Helmet Kicks Ass At Highline Ballroom In Return To NYC; November 12, 2016 Regarding the first album by his group in six years, according to Page Hamilton: “People who hate Helmet are not going to like the record…and the people that love Helmet; some of them may take a minute […]
Eric Holland
692 posts
Chick Corea 75th Birthday Residence At The Blue Note – November 12th, 2016 Chick Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts – (same as me!) – and was too young to remember the day the piano came. However, according to the story that he got from his folks and relayed to […]
Danish String Quartet Makes Carnegie Hall Debut; At Zankel Hall on 10-26-16 Almost twenty years ago, three thirteen (or maybe fourteen) year old musicians became friends and began to play together. A professor (who is still a mentor) Tim Frederiksen at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen took interest […]
Dweezil Keeps Zappa Flag Flying At Beacon Theatre 10-30-16 I think Frank Zappa would be very proud of what his son Dweezil has done and what he is doing in regards to keeping his music alive on stages around the world. He plays it with skill and passion and is […]
Tricky Gets Personal At Webster Hall – 10/28/31 When I spoke to Tricky a few hours before his show last Friday, he explained how people had mentioned to him that when he’s on stage there is a tension and a vibe that would be welcome in larger doses in his […]
The Damned Celebrate Forty Years At Gramercy Theatre – Saturday 10-29-16 as well as Sunday 10-30-16 The Damned vini, vidi, vici’d two sold out shows at a grand old theatre. The interview occurred in between sets on Saturday night which is the most manic time imaginable to conduct an interview. […]
I stumbled upon Black Violin at SXSW last year and have been a fan ever since. The mad instrumentation of two fiddles, a drummer, and a turntablist creates a unique template on which to build songs. Hip hop and classical music are the genres most easily identified when sampling BV […]
Bela Fleck Leads Banjo Roundtable At Symphony Space – Sunday 10-23-16 The brilliant Bela Fleck invited some of his favorite banjo players to Symphony Space for an event that highlighted the range of sounds that the instrument can make across models, playing styles, and regional traditions. Â The mutual respect and […]
Jojo Makes Triumphant Return With Mad Love – Her First Album As An Adult & Her First In A Decade It was a delight to meet Jojo whose Massachusetts/New Hampshire roots are close to mine. She takes pride in being from New England and both states are represented among her […]
Steely Dan Fall ’16 Beacon Residency Underway – October 18th, 2016 The boys are back in town! Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have led Steely Dan through extended runs at The Beacon Theatre in five of the last seven years but they’ve topped out this year with ten shows. The […]
Pedrito Martinez Group Hitting Subrosa Next Two Tuesdays: 10-18 & 10-25-16 Pedrito Martinez is undeniably a demon on percussion and his interest in the music and culture of countries around the world, along with his spiritual approach to his own, helps elevate his hot quartet. He’s an intuitive bandleader and […]
New Morphine Documentary, Vapors Of Morphine Shows in Brooklyn This Saturday 10-15-16 Oh the joy Morphine has given me! One of the bands I have played the most in various living rooms of apartments I’ve lived in. Always there to create a very cool vibe. As he said near the […]
Derek Trucks Talks Listening In The Tedeschi Trucks Band Tonight – Saturday, October 8th 2016 – marks the nineteenth show for the Tedeschi Trucks Band at The Beacon Theater. It caps a six night Fall ’16 residence for the twelve piece group that included three nights of support from Jorma […]
Billy Bragg & Joe Henry Ride Train, Release Album Together On Saturday -October 1st, 2016 – Billy Bragg and Joe Henry celebrated the unleashing of their first album recorded as a duo, Shine A Light, with a show at Society of Ethical Culture. Recently these two collaborated on Bragg’s excellent […]
First Ever Roots Picnic NYC Is Happening 10-1 & 10-2 This upcoming weekend’s festivities also involve many stars but will not allow non-musicians on stage. The Roots were in wicked form in July at one of my fave annual events – the Lowdown Hudson Music Festival. ROOTS PICNIC: NYC AT […]
5th Annual Global Citizen Festival 9-24-16 Saturday was a mad scene in Central Park as 60,000 turned up to see, by any standard, an impressive lineup of talent. The musical parade in the early going in the afternoon included Demi Lovato, Ellie Goulding, and Major Lazer as well as special […]
Donovan & Brian Wilson Celebrate Fifty Year Anniversaries – Sunshine Superman and Pet Sounds were both released in 1966 and both the Glasgow born troubadour and American genius are marking the landmark releases with tours visiting New York City. Donovan played Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on Thursday September 15th, […]
Kangol Kid Honored By New York & Smithsonian – September 10th, 2016 Roxanne Roxanne by UTFO is one of those songs that got tattooed onto popular consciousness. The year was 1984 and the group was out of Brooklyn. It’s difficult to overstate how BIG a song it was. It spawned […]
Peter Wolf Brings A Cure For Loneliness To City Winery – September 8th, 2016 Also September 9th & tonight (September 10th) Peter Wolf’s A Cure For Loneliness is one of my favorite albums of 2016 and he is the kind of performer who I want to see regardless of the […]
As it always is with that most exciting of trios, it was my pleasure to take in the Soulive show a few weeks as part of the Louis Armstrong Wonderful World Festival at Flushing Meadows Park. At that time, Eric Krasno revealed in an interview that he has a Central […]
Stanley Jordan Wows Iridium – August 25th & 26, 2016 Stanley Jordan used to love to sit in with Les Paul at Iridium on Monday nights and he regards the venue as his home in New York. The artist has a long history at the club and added a few […]
Al Di Meola Lets It Rip At BB Kings – (8-23) & 8-24-16 While his fellow New Jerseyan Bruce Springsteen was setting up shop about ten miles away on the other side of the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, Al Di Meola brought his Elegant Gypsy Romantic Warrior Electric Tour to […]
Springsteen Reaches New Heights (& Lengths) In Jersey (8-23-16) 8-25-16 & Tonight at Metlife Stadium. “I want to hear that satisfied sound!” – Bruce speaking to the audience at approximately the 3 hour, 50 minute mark of Thursday’s show shortly after refreshing himself by squeezing a sponge over his head. […]
Steve Aoki Talks Hardcore Roots, New Documentary I met the great character that is Steve Aoki at The Roxy Hotel in Tribeca on August 22nd, 2016. He was in New York to do a handful of interviews about the new documentary film, Steve Aoki: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, that […]
Living Colour Covers Biggie In Stand Against Gun Violence – Who Shot Ya Mixtape Coming Next Month Living Colour have offered a sneak peek at their new video that will accompany their song Who Shot Ya to be released on September 9th as part of an Andre Betts produced mixtape […]