photos by Kurt Christensen

Harris is in a nostalgic mood in "The Road," a song addressed to Gram Parsons, with whom she made the excellent albums Grievous Angel and Sleepless Nights. Parsons recognized that her surging harmonies worked well in contrast to his baleful croon. For her part, Harris acknowledges in "The Road" that Parsons pushed her to be more daring in every way.

"The Road" is one of two songs on Hard Bargain addressed to a friend who's gone. The other is "Darlin' Kate," a fond farewell to the great singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle, who died of cancer last year. Harris' choice of poetic language may verge on the trite -- even The Simpsons and Ronald Reagan have appropriated John Gillespie Magee's phrase "slipped the surly bonds of Earth." But it's the ache in Harris' voice that delivers the true emotion. [NPR]

Emmylou Harris (whose next NYC show is a Kate McGarrigle tribute) released her new album Hard Bargain this week and celebrated with an intimate show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC Tuesday night that was opened by Josh Ritter (her next headlining NYC show is at the much larger Summerstage), followed by a Letterman performance last night (4/27), and a performance on the Today Show today. Pictures from the NYC show are in this post. More of them with videos from the two TV apperances and a Yahoo session she just recorded, below...

Continue reading "Emmylou Harris played Bowery Ballroom w/ Josh Ritter, Letterman & the Today show (pics & video)"

by BBG

Kanye West recently responded on the Today show to George Bush's reaction to West's infamous "George Bush hates black people" tirade on national television in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. View his response below. And as Matt points out at the end of the video, Kanye is set to play a live show outside the Today Show, on the plaza, on November 26th (the day after Thanksgiving) (if he doesn't cancel).

UPDATE: he's cancelling

In happier news for Mr. West (whose recent stunts include rapping on a Delta flight), his new LP My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy will hit store shelves on November 22nd (though yes, it has already leaked). Featuring appearances from Jay-Z, Raekwon, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Kid Cudi and even Bon Iver, the 13 track LP comes with five different album covers.

Kanye isn't afraid to return the favor either, as he appears on Kid Cudi's spankin' new LP, Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (out now) (NME gave it a 9/10, Rolling Stone gave it 2.5/5 stars, Pitchfork hasn't reviewed it yet though they did give Cee Lo's new one a 7.3 today). Kanye joins a list of collaborators that includes Cee-Lo Green (who plays a NYC show Saturday), Mary J. Blige, GLC, Cage and St. Vincent, the latter two of which appeared on his latest single "Maniac". Both Cage and St. Vincent appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with Kid Cudi on 11/3, and you can check out video of that performance below too...

Continue reading "Kanye West, George Bush, Kid Cudi & St. Vincent"

The pop star-heavy schedule for this year's free Toyota-sponsored Today Show concerts that bring screaming fans and tourists to Rockfeller Plaza on Friday mornings at 7am, has been announced. The shows kick off with Sting on May 14th (that one should be fairly subdued), and continue with people that include Maroon 5, Maxwell, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber (this one will be completely nuts), ....Full lineup, more info and and other Sting shows below...

Continue reading "2010 Today Show Rockefeller Plaza concert lineup, Sting, etc"

Alejandro Escovedo is having a good year....

- For the first time in his 30 year career, Alejandro Escovedo has charted on Billboard's Top 200 coming in at #122 with his 9th solo album REAL ANIMAL. Released on June 24th, REAL ANIMAL also enters Billboard's Heatseeker/New Artist Chart at #3 with 6,178 in first week sales. A noted and accomplished artist, Escovedo was named No Depression's "Artist of The Decade" in 1998 and has enjoyed a loyal fan base that includes such luminaries as author Stephen King and filmmaker Jonathan Demme who provided REAL ANIMAL's evocative liner notes.

Alejandro has two NYC shows coming up. One is tonight at Highline Ballroom (July 9). The other is free and in exactly a month at Central Park Summerstage.

An Unexpected Mexico
Kinky
Alejandro Escovedo with Strings
Pistolera

Saturday, August 09, 2008, From 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage

Alejandro also appears on this:

Columbia Records will release Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 'Magic Tour Highlights' on July 15 via all digital download stores, including the iTunes Store. The release will consist of four audio tracks with four accompanying videos, all recorded live in concert during the 'Magic' tour.

1. "Always A Friend" (performed with Alejandro Escovedo) (video)
Recording Date: 04/14/2008 (Houston, Texas)
2. "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (performed with Tom Morello)
Recording Date: 04/07/2008 (Anaheim, California)
3. "Turn Turn Turn" (performed with Roger McGuinn)
Recording Date: 04/23/2008 (Orlando, Florida)
4. "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" (Danny Federici's final performance with the E Street Band)
Recording Date: 03/20/2008 (Indianapolis, Indiana)

AA Bondy was recently added as the opener for the Highline Ballroom show tonight. Aquarium Drunkard recently spoke to Alejandro. Alejandro Escovedo recently played Coman O'Brien and The Today show. Those videos and all tour dates below....

Continue reading "ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO - 2008 Tour Dates, AA Bondy tonight, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, Conan, Today Show, and other stuff"

...But when we hop on the phone Adele sounds pretty chipper for someone who's at the tail end of a grueling U.S. tour promoting 19, her stunning debut. She's been keeping busy off stage as well, apartment hunting in Williamsburg (where she plans to pen her sophomore follow-up) and sitting in the rain in Central Park to check out Vampire Weekend's free performance (according to Adele, people in the crowd started stripping). That's a lot of running around for a girl who is quick to admit that she doesn't even like walking all that much. (Admittedly, her single "Chasing Pavement" tells a much different story.
[Gen Art Pulse]

MCC saw Adele at Highline Ballroom and wants to be her friend. The tiny photo from that show in this post is from here. Video of Adele on the Today show below....

Continue reading "Adele is moving to Brooklyn (and played Highline Ballroom, The Today Show and saw Vampire Weekend)"

The Today show hosts free outdoor "concerts" at 7:00am on Fridays at Rockefeller Center in NYC. This past Monday (Memorial Day) was the B-52's who have a new album out called Funplex. The bizarro-world videos from that performance and interview, and the rest of the 'TODAY Toyota Concert Series' 2008 summer schedule below.....

Continue reading "2008 TODAY Toyota concert series schedule & B-52s videos "