Barry Hogan, the British music promoter, was at Bleecker Street Records last Thursday afternoon partaking in what seems like an archaic ritual: CD shopping.

"There's too many good records here," he said in his thick English accent (although the actual records, those measuring 12-inches across, were downstairs). He was perusing the "C" section, and picked up a disc by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. "I could do some real damage in this shop for sure."

At 36, Mr. Hogan is hardly archaic himself. In fact, the festival he created nearly a decade ago, All Tomorrow's Parties (commonly referred to as ATP), has become one of the most highly anticipated events of the indie music world.  read more »

"First off, there's no question--in my humble opinion--that the literary center of New York has moved to Brooklyn," said our oh-so-humble Borough President Marty Markowitz celebrating the Brooklyn Book Festival in the ornate lobby of Borough Hall this past Sunday. "The authors live here, the illustrators live here, and the energy--there's that energy!--among residents of Brooklyn.

"There's no question that those in their twenties and early thirties--I think, just from a quick look--seem to be a significant part of the turnout today, and last year too. So it shows that obviously something is happening."

I strolled around Borough Hall Park, pausing at vendors who had set up shop for the annual festival, which is in it's third year.  read more »

Last week, we told you about how Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore was slated to speak about the intersection of music and publishing at yesterday's Brooklyn Book Festival with fellow punk icon Ian MacKaye. Our pal and Observer alum Nicole Brydson was there reporting for the New York Press, and before Mr. Moore took the stage, she asked him something very important: Is 1991: The Year Punk Broke ever going to get a DVD release?

It's a question that's been burning in our minds for some time now, especially ever since we were forced to technologically progress beyond the point of being able to watch our own VHS copy—purchased in 1995 at our local Tower Records—of the classic punk documentary, which features the likes of Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland and other indie rock luminaries of the early '90s. As Mr. Moore explained, there seems to be one at least one little obstacle standing in the way of the DVD. Her name is Courtney Love:  read more »

The city's intelligentsia is gearing up for the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival this Sunday, at which some 150 authors—ranging from Joan Didion and Jimmy Breslin to the Jonathans Lethem and Franzen—will be in attendance. But we'd be lying if we said that we weren't the most excited for the chat that's supposed to go down between icons of cool Ian MacKaye (founder of the legendary punk rock label Dischord Records and former member of the rock-snob approved hardcore bands Minor Threat and Fugazi) and Thurston Moore (shaggy-haired eternally boyish looking guitarist for Sonic Youth).

Mr. MacKaye and Mr. Moore are scheduled for a conversation/Q&A starting at 3 p.m. to "discuss the parallel worlds of independent music and book publishing," according to the festival's Web site. How, you ask, did it come to be that these two super hip indie rockers will be rubbing elbows with some of the literary greats of our time? Well, one of the festival's organizers is Johnny Temple, who is also the chair of the Brooklyn Borough President's Literary Council and the head of the independent publishing house Akashic Books, and who also also happens to be the bass player of the seminal ‘90s indie rock band Girls Against Boys. Now it all makes sense!  read more »

DENVER—Art is to presidential politics what food rations are to war—a necessary component of the enterprise, but nothing one would choose to consume under normal circumstances. In this, as in so many ways, Barack Obama’s campaign is different.

Early on, Mr. Obama captured the fancy of the bicoastal artistic community, and he’s gone to unprecedented lengths to incorporate their creations into his campaign. Perhaps the most successful example of this collaboration between the graphic and the political is a series of posters created by the designer Shepard Fairey: agitprop-like images of the candidate’s face, superimposed over words like “hope” and “progress.” Copies of the posters, once available through Mr.  read more »

Anyone who longs for the days when New York seemed like a post-apocalyptic, crime-ridden industrial wasteland is in for a treat tonight. At the Knitting Factory, the obscure yet seminal Manhattan post-punk band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks will reunite for two back-to-back performances. The shows will coincide with an exhibition opening at a gallery across the street celebrating the release of No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980 ($24.95, Abrams Image), a new visual coffee table book compiled by Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore and longtime rock critic Byron Coley.

Some background:  read more »

In case you haven’t heard, a lineup has been announced for this year’s New York installment of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, and it’s the kind of lineup that makes the Pitchfork set scream. The legendary My Bloody Valentine is headlining, marking the band’s first U.S. performance in 16 years. And in keeping with the recent trend of classic bands doing entire sets of classic albums, Thurston Moore will perform 1995’s Psychic Hearts, Built to Spill will do 1997’s Perfect From Now On, Tortoise will play 1997’s Millions Now Living Will Never Die and going all the way back to 1984, the Meat Puppets will perform Meat Puppets II. Also on the bill for the three-day, 30-act festival in Monticello, N.Y., are indie rock faves like Shellac, Mogwai, Polvo and Low. Here’s the catch: There are only 3,000 tickets available (none of them are for single days) and they are sure to sell out on the quick. [On Sale: Friday, April 25 at 10 a.m.]  read more »