Thursday, August 19, 2010 7:00 PM

Seaside Concert Series
Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn

It has been said that the B-52s are as quintessentially American as the Beach Boys. And twenty-five years and over twenty million albums into their career, the B-52s remain the among the most beloved rock stars ever. Any mystery concerning the longevity and ongoing appeal of the B-52s is immediately solved when exposed to the B-52s unique concert experience.

From the timeless gems of “Rock Lobster,” “Planet Claire” and “Private Idaho” to the more recent classics of “Channel Z,” “Love Shack” and “Roam”, the B-52s unforgettable

dance-rock tunes start a party every time the music begins. Formed on an October night in 1976 following drinks at an Athens, GA, Chinese restaurant, the band played their first gig at a friend’s house on Valentine’s Day 1977.

Naming themselves after Southern slang for exaggerated ‘bouffant” hairdos, the newly-christened B-52s (Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson and Ricky Wilson) began weekend road trips to New York City for gigs at CBGB’s and a handful of other venues.

Before long, their thrift store aesthetic and genre-defying songs were the talk of the post-punk underground. A record deal soon followed and their self-titled debut disc, produced by Chris Blackwell, sold more than 500,000 copies on the strength of their first singles, the garage rock party classic “Rock Lobster,” and “52 Girls.”

The B-52s began to attract fans far beyond the punk clubs of the Lower East Side–galvanizing the pop world with their ’stream-of-consciousness’ approach to songwriting and outrageous performance. They had clearly tapped into a growing audience for new music that was much larger than anyone could have anticipated.

“We always appealed to people outside the mainstream,” says Kate Pierson, “and I think more people feel they’re outside the mainstream these days.”

Hollywood native Belinda Carlisle was and occasionally still is the lead vocalist for the pop rock band The Go-Go’s and is also a phenomenally successful solo artist.

After the initial breakup of The Go-Go’s in 1985, Belinda embarked on a solo career resulting in six internationally successful albums and the chart-topping hit “Heaven is a Place on Earth.” The video for that song was directed by Diane Keaton and included an appearance by Belinda’s husband Morgan Mason, son of actor James Mason. Belinda’s TV appearances include Celebrity Duets, the MTV competition reality show Rock the Cradle and the eighth season of Dancing with the Stars. Her autobiography, Lips Unsealed: A Memoir, was released in June of 2010.

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Thursday, July 29, 2010 7:30 PM

Seaside Concert Series
Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn

After 35 years as “The World Greatest Bar Band,” George Thorogood & The Destroyers are still bad to the bone.

Formed in Delaware in the early 1970s, the band’s raucous, slide guitar-stoked, blues-rock takes on tunes by Chuck Berry, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and others helped them audiences across the country with their raucous take on classic urban rock and blues.

Their first hit was “Move It On Over,” an amped-up cover of a Hank Williams tune, and they broke big with the immortal rocker “Bad to the Bone,” the title track from their

gold-certified 1982 album. That song has been a perennial favorite, featured in everything from James Cameron’s Terminator to a Wrangler’s commercial starring Bret Favre.

Their 2004 gold-certified compilation, “Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock,” was Billboard’s Blues Album of the Year two years running. Just last year, the band released “The Dirty Dozen,” which paired six new studio recordings with six classic fan favorites and drew raves from fans and critics alike. The Destroyers were the first, and perhaps the only, band to perform in 50 states in 50 days.

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes have flourished for more than 30 years, with 30 albums, EPs and a box set; thousands of live performances around the globe; a legion of dedicated and enthusiastic fans; dozens of classic songs; and a record – Hearts of Stone – that Rolling Stone called one of the “top 100 albums of the 70’s and 80’s.”

Born and raised on the Jersey Shore, Southside started out singing and playing at the now legendary Upstage Club, often joined by pals Bruce Springsteen, “Miami Steve” Van Zandt, and Garry Tallent. Southside and his band, eventually called the Asbury Jukes, grew their reputation as a dynamic live act.

Southside Johnny

In 1975, they released the critically acclaimed I Don’t Want To Go Home, and a legend began. Over three decades of recording and touring followed. Since 1999, Johnny and the Jukes have released Messin’ With The Blues, Going To Jukesville, Into The Harbour and a live album. A new live record and a studio record are in the works.

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Thursday July 22, 2010 7:30 PM

Seaside Concert Series
Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn

You can capsulize most pop music acts by reciting how many hits they’ve had and how many millions of albums they’ve sold. But these conventional measurements fall short when you’re assessing the impact of The Beach Boys. To be sure, this band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by the tens of millions. But its greater significance lies in the fact that it changed the musical landscape so profoundly that every pop act since has been in its debt.

Happily for us all, The Beach Boys continue to create and perform with the same bold imagination and style that marked their explosive debut 40 years ago. And now in

2006, their latest Capitol Records release, Sounds of Summer (RIAA certified double platinum with over two million in sales and climbing), marks a resurgence in Beach Boys interest that has again rocked the world.

Flo & Eddie (Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman)’s 1960s hits with The Turtles included the #1 hit “Happy Together,” “She’d Rather Be With Me,” “Elenore” and “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”

Micky Dolenz sang lead on the Monkees’ #1 singles “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m a Believer.” The group sold more than 65 million records worldwide.

Mark Lindsay is the former lead singer and co-founder of Paul Revere & the Raiders, and was the voice on 17 Top 40 hits, including “Kicks,” “Hungry” and “Arizona.”

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Saturday July 17 12:00 PM

Coney Island, Brooklyn

Village Voice’s Siren Music Festival is back for the tenth year. This mega free music festival features many of the top Indy Rock artists in New York City’s playground – Coney Island. This is an event that should not be missed.

This year’s line-up:
Matt and Kim
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Surfer Blood
Harlem
The Night Marchers
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Earl Greyhound
Screaming Females
Wye Oak
Dom
Apache Beat
Ponytail
Holy Fuck
Deadheat DJs

Click for Full Schedule with Performance Times:

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Village Voice’s Siren Music Festival has added The Night Marchers, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Earl Greyhound, Screaming Females, and Wye Oak to the line up of the July 17th festival. This is in addition to the initial line up announced consisting of Matt and Kim, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Surfer Blood, and Harlem. More information can be found at the Siren Music Festival site.

2010 Mermaid Parade
June 19, 2010 2:00 PM
Coney Island, Brooklyn

The 2010 Mermaid Parade is one of many New Yorkers favorite annual events. The parade will be back June 19 starting at 2:00 PM. This year the organizers did a great job matching up the Queen Mermaid and King Neptune. The Queen Mermaid is Laurie Anderson, King Neptune is Lou Reed. Stay tuned for more updates about the 2010 Mermaid Parade.

Thursday August 27 7:00 PM

The 31st Annual Seaside Summer Concert Series
Asser Levy Park
at West 5th Street and Surf Avenue
Coney Island, NY

An artist who once defined the ’70s pop music generation as the “Queen of Disco,” Donna Summer has become one of the world’s leading singers and songwriters. The career of the five-time Grammy-winner spans a range of musical genres from R&B and rock to inspirational and dance.

Born Donna Gaines to a large family in Boston, she developed an early interest in music. From the age of eight, Summer sang in church choirs and city-wide choruses, and by her early twenties she began performing in the musical theatre in Germany. While there, she won parts in such highly-acclaimed shows as Hair, Showboat, Godspell, and Porgy and Bess.

She also met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte who produced her first single, Hostage, which became a hit in the Netherlands, France and Belgium.

In 1975, Moroder and Bellotte produced the international hit, Love to Love You Baby which rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and triggered Summer’s triumphant return to the United States as a key figure of the new disco genre. Love to Love You Baby paved the way for such Grammy-award winning hits as Bad Girls and Hot Stuff as well as the Academy-award winning theme song Last Dance from the film Thank God It’s Friday, which remains a shining moment of Summer’s career. (Source)

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Thursday August 13 7:30 PM

Asser Levy “Seaside” Park
Surf Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11224

Blondie is the creation of Deborah Harry and Christ Stein. In the late 1970’s they had proven to be the image and attitude of the NYC downtown scene. Their music had crossed over from rock to disco and onto rap. Blondie’s music has endured over time. It is still very common to hear “Heart of Glass” or “Rapture” played at a party.

Pat Benatar is best know for her 80’s hits “Love Is a Battlefield”, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”, and “Heartbreaker”. She had won four Grammy Awards in the 1980’s and is one of the top multi-platinum record artists of the 1980’s. Her success as a singer can be attributed to her training as an opera singer when she was young. Even today Pat Benatar can still rock the house with her amazing vocal range.

Palo Alto’s The Donnas have been rocking out together since they were thirteen. They’re music is a blend of Ramones, Kiss and Motley Crue. But in the end, The Donnas just want to have a good time with their fans.

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