"The Snow Ball Music Festival [in 2011] was chill, in more ways than one. Besides the expected below freezing temperatures Avon gets in early March, the atmosphere of the festival and attitude of the attendees were very relaxed. The tents were set up on snow instead of concrete, and so dancing the first night was no small fete as everyone was slipping on the ice. By the end of the weekend, any movement at all was unpleasant as people were standing in puddles of water, beer, and probably some bodily fluids or stuck to the ground in thick mud. The crowd left their clubbing attire at home and sported their neon ski coats instead as they drifted through the clouds of cigarette and marijuana smoke. Despite the cold weather and the impossible dance floor, most importantly, the music was good." [cause=time]

The SnowBall Music Festival, for people not afraid to watch bands playing outside in freezing temperatures ("We recommend that you come prepared for snow and winter conditions. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 40° range during the day and in the teens at night. Please dress accordingly."), is returning to Vail Valley in Avon, CO from March 2 - 4, 2012. This year's lineup includes Big Boi, Big Freedia, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (who just announced a Bowery Ballroom show), Deer Tick, Gauntlet Hair, Major Lazer, TV on the Radio, Thundercat, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and others (listed below)

Early bird and holiday special passes are sold out but regular passes and tickets for the festival are on sale now. Don't forget your "Warm Jackets, hats, gloves, and snow boots."

Current lineup below...

Continue reading "Snowball Music Festival is outside in the Winter in Colorado (2012 lineup) "

Foo Fighters, who just headlined the final night of Lollapalooza, and who previously scheduled two dates in NJ, will return to NYC to play Madison Square Garden on November 13 with Social Distortion and The Joy Formidable. Internet Presale (password: ROCK) starts today (8/10) at 10 AM and general sale starts Friday at 10 AM. Rock on.

Tickets go on AmEx presale today at 10 AM for the Smokers Club Tour.

Underground rapper Wax plays Mercury Lounge on September 21. Tickets go on AmEx presale today (8/10) at noon.

Tickets go on sale today at noon, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm for the four Beyonce shows at Roseland Ballroom.

The Kooks just announed a tour that includes two NYC shows: Webster Hall on November 16 and 17. Internet Presale starts today at 10 AM (password might be "electric"), AmEx presale starts at noon, and general sale starts Friday at noon. All dates are listed below.

Fang Island play Glasslands on October 5. Tickets are on sale.

Tickets go on AmEx presale today at noon for the Austra shows at Bowery Ballroom and MHOW. At the MHOW show they open for James Blake.

Tickets go on AmEx presale today at noon for the Nurses and Dominant Legs Mercury Lounge show. Tickets are on sale now for the Glasslands show.

Tickets go on AmEx presale today at noon for the SBTRKT shows at Bowery Ballroom and MHOW.

TIckets go on AmEx presale today at noon for The Rapture's Webster Hall show.

Tickets are on sale now for the Pictureplane show at Cameo Gallery.

Tickets are still on sale for Chelsea Wolfe at Saint Vitus.

Tickets are still on sale for Ted Leo at The Rock Shop.

Tickets for Cat Power's second Webster Hall show go on sale Friday at noon.

Feist tickets go on sale Monday (as written in the previous post, though sorry if the title made you think it was this past Monday which I thought it was at first despite the correct date written in the post).

Win a pair of tickets to tonight's Band of Horses/J Mascis show on our Facebook.

Kooks dates below...

Continue reading "Foo Fighters @ MSG, James Blake, Kooks, SBTRKT, Beyonce, Austra, Fang Island & other tickets & presales"

Matt Pinfield @ RXP concert in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

Last month it was announced that "RXP TakLiberty Festival" would take place on September 18 at NJ's PNC Banks Arts Center with Coldplay, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Two Door Cinema Club, The Kooks, and more. According to RXP's website, the show is now cancelled "due to unforseen circumstances". Refunds are available at the point of purchase.

According to "Barry",

"It was so strange that the concert was announced a day before the news that WRXP was being sold. Then it was promoted for over a week. I'm surprised Emmis let this happen. This must represent a lot of work down the drain for some of WRXP's staff. I feel bad for them."

Back on June 21st the Daily News reported:

The future of New York's only contemporary rock radio station, WRXP (101.9 FM), was tossed into the mosh pit today when Emmis sold a controlling interest to a new radio group run by ultra-colorful radio entrepreneur Randy Michaels.

WRXP has been a rock station since Feb. 5, 2008, when Emmis terminated its former smooth jazz format. The station has struggled to find an audience in a town not known for rock radio, but in recent months had shown significant ratings gains.

Merlin Media, which is paying $110-$130 million for a controlling interest in WRXP and two Chicago stations, made no announcement today on the format at WRXP.

Leslie Fram, program director, said that for now the station will continue rocking.

The Village Voice then said that, "It's not too much of a stretch to assume....that the station will change formats before the RXP Takliberty Festival's scheduled date of September 18, hence the cancellation."

Well, they were right. The Daily News has reported today:

Don't tell Leslie Fram a contemporary rock station can't work on New York radio - even though the one she has programmed for the last 3-1/2 years ends its run Thursday, apparently to be replaced by news aimed at soccer moms.

WRXP (101.9 FM), which switched from smooth jazz to rock in February 2008, is being sold by Emmis to Merlin Media, and while the deal hasn't closed yet, Merlin takes over the programming Friday.

Listeners will hear music for a couple of weeks until Merlin launches its new format, expected to be all or mostly news targeting women in their 30s and 40s.

On the surface, this change might seem to again support the often-heard mantra that when it comes to radio music, New York is a rhythm town, not a rock town.

Fram, a WRXP host as well as program director, says she sees every indication that's not true.

She notes that for the last three months, an average of about 2.3 million people per week at some point tuned to WRXP. While that's about half the audience for WHTZ, WLTW or WKTU, it's not a small number.

"There are a lot of rock fans in this area," Fram says. "[Classic rock] WAXQ is a fine station, but there was room for us, too.

"We wanted to be the heritage rock station for people who grew up in the '90s or later, and we could have. Without us now, where will you hear a new Eddie Vedder or Mumford and Son?"

RIP WRXP

The RXP TakLiberty Fetival will take place on two stages on September 18 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. The radio station (current home of Pinfield) festival features performances by Coldplay, Richard Ashcroft (The Verve), Two Door Cinema Club, The Kooks, Graffiti 6, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and more to be announced. Ticket pre-sale begins Tuesday (6/21) and general sale starts Friday (6/24) at noon.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart also have upcoming shows including August 8 and 9 at Terminal 5 with The Kills and A Place to Bury Strangers. Tickets for both shows are available. The Kooks play a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom on June 27th. Richard Ashcroft recently played Bowery Ballroom.

Coldplay play Austin City Limits two days before the NJ show. They're also on the lineup of Lollapalooza. All of their other dates are overseas at the moment.

Coldplay have a new single awesomely named "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall." According to Coldplay's YouTube account, the song contains compositional elements of "I Go To Rio" by Peter Allen, and was produced by Markus Dravs, Dan Green and Rik Simpson with additional composition by Brian Eno. Listen to the song below...

Continue reading "Coldplay, TPOBPAH, Richard Ashcroft, The Kooks & others playing RXP TakLiberty Fest in NJ & stuff"

'War Child: Heroes' is an unprecedented collaboration between music's most heralded legends and the finest current artists.

We asked 15 ultimate icons to select a favourite song from their classic back catalogue and to nominate the new act they most trust to create a unique interpretation of that hand-picked track.

This album is the result: 15 exclusive and breath-taking cover versions.

Beck (Bob Dylan - "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat")
The Kooks (The Kinks - "Victoria")
The Hold Steady (Bruce Springsteen - "Atlantic City")
Hot Chip (Joy Division - "Transmission")
Lily Allen feat. Mick Jones (The Clash - "Straight To Hell")
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (The Ramones - "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker")
Franz Ferdinand (Blondie - "Call Me")
Duffy (Paul McCartney - "Live And Let Die")
Estelle (Stevie Wonder - "Superstition")
Rufus Wainwright (Brian Wilson -" Wonderful & Song For Children")
Scissor Sisters (Roxy Music - "Do The Strand")
Peaches (Iggy Pop - "Search And Destroy")
Adam Cohen (Leonard Cohen - "Take This Waltz")
Elbow (U2 - "Running To Stand Still")
The Like (Elvis Costello - "You Belong To Me")
TV On The Radio (David Bowie - "Heroes")

Though not out until February 24th here in the United States, "War Child: Heroes" was released in the UK on Monday (and it comes out March 3rd in Canada).

"Dark Was The Night" on the other hand, is out now everywhere. Full tracklist HERE. Rumor of an upcoming show at Radio City Music Hall HERE.

Listen to Lily Allen and Mick Jones cover the Clash, and other videos, below...

Continue reading "War Child: Heroes vs. Dark Was The Night (get both now!)"

by Ryan Barkan

The B.I.G.gest music licensing story last week was the release of Notorious, the film based on the life story of Brooklyn rapper Notorious B.I.G. As you may already know, a virtual unknown was cast to play Biggie. The film hit theaters Friday and so far has received mixed notorious reviews. Notorious contains a number of Biggie's music; the official soundtrack even contains three unreleased songs (listen to them here).

The movie ended up in fourth place on the holiday weekend box office list, grossing an estimated $24 million. According to Variety, Notorious had the best per-location average of the weekend with $14,652 earned (approx) at each of the 1,638 theaters screening the film. I personally didn't see it this weekend because I was too busy helping Paul Blart Mall Cop take top spot on the weekend draw.

Other Notable Licensing News:

Commuters in Liverpool Station were surprised last week with the spontaneous (yet meticulously calculated) filming of a T-mobile commercial. The spot started with music coming over the loudspeaker and igniting a few members of the crowd to begin dancing. As the songs change (there are eight of them), more dancers join in until the entire station is engulfed in the excitement. The spot was created then on air within 48 hours and was shown as an exclusive premier on BBC 4. The songs in the spot, in order, are: Lulu's "Shout", Yazz's "The Only Way Is Up", Pussycat Dolls' "Don't Cha", Viennese Waltz, Kool & the Gang's "Get Down On It", Rainbow's "Since You've Been Gone", Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop", and Contours' "Do You Love Me". Watch the spot below.

Another spot out of the UK recently is this lyrically driven commercial for the Ford Ka appropriately using Soundtree's "Go Find It".

The Roots really like Cody Chesnutt; so much so they remade one of his songs ("The Seed") for their 2002 album and even had him play and sing on the record. Not sure if The Roots like Axe products, but the band and brand have mutual love for Chesnutt - his jam "Look Good In Leather" is the feature of a new claymation spot for the Lynx line. Check the spot below.

Continuing with the cool Euro commercials trend, Dutch snowboard gear company Protest uses a great Josh Ritter tune, "To The Dogs Or Whoever", in their new campaign. One interesting jump over to Protest's website finds some more interesting licensing: the brand hopes you will enjoy tunes by The Beastie Boys, N.W.A., The Kooks, and MGMT while you get your shop on. Watch the commercial below.

Fox TV show Fringe is running a promo that features Lykke Li's "I'm Good, I'm Gone". Watch it below.

Animal Planet is stepping up its entertainment offerings with a new show called Jockeys. No, it does not have to do with undergarments; it will follow a group of riders and will debut next month on the channel. The promo steps up the cool factor a bit by including Kanye West (and Daft Punk's) "Stronger". Watch the promo below.

continued below...

Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing"

"TheWB.com - a premium, ad-supported, video-on-demand, interactive and personalized network - today announced the cast and the first group of bands to be featured on "Rockville, CA," the music-themed scripted web series created by Josh Schwartz ("Gossip Girl," "Chuck," "The O.C."). Production on the show began earlier this month at The Echo, a popular club and indie music venue in Los Angeles."

The rest of the Press release is below...

Continue reading "Rockville, CA - a new TheWB.com show w/ Passion Pit, Lykke Li, The Little Ones, Frightened Rabbit and more"

The Kooks @ Terminal 5 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

The Kooks recently played two nights in a row at Terminal 5 in NYC. Now it looks like they'll be back in September to play the even bigger Rumsey Playfield in Central Park (aka Summerstage) (like the Arctic Monkeys did last summer). Two days later you can also catch The Kooks in the much smaller Stone Pony in Asbury Park. A ticketmaster presale starts Wednesday. All dates below...

Continue reading "The Kooks - Summerstage & other 2008 Tour Dates, presale"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

I'm always fighting with people about The Kooks. I don't like them, but a lot of other people seem to (especially photographers). Bao likes them. Kyle (who took the pictures this time) likes them. Chris Graham wanted to see them at Sasquatch, and apparently two nights worth of approximately-3000-capacity Terminal 5 people wanted to see them this week in NYC too. Last night they played Terminal 5 with The Morning Benders (June 10, 2008). Tonight both bands do the same. More pics from last night below....

Continue reading "The Kooks & Morning Benders @ Terminal 5, NYC - pics"

photos by Chris Graham

OK, let's get this 2008 Sasquatch Festival coverage over with. You've seen R.E.M., The National and Modest Mouse and other pictures from day one. On day three there was Flaming Lips and naked ladies, The Mars Volta and everything else. The festival offered comedy and even more comedy. And then there was day two which included The Cure, Death Cab & Rogue Wave, and (almost*) everything you see below....

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2008 - day 2 in pictures (Sunday May 25)"

indie rock paper dolls (sally grosart)

* Rilo Kiley added a 2nd show at Terminal 5.
* The Kooks added a 2nd show at Terminal 5.
* Beth Orton added a 2nd show at Hiro Ballroom.

Can you name everyone in the above picture?

I might as well keep the British thing going and post those Kooks dates Bao was telling us about....

Continue reading "The Kooks - 2008 Tour Dates, presale, Conan video"

I'm personally not a Kooks fan, but Bao Nguyen is. His photos and review of last night's show (Feb 12, 2008) at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, are below....

Two young girls from Japan waited outside in the falling snow and freezing temperatures, hoping to get a ticket to the last night's sold out Kooks show. They were not alone as a small line formed outside, most of them hoping that the miserable weather would open up some room inside the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Unfortunately for them weather was a non-factor, and the Kooks played to a packed house. A mother and her daughter drove over 4 hours in the snow from Philadelphia to catch one of the handful of dates that the band was playing in the States. The mother told me the last time she'd seen them was when they were opening up for the Rolling Stones in England. Well that seemed like a very appropriate bill. Lead singer Luke Pritchard pranced around onstage like a young Mick Jagger (or perhaps even modern day Mick). The Arctic Monkeys comparison are less apparent when they first came into the spotlight, as Pritchard is proving that he is much more of a showman compared to the Monkeys' lead singer Alex Turner. The band played mostly songs from their debut album Inside In/Inside Out, with a few songs from their forthcoming album, Konk, due out on April 15th. The crowd was energetic throughout, dancing and jumping to irresistibly catchy songs like "She Moves in Her Own Way", forgetting the bitter cold that awaited them outside. At the end of the night, I asked the mother preparing to drive back to Philadelphia if it was worth the trip. She smiled at me and simply said, "Yes, it was". -Bao

Luke Pritchard from the Kooks is playing an acoustic set at Sound Fix in Brooklyn tonight (Feb 13) after or part of this:

Sound Fix and Write Bloody Books present a "What it Is" book release soiree featuring a reading by author Paul G. Maziar, images by Maust of Cold War Kids and live tunes by Chase Pagan and Matty Charles, plus a special premiere of T"he Last American Valentine" by poets Derrick Brown and Friends.

It starts at 8:00. Luke goes on around 11:30. The Kooks play Conan O'Brien tomorrow (Feb 14), and will be back in the States for a proper tour in May. More of Bao's photos from last night below....

Continue reading "The Kooks played Music Hall, Sound Fix tonight, Conan"