I was down at McCarren Park earlier tonight watching a few of our local halfletes play some Brooklyn Kickball, when I realized I love that everyone in this town has a star to shine. Here’s Shamus Eberhardt of the Divine Sisterhood and Lexie Patterson of the Sugar Tits (oddly not sponsored by Domino) doing what they do best.
photos via aj cranford.

In case you missed last night:

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ON FRIDAY
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by Damon Ginandes

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ON SATURDAY
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ON SUNDAY
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Langhorne Slim

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ON FRIDAY
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Jeff Koons and Dr. Seuss at The Met
Time: 5:30pm, Cost: Free with Museum Admission and RSVP
From FREENYC

On top of the Koons exhibit already on display, the college group at the Met invites you to a whimsical evening of toys blown up to fantastic proportions and pianos the size of football fields. Stretch your perception of reality with the Metropolitan Museum’s installation of sculptures by artist Jeff Koons on the Museum’s roof and a screening of Dr. Seuss’ only live-action feature film, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. You don’t need a college ID, but priority seating will be given to college students. The event is free with museum admission, which they will tell you is $20, but last we checked it was just a suggested donation.

more information at the Met’s website.
also on Friday:
MonkeyTown Re-Opening feat. Electroma DVD Release
Time: 8:00pm, Cost: $5
From Flavorpill

Williamsburg’s preeminent multimedia restaurant, MonkeyTown, reopens tonight after nearly two months of renovations. To celebrate its grand re-opening, MT is partnering with Vice Records for a screening and DVD release party in honor of Daft Punk’s Electroma. The film, written and directed by Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, follows two robots on a mission to become human; unlike previous films D.A.F.T. and Interstella 5555, however, the French duo didn’t write any of the music — instead, they left the soundtrack up to the likes of Brian Eno, Todd Rundgren, and Curtis Mayfield

more information at Monkey Town’s website.
also on Friday:
The Vice Photo Show opens. More information here.
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ON SATURDAY
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Slideluck Potshow at McCarren Park Pool
Time: 6–11pm, Cost: FREE w/ RSVP
From Flavorpill

Some of us are wizards in the kitchen; some of us are skilled in the arts. We’re hoping that the artists convening for tonight’s Slideluck Potshow have a bit of both column A and column B. Focusing on a theme of “change,” contributed slides showcase the work of up-and-coming artists, photographers, editors, and curators, who share their culinary creations alongside five-minute masterpieces. Guests can enjoy photographic essays alongside pork shoulder, or high-fashion shots to complement their squash. Flavorpill’s own cultural picks for the upcoming week are even on display — though you’ll likely have to make do with PB & J made (with love!) by our NYC editors

more information at slideluckpotshow.com

David Byrne Music Building
also on Saturday
It’s been open for a while, but we’re finally going to go see the David Byrne Music Building.
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ON SUNDAY
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Black Lips (6pm), Deerhunter (5pm), King Khan & the Shrines (4pm), and Tall Firs (3pm)
at McCarren Park Pool
time: 2pm-8pm, cost: free
From Flavorpill

In 1971, Lester Bangs published an essay called “James Taylor Marked for Death,” in which he heralded the Troggs as the raw libido of rock ‘n roll. “Wild Thing” was the artless, “pure id” rock song ideal. Cue Black Lips: Seemingly ignorant of 40 years of musical evolution, they rip through song after song of merciless, riotous rock. You won’t hear anything especially new in it, but you won’t be complaining either, especially after their notoriously debauched live shows. Tonight, they play the Pool with art-punk geniuses Deerhunter, psych-soulsters King Khan & the Shrines, and Tall Firs.

more information at mccarrenpark.com

Black Lips

Bradford Cox of Atlas Sound
TONIGHT
Atlas Sound with El Guincho at South Street Seaport
From Village Voice

Choking reflections, terminal isolation, solemn nostalgia–TGIF! Deerhunter front man Bradford Cox’s solo endeavor is less beastly MBV maelstrom, more half-assed bubble-noise diary soundtrack. It’s troubled background music; bring your favorite conversation starters. As you breathe in East River toxins down on Pier 17, “River Card” won’t inspire the happiest of hours: “River’s bottom dark and blue: Why do I love you? You’ll drown me.” Next $5 Bud in a Pepsi cup is on me. With El Guincho.

Doors: 7pm, FREE
More information at RiverToRiver
also tonight, Philip Glass Ensemble at Celebrate Brooklyn

Ghostland Observatory
ON SATURDAY
Ghostland Observatory at Prospect Park Bandshell
with Jealous Girlfriends and Bear Hands
From Flavorpill

Austin duo Ghostland Observatory fuse sprawling, futuristic electro with spastic, Rapture-style rock for a sound that’s been described as “a robot making love to a tree.” On their third full-length record, Robotique Majestique, the duo’s dance-y, Klaxons-esque sound gets an even poppier makeover. Yet their shows are where the real magic happens ‚Äî just check last year’s live DVD for proof. They’re becoming a regular institution in Austin, the home of essential music fest SXSW, winning the Austin American-Statesman’s “Band of the Year” nod for 2007. Tonight, they roll into NYC alongside buzzworthy rockers the Jealous Girlfriends and Bear Hands.

Doors: 7pm, $3
More information at Celebrate Brooklyn
also on Saturday: Big River Project: The Music of Johnny Cash

MGMT
ON SUNDAY
MGMT, Black Moth Super Rainbow. and the Ting Tings At McCarren Park
From Flavorpill

It’s been too long since we’ve had a good, weird pop band like Brooklyn’s MGMT. Founded by Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser in a prankish mood, the group leaps between extremes — gigantic earnestness and eccentric nonsense; psychedelic overdrive and wounded prisms — leaving you wondering whether it’s the product of geniuses or goofballs. That they might be both is what makes them so exciting. Garlanded with a Columbia Records contract, the band’s debut, Oracular Spectacular, packages glam-inflected mega-pop in producer Dave Fridmann’s typically lush, stretchable sonic architecture. The band hits today’s pool party alongside psych-noiseniks Black Moth Super Rainbow and hyperactive UK dance-rockers the Ting Tings.

Doors: 2pm, FREE
More information at mccarrenpark.com

Sonic Youth at McCarren in ’07, image c/o Flickr
Looks like it will be the last concert, um, EVER at McCarren Park Pool—*weep*—but Sonic Youth has just announced a show on August 30th. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon.
There have been petitions floating around at the Pool Parties to keep the venue as a concert space, but we’re not holding our breath. Looks like the kiddie urinal is on its way. The good news is the free shows may be transferred to Bushwick Inlet Park in 2009.
Also just announced, The Felice Brothers are headlining a free JellyNYC Pool Party with Langhorne Slim, Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves, Deer Tick, and DJ Kool Kear on August 10th.
More information at www.mccarrenpark.com

Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki
On Friday
DEERHOOF / METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE: THE RITE: REMIXED
Prospect Park Bandshell
Doors 6pm, $3
More information at Celebrate Brooklyn.

Celebrate Brooklyn & Wordless Music present DEERHOOF / METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE: THE RITE: REMIXED The mercurial experimentalists DEERHOOF, ‚”the most creative band in indie rock today,” (LA Weekly) forge a distinctive sound out of sophisticated improvisation, fierce dissonance, and weirdly catchy melodies. They’re paired here, via the forward thinking Wordless Music Series, with a world premiere by METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE, led by Artistic Director/Conductor Andrew Cyr. The Rite: Remixed is a collaboration with composers and live electronics producer/performers Ryan Francis, Leo Leite, and Ricardo Romaneiro, who re-conceptualize Stravinsky’s monumental The Rite of Spring through the lens of the latest sounds and technology from electronica. The work combines keyboards and laptops with huge percussion and brass ensembles to create a futuristic, rhythm-inspired sonic tableau.

On Saturday
Its always too crowded, too hot, and the sound sucks, but THE SIREN FESTIVAL begins at noon. This year Malkmus and Broken Social Scene are the big names, but we’re most excited about The Dodos who, all sources say, put on a great live show.
at Coney Island
noon – 9pm, FREE
more information at the Village Voice website
Also on Saturday:
Warm Up feat. Danton Eepron w/ Au Revoir Simone, Dorit Chrysler, and Egill Saabjornsson & Flis
PS1 Contemporary Art Center
3-9pm, $10
From Flavorpill

This week’s Warm Up provides yet another reason to hop a tugboat to Long Island City (as if you needed one). Curated by style-for-the-people outpost agnes b., the electro-leaning bill toes the line between dance music and pure pop, with an oddball spirit that befits the avant-garde surroundings. Theremin player Dorit Chrysler presents an engaging concoction of new composition, balladry, and electronic meandering, while Au Revoir Simone steer things in a more hummable direction with the aid of a few Casiotone keyboards. London DJ Danton Eeprom, meanwhile, brings Warm Up back to its disco-house comfort zone.

more information at the PS1 website

On Sunday
LIARS, FUCK BUTTONS, AND TEAM ROBESPIERRE AT MCCARREN POOL
Doors open at 2pm, FREE
(provided they don’t find anymore bodies)
From Flavorpill:

Noise isn’t supposed to be this pretty. Sure, My Bloody Valentine, Jesu, and a whole mess of pedal-pushers have shown that’s not necessarily true, but Fuck Buttons take the concept to a whole new stratosphere. “Bright Tomorrow” had the blogs beside themselves — a simple, shimmering keyboard melody that boils over into a Yellow Swans-ish barrage of screams and hiss. Working a similar balance between substance and skronk, be it through the triumphant psych-stomp of last year’s self-titled album or the urban tribalism and doom-dub of They Were Wrong and Drum’s Not Dead, the headlining Liars reinvent themselves more convincingly than any other indie-rock band around

more information at mccarrenpark.com

Chicha Libre
Friday at the Prospect Park Bandshell:
BRAZILIAN GIRLS WITH CHICHA LIBRE AND TICKLAH.
Doors open at 7pm, Admission: $3
Brazilian Girls always put on a good show, but Chicha Libre sounds like a lot of fun too. You have to love a band named after corn liquor.

Chicha Libre plays a mixture of latin rhythms, surf music and psychedelic pop inspired by Peruvian music from the Amazon. The Brooklyn-based band mixes up covers of forgotten Chicha classics with French-tinged originals, re-interpretation of 70′s pop classics as well as cumbia versions of pieces by Satie and Ravel. Chicha is the name of a corn-based liquor favored by the Incas in pre-colombian days. Chicha is also the name of a South American music craze which started out in the early 70′s in the Peruvian Amazon.

More information at Celebrate Brooklyn

High Places
On Saturday at the Yard
TODD P PRESENTS A MID-SUMMER OUTDOOR PARTY
With Oneida, High Places, Titus Andronicus, Ponytail, Vivian Girls, Abe Vigoda and many more. Full line-up here.
Doors: 12pm, All Ages, Admission: $10
From Flavorpill

Ever the DIY adventurer, indie-music and party promoter Todd P pops out in the middle of a fairly minimal season (he’s reportedly been focusing on “other things”) with a sensational lineup of experimental/electronica/dancy-pants bands. Headlining the performance, nu-jazz psychedelic musicians Oneida skronk alongside the power-pop Shy Child, the wildly alternative antics of Ponytail, garage punk from Titus Andronicus, and the electronic/Caribbean pop of High Places. Depending on which way the weather goes, you may find yourself drenched in a mix of sweats (not all your own), but a Todd P party of this magnitude is not to be missed.

More information at the Yard’s website. Set times at Todd P’s website.

The Breeders
And on Sunday at McCarren Park Pool
A FREE POOL PARTY WITH THE THE BREEDERS, MATT + KIM, AND THE WHIP
Doors open at 2pm, Admission: FREE!, Now featuring food by our friends at Two Boots
More information at www.mccarrenpark.com

The Acorn
ON FRIDAY:

All hail King Khan. The recent Vice Records signee and his nine-piece psychedelic garage-soul band storm into the Seaport tonight like whirling dervishes of rock, brandishing organs, horns, and attitudes aplenty. The Montreal (via Berlin) group sounds more like it hails from Memphis, tempering a classic rock/soul sound with a cheeky garage swagger reminiscent of acts like the Animals, 13 Floor Elevators, and any number of Nuggets-era obscurities. Led by consummate frontman Khan, the Shrines kick open the gate for the custom-fuzzed tones of apocalyptic shoegazers A Place to Bury Strangers

More information at RiverToRiver.

Unleashing “cave-stomp drums, barroom piano and chiming post-punk guitars,” (Rolling Stone) COLD WAR KIDS eschew preciousness for grit. Live, they’re all smoldering energy and raw power. Joining them are local favorites ELVIS PERKINS IN DEARLAND with their dream-like folk rock “drenched in equal parts sunshine and cloudy grey skies,” (Drowned in Sound) and the tuneful but hard hitting SAM CHAMPION, “an absolute force of nature.” (Sterogum)

More information at Celebrate Brooklyn
ON SATURDAY

More information at Citysol.com.

* TITUS ANDRONICUS
* OBITS
* EMPEROR X
* BLOOD CITY
Music begins at 2pm. More information East River Music Project’s website.
ON SUNDAY

More information at McCarrenPark.com

The Hold Steady

Adam Rosen was kind enough to invite FREEwilliamsburg founder, Robert Lanham, to speak on Thursday, June 26, at Happy Ending Lounge. Hope you can make it. He also posted an interview with Lanham at Gelf Magazine. From Gelf Magazine:

The Non-Motivational Speaker Series returns to New York on Thursday, June 26 at 8 p.m. Curated and hosted by Adam Rosen, this monthly event features an above-average lineup of decidedly non-motivating authorities, each presenting views alternative and overlooked on a veritable goody bag of topics. A different theme will be tackled clothesline-style each month, including, but not limited to, comedy, amateur pornography, culture jamming, and religion.
Small Media (as opposed to…Big) will be this month’s topic. Featured speakers are Anna Holmes, Editor of Jezebel.com; Chez Pazienza aka Deus ex Malcontent, blogger par excellence, emmy-winning TV producer ([very] formerly of CNN), and PDF-published memoirist; and Robert Lanham, Editor of FREEwilliamsburg and author of The Hipster Handbook and The Sinner’s Guide to the Evangelical Right.

Directions and more information at Gelf Magazine.