There's more furor over the NYPD escort that rapper-entrepreneur Sean Combs received last week when in a hurry to travel from the Hammerstein Ballroom to a post-Dirty Diddy Money concert party in New Jersey. A former Midtown South cop was shocked that Combs/ Diddy/ P.Diddy/ Puff Daddy could have gotten such a pass, referring to the infamous 1999 shooting incident at a Manhattan nightclub, "After how he treated cops the night he was arrested in Club New York, no one should have helped him cross the street, let alone get a police escort." more ›

Diddy—aka Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Sean Combs—has previously run the city (in a marathon) but now city officials are embarrassed that the rap entrepreneur got some sort of NYPD assistance to rush from the Hammerstein Ballroom to his NJ post-concert party last week. The NYPD basically admitted it (see its hedging below) and Mayor Bloomberg said, "The bottom line is the police department should treat everybody exactly the same. If you don't get a police escort, P. Diddy shouldn't." more ›

Last night both Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel took the stage for Barack Obama at the Hammerstein Ballroom. The Daily News reports back that the two were "singing together for the first time ... to the delight of 2,500 people at the fund-raiser." The Boss told the audience to "Palin-ize" their expectations for the night, since the two had only rehearsed a little. Michelle Obama looked on from a balcony, as everyone was urged to "rise up and take back this country." The good seats cost $10K, and the likes of Anna Wintour and Harvey Weinstein were on hand, while Marc Jacobs-designed Obama tees were being peddled at the merch table. Joel invited his daughter Alexa Ray onstage and thanked "Sen. Obama for finally getting my kid into politics." Obama himself appeared on stage around 11:30 p.m., and warned the audience: "Don't underestimate the capacity of Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Don't underestimate our ability to screw it up. I want everybody running scared." more ›

Born on this day in 1932, and dying 71 years later in 2003, Johnny Cash made a lot of fans and friends during his lifetime. Today would have been his 76th birthday, so with that here are some videos of him performing in New York City. more ›

Sumner Redstone, who as majority shareholder still calls the shots at Viacom, has arranged a special holiday treat for his already well-exploited “permalancers”. (The term refers to the practice favored by Viacom and other companies of employing workers full time but classifying them “freelance” to keep their sneaky hands out of the insurance jar.) Though Viacom permalancers had previously been eligible for healthcare benefits after a year, new rules dictate that insurance will only be... more ›

The Gotham Awards gala run by the Independent Feature Project (IFP) will be held in Brooklyn for the first time tonight, after 17 years spent bouncing around between Roseland, Hammerstein Ballroom and Chelsea Piers. This year the independent film awards will take place on the soundstage of Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Among the thousand-plus guests expected to attend are Javier Bardem, Sean Penn, Laura Linney, Uma Thurman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Brooklyn’s... more ›

It's been five years since Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell) was murdered in his Queens studio, and though some people have recently started piping up about who may have pulled the trigger - no suspect has been named. Moving forward -- his friends, family and fellow musicians have begun to get closure in other ways. Mizell's widow, Terri, started the Jam Master Jay Foundation for Music -- a non-profit that provides funding and resources to... more ›

This weekend Kanye West's mother (and manager), Dr. Donda West, died after surgery - which the BBC is reporting was cosmetic (UPDATE: she was warned prior to getting the surgery). West was very close with his 58-year-old mother, often speaking publicly about their bond and even writing a song for her. Just this summer the two were at Borders to promote her new book, Raising Kanye. Kanye was in London when told of the death,... more ›

Jens Lekman is one of our favorite songwriters, so any opportunity to see the funnyman crooner play is a treat, no matter the circumstances. The set at Webster Hall was generally excellent. Bordering on Magical, in fact, a perfect mix of his old and new -- mixing in Swedish deadpan quips and stories the whole time through. The only knock we had came from the venue, which we usually enjoy. The sound was fine, the site lines were good, the bands came out on time, but on this night, they started opening up the night club a little bit earlier. Around 30 minutes into his set, the thumping dance beats could be felt through the floor loud and strong enough that you could actually make out the song at times. It was distracting, to say the least, especially during the quieter songs. It even forced a puzzled Jens to ask what was going on during his encore, before attempting to play along to the beat. Webster Hall has taken giant strides over the last few years to become a perfectly good rock venue, but an extra layer of soundproofing would go a long way to remove the cheesy dance club stigma for the concert attendees. (pic via Ryan Dombal's flickr) more ›

It was only a few years ago when Morrissey's run of 5 shows at the Apollo Theatre was the hottest ticket in town, and it's a bit sad to see Mozzer basically begging for people to buy tickets for his run at Hammerstein Ballroom this week. The $65 ticket appeared to be a bit too rich for the average fan's blood, despite these shows being his first in NYC since 2004. The ticket price dropped to a mere $20 some nights of this "Greatest Hits" run. The set lists have been great and on Tuesday, the night we went, he still sounded at the top of his game. Tix are still on sale for all nights, and cheap ones for the Sunday night finale. After such a tepid reception in NYC, this may be the last time Moz comes through town for a while, so catch him while you can. (pic via roddyrick's flickr) more ›

Brand New didn't have to be at CMJ this year. The band doesn't have a new album coming out, they headline shows at Hammerstein Ballroom and have sold millions of records. So why did Jesse and Vin stay behind to play an acoustic set at Mercury Lounge? They wanted to support their good friends in local indie band Aeroplane Pageant, who were playing a showcase after them Tuesday night. A noble gesture, no doubt. The duo played a handful of stripped down gems off their three albums to a CMJ crowd that may not have normally given these guys a listen. A bold move, capped with a risky but impressive Neutral Milk Hotel cover, these guy likely made a few new fans that night. (pic via The Syndicate's flickr) more ›

Before the Beastie Boys’ concert at McCarren Park Pool last night, Gothamist attended a press conference with the 3 MC’s and verified an interesting bit of trivia: Despite having formed in Brooklyn, rehearsed often at Adam Yauch’s parent’s crib downtown, and associated themselves with the borough constantly over the decades, the band itself had not yet performed in Kings County. Mike D broke it down like so, “When we came up none of the clubs were really in Brooklyn except for L'Amour. My theory is that they didn’t really want to have hip-hop functions in Brooklyn because they figured it would just end badly. Soon there will be an arena there but there was never an arena-type venue there.” The Beastie Boys’ mainstream popularity – by '85 they were supporting Madonna on tour, by ’86 Licensed to Ill had moved five million units – outpaced the borough they helped popularize; not until the late nineties had Brooklyn gentrified to the point where there was even a venue big enough to accommodate them. more ›

Suckers may be saying they can take out Adam Horovitz, but after all these years with The Beastie Boys – it’s now two decades since License To Ill dropped! – he’s still rocking steady. Having just released The Mix-Up, a new all-instrumental album, the three are set to drive the lane like Evan Bernhard with a trio of NYC shows in as many days. Tomorrow night and Thursday they’ll do two of their more familiar rap shows at Central Park Summerstage and McCarren Pool, respectively. Then Friday night finds them at Hammerstein Ballroom for a special, all-instrumental “gala event”. We recently spoke with The King Adrock about the dress code for the gala events, his solo career and his long awaited presidential endorsement. more ›

We never realized exactly what a force Manu Chao was live until experiencing him ourselves at Sasquatch several weeks ago. The man has the power to move people. To incite hysteria and completely dominate his entire audience. It is something any music fan should experience at least once in their life, because there is really nobody else like him performing today. Earlier this week, He did two nights at the Prospect Park Bandshell to a crowd that more resembled a soccer stadium than a rock concert. There was chanting and singing and air horns and flags, but none of that could beat back the rain, which poured down in buckets towards the end of the second night, drenching the fans and creating a lovely mess. Few would argue that after a hot night of dancing, there could have been no perfect release. Check out some more incredible pics (like the one to the left) over at Brooklyn Vegan. more ›

With brick and mortar sales declining, and the future of the music industry uncertain - at least live shows are always dependable. Sure, there are a lot of venues closing, but how about the ones thriving? The NY Times reports on some of the big players in the New York venue scene. more ›

MUSIC: Of course we suggest you come hang out with us tonight at our 4th Birthday Party, and 11th Movable Hype show. The show starts at 7:30pm, here are the details and some mp3s: more ›

2007 is just around the corner, and we've got a little tip sheet on where to be when the clock strikes midnight. more ›

Story of the Year: Beirut more ›

READINGS: Another double-bill this week at the 92nd Street Y - Janet Fitch () are reading from new work tonight, introduced respectively to the stage by Will Allison and Ben Marcus. Plus, the under-35 gets a limited number of tickets for just ten dollars. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras more ›

Alas, all we have is YouTube. Check out this video recapping the life of G N' R, it's...interesting, set to music and has a hopeful ending! more ›

A few years ago we went to see Interpol play the second of two nights at Hammerstein Ballroom. We remember really enjoying the first opener of the night, but never caught their name. Not too long ago a friend mentioned he was going out to see "that band that opened for Interpol" play a show. We put the pieces together and reacquainted ourselves with a band we should have been listening to all this time. They're playing Pianos tonight, then Warsaw opening for Minus the Bear May 5th. Looking forward to seeing them again. more ›

Gothamist is very grateful that we didn't have to witness Bloomberg's Hip Hop Press conference yesterday. OK, well, actually we kinda do wish that we'd been there, if only to see Bloomie chatting it up with Ice-T and Russell Simmons, but considering some of the soundbites that made it into today's papers we suspect that even that charm would have quickly worn off ("Welcome to City Hall, or my crib, as I like to call it... Not everybody here understands our language."). more ›

On March 20th this year, the 3rd Anniversary of the US Invasion of Iraq, a group of artists will come together for the Bring 'em Home concert. Michael Stipe, Bright Eyes, Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, Rufus Wainwright, Steve Earle, Fischerspooner, Peaches and Devendra Banhart will join forces for the event which will benefit the Iraq War Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace. more ›

Gothamist is feeling a bit under the weather today, literally and figuratively, so we'll just get straight to it, if you don't mind: more ›

A few times a week, Gothamist publishes music reviews by our contributor Jeff Baum. The opinions below belong entirely to the author. more ›

Antony and the Johnsons will play their first NYC show since winning the UK's Mercury Music Prize last month. The past year has seen Antony rise from a relatively unknown eccentric NYC club performer to an international superstar. His headlining show at Carnegie Hall on Thursday, and his upcoming appearance on Letterman, are two signs of his well deserved success. Those attending the Carnegie show will also be treated to a rare opening set by vocalist Jimmy Scott, "the man whom Joseph Hooper, in a New York Times Magazine profile, called 'perhaps the most unjustly ignored American singer of the 20th century.' [Fantasy Jazz]. more ›

Metric more ›

This week requires you to make some very important decisions. It all starts on Wednesday with the question, "will it be SPIN or Summerstage?" SPIN is celebrating their 20th anniversary at Webster Hall with an incredible lineup that includes Public Enemy, Death Cab for Cutie, LCD Soundsystem, Drive-By Truckers, Lady Sovereign, Diplo, and Afrika Bambaataa. All that can be yours for only $10 more than it'll cost you to see just Death Cab in a venue twice the size a few weeks later. BUT WAIT, Summerstage had to go ahead and mess everything up by planning a Katrina-related benefit show on the very same day. Strangely, this benefit featuring Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. is free, though we doubt you'll be able to live with yourself if you enter the premises without paying at least the $25 "suggested donation." Can't decide which show? You can try to hit both. That's what the Drive By Truckers are doing. They're listed on both bills (and they're at Warsaw in Brooklyn the next day). more ›

It's CMJ week in NYC. Arcade Fire, Devendra Banhart, Lady Sovereign, Feist, Nouvelle Vague, Doves, The Wrens, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Cursive, !!!, Wolf Parade, The Hold Steady, Brian Jonestown Massacare... we can't even begin to list everything going on. Why should we? CMJ's listings reveal everything you need to know. Further inspection of CMJ.OhMyRockness.com lets you in on even more. The CMJ archives at BrooklynVegan will clue you in even further, and Central Village's itinerary has more than enough to keep you busy. Instead we'll focus on a few select non-CMJ shows happening during CMJ. more ›