photos by Greg Cristman

Yoko Ono's Secret Piece (1953)
throughout Central Park from 5AM - 8AM on June 21, 2011.
Celebrate the summer solstice with Yoko Ono's meditative Secret Piece, at sunrise in Central Park.

We will meet at Columbus Circle starting at 5AM. Bring any musical instrument or just your voice, and we will send you to a secluded part of the park to play the note of your choice to the accompaniment of birds.

At 8AM we will all return to Columbus Circle for hot green tea.

UPDATE: Apparently Yoko didn't even go to her own event. ZINGARA says "I woke up really early this morning thinking that different musicians where going to get together and play a Yoko Ono tone. instead i got there and everybody was on their own wandering around the park like a homeless person. There was someone there but as soon you sign your name they send you away." Lori Zimmer adds, "woke @ 330 to go to central pk... was handed a map with little explanation. very disappointed, not much explanation, no yoko, green tea from starbucks out of styrofoam cups after 3 hours...."

The other pictures in this post are from that Japan benefit that Yoko Ono threw at Le Poisson Rouge in March. You already saw the Cibo Matto pics from the same event. Here are the rest with Yoko, Sean Lennon, Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Antony, Lou Reed and more included. They continue below...

Continue reading "spend Tuesday morning with Yoko Ono in Central Park (check out some Japan Benefit pics in this post)"

Asphalt Orchestra at Lincoln Center (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

The Bang on a Can Marathon returns on Sunday (6/19) with a mammoth thirteen hours of FREE live music kicking off at 11AM at NYC's World Financial Center Winter Garden (200 Vesey Street). Featuring over 150 musicians/composers, the fest includes performances from, and compositions by, names like Philip Glass, Glenn Branca Ensemble, Sun Ra Arkestra, David Byrne/Annie Clark, Bryce Dessner, Frank Zappa, Bjork, Yoko Ono, and many more. The full lineup and schedule is below.

Continue reading "Bang On a Can Marathon Sunday -- full schedule"

Kathleen Hanna at Planned Parenthood rally in February (more by Chris La Putt)

Feminist artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman-Leeson's documentary !Women Art Revolution made its theatrical debut at Manhattan's IFC Center on June 1. The film is still screening every day at 4:25 PM through June 16. The film features a score by Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag), an appearance by Yoko Ono and much more. Get your tickets for the remaining days (and go see Wild Flag at Williamsburg Waterfront).

The movie is one example of how "the Riot Grrrl movement still inspires", as NY Times puts it. The article talks about the Kathleen Hanna tribute show that took place at Knitting Factory this past December and discusses the effect the movement has had on today's indie rock scene. Amanda Warner of MNDR said, "I remember it being weird if you saw a girl in a band, and now it's not weird at all, it's just totally normal."

That Knitting Factory show in December not only served as a tribute to Kathleen Hanna, but also the debut of her new band The Julie Ruin. The project formed as a revival of her late '90s solo project Julie Ruin, the moniker under which she recorded one album of the same name in 1998. The new band also features Bikini Kill bandmate Kathi Wilcox and Kenny Mellman, Justin Bond's sidekick in Kiki and Herb. They are currently working on a debut full length. Details on the album are limited but Kathleen posted pictures from an overdub and mixing session for the album back in May.

A Le Tigre documentary titled Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour (pictured above) chronicles the band's 2004 tour and is out now. You can purchase it on Amazon. Last week there was a screening at at Maysles Institute in Harlem which was accompanied by a Q&A with director Kerthy Fix and Le Tigre member Johanna Fateman. Joly was there and taped all 45 minutes of it. If you missed it, check out the Punkcast video below. AND, they do it again on June 26th at the Ace Hotel, complete with Johanna Fateman, Kerthy Fix, AND Kathleen Hanna for the Q&A. All screening dates are listed below.

Kathleen Hanna recently spoke to Spinner, to promote the movie and stuff, and they asked her about Odd Future:

Spinner: Have you been paying attention to the controversy with Odd Future and their homophobic, misogynistic lyrics?

Kathleen: No, not really. They don't seem that interesting to me.

Spinner: Sara Quin just spoke out against them and it created a bit of a media storm.

Kathleen: I feel like, if you don't want to listen to them, don't listen to them. If you do want to listen to them, do listen to them. I couldn't really comment about on exactly what their lyrics are about, because I haven't gotten that deep into it. But if people are writing lyrics that piss you off, hurt your feelings and make you feel like s---, don't listen to it. I don't think the best idea is to have a boycott. Just don't talk about them and they'll go away. The more you talk about them, the more attention they get. Tegan and Sara fans probably wouldn't even know this band existed if they weren't talking about them. I find the whole conversation kind of boring. There are so many great artists that are doing interesting things, that I don't want to focus on boring people.

Ironically (sort of, maybe), Odd Future recently complained that Australians were racist. Australians say no they are not.

Odd Future's lesbian member Syd tha Kyd, who famously responded to criticism that she associates with a sexist group by saying, "That's what I do. I slap bitches", is DJing at PS1 'Warm Up' on July 23. Gang Gang Dance also DJ and Laurel Halo, Miracles Club, and Lunice play live sets on the same date. No word on if any other members of Odd Future will be in town at the time.

Film trailers, dates and a mash-up of Tyler, the Creator's "Yonkers" and Tegan & Sara's "Call It Off" by The Jane Doze, below...

Continue reading "Katheen Hanna, Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin, Odd Future & other Riot Grrrl news (movies, articles, events & stuff)"

Tickets are still available for Thruston Moore's headlining show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, but his band Sonic Youth has announced a show set for this summer. Thurston and the gang will team with Wild Flag to play the Williamsburg Waterfront on August 12. Tickets go on sale Friday (4/29) at noon.

Thurston Moore is also curating The Stone for the tail end of April, and the venue welcomed a surprise appearance from Yoko Ono on Saturday night (4/23). She joined Kim Gordon who was listed on the bill "with guest". Video from that improvised performance, that also included Chris Corsano, is below.

Steve Shelley is scheduled to play 285 Kent Ave on Thursday (4/28) with Spectre Folk and will hit the road with Disappears next week.

All tour dates and that Kim Gordon/Yoko Ono video is below.

Continue reading "Sonic Youth & Wild Flag playing Williamsburg Waterfront (and other dates)"

It has been announced that Antony will join Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, Cibo Matto, and Patti Smith for the benefit at LPR Tuesday. In other news, Antony has this coming:

Antony and the Johnsons will release their four track EP "Swanlights" on 10" April 16th through Record Store Day followed by releases through Secretly Canadian and Rough Trade on April 26th. The EP includes a remix of the title track by Oneohtrix Point Never and two exclusive B-sides. The CD version will include the Swanlights music video directed and produced by Sara Hegarty.

1 - Swanlights
2 - Find The Rhythm Of Your Love
3 - Kissing Noone
4 - Swanlights OPN edit

Continue reading "Antony added to Yoko benefit, releasing EP, in MEN song"

Yoko Ono @ Chimera Night @ Elysium, SXSW 2011 (Anner Terada)

"Sure, sure Kanye was playing somewhere in the city limits (with Jay Z as a special guest! OMG! #bigpimpin), but this was Yoko Ono, the queen of avant garde rock, and an influence on female artists of all stripes for the last four decades.

For all the heated anticipation in the air of the audience and her son Sean's comment that "Yoko has entered the building", she arrived on stage at the relatively small Elysium without any fanfare.

Joined by her new millennium version of the Plastic Ono Band (Sean on guitars and leading the band, master guitarist Nels Cline, and jazz bassist Trevor Dunn among them), she flashed a huge beaming smile at the crowd, flashed some peace signs and set to work ululating and gasping her way through a selection of improvisations and classic material like the stunning "Mind Train", a 1971 epic turned into a lean high speed commuter rail like via the three guitars on stage and the vibrant pulse of Dunn's bass.

Music aside, it was a sight to behold this 78-year-old artist working with the energy of someone a quarter or her age and flirting with all the men and women in the front row. All of us, even an exhausted 35-year-old music writer looking forward to heading home can take inspiration from that." [Oregon Live]

Yoko Ono and friends will return to the stage for a benefit show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC on Tuesday, March 29th, dubbed "To Japan With Love" featuring Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, Patti Smith, Tony Shanahan, and Cibo Matto. $100 tickets are on sale now. The benefit Yoko is playing for the same cause two days earlier at Columbia University's Miller Theater is sold out.

"SXSW is thrilled to announce Yoko Ono as a very special featured speaker for the 25th Music Conference and Festival. Ms. Ono will sit down with Jody Denberg for a SXSW Interview on Friday March 18th. From her pioneering work in the Fluxus movement of the 1960s to the recent Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland, Ono's art has challenged and informed, melding the personal to the universal in simple and unique ways. Her marriage and creative collaboration with John Lennon was a love story played out on the global stage. Ono's music laid the groundwork for the sounds of punk rock and new wave. Recently, Ono has had five consecutive dance singles charting at #1 on the top of the Billboard Dance Chart. In 2009, she received Mojo Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award, and she assembled a new PLASTIC ONO BAND for her latest album, Between My Head And The Sky, co-produced with son Sean Lennon, on his Chimera Music label. From gallery to stage to social media platforms, Yoko Ono brings a message of peace to the world. Ms. Ono's ongoing projects are detailed at imaginepeace.com. Ms. Ono will also be a special guest performer at a Chimera Music night, Saturday, March 19 at The Elysium, 705 Red River St"

by Andrew Frisicano

St. Vincent @ Pitchfork Fest in Chicago (more by Kate Gardiner)

David Byrne and Annie Clark are collaborating on music for a future Housing Works benefit. There's no date set for that, but Asphalt Orchestra will be debuting a version of one of the songs they've been working on...

A few months ago we had [Here Lies Love arranger] Tony Finno arrange the horns, and we performed one of the songs -- tentatively titled "Who" -- at the end of Annie's show at the Rose Room at Lincoln Center. Now, having been approached by the Bang On a Can spinoff Asphalt Orchestra, with the help of [Asphalt saxist/producer] Ken Thomson we've adapted another song called either "Two Ships" or "The Movie" for their group. This will be an instrumental version and we'll do a vocal version later. [David Byrne]

In addition to that piece, they'll be debuting a commission by Yoko Ono; other songs in the group's repertoire include commissions by Tyondai Braxton of Battles and Stew & Heid Rodewald of Passing Strange and BAM Next Wave 2010. The 12-piece will release a seven-track CD of its material on August 3rd through Canatloupe Music. That includes a blisteringly dissonant song by Swedish metal band Meshuggah and an intricately-arranged version of Bjork's "Hyper-Ballad." There are a few more typical "ra-ra" maching band songs on the album too (Zappa in particular is already quite melodic and pompy), but the band focuses on getting unusual sounds out of the limited instrumentation. Live, they move in unique coordinated patterns, so the experience is individualized to the space and where you stand.

As an aside, this Saturday at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival is going to be particularly amazing, with the "Detroit Breakdown" lineup of Mitch Ryder, ? and the Mysterians, The Gories, Death and more.

St. Vincent has her own free show this weekend, at the Central Park SummerStage Sunday (8/1) afternoon, with openers Tune-Yards and Basia Bulat.

A video of Asphalt Orchestra doing that Meshuggah song on WNYC, and their schedule, plus a video of Annie doing a nylon-string version of "Actor Out of Work," are below...

Continue reading "David Byrne & Annie Clark collaborating for Housing Works, Asphalt Orchestra playing a song (and some shows) "

photos by Kevin Mazur/ Wire Image

"Yoko Ono, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Bette midler, freaking amazing!" - nico843

Yoko's Plastic Ono Band will be playing a special show at BAM's Gilman Opera House on Tuesday, February 16th. The show includes guest spots from original/former Plastic Ono band members Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Jim Keltner. Other guests include Justin Bond, Kim Gordon, Bette Midler, Thurston Moore, Mark Ronson, Scissor Sisters, Martha Wainwright, Haruomi Hosono, Paul Simon and son Harper Simon, and current Ono Band members Cornelius, Yuka Honda and Sean Lennon.

Continue reading "Yoko's Plastic Ono Band played BAM w/ Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Scissor Sisters & more (pics)"

DOWNLOAD: Sweet Apple - Do You Remember (MP3)

Thurston w/ Sonic Youth @ MHOW in November (more by Lori Baily)

Society's Ills: In 1994 Society's Ills (Moore, Cadena, Watt, Markey) made their world premier with the now coveted "Skins, Brains, and Guts" release - a slab that managed to cram (9) 7 seconds covers onto one 7". In 2010, the band is back and once again fronted by Thurston but he brings with him a new crue of slayers to launch the hardcore fury:

Thurston Moore: Vocals
J Mascis: Guitar
Don Fleming: Guitar [SY producer & Velvet Monkeys/Gumball frontman]
Andrew W.K.: Bass
Awesome Allison: Drums [from Awesome Color]

This set is their first, but don't worry if you miss it cause I'm sure we can put this together again in another 15 years! [Ecstatic Peace]

J Mascis will also be playing at SXSW with Sweet Apple, who are playing Mercury Lounge on April 20th. One of their SXSW sets will be at the showcase for TeePee Records, who are putting out the Sweet Apple debut, Love & Desperation, a track from which is above. That show is Thursday, March 18th at Habana Calle 6, and also on the bill are Priestess, Iron Age, Nebula, Naam, Imaad Wasif and more. Full details and a poster are below. Tee Pee Records has also teamed up with BrooklynVegan and Chronic Youth for another day party taking place on Saturday, March 20th in Austin. This is the first we've mentioned it. Stay tuned for more info.

Lou Barlow will also be at SXSW (backed again by The Missingmen) - one of his shows will be the Merge Records showcase at Cedar Street Courtyard on March 18th also featuring Let's Wrestle, She & Him, and others. Full lineup below. For She & Him it's one of two official SXSW shows. They also play Saturday night (March 20th) at Auditorium Shores (with Justin Townes Earle & TBA). Cheap Trick play the same slot at Auditorium Shores one night earlier.

Merge's showcase mentions that one slot will be filled by "Special Guest". We don't know who that is, but we'd have to guess Superchunk is a strong possibility since Mac & Laura have a speaking engagement (in a bookstore) on March 17th, and another one (official SXSW) at the convention center on March 19th (with Michael Azerrad), and the band is on the bill of the Village Voice day party happening at La Zona Rosa the afternoon of March 19th (with the xx, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Surfer Blood). It's definitely not Spoon who play the NPR show at Stubb's on March 17th with Deerhunter (their tour-mates) and The Walkmen.

Society's Ills Bassist Andrew W.K. will also be performing separately (and speaking) at SXSW (and at MtyMx in Mexico).

Kim and Thurston are playing with the Plastic Ono Band in their two-night Brooklyn Academy of Music run. They were at the dress rehearsal (aka the first night) last night (2/16). BV photographer Greg Cristman was in the audience and told us, "One definite highlight was Thurston and Kim played with Yoko as a trio and did a killer version of Mulberry from Unfinished Music No. 2 while the film Fly was projected on a huge screen behind them!" - a (poor quality) video clip of one of the other songs is below.

Full lineups for the showcases and videos are below...

Continue reading "Thurston Moore (& Kim) rehearsed w/ Yoko @ BAM, recreating Society's Ills (w/ Mascis, WK), appearing @ SXSW (like She & Him, Merge Records, Tee Pee...) "

"WE ARE PLASTIC ONO BAND on February 16 sold out immediately! Due to popular demand, a special dress rehearsal show featuring Yoko Ono and her core band (Sean Lennon, Yuka Honda, and Cornelius) has been added. They have never done anything like this before and probably never will again. This will certainly be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and while no special guest artists are slated to rehearse, you never know..." [Bam]

Yoko's Plastic Ono Band will be playing a special show at BAM's Gilman Opera House on Tuesday, February 16th. The show includes guest spots from original/former Plastic Ono band members Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Jim Keltner (one former "member," Ringo Star, isn't scheduled to be there, though he is in NYC on Jan 14th). Other guests include Justin Bond, Kim Gordon, Bette Midler, Thurston Moore, Mark Ronson, Scissor Sisters, Martha Wainwright, Haruomi Hosono, Paul Simon and son Harper Simon, and current Ono Band members Cornelius, Yuka Honda and Sean Lennon. Tickets are on sale.

Plastic Ono Band (sans guests) will also be at this year's Noise Pop Festival in San Fran on Febraury 23rd. The group's new sprawling record, Between My Head And The Sky, the first 'Ono Band' record since the '70s, came out last September. A flyer for the show is below...

Continue reading "Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band playing BAM w/ lots of special guests (Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Bette Midler) (tix on sale)"

DOWNLOAD: Memory Tapes - Bicycle (MP3)

The intial lineup for Noise Pop 2010, which takes over San Francisco February 23rd to March 1st, has been updated. Newly announced acts include Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Cornelius, Yuka Honda, Sean Lennon), The Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative performance, !!!, Harlem, Deerhoof, Memory Tapes, The Fresh and Onlys, Scout Niblett, Far (Reunion Show), The Mumlers, P.E.E (Reunion Show), Mirah, Laura Gibson, Nico Vega, Japanese Motors, Princeton, Free Energy, The Growlers, Nurses, Magic Wands, The Lonely Forest, The Hot Toddies, Tempo No Tempo, Judgement Day. The full current lineup is posted below.

Tickets and passes for most of those are on sale now. Tickets for Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (with Deerhoof) on February 23rd and the Dodos & Magik Magik Orchestra collaborative shows go on sale on Sunday, January 10th.

Memory Tapes, chillwave Jerseyan Dayve Hawk, is one of the acts scheduled for the fest. He's going to be in the UK for a short run of shows this January, and he's confirmed that US dates and a European tour are forthcoming. The song "Bicycle" off his debut, Seek Magic, is above. The album is being re-issued on Feb 8th, "with an exclusive 48 minute 4 track CD2 through Urban Outfitters and digitally exclusively via iTunes".

UPDATE: Memory Tapes is opening for Atlas Sound at The Bell House on February 3rd. Tickets are still on sale.

More info on Noise Pop 2010 below...

Continue reading "Noise Pop expands 2010 lineup - updates include !!!, Far, Yoko Ono & Memory Tapes who is touring soon "

"There's a good reason why the new record is called Scars," says Felix Buxton. "Making it has been a grueling process. When we finished recording, it felt like we'd come out of a boxing ring." His bandmate Simon Ratcliffe nods in agreement.

'Scars' is full of guest appearances including Kelis, Maleka & Chipmunk, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, Sam Sparro, Lightspeed Champion, Amp Fiddler, Yo Majesty, Yoko Ono, Paloma Faith, Lisa Kekaula, Jose Hendrix, and Jose James. All dates, the tour poster, the Scars (cover art above) tracklisting, and the video for "Raindrops", below....

Continue reading "Basement Jaxx - 2009 DJ tour dates (NYC on sale), new album w/ Kelis, Yoko, Eli Reed, Lightspeed Champion, more"

Since the closing of LES spot Tonic in 2007, The Stone has been one of the venues that's attempted to fill the void left by the experimental-music-friendly space.

Like Tonic did, The Stone frequently brings on guest curators (not coincidentally Stone founder John Zorn was one of Tonic's most regular hosts and played at Tonic's final show). Now, with guitarist Grey Gersten's monthlong May curatorial run ending Sunday, May 31st, former Tonic co-owner Melissa Caruso Scott comes out of booking retirement to take the reigns in programing the first two weeks of June at The Stone.

Speaking about her choices Scott said, "These artists played some of my favorite Tonic shows and I can't wait to see them again." Her picks include Japanese musician Yuka Honda, who's also playing a Summerstage show with Mike Watt, guitarist Charlie Hunter, Elysian Fields, Vernon Reid, Joan as Polcewoman, cellist Erik Friedlander, and more. Her full schedule is posted below.

Speaking of Friendlander, he plays on Yoko Ono's new DON'T STOP ME! EP (out June 9th Via iTunes Exclusive Digital Download), and you can also catch him live on June 5th along with saxophone player Colin Stetson at the Abrons Art Space Recital Hall. The show is presented by The Manhattan New Music Project, and tickets are on sale.

Before the time of both Tonic and The Stone, the original Knitting Factory on Houston Street featured an ecclectic mix of avant and experimental music (frequently with Zorn and others). The co-founder of that venue, show promoter and current owner of City Winery Michael Dorf, will curate the second half of the June at The Stone.

Acts on his schedule include Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers (who have completed their Pianos residency and are also playing Citysol), Ethan Iverson (of the Bad Plus) with saxist Tim Berne, and Marc Ribot, the guitarist who's had considerable presence at each of the aforementioned venues -- gigging regularly at the Knit on Houston St, getting arrested for protesting the closure of Tonic, and hosting several nights of his 55th-birthday retrospective at The Stone in mid-May.

Check out the full June schedule for The Stone, below...

Continue reading "Tonic owner returns, joins City Winery's Michael Dorf to curate John Zorn's club The Stone in June - full lineup"