photos by Amanda Hatfield

Timed to coincide with Comic Con (pictures HERE and HERE), the 2012 NYC Zombie Crawl hit Union Square on Sunday. Here are some pictures. They continue below...

Continue reading "Zombies crawled through Union Square (pics)"

KEXP is always good for some intimate & live-broadcasted CMJ performances, and this year is no different, except for the venue:

CMJ Union | 27 Union Square West | New York, NY

CMJ presents its own venue and social hub as part of CMJ Music Marathon 2012. CMJ Union is a bustling meeting point designed to bring together the festival's many different strands, providing space for badgeholders to mingle with press, panelists and artists. It's a place where ideas and information can be exchanged through exclusive mixers and parties, where guests can experience artist performances broadcast live by KEXP, and where tips on where to go and who to see ping back and forth across the room.

KEXP LIVE BROADCAST

As part of the festivities at CMJ Union, CMJ and Seattle radio station KEXP have teamed up for an exclusive broadcast event. KEXP returns to the festival to host a live transmission. KEXP DJ's John Richards and Cheryl Waters will spin in between sets.

All KEXP events are free and open to the public. Only non-CMJ badgeholders are required to RSVP, though RSVP does not guarantee entry. All entry will be on a first come, first serve basis. 18+ only. Check out the schedule below...

Continue reading "KEXP hosting performances @ CMJ Union -- The Walkmen, Antlers, Paul Banks, Wild Nothing, DIIV & more"

#Guitarmy w Tom morello leaving the park (via)

"The Occupy movement that mobilized thousands of protestors last fall was mostly quiet through the winter in New York, as both the cold and the NYPD chased demonstrators out of their makeshift camp in Zuccotti Park. But the movement officially relaunched on May 1st in honor of International Workers' Day, with organized protests taking place throughout the U.S. and with Tom Morello, Das Racist and other musicians staging a May Day concert in downtown Manhattan.

"I traveled 3,000 miles to march with you today," Morello told a diverse crowd of Occupiers during a ceremonial "mic check" in Bryant Park. "It is an honor to march these streets with you, to sing these songs with you, letting the powers that be know that we will be heard."

Morello led a "guitarmy" of hundreds along Fifth Avenue from Bryant Park down to Union Square. An Occupy Tumblr had already supplied the setlist - including Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and tunes from Morello's own World Wide Rebel Songs LP - and many had cheat sheets taped to the sides of their guitars, as they strummed and sang protest songs along with the rocker. As the band of marches inched its way into Union Square, a much larger rally commenced featuring Das Racist, Dan Deacon, and Immortal Technique on stage...." [Rolling Stone]

How was your May Day? Pictures and videos of the May 1st party in Union Square, below...

Continue reading "Tom Morello, the 'Guitarmy', Dan Deacon, Das Racist & others marched & occupied Union Square (pics, video)"

May Day in Union Square (right now) (photo via Claire Bryant)

today in NYC
* May Day
* SWEET May Day
* 99 Comics for the 99%
* Bang on a Can @ City Winery
* Father Murphy @ The Stone
* Les Bonhommes @ The Stone
* Bird Dog, The Pawns @ Cake Shop
* Commander Cody Band @ BB King's
* The Shins, Real Estate @ Terminal 5
* Zula, Netherfriends @ Death By Audio
* Barry Manilow @ Radio City Music Hall
* Lower Dens, Matteah Baim @ Mercury Lounge
* Green Lotus Project, The Essex @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Doe Paoro, Rewards, Larry Gus @ Cameo Gallery
* Bob Schneider, Laura Warshauer @ Bowery Ballroom
* The Ryan Scott Four, Yula Beeri @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Suckers, Acrylics, Turn To Crime, Paper Twin @ Glasslands
* Acid Mothers Temple, Phantom Family Halo, Clang Quartet @ Mercury Lounge
* Hurricanes of Love, Invisible Circle, Con Tex, Fuckton @ Big Snow Buffalo Lodge
* Charlene Kaye, Theo Katzman, Alicia Lemke, Jillette Johnson @ Gramercy Theatre
* International Affairs, The Bowery Riots, Prospector, Pill-oh, Wigmaker's Son, Julian & Ben @ Pianos
* Jeremiah Birnbaum, John Craigie, Michael Daves, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Dani Elliott, Abby Payne, Aly Tadros @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Tom Morello, Dan Deacon, Das Racist, Immortal Technique, Bobby Sanabria Band, JD Samson's Men (Occupy Guitarmy) @ Union Square Park
* Diamond Terrifier/Kid Millions Duo, Mikael Jorgensen of Wilco, Silver Process, Robert Peterson @ Zebulon

Mikael Jorgensen of Wilco plays Zebulon tonight. Wilco is on the just-announced lineup of the XPoNential Music Festival, and have some shows coming up with Purling Hiss who play NYC next with Blues Control, and will play Prospect Park twice this summer.

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Check out that crowd in Union Square right now. The possibilities for Dan Deacon are endless.

Happy May Day. There's a riot going on... as Commander Cody (who is playing BB King's tonight) sings in the video (with Jerry Garcia, Elvis Costello & more) below....

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday? (May Day)"

May Day flyers & posters @ Terminal 5 (more by BBG)

As you may have heard, the Occupy community has organized a protest to strike on May 1st as part of May Day. In solidarity with that sentiment, the Occupy Guitarmy organization is calling on musicians of all shapes and sizes to meet the group in NYC at Bryant Park....

All strings, shakers, and voices welcome
Bring your guitar (or other portable string instrument)
All levels of musicians from complete beginner to shredder needed

Assemble at noon @ Bryant Park by the Gertrude Stein statue
March from Bryant Park to Union Square

Once Occupy Guitarmy reaches Union Square, they'll kick off a free, amplified rally at 4PM (with the correct permits) featuring long-time supporter Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine/Audioslave etc) and performances from Immortal Technique, Das Racist, Dan Deacon, and the Bobby Sanabria Band. More details are available via Occupy Guitarmy and below.

Later that night head to UCB East to protest some more and laugh while you're at it.

You can also catch Das Racist this summer in Red Hook Park.

Continue reading "Occupy Guitarmy marching & performing on May Day (with Tom Morello, Das Racist, Dan Deacon & more)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

The Loom @ Brooklyn Bowl


The Loom played a "Brunch After Dark" show at Brooklyn Bowl on February 9th with Pearl & The Beard & Team B, one of two NYC dates scheduled for The Loom in the month of February. The NYC band is now on tour with The Wailing Wall that wraps at the Rock Shop on Feb 26th with Soft Landing, Rice Cultivation Society, and Christopher Paul Stelling (tickets). Look for them at SXSW too.

Meanwhile, Pearl and the Beard, who also played a pop-up show in Union Square on Saturday afternoon (2/20), are gearing up for a tour of their own that will include SXSW as well as Knitting Factory on April 1 (tickets).

All tour dates, more pictures from Brooklyn Bowl, and some from the Union Square show too, are below.

Continue reading "The Loom, Team B & the Pearl & The Beard played Brooklyn Bowl, playing other places (pics & dates)"

photos by Leia Jospe

Four Loko is a caffeinated malt beverage which myself and many of my friends enjoy. Recent legislation has threatened the sale of Four Loko in New York State. We ask Dennis Rosen, chairman of the NYS Liquor Authority, to rethink his stance under the belief that Four Loko is essential to New York City's well being and part of a balanced drink menu.

It is my personal belief that New Yorker and American Forefather, Alexander Hamilt...on, would have enjoyed Four Loko and made it his drink of choice during the grueling Battle of Yorktown - as it is a drink which can keep you awake and warm - perfect for when Hamilton and General George Washington led the remaining 2000 soldiers of the Continental Army across the Hudson to Brooklyn in pure silence under the dark New York City moon - a maneuver which saved the army, won back New York and ultimately America from the taxing hand of the British.

Please join us on the steps of Union Square at 7pm on November 17th for this candle light vigil - share your voice, bring a sign, light a candle and lets UNITE AS ONE to stand for FREEDOM and something greater than the individual .. AS ONE WE CAN BE FOUR. -[Four Loko Supporters]

8-bit rockers Anamanaguchi (whose new song we debuted a little over a month earlier) stood up and fought for our rights as free American beverage consumers by organizing (along with Ryder Ripps), and playing a stripped down set at, an outdoor Four Loko rally, as described above, in Union Square last night (11/17). Part vigil, part outdoor concert, part rally, and all crazy, onlookers were treated to an acoustic set from the band, as well as their fair share of public (or should I say pubic?) nudity. Leia was on hand for the action, and her very NSFW pictures (possibly disturbing), and some video testimonials to the power of the beverage, (you've been warned) are below...

Continue reading "Anamanaguchi held a Four Loko rally in Union Square, things got very NSFW (pics & video) "

"No smoking at the Buzzcocks show, apparently there's a bomb scare outside. Fuckbeans..." - Joey Outten

Irving Plaza - 5/13/2010 (pics via tonearmmgmt & domifanotherkid)

"New York City police evacuated several floors of a building and several streets were blocked off near Manhattan's Union Square after a Thursday night report of a suspicious vehicle with two gas cans found in the back seat.

The bomb squad suited up and began an investigation of the 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, which was found in front of the Con Edison utility building around 10 p.m.

Chief police spokesman Paul Browne said several floors of a high-rise residential building were evacuated and some streets in the area were blocked off as a precaution. It wasn't immediately clear if the vehicle was a threat.

Union Square, located on Manhattan's East Side, is a major pedestrian and tourist thoroughfare. New York University, Greenwich Village, and the landmark Flatiron building are nearby." [AP]

Also nearby: Irving Plaza where last night's Buzzcocks show was happening at the same time as the bomb scare. Mikey reports that "they stopped mid-song (E.S.P.) to say the police want the owner of a 91 blue cutlass to move his car. Then finished the song..." and that "The announcement was made around 1130 and they continued playing untli midnight." Rob confirms that "Brilliant Buzzcocks show goes on despite bomb scare right outside. Surreal coming out into the street jammed w/bomb squad, cops, fireman." And finally, Michaela reports:

Amazing show tonight, truly did both albums and long, long encore. (Irving Plaza's crappy sound system was just an insult!) And yes to Anon 2:25, no Howard Devoto, but Diggle did a rabid Harmony in My Head. Glorious, and they too seemed to have had a great time!

The albums they played were Another Music in a Different Kitchen and Love Bites, and if you missed it, they aren't going very far. The next two stops on their 22-date North American tour are Friday night in Philly and Saturday in Farmingdale, NY! Videos from Wednesday's Baltimore show below...

Continue reading "bomb scare in Union Square & at the NYC Buzzcocks show"

photos by Brian Reilly

Another year, another pillow fight....

Continue reading "pictures from the 2010 pillow fight in Union Square"

"The 9th Annual No Pants Subway Ride went off without a hitch today in New York. It's tough to count, but we're guessing we had around 3,000 participants. Riders met at meeting points spread out all over the city and converged on Union Square. The high was 28 degrees." [Improv Everywhere]

The above three photos are by Juan P Zapata Bedoya. Many more at his Flickr.

Lots of videos from the 2010 event, below...

Continue reading "pictures & video from Sunday's No Pants Subway ride "

Union Square, NYC, April 18, 2008

Ballulah has a nice set of pictures from Friday's event (including the one above).

For you and your walkman (or so you know what the hell is going on when you walk by Union Square Friday night after work)...

Continue reading "'Silent Rave' in Union Square, NYC Friday night"

photos by Leia Jospe

Down and feathers are very popular fill choices for pillows, but one which unfortunately is associated with numerous animal rights issues. The material is collected from ducks and geese in one of two ways. Feathers are either plucked while the animals are still alive, or they're gathered after the animals have been killed for meat, says Karen Davis, president and a director of the advocacy group United Poultry Concern. Ducks and geese who are killed for their meat are typically raised in large factory farms where animals are raised in filthy living conditions and deprived of access to water and the outdoors.

Because of the animal rights issues associated with down, Pier 1 Imports recently decided to cease using it in all of their pillows. They had been purchasing the down from a subsidiary of Maple Leaf Farms, one of the country's largest poultry producers and one which is known for unsavory living conditions for animals.

Some companies advertise that their down comes from "free-range" animals and gathered during the animals' natural molting phase. However, "free-range" is not a certified label and does not provide any assurance that the feathers were plucked humanely. [National Geographic]

More pictures from today's NYC pillow fight below....

Continue reading "Union Square NYC pillow fight pictures (March 22, 2008)"

Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp joined New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and a host of local farmers today (June 11) amid the Union Square Green Market to announce a Sept. 9 date for the annual Farm Aid benefit at Randall's Island. As usual, the artists will be joined by fellow Farm Aid board members Neil Young and Dave Matthews at the event.

"This will be the first Farm Aid that provides 100% homegrown food at the concert," Mellencamp said proudly. Acknowledging the organic market just a few hundred feet away, Nelson said, "This is a great example of what can be done in the big cities." [Billboard]