Tyler, the Creator @ MHOW, March 2013(more by Jason Bergman)

Earl Sweatshirt, who is about to link up with the touring Tyler, the Creator for some Earl Wolf shows in Texas, just played the Downtown Music Festival in NYC over the weekend. And now Odd Future have announced they'll all return to NYC to play a big Brooklyn show at Williamsburg Park on July 20. It's with Meek Mill and doubles as Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg's 2nd Annual Birthday Show. Tickets for that show go on venue presale on Thursday (5/14) at 10 AM with the regular on-sale happening Friday (5/10).

The Brooklyn show comes right before Meek Mill starts touring with Mac Miller and friends, a tour that also includes Earl Sweatshirt and The Internet on some dates.

Meanwhile, Tyler, the Creator is dealing with the controversy around one of the online Mountain Dew ads he helped create along with other members of Odd Future. The online video, one of three, was pulled after Syracuse University professor and social analyst Dr. Boyce Watkins called the spot "arguably the most racist commercial in history." Watkins has since mellowed, saying via Twitter "Studied your music, I have an altered perspective. Still could do without the ad, but I think you were well-intended. #respect." Tyler then spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the ad:

It was just a goat who liked Mountain Dew. He wanted more. The waitress lady got hurt. He got pulled over by the cops, and the lady points out the goat [in the lineup], who obviously attacked her because of the Mountain Dew. And that's it.

I guess people are claiming that it's racist, which ... you know, that wasn't even portrayed in that commercial. There's no type of hate being portrayed in that work of art at all -- which I'm confused by. But this older black dude, Dr. Boyce Watkins, I guess he found it racist because I was portraying stereotypes, which is ridiculous because, one, all of those dudes [in the lineup] are my friends. Two, they're all basically in their own clothes. It was originally supposed to be just two dudes, but Garrett from Trash Talk came with his friend and other people had showed up, so I just put all of them in that lineup, if you really wanna know the truth. Three, no [commenters] saw that commercial and said, "This is racist." Everyone either said, "Wow, this is ridiculous. It's a goat talking," or they said, "Wow, this is the dumbest. Why would they even make this?" So for [Watkins] to nitpick and notice that, clearly shows his state of mind is on some other shit that I can't comprehend, for him to actually sit there and for him to notice that it's all blacks [in the lineup]. That wasn't my intention.

Tyler was recently in NYC for a live chat with Elliot Wilson at Highline Ballroom. Watch that in four parts below...

Continue reading "Odd Future playing Williamsburg Park with Meek Mill, still debating controversial Mountain Dew ads +++ watch that live Tyler the Creator interview"

First we found out the cities and then the venues and now the artists are announced for the 2013 Mad Decent Block Party tour. This is what they have to say:

he MDBP 2013 artist Lineups and official event trailer are live! We're rolling through 13 cities this year featuring Major Lazer, Flosstradamus, Dillon Francis and RIFF RAFF on select dates + More. Starting July 19th in Calgary and ending September 15th in San Diego, 2013's Mad Decent Block Party will be setting off on its largest festival undertaking to date, bringing a full day of musical performances and tons of fun on-site activities

A limited number of Fanclub tickets go on sale tomorrow, which will also come with a FREE 30 day premium Mad Decent membership to their subscription service at https://drip.fm/mad-decent/. General tickets go on sale Friday & Saturday, VIP will also be offered at that time.

Continue reading "Mad Decent Block Party lineups announced (Major Lazer, Flosstradamus, Rockie Fresh & many more)"

Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

Williamsburg Waterfront aka East River State Park, was a hoppin' but short-lived outdoor Brooklyn venue back in 2011 that was replaced by Williamsburg Park right down the street in 2012, but Williamsburg Waterfront may be making a musical comeback. Mad Decent have double confirmed that their NYC 'Block Party' this year will take place at the "Waterfront" and not the "Park" where they sort of had it last year.

UPDATE: Mad Decent got it wrong. Despite what their announcement said, and what their people double confirmed for me, AEG has just confirmed to us that the Mad Decent Block Party will in fact happen at Williamsburg Park again (and NOT Williamsburg Waterfront).

No word yet on whether this will be a trend of a one-off event in the "Waterfront" space.

Williamsburg Waterfront is also currently home to less musical gatherings like the Brooklyn Flea, Smorgasburg and this past weekend's Hot Sauce Expo.

Williamsburg Park is also still operating as a concert venue, with Shins and New Order shows already announced for summer 2013.

Mad Decent Block Party (more by Brook Bobbins)

Tickets to the 13-city Mad Decent Block Party tour are on early bird, $20 presale now if you can get the website to load. And though we still don't know who exactly is performing, venues are now announced. Brooklyn happens at Williamsburg Waterfront, not to be confused with Williamsburg Park where they tried to have it last year.

UPDATE: Mad Decent's announcement is wrong. The Brooklyn show will in fact be at Williamsburg Park and not Williamsburg Waterfront.

All dates and most venues are listed below...

Continue reading "Mad Decent Block Party on presale, announces venues"

New Order @ Roseland, Oct. 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

The Peter Hook-less New Order just played the first of two Coachella weekends and will be playing other festivals too, like Lollapalooza and Osheaga in August. Before that, they'll play Williamsburg Park on July 24 with openers Holy Ghost!. Tickets go on AEG presale on Thursday (4/18) at 10 AM with the general on-sale happening Friday (4/19) at noon.

New Order were last in NYC in October playing Roseland. This is part of a string of dates for the Manchester synthpop legends and all tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "New Order announce North American summer tour, including Williamsburg Park (dates)"

The Shins @ Osheaga 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Brooklyn outdoor venue Williamsburg Park will return for a second season of shows in 2013. No full line-up has been announced but The Shins will play the venue on Sunday, May 26 which is Memorial Day Weekend. Man Man open the show. Tickets go on AmEx and AEG presale on Thursday (3/28) at 10 AM with the general on-sale happening Friday (3/29) at noon.

All current Shins dates are below.

Continue reading "The Shins expand tour, playing Williamsburg Park on Memorial Day Weekend (updated dates)"

Animal Collective at Prospect Park in 2011 (more by Vincent Cornelli)

Animal Collective were scheduled to bring their tour with Micachu & the Shapes to Williamsburg Park tonight (10/5), but have cancelled. The band writes...

Hey everyone,

We really wish we didn?t have to be writing this right now, but after taking Dave to the doctor this morning it turns out that he has laryngitis and unfortunately we are unable to play the show tonight. We are already in the middle of trying to reschedule NY dates in the next couple of months to make up for this cancellation.

Due to circumstances beyond both our and the promoter's control, we are unable to honor the tickets for tonight's show. Fans that have tickets will be able to get full refunds at the place of purchase, and we will let everyone know as soon as we have new dates scheduled. Again, our sincere apologies to fans anticipating this show. We are always psyched to play NYC and will make it up to you.

-Animal Collective

Micachu & The Shapes were supposed to open, but you can still catch them Monday at LPR. Micachu also DJs at Cameo tonight.

Animal Collective did play Fallon last night though. You can watch below...

Continue reading "Animal Collective cancel tonight's Williamsburg Park show (did play Fallon though)"

words by Kelly Pratt; photos by Bryan Murray

If you're just joining us, also check out part 1, part 2 and Part 3. Part 4 begins here...

David Byrne & St. Vincent @ Beacon Theater 9/25/2012 (more by Chris La Putt)

NY, Philly, Bethesda, on to Nashville

Most of the band live in NY so it's great to come back and spend nearly a week on home turf. The Beacon Theatre is an ideal place for the show, partially because of the large number of balcony seats. The audience in the balcony is able to see the choreography more fully than one would in the first few rows. One song in which this is particularly rewarding is The Forest Awakes. The idea is to move freely, lining yourself up with someone or something on the stage. Therefore the movements in this piece are improvised in a completely different way every night. Another unique aspect of the show is the massive amount of samples, programmed primarily by Daniel Mintseris and triggered and played by him and drummer Brian Wolfe. The brass provide the backbone of the band, but the samples give the songs an electronic edge that take the sound firmly out of "brass band" territory.

Williamsburg Park, 2/29/2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Williamsburg Park is our biggest show of the tour, and turns out to be our best response yet. In my experience NY crowds are among the iciest around, but this one brings the energy. Maybe it's that everyone is standing the whole time or maybe it's the cheaper ticket price bringing out more youngsters. Regardless we all have a great time, and depart NYC with a little sadness.

Our next show is in Bethesda, MD, a suburb of DC, at a large arts center. We arrive early so I make a few phone calls outside, where there are four large black SUVs in a row. I tend to pace around nervously while on the phone, and I can tell that some of the drivers of the caravan are paying attention to me. A few moments later the front door opens and a little girl walks out surrounded by two buff dudes with earpieces. It's one of the Obama daughters. The secret service escort her into the backseat of one of the vehicles and the caravan peels out. It seems like a lot of trouble for a ten-year old's ballet class. A little later we have the best laugh of the tour yet when Bryan tells us his workout routine. Having attempted running outdoors ("I tried running around Prospect Park, but that sucked!"), he now heads down to his basement and runs in place while watching The West Wing for 45 minutes. Whatever works...

Nashville next. See you soon,
Kelly

------
---

David Byrne and St. Vincent play Atlanta, GA tonight (10/3) at the Cobb Energy Center. The rest of their tour dates are here.

The photos you see above are from other recent BrooklynVegan posts. An original set that accompanies this post, by Bryan Murray, can be seen below

Continue reading "On the Road with David Byrne & St. Vincent (part 4)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield and Chris La Putt, words by Andrew Sacher

David Byrne & St. Vincent @ Williamsburg Park

David Byrne and St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) played their third of three NYC shows on their tour together in support of their collaborative album, Love This Giant, at Williamsburg Park last night (9/29). The setlist didn't change much from the Beacon Theatre shows (or the rest of the tour), kicking off with Love This Giant singles, "Who" and "Weekend in The Dust;" and including Talking Heads favorites like "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)," "Burning Down The House," and "Road To Nowhere;" St. Vincent favorites like "Cheerleader," "Cruel," "The Party," and others; plus some David Byrne solo cuts and more off of Love This Giant.

The two pop wizards were in their own distinct characters throughout the show, as they were backed by a choreographed eight-piece horn section. (Who, not to mention, added great layers to the newly-worked out versions of Talking Heads/David Byrne/St Vincent songs.) David and Annie were both in admiration of each other during the songs from their respective projects, and though it was David who had the hits and got the crowd going most wild, Annie brought her own flare as well with physical guitar freakouts worked into all of her songs. They also had a shared moment as they "fought" with their hands over a theremin.

Have you been keeping up with Kelly Pratt's (aka main member of Bright Moments and co-musical director/member of David Byrne & St. Vincent's horn section) tour diary of his time on the road with David and Annie?

More pictures, videos, and the setlist from last night's show are below...

Continue reading "David Byrne & St. Vincent played Williamsburg Park (pics, videos, setlist)"

photos by Chris La Putt

The Jayhawks at Williamsburg Park - 9/15/12

The Jayhawks played a free show at Williamsburg Park on Saturday (9/15) with Chris Lee (with Steve Shelley on drums) and Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea. It was the last US show for The Jayhawks before they head over to Europe next week.

Williamsburg Park shows continue with Gotye, Givers, and Zammuto on September 27, David Byrne & St. Vincent on September 29, and Animal Collective and Micachu & the Shapes on October 5.

More pictures, videos and the setlist from Saturday's show are below.

Continue reading "The Jayhawks played Williamsburg Park w/ Nicole Atkins and Chris Lee (pics, videos, setlist)"

photos by Gretchen Robinette

The Bronx / Screaming Females at Riot Fest Brooklyn 9/8/2012

While no tornados touched down in Williamsburg on Saturday (9/8) the crazy storms cut the first-ever Brooklyn edition of Riot Fest short at 6PM after The Bronx's set, meaning only The Bronx, Screaming Females, The Menzingers and Larry and His Flask actually played. The Descendents and Hot Water Music got moved to Saint Vitus and Gogol Bordello didn't play anywhere.

Pictures from openers Larry & His Flask are HERE and more pics of the other three bands who played Riot Fest Brooklyn are below.

Continue reading "Riot Fest Brooklyn in pics (The Bronx, Screaming Females, The Menzingers)"

photos by Gretchen Robinette, words by Andrew Sacher

Larry and His Flask at Riot Fest Brooklyn - 9/8/12

Larry and His Flask were just in town for Riot Fest Brooklyn, which went down at Williamsburg Park on Saturday (9/8) before getting shut down towards the end and sending Descendents and Hot Water Music off to finish the night at the tiny Brooklyn venue Saint Vitus. Pictures of Larry and His Flask's set from Riot Fest are in this post and pics from the rest of the fest are coming soon.

Larry and His Flask are set to follow up their 2011 debut full length, All That We Know, with the Hobo's Lament EP, due out on September 25 via Paper + Plastick Records. They've got reference points coming from all over the place: they share a knack for Americana with Lucero (with whom they've collaborated), they do to bluegrass what Gogol Bordello and Flogging Molly do to gypsy music and Celtic music, respectively, and there's even a bit of late '90s ska in the mix too. You can stream the EP's opening track, "Closed Doors," and their debut LP, below.

Riot Fest Brooklyn fell in the middle of a tour that the band are on, which includes a leg supporting Frank Turner on his North American tour, which hits NYC on September 29 and 30 at Webster Hall. The 9/30 show is sold out but tickets for the 9/29 show are still available. Jenny Owen Youngs is also on the tour.

A list of all dates, more pics of their set at Riot Fest, EP cover art and song streams are below...

Continue reading "Larry and His Flask played Riot Fest Brooklyn, releasing an EP, touring w/ Frank Turner (pics, dates & streams)"

Descendents at Saint Vitus - 9/8/12 (via Jesse Mack Johnson)

Screaming Females at Riot Fest Brooklyn - 9/8/12 (via BrooklynVegan Instagram)

Riot Fest Brooklyn went down in Williamsburg Park yesterday (9/8) with sets from Screaming Females, The Bronx, The Menzingers, and Larry And HIs Flask. Unfortunately, due to the storm that NYC got hit with yesterday, was shut down before Hot Water Music's set, which meant that Descendents and Gogol Bordello didn't get to play either. Refunds on tickets are available at point of purchase and Riot Fest Brooklyn tickets will also be honored at no extra cost for Chicago's Riot Fest, which goes down this coming weekend. Some pictures from the Brooklyn show are up on BV Chicago with more coming soon for regular BV.

After the show was cancelled, similarly to Refused and OFF!, who got shut down due to weather at the same venue earlier this summer, Descendents and Hot Water Music took the show over to a smaller Brooklyn venue. At 8 PM, the two bands took over Saint Vitus for a free show and needless to say it was a packed, sweaty show, with the crowd moshing, crowd surfing, and going nuts. Videos of the Descendents ripping through "Everything Sucks," "Coffee Mug," "I'm Not A Loser," "Thank You," "I'm the One" and others, plus videos of Hot Water Music doing "Trusty Chords," "State of Grace," and a cover of the Bouncing Souls' "True Believers" at the show are below.

Continue reading "Riot Fest got shut down early due to rain; Descendents & Hot Water Music played a free show at Saint Vitus instead (videos)"

photos by Sachyn Mital; words by Bill Pearis

Bob Mould at Williamsburg Park 9/7/2012

"Copper Blue was 20 years ago And most of those songs were actually written right over there on Richardson," former neighborhood resident Bob Mould told the Williamsburg Park crowd last night, pointing East. "You've really done a lot with the place."

As Mould said, his '90s band Sugar's debut album is indeed 20 years old (almost to the day) but he and his ace band (Superchunk's Jon Wurster on drums, Telekenisis' Jason Narducy on bass) ripped through its ten songs like George Bush Sr. was still in office. The crowd -- mostly folk who remembered the songs the first time -- ate it up. For having such a raw vocal style, Bob's pipe's were in fine form, really belting out "Hoover Dam" and "Helpless."

After Copper Blue, he played the choice cuts from his very Sugar-esque new solo album Silver Age as well as a health dose of Hüsker Dü classics like "Hardly Getting Over It," "Could You Be the One?" and "Makes No Sense at All" -- all of which you could see Wurster singing along unmiked behind the kit, clearing loving it. Bob pulled Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn to the stage to help sing on Hüsker Dü's "Something I Learned Today" and Finn was as amped for it as you'd expect.

Openers were Staten Island's Cymbals Eat Guitars who probably own a couple Mould albums and put on a nice opening set. Bob Mould's Copper Blue/Silver Age tour rolls on throughout September and he'll also play FFF Fest in Austin in November.

More pictures and setlist from the Williamsburg Park show, plus remaining tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Bob Mould played Sugar's 'Copper Blue' at Williamsburg Park (pics, review, setlist)"

by Bill Pearis

Cymbals Eat Guitars at MHOW, July 2012 (more by Chris La Putt)

As we've mentioned before, Bob Mould is playing a free show tonight (9/7) at Williamsburg Park where he'll be perfoming Sugar's 1992 debut, Copper Blue, in its entirety front-to-back, as well as a set that spans his career from Husker Du to his terrific new solo album, The Silver Age. What hasn't been publicized so much is that Staten Island indie rock lovers Cymbals Eat Guitars will be opening the show (and not Howler as originally advertised). Doors are at 5:30 PM, CEG are on at 6:30 PM with Bob on around 7:45 PM.

Cymbals Eat Guitars will also open for Bob on upcoming dates in Boston (9/10) and Philadelphia (9/11). If you haven't checked out their most recent album, Lenses Alien, it's quite good and you can stream it via Spotify and watch their video of "Definite Darkness" below.

In other Williamsburg Park news, Saturday is Riot Fest Brooklyn with Gogol Bordello, Descendents, Hot Water Music, The Bronx, Screaming Females, The Menzingers and Larry & His Flask all performing. Doors are at 3 PM and music goes all day and tickets are still available.

Also coming up is a free Jayhawks show at Williamsburg Park on Saturday, September 15 with openers Nicole Atkins and Chris Lee. Doors are 5:30 PM for that one.

Cymbals Eat Guitars video is below.

Continue reading "Cymbals Eat Guitars opening for Bob Mould Tonight at Williamsburg Park; Riot Fest is Saturday"

photos by David Andrako

My Morning Jacket at Williamsburg Park - 8/19/12

Psychedelic roots rockers My Morning Jacket and psychedelic rap crew Shabazz Palaces teamed up for a show at Williamsburg Park last night (8/19) as part of a tour that MMJ is on. Their set included material from most of their studio albums and for their encore, Jim James did a solo acoustic performance of "I Will Be There When You Die," and the band were joined by Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500, Luna) for a cover of George Harrison's "Isn't It A Pity." The encore also included a cover of Prince's "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man."

More pictures of both bands and the setlist and videos from My Morning Jacket's set are below.

Continue reading "My Morning Jacket & Shabazz Palaces played Williamsburg Park (pics, video, setlist)"

My Morning Jacket at MSG in 2011 (more by Chris La Putt)

My Morning Jacket recently made a video for "Outta My System" off 2011's Circuital which stars Zach Galifianakis and features some weird adult swim-on-acid animation. You can watch that below.

As mentioned, MMJ are currently on a tour which brings them to NYC on August 19 at Williamsburg Park for a show with Shabazz Palaces. Tickets for that show are still available. You can help curate the setlist for that show and others on their tour.

We also just mentioned when revealing the Capitol Theatre initial schedule that MMJ will do a three-night run at the Port Chester, NY venue from December 27-29. Tickets for all three of those shows will be "on sale soon."

A list of all dates and the "Outta My System" video are below.

Continue reading "My Morning Jacket have a new video starring Zach Galifianakis, touring (4 upcoming NYC area shows)"

by Bill Pearis

Why would one pre-order a record? Is there a reason one would do that?

Well, one reason is because, like me, you might forget about a record that you're really, really looking forward to. That happens to me fairly often--so I'll either pre-order or put the record in a wish list so I don't forget to buy it. I have at least three records sitting in there right now!

The second reason is that we are offering one of the songs from the album, "Weekend In The Dust", as an advance download, if you pre-order the whole record. This song is not available for immediate download elsewhere--you will only have the opportunity to get the song two months before the record comes out if you pre-order through our site.

On "Weekend in the Dust", I came up with some brass riffs and swells that sounded pretty funky to me. I then sent those to Annie and she wrote a cool vocal melody over it (later she wrote words too). We both arranged her vocal and other elements of the track a bit further--still working with horn samples temporarily. Finally, we passed this one to baritone sax monster Lenny Pickett, ex Tower Of Power and current Borneo Horns and SNL bandleader, for arranging. I'd previously worked with Lenny on a Talking Heads track ("Blind") so I know he is really good at convoluted and funky--and that describes this track pretty well. We recorded the whole band playing it in the studio in Hoboken, which I arrived at one morning in March via bicycle and ferry. Nice!

DB
Soho

UPDATE: 4AD's YouTube page has the stream of the full song. Check it out below.

As you may already know, David Byrne and St. Vincent have an upcoming tour together coming up, which includes three NYC shows: two at Beacon Theatre on September 25 and 26 and another at Williamsburg Park on September 29. Tickets to all three shows are still available. All David Byrne & St. Vincent tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "stream a new clip from David Byrne & St. Vincent's album which is now available for pre-order"

by Bill Pearis

Micachu & the Shapes at Terminal 5 in June (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Micachu & the Shapes' second studio album, Never, was released this week, loaded with tight angled rhythms, calamatous percussion and highly effected vocals. Devo and The Residents seem to be big influences this time out and the record also features an appearance by Wesley of Let's Wrestle on the song "Nothing." The band made a video for every song on the album and you can watch them all below -- they're definitely of a piece. You can also stream the album via Spotify.

Micachu, who opened for tUnE-yArDs last month and played a headlining set at Glasslands, will be back in North America in September to open for Animal Collective on their tour which hits NYC October 5 at Williamsburg Park. Tickets to that show are still available. After that, Micachu & the Shapes will play a headlining show October 8 at Le Poisson Rouge. No support has been announced yet but tickets are on sale now.

Micachu & the Shapes were supposed to DJ Warm Up at MoMA PS1 this Saturday (7/28), but they've since dropped off and have been replaced by Sinkane. The rest of the lineup includes Slava, MJ Cole, DJ Spoko, and Van Rivers. Tickets for Warm Up are on sale now.

A list of all Micachu & the Shapes dates and those videos below...

Continue reading "Micachu & the Shapes made videos for every song on 'Never', opening for AnCo, playing LPR, dropped off Warm Up (dates)"

photos by David Andrako and Chris La Putt

Kristen Schaal w/ Mad Men's Jon Hamm dressed up as the Big Apple

As mentioned, NYC comedian and actress Kristen Schaal (who plays Symphony Space in NYC tonight, 7/24) is moving to Los Angeles, which is sad or all of us, but probably great for her because she's surely moving on to exciting things. On Thursday (7/19), Kristen joined Eugene Mirman, Mike Birbiglia, Kurt Braunholer, John Oliver, Bobcat Goldthwait and musical guests OK GO at the new Williamsburg Park for a giant and free edition of "Pretty Good Friends" where Kristen's pretty good friends, special guest Jon Hamm included, helped wish her goodbye (You may remember Kristen was in Mad Men's first episode). Jon Hamm appeared as the Big Apple, as you can see in the picture above. More pictues from the whole show (Williamburg Park's 2nd-ever show) (it was supposed to be the third), backstage included, below...

Continue reading "Jon Hamm, Bobcat Goldthwait, OK Go & more helped say goodbye to Kristen Schaal @ Williamsburg Park (pics)"

Not surprisingly, Refused / OFF tonight at Williamsburg Park is, um, off. No word on a reschedule, but prepare for the inevitable "secret show" rumors on Twitter in 3.... 2.... 1... UPDATE: and here it is. Show is now at Europa!

At least you can catch Refused in their television debut tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and refunds for the Brooklyn show are being offered.

Refused and OFF! also had their Philly Riot Fest show pulled out from under them. That was supposed to happen tomorrow.

Hopefully the Thursday show at Williamsburg Park, and the Riot Fest coming up there, fare better.

The outdoor show on the Intrepid is also cancelled.

You can go see JEFF the Brotherhood at Santos for free instead, or other stuff.

photos by Ryan Muir

New Williamsburg outdoor concert venue Williamsburg Park opens for business with three shows this week. We stopped by this afternoon to check out the progress and take some pictures while they were busy getting ready for tonight's Counting Crows show (7/17). We won't be back tonight, but we are looking forward to Refused & Off! on Wednesday, and for the free comedy on Thursday. Check out more pictures of the giant space, pretty sky-painted ground included, below...

Continue reading "exclusive first look at Williamsburg Park (pics)"

by Klaus Kinski

'Pretty Good Friends' at Williamsburg Waterfront, 2011 (more by David Andrako)

I wish so badly that summer was almost over because this heat is basically killing me softly and enveloping me in depression and heat-related anxiety. By the time I get to work I'm as sweaty as Michael Moore after 8 hours of mowing lawns and people are all "Are you ok?" because they think I'm dying right before their eyes. Sadly, the reality that summer has hardly begun was made apparent when I realized that the concerts at Williamsburg Park kick off TONIGHT with the Outlaw Roadshow featuring Counting Crows, We Are Augustines, Field Report, and Kasey Anderson & the Honkies. Outlaw?! The fuck?! Yeah. Sure. Whatever, millionaires. Nothing says 'outlaw' like having a record that went 7× Platinum in both Canada and the United States.

I digress. What REALLY has me cranked is that Pretty Good Friends take their show from the tiny basement of Union Hall and return to the Waterfront again this year for a show on Thursday July 19th. This year's line-up is epic! Eugene Mirman will be joined by friends Kristen Schaal, Kurt Braunohler, the legendary Bobcat Goldthwait, music by OK Go and many surprises! (And hopefully no torrential downpours like last year.) For me, the main event is Bobcat. Over the past several years he has evolved from type-cast goofball character actor to acclaimed director, writer, and comedian. This is a rare treat for NYC and THE SHOW IS TOTALLY FREE! More Kurt Braunohler dates below...

I was out of town on Wednesday July 11th working on my tan and looking super hot and shiny on a beach which means I sadly missed BOB ODENKIRK and UCB PALS: A LOAD OF HOOEY! at the UCB Theater, Chelsea. This is a major heartbreaker for yours truly as Bob happens to be one of my idols, and seeing him perform in the flesh in NYC is beyond rare. Like, never happens. What makes it more painful was that his "pals" included the much loved/hated David Cross, Bob's partner in crime for many many years. I was gnashing my teeth at the idea that I missed a once in a life time reunion, but David quelled my anxiety with the following words on his facebook page.

Also, get your socks psyched for Bob and I to put something together for a low-key mini-tour of grandiose fucking around. We've been doing things with each other (not in a Penn State way) and they have been really fun and very well-recieved. I just jumped on a show he did at UCB here in NY last week. Super fun. So we'll be doing more of that hopefully late fall/early winter. Again, something very low-key, not a big production and in smaller theaters. Like 500 seaters, something like that. Keep it intimate.

The Gramercy Theater on 23rd street is no stranger to awesome comedy events, and if I'm to believe what I read in my inbox the pattern continues. On Sunday August 19th, Klaus favorite Doug Benson will take over the Gramercy Theater for a whopping TWO SHOWS! First, The Benson Interruption Live Podcast will tear the roof off the place at 4:20PM. I LOVE THE INTERRUPTION. The premise is simple; Doug has his favorite comedy friends do stand-up while he sits there and derails their entire set. The results are some of the funniest shit I've ever seen. Once the place cools down and clears out, the doors will re-open at 7:00pm for Doug Loves Movies. This is a KILLER day of comedy in one spacious, air conditioned venue. If you're like me you're gonna want to go ahead and pick up the Official Doug Benson Combo Pass and make seeing both shows a total cinch.

And speaking of comedy at the Gramercy, Klaus favorite Pete Holmes just announced a show there on Friday December 21st. Tickets go on sale Friday July 20th at noon! Check out this website for more upcoming show info.

Oh and speaking of the Gramercy Theater and Klaus favorites, Klaus SUPER FAVORITE Todd Barry recently recorded a live album at the Gramercy Theater. Titled "Super Crazy," you can watch the performance on Comedy Central Saturday July 21st at 11pm. If you don't have a DVR, Comedy Central, friends with Comedy Central, or have other reasons why you can't see the special on the TV which are none of my business, Comedy Central Home Entertainment will release the "Todd Barry: Super Crazy" extended and uncensored DVD and Comedy Central Records will release the extended and uncensored CD and Digital Album on July 24. The CD fairy left a copy in my mailbox and, lemme tell you, it is fucking hilarious. Classic Todd.

Tour dates for Kurt Braunohler, David Cross, and Todd Barry are listed below.

Continue reading "Pretty Good Friends, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bob & David, Doug Benson, Todd Barry, Pete Holmes & more comedy news"

Field Report at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Tonight (7/17) is the first show for new Brooklyn venue Williamsburg Park featuring Counting Crows, We Are Augustines, Field Report, and Kasey Anderson & the Honkies. Tickets for tonight's show are still available. Maybe this isn't the most exciting start for the venue, but there are a lot of cool shows coming up, including Refused with Off! on Wednesday (7/18), a big outdoor edition of Eugene Mirman's "Pretty Good Friends" with "special guests" and OK GO on Thursday (7/19), Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Antibalas on August 18 (FREE), Bob Mould playing Sugar's first two albums on September 7 (FREE), David Byrne & St. Vincent on September 29, Animal Collective on October 5 and more. All upcoming Williamsburg Park shows are listed below.

If you're a fan of Field Report (aka former Justin Vernon cohort Chris Porterfield) but would like to see him in a more intimate setting, he's also playing an early show at Mercury Lounge on Saturday (7/21). Tickets are still available and we're also giving away a pair. Details on how to enter are below.

Continue reading "Williamsburg Park opens tonight (check out the full schedule) ++++ win tickets to see Field Report at Mercury Lounge"

The Jayhawks at Webster Hall in 2011 (more by Kurt Christensen)

The Jayhawks have a few, mostly festival, dates scheduled this year like Bumbershoot in Seattle, and in the midst of that, they'll be coming to the NYC area for two shows this September. The band will play Montclair, NJ's Wellmont Theatre on September 14 and a free show in Brooklyn the next day (9/15) at WIlliamsburg Park. Hayes Carll supports on the Wellmont date but no opener has been announced for the Williamsburg Park show. Tickets for the Wellmont show are on sale now.

A list of all dates and an acoustic live in-studio video of "She Walks In So Many Ways" off 2011's Mockingbird Time are below...

Continue reading "Jayhawks playing shows, including Wellmont Theatre & a free one at Williamsburg Park (dates)"