BrooklynVegan has the whole darn thing here.

From edpettersen.com

Former U.S. Attorney General JANET RENO appeared at the Grammy Awards in February with grammy-nomnated producer DAVID MACIAS to announce THE SONG OF AMERICA, a series of recordings that will tell the history of our country, from 1620 through the present, through music. Inspired by RENO and due out in 2006 on MACIAS’ own Emergent label, THE SONG OF AMERICA will feature fifty recordings of popular and historical songs by a variety of well-known artists. MACIAS joined RENO for the announcement of THE SONG OF AMERICA following his acceptance of the 2005 Best Traditional Folk Album for his co-production of Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster.
RENO originally conceived of THE SONG OF AMERICA with her niece’s husband, songwriter/producer ED PETTERSEN as a way for Americans to reconnect to their musical and cultural heritage. RENO ‚Äì the country’s first female Attorney General ‚Äì saw the potential to bring history alive for students. RENO’s inspiration was to tell the story of America through its songs. Surprised to find that a comprehensive historical musical narrative did not exist as Reno envisioned it, PETTERSEN developed the concept as a compilation that would donate profits to folk music education which garnered RENO’s enthusiastic support. Last year, RENO and PETTERSEN selected Nashville’s Emergent Music as the label for the project and were delighted with their choice when Emergent’s Beautiful Dreamer took home the 2005 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. MACIAS will co-produce THE SONG OF AMERICA with PETTERSEN and Split Rock Records.

From Pitchfork:

due September 18 via Split Rock Records/31 Tigers– now spans 50 songs and three discs. In addition to Banhart’s cover of Malvina Reynolds’ “Little Boxes”, Song of America also includes Andrew Bird’s take on early 20th century jam “How You Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm” and Danielson’s version of another early radio classic, “Happy Days Are Here Again”.

Track list after the jump

(more…)

We’ll be posting more information about Music Hall of Williamsburg (formerly Northsix) here as it arrives. From their press release:

The Bowery Presents, an independent New York concert-promotion company, today announced the Music Hall of Williamsburg will open on September 4th with Patti Smith and Her Band. The Music Hall of Williamsburg will occupy the former space of Northsix, on 66 North 6th Street, and will provide a first-rate, mid-size venue for bands to play in Brooklyn….
“To have Patti and her band, who have become so much a part of our lives, open the Music Hall, for me, is the perfect beginning to our life in Brooklyn,” said Michael Swier, a partner in The Bowery Presents.
“We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of support for the Bowery Ballroom and the Mercury Lounge over the years, and we hope that with our continued dedication to the music and the fans, the Music Hall will become a well-loved neighborhood music destination.”
The 550-capacity Music Hall of Williamsburg will be the first Brooklyn music venue to be managed and operated by The Bowery Presents, which has promoted shows in Brooklyn since 2006 and will promote a line-up of shows at McCarren Park Pool and Keyspan Park at Coney Island this summer. Inspired by the look and feel of the Bowery Ballroom, and committed to providing the best experience possible for bands and fans, the Music Hall of Williamsburg will have a focus on acoustics, sightlines and space.
The re-designed layout of the Music Hall of Williamsburg will be three levels, including a lower level lounge, where guests can congregate around the U-shaped bar, one of three bars in the facility. The ground floor lobby leads into the Music Hall performance space, which will feature 28′ ceilings, side balconies and a back mezzanine. The venue will feature state-of-the-art sound, lighting, broadcasting and recording systems, which will also have the capability to be used for Internet, TV and radio broadcasts…
Tickets for the opening night Patti Smith show will go on sale Saturday, June 23 at Noon, for $35 each. Additional shows will be announced on July 10. Please visit www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com for schedule updates.

From The Vulture

This unofficial trailer, leaked to YouTube, could be the grimmest advertisement in film history… Sure, the original Sinclair Lewis novel Oil was bleak, but this nightmare glimpse of P.T. Anderson’s new tragedy is practically apocalyptic, with Daniel Day Lewis, as an evil Texas oilman, intoning a misanthropic monologue, while miserable oil-well workers either stare blankly or run away from explosions, looking like they stepped out of American Gothic and into Deliverance. It certainly breaks through the white noise — but is selling this as a more morbid Matewan really the best idea? Expect a ray of hope in the official version.

The dark, yet exuberant Americana of North Carolina’s Bowerbirds has become a staple on my iPod. Mr. Mountain Goat himself, John Darnielle, calls thems ‚”My favorite new band in forever.” Bowerbirds’ wonderful debut record, Hymns for a Dark Horse, is set to be released July 10 (with preorders available now). Here’s a sample:
Download:
In our Talons
Dark Horse
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bowerbirds
From their label’s website

Hymns for a Dark Horse is the first album from Raleigh, N.C., trio Bowerbirds. Indicative of the music they make, Bowerbirds were born of unequal parts conflict and sweetness.
Phil Moore and Mark Paulson had moved east from Iowa to form a band, Ticonderoga. In Raleigh, Phil met Beth Tacular–a collected and published painter. Both were weary from the recent collapse of their long term relationships but saw something special in each other. Not long before Ticonderoga disinegrated on tour somewhere in Alabama, Phil and Beth moved in together.
While taking a summer job in the swamps of South Carolina, Phil and Beth painted pictures and wrote songs and sang them. They started Bowerbirds and asked Mark to join them whenever possible.
They’ve toured the country once in a minivan, playing small clubs and coffee shops and street corners and camping in forests and deserts beneath the stars. They live in an Airstream trailer in the woods, and they’re ecstatic.

On Saturday and Sunday at McCarren Park Pool,
The Renegade Craft Fair.
And on Saturday, SummerStage has arrived:
Television
The Apples in Stereo
Dragons of Zynth
From 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage
We’re very excited about Television, but the Apples in Stereo should be a blast too. Especially if they play our favorite pop tune of the year, thus far: “Energy”:

This is funny

illustration: Tim Jessell
So can we go home now? [Via HuffPost]

Violence in Iraq, as measured by casualties among troops and civilians, has edged higher despite the U.S.-led security push in Baghdad, the Pentagon told Congress on Wednesday…
“To date, operations in Baghdad indicate that Iraqi government delivery on these commitments has been uneven,” the report said. “For example, there have been reports of political involvement by some leaders in tactical and operational decisions that bypass the standard chain of (military) command.”
The report offered a less-than-optimistic outlook for political reconciliation among the rival sectarian groups in Iraq. It said Shiite fear of a Sunni return to power and splits within the Shiite community “will continue to impede formation of a ‘Shiite consensus’ and complicate reconciliation with the Sunnis.”

This will be the Beastie’s FIRST Brooklyn show, EVER. More information at McCarrenpark.com. UPDATE: Presale tickets available Friday.
They will also be playing Summer Stage August 8.
The band’s new record, The Mix-Up, will be released on June 26. From Wikipedia:

The Mix-Up is the forthcoming album by Beastie Boys, scheduled for release on June 26, 2007. On May 1, 2007, an e-mail sent to those on the Beastie Boys’ mailing list revealed the album is all instrumental.
‚”OK, here’s our blurb about our new album — it spits hot fire! — hot shit! it’s official… it’s named THE MIX-UP. g’wan. all instrumental record. “see i knew they were gonna do that!” that’s a quote from you. check the track listing and cover below. you love us. don’t you?”"
Mike D said that “even though The Mix-Up is a “post-punk instrumental” album, the Beasties have no plans to ditch vocals for good. In fact, they are currently planning another version of the album that will feature collaborations with “a pretty wide array” of “mostly newer” vocalists.
An advance copy of the album leaked onto the internet on June 01, 2007.

Their new single:
“Off the Grid” MP3
Off the Grid Video: