Now we really know what's going on. The CBGB Festival is happening July 5 - 8 at some 30 venues across the city, with over 300 bands participating, including the previously mentioned free Guided by Voices, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Cloud Nothings show at Summerstage (which now also includes The War on Drugs), the The Baseball Project and Craig Finn at City Winery, L.A. Guns at Highline, the Cro Mags, Sick of it All, Vision of Disorder, Absolution, and Sal Naim show at Webster Hall, and D Generation's Bowery Electric show. Newly added artists include Rocket from the Tombs, MEN, PS I Love You, Reggie Watts, Gary Lucas, Weekend, and more TBA. The full list of currently confirmed artists is below.

It's also a film festival with both new and classic rock films/docs, including the world premiere of The Rise and Fall of The Clash, plus American Hardcore, Color Me Obsessed: A Film About The Replacements, The Dead Boys - Live at CBGB/OMFUG 1977, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Kurt Cobain About a Son, The Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973 and more.

In addition, they've added a CMJ/SXSW-like music industry conference with panels/workshops concerning the music industry, independent artists, and a CBGB "Tales from the Club" panel each day. All conferences take place at the Sunshine Cinema and East Village Cinema. The festival also closes with the "distilled spirits fest" at Beekman Beer Garden on July 8.

There are variety of badges available too, from music and film showcase badges to one that get you into everything (or potentially at least...badges don't guarantee admission). The press release we got claims badges have been on sale since May 7 but this is the first we've heard about it. Regardless, early bird prices on music showcase badges is $69 and runs through May 31. It jumps to $79 if you buy before July 4 and walk-up badges once the fest starts are $89. Film fest badges are $99/$159/$219 for earlybird/regular/walk-up. You can also get a music conference badge which gains you entry to the showcases, workshops, and panels, and a music/film combo badge which gains you entry to all of that plus the film screenings. Full details on the vast array of CBGB Festival badge options are at their website. What this means to people who already bought tickets to individual shows already but want a badge too, we're not sure.

A list of all confirmed bands, films, conferences, and participating venues is below.

Continue reading "CBGB Festival announces details: badges, bands, films, industry conference, and booze"

Craig Finn with The Hold Steady at Mohawk (more by Tim Griffin)

Hey Everyone,

I hope all is good. I've been enjoying my time at home writing music and seeing a bunch of shows. Thank you Nick Lowe, Wu Lyf, Titus Andronicus, Archers of Loaf, and Bruce Springsteen for some great times.

Besides going to shows, I'm also going to play quite a few coming up. The Hold Steady has a very fun tour in June...

I've also got a few solo shows. The first two are in Chicago on June 2...

Also, I will be playing a show with The Baseball Project on July 5 at City Winery in NYC. I had a great time performing and hanging out with these guys last year. This should be a great show...

For all the solo sets, it will just be me and a guitar. I'll tell you some stories and sing you some songs. This is the first time I've done sets like this, and I'm looking forward to it.

Hope to see you soon.

cf

The show is one of three current dates for The Baseball Project -- all in the Northeast. Below, you can check out those listed dates, a listing of all Hold Steady dates and a video of The Baseball Project's full set from The Met last month.

Continue reading "The Hold Steady touring in June (dates); Craig Finn playing with The Baseball Project at City Winery"

Lou with Refused at Terminal 5 (more by BBG)

As originally discovered back in January, and further confirmed in Summerstage's 2012 schedule (but previously with no artists) CBGB is throwing a festival...

The four-day festival is scheduled to begin on July 5 and will showcase about 300 rock bands. Concerts will take place at around 30 places, from large stages like Central Park Summerstage and Webster Hall to small clubs like the Trash Bar in Williamsburg and the Living Room on the Lower East Side...

The festival will also stage a free concert in Central Park with Guided by Voices, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Cloud Nothings [on July 7]. A few veteran rockers have agreed to appear: David Johansen, a former member of the New York Dolls, has committed to do a show, as has the Baseball Project, the supergroup formed by Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate. -[NY Times]

D Generation will headline Bowery Electric on July 7th with ROMANS, Brass Knuckle Evangelists and The Bamboo Kids. Tickets are on sale.

Stay tuned for more (including the full lineup announcement).

In honor of the Jefferson R. Burdick Collection of more than thirty thousand baseball cards--dating from 1887 to 1959--Spectrum has organized an exciting Friday night event. Starting at 6:00 p.m. in the Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall in the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education, early-comers can meet William C. Rhoden and be treated to a pre-show signing of his book Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete.

At 7:30 p.m., enjoy a lively panel discussion about our card collection and its relationship to baseball. Panelists include:

Sean Kirst, columnist at the Syracuse Post-Standard and author of The Ashes of Lou Gehrig and Other Baseball Essays
Dale Murphy, retired Major League Baseball player
William C. Rhoden, sports columnist at the New York Times
Sharon Robinson, educational consultant, author, and daughter of the great Jackie Robinson

After the panel discussion, the supergroup The Baseball Project (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn, and Linda Pitmon, with a special guest appearance by Mike Mills) will perform a very special set, with songs inspired by the Museum's baseball card collection.

The Red Krayola also play a NYC museum tonight (and tomorrow) (the Whitney).

Julianna Barwick and Grouper play one tonight too! Their show is at the Guggenheim where Cold Cave and Zola Jesus (with help from JG Thirwell) also have shows coming up. Tix are still available for tonight's show and for Cold Cave's too. Zola Jesus goes on sale on 4/18.

The Baseball Project also played Maxwell's the other night, but have no other upcoming dates at the moment. Check out the new video for 2010 song "All Future and No Past" below...

Continue reading "The Baseball Project playing a baseball (card) event @ the Met tonight; Cold Cave tix on sale; Grouper tonight too"

Dr. Dog at Terminal 5 in February (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Dr. Dog has been an added as an opener to the Bright Eyes show at Williamsburg Waterfront. Tickets are still available.

A couple of weeks later they'll take part in another waterfront show in their home city...

"Music, film, visual arts and more will highlight the inaugural WHYY Connections Festival Friday, September 2 and 3, 2011. This exciting event, hosted by WHYY in partnership with the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, will kick off Friday evening with a special advanced screening of episode 1 of Ken Burns' Prohibition. On Saturday, WHYY will showcase its commitment to the arts with live musical performances by Dr. Dog, The Baseball Project, Toy Soldiers, Kuf Knotz, Birdie Busch, and more!"

Continue reading "Dr. Dog playing Brooklyn w/ Bright Eyes, the inaugural WHYY Connections Festival in Philly & other dates"

On one of the sunniest day of the year so far, Hobokenites came out in droves to eat, see local art and hear live music at the Hoboken Arts and Music Festival on Sunday afternoon...

The Baseball Project... proceeded to rip a hole through the afternoon with the sheer power of their rocking and songwriting prowess. Highlights (and there were many) included Wynn's ode to Detroit Tiger's pitcher Mark Fidrych entitled '1976', McCaughey's wordtastic 'Panda and The Freak,' and the ridiculously talented rhythm section of Buck and Pitmon.

Craig Finn (of the Hold Steady) made a truly electric guest appearance on a tune for which he penned the lyrics called, 'Please Don't Call Them Twinkies.'" He was entirely captivating and having never heard/seen him sing live before, I think I fully understand now why his band is so popular. -[Patch]

And with those triumphant dates in their rearview, The Baseball Project has announced their return to NYC with a date at City Winery on June 5th. Tickets are on sale. The NYC date is part of a larger string of mostly Northeastern dates that will also include a stop in Baseball Hall of Fame home Cooperstown on June 3rd (they play a brewery there).

All of this touring is in support of their second album, Volume Two: High and Inside, which was released March 1 on Yep Roc and includes guest appearances from Craig Finn, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan, and Chris Funk and John Moen of The Decemberists.

All tour dates, a video of the band on "Extra" (where they play "Fair Weather Fan" and talk about being accepted by the baseball community), and the above-mentioned videos, below....

Continue reading "The Baseball Project played Hoboken & Brooklyn w/ Craig Finn (and Drew's House too), announce more dates (City Winery)"

The Baseball Project

Like he recently did with the Mountain Goats, Twins fan Craig Finn will reportedly make a guest appearance with The Baseball Project at the Bell House in Brooklyn tonight (4/29). As Wikipiedia puts it, "The Baseball Project is a supergroup composed of Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon formed in 2007." Also playing tonight's show is Baseball Project member Steve Wynn's band Steve Wynn & The Miracle Three.

Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan probably won't make it to collaborate or see the Brooklyn show because he'll be busy playing with Marshall Crenshaw over at City Winery. Ira did recently play with a bunch of R.E.M. members though, at a show whose focus was Big Star.

if you miss the Brooklyn show, you have a couple more chances to catch the Baseball Project this weekend, especially if you know Drew (they play at his house in Ringwood, NK on April 30th), and if you don't mind heading to Hoboken for the annual and FREE Hoboken Arts & Music Festival on Sunday (5/1) with Ian Hunter and more on three stages (I bet Ira is at that one). Full fest schedule, a video of Craig Finn playing a new song, and all tour dates bleow...

Continue reading "the Baseball Project is here (Craig Finn will join them), Hoboken Arts Fest this weekend (they play that too)"

The Baseball Project at Maxwell's (more by Lori Baily)

"Well, we had so much fun the first time that we just had to do it again. Scott, Peter, Linda and I spent much of the last few years on the road, in the studio and trading files, ideas, anecdotes and laughs and the result is the second album by the Baseball Project: Volume 2: High and Inside." - The Baseball Project

Meanwhile, Peter Buck is keeping busy with R.E.M. as the band has a new album, Collapse Into Now, which is currently streaming in full at NPR. No tour dates for R.E.M. as of yet but if you have tickets for the Tibet House benefit at Carnegie Hall on 3/3, you can catch R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe there. Mike Mills of R.E.M. can be found at the Big Star Third show at Lexington Hall on March 26.

Blues great Taj Mahal is also on the Tibet House Benefit bill, and he recently added a date at Brooklyn Bowl on April 10. Tickets go on sale 3/3 at noon.

All tour dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Baseball Project & Steve Wynn dates, Tibet House & Big Star reminders, more Taj Mahal show & an R.E.M. album stream"

Corrosion of Conformity fans (more by BBG)

The lastest list of SXSW additions is below....

Continue reading "More SXSW 2011 lineup additions"

words & photos by Lori Baily

The Baseball Proiject headlined a show at Maxwell's on Thursday night. It was before their set over the weekend at Wilco's Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, MA...

Wilco headlined, and Mavis Staples was their lead-in, but there was six hours of music before them Saturday at Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Mass.

The warm, sunny afternoon made for perfect festival conditions for a series of sets by Wilco-curated bands which alternated between a pair of stages set up in outdoor courtyards on the Mass MoCA grounds.

Alt-rock supergroup the Baseball Project brought together Mike Mills of R.E.M., Steve Wynn of the Miracle 3 (and formerly of the Dream Syndicate), Scott McCaughey of the Minus 5 and journeywoman drummer Linda Pitmon to perform songs that were, in fact, mostly about baseball. Call it good, clean, nerdy fun.

With a rollicking rock 'n' roll sensibility, the foursome sang a tune written after a night out drinking with now-retired pitcher Jack McDowell, advocated for the inclusion of Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix on the list of starters who have thrown perfect games (Haddix kept one going for 12 innings in 1959 before losing in the 13th) and threw in a couple of Minus 5 tunes, including "Lies of the Living Dead" and "Aw Shit Man." [Hartford Courant]

I know nothing about baseball or I would've been entertained even more. Scott McCaughey joined opener Dennis Diken for a couple of songs at the end of their set. The guys (and gal) in both bands are all really sweet and down to earth, Mike Mills even requested that he not be "lit like a lead singer, cause I'm not a lead singer."

More pictures of the NJ show, below...

Continue reading "The Baseball Project played Wilco's Solid Sound Festival & Maxwell's w/ Dennis Diken with Bell Sound (pics)"

The Baseball Project

Move over Gary Glitter:

The Baseball Project understands that music heard in a sports stadium is not particularly good. And, although that wasn't the sole impetus, the rock quartet conspired to write rock songs that mostly deal with America's cherished pastime.

Veteran musicians Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Linda Pitmon and Steve Wynn comprise a supergroup that formed in 2008. ...Up until they started writing and recording in the same room, the group members already had a hand in each other's associated projects. For example, singer-guitarist James McCaughey, a frontman for Washington acts The Minus 5 and The Young Fresh Fellows, has collaborated with R.E.M. since the early '90s.

...Their songs range from the irreverent to the deep and ruminative, which is to say, not tailor made for a Joe Schmo at the stadium. The band's single "Past Time," has reportedly been played at Siebert Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

When the baseball season starts up in early April, the gang is back in session. Come this fall, The Baseball Project will have recorded 40 songs, 18 of which will appear on the second album slated for February 2011, McCaughey said. - [NJ.com]

Peter Buck won't be on tour for the trek but R.E.M. co-conspirator Mike Mills will, as they tear through their quiver of originals as well as material from The Dream Syndicate and The Minus 5. Dennis Diken with Bell Sound will support at Maxwell's and though tickets are still on sale (as they likely will still be at the door), you can also try you luck at winning a pair. Details on how to win are below.

The Solid Sound Festival this weekend in Massachusetts features a headlining set from Wilco in their "in their only East Coast performance of the summer". It also happens to be Wilco's very own festival and they'll be playing alongside Mavis Staples, The Nels Cline Singers, Avi Buffalo, Sir Richard Bishop, The Books, Mountain Man, Vetiver, a Jeff Tweedy solo set, and much more over its three days. Full lineup is below and tickets are still available. Bob Lefsetz is dying to attend and he's not even that big of a Wilco fan.

The Baseball Project stream, Solid Sound lineup, and tour dates are below...

Continue reading "The Baseball Project hit Maxwell's tonight (win tix) before hitting Wilco's Solid Sound Fest this weekend (lineup)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Scott McCaughey w/ Eugene Mirman @ The Bell House (more by Lori Baily)

Bassists/guitarist Scott McCaughey and guitarist/bassist Peter Buck collaborate quite a bit. First, they both play in R.E.M. Recently, both backed Robyn Hitchcock as part of the Venus 3 on his spring tour. Those shows were a combination of opening dates for the Decemberists (like at Radio City) and headlining shows. The band's June 11th show at the Bell House was the latter.

McCaughey and Buck also play as the Minus 5. And, with Steve Wynn and drummer Linda Pitmon, they form the Baseball Project (appropriately, a group that composes baseball themed songs).

Wynn and Pitmon are prolific in their own right. Both just gigged as part of Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3, performing Medicine Show by Dream Syndicate (Wynn's old band) at the Bell House on June 27th. A live recording of that show is available at The Archive. (There's another of those Medicine Show gigs coming up in LA in July.)

The a-four-mentioned musicians pack into the tour van this August to play an amalgamated series of shows, billed as "An Evening with The Minus 5, the Baseball Project, and the Steve Wynn IV Performed by Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon." Part of that will be a gig at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on Wednesday, September 23rd. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 10th at noon.

If that's not enough, you can catch Buck on the recently reissued version of R.E.M's 1984 album Reckoning (though not McCaughey -- he didn't join the group till the '90s). R.E.M. are also releasing a 4-song live digital EP on July 9th, and a 2-CD live album later this year.

All Minus 5 + Steve Wynn + friends tour dates below...

Continue reading "Steve Wynn played Medicine Show @ the Bell House ++ Minus 5 & the Baseball Project touring, playing Bowery (all dates)"

One of my most anticipated albums of the year, Beck's Modern Guilt, drops tomorrow.

The most interesting release this week combines three of my favorite things, baseball, Steve Wynn, and Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows). The Baseball Project: Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails brings these talented musicians together to share their love of America's pastime in song.

Other discs I have heard and can strongly recommend include CocoRosie's God Has a Voice, She Speaks Through Me 7", The Capstan Shafts' wonderfully lo-fi Fixation Protocols, Dutchess & The Duke's She's The Dutchess, He's The Duke, Patti Smith & Kevin Shields' collaboration The Coral Sea, and Ratatat's LP3.

I am definitely picking up the Fiery Furnaces' vinyl reissues of Blueberry Boat, The Fiery Furnaces EP, and Gallowsbird's Bark on vinyl. Other vinyl reissues I am buying include British Sea Power's Open Season; Xiu Xiu's Fabulous Muscles
La Foret, and my favorite M. Ward album, Transfiguration of Vincent.

What new music releases have you excited this week? Have any let you down?

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"

DOWNLOAD: The Baseball Project - Past Time (MP3)

The Baseball Project (photo by Vivian Johnson)

What happens when two great songwriters decide to focus their talents upon their favorite sport? You get the highly entertaining debut disc from The Baseball Project, Volume One: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails. The album is the brainchild of Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate, Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3) and Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, Minus 5, and R.E.M). The two musicians were longtime fans of each other's work throughout the 80s but never met until the early 90s. Wynn recalls, "I honestly think the first time we met was side-by-side at the urinals at the Offramp in Seattle when I played there in 1992." He adds, "Scott didn't try to shake my hand."

Continue reading "The Baseball Project = Steve Wynn & Scott McCaughey - album stream & Letterman video (starring Peter Buck)"