John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders in 2011 (more by Chris Graham)

John Wesley Harding (aka Wesley Stace) announced three upcoming dates for his recurring Cabinet of Wonders variety shows. The shows happen on March 14, April 19, and May 24 at City Winery. The Cabinet of Wonders shows are always filled with guests of musical, comedic, or other performance arts backgrounds, and the guests for these shows will be revealed soon. Meanwhile, tickets for 3/14, 4/19, and 5/24 are on sale now.

All John Wesley Harding dates, including a show at Central CT State University tonight (2/28), are listed below...

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John Wesley Harding at Cabinet of Wonders in 2011 (more by Chris Graham)

John Wesley Harding (aka Wesley Stace) has been up to a lot this year, as usual. He finally gave his 1996 album, John Wesley Harding's New Deal, its first-ever vinyl release last month via Yep Roc. He's also set to continue his guest-filled Cabinet of Wonders variety shows at City Winery. The next happens at the NYC venue on September 8 with Sam Amidon, Todd Barry, Iris Dement, Ben Marcus and STEW, followed by shows on October 19 and November 16. The guests for the second two shows have not been revealed yet. Tickets for all three Cabinet of Wonders shows are on sale now.

The September 8 show falls right in the middle of John Wesley Harding's upcoming tour with progressive folk vets Strawbs, who will be playing acoustic.. That tour hits the NYC area on September 7 at Outpost in the Burbs in Montclair, NJ and September 11 at BB King's. Tickets for both NYC area shows are on sale now. Strawbs also play Strand Theater (9/8) in Lakewood, NJ the day that John Wesley Harding does his Cabinet of Wonders show at City Winery. All dates on the tour are listed below.

John Wesley Harding will also be hosting one of the shows in BAM and Greenlight Bookstore's Unbound literary series. He'll host the Gary Shteyngart Roast that happens on November 20 at BAM Harvey Theater with Kurt Andersen, Jay McInerney, Sloane Crosley, and others TBA. The full Unbound schedule is below.

All lists of dates and that schedule are below.

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Josh Ritter at BookPeople in Austin in October (more by Tim Griffin)

Singer/songwriters Josh Ritter, John Wesley Harding (aka Wesley Stace), and Steve Earle are also authors, and all three of them put out novels this year. They'll be teaming up for "a night of talk and songs" at the Celeste Bartos Forum of The New York Public Library on Tuesday (12/6). Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Josh Ritter made a promotional appearance for his novel, which is titled Bright's Passage, in Austin this past October. As you can see above, it was also an event that included some music. Pictures and full recap, including a part where Josh says Wesley was one of his writing inspirations, HERE.

Ritter has also been added to the bill of the previously mentioned WFUV show, which is happening on 12/5 with Dawes, Mavis Staples and The Head And The Heart at Beacon Theater. Tickets are still available.

Dawes played Occupy Wall Street today and according to Rough Trade, they put out the 48th best album of 2011. They also have two more shows at Maxwell's after the Beacon show (12/6 and 12/7), but both are now sold out.

Steve Earle recently announced a residency at City Winery with Allison Moorer taking place from January 9 to February 6. Tickets for all five shows are still on sale.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Josh Ritter added to WFUV Holiday show @ Beacon Theater, appearing @ NYPL w/ Steve Earle & Wesley Stace"

John Wesley Harding and Eugene Mirman at LPR in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

"I wanted to bring together my novel writing friends (who mostly envy my musician friends) and my musician friends (who mostly envy my novel writing friends) under one flag," says John Wesley Harding. "Then add Eugene Mirman and his comedians of comedy... The fact is: I like everyone who's performing.

Novelist/singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding brings his Cabinet of Wonders back to City Winery on March 11th. Joining him in his quest for the perfect variety show will be an all-star lineup featuring Andrew Bird, David Wax Museum, Paul Muldoon, Tift Merritt, Daniel Felsenfeld & The Jessold Consort, Eugene Mirman, JWH, Jonathan Coe and Kristin Hersh. A little more than a month later, he'll do it again with another show at City Winery on April 22, this time featuring "Rick Moody, Eugene Mirman & more". More details on that one TBA.

In between (and before) those dates, John Wesley Harding AKA Wesley Stace will do readings in and around the area, including one on 3/10 at Book Court in Brooklyn and one on 3/17 as part of a panel at LIO in Brooklyn. He'll be speaking about Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer, his new book. Maybe you read about it in the New York Times:

WESLEY STACE'S new book, "Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer," is both a murder mystery and a novel about classical music, with a character who sometimes assumes another identity. Mr. Stace, an enthusiastic, donnish Englishman with an honors degree in English literature from Jesus College, Cambridge, and a head stuffed full of historical trivia, is an expert on both double lives and music. Improbably, he is also John Wesley Harding, an Elvis Costello-like singer-songwriter and folk rocker who has released more than a dozen records and is cool enough to have enlisted most of the Decemberists as the backup band on a forthcoming album.

Eugene Mirman talks with Stace about the book in a video you can watch below. Eugene Mirman can also be found at Union Hall in Brooklyn this Sunday, 3/6.

The Decemberists play Prospect Park on June 14th with Best Coast. Ticket info is forthcoming.

The David Wax Museum, who recently played their own show at City Winery (and who are part of John Wesley's Cabinet on 3/11), will also be at SXSW where you'll be able to catch them at a BrooklynVegan day party right at noon on Friday, 3/18 at Barbarella on Red River. Stay tuned for more details on that party coming shortly (but I can say it is the same one Middle Brother is playing later in the day). More David Wax dates at their website.

All Stace & Andrew Bird dates are below...

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photos by Tim Griffin

"@colinmeloy just asked me to MC the Decemberists show tonight in NYC. Finally, something to dress up for! I know just what to wear...." - John Wesley Harding

"When the spotlight glared down on the tinsel-bedecked stage-left podium at Terminal 5 [Saturday] night, the crowd got very excited. It could only mean that The Decemberists were about to hit the stage and get their first set of randomly selected songs to perform in an unusual lottery concert.

For those in the audience who know Wesley Stace (better known to many by his stage name of John Wesley Harding), we recognized that we were in for a rare treat -- a collision of sharp wits. And although Wes said he got the call to play MC for last night's show just hours before he went on, giving him no time to put any material together, he managed to wing it just fine...

...song titles were pulled from a basket, bingo-style and the band had to play them right away, with no cheating...

It was a superb mix of songs old and new -- one so very new that the band's mastermind, Colin Meloy, wrote it on the spot, referencing NYC Miracle on the Hudson plane crash and ending with an admission that on his first visit to New York he stole something from the Empire State Building gift shop. We also got The Tain, all 20 minutes of it." [Will You Miss Me When You're Gone]

Feathers from Friday night's Of Montreal show could still be found on the ground at Terminal 5 one night later when the Decemberists took the stage for their special Saturday night lottery event.

From Terminal 5, The Decemberists embarked on their latest tour which also brought them to The Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ on Monday. Laura Veirs opened both NYC-area shows and is also on the tour. Terminal 5's lottery-generated setlist, and lots more pictures from the show, below...

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