Music Hall NPR Music CBC Radio 3
As the new female British Invasion continues, Adele has just added a second night at the Highline Ballroom on June 10 and tickets are apparently still available for Duffy’s show on Monday, May 12 at the Apollo.
Buy Duffy Tickets
Buy Adele Tickets (June 10) | Buy Adele Tickets (June 11)
Foals at Union Hall (05/08/08)
Despite much hand wringing I decided at the last minute not to attend this show, lucky for me, (and people reading this), Abbey Braden of PunkPhoto.com was there to capture all the action.
Top and Bottom Photos: Abbey Braden
Check out the full Punk Photo flickr set over here.
Ohbijou
Toronto’s Ohbijou, (who I’ve been meaning to mention here for a long time), played their first US gig last night (05/08) at the Knitting Factory and they will be playing their first Brooklyn gig tonight at Union Hall. Here’s what NOW Magazine had to say about them recently:
Started as the solo project of singer/songwriter Casey Mecija, Ohbijou can be traced back to Casey’s bedroom where she began timidly showing her songs to little sister Jennifer Mecija. After a few solo shows, Casey was joined by Jennifer on backup vocals, organ and violin. Upon moving to Toronto, the Mecija sisters enlisted the help of Heather Kirby (bass/banjo), Ryan Carley (piano/keyboards), James Bunton (drums/trumpet), Anissa Hart (cello) and Andrew Kinoshita (mandolin/guitar) to complete their delicate ensemble. Since its inception, Ohbijou has become the mouth from which Casey relays her whimsical stories of romance, heartbreak, and living in the big city. [NOW Magazine]
Ohbijou are good friends with The Acorn, who talked them up at their UH show last week. They are also good friends with The Forest City Lovers who are another great Toronto band that I’ve also been meaning to mention here for a long time.
You can listen to a CBC Radio 3 Session with Ohbijou over here.
You can listen to a CBC Radio 3 Session with the Forest City Lovers over here.
Ladyhawk
Photo: Braden Barclay
Vancouver’s Ladyhawk have an awesome new album out now called Shots and they are currently in the midst of a big tour to support it. Ladyhawk rolls into town tonight (05/09) with a show at the Mercury Lounge, then they’ll be over at Union Hall on Saturday to complete back to back nights of Canadian headliners.
You can hear Ladyhawk talk about and play songs off of their new record on CBC Radio 3 Podcast #150.
DOWNLOAD: Ladyhawk - I Don’t Always Know What You’re Saying (mp3)
All Ladyhawk tour dates after the jump.
“Canada In NYC | Ohbijou and Ladyhawk” continued after the jump
Neil Diamond at The Bitter End (05/07/08)
Neil Diamond greeted the long line of fans stationed outside The Bitter End on Bleeker Street, saying hello and posing for pictures. Once inside the club, Diamond, backed by a small band consisting of members from both his studio and touring musicians, gave an energized acoustic performance of “Solitary Man”, “Don’t Go There”, “Home Before Dark”, “Pretty Amazing Grace”, “Kentucky Woman”, “Cherry, Cherry” and “Sweet Caroline”. The club placed speakers in the windows during the performance allowing the hundreds of fans who couldn’t get into the club to sing-along on the street and sidewalk and participate in this once in a lifetime event.
As mentioned previously, Neil Diamond is playing MSG, a third show was just added.
A few more shots after the jump.
“Neil Diamond Played The Bitter End” continued after the jump
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Echo & the Bunnymen with Orchestra Performing Ocean Rain October 1, 2008 |
Looks pretty good to me…
The Village Voice Announces Initial Lineup for the 8th Annual Village Voice Siren Music Festival™ at Coney Island Saturday, July 19, 2008
STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE, THE HELIO SEQUENCE, BEACH HOUSE, TIMES NEW VIKING, JAGUAR LOVE, THE DODOS, ANNUALS, FILM SCHOOL, PARTS & LABOR, DRAGONS OF ZYNTH, THESE ARE POWERS and more to be announced! [Official Siren Music Festival Site]
The L Magazine’s New Music Festival will take place on June 5, 2008 at The Music Hall of Williamsburg and will feature 4 of the “8 NYC Bands You Need To Hear” plus Meowskers and Motel Motel.
L Magazine New Music Festival
The Lisps, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Famous Amos, La Strada, Meowskers and Motel Motel
Doors 7:30pm / Show 8:30pm / 21+
$8 advance / $10 day of show
Buy Tickets (05/07 @ 12:00 pm)
Just in case you missed it, the “8 NYC Bands You Need To Hear” are:
The Lisps
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Famous Amos
This Is Ivy League
La Strada
Team Robespierre
High Places
Violens
UPDATE: Meowskers just added to the bill.
The producers behind the Seaport Music shows that take place on Friday nights during the summer are putting on a free an indoor show this week featuring Irish indie artist Jack Lukeman who will be performing the songs of Randy Newman. See the details below:
Seaport DIY Show
“On-the-Side” with Jack Lukeman
Jack Lukeman Sings Randy Newman
@Seaport
219 Water Street (at Beekman Street)
7 p.m. Thursday, May 8
7 & 9 p.m. Friday, May 9
South Street Seaport Music Festival Summer 2008 Initial Schedule
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May 30 WIRE Die!Die!Die River To River Launch June 27 July 11 July 18 July 25 |
August 1 SEAPORT MUSIC Brother Ali August 8 August 15 August 22 August 29 August 30 |
| MySpace Secret Shows Presents: | |
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NEIL DIAMOND @The Bitter End 149 Bleecker St Wednesday, May 7 Doors 7:00 PM FREE! 18+ New York, NY |
THE BLACK KEYS @ Beachand Tavern 15711 Waterloo Rd Wednesday, May 7 Doors @ 8:00 PM FREE! ALL AGES! Cleveland, OH 44110 |
| PLEASE NOTE: Admission is on a first come, first served basis. So get there early and stay in line. |
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The Acorn at Union Hall (05/03/08)
Since The Acorn play their final New York date tonight (05/06) at The Mercury Lounge I thought I would post these pics from their Saturday night gig Union Hall before they leave town. What can I say about the show? Let me be short and sweet: I was blown away all over again by these guys. For a more nuanced take on their performance, (which I also agree with), check out what Jonny Leather had to say below:
The Ottawa six-piece are one of those bands whose name will certainly become more and more known in the indie music world over the course of the next year. Their 2007 release, “Glory Hope Mountain” has been another testament to the high level of quality music coming out of Canada. “Glory Hope Mountain” is a concept album based around the story of the lead singer Rolf Klausener’s mother. At times the songs are deeply emotional and natural indie folk, but there is also a nice handful of more upbeat tracks that help give the album an uplifting vibe.
On Saturday night, The Acorn was able to prove that the magic goes beyond recorded form as they filled the songs with extra life, during an exceptionally tight performance. Klausener’s voice was just as soulful, if not more so, and the duel percussion worked perfectly. [JonnyLeather.com]
Check out my full flickr set from the show here.
No Age at The FADER party (05/05/08)
Photo: abzpunkphoto
Sub Pop’s No Age, whose most recent effort Nouns just received a much coveted 9.2 rating from Pitchfork, played a (semi-secret?) show last night at in SoHo. Luckily, our good friend Punk Photo was there to capture all the action. Tonight they’ll be playing a sold out show at the much larger Bowery Ballroom with Fiasco and The High Places.
View Punk Photo’s entire flickr set here.
Radiohead will not repeat their decision to let fans choose what to pay for their music. [The Hollywood Reporter]
In contrast, Nine Inch Nails decided to give away another free album, called The Slip, yesterday. You can also stream The Slip for free over here.
Coldplay gave away their new single “Violet Hill” for free, but that was only for a limited time only. You can still stream it here. In other free Coldplay news, the band has decided to put on two free concerts in support of their new record, Viva La Vida, the first will be at Brixton Academy on June 16 and the second will be at MSG on June 23 .
Shearwater at Florence Gould Hall (05/06/08)
I’d love to write a long descriptive essay about this show, but it’s far too late and I am far too tired. Suffice to say it was an excellent show and I really dig the songs off of the new album. In what may come as no surprise to you, I also thought the old songs were great, and I especially liked the arrangements on the Palo Santo cuts.
View my whole Shearwater flickr set here.
The Cave Singers at Union Hall (05/06/08)
Because the Shearwater show ended promptly at 10pm, I was able to make it back to Union Hall in time for the Cave Singers set. I really can’t say enough good things about this band, this was only my second time seeing them, but the songs sounded like classics already. Really, if you haven’t had the chance to see the Cave Singers live yet, you have to check them out, and while you’re at it, you might as well go buy their fine debut record, Invitation Songs. (Reminder: They’ll be at the Mercury Lounge tomorrow night (05/06) with Love as Laughter and The Acorn).
Cinco de Mayo
Photo:dunechaser
Like most other nights, there are a million things going on tonight in the Naked City, but there is so much quality around town this evening that I’m bringing back my infrequent “To Do, Tonight” feature just for the occasion.
Monday, May 5
Shearwater @ Florence Gould Hall
Cave Singers @ Union Hall
The Acorn @ Pianos
Flight of The Conchords @ Town Hall
Fuck Buttons, Sightings, Pattern Is Movement @ The Mercury Lounge
The Teenagers @ The Bowery Ballroom
May Events at the Housing Works Bookstore
05/05 - Art and Activism: Writers on Politics
Stephen Elliott (Sex for America), Nick Flynn (Another Bullshit Night in Suck City) and Janice Erlbaum (Have You Found Her).
05/06 - The Fight against AIDS in Africa
Helen Epstein, Jonny Steinberg, George Packer and moderator Jonathan Cohen.
05/07 - First Words
Bid on signed first editions by authors including George Saunders, Mary Gaitskill, Jonathan Safran Foer, Elizabeth Gilbert, Paul Auster and many more.
05/08 - Anne Carson
A reading of the new play Uncle Harry with Anne Carson, Tacita Dean, Gary Shteyngart, and a Laurie Anderson video.
05/14 - A Freewheelin’ Time
Suze Rotolo reads from her new memoir, A Freewheelin’ Time about life with Bob Dylan in the Greenwich Village of the Sixties. With musical guest Howard Fishman.
05/16 - Live From Home with:
Griffin House / Jeb Loy Nichols / KaiserCartel
05/17 - John Darnielle
John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats is working in a new genre. Tonight he’ll be reading from his brand new book, “his first novel and a stunning piece of rock criticism and appreciation” Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality, the newest in the 33 1/3 series of chapbooks about seminal records.
05/24 - The New York City Spelling Bee
A real, adult spelling bee hosted by Jennifer Dziura and bobbyblue.
05/27 - Paula Fox and Lynne Tillman
The authors Paula Fox and Lynne Tillman read from and discuss their work.
05/29 - Literary Death Match
Opium Magazine presents a Literary Death Match with Bob Powers, Cole Kazdin, Garth Risk Hallberg and Aaron Garretson and judges by Ben Greenman, Joel Dovev and Gill and Jill Bumby.
Irving Plaza
