NY Times

David Byrne & dancers @ Radio City Music Hall in NYC (photo)”C warned me that there was a not so complimentary review in the NY Times this morning, and advised me against reading it…

If the prospect of a single company mounting a Guns n’ Madonna tour worries you, it also concerns some in the business. Via e-mail, Tom Morello, the guitarist in Rage Against the Machine, told me that a Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger could have huge consequences…

At 35, Bird has spent almost 15 years working relentlessly for the sort of exposure he now seems poised to enjoy. “Six years ago, when I was still struggling, I just wanted to go anywhere in the world and play for 300 people,” he says…

“Oh Me – In late 1993, when Nirvana played their famous “MTV Unplugged” show, they were on tour with Curt and Chris Kirkwood, the brothers who made up the heart of the Meat Puppets…

The 2009 NY Times Arts & Leisure Weekend takes place at the Timescenter in NYC from January 8-11. Tickets are on sale for events that include talks with Vampire Weekend, Patti Smith, Salman Rushdie, and Tom Cruise (thx Jeff)…

With music now available with a single, offhand click, it’s easy to forget that songs are not born whole, polished and ready to play. They are created by artists who draw on some combination of craft, skill and inspiration…

Both Misshapes, held every Saturday for five years, and the other party, held on the eve of major holidays for nearly eight years, were regular destinations for young downtown clubgoers…

Establishments that don’t charge at the door are dotted throughout the city, but the Lower East Side is the capital. Within two blocks of Pianos — which usually has paid shows in its main space but free events upstairs — there are 10 or so such bars…

“There’s a world of cross-references in Dirty Projectors’ music: stuttering modal riffs from Mali, the meandering melodies of opera or modern music theater, pygmy antiphonal vocals, Captain Beefheart, Zimbabwean and Congolese rock, King Crimson, Talking Heads, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks…

The November 16th Stephen Colbert interview is long sold out, but you still have plenty of time to get tickets to the NY Times events happening in early January…