Yo La Tengo "Eight Nights Of Hanukkah" 2010 - Tickets on Sale Today at Noon

Yes, it's only September, but if you want to get tickets for one of Yo La Tengo's legendary Hanukkah shows at Maxwell's, you'll want to plan your dates now. Tickets for the band's annual eight-night stand go on sale at Noon today, September 15th.

You can buy Yo La Tengo "Eight Nights Of Hanukkah" tickets by going to the Maxwell's website and looking for the listing for the YLT shows at the lower right-hand corner of the page, which has links for buying tickets to each show. The shows always sell out quickly, so check your calendars and get your tickets while you can. (Besides the ticket links above, you can also buy tickets at the Tunes music store in Hoboken and at Other Music in NYC.

This year's Yo La Tengo "Eight Nights Of Hanukkah" series runs from December 1st through 8th, and tickets are $30 each night. I'm guessing that, as in previous years, there will be guest stars joining YLT each night. And the proceeds from each show benefit a local charity (a different one for each night). 

Jerry Lee Lewis Joins the Actor Playing Him On Stage of "Million Dollar Quartet" (VIDEO)

Here's a cool example of life imitating art imitating life. The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis, made an appearance on stage last night after the performance of the Broadway show “Million Dollar Quartet,” about a musical session involving Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley.

As reported in today's online edition of The New York Times, The real Lewis sat at the piano and sang "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" (see video below) as Levi Kreis, the Tony Award-winning actor who plays Lewis in the musical, sat nearby and watched.

Jerry Lee Lewis is the only surviving member of the "quartet."

FREE NJ Music Fest Has Spoon, OK Go, Train, Soul Asylum, & More

How did I miss this before? The Union County Music Fest in Northern New Jersey, which has a great lineup of free music, is going on this week, and has been taking place for several years. The event, which also includes amusement park rides, circus sideshows, plenty of food, and a 5K race, actually started on Wednesday, but the main musical event is this weekend, and features quite a roster of talent old and new.

Here's who'll be appearing this weekend:

Saturday, Sept. 11:
8:30 p.m. - Train
7:00 - OK Go
5:30 - The Bravery
4:00 - Jesse Malin & the St. Marks Social
2:30 - Soul Asylum
1:00 - Mike Peters & Friends
12:00 - Willie Nile
11:00 a.m. - 61 North

Sunday, Sept. 12:
7:30 p.m. - Spoon
6:00 - Robert Randolph & the Family Band
4:30 - The Zombies
3:00 - Suzanne Vega
1:00 - Nils Lofgren acoustic duo
12:00 - Nicole Atkins & the Sea

You can learn more about the Union County Music Fest at its website or their Facebook page. Oak Ridge Park in the town of Clark. You can get there by mass transit by taking a NJ Transit train to the Rahway station and taking a shuttle bus to the Music Fest.

The weather sounds great for Saturday and maybe a bit rainy Sunday, but I'll try to make it both days. Looking forward to chomping down some funnel cakes and those mozzarella-and-corn cake things.

Americana Awards Tonight; Get FREE Americana Sampler from Amazon.com

The Americana Music Association Awards take place tonight in Nashville, but unfortunately you won't find them on TV. (Too bad, since the quality of musicianship is undoubtedly higher than that found on most other music awards shows.)

There's good news, however: NPR Music is offering audio streaming of the Americana Music Awards (note: it's an early show, starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time).

And Amazon.com is offering a FREE Americana Music Awards Sampler with 14 tunes from folks including John Hiat, Buddy & Julie Miller, the Avett Brothers, James McMurtry, and Canadian Corb Lund (the "Hurtin' Albertan"). (This free sampler download offer may be good only in the U.S.)

The Americana Music Awards Sampler track listing:

1. The Open Road, John Hiatt
2. All The Time, Elizabeth Cook
3. Ellis County, Buddy And Julie Miller
4. Old Gin Road, Ponderosa
5. Shame, The Avett Brothers
6. Bury Me Far (From My Uniform), Joe Pug
7. A Crooked Road, Darrell Scott
8. To Live Is To Fly, Steve Earle
9. Mama's Little Baby, Delbert McClinton
10. A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment ((Hint: There is no C)), Ray Wylie Hubbard
11. Patchwork River, Jim Lauderdale
12. Devil's Best Dress, Corb Lund
13. Seven-Mile Island, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
14. Bayou Tortous, James McMurtry

Tonight's Americana Music Awards show will feature performances by Emmylou Harris, the Avett Brothers, Rodney Crowell, Wanda Jackson, Rosanne Cash, Patty Griffin, Sam Bush, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ryan Bingham, Corb Lund, Sarah Jarosz, and many others.

The Awards are part of the Americana Music Festival and Conference, which is taking place Sept. 8th to 11th.

Apple's New Product Upgrades: New iPods, Apple TV Revamped, More

Unless you've been living under a rock (or are vacationing in a coastal area with limited Internet access, as I am), you've heard about Apple's product announcements at its Sept 1 shindig.

As usual for these Fall announcements, this one was heavy on the music-related products, and that means refreshes to the iPod line.

The iPod Touch has been revised, and now comes with FaceTime, the "retina display," HD video recording, and Game Center.

There is a new, smaller iPod Nano that returns the the squarish form factor and eliminates the clickwheel with a multitouch screen. The unit is said to be lighter and have longer battery life, and like the iPod Shuffle that it now resembles, it has a built-in clip for attaching to shirt, belt, etc. The new iPod Nano retains the previous version's pedometer and other features, but drops the video camera.

Speaking of the iPod Shuffle, it now contains a control panel for the first time.

Apple TV has been revised yet again, with a new focus on streaming content. Apple has signed up with ABC, Fox, and Netflix as initial partners in this new effort. Ninety-nine cent rentals are part of the new strategy.

New Podcast Episodes: "Best of" Shows from Frank Black, Coverville

Podcast episodes that are compilations of previous shows are easy for the hosts to put together, but that doesn't mean they're not good. There are two tasty recap episodes this week from two of my favorite podcasts, The Frank Black.net Podcast and Coverville.

The FrankBlack.net Podcast calls its latest podcast "Reunited" (marking the first time co-hosts Dean and Brian have both been on a show together), and aside from using excerpts of the cheesy Peaches & Herb single of the same name, it's a solid episode musically. Borrowing a term from TV, they call it a "clip show," but really it's a best-of of tunes from the podcast's third season.

"Reunited" features a wide range of Frank Black projects from the last year, ranging from a tune from "The Golem" to "Vapors" from the "Lovesick" EP and "My Name is Gary" from the "Space Babes vs. the Monster" DVD.

The FrankBlack.net Podcast says it will begin its fourth season in October.

Brian Ibbott's long-running and prolific Coverville podcast calls its 700th episode "An Introduction to Coverville," and it features some of the favorite tunes from the show. Among those you'll hear: "Tainted Love" by Gloria Jones, "Both Sides Now" by Jason Falkner, and Jonathan Coulton's popular version of "Baby Got Back," as well as covers of a couple of Amy Winehouse tunes and a William Shatner tune for good measure.