Saturday's weather was immaculate for day two of the All Points West music festival in Liberty State Park, New Jersey; unusually cool and crisp, with a fresh breeze off the harbor and spectacular cloud formations as far as the eye could see. Saturday was also the first day of the festival to sell out, and the park was significantly more crowded than Friday.
Aside from a passing shower in the afternoon, the weather at Liberty State Park was unseasonably mild and sunny yesterday for day one of the "inaugural" All Points West rock festival. The grassy grounds were populated by misting tents, American Spirit free cigarette lounges, a healthy variety of food vendors, a Sony PlayStation tent, and the whimsical art that's become de rigueur for these sorts of things, with curiosities ranging from Christopher Janney's Sonic Forest to the Solar Pavilion shade sculpture designed with "a zero-waste mandate."
There’s usually not much mystery to a Be Your Own Pet show. You get about a half-hour of nonstop, rapid-fire post-adolescent punk, with lots of shouting and shimmying from Jemina Pearl. There are far worse ways to spend an early evening in February. This Wednesday, however, things went down a bit different. About halfway through the set, some older creep started talking back to the charismatic young front woman between songs. It seemed all in good fun, with the tiny singer (jokingly?) bragging about how she’s been kicked out of bars in Nashville for fisticuffs. The dude then gets up on stage, makes some sort of kissy move towards her, and promptly gets smacked across the face HARD as the rest of the band jumped in to take him down. So yea, it Got Awkward real fast. The band brushed themselves off, shook hands with the pervy perp to call a truce with the intruder, and continued on with the rest of their set. Interesting night, to say the least. (pic via Ryan Dombal's flickr)
Last week we were tipped off to a new, nearby festival temporarily dubbed Coachella East, because of it's relation to the mammoth west coast fest and their shared event producer. Now we learn the proper name, All Points West, and some more details from the press release:
The three-day event is set for August 8, 9 and 10, 2008 at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. This historic location offers panoramic views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Manhattan skyline. The festival’s name is inspired by the area’s rich history, particularly Ellis Island and the NJ Central Railroad terminal located on the festival site, where people boarded trains for All Points West.First thought: the dates match up exactly with the Vineland concert, putting the two in direct competition. The organizers promise more details about ticket info and lineup in the coming weeks, though Paul Tollett (one organizer involved) mentioned that "Radiohead played there in 2001 and there hasn't been a music event there since." Is that a hint Paul? Time will tell, and in the interim NJ.com says they anticipate crowds as large as 30,000 per day (about half the amount Coachella now sees). It's also important to note there will be no camping, so concert-goers will have to come and go each day. Will you make the trip to Jerz?
MUSIC: When we talked to Jonny Greenwood (pictured) back in October, Radiohead's In Rainbows wasn't the only focus. His composition titled Popcorn Superhet Receiver will be performed tonight by The Wordless Music Orchestra with Brad Lubman as conductor. When we asked Greenwood if he would be in attendance, he said "I’d love to but I can’t really justify the flight just to come to that. I’d feel a bit weird about it. If I was in America already for touring or something I’d love to go but I can’t really justify it. It’s a shame." Since you won't be using as many carbon emissions to get there, we suggest you go.
We interviewed hundreds of people this year, from long-time rockers to the designer of New York’s subway map. Here are a few conversations you may have missed:
READING: We originally thought this was going down yesterday, but you still have a chance to see it! Not in a million years would we have thought we'd be listing a reading by former Guns n' Roses guitarist, Slash. But it turns out old rockers love to dish on their sordid lives, and this mysterious musician is no different. Tonight he'll read from his book, called Slash, which apparently "redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll."
Jonny Greenwood was named the BBC’s composer-in-residence in 2004; during this time he debuted "Popcorn Superhet Receiver", a twenty-minute work for string orchestra inspired, in part, by the phenomenon of white noise and Penderecki’s "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima". Tickets are on sale for a two-night performance of the composition at The Church of St. John the Apostle in January as part of The Wordless Music Series; works by John Adams and Gavin Bryars will also be performed.
The welcome trend of artists playing their entire albums through live in concert has spread to the country world. Lucinda Williams was in town this week for five (relatively) intimate shows at Irving Plaza and Town Hall, each featuring one of her five albums. Lucinda didn't stop at just recreating her past work -- after a short intermission set by up and coming singer/songwriter Fionn Regan, she'd come back up for another set of old and new jams while joined by some friends of hers. And at that, what went from a rather sedate and straightforward show erupted into a grand ol' hoedown, with all sorts of dancing and singing and goofing around. Perhaps the highlight on the night we went was seeing 80-something year old Charlie Louvin up on stage well after midnight, not only keeping up with the party, but stopping the room in its tracks with a stunning rendition of 'When I Stop Dreaming.' What a show, what a party.
Not too long ago Ronen Givony started the Wordless Music Series, which is pretty much just what it sounds like it would be. Sonic worlds collide and fuse classical with indie, jazz with electronic and listeners with instrumental-only music. In the next week audiences will enjoy the sounds of Do Make Say Think and Beirut from an intimate setting for just such an experience.
Stereogum has raised the bar with their latest endeavor, a tribute to Radiohead's OK Computer on the album's 10th anniversary. Musicians from all over have contributed, some of the New York bands you may recognize: Vampire Weekend, My Brightest Diamond, Doveman and...who's this Samson Dalonoga?
We've got a few pairs of passes to give away to the following Tribeca Film Festival events, and we want to give them to you...
Early on in Arcade Fire’s set at Judson Church, someone in the crowd shouted out, “Why a church?” The room was intimate enough for perplexed front man Win Butler to hear it and respond with his own question: “Why would you even ask that? Why not?”
A couple of years ago, while leaving a show at Irving Plaza, one of the many people handing out cd's - handed us a cd. It wasn't in any fancy packaging, wasn't eye catching for any reason, and we held on to it and listened later that night. The band was called The Epochs, and we had a new rule about listening to cd's handed to us on the street.
Horray, more music! Day 2 of Bonnaroo got off to a great start with Dungen at the That Tent. It's quite a trip to hear thousands of people singing along in a language they don't actually understand. Lots of people knew the words, few actually knew what they were saying. Regardless, the energy and presence of this band always impresses, and they left the early risers in high spirits to take on the day. After them were Gothamist pals Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who played to what we assume was the largest crowd they've been in front of that was the most unfamiliar with the songs. We actually had people ask us "Who is Clap Your Hands whatever whatever?" For the first time in over a year. This touches on one of the great things about the festival. Even though the lineup skewed more towards the indie scene than in previous years, the majority of the crowd was still there for the major jam bands. This put bands like CYHSY in a position to show off their talents in front of musically open minded people who may not have otherwise have gone to see them. Their set was marred with technical difficulties, which was a shame cause it hindered the flow a bit, but nonetheless, once the songs came out, the crowd was bouncing along and enjoying themselves as expected. That’s what we always like to see.
One of them had the funniest interview to date on Gothamist. Another is on a label with some of our favorite bands. And another just opened for Radiohead at Bonnaroo, well, sort of.
- The state political party logos are pretty lame
Did you catch them while they were in town? We were lucky enough to be at night one. And for those who care, these famous people were also at the shows: Ed Norton, Michael Stipe and Michael Mills.
COMEDY: Sara Schaefer's latest show is at UCB, following up her long running series "Sara Schaefer is Obsessed With You" with a new show called "Video Gaga". The night features Schaefer counting down funny music videos for you (we've been told that tonight will include The Fresh's Myspace video), a live musical act (tonight it's Erin McKeown), special guests and glittery dance numbers! (We hear she has her own version of Fly Girls!).
Our camera battery died two songs in, but here are the pictures we managed to get. Above is a clip we found on YouTube from the show last night, of the band playing "Fake Plastic Trees". Enjoy, and if you are going tonight...we are both jealous of, and excited for, you.
YUM: If you're unable to jet off to a remote beach and sip on drinks in coconut cups, then do the next best thing. Okay, maybe the next next best thing, head over to The Carribean Fair. It's an all day festival giving you a taste of indigenous foods (prepared by celebrity chefs!). You can also check out some dancers, models, singers and bands - all celebrating the sites, sounds, and tastes of the islands. We feel relaxed already.
On Presidents' Day, we are going to exercise our executive power to tell you what shows to go see. Here's our vision of the state of the rock 'n' roll union this week:
Mike Murphy - Guitar
It was another two very busy days for Gothamist. Again, we're gonna focus on just the highlights because there were far too many bands we saw this weekend to mention them all.
While some city buildings are considering "greening" their roofs with gardens (Curbed as a rendering of one roof garden for Silvercup Studios), we hear there's a protest tonight to "openly mock" a plan to put AstroTurf on Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn. Reader Chris says, "As dumb ideas go, this one is pretty striking. Why not put up some plastic trees so we'll have greenery in winter." Cue the Radiohead! Just thinking about putting AstroTurf in a city park makes us wonder if having Lego surfaces in parks is next...although that'd be kinda cool.
Other Passengers are Billy (vox/keys/guitar), James (drums), Kevin (guitar), Tobin (bass) and Travis (guitar).
Coachella confirmations are starting to appear, after many many rumors. This year, the 6th, will be held April 30th to May 1st at Empire Polo Field in Indio, CA (same venue as last year). The lineup is still unconfirmed but you can probably expect Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand and the Killers. Others asked to perform this year are the Futureheads, Snow Patrol, Keane, Bloc Party, Secret Machines, Hot Hot Heat, Phoenix, The Bravery and Radio 4.
Morning Theft, fresh off the bus from Boston in 2003, have been desribed as Pearl Jam meets Travis, Nirvana meets the Cure, the Pixies meets Radiohead...you get the point. But these guys have their own sound. And it sounds good. They're the band who has been (not so) silently brooding in the corner of the indie rock scene. They're loud. They're catchy. They're pensive mood rock. Gothamist (and pretty much everyone below 14th St) loves Morning Theft, you should too. Go check them out for free at Luna Lounge tomorrow night. More details after the interview...
New York has a well-earned reputation: bright lights, honking cars, late nights, frantic energy, non-stop. All this constant motion necessitates downtime: an aimless stroll, sifting through the Sunday , an afternoon nap, a hot bath. Brooklyn's Argentine makes music that goes hand-in-hand with a somber mood or rainy day. An antidote to a more common musical typology (four boys in suits and haircuts playing something loud and fast and fleeting), Argentine's slowcore sound swells with drunken guitar laced with viola, drawing comparisons to Low, with strains of Galaxie 500, Mazzy Star, early Radiohead and Yo La Tengo. The quintet consists of Ian Carpenter (vocals, guitars), Nat Guy (guitar, bass), Timothy Quigley (percussion), Marcus Smith (bass, keyboard, guitar) and Chris Curtis (viola). Vocalist Carpenter gives us his two cents on life in the city.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
tweet this
add to facebook
