Today: The Beets BBQ

The Beets have officially been around for a whole year now and are celebrating with a free BBQ in Brooklyn. Knight School, Air Waves, and Cause Co-Motion are also going to be playing.

Tonight: Everything Good In Life With Pow Wow, Darlings, & More (Free Beer)

Free to get in. Free beer. Free cookies. Free cakes. Free bands. Free cakes. Free art. Umm, fuck yeah!

Link:
For more info

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

New BSC writer Kenya took a listen to the new Phoenix album. Here's what she had to say.

------------------------
Right now they are probably going by "Hey, it's those French dudes from SNL." And, yeah, they are indeed the French alt rock band featured on the Seth Rogen Saturday Night Live episode that aired way last month. I'm sure peeps were scratching their heads on that one before they started playing; knocking back hairlines and raising a few eyebrows. Bottom line is: these guys are good.

They just released their fourth LP, the awesomely titled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. And if you were unfortunate enough to miss their prime time television performances of two of the album's singles ("Lisztomania" and "1901") as well as one of their first ever singles ("Too Young") then I humbly suggest you swing by the soon-to-be defunct Virgin Megastore @ Union Sq. and cop it. Along with their entire catalogue, if you can manage it. And you should be able to, considering.

French, but not a hint of it in Thomas Mars' oft soaring, sometimes warbling vocals. This album is a bit of synth pop at its best. Symphonic rock n' roll that highlights epic stretches of romance, youth and life. What you do when you listen to this band's notion of lighthearted realism is that 80s Breakfast Club library-banister-dance Ms. Pretty In Pink does so well in the depths of your adolescent memories. It helps that the ten-track disk is meant to mesh well with that decades' nostalgic imagery, as evidenced in the video representation of their singles. Hard pressed, you just couldn't find much of anything wrong with the album. It's crisp and easily enjoyable, with the one flaw being that - relegated to mere background noise - it's in danger of blending into itself. Most notable, next to "Lisztomania" and "1901", stand disco-funk "Fences"; the strikingly Space Odyssey-esque "Love Like A Sunset Pt. 1" and it's brother, Pt. 2, which dances us back into the atmosphere. Back down to earth with the remaining tracks. It's a great long interlude.

I actually put this thing on repeat and listened to all three tracks all the way through three times. It never got old, and I picked up something new every time. I like when that happens. So yeah, go for a bike ride with this. Go fly a kite. Sit on your roof and watch the trains pass by. Clean your apartment. It's good for dance and relaxation, which is an admirable feat. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix wins points for being one of things you just can't argue with. Makes sense.

Link:
Stream Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Tonight: We're Having A Party! Darlings, Dinowalrus, Bottle Up And Go, The Sundelles (FREE Beer)

The Music Slut & Brooklyn Ski Club Present
Non-Worker Party
w/ Darlings, Dinowalrus, Bottle Up And Go, & The Sundelles
@ Red Star Bar
37 Greenpoint Ave.
Bud Light Open Bar 9-10PM
21+
$5

Soft Focus With Jello Biafra

Darlings Are Playing Our Party

The next installment of the Non-Worker Party is tomorrow night at Red Star - be there or be square. Darlings are playing and were kind enough to send me a video and MP3 to share with you.

As you may recall Darlings were one of the 2009 Bands To Hear in the L Magazine. They were called "the least well-known band on this year's list" but it seems like they've everywhere lately. Tomorrow night you'll be seeing them at Red Star, right?

Darlings formed in the front room of an apartment on Bleecker Street in New York City. Peter Rynsky, Matt Solomon, Maura Lynch and Joe Tirabassi all met while they were killing time in college. They practice a brand of guitar pop that's equal parts sun-soaked '60s melodies and the noise of their hometown.

Link:

Darlings MySpace

MP3:
Teenage Girl - Darlings

Here's a live video from their show at Dead Herring

Tonight: Your Nature & Real Estate @ The Annex

New Phoeniz Album Streaming

The new Phoenix album Wolfgang Amadeus is streaming on Spinner. Take a listen and let us know what you think.

Link:
Phoenix Stream

Non-Worker Party II w/ Darlings, Dinowalrus, Bottle Up And Go, The Sundelles.

The last party we had at Red Star Bar was so awesome that we decided to have another one. So once again Brooklyn Ski Club and The Music Slut are bringing you the Non-Worker Party! Come see awesome bands, get shit-faced, and party hardy for only $5.

Non-Worker Party
@ Red Star Bar
37 Greenpoint Ave.
Bud Light Open Bar 9-10PM
21+
$5

Bands: Darlings, Dinowalrus, Bottle Up And Go, & The Sundelles

Links:
Facebook Invite
Going Invite

Cold War Kids Interactive Music Video

Great idea here, unfortunately the bandwidth at work sucks. All I got was a jerky video with the sound dropping in and out. But I got the gist of it and it's pretty cool so give it a go.

Link:
Cold War Kids Interactive Video

Tonight: Colt 45 Party @ Glasslands w/ These Are Powers & Pterodactyl

Another Colt 45 party in Brooklyn tonight! Drink and see good bands for free. Works for me.

Must RSVP:
Colt 45 Party

2009 Summerscreen Lineups

I've only been to one of these but it's a pretty good time. We snuck in a few 40's and hung out at the pool while Wet Hot American Summer was on the big screen. This year they're moving it to the softball fields, which may be an improvement (plus we can get "to-go" cups from Turkey's Nest!).

The L Magazine’s popular Summerscreen film series returns to Williamsburg this year, despite the loss of the McCarren Park Pool. Instead, we’ll be showing an excellent lineup of movies in another section of McCarren: the ballfields in the Southwest corner of the park.

The films will be shown at dusk on Wednesday nights starting July 8th and area restaurants will be on hand to sell food and beverages. Admittance is absolutely free.

This year’s lineup of films includes:

July 8: Reality Bites

July 15: Evil Dead 2

July 22: 24 Hour Party People

July 29: Wild at Heart

August 5: Fame

August 12: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Monotonix Played Europa Last Night (Pics)

I was feeling kinda shitty last night so I stayed home. Of course I regret doing so, especially after seeing pics from the show. I generally don't post pics from shows I didn't attend because I can't really talk about the show. Fortunately with Monotonix you don't really need to read anything, just look at the pics and you'll pretty much know what you missed. Fuck these guys are awesome!

Link:
Check out the full set on TimeOut (when did they get so hip?)

Tonight: Monotonix @ Europa!

If you haven't seen Monotonix yet then you must go to this show tonight. They are one of the top 5 live bands I have ever seen - arguably the best even. They're crazy motherfuckers from Israel who will kick your ass! You will be a sweaty, smelly animal at the end of the show and you'll fucking love it. If it's anything like the time I saw them you will be telling your kids about tonight 30 years from now. Oh, and The Homosexuals are playing too, they ain't too shabby themselves.

Follow Black Lips On Twitter

The Black Lips boys are on Twitter now. I think that once they get the hang of it there will be some interesting shit coming through the wire. I mean, how many bands get thrown out of India and piss in their own mouths on stage?

Link:
The Black Lips Twitter

In the meantime I highly recommend following Rob from Wild Yaks. Super entertaining, like mini versions of his semi-famous newsletters. Which, by the way Rob, you should compile those emails and make a book.

Link:
Wild Yaks Twitter

And while you're at it: Brooklyn Ski Club Twitter

Nerd Alert: Wolfram Alpha

I've been hearing about the latest search engine Wolfram for a few weeks now. Today I finally went ahead and checked it out. It's rather fucking awesome!

If you want to find out who Jessica Alba is dating it's worthless but if you want to know the distance from NYC to Budapest then it's amazing. That search will also include the time difference, population, elevation, flight time, etc. You can also do cool shit like look up your birth date which will tell you the day of the week you were born plus the position of the moon that night and other nifty tidbits.

Sure there's a rather small portion of the population that would use something like this but I find it fascinating. It's very powerful from a computational stand point. So to all my nerd brethren, jump on this!

Link:
Wolfram Alpha

G Train Extended To Park Slope!

I've always wondered why in the hell the G train stops at Smith & 9th. There's clearly track laid out (F train) to keep going. Plus, according to old maps, at one point the G did in fact go through Park Slope.

Well now it looks like I won't have an excuse to not attend BBQs and shows in Park Slope anymore because the G train is getting 5 new stops added to the route starting July 5th. The last stop will be south of Prospect Park at Church Street.

Park Slope and Prospect Park I still consider uncharted territory. Sure I've been to both but not nearly as much as I probably should have. The reason being, it's a huge pain in the ass to get there from Williamsburg without a car. But now it'll only be about 30 minutes on the G, which is pretty awesome! As an outdoorsman I'm really excited to be able to get to the park without any headaches.

The only problem here is that this may only be a temporary re-route. At some point the MTA might go back to ending the G at Smith & 9th, which sucks. However, they haven't officially said whether it would be permanent or temporary. Let's start a campaign to make sure the change sticks.

Link:
Gothamist - G Train Extended

Tonight: Skate Party w/ Ninjasonik; Action Painters & Dynasty Electric Loft Party

Action Painters and Dynasty Electric are playing a loft party in BK tonight, more details here. If you prefer your parties sweatier, smellier, and knifier then this might be more to your liking:

Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) Got Jacked

This is pretty wild...

Skatepark Fundraiser @ The Shank (Ninjasonik, Murdertronics, & More)

5/15
@ The Shank
Skate 6-11PM
Party 11-4AM
$7 before 11, $10 after
18+
Colt 45 Open Bar

PERFORMANCES BY NINJASONIK, BLOODDRUMS, FETTY, SHINOBI NINJA, STRICTLY BUSINESS, ANTON GLAMB, SANTHYA, BAD BEGINNINGS, MEMBERZ ONLY, RAY CONTOUR, HIRO THA JAP, SKITSNYGG, JONNY ON THE ROCKS, MURDERTRONICS AND MORE!

Links Of The Day

Nothing interesting came through the wire today regarding music or events so here are some links.

• Just when I get comfortable with shitting in dive bars I see this <Link>
• I got your back, dog... No seriously, a dog got another dogs back <Link>
• Cavemen dug fat chicks. World's oldest art, 35,000 years <Link>
• Headless zombie ants <Link>

Action Painters Playing Newsonic Loft With Dynasty Electric Friday

This Friday stop by the Newsonic Loft to check out Action Painters and Dynasty Electric. Both bands are chums of ours and played our show at Castle In Hell a couple months ago. The last Newsonic show we went to was kinda crazy, in the good way. Lots of people dancing and drinking and what not. I highly recommend you buy some beer by your apartment before you go because there are NO bodegas open at night in that neighborhood.

4/15

Newsonic Loft
76 Rutledge
Brooklyn
$5 Suggested



MP3:
One Small Push - Dynasty Electric w/Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

Tonight: The Phenomenal Handclap Band Playing Black Betty (Secret Show)

Last night I went to Southpaw for the Colt 45 party. The Phenomenal Handclap band headlined the show. They were pretty good, not really my scene but I know you crazy kids dig 'em. I just got word that they're playing an unannounced show at Black Betty tonight in Williamsburg. How in the hell all those band members will even fit in Black Betty is a mystery, let alone the fans, but I'm sure the result will be a sweaty, messy bop fest. Which generally means good fun. I, of course, will be sitting on my couch eating ice cream and watching Lost.

Tonight: JellyNYC & Colt 45 Party @ Southpaw

Freeeeee!

See John Lennon's Bloody Clothing (Fun With Ono)

The batshit insane widow of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, is displaying a bunch of his old crap. One of these items is a paper bag filled with the still blood soaked clothing he was wearing when he was murdered. Seriously!? This brings up a few questions:

1. Why do you still have his bloody clothes? Why would you want that around?
2. I can maybe understand keeping these BUT why didn't you, well you know, clean them?
   
3. On what planet is exploiting your dead husband's blood soaked murder clothes OK?
   

Now I know Yoko is about as fucked in the head as one can be but this is beyond bad taste. Call me old fashioned but I just don't like it.

Link:
CBS News

An Evening With JellyNYC & Colt 45 Tomorrow

Colt 45 wants to give you some free beer (malt liquor, difference?) tomorrow. The party is in honor of the new 7 oz. Colt 45 bottles (or nips, pony bottles, etc.), just in case you can't afford a 40 or 22 they made one even smaller (it's cool bro, times are tough). Either way it's all free tomorrow, just get there early so you actually get in.

Colt 45 presents: 7@7
Doors @ 7:00pm,with:
The Phenomenal Handclap Band
Golden Triangle
Wizardry
And DJ sets by Nick Catchdubs

Tonight: Cause Co-Motion, Beets, Liqour Store @ Bruar Falls; Five Eyes Festival

Two awesome shows tonight which are pretty close to each other so hit them both.

Give Pow Wow Their Cymbals Back!

Last Friday we had a party over at Red Star Bar - it was awesome. One of the bands that played was Pow Wow. At some point in the night their cymbals bag went missing. If you have any information about the whereabouts of the following items please contact me ASAP!

1 Black Cymbal Bag

1 Vintage Zidljian Ride (that has been in my family for 40+ years)

1 Zildjian Rock Crash (with a slight crack)

1 Zildjian China Crash

1 pair of Zildjian A Custom Hi Hats

1 pair of Zildjian A Hi Hats

The front pouch contains

2 pairs of Vic Firth 5B sticks (one of which has black marks all over it)

1 blue tambourine

1 small black cowbell

1 flier for a pow wow! show at Senor Studios

NYC Subway Ridership Since 1902

Here's a really interesting map of the NYC subway system which graphs overall ridership for each station going back to 1902. If you think the trains are crowded now according to the map the peak was around the 40's. It was actually much higher, and without air conditioning that must have been hell. Anyway, the other cool parts are seeing the huge drop in the 70's and 80's when NYC essentially became a war zone and people were terrified to go underground.

These days we're still pretty far off from the peak and the fare hikes won't help. One of the few stations that is actually higher then the peak is the Bedford L, which is not at all surprising.

Link:
Subway Sparklines

via Kottke.org

Tonight: Pow Wow, Darlings, Sundelles @ Glasslands

Pow Wow played our last show at Red Star and they were awesome! Darlings are playing our next show at Red Star on May 28th (more on that soon). Both bands were named in The L Mag's 8 Bands To Hear 2009. That's a whole lot of reasons to go to this show. Plus from what I've heard Sundelles are pretty great live too.

Video: Bootsy Collins "I'd Rather Be With You" Live 1976

Just wanted to share this gem I just came across. I had a mild obsession with Bootsy and his Rubber Band back when I was in High School. It was funny because we would have these rager parties that would have crazy punk and metal blasting all night. Then out of nowhere we would bust out the Bootsy and the disco ball and just fucking jam. It was weird but was a hell of a lot of fun. Once we got over the Bootsy phase, party goers, who originally gave us shit for playing "weird" music, would request Bootsy and be bummed when we wouldn't put it on. Anyway, enjoy this - I sure did.

Zach Galifianakis Interviews Natalie Portman

"Mind if I smell it?"

Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

***After watching this last night I had dreams about Natalie Portman. Thankfully Zach was not a part of these dreams.

Matt & Kim Sell Mojitos

This is a weird commercial for a Matt & Kim song. Is this what Bacardi ad execs think hipster parties and people look like?

New York Dolls Played Varvatos Store Yesterday

Sometimes it's a good idea to not go home. Yesterday around 5:30 a friend in the office asked me if I wanted to go grab fifty-cent tacos and tequila. It was some Cinco De Mayo thing. Generally I don't go to shit like that, I was planning on a night at home, but for some reason I did. When we got there the line to get in was 100 people deep. Fuck that!

So we decided to go to that good pizza joint in the LES, on Stanton I think. When we get there we see a buddy of ours eating a slice. We start talking and he mentioned he had an event he was sponsoring at The Varvatos store - New York Dolls were playing! He invited us along so I said sure.

The next thing you know we're in the store an hour before doors open watching the Dolls sound check. They were setting up the bar at this point too - free Belvedere and free PBR! Since we had some time to kill we went across the street for a couple of drinks. When we got back there was a sizeable line outside. Also, George Whipple was outside just hanging with some friends - that's when I knew the night was going to be awesome.

We get inside and head straight for the bar. I was planning on a Belvedere cocktail but changed my mind when I saw the tiny 6 oz. cups. Fuck that, give me a tall boy. I walked around and took note of the rockers in attendance including Handsome Dick Manitoba, Justin Tranter (Semi Precious Weapons), and bunch more my alcohol bleached mind can't recall.

I think we hung out pounding beer and Belv for about another hour. Then the Dolls came on stage. Of course, that's when the undeniable urge to piss hit. I pushed my way through the crowd towards the stage in an attempt to get to the pisser. Unfortunately I had to turn right around because they cut off access to the bathroom because the band was up.

On the brink of pissing myself silly I pushed back through the crowd yet again and ran out of the store. I headed into the bar we were in earlier and took a quick leak and rushed back for the show. Relieved I grabbed another tall boy and got as close as I could without pushing.

I've seen the New York Dolls a ton of times in the last few years and I have to say they looked and sounded better then ever - I mean from what I can remember, which isn't much. The show was fucking great and I was really happy I decided to get fifty-cent tacos after work. Sometimes you go for tacos and end up with the New York Dolls! Oh, and the open bar was a nice touch too. According to the puke in my sink this morning, maybe a little too nice.

Yeasayer, Matt & Kim, Ted Leo, & More Playing RiverRocks (Free Shows)

RiverRocks is a free concert series that takes place on Pier 54 at Hudson River Park. The line up was just announced and it's pretty damn good. Here's the line-ups:

Thursday, July 9 - Matt & Kim, with
Flosstradamus
7 p.m. (gates at 6 p.m.)
RiverRocks
Hudson River Park's Pier 54


Thursday, July 23 - Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, with
Radio 4, and
Extra Golden
7 p.m. (gates at 6 p.m.)
RiverRocks
Hudson River Park's Pier 54


Thursday August 13 - Yeasayer, with
Amazing Baby
7 p.m. (gates at 6 p.m.)
RiverRocks
Hudson River Park's Pier 54

Link:

RiverRocks

New Goes Cube Video

Goes Cube Song 30

New Black Lips Video "The Drop I Hold"

Punk Island 2009

Last year a shit load of punk bands took over Governors Island. Well it looks like they're going to be doing it again this year on June 21st. I missed it last year but I heard it was pretty amazing. I will be there for sure this time.

LIST OF BANDS:

Alley Rats

Angry Youth

Ballistik

Ballz

Blackout Shoppers

Blood Bomber

Bucket Flush

Burger Wurger

Bust It!

Captain Ronzo & The Thirsty Pirates

Chesty Malone and the Slice 'Em Ups!

Cinema, Cinema

Combat Crisis

Common Enemy

Criminal Mischief

Dead Aces

Dealin' With It

Descender

Dissystema

Electric Frankenstein

Feet First

Halfway Crooks

Hate and War

Hipster Holocaust

Iconicide

Kids Carry Germs

KILLSLUG

Kissy Kamikaze

Kung Fu Killers

Lightning Crabs

Long Drop

Major Potential

makeoutmusic

Mutilated Martyr

Nervous Breakdown

No Account

Nothing But Enemies/SCFF

O.P.S.

Olde York

Percocettes

Pigshit Engine

Piss Ants

Poison Control

Quarterlife Crisis

Rabia

Rapid Deployment Force

Razors in the Night

Robocock

Run Johnny Run

Sedated

Seizure Crypt

Sexual suicide

Skum City

S.M.U.T.

Social Standards

Star Fucking Hipsters

Stark

Straphangers

Street Vengeance

Stress Bomb

Team Spider

The Blame

The Boils

The Sics

The Wheezing Stumblers

The Ray Gradys

The UN Posse

The Underclassed

Ultra Violence

U.T.D.

Vagiant

Yankee Doodle Blitzkrieg

Yo! Scunt

Zero Content

Plus two "Special Guests"

Death Playing The Joey Ramone Birthday Bash

Remember a couple months back when everyone was talking about Death? I'm refering to the black proto-punk band from Detroit, not the metal dudes. Well, according to a press release I just received they are set to play this year's Joey Ramone birthday bash at The Fillmore.

This year’s headliners are Fishbone and Supersuckers. The spectacular party will conclude with The Friends Of Joey featuring Richie Ramone, Handsome Dick Manitoba, Jean Beauvoir, Ivan Julian, George Tabb, Al Maddy and Mickey Leigh. Also appearing are Death and Rough Francis (both bands were the subject of a feature story in the New York Times on March 12), Uncle Monk (featuring Tommy Ramone), Bebe Buell, and Tom Clark & The High Action Boys. As the audience enters the venue they will once again be greeted by musician Tracy Thornton, playing Ramones songs on the steel drum. And, in what has become a Birthday Bash tradition, Sean O’Sullivan's Punk Pipers will round out the night on the bagpipes. The fete will be emceed by Matt Pinfield and Peter Aschner. Additional surprises are expected at the evening’s events.

Buy Tickets:
Joey Ramone Birthday Bash

Today: 3rd Ward Block Party w/ Wild Yaks, Aa, & More

Due to rain they had to move this inside, which sucks because I was really looking forward to drinking in the street. Oh well. This already started so hop on your bike and get your ass over there.

Tonight: Brooklyn Ski Club Party! The Beets, Wild Yaks, The Subjects, & Pow Wow! Free Colt 45

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Free Warlocks MP3

The Warlocks are one of those bands that I always forget about and then when someone mentions them I go on a rant about how awesome they are. I need to listen to more Warlocks, we all do, because are just plain bad ass.

MP3:
Red Camera - The Warlocks


The Mirror Explodes out May 19th on Tee Pee Records

Video: Cerebral Ballzy At Bodega

These videos are from the last show ever played at Bodega (yeah, it got shut down. Sucks, huh?). The audio sucks but at least you can get a taste of what a live Cerebral Ballzy show is like. Again, you should really go see this band.