Raccoon Fighter Playing 2 Nights at Cake Shop

Raccoon Fighter are playing two back-to-back nights at Cake Shop starting tonight. Here are the lineups, both shows are $10 and start at 8pm. Click here for details.

Thursday, June 20th

Raccoon Fighter

Mount Carmel

The Teen Age

Punks On Mars

Friday, June 21st

Raccoon Fighter

The Denzels

Aloud

Dead Stars

Shit To Do: Unstoppable Death Machines at Shea Stadium

Tonight: Raccoon Fighter Release Party + After Party

Raccoon Fighter is playing Mercury Lounge tonight to celebrate the release of their latest 7". They go on bright and early at 7pm sharp. Also on the bill are Three Blind Wolves from Scotland. I know nothing about them but as a proud descendant of Clan Donald I like all things Scotland, except the Campbells - those dirty fucks.

After the show the Raccoon clan heads over to St. Jerome's for the after party. My homeboy Carlos (who I throw Smell The Glove with) is DJing punk & rock n' roll. There's also $2 Bud until 12 so come party with the family.

RSVP & Details

Radiohead Is Playing Occupy Wall Street Today(?)

The rumors are true, Radiohead will be playing Liberty Park today at 4pm. This will be a shit show to end all shit shows. In fact, I kinda think it's irresponsible of the band. The cops are already heated and flooding downtown with Radiohead fans might be exactly what's needed for a full on riot to erupt. This is gonna get ugly, proceed with caution.

Link:

Radiohead Occupy Wall Street

***NEVERMIND. They just cancelled. Probably a good thing.
******Okay, maybe it is happening. The band says no, occupy Wall St. says yes. But the band saying no could simply be a crowd control measure.
*********Looks like my hunch might be right. Now Gothamist is reporting that the bands denial was a fake out to keep 1,000,000 people from showing up. We'll see what happens.

Suicidal Tendencies Played House Of Vans

For the past few weeks people were talking about a secret Suicidal Tendencies show going down in Brooklyn. Everyone knew it would be on September 15th because that was the only open date on the tour but the location was under wraps. But when your tour is sponsored by Vans and it just so happens Vans has a pop-up venue in Brooklyn it wasn't a hard one to figure out.

I had a few friends that know people at Vans and/or with the band, I'm not really sure. All I know is we asked around and it seemed like we would be able to get in. Then MyFreeConcert posted the RSVP info so to be safe I RSVPd. I never got a confirmation and our friends who might be able to get us in were running late so we just went over there, not at all sure we'd get in.

The first band I ever saw, way back in 1994, was Suicidal Tendencies and I haven't seen them since. I had to get into this show.

To our surprise there were hardly any people there. People in line were chatting about the RSVP thing and it seemed like only about 1 of 5 people actually got a confirmation. The majority of the line were just there, hoping to get in.

Right at 8pm they opened the doors and people started trickling in. It turns out the RSVP email on MyFreeConcert actually worked. 15 minutes after the doors opened we were inside getting frisked. Apparently they don't usually frisk people at House Of Vans but this is an ST show.

After getting through the checkpoint we headed right through the warehouse/skate park and through the giant garage door into the yard. Outside they had a bar area and free food from that Korean taco truck and Meatball Shop. Unfortunately we just stuffed our guts at Fette Sau so instead we headed straight for the booze. They had tall boys of Brooklyn Lager up for grabs (yeah, that means free).

We hung out in the back drinking until the show was about to start. As we were waiting we saw the Cerebral Ballzy boys, The Death Set and other familiar faces. All the punks were out!

When the band started to setup everyone headed inside and the outdoor bar shut down. People were drunk and pumped and ready to get crazy. As soon as ST struck the first chord all hell broke loose. I think they started with "You Can't Bring Me Down" which was fucking amazing. Almost too good to waste in the beginning of the set.

They went on to play all of the songs you'd want to hear. The pit was huge and crazy but not very violent. Just a bunch of kids having fun and even skating through the moshers. At one point there was this long hair, bearded Viking looking dude kicking ass in $200 jeans. Then it hit me, Chad fucking Muska! My favorite skater when I was growing up. I've been to a bunch of parties with celebs lately and this was the very first time I was starstruck. Chad Muska was thrashing like a champ in the pit. Fuck yes!

There were some lulls in the set most likely due to Cyko Miko's semi-incoherent rants between songs. The vocals were super low the whole set and no one could understand a thing he was saying but that didn't stop him from talking. It also didn't stop him from dancing which was awesome. He was doing his modified Beavis dance all over the stage.

For the encore the band invited the crowd up on stage with them for "Pledge Your Allegiance". The kids on the floor immediately bum rushed the stage. My shitty knee prevented me from joining them. Some chubby goon went to hop the barrier and hooked his foot - 250 lb face plant, ouch! Within seconds the band was playing and there was an all out mosh pit on stage. Then out of nowhere someone is crowd surfing on stage. It was Crazy Abe from Cerebral Ballzy!

To recap - free booze, free food, rad kids and Suicidal Tendencies! How can that not be fucking awesome?

Tomorrow: For The Record w/ Raccoon Fighter, Locksley + More

The Society of Illustrators is celebrating their Rolling Stone Art exhibit with a rock n' roll show. The bands playing are Locksley, Lily & The Parlour Tricks and our bros Raccoon Fighter. It's $10 to get in.

Info & Tickets:

For The Record

Tom Morello Played City Winery

On Thursday I stopped by City Winery to see Tom Morello performing as The Nightwatchman. I was only familiar with a handful of songs prior to the show and I had mixed feelings about what I had heard. I didn't know what to expect.

We were given seats a couple of feet away from the stage. I scanned the room and saw an surprising amount of middle aged dudes in collar shirts. It looked like a holiday luncheon for CitiBank or something. We ordered a couple of drinks (Old Speckled Hen!) and waited for Tom to come out. Luckily we didn't have to sit through any crappy opener or anything and the show started 15 minutes after our arrival.

Tom came out with nothing but a stomp box and an acoustic guitar. The crowd went crazy! People were yelling out "revolution" and shit along those lines. Again, considering the appearance of the crowd this was not what I expected. Tom thanked the crowd and chatted a bit before launching into the first song.

His songs were clearly inspired by Dylan, Seeger and Guthrie. They were folky but had elements of what we know of his work with RATM and Audioslave. I didn't love every tune but none of it was bad either. He is a master perform and even when the tunes were lackluster he completely controlled the mood in the room. The between song banter was very entertaining. He is pushing an agenda but kept it light enough that it didn't come off as preachy.

On a few occasions he whipped out his electric guitar and played some of the craziest shit I have ever heard/seen. I've always taken issue with him getting such high marks on all-time guitar player lists but when you see what he's doing from 10 feet away it's fucking mind blowing. He is a technical master but has Hendrix-esque flare (he even played with his teeth).

My one complaint would be that the range of his voice is pretty limited. Granted he's a guitar player, not a singer, but the songs would have benefited greatly if the vocals were better. He did have another guitar player on some of the songs who would occasionally chime in on vocals. That guy could sing very well and it added so much to the music.

Some other highlights included Tom performing "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "This Land Is Your Land". At the end of the set he invited everyone on stage to sing along and close out the set. That's when I saw Michael Moore smash his head on an overhead speaker getting on stage. Did I mention Michael Moore was there? He was amongst the rich white guys yelling "revolution" while drinking a $14 glass of wine.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the show, more so than I expected. Tom knows exactly what he's doing on stage and just fucking owns the room. It was impressive, not so much on a song level but on a performance level. I would see this guy perform anytime.

TV On The Radio Have A New Video, "Second Song" + Releasing Live EP

TV On The Radio have a new video and a new live EP coming out called "World Cafe Live" which is available on September 6th. They will be in NYC on the 8th at the Williamsburg Waterfront. 

Today: Rock Yard w/ Cerebral Ballzy, Death Set, So So Glos & More

Jelly NYC brings the party back to North Brooklyn with a free show this afternoon at The Morgan. The Death Set, So So Glos, Cerebral Ballzy, Japanther, The Growlers and CSC Funk Band are playing. That, my friends, is awesome!

Today: Bushwick Block Party

Wild Yaks, Team Robespierre, Roberta's Pizza...Yes please! 

Let's ignore the fact it's not actually in Bushwick.

Tonight: TVOTR @ Music Hall; Black Lips & Vivian Girls @ Webster Hall; Chris Cornell @ Town Hall; Surf City & Darlings @ Glasslands

There are a ton of killer shows tonight. TV On The Radio ($31 - sold out)and Vivian Girls (w/ Black Lips, $20) are both dropping albums today and playing shows to celebrate. Chris Cornell is doing a solo acoustic show  (w/ William Elliot Whitmore, who is amazing) which I would fucking kill to be at. Yes, his new solo shit is atrocious but then again have you ever heard the acoustic version of "Like Suicide"? Hearing that live is worth $50. Not down for big, fancy venues tonight? Surf City and Darlings are at Glasslands ($8). 

Tonight: Spirit Family Reunion & Morgan O'Kane @ Rock Shop; Sundelles @ Ace Hotel; Ritz Riot & Unstoppable Death Machines @ Silent Barn

Despite it being a Sunday there's a shit load of good music tonight.

RSVP & Details:

SFR & Morgan O'Kane ($5)

Sundelles Record Release Party @ Ace Hotel (FREE)

Unstoppable Death Machines, Ritz Riot, Filthy Savage @ Silent Barn ($5)

Spirit Family Reunion - When My Name Is Spoken by BrooklynSkiClub

The Sundelles -- Gold by nikileighbuds

Fuck Yo Shoes (2011 Final) by Ritz Riot

Unstoppable Death Machines - Slumlord by BrooklynSkiClub

Today: Brain-Cave Festival With Gunfight!, Dinowalrus, She Keeps Bees & More

This already started but I doubt any of the bands you want to see have played yet.

RSVP & Details:

Brain-Cave Festival

EULA Record Release Party @ Bruar Falls With Shark? & Pow Wow (April 16th)

EULA has a new album coming out soon so they're having a little party over at Bruar Falls to celebrate. Shark?, pow wow! and Ghost Bunny will be joining them. That's one hell of a lineup. The show is on April 16th, costs $6 and starts at 8pm.

RSVP & Details:

EULA Record Release

Tonight: The Drums @ Mercury Lounge; Dirty Fences @ Don Pedro's

I'm still pissed at The Drums for cancelling last minute on two shows I was involved with back when they first started getting popular (not cool bros). That said, they're a good band you should try and see at some point ($15 cover tonight). But if sunny, surfer music isn't your speed you can head to Don Pedro's for one of the best down and dirty rock n' roll bands in NYC, Dirty Fences (FREE SHOW).

DIRTY FENCES by DIRTY FENCES

Tonight: Ra Ra Riot, Diamondsnake, Eugene Mirman + More @ Bell House (Japan Benefit)

This will be super fun and it's for a good cause. I don't love trekking out to the Bell House but this is well worth the effort.

RSVP & Details:

Brooklyn <3 Japan

Tonight: Cerebral Ballzy @ Cake Shop; JEFF The Brotherhood @ Santos; The Dixons @ Union Pool

Our favorite thrashers are back in NYC and they're playing Cake Shop tonight. Not the best venue for a band like Ballzy but it is what it is. The always awesome JEFF The Brotherhood are playing Santo's Party House. If you're itching for some real deal country then check out The Dixons at Union Pool.

THE DIXONS - BROKEN HEARTED, LOVESICK & BLUE - LIVE @ UNION POOL

THE DIXONS | Myspace Music Videos

Black N' Blue Bowl With Gorilla Biscuits, Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All

I'm old and tired and just can't deal with hardcore shows anymore but if there was ever one I would go to it would be this one. The legends of NYHC - Gorilla Biscuits, Agnostic Front and Sick Of It All are headlining this year's Black N' Blue Bowl. Unfortunately, I'm out of town that weekend so I'm going to miss it but if you're around I highly suggest going. Gorilla Biscuits are fucking amazing live and would be worth the price of admission on their own.

Link:

Black N' Blue Bowl

Tonight: Wild Yaks @ Coco66; SHAPES & Raccoon Fighter @ Shea Stadium; TSOK @ Loft Party; So So Glos, Darlings, Sundelles @ 285 Kent

Lots to do in Brooklyn tonight. I will be at Shea Stadium for sure and will likely be hitting the loft party as well. The Wild Yaks show has a solid lineup but I think it's too far off from the rest to swing by. Bummer.

RSVP & Details

RSVP & Details

RSVP & Details

***Update: Forgot about this one & it's killer
RSVP & Details

Tonight: Friends @ Shea Stadium; TSOK @ Coco66

That band Friends I've been talking about are playing their release party at Shea Stadium with Food Stamps and Phone Tag. Elsewhere, The Sounds of Kaleidoscope, from Philly, are playing Coco66.

Link:

TSOK @ coco66

Friends @ Shea