Friends and supporters of Union Hall came out in large numbers last night to the meeting of Community Board 6 and in the end, they did not walk away disappointed. The motion put forth by Lou Sones, owner of The Brazen Head, to disapprove Union Hall’s application to renew its liquor license was soundly defeated by the board. In fact, a second motion was made during the meeting in support of Union Hall’s application for its liquor license renewal, which passed overwhelmingly. Ultimately, the State Liquor Authority (SLA) will decide whether or not Union Hall’s Liquour License is renewed, but now at least they can proceed safe in the knowledge that they have the blessing of the local community board.

See Bryan Bruchman’s badass flickr set over here.

“Union Hall Wins!” continued after the jump

Tomorrow (05/14) could change Brooklyn nightlife as we know it.

Community Board 6’s advisory board lead by Lou Sones (the owner of Brazen Head) is taking action against Union Hall of Park Slope. They are recommending the removal of their liquor license based on a group of about 5 people from Union street, with no facts generated to prove any violations. I repeat… THEY ARE TRYING TO TAKE AWAY UNION HALL’S LIQUOR LICENSE WITHOUT A SINGLE VIOLATION! If this is allowed it could set a chain-reaction through the night life scene. If they can deny the renewal of a liquor license for an establishment with no violations they will be able to close down anyone they like.

DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN!

The General Board will be meeting on this and other matters at the address and time listed bellow. Show up in numbers with signs stating your support for Union Hall and Brooklyn Nightlife. The press will be there and we have to put the pressure on

Borough Hall Court Room / 6:30PM
May 14, 2008
209 Joralemon St
Brooklyn, NY

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater (05/05/08)

Jonathan Meiburg, frontman for Shearwater, has announced that he is leaving Okkervil River to focus exclusively on Shearwater. Meiburg says the split is “completely amicable”, and that Shearwater has grown to the point that it excludes his further participation in Okkervil. “This is just a logical extension of the way things have been going since ‘Palo Santo’”, Meiburg adds. “Shearwater’s increasingly demanding schedule has meant that I’ve performed with Okkervil less and less over the past two years, and with ‘Rook’ coming out in June, we all felt that it would be best if I completely disengaged from Okkervil rather than stretch myself too thin.” [Press Release]

On Thursday of last week, members of Community Board 6 of the City of New York, voted 6 to 2 in favor of a, “motion that denies Union Hall a renewal [of its liquor license] unless the business’ owners sign a contract stipulating that they will take measures to ameliorate noise, such as stopping the sale of alcohol after midnight. Although the motion is ultimately only advisory, the committee member who introduced it—Lou Sones, who himself owns a bar, The Brazen Head on Atlantic Avenue—described it as the community board’s “nuclear weapon” in terms of being a powerful indication to the State Liquor Authority that Union Hall is disturbing the lives of nearby residents.” [Brownstoner]

As a resident of the neighborhood, and a frequent patron of Union Hall I fervently believe that the board’s decision couldn’t be more wrong headed, short sighted, or reeking with the appearance of conflict of interest. Since its inception, Union Hall has become one of the premier venues for live music not just in Brooklyn, but in all of the five boroughs. In addition to being a great place for music, it’s a much loved community gathering place, it plays host to a top notch comedy night (Tearing the Veil of Maya was voted Best Comedy Night by New York Magazine), and it brings in internationally renown scientists for The Secret Science Club (which has presented talks by three Nobel Laureates). In its short existence, Union Hall has vastly enriched the cultural landscape of the Park Slope and any entity that wants or purports to change it, should be met with a healthy degree of opposition by the community and the public at large. In short, if Union Hall loses its liquor license, it will be a travesty of justice.

To write CB6 and voice your opinion, you can go here.

To call CB6 and voice your opinion, you can use this number 718-643-3027.

To take a look at what Union Hall has done to address the concerns of CB6 up to now, (and their associated lack of response), you can go here.

You can view some video of last Thursday’s meeting after the jump.

“Why Union Hall’s Liquor License Should Be Renewed” continued after the jump

Zune users can now download their friends’ nine most recently played songs, as well as nine tunes flagged as favorites. If you are amongst the 4% of Americans that own Zunes, this is awesome news!

The upgrade takes the community element a bit further by letting Zune users download each other’s nine most recently played songs, as well as nine tunes flagged as favorites. The playlists are updated each time a person connects their Zune to the PC.

In order for people to trade tunes, they have to subscribe to Microsoft’s mobile music service called Zune Pass. The service costs $14.99 a month and lets subscribers download onto their Zunes any of the 3.5 million songs in Microsoft’s library.
…
In other Zune news, Microsoft on Tuesday added television shows from Comedy Central, NBC Universal, Turner Broadcasting, and others to the Zune online store. Microsoft added a total of 800 episodes, including those from the popular South Park and Heroes programs. Each show costs $1.99 each. [Information Week]

Related Story: And should you ever find another Zune owner, sharing is now even easier

Well, at least this oughta tie things up in court for a couple years.

Amazon has filed a lawsuit in New York contesting a controversial new state law requiring some online retailers to collect sales tax on purchases shipped to New York’s residents, even if they have no offices or employees there.

The e-commerce giant filed its challenge to the law in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, seeking a declaratory ruling that the law is “invalid, illegal and unconstitutional.” [Reuters/InternetNews.com]

Sunday with The Magazine
Sunday, May 4 at The Times Center

10:00 - 11:15 a.m. - What We Eat
Michael Pollan Gerry Marzorati

New York Times Magazine editor Gerry Marzorati talks with best-selling author Michael Pollan (”In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”) about America’s national food disorder, the dysfunction of the industrial food complex and how we can bring health and pleasure back to eating.

12:00 - 1:15 p.m. - What We Believe
Noah Feldman Christopher Hitchens Mark Lilla James Traub

Religion’s role in today’s politics comes under scrutiny by Times Magazine contributing writer James Traub (”The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the U.N. in the Era of American World Power”), best-selling author Christopher Hitchens (“God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”) and Magazine contributors Noah Feldman (”Divided by God: America’s Church-State Problem”) and Mark Lilla (”The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West”).

2:00 - 3:15 p.m. - What We Watch
Gail Simmons Lauren Zalaznick Tim Gunn Virginia Heffernan

Bravo TV’s president Lauren Zalaznick, “Project Runway” fashion guru Tim Gunn (also “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style”) and “Top Chef” judge Gail Simmons talk with The Magazine media columnist, Virginia Heffernan, about the brave new world of television programming and what we are watching now.

4:00 - 5:15 p.m. - How We Govern
David A. Patterson Matt Bai

David A. Paterson — sworn in as the 55th governor of New York just a few weeks ago — discusses the social and economic challenges facing the state, the Democratic party and our country with New York Times Magazine contributing writer Matt Bai, author of “The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.”

6:00 - 7:15 p.m. - What We Wear
Donatella Versace Stefano Tonchi

Acclaimed international designer Donatella Versace, one of Italy’s most powerful women, discusses fashion, design, style and celebrity with T Magazine editor Stefano Tonchi.

8:00 - 9:15 p.m. - What Makes Us Laugh
Tracey Ullman Deborah Solomon

The multiple comedic personality that is seven-time Emmy Award winner Tracey Ullman, star of Showtime’s “Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union,” talks with The New York Times Magazine’s “Questions for… ” columnist, Deborah Solomon.

The Barry Gibb Talk Show feat. Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake

Jimmy Fallon, who you may remember from Saturday Night Live and you may not remember from such films as Fever Pitch (US remake) and Taxi is set to replace the venerable Conan O’Brien as host of Late Night on NBC.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - “Saturday Night Live” veteran Jimmy Fallon has sealed a deal to succeed “Late Night” host Conan O’Brien on NBC in 2009, sources said.

O’Brien, whose show airs at 12:35 a.m., is moving to Los Angeles next year to replace Jay Leno at “The Tonight Show,” which airs an hour earlier.

NBC is expected to make the announcement on May 12 during its “upfront” presentation to advertisers in New York. The network declined comment on Thursday. [Reuters/Hollywood Reporter]

Maybe he’ll do the whole show as Barry Gibb, now that would be funny.

Photo: Gerben Pul

I usually like to report music and entertainment industry news when they happen, but I kind of fell asleep at the wheel over the last week or two, so here’s a rundown of a few stories I found interesting (that may or may not have crossed your path already).

Buzznet Acquires Stereogum and Idolator [The Daily Swarm]
Mos Def To Play Chuck Berry in Chess Records Film [Billboard.com]
Amazon Music Links Up With GTA IV [Arstechnica.com]
CBS To Stream All Radio Stations On Last.fm [Yahoo! Finance]
MySpace Unveils New Music Service [News.com]
‘Idol Gives Back’ Ratings Down 36% From Last Year [HollywoodReporter.com]
Canadian Stars Fight Against Bill C-10 [CBC.ca]
NHL Partners with Horrible Looking Mike Meyers Film [CNNMoney.com]
Court To Hear Baidu Copyright Infringement Suit [Forbes.com]
Bob Dylan Wins The Pulitzer Prize [Yahoo! News]
Mark Ronson Signs Deal with Interscope Records [CMJ.com]
The Colbert Report, 30 Rock, Mad Men, Dexter, Project Runway and Others Win Peabody Awards [AP]

Pitchfork.TV

You may recall that I reported on the imminent arrival of Videogum.com a few weeks ago, well it turns out that today (April 8th) was launch day for the new pop culture blog. Coincidentally, (or perhaps not), it was just yesterday that Pitchfork launched the horribly designed Pitchfork.TV which looks like an alt-MTV wannabe for the web. The Bumpershine verdict (on Pitchfork.TV), 3.2.

Photo: thomasexciting

Apple today announced that the iTunes Store surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US, based on the latest data from the NPD Group*. With over 50 million customers, iTunes has sold over four billion songs and features the world’s largest music catalog of over six million songs.

Velvet Elvis

Photo: Emily D

After feuding publicly for the past two weeks, Velvet Revolver and frontman Scott Weiland have officially parted ways, according to a statement from founding members Slash, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and Dave Kushner. [Billboard.com]

This summer Weiland will rejoin his former bandmates in Stone Temple Pilots for their first tour in seven years.

Bill Gates and Jay-Z

Photo: niallkennedy

Attention, Live Nation, I can be bought for far less than $150 million.

Jay-Z plans to depart his longtime record label, Def Jam, for a roughly $150 million package with the concert giant Live Nation that includes financing for his own entertainment venture, in addition to recordings and tours for the next decade. The pact, expected to be finalized this week, is the most expansive deal yet from Live Nation, which has angled to compete directly with the industry’s established music labels in a scrum over the rights to distribute recordings, sell concert tickets, market merchandise and control other aspects of artists’ careers.

As CD sales plunge, an array of players — including record labels, promoters and advertisers — are racing to secure deals that cut them in on a larger share of an artist’s overall revenue. Live Nation has already struck less comprehensive pacts with Madonna and U2. [NYTimes.com]

On a side note, I don’t think I can name one song by Jay-Z.

The good people at Sub Pop records are once again offering college scholarships to eligible high school seniors in Washington and Oregon. Check out all the details below:

Sub Pop Records in Seattle, WA is offering a grand total of $13,000 worth of college scholarship money to three eligible high school seniors. There are three scholarships—one for $6,000 and two for $3,500 each. To apply for these scholarships you must be a resident of Washington or Oregon, and a graduating senior on your way to full-time enrollment at an accredited university or college. We are looking for an applicant who is involved and/or interested in music and/or the creative arts in some way.

To apply for these scholarships we would like you to submit an essay, no longer than one page, letting us know about some of the following topics:

* What are you doing in the arts/music field in your community?
* How and/or why did you become interested in artistic outlets?
* Why do you need this scholarship money?
* What are your influences and/or who inspires you?
* Who are some of your favorite bands or artists?

Applicants are encouraged to send digital links and provide hard copies of their artwork along with their essay. However, please be aware that Sub Pop will not return any of this material, so please don’t send originals. Sub Pop will give equal opportunity to all applicants who fit the criteria outlined above. The deadline for applications is May 1st, please get in touch before then if you are interested.

Please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com

All physical submissions should be sent to:

Sub Pop Records
Attn: Scholarship
2013 4th Ave, 3rd Floor
Seattle, WA 98121

Amount: $6,000 / $3,500 / $3,500 – checks will be made payable to the university or college of the winning applicants’ choice and applied to winning applicants’ tuition.