Peaches told me she had promised herself she’d never play the South by Southwest music festival again. She turned up in Austin for the shebang a decade ago and wasn’t sure she needed to do it twice. Fortunately the inimitable Canadian/Berliner/Los Angeleno decided to break that promise and put on […]
Live Music
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SXSW 2016: Iggy Pop To Loretta Lynn To ASAP Ferg To Infinity And Beyond 3-15 through 3-20-2016 I’ve never seen a more exciting performer on stage than Iggy Pop. Therefore, my top priority in Austin was connecting with Ig along with his recently minted group spearheaded by his new mainman […]
Dropkick Murphys Celebrate 20 Years At Webster Hall 3-9 (and 3-10) 2016 Twenty years; not bad for a band that was started on a bet! The man who took that bet was Dropkick Murphys founder as well as bassman and vocalist Ken Casey. The band formed in Quincy (part of […]
Brandon Curtis Unveils Cosmicide At Pianos 2-25-16; last of 4 show Thursdays in February residency I caught Secret Machines at the long-shuttered Annex in, I’m reasonably sure, the fall of 07 when I had just moved to New York. It was an amazing show: loud, swirling, and to use the […]
Not a lot of hip hop goes on at The Blue Note but Talib Kweli moved in for four shows over two nights last week following a similar run in February. The Brooklyn-raised MC known for his thoughtful, politically-charged rhymes, entered the game in 98 with the potent Mos Def & Talib […]
The Struts Back In NYC For Release Of Debut Album Everybody Wants The Struts were at Irving Plaza last night, March 3rd 2016, celebrating the worldwide release of their debut album Everybody Wants that comes out today. The quartet formed in Derby, England in 2012, are Luke Spiller who is from Brighton […]
The Loser’s Lounge is a phrase you may have heard of if you have been around the city since the early nineties when the concept was born. The prime mover is Joe McGinty who was coming off a five year gig playing keyboards with The Psychedelic Furs. He explained that […]
Rosanne Cash Crushes Carnegie Hall (Headlining) Debut 2-20-16 One might have thought that an artist of the stature of Rosanne Cash would have headlined Carnegie Hall before but that was not the case and it was clear that Rosanne was excited about the show. She and her husband of 21 […]
Antibalas Talks Afrobeat & Brooklyn Bowl Residency Antibalas has been an essential NYC band since they came together around the turn of the century. This year, in a monthly series of concerts, they are unveiling new material, cross-pollinating with some guests like Angelique Kidjo. and basically opening up the well-oiled, high-powered […]
Mack Avenue Superband At Birdland; Christian McBride Interview Christian McBride rolled into Birdland recently with an all-star band made up of his label mates on Mack Avenue. In addition to being an ace of bass, McBride is a great conversationalist. He tossed off some great lines. For example, when talking […]
Wild Belle Session At WFUV – Recorded 1-20-16 It’s natural for (the fabulous and pictured) Natalie Bergman to look up to her brother Elliot, who is eight years older, and who introduced her to the intoxication of performing on stage when he brought her out on tour when she was […]
Kenny Garrett Announces New Album; At Iridium This Weekend – Kenny Garrett is a true giant. His primary tool is alto saxophone which he supplements with the soprano sax and flute. The Detroit Native who’s been based in the NYC area since the early 80s has taken his fans to […]
Joe Bonamassa Heads To Carnegie Hall – Last January it was a pleasure to spend some time with Joe Bonamassa as he conquered Radio City Music Hall. At the time, He couldn’t think of anything better than that. He came up with something! JB is heading to Carnegie Hall for shows tomorrow […]
Meet Peter Calo I first met Peter Calo in the fall of 2013. My friend John Platt, who hosts a great show on WFUV called Sunday Supper, asked to MC a show he was playing at The Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock (a.k.a. the UUCSR) where they do a thing […]
The first time I saw Chris Potter was in ’93 or possibly ’94 when he was blowing sax on stage with Steely Dan. The alto and tenor sax of this extraordinary musician can be heard on the Dan’s Two Against Nature that came out in 2000. One of the great things […]
Deer Tick At Brooklyn Bowl 12-31-15 Last New Year’s Eve, Deer Tick celebrated their 10th anniversary with a show at Brooklyn Bowl that included guests like Stevie Nicks. This year, the venue was the same but, as John McCauley and Ian O’Neil explained, the emphasis was not on trying to […]
In the words of Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, and Zooey Deschanel among many others – what are you doing New Year’s Eve? And while we’re at it, how about tomorrow night (the video will show on TV tomorrow so ‘tonight’ refers to the 30th) straight through to Saturday, January 2nd. […]
Jerry Lee Lewis Rocks 80th Birthday In Times Square The immortal artist rolled into BB Kings Blues Club & Grill last Wednesday, December 18th, 2015, about ten weeks after his 80th birthday and played a show that surpassed my very high expectations. He killed! What a thrill to be able to […]
Sting Symphonicities At Carnegie Hall Longtime New York resident Sting is no stranger to the “hallowed sacred venue” (his words) that is Carnegie Hall. However the former Police frontman‘s performance last week marked a first in that it was the first time he had headlined there by himself as […]
The New York Tenors at Carnegie Hall with The Magic of Christmas Only ten days to go to until the fat guy in the red suit turns up so it’s time to ramp up the jolly factor. A good start would be spending a couple of minutes here with The […]
Larkin Poe Session At WFUV It’s time to find out who, or what, is Larkin Poe! The Atlanta duo is made up of two sisters – aged just 23 and 25 – who have amassed tremendous experience including touring with Conor Oberst, Kristian Bush, and Elvis Costello – who calls them […]
NY Philharmonic Frank Sinatra Tribute Stars ranging from Christina Aguilera (the Princess of Pop) to Bernadette Peters interpreted songs made famous by a man born in Hoboken, New Jersey almost 100 years ago to the day. Sinatra: Voice For A Century was a night long on talent at David Geffen Hall […]
Glen Hansard Interview NYC Shows The man is an astonishing performer. Absolutely thrilling performance turned in at The Beacon Theatre last Tuesday – December 2nd, 2015 – featuring songs from the new record Didn’t He Ramble not to mention a genius cover of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks. This is the second […]
Dinosaur Jr. have had a brilliant run. It’s mind boggling to consider they are now marking 30 years since the release of their debut album, but that’s exactly what they’re doing with seven (count ’em, 7!) consecutive nights at Bowery Ballroom beginning tomorrow night – Thursday, December 3rd, 2015. As […]
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and WhyHunger have been building their reputations for 40 years and the former sang on behalf of the latter as part of this year’s annual Thanksgiving time tradition to raise awareness and funds for people, including millions right here in New York City and […]