Advance Planing: Music for July

June 30, 2010

Tomorrow is July and therefore it’s time for the monthly calendar.  July is a pretty full month, and it seems that bookings through the month are pretty certain.

July 2 – Alejandro Escovedo / Willie NileCity Winery – 9pm

July 2 - Spottiswoode and His Enemies92Y Tribeca – 9:30pm

July 4 – Rosanne CashGovernors Island – 2pm

July 4- Demolition String BandBanjo Jim’s – 10pm

July 6 -  Misty BoyceRockwood Stage 2 – 7:30pm

July 7 – Harper BlynnMusic Hall of Williamsburg – 9pm

July 8 – Phosphorescent / DawesRiverRocks Pier 54 – gates 6pm

July 9 – TandyLakeside Lounge – 11pm

July 10 – Spanking CharleneLakeside Lounge – 11pm

July 12 – Ellen FoleyLakeside Lounge – 7pm

July 14 – David BrombergMadison Square Park – 7pm

July 14 – Jill SobuleCity Winery – 9pm

July 15 – The Loser’s LoungeDamrosch Park Bandshell – 7:30pm

July 15 – Jim’s Big EgoThe Living Room – 8pm

July 15 – James MaddockRockwood Stage 2 – 8pm

July 16 – The Lascivious BiddiesRockwood Music Hall – 7pm

July 17 – Ted Leo and The Pharmacists (plus many, many more) – Siren Music Festival – Coney Island

July 20 – Prisoners of 2nd AvenueRockwood Stage 2 – 8pm

July 20 – Greg Trooper‘s Song Roundup w Joe Flood & Kate JacobsLakeside Lounge – 9pm

July 21 – Freedy JohnstonRockwood Stage 2 – 7:30pm

July 21 – Mary LamontHill Country – 9pm-midnight

July 22 – Kathleen EdwardsRockin’ the River Cruise – 8pm

July 23 – Charlie FayeRockwood Stage 2 – 7:30pm

July 23 – Second DanRockwood Stage 2 – 8:30pm

July 23 – The SadiesBowery Ballroom – 9:30pm

July 24 – Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds – Rockwood Stage 2 – 10pm

July 28 – Ethel with special guests Adam Schlesinger with Mike Viola, Dayna Kurtz, Juana Molina, and Tom Verlaine with Patrick Derivaz - Damrosch Park Bandshell – 7:30

July 28 – The Wailin’ JennysMadison Square Park – 7pm

July 28 – Amy SpeaceThe Living Room – 10pm

July 28 – Jimmy and ImmyRockwood Music Hall – 10pm

July 30 – The Swell Season / The Low AnthemCelebrate Brooklyn (Prospect Park Bandshell) – gates 6:30pm /show 7:30pm

July 31 – Sonic Youth / Grass Widow / Talk NormalCelebrate Brooklyn (Prospect Park Bandshell) – gates 6pm /show 7pm

July 31 – Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, ? and The Mysterians (plus The Gories and Death) – Damrosch Park Bandshell – 5pm

Updated June 30, July 1, 2


Tonight: Twi Night Doubleheader with Al Kooper and Sydney Wayser

June 29, 2010

First up late this afternoon at 5pm is an interesting outdoor free show being held behind City Winery.  60s legend Al Kooper (he played the organ on Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone and formed Blood, Sweat and Tears just to name two of his accomplishments) plays with a rockabilly trio.  Here’s what City Winery says about this show:

For a sidetrip, Al Kooper loves to abscond from his regular band with the bassist & drummer and play the music he grew up on and learned how to play guitar as a result.

So Al locks up the keyboards for a coupla hours and parades a cavalcade of guitar-driven rockabilly anthems from his youth. Elvis (Presley), Rick Nelson, Link Wray, Buddy Holly, Jimmy Reed, Gene Vincent, Buddy Knox, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Dale Hawkins, Bo Diddley, and on a good night Procul Harum can all be included the repertoire.

When that’s over, grab something to eat and then make your way over to The Rockwood Music Hall to hear Sydney Wayser.  There, the Now I’ve Heard Everything favorite will be playing a show consisting of mostly material which may show up on her next album.  Here’s the interesting part: you get to vote for which songs you’d like to be recorded.  As Sydney explains:

I will have a paper near my mailing list where you can write down your favorite songs of the evening and the ones that get the most “checks” will be on the record!  So come listen and help me figure out which songs I want to record!

Al Kooper Rockabilly Trio, Behind City Winery, enter from Spring Street, between Varick and Hudson, or from Vandam between Varick and Hudson (1 Train to Houston Street or C or E Trains to Spring Street), 5pm, Free

Sydney Wayser, The Rockwood Music Hall, 196 Allen Street between Houston and Stanton Streets (F Train to 2nd Avenue, use the 1st Avenue exit) 8pm, No Cover (but $5 donation for the band is strongly encouraged)


Musician Closeup: Emily Zuzik

June 28, 2010

Emily Zuzik and her band played a fun and loud set at The Rockwood Music Hall last Thursday.  A few days later I got to sit down with Emily at a Connecticut Muffin near Emily’s house in Brooklyn in a free ranging discussion that touched pretty much everything that was on our collective minds, but we mostly spoke about Emily and her music.

Originally from Southwestern Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh, Emily said that she knew early on that she wanted to go somewhere else.  Emily has said that she came out of the womb singing, and she told me that she wrote her first song when she was 12.  Emily took advantage of the newly renovated arts and video production facilities in her high school.

After college (Syracuse University), Emily ended up in San Fransisco during the dot com boom.  She found that a college educated liberal arts major who could supply content to dot coms was in great demand and paid well.  And like many of her peers, Emily was involved in the SF music scene.  But the good pay at the dot coms didn’t last, and many of the dot coms didn’t last either and Emily made her way to New York.

I liked Emily’s songwriting and I find her songs to be quite solid.  However Emily is not writing all the time, but has to be in the right place to compose.  For her, that’s someplace away from New York City like the desert or the country.

Emily said that like a quote she has heard, a musician’s life is like keeping 50 plates up in the air at one time.  Theses days, she is involved in several musical projects (she’s starting to make a rock record and finishing up an electronica one that has been in the works for a while), is a model, a voice over artist and a writer of music for commercials.  And there’s one additional job that Emily has taken on as of late is planning her wedding, which is coming up this fall.

Emily and her band will be appearing at the Bands for Boobs Benefit at Crash Mansion on July 16th.


Music Video and Freebie: The Texas Tornados

June 27, 2010

When I left home yesterday the skies were quite overcast and the weather report was thunderstorms.  So I didn’t bring my camera with me to Prospect Park when I went to see The Texas Tornados.   Don’t know about The Texas Tornados?  Their linage goes back to The Sir Douglas Quintet in the mid 60s, and Wikipedia says this about their formation:

Texas Tornados is a Tejano band and its music was a fusion of rock, country and various Mexican styles. The initial combination of these musicians happened almost by chance at a concert performance of a mutual acquaintance. After Freddy Fender, Flaco Jiménez, Kevin West,Cesar Chavez, Augie Meyers, Jorge “Pac-MAN” Diaz, and Doug Sahm performed in front of a San Francisco audience, they all knew the genuine bond they felt in their music could probably be taken to another level. After they initially performed as the Tex-Mex Revue, they took the title Texas Tornados, after Sahm’s song and album of that name.

Although it did rain slightly just before the show started, that was it.  So I don’t have any pictures to share today of that spirited night of Tex-Mex rock ‘n’ roll, I do have the video posted above, taken in Austin earlier this year.

There’s also a freebie of a brand new song, Who’s to Blame Senorita.  To download it, click here;  you’ll need to sign up for The Texas Tornados mailing list, though.


Music Video: Or, The Whale “Mini Documentary”

June 26, 2010

One of my favorite bands over the past two years is Or, The Whale out of San Francisco.  The band recently put together this five minute film about the band which explains who they are and what they do.


Tonight: L’il Mo and the Monicats at Public Assembly

June 25, 2010

Her day jobs include painter, music teacher and chocolate maker.  Her album, On the Moon, (pictured above) was one of my 10 best for 2009.  And tonight, Manhattan based Monica Passin, better known as L’il Mo, crosses the river into Brooklyn to lead her band, The Monicats, through a set of country, rockabilly, blues, 60s pop and whatever else she and they may play.  And I’ll add that not only are L’il Mo and The Monicats terrific musically, they are just plain fun to watch.  See for yourself in the above video as Li’l Mo & The Monicats cover You Can Have My Husband with Carolyn Marosy sitting in on guitar.

L’il Mo and The Monicats, Public Assembly (Front Room), 70 North 6th Street between Wythe and Kent Avenues (L Train to Bedford  Avenue), 11pm, $10


Music Video – Alejandro Escovedo – Always A Friend

June 24, 2010

Alejandro Escovedo has a new album, Street Songs of Love,  coming out on Tuesday.  You can stream a few songs from that album over here at Al’s website. He’ll also be in town next at City Winery for three shows (June 29, 30 and July 2).  WFUV is having a contest to win tickets to the July 2nd show which you can enter by clicking here.

Update: The entire Street Songs of Love can now be streamed at NRP


Review: The Best Album of 1984 Is Reissued

June 23, 2010

I missed The Dream Syndicate the first time around.  In their first phase (1982-85), I was living in Philadelphia and in grad school.  I had no time and less money, and if it wasn’t played on WMMR, WYSP or WIOQ, I didn’t get to hear it.  There was a banner on a bar opposite the supermarket I shopped at which announced the release of the EP, This Is Not The New Dream Syndicate Album – Live.  I thought that was pretty funny, but I never did more than chuckle at the poster.

When I finally found my way to The Dream Syndicate, they had long broken up, and their second album, Medicine Show, was out of print.  Although it became available as a download about two years ago, it remained unavailable as a CD unless you wanted to pay $100 whenever it showed up on eBay.

But on June 15th, Medicine Show was reissued and remastered.  As with many modern remasters, the sound on this reissue is incredibly full and clean and a huge improvement over the versions of the record (LP and CD) which had gone before.  The reissue also includes the complete This Is Not The New Dream Syndicate Album – Live (the previous CD release of Medicine Show included most but not all of that EP) and new liner notes by David Fricke and Steve Wynn, the leader of The Dream Syndicate.

The eight songs on Medicine Show stay away from the personal and concentrate instead on stories.  They run the gamut from straight ahead rockers (Still Holding on to You) and long cinematic songs (The Medicine Show, Merrittville) to a jam session (John Coltrane Stereo Blues).

Medicine Show was a big departure for The Dream Syndicate, whose first record, The Days of Wine and Roses, was very much influenced by the seminal New York bands The Velvet Underground and Televison.  This time, the band added a piano to many of the songs and pulling on other influences (Neil Young is usually mentioned).  Steve Wynn says, though, that he can’t think of any other record that quite sounds like Medicine Show.

If you’ve never heard Medicine Show, now is the time to get it.  And if you have a previously released version, the reissue will sound like a revelation to you.


Photo Recap: Leslie Mendelson at Rockwood Stage 2

June 22, 2010

After taking six months off from performing, Leslie Mendelson returned to the stage at Stage 2 of The Rockwood Music Hall last night with a new band, a few old favorites and a mostly revamped act.

Using The Madison Square Gardeners plus Steve McEwan as her band, Leslie moved away from her usual spot at the piano for most of the night and traded in her soft rock sound for a more guitar based one.  New songs included Bombs Away, I Want to Be the One, and It’s the End.  Old favorite Easy Love was in the set, rearranged for this new band and James Maddock, who was celebrating his birthday, made it up to the stage to join in on the vocals.  Also in the set was All Come Together (formerly titled Shine on Me), a song that Leslie has been playing for a while now, and Coney Island, a beautiful ballad done with Leslie on the piano and Steve on acoustic guitar.

Here are a few shots from the show:

Leslie at the piano

Leslie with The Madison Square Gardeners and Steve McEwan

James Maddock joins the band to sing on Easy Love

Steve McEwan (left) and James Maddock


Tonight: Leslie Mendelson at Rockwood Stage 2

June 21, 2010

Leslie Mendelson has been one of my favorite musicians over the past few years, but she has been on a performing hiatus since the end of 2009.  That break is now over and Leslie will be playing The Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 (also know around here as the Rockwood Colosseum) again tonight.

If you haven’t heard or heard of Leslie, she plays piano and sings, has a great pop sensibility, and as Vin Scelsa of WFUV once said, “nobody can write a sweet song like Leslie.”  Famed producer Jac Holzman has even compared Leslie to Carol King. Or you could just check out the video I posted last month of Leslie  covering the song Shine on Me by clicking here.

In the past Leslie has been joined at least by James Maddock and Steve McEwan on guitars, and sometimes by a full band.  I’m not sure what Leslie has in mind for tonight, but she said “I’m doing a little something special this Monday.”  Sure Monday’s a school night, but this is an early show and it’s free.
Leslie Mendelson, Rockwood Stage 2, 196 Allen Street between Housto and Stanton Streets (F or the soon to be eliminated V Train to 2nd Avenue, use the 1st Avenue exit) doors 7pm/show 8pm, No Cover (but a $5 dollar contribution for the band is highly encouraged)

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