Sufjan at Bowery Ballroom in 2009 (more by Vincent Cornelli)

today in NYC
* Chris Cochrane @ Barbes
* Yellow Tears @ The Stone
* The Moon Show @ Union Pool
* Slavic Soul Party @ Barbes
* Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
* The Sugarhill Gang @ Tappen Park
* Morning After Girls @ Pete's Candy Store
* Don Dietrich, C. Spencer Yeh @ The Stone
* Tell Your Friends w/ Sean Bones @ Lolita Bar
* Aphonia, Kids At Risk, Cassette Kids, Honduras @ Pianos
* Typhoon, Lady Lamb The Beekeeper @ Mercury Lounge
* The Ettes, Heavy Cream, Hans Condor @ Mercury Lounge
* Tinie Tempah, Action Bronson, Hezekiah, STS, Los @ S.O.B.'s
* Widowspeak, Hoop Dreams, Crinkles, Ex Cops @ Glasslands
* Intuitions, Ohnomoon, The Fear and Trembling @ Bruar Falls
* Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond @ Prospect Park Bandshell
* Todd Barry, Brent Weinbach, and more at Sweet @ Ella Lounge
* The Atomic Bitchwax, Cycle of Pain, Rob Cantrell @ The Delancey
* Death Cab For Cutie, Frightened Rabbit @ Williamsburg Waterfront
* Alison Krauss & Union Station, Jerry Douglas, Dawes @ Beacon Theatre
* Hannis Brown, Spectre Folk, Sands, Sleeping Bag @ Cameo Gallery
* McCoy Tyner Quintet featuring Ravi Coltrane & Gary Bartz @ Blue Note
* The CCB Reggae All-Stars (Hudson Square Music & Wine Festival) @ City Winery
* Matana Roberts, Ryan Sawyer, Peter Evans, Nate Wooley, Ramble Tamble @ Zebulon
* Bird Call, Johanna &The Dusty Floor, Former Belle, HolidayHoliday @ Knitting Factory
* Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Jessie & the Toy Boys, and Nervo @ Nassau Coliseum
* Weingarten/Bieber Duo, Run-On Sunshine, Moonmen On The Moon, Man, Dave Neff @ Cake Shop
* The Sway Machinery, Awesome Tapes from Africa, Flight Simulation with John Bollinger @ 92YTribeca
* Co La, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Emily Reo, Birthdays, Radiator Girls, Bananas Symphony @ Shea Stadium

The Sway Machinery, who have an album out on the now defunct JDub Records and who play 92YTribeca tonight, have a fan in Henry Rollins via Ian Mackaye. Check out Henry playing The Sway Machinery on his radio show on KCRW below.

My Morning Jacket have a new video for "Holdin on to Black Metal." Check it out below

The McCoy Tyner Quintet play their first of three nights at the Blue Note tonight. They play two sets each night at 8 PM and 10:30 PM.

Widowspeak play their record release show at Glasslands tonight for their self titled debut, which comes out next week on Captured Tracks.

Mostly Mozart Festival begins tonight and continues through August 27. The festival features the music of Mozart (believe it or not).

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper and Typhoon, who play Mercury tonight, also play Littlefield tomorow (8/3) with Diamond Doves.

Sufjan Stevens plays his first of two Celebrate Brooklyn shows tonight in Prospect Park. My Brightest Diamond opens the show tonight and Diamond Rings will do so tomorrow. These are the last two shows on his neon infested Age of Adz tour, so don't forget to bring your neon. Watch the concert trailer for the Prospect Park shows below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

Festival of Strikes: A Benefit for JDub is taking place at Brooklyn Bowl on November 30th (Haukkah eve) featuring JDub artists The Sway Machinery, DeLeon, and other special guests to be added. Eugene Mirman will host. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon.

Highline Ballroom is hosting the 4th Annual Menorah Horah on December 4th. The burlesque-filled lineup for the night includes The Schlep Sisters, Minnie Tonka, Darlinda Just Darlinda, Jonny Porkpie, Sapphire Jones, Dottie Lux, Angelique A'lamode, Etta-May Freeway, Lady Rizo, DJ Mikey Palms and host Seth Herzog

And speaking of Hanukkah (December 1-9, 2010), much like Yo La Tengo, Matisyahu is returning to New York City with Hanukah shows this year, but in a slightly less ambitious way . He'll be here for the two nights preceding Hanukkah and only stay for three actual Hanukah dates (instead of playing all 8 nights in NYC like he did in the past). This time he'll finish up his own "Festival of Light" in other east coast states. Tickets are on sale now for 11/29 at Brooklyn Bowl, 11/30 at Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Tally Hall, 12/4 at Music Hall of Williamsburg with DJ Rekha, and 12/5 at Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Moon Taxi. Other dates include 12/1 at Northern Lights - Clifton Park, NY, 12/6 at Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA, 12/7 at Ram's Head Live - Baltimore, MD, 12/8 at Theatre of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA, and 12/9 at State Theatre - Portland, ME.

Speaking of artists linked to the jam band scene playing multiple nights in NYC with various openers, The Disco Biscuits are playing three nights at Terminal 5, and they definitely win in the opener department. Raekwon is opening up the 12/27 show. DFA artist Holy Ghost! is opening on 12/28 and Crystal Method is 12/29. Tickets are on sale now.

And while we're on the subject, Grateful Dead tribute band, Dark Star Orchestra, is playing The Wellmont Theatre on December 28. Tickets are on sale now.

Tickets are also still on sale for Passion Pit's New Years shows on December 30 and December 31 at The Wellmont Theatre.

The Roots are playing 3 sets on New Years Eve at Brooklyn Bowl.

Guided By Voices, Sharon Jones, Patti Smith, Phish, and Drive-By Truckers, and Gov't Mule are all also playing New Years Eve shows in NYC.

But sorry for getting ahead of myself, you probably still don't even know what you're doing on Halloween.

Surfer Blood @ Brooklyn Bowl in 2009 (more by Vincent Cornelli)

tonight in NYC
* DRI @ Crazy Donkey
* Jerry Lee Lewis @ BB King's
* FIXED w/ Beni @ Public Assembly
* Glenn Branca @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* The Sway Machinery, Djarara @ Littlefield
* The English Beat, Fishbone @ Irving Plaza
* Val Emmich, KaiserCartel, Cooper @ Maxwell's
* Jonathan Kane's February @ Issue Project Room
* pow wow!, Mama Bear, Jared Friedman @ Fort Useless
* The Sadies, People of the North, Zeus @ Mercury Lounge
* Ra Ra Rasputin, Hundred In The Hands, Esque @ Glasslands
* Future Rock, Junior Boys (DJ), FIGO (DJ) @ Bowery Ballroom
* Radical Dads, Pursesnatchers, The New Colossus @ Bell House
* Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Helado Negro, Hospitality @ Bruar Falls
* Emanuel And The Fear, Hank & Cupcakes @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* The Nouvellas, The Sights, The Hard Lessons, The Anabolics @ Cake Shop
* Bridge & Tunnel, Your Skull My Closet, Wallcreeper, MeYouUsThem @ Glasslands
* Surfer Blood, Turbo Fruits, Beach Fossils, Grooms, Morning Benders @MarketHotel
* Killing Time, Ensign, Vision, Reign Supreme, Incendiary, Suburban Scum @ the Knit
* Teengirl Fantasy, Wish For Infinity Orchards, Shams, Keepaway, Blondes (DJ) @ Death By Audio
* Winter Warm-up w/ Eugene Mirman & Pretty Good Friends (Kristen Schaal, Michael Showalter) @ Bell House

The Sway Machinery's Third Annual Purim Bash featuring special guests Djarara is at Littlefield.

Apse cancelled their appearance at Pianos tonight due to snow.

A lot of tickets went on sale yesterday.

A video from last night's Agnostic Front show at The Bell House, below...

A video of Thom Yorke performing "True Love Waits" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

Sway Machinery...

The fifth annual NY Gypsy Fest kicked off Friday night with a show at Hungarian House (213 E 82nd St). That first show featured NYC Balkan brass band Zlatne Uste and gypsy/punk quartet Luminescent Orchestrii. The opening weekend continues with a show today, September 12th aboard the Clipper City Tall Ship (Pier 17, South Street Seaport). Music there will comes from Sway Machinery (a group that features guitarist Jeremiah Lockwood of Balkan Beat Box, Kelly Pratt of Beirut/Arcade Fire/Plan B, saxist Colin Stetson and others) and DJ Pepe.

Tickets are on sale.

The fest stretches itself over two weeks, with shows on September 18th, 25th and 26th at locations around NYC. The full lineup and flyer are below...

Continue reading "The NY Gypsy Festival is underway"

Starting Tuesday, June 23rd, Hudson Square will be another one of the spots in NYC with a free weekly music series -- it joins free programs at Stuy Town Oval, Madison Square Park, Williamsburg Waterfront, Hudson River Rocks, Seaport Music, East River Park, NYC CityParks Concerts, Central Park Summerstage, BAM R&B Fest at Metrotech, Celebrate Brooklyn and several free movie series, to name a few.

The Hudson Square Music & Wine Festival will take place on Tuesdays from 5-7pm in the parking lot of City Winery (between Varick, Spring, Hudson and Vandam Streets). Series highlights include Jason Isbell, William Elliot Whitmore, Marc Ribot and La Cumbiamba and Budos Band (who already played a free show this summer at Stuy Town Oval).

Full schedule for the eight-week series, with a flyer, below...

Continue reading "Hudson Square Music & Wine series - free Tuesday shows w/ Budos Band, William Elliot Whitmore, Marc Ribot, more"

DOWNLOAD: Woody Guthrie - Hanukkah Dance [Alternate Take] (1:24)
DOWNLOAD: Yo La Tengo - I Feel Like Going Home (live on KCMP) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: One on One with Jackie Hoffman (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Songs in the key of Hanukkah - Dreidel (MP3) (info)
DOWNLOAD: DJ BALAGAN - "Chalutzei Ketzev" (Israeli 70s Beat Mix) (MP3)

Hanukkah runs from sunset, December 21 to sunset, December 29, 2008. The first Day of Hanukkah is December 22. If you haven't figured it it out by now, that means Christmas happens during Hannukah this year.

Over the course of the eight days (and before and after), many candles will be lit and many Hanukkah-themed events will be happening in and around New York City. Many will involve music. Here are a few...

Yo La Tengo will be repeating their tradition of playing all eight nights of Hanukkah at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Not surpringly, advanced tickets are all already sold out at Ticketweb, but to quote the band, "Tickets may still be available in person at Tunes in Hoboken and/or Other Music in NYC". Stay tuned for opener information as it's announced. Yo La Tengo are also playing a show in New Jersey on New Years Eve.

Also playing eights nights (except not all of them are on Hanukkah because he's taking the Sabbath off): Matisyahu. Tickets are still on sale for these shows that take place at Webster Hall in Manhattan and Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Openers include The LeeVees, Asher Roth and Little Jackie.

Southpaw in Park Slope is hosting Jewltide 6 featuring DeLeon on Christmas Eve. "DeLeon plays 15th Century Spanish indie rock infused with the deeply mysterious and entrancing cadences of the ancient Sephardic tradition." Tickets are on sale. This show is also part of a larger DeLeon/JDub national Hanukkah tour. All dates at the very bottom of this post.

NYC event listings continued below...

Continue reading "a guide to NYC HANNUKAH shows & concerts, MP3's & stuff "