John Wesley Harding (aka Wesley Stace) has three 'Cabinet of Wonders' scheduled at City Winery for his second season this fall. The dates scheduled are September 23, October 28, and November 18. Each night features a collection of special guests. The first night (9/23) includes Eleanor Friedberger (of Fiery Furnaces), Andrew VanWyngarden (of MGMT), Todd Barry, Jami Attenberg, Tony Visconti, Dan Zanes, and more TBA. The October 28 lineup includes Hamilton Leithauser (The Walkmen), Eugene Mirman, John Hodgman, Emma Straub, Paul Harding, and more TBA. The November 18 lineup includes Howe Gelb, Eugene Mirman, Audrey Niffenegger, and Myla Goldberg. Check the Cabinet of Wonders website for updates on the shows. Tickets are only on sale for the first one at the moment.

John Wesley Harding is also playing a few shows in November, some of which are with The Minus 5. Those dates include November 19 at The Bell House in Brooklyn, and November 20 at Maxwell's in Hoboken, both with The Minus 5. Robyn Hitchcock also plays the The Bell House on November 19, and there's a combo ticket for both shows.

John Wesley Harding also appears with 'friends' and Josh Ritter at the New York Public Library on December 6. The show starts at 7 PM and will be held in the Celeste Bartos Forum. The event is listed as discussion/reading/singing.

All dates and a video of a past Cabinet of Wonders below...

Continue reading "John Wesley Harding shows, The Minus 5, Robyn Hitchcock, MGMT, Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry & others too"

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)"

Colin Meloy in Ohio, June 1st '09 (unruly badger)

Ah, yes, young Meloy....Colin, isn't it? Yes, yes...jolly good. I must say he is a springy lad...most flexible...hewn of wands, you know...they splice them down by the river...he was part of a group that lost contact with the main tribe, and drifted to Montana. I found him in the bushes, whistling to a frog. He later said it was me, perhaps he was right. A majestic performer, at ease with himself, his audience and his material in away that makes me quite...envious. He is...well, he's not old, you know...still green of leaf and...always springy, did I mention? Oh yes, well, the thing is: he's young but he goes back a long way. That's right - he leads from the old path. The deeper your roots, the broader your branches, I always say. Especially if you're a tree. Colin has magnificent roots, he showed me them in a forest. What did you say? Prog Folk? Or Fog Polk? In San Francisco, probably, I know he was there...or was I there?...yes, we were both there, but not at the same time. I get confused with the other chap...not Dr Partridge...he's sitting over there, I think it's him...no, Colin is very...to me he's the ultimate British rock star...in a way that he couldn't be if he was from Britain, because he's have to come from some sector of society that the other sectors would resent him for....(Canon Morrisey, that's the fellow - or is he dean now?)...no Colin has it in perspective and can be it in a way that only an outsider can. So he has the brogues, and the lamps, and the canvas...the pavilion...the lashes and the brand...although he's most careful with them both...and most of all, he has the voice. With a little technological help, he could yet be duetting with
Sandy Denny

- if he hasn't already. Hmmm? Did I say he was springy? Ah yes...young Meloy....

- Robyn Hitchcock [to Paste]

The Decemberists are still on the road, playing their new album Harzards of Love from start to finish -- they'll be touring North America (with some time off) till August. Updated dates are below. The band visits NYC's Radio City Music Hall on Wednesday, June 10th (TONIGHT). Tickets are still on sale.

"Apropos, the stage backdrop was a silk screen draped with tumbling, gauzy cocoons and lit in blood and chlorophyll. Meloy, dressed like he wanted to borrow just a moment of your time to discuss the Good News, played the role of Narrator/William the Forest Prince. Becky Stark, as Margaret, wore a white sequined gown of the sort usually found in a giant trunk in the attic; I'd bet anything it originally came with a giant cone-shaped hat. Shara Worden, as The Forest Queen, dressed in a loose black dress and silver tights, leaving her free to steal the show with some body-rocking that was extemporaneous and silly and improbably sexy." [Washington City Paper]

Becky Stark and Shara Worden are reprising their guest spots on Hazards of Love, and more, live. See a video of Stark, Worden and Meloy cover Heart's "Crazy On You" on tour, below.

Speaking of guests, Robyn Hitchcock, who played some guitar on Hazards, is opening select dates for the Decemberists with his band, the Venus 3. That group consists of Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows) and Bill Rieflin (Ministry). They'll open the Decemberists' Radio City gig.

The guys in that band -- McCaughey and Buck, specifically -- are also in The Minus 5. That group will release an album called Killingsworth on Yep Roc on July 7th. From that record, the song "Scott Walker's Fault" features Colin Meloy on lead vox. Meloy also sings on Robyn's newest disc.

Robyn Hitchcock has his own NYC headlining show on Thursday, June 11th (the night after the Decemberists gig) at the Bell House. Tickets are still on sale. The openers for that show will be Ken Stringfellow and Takka Takka.

Takka Takka's singer and guitar player Gabe Levine was recently interviewed by MC Steinberg on NY Noise, and Gabe recently went solo - playing and recording under the name Samuel Izdat.

Storefront Hitchcock, a 1998 concert film directed by Jonathan Demme and featuring Robyn Hitchcock, is now streaming online. See that video, and an exclusive interview with Hitchcock from SXSW earlier this year, with all Decemberists tour dates, below...

Continue reading "The Decemberists are here - Radio City tonight w/ Robyn Hitchcock who is in Brooklyn w/ Takka Takka Thursday"