Björk to play Housing Works(!!!)
This is pretty cool: Brandon Stosuy at Stereogum has put together a one-of-a-kind charity event at Housing Works in May. Björk, she of (most recently) MSG and Coachella headlining fame, will be performing at the 300 capacity bookstore on Friday, May 8th to benefit the non-profit. She will be joining forces with The Dirty Projectors, and performing a new suite of music created by lead-Projector Dave Longstreth. Ticket prices are a bit steep, ranging from $100 standing room tickets to $400 VIP balcony spots, but considering the cause, size and uniqueness of the show, it's surely worth it if you can spare the coin. They go on sale officially April 1st (no joke) on their venue’s website and at the store, but there are some tickets available right now if you act fact.
Blender Grinds to a Halt
Blender Magazine, which in the last 8 years had established itself as a top tier music rag, will publish its final issue this month. The magazine, which was an offshoot of Maxim under the Alpha Media umbrella, will continue to exist online, although much of the staff was let go. Maxim now stands as the only physical magazine left at Alpha, after Stuff folded two years ago. While this is most certainly a loss to the music media landscape, regardless of what you thought of the more pop-oriented coverage, the folding will also somewhat affect the local scene. The Blender Theatre, one of the smaller Live Nation venues in the city that was renovated and reopened in 2007, will revert to it's original unsponsored name, The Gramercy Theatre.
Morrissey, Again, at Webster Hall
While perhaps not as jaw dropping as his Bowery show earlier in the week, Morrissey playing club shows around the city is still a newsworthy event. These intimate shows, especially compared to the several night runs he's done at spots like Radio City and Hammerstein in recent years past, was certainly a treat to his dedicated fans. The setlist played out a lot like Bowery's and the previous shows on the tour, swapping out one or two songs here and there, and the sound at the usually muddy sounding club was surprisingly crisp and clear. But Morrissey didn't seem too thrilled with the place during his between song banter—he made several comments regarding the condition of the accommodations, citing a chair and a bucket for a dressing room and joking that he saw a rat fall out of the rafters at one point. Moments after the final chord was played, he was spotted being rushed out of the venue with a heavy security team, shrouded in a black velvet cloak, and into a waiting car with the engine running.
