Englishman in New York

Stuck for something to do in New York this weekend?

This week’s Blogarithms story in Metro features a Q&A with music blogger Brooklyn Vegan. Click here for the edited Metro article. The extended version follows :

How many concerts do you go to in an average week? And how do you find the time (and the money) to do it?
Every night I consider a show, but I only end up out about 3 nights a week. Time is hard to find. Money is a little easier because I do have a paying job and lot of bands invite me to be on their guestlist.

Why the name Brooklyn Vegan? And why is there so little opinion on the site?
I wouldn’t name it “Brooklyn Vegan” if I could do it over. It was sort of an accident I guess. I wasn’t actually planning on having a mostly-music website when I started. I just thought I would try out blogging and write about whatever interested me - Brooklyn, veganism, and music being three topics. Veganism and Brooklyn kind of got left in the dust as things picked up.

It’s not that there’s little opinion - It’s just that it’s hard to find. If I’m real excited about a show while I’m writing, you’ll know it when reading. Also, I like to stay positive if I can. A lot of my site is just news too.

What’s New York like for live music?
NYC may be the greatest place on Earth for live music. Then again, I’ve never lived farther than an hour from Manhattan.

Why? Because every single night there are countless shows to choose from. You’ve got rock, jazz, classical, world, techno, hip-hop, etc. You’ve got the biggest names in music playing in NYC every night. When bands from other countries make their U.S. debut, it’s almost always in NY. It’s almost become the norm even that touring bands play more than one night in NYC. Everyone else gets one night of Sufjan Stevens. We get five nights in a row followed by five more non-tour shows in less than a year. It helps that he lives here which brings me to another point: a lot of great musicians live here.

What is the show to see in 2006?
That depends on your point of view, but Arctic Monkeys seem like the obvious answer. There’s also up-and-comers like Swedish singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez, Tapes ‘n Tapes, and Voxtrot, the completely underrated Cloud Cult, and Slayer. Wolf Parade is playing two sold-out shows at Webster Hall. Sunset Rubdown is Wolf Parade vocalist Spencer Krug’s other band, and they’re playing one show at the much smaller Mercury Lounge that’s still not sold out. The Gorillaz shows at Apollo Theatre should be good. See me next week for a completely different answer.

What are the best venues in New York?
Some of my mid-large size favorites are Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan, and Warsaw in Greenpoint (Brooklyn). Warsaw is especially cool because it’s a Polish National Home by day. They even serve pierogies and other Polish-fare at the shows. Knitting Factory is always good, and for small, random, and intimate shows, try Barbes in Park Slope, Sidewalk Café in the East Village and Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side. I like to stay below 14th St in Manhattan, or in Brooklyn if I can. The subway is good too.

Say I want to take in some live music this weekend, where should I look and who should I look out for?
This weekend is funny because every band in the universe (and this blogger) will be in Austin at SXSW (South by Southwest Music and Media Conference). There’s still lots of good stuff going on though because this is NYC. Indie favorite ‘Silver Jews’ are touring for the first time. They’ll play two shows at Webster Hall. Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis has two shows at Irving Plaza. The Pogues are playing some extremely rare shows at Nokia Theatre. Stereolab, Archer Prewitt and Sam Prekop are playing Town Hall. Lots of foreign bands are in the U.S. right now for SXSW and lots of them stop by NYC to play a show or two before they head home. Look for those shows next week (especially at Mercury Lounge). Most of all, just go explore - there’s so much to find.

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