Artgig Concert Report: The Dead Weather - Prospect Park, BK

We shut up shop early Tuesday to brave the BQE, landing in Prospect Park only moments before The Dead Weather hit the stage for a Celebrate Brooklyn benefit concert.
And when Jack White appeared, blow torch in hand, on a perfect summer's eve, we snatched our frosty beverages from the Watering Hole and melded into the buzzing crowd.
From that moment on, we were transported in an experience described afterward by our honorary Artgigger, Nick, as "soul cleansing."
Yeah, soul cleansing with a blow torch - that about sums up the good old-fashioned rock concert The Dead Weather threw down - hustling, cussing and stomping through the night.
When it was over and the dust settled, I was left literally stunned.
That was The Dead Weather.

Read more at Brooklyn Vegan (and look who's at the top of the quotes).

Artgig and Chris Tarry Win a Webby!

Congratulations all around.

You may have noticed I can’t go very long without bringing up Chris Tarry. Mainly because he’s about the coolest dude we know. When we first met him we just liked him because he’s funny, and a fantastic musician. Then we liked him because he never stopped thinking about how to make his music better, and he brought us along for the ride. Then we liked him because he’s not just a great musician, he’s also a writer! Who knew? Then we were amazed because he won’t let things grow old and forgotten – he’s constantly upping the ante, using new ideas and techniques without fear. Today, it's no surprise his never ending quest for website domination has earned one of the highest industry awards – the Webby Official Honoree.

With all of this history between us, we thought it would be fun to look back at the evolution of christarry.com. So here it is – the official Tarry Timeline, so far…

Oct, 2007 - Unhappy with his website, Chris spots a little Artgig site credit on Dave Binney's site - he picks up the phone...

Nov, 2007 - We do a bunch of designs

Dec, 2007 - The new Christarry.com site launches

July, 2008 - Add downloads from a voucher

Dec, 2008 - Gifts for everyone and Radiohead "pay what you want" feature

 Mar, 2009 - Endorsements

April 2009 - Not just a bassist and composer anymore

April 2009 - Needs a blog for all the writing

Sep, 2009 - And then, of course, a book (which needs a website)

Dec, 2010 - New Home page and - "I was thinking we should enter the Webbys..."

Yesterday - Polish it off with the biggest and best award on the web...

MUSE LIVE NYC

I gotta say, I had mixed feelings going into this one.

I like Muse, but it's far from an unequivocal love - I probably skip as many songs as I listen to.

Their sound is typically big and heavy and undeniably catchy, but it too often slips into full-blown opera (think Queen)–and that's where they lose me.

On the plus side:

• There are few songs better for late night driving on the West Side Highway than "Map of the Problematique." 
• I saw them perform on television at last year's VMA's (yes, the one hijacked by Kanye West) and I was struck by the precision and confidence of their crunchy performance.
• Ever since, the buzz has been building, culminating in a glowing firsthand concert report from Artgig Australia at Big Day Out in Sydney just a couple of months ago.

So when the Garden gig was announced, I felt an immediate tug and grabbed some tickets.

If I had any doubts going into Friday night, Muse smashed them to bits with a powerhouse performance that quite simply kicked ass.

This is a band made for the big stage and they used every inch of it, up and down, to put on one hell of a big show.

See them now if you can.

You won't regret it.

Chris Tarry - Always Fresh

Our favorite Canadian bassist and all-around creative force, Chris Tarry, is at it again - we just pushed the latest website update live and you should go there right now to check out a LIMITED TIME OFFER to name your price for downloads!:

Still here?

Let's continue this conversation over at Chris' site - where you can soak in the new layout and get all the news and features you can handle in one big Tarry-sized gulp.

GO!

christarry.com

Guest Blogger Concert Report: Big Day Out, Australia

You say your 25 minute drive to work this morning took an hour and forty-five minutes because it was snowing?

Then you might be slightly jealous to hear it's summer in Australia.

And slightly more jealous to hear the Big Day Out music festival in Sydney rocked and you missed it.

But all is not lost.

Artgig has a team on the ground down under and our guest blogger, Hallie Bruce, has filed a report from the trenches to satisfy your craving for vicarious sensory overload.


Big Day Out - January 23rd 2010

The heat didn’t stop the masses from storming the second day of Sydney’s Big Day Out music festival and it certainly didn’t stop the bands from tearing the music scene up.
The lineup was crazy. The performances were totally awesome. The crowds were crushing. (Thankfully the heat broke halfway through the afternoon with a downpour that drenched Olympic Park.)

Karnivool, Aussie progressive rock band, belted out smooth lyrics to deep alternative guitar riffs, Hilltop Hoods rapped out their famous harmonic hip hop, and Rise Against rocked out to some bone-shaking punk rock tunes. Even Lily Allen, not my favorite, sounded great, borrowing fellow Brit Dizzee Rascall, another Big Day Out-goer, for a song or two.



An attraction frequented by my brother was the Silent Disco, which provided headphones and different music to each participant who entered an interesting throng, each dancing to a different set of tunes.

The Mars Volta for sure was a huge lure for Big Day Out crowds, and the pit was filled to the brim as they entered on stage and began their famous improvisational set, delivering an amazing hour-long show. Cedric writhed like nothing else on stage, and the improv was completely on par with--if not better than--the original tracks. It was not a gig to miss.


But by far the set that took the cake was Muse, who entered playing “Uprising”, their newest and greatest single, projected up on three split screens set up alongside the stage and accompanied by a fierce laser lights show. Although the arena was enormous and the acoustics suffered greatly for it, the power of their sound was unmistakable. Performing hits like “Time Is Running Out”, “Hysteria”, and “Starlight”, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy. But who wouldn’t be, when Matthew Bellamy and crew are standing right in front of you, serving up some of their best music? They were joined by Jet’s Nic Cester for a cover of AC/DC’s “Back In Black” in homage to Australia’s hosting of the 100th Big Day Out since Nirvana first played in 1992.

The night ended with a spectacular fireworks show, the colors and thundering explosions bringing to an end a most fantastic Big Day Out indeed.

Lake Trout Concert Report

The concert report has been postponed due to weather.

Here's a picture instead.

Chris Tarry Includes Artgig In His Plans For World Domination!

He's at it again.

Our musician-slash-author friend, Chris Tarry has gone and written a book, "The Wedding King of Vermont," and we've created a companion website to go with it.

There's no limit to the madness of Tarry–he's even gone and recorded original music in the voices of fictional characters from the book. Crazy.

Unfortunately, we can't show you the website just yet because you need a special decoder ring to get in and he's only giving the ring to hand-picked prospective publishers. So, you'll have to take my word for it, the "Wedding King of Vermont" Drupal site is dope. Or better yet, take Jim's word for it, because he's the guy laughing his ass off with Chris in the trenches.

And if you don't believe Jim, well, there's always the man himself...

"When I needed a company to invent a hilarious, easy to navigate, functional, and fictional world for my novel "The Wedding King of Vermont", I called the Website Kings of New York—Artgig. No one does it better."

–Chris Tarry

A quote that good deserves to be big.

Thanks, Chris–now go sell that book!

Anvil! Live! Pleasantville!

My buddies went to see a screening of "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" at Jacob Burns last night and all I got was this t-shirt (that's Steve talking).

Me and Jim caught the special engagement of this rockumentary which was followed by a Q&A session with the two stars of the film, front man Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Rob Reiner ("the original") of 80's metal blink-and-you-missed-them sensation–Anvil.

It's a great film.

I've seen it referred to as "the ultimate metal bromance" and the "real life Spinal Tap" - both are accurate. Anvil! is also a "Rocky" movie - the tale of two friends who met at fifteen and refuse to give up their dream of making it big as Anvil–despite the fact that they're now fifty. These shaggy lovable Canadian underdogs are up against incredible odds and you just can't help rooting for them.

As the guys themselves said last night, there aren't too many bands that stick together over 30 years - there's The Rolling Stones, The Who, and...Anvil.


The Anvil story is remarkable enough but the story of the film is also pretty incredible.

The Director, Sacha Gervasi, was a roadie for the band when he was only fifteen years old himself. After a few tours, they split but Steve and Sacha reunited twenty years later. It just so happens that Sacha has gone on to become a successful screenwriter (among other things) since they last saw each other, and Steve has just been offered an opportunity for a European Anvil tour that looks slightly shady from the start to say the least. Sacha knows there's a movie in this and he drops everything to make it.

I'm happy to report:
The film is getting rave reviews.
Anvil is playing with AC/DC at Giants Stadium tomorrow night.
Things are looking up.

Just see it when you get the chance.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Artgig -Psycho

Lis sent me this video by Miles Fisher last night and it really made my day. Miles nails the "American Psycho" movie and gets Christian Bale, who is fast becoming one of my favorite working actors, smirk perfect.
Fisher is so good and talented (it's his music too)–it's scary.
For the first seven or eight seconds I thought it was Bale and someone had cut scenes from the movie into the video.
Then, I saw a close-up & I thought "that's not Bale", it didn't look like him–more like Tom Cruise.
Fisher also does a drop dead Tom Cruise.

Getting back to "American Psycho"...

Have you read the book by Bret Easton Ellis?

When "Psycho" hit shelves in 1991, critics recoiled in horror.

There was controversy before the book even saw daylight– Simon & Schuster had dropped it due to graphic content before Vintage picked it up.

It was pretty much banned in Germany.

In Australia, it's only sold shrink-wrapped and selling the book to anyone under 18 is a criminal offense.

 

It's not an easy read for a lot of reasons including extreme violence and mind-numbing detail - but that's the point.
The 80's were mind-numbing and violent.
At least it was for me.
And I think that's why I liked the book so much.
I read it for a college literature term project.
There was an older retired woman in my little book group, who was taking the class for fun.
She dropped out after a few weeks because she was so appalled by my project.

I didn't love the movie when it came out nearly 10 years later but it's probably because I was too loyal to the book.
But watching this video makes me want to see it again - now.

I also happen to know the writer of the sequel - "American Psycho 2: all American Girl."
We met in a Gotham Writers Workshop screenplay writing class - her specialty was horror and mine was crime so there was some natural overlap.

She already had some buzz going in LA.
She sold one of her screenplays and rewrote it–banging it into the American Psycho sequel.

They basically just slapped the name on it.

It didn't seem to matter that it had nothing to do with the original.

She ended up moving to LA and I started Artgig.

Karen, wherever you are, I hope you're doing well.

It was good writing with you.

Artgig - Stop! And enjoy a short (or three)...

A laughingsquid tweet on the old Twitter yesterday lead to a fantastic stop action short, "Sorry I'm late", and reminded me of a Oren Lavie video that Lis sent a while back, and then Jim chipped in with another that looks like it translates to "Stop Motion With Wolf and Pig" that is truly the work of a madman.

Before CGI, the only way to do a proper monster movie, like the 1933 classic, "King Kong," was using scale model miniatures and sometimes not so miniature animatronics and/or guys in costumes, along with painstaking stop action photography to bring the world to life.

It's an art form that exists only for those with incredible vision, dedication and endless patience. As a kid, I remember shooting really cheap stop motion shorts with my dads Super 8 camera and the principles are the same as they are for any animation - move everything in your frame a little bit. Shoot a frame. Repeat. When you're done, string the frames together and watch it all come to life.

When done properly, it's really quite magical.

See for yourself–and be sure to check out the links behind the videos to see how they were made:

Summertime!

It's been a long week at Artgig and I know we're all welcoming the holiday weekend with open arms.

What better way to celebrate the unofficial kick-off of summer than a return to one of last summer's major highlights–Thievery Corporation at Central Park's Summerstage.

It was a perfect summer day and night of good friends, good vibes and great music.
I've recently stumbled upon a YouTube treasure chest of live shows I've attended over the years and I'm happy to say, this was one of the best.

The video doesn't do it justice, of course.
The frame is simply too small and the technology too primitive to capture and share the overall experience.

But here goes anyway.
Go fire up the grill and crack a cold one–this one's on me.

New Rudder Release and T-shirts at 19-8 Website!

The boys at 19-8 are making a fashion statement with fresh new t-shirts to go with the new critically acclaimed Rudder release, "Matorning."

Here's what the Boston Globe had to say about the music - "Rudder's second album, "Matorning," nearly detonated in my stereo; it's that powerful."

Get yours today - the tees and the music available on the 19-8 website in the Catalogue and Artists sections under Rudder!

nineteeneight.com

Chris Tarry - Taking Over the Universe!

Our favorite whirlwind of creative expression, Chris Tarry, has gone and done it again.
That's right, another website update.

You'll notice the christarry.com Home page now defaults to News and he's added a blog to keep the fans current with whatever spills out onto the page. The blog is a WordPress deal we installed on his server and he's basically doing the rest. You can get to it from his site via the blog call-out at the top of the page, or you can hit it directly:

Chris Tarry's Blog of Wondrous Nothings

I imagine Chris is the kind of guy who wakes suddenly in the middle of the night and fumbles about in the dark as he searches for a pad and pen to jot down his latest bit of inspiration.

Before I was a business owner (and married, and a dad...), I spent a considerable chunk of my life writing like a madman so I know the territory.

It's good to be mad.

Artgig Concert Series - Steve Live!

There were whispers that he'd hung up the sticks and we'd missed our chance.

Sure, I've seen him drag his ass into work after a late night open mike jam session, but it was looking less and less like he'd play a true live gig with a regular band again.

When he dropped the news, I knew I had to go.

I finally caught our very own Steve Grosmark, Friday night in a rare live performance, filling in on drums with Frankie D and the Boys, at the Harvest Bistro in Jersey.

Honorary Art-gigger, Nick, joined me for the occasion.

Of course, we got lost as soon as we got over the bridge–after politely reminding us over and over again to turn, my Tom Tom GPS decided to reset itself and turn us around so we were heading back home.

We pulled over in some shady motel parking lot with my tempermental GPS, both of our phones and a set of printed directions, all spread out before us, each giving us a different opinion on what to do next.

I was sure all was lost.

Fortunately, we got back on track and made it to the gig, just as the band kicked things off.

I gotta say, Steve looked and sounded like he's been one of the boys all along.


The band was tight–playing a special blend of groovy tunes with heavy leanings on the funk.

I didn't even realize they were playing without a bass until Nick pointed it out.

And that made the fact that Steve had just jumped into the band pretty much cold, all the more impressive.

Frankie D filled some of that space with his rich voice - the guy's a natural front man.

And they have a really great sax player who really ripped it up.

The guitarist, who Nick pointed out, looks like Tommy Chong from Cheech and Chong, was also very good and did his part to keep the rhythm in check.

But the true measure of how funky the funk really is, is how many people get up to dance.

And Frankie D and the Boys had the joint hopping.

It wasn't long before they were clearing tables from the floor to make more room for more dancing.

As Nick and I finally sat down to dinner, it made for some fine entertainment.


Eventually the bassist showed up, and he only added fuel to the fire.

The dancing machine, made up of mostly thirty-something-year-old women, let loose like it was their first night out in years.

We stayed right up until the final set but cut out before the end.

Steve says they closed the joint and the place was jumping right up until the end.

Good times.

Chris Tarry - Bigger and Better...

Have I ever mentioned that Chris Tarry may be the most prolific artist I know?

The dude is like a tasmanian devil of creativity–just this whirlwind of music and thoughts and writing and um...creative stuff.

So we just expanded his site (yeah, we actually en-widened it) to make room for some new features like his writing (as in fiction - found in "Writings") and a Message Board to get a little one-on-one with the man himself.

And let me take this opportunity to congratulate Chris on the release of a new live album, Live at The Birds Eye, recorded in Switzerland - available now as a download exclusively on his website!

Check it out:

christarry.com

Artgig Concert Report - Coldplay in Sydney

Our Australian correspondent, Lis, saw Coldplay in Sydney over the weekend.

Here's what she had to say:

It was awesome - Chris Martin has a very genuine, almost childish enthusiasm - very contagious. I wouldn't say their show was the cutting edge of live performance (lots of lights, some confetti, a bunch of balloons - the usual) but he certainly has a way of involving everyone - as if you were personally invited. There's only 4 of them - they don't even really fill up a stage. And Coldplay is Coldplay - great tunes, excellent performances, and uniquely Coldplay. So it was great.

The warm up bands were no-one - one group from Sydney, I think, and one from the Catskills (they were actually boasting about being from the Catskills - I guess they figured everyone would think it was some kind of major music destination). Bu neither of them had a vocalist - weird. They ended up sounding like each other. Most of the audience didn't show until Coldplay was announced.

David Binney 3.0

Just wrapped a major musician website platform upgrade for jazz sax man, David Binney. This release marks Dave's third major update since the original site. Dave’s website was the original model for the musician platform so it’s good to come full circle and hook him up with all the bells and whistles we’ve developed since.

The e-commerce system got a complete makeover with a new fancy custom cart and enhancements like the ability to gift music and redeem vouchers for stuff purchased at gigs. But the bigger news is the site is now Canadian friendly.

The front-end also got an update – things are generally bigger and easier to read and there’s less digging to get where you want to go.

We also set him up with a new custom email template to blast his list and keep his fans current on what he’s up to.

Check out the all new, bigger and better davidbinney.com

Artgig Annual Concert Series - Lake Trout

Artgig took the show on the road last night, celebrating the third year of our annual holiday concert series with our familiar favorites - Lake Trout.

Lake Trout is a great little genre-bending band that effortlessly moves from electronic to jazz fusion, to Radiohead-rock to flute, in an improve-heavy jam session that somehow mixes all of these influences and spits them out in a set that is at once fully satisfying and still leaves you wanting more.

Often hailed as the best band nobody knows, we saw Lake Trout at a nearly empty Highline Ballroom last year for our holiday celebration, and I've been hooked ever since.

Since then, the band has been spending a lot of time on the UNKLE project and when it was announced that they were making a rare appearance at The Mercury Lounge in the village, well, our holiday plans were sealed.

We arrived at The Mercury Lounge on a cold and blustery NY night to find the place nearly empty.

My good pal Nick joined us as a special guest, standing in as Lis's stunt double for the evening.

The opening line-up featured:

Charles Atlas

Wax Fang

Jones Street Boys

I didn't pay much attention to the opening acts - opting instead to spend some quality time at the bar.

Hats off to the bartender at ML - he even bought us a round!

During Charles Atlas, a girl stumbled out of the listening room as I was snapping this picture of the gang:


She was visibly shaken, and warned us not to take pictures, to erase our memories and forget this place because the music was just too depressing.

Skipped Wax Fang.

By the time The Jones Street Boys (I almost typed the Jonas Brothers) hit the stage, the place was pretty packed but we still had some elbow room.

They seemed to have a good following, I don't mind saying I don't care how much fusion you throw in the pot with Country - it's not for me.

They finished their set a capella - yee-haw!

We grabbed another round of Blue Moons and staked out our spots closer to the stage

The listening room at Mercury Lounge reminds me of the basement in my parents old house where I grew up - it's a truly intimate space and a real pleasure to see a band like Lake Trout do their thing up close & personal.

As the band made their way to the stage and did a quick sound check, a small pocket of nearby fans, announced their allegiance with scattered shouts of "Baltimore in the house."

And then Lake Trout did what they do - they just let it rip.



Nick came up to me after a few tunes and said with the greatest admiration, "they just came out and started jamming."

When the flute came out, he responded just as I had a year ago, "That dude, the keyboardist, is actually playing a flute - it's crazy."

And then it was over.

It was too short - I wanted more.

But Lake Trout had left the building.

Until next year...

Go pick-up the new live Lake Trout album for FREE at The Biggest Label Ever, an experimental site that offers free music, paid for by advertising.

All you have to do is register to get the tunes.

Happy Holidays!

A Very Tarry Christmas...

We just finished adding a couple more jazzy features to the christarry.com shopping experience.

The first is what's come to be know as the “Radiohead Feature” here at the Artgig lab. Users can now choose what they want to pay for their downloads– ala Radiohead's approach with last year's In Rainbows release. Power to the people!

Of course the holidays are rapidly approaching, so we've also added a Gift option. Buy some music, check a box and add the email of your favorite jazz aficionado and they'll receive a link to download whatever you bought them.

Sweet.

Dan Cray Website Launch...

We're happy to announce the launch of our latest musician website, dancray.com.

Dan's site has similar functionality to that of other musicians we've worked with over the past few years, and as is usually the case, Dan's custom requests have enabled us to continue building on what has become a bona fide web platform that caters specifically to musicians.

So what's new with this one? The online store now supports PayPal in addition to most other popular payment gateways, and in an interesting twist on the typical cd/mp3 buying options, visitors can also buy Dan's albums on USB thumb drives. We also integrated a wordpress blog and skinned it to match the rest of the site, including the Flash navigation. And last but not least, Steve cooked up some custom mailing list sorting so Dan can easily target his audience by geographical region– obviously handy when tour time rolls around.

Dan will be playing the Chicago area throughout November, so check out the site for dates - and don't blink or you might miss the piano-playing crawdad in the loader:

dancray.com