Residents of the north, why go to one Matador-related show on Wednesday 19th November when you can go to two?

For one night only, you can see both Fucked Up and Jay Reatard playing in completely separate venues in the beautiful city of Manchester. But never fear dear Northerners, you don’t have to choose one show over the other (which would be as cruel as making you choose between Man City and Man United, I’m sure).

Fucked Up play the Roadhouse at 8pm (there’s a 9pm curfew; it’s an all-ages show) whilst Jay Reatard and company head up the Deaf Institute (oh, the irony) at midnight. There’s even enough time to fit in a Reggae Reggae Chicken Subway between shows. Anyone would have thought we’d planned it.

So in a nutshell, your Wednesday night should look something like this:
8pm-9pm - watch Fucked Up @ The Roadhouse
9.05pm - High-five/back-slap/shake hands with Fucked Up
10pm (approximately) - eat Reggae Reggae Chicken Subway
10.30pm - watch Lovvers @ Deaf Institute
12 midnight - watch Jay Reatard @ Deaf Institute

indeed, “cheaper than a movie” (in Hollywood, anyway), unless you’re heading for the dollar theatre to see Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s star turn in “The Midnight Meat Train“.

(Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark, Saturday night at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre. Picture taken from Hazyskyline’s Flickr stream)

OK, file this under an 11th hour announcement. After a pair of shows this weekend in LA and SF supporting Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, Lavender Diamond conclude their brief run with She & Him with the following shows :

Nov. 3 (tonight) - Bimbo’s 365, San Francisco
Nov. 4 - House Of Blues, Anaheim

At moments like this, Matador’s occasionally adversarial relationship with The Fourth Estate seems like a distant memory. Brightblack Morning Light are profiled in the latest issues of Arthur and The Fader, the former featuring the band on their cover for the 2nd time in recent memory. If you can’t find a copy of Arthur in your neighborhood, you can download a PDF of Trinie Dalton’s Brightblack Morning Light interview here.

After completion of an ambitious West Coast schedule, Brightblack Morning Light return to road next week, traveling in support of the newly issued ‘Motion To Rejoin’.

Wednesday - 05 - Denton, TX - Hailey’s w/ Bill Daniel showing “Who Is Bozo Texino”
Thursday - 06 - Austin, TX - Mohawk w/ Bill Daniel showing “Who Is Bozo Texino”
Friday - 07 - Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon w/ Bill Daniel showing “Who Is Bozo Texino”
Saturday - 08 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks w/ Bill Daniel showing “Who Is Bozo Texino”
Wednesday - 12 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle Tavern w/ Zomes
Thursday - 13 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 w/ Zomes
Friday - 14 - Baltimore, MD - Talking Head w/ Fursaxa, Zomes
Sunday - 16 - New Haven, CT - BAR Nightclub w/ Fursaza, Zomes
Monday - 17 - New York, NY - LPR w/ Fursaxa, Zomes
Tuesday - 18 - Brooklyn, NY - South Paw w/ Fursaxa, Zomes
Thursday - 20 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern w/ Fursaxa
Friday - 21 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick w/ Fursaxa
Saturday - 22 - Chicago, IL - The Hideout - Block Party

As per an earlier announcement, for the Denton, Austin, Baton Rogue and New Orleans shows (11/5-11/8), BBML’s performance will be preceded by a screening of Bill Daniel’s “Who Is Bozo Texino?”.

“Oppressions Each” (192K MP3): Oppressions Each - from ‘Motion To Rejoin’ (LP/CD)

Jonathan Meiburg will play an in-store at the brand new location of Criminal Records in Atlanta this Sunday!

This will be the first in-store at the new shop and there is no Shearwater show in Atlanta, so this is your only chance to see Jonathan and hear some Shearwater songs!

Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater
Solo Acoustic In-store
Sunday, Oct. 26th
5:00 PM
Criminal Records
1154-A Euclid Ave NE
Atlanta, GA

(photo taken from Jalapeno’s flickr)

2008’s CMJ Music Marathon in New York City begins tomorrow (10/21), but for us, the festivities start tonight with Shearwater’s performance at Le Poisson Rouge (LPR).

Find below, your guide to the official and unofficial CMJ Marathon showcases featuring a trio of Matador acts: Shearwater, Jay Reatard and Mission of Burma.

With quite the live-act triumvirate and manning of the 1’s and 2’s by Billy Hayes and Times New Viking at the Beggars/Matador After Party, this’ll be a week to remember.

We’ll see you out!

As you can see, Times New Viking have been having the time of their lives on the current Drowned in Sound endorsed Shred Yr Face tour with the lovely No Age and Los Campesinos! kids.

There’s still a fair few dates to go (see below) but if you happen to be London bound this weekend, be sure to get yourselves down to the Super Shred Sunday instore frenzy. Details had been kept secret until now, but i’m pleased to announce which band will be playing which store at what time and how you get in and what it’s all about etc etc:

3pm - Puregroove - No Age
5pm - Beyond Retro, East End - Times New Viking
7pm - Rough Trade East - Los Campesinos!

As with all things in life, there’s a catch - to get into the instores, you’ll need to obtain yourself a wristband.

There’s just 300 wristbands for the Super Shred Sunday instores. The first 100 wristbands will be available direct from Pure Groove Records when you pre order the exclusive Shredyrface 7″ (featuring all three bands), these wristbands will get you free entry into all 3 shows on the Sunday. For wristbands call Pure Groove on UK number 0207 778 9278 or visit www.puregroove.co.uk.

The remaining 200 wristbands will be available via Rough Trade East when you preorder the exclusive Shredyrface 7″ and will gain you free entry to the Beyond Retro and RT East instores.
For wristbands call Rough Trade East on 0207-392 7788 or visit www.roughtrade.com.

Remaining Shredyrface dates:

17 Oct Whelan’s, Dublin
18 Oct School Of Arts (14+), Glasgow
20 Oct Electric Ballroom (14+), London
21 Oct Fleece, Bristol (18+)
22 Oct Academy 3, Manchester (14+)

Last night we played at the Beachland Tavern in Cleveland and we visited Music Saves - a very cool little record shop around the corner from the venue.  I talked to owners, Kevin and Melanie.  Here’s a pic of us after the interview in front of their very cool neon signage.

JO’C:  This is your store, right?  How long have you been at it?

K&M : 4 years.

JO’C:  What’s the best thing about running this store?

Kevin:  All the money you make from selling independent records.

JO’C:  Ha!  Right… I’m familiar with that perk as well.

Melanie:  Seriously, we are fans and it is really awesome to be able to be in the unique position where we can really help bands out in a way we couldn’t if we didn’t have this store.  If we love a record or a band we can really push them and turn people on to them.

JO’C:  How does being in such close proximity to the Beachland Ballroom affect your business?   I assume that’s why you chose this location, right?

Melanie:  Yes, that’s why.  We work together with Beachland.  We sell tickets to the shows and help promote the bands that play there.  We put on shows with them sometimes.  We are all good friends and part of the same community.

JO’C:  Do you stay open late on show nights?

Melanie:  Yes, sometimes.  We did recently for the Neko Case show.

Kevin:  We once stayed open until 3:30 in the morning for a Guided By Voices show.

JO’C:  That’s awesome.  I love the idea of being able to shop for records before, after or during a show.

Do you guys have a prized record in your own personal collection(s)?

Kevin:  I’m not so much of a collector.

Melanie:  Yeah, but we do have some stuff.  We have like 6 copies of that first Menomena record where it folds out into a monster.  There are only like 500 copies of those.   We each got that for eachother for Christmas that year.

JO’C: Aw, that’s sweet.  You guys are married, right?

K&M: Yes.

JO’C:  Ok, just a couple more questions.  What’s your favorite place to eat in Cleveland?

Kevin:  Probably Melt.

Melanie:  It’s full name is Melt Bar & Grilled.

Kevin:  Grilled cheese sandwiches.

JO’C:  Yum!  And its getting to be the time of year for this question….What’s your favorite record of 2008?

Kevin: Bon Iver.

Melanie:  We both love the Frightened Rabbit record too

JO’C:  They just did an instore here today right?

K&M: Yup.

Kevin and Melanie also professed a love for the new Marnie Stern record but thought maybe it was too soon to add it to their favorites of the year list.

Jon Langmead got some used Willie Nelson vinyl and we went and played our set at the Tavern.  Nick Lowe was playing the big room next door and I got to hear half of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” before we went on - which was pretty cool.  I also met Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric who were in attendance.  So, all in all, a pretty chockful day.

Love from Pontiac, MI where we will play with The New Year tonight,

Jennifer O’Connor

OK, we’re a little late with this one. Ira gave us the head’s up about Yo La Tengo playing 2008’s 8 night Hanukkah stand at Hoboken’s Maxwell’s from December 21-28.  In the 36 hours since that email and a subsequent Pitchfork story, all of the shows save for December 23 are sold out.  There might be a handful of tickets remaining at Tunes in Hoboken or Lower Manhattan’s Other Music, but you’d better act fast. 

As in years past, you can expect at least 2 support acts per night (one musical, one perhaps non-musical) a Yo La Tengo set that will probably not resemble the prior evening’s all that much, and the knowledge that your $30.00 ticket price is going to a worthy charity-to-be-determined.  

We’ve also been told the Vivian Girls have been added to the December 31 Yo La Tengo/Feelies bill at Montclair, NJ’s Wellmount Theatre.