Pepper’s Kaleo Wassman Lays Down Some Love. All Photos by Tim Needles

Pepper
Roseland
August 8, 2008

There was no shortage of energy or enthusiasm when Pepper hit the stage friday night at Roseland as part of the Summer Tailgate Tour along with Sly & Robbie and Slightly Stoopid. The Hawaiian reggae-rock trio has a sound reminiscent of Sublime (both of whom were produced by Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers) and kept the packed young crowd in a near frenzy for their entire performance. Both guitarist Kaleo Wassman and bass player Bret Bollinger rocked serious 80’s metal wigs as they sang and rallied the audience. The band performed without a formal set list asking the audience to shout out songs but they did hit a few songs off their new album Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations such as “Davey Jones Locker” and “Blackout.” After a break from Pepper’s hour long set, Slightly Stoopid took the stage and kept the momentum flowing by performing some of their classics like “Ese Loco” and the very appropriate “Officer” (as loads of kids were being thrown out). Even with all the drama and hysteria, getting through security and the hordes of young kids the show was a classic for any reggae rock fan.

--Tim Needles

bassist Bret Bollinger

Stars Like Fleas Photo Credit: Heart on a Stick

Friday August 22

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Band: Stars Like Fleas
Show time: 8:00 PM
Venue: The Stone
Food: Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant
Drink: Verlaine
Accessory: Gus’s Pickles

You could call Stars Like Fleas avant-indie rock or a chamber group but the band makes ambitious music that sounds somewhat like noise influenced ambient music with a singer who holds their album, The Ken Burns Effect together with a tight grasp. For din-din, check out Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant. Serving up sandwiches, omelletes, and baked goods for breakfast and lunch, for dinner expect the likes of Pan Seared Halibut with sweet corn succotash, herb roasted tomatoes, and summer squash ($19). Named after the poet Paul Verlaine, the bar offers an asian food and drink menu. While you can’t order the absinthe that probably helped kill the poet, you can order drinks like the El Chupacabra, which is better tasting with a kick of its own. If you like pickles, Guss’ Pickles has been around since 1910, it’s a landmark spot, and still makes a great pickle.

Friday August 22

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Music: Petty Fest 2008
Show time: 10:45 PM
Venue: Mercury Lounge
Food: San Loco
Drink: Max Fish
Miscellaneous: Sugar Sweet Sunshine

Celebrating the music of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers is genius! Tonight, a ridiculous amount of great musicians pay tribute including members of The Albert Hammond Jr. Band, Hymns, Jody Porter (Fountains Of Wayne), Sammy James Jr. (The Mooney Suzuki), The Pierces, Luke Rathborne, Steve Shiltz (Longwave), Ryan “Wiz Kid” Gentles, and many more. San Loco serves inexpensive Mexican food. You can get a heaping amount of nachos for as little as $3.75, and telling by the heavy traffic, the place is doing just fine. What I like about Max Fish is that it’s a local bar for local artists. It’s walls play host monthly for art exhibitions, there’s a pool table in the back, and drinks aren’t pricey, like many new bars springing up in this neighborhood. For one of the best cupcakes in the city, Sugar Sweet Sunshine has 10 varieties, on top of cakes. Try the Sexy Red Velvet or the Bob, a yellow cupcake with chocolate almond buttercream.

Saturday August 23

Location: Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Band: Jennifer O’Connor
Show time: 3:00 PM FREE
Venue: Permanent Records
Food: Paloma
Drink: Black Rabbit
Miscellaneous: The Pencil Factory

On her new album Here With Me, Jennifer O’Connor has really stepped up as a songwriter, if that’s even possible since her last album was so good. Catch her at Greenpoint’s newest vinyl shop for FREE. As for dinner in Greenpoint, oddly enough, Top Chef Contestant Camille Becerra’s Restaurant Paloma is nearby, serving what she’s dubbed “urban American cuisine,” or seasonal American, which is surprisingly affordable. Probably one of the nicest editions of bars to Greenpoint, Black Rabbit is my fave. Who can resist dark wood interior, cozy booths, and an excellent selection of beers? With a fireplace in the back and a small menu of snack foods, it’s the place to unwind. Another good bar nearby is The Pencil Factory. With an all wood décor, big windows, and an excellent selection of beers on tap, you’ll find neighborhood artists and musicians making conversation here.

Saturday August 23

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Band: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
Show time: 11:45 PM FREE
Venue: Zebulon
Food: Dumont Burger
Drink: Radegast Hall & Biergarten
Miscellaneous: Verb Cafe

Local songsmith Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson has been steadily picking up steam as a musician, having worked with Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio and having released his recent self-titled album, which is an amazing blend of singer/songwriter and band unafraid of experimentation. Best of all, the show is FREE. With one of the best burgers in Williamsburg, Dumont Burger offers theirs with gourmet toppings, sandwiches, salads, and their amazing mac & cheese. So you consider yourself a beer connoisseur and like to party. You can do all that and eat at Radegast. The Austrian/German menu perfectly compliments the 12 beers on tap and more than 30 German and Austrian bottles at this large beer hall. One of the oldest and best hipster hangout coffee shops, The Verb offers up excellent coffee and baked goods, a boho vibe, and big windows to watch the days pass while collecting unemployment!

Sunday August 24

Location: Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Bands: JellyNYC Pool Parties with Yo La Tengo + Titus Andronicus + Ebony Bones
Show time: 2:00 PM FREE
Venue: McCarren Park Pool
Food: Wasabi
Drink: Bar Matchless
Miscellaneous: The original Soupman

Yo La Tengo headline this last FREE show at McCarren Pool and probably ever, as the city has given the OK to turn the pool into an actual pool next summer. So come celebrate the end of an amazing few years of FREE shows in Brooklyn. There’s a lot of restaurants popping up in Greenpoint nowadays. The Japanese restaurant Wasabi has been there before many of them and serves up some of the best sushi in that hood. A good local bar, Bar Matchless is that low-key place where you can chill, get a drink and not have to scream at the top of your lungs to make conversation. He’s been called “The Soup Nazi” on Seinfeld, but Al Yeganeh knows how to make soup. Try the Lobster bisque, it’s the best I’ve ever had, and don’t forget to follow his rules or “No Soup for You!”

I Have Chosen To Stay and Fight
By Margaret Cho
Penguin







Margaret Cho is revered in many circles, especially the queer one, for her outspoken beliefs and quick acerbic wit. In her book, I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, she takes on many taboo topics of society today including abortion, gay marriage, and racism in America. She shares her very liberal point of view on all the topics and points out the many flaws in the conservative rational.

Among the many entertaining aspects of her book, the letters Cho writes to President Bush and Reverend Al Sharpton are so funny and on the mark it makes Cho seem even more brilliant if that is possible. For a humorous, political book that pokes fun at nearly everything conservative, check this one out.

--Corey Crossfield

20 Designs for Insound's Favorite 20 Bands

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Art: Unveiling the Insound 20 for Viewing withJason Munn
Show time: 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Venue: Fontana's
Food: Pukk
Drink: The Magician
Miscellaneous: Mason Dixon

The leading online indie music store Insound, teams up with designer Jason Munn, whose work has been in many print magazines to create merchandise designs for the “Insound 20,” featuring the music retailers favorite 20 bands. All designs will be on display and DJs will be spinning playlists coming directly from each bands ipods. Pukk serves up some delicious vegetarian Thai food. With a futuristic design, plastic and green tint everywhere, the menu offers everything from Pad Thai to Spicy Watercress Duck, only the duck, like all meat here, is made of vegetarian soy. A chill bar to go for a drink and not be bothered with loud, annoying drunks is The Magician. This place, which has no visible name, is across the street from Welcome to the Johnsons. With a southern theme, the draw at Mason Dixon is being one of only two bars in NYC with a mechanical bull. For $10 you can ride it. Expect to be thrown off in 5 seconds, if you can stay on that long!

One Day as a Lion
One Day as a Lion EP
ANTI Records






One Day as a lion is Jon Theodore and Zach de la Rocha saying we don't need anything but a keyboard, drums and a microphone to kick the shit out of you. They waste no time in doing so from start to finish on their 5-song EP out July 22nd on Anti Records.

One Day as a Lion is an ongoing collaboration between De la Rocha and Theodore in which they create a simplified, harsh sound that simultaneously showcase their voices. Theodore's unabashedly aggressive style meshes perfectly with De la Rocha's attacking vocal approach. Their arrangement sets the stage for a rhythmic and lyrical attack that holds no punches and brings it raw.

Zach de la Rocha is a better rapper than singer, but he still brings the rage when he uses his singing voice on tracks like Last Letter and If you fear Dying. By singing instead of rapping, he adds an elongated sustained element that contrasts Theodore's fanatically syncopated drum lines.

--Marc Amigone



Kraak & Smaak
Plastic People
Ultra Records






Ladies and gentlemen! Hold your Heinekens high and toast Holland's hottest vinyl-heads, Kraak & Smaak. In April 2008, K&S's sophomore album, Plastic People, hit the UK's electrofunk scene and set the Leiden-based group on a wave of success as smooth as the interplay of their trance-inducing tracks. Dance floor favorites like "Squeeze Me" deliver the sound we've come to adore while the group's work on "Man of Constant Sorrow," a tour-de-force of K&S-worthy beats, indian influences, and a heaping helping of bluegrass, demonstrates significant growth and sophistication. A tip of the hat also goes to Kraak & Smaak for punny track titles like "Bobby & Whitney."

Now bottoms up and get yourself a round of Kraak & Smaak. The U.S. version drops on September 9th on Ultra Records.

--Nicole Velasco

Bring Your Inner Know-It-All to Tonights Quizz-Off at Pete's Candy Store

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Event: Quizz-Off
Venue: Pete’s Candy Store
Food: Chimu
Drink: Union Pool
Miscellaneous: Eks

Win a $25 bar tab at Quizz-Off . . . if you can answer a night of ridiculously hard questions. Yeah, nothing in life is easy, but thank god for booze and quiz shows in bars. 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 ass, 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.

Though the son of Ali, Vieux Farka Touré Stands Tall on his Own








Vieux Farka Touré is one of the world's brightest young stars, picking up where his legendary father Ali left off, playing his native country of Mali's traditional music all over the world. After his show at Central Park Summer Stage last month, I was lucky enough to interview him on music, Africa, climbing out from his father's shadow, and a lot more…

My first question is as an African musician, do you find it difficult to reach a mainstream audience? Do you ever get frustrated by being categorized into an "exotic other" category such as "world music?"

I guess I have been pretty lucky because the kind of music I am doing seems to be reaching a pretty wide audience – at least from what I can see from the stage! Last weekend I played on the rock stage at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark with bands like Battles and CocoRosie …and the audience just seemed to be there to hear and dance to good rock, and didn't stop rocking when I played – they seemed to get even crazier! Then we played a more traditional African festival in Holland. Next weekend we'll be playing a huge festival in Spain where I've invited Idan Raichel (whom I've met in airports around the world but haven't managed to actually play with yet!) to sit in. I did a radio show last summer with country musicians (I really liked Dierks Bentley) and also an Africa Express show in Liverpool, playing with other Africans like Amadou and Miriam, Baaba Maal, Rachid Taha and collaborating with all the new English rock musicians like Damon Albarn and Franz Ferdinand. And I'll be doing a U.S. tour this August in a tribute to James Brown with Pee Wee Ellis and Fred Wesley. So I'd have to say I'm not feeling too boxed in!

Growing up and now, who are some of your greatest musical influences outside of Mali?

My favorite musician growing up was Phil Collins. I also really love Bryan Adams. I listen to anything - I am young (despite my name!) and have everything from reggaeton to hip-hop to blues to traditional Malian music on my iPod.

You've traveled all over the world playing music, how has what you've seen and experienced in your travels shaped and stretched your perspective on your music and life as a whole?

It's totally changed me. You can't travel the world, see other cultures, eat other foods, meet other people all the time, and not have that affect your way of seeing the world, and of course that filters into the music. But of course it also makes me value even more my home, my country. When I get back to Mali, ah…now that feels good. I always want to live there. But I'd maybe like to bring some of the good things I have seen on my travels back to Mali. I am always so impressed by the huge windmills across Europe and I keep thinking we could use one of those in Niafunke where there is always wind.

Since your father was such a legendarily famous Malian musician, do you ever feel burdened by having to always be compared to him? Do you ever feel like people don't give you enough respect on your own merits as a musician because of your name?

It's a good thing and a hard thing to have a father like Ali. He's a legend worldwide and I can't compete with that…all I can do is my best and hope that people will someday recognize my talent as something else, something different. But I also know that a lot of people listened to my first album, paid attention to it because I am Ali's son and that's a good thing. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of talented artists out there, maybe who have more talent than me. But I have been lucky enough to have a famous father and so my first record was of interest to people. Now I have the challenge of making the second one even better!

You've released two albums with Modiba Productions so far, do you have plans to go back into the studio anytime in the near future to record a third?

Yes, I have been recording for the past couple of months in Bamako, whenever I can (and am not touring!) and have about 13 tracks ready for some postproduction now. I am hoping we can get something out for early 2009.

Your second album was a collaboration with various DJ's that fused your traditional African sound with a more modern electric sound, who are some musicians you're interested in collaborating with on future projects both from West Africa and the rest of the world?

Oh wow, that's a hard question. We've been talking with Dirty Projectors about doing some shows together. I just discovered Wilco on our last road trip - they are incredible. Of course, I'd love someday to work with Bryan Adams. And on reggae, well, the Skatalites and Alpha Blondy are my heroes. I just spent the last weekend at festivals with Mamar Kassey from Niger, I listen to him all the time at home and his guitarist is one of the all-time greats. I'd love to do something with him, maybe travel to Niger and do something there.

My last question, your record label, Modiba Productions, has repeatedly in the past, donated parts of its sales profits to different charitable causes in Africa such as the ASAP album and buying malaria nets. Do you feel that enough African musicians use their financial success to instigate positive change in their home countries?

I think there are lots of good things being done by many African musicians but I also believe we can - and should - always do more. We are lucky - we often have influence, and we can help directly. I am sending mosquito nets directly to my village. As my father used to say, when the wind blows, everyone grabs his own hat. So whatever I can do to help my own village, I must do.

Marc Amigone