Return of the Bamboo Kids!

While other bands are breaking up or fizzling out, NYC's premiere purveyors of all-out good-time punk-spirited rock n' roll, the Bamboo Kids, are finally back in the swing of the things. They will be at Fat Baby on Wed, August 13th, with their better looking friends the Anabolics along for the ride.

The Best Band in New York?

The Bamboo Kids; The Anabolics
@ Magnetic Field
Brooklyn, NY - April 20, 2007

For a change, I am not going to run straight for the hyperbole but I will say that after years of hard work, the hard rockin', good time, but substantive outfit known as the Bamboo Kids may be the Best Band in New York. The only things that change about the band are leader Dwight Weeks' look, and their live performance. They get better each time I see them and performance-wise, they've come a long way since I saw them perform at CBGB's a few years ago.
The Anabolics are a real raw, crunchy garage band consisting of two hot babes and a very Ramones-inspired drummer. Simple, spunky, fiesty.

August New York Gigs Preview

Sorry I didn't do this yesterday, I had some tech problems. So all that's missing is last night's Ziggy Marley show.
Tonight is a sad night - the last ever New York show of Sleater-Kinney. It's all sold out. I will be at a friend's house watching old wrestling clips instead. Webster Hall will be the site of this last hurrah.
If anyone else feels like doing like anything else, there's Bo Diddley @ BB King's tonight.

New Pornographers/Calexico - Central Park Summerstage - Thu 8/3

Muse - Hammerstein Ballroom - Thu 8/3

Black Hollies - R & R - Thu 8/3

Detroit Cobras/Black Hollies - Maxwell's - Sat 8/5

Body Count (with Ice-T) - Knitting Factory - Sat 8/5

The Detroit Cobras

will be at McCarren Park Pool on Sun 8/6 for a free afternoon show.

Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players - Mercury Lounge - Wed 8/9; Maxwell's - Thu 8/17

Grant Lee Phillips - Knitting Factory - Thu 8/10; Maxwell's - Fri 8/11

The Turpentine Brothers - Trash Bar - Fri 8/11

Sonic Youth;Yeah Yeah Yeahs - McCarren Park Pool - Fri 8/11, Sat 8/12

Deerhoof;The Harlem Shakes - McCarren Park Pool - Sun 8/13

George Thorogood & The Destroyers - Mon 8/14- Wed 8/16

X - Nokia Theater - Wed 8/16 (you'll know I'll be at this one)

Iron & Wine - McCarren Park Pool - Thu 8/17

The Hard Lessons - Trash Bar - Thu 8/17

Chris Isaak - Beacon Theater - Thu 8/17

The Box Tops with Alex Chilton - South Street Seaport - Fri 8/18

Frank Black - Southpaw - Sat 8/19 (two shows)

The Dansettes;The Fabulous Soul Shakers - McCarren Park Pool - Sun 8/20

M Ward - Soundfix Records - Wed 8/23

Neko Case;Martha Wrainwright;Joanna Newsom - McCarren Park Pool - Thu 8/24

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - South Street Seaport - Fri 8/25

The Bamboo Kids - Trash Bar - Fri 8/25

The Walkmen;Dr. Dog - McCarren Park Pool - Sun 8/27

Blue Republic's My Space Artist of the Week: The Bamboo Kids

Radical Revolutionaries? Yeah. Rock N Rollers? Absolutely. It doesn't get much more fun, much more pure, much more solid than New York's own Bamboo Kids.

Listen to "USA Out of NYC" on my page, then go to their page, and official site.

Off and On Nights

The Avatars; The Bamboo Kids; Electrajet
@Trash Bar
Brooklyn, NY – June 24, 2006

The Avatars returned to Brooklyn with technical problems and tired voices but still managed to pull off a decent gig.

The Bamboo Kids, who have been off the scene for awhile, have shed the early Clash look for blazers and a full head of hair, and also unfortunately seem to have lost the fans that packed the house the first two times I saw the trio. Nevertheless they sound better than ever and their new album in September promises to be good.

Electrajet is an odd and successful trio, playing dark, almost grungey sounds but with a National Dobro guitar and an organ. My girlfriend said they have a “Tim Burton” feel to them and I liked that description.

(Photos by Roxxan H)

June: Record Breaking

It's finally June - and it's packed and loaded with gigs. Nearly every single day in the month, as of right now, has gigs you should go see, and most of those days have multiple gigs to choose from. It makes sense - June is the end of spring and the beginning of summer, the most ideal feel good weather to go out and have fun. Maybe it's the increased and peak daylight hours - artists want to pack in as much night time as possible.

Well anyway here is the break down for the month, and since it is such a packed month, here it is chopped up into sections to make it easier. Good luck:

June 1-4: Legends Bookend Weekend
Let's just call it a 4 day weekend holiday month kick-off. A legendary band by the name of The Fall return to New York, playing the Knitting Factory tonight and Southpaw tomorrow night. Also tonight, The Twilight Singers play Irving Plaza.
Tomorrow night features Mary Timoney and Tralala packin' 'em in at the Mercury Lounge while Super Furry Animals really kick off the summer outdoor River to River series at the South Street Seaport.
Saturday night finds Snow Patrol at Roseland Ballroom and Les Sans Culottes at Pianos.
The highlight of the weekend may be on Sunday night: Dick Dale, the one and only, will be playing CBGB. Also that night, Tapes 'n Tapes at the Bowery Ballroom.

June 5-8: Joan Jett Week
The leader of the Runaways and the Blackhearts is owning New York this week, playing 4 gigs in 4 nights. Bowery Ballroom on Monday, Southpaw on Tuesday, CBGB on Wednesday, and the Knitting Factory on Thursday.
(International) Noise Conspiracy will be playing CBGB on Monday the 5th. Suddenly CBGB is happening again, just as it gets ready to close up in the autumn.
Tapes 'n Tapes plays a second show at the Bowery on Tuesday.
Southern Culture on the Skids plays the Merc on Wednesday.
Excellent rapper Common plays the Central Park Summerstage on Thursday while blues band The Wiyos play a small show at Joe's Pub the same night. If you're looking straight up garage rock mayhem, skip those two shows, and go see the Demolition Doll Rods at the Trash Bar.

June 9-11: Double Duty
Lots of bands are playing multiple gigs and this weekend features a lot of overlapping. The Demolition Doll Rods play a second night at Trash on Friday. Cat Power will make up her February date with two nights, Friday & Saturday, at Town Hall.
That busy Friday also features gypsy-rockers Gogol Bordello at Irving Plaza and British one-woman band KT Tunstall at Webster Hall.
Saturday features the first night of a double bill of garage punks Be Your Own Pet and Whirlwind Heat at Maxwell's.
Sunday night has the first of two nights of the inemitable Los Angeles rock 'n soul band, The BellRays at Joe's Pub. And also on this very busy Sunday: !!! at NorthSix and Stiff Little Fingers at Irving Plaza.

June 12-15: Midweeks shouldn't be so busy
On Monday, Be Your Own Pet/Whirlwind Heat play their second night, this time at the Knitting Factory while the BellRays wrap it up at Joe's Pub. Want to see some legends instead? The Buzzcocks will tear down Irving Plaza.
On Tuesday, CBGB again serves up gold - Sonic Youth. If those legends weren't enough, Radiohead returns to NYC, playing Madison Square Garden. The Black Keys will have the opening band honors, an amazing and surprising development. The two bands will play at the Garden again on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, it will be Hipster Central at Roseland Ballroom, as the Arctic Monkeys headline a show opened up by We Are Scientists (you'd think Art Brut would have found a spot in this show or somewhere this month, but June is surprisingly Art Brut-free). If you hipsters can't get into that one, you can go see Forward Russia! at the Merc.
Thursday night has Bobby Bare Jr. at Maxwell's.

June 16-18: Pre-Spectacular fun
As of right now, by some odd reason, there are no gigs of note for Friday June 16th. Someone send something in to me to keep the streak alive!
Saturday night can only be spent one way: Mondo Topless with the Insomniacs at Magnetic Field. If you really must be somewhere else, then there's good ol' Les Sans Culottes at The Hook (they should just move their show to the Magnetic bill) and Rhett Miller with openers Ollabelle at the Central Park Summerstage.
Nellie McKay plays Joe's Pub on Sunday while Blue Cheer - yes you read that right - plays Maxwell's the same night.

June 19-22: The 25th Anniversary Spectacular Week
It's not that I'm self-centered or conceited or self-important or anything, that's just what I decided to call this week of my 25th birthday.
The birthday (the actual spectacular) is on Tueday the 20th. You can celebrate by seeing Son Volt at the World Financial Plaza or Pat Benatar at the Hammerstein Ballroom, but I personally recommend Blue Cheer and the Black Hollies at CBGB for a 60's psychadelic garage rock extravaganza. If I was to do a venue of the month, CBGB's would win, and that's not something I would have predicted in all this time that I've done concert calendar listings.
The spectacular continues on Wednesday with the Gourds at the Merc (who are the Gourds? Remember about 6 years ago or so, there was a song spread around the internet that was supposedly by Phish with John Popper, a cover of Snoop Dogg's "Gin & Juice"? Well it was the Gourds who did it.) Also on Wednesday - Gomez with Martha Wrainwright at Webster.
It's not listed at the Mercury Lounge's website, but I've been told that Detroit folk-pop act Pas/Cal will be playing on Thursday, and that should be their New York debut. That same night Alejandro Escovedo, Marah, and more special guests will be playing Irving Plaza. A week before, Blanche will be playing with Escovedo in Cleveland. Wouldn't it be nice if Blanche played one of these shows as part of the 25th Anniversary Spectacular? I think it would be quite nice.

June 23-25: The Spectacular wraps up in style
Friday June 23 has softee boys Keane at the Bowery while folk queen Michelle Shocked plays Joe's Pub.
Saturday night's highlight is the return of Detroit pop-rockers The Avatars to the Trash Bar with New York's own Bamboo Kids helping out. If you can't make it, go check out Devotchka at the Bowery.
Sunday night has Mark Sultan aka BBQ returning to Magnetic Field, this time with his pals Demon's Claws. Also on Sunday, Fiest and Buck 65 turn the Central Park Summerstage Canadian.

June 26-30: The month finally ends
And what a way to end it - Calexico on Tuesday at Warsaw and the next night it's Bonnie Raitt with Keb Mo at the Central Park Summerstage.
Thursday has the first night of Joe Jackson at Town Hall and night 1 of We Are Scientists at Warsaw while oddballs The Fiery Furnaces play Webster.
Friday night, the last night of the month, is utterly chock-full of stuff - almost as if Rock N Roll-dom knew this month in New York was too loaded for its own good -
Joe Jackson has night 2 at Town Hall and the same goes for We Are Scientists at Warsaw. Outdoor shows are plentiful with Amy Rigby at the Seaport and TV on the Radio at Prospect Park's bandshell. And fittingly, the Walkmen, New York's own, end the month at Webster Hall.

As usual, apologies for any needless ass-kissing of artists in this rundown and all that jazz. Go have fun out there.

May: Easy Like Sunday Morning All Month Long

It seems like May is a relatively quiet month. After a packed first four months of the year, it seems that people want to spend more time in the increasingly nice weather than in the rock clubs. Thats great but dont forget to catch some shows, and dont forget that shows are always added as the days and weeks go on.

The month kicks off as it should on the first. Aqualung is playing the Bowery Ballroom tonight. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs return to the New York stage since their pair of Bowery shows in February with two shows starting tomorrow night at the Roseland. The Black Lips will be opening up it may be the biggest crowd the Lips have ever played for.

On Sunday, the Bamboo Kids play Maxwells while the Brian Jonestown Massacre play Webster Hall a week from tomorrow. Friday May 12th is a huge night, the biggest of the month and its almost all happening in Brooklyn: Elvis Costello will be playing BAM, the Mooney Suzuki will be playing Southpaw, and the Fleshtones will be playing Magnetic Field. Anyone left should go see the White Rose Movement at the Bowery. The next night is all about the Yarrows at the Parkside Lounge.

Elefant will be playing Webster Hall on Wed May 17th while Art Brut plays two nights the Knitting Factory starting the same night (with rumors of We Are Scientists opening up). Art Brut just played 3 shows in NYC in April and here they are again. Maybe in June theyll take up residence at Madison Square Garden and try and beat Billy Joels record before Madonna does. The third week in May ends in legendary fashion with two nights of Television's Tom Verlaine at the Bowery. But that weekend will be another packed one: The Hard Lessons return to their Brooklyn Home-Away-From-Home, the Trash Bar, that Friday, while The Woggles play Magnetic Field on Saturday, and The National play Webster Hall on Sunday.

Webster Hall is the busiest venue this month by far, wrapping up May with Gnarls Barkley making their US debut the night after the National, and the Walkmen playing on Wednesday May 24th. In between, go catch Langhorne Slim at the Knitting Factory.

More gigs will pop-up and then it will be June, which has already shaped up as being twice if not three times as busy as May. So take a breath while you can because summer is coming and there wont be any slowing down after that.

Springtime for Rock N Roll

Springtime is the best time for Rock N Roll and this April is a doozy. The Flaming Lips kicked off the month last night, ending a two night stand at Webster Hall. Today, the Boss Martians and Bamboo Kids play a BBQ at Magnetic Field.

This first full of week of April is utterly insane. Tuesday alone is jam packed: She Wants Revenge kicks off a month of stellar shows at Irving Plaza while The Blue Van play Northsix and Jonny Lives play Sin-é. Also on Tuesday, New York welcomes Art Brut – the biggest band from England not named the Arctic Monkeys. Art Brut plays a two night stand at the Bowery Ballroom next week as well playing Southpaw a week from Tuesday.

On Wednesday, The Ponys play Magnetic Field while on Thursday, New York welcomes the return of Scott H. Biram to the Mercury Lounge where he will be opening up for the Legendary Shack Shakers. Neko Case plays a two night stand at Webster Hall starting on Thursday with Martha Wrainwright opening while on Friday, the honor goes to the High Dials.

Ah yes, Friday. If you don’t know by now, you’ve been living under a rock: The Raconteurs make their North American concert debut at Irving Plaza while just blocks away at the Mercury Lounge, their friends the Soledad Brothers begin a two night stand.

Take a breath for a few days then get ready for another packed week: Already mentioned for Tuesday the 11^th was Art Brut. But there’s also Beth Orton at Webster Hall and Regina Spektor at Warsaw. The Sounds play Irving Plaza the next night while Gogol Bordello plays Warsaw.

Now come the set of already sold out big shows: Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie play the Hammerstein Ballroom on Thursday the 13^th and Friday the 14^th. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah play the Bowery Ballroom on that Friday and the next night.

TV On The Radio plays a sold out show at the Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday the 18^th while The Fiery Furnaces play the Bowery the next night. Also on Wednesday, Langhorne Slim plays Northsix.

The final week of April features Har Mar Superstar at Northsix on Saturday April 22^nd, while MOTO invades New York, playing the Trash Bar on Saturday and the Cake Shop, the next night. Electric Six plays Maxwell's the following Tuesday and Irving Plaza the next night.

And that’s April for now. Stay tuned and get out there.