Chuck Taylor tribute The Dead & Kurt Cobain with shoes

Converse sneakers continues its celebration of 100 years with the debut of its Fall 2008 Footwear Collection that celebrates the brand's iconic presence throughout the last ten decades and undeniable influence on pop culture.

Converse pays homage to The Grateful Dead and Kurt Cobain as musicians who have transformed culture and changed the world featuring shoes designed to honor these pioneers of music who have disrupted the status quo.

These latest shoes will be available at Journeys stores across the county.

What bands would make you run out and update your Chucks?

CocoRosie's God Has A Voice, She Speaks Through Me - Video

Seaport Music Festival Free NYC Summer Shows

This Friday May 30th Wire kicks off the Seaport Music Festival free shows.

May 30 7:00PM Wire + Die! Die! Die! + DJ Mike Wolf
June 27 A Place to Bury Strangers + King Kahn & the Shrines
July 11 No Age + Telepathe + Abe Vigoda
July 18 Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las
July 25 Atlas Sound + El Guincho
August 1 Brother Ali
August 15 Dirty Projectors + White Williams

Jose Gonzalez Tour Dates

José González kick's off a string of North American tour dates June 13th with an appearance at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival in Manchester, TN.

Additional festival appearances include the Sled Island Festival, in Calgary on June 28th, the Ottawa Blues Festival on July 3rd and the Austin City Limits Festival on September 27th.

Tour Dates:
June 2008
13 – Bonnaroo Music Festival – Manchester, TN
14 – Headliners – Louisville, KY
15 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
16 – The Stone Pony – Asbury Park, NJ
17 – Iron Horse – Northampton, MA
18 – Museum of Fine Arts – Boston, MA
20 – Teatro Estudio Cavaret – Guadalajara, Mexico
21 – Lunario – Mexico City, Mexico
23 – Stone Church – Newmarket, NH
24 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT
25 – 400 Annniversary Festival (Le Grande Scene) – Quebec City, QC (Canada)
26 – St. Matthew’s Church – Halifax, NS (Canada)
28 – Sled Island Festival (Canada Olympic Plaza) – Calgary, AB (Canada)
30 – The Broadway Theatre – Saskatoon, SK (Canada)

July 2008
02 – The Park Theatre – Winnipeg, MB (Canada)
03 – Ottawa Bluesfest – Ottawa, ON (Canada)

September 2008
27 – Austin City Limits – Austin, TX

New She & Him Tour Dates

She & Him, the musical collaboration between Zooey Deschanel and M.Ward, are back on tour this summer. Check out a tune off their debut album Volume One Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?.mp3

Wednesday, July 23 Toronto, ONT @ Opera House
Thursday, July 24 Northampton, MA @ Academy of Music
Friday, July 25 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
Saturday, July 26 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
Monday, July 28 Carrboro, NC @ Cats Cradle
Tuesday, July 29 Atlanta, GA @ Varsity Playhouse
Wednesday, July 30 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
Thursday, July 31 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
Saturday August 2 Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival
Tuesday, August 5 Chicago, IL @ Park West
Thursday, August 7 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Friday, August 8 Madison, WI @ Barrymore
Sunday August 10 Washington, DC @ V Fest

Jaguar Love Mp3

Jaguar Love is a new musical group consisting of Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato from the now defunct band The Blood Brothers and Jay Clark from the likewise now defunct Pretty Girls Make Graves. The band began over the summer of 2007 in Portland, OR prior to the official announcement of the breakup of The Blood Brothers, but after Pretty Girls Make Graves played their final show. The band's sound is similar to that of The Blood Brothers' avant garde rock which is partially due to the recognizable voice of Johnny Whitney.

Take Me To The Sea, the debut full length CD/LP from Jaguar Love will be available in stores & digital outlets on August 19. In addition a self-titled CD EP featuring "Highways Of Gold" and two additional songs (one from album, one exclusive) will be available on June 3.

Jaguar Love - Bats Over The Pacific Ocean.mp3

DeVotchKa & Basia Bulat pics at T5 New York

Denver, Colorado's DeVotchKa and Canada's Basia Bulat both performed great sets for a medium sized crowd at Terminal 5 in New York last night. The sound was great for a change and the lighting was out of this world. Basia Bulat performed strong opening set of songs off her debut album Oh My Darling and DeVotchKa showcased tunes from A Mad & Faithful Telling and their previous albums.



Above Photos © Justin Wagner 2008. Mp3's below:
DeVotchKa "Transliterator" Download
Basia Bulat "In The Night" Download

Blood on the Wall - April 30th - Holocene, Portland OR

It’s been a long time since things were the way they used to be. Time was some consonant feeling had great import in live music. Dangerous sounding bands would play in warehouses, places with makeshift amenities, likely in the dangerous part of town – or at least somewhere suburban parents thought was fraught with heathen worry. Only the beer flowed into willing glasses with any measure of predictability. All else was a matter of buyer beware.

Seeing a band like New York City’s Blood On The Wall, the context would be dirty floors, vital structures – like bathrooms, ceilings – compromised; the crowd would be rough, collars decidedly blue, if wearing any at all on thrift store t-shirts. And even then, a noticeable percentage would have some sleeve or pant leg torn askance, compromised by the proverbial mud and blood and beer. Blood On The Wall is as frenetic and noise ridden as their name might suggest: let fury beget fury. Right?

On a rare, dry Wednesday night in April, in Portland Oregon (a town not lacking in honest character bars) Blood On The Wall uncorked a 50-minute show, filled with all the lovely vengeance of a left cross to the ear socket. Plugged in on the clean, white stage, the trio cut a rough contrast to the lucid, water lights projected behind them. Brad Shanks, straw blonde, noise weaving guitarist (a la, Thurston Moore) lunged back and forth at his microphone, shrieking with an urgency bereft of self-consciousness. Reining him in with a diligent, no-frills bass, Courtney Shanks couldn’t be more opposite: stoic, eyes to the floor, almost melodic, while drum maven Zack Campbell’s pounding crescendo bonding it all. Their live sound, as it is in album form, is disparate in parts, but cohesive, and filled with enthralling moments of beautiful disharmony.

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El Perro del Mar & Lykke Li NYC Bowery Show

Swedes El Perro del Mar & Lykke Li graced New York's Bowery Ballroom this Thursday evening. Lykke played her hits "Little Bit" and "I'm Good I'm Gone" and the first tune she ever wrote "Tonight." She even got the stone-like New Yorkers to full on dance. The show was sold out but the crowd quickly thinned after Lykke Li's short but energetic set.

The silky voiced El Perro del Mar took the stage around eleven o'clock to a now roomier Bowery Ballroom and played songs off her new album The Valley To The Stars which have a much more hypnotic feel than her debut. Lykke Li later joined El Perro del Mar on-stage for a few songs, one of which was "Inner Island." The only thing that would have topped this fine evening is if they had brought out fellow Swede Jens Lekman with a ukulele.

Hit up Short & Sweet NYC for an interview with Sarah Assbring of El Perro del Mar here.