Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine arrived at Zuccotti Park at mid-day on what has turned out to be an incredibly hectic day for Occupy Wall Street protesters. Morello, who performed at OccupyL.A. last week, gave a short acoustic set as well as supportive words to protesters: "First they ignored you, then you got pepper sprayed, and New York found out about you. Then 700 of you got arrested, and the rest of the country found out about it. Now there are 1,300 cities and towns that are standing up like you are here." Below, you can watch some videos of Morello performing, including a rendition of "This Land Is Your Land."
Videos: Tom Morello Rages Acoustically At Occupy Wall Street
Week in Rock: Non-Violent Edition
Rent, the rock-musical that did more to force LES hipster culture into that mainstream than anybody would care to admit, will take its final bows this weekend on Broadway. The once acclaimed show, which has been on the stage since 1996, will leave as the 7th longest Broadway run ever, and has built up a devoted following of longtime fans. And, just in case you were dying to get one last fix, but missed out on tickets to this final show, it will be captured on film and brought to theatres nationwide at the end of the month. That said, the show is closing after a down couple of years, and it's pretty clear that its time, and its brand of hipster stereotype, has finally passed on.
Gothamist's Week in Rock, Volume 12
One of the nice things about being a music fan in New York City is that you rarely have to wait very long to see a band you're recently missed. The Black Lips famously played about 6,000 shows at SXSW this year, yet despite our interest in checking them out, we managed to catch them exactly zero times (with our final chance being cut short by that whole collapsing balcony thing.) So we were stoked to discover they were going to play last Monday back home at Bowery Ballroom. The show lived up to our ever inflated expectations and managed to bring the house down with their drunken-fried punk. While their "wild boyz" antics may seem a bit forced at this stage in their careers, the music more than holds up on its own. It's not easy to play such sloppy rock and roll so precisely. (Pic via Sandwich!)
Van Halen to Rock NYC?
Van Halen is back, and will rock the city. At least, those are the rumors that accompany news the band is hitting the road for the first time in 20 years with original lead singer David Lee Roth. We suppose if Mick Jagger is still at it - Roth can probably still "jump" at the age of 53 (though we hope he leaves the assless chaps at home).


