndawg meanwhile will also be in NYC TONIGHT (8/30) for his record release show at Union Pool.

Full Petty Fest lineup, flier, and a recent video of Neko Case and My Morning Jacket covering "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" together, below...

Continue reading "Petty Fest returns in 2011, 2 nights, 2 venues"

Nicole Atkins during SXSW 2011 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

If you like Bob Dylan and booze-soaked singalongs, you might want to consider hitting Bowery Ballroom on May 26th and 27th for Dylan Fest, a two day extravaganza in celebration of the 70th birthday of musical deity. Much like the one-night fest last year (and at the similar Petty Fest), both nights boast familiar names like Norah Jones, Adam Green, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis of SNL, Jesse Malin (who has other shows coming up), Nikolai Fraiture of the Strokes, as well as members of Little Joy, The Hold Steady, Fountains of Wayne, Mooney Suzuki, The Lemonheads, and many more, with Nicole Atkins on board for the first night (5/26). Tickets are on sale for both the 5/26 and the 5/27 shows at noon today. The full linuep is below.

Nicole Atkins and her band The Black Sea have also added a headlining show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 8th. Tickets go on sale Friday April 29th at noon. The show is one of a few scattered dates scheduled for Atkins in the coming months. Check out her whole schedule below.

In related news, Norah Jones has been announced as the special guest for Saturday's previously discussed Doveman show at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets are still available. The show is one of three more scheduled for Doveman at LPR, with other appearances occurring on May 26th and June 24th. Details on guests for those shows are still forthcoming.

In also related news, Nicolai Fraiture's day job, The Strokes, have announced that they will appear at the sold out T In The Park festival in Scotland in July along with Pulp, Coldplay, Slash, and Foo Fighters. The band also recently appeared on Conan O'Brien (on 4/20). Check out a video of their performance of "Games" alongside a Nicole Atkins video of "Cry Cry Cry" from SXSW and all tour dates and stuff, below.

Continue reading "Dylan Fest returns , Nicole Atkins adds shows, Norah Jones adds appearances, The Strokes played Conan (video & dates)"

by BBG

Song of Zarathustra @ the Triple Rock earlier this year (photo by Adam Bubolz)

Song of Zarathustra originated in Sioux City, IA during March 1997. The founding members were Trever McInnis, Travis Bos, James Munsen and a Roland R8 drum machine which was later replaced with David Seaman (ex-Nudibranch, ex-Orlock) on drums. For the next year, SOZ toured the greater part of the U.S. and disbanded in 1998 when David moved back to his hometown of Richmond, VA.

...March of 2000, SOZ decided to regroup. They toured immediately with the original line-up (Trever, Travis, James / Roland R8) and later recorded "The Birth of Tragedy" (Troubleman Unlimited) with Mark Jorgensen (Book Of Dead Names & Infinity Dive) on drums.

After the release of "The Birth of Tragedy", SOZ toured most of the U.S. on many occasions and set course to tour Europe for its first time in 2001.

In late 2001, SOZ parted ways with long time bass player James Munsen. Mark Shaw(Khayembii Communique, The Cardinal Sin) filled his place and Tad Kubler (formerly of Lifter Puller & currently The Hold Steady) joined as second guitarist.

The new line up hashed out new songs as well as adding some life to songs that were written for the up and coming album "A View from High Tides" which was also released on Troubleman Unlimited....

During the summer of 2002, Tad parted ways with SOZ to move to N.Y. and eventually forming The Hold Steady with old Lifter Puller bandmate Craig Finn.

Due to several shifts in line up's, personal differences, etc. the remaining members decided to call it quits in January of 2003.

Song of Zarathustra reformed earlier this year in Minneapolis, and will do so again on Nov 6th when the band plays Cake Shop in NYC with Primitive Weapons and The Fortune Healers. An after-party is scheduled for later that night at Acheron also with Primitive Weapons, as well as Gost Trio and Loose Limbs.

The show is Song of Zarathustra's only current date, and though Tad Kubler (Lifter Puller, The Hold Steady) isn't participating in the reunion, the following people are:

Travis Bos | Vocals, Keyboard (1997-2003/2010)
Trever McInnis | Vocals, Guitar (1997-2003/2010)
James Munsen | Vocals, Bass, Drum Machine Programming (1997-2001/2010)
Mark Jorgensen | Drums (2000-2003/2010)

Some video of the band from their 2/27/10 reunion show is below...

Continue reading "Song of Zarathustra reunited (sans Tad Kubler), playing NYC "

by Andrew Frisicano

The Hold Steady @ Rothbury Festival in July (more by Graeme Flegenheimer)

Craig Finn and Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady, along with author Chuck Klosterman, will be the featured guests at this month's Radio Happy Hour at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Saturday, November 14th (2pm). In past months, the live variety show's hosts have included Andrew W.K., Norah Jones and TVotR's Tunde Adebimpe. Clips of those past shows are below. Tickets are on sale.

Interestingly, Finn is in the process of co-adapting Chuck Klosterman's 2001 memoir Fargo Rock City with writer Tom Ruprecht (of the David Letterman show). It should also be noted that Finn & Kubler's pre-Hold Steady gig Lifter Puller will get its entire catalog of CDs re-released online on December 1st, along with a new book titled Lifter Puller Vs. the End Of and a single/rarities collection.

After Radio Happy Hour, you can catch their Hold Steady bandmate Franz Nicolay at Southpaw for "HARTZVEYTIK! A Heartbreak Survival Society Social." Also on the bill are The Low & the Lonesome, Ariel Schrag, Royal Pink, Soft Power (feat. Mary Timony) and The Shondes. There will be vegan cupcakes. Tickets are on sale.

Then, on Thursday, November 19th, see rock cultural criticism godfather Greil Marcus when he appears uptown at Columbia University's Altschul Auditorium (417 International Affairs Building, 420 West 118th St) at 6pm. The event is a "lecture-performance" for the 20th-anniversary re-release of his book Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century, out this month. The book deals with "the cross-currents, tangles, and whirlpools that made such vastly different movements as dada, lettrism, the Situationist International, and punk part of a single current." The event is free and open to the public. A video of Marcus discussing his 2006 book In The Shape of Things to Come is posted below. Greil Marcus wrote the book on Bob Dylan (actually a few of them) - the same night Dylan plays the last show of three shows even further uptown at United Palace Theatre.

Franz Nicolay has more upcoming tour dates, including a show at Mercury Lounge on November 16th (tix). Those and "Lipstick Traces" videos, and the flyer for that event, below...

Continue reading "Greil Marcus, Chuck Klosterman, & members of the Hold Steady - various NYC events & tour dates "

Tad Kubler, by Chris La Putt (more)

In case you missed it in the Hold Steady post, Tad of the Hold Steady was wearing a "Barack Obama" Bad Brains shirt last night. The shirt is available at BarackBrains.com, though I doubt they'll be flying off the shelves now that Barack already won. Maybe?