CBGB to Return with July Music Festival; Club Being Planned

Live music under the CBGB name will return to New York in the form of a four-day festival in July featuring a free concert in Central Park. And the organizers are looking to a open a new CBGBs club in the city at some point.

The legendary CBGBs name will grace a music festival... and maybe a club.

The inaugural CBGB Music Festival will take place July 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th at 20 clubs around Manhattan and Brooklyn. Bands include veterans such as Willie Nile, Rocket from the Tombs, David Johansen (of the New York Dolls), the reformed D Generation (featuring Jesse Malin), and Guided by Voices as well as newer groups like Cloud Nothings, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The War on Drugs, and Vision of Discord.

The Cro-Mags and Sick of it All are also in the lineup, as well as The Baseball Project, the supergroup consisting of Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck and Mike Mills (from R.E.M.), and Linda Pitmon.

The CBGB Festival will also feature films and conferences.

The schedule hasn't been announced yet, but venues include Arlene's Grocery, Bell House, Joe's Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, and Highline Ballroom. There will be about 300 bands taking part, according to the New York Times (their article also describes the investors in the new CBGB effort and their future plans).

The group that owns the CBGB name is sponsoring the festival, and is hoping to re-open a New York City club with the legendary name. The group is said to be looking for locations below 14th Street, and is seeking to own the building the club will be in. This would avoid the problem faced by the original CBGB and many other New York clubs: having to close down when their landlord jacked up the rent to unsustainable levels.  

The free Central Park concert of the CBGB Festival will feature Guided by Voices, the Pains of Being Pure of Heart, Cloud Nothings, and other artists. The concert is set to run from 3 to 7 p.m.

Music Notes: Watch Jack White's Webster Hall Webcast and The Baseball Project's Met Show

If you couldn't be at Jack White's show at Webster Hall last night, or be near a computer to watch the webcast, you can watch the entire webcast here. The show begins with a few brief pre-recorded video segments, including one in which White greets director Gary Oldman by running up to him and tackling him. (The two wrestle on the floor briefly, before chatting as if nothing had happened.)

If you'd like to see the proceedings in a setting that (somewhat) simulates being at the show, Brooklyn Bowl is showing the concert at what it's calling a "brunchcast" tomorrow. You can watch the Jack White Webster Hall show for free while you're having brunch. Doors open at 12 Noon, and the concert will be shown at 1 p.m. If you're into the communal experience or want to hang out with other Jack White fans, this might be for you.

There's another recent concert that you can view from your computer, the show that The Baseball Project performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art a few weeks back. R.E.M. posted the full concert on its website earlier this week, and you can view it at the link (TBP features two members of R.E.M., Peter Buck and Mike Mills).

You can also view the Baseball Project set below, but you're better off viewing it on YouTube in a larger format. If you're a baseball fan, you can also view the panel discussion that preceded the concert, which features Jackie Robinson's daughter Sharon and others.

Live Music Notes: Watch Coachella Online, Springsteen Adds Tour Dates, More Baseball Project

Here's a roundup of recent concert and live music news, including great sets you can watch from your home and upcoming gigs you can see in the New York area:

* Sunday is the final today of Coachella's first weekend; you can watch three different channels live online at the Coachella YouTube channel. Over the last couple of nights you've been able to watch Radiohead, The Black Keys, Explosions in the Sky, and many more.



* As expected, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have added Fall stadium dates to their Wrecking Ball tour. They'll play three dates at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, Sept. 19, 21, and 22. Tickets for all dates go on sale at Ticketmaster.com on Friday, April 20th. (See all added Wrecking Ball tour dates here.)



* There are plenty of live shows in New York City tonight, but I'll be checking out part of the lineup at Rockwood Music Hall. At 6 p.m. on Stage 1 I'll be seeing up-and-coming Canadian singer-songwriter Darrelle London, who writes catchy tunes and has been getting some much-deserved attention for her song "Fine" (video above). At 7 the bluegrass band NY City Slickers plays over at Rockwood's Stage 2. And if I still have any energy later on, I'll check out Brooklyn-based singer Misty Boyce at 10 p.m. I think all these sets are free, too.

* Perhaps keeping the old Ernie Banks "Let's play two!" motto in mind, The Baseball Project played a second NYC-area gig on Thursday night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "An Evening of Baseball History and Music," just two nights after their concert at Maxwell's. (See a few photos below.) They played after a panel discussion on baseball featuring Sharon Robinson, the daughter of Jackie Robinson, and they played another great set. It's too bad they don't play more often, but it's been a treat to see them twice in one week.

The Baseball Project, all dressed up to play at the Met.

The Baseball Project Hits It Out of the Park at Maxwell's

The sports-themed supergroup The Baseball Project played one of its occasional concerts Tuesday at Maxwell's, and they threw strikes all night. (Sorry for the baseball puns, but any mention of sports just seems to demand cliches.)

If you're not familiar with this group, it's a side project made up of veteran musicians who love baseball and write and perform songs about the game, and who have recorded two albums to date. The leaders are Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate, Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3) and Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, Minus 5), and the band currently includes R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Mike Mills and drummer Linda Pitmon (who plays in Wynn's Miracle 3).

Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, and Scott McCaughey at Maxwell's. (More photos at end of article.)

Baseball geeks will get a kick out of the lyrics, especially references to the game's bygone days and legends (such as Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, Ted Williams, Bill Buckner, and Curt Flood). But even non-fans will enjoy the music, which is straight-ahead rock and roll played by guys (and a gal) who have tons of experience and have a lot of fun playing these songs.

The Baseball Project's main set ran a generous one hour, 12 minutes, and then the band stayed on stage for a five-song encore. One of the highlights of the show was when Mike Mills took the mic to sing "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville"—it was great to see two R.E.M. members playing that song in Maxwell's, where I had seen the much-younger version of the band play in (I think) 1981.

The Baseball Project played songs from both of their albums, "Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails"and "Volume 2: High & Inside," and at one point Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo joined the band onstage to play a song.

Scott McCaughey.

The Baseball Project has another NYC area gig scheduled for tomorrow, April 13th; they'll be playing a set at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (yes, you heard that right) as part of "An Evening of Baseball History & Music." (Information and tickets here; tickets still available as of mid-day Thursday.) One fan I saw at the Maxwell's gig said that The Baseball Project would play a one-hour set on Friday, but the Met's description doesn't mention any kind of set length.

This band is a lot of fun to see live and it doesn't perform often, so if it sounds like something you'd be interested in, see them at the Met.

(Hear a live set The Baseball Project performed at WFMU the day of their Maxwell's show.)

Not R.E.M., but close: the band played "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville."

Opening for The Baseball Project at Maxwell's was the Birmingham, Alabama rock band Lee Bains III and The Glory Fires. I hadn't heard of them before, but they delivered a hot set that served as an ideal opener for TBP Their bio describes their music as "As much Wilson Pickett as Fugazi, as much the Stooges as the Allman Brothers," which is pretty apt. Yes, they play blues-influenced southern rock, but with a nice edge to it.

An interesting side note about the Maxwell's show: the appearance of the legends in The Baseball Project brought out a number of musical figures from Hoboken's past (and some present), including James Mastro of The Bongos; Kaplan and his fellow Yo La Tengo member, Georgia Hubley; and former Maxwell's owner Steve Fallon.

Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan joins in with some fuzzed-out guitar.

Mike Mills takes the mic.

Linda Pitmon.

Great Live Music in Hoboken: Lemonheads Tonight; Ian Hunter & the Baseball Project Sunday; Thermals & Alejandro Ecovedo Next Week; More

Ian Hunter and band playing "Cleveland Rocks" in London, 2004.

There's been a lot of good live music in Hoboken recently, and there's more to come. Here's a look at what's coming up, including some shows in the next few months (which I'm listing because they're in the small confines of Maxwell's, and may sell out well in advance of the show date). Note: there are many other shows at Maxwell's besides the ones I've listed here, which are shows that may be particularly popular because they are rare small-club gigs for some of the artists.

Tonight, April 28 - The Lemonheads/The Canon Logic - Maxwell's, 8:30 p.m., $20

Sun., May 1 - Hoboken Arts & Music Festival: Ian Hunter & the Rant Band (former leader of Mott the Hoople) - 4:30 p.m.; The Baseball Project (featuring Peter Buck & Scott McCaughey of R.E.M., Steve Wynn of The Dream Syndicate, and Linda Pitmon of The Pretty Babies) - 3 p.m.; The Pretty Babies (Blondie cover band) - 2 p.m.; Bern & the Brights - 1 p.m.

Sun., May 1 - The Thermals/special guests - Maxwell's, 9 p.m., $15

Fri., May 6 - Alejandro Escovedo and The Sensitive Boys/Jesse Malin and The St. Marks Social - Maxwell's, 9 p.m., $22 adv./$24 day of show

Fri., June 3 - She Wants Revenge - Maxwell's, 7:30 p.m., $22

Fri., June 10 - NRBQ - Maxwell's, 7:30 p.m., $15 adv./$20

Fri., June 17 - James McMurtry - Maxwell's, 7:30 p.m., $15

Fri., July 1 and Sat., July 2 - The Feelies - Maxwell's, $24.99

Sun., July 24 and Mon., July 25 - Fountains Of Wayne - Maxwell's, $24.99