Tonight: FREE Ghostface Show @ Hiro

Ghostface Killah is playing a free show to promote his new album. Again, the show is FREE. Ghostface...at Hiro. This is awesome.

Boogie Boarder & Forest City Played Union Pool

Saturday night, after an epic 20-mile bike ride, I headed over to Union Pool to check out my buddy Jamen's new band. They're called Forest City and it was their first show. One of the dudes in the band is also in Boogie Boarder. Did I mention they also played? Well they did.

Forest City was pretty awesome. They play a mix of rock and country and are a lot of fun. Once they play a few shows and tighten up their sound a bit they're going to be awesome. All of the components are there already. And frankly any band with Jamen on drums has a pretty good chance because he's the best damn drummer in Brooklyn, and you can quote me on that.

After Forest City's debut an older ska band came on. Yes, a ska band at Union Pool. Turns out one of the dudes in the ska band is the brother of one of the Boogie Boarders. I should mention now that I hate white-boy ska. Of all the genres of music it's the only one where I don't like a single band (except Pilfers, but their singer is Jamaican). So it pains me a bit to say this but they were good, really good. They were playing tons of instruments and beat boxing and other weird shit. They were clearly well practiced and experienced musicians which is rare these days. I don't know what they were called but they were good.

The only issue with the ska band was they played for a very long time. The reason why was that Boogie Boarder was short a member. Will was playing at Bruar Falls with Tony Castles. Everyone hung out for awhile and then Will came barging through Union Pool with guitar in hand and made straight for the stage.

This was my first Boogie Boarder show, which is kinda crazy all considered. I heard they're one of the best live bands in BK and based on the four or so songs I heard they're certainly up there. Unfortunately because they started so late I had to leave halfway through the set. But what I saw I liked, a lot! And Cyrus is a fucking beast on drums. Between the deranged look on his face and the extreme violence he hits his kit with you would think that a drum set murdered his puppy when he was a kid or something.

I'm sorry I had to bail early but I had fun while I was there. Oh and the Union Pool taco truck needs to get their shit together. The tacos have sucked lately and they're smaller. WTF?

Forest City


Ska Band


Boogie Boarder






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Sundelles "Keep It To Yourself" (Video)

Sundelles 'Keep it to Yourself' from Russ Finkelstein on Vimeo.

Tonight: Wavves; Suckers & Wild Yaks; Team Robes (Free Show!); Netherfriends

• Wavves @ Market Hotel: Wavves are pretty awesome and when I saw them at Bowery Ballroom the whole time I was saying to myself "This would be so much better at Market Hotel". $10
  
• Suckers & Wild Yaks @ Glasslands: Somehow I haven't actually seen Suckers yet. I don't understand how that's possible. But Rob from Wild Yaks swears that they're amazing and that's good enough for me. $6.
  
• Team Robespierre @ Legion Bar: This is my FUCK YEAH show of the night. A free Team Robes show at Legion Bar. Sign me up! VICE and Colt are involved too so there's going to be free beer. I may or may not hit the other shows but I will def be at this.
• Netherfriends @ The Glass Door: Netherfriends are an awesome band from Chicago. I thought I exchanged some emails with them a few months back but I can't find them so maybe I hallucinated the whole thing, damn you peyote. Anyway, this is a house party and my homeboy DJ Full Time Fun is spinning too. Also, Purple Crush is playing but I can't remember if I like them or not. $5, 98 Moore Street 2nd Floor.
  

Tonight: Raccoon Fighter & Wellspring And Honor @ Public Assembly

Municipal Waste: Waste The World Tour Dates (NYC 12/9)

Municipal Waste are heading out on tour soon. They're hitting NYC in December, Gramercy Theatre. Waste dudes, if you're reading this, play a DIY show in Brooklyn instead. I love you guys but you play a lot of shitty venues in New York. I'd suggest playing with Cerebral Ballzy at DBA or Market Hotel. That shit would be one for the books. Sure, the money won't be as good but you'll probably have more fun then you've ever had playing in NYC. Let's make that happen.

11/6 Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11 Tavern
11/7 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
11/8 Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
11/9 Tampa, FL @ State Theater
11/11Houston, TX @ Meridian
11/12 Austin, TX @ Red 7
11/13 Oklahoma City, OK @ Conservatory
11/14 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
11/16 Tempe, AZ @ Clubhouse
11/18 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
11/19 Los Angeles, CA @ Key Club
11/20 Anaheim, CA @ Chian Reaction
11/21 San Francisco, CA @ Slim's
11/23 Portland, OR @ Satyricon
11/24 Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
11/25 Bellingham, WA @ Wild Buffalo House of Music
11/27 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room
11/28 Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse
11/29 Winnipeg, MB @ Pyramid Cabaret
12/1 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
12/2 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
12/4 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
12/5 Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
12/6 Toronto, ON @ Opera House
12/7 Montreal, QC @ Foufounes
12/8 Worcester, MA @ Palladium (Upstairs)
12/9 New York, NY @ Gramercy Theater
12/10 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
12/11 Richmond, VA @ Alley Katz

My Birthday Party w/ Sigmund Droid, Cerebral Ballzy, Pow Wow, Radio America & More!

I survived the summer of 2009, ie. The Summer Of Death. OK, so the whole summer of death thing is bullshit and totally blown out of proportion but nonetheless it's a great excuse to celebrate being alive. So on October 9th come to Tommy's Tavern to celebrate my birthday. This is the first public bday party I've ever had so let's make sure it doesn't suck horse turds.

I chose Tommy's Tavern because I want everyone to be able to have an excellent time. What I'm saying is it's cheap ($2 Shaefer), you can dress however you want, and they let you have a good time. But most importantly it's not some pretentious club or lounge in Manhattan, which seem to be the preferred birthday spots for some reason.

While I hate to charge a cover for my birthday party I need to pay the bands so it's going to cost you $3. The entire door goes to the bands. I'm not making a fucking penny off this show, I just want to have a good time. Also, if you can afford to chip in an extra couple bucks for the bands at the door then you're a good person.

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Boogie Boarder "Bio Hassle" (Video)

Boogie Boarder recently released a video for their song "Bio Hassle". The whole thing was recorded in, on, and around my friend Jamen's van. It's a killer song and the video is pretty awesome. Keep an eye out for Jamen, he's the dude driving.

Boogie Boarder- Bio Hassle from Cyrus Lubin on Vimeo.

While we're talking about Jamen's van let me tell you a little story. About 5 years ago I lived on S.5th & Wythe and my brother used to park his van under the Williamsburg bridge. One night it got broken into but since there was nothing to steal the dude just took a big dump in the middle of the floor. It sucked but was pretty fucking funny at the same time.

About a year ago I was in Philly visiting my brother and he gets a text message from an unknown number. It said something along the lines of "Someone broke into my van and took a shit!". I checked if I had the number stored and turns out it was Jamen. Only it wasn't a nice smooth turd like my brother came across - it was gnarly diarrhea blasted all over the walls and roof of his van. Someone must have ate a lot of tacos that day. Anyway, if you notice in the video the walls are stripped, that's because it was easier to just rip out the lining then clean the anal blast.

So that's my story, much funnier if you know these people. Nonetheless it points out the apparent BK trend of breaking into and shitting in vans.

Tonight: Wild Yaks Acoustic; Spanish Prisoners; Knight School

• Wild Yaks are playing an acoustic set at KGB Bar. It appears to be free but that's not 100%. KGB Bar is an interesting place so this should be quite fun.
  
• Spanish Prisoners have been added to the Decibully show at Bruar Falls. $8.
  
• Knight School is playing at Silent Barn tonight. No idea what this cost but I'm going to take a guess, $6?
  

Tonight: Cerebral Ballzy @ Tommy's Tavern (Free Show)

Cerebral Ballzy is playing Tommy's Tavern tonight and it's a free show! On that note, they'll be playing my birthday party, also at Tommy's Tavern, on October 9th with Sigmund Droid, pow wow!, and Radio America.

In Other News: Matt & Kim Won A F@#king Moon Man

MTV's craptastic programming aside, we know at least some of you watched the VMA's. And, let's not pretend you don't know what went down last Sunday, even if you didn't watch the show. Kanye Gate is every where. It's getting to be annoying, but before that, it was really fucking hilarious.

Case In Point:

There's plenty more where that came from. Click Random and get happy.

Russell Brand was as awkward and unfunny as usual. Madonna kinda came off long winded and self absorbed (what's new?) Though, the MJ tribute was phenomenal. Well, except that one dancer who messed up the Smooth Criminal lean (you know who you are; didn't you rehearse?). And, yeah, Janet was a bit slow and raspy-voiced and glaring at everybody... but, the concept was pretty cool. It was live television, after all.

I was more interested in Muse's performance of their new single "Uprising" from the album they just dropped, The Resistance. Which I have, and think is pretty good. Not their best and won't stand the test of time, but decent. The performance was one of the best of the night - and here is where Kanye interjects to tell me that Beyonce's performance was the best VMA performance of all time - next to the hip hop and r&b power couple's individual sets. The only thing fucking up Hov's style there was Lil' Mama's weird, inexplicable presence at the end of an otherwise pretty cool rendition of "Empire State of Mind". If you're asking yourself who the hell Lil' Mama is, I couldn't tell you. Google it.

Lady Gaga's freakish, bloody performance of that horrid "Paparazzi" song is nothing but a stain on my memory cortex, with Pink's spectacle of singing while trapezing thrown in there somewhere. (actually, that was pretty impressive, seeing as how she sang it live, while being tossed in the air)

The thing I'm really here to tell you is, believe it or not, MTV showed Brooklyn some indie love by giving Williamsburg power pop duo Matt & Kim a Moon Man for Best Breakthrough Video "Lessons Learned". You know, the naked one. The band beat out a whole bunch of well-known indie bands, including Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bat For Lashes, Cold War Kids, Passion Pit, Death Cab for Cutie, Gnarls Barkley and Chairlift among others. That's pretty impressive.

Matt had this to say about it: "After all the convincing it took me to get Kim to strip in Times Square she's finally gonna trust me! Every time she questions one of my dumb ideas I'll say 'But Kim, remember that time we won the VMA!'"

The award-winning video for "Lesson's Learned" which is off the bands current Fader Records release Grand features the duo taking a stroll through Times Square while disrobing in the middle of February. Take a look:

Matt and Kim are currently on a headlining North American tour, so head over to www.myspace.com/mattandkim for the most current show info.

Little Boots w/ Yes Giantess and The Plastiscines

Little Boots w/ Yes Giantess and The Plastiscines

@ The Bowery Ballroom

9/16/09

Headed over to the Bowery the other night mainly to check out Yes Giantess as I was familiar with Little Boots already and truthfully had no idea that The Plastiscines would even be playing. Here's how it went down:

I had a quick chat outside with Yes Giantess' lead vocalist and songwriter Jan Feldman before heading in. Pretty cool dude. Seemed very optimistic about getting New York's classically stoic crowd to dance. I was pretty sure he would manage it because I'd heard some of their tunes before coming out and generally liked what I'd heard.

But I wasn't dancing, I just wanted to sit. I ended up in the balcony near the VIP section. Never been up there before. Every time I come to the Bowery it's usually always front and center. But I had a great view from up there, at any rate, and was blessedly off my feet.

The Plastiscines

French girls all made up to look retro in their gold sequins, black tights and Ronnie Spector hair. They threw their bodies around stage carelessly. A bit of punk rock and soul twisted together is what I took away from it. They played well, seemingly just as vested in getting the crowd to move as Jan was.

It wasn't quite the full house it was going to be later on when Little Boots came on, but there were already a number of people there. Most of us were doing the head nod/foot tap bit, which didn't seem enough for Katty Plastiscines (lead vocalist/guitar) Because she threatened to hold up the show if we didn't give her what she wanted: full on ass shaking. She wanted us to scream for them. Well, after a few dozen tries to initiate a more than just warm enthusiasm out of us during a spirited cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walking", she finally gave up and ended the set. Mumbling about how French people "do better than this." Ok, well...

We liked the girls, seriously. They were pretty good. Very high-energy; great performers. They're songs are decent - "Barcelona" "Shake" "Bitch" "Lost In Translation" - and we weren't NOT entertained. But this is New York. Unless we're wildly drunk and you are bigger than life, all you're getting is some modest crowd participation. Sorry.

Yes Giantess

Besides that, punk music is more of a thrashing kind of thing. Too much for this crowd. A lot of them were a little sophisticated (read: older) I noticed. What we needed, really, was heavy fucking beats and a synthesizer overload.

Enter the boys of Yes Giantess. Not seconds out of the gate, they unleashed a maelstrom of synthpop on the fattening crowd. Yeah, we were very happy. It was just kind of blinding. First, if you're a fan of dance music, you have to understand the thrill of hearing a good beat blasting out of a sound system over your head.

Though, initially, I wasn't too keen on Jan's vocal style, I have to admit. You could tell they designed their songs around that whole college party crowd. Kids who listened to emo in their spare time when they think no one's looking. That hi octave whine was starting to creep in there. But what was produced around it was so enjoyable, my initial irritation with it ebbed away, and dude had me moving in my seat like crazy.

Three synth keys, two computers and a drum kit rocked the house off it's foundation with heavy hitters "Tuff n' Stuff" "Can't Help It" "The Word". By the end of the set, everybody was pumped for Little Boots.

Little Boots

She came from Irving Plaza playing Perez Hilton's show with Ladyhawke, Semi Precious Weapons, Frank Music and others. Dressed in blue sparkles. She was phenomenal. She got the crowd hype all over again after about a twenty minute wait while she got from point A to point B.

She dropped fan favorites "Remedy" "New In Town" "Stuck On Repeat" "Meddle" and "Love Kills" among a few others. It was a non-stop pounding adrenaline rush. Complete with flashing lights. How many times can you say the same thing? The crowd swelled to capacity, everybody danced and sang along.

I liked looking down on the sea of people rippling in her wake. I'd never seen her live. Listening to her tracks I'd felt she was just a slight notch up the Kylie Minogue ladder. Watching her on stage, I found her to be a bit less plastic. She was a warm and vivacious performer. Of course, this was not an arena, and there were no costumes or dancers. Boots has enough of an edge that she could fit easily in with a Ladyhawke and a La Roux, as opposed to say, a Britney Spears. She doesn't need an auto tuner, in other words.

She did get me out of my seat.

Alright, no pictures ( I have a good d excuse this time!) Plus ones were cut and my photog was a casualty to the massacre. But, I did spot Nicky Digital there and said hey to him. He was hold up in the balcony with me a good portion of Yes Giantess and Little Boots set. And since I watched his camera bag for him, I think I've earned the right to tell you to head over there and peruse his pics. Oh, wait, that works out for him too...