Live Music: Sloan at Maxwell's, Union County Music Fest & Other Free Shows, More

Blondie performs "Mother" on the Today Show earlier this week.

For anyone who thought that free outdoor concerts, like wearing white shoes, disappear after Labor Day, here's some good news: there are a number of free outdoor shows and festivals this weekend.

But first, here's a show that's not free but that you might want to catch: Canada's Sloan is playing Maxwell's in Hoboken tonight, and as of now tickets are still available. The band, which is celebrating its 20 year, released its lastest album, "The Double Cross," earlier this year. You Am I and Taylor Locke & The Roughs are also on the bill, and tickets are only $20.

Now to the free stuff. The big event this weekend is the Union County Music Fest, which starts in earnest tonight and runs through Sunday in Oak Ridge Park in Clark, NJ. (See directions page here.) I had a great time at last year's Union County festival and highly recommend this event; it's a nice blend of big-name acts and up-and-comers, classic rockers and new bands, with music on three stages. And it's totally free.

New Jersey native Nicole Atkins will once again play the Union County Music Fest. Photo: Flickr user Kirk Stauffer.

You can check the Union County Music Fest lineup page to see the acts playing each day (I've shown the major acts below, with set times). The music starts earlier each day (4 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday, for example); see the lineup for each day for the full listing. (Unfortunately, they are on a series of PDF files.)

Friday, Sept 16th
7 - 8:15 p.m.: LIVE's Ed Kowalczyk
8:30 - 10 p.m.: Collective Soul

Saturday, Sept 17th
12 - 1 p.m.: The School of Rock Allstars - the music of The Alarm (with the band's Mike Peters)
1 - 1:30 p.m.: Cy Curnin (of The Fixx)
2 - 3 p.m.: Nicole Atkins and The Black Sea
3:30 - 4:45 p.m.: Toad the Wet Sprocket
5:15 - 6:30 p.m.: Paul Rodgers (of Free, Bad Company, and now Queen)
7 - 8:15 p.m.: Neon Trees
8:45 - 10 p.m.: Blondie

Sunday, Sept 18th
1:30 - 3 p.m.: School of Rock Tribute to Bruce Springsteen
3:45 - 5:15 p.m.: The Smithereens
6 - 7:30 p.m.: Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes

Also this weekend are two free folk festivals, one in Manhattan and one in nearby Weehawken, NJ.

The Washington Square Park Folk Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday in the legendary Greenwich Village park, starting at 2 p.m. each day. The lineups:

Saturday: The Calamity Janes, Ferel Foster, East River String Band, and Whiskey Spitters

Sunday: Bob Malenky, Brotherhood of the Jug Band Blues, The Dust Busters with John Cohen, Willy Gantrim & the Phantoms, Peter Stampfel and the Ether Frolic Mob

The Hudson River West Folk Festival takes place Sunday at Lincoln Harbor Park in Weehawken, with great views of the Manhattan skyline. (Directions to Lincoln Harbor Park here.) Susan Werner and Vance Gilbert are the big draws here, and former Weehawken resident Jane Kelly Williams kicks things off. The lineup:

2 p.m.: Jane Kelly Williams
3 p.m.: Vance Gilbert
4 p.m.: Julian Peterson, solo and with Hudson Crossing
5 p.m.: Eugene Ruffolo
6 p.m.: Susan Werner

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Blondie, Bush, Laura Marling, Tori Amos, & More

 
Above: Video for "Mother" from Blondie's new album "Panic of Girls," which is available for free preview this week. 

Fall is starting off with a bang, with new albums by some great veteran artists available for streaming this week. But are the albums themselves great? Listen to them below and judge for yourself. Among the releases up for preview this week: The ageless Deborah Harry and Blondie are back with "Panic of Girls;" Nick Lowe has come out with "The Old Magic;" Tori Amos returns with "Night of Hunters;" and British rockers Bush have released their first studio album in more than 10 years.

Also, Brooklyn indie band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is out with its first album in four years, and there are new releases from acclaimed female singer-songwriters Laura Marling and Lisa Hannigan. These and the titles below are just a sampling of what's available this week; check the websites for full listings.

Previews are usually available for a week (beginning on Monday), except for those from KCRW, which usually stream for at least a couple of weeks.

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"The Old Magic" by Nick Lowe
"Still Right Here" by Melissa Ferrick
"Panic of Girls" by Blondie
"Believers" by A.A. Bondy
"American Goldwing" by Blitzen Trapper

NPR First Listen:
"Night of Hunters" by Tori Amos
"Hysterical" by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
"Seasons On Earth" by Meg Baird
(In addition, NPR Music has a preview of a Miles Davis bootleg album.)

KCRW Album Preview: 
"Passenger" by Lisa Hannigan (streaming through Oct. 11)
"A Creature I Don't Know" by Laura Marling (streaming through Oct. 7)

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"The Sea of Memories" by Bush
"Death by Stereo" by Umphrey's McGee

40th Anniversary of Woodstock: Heat, but No Mud in NY

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the start of the legendary Woodstock festival in Bethel, New York... three days of music, peace, and mud. Fortunately, after a summer full of unseasonably wet weather, the NYC area is free of rain and mud for this anniversary weekend; it'll be hot and sunny.

There of course will be a range of events in upstate New York to commemorate the Woodstock anniversary, including a couple of Richie Havens performances. There of course will be special observances at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a new facility that offers concerts and other events throughout the year, as well as a museum. Today is a (sold-out) Heroes of Woodstock concert featuring the Levon Helm Band, Jefferson Starship, Ten Years After, Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Mountain, and others.

A reading from the book "Woodstock Revisited" will be held August 17th, and Loggins & Messina and Poco will play a show on the 21st. There are also events such a a wine festival, county picnic, and even an alpaca day (bring your own alpaca?)

The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts seems to be a great development, bringing music and arts to the area of the Woodstock festival throughout the year, instead of just one weekend.

There was a big crowd at the Blondie/Pat Benatar/Donnas free concert in Coney Island Thursday night, but the only mud in sight was in a small puddle off one of the walkways. It was a great show, however, especially from the two co-headliners, who still sounded in good form after more than a quarter century while tearing through sets of their best-known tunes. (The Donnas sounded fine, but had a very short opening set.)

Pat Benatar couldn't hit the high notes the way she used to, but other than that her voice had much the same sound as it did back in the 1980s.

Blondie, Pat Benatar, and The Donnas to Play FREE Coney Island Show Thursday

A month after the Siren Festival, Coney Island is set to host another big concert event: the women-who-rock tripleheader of Blondie, Pat Benatar, and The Donnas. The three acts, who have been touring around the U.S. this summer, will be performing a free show in the Summer Seaside Concert Series at Asser Levy/Seaside Park in Coney Island/Brighton Beach, across the street from the New York Aquarium.

You can find directions to Asser Levy Park here, including subway and driving directions and a link to a map of the area. (Via subway: take the D to Stillwell Avenue/Coney Island Station; or take the Q or F to West 8th Street/NY Aquarium Station.)

See here for more Donnas tour dates, including some headlining shows. You can find Pat Benatar tour dates here. And here's the link for all the Blondie tour dates.

The free Blondie/Benatar/Donnas show in Brooklyn has been on my radar for some time, but I hadn't been aware of this concert series until just now. Which is too bad, because they've had some great classic acts: Credence Clearwater Revival, Gladys Knight and the O'Jays, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Daryl Hall and John Oates, and the last show of the season, Donna Summer on August 27th.

The Donnas Celebrating 16th Anniversary with Tour and Greatest Hits

Happy anniversary to The Donnas, who this year are celebrating their Sweet 16 as a band. The ladies aren't resting on their laurels, of course, and are gearing up for a summer tour with two pioneers of women in rock, Pat Benatar and Blondie.

The new Donnas collection, called The Donnas Greatest Hits, Vol 16, will drop July 7th and is said to include unheard B-sides from their last album, Bitchin'.

According to an e-mail from the band yesterday, the album will also include:
"... Live versions of hits "Take It Off" and "Fall Behind Me", and two previously unreleased tracks from the band’s earliest days together. The band also re-recorded five tracks, remixed one and included two alternative versions of songs from their Lookout! Records catalog (1998-2001), one of which is sung by original producer/co-writer Darin Raffaelli."

For full track listing and Donnas tour dates see this article on Alt-Sounds.

In addition, The Donnas have some songs from their early bands that can be streamed on their MySpace page. You can find more songs from those bands, Ragady Anne and The Electrocutes (their later name), at MySpace pages for those bands, where you can also buy some of the tracks.

The Donnas summer 2009 tour starts on July 16th in San Diego and ends on August 23rd in Houston. The Donnas will be headline some of the shows. You can find more information about The Donnas on their Web site (in first paragraph) or on their Twitter feed.

R.I.P. Linda Stein: Former Punk Rock Manager Murdered in NYC

Linda Stein, a key figure in punk rock history as a manager of acts like the Ramones, was murdered, the NYC medical examiner has said.

Stein's body was found in her home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan Tuesday by her daughter. Stein was formerly married to Seymour Stein, at one time the president of Sire Records, which was the original record label for bands including the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Madonna.

Stein was co-manager of the Ramones, and she's credited with bringing the Ramones to England for a July 4, 1976 show, which is often called the start of the punk rock scene in Britain.

In recent years she was a real estate agent, where she was called "Broker to the Stars" because of her many clients in the entertainment business. Her clients included Madonna and Sting.

Her profile at Prudential Elliman, the real estate company she worked for, is rather modest in referring to her previous careers, saying simply, "She taught elementary school for six years and managed rock and roll bands in the 1970's and 1980's."