Random Compassion Fest - Danbury Green on SUNDAY July 20

Big big big show in Danbury CityCenter on Sunday starting at noon. A ton of awesome bands are joining forces to raise money for Ann's Place, a support center for cancer patients.

Downtown Thursdays in Bridgeport ALL SUMMER

Bridgeport is offering a whole series of FREE concerts on Thursdays all summer. It's called "Downtown Thursdays"! The showtime will be 5:30pm to 7:30pm each time so get there early for free music!

Sailfest 2010

Cool out this weekend at Sailfest in New London. It's a huge outdoor event with all kinds of food, fun, rides and best of all there's gonna be fireworks. Check out sailfest.org for more info.

There's usually a huge music lineup full of all kinds of interesting tunes. This year Friday looks like the night to go, as the band lineup will include:
5pm - The Tawny 12
6pm - Anderson Family Picnic
7pm - Diamond Twins
8pm - Matt Gouette
9pm - Estrogen & Tonic
10pm - The Hempsteadys

Hartford’s 375th: Still Wavy After All These Years

Friday, July 23rd comes an event that should not be missed. It's a free show in Bushnell Park to celebrate Hartford's 375th!

The event will be brought to you by The Wadsworth Atheneum & The Hartford Party Starters Union, and will feature some huge huge names. This is something you really can't miss. Seriously, just look at this lineup!

Janelle Monae - Grammy-nominated singer and dancer from Kansas, she's currently signed to the Wondaland Arts Society and Bad Boy/Atlantic Records. Retro, soulful and fun, her tunes are impossible to pin down, one second it's Motown, the next it's psych rock. She recently released her new album The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) which is a must-hear. Seriously, probably one of the best releases of 2010.

Holy Ghost! - NYC electronic pop duo, currently signed to DFA. Their tunes have a vintage 80s Prince waviness to them. These guys have remixed a butt-ton of awesome tunes, and are going to be on tour with Chromeo! Catch them before they get super famous (which they will really soon.)

Tobacco - Tobacco has been tearing it up lately. When not doing tunes with Black Moth Super Rainbow, he's making crazy trippy weird tunes as Tobacco. He recently recorded the dark Maniac Meat which even includes some of Beck's signature vocals paired with Tobaccos reedy synthesized whispers. What's not to love?

Maluca -Listening to Maluca is like listening to reggaeton in a blender from the center of the earth. She does some really weird stuff, but it's damn catchy and fun to boot. Just watch this video and you'll see what I mean:

Cubic Zirconia - NYC electro funk afropop wave band. There's a ton of buzz going on about them, and from everything I've heard about them, they put on a great live show. They literally just released their new EP "Black & Blue" last week. See the video below:

DJ Rizzla will also be there spinning some great tunes.

IT’S FREE and it's ALL AGES!

This is the real deal. There will be food vendors on Trinity Street and Black Bear Saloon vending beers in the beer garden. Bring a change of clothes and some dancing shoes to work that Friday, and get ready to shake your ass off.

Find out all kinds of information about give-aways, after-party details and everything else at http://www.StillWavy375.com/

Stay Wavy, Hartford!

RSVP via the Facebook Event Page

Americana Music Festival

This weekend is the Americana Music Festival in New London's Hygienic Park. It's 2 days of fantastic roots music. For those of you who haven't been to Hygienic Park, it's totally worth checking out; it's really nice. Check out their link for the lineup.

House Show Reminder

A reminder that my house show will be on Sat. 12th.

Rumor has it that Indra Zen Versus The World is also going to play, rounding out the show with a folk punk vibe.

That means they'll be 5 artists, so come on out!

- John

Tyler Trudeau in Bridgeport

Local rockers The Tyler Trudeau Attempt play Baldwin Plaza in downtown Bridgeport on Thrs. Sept. 10th. Playing with them is Bridgeport punk rock band King Sexy. This is part of a series of free shows Bridgeport's Downtown Community Council puts on, which features food, music and other activities. This means that you'll be able to see loud, awesome bands rocking out in downtown Bridgeport. It's kind of awesome that this is supported by the town.

Baldwin Plaza
Fairfield Avenue & Broad Street
Bridgeport, CT
Presented by Downtown Community Council
THU., SEPT. 10, 6-10 p.m.
Free. All ages.

House Show details

I'm pretty damn excited to be presenting this... so check out my house show. They'll be some great music there. Since parking is limited, I have to ask that you carpool if you can. If you want to bring some food, I'm sure everyone will also appreciate that. Also, email me for the address and directions - I want to get a rough headcount of how many people are going to show up.

If it's nice out, we'll be outside in the sunshine...

So here's the band list:

Petite Mal sings beautiful acapella anthems that are both sweet and completely screwed up. A tiny girl with a tiny voice singing tiny songs, she's really unique and fantastic.

Jesse Tobias sounds like spending the night outside in a sleeping bag looking at the stars. Heartfelt vocals and great guitar parts mixed with atmospheric backgrounds make for some really great tunes.

Blind Charles plays quiet, introspective ragas and folk songs. He plays complex acoustic blues and drone, reminiscent of John Fahey and Jack Rose. Get there early so you don't miss it, he's awesome.

The Cartography Division has been a dead project for many years, but we're reviving it for this show. It's reverbed out folk music in it's most stripped down form. There might be some surprises in store, so hopefully we're not too rusty...

Anyway, if you want to go, just shoot me an email. It's going to be really laid back and fun, so come check it out.

- John

I AM Festival 2009

I AM Festival (Independent Arts & Music Festival) will be held on Saturday, September 12, 2009 on Customs House Pier in New London. It's a free festival that runs from Noon to 11pm! This is the 4th annual fest, and you can see all these fine bands:

Deerhoof
Das Racist
Free Energy
The Drums
Pretty & Nice
Tim Easton
The Weird Beards
Total Bolsheviks
MT Bearington
Chasing Trinity
Get Haunted
The Vultures

In addition to this wide range of musical talent from all over the place, a lot of other things will be happening. There will be an Indie Marketplace featuring more than 30 vendors, labels, artists and non-profits from Brooklyn, Providence, New Haven, New London and beyond. There is much more to be announced, so keep it tuned to the I AM Fest website for more event details.

Safe To Swim Weekend 2

This weekend, all weekend, it's the Safe to Swim Weekend 2, happening all over Danbury. Some great bands like The Ghost Sonata, Welcome, Earl Greyhound and The Gay Blades will be playing. Check out the site for a full schedule. This festival is going to feature some of Connecticut's finest, as well as some great out of state acts. Tony Yacobellis, who runs Sub Rosa Party at Cousin Larry's, was able to put together a really great lineup, and secure two stages at the Danbury Green. In addition to the free shows on the green during the day, there's also some 21+ after party events happening at Cousin Larry's. Sunday's shows will all be all ages, and be at the Heirloom Arts Theatre. So not only do you get to see a bunch of great bands, but you can also check out a lot of great venues across Danbury as well.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY

They Might Be Giants are holding a free family concert on the New Haven green on Sunday.

Show starts at 6:00! Put your hand inside the puppet head and get your fangs down to the green right away. If you miss this, you'll be extra sorry. Bring your kids!

Sweetport 09

Sweetport 09 - Free Concert with Mates of State

5/30/2009 2:00 PM

Mates of State
Caravan of Thieves
The Zambonis
Saint Bernadette
Cosmic Jibaros
MT Bearington

McLevy Green (State & Main St.), Bridgeport, CT
Cost: FREE

On Saturday, May 30th there's a free outdoor festival with 6 bands and special guest DJs. Mates of State, The Zambonis and more, more, more…

From the Sweetport Website:

Dave "Zamboni" Schneider was asked to be the curator of a 4 years and running music and arts festival called Sweetport 09 here in CT. He jumped at the chance saying "it’s like making a live mixtape". HERE IS WHO HE GOT TO PLAY THE FREE SHOW! MATES OF STATE, CARAVAN OF THIEVES, THE ZAMBONIS, SAINT BERNADETTE, COSMIC JIBAROS, MT BEARINGTON & in-between all the live music spinning some great tunes will be iconic music writer MICHAEL AZERRAD. Also spinning some reggae dub will be Dub master YVES WILSON. IT’S FREE !!!!!!! MATES OF STATE - This year saw the release of Mates of State’s highly praised 5th album "Re-Arrange Us", a CD that showed up on numerous year-end "best of" lists across the country. Honestly, they are gonna sound so good in such a small little park. DON’T MISS IT!!! CARAVAN OF THIEVES - They’ve taken the gypsy jazz of Django Rheinhardt from the 1930’s and twisted it up to an original modern melodic bouquet of perfection. Their live show is absolutely fantastic. THE ZAMBONIS - The only band influenced by The Beatles and Wayne Gretzky. "The songs are well crafted pop hockey gems" L.A Times "The smartest, melodic band on skates" NPR. SAINT BERNADETTE - Freshly exhumed from the Bridgeport studio, ready to spread the gospel of rock! COSMIC JIBAROS - Built from Latin, Caribbean, Rock and World rhythms for a sound that’s both cross-cultural and highly danceable. M.T. BEARINGTON - They write trippy, beautiful music that make you wanna lay in the grass on a spring day (unless you have asthma) SPINNING NOTHING BUT GOOD OLD CRACKLY VINYL IN BETWEEN THE LIVE MUSIC... GUEST DEEJAYS ... MICHAEL AZERRAD - MUSICIAN, FILM PRODUCER and ICONIC WRITER MICHAEL AZERRAD will be spinning his favorite tunes throughout the day ON VINYL. Critics and fans raved about Michael’s books "Our Band Could Be Your Life" and "Come As You Are" The Story Of Nirvana. Michael is also the drummer for buzz band The Golden Bloom and also hits the kit for The LeeVees. YVES WILSON- Photographer and Dubmaster DeeJay. Mr Wilson will be laying down the reggae vibe. JASON HAMMEL- Drummer and 1/2 of The band MATES OF STATE, Jason said "I am packing my record crate now, can’t wait"...

Please check out the Sweetport website here for more info. This is a once in a lifetime event, so please please attend!

JH