The Best Shows This Weekend! - Oh My Rockness

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The Best Shows This Weekend!

July 21, 2013

Written by Patrick McNamara

Let’s play a game. No. Not chess. Not Global Thermonuclear War. Not drink-a shot-every-time-a music-writer-uses-the-word-cerebral. Let’s play The Best Shows This Week. C’mon. One more time. For old time’s sake. I can’t play it alone. Really? You will? That’s terrific!

These are The Best Shows This Weekend. KKKKKRRRRRRANNNNG! (i think that’s the gong that sounds the beginning of the game but I haven’t made up my mind about that yet.)

(also, i hope you like outdoor shows near water - otherwise it’ll be Tears for Piers for you this week.)

Thursday - July 25th, 2013 A.D.

A Mr. James Murphy dee-jocks at Output tonight. Of course, he’s most famous for being the drummer in Speedking (RIP). I guess he was in some other bands too. And maybe invented the cowbell and the electric piano or something. Remind me to fact check one of these days. Actually, can you quickly put something on your Google Calendar for, say, August 18th that just says “Remind That Music Blob to Fact Check James Murphy?” THX!



Ducktails (uhhh-wee-oooh!) play MoMA. Again, it’s one of those “free if you pay $25” situations. A hefty price. Better call up my Uncle Scrooge for a loan. He’s rich. He’s also a duck.

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Matt Pond has been making good pop for a long time. Tonight, he makes it at Brooklyn Bowl with Ex Cops + Laura Stevenson. This is another oldie* but goodie. (*this one is actually kind of old - 2002 - i think i first heard it on Friendster - but goodness never tires, never fades - and by the way, i just learned Friendster is now a social gaming site based in Malaysia - huh, i had no idea)



Oh, no. He’s not! He’s not going for FOUR posts on ONE night again?!?! He sure is. Once history is remade, you have to follow its new path or you’ll get lost.

Show #4 is Foxygen at Pier 84 (it’s just a couple piers down from Pier 82 and right before Pier 85 - and nowhere near Pier 1 Imports - which is still stuck in the ‘80s). This show is FREE. And 214 of you have it saved to your “My Rockness” account...which is also FREE. Also, this band has somehow managed to make people say “Foxygen” without getting the giggles. Therefore, the unprecedented 4th show post.



SEE ALL OF OUR THURSDAY SHOW PICKS.

Friday - July 26th, 2013 A.D.

Wilco and My Morning Jacket play Pier A Park (the one right before B) in Hoboken. That’s in New Jersey. Someone named Robert Zimmerman from Hibbing - that’s in Minnesota - is also playing. I’ve heard some good things about him but have never really heard him.



Small Black plays tonight at The Bowery Hotel (oh if the old Bowery Boys and Bums could see it now) with American Royalty and Joywave. I like Small Black. They’re ballers.



SEE ALL OF OUR FRIDAY SHOW PICKS.

Saturday - July 27th, 2013 A.D.

MoMA PS 1’s Warm-Ups are always a good time. Well, when it’s not blazing. And even then, whatever. If you’re gonna die you might as well die from dancing in dangerously hot weather. Today’s line-up includes A Guy Named Gerald + Daniel Avery + Majical Cloudz + some other danceable peeps. (I mean, it’s a stretch to dance to Majical Cloudz because who wants to dance when someone on a stage is intensely staring at you - but you could probably get away with it if you’re committed enough.)



Fletcher C. Johnson + Hector’s Pets play Shea Stadium. That’s a really good retro power pop punch right there. You know what? I like guitars.



The Bushwick Block Party happens all day today near Roberta’s. It’s free. And a bunch of bands are playing - including Action Bronson + Pictureplane + Big Ups. And no, I’m not going to joke around about the types of people that will be at a Bushwick Block Party. Because guys and girls who stand around and watch bands while wearing wacky cool caps is no laughing matter.



Rush Midnight brings his too-too sexy beats to a FREE show on The Rock Shop’s roof deck in Park Slope. There’s also nothing funny about Park Slope. You think those monster truck strollers pushed by overeducated moms and dads older than dirt are funny? Well I assure you, they are not.



SEE ALL OF OUR SATURDAY SHOW PICKS.

Sunday - July 28th, 2013 A.D.

This is as good a day as any to not talk about the same old sounds. Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth come straight from the golden age of hip-hop. They play a FREE show at Central Park Summerstage. Let’s reminisce about 1994 by listening to something other than the Weezer’s “Blue Album” for once.



Kronos Quartet is probably the most famous string quartet in all the world - but maybe I say this because it’s the only string quartet in the world I can name. Regardless, they play a FREE show at Damrosch Bandshell. And Dan Deacon and Amon Tobin and the dude from The National are doing something or another with them too (if you like Kronos Quartet, you’re already going anyway and you’ll find out what - if you don’t like Kronos Quartet, what do you care?)



Mission of Burma play two of the final shows at Maxwell’s tonight and The Hold Steady opens for Gaslight Anthem at Pier 26 (the one four down from 30) but I kind of want to end this thing with Yes - who play Capitol Theatre - so that’s what I’m going to do. End it with Yes.



SEE ALL OF OUR SUNDAY SHOW PICKS.

As always, thanks for playing again this week! 90% of success is showing up and, if you’ve made it this far, you sure did that. So here’s hoping all of you find that other 10% before sundown and that you hold onto it forever and go the heights of which only the eagles soar.

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