And he liked it so much in the bluebird house…
… that he tried to get his own spot.
But it proved more difficult than he thought…
…so he drove an awesome car instead.
And then he rode a turtle…
…and made friends with some trolls.
He helped these folks start a fire…
…and hung out with this dude for a little bit.
When he was done he joined a tea party, already in progress.
All in all, it was a lovely day.
THE EN…
Wait! MJ, what are you doing?!?
“Oh man, I gotta get into this bluebird house. Give me a boost?”
Ohhhh, MJ.
Here he is as his solo project Rain Machine, opening up for Jolie Holland last night at the 92Y Tribeca:
If you’re not familiar with the awesome bearded stylings of Malone, he’s a singer and songwriter best known for his work with TV on the Radio. His Rain Machine project isn’t particularly mellow or soothing (as rain machines tend to be), but last night it was just him and his guitar, so it was. Mellow, that is. Not so much soothing.
[“Do you want upbeat or downbeat?
Now, self-pitying or self-defeating?”]
The first single, “Give Blood.”
[Spunky] Guyanese-Canadian singer-songwriter, debut album The Bridge out last fall, currently opening up for Alicia Keys on tour. Her single “It Kills Me” earned her a Grammy nomination for best female R&B vocal.
Here it is:
Gorgeous.
Here’s Fiona last night, performing at a benefit for the nonprofit Music Unites:
And here’s Erin keeping an eye on her. You should too:
Did I mention that the benefit was in the penthouse (21st floor) of the Cooper Square Hotel? And it has a pretty sick balcony?
I wanna have the best time possible, and I have a few choices. Who should I pick?
This guy looks like he’d find all the good food (which is always a plus)…
But this guy looks like he’d be a lot of fun. Problem is, he’s always bumping into things.
These two are just whores, always asking if I want to double my fun. (Ew.)
And this lady’s a huge bitch. But I guess you’d be too if you had a shamrock shaved into your ass.
This little pup is super-awesome, but he’s just such a lightweight,
And this bro’s just just so serious about the whole thing.
Oh well, guess I’m hanging with this guy again. But I think it’s pretty obvious why:
Yup, definitely the right choice.
What do you think?
That is, What Would Henry Rollins Do?
It’s a question I often ask when I’m making a difficult decision. And after three hours of his uninterrupted speech last night at Irving Plaza (without so much as a sip from his water bottle), I think I’m better equipped to answer it.
Or at least I ‘ll stop answering it with:
“Bash their fuckin’ head in!”
[Nah, I won’t.]
‘Cause really, dude is intimidating. Here’s his face:
Here’s his face as a stamp:
Still scary! Actually more so!
But really he’s a very nice man!
And so that’s the question: how does an aging punk rocker with an insatiable curiosity, a little bit of cash in his pocket and that mug navigate his way through life post hardcore music career?
Pretty much like a sensitive bull in a china shop. Doing things like:
- Thrashing his body against a car and bleeding when trying to “keep it real” on the set Sons of Anarchy, (then being told to tone it down by the stunt folks).
- Hanging out with Ian MacKaye at Bad Brains concerts …
- … and being SUPER EXCITED when using MacKaye’s connections to check out original manuscripts at the National Archives in DC.
- Crying when Barack Obama won the presidency.
- Giving a kid in rural Sri Lanka the gift of The Stooges, and
- Judging RuPaul’s Drag Race (NEXT WEEK YOU GUYS!!!) and accidentally fantasizing about “lady-men.”
This was just scratching the surface. Did I mention the spoken word was three hours long?
Of course, that’s something Henry Rollins would do.
One Step Beyond at the American Museum of Natural History, 3/12/10.
Theophilus London got our hands up,
And Ninjasonik jumped on our heads.
Not pictured: The Very Best. Also, fancy party decoration the Wilamette Meteorite.
Oh wait, there it is:
Filed under: Music, New York | Tags: before last night i was not aware that danger mouse was also a cartoon, i am sort of ashamed by this but we are all friends here
plus a full band (including trumpet), as Broken Bells last night at Music Hall of Williamsburg:
Opened with the single “High Road,” ended with a “Crimson and Clover” cover, which someone’s already uploaded here. Mellow vibe, straightforward set (we were out by 10:40 pm), and not much interaction with the audience, but songs translated well to the stage, and projected visuals were interesting enough, especially when they were on Mercer’s face.
Also the Obligatory Drunk Dude kept yelling “break some bells!” which was obnoxious but for some reason I thought it was hilarious (even though I was totally sober),
and Mercer looked like he could be my awesome Park Slope librarian dad:
Danger Mouse was no more shy than usual, but sort of wondering how he’s doing after Mark Linkous’s suicide. He and Mercer had both just worked with Linkous on the Dark Night of The Soul album. Rough. And now they’ve gotta do all the promotion for this Broken Bells project. Super rough.
If you missed the show (which you probably did as it sold out instantly), they’ll be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight. Check-it check-it out.
(Plants and Animals opened.)
Filed under: Music, New York | Tags: maybe i will take classes at Columbia so that John Wray will teach me, teach me is a euphemism
…discussing songwriting at a NYPL Young Lions event yesterday evening.
A few things:
1) Ezra’s obsessed with Jersey Shore,
2) John Wray is pretty, and
3) Doesn’t it seem like Vampire Weekend is everywhere these days? Not only because of the video with RZA, Gyllenhaal,and a Jonas brother and the SNL appearance, but because Ezra is running a blitz of a defensive campaign. Poor kid; he’s so hyper-aware of his image and our perception of it that he’s doing everything to save it. Which means talking about it, talking about it, and doing things like this designed to talk about it some more (also, you know, his love for Haruki Murakami).
I’m sort of sick of all the talk.
Which is why I’m pointing you to actual performance, the two songs they did on SNL this weekend.
P.S. This:
(It’s Jorma from The Lonely Island, also an SNL writer. He does this a lot.)
B-Boy Limping 