Finish up your CMJ at The Bell House tonight (October 25) with:

8pm / $10 or CMJ Badge
BLACKSTRAP (from Sweden) / HELLO SAFERIDE / THE SEABELLIES (from Australia)

12am / $5 or CMJ Badge
PONYTAIL / AWESOME COLOR

Tickets are available at or at the door, first come first served. More Blackstrap and Seabellies US tour dates after the jump.

“The Bell House Tonight | Seabellies, Blackstrap, Ponytail and More” continued after the jump

Gabriel Kahane

The first ever CMJ event at The Bell House starts at 3PM today (October 22). The entire week of CMJ day parties at The Bell House are being sponsored by Gothamist and they are all FREE! Today’s lineup featuring Emmy The Great, Gabriel Kahane, Bell and Nat Baldwin (among many others), looks especially promising.

Full Gothamist House schedule after the jump.

“Gothamist House @ Bell House Starts Today!” continued after the jump

Eugene Mirman at The Bell House (09/17/08)

Comedian Eugene Mirman took some time to sit down with us to discuss his upcoming Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival (which starts tonight at The Bell House), his take on the New York comedy scene, some interesting future plans, and a blockbuster revelation about Season 2 of Flight Of The Conchords.

Bumpershine: Why the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival? Why now?

Eugene Mirman: Because it’s ridiculous and it’s a good time for it. I like fall a lot. It’s my favorite season.

Bumpershine: I heard that the idea for the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival basically came out of a dare from Julie Smith and Mike Birbiglia, what made you actually decide to put the festival together?

Eugene Mirman: It wasn’t a dare. We were at Union Hall one day and I jokingly said I was going to organize a Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival. Then they said that it’d be funny to do it for real. So, basically, Julie and I joked about it for the next month and then decided to do it and now it’s happening.

Bumpershine: Do you like comedy festivals in general?

Eugene Mirman: I actually do. There’s a lot of stupid fanfare that can come with it, but the truth is you often get to see lots of friends, go to great shows, and various companies buy you free drinks and have parties (with mashed potato bars!!!!!).

Bumpershine: New York has a couple of comedy festivals that I know of, The Del Close Marathon and The NY Comedy Festival for instance, how is the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival going to be different from those? Do you have a favorite comedy festival that you have been to?

Eugene Mirman: My festival is very small, pretty goofy, and takes place in Park Slope, while other festivals often have the names of entire cities attached. Mine is the only festival to present performers with awards before the festival happens. It’s the first one to incorporate bingo. But it is not the only festival that features a mashed potato bar with a man in a tuxedo serving it. That will happen tonight at our opening night awards gala. My favorite festival might be Sketch Fest in San Francisco. It’s super fun. I love the Vancouver comedy festival as well. I used to sneak into the Montreal comedy festival every year when I lived in Boston, and I’ve had a great time in Aspen, when they still did that festival. Mine will be both a real festival and also make fun of stuff at festivals.

Bumpershine: You got such an amazing lineup, was it relatively easy to get people to come on board? Is there anyone you are especially excited about or would like to tell people a little more about?

Eugene Mirman: It was relatively easy to get people, but sort of hard to coordinate everything. Everyone who we asked who was free was happy to do it. I’m very excited for the “One of Each” and “Fresh Faces” shows. I’m also excited for the “Apartment 2F Reunion”. Along with The State, Apartment 2F was one of the first shows to come out of the downtown alternative comedy scene in the 90s. And then tonight’s awards show and “Invite Them Up”. And also, the Saturday and Sunday shows as well. I think I just listed all the shows, sorry.

Bumpershine: SubPop is sponsoring this festival in part, will any of the show be recorded for a future record? Do you have plans for a new “Eugene Mirman ” comedy record anytime soon?

Eugene Mirman: None of the festival will be recorded for an album. But I am planning on recording a new record November 7th and 8th in Chicago at the Lakeshore Theater.

Bumpershine: What kind of surprises or special guests can we expect at the EMCF?

Eugene Mirman: I can’t say in case it doesn’t work out, but we have lots of surprises planned throughout the festival. Some surprises are people you’d expect and some will be decidedly unexpected.

Bumpershine: I know it’s a little premature, but if all goes well, are there plans to have another festival next year?

Eugene Mirman: Maybe. It’s sort of a ton of work, but if it goes well, we might do it again.

Bumpershine: I understand you’re filming Season 2 of Flight Of The Conchords right now, anything special you can tell us about the new season?

Eugene Mirman: Yes. The entire season takes place on the moon.

Bumpershine: What do you think will be the next Rififi? Will there be one at all?

Eugene Mirman: I don’t really know. I think everyone is asking that, and naming places, but it will take time to make a place a hub for a comedy scene, where comics hang out a lot, and people in general know about. We did Invite Them Up for a year and a half or two before Rififi really started to take off as a place for comedy. It just takes a while. It has to come about organically.

Bumpershine: Do you think it is easier to make it as a comedian in New York or LA?
Eugene Mirman: I have no idea. I never lived in LA. I personally like New York a lot more, but I believe there’s a lot more work in LA. I think it’s best to start in a city like Boston, Chicago, Seattle or Austin and then move to NY or LA after doing comedy for a few years.

Bumpershine: Would you like to have your own TV show?

Eugene Mirman: A little. I really don’t like pitching things and selling myself, but as time goes on I think I’d enjoy working on my own TV show. Especially if the TV show was The Whoopsy Daisy Time Travel Boys, about two guys (me and Larry Murphy) who go back in time each week and when they return from the past they realize they left something (like a lighter, a cell phone, a sandwich, etc) that has destroyed the world and each episode they have to go back and fix it.

Bumpershine: You’ve been on Conan O’Brien, you’ve had your own Comedy Central Special, you’re an actor on a very funny TV show, and now you’ve got your own comedy festival, what’s next for Eugene Mirman?

Eugene Mirman: I have a book coming out in February called The Will To Whatevs, which is a fake self-help book/ guide to modern life. I’m also on a new show starring Jon Glaser called Delocated, which will air sometime in the first months of the new year.

Bumpershine: Thanks a lot Eugene!

The Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival takes place from September 25-28 at The Bell House and Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Advance tickets for the shows at The Bell House are on sale now.

Carl Newman and Eugene Mirman at The Bell House (09/17/08)

View the whole Flickr set here.

After hitting up The Mercury Lounge for the End of The World, Passion Pit, Sunset Rubdown* show, I headed on over to The Bell House, which is, dare I say the newest and finest music venue in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The evening kicked off in grand fashion with sets from The Mugs and Tim Fite (both of which I actually missed) and they were followed up by an assortment of musicians who did their best to replace scheduled headliner Nada Surf. Unfortunately, front man Matthew Caws was stuck on an airplane, so Alina Simone and Sharon van Etten played a few tunes solo, then Carl Newman (The New Pornographers), Conrad Doucette (Takka Takka), and Ira Eliot (Nada Surf) did their best imitation of a “supergroup” and played some New Pornographers and AC Newman tunes.

As for The Bell House itself, it’s gonna be a great venue for live music, with its “just right” capacity, unobstructed views, and big wide stage, I can hardly wait to get back there for a “proper” show.

* I left before Sunset Rubdown started.

Lilys

Yes, these details are exclusive, until this press release circulates widely that is.

THE BELL HOUSE OPENS; ECLECTIC MUSIC VENUE IN BROWNSTONE BROOKLYN

Free opening night festivities on September 18th include MATT POND PA and psych-rock legends LILYS

Gowanus, Brooklyn (September 4, 2008) - In the shadow of the famous and brooding Kentile Floors sign in the burgeoning and classic neighborhood of Gowanus, The Bell House, a gorgeous new and unique music venue and lounge, will open its doors on September 18 at 6pm with free admission to the public. The Bell House is a magnificent two-room music and events venue located at 149 7th Street between 2nd & 3rd Avenues. It was crafted out of an old 1920’s warehouse once used as a printing press, but more recently used as a fly-by-night shipping company.

Conceived and created by the friends behind Union Hall (Park Slope) and Floyd (Brooklyn Heights), The Bell House are thrilled to be pioneers of sorts adding a prominent performance space to Brownstone Brooklyn. The main space boasts 25 foot wooden arched ceilings, a 450 square foot stage, and unobstructed views from any part of the room. “Brownstone Brooklyn needed a major music venue and event space, and we found a beautiful old building near the Gowanus that was seemingly designed for live music,” said co-owner, Jim Carden. “We’ll be able to graduate the bands we’ve championed at Union Hall to a space like no other in New York City and be able to host acts that were simply too big for the stage there”, adds co-owner and talent buyer Jack McFadden.

The storefront features a comfortable 150 capacity lounge which will be open seven nights a week as a friendly neighborhood bar and gathering space featuring beer from independent and local breweries.

The live sound in the performance space has been outfitted with flying EAW speakers, 5 monitor mixes, an Allen & Heath console, and a gorgeous lighting set up with a Hog 500 controller. Capacity for the main space is 350 with an option of having seating for 200 plus standing room only on special occasions. Musicians and audience will be thrilled to find the same charm, hospitality, and professionalism that Union Hall has brought to Park Slope for the past 2 years.

The Bell House will play proud host to this initial lineup of shows; tickets will be on sale by Saturday, September 6 at noon:

09/18 LILYS / MATT POND PA / two more very special guests * FREE
09/19 THE NEW YORK BURLESQUE FESTIVAL
09/24 DIEGO GARCIA of ELEFANT
09/25 - 09/28 THE EUGENE MIRMAN COMEDY FESTIVAL
10/02 BANG ON A CAN office night with M SHANGHAI STRING BAND / GET HIM EAT HIM / MELOMANE / BABE THE BLUE OX / more
10/03 Popular folk/rock from MELISSA FERRICK
10/11 THE VEILS from New Zealand / very special guests
10/18 Oakland’s hip-hop pioneers CROWN CITY ROCKERS
10/22 - 10/25 (CMJ week) THE ROSEBUDS / SAM CHAMPION / THE LADYBUG TRANSISTOR / THE JEALOUS GIRLFRIENDS / CRYSTAL STILTS / more
11/15 AC NEWMAN / special guests
12/02 VIENNA TENG

for more show information, please check www.thebellhouseny.com
_________

THE BELL HOUSE / 149 7th STREET / BROOKLYN, NY 11215 / 718-643-6510 /

*The Gowanus section of Brooklyn, filled with industrial buildings and the odd scrap metal processing facility, is heating up, as recently noted in The New York Times. Residents have noted a precipitous decline in the number of loitering prostitutes in this slightly notorious neighborhood, as the ever-expanding neighborhoods of Park Slope and Carroll Gardens creep closer. On 7th street alone, on the same block as the Bell House, a gallery as well as a night club from the people of Save the Robots fame, are soon scheduled to open

The Bell House
(From the people who brought you Union Hall)

Grand Opening
September 18th, 2008
FREE live show
Details: TBA
(The Bell House is located at 7th St b/w 2nd and 3rd in Brooklyn, NY)

The Bell House is the new venue brought to you by the owners of the Union Hall. It’s located Located on 7th street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues in Gowanus, Brooklyn. As you may recall, we gave the (then unnamed) Bell House a first look at the beginning of the month.

The Bell House

Photos: Bryan Bruchman

The Food of the Future also has some more pictures over here.