Magnetic Fields Attract Crowds to Town Hall No "Lost" spoilers in this post. Stephen Merritt doesn't bring the band around too often, so it's always a treat when The Magnetic Fields take the stage in town. Despite the band hailing from Brooklyn, this is the first local show they've played in quite a few years, and the sold-out 4 night run at Town Hall did not disappoint the anxious fans. While their latest album, Distortion,......

Damien DeRose, aka Peasant, tip-toed into our playlist last year just before playing Gothamist House at CMJ. Hailing from Doylestown, PA, his small town sound has been calmly floating around this city with more and more frequency -- enchanting everyone within earshot. This Thursday he's back to play the Brooklyn Vegan show at Pianos (tix). Exposure.mp3 - Peasant How did you come up with "Peasant" as your performing name? I just knew I didn't want......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

We interviewed co-owner of Luna Lounge Rob Sacher in 2004, and he told a little story about Elliott Smith (who wrote his album XO at the bar at Luna). The story starts out, "Before I knew who Elliott Smith was, I knew him as this very quiet guy that had discovered the bar (at Luna) and would stay there till closing or near closing most nights, writing constantly in a journal with some kind of......

Mid song, about two and a half in after I got to the Knitting Factory last night during Owen's quiet solo set, someone by the bar shouted out "Emo Sucks!" and the place went quiet. Yikes. I'm not sure anyone knew how to react. Well, yea, it does? But, no, this guy's good...But is this really emo? Perhaps, in the most basic and grounded sense of the word, but...is this EMOSUKS! emo? Or does emo......

- The father of Christopher Rose, the 15 year old boy fatally stabbed for his iPod last year, testified in court, and told reporters, "Day by day, I hurt, I cry. I can't get over it. I still can't believe it." - NYC school kids may be telling the City Council why they need their cellphones in school, but they can be dangerous - a NJ teen died when trying to retrieve hers (she......

Camera phone looky-loos, this one's for you. We're talking about the biggest band to hit small to medium sized NYC venues since Sufjan Stevens, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and The Arcade Fire. We're talking about Montreal's latest buzz band Wolf Parade. You've got three chances to see them this week. That's three chances to see them before they come back to play Webster Hall. If you can't find a ticket to the sold......

Mary Lou Lord...

It looks like the MTA is doing what matters: The NY Post reports that the MTA is busting a Brooklyn bagelry, F Line Bagels in Carroll Gardens, for mentioning the subway in its name and in its store's decorations. Apparently an MTA lawyer went into their store to let them know that the MTA wants the Smith Street store cease-and-desist with its various subway memorabilia, not to mention the store's name, or pay the MTA......

1994 was a big year for music. Green Day broke into the mainstream with "Dookie." Weezer appeared with "Weezer," Elliott Smith with "Roman Candle." Blur had "Park Life" and Beck had "Mellow Gold." Surely there were dozens, if not hundreds, of other notables in the the Alt-Rock/Rock 'n Roll/Singer-Songwriter categories, and then, of course, there were the punk bands. NOFX had "Punk in Drublic," The Clash B-sides album, "Super Black Market Clash," showed up. Rancid......

For a while now Music For America has been providing us with endless amounts of entertainment, events and information. Tonight is no different, and if you're in NY (and c'mon, who of us aren't?) then The Songwriter's Beat will entertain you in the name of Democracy over at one of Gothamist's favorite establishments, Cornelia Street Cafe. For those not privy, The Songwriters Beat is an all-acoustic show with 4 singer songwriters all given a......

With influences like Elliott Smith and My Bloody Valentine, Ambulance LTD is taking a chance, especially in this city, with music that's a little bit off the beaten from what we are used to. But not so different that it's not falling under the indie rock category. They have been known to pack houses, start sets with instrumentals and have surely dazzled even the most disaffected looking hipster with their slightly obscure-lyrics and melodic......

Rob Sacher, Co-owner Luna Lounge...

Check out the NY Observer's article on this year's BookExpo America in Chicago, the big annual publishing event where authors, publishers, and the public come to meet to get excited about upcoming titles, like the Bill Clinton memoirs as well as a slew of books criticizing the current president. The article also shows how the NY publishing world was transplanted in a city where you can smoke indoors - and there's a mention of Anthony......

Rachel Kramer Bussel, Smut Editor/Writer...

Reading about comic artist keaner (kean) and his brother's trip to New York is refreshing not just because he's cleverly cataloged visits to different parts of the city using a subway map - it's just nice to see the city from an out-of-towner's perspective, in this case, an intrepid pair of brothers from Ottawa who stay in a hostel on the Bowery. Ah, the days when we'd get mixed up and ride on a downtown......

A memorial concert in the memory of Elliott Smith is set for November 3 at the Henry Fonda Theater in L.A. Performers include Beck, Beth Orton, Rilo Kiley, Future Pigeon, Alaska, Lou Barlow, Grandaddy, Radar Bros and other special guests. Unsurprisingly, tickets are already sold out. The concert will be preceded by “Strange Parallel," a documentary about Smith by Steve Hanft. Proceeds will benefit the Elliott Smith Foundation for Abused Children. More about the concert......

- David Blaine emerges - Best restaurants according to Zagat - NY-Florida World Series wager - The NY Times' new look - Book of Ages 30 - Celebrities secrets revealed - "Liza beat me!" - Elliott Smith dies - Potty humor on TV - Mayor Bloomberg: A little more popular, but not really popular at all - Maddona and Britney redux - Brooklyn's French restaurant scene - Of course OUR president looks the stupidest in......

"We are deeply saddened by Elliott Smith's tragic death and send our condolences to his friends and family. He was perhaps his generation's most gifted singer-songwriter. His enormous talent could change your life with a whisper. We will miss him." - Dreamworks Records statement. In his Times obituary, Jon Pareles called Smith a "luminary of independent rock." Not all musicians necessarily lead the lives they sing about, but looking at the various obituaries and thoughts......

Singer-songwriter Elliott Smith died yesterday of an apparent suicide. He was found in his Silver Lake, CA apartment and brought to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead an hour later. According to MTV News, there was a single knife wound that seemed to be self-inflicted but police are investigating. This is very sad to hear about this death because his songs, depressing and dark countered with his soft voice and lyrical guitar playing,......

The possibility of Field Day Fest happening in Riverhead, NY, is becoming even less likely, with the Riverhead town board tabling a the resolution to have Field Fest there. Dude, it's clear to Gothamist that all the town board members' children were harrassing them not to deny Field Day Fest, but really, there was no way the town board was going to have that kind of chaos on their records, especially with the Suffolk County......

Even though Suffolk County has denied their permit, promoters claim the Field Day Festival, the two-day concert with acts like the Beastie Boys, Radiohead, Beck, and Liz Phair, will still go on. Schedule for June 7-8, the concert is to be held at a former Grumman U.S. naval facility in Calverton, NY. The accusations/excuses the town of Riverhead faces are that roads wouldn't be able to handle the traffic, the land would be irrevocably damaged,......