Abe Vigoda

This week in the Basement: reviews of new albums from Purple Mountains, Penelope Isles, New Order and Television Personalities, plus new L.A. band Lunch Lady (ex Abe Vigoda).

Great character actor Abe Vigoda died of natural causes at his home in New Jersey. He was 94. Born in Brooklyn in 1921, Vigoda was a popular Broadway actor in the '60s, but gained national notoriety with his role as mobster Tessio in the first two Godfather films, and then as Sgt...

While veteran actor Abe Vigoda is still with us, the LA group named after him is no more, quietly dissolving a while back. Guitarist Juan Velazquez has formed Roses, a trio who will release their debut EP via Group Tightner on August 5...

Total Abuse - art If you weren't paying attention, you might have missed Total Abuse's Mutt, which surfaced its ugly head last year on Post Present Medium Records (Dean Spunt of No Age's imprint)...

For a sold-out show, the audience was oddly quiet and subdued for much the evening, but the laid back atmosphere was a perfect match for the first band of the evening, MINKS...

Mr. Wild Nothing @ Bowery Ballroom (more by Chris Gersbeck) Wild Nothing & Abe Vigoda are out on tour and playing Bowery Ballroom together on February 13th...

DOWNLOAD: Gross Relations - You Don't Know Me (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Anika - Yang Yang (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Anika - Terry (MP3) DOWNLOAD: ARMS - Floaters (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Martial Canterel - You Today (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Martial Canterel - Retrospective (Zip) DOWNLOAD: The Vacant Lots - Confusion (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Don Giovanni Sampler (Zip) In addition to being Black History Month, National Bird Feeding Month and National Sweet Potato Month, February also seems to consistently have a lot of band residencies...

Phil of Kylesa at Public Assembly (more by Markus Shaffer) Kylesa are having a great end-of-year thanks to many accolades for their 2010 effort Spiral Shadow...

Wild Nothing @ Bowery Ballroom during CMJ (more by Amanda Hatfield) Wild Nothing and Abe Vigoda are going on a co-headlining tour that will hit Bowery Ballroom on 2/13...

& Rachel Carr Yesterday was FYF Fest. We know all the problems... The lines... And are addressing them now. In no way are we sleeping on these problems...