Whenever anyone describes a band as playing “world music,” it’s usually taken as an oblique way of saying that they play music that derives from Africa or the Caribbean. BuzzUniverse, who takes the universe part of their name seriously, has carved out a nice niche for themselves by putting their own spin on the world music concept, incorporating South American gaucho rhythms and Latin American flair into blend of blues, funk and mountain-class bluegrass. After experimenting with a larger version of the band, BuzzUniverse has stripped back down to their original four-piece configuration: Alex Garay on vocals and lead guitar, Greg McLoughlin on bass, Dave Migliore on drums and Brian Ciufo on sax.One thing that’s marked BuzzU’s shows over the past few months has been their willingness to experiment and refusal to remain static. Their penchant for incorporating jamband oriented rhythms into the song structure of progressive rock makes many of their songs perfect vehicles for other musicians to join in. At Sullivan Hall, violinist Meredith Bogacz sat in for the heart of their set, inspiring a zany dancing reverie from Garay with a traditional Irish jig and on “All Of My Friends,” blending in with Ciufo’s subtle baritone and soprano sax to provide a wonderful counterpoint to McLoughlin and Migliore’s sinuous beat. Broadening their universe, Aaron Wilkinson of the Honey Island Swamp Band sat in on mandolin for BuzzU’s version of the Marshall Tucker Band’s “This Ol Cowboy.”
BuzzUniverse will be offering a couple free shows in New York City over the next couple weeks. On July 4, they will be playing a 3:00 p.m. set at the South Street Seaport and on July 16, will be entertaining Manhattanites in Union Square Park with a set starting at 6:00 p.m.
Jeff Buckley is another one of those talents we lost far too soon. Like his posthumous success with Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Buckley's take on "We All Fall In Love Sometimes", written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, will remind of us of what we lost.
On the day that Elvis Presley died, an anonymous music industry executive reportedly commented that it was a phenomenal career move for The King. It’s an apocryphal anecdote that has persisted to this day because in a deeply cynical way, it contained a somewhat significant kernel of truth. “Good career move” wasn’t my first thought when I heard that Michael Jackson had died but after seeing the pictures of people gathering outside the hospital and watching the reaction from aggrieved fans around the world, I’m starting to think that Jackson's death has caused a wholesale reevaluation of the singer's life and career. It's something that never would have happened during his lifetime.
The Pawnshop Roses and Number Line Productions announced that the Marco Benevento Trio will headline the the "Let it Roll" Festival at Sunnyview Farm in Ghent, NY the weekend of September 18th and 19th. Benevento and band join Jammy winners the Breakfast as the latest additions to the lineup.
Ben, the two of us need look no more 
Like most of you, I’ve watched The Blues Brothers an extraordinary number of times over the last three decades and with repeated viewings you start to notice certain things that just don’t make very much sense. I’m not talking about things like the Bluesmobile’s ability to defy the laws of physics and automotive mechanics, Ray Charles remarkable accuracy with firearms or that no one within the white supremacist organization knows the address of Wrigley Field. I'm referring to things that really sit and make you wonder. Take for example . . .
“These are songs.”
UNDER THE NOT-SO SECRETIVE GUISE of Yim Yames, My Morning Jacket lead singer Jim James will be releasing a solo EP of George Harrison covers entitled Tribute To. Recorded shortly after Harrison's death in 2001, James' homage to the Silent Beatle will be released on August 4. However, if you can't wait until then, or just want to verify that James hasn't been possessed by the spirit of the Swedish Chef you can download as well as pre-order the album at 
With record labels losing their importance in getting music into the ears of people who listen to it, artists are coming up with new and different ways to release albums. .jpg)
In the spring of 2006, 
I first became acquainted with Emily Haines about three years ago, when Broken Social Scene made their way through New York City with Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning anchoring the Canadian collective. One of about 20 people that shuffled on and off the Webster Hall stage that night, Haines was the only one that made a lasting impression with me. With her punk though Debbie Harry-cool attitude, Haines practically stole the show every time she emerged. Like most people who have passed through Broken Social Scene, Haines had her own band, Metric, a feisty little outfit whose latest album, Fantasies, culls together songs that have been kicking around their repertoire for the last couple years. It’s a bold, robust collection that offers a glimpse at what The Breeders might have been up to had drugs not slowed down their momentum in the 90s.
In the neverending search for new music to listen to, sometimes you don't need to go any farther than your own iPOD. Originally from Australia, The Death Set are a energetic shouty kind of band. On Worldwide, their full length debut released almost a year ago, they manage to capture all the frenzy and mania of punk rock with nary a pronounced guitar. Using electronica derived drums, a variety of keys and a touch of bass, The Death Set bring the rawness of basement punk into the high tech world. Give a listen and you will agree with their boast in "
For Heroes, the compendium of covers whose proceeds go to War Child International, an organization dedicated to aiding children worldwide afflicted by war, Beck completely reinvented Bob Dylan’s “Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat.” After listening to it for about the 50th time over the past few weeks, it prompted me to start discussions over whether Beck’s version of the Blonde On Blonde classic was the best Dylan cover ever. Of course, whenever such a subjective question comes up, it can mean only one thing: it’s list time.
The last band I caught at the 2008 South By Southwest Festival was Wooden Shjips at The Tap Room at Six. Having become infatuated with the band’s post-John Cale Velvet Underground sound a few months prior, I was quite excited to see the San Francisco foursome turn the room into their own psychedelic garage. As they’ve yet to come to New York in the ensuing year and a half, I’m doubly glad I caught them. Otherwise, I’d be hard pressed to prove they actually exist. Their apparent aversion to being seen in public just adds to their mystique. Hearkening back to the less-trippy days of acid rock, the Shjips offer a heady, adrenalized version reminiscent of the Syd Barrett freakout days of Pink Floyd.
Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Matt Groening have never been shy about taking shots at Seth McFarlane as they seem to take great offense when their shows are discussed in the same conversation as Family Guy. Pointing to their ability to create humor around the themes of a single story, the creators of South Park and The Simpsons find Family Guy’s scattershot barrage of non sequitur jokes cheap and simplistic and not up to their standard. If Colin Meloy were so inclined, I would imagine he could look around and feel similarly irked when The Decemberists are likened to their fellow bands. Merriweather Post Pavilion may have cool songs about summer fashion and comatose lions and Veckatimest has tons of dreamy, hypnotic melodies but neither has any narrative structure or thematic continuity; they are just a compendium of short stories. Joining Green Day in restoring credibility to the concept of the concept album, The Decemberists created a larger-than-life rock opera with The Hazards Of Love, populating their fairy tale universe with a handful of slightly more than one-dimensional characters.
Leroy Justice is a rock and roll band. There was a time when that was all that needed to be said. Were this 1973, 
OTHER THAN WATCHING A COUPLE sets on the AT & T Webcast, I came nowhere near Bonnaroo this weekend. However, the 
“We Are The Hold Steady.” It’s the coolest phrase in rock and roll; legitimately, it can only be said by five people and usually only lead singer Craig Finn needs to proclaim it. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or listening to Hot 100 radio, you’ve come across the Minneapolis fivesome that now calls Brooklyn their home. Since releasing Almost Killed Me in 2004, The Hold Steady have been almost single-handedly keeping the youthful spirit of rock and roll alive. If you’re no longer roaming grassy fields looking for a kegger or figuring out new ways to get loaded at a fraternity party, The Hold Steady will make you remember why that all seemed like fun. Like no other band, The Hold Steady make you feel young again.
On July 11, the Dark Star Orchestra returns to Governor’s Island to kick off the second season of The HighLine Ballroom’s concert series The Beach At Governor’s Island. Taking the concept of a tribute band to another level, the DSO has been recreating Grateful Dead concerts in their entirety for more than a decade, inspiring such similar acts like Strange Design (Phish). The Dark Star Orchestra – currently comprised of Rob Barraco (keys), John Kadlecik (guitar), Rob Eaton (guitar), Kevin Rosen (bass), Rob Koritz (drums), Dino English (drums) and Lisa Mackey (vocals) - performed the Dead’s May 1, 1977 set from Palladium in New York City on their last visit to the Island.
Whenever a living legend - especially one you’ve never seen before - comes to town, there is no question about whether you go. The mistake would be to have expectations that you are seeing them in their prime or that you’re going for any other reason than to be in the same room and get a sense of what made them great. Sometimes you get something that seems ripped from a time capsule; other times you get Little Richard this past Sunday night at the BB King Blues Club & Grill in New York City’s Times Square.
This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, the 3 day music festival in Bethel, New York that helped define the Sixties. The commemoration of the event starts today with the reissue of Michael Wadleigh’s Academy Award winning documentary Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music, on which a young pre-Mean Streets Martin Scorsese toiled as editor and helped create the film’s multi-panel presentation.
The Summerstage series of shows in Central Park is supposed to be an enjoyable way to spend a glorious summer evening in New York City. For the most part, it typically works out that way, although Mother Nature occasionally throws a wet blanket on the festivities. This past Friday, the first major show of the 2009 season featuring Brooklyn’s funkified art-rockers TV On The Radio, had all the makings of a wonderful night of inventive modern rock under the stars. Even if the weather did everything it could to put a figurative and literal damper on the evening, TVotR put forth a radiant performance that outlasted the rain that had pestered City dwellers all day long. The only thing that could have made the atmosphere more perfect would have been a lightning storm to provide an organic light show – although that definitely would have resulted in a rare Central Park cancellation.
THANKS TO THE HORRIBLE WEATHER, I didn’t make it to Summerstage in time to see the Dirty Projectors opening set. I’ve really been enjoying their latest album Bitte Orca and see the Dave Longstreth led group as part of the New Mavericks of rock and roll. Rather than latching onto a genre, bands like Dirty Projectors, White Denim, Menomena and to a lesser extent Grizzly Bear and St. Vincent are simply making music and going in whatever direction they feel like taking it. If the song doesn’t need a chorus, one isn’t forced in; if a glockenspiel would make things sound better, no preconceived notion keeps it out. Bitte Orca gets better with each listen because there’s so much to hear. I’m disappointed a few drops of water kept me from missing them.
When the Dave Matthews Band comes to New York City, they usually play large fields like Randall’s Island or Central Park or when forced to economize manage to cram their whole show into the tiny, little Madison Square Garden. On the eve of the release of Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, dedicated to saxophonist LeRoi Moore who passed away last year from injuries suffered in an ATV accident, the DMB played, for them, an intimate performance at the Beacon Theater. In a nice touch, the Fuse network, (hey, a channel dedicated to music, didn’t MTV once do that), simulcast the show commercial free.
Jazzy Goodtime's
About a year ago, I came across former Rolling Stone editor 
THE NEW YORK 
The Hill Country Revue answers the question of what Cody Dickinson and Chris Chew did while their fellow North Mississippi Allstar spent a year amongst the Crowes. Rounding out their latest project with vocalist Daniel Coburn, guitarist Kirk Smithhart and drummer Ed Cleveland, the HCR adopt a heavier take on the Delta blues that fuels the Allstars. In early April, the Revue made their New York City debut, opening for the NMA at the HighLine Ballroom (
In 1984, Christopher Guest stumbled onto the form of moviemaking that would come to define his career. The fake documentary – ultimately to be termed the mockumentary – had its precedents but in allowing the entire cast to improvise practically all of their dialogue, Guest let his comedic troupe create indelible characters that were not only funny but remarkably multi-dimensional. When This Is Spinal Tap hit theaters, the world shook under the power of Guest’s new directorial style. Well, that’s not entirely true. For as revered as it is, Spinal Tap, possibly the most quoted film in cinematic history, barely registered a ripple upon its release. Mainly because Spinal Tap hewed too close to reality, Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer’s depiction of self-absorbed rock stars battling the tenuous nature of stardom and the surrealism of a life in the music business endured as only fine satirical portrayals can. Well, that and the fact that the music rocked and made your ears bleed!
In September of 2007, right on the heels of three stellar shows at New York City's Gramercy Theater, Tea Leaf Green packed fans into the upstairs lounge of the now-defunct Mo Pitkin's for an all acoustic show. At the time, I recall hearing that the set was earmarked for either satellite radio or some sort of Internet release in conjunction with eMusic. With neither of those options coming to fruition, the set finally sees the light of day as Coffee Bean Brown Comes Alive, released today on the Tea Leaf Green Partnership imprint.
Ever since the release of her quirky and charming Marry Me, St. Vincent, known to her friends and family as Annie Clark, has entered the rarefied air of artists who cannot be criticized lest you be excommunicated from the hipster circle of trust. Like most people that reach that status, St. Vincent actually deserves the praise and merits more of a listen from the mainstream than she will likely ever receive. Given New York City's purported stature as a city at the forefront of the musical curve, St. Vincent's midweek show at Webster Hall, which helped kick start a modest U.S. tour, had a surprising number of tickets available. 
Jay Nash is on a roll. He's been touring from coast to coast here in the States and managed to find time to head over to Copenhagen to record for his new EP, 
Backyard Tire Fire, one of Earvolution's favorites, returned to New York City last Wednesday for an early evening set at the Mercury Lounge. Having recently emerged from the studio where they have been toiling under the auspices and fine ear of producer Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), the Tire Fire still burns with the raucous energy that can only be generated by boozy, guitar-driven rock and roll. For their hour long set, Ed Anderson, his brother Matt and Tim Kramp previewed many of the songs that will presumably be on the yet-to-be titled new release. If the songs from the Merc are any indication, expect the new album to contain another heaping bunch of Ed Anderson's thoughtful slices of Americana over the BTF's well-polished variety of blues based classic rock. With Scott Tipping rejoining the band on guitar and Andrew Weir on keyboards, songs like "Road Song #39" - which given Anderson's potential to write a song a day, may very well be his 39th road song - have a heft to them; an encouraging sign that this band is still growing and getting even better.
The Band used to famously sing about life being a carnival, two bits a shot. Keeping the spirit of the Helm/Danko-sung classic alive, the travelling road show that is Tea Leaf Green likens itself to the circus coming to town. Without resorting to death defying stunts or sideshow freaks, Tea Leaf Green generates the equivalent wide-eyed excitement and exhilarating sense of wonderment as a night under the big top. Getting past the red and white tent that adorned the cover of last year’s 
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