Scanning some tours coming nearby about a week ago I came across a little support act for Laura Marling and Johnny Flynn. Hailing from across the pond, they go by the name of Mumford & Sons. Mark my words, they won’t be so little for long.
Lead by the multi-talented Marcus Mumford, this group of lads [...]

Bill Maher preached heartily to the crowd last night at Cornell University’s Barton Hall Gym.  He was engaging and funny if a bit noticeably unhappy to be back in Ithaca.  The audience was almost exclusively fans and left leaning loyalists who echoed this sentiments in nearly every issue that was discussed.
He started the show by [...]

The new release from Cold War kids is finally out.  No sophomore slump here.  It picks up where Hang Me Out to Dry and the rest of Robbers and Cowards left off.  Lyrically and sonically, it travels in new directions as well.  This band knows no genre and are atop my list of wants for [...]

It was a moving evening last night when Citizen Cope finally took the stage at the State. The nearly 1000 in attendance soaked up his teaching and grooved to his beats for nearly 2 hours. Not a soul could sit in their seats as he broke out all the hits from his first [...]

That’s right… after a sold out appearance on 5/8/2007, the 30th anniversary of the legendary Grateful Dead Barton Hall concert, and Grateful Dead day in Ithaca, the Dark Star Orchestra returns to Ithaca on November 18th in a co-promotion between the State Theatre and DSP!  The band has been on tour constantly since this grand [...]

Portishead has recently released Third, their first album in a decade. And jumping back into Portishead’s world ten years on, three things are immediately clear. The first is, I’ve missed them more than I realized. Secondly, the band’s music has been incredibly influential. Lastly, they still sound amazing. And this sound—this combination of voice, samples, [...]

I took a break from South Hill last week to charge down to NYC on Wednesday afternoon for my first experience with Iceland’s most epic post rockers, Sigur Ros. It was the first of two sold out nights that began their US tour at the United Theater in (way) uptown Manhattan. Per what I had [...]

Monday night I saw the fabulous Shara Worden (otherwise known as My Brightest Diamond) play at London’s Soho Theatre. It was a very special night indeed, as not only was it the first night of the band’s world tour, but also, Shara was accompanied by a string trio. The theatre itself was a tiny blackbox [...]

A good friend of mine sent this along under the heading, “You’re new favorite song.” Now I love ska as much as the next guy, especially the first and second wave variety, but this Partridge/Brady version left me in need of a shower. Enjoy at your own risk…

And if that wasn’t enough…
I’ll see [...]

Yesterday on my way to the office, I stopped at the Ithaca Bakery for a bagel. While waiting in line, the Simple Minds song “Alive and Kicking” was playing. Wow, I hadn’t heard anything from Simple Minds in years. And honestly, I can’t say that I’ve missed them.
But, I was taken back to 8th grade [...]

Mirah Tickets for the October 19th show at Castaways go on sale this Friday at 10AM here at the site.  Come back and click the link to purchase your advance tickets through paypal.  The show also features No Kids (members of P:ano) and local goddess Jennie Stearns in a rare solo set.  The show starts [...]

No one was happier to welcome Rachel Maddow back to the State Theatre than this writer.  After spending the entire day of her show last fall in the same office (she shared my space at the State for the day) I was amazed to see just how much goes into a 3 (now 2) hour [...]

“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash . . .” It has been 40 years since Johnny Cash walked onto the stage in the Folsom Prison cafeteria and said these words, kicking off his historic and groundbreaking concert. There is a great deal of myth surrounding Johnny Cash, much of it promoted by The Man In Black himself. [...]

What a great way to kick off an incredible season of music at the State Theatre.  There could be no better name than Steve Earle to light up the stage on September 11th and get the season of music started correctly.  The 1000 in attendance would share my belief that Steve is not just a [...]

testing..testing..for the time being check out www.youdontsay.tumblr.com
Last night I painted the town red and danced with Trannys. Jealous? more to come soon..
in the meantime, can we all talk about how fantastic Jenny Lewis’s new album is. Go do yourself a favor and listen to “Godspeed”. The whole album is up for streaming on her myspace: [...]

”Whether it’s jazz or punk or anything else, you have to fight against the purists who want to narrow the definition. That’s what kills music because it stifles it to death.”
”The way you get a better world is, you don’t put up with substandard anything.”
It was just before Christmas in 2002 that I heard the [...]

 
You can still purchase seats to see Steve Earle and Allison Moorer at the State Theatre tonight!  We’re getting very excited about seeing our old friend Steve and his wife Allison rip it up.  And today being September 11th, Steve will not be short on commentary.
 
Remember to come back tomorrow and talk about the show [...]

Like many others who look to the Internet to find new music, I found Selkirk, Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit on YouTube. It was a grainy-filmed live version of their song, “My Backward Walk” (more on that song later) with a short intro consisting of The National’s track, “Fake Empire.” I was totally blown away. I had [...]

It had been four days since I checked my MySpace page – my personal one, not the one connected with any festival or bands who I work for – and I had 14 new “friend” invites.  One was a girl I knew in high school, 13 were from bands I’d never heard of.  Some of [...]