Summer forecast for Neil Hamburger: chance of laughs

Summer forecast for Neil Hamburger: chance of laughs

What do you get when you cross The Jerky Boys, Tony Clifton, and a “punk-rock” musician? A very polarizing character, that’s for sure! America’s funnyman Neil Hamburger practices a different brand of stand-up comedy. For the uninitiated, Mr. Hamburger may appear crass — as some of his signatures include: holding several cocktails with one arm, clearing his throat directly into the mic, and constantly berating the audience. No matter whether you love it, hate it, or don’t get it, if you miss out on one of Neil’s upcoming North American dates, the joke’s on you.

Also Neil’s 2007 (tour-only) album Hot February Night has been reissued on Drag City. You can check it out here and then read our review here.

Neil’s dates:

09.17.10 - Chicago, IL - Viaduct Theater
09.18.10 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club
09.19.10 - St Paul, MN - Turf Club
09.20.10 - Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room
09.21.10 - Fargo, ND - The Aquarium
09.22.10 - Sioux Falls, SD - Nutty’s North
09.23.10 - Iowa City, IA - The Mill
09.24.10 - Vancouver, BC, CAN - Global Comedy Fest
09.25.10 - Vancouver, BC, CAN - Global Comedy Fest
09.26.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
10.16.10 - Tempe, AZ - Yucca Tap Room

• Neil Hamburger: http://neilhamburger.tvheaven.com
• Drag City: http://www.dragcity.com

Newly rediscovered Arthur Russell & Allen Ginsberg track available soon

A treasure has been unearthed! Not by pirates, but by a record label! Beat poet dude Allen Ginsberg and avant-garde music guy Arthur Russell collaborated on a track called “Ballad of the Lights” in 1977; the track was recently discovered in the depths of Russell’s archives. It’s scheduled for an October 19 release, digitally on Audika and as a limited-edition 10-inch record on Japanese label Press Pop. Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, who prettied up the sound on Russell’s posthumous album Love Is Overtaking Me, has done some work on the new track as well.

“Ballad” comes backed by the 1971 Ginsberg/Russell collabo “Pacific High Studio Mantras,” with artwork by Archer Prewitt of The Sea and Cake.

• Arthur Russell: http://www.myspace.com/anotherthought
• Allen Ginsberg: http://www.allenginsberg.org
• Audika: http://www.audikarecords.com
• Press Pop: http://presspop.com

This Is Happening: LCD Soundsystem US tour

James Murphy, the producer behind LCD Soundsystem, is currently touring in Europe, but starting in September he’s making his way to the states. His latest album This Is Happening (TMT Review) was critically acclaimed, as were the two albums proceeding it — enough said.

LCD Soundsystem dates:

09.24.10 - Philadelphia, PA - The Philadelphia Cruise Terminal %
09.25.10 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Virgin FreeFest)
09.27.10 - Burlington, VT- Memorial Auditorium %
09.28.10 - Boston, MA - Orpheum %
10.01.10 - Clinton, NY - Hamilton College %
10.04.10 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle %
10.05.10 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock %
10.06.10 - Miami, FL - Fillmore %
10.08.10 - Houston, TX - Verizon Amphitheater %
10.09.10 - Austin, TX - City Limits Festival
10.13.10 - San Diego, CA - RIMAC Arena $
10.15.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl %$
10.16.10 - San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island
10.19.10 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex $
10.20.10 - Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium $
10.22.10 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom $
10.23.10 - Saint Paul, MN - Roy Wilkins $

% Sleigh Bells
$ Hot Chip

• LCD Soundsystem: http://lcdsoundsystem.com/main

Van Dyke Parks and ESG headline Next to Last Festival

This October, during the weekend of the 27 - 31, the third annual Next to Last Festival will take place, which is a “left-of-center” music and arts festival based in the quaint village of Athens, Georgia. The festival heads have also announced that this year’s headliners will be Van Dyke Parks (best known as co-writer and co-composer of SMiLE with Brian Wilson, but should also be known for this awesome album and this awesome Twin Peaks appearance) and New York’s own ESG (who helped usher in hip-hop in the 1980s). Both acts were selected because they “represent the dynamic
and mutated platform of artistic discovery offered by the festival.” The only problem is that neither headliner is actually mutated… but that could change after five days in the Athens sun!

The festival will also include more than 70 other musicians playing at six venues across the city, as well as tons of people (around 10,000) expected to show up and make the rest of Georgia ask, “who are all these strange people?” Other artists already scheduled to play include: Adrian Orange, Avocado Happy Hour, Bird Names, bubbly mommy gun, Bunny Brains, Circle Pit, Creepy, Deaf Judges, Diane Cluck, DJ Dog Dick, Dope Body, The Dream Scene, Future Ape Tapes, How I Quit Crack, Hume, Lord Scrummage, Malaikat Dan Singa, The Missoula Oblongata, Mouser, Noot d’ Noot, Quiet Hooves, Reptar, Skeletons, Summer Hymns, Tunabunny, Weekends, and Witches.

In addition to the music, festival-goers can revel in other fun stuff like film screenings, late-night warehouse parties, haunted spaces, bondage, peach-picking, BBQs, leopard hunting, ice-floe riding, gallivanting, drive-by body piercings, and plenty more! A professional crew is also documenting the entire event on tape and film for an eventual release in the Next to Last Songs compilation series, so make sure to put on your pretty face!

Tickets are available now! Buy them!

• Next to Last: http://www.nexttolastfest.com/2010

Universal makes it rain with $840k lobbying budget this quarter

Ahhh, money. Sometimes you just wanna roll around in it and do nose drugs, and sometimes you wanna throw it at the government and lobby them to get things done. During the second quarter, Universal Music Group was all, like, “Heeeey, here’s $840,ooo, lobbyist friends. We gotta get working on this proposal to get artists and labels PAID when traditional radio stations play their songs. Royalties, yo! Also, let’s crack down more on music piracy.” It’s true, that’s exactly how they put it. Because the person in charge of lobbying is a skateboarding lizard with a backwards neon baseball cap who says things like “Zow!” and “Royalties, yo!” Universal spent $700,000 in lobbying scrilla during the same period last year.

• Universal Music Group: http://new.umusic.com

Hoofdriver: wrestling move or Busdriver ‘n’ Deerhoof collaborative 7-inch?

Game over, bands! If you named your 7-inch anything other than Hoofdriver, you officially DO NOT have the best-named 7-inch this year. Sorry, better luck next time. Maybe you can name your next 7-inch something like “Antlersmasher” or “Cometnailer” and win in 2011.

All great names have a genesis, and here’s the one for Hoofdriver: a collaboration of sorts between L.A. MC Busdriver (a.k.a. Regan Farquhar) and San Francisco art-rockers Deerhoof, put out by the esteemed Polyvinyl Record Co. On the single’s A-side is Busdriver singing over a Deerhoof instrumental, while the B-side features a track from Busdriver’s Physical Forms project, a group that features members of The Mae Shi. The record will be available on yellow vinyl (with an MP3 code) and is limited to a supply of 1000 copies, so get with it and jump at this opportunity to own such an exquisitely titled single.

Hoofdriver may not end up the only “Deerhoof + SOMEBODY ELSE” 7-inch out there, though. As it turns out, it may simply be the first in a possible series of Deerhoof 7-inches that feature guest vocalists singing their own lyrics over original Deerhoof instrumentals. I’m excited, but it’s admittedly halfway due to the treasure trove of awesome names this could open. Deer Age! Hoof Parade! Lightning Hoof! Deer, um, Hunter?

• Busdriver: http://www.myspace.com/busdriver
• Deerhoof: http://www.myspace.com/deerhoof
• Polyvinyl: http://www.polyvinylrecords.com

[Photo: Adrigu]

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