Concert Notes: Tickets for Bob Dylan, Laura Marling, Pere Ubu, Pet Shop Boys, & More On Sale Soon

Bob Dylan brings his Americanarama tour to Hoboken and Jones Beach; see ticket details below.

It's another big boatload of great concerts going on sale Friday (and some on Saturday). Among the most anticipated shows is the Americanarama tour featuring Bob Dylan, Wilco, and My Morning Jacket, which will come to Jones Beach and to Pier A Park in Hoboken, which hosted its first-ever major show last summer when Mumford & Sons played there.

And, of course, there are plenty of gigs at indoor venues, for us vampires who enjoy see shows in dark, smelly clubs, even when the weather is bright and sunny outside. Enjoy, all...

Speaking of outdoor gigs, next week I'll start posting about the lineups for this summer's free outdoor shows, including SummerStage, Celebrate Brooklyn, and the televised Today Show and Good Morning America concert series.

On sale Friday, May 3rd: 
* Laura Marling at Roulette, Tues., May 28th. On sale at 12 Noon.
* The Olms (Pete Yorn and J.D. King) at Gramercy Theatre, Mon., June 10th. On sale at 10 a.m.
* Counting Crows and The Wallflowers at Hammerstein Ballroom, Thurs., June 27th. On sale at 10 a.m.
* The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream at PNC Bank Arts Center, Fri., July 5th, and at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, Sat., July 6th. On sale at 10 a.m.
* The Polyphonic Spree at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Tues., July 9th, and at Bowery Ballroom, Wed., July 19th. On sale at 12 Noon.
* Pere Ubu at Bowery Ballroom, Thurs., Sept. 12th. On sale at 12 Noon.
* Pet Shop Boys at the Beacon Theatre, Mon., Sept. 16th and Tues., Sept. 17th. Both on sale at 11 a.m.

On sale Saturday, May 4th:
* Americanarama Tour at Pier A Park, Hoboken: Bob Dyan, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, and Ryan Bingham, Fri., July 26th. Also at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater (with Beck, but without MMJ), Sat., July 27th. On sale at 10 a.m.

Concert Notes: Coachella Cruises; The Who, Dylan Go on Tour

There are a couple of tours to talk about in this edition of Concert Notes, as well as a much more unusual kind of performance: the first-ever Coachella Cruises. Odd? Yeah, but at least all the endless jokes about the Coachella Cruise will distract us here in the U.S. from all the presidential election talk.

Here's what's news on the concert scene:

It may sound like a gag, but the S.S. Coachella is for real.

* Coachella Cruise to set sail: Building on the popularity of its first two-weekend festival this year, the folks behind the Coachella festival are sponsoring two rock-fueled floating parties. The "S.S. Coachella" will sail to the Bahamas this Dec. 16th to 19th and to the Bahamas Dec. 19th to 23rd.  Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific. Pricing starts at $500. See the Coachella Cruise FAQ for more details.

The lineup for both cruises features Pulp, Hot Chip, Yeasayer, Girl Talk, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem (doing a DJ set) Sleigh Bells, Simian Mobile Disco, DJ Harvery, El-P, Black Lips, Grimes, and Cloud Nothings, among others.


Above: Townshend and Daltrey held a lengthy interview to announce the "Quadrophenia" tour.

* The Who to tour playing "Quadrophenia": Love live rock! The Who are getting back on the road after four years off to play "Quadrophenia" live in its entirety. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey will play The Who's 1973 rock opera in more than 30 North American cities starting in November. Each show will conclude with some of the band's classic tunes. 

The NYC area will host five shows:  Brooklyn's Barclays Center (Nov. 14th), Madison Square Garden (Dec. 5th), Prudential Center (Dec. 6th), and Nassau Coliseum (Feb. 21st, 2013). There will be a presale July 20th; the public on-sale date is July 27th. (Link to The Who tickets.)

Related: There will be one-night-only screenings of a film on the making of the "Quadrophenia" album on July 24th. "The Who: Quadrophenia: Can You See the Real Me?" will be shown at theaters around the country, including AMC's Empire and Kips Bay in Manhattan and Edgewater and Secaucus in NJ. (See complete list of theaters here.)

* Bob Dylan announces more tour dates: Fresh off announcing his forthcoming album, "Tempest" (due Sept. 11th), Dylan has booked dates for some additional gigs in the Fall, with Mark Knofler. The only one in the NYC area is at the Barclays Center on Nov 21st; other dates not too far from the metro region are Bethel Center for the Arts (near the Woodstock site) on Sept. 2nd and the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut on Sept. 8th. (See all Bob Dylan tour dates here.)

On Coverville, the Cover-Song Podcast: The Who, Guns 'N Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, & More

Recent episodes on the Coverville podcast include covers of songs by everyone from The Who and Bob Dylan to Guns N' Roses and Grace Jones.

It's been a long time since I posted an update on recent episodes from Coverville, the free cover-song podcast. So here's a look at some of the episodes that have come out lately (OK, going back to April). As usual with Coverville, most episodes spotlight a specific artist, but there are also podcasts on a certain genre (such as the country music episode).

• The Who #2 (including "Substitute" by Graham Parker, "I Can't Explain" by Scorpions, and "The Seeker" by Rush)
  
• Guns 'N Roses (featuring "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Taken by Trees, "Don't Cry" by Mogwai, and "Welcome to the Jungle" by Wave in Head)
  
• Red Hot Chili Peppers (including "Give It Away" by Bjørn Berge, "Under the Bridge" by Straight No Chaser, and "Californication" by Vitamin String Quartet)
  
• Country song covers #2 - country-style covers of pop hits (including " Life In a Northern Town (Live)" by Sugarland, Little Big Town, and Jake Owen; "You Shook Me All Night Long" by Big and Rich, and "Tequila Sunrise" by Alan Jackson)
  
• The Pretenders #2 (featuring "Don't Get Me Wrong" by Lily Allen, "Brass in Pocket" by Kelis, and "Talk of the Town" by the Pernice Brothers)
  
• Bob Dylan #4  (including "Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright" by Curtis Stigers, "Blowin’ In The Wind" by Jools Holland and Ruby Turner, and "Girl from The North Country" by Eels)

Also recently featured on Coverville: Steve Winwood, Grace Jones, Muse, the podcast's second Madonna cover song episode, and more, including covers of songs from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Goodfellas."

NYC's Folk City Celebrates 50 Years with Concert Monday, June 7th

The legendary Gerdes Folk City was the epicenter of the folk music movement in the 1960s and beyond--and it was set to get a big 50th anniversary party on June 7th. Many big names either got their start at Folk City or played at the club owned by Mike Porco, including Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Jose Feliciano, Emmylou Harris, Jack Hardy, Simon and Garfunkel, Judy Collins, and Peter, Paul and Mary.

Porco's grandson Bob planned a "Folk City at 50" anniversary concert for Monday night, and Hardy, Eric Weissberg, and many others were scheduled to appear, including Greenwich Village folk scene veterans David Massengill, Rod MacDonald, Sylvia Tyson (of Ian and Sylvia), and Frank Christian, to name just a few. The emcees for the concert were to be Hardy and Dominic Chianese ("Junior" from The Sopranos), who was an emcee at the original Folk City. (See the list of "Folk City at 50" scheduled performers at Bob Porco's blog about the concert, FolkCityatFifty.blogspot.com.)

The concert was to be held at 130 West 3rd Street in the Village, where Folk City resided for its last decade and a half. (The location is now home to The Fat Black Pussycat and the Village Underground.) Unfortunately I was unable to make it to the show, but look forward to seeing some reviews of it. Porco's website calls it "the once in a lifetime gathering of Folk Music's finest," and it's definitely a legendary line-up--not to mention maybe the last time some of these greats will play together at one event.

Though I'm disappointed at missing the live show, a recording of the "Folk City at 50" concert will be made available to those who can chip in at least $10 to the project's Kickstarter fundraising page for future events (the June 7th concert is "just the beginning of a series of events and happenings being put together to celebrate the 50th Anniversary").

To learn more about the club, see this article by Frank Beacham on the history of Folk City, as well as this story from the Burlington Free Press about Vermont artists recalling Folk City.

Music News: Dylan Cancels Asian Tour; Albums from Elliott Smith, Peter Wolf, & Sharon Jones; Rihanna & Neil Young Tour Dates

Left: Kill Rock Stars is releasing two albums by the late Elliott Smith this week.

There's lots of music news this week, from tour dates to new albums; from hot new artists to veteran performers:

* Bob Dylan has canceled his tour of Southeast Asia after Chinese officials declined to let him perform in Shanghai and Beijing. Dylan, who has never performed in China, is thought to have been kept out of those cities for fear the sometimes-rebellious performer might make some controversial comments, a la Bjork's shoutout to Tibet at her concert in Shanghai a couple of years ago.

* Northwest indie label Kill Rock Stars will re-release Elliott Smith's first and final full-length albums, "Roman Candle" (1994) and "From a Basement on the Hill," according to the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog. The first had never been mastered; the latter is a release Smith was working on at the time of his suicide in 2003. Both are out tomorrow, April 6th.

* I hadn't thought about Peter Wolf, longtime singer for the J. Geils Band, for years, but he's coming out with a new album. Both the Wall Street Journal and NPR talked to the blues-rock group's frontman about his latest effort, "Midnight Souvenirs."

* The Journal also has a nice article on the new album by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the soul group that uses tape machines and analog equipment in a Brooklyn studio to give its albums a retro-soul sound. "I Learned the Hard Way" drops on April 6th.

(Update: Amazon.com is offering a free MP3 download of the title song from "I Learned the Hard Way." Site doesn't say how long it'll be available.)

* Rihanna is spending her summer on tour, and taking along Ke$ha with her. On-sale dates for the Rihanna/Ke$ha tickets are posted; New York shows are August 12th at Madison Square Garden and August 15th at Jones Beach.

* Neil Young has announced some new May tour dates, with concerts slated for Buffalo, Connecticut, Kentucky, Atlanta, South Carolina, and Nashville.

Dylan, Basia Bulat, and a Young Mexican Singer on NPR

There have been a number of good music stories and previews on NPR in the last few days. And while they may not be available as podcasts, you can stream them live.

There's a story and sneak preview of Bob Dylan's "Tell Tale Signs," his new two-disc set. Actually it's not so much "new" as a collection of bootleg recordings from the last 20 years. The album comes out on Oct. 7th, and it appears you can stream both discs from the NPR link.

Canadian singer-songwriter Basia Bulat was the subject of an NPR story on Oct. 5th, called "Making the Autoharp Cool." You can hear that story, along with a live session from Bulat and a story on her as one of the artists to watch at the 2008 South by Southwest Festival, at a page that features these and other Basic Bulat stories.

The young Mexican singer Ximena Sarinana was interviewed on Oct. 4th, and though her debut album "Mediocre" is entirely in Spanish, it's gotten rave reviews from critics in the U.S. as well as Mexico, including a four-star review in Rolling Stone. The page also includes a live session from KCRW.