Lily Allen Graces the Cover of Paper Magazine

The cheeky, outspoken Brit songstress is on the cover of the September issue of Paper Magazine talking about life and love and her drunken antics and her new album.

See the photos and read the article here.

On why she’s recording in LA:

“I’ve never been good at working in London — too many distractions. Too many people to go out and have lunch with.”

Looking forward to hearing what she’ll come out with as a Soph effort. Actually liking her recent look…her hair is like a mane of cotton candy. and that photo is really making me crave In N Out Burger.

Passion Pit Play Pianos

Sorry for the alliteration.   I caught Passion Pit, a geeky synth heavy band hailing from Boston, on the last night of their sold out residency at the Lower East Side’s Pianos on Wednesday night with opener Gates of Heaven.

Let me talk a minute about Gates of Heaven first. These guys were either really weird or they had a cocktail of psychadelic mushrooms, LSD, crack and booze…and not in a cool Amy Winehouse kinda way. At a few points during the show a drunken concert goer got onstage and drummed out of tune…and the band played on. It was very strange. Not my cup of tea, but I guess to each their own.

Passion Pit on the other hand did not dissapoint. The 5-piece band played about an hour’s worth of foot-tapping tunes off their upcoming Chunk of Change EP. Their sound is far from amazing, but definitely fun, dancey and enjoyable…and actually better live than in the studio (that’s a compliment.) The blog buzzing band continues their tour opening for The French Kicks on September 24th at Bowery Ballroom.

Gates of Heaven

Passion Pit

MP3- Passion Pit – Sleepyhead

Upcoming Gig Spotlight: The Kooks In Central Park

As of this weekend, summer might be unofficially over and many of us will be mourning the end of the outdoor concert season (especially the end of McCarren Pool shows).

Don’t despair yet. Our favorite Brighton boys, The Kooks, will be closing out summer in NYC with a show at Central Park Rumsey Playfield on September 10.

Tix are still available.

umm anyone remember Stellastar*??? Well they’re opening. Don’t deny the 2003 hipster in you the chance of finally hearing My Coco live.

Rare Oasis Gig at NYC’s Terminal 5

Oasis will be performing a rare club show at Manhattan’s Terminal 5 on Friday September 12. Tickets for the show are extremely limited!!!

You must be registered in order to purchase tickets for this show. Register here by September 3rd. Sucessful applicants will be notified later that date. You must then purchase your tickets by September 8th or your “right to purchase will be void.”

Click here for more Tour Dates.

It’s coming…

New York Fashion Week : September 5-12, 2008

Check out these links to get your Fashion Week Fix:

+ Mercedes Benz Fashion Week: Schedule

+ New York Magazine Fashion Week Information

M.I.A. : Officially Out of Retirement

The recent Top 10 Billboard Chart success of “Paper Planes” has pulled M.I.A. out of retirement and re-evaluating her early retirement plan. Read an excerpt from the Entertainment Weekly interview below and get the story behind the hit single here.

When you performed at Bonnaroo this year, you said it was going to be your last ever show. Did you mean it?
Well, it was my last ever show. And it still is. I stopped touring after that and I didn’t want to make music again. I was quite happy to just leave it all behind. I was happy with what I had achieved. Now, with the success of “Paper Planes,” there’s pull for me to make another record. Even my mum believes in me more [laughs]. It’s a nice encouragement. But I was planning my life as a fishing woman on the outskirts of Cambodia. That’s a joke.

MP3- M.I.A. – Paper Planes (Scottie B. Remix)

The End of an Era: McCarren Park Pool

Last night I attended the final Summer Screen event at McCarren Park Pool for Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. Surprisingly, we were allowed to bring alcohol BUT it could not be in glass. My huge 6.99 bottle of Trader Joe’s wine had to be poured into cups provided by the door people and maneuvered to a decent spot, picking up free gifts from sponsors along the way. The King Left played an enjoyable set before the movie started a little after 8PM.

It was a really nice and bittersweet finale to the events at McCarren [Yo La Tengo is playing the final final show at the Pool on Sunday--but it's not free.] It will truly be missed on summer days to come but I am confident that we will have something new and fun to look forward to.

Click here to sign a petition for the creation of a new concert space in Brooklyn.

The King Left August 27th Summer Screen. Aesop Rock at the August 17th Pool Party.

«More Pictures McCarren Park Pool»

Radiohead at All Points West

FINALLY posting about this. Time to play catch-up big time. I was actually dreading this festival…the trek, the heat, the crowds. But I was pleasantly surprised when the weather was beautiful, the other acts were great and The Radiohead crowd wasn’t TOO crazy.

Luckily, Anthony brought this super duper little mat with which, not unlike the pioneers, we staked our claim on a piece of Liberty State Park early in the afternoon. Everyone was pretty respectful of our turf even during Radiohead. Around 8pm hordes of people started encroaching in on us and I started to feel a bit claustrophobic but it eased up as the night went on.

When they pulled those “icicles” into the middle of the stage, I was blown away. Their light/stage show just keeps getting better and better. It was breathtaking and really enhanced the songs and the experience. Even though I was the farthest away from the stage I had ever been at a Radiohead show, it was definitely worth all the time and money because Radiohead never disappoint. This was also a completely full circle moment for me having seen Radiohead two nights at Liberty State Park from the front row back in 2001.

Highlights for me included the fact that Thom was wearing red trousers and a Fred Perry polo, Nude and set closer Idioteque. That song drives me insane and oh Thom’s glorious dancing.

All photos (unless otherwise noted) taken by me or Anthony or Anthony holding my camera up to take pictures because I am too short.

«More Photos of Radiohead All Points West 8/9/08»

The mass exodus at the Light Rail:

Photo courtesy of TLC friend, Shawn McGinnis:

All Points West Festival: Day 2

I just wanted to touch on the festival as a whole. August 8-10 saw the debut of the first NYC area festival, The All Points West Festival. Tickets for each date sold for 89.00, and totaled $106.50 after the imposed ticketbastard fees. Weighing the line-up for all three dates, we opted for Saturday’s show. Besides Radiohead, the lineup for this three-day festival wasn’t the greatest [Kings of Leon and Underworld were the only ones I was wholly interested in seeing] but kudos to the organizers for landing Radiohead for the festival’s debut. Performers impressively kept to the schedule, the overall energy was pretty vibrant, and the location [minus the annoying commute] was actually quite beautiful.

Pros: Bands were professional and enthusiastic, The sound was pretty decent, Art installations were quite interesting…some were not, Encouraged concertgoers to recycle by offering prizes each time trash was put in the proper receptacles.

Cons: Tickets were not scanned [anyone could have found a way to sneak in with reprinted tix], Not enough bathrooms, beer situation [drinkers were limited to 5 beers and could not take drinks out of drinking tents.]

Overall I really enjoyed myself, more than I anticipated being that it was my first festival. Good job APW, I give you an A- for effort on your debut. I’m hoping these issues get resolved for next year and that the line-up will blow this year’s out of the water.

«More Pictures From the All Points West Festival 8/9»

Transatlantic Double Whammy: Michael Phelps at London 2012 Party

London is excited for 2012. They threw a massive party in front of Buckingham Palace at the weekend to celebrate the handover of the summer Olympics. New Yorkers would never be this thrilled and honestly I can speak for all the New Yorkers I know when I say I was relieved when we didn’t win the 2012 bid.

The Beijing closing ceremony had a brief London segment featuring (OF COURSE!) a double decker bus and David Beckham. The bus bit was pretty cool although I think they would have more aptly captured the essence of London bus stops if they featured two drunk men beating each other. Kidding aside, Leona Lewis was fab even though I was disappointed all she did was sing a kind of weak version of Whole Lotta Love w/ Jimmy Page on guitar.

The London party featured the likes of McFly, Il Divo and pride of the USA and greatest Olympian EVER, Michael Phelps. Must go to 2012 Olympics.

ok I promise this is the last Olympics/Phelps mention on here for a loooong time. Just couldn’t help myself with this transatlantic amazingness. He may be a total mouth-breather, but he’s an inspirational and humble champion.

Enough gushing. Watch this video.