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.

(photo taken from Chad Wadsworth’s Flickr stream)

Yo La Tengo and The Feelies are playing Montclair, NJ’s Wellmont Theatre on New Year’s Eve.  Tickets are $35 and go on sale October 18 via Tickets.com.   I was gonna use this post as an opportunity to take a cheap shot at Montclair, but I’ve since been informed the town is either a past or present home to such luminaries as Yogi Berra, Stephen Colbert, Larry Doby, Christina Ricci, Bill Bradley, Joe Walsh, Thomas Edison and “The Wire”’s embattled police commish, Frankie Faison.   They’re all invited, too!

From Yo La Tengo.com :

Not sure about the legal definition of “popular demand,” but this might actually apply. At long last, They Shoot, We Score collects all of our music — plus outtakes — for the motion pictures Game 6, Junebug, Old Joy, and Shortbus in one handy-dandy compact disc. Nearly an hour of instrumental music. 27 tracks — 26 of them previously unreleased. Eight-page booklet features posters from around the world. Four different front covers, one for each movie. Don’t collect them all, and don’t ask for a specific one — they will be sent out according to a random-number generator by our blindfolded mail-order crew.

TRACK LISTING:  OLD JOY 1. Leaving Home 2. Getting Lost 3. Path to Springs 4. Driving Home
5. Leaving Home (alternate version) 6. Old Joy: End Credits JUNEBUG 7. Ashley 8. Meerkats 9. Madeline
10. A Roomful of Ladies (outtake) 11. David Wark 12. Aftermath (outtake) 13. George GAME 6 14. This Could Be It
15. The Phantom Who Haunts Broadway 16. Game Time 17. Pharaoh Blues 18. Zoo Chant 19. Love Chant 20. Asbestos
21. Return of the Pharaoh 22. Spec Bebop 23. Buckner’s Boner SHORTBUS 24. Isolation Tank
25. Panic in Central Park (outtake) 26. Panic in Central Park 27. Wizard’s Sleeve

(LABEL INTERJECTION : this blindfolded mail-order crew sounds awesome.  We might have to put them in charge of filling our future Jay Reatard 7″ orders. But in all seriousness, Yo La Tengo are playing a free show at Brooklyn’s lovely McCarren Park Pool on Sunday, August 24).

Yo La Tengo never pass up an opportunity for self promotion.

Courtesy of our good friend Stewart Green - roaming reporter at Latitude Festival this weekend.

It’s considered the weeks most difficult crossword, but 57 across was a grand slam, at least for you and I. We are proud to be in good company. Here’s my terrible attempt in photographing the paper.

Tonight on NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien”, Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew —- otherwise known as internationally famous pop trio Yo La Tengo — will serve as part of the backing ensemble for Merge recording artists She & Him, aka M. Ward and Zoey Deschanel.

She & Him are not to be confused with the obscure noise rock due You & It, nor the semi-popular Y&T.

More footage can be found at the Other Music site, including a terrific Shearwater clip that I’ve not managed to swipe properly (the cat puked all over my copy of “Embedding For Dummies”).

(Beth and Adam from Times New Viking, using the Bowery Ballroom stage as a mere tune up for Austin’s super swank Soho Lounge. Pic swiped from Rafe Baron’s Flickr page)

I won’t be wearing a “Welcome To Austin : Now Fuck Off” tee next week, mostly because a) I hate slogans and b) there’s too much ketchup on the shirt to wear it in public (again). However, in the interests of keeping you, our close friends, fully informed, we’ve assembled as complete a list as possible of all the events various Matador recording artists are playing next week during the South By Southwest Clusterfuck ™. Please be advised that we’re gonna list the officially sanctioned SXSW events separately from the day parties, after hours bashes, gigs in non-participating clubs, etc., because we don’t wanna mislead anyone. Much like everything good in this world, the below gigs are subject to change. If you can’t get in, there’s undoubtedly something else going that’s not nearly as crowded a few feet away.

OFFICIAL SXSW “Showcases” (like plastic lucite!)

Wednesday, March 13 - Shearwater, Club DeVille, 1am (Brooklyn Vegan party)

Thursday, March 14 - Yo La Tengo, Austin Music Hall, 9:30pm (with My Morning Jacket)
Thursday, March 14 - Jay Reatard, Vice, 302 E. 6th Street 10:30pm
Thursday, March 14 - Times New Viking, Soho Lounge, 217 E. 6th St., 12:30am (Siltbreeze showcase)

Friday, March 15 - Earles & Jensen Present The History Of The Prank Call, Esther’s, 525 E. 6th St., 10:30pm (Super Deluxe showcase)

UNOFFICIAL, NOT CONNECTED TO SXSW-AT-ALL (OTHER THAN TAKING ADVANTAGE) SHOWS :

Wednesday, March 12 - Shearwater, The Mohawk, 4pm (Austinist/Gothamist party)
Wednesday, March 12 - Times New Viking, La Zona Rosa, 10pm (Free Yr Radio/Urban Outfitter party)

Thursday, March 13 - Jay Reatard, French Legation Museum, 5pm (Other Music party)
Thursday, March 13 - Times New Viking, French Legation Museum, 6pm (Other Music party)

Friday, March 14 - Jay Reatard, Emo’s Main Room, 1:30pm (Pitchfork/Windish Booking party)
Friday, March 14 - Yo La Tengo, French Legation Museum, 4pm (Other Music party)
Friday, March 14 - Times New Viking, Emo’s, 4pm (Pitchfork/Windish Booking party)
Friday, March 14 - Jay Reatard, Vice Day Stage, 1106 E. 11th Street, 4pm
Friday, March 14 - Shearwater, French Legation Museum (Other Music party)

Saturday, March 15 - Shearwater, Mess With Texas 2, Waterloo Park, 1:30pm
Saturday, March 15 - Earles & Jensen, Mess With Texas 2, Waterloo Park, 2:30pm
Saturday, March 15 - Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater, Spiderhouse Cafe, 2908 Fruth Street, 3pm
Saturday, Match 15 - Jay Reatard, Mess With Texas 2, Waterloo Park, 5:15pm
Saturday, Match 15 - Times New Viking, Waterloo Records instore, 3pm

(a full list of the official SXSW gigs)

(a nearly full collection of unofficial gigs, parties, etc.)

Happening this coming Sunday (March 2) on WFMU :

“From 5-8pm Gaylord Fields and Bob Brainen mark the halfway point of the WFMU fundraising Marathon by once again enlisting Yo La Tengo to take your calls, pledges and most importantly cover song requests, which will then be brought to life over the air! The band’s long history with the WFMU Marathon has proven that Yo La Tengo is unstoppable, and tonight’s show is a special longer 3-hour broadcast just in case that extended version of “Hocus Pocus” comes up. Gaylord co-hosts the rest of Bob’s show from 8-9pm after the band packs up as well. “

If you’re feeling like donating loot to the only non-profitable organization I’ve ever supported besides Father Bruce Ritter’s “Mittens For Boys” campaign, here’s where you can do so.

Much as I dislike the taint of anything sports-related here at Matador Records and Filmworks, I realize there are plenty of fans of  Yo La Tengo and rock history alike who might enjoy this video presentation.