Tag Archives: Jennifer O’Connor

Nyack ’80s Prom Saturday night to benefit the Rockland Pride Center

Posted on May 19, 2017 | Leave a comment

fKfZ1ZK1Thr_Je0iwrZeQr2kdb-EtJfu_VJcaDfROMDgfCnUbKovb8ySStHpyAfkCLYW4T0ilWHGlyqvuYvpLM1V6-cr8GgMS8yv3azPvZfSZH5ta0eokVH156HeXWh9STOEBRUI.jpegIf you’re feeling nostalgic for the ’80s, consider spending this Saturday night in Nyack dancing to the decade’s hits spun by DJ Vision Quest (Kiam Records founder Jennifer O’Connor) and helping fund the Rockland Pride center while your doing it?

Participants are encouraged — but not required — to dress to the decade and bring their best dance moves, whether it’s the Moonwalk, the Hammer Dance, the Running Man, or maybe the Lambada.

The Kiam Records Shop is co-hosting an the 80s prom at the Nyack Center to benefit the new Rockland Pride Center, an LGBT organization that promotes a social-justice and anti-racist agenda. It provides services for people of all ages, including support groups, senior care, youth group drop-ins, educational resources, and mental health care.

All proceeds raised from the ‘80s PROM will help fund the new Rockland Pride Center opening this fall.
Aside from the boss’ DJ talents —she’s taking requests and dedications! — Kiam Records is also providing a $200 gift certificate for the downtown Nyack shop. All ticket holders will be entered into a raffle for that prize.
 
Aside from the music and raffle, the prom also features a do-it-yourself corsage station, an 80’s photo booth, a kissing booth, and “pride punch.”
Everyone 21 or older is welcome to the party at the Nyack Center, on South Broadway at Depew St., Nyack.
The party starts at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 20, and the beat goes on until midnight.
Get your tickets ($25-$100) in advance online by going HERE or at the door. Either way, you’ll be helping the community — and having a great time, too.

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Big day coming for Jennifer O’Connor

Posted on February 23, 2016 | Leave a comment

Jennifer O'Connor

Jennifer O’Connor

Jennifer O’Connor, the singer-songwriter and proprietor of The Kiam Records Shop in Nyack, New York, has a spectacular new album, “Surface Noise,” coming out next Friday, March 4.

That’s the same day she makes her debut at the Tarrytown Music Hall as she enters the home stretch of her tour with bad-ass indie singer-songwriter Neko Case.

I wrote about O’Connor’s album early in February, calling it “the best new album I’ve heard so far” this year. A month — and many other new albums — later and my feelings haven’t changed. It’s a great album that shows off an artist who has grown and developed a richer, more nuanced sound.

O’Connor hits Tarrytown with Case at 8 p.m. Friday, March 4. A few tickets remain in the side orchestra sections at $48, and about 100 balcony tickets are still available at $38. Go here to get your tickets online. It’s a great way to give O’Connor a nice Lower Hudson Valley welcome-home, and to experience a great show. (If you can’t make it to Tarrytown, you have a chance to check out O’Connor’s full set during her official record-release show at Manhattan’s Mercury Lounge on Monday, March 7, with wife Amy Bezunartea opening. Doors are at 6:30 p.m. Go here for tickets, which are $12 in advance.)

Christopher Vaughan of The Journal News/lohud.com, sat down with O’Connor recently to talk about her big day. Go here to read his interview.

 

 

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Posted in Concerts, lohud.com, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Recordings, Singer-Songwriter

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‘Surface Noise’: A self-effacing title for Jennifer O’Connor’s brilliant new album

Posted on February 3, 2016 | 1 comment
The cover of Jennifer O'Connor's album "Surface Noise" (March 4, 2016, Kiam Records) features an ambitious abstract painting, "There 48," by Brooklyn artist Joan LeMay.

The cover of Jennifer O’Connor’s album “Surface Noise” (March 4, 2016, Kiam Records) features an ambitious abstract painting, “There 48,” by Brooklyn artist Joan LeMay.

I’ve never been one to make best-of lists when it comes to music. I enjoy so much of what I hear that it’s difficult to pick favorites.

So I won’t say that Jennifer O’Connor‘s forthcoming album, “Surface Noise,” out March 4, 2016, on Kiam Records, is a sure-fire pick for my best of 2016 list, since I’m not likely to compile one.

I can say it’s the best new album I’ve heard so far in this still-young year — and I fully expect to feel that way about it when this year is winding down.

“Surface Noise” is packed with 12 songs that explore love, loss, and the challenges of life with a casual brilliance about this album that makes it the best work this talented artist has produced so far.

ORDER JENNIFER O’CONNOR’S “SURFACE NOISE” VIA KIAM RECORDS NOW — GO HERE

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Posted in Folk, mp3, Music, Pop and Rock, Recordings, Review, Singer-Songwriter, Uncategorized, Video

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Amy Bezunartea: Pop hero or new villain?

Posted on September 2, 2015 | 1 comment

Amy Bezunartea performs at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3 on Sept. 1, 2015. (© 2015, Steven P. Marsh/willyoumissme.com)

Amy Bezunartea performs at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3 on Sept. 1, 2015. (© 2015, Steven P. Marsh/willyoumissme.com)

If you’re a curiosity seeker who decided to check out singer-songwriter Amy Bezunartea because you heard — or heard about — the NSFW lyrics in her new single, “Oh the Things a Girl Must Do,” good for you.

But stick around, there’s more — a lot more  — to this artist than one line that incorporates slang for vagina:

Oh the things a girl must do
If you only knew
Just how much the world wants to see
Everyone’s having fun
When it’s over you can tell
They all want the pussy
But they don’t like the smell

NPR’s “All Songs Considered” praises the work while falling all over itself to call out the song’s frankness, using “graphically” in its headline. As if that weren’t enough, the NPR post also carries the warning label “LANGUAGE ADVISORY: This song contains sexually explicit language,” and uses the terms “a shocking turn” and “NSFW (not safe for work)” in the text. 

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Posted in Concerts, Music, Pop and Rock, Review, Singer-Songwriter

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Big news for Nyack: New record shop opens Friday

Posted on December 11, 2014 | 2 comments

10623871_1514707008788818_7892763302898987429_oBig news: At 11 a.m. Friday, Nyack will have a record store again.

I remember the days when Nyack had a big record shop.

Unless my memory is truly failing me, it was Pic-a-Disc at Main and Franklin, in the space now home to Murasaki Japanese restaurant.D.S.Z. Barbers. I can’t recall the name of it, but it It was a pretty substantial place.

But it left town many years ago, moving to Nanuet —  in the small strip center on Route 59 that’s home to the kids’ barber, Tiny Trims — before disappearing altogether.

More recently, there was the nearly invisible subterranean Vinyl Lounge on Broadway, but that’s closed.

Now Nyack  singer-songwriter Jennifer O’Connor, who already has her own record label, Kiam, is expanding the brand by opening The Kiam Records Shop in a much more visible location: 95 Main Street, next to the Olde Village Inn. (To call for info: 845-353-5426)

O’Connor, an established artist, who mad two well-received albums for Matador and three other independent discs, moved to Nyack from Brooklyn in 2012. She’s already started presenting music at Prohibition River. Now she’ll be selling (and buying) new and used vinyl albums, books, clothing, and more in her new shop across the street from the restaurant.

It looks like O’Connor’s really committed to Nyack.

If you can’t be there when the doors open, please stop in sometime soon to check out O’Connor’s shop. (I hope to get there sometime on opening day.)

There’s a party from 6-9 p.m., when Doug Gillard (Guided By Voices, Nada Surf, Death of Samantha), will stop in before his show at Prohibition River to sign records and possibly play a few songs.

It’s good to shop small, and shop local. I’m betting you’ll find something for somebody on your holiday gift list — and maybe for yourself. And you’ll save yourself a trek to Brooklyn or Manhattan.

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Jennifer O’Connor Launches Free Music Series at Nyack’s Prohibition River

Posted on November 6, 2014 | 2 comments
Singer-songwriter Jennifer O'Connor moved to Nyack in 2012.

Singer-songwriter Jennifer O’Connor moved to Nyack in 2012.

You may recognize singer-songwriter Jennifer O’Connor‘s name — perhaps for her two critically acclaimed Matador Records: Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars in 2006 and Here With Me in 2008.

Since the end of her contract with Matador, O’Connor has continued to make music, which she’s released, along with the work of other artists, on Kiam, the record label she operates.

While she continues to perform her own material — she opened for Laura Cantrell at Rough Trade NYC in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, last month — she says lately she’s been doing music for TV shows, movies, and commercials.

O’Connor’s also became a Rocklander, moving to Nyack from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, late in 2012.

“I really love it out here,” she tells Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? by email.

Jennifer Castle

Jennifer Castle

Recently, she added concert promoter to her list of vocations. She’s presenting shows in the upstairs room at Prohibition River, a bar and restaurant at 82 Main St. in Nyack. On Friday, Nov. 7, Jennifer Castle, a Toronto-based singer-songwriter,  will do 2 sets, starting at 9 p.m.

The open-ended series will feature free concerts by artists — including O’Connor — from 9 p.m.to midnight, mostly on Fridays.

O’Connor says she started the series because she saw a need.

“I started booking shows at Prohibition because I think there is a need for more music (especially from touring acts) to come through town,” O’Connor says. “And it’s also proven to be a great way for me to get involved with the community — musically and just in general.  It’s been a lot of fun so far.”

Here’s the schedule as of now, but O’Connor says to stay tuned for more artists to be added:

• Friday Nov. 7
Jennifer Castle (indie folkie from Toronto who’s worked with Constantines, Fucked Up)

• Friday Nov. 14
Michael Purcell Trio (jazz)

• Saturday, Nov. 22
Jennifer O’Connor

• Friday, Dec 5
Ryan & Ryan (folk)

• Friday,  Dec 14
Doug Gillard (Guided By Voices, Nada Surf)

• Friday, Dec 26
Regret The Hour (indie rock)

 

 

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Posted in Concerts, Folk, Free, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Singer-Songwriter

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Scott Miller tribute in New York City on June 29; now with free download info

Posted on June 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Artists including A.C. Newman of The New Pornographers, Ted Leo, Will Sheff of Okkervil River, Charles Bissell of the Wrens, Kleenex Girl Wonder (with Matt LeMay on drums), Tim Thomas of Babe the Blue Ox will pay tribute with performances and readings to the late Scott Miller on June 29 at Cake Shop in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Scott Miller

Scott Miller

Miller , who died April 15 at 53, was a San Francisco-area musical mainstay and founder of the influential bands Game Theory (1981-1989) and The Loud Family (1991-2006+)

Tickets, at $30 plus a small service charge, go on sale Monday via Brown Paper Tickets by clicking here.

The proceeds go to The Scott Miller Family Memorial Fund in support of his widow, Kristine, and their two daughters, Julianne Elizabeth and Valerie. the fund already has raised $47,000.

Read about a West Coast tribute and learn how to get free downloads of much of Scott’s music after the jump. Continue reading →

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