Free Summer 2011 Concerts: River to River Festival

The River to River Festival in lower Manhattan has become a favorite for its diverse lineup of musicians and variety of venues. Although it's been around for only a decade (compared to a quarter-century for SummerStage), the series offers a good mix of up-and-coming artists, established names, and quirky performers in outdoor locations ranging from Battery Park and South Street Seaport to Castle Clinton and the World Financial Center among many others.

You'll find the complete 2011 River to River music lineup here, but below are some of the interesting highlights:

The Bottom Line Presents New York on My Mind
June 22, Rockefeller Park - 7 p.m.
A celebration of the much-loved departed Greenwich Village club, with performances by a stellar line-up of NYC-area artists including Rosanne Cash, Marshall Crenshaw, Garland Jeffreys, Willie Nile, and Dar Williams, among others.

The Ghost Of a Saber-Toothed Tiger
June 24, South Street Seaport - 7 p.m.
Musical and romantic partners Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl bring their new electric band to New York, following up on the success of their first album, "Acoustic Sessions."

Lower Dens/Dirty Beaches
July 1, South Street Seaport - 7 p.m.
Baltimore’s Lower Dens feature the vocals of singer-songwriter Jana Hunter, who has played with bands including Jracula, Castanets, and Matty & Mossy.

My Brightest Diamond with yMusic
July 7, Castle Clinton - 7 p.m.
Opera-trained Shara Worden, who has worked with musicians including David Byrne and The Decemberists, plays River to River with her band and with the musicians known as yMusic.

The Holmes Brothers
July 5, City Winery - 5:30 p.m.
These old-timers can still kick up a powerful set of blues and R&B music, and you can see them live in this indoor River to River show.

All in Good Time: A Celebration for Jonathan Schwartz; hosted by and starring John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey
July 13, Rockefeller Park - 7 p.m.
Pizzarelli and other singers and musicians pay tribute to Jonathan Schwartz, the longtime WNYC deejay and promoter of the American popular song.

Patti Smith and Her Band
July 14, Castle Clinton - 7 p.m.
The punk-poet legend, who has long performed New Year's Eve shows in NYC, takes the stage in prime time with her band, which puts on a powerful show.

The Radio Dept. with Asobi Seksu
July 15, South Street Seaport - 7 p.m.
Swedish band The Radio Dept. takes the stage on a bill with dream pop group Asobi Seksu, which came out with "Fluorescence" earlier this year.

Other River to River concerts include '80s indie pop group The Wake (July 8), Laurie Anderson and Bill Laswell (June 30), and the "Sound Bites" series (various dates), which features bands including My Teenage Stride, The Hairs, Pow Wow!, and Hospitality.

More Summer Music Festivals: Mountain Jam, Clearwater Revival

Pete Seeger, Josh Ritter, and the Indigo Girls are just a few of the performers at this year's Clearwater festival.

A couple more summer music festivals in the New York vicinity are coming up in the next couple weeks: the seventh annual Mountain Jam in the Catskills and the latest in the long-running Clearwater Hudson River Revival in Croton-on-Hudson.

I've never been to the Mountain Jam (June 2nd to 5th), but if you like jam-band music and beautiful mountain scenery, this is the place to be. Musicians including Gov't Mule, the Warren Haynes Band, My Morning Jacket, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Dawes, Nicole Atkins, Soulive, and more will perform at the site of the Hunter Mountain ski area in Hunter, New York. (See the complete Mountain Jam schedule here.)

Friday night headliners are Bela Fleck and the Original Flecktones and the Warren Haynes Band. On Saturday night Gov't Mule and Michael Franti and Spearhead are the headliners, and on Sunday My Morning Jacket anchors the night and wraps up the festival.

Attendance at Mountain Jame is limited to 15,000 people, with camping limited to less than 5,000.

The Clearwater festival (officially Clearwater's Great Hudson River Revival) takes place June 18th and 19th in Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson. As always it combines music with environmental awareness and activism, with vendors and exhibits promoting everything from solar power to organic food (and the power for all stages is said to come from sustainable sources).

Saturday's performers include:
Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Billy Bragg, Dar Williams, David Bromberg, Janis Ian, Josh Ritter, and the Felice Brothers, among many others.

Sunday's lineup features:
Pete Seeger, Buskin & Batteau, Chris Smither, Drive-By Truckers, Indigo Girls, Jen Chapin, Joel Plaskett, John Sebastian, Jorma Kaukonen, Justin Townes Earle, Sara Hickman, and more.

Lady Gaga Launches "Born This Way" Album with 99-Cent Deal on Amazon.com Today; Will Appear at Union Square Tonight (Watch Live Stream)

Lady Gaga is staging an all-out blitz for her new album "Born This Way," which drops today, and her hometown of New York is figuring in the launch. She performed on "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, and is doing an in-store appearance at the Best Buy store at Union Square tonight. The audience is limited to 450 and wristbands were handed out at the store this morning, but you can watch a live stream of Gaga's Best Buy appearance here at 9 p.m. (You had to line up early to get the wristbands; around 1 a.m. Lady Gaga tweeted a photo of fans on line outside Best Buy.

What's more, Amazon.com is selling "Born This Way" with a digital bookletfor only 99 cents on May 23rd only. (It announced the deal at midnight Eastern time today, but had hinted at it for several days, saying that Gaga fans might want to check back at midnight Monday). As you'd expect, lots of people are jumping on this deal, and Amazon sent out a tweet earlier this morning saying, "We're currently experiencing very high volume. If you order today, you will get the full @ladygaga album for $.99. Thanks for your patience."

Lady Gaga fans will want to pounce on this chance to get "Born This Way" for 99 cents,and people who are interested in checking her out won't be out much cash with the deal.

Update: the Los Angeles Times had an article today about the Gaga-for-99-cents deal and how the value of the album has steadily been going down with deals like this. Seems like we may see more such deals in the future, since Amazon is looking to promote its Cloud Player and Apple is expected to launch its own similar player soon.

Free Summer 2011 Concerts: SummerStage, Central Park & Beyond

SummerStage has long been the grandaddy of free concert series in NYC, and this year is no exception. As with last year, SummerStage 2011 is expanding far beyond its Central Park base to offer free, live performances of music, dance, spoken word, and more throughout the five boroughs.

Below is a (very abbreviated) look at some of the shows I'm looking forward to. To see all the shows, head for the SummerStage music home page and select Main Stage (Central Park), Manhattan, or the other boroughs. Or see a chronological list of all the SummerStage and City Parks Foundation shows (and other free events) throughout the city.

SummerStage has fewer rock concerts this year, which has been a trend for several years. Maybe they've decided to spend more money on having concerts throughout the City than booking big-name rock acts for the Central Park Main Stage.

Unfortunately, the SummerStage website doesn't seem to allow an easy way to link to specific shows. The best way to find out more information about a show or artist is to head to the SummerStage website, scroll through the calendar on the left to the appropriate month, and click on the day for the show you're interested in.

Tues., June 7th, 6:30 p.m.: "Night at the Caravanserai: Tales of Wonder" featuring Yo-Yo Ma / The Silk Road Ensemble / The Silk Road Connect Students and Friends
Central Park/Mainstage

Tues., June 7, 7:00 p.m.: "Salute to Hip-Hop" featuring EPMD / Funkmaster Flex
Betsy Head Memorial Playground

Thurs., June 9, 7:00 p.m.: B.T. Express / Rhythm Revue with Felix Hernandez
Betsy Head Memorial Playground

Fri. and Sat., June 17 and 18, 8:00 p.m.: "Indomitable: James Brown" featuring Burnt Sugar / The Arkestra Chamber / Brandon Victor Dixon
Herbert Von King Park

Wed., June 22, 7:00 p.m.: Ozomatli
Red Hook Park

Thurs., June 23, 7:00 p.m.: We Are Scientists / Milagres
Red Hook Park

Sat., June 25, 4:00 p.m.: Lee Fields & The Expressions / Fitz & The Tantrums / Andreya Triana / Rich Medina
Central Park/Mainstage

Wed., June 29, 8:00 p.m. "Comedy Central Park" starring Jim Gaffigan with special guest John Pinette
Central Park/Mainstage

Mon, July 11, 8:00 p.m.: The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series (other dates scheduled in other parks)
Central Park/Mainstage

Sun., July 17, 7:00 p.m.: Pink Martini
Central Park/Mainstage

Sun., July 17, 7:00 p.m.: The Manhattans / Rhythm Revue with Felix Hernandez
Crotona Park

Wed., July 20, 7:00 p.m.: Harold Melvin's Blue Notes / Rhythm Revue with Felix Hernandez
Queensbridge Park

Wed., July 27, 7:00 p.m.: Wanda Jackson / Imelda May
Central Park/Mainstage

Sun., Aug. 7, 3:00 p.m.: Friendly Fires / The Naked and Famous / Cults
Central Park/Mainstage

Thurs., Aug. 25, 7:00 p.m.: Wavves
East River Park

Sat., Aug 27, 3:00 p.m.: The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival featuring Toots Thielmans / James Carter / Tia Fuller / Cecile McLorin Salvant
Marcus Garvey Park

In posts to come I'll look at some of the other free summer concert series coming up in New York and nearby areas.

Summer Concerts On Sale: Dave Matthews Band, Death from Above 1979, Governor's Ball, TV on the Radio, More

Tickets for the Aug. 22 show by Deerhunter (shown at River Rocks last summer) go on sale May 20 at 12 Noon.

It's still only May, but some of the summer concerts continue to be announced, and tickets are going on sale in the next day or two for some of the in-demand shows. This includes the Dave Matthews Band "Caravan" festival, the Foo Fighters two area appearances, and a show by the Canadian band Death from Above 1979. Here's a look at some of them, with other assorted summer concert information. (I'll have details on more free summer concerts in upcoming posts.)

The DMB show is already on sale; many of the others go on sale Friday, May 20th at 10 a.m. or Noon.

Dave Matthews Band Caravan - Fri. - Sun, Aug. 26 - 28 - Governors Island (full set by DMB each day; Dispatch, The Roots, Moe, Gogol Bordello, Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Head and the Heart, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, more)

(The DMB Caravan has another tri-state area show, in Atlantic City June 24 - 26.)

Governors Ball Music Festival - Sat., June 18 - Governors Island (Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, Empire of the Sun, Neon Indian, Big Boi (of Outkast), DJ set from Passion Pit)

Death From Above 1979 "with special guests" - Fri., July 22 - Williamsburg Waterfront

M. Ward with Kurt Vile & The Violators - Thurs., Aug. 11 - Wellmont Theatre (Montclair, NJ)

TV On The Radio with Broken Social Scene - Thurs., Sept. 8 - Williamsburg Waterfront

Roger Daltrey Performs The Who's Tommy, "plus Who classics and more" - Sun., Sept. 18 at Prudential Center and Fri., Sept. 23 at Nassau Coliseum

Deerhunter - Mon., Aug. 22 - Webster Hall

Foo Fighters - Mon., Sept. 26 - Izod Center

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Thurston Moore, Joseph Arthur, Ben Harper, Laura Cantrell, & More

Thurston Moore's new solo album (out May 24th) is now available for free preview.

I didn't expect to post another sample of free album previews so soon, but most of the ones I mentioned last week are no longer available. Obviously it's good to post these sooner rather than later, lest they disappear, so I'll try to post new ones each Monday, which is when they seem to be offered for preview.

Some of the latest free album previews that got my attention when I saw them: a new solo album by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore; new CDs by singer-songwriters Joseph Arthur and Ben Harper (hear an interview with Harper here); a disc of Iggy Pop bootlegs; several reissues from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on Spinner.com; and an album of Kitty Wells tunes by Laura Cantrell, the singer and former host of WFMU's much-loved Radio Thrift Shop show.

And contrary to what I mentioned in last week's post of free album previews, Spinner and AOL Music are still doing separate (though overlapping) listings of album previews. Here's a selection of some of the albums available for preview this week:

NPR First Listen:
Demolished Thoughts by Thurston Moore
The Graduation Ceremony by Joseph Arthur

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
Roadkill Rising: The Bootleg Collection 1977-2009 by Iggy Pop
Euphoric Heartbreak by Glasvegas
Pink Strat by Bahamas (Afie Jurvanen, Feist's guitarist)
Give Til Its Gone by Ben Harper
Diaper Island by Chad VanGaalen
Daydream Nation Soundtrack by various artists (includes tracks by Devendra Banhart, Sebadoh, Emily Haines, Lou Reed, and the Constantines)
Cosmic Ocean Ship by Mia Doi Todd
Let Love In by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (one of several reissues of the band's albums available on Spinner)
Bury Me in My Rings by The Elected (led by Rilo Kiley's Blake Sennett)

AOL Music Listening Party: 
Kitty Wells Dresses by Laura Cantrell
The Dreaming Fields by Matraca Berg
Cicada by Hazmat Modine