(Yo La Tengo at the Granada, Dallas, last Saturday night.  Pic taken from SilentKid70’s Flickr stream)

Through a series of failed relationships, family disputes and horrible recriminations with dear friends, I’ve come to learn there is no greater gift you can give your loved ones than simply being there.  This works rather well if you’re cheap or have nothing else to to ; not nearly so well if you’re me and you’ve got tickets to sit in the studio audience of a very serious chat show.

Fortunately for the good people of San Francisco, Yo La Tengo aren’t like that at all. Sure, Ira, Georgia and James could issue a press release about how “we’re looking forward to seeing you at Coachella”, or they could fob you off with some YouTube footage from their most recent US tour. But they care far too much about their fans in one of America’s most beautiful cities (to spend 3 or 4 days in), and for that we should all be grateful.

Thu, 4/22 – San Francisco CA – The Fillmore with Camera Obscura (tickets)
Fri, 4/23 – San Francisco CA – The Fillmore with Thee Oh Sees  (tickets)
Sat, 4/24 – San Francisco CA – The Fillmore with Sic Alps (tickets)

If you’d rather not give Live Nation your personal details, tickets for the above shows are also available from the following ;

Aquarius Records
1055 Valencia St, SF 94110
415 647 3448 /
* tickets will have a $1 surcharge

Mod Lang
6328 Fairmount Ave. (Rear Unit), El Cerrito, CA 94530
510 486 1880
*No surcharge on cash purchase / 2% surcharge on credit card purchases

(‘Popular Songs’, still available on LP/CD or digital album from The Matador Store)

After far too much local hype (for my comfort, anyway), our 17-band, 3 night spectacular at Austin’s Beerland kicks off this evening (doors at 9pm, music at 1opm) with the first show from The Persimmons in many months.  Running orders for all 3 evenings are below (headliners on top) but please be advised of the following ;

a) we’re giving away a ltd. edition screenprint of the above poster to the first 30 paid attendees tonight
b) End Of An Ear will be selling LP’s and CD’s on Friday and Saturday
c) Alan Benavides and Fred from The Stuffies will be spinning records Friday and Saturday
d) Friday and Saturday night’s shows start at 9pm sharp.
e) it’s $5 to get in.  If you don’t think it’s worth paying .83 cents (U.S.) per band, please keep it to yourself rather than requesting guest list space for a blog we’ve never seen before.  Thanks, dignity (yours especially) is a precious thing.

Thursday, February 4

Follow That Bird!
Dikes Of Holland
Kingdom Of Suicide Lovers

The Distant Seconds
The Persimmons

Friday, February 5

Woven Bones
The Young

Wild America
Flesh Lights
Elvis
The No No No Hopes

Saturday, February 6

Harlem

The Golden Boys
Bad Sports
Love Collector
The Stuffies
Lost Controls

(Order ‘Casual Victim Pile’ on LP, CD or digital album from The Matador Store)

Cold Cave will stop in Criminal Records in Atlanta next Thursday, February 11 at 7pm for a free instore performance.
Seriously… don’t miss it.

But if you do, catch them later that night at The 529.

While this week’s release of Matador’s 19-band Austin/Denton compilation, ‘Casual Victim Pile’ has met with mostly favorable notices, some have rightly raised the question, “where’s the inflammatory, entirely unnecessary attacks on other genres / scenes etc.?”   So with that in mind, we commissioned Denny Schmickle to design (and Obsolete Industries to print) a limited edition poster for next week’s 3-night stand at Beerland.  Please, if 60 of these managed to completely obscure the entrance to the Saxon Pub,  rest assured this was purely the handiwork of an overzealous street team.

That said, a limited quantity of the above poster will be free with paid admission ($5) to next Thursday’s NIGHT ONE featuring Follow That Bird!, Dikes Of Holland, Kingdom Of Suicide Lovers, The Distant Seconds and The Persimmons.  On the subsequent Friday (Woven Bones, The Young, Wild America, Flesh Lights, Elvis, The No No No Hopes) and Saturday (Harlem, The Golden Boys, Bad Sports, Love Collector, The Stuffies, Lost Controls) nights, Alan B will be playing records between sets and our good friends from End Of An Ear Records will be peddling LP & CD copies of ‘CVP’.

(Wild America, photo taken from ballrogs kill’s Flickr stream)

WOXY.com co-sponsor of next week’s shows (along with Austinist), will be broadcasting live sessions from Follow That Bird! (February 4, 4:30pm), Wild America (February 5, 12:30pm) and Love Collector (February 6, 4:30pm) as part of their Lounge Acts series.

(Order ‘Casual Victim Pile’ on LP, CD or digital album from The Matador Store)

(yes…it’s a old photo.  new ones, soon!)

After a handful of don’t-call-it-a-comeback shows around the midwest last Autumn, The Ponys will be hitting the road for the first time in well, far too long, starting next week. We’ll have some news about a forthcoming commercial-available-recorded-product of some sort or another very soon (unless you read about it elsewhere. We’re not the only credible source in the world!)

Fri Feb 05, 2010 Grinnell, IA Gardner Lounge – Grinnell College with Rank Strangers
Sat Feb 06, 2010 St. Paul, MN Turf Club with France Has the Bomb, Bonbay Sweets, Chambermaids
Tue Apr 27, 2010 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern with Disappears
Wed Apr 28, 2010 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge with Disappears, Meth Teeth
Fri Apr 30, 2010 San Francisco, CA Bottom of The Hill with Disappears, Spencey Dude and the Doodles
Sat May 01, 2010 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland with Disappears, Static Static
Sun May 02, 2010 San Diego, CA Casbah with Disappears, Christmas Island
Fri May 28, 2010 Austin, TX Mohawk (Chaos In Tejas)

(Jose, Coomers and Curtis dealing with the elements at Fun Fun Fun last November. pic taken from Pooneh Ghana’s Flickr page)

In addition to a mid February trio of shows in New York City and a Feb. 6 appearance as part of Matador’s Casual Victim Pile revue at Austin’s Beerland, Harlem are pointing their compass in a western direction at the end of the month, previewing selections from their forthcoming ‘Hippies’ LP/CD/digital album.  Or so we hope.  We’re not really in the business of dictating repertoire, mostly because it’s embarrassing when we get the song titles wrong (admittedly, this doesn’t happen so often with Harlem, but keep in mind, they’re pretty new on the label).  A video for “Friendly Ghost” will be unveiled pretty soon, once we’ve received a thumbs-up from the extremely powerful Ghost Lobby that tends to control most of the entertainment business.

Thu, 2/18 – Phoenix AZ – Trunk Space (tickets)
Fri, 2/19 – Los Angeles CA – L’KEG Gallery
Sat, 2/20 – Los Angeles CA – Spaceland (tickets)
Sun, 2/21 – San Diego CA – Casbah (tickets)
Tue, 2/23 – San Jose CA – Blank Club (tickets)
Wed, 2/24 – San Francisco CA – Cafe Du Nord – Noise Pop (tickets)
Fri, 2/26 – Portland OR – Dantes (tickets)
Sat, 2/27 – Seattle WA – Funhouse (tickets)
Wed, 3/3 – Santa Cruz CA – The Crepe Place (tickets)
Thu, 3/4 – Costa Mesa CA – Detroit Bar
Fri., 3/5 – Tucson, AZ – Club Congress (tickets)

(Preorder ‘Hippies’ on LP or  CD for 15% before April 6 from The Matador Store – poster included)

“Friendly Ghost” (192k mp3)

It’s the greatest thing to hit Pontiac, MI since Wayne Fontes’ hair.  Greater, perhaps.   Yo La Tengo and Times New Viking hit the road starting today in support of their respective 2009 masterpieces, ‘Popular Songs’ and ‘Born Again Revisited’.   While the Jan. 29 show in Austin, TX is a sellout, tickets still remain for the rest of the following shows (prices below include NO ADDITIONAL SERVICE CHARGE) ;

Fri., 1/22 – Pontiac MI – Crofoot Ballroom – $17
Tickets available from Stormy, 13210 Michigan Ave., Dearborn MI 48126
Wazoo, 336 1/2 State St., Ann Arbor MI 48104
Crofoot box office, 1 South Saginaw St., Pontiac MI  48342

Sat., 1/23 – Madison WI – Barrymore Theatre – $20
Tickets available from B Side, 436 State St., Madison WI 53703
Barrymore box office, 2090 Atwood Ave., Madison WI 53704)

Sun., 1/24 – St Louis MO – The Pageant – $19.50
Tickets available from Vintage Vinyl, 6610 Del Mar Ave., St. Louis MO 63130
Euclid, 601 East Lockwood, St. Louis MO 63119
Pageant box office, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis  MO 63112-1200 (cash only)

Tue., 1/26 – Lawrence KS – Granada Theatre – $17
Tickets : Love Garden, 822 Massachusetts St., Lawrence KS 66044
Granada box office, 1020 Massachusetts St., Lawrence KS 66044

Weds, 1/27 – Tulsa, OK, Cain’s Ballroom

Thu., 1/28 – Houston TX – Warehouse Live – $20
Tickets  Vinal Edge, 13171 Veteran’s Memorial Drive, Houston TX 77014
Sound Exchange,1846 Richmond, Houston TX 77098
Cactus, 2110 Portsmouth, Houston TX 77098

Fri., 1/29 – Austin TX – Antone’s  (SOLD OUT)

Sat., 1/30 – Dallas TX – Granada Theatre – $20
Good Records, 1808 Greenville Ave., Dallas TX 75206
Granada box office, 3524 Greenville Ave., Dallas TX 75206

Was there a more unjustly slept on 2009 long-player than The Cave Singers’ amazing 2nd album, ‘Welcome Joy’?  Possibly, but a straight answer to that question suggests some culpability on our part.  Rather than play The Blame Game, let’s instead concentrate on your favorite Seattle trio and ours returning the highways and biways of this great nation later this month, for a lengthy tour (mostly) accompanied by The Dutchess & The Duke.  And The Cave Singers will be hitting SXSW, too (more news on that front later on).

Tue, 2/23 – Olympia WA – Northern*
Wed, 2/24 – Bremerton WA – Hi-Fidelity Lounge*
Thu, 2/25 – Spokane WA – Empyrean Coffee House*
Fri, 2/26 – Kennewick WA – The Red Room*
Sat, 2/27 – Anacortes WA – Dept of Safety*
Fri, 3/5 – Vancouver BC – UBC – Pit Pub^
Sat, 3/6 – Seattle WA – The Showbox*
Sun, 3/7 – Portland OR – Doug Fir Lounge^
Tue, 3/9 – San Francisco CA – The Independent^
Wed, 3/10 – Santa Cruz CA – The Crepe Place^
Thu, 3/11 – Los Angeles CA – The Echo^
Fri, 3/12 – San Diego CA – Casbah^
Sat, 3/13 – Tucson AZ – Plush^
Mon, 3/15 – Albuquerque NM – Low Spirits^
Tue, 3/16 – Lubbock TX – Bash Riprock’s^
Wed, 3/17 – Denton TX – Hailey’s^
Mon, 3/22 – Norman OK – The Opolis
Tue, 3/23 – St Louis MO – Billiken Club
Thu, 3/25 – Bloomington IN – The Bishop
Fri, 3/26 – Fort Wayne IN – The Brass Rail
Sat, 3/27 – Chicago IL – Empty Bottle
Mon, 3/29 – Milwaukee WI – Mad Planet
Tue, 3/30 – Iowa City IA – The Mill
Wed, 3/31 – Lawrence KS – Replay Lounge
Thu, 4/1 – Denver CO – Walnut Room
Fri, 4/2 – Salt Lake City UT – Kilby Court
Sat, 4/3 – Boise ID – Neurolux

* = with The Dutchess & The Duke
^ = with The Dutchess & The Duke + The Moondoggies

‘Welcome Joy’ – LP/CD/digital album available from the Matador Store