New York Comedy Festival is returning to multiple NYC venues this fall from November 9-13. The festival features a number of comedians including Wanda Sykes, Louis C.K., Russell Peters, Bill Burr, John Pinette, Tracy Morgan, Bill Maher, Sarah Silverman, Kathy Griffin, Norm Macdonald, Ricky Gervais, John Pinette and Jo Koy. The festival spans venues including Beacon Theatre, Town Hall, Carolines on Broadway, 92nd Street Y, Carnegie Hall, and BAM. Tickets are available for each show and are in various states of sale/presale. Full schedule is below.

Australian comedian/actor/musician Tim Minchin is returning to NYC this fall to perform at Town Hall on November 4. Tickets are available for Live Nation presale now (password: ELECTRIC) and go on sale to the general public today, Friday (8/12) at noon. Check out a video of Tim at Bamboozle this past Spring along with all dates below...

Continue reading "NY Comedy Festival 2011 lineup & tickets, Tim Minchin too"

DOWNLOAD: Sharon Van Etten - Love More (MP3)

Margaret Cho, Reggie Watts, Jesse Baylin & Sarah Jarosz @ Bonnaroo (Bob I Am)

Though we already mentioned Sharon Van Etten's new record, and two upcoming NYC shows, there are more details out on both of those gigs. The first, August 2nd (tonight) at the Rock Shop, is the grand opening of the venue (co-presented by BrooklynVegan) and features a now-announced guest. Opening will be folkie Portland, ME band Lady Lamb the Beekeeper. Tickets are on sale.

Sharon's other NYC show (currently the only one before a September tour with Marissa Nadler) is August 7th at Bushwick Starr. Also on the bill for that are Springs aka Mike Visser, who has shows with Dr. Dog's Scott McMicken coming up, and Comedy Central Records comedian Reggie Watts.

Reggie Watts will also be performing in Fort Greene Park on Tuesday, September 14th with Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens. The free show is the 2nd in a series curated by Other Music. The first happens August 10th in the same location with Dam-Funk and DJ Spinna. Flyer below.

Speaking of comedy (and there's more recent funny news here), Tracy Morgan will be doing two nights of stand up at Apollo Theater on September 24th and 25th, to be taped for his debut HBO special Tracy Morgan: Black And Blue. Tickets are on sale. He writes that "The special is going to be all the elements: fire, water, earth, air, the comedy bender, the Avatar of comedy experience."

Back to music, Sharon Van Etten recently sat down for a La Blogotheque session. Those videos and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Sharon Van Etten, Reggie Watts, Dam-Funk, Tracy Morgan..."

by Ryan Barkan

Tracy Morgan & Stevie Wonder (picture via Hipster Runoff)

Super Bowl XLIV (44) took place Sunday night in Florida between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. The Saints semi-upset the Colts to win the big game for the first time in the franchise's history. This post is a special edition of the long lost "Week In Music Licensing" post and as such, that's the last you will hear about the game. Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, many videos and more below...

Continue reading "music & commercials of Super Bowl XLIV (Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, The Who, Mini Kiss, The Heavy & more) "

"Thousands of Michael Jackson fans danced the rain away in a Brooklyn park on Saturday at a party hosted by filmmaker Spike Lee, marking what would have been the 51st birthday of the late pop star.

Crowds of partygoers streamed into Prospect Park late Saturday afternoon, many wearing fedoras, sporting white gloves and showing off other Jackson-esque outfits. DJs spun Jackson's hits one after the other as people danced and sang along. Dozens of hawkers wandered through the crowd with T-shirts, buttons, posters and homemade memorabilia.

"I was just like everyone else. I loved his talent," said Lee, who directed two music videos for Jackson in 1996. He also reminisced how Jackson had visited him in his home in Brooklyn to talk about their music video collaboration.

The day was also designated Michael "King of Pop" Jackson Memorial Day by Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz.

"We all know Michael Jackson had fans around the world, but we all know the best fans come from Brooklyn," Markowitz boasted to a roaring crowd that grew as heavy rain in the morning lightened to a drizzle by mid-afternoon." [US Post Today]

I arrived at Prospect Park around 2:30 which was the same time Al Sharpton got there - his black SUV drove by me on the path in (see pics). There was a little drizzle after that, but for the most part it was a dry and fun afternoon listening to DJ Spinna play Michael Jackson songs over a great soundystem with host Spike Lee speaking here and there, and Al Sharpton saying a few words from the stage. There was also a quick appearance by Tracy Morgan who said about 2 sentences, and lots of MJ shirts, pins, signs, magazines, paintings, and impersonators. Kids were getting Thriller facepaint put on, and cops were everywhere helping keep the peace at what was actually a very large, but peaceful gathering. The coordinated videos, lyrics and live video that was on the giant screen was a bonus. More pictures HERE, and below...

Continue reading "pictures from Michael Jackson's 51st Birthday Party in Prospect Park (part 1) "

by Klaus Kinski

Patton Oswalt, Johnny Depp, & Tim Burton @ Comic Con - july 23, 2009 (Anime Nut)

"Some of the 3-D effects aren't going to look absolutely perfect," said Patton Oswalt, the comedian and voice actor who moderated a presentation of Disney's forthcoming "A Christmas Carol," "Alice in Wonderland" and "Tron: Legacy." Mr. Oswalt asked attendees not to blog about effects being "quite subpar." [NY Times]

The New York Comedy Festival isn't until November 4 - 8, but with the line-up just announced, Carnegie Hall tix available now, and ticket presales (and some on sales) starting on August 12, the time to mention it is NOW. This is the 6th installment of the festival and unlike NYC music festivals such as CMJ or Northside (festivals where you can wander the city for days on end catching hundreds of bands), the focus here is on having a few large-scale shows over the course of a few evenings. NYC is a place where you can catch cheap or free comedy with big name talent almost every evening, but sometimes it's nice to venture out of the back rooms, basements, and comedy clubs and see one or two of your faves at a fancy pants venue. The full schedule is below, but for me some of the better highlights include:

• 11/4 - Stand Up For Heroes - a special benefit presented by NYCF and the Bob Woodruff Foundation at Town Hall
• 11/5 - Ricky Gervais - Carnegie Hall - ON SALE NOW
• 11/5 - Mike Birbiglia - Town Hall - Presale 8/12, On Sale 8/17
• 11/6 - Tracy Morgan - Carnegie Hall - ON SALE NOW
• 11/7 - Patton Oswalt - Town Hall - Presale 8/12, On Sale 8/17

Full schedule (Andy Samberg included) and ticket info below...

Continue reading "New York Comedy Festival - 2009 dates, lineup & ticket info "

by Klaus Kinski

Louis CK suprise appearance @ Pianos (more by Bao Nguyen)

The 2008 New York Comedy Festival is not until November 5-9, but tickets for lots of the shows start going on sale August 7th. The festival boasts some pretty massive talent, but the festival also boasts some enormous venues and somewhat hefty ticket prices. Individually, the tickets prices might not be so bad. But when you want to see 4 or 5 of these shows the overall cost (with fees) is a bit crippling. Some highlights of the Festival include:

• 11/6 - Louis CK - Town Hall
• 11/7 - An Evening with Craig Ferguson - Town Hall
• 11/8 - Sarah Silverman and Friends - Hammerstein Ballroom
• 11/8 - Tracy Morgan - Apollo Theater
• 11/9 - BJ Novak and Friends - Town Hall

What really has my curiosity going bonkers is the addition of "and Friends" to the Sarah Silverman and BJ Novak (The Office) shows. When Sarah performed at Carnegie Hall last year, her friends were Todd Barry and Doug Benson. TOTALLY worth the cost of admission. And BJ Novak, hilarious in his own right, has many many many very funny friends so there's a huge chance his show will absolutely blow the roof off of Town Hall. In their own words...

"We're thrilled to celebrate the fifth year of the New York Comedy Festival with such a talented and hilarious group of performers who are on the leading edge of the comedy business," said Caroline Hirsch, co-founder of the Festival and owner of Carolines on Broadway. "We are also very excited to launch a multi-year partnership with COMEDY CENTRAL, and look forward to working with them to extend the Festival's audience even further and to provide even more content and programming through COMEDY CENTRAL's various media platforms."