In what might have been the single most awesome show of the year, the eruptive forces unleashed last night by On the Might of Princes at Saint Vitus equaled a category 5 hurricane. Watch the beginning and end of their set below, plus footage from surprise guest Garrison.

Lana Del Rey has been a video vixen since day one.  Most of us saw “Video Games” before we heard it, and that video’s DIY/found footage aesthetic didn’t take long to go viral. Since then, Lana’s video releases have been events, with “official audio” versions and promo pictures leaked days or weeks in advance. The videos have gotten longer and their characters more complex; this past summer we saw Lana as Jackie O., a suicidal lesbian, and a David Lynchian chanteuse singing “Blue Velvet” in an extended ad for H&M.

Excluding “Blue Velvet,” “Ride” is the first single off of the extended cut of her album and its video went on YouTube yesterday. LDR plays a singer/streetwalker living carefree on Kerouac’s open road. She swings like a pendulum on a tire swing in desert, as if suspended from the sky. She rides on the backs of motorcycles, shoots off fireworks while wearing a Native American headdress, and gets physical with older men on pinball machines and outside motels. Her hair is curly, but she’s still our Lana, fringed denim jacket and all. She’s in character, but a theater marquee lists her as Lana Del Rey, perpetuating and perhaps mocking criticism that she’s fake and always in character.

The “Ride” video is over ten minutes long and the actual song doesn’t start until three minutes and thirty seconds in. Lana provides voice over narration, which she wrote, at the beginning and end. “I was in the winter of my life, and the men I met along the road were my only summer,” she begins. Later: “I was born to be the other woman. Who belonged to no one. Who belonged to everyone.” The sentiment is powerful at times, trite at others. Anthony Mandler directed, as he did Lana’s “National Anthem.”

Unlike Lana’s previous songs, the Rick Rubin-produced “Ride” is less “ghetto Nancy Sinatra” (Lana’s words, not mine) and more  ”Sam’s Town”-era The Killers (who director Mandler has also worked with). Lana’s look is more Americana and less flash.

Lana still has tricks up her sleeve, and for now at least, we’re still along for the ride.

Watch the video below.

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Yep. We’re looking for talented folk to write about local news, happenings, film, culture, cat videos, fashion and New York events. Hit us up at mail@freewilliamsburg.com if interested.

Via Greenpointers

A tipster sent along word that the Boardwalk Empire set at Franklin & Commercial Streets is currently being dismantled and that they will be out by the end of the month. The tipster also says Bay Crane is moving out of their large parcel at Eagle & West Streets. Both lots are held by Park Tower Group, a New York based developer, who has long held the development rights to this huge 22 acre swath of land at the tip of Greenpoint. Their proposed development, dubbed Greenpoint Landing, will ultimately result in 10 residential towers between 30 and 40 stories high totaling 4,000 units of housing – 20% of which will be affordable. Handel Architects designed the project and, according to their website, the development will feature a new marina, seasonal putting green, ice rink and even possibly a footbridge to Long Island City.

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On November 2, RZA will make his directorial debut with the pop-cultural smorgasbord The Man With the Iron Fists. Written by RZA with Eli Roth and directed by Quentin Tarantino, the film stars Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu and RZA himself.

The film’s soundtrack– which is out on October 23 on Soul Temple/STAX/Red Distribution– is packed, too. We’ve heard Method Man’s track with Freddie Gibbs and Streetlife; Pusha T, Raekwon, and Joell Ortiz’s track; Ghostface’s track with M.O.P. and Pharoahe Monch; the Wu-Tang Clan’s track, the Revelations’ track with Tre Williams, and RZA’s track with the Black Keys.

(Note: this film is directed by RZA not, as Pitchfork says, Quentin Tarantino.) And here’s the trailer: (more…)

Last night after a sold out show at Music Hall, Texas is the Reason ‘crashed’ the Gameface/On the might of Princes happening at Saint Vitus for a short 15 minute late night set. Video of that is below, alongside edits of the other two bands.

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Tutu's

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Lucas Walters is ready to make his grandmother proud — by opening his own cozy drinking haven and christening it with her beloved nickname.
“It looks like an old lady’s house,” Walters laughed of Tutu’s, his corner bar, which is set open Wednesday.

The bar will be located in the former home of The Morgan Restaurant and beside Bushwick’s future boutique hotel.

“We raided our families’ houses for lots of tchotchkes,” he said of the decor.

Walters — a partner at the popular Williamsburg haunt The Commodore — is launching Tutu’s with Jason Merritt, who owns Big Tree Bottles liquor store just down Bogart Street from the new Bushwick business.

“We’re starting with just a cocktail menu and meat and cheese,” Walters said.

He added that he hoped to offer gastropub fare including burgers, salads and brunch by November.

My Social List & Freewilliamsburg presents

That’s right.  CMJ Music Marathon is probably the absolute best week to be a New Yorker.  For a few days, all of the best buzzbands and buzzhumans descend on the city to play music, drink and network with one another.  And this year, the FREEwilliamsburg and My Social List team is taking the whole damned thing over.

Well, not EXACTLY, but we do have a bunch of great showcases to share with you.

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