Daily Travels: West 58th Street

Roseland Ballroom to close in April according to Billboard

The times, they are a changin', indeed (Rob Loud/Getty Images)

Billboard reports in an unconfirmed, but breaking story that the historic Roseland Ballroom will be closing its doors in April. The story is based on an "internal email" obtained by Billboard, but calls to Live Nation, and Roseland itself, for comment have gone unanswered at this time. Opened in New York in 1919, it's been in its current location since 1958. This place has weathered a lot of changes, but no longer...yet another nail goes into the cultural coffin. Read the story here.

New Order at Roseland 10.18.12

They did not disappoint. Of course I could quibble & nitpick, but I won't. The setlist was great, the sound excellent, and the lights were insane. I'm sorry I don't have a better camera for these events. It was great to see Barney in such happy & good form. The entire evening seemed to be geared towards showing appreciation - to Michael Shamberg who was there & the entire show was dedicated to. To the audience to whom Barney said towards the end of the set, "Thanks for being our fans for all of these years." And finally to Ian Curtis and Joy Division - the two encore songs performed were/are JD classics, and the slide/movie projections behind New Order as they played them showed classic photos of both Ian and the band. The crowd ate it up.

New Order's music has not dated. Thank god we still have them. Let's hope we don't have to wait another seven years before seeing them again.

Via

Setlist - New Order @ Roseland Ballroom, 10/18/2011
Elegia
Crystal
Ceremony
Age of Consent
Love Vigilantes
Here to Stay
Your Silent Face
1963
Close Range
Bizarre Love Triangle
5 8 6
True Faith
The Perfect Kiss
Blue Monday
Temptation
ENCORE:
Atmosphere
Love Will Tear Us Apart

For more photos & a review visit Brooklyn Vegan.

Daily Travels: West 54th Street

Cardboard Joe Walsh lives under the stairs at the Gibson Guitar showroom

On the scene: Jack White Sells Out Fans at Sold-Out Show at Radio City Music Hall, 9.29.12

Reviewed by Liz Maher exclusively for Stupefaction - thanks Liz!:


WTF? That was the reaction of the audience of  Jack White fans as they sat in disbelief when after 50 minutes, White left the stage and refused to come out for an encore.

The audience, who paid a steep price for tickets, either from White's Third Man site or Ticketmaster or even higher from Stubhub or other resale sites, clearly expected more than 50-minutes of White. After an explosive opening, White chided the audience for not applauding loud enough, comparing them to people at an NPR convention. Since the crowd was cheering loudly, this was a little odd.

White then played mostly tunes from Blunderbuss with a White Stripe, Dead Weather and Raconteurs song thrown in.

The show was going along pretty good, except when White would talk in a Bob Dylan voice and even sang the beginning of Top Yourself Dylan-esque. At one point, he mentioned he loved NYC and then sarcastically referred to "the 10% of the audience who were cheering so loud he couldn't hear himself think." Again, strange since mostly everyone was cheering, clapping and into it. After covering, Love Interruption, to the crowd's applause, White asked the crowd, with some annoyance in his voice, if he should do the rest of the show in  all acoustics. That would have been fine as with him playing, it's bound to be great. White went onto play I Guess I Should Go To Sleep and Hypocritical Kiss and Take Me With You When You Go on piano and guitar.  Follow-up by  Ball & Biscuit, after which White left the stage not to be seen again. Wide disbelief through the hall. Cheering and booing (certainly) didn't work. After 25 minutes the ushers came around and asked everyone to clear the arena.

At the concession stand, people were simultaneously returning and purchasing White merchandise.

So why did White cut the performance so short? Surely it couldn't have been the quality of the sound, since all those things get worked out ahead of time and White agreed and accepted compensation to perform a show there. And why then stiff a loyal fan base that had to endure a sound he himself wasn't pleased with but put up with out of love and respect for him? Was it the cell-phone people? He hates them but did not refer to them. Radio City staff did ask a women from the audience with a cell-phone to go with them. Was it the faux-redheaded band photographer who also rubbed the audience the wrong way? Hhhhmmm...

As a White fan, I feel puzzled and short-changed. Encores are part of the whole concert experience and actually create some superficial feeling of intimacy between fan and performer. I could live without encores, though, if the show itself was a respectable length. Robert Smith once reminisced that before he got big with the Banshees and Cure, he was a big Rolling Stones fan and was terribly disappointed after he saved up to pay Stones' high ticket price and traveled very far to see them perform, only for them to play a barely 30 minute show. He vowed never to do same to his fans.

Unless White suddenly became ill or had a family emergency, it was a diva stunt. Or ill-conceived marketing stunt? Or somehow S&M fan punishment, stemming from a repressive upbringing as a Catholic in bleak Detroit.

But, then again, he's a genius so we are supposed to accept these types of things. On the plus side, I hope this make his tickets easier to get and cheaper.

White will be back Sunday to disappoint and piss-off fans once again.

On the scene: Jack White live at Roseland

Contribution from Liz Maher:

Roseland Ballroom - May 21, 2012 - Jack White is touring in support of his acclaimed debut solo album Blunderbuss. Tonight he has the all male band, Los Buzzardos, backing him up; the all female Peacocks will be up the following night. Roadies and guitar techs scurry around in uniform black suits with blue ties and suspenders making sure an army of stringed instruments are tuned in various keys and ready to go. A suspicious red haired photographer in a pale blue cotton dress snaps pictures throughout the show.

After years of sharing the spotlight with Meg White in The White Stripes, Allison Mosshart in The Dead Weather, and trying to blend in with lesser axe men, in the Raconteurs, Jack White is a solo act. Well, not exactly, this solo act comes with 2 bands for a total on-stage support team of around 14. Queasy thoughts of musical theatre come to mind. Having grown up the youngest of 10, White must feel right at home on a crowded stage. White is still keeping people confused and distracted, wondering which song is about x-Meg, xx-Karen Elson or y-Allison. Karen’s ever present backing vocals on tracks about women who abused White makes things even weirder in an MTV personalities trump music way. Blunderbuss is a bit of soap opera – the tracks Hypocritical Kiss and Love Interruption are angst-ridden telenovella episodes --but it’s a soap that mostly rocks in drop E tuning which surpasses the drama. It is clear White can play solo – as long as he is not alone. (Continued after the jump.)

Now Thats What I Call Art - Kraftwerk to perform at MoMA

 
This just in via MoMA and the blogosphere:

The Museum of Modern Art presents its first time-based artist retrospective with Kraftwerk–Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, performed live on eight consecutive evenings from April 10 through 17, by Kraftwerk, the avant-garde electronic music pioneers.  Each evening will consist of a live performance, in the Museum’s Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium, of works from one of the group’s eight albums, created over four decades, followed by a selection of original compositions from their catalogue adapted specifically for this exhibition’s format, to showcase both Kraftwerk’s historical contributions and contemporary influences on sound and image culture.  Kraftwerk–Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator at Large at MoMA and Director of MoMA PS1, with the assistance of Eliza Ryan, Curatorial Assistant, MoMA PS1.

The elaborate staging of the performances will combine sound and 3D images to present more than 40 years of musical and technological innovation, with new improvisations and 3D projections.  The albums will be performed in chronological order:  Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), Computer World (1981), Techno Pop (1986), The Mix (1991), and Tour de France (2003).

Tickets are $25.00 and will go on sale to the public on Wednesday, February 22, at 12:00 p.m., only at MoMAKraftwerkTickets.showclix.com.  Space is limited.  There is a two-ticket limit per person for the series, with each individual order limited to one transaction.  Tickets will be distributed exclusively via will call, with photo ID required.

Performance Schedule as follows:

• April 10, 8:30PM            Autobahn (1974)
• April 11, 8:30PM            Radio-Activity (1975)
• April 12, 8:30PM           Trans Europe Express (1977)
• April 13, 10:00PM         The Man-Machine (1978)
• April 14, 8:30PM           Computer World (1981)
• April 15, 8:30PM           Techno Pop (1986)
• April 16, 8:30PM           The Mix (1991)
• April 17, 10:00PM         Tour de France (2003)

As part of Kraftwerk–Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, a presentation of Kraftwerk’s historical audio and visual material will be on view in the new MoMA PS1 Performance Dome at MoMA PS1, from April 10-May 14, 2012.

The Kills - Tenth Anniversary Show, NYC 2.11.12

Reviewed by Liz Maher for Stupefaction - thanks Liz!:

The Kills are an angst-ridden trans-Atlantic two-piece consisting of the unlocked-at-the-hips Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart. They manage to exist as simultaneously retro and post-modern and are unclassifiably compared with post-punk, indie-blues and the all-encompassing garage rock genres while referencing the Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, the Nuggets anthology, Shirley Bassey and traditional American blues.

Hince stands out for his fifty year old Hagstrom and Hofner gits, minimal guitar rig and retro Boss guitar pedals while playing with both time and space through feedback loops, overdrive, fuzz, delays and rhythmic sound distortions. His sound, filtered through vintage Fender and divided by 13 Amps into Marshall stacks, has both texture and tone in abundance. Only Cream on Disraeli Gears had more. As with Y3, there is no bass so Hince plays top heavy chords through a mixer and sometimes channels ersatz drums though a beat box. Moss – no, that is Hince’s wife – hart is the cool girl everyone wants to be with a way too many cigarettes and tequilas voice and a dynamic stage presence that eschews blatant gender-stereotypes. Her unmistakably feminine presence elevates Mosshart beyond her more-commercial contemporaries. Together for 10 plus years, The Kills sound has evolved from a medley of alternately hypnotic and jolting hooks (No Wow, Alphabet Pony) to riff and tone driven melodies interrogated by detached and mournful lyrics. (Con't. after the jump)

Channel 5 News in NYC covers PiL in 1982

Here's a great news clip from 1982 with some cool interview & soundcheck footage featuring Mr. John Lydon. It was shot at Roseland. Thanks Maritza!

Daily Travels - West 55th St

Terminal 5, West 55th St, NYC

Daily Travels - Broadway

Daily Travels - Hell's Kitchen

Daily Travels - West 54th Street

Looks like East Village Lambo has a midtown rival:

The Raincoats to play MOMA

The Raincoats will be playing a special show at MoMA here in the city next month with Kathleen Hanna DJ'ing, along with a couple of female themed art exhibitions:

An Evening with The Raincoats
Saturday, November 20, 2010
8:30-11:00 P.M.

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
11 W 53rd St.
New York NY 10019

PopRally invites you to a special performance by the legendary post-punk group The Raincoats, presented in conjunction with a pair of MoMA exhibitions featuring influential women artists. Kathleen Hanna will kick the event off with a DJ session.

Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography presents a selection of outstanding photographs by women artists, charting the medium?s 170-year history.

Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen recognizes the prominence of women who have critically addressed kitchen culture and myths. Both exhibitions are associated with MoMA's publication Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art.

The Raincoats, formed by Ana da Silva and Gina Birch in the late 1970s, created a sound, inspired by punk and rock music, that became a significant source of inspiration for future of generations of feminist musicians. Kathleen Hanna was a founding member of Bikini Kill, co-creator of the zine Riot Grrrl, and lead singer of the dance-punk band Le Tigre.

From 8:30 to 10:00 p.m., enjoy an exclusive exhibition viewing and open bar during Kathleen Hanna's DJ set; The Raincoats performance follows at 10:00 p.m.

Tickets: $23 available from Friday 29 October and you need to register
first for an invitation: http://moma.org/poprally/mailinglist

Events of note - Boomboxes and Abstract Expressionism

Press Play at Click Gallery

Abstract Expressionist New York at MOMA

Daily Travels - West 55th Street

Red Norvo loses it

Carnegie Hall, 1974: While performing with Benny Goodman, Red Norvo completely loses it, and pulls a Pete Townshend, during his vibraphone solo in "Gotta Be This Or That" (at about 2:55). I wonder what he got so angry about?



Featuring Benny Goodman On Clarinet And Vocal, Hank Jones On Piano, Red Norvo On Vibraphone, Bucky Pizzareilli On Guitar, Slam Stewart On Bass, Grady Tate On Drums, Zoot Sims and Al Klink On Saxophones, Bobby Hackett, Bernie Previn On Trumpets.

Daily Travels - Street Art

54th & Broadway

Daily Travels - Street Art

406 West 54th Street between 9th & 10th Avenues.

Bill Cunningham says goodbye

Legendary fashion photographer & NY Times columnist, Bill Cunningham, takes a look back at 60 years of memories as he moves out of the Carnegie Hall apartments on West 57th Street. I highly suggest taking a look. Presented is an astounding lifetime of memories - it made me sentimental for a time I wasn't even alive for. Absolutely stunning.

On another note, I wish the Times would make their videos embeddable.