Arcade Fire @ Obama Staff Ball (more by Bao Nguyen)

A list of celebrities, reportedly created by Obama's campaign, sent out on December 5, and acquired by the Tennessean (PDF HERE), is being passed around the internet. The list, heavily populated with people who we already know support Obama, is supposedly a wishlist of people the Obama administration hopes to get public support from again in this upcoming election. Among the names on the list: Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Wilco Regina Spektor, Janelle Monae, The Roots, Jay-Z, will.i.am, Jessica Alba, Laila Ali, Marc Anthony, India.Arie, Sara Bareilles, Jigga, Chelsea Clinton, George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, Fergie, America Ferrera, Jamie Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg, Al Green, Josh Groban, Neil Patrick Harris, Anne Hathaway, Jack Johnson, the Jonas Brothers, Jewel, Mila Kunis, Blake Lively, Ricky Martin, "Glee" star Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Pine, B.o.B, the Band Perry, Train, and Kate Walsh.

Speaking of Regina Spektor, who has played the White House, she has a benefit show coming up at Lincoln Center in NYC and is playing some shows with Tom Petty including one in Austin. All of her dates are listed below.

Speaking of Wilco, they're currently out on the road with White Denim who played a warm-up show at Hotel Vegas in Austin before leaving. All Wilco dates are listed below.

Speaking of Obama, he delivers a State of The Union speech this Tuesday.

Speaking of politicians, Stephen Colbert was spotted singing along at the Jeff Mangum show at BAM on Saturday night.

Continue reading "Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Wilco Regina Spektor & others on Obama wishlist"

Vampire Weekend @ Bowery Ballroom in January (more by Bao Nguyen)

In the spring of 2006, Columbia University senior Rostam Batmanglij was entertaining literary society parties with his fledgling postmodern Afro-pop band, Vampire Weekend, and wondering if he could pull off life as a professional musician. By the spring of 2008, he was playing the band's runaway hit single, "A-Punk," on Saturday Night Live. Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut had been out only a few months, but fans and critics had been clamoring over it for most of the year. After months of feverish blog hype and the release of an EP that only stoked the fires, the band landed on the March 2008 cover of Spin, which annointed them the year 's Best New Band before their album had even come out -- a first in the magazine's history. Looking back, it still seems insane that a bunch of cerebral schoolboys in pastel cardigans could go from cramming at the library to performing on SNL in the span of a couple of semesters. But according to Batmanglij -- the band's producer, co-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and sole gay member -- Vampire Weekend was meant to be huge. "We all had a strong feeling about the band from the early days," he says. "We had this opportunity to be really out there and avant-garde, but also commercially successful." [Out]

The last time they played NYC, in January, the band did three nights at three venues: United Palace, Webster Hall and Bowery Ballroom.

They currently have shows booked around Europe, the United States (most with Abe Vigoda opening) and Australia. All those are below.

They just put out a new tennis-centric video for their song "Giving Up the Gun" with cameos by RZA, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers and Lil' Jon. That's below...

Continue reading "Vampire Weekend playing Radio City Music Hall, released a video starring RZA, Jake Gyllenhaal & a Jonas Brother "

AC/DC @ The Izod Center (more by Ryan Muir)

If anyone had any doubt that touring is where the money is in the music business, a quick look at the top Moneymakers for 2008 should hammer the point home.

Regardless of genre, retail sales or radio play, each of the 20 acts on Billboard's Moneymakers list toured in 2008. (Taylor Swift mostly opened for Brad Paisley but doesn't get credit for that revenue). For almost all of them, touring generated the most revenue. And in a year when recorded-music sales declined yet again, many earned more at the box office than ever before. [Billboard]

Continue reading "the list of musicians who made the most money in 2008"