The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 66,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Posted in News
Tagged arts, blogging, entertainment, Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?
Watch starting at 7:30 tonight on Livestream (link after the jump)
Tom Rush (Photo by Michael Wiseman).
It’s hard to believe that singer Tom Rushhas been performing since 1962, but the calendar doesn’t lie.
Tom Rush onstage in 1962. (Photo by Jim Eng)
Tonight he’s marking the milestone with an intimate gathering at a little place in Boston – not far from his old stomping grounds at Club 47 in Cambridge – called Symphony Hall.
It’s a venue where Tom has held forth with his friends many times over the years. It can hold upwards of 2,600 people. Not bad for an old folkie to sell out a joint like that.
Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? is planning to make the trek to Boston for this incredibly special show.
Posted in Blues, Concerts, Country, Folk, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Recordings
Tagged Boston, Buskin & Batteau, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Club 47, David Buskin, Dean Adrien, Dom Flemons, Eric Lilljequist, Joe Mennonna, Jonathan Edwards, Marshal Rosenberg, Nanci Griffith, Paul Guzzone, Robin Batteau, Symphony Hall, Tom Rush, Trevor Veitch
Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? was pleased to see a relatively young local band, Real Estate, on the bill for Night 4.
We love the old favorites, like The Feelies. But there are more than a few upstarts out there, and some of them are really good. Real Estate qualifies. The band’s singer-guitarist, Martin Courtney, clearly loves many of the same musical influences that Yo La Tengo‘s members revere.
Real Estate did a solid set and gave us our first opportunity ever to see them perform. We already liked their recorded sound. We need to see them again.
Todd Barry gave a perfectly timed, just-long-enough performance. He’s a musician’s comedian whose wry humor fit well with the feel of the evening.
Yo La Tengo.
We have dozens out more images from last night’s show after the jump, including a gallery of an Ira Kaplan organ freakout!
But before we get there, take a moment to check out the new video from YLT’s upcoming album, Fade, which drops on Jan. 15.
Good stuff, with the ever-wonderful Georgia Hubley on lead vocal, and great animation by her sister, Emily Hubley.
Here’s the set list, courtesy Frank & Earthy:
Spec Bebop
We’re An American Band
The Crying of Lot G
20th Century Boy (T-Rex)
Out the Window
The Point of It
The Summer
Don’t Have To Be So Sad
Double Dare (acoustic)
Big Day Coming (fast)
Nothing To Hide
Decora
Mushroom Cloud of Hiss
*(encore)*
Burnin’ For You (Blue Öyster Cult) (with Todd Barry on drums)
Our Way To Fall (with Martin Courtney of Real Estate on vocals)
Posted in Concerts, Jazz, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Review
Tagged Alex Bleeker, Before We Run, drums, Emily Hubley, Fade, Frank & Earthy, freakout, Fred Armisen, Georgia Hubley, Hanukkah, Hoboken, hurricane, Ira Kaplan, James McNew, Jesse Jarnow, Kid Millions, Martin Courtney, Matt Mondanile, Maxwell's, menorah, Oneida, Our Way to Fall, Real Estate, Ridgewood, Sandy, set list, Superstorm Sandy, Todd Barry, Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo jammed with Fred Armisen on a second drum kit. (Photos © 2012, Steven P. Marsh)
Yo La Tengo continued its massively wonderful holiday tradition, kicking off the first of eight shows — one for each night of Hanukkah — on Saturday night. The proceeds from tickets and most merchandise goes to charity. (This year all the charities support Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts.)_
Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? managed to score tickets to four of the eight nights — not an easy thing to do the way TicketFly is set up.
Our first night was Night 2, when the amazing Sun Ra Arkestra (imagine a DOZEN musicians on the tiny Maxwell’s stage!) was the opener and Fred Armisen of “Saturday Night Live” and “Portlandia” was both the comedian and a musical guest.
Night 3 featured Hoboken’s hometown heroes The Feelies, which opened with a very strong set, and the members of which sat in at various points of YLT’s set. Guitarist and vocalist Glenn Mercer was absolutely on fire all night. And Brenda Sauter did a great job on vocals for “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.” “SNL” writer John Mulaney was the comic for Night 3.
We’ll be back tonight, but wanted to share some images of nights 2 and 3 with you now.
This is a tradition that has been going on for 11 years, YLT’s Ira Kaplan pointed out last night. We hope it continues for many years to come.
Click through to the jump for lots of photos from Sunday and Monday nights’ shows.
Posted in Concerts, Jazz, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Review
Tagged "Portlandia", Bill Million, Brenda Sauter, claves, Dave Weckerman, drums, Fred Armisen, Georgia Hubley, Glenn Mercer, Hanukkah, Hoboken, hurricane, Ira Kaplan, James McNew, John Mulaney, Marshall Allen, Maxwell's, menorah, Sandy, Saturday Night Live, Stanley Demeski, Sun Ra Arkestra, Superstorm Sandy, The Feelies, Yo La Tengo
It’d be difficult for even the most vitriolic Amanda Palmer hater to fault the controversial, publicity-seeking — oh, and talented, too — artist for canceling her touring schedule for the forseeable future.
Her best friend is struggling with cancer. “He has cancer. Leukemia. A bad kind,” as she put it in her blog.
So she’s going to stay home with him until the situation is resolved.
While that may seem to be coded language to suggest she’ll be there at his side until he dies, she doesn’t seem to look at it in such a fatalistic way.
“We don’t know what the outcome will be,” she says.
Good for her.
Amanda’s move is similar, in terms of its personality-revealing quality, to Fiona Apple‘s recent decision to leave the tour circuit to be with her dying dog.
Read the full text of Amanda’s announcement after the jump,
Posted in Music, News, Pop and Rock
Tagged Amanda Palmer, Fiona Apple, leukemia, tour
Jihae performs at the Mercury Lounge. (Photo © 2012, Steven P. Marsh/willyoumissme.com)
Rebecca Perrin of Eileen Fisher.
As predicted, Jihae did the unexpected last night at the Mercury Lounge.
She didn’t put on an artsy opera, and she wasn’t (except for one song) in girl-with-a-guitar mode.
Instead, she was a proud rock chick, complete with a leather motorcycle jacket that somehow didn’t manage to violate her Eileen Fisher fashion style. (And yes, at least one person from Eileen Fisher, the designer for whom Jihae is a key model, was in the audience. It was Rebecca Perrin.
Click through to the jump to hear what Jihae sounded like last night.
Posted in Concerts, Music, Pop and Rock, Review
Tagged Eileen Fisher, Jihae, Mercury Lounge, Rebecca Perrin
El Vez: This is not what we had in mind for the Yule Log!
Talk about short notice!
Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? just realized this morning that Mex-Mas is upon us. December chill is in the air, and the scent of corn tortillas baking on the stone is everywhere, along with bags of oranges in red plastic stockings.
And you know what else Mex-Mas brings:
A visit from the one, the only El Vez (aka The Mexican Elvis).
That visit for New Yorkers is tonight (Wednesday, Dec. 5) at Littlefield, 622 DeGraw St., Brooklyn. Tickets are $20 and available by clicking this link.
Doors are at 8 p.m. Comedian Jessica Delfino opens, followed by Corn Mo. And then, at 9:45, Mex-Mas will arrive!
Sorry for the late notice, but El Vez didn’t keep us posted on his tour dates this year. El Vez has done an annual Merry Mex-Mas tour for a long time. (El Vez 4 Prez is is other specialty, but that’s really only every four years.) Continue reading
Posted in Blues, Concerts, Country, Folk, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Punk
Tagged Christmas, El Vez, Littlefield, Mex-Mas, Mexican Elvis, Robert Lopez, The Zeros
Jihae and her “Fire Burning Rain” cast at (Le) Poisson Rouge. (Photo © 2010, Steven P. Marsh)
We have no idea what exactly what Jihae was trying to do when she made a musical with playwright John Patrick Shanley out of her Fire Burning Rain album a couple of years back.
When we saw it at (Le) Poisson Rouge in 2010, we were thoroughly entertained by its A Midsummer Night’s Dream-like characters and just as thoroughly puzzled by its inscrutable plot.
But it certainly was ambitious. That’s a word that seems to apply to just about everything Jihae (birth name Jihae Kim) does.
Jihae in an Eileen Fisher ad.
You may know her better as the lanky, dark-haired model for Eileen Fisher’s clothing. She’s been featured in Fisher ads for years, and is the most recognizable non-supermodel we can think of.
Tonight she’s back to music. She has an album coming out in the spring, featuring collaborations with her wide circle of friends, including the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. But who knows what she’ll be performing at the Mercury Lounge for an early show tonight. She’s made three albums and one EP in her career, so she’s got plenty of material to draw from.
This could well be one of most unusual shows you’ve ever seen at the Mercury.
Jihae at (Le) Poisson Rouge in 2010. (Photo © 2010, Steven P. Marsh)
Or it could turn out to be a classic girl-with-guitar gig.
If the rehearsal pictures are any indication, she will have a string section on stage for at least part of the show.
While we wouldn’t count on Stewart making this show, you never know who might show up — whether someone from the fashion world or from her wide circle of musical and theatrical friends.
“Rehearsal for next Tues show at Mercury Lounge (Credit: jihaemusic on Instagram)
It’s an early show, with doors at 6:30 and the music scheduled for 7:30, with the Doorbells as her opening act. Tickets are just $12. Snap them up online or at the door. You’re in for a real adventure.
Posted in Art, Concerts, Music, Opera, Pop and Rock, Theater
Tagged (Le) Poisson Rouge, Dave Stewart, Eileen Fisher, Jihae, Jihae Kim, John Patrick Shanley, Mercury Lounge
Music writer and USC prof Tim Page broke the news on his Facebook page earlier today: New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini married Ben McCommon in Manhattan on Friday.
The couple, who have been together for 21 years, tied the knot at New York City Hall, Page reports, complete with a photo of the happy couple displaying their wedding bands.
McCommon is a 1998 graduate of Columbia University’s medical school, is assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia and attending psychiatrist at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital according to his hospital profile.
Tommasini, a Brooklyn native born in 1948, has been at the Times since 1996. He became chief classical music critic for the paper in 2000. He also is a pianist and the author of two books, Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle, and Opera: A Critic’s Guide to the 100 Most Important Works and the Best Recordings.
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? 