Neil Young

CONCERTS:

This heat sucks … we know. So what better way to beat it than by dancing yourself into a sweaty mess surrounded by hundreds of your under-hydrated peers in a shadeless pool? That’s the question JellyNYC poses all summer long with its free weekend "Pool Party" shows at McCarren Park Pool in Williamsburg. If you’ve missed any of the fantastic acts (Liars, the Hold Steady) that have already performed this season, be sure to catch Brooklyn’s MGMT (It’s pronounced “M-G-M-T,” not “management,” by the way) and England’s fashion-pop duo, Ting Tings, this Sunday. MGMT's debut, Oracular Spectacular, is a pop intellectual’s feast—a giddy mix of disco beats, glam guitar and baroque synths.  read more »

It’s been four years since Ween last released a record—and even longer perhaps since their odd brand of demented joke-pop felt relevant. But the duo from New Hope, Penn. is looking for just that with La Cucaracha, their ninth studio album in 17 years. “Fiesta” and “Your Party” set the ambiguously cheerful tune, and the horn play of Jazz saxophonist David Sanborn, known for being Uplifting, makes it seem clear Ween has shaken off whatever “health concerns” they may have had. The thing about Ween is it was never just the jokes; they're damn great musicians. Here's hoping La Cucaracha can get off its back.

Two musical acts who call Brooklyn home have something new to fill the tinny earbuds of F train iPods. Raymond Raposa, otherwise known as Castanets—earns some unwanted street cred with In the Wines, written weeks after he was mugged outside of his Bed Stuy dwelling. Believe or not, the advance word is that the album is a bit dark. Given the critical acclaim he got for Cathedral and First Night’s Freeze, it’s something worth picking up.  read more »

THEATER:

PYGMALION

Who: Claire Danes, Jefferson Mays

When: Oct. 18 – Dec. 16

Where: American Airlines Theatre

How: Check for tickets here.

Pygmalion, starring Claire Danes as the street urchin who will become a society lady thanks to the help of a professor, played by Jefferson Mays, will open at the American Airlines Theatre tonight. Tony nominee David Grindley will direct The Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of George Bernard Shaw’s play based on the Ovid tale.

CONCERTS:

Wise up to lit rock sweetheart Aimee Mann at the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom on Dec. 14. [On Sale: Friday, Oct. 19 at 10 a.m.]

Manchester’s David Gray will perform his folk-rock, acoustic songs at the Beacon Threatre on Dec. 4. Bring tissues for his requisite performance of This Year’s Love. [On Sale: Friday, Oct. 19 at 10 a.m.]

New York’s Coheed and Cambria, whose new album No World For Tomorrow will be released next week, will unleash their high-pitched, prog rock anthems at the Roseland Ballroom on Nov. 29. [On Sale: Friday, Oct. 19 at noon.]

Remember when Brooklyn’s Nada Surf came out with that video for their song "Popular" in the mid-90’s and everyone lumped them into the “geek rock” realm along with Weezer? Well, they’re still around, making great music and looking just a scruffy/adorable as ever. They’ll be at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Feb. 7 and the Bowery Ballroom on Feb. 8. [On Sale: Friday, Oct. 19 at noon.]

Hey hey, Neil Young will come to United Palace Theatre on Dec. 18 to keep rocking in the free world and whatnot. [On Sale: Monday, Oct. 22 at 10 a.m.]

Via Brooklyn Vegan:

Neil Young added a 5th ("and final") show at United Palace in NYC. The date is December 18th. Tickets go on sale Monday October 22nd @ 10am. The other four shows (12th, 13th, 15th, 16th) are now listed as sold out.

 read more »

I'm developing sudden sympathy for Rumsfeld. When Richard Holbrooke comes out for his resignation, as he did on Hardball tonight, it means the conventional wisdom has completely come around to that position. Rummy must go. Holbrooke is the biggest wind-sniffer in Washington. He's charging Rumsfeld with having mismanaged the war in Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq too. Get him out now, before more young people die, he intones piously.

The problem isn't Rumsfeld, it's the policy, stupid. Invading Iraq was a bad idea. It would have been bad with 500,000 troops or a million. The reason it's bad had nothing to do with troop levels. It had to do with the whole idea of forcing democracy on a country that isn't ready. Forcing anything on a country that didn't attack us. If you'd had a million troops in there, the people would have laid low and then started picking them off.

The incompetents responsible for the decision to invade were, chiefly, Bush and Cheney (and Rummy and the neocons down the hall). With the Democratic leadership folding. Scapegoating Rumsfeld is a way of avoiding the hard political and intellectual work of changing the mission.

Neil Young's got the right idea. He's now called for Bush's impeachment. Obviously, the politicians are going to be the last ones to get on this train. They're afraid of the word censure. No reason the rest of us can't get it moving.

My Favorite Merkin

To the Editor:  read more »

My Favorite Merkin   To the Editor:    read more »

As you may have noted by now, I like the friction—sometimes comic, sometimes revealing—t  read more »

As you may have noted by now, I like the friction—sometimes comic, sometimes revealing—that resu  read more »

Forget the autumnal equinox. Fall begins on Oct.  read more »

Neil Young is a punctured idealist, a fallen romantic fighting to stand up.  read more »

You can feel it in the air-summer's out of reach.  read more »

Sometimes I wonder what could possibly motivate Neil Young's association with Crosby, Stills & Nash.  read more »