After a totally unwinning performance at Radio City Music Hall last night, Charlie Sheen met a much more forgiving crowd in Connecticut. Well, actually the crowd only warmed up mid-way through: According to the Hollywood Reporter, "Thanks to Sheen's persistence, the tide eventually turned in his favor. Instead of getting defensive, he went along with the unusual questions the crowd asked -- which included questions about bacon and masturbation -- and mentioned to the moderator that this was their best show yet." more ›

The NYPD is ready for Charlie Sheen and his Violent Torpedo of Truth. The MaSheen has two shows at Radio City Music Hall, and the first one is tonight. In fact, we are headed to the first one soon! (Help us.) more ›

Charlie Sheen is inside the building. Or rather, he has arrived in New York City. According to the Daily News, the MaSheen checked in to Trump International Hotel this morning (he was banned from The Plaza, and several other establishments), which was surrounded by paparazzi. The Post reports that he booked 12 rooms at the hotel for four nights. He's all ours until Monday, New York! And TMZ will be helping us cherish every moment by documenting his every move. more ›

We are just days away from Charlie Sheen taking the stage at Radio City Music Hall... are you as excited as we are? Reports from the frontlines of recent shows seem to be more favorable than his disastrous debut show in Detroit, and TMZ has a play-by-play of last night's show in Cleveland, which they note ended with a standing ovation. more ›

As if there weren't enough things to geek out on at this coming weekend's Comic-Con, a small army of musicans will be taking the stage to perform Howard Shore's score to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Maybe "army" is a bit of an exaggeration—battalion is more like it. As the film unspools on a giant screen at Radio City Music Hall, the music of Middle-earth will be brought to life by 300 musicians forming super-group comprised of Switzerland’s 21st Century Symphony Orchestra, The Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the Dessoff Symphonic Choir and renowned soprano Kaitlyn Lusk. Keeping all of them in time with the movie is the task of Maestro Ludwig Wicki, the Swiss music director at the Palace Chapel of Lucerne, where he specializes in Georgian chants and performances of Bach, Handel, and Monteverdi. He'll be conducting this epic spectacle on Friday and Saturday night, and there are still tickets available. Be advised that some audience members attend dressed as characters from the film, so now's your chance to break out the wizard robe and long white beard. more ›

Last night, at Ringo Starr's 70th birthday party/concert at Radio City Music Hall, the house nearly came down when Paul McCartney appeared to sing some Beatles tunes. And not just that—Yoko was singing along to "I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends." Here are two videos from attendees—we can't imagine what the shrieking must have been like during the height of Beatlemania: more ›

The Rockettes are still kickin' after all these years. They first took the stage at Radio City Music Hall in 1932, and have had a rotating cast since. Yesterday some new girls tried out for the line at their annual audition, where just 20 spots are available and around 500 showed up to fight for them. One 22-year-old told the Daily News, "This is one of those things: you see them when you're young and say, 'I'm going to do that one day.' It's a childhood dream." more ›

As expected/hoped, Conan O'Brien is hitting the road for a comedy tour. He Tweeted the news this morning, "Hey Internet: I'm headed to your town on a half-assed comedy & music tour. Go to http://TeamCoco.com for tix. I repeat: It's half-assed." more ›

Lady Gaga has officially taken over her home town, setting up shop Wednesday night to play four shows at Radio City Music Hall. So far there have been reports of everyone from P. Diddy to Donald Trump to Barbara Walters (Lady Wawa?) in the crowd amongst the performer's beloved monsters. And people are really going crazy over these shows — laying down serious cash for tickets, taking off their pants, belting out their best ear-piercing screams as the Fame Monster arrives at shows, and even donning orbital headresses in homage. But it's not all fun and glitter, today the NY Press reports back about one fan's beatdown over tickets. more ›

International superstar, NYU drop-out, and former small club singer/songwriter (video!), Lady Gaga, has been canceling shows on her current Monster Ball tour due to exhaustion and dehydration. more ›

Smaller-sized disposable cans of carbonated corn syrup water will arrive in NYC next week!!! The 7.5 oz Coca-Cola Mini, which has 50 fewer calories than your fat grandpa's boring old 140-calorie 12 ounce can, was celebrated yesterday by children, parents, and The Radio City Rockettes, who taught families a 90-second, "mini" dance routine on the legendary Radio City Music Hall stage. According to a corporate press release pasted on Popsop, the event was emceed by "award-winning journalist" Laurin Sydney, who said, "[Dancing] is something families can do together or people can do alone, and it not only burns calories but it generates joy." Guess what else generates joy! more ›

As quickly as you can say nuke-yu-ler, the hotly anticipated debate between George W. Bush and Bill Clinton has been called off! At first we assumed it was because when Bush agreed to the debate, he thought he'd be going up against George Clinton, the brain-fried frontman for Parliament-Funkadelic, not Bill Clinton, world-renowned master debater. But turns out, it's Clinton who's withdrawn. more ›

The Rockettes were out practicing their kicks yesterday, and other such fancy footwork at at St. Paul The Apostle Church. The Christmas Spectacular opens at Radio City on November 13th; buy a ticket before Jim Dolan kills them all off (actually, he won't)! more ›

Are you ready to geek out? On October 9th and 10th, more than 300 musicians will gather onstage at Radio City Musical to perform composer Howard Shore’s award-winning score to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring live to Peter Jackson’s film. The ensemble is as epic as the movie, and includes Switzerland’s 21st Century Symphony Orchestra, the internationally-acclaimed The Collegiate Chorale, the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and renowned soprano Kaitlyn Lusk, all under the direction of celebrated Maestro Ludwig Wicki. more ›

Last night, the MTV Video Music Awards returned to New York City with its usual mix of spectacle and a heavy dose of nostalgia (mostly Michael Jackson-related, with a remembrance from Madonna, then a performance of Scream by Janet Jackson). However, the whole thing was upstaged by Kanye West's antics—the rapper decided to storm the stage when Taylor Swift was the surprise winner for Best Female Video with her song "You Belong With Me." He took the microphone from the 19-year-old to declare Beyonce's "Single Ladies" "one of the best videos of all time." Here's video: more ›

James Dolan, chairman of Cablevision and Madison Square Garden, has been reviled for years for running the Knicks into the ground. And now rumor has it he wants to get rid of a beloved part of New York City—the Radio City Hall Rockettes! Dolan also owns Radio City Cityfile reported, "Much like other pricey productions—ticket sales [for the Christmas Spectacular] have fallen flat given the state of the economy," leading workers to worry. A former cast member told Cityfile, "I've spoken with people who work at the Radio City box office and they say they've never seen it this bad." Plus, "The temperamental Cablevision chief has intimated that he's prepared to scrap the Rockettes altogether and install an entirely new show in the famed venue during the holiday season. One idea he's reportedly batted around: Bringing a version of Cirque du Soleil to Radio City." Egads! Dolan's spokeperson later caught up with Cityfile, "This story is fundamentally false. We anticipate 2009 will be another successful season and look forward to creating memories for families for many years to come," but didn't say how well tickets were selling. more ›

Fresh off Bastille Day celebrations back home, France's first couple was in the Big Apple this weekend for a relatively social engagement. After a quick discussion of some global issues at the UN, French President Nicholas Sarkozy took some time to jog around the Central Park Reservoir. The Daily News says that Sarkozy "wore skimpy shorts" showing off the "chiseled stems" he needs in order to "keep up with his supermodel wife, Carla Bruni." The trip had been prompted by Bruni's performance at Radio City Music Hall last night's tribute concert to Nelson Mandela on the South African leader's 91st birthday. The French first lady took the stage in her American debut alongside Eurythmic Dave Stewart. Before her first ballad, Bruni told the crowd, "This one's not good for dancing. But it's good for dreaming." The concert also featured pop stars such as Josh Groban, Jesse McCartney and Li'l Kim, who said of the anti-apartheid icon, "He was very instrumental in my experience in prison." more ›

If you haven't yet seen Andrew Bird live, then you've got a pretty easy decision to make regarding your Thursday night plans: He'll be performing at Radio City Music Hall with his stellar three-piece band, and tickets are still on sale! Of course, if you've already had the Andrew Bird live experience, there's no deciding necessary: to see him once is to be blown away and left wanting more, so you've already got tickets burning a hole in your pocket. We've pretty much exhausted all our superlatives when it comes to Bird, whose voice, violin, guitar, glockenspiel, and virtuoso whistling combine—often simultaneously—to create a sublime, almost unclassifiable pop-Americana soundscape. His most recent album, Noble Beast, is just further proof that Bird's compositional gifts are an embarrassment of riches; but the only proof you'll need, should you remain unconvinced, will be presented in its entirety Thursday night at Radio City, Q.E.D. more ›

Saturday night Radio City Music Hall housed a lot of big names for a benefit concert for the David Lynch Foundation (which "provides funds to teach students how to meditate so they can change their world from within"). Lynch hosted the show, and although the evening was billed as Paul McCartney & Friends, USA Today reports that the Beatle didn't show up until three hours into the affair. Once he did, however, he played a lengthy set (watch "Can't Buy Me Love" below). more ›

Following the release of Red Hot's Dark Was the Night double-disk compilation, word has arrived that a live show will now take place commemorating it. Hosted at Radio City Music Hall on May 3rd, participating musicians will include Dave Sitek, Dirty Projectors, Feist, My Brightest Diamond, The National, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings plus many more. Heads up: tickets go on sale this Friday. Meanwhile, filmmaker Vincent Moon (the man behind the lens of all those gorgeous Take Away Shows), recently stopped by a loft in Williamsburg to film The National, Dirty Projectors and Yeasayer each performing their songs from the compilation. The first one being released is the National, which you can watch below (look for the others later this week on Pitchfork, which the performance was filmed for): more ›

Is this even surprising? The Daily News reports that the April 4th reunion of surviving Beatles Paul and Ringo sold out in record time, and now organizers are apologizing to angry fans who can only find tickets through scalpers for inflated prices (up to $9,000!). The performance is part of a benefit for the David Lynch Foundation, and the director of the organization told fans, "We were alarmed [to see] that tickets were listed on the scalping sites days before they went on sale." The 1200 remaining tickets (after a fan club pre-sale) were available through Ticketmaster starting Monday at 11 a.m., and allegedly sold out in nine seconds (the Vegas show sold out in 7). Tickets can now be found on eBay and Craigslist, as well as the aforementioned scalper sites. more ›

The remaining Beatles will be regrouping for one night only this spring to headline a benefit concert in NYC. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will take their two-man act to Radio City Music Hall on April 4th in the name of the David Lynch (yes, that one) Foundation, which "provides funds to teach students how to meditate so they can change their world from within." Rolling Stone points out this is right up their alley, or at least it would have been decades ago when the Fab Four traveled to India to visit with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Discussing the benefit, McCartney touched on his meditation practices, saying “In moments of madness, it has helped me find moments of serenity." Joining them in the transcendentalfest are Eddie Vedder, Sheryl Crow, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Moby and many more (including appearances by Russell Simmons and Laura Dern). Tickets on sale starting March 9th. more ›

On February 27th and 28th, David Byrne (avid cyclist, friend of Gothamist) took to the Radio City Music Hall stage, but it looks like not everyone was dazzled by the performance (which included an amazing dance with tutus). Did Byrne get burned by the NY Times? The musician points out on his own blog that "the reviewer, Jon Pareles, loves the Bush Of Ghosts album and has some kind of nostalgia for those days. We all know music snobs who like to remind everyone that they heard so and so back when they were really good. This, however, is the same reviewer who leveled charges of 'cultural imperialism' against Bush Of Ghosts in his Rolling Stone review back in the early 80’s." Apparently Pareles doesn't like gimmicks (really?), but maybe he needs to loosen up—this looks like fun!: more ›

This morning the Radio City Rockettes kicked off their Christmas Spectacular at the Empire State Building. The four who did the honors (Brittany Marcin, Nikki Williams, Kimmi Louwsma and Laura Danielski) were all on hand to turn the building green, white and red in celebration of their holiday show's opening night. (This also ended the four-night political run the ESB has had.) Can you believe it's already time to get the sexy Santa outfits out of storage? more ›

Jack Moelmann, the retired Air Force colonel and organ enthusiast, soaked up his $118,182.44 spotlight at Radio City Music Hall over the weekend. The NY Times reports on his performance, which took place Saturday after Moelmann laid down some serious cash to make it happen. The Times reports on his time behind the famous Wurlitzer organ, saying "His hands and feet were a blur at the console of an instrument with 4,000 pipes, the longest the length of a small sailboat, the shortest the size of a No. 2 pencil that had been back to the sharpener once too often." In the end, with the show not being close to sold out ("the orchestra level was about a third full"), he lost money...but he fulfilled his dream, and he got a standing ovation at Radio City Music Hall. more ›