The Compulsions: Log Cabin Studio Session 2016 If you’ve spent a night in a NYC venue listening to a rock show over the last decade, you might have seen Rob Carlyle and/or his mates who have played innumerable gigs in dives, joints, clubs, and theaters across the five boroughs and […]
Sound Advice
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Wolf Parade Light Fuse On 2016 Northside Festival; June 9, 2016 After Wolf Parade’s sound check on a gorgeous afternoon at Brooklyn’s McCarren Park, Dan Boeckner clipped on a microphone and spoke about this band‘s wildly triumphant comeback. “I underestimated what this band meant to people while we were active.” […]
CeeLo Parties Aboard Circle Line In New York Harbor; June 7, 2016 A hootenanny with CeeLo on a boat was a brilliant way to usher in the summer of ’16! It was a beautiful night to take in the skyline views and shake bones to the sounds of the Atlanta […]
It was a no-brainer to take a road trip up to Syracuse when I learned I’d have an opportunity to sit down with none other than Ringo Starr! The occasion was the first gig of a tour by the All Starr Band featuring Steve Lukather and Todd Rundgren on guitars, […]
John Scofield is a guitar virtuoso. He can make his guitar, seemingly, do anything he wants short or having it buy a round of drinks. Brad Mehldau is a keyboard virtuoso. No appreciable space exists between sounds in his head (I imagine) and the sounds that emanate from his piano […]
Sunflower Bean at Flamingo Cantina in Austin for SXSW 3-16-16 & coming to House Of Vans as part of the annual Brooklyn hootenanny known as the Northside Festival on Thursday 6-9-16 Love the Bean! The Wednesday afternoon performance that you get a taste of in the accompanying video was a […]
Bloc Party at Bangers in Austin on 3-17-16 during SXSW & at Governors Ball this Friday, 6-3-16. Bloc Party is one of the more interesting rock bands in the world. They are nothing but flavorful and modern; unpredictable from minute to minute within songs, from tune to tune on albums, […]
Bad Boy Concerts Celebrate The Notorious B.I.G. May 20th & 21st at Barclays Center About as big a hip hop hootenanny as could possibly occur happened on Friday and Saturday nights at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was the start of the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour that sees […]
Youssou N’Dour & his longtime band Le Super Etoile de Dakar at BAM; May 20 (and 21) 2016 Youssou N’Dour is one of the most famous singers in the world and is without doubt the African artist with the greatest name recognition both on his home continent and off it. […]
Cage The Elephant, even though I had to recall the Bart Gets An Elephant episode of The Simpsons (season 5) to find the proper verb, ran amok in Central Park converting their fans into zealots and the non-committed into fans. After having an ear on them for the last eight […]
Soprano Ying Fang Shines At Juilliard’s Vocal Arts Recital on May 9, 2016 Last Monday on the Upper West Side was a great chance to savor the beauty of the human voice – the right human voice that is as projected by one Ying Fang. It’s amazing to see somebody […]
Bob Mould at Webster Hall April 29, 2016 “…Count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is […]
Bunny Wailer at BB Kings 5-1-16, Pearl Jam 5-2-16 I was almost resigned to missing the most important living reggae artist coming to NYC for the first time in a decade because I was holding Pearl Jam tickets. However, after being reminded by my pal Dr. Dub (yes, I do […]
Naughty By Nature with Smif N Wessun and Black Moon at Stage 48 on April 29, 2016 If you were around New York City in the mid 90’s and had any kind of interest in hip hop, the lineup at Stage 48 last Friday no doubt has some appeal. Naughty […]
Graham Parker & Brinsley Schwarz at City Winery on Wednesday night April 27, 2016 The first time I saw Graham Parker, and got to appreciate his cool delivery of wicked, street-smart lyrics, was when I was just short of my sixteenth birthday in June of 1985 at the Worcester Centrum. […]
Jeff Buckley’s You And I was released on 3-11-16. It was met with praise from artists like Adele and Chris Cornell among many others, especially here in NYC, who were touched and continue to be touched by his music. The two men who were in the studio with Jeff Buckley […]
Charles Bradley Celebrates New Album At The Beacon 3-23-16 When I interviewed Charles for the first time three years ago, he opened up to the extent that not only do I feel like I really know him but I feel like he’s a friend. He’s an amazing character. As Graham […]
National Jazz Museum In Harlem Celebrates New Digs After 15 years in East Harlem, The National Jazz Museum In Harlem is now near the center of the action uptown. It’s at 58 West 129th Street just off Malcolm X Boulevard a few blocks from Red Rooster and Sylvia’s and Corner […]
2 Kinds of Bronx Tales: Dion & Pusha T Dion and Pusha T don’t have a hell of a lot in common but they were both born in The Bronx. Dion was born in 1939 and grew up around Arthur Avenue. Dion and his group The Belmonts, named for the […]
PINS Set To Drop In On NYC As a fan of PINS, having been exposed to their first record Girls Like Us as well as the follow up Wild Nights released last summer, I was determined to seek them out in Austin. Even though it wasn’t especially convenient to hop […]
Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair Hit Beacon Theatre 4/4/16 Some cool moments last night. Billy Corgan participated in a Bowie tribute show that happened a couple of nights before by playing Space Oddity. Liz Phair came out and sang backup for one. Corgan also covered Angie by The Stones, Zwan, and, […]
Loving Farewells To David Bowie At NYC Tribute Concerts – Quick peek at Radio City show on 4/1/16 and interview with Woody Woodmansey The series of tribute concerts at Carnegie Hall, that Michael Dorf (best known as the man behind the Knitting Factory and now City Wineries) began in 2004 […]
Hiromi Plays In Colors, At Highline Ballroom This Week (3/30 & 3/31) Whew – Hiromi can play! As she explained when I had a chance to speak with her this week, she was born in Hamamatsu so she she shares a hometown with the manufacturer of the pianos she plays […]
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 […]
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 […]