Results tagged “mercurylounge”

It's been nearly two years since the rumor-mongering surrounding Mercury Lounge's future began. Back then, word was spreading that the 217 E. Houston Street venue would soon lose out to real estate development, but the rumors lasted about as long as Tapes n' Tapes hype.

Since 2000, Anathallo has been traveling the world, delivering tunes to many a diverse audience. Band dynamics and direction have shifted over the course of their career, accurate since their name means to renew or bloom again, but their aesthetic has maintained a powerful balance of light and dark throughout. This time around they return with a new album under their belts, called Canopy Glow, and like good troubadours, they're back on the road (even before its release). Catch them this Friday and Saturday at Mercury Lounge and Union Hall, respectively, opening for Dosh.

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)

London-based solo musician Yoav is a singer/songwriter who works hard to go beyond the usual “man with a guitar” conventions. By looping beats created with his voice and acoustic guitar, his songs are often inflected with an unusual drum 'n' bass flavor. His debut album Charmed & Strange crystallizes this aesthetic with an effect he describes as “DJ-ing with my guitar.” Yoav plays Mercury Lounge Saturday night at 7:30; tickets cost $10.

FOOD: Drinking With the Professor: a Look at Jerry Thomas and His Liquid Legacy: Join cocktail maestro Dave Wondrich as he shares recipes from his latest book, Imbibe! plus a few that were cut in the editing process. Wondrich has an in-depth knowledge of nineteenth-century classic cocktails, so step up and taste the benefits. - Laren Spirer

COMEDY: In November, shortly after the WGA strike sent SNL to reruns, the cast took the UCB Theater stage for an off-air show. If you missed that one, there's a chance to catch some of the cast doing stand-up at Comix tonight. The site says "sold out" but the people at the venue say they just added more tickets! So give a call and enjoy "An Evening with the Writers and Performers from Saturday Night Live." The money raised will go toward the Writers Guild of America. And yes, Andy Samberg (pictured with cat) will be there. Andy Samberg, originally scheduled to be there, has dropped out of the show.

Salt & Samovar are a Brooklyn band that sound more like they're just visiting here from Upstate...or a Coen brothers film. Their live shows are described as "pentecostal revival-like performances that evoke the musical and spiritual heirlooms of a cherished American past." A simpler and simply transporting sound that'll have you pining for the past. Come check out their revival-rock this Friday at Mercury Lounge -- get your tickets here.

EVENT: Tonight Coney Island historian Charles Denson will be enlightening all about the "Genesis of the Coney Island History Project" at the American Folk Art Museum. He'll be discussing "the fascinating changes Coney Island has undergone" from its amusement park glory days to its struggle to survive. Expect to see some never-before-seen photos. More info here. 6:30pm // American Folk Art Museum [45 W 53rd St] // $10 MUSIC: We highly recommend getting over to...

EVENT: Into anime? It's your lucky weekend, the New York Anime Festival is in town! There will be previews, screenings and panels galore. Check out their website for more details. All Weekend // Jacob Javits Convention Center [655 W 34th St] // $30 day pass, $55 weekend pass SHOP: FIT and the Design Mavens come together for a 3 day shopstravaganza. Tons of designers we're not cool enough to have ever heard of will be...

MOVIE: BAM pays homage to the late Barbara Stanwyck tonight with a screening of Forbidden. The 1932 Frank Capra-directed film (which tells the tale of a librarian who has fallen for an unobtainable/married man) was supposedly influenced by his real-life affair with the leading lady. Critic and historian Elliott Stein will discuss the film after the 6:50 screening. 4:30, 6:50 and 915pm // BAM Rose Cinemas [30 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene] // $11 Meanwhile, the...

Mr. Brownstone is reuniting this weekend with a show at Bowery Ballroom. The Guns n' Roses cover band is led by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah drummer Sean Greenhalgh (who makes for a pretty good Axl!) and touts themselves as the World's Drunkest Tribute to G n' R. We asked them to give us their Top 5 all-time best reunions list to commemorate the event. THE FIVE GREATEST REUNIONS by Mr. Brownstone, the World's Drunkest...

FILM: Ease in to Halloween with classic horror flick The Innocents, based on Henry James' novella The Turn Of The Screw. Evil and innocence, the strange and the everday, will mingle as you...enjoy complimentary vodka an tapas!

Brand New didn't have to be at CMJ this year. The band doesn't have a new album coming out, they headline shows at Hammerstein Ballroom and have sold millions of records. So why did Jesse and Vin stay behind to play an acoustic set at Mercury Lounge? They wanted to support their good friends in local indie band Aeroplane Pageant, who were playing a showcase after them Tuesday night. A noble gesture, no doubt. The duo played a handful of stripped down gems off their three albums to a CMJ crowd that may not have normally given these guys a listen. A bold move, capped with a risky but impressive Neutral Milk Hotel cover, these guy likely made a few new fans that night. (pic via The Syndicate's flickr)

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a child shot on Kingsborough Walk in Brooklyn, a person under a train at Kingston Ave. and Lincoln Pl. in Brooklyn, and a pedestrian struck at 12th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan. John Mayer performed an impromptu set at the Mercury Lounge to the surprise of attendees last night. John Galt Corp., the contractor doing the demolition work at the Deutsche Bank Building where two firefighters were killed,...

Over the weekend The Arcade Fire played a big show on Randall's Island, far far away from the Knitting Factory and Mercury Lounge (some of the first venues they ever played here). For those who made the trip to see them, the post-show transportation made for quite the afterparty. One concert goer wrote in: "10,000 people trying to get on express buses does not work - we ended up walking the Triborough back to Queens."

Josh Moore is a part of the almighty Bowery Presents organization that runs just about every venue you've been to around town -- from Mercury Lounge to Bowery Ballroom and beyond. Most recently the team opened up the Music Hall of Williamsburg (with a bit of a delay), and we asked the man who runs the old Northsix space a few questions.

REMINDER: Don't forget about the Atlantic Antic Festival, which we wrote all about yesterday.

Dave Longstreth has been recording music under the name Dirty Projectors since 2003, and currently tours with a band made up of three others. Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian and Brian Mcomber help him put on one of the more amazing live shows this city has to offer -- just check out this Take Away Show (and this one) filmed around New York earlier this year. Their sound is bi-polar...anxious and somber, muddled and crisp, a weathered familiarness mixed with a new sonic punch. Tomorrow night they play at Mercury Lounge before heading out on a tour that will take them on the road through the season.

EVENT: Join Chief Jim Riches, 9/11 families, rescue and recovery workers in an effort to Tell Rudy Giuliani to "Stop Politicizing 9/11". Rudy will be at a fundraiser at the Waldorf later today, and will be greeted by those who believe he's no hero. Why? They say: "He failed the FDNY & uniformed & civilian victims. He gave us incompetent commissioners ( FD,PD, OEM). No integrated command. He abandoned us on 9/11. He gave the FDNY defective radios. He lied about the toxic air -- 70% of responders and many civilians are sick." More info here.

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.

FESTIVAL: Conflux 2007 has arrived. Starting tonight and running through Sunday, their "annual New York City festival for contemporary psychogeography" will help re-imagine urban spaces with a series of events, lectures, workshops, installations, parties and so much more. Get all the info and schedules you need, here.

TIP: According to Paper's Mr. Mickey, Chloë Sevigny is having a tag sale on her block this Saturday. We're guessing there will be lots of vintage Balenciaga. Check out her apartment in House & Garden...pretty nice!

In their quest to take over New York, Bowery Presents is opening yet another venue! Ask just about anyone (and we have) and they'll say that the Bowery Ballroom is their favorite place to see and/or play music - so who better to open even more spaces than the creators of that one?

EVENT: "Home Buying for Hipsters" would like to help out all of you "creative non-traditional wage earners" during your quest to own a home. Buying property is an art, after all, so creatives may even have a head start! They "aim to specifically address your concerns and break down the process into steps you can understand." Their classes are free and open to everyone ("hipsters, non-hipsters, art stars, rock stars, designers, freelancers, sculptors, poets, part-time geniuses, business moguls, cheapskates, high rollers, nerds, players, winners, losers=whoever is ready to own a home!") More info at their MySpace page, of course.

5 to 9pm // Museum of the City of New York [1220 5th Ave at 103rd St] // Free

MOVIE: By now you've all seen, memorized and lived your own version of neurotic New York love story Annie Hall, the classic Woody Allen film that's stood the test of time. But have you seen it under the open night sky? Didn't think so. Get there early for a seat. Get there even earlier for knitting lessons!

ART: Affordable art is the best kind, so good thing there's a whole fair dedicated to it. Today 70+ artists worldwide will be selling their work at prices ranging from $100 and up. Get something to cover up those bare walls and support artists all at the same time.

MUSIC: Tonight The Ladybug Transistor (who sadly just lost a band member) have their record release show (band pictured at right). Joining them on stage will be Pipas and Alasdair Maclean from The Clientele performing an acoustic set. Buy tickets here.

With brick and mortar sales declining, and the future of the music industry uncertain - at least live shows are always dependable. Sure, there are a lot of venues closing, but how about the ones thriving? The NY Times reports on some of the big players in the New York venue scene.