DOWNLOAD: Pterodactyl - Esses (MP3)

Klaus Kinski caught the Bowery show.....

Trail of Dead @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - Nov 23, 2007 (CRED)

Having hosted Thanksgiving at my apartment for my parents and my brother and, the following day, gone to Macy's to see how awful black friday really is, my frazzled soul was very much ready to get very drunk and see Trail of the Dead at the Bowery Ballroom. Opener Pterodactyl were not pterrible, but watching them play I couldn't seem to get into them. Yet after the show was over, I kept replaying their set back in my mind and now I can't seem to stop listening to the tunes they have available at their myspace. Go figure.

Next up was Marnie Stern who completely disappointed me. She's up for two Plug Awards this year (Best Female Artist of the Year and Best Punk Record of the Year). The whole experience came across as pretty unrehearsed and sloppy (even though it is claimed by Marnie that she practices 3-hours a day). As a result, her reputation as a guitar virtuoso baffles me, as do the Plug nominations. The crowd seemed to dig it though, and the more I search the internet, the more I realize I am very much in the minority with the impression the band left me with.

At 11:30 Trail of Dead came on and reinforced what I thought when I saw them back in October at the Highline. The crowd this time was WAY more into it than when they played Highline. There was tons of sweaty folks, pushing, shoving, tossing their cups about, and really getting into the thunder being delivered from the stage. The room wasn't full at all which meant there were plenty of areas to avoid the mayhem and enjoy the show in relative safety. Regardless of what the haters say, Trail of Dead still kick ass. -Klaus

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Catch Marnie Stern tonight (Nov 29) WITH THE DEATHSET (who definitely rule) @ Death By Audio. Details at the bottom of THIS POST.

Old Time Relijun @ Silent Barn, NYC - Oct 31, 2007 (CRED)

Hello friends, lovers, enemies of the Silent Barn,

SILENT BARN needs your help!

As some of you may know, Silent Barn is an all ages performance / art / work / living space in beautiful Ridgewood, Queens. We've had a good run so far, hosting shows and events for a wide variety of groups, having extreme fun the whole time, and we'd like to continue that onward and into the unforeseeable future. But here's the catch: we just found out that we lost our appeal of a suit with ConEd, and are receiving notices daily that we owe them back power bills for the power used by the previous residents of the space, to the tune of almost $7,000 with interest. OUCH. We are reaching out to our community for help and ideas, because if we don't come up with the money soon, ConEd will send some sort of federal official to shut off the power, effectively ending Silent Barn for good.

So, we are writing to you, dear friends, to ask for help. Have you played here before? Would you want to do it again as a benefit for the house? Have you been here before? Keep on coming! Do you have high powered rich friends who give out handouts to those in need? We want friends like that! And so on, and so forth.

Spaces like the Silent Barn are ultimately a community effort, and while this problem isn't exactly uncommon, it is still very real. We do our best to host and promote events of the highest caliber, and hopefully we as a community can keep it going. Please get in touch if you have ANY ideas that will help us work this whole mess out. We are down to do almost ANYTHING to keep the space healthy and alive, especially in these cold winter months.

Thank you forever.
xo Silent Barn

ps: if anyone has a cat that needs a home, we'd love to replace our dear departed Noodles, who has moved on to better times (in a cleaner apartment).

so I'm takin it a little easy for the next few months - you won't see a lot of shows from me while I take a substantial break & work on some other projects for awhile.

I'll still be around to tell you guys about great shows here & there though! [Todd P]

:: Ex Models
:::: the Deathset
:::::: Marnie Stern
:::::::: Teeth Mountain

[ DEATH BY AUDIO ]
49 S 2nd St btwn Wythe & Kent | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford, JM to Marcy, G to Metropolitan | 8pm | $8 | ALL AGES
-- MYSPACE --> http://myspace.com/deathbyaudioshows

DOWNLOAD: Team Robespierre - 88th Precinct (MP3)

Team Robespierre @ Pianos (BV CMJ), NYC - Oct 17, 2007 (CRED)

Like the DeathSet, Team Robespierre are a young band I love. And like The DeathSet, Team Robespierre have played a bunch of Todd P shows, and have been photographed plenty of times by Tod Seelie. One such show was the Todd P Impose showcase that Dan Deacon, The Deathset and Team Robespierre played together at Silent Barn in Brooklyn on October 16th. It was the night before the BrooklynVegan day party at Pianos (in Manhattan) that TD & TR both also played. Yes, the two bands have a lot in common, but unlike The DeathSet (who are from Baltimore like Dan Deacon), Team Robespierre are from right here in Brooklyn.

It was daytime, and there was minimal crowd surfing, but the show at Pianos still rocked. hard. Like the DeathSet who played later on (but more on the stage instead of the middle of the room). Later that night TR also played the Oh My Rockness showcase at Knitting Factory. Miss Modernage was there. Here's a pic from the Brooklyn Silent Barn show....

Team Robespierre @ Silent Barn, Brooklyn, NYC - Oct 16, 2007 (CRED)

NEXT: It doesn't get much better than this (in Manhattan). Tickets are now on sale for the December 15th show at Mercury Lounge. Team Robespierre AND Yeasayer are both playing it (it's a Friction party).

Team Robespierre are also playing Hampshire College on October 26th, and a show in Brooklyn the day after that.

The Deathset @ Pianos, NYC - Oct 17, 2007 (CRED)

TheDeathSet = awesome. They played on in the middle of the floor (like their friend Dan Deacon does) @ the BrooklynVegan day party at Pianos yesterday (Oct 17, 2007), and they are/were fun - very, very, very, fun, and good, and full of energy, and just smiling, and so good. And they played right before the Meat Puppets (who I was hoping would manage to catch some of the DeathSet's set, but I don't think they did. DeathSet's also-awesome friends from Team Robespierre did stick around after their also-awesome set to support though - more on them later.)

"...Last time I saw the band they were on the big stage at the South Street Seaport, and though it was a great performance it was certainly lacking something. As it turns out that something was intimacy...." [Pop Tarts Suck Toasted]

More photos & tour dates, below...

Continue reading "The DeathSet, Pianos, awesome (BrooklynVegan CMJ show)"

The Deathset @ Pianos, NYC - Oct 17, 2007 (CRED)

TheDeathSet = awesome. They played on in the middle of the floor (like their friend Dan Deacon does) @ the BrooklynVegan day party at Pianos yesterday (Oct 17, 2007), and they are/were fun - very, very, very, fun, and good, and full of energy, and just smiling, and so good. And they played right before the Meat Puppets (who I was hoping would manage to catch some of the DeathSet's set, but I don't think they did. DeathSet's also-awesome friends from Team Robespierre did stick around after their also-awesome set to support though - more on them later.)

"...Last time I saw the band they were on the big stage at the South Street Seaport, and though it was a great performance it was certainly lacking something. As it turns out that something was intimacy...." [Pop Tarts Suck Toasted]

More photos & tour dates, below...

Continue reading "The DeathSet, Pianos, awesome (BrooklynVegan CMJ show)"