Subscribe to Zinmag Tribune
Subscribe to Zinmag Tribune
Subscribe to Zinmag Tribune by mail
POST-DESCRIPTION-HERE
POST-DESCRIPTION-HERE
POST-DESCRIPTION-HERE
POST-DESCRIPTION-HERE

POST-TITLE-HERE

POST-DESCRIPTION-HERE
IMAGE-TITLE-HERE

POST-TITLE-HERE

POST-DESCRIPTION-HERE
IMAGE-TITLE-HERE

POST-TITLE-HERE

POST-DESCRIPTION-HERE
IMAGE-TITLE-HERE

POST-TITLE-HERE

POST-DESCRIPTION-HERE
IMAGE-TITLE-HERE

POST-TITLE-HERE

POST-DESCRIPTION-HERE
IMAGE-TITLE-HERE

The Shortlist

The Daily Shortlist

Music Reviews

Music Reviews

Health + Beauty

Health + Beauty

featured-content2

Theater
Film + DVD

DVD REVIEWS: Fred Claus

5:35 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
Fred Claus
Directed by David Dobkin
(Warner Home Video)


Buy it at Amazon!





You give me a holiday movie starring lanky and lovable Vince Vaughn and the amazing ‘I-can-do-just-about-anything’ Paul Giamatti, mix in a little Kevin Spacey for extra Xmas spice and I’ll take a nice big drink of this new holiday classic. Fred Claus appeared last year in theaters for the season and now it’s out on DVD and it’s worth picking up for you and your family’s delight.

For a cute little holiday movie the story of Fred Claus is relatively unique. Santa has a brother, played by Vaughn, who is not really privy to the elves-presents-good-naughty/nice-list thang; he lives his life in the ‘real’ world, but by some rather sticky circumstances, Fred Claus gets up to the North Pole. A new efficiency expert has been hired in Christmas town, played by a buttoned-up Kevin Spacey and things are not as good for Giamatti’s Santa and his elves as they should be. Vaughn’s slow discovery of the inner workings of Santa’s workshop are a delight (this is what’s really gonna grab the younger ones) and the visuals are pretty much as stunning as you’d expect them to be. Giamatti’s overly positive Santa is a delight and Vaughn plays his usual bubbling frustrated everyman just about perfectly. There is a great scene, when Vaughn visits a brother’s counseling group that really shows off Vaughn’s range, and it’s probably the funniest scene in the film.

Despite all the jocularity, this movie does have a heart. You really feel Giamatti and Vaughn are the brothers Cringle and there is a particular scene near the end of the film where we finally learn Kevin Spacey’s character’s motivation that will bring tears to your eyes, no matter your age.

The Fred Claus DVD is a little light on bonus material. There’s no making-of’s here, just about a half hour of extra scenes and commentary by the director, David Dobkin. But the disc does give you the option of both widescreen and full-screen formats.

Fred Claus is (and I hate to say this) fun for the whole family. It’s a solid little movie, maybe not It’s Wonderful Life…but then again there is only one It’s a Wonderful Life. If this one became one of your family’s newest Xmas ‘must sees’ I don’t think you’ll be any the worse for wear.

Ralph Greco, Jr.

Read more...

The Weekend Shortlist November 28 to 30

5:00 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
The King Khan and BBQ Show


Friday November 28

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Bands: Gang Gang Dance + Marnie Stern Get Tickets Here
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: Music Hall of Williamsburg
Food: Viñas
Drink: Radegast
Miscellaneous: Roebling Tea Room

Experimental rock outfit Gang Gang Dance, hot off their new album Saint Dymphna, stop by the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Joining them is Marnie Stern, one badass guitarist. With great ambiance, the food also has great personality at Vinas. The menu offers Latin cuisine including faves like ceviche and empanadas, while upping the ante with the likes of Truffled Honey Glazed Pork Belly. Williamsburg’s first beer hall, Radegast has a number of German and Austrian beers on tap, and an even greater selection of bottled beers. There’s even a menu of German food to soak up all the booze! Get your tea fix at Roebling Tea Room, where the menu offers a vast array of teas and inexpensive food.

Friday November 28

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Comedy: Jim Gaffigan Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 & 10:30 PM
Venue: Town Hall
Food: Zip Burger
Drink: Subway Inn
Miscellaneous: Kinokuniya Bookstore

Comedian Jim Gaffigan has no shame and obviously has a sense of humor as he performs at Town Hall as part of The Sexy Tour, taking his absurd views of the everyday and putting it in your face. At Zip Burger they offer farm-raised, organic, and grass-fed meat and poultry, letting you build your own burger with plenty of gourmet toppings. The first time I went to Subway Inn I thought it was completely strange that there was a dive bar off Lexington Avenue, especially in this neck of the woods, but somehow it works. Born in the 30s, this bar has somehow remained, and thank god, as it’s easily the cheapest place in the area for a drink. For fans of Japanese pop-culture, Kinokuniya Bookstore has a large selection of Japanese themed books, videos, CDs, magazines, comics, and stationary.

Saturday November 29

Location: Tribeca, NYC
Band: Fishbone Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Knitting Factory
Food: Pakistan Tea House
Drink: Mocca Lounge
Miscellaneous: Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

They’ve been around since the 70s, and are one of the pioneering black rock musical acts. So when Fishbone stop by to play it’s a must to see them, especially when they bring their raucous mix of ska and punk to a small stage like the Knitting Factory. Joining them are Natives of the New Dawn and Heavy Mojo. Nearby, Pakistan Tea House is a buffet style Indian restaurant where you can choose between chicken, meat, fish and vegetables. It’s affordable and very good. For drinks, check out Mocca Lounge. With a funky interior and a menu of Italian inspired fare, it’s also a bar with a large list of coffees with or without alcohol, beers, and frozen shots. Smack dab in the heart of Chinatown, the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory makes gourmet ice cream flavors like Black Sesame, Ginger, Durian, and more exotic flavors like Taro and Wasabi. Don’t worry, they have the go-to’s like Vanilla, fruits, and chocolate flavors too.

Saturday November 29

Location: West Village, NYC
Bands: El Guincho + Prefuse 73
Show time: 11:55 PM
Venue: (le) poisson rouge
Food: Koo Sushi
Drink: Blind Tiger Ale House
Miscellaneous: Peanut Butter & Co.

El Guincho, who sound like a band is made up of Pablo Díaz-Reixa who takes samples of everything from tropicalia to rock to afrobeat and seamlessly pastes them together makes gorgeous new compositions out of something old and familiar. Joining him is cut and paste master Prefuse 73. A little known sushi joint, Koo Sushi offers affordable and fantastic fish with an impressive number of specialty rolls. For a bar that looks like any other, Blind Tiger Ale House offers an impressive number of beers including draught, bottled, cask and one called Louise’s Bloody Beer. Try it if you dare! If you’re in the mood for some comfort food, Peanut Butter & Co., offers some PB heavy hitters like the Elvis, a PB, banana, and bacon sandwich that tastes better than it sounds.

Sunday November 30

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Bands: The King Khan & BBQ Show + Vivian Girls Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Food: Café Himalaya
Drink: Max Fish
Miscellaneous: Pink Pony

King Khan, who most recently of King Khan and the Shrines, recorded one of the best albums I’ve heard The Supreme Genius of has gotten back with former Spaceshits bandmate BBQ to play doo wop and punk. Together they sound unbeatable. Joining them are shoegazers, the Vivian Girls who are pretty hot right now. Ever have Nepalese or Tibetan food? Must try dishes at Café Himalaya include the momos, better known as pan-fried dumplings, and thukpa, a Tibetan noodle soup, both amazingly delicious and under $10 like most menu items. One of the last boho bars on the L.E.S., Max Fish is a mix of local dive and new art as upcoming artists show their work monthly, while being a local hang for artists from all genres. A great late night cafe for coffee or drinks, it has a literary atmosphere and a friendly and hip waitstaff where you can sit and talk the night away.


Read more...

THE BOOK REPORT: I Love Dollars and Other Stories of China

5:30 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
I Love Dollars and Other Stories of China
By Zhu Wen
(Columbia University Press)


Buy it at Amazon!



For anyone wondering what the moral landscape of the next great superpower looks like as it struggles to fuse its ancient past and politically oppressive present with a seemingly boundless economic future, the answer from writer and filmmaker Zhu Wen is – venal.

In each of the five novellas and the short story that comprise I Love Dollars And Other Stories Of China, a collection published by Columbia University Press, Wen's anti-heroes prowl through cities, hospitals, capital backwaters, and nightmarish factories where everything is for sale.

The title story, the work that catapulted Wen to national fame in China, tackles head on the conundrum of living life in a country caught between Communism and Capitalism. In Wen's China, money is the only comfort, defense, and source of meaning. The rest is noise, brutality, and privation. If a fiction is a mirror for its society, then China's face – in Wen's mirror – is horribly disfigured.

John Shieber

Read more...

The Daily Shortlist November 27

5:00 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses


Location: Midtown West, NYC
Bands: Great African Ball with Youssou N'Dour Get Tickets Here
Show time: 10:00 PM
Venue: Nokia Theatre Times Square
Food: Junior’s Restaurant
Drink: The View
Miscellaneous: Madame Tussaud’s

Happy Thanksgiving! If your not spending time (or too much time) with the family eating turkey and still want to party, check the Great African Ball as Senegalese singer and percussionist Youssou N’Dour brings mbalax, Senegal’s blend of percussion and praise singing to the stage for one great way to celebrate thanksgiving or any day. While the original Junior’s in Brooklyn is best, this midtown location offers a nearly identical menu of deli sandwiches, diner entrees, and of course soul food fixin’s, on top of some of the best cheesecake in NYC, which is saying a lot! For drinks check out The View. Not the TV show, but the bar high atop the Marriot Marquis. Plus it revolves. If you’re looking for something to do, go to Madame Tussauds wax museum. Yes, it’s a cheesy tourist attraction, but where else are you going to get a picture with Nicholas Cage or Samuel L. Jackson?


Read more...

MUSIC REVIEWS: AC/DC, Mavis Staples, Brightblack Morning Light, Paper Route, I Am Ghost

5:30 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
AC/DC
Black Ice
(Columbia Records)


Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!



AC/DC’s new album, Black Ice, is one of their most legitimate and extensive albums since their 1980 release Back in Black and in some ways they both might be considered bookends. The AC/DC sound is classic but the intensity and musical variation in the album really makes it special. The album is loaded with 15 tracks that old school fans will eat up like “Rock ‘n’ Roll Train,” “Big Jack,” and “Smash ‘N Grab.”

One highlight is hearing Malcolm and Angus Young, whose patented rhythm and lead guitar is so often the backbone in AC/DC tunes, show off their playing with some interesting variations such as slide guitar on “Stormy May Day” as well as some more bluesy inspired playing on tracks like “Decibel” (although it sounds frighteningly similar to ZZ Top). The album also features singer Brian Johnson taking a break from all the screaming and bringing it down a little with some smoother singing in songs like “Rock n’ Roll Dream” and “Rocking All The Way.” The songs have a vibrant energy to them and the album feels more thought out and sophisticated than the past few efforts. The real key to the album is dropping the word rock as often as you can- the album rocks n’ the rock rocks so long live rock!

Tim Needles


Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples Live: Hope at the Hideout
(ANTI-Records)


Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!



It was definitely a homecoming for gospel/soul legend Mavis Staples on her latest effort, Mavis Staples Live: Hope at the Hideout. This intimate, yet electrifying performance was recorded this past summer in Chicago. Staples not only revisited her hometown, but on Live: Hope at the Hideout she also rediscovered the musical foundation of our country. As a member of The Staples Singers, known for classics like “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself,” she along with her siblings and her father, Roebuck “Pops” Staples, found their musical roots in the heart of The Civil Rights Movement.

From hymns and spirituals to protest songs, The Staples Singers became an important musical force during a turbulent time in America. And in today’s hard times, the songs on Live: Hope at the Hideout remain relevant. The show was kicked off with a rousing cover of Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth.” For Staples, these spirituals and protest songs were also deeply personal. On “Down in Mississippi,” she recalls how she witnessed the “For Coloreds Only” signs taken down thanks to the efforts of Dr. King, while “We Shall Not Be Moved” recounts when she along with fellow protestors refused to leave after being denied service at a restaurant in the South. The quality of Staples’ low singing voice is gravel-tinged and heavily steeped in the gospel tradition where at times, you feel as though you’re a parishioner at church. Her three-piece band, especially Rick Holmstrom’s melodious guitar, adds the right balance of traditional rhythm and blues to Staples’ stirring gospel sound. Live: Hope at the Hideout is a reminder of how strength and courage will once again prevail just as it has for civil rights champions like Mavis Staples.

Shannon J. Effinger


Brightblack Morning Light
Motion to Rejoin
(Matador)


Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!



Brightblack Morning Light do not make music for the impatient or the inattentive. They craft soft, slow songs that are in no hurry to get where they are going. On their latest effort, Motion to Rejoin, they have created an album of slow, beautiful music that trickles from the speakers and into the listener’s ears in a gentle, unhurried fashion.

Recorded in a hut in New Mexico, this latest effort sounds like the Cowboy Junkies circa The Trinity Session recorded sludgier, slower, and with the vocalists fifteen feet from the microphone. This is not a bad thing. Songs unfold slowly and softly, rewarding patient and repeated listens, revealing layers of beauty that are hidden at first listen. All told, there’s no reason not to take a slow meandering ride with Brightblack Morning Light.

DOWNLOAD - Brightblack Morning Light – Hologram Buffalo.mp3

Nate Campbell


Paper Route
Are We All Forgotten (EP)
(Motown)


Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!



Paper Route debuts with their new EP Are We All Forgotten from the emerging Nashville scene. These rockers have something completely fresh and unique to bring to the ever-popular electro-trance rock scene.

Reminiscent of a cross between Journey and the Postal Service, Paper Route paints a picture of a big hair trippy band with strong drums and guitar riffs, combined with surreal abstract vocals and the killer use of digital technology currently defining indie rock.

The title track "Are We All Forgotten" is arguably their best song. It sounds like something from the "Garden State" soundtrack with its dreamy feel and introspective lyrics looking for more out of life.

While having only five songs, this band is just showing us that an EP is not enough. They have great potential to be an asset to the future of music. Here's looking forward to more.

Jennifer Hein


I Am Ghost
Those We Leave Behind
(Epitaph)


Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!



I Am Ghost proudly proclaim all that they are in their name. Unfortunately, all that they are isn’t all that much. The name of the band and album declare blandly an affiliation with the pack of black clad emotionally unstable scream-bands that disgruntled mallrats love so well.

The music sounds like it was made from a formula: take one subject, suitably morbid and if possible also dripping with heartbreak, add guitars that skirt the line between playful punk and metal-assault, stir in a dollop of screaming vocals, unleash on angsty teenagers, stock t-shirts at Hot Topic.

With songs titles like “Rock N’ Roll High School Murder” and “Smile of a Jesus Freak,” I Am Ghost fail to deliver anything new or interesting in their genre. Worth listening to only for those looking to find a new band that their fellow scream-o fans aren’t already wearing t-shirts for.

Nate Campbell

Read more...

The Daily Shortlist November 26

5:00 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
Catherine Opie, Untitled #1 (Mini-malls), 1997

Location: Upper East Side, NYC
Art: Catherine Opie: American Photographer
Show time: Saturday–Wednesday 10 AM–5:45 PM Friday 10 AM–7:45 PM; Through January 7, 2009
Venue: Guggenheim Museum
Food: Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack
Drink: Cavatappo Wine Bar
Miscellaneous: Ship of Fools

Catherine Opie is known for her photography that explores communal, cultural, and sexual identity through studio portraiture, landscape photography, and urban street photography. This exhibition takes a look back at much of her career’s work. Now that it’s getting colder out, what better way to warm up than with some BBQ. Jimmy’s Bait Shack is known for their BBQ’d meats, smoked in house. The menu is all Southern favorites like po boys, catfish, fried chicken, along with burgers. Though it’s small, Cavatappo Wine Bar packs a mighty punch, offering an amazing selection of wines from all over the world for under $10 a glass. With more than 40 TVs featuring sports, Ship of Fools also has darts, pool tables, and video games.


Read more...

The Daily Shortlist November 25

5:00 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
Billy Joel and Michael Bloomberg at the press conference announcing the Rock N’ Roll Annex opening back in August. Photo courtesy of AP

Location: Soho, NYC
Art: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex
Show time: See website for dates and times
Venue: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex
Food: Nha Trang
Drink: Knitting Factory
Miscellaneous: La Esquina

New York finally gets a rock n’ roll hall of fame that’s better than the Hard Rock Café. An outpost of Cleveland’s larger Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, The Rock Annex will house exclusive hall of fame pieces like Bruce Springsteen’s 1957 Chevy. With over 25,000 square feet, this rock museum houses an important collection of music history that NYC is no doubt a large part of. Their first exhibition is Revolution Rock: The Story of the Clash. The museum opens today. One of the best affordable Vietnamese restaurants in the city, Nha Trang is right near the downtown courthouse, making it a high volume place. Despite that, the food is great and the Pho (rice noodle soup) dishes are $5 and under. An hip and eclectic place for drinks, the Knitting Factory is also a music venue. The drinks here aren’t expensive and the crowd is fun and artsy. One of the best taqueria’s in the city, the Mexican food here is authentic and to die for. While tacos will set you back $3, plates are in the $6 to $7.25 range.


Read more...

The Daily Shortlist November 24

5:00 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses


Location: West Village, NYC
Music: Matthew Shipp
Show time: 8 and 10:30 PM
Venue: Blue Note
Food: Tortilla Flats
Drink: White Horse Tavern
Accessory: Magnolia Bakery

One of the downtown jazz scenes best avant-garde composers, pianist Matthew Shipp has played with many jazz legends. Forging a successful career that has gone beyond jazz, he’s recorded with hip-hop artists like DJ Spooky, El-P, and High Priest and Beans of Anti Pop Consortium, making Matt Shipp one of those rare jazz artists leading the art form into the future. For dinner, check out Tortilla Flats. The food is Mexican and delicious, but it’s the insanity within (bingo and hula-hoop nights) that is the real calling for this place. For drinks afterwards, hit the White Horse Tavern, a great bar and the old haunting grounds for Dylan Thomas. If you somehow have time before all of this, stop by Magnolia Bakery for some of the best tasting cupcakes in the city.


Read more...

THEATER REVIEW: Mindgame

5:30 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
It’s great being scared, tickled, knocked-off balance…and made to think. All this and more happens when you step into the small Soho Playhouse (15 Vandam Street) for Anthony Horowitz’s Mindgame. Featuring the stunning three-person cast of Keith Carradine, Lee Godart and Kathleen McNenny, this thriller has you guessing until the end. With the spate of all those movie-made-into musicals on Broadway, it’s nice to see something of the psychological thriller variety, with just enough blood and implied nastiness to get one really squirming.

It’s hard to really tell you what this play is about without giving away the delicious surprises, but the main set-up is: a writer of serial killer biographies comes to a UK insane asylum hoping to interview one of its inmates for his latest book. What happens in the two hours is twisted fun. The first act felt a little long, but there was certainly full-steam-ahead craziness by the second. Carradine is superb; from The Will Rogers Follies to his singer/songwriter career, to TV and movies and now this over-the-top mayhem, is there anything this guy can’t do? Lee Godart and Kathleen McNenny are just as good (albeit McNenny has a much smaller role, but some juicy moments).

Making his directorial debut for the NY stage, Ken Russell (of Tommy, Altered States and The Devils movie fame) sets his characters in just the right places for all the fun to happen. It’s really a tight one-set stage and Carradine’s weird lanky physicality, McNenny’s bouncy seeming-naughtiness and odd vocal changes and Godart’s beleaguered gentleman then lumbering menace, would have resulted in quite a clunky mess in lesser hands then Russell’s. The technical aspects of Mindgame add to the play just as much as the acting and directing, so much so I fear it would have been a flatter piece without the fantastic talents of Bernard Fox’s sound, Jason Lyons’ lighting and Beowulf Boritt’s set design. A word of warning, one must pay attention to everything on the stage, from the beginning to the end of the play, to really understand what is happening.

I can see why Mindgame had such a successful run in the UK; it really is a tightly written, small cast romp that’s unlike almost anything ‘out there’ these days. Even if you figure out what’s going on, you’re never really sure (even at the end) of what you saw, whether it was an envelope or carpet (you’ll get that reference after you see the play), but you’ll be sure of one thing, that you had a great time squirming through Mindgame.

Ralph Greco, Jr.

Read more...

I WAS THERE . . . Tom Gabel @ Knitting Factory 11.21.08

5:35 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
“We haven’t played together in 7 years, and we haven’t practiced in 7 years,” said Against Me! vocalist Tom Gabel. “But we’re going to do this anyway, we’re Against Me!” he shouted as Gabel introduced original drummer Kevin Mahon to the stage. At that moment what had been a low key acoustic event transformed into an all out pit, stretching from the stage to the back door of the Knitting Factory’s main space.

The event was the New York date on Against Me! front man Tom Gabel’s solo tour. The Knitting Factory had been the band’s (in all it’s carnation’s) home in New York for years, and you could tell his and all who displayed remorse at the impending move of the storied venue from its 3-floor Leonard St. digs, which it has occupied for more then a decade, was sincere.

The show started out with a set by Philadelphia-based Erik Peterson, of Mischief Brew. Peterson quickly blew through 7-8 songs of Mischief Brew/solo material opening the show with his typical high-energy style. I have said many times and it bears repeating, no one can work the crowd the way Peterson does with just a guitar, it’s pretty amazing.

Peterson was followed by a set from New York Native Emilyn Brodsky, playing material off her first full length Emilyn Brodsky’s Greatest Tits. Brodsky usually just performs on her own with a ukulele. I’ve never seen her play anywhere near as big a venue as the main space, so seeing her in such a big room was very weird. Typically, she plays to fairly intimate crowds and half-jokingly bullies them into being quiet during her sets though was unable to manage this and gave up on that pretty early on. Brodsky got herself into some trouble early by suggesting that someone should dive from the room’s balcony. This clearly earned her some sort of scolding from the soundman, which promptly made him the butt of much of her on stage banter for the duration of her set. Many statements ended in “because the soundman doesn’t like me,” or “because the soundman’s a nice guy.” Furthering the tension were multiple people running up to the balcony after her suggestion, though they either were convinced or forced not to jump.

After the close of Ms. Brodsky’s set, Tom Gabel took the stage to massive cheers from the sold out crowd. He started with 4-6 original songs off his recently released solo album, which can be heard on his Myspace page. Then began to play a few classic Against Me! demo’s and then Kevin Mahon; his original and at one time only band mate came out. “I want to introduce one of the people I love most in the world. We’re Against Me!” he said as the crowd roared. The original band members, on the same stage for the first time in 7-8 years played through demos and most of the band’s first full length Reinventing Axl Rose. Gabel and Mahon sounded spot on—like it was 2001 once again, and I was in a basement. A really big basement.

A friend put it best “The 13 year old in me was just really happy and now it really wants a beer.” The show allowed me to relive part of my child-hood, and to see two of my favorite current performers. What more could I want from a Thursday night.

TJ Olsen

Read more...

I WAS THERE . . . The Mountain Goats @ Webster Hall 11.09.08

5:30 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
The Mountain Goats Photos by Dave Levin


Show opener, Kaki King had a jam-band vibe with some ambient guitars and sonic undertones that didn’t mesh with me. The lead singer was a good guitar player, but she had a real flamboyant flamenco-like style that showcased her technique rather than being emotive in any real way. However, they seemed to have a pretty decent fan base, many of which I was standing next to in the VIP section. And near the end of their set the lead singer found herself in the middle of a tearful commentary about finally landing an apartment in Brooklyn after being on the road for so long. I found it a little feigned, but that’s probably because I’m not part of the fan base—the whole night was kind of a big Mountain Goats/Kaki King lovefest.

After about an hour of Kaki King, The Mountain Goats took the stage immediately bursting into a manic glory that lasted the entire evening. John Darnielle writes earnest pop songs that resonate with his fans and unfamiliar listeners (that being me) alike. He reminds me of Woody Guthrie, in that he just says what he means. He doesn’t work with too much clever wordplay or use phrases like “I’m swimming through the sea of our love,” or any variation of similarly barftastic zingers. And I assume that this is why people really love him; because he seems honest.

I didn’t know any of the songs they played throughout the night, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Darnielle was talkative and jokey and it made the show much more personal, as if he was performing for, and with, a group of friends—which he was.

I wrote down fragments of lyrics from the ones I liked so I could look them up later, but just ended up Googling their setlist. They are as follows, “Moon over Goldsboro,” “New Zion,” “Heretic Pride,” “San Bernardino,” and “This Year.” Unfortunately this did not yield as many results as I’d like and I’m still at a loss for more of the gems. Nonetheless, I was privy to a night of solid songcraft among likeminded listeners.

From my vantage point in the balcony to the immediate left of the stage, I could see the faces of the crowd. When you’re standing among the audience, no one is watching you; they’re not paying attention to you and it allows for intimate moments amid a crowd. It’s odd to see people in a state that is largely reserved for time alone, but it illustrates the ability of the music we love to permeate our walls and move what’s inside. This is what The Mountain Goats did for many that night.

Dave Levin

Kaki King

Read more...

The Weekend Shortlist November 21 to 23

5:00 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
Genius or crazy? Brian Wilson still makes amazing music

Friday November 21

Location: Chelsea, NYC
Bands: Brian Wilson Get Tickets Here
Show time: 7:30 PM
Venue: Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom
Food: Pop Burger
Drink: Gaslight Lounge
Miscellaneous: Amy’s Bread

When former Beach Boy and legendary singer and composer in his own right, Brian Wilson comes to town, you really should be there, not because he went loco for a couple of decades and came back, but because after all of his issues, his recent albums, the lost masterpiece that was finally recorded Smile and his recent opus That Lucky Old Sun prove that Wilson still has that immaculate talent for putting together great music after all these years. Burger joint in the front, upscale lounge in the back, the menu at Pop Burger includes basics like 2 pop burgers for $5 for a quick fix or if your lounging, the likes of tuna tartar with soy truffle jus ($15). The Gaslight, a great hotspot bar in the meatpacking district, is dark and cozy while affordable for the area. If you don’t know Amy’s Bread, when you order a sandwich at a café or restaurant in the city, ask where they got the bread. There’s a good chance it’s from Amy’s because she’s one of the best bread makers in the city.

Friday November 21

Location: East Village, NYC
Bands: Tom Morello + Boots Riley Get Tickets Here
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
Food: Supper
Drink: 2A
Miscellaneous: Whole Foods on Bowery

Call him the Bob Dylan of our times (who funny enough is also playing in NYC tonight), but occasional Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello takes the front seat here crafting very strong protest style songs and dubbing himself The Nightwatchman. Joining him is political hip-hop artist Boots Riley. Those looking for good and inexpensive Italian food should most definitely check out Supper. Do yourself a favor and try the “Priest Stranglers” pasta with Marinara and soft Ricotta di Pecora cheese. A good bar nearby is 2A. With two floors of windows, it’s great for watching the remaining hipsters who can still afford to live in the city pass by. If all your dinner/drink plans fail and you need an all-in-one, the Whole Foods on Houston Street is your upscale go-to-grocery store for dinner and snacks.

Saturday November 22

Location: Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Film: 24 Hour Party People
Show times: 4:45, 7, 9:30 PM
Venue: BAM Rose Cinemas
Food: Junior’s
Drink: O’Connor’s
Miscellaneous: Thomas Beisl

Part of the BAMcinematek series Punk n’ Pie, don’t miss 24 Hour Party People, a great docudrama that tells the story about the life and death of Factory Records, featuring Steve Coogan as Factory founder Tony Wilson, who was responsible for putting out music by Joy Division, New Order, and the Happy Mondays. Known more for its cheesecake than anything else on its menu, Junior’s also offers fantastic diner and deli style eats from steak burgers to deli sandwiches. If you can make it through dinner, the cheesecake will be worth the wait! One of Brooklyn’s most interesting dive bars, O’Connor’s offers cheap drinks in a place where Park Slope hipsters meet old-time drinkers, making for one of the oddest pairings that works. An excellent place to get schnitzel and goulash and other Austrian delights, Thomas Beisl is right across the street from BAM.

Saturday November 22

Location: Fort Green, Brooklyn
Bands: Dig Deeper featuring Eula Cooper
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: The Five Spot Soul Food Supper Club
Food: ICI
Drink: Moe’s
Miscellaneous: Tillie’s

DJ Honky and Mr. Robinson host a night of Northern soul featuring Atlanta, Georgia soul singer Eula Cooper making her first NYC appearance with her band the Sweet Divines and the Divine Soul Rhythm band. Also joining the band will be Binky Griptite of The Dap Kings. England’s Mick H will be flying over just to spin old Northern Soul 45s. This one looks sweet. Creating a seasonal menu filled with fresh and locally grown ingredients along with wines from small interesting local wineries, ICI creates innovative dishes like Wild Striped Bass with shitake mushrooms, fennel butter, and fennel slaw ($25). An eclectic bar in Ft. Greene that has absolutely nothing to do with The Simpsons, Moe’s offers a decent beer selection, a neighborhood vibe, and big windows to people watch. For coffee and a place to just sit and relax, Tillie’s serves a great cup of joe, while consistently having performances, and serving excellent baked goods and vegan food.

Sunday November 23

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Bands: Fondue Takedown
Show time: 5 PM
Venue: Union Pool
Food: Chimu
Drink: Union Pool
Miscellaneous: Eks

If your equal parts kitchen geek and rock god, the Fondue Takedown is right up your alley as fondue fanatics gather to compete for a $100 prize. But for $10, you get to taste and judge everyone’s mad creations. Where else are you going to get PBR and melted cheese under one roof? With so much good food in Williamsburg, you should not forget about Chimu. A Peruvian steakhouse right next to Union Pool, the rotisserie chicken and every other dish I’ve had here is amazing, and it won’t break the bank! For drinks, Union Pool is still one of the best bars in town. If you’re single, it’s a goldmine for booty, the drinks aren’t pricey, and the DJs play an eclectic mix of ridiculously good music. Not exactly Pinkberry, yet just as expensive, Eks is Williamsburg’s answer to the yogurt fad currently popping up everywhere.


Read more...

The Daily Shortlist November 20

5:00 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
from TRAFFIK, Photographs by Norman Jean Roy, published by powerHouse Books.


Location: Union Square, NYC
Event: TRAFFIK: Photographs by Norman Jean Roy
Show time: 7 PM; Through December 3
Venue: Milk Studios
Food: Chat ‘N’ Chew
Drink: Pete’s Tavern
Miscellaneous: Whole Foods

Tonight is the opening reception of TRAFFIK, an exhibition of photographer Norman Jean Roy’s work. On assignment doing Glamour magazine’s “Women of the Year” shoot, he befriended Somaly Mam, a former Cambodian sex slave being honored for her work rescuing trapped women in Cambodia’s sex industry. From there, Roy created TRAFFIK, a project exposing these injustices and spent time in Cambodia photographing the victims of the country’s sex industry, giving them a voice that is otherwise silent. For food with southern flair in Union Square, Chat ‘N’ Chew makes some kickass fried chicken, pork-chops, and meatloaf. In the running for oldest bar in NYC, Pete’s Tavern has been around since 1864 and was made famous by author O. Henry who wrote “Gift of the Magi,” in one of its booths. One good thing about the Union Square location of Whole Foods is that it’s not only a reprieve from this tourist heavy area, but with it’s huge windows, you can sit, get healthy organic food and drink, and watch the insanity like it’s a movie.


Read more...

MUSIC REVIEWS: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Raphael Saadiq, Blitzen Trapper, and Kristoffer Ragnstam

5:30 AM Reporter: Short and Sweet NYC 0 Responses
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
Sunday at Devil Dirt
(V2 Records)


Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!



While former Belle and Sebastian vocalist Isobel Campbell technically gets top billing on Sunday at Devil Dirt, the record sounds like a Mark Lanegan solo project with her honeyed vocals soothing his gruffly maturing sandpaper croon.

In the first half, Lanegan recalls a legacy of seasoned wild men taming themselves in later, reflective years. At times, his voice quavers like Johnny Cash's end-career recordings; at others, he lays it down smooth like Leonard Cohen at his ritziest: "Come on Over (Turn Me On) delivers sultry, slick Rat Pack grandiosity over "I'm Your Man"-worthy come-ons.

The second half of Sunday at Devil Dirt digs down to blues and folk roots, sounding remarkably American. On "Shotgun Blues," Campbell's barstool-Hope-Sandoval takes center stage over a dirty, shuffling slide guitar borrowed from the Missisissippi Delta, while "Keep Me in Mind, Sweetheart" is a softly down-home duet straight out of Real America with nary a whiff of Commie America's irony.

While the album may occasionally seem formulaic and, most glaringly on "Who Built the Road," dangerously close to Nick Cave's collaborations with Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey, the artists' reverence toward the musical traditions they embrace create an ultimately heartfelt and rewarding result.

Toney Palumbo


Raphael Saadiq
The Way I See It
(Columbia Records)


Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!



The hot sound in music today is “1960s Motown”…? Sounds almost like an oxymoron. But turn on the radio and you hear it clearly in the music of today’s young artists. And you’ll also hear it on Raphael Saadiq’s fourth solo effort The Way I See It. The former member of the R&B groups Tony! Toni! Toné! and Lucy Pearl is definitely not a stranger to that sound. Anyone who is a fan of this singer/songwriter will give you a long list of influences heard in his body of work: Curtis Mayfield, The Temptations, etc. And to have the opportunity to pay homage to these legends on a single album: priceless. On “Love That Girl” and “Sure Hope You Mean It,” it is clear that Saadiq has great love and respect for the Motown sound. With its lo-fi quality, horn sections, tambourines, and rhythmic electric bass, The Way I See It gives you the feeling that you are listening to an old 45 rather than a CD (or mp3 file). Even Saadiq’s songwriting on this album is a tribute to another key aspect of Motown’s legacy, “The KISS Principle” (Keep It Short & Simple), especially since most of the songs are no longer than four minutes. On “Big Easy (featuring The Infamous Young Spodie & The Rebirth Brass Band),” Saadiq explores the harsh reality of Hurricane Katrina, while “Just One Kiss (featuring Joss Stone)” is a wonderfully modern tribute to the classic Motown duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Raphael Saadiq has produced for many different artists (including Joss Stone and D’Angelo) and for this eclectic artist to forgo variety and focus on one signature sound, The Way I See It will be appreciated by young and old fans alike.

Shannon J. Effinger


Blitzen Trapper
Furr
(Sub Pop)



Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!


With their fourth album Furr, the Portland-based sextet Blitzen Trapper builds on its junkyard electronic indie folk rocker sound that is part Beck, Tom Petty, and Wilco. Officially together since 2000, the band’s music conjures images of farmers and hunters jamming together on a spaceship, with instruments ranging from pianos, lo-fi drums, and voiced-over/synthesized harmonies. Blitzen Trapper’s sound is largely credited to Eric Early, who wrote and produced much of the album in addition to performing guitar and lead vocals. Themes of nature and god reverberate through Furr, and the song writing does not seem to follow any distinguishable or traditional patterns of hooks and bridges. The album’s faster songs like “Saturday Nite” generally require several listens in order to adjust to all of the polished but sometimes chaotic mish mash, but the strength of the album is its slower folk ballads like “Black River Killer,” which have instant appeal and make up more than half of the album. The title track “Furr” is probably the albums best song– a very simple ballad that actually has produced animal noises in the background. Overall, the album gradually gets better with every listen, and is one worth owning if you have the patience.

Paul Kim


Kristoffer Ragnstam
Wrong Side Of The Room
(bluhammock)



Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!


Eclectic, relevant, and modern are the adjectives that come to mind when listening to Swedish musician Kristoffer Ragnstam’s new album Wrong Side Of The Room. The songs have a wry intelligence and the sound is a terrific blend of classic rock, electronica, and modern indie. Kris proves himself as an important up and coming artist with a number of excellent tracks such as the funky “Disco Fiasco,” “2008,” and “Swing That Tambourine,” which is a hit song waiting to happen. The album showcases tight, innovative musicianship paired with fun and relatable lyrics forming some classic songs. The album is really well-constructed with up-tempo pieces counterbalanced with softer acoustic works and the songs really grow on you with each listen. Tracks such as “Sorry For Being The Man Of 1000 Questions” show a varied approach with fast paced spoken words leading to a chorus that is sung more traditionally. Kris’s beginnings as a drummer can be heard in the offbeat melodies that grab the listener’s attention. There are some more experimental tracks on the album such as the title track that don’t really hit the mark but with a wealth of truly great songs, it’s a must listen for any music lover. It’s just a matter of time until some big company grabs one of these songs for a big commercial and everyone begins to notice it.

Tim Needles

Read more...

featured-video

Blog Archive

My Blog List