After dallying with closure last year, Tonic is shuttering next month. Time Out NY Tonic, 1998–2007. Can experimental and avant-garde music create a viable venue? The Knitting Factory remains open, but only after mainstreaming and forgetting about jazz and experimental music.
Sin-é closes this Sunday. I, for one, won’t miss it. With sound that can be either decent or a muddy mess and lacking a full liquor license in the performance room, it is no longer a first-rate venue (if it ever was).
Irving Plaza will become the Fillmore East at Irving Plaza. Live Nation is expanding the Fillmore brand to established venues including Irving Plaza, TLA in Philadelphia and the State Theater in Detroit. Billboard reports: Live Nation Expands Fillmore Franchise In Three Cities

“Bruce Eskowitz, Live Nation’s CEO of North American Music, says the new Fllmores will hark back to that time, with signature “dark, sophisticated” red paint, the Fillmore’s distinctive chandeliers, and vintage Fillmore and Fillmore East posters throughout.
Other improvements to Irving Plaza include upgraded artist dressing rooms, a renovated VIP section with dramatically improved sightlines and the addition of plasma screens throughout the club.”

No indication that the upgrades will be anything but cosmetic and do anything to improve the mediocre sound at Irving Plaza.
And fortunately, despite rumors to the contrary, The Mercury Lounge is not closing.

WOXY has a blog now: The Futurist.

The Armed Forces look to little known and independent musicians to provide entertainment for troops: Rock in a Hard Place: “The group responsible for recruiting these bands is a little-known division of the Pentagon called Armed Forces Entertainment. Last year, AFE sent more than 100 small acts to camps around the world — compared with the nonprofit, civilian-run USO, which last year sent 37 tours abroad, mainly to big hubs like Kuwait City and Baghdad. Recently, AFE has been on the rise, organizing a record number of concerts and ramping up its band recruitment efforts.”
Armed Forces Entertainment
(Title reference: The Simpsons episode CABF12)

Tonight (2/21) Die Romantik @ Pianos
Tomorrow (2/22) The Walk Ons @ Pianos
Goes Cube plays three NYC shows before heading off to SXSW and a cross-country tour: 2/26 @ Pianos, 2/27 @ Cake Shop, 3/2 @ Pianos
3/2 Gritty Midi Gang, The Muggabears @ Sin-é
3/3 Die Romantik, Mancino @ Union Hall
3/8 Tigers and Monkeys @ Hiro Ballroom
3/8 The Walkmen @ Bowery Ballroom
3/10 The Bosch @ The Annex
3/12 Heavy Trash @ Europa
3/12 The Raveonettes @ Mercury Lounge
3/12 The Good, The Bad and The Queen @ Webster Hall
3/14 Scourge of the Sea @ Mercury Lounge

A saxophone-playing robot sorta mostly plays Giant Steps:

(via Boing Boing)

I didn’t watch much of the Grammys– missed The Police and got bored quickly. But the highlight of what I saw was not John Mayer’s disturbing guitar solo face nor Gnarls Barkley playing the largo version of Crazy with a ginormous choir. Rather, it was Ornette Coleman in his snazzy suit introducing the nominees for best new artist. He did so by reading all of the lines on the teleprompter, including the cues, “Ornette:” and “Natalie:”

Was there auto-tune on Billy JOel’s voice while he sang the national anthem? It sounded a bit processed with that characteristic digital flavor.

A mashup of Doctor Who and Monty Python: Doctor Who and the French Dalek

Aqua Teen Hunger Force colon Movie Film for Theaters