HUGE GRAMMY SALE!

The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 13 and Birdland is celebrating the occasion with a special sale on the entire catalog of every 2011 Grammy nominated recording artist. That’s right–EVERY CD by EVERY nominated artist–from now until Monday, February 14. That way you’ll still be able to get a great deal on the winners and even pick up a Valentine’s day gift.

Here’s what you have to do: download the coupon here, print it out, and bring it into the store when you make your purchase. You’ll definitely need it to get your discount, but it’s good for as many Grammy artists CD’s as you want.

Buy 2 CD’s and get 10% off.

The Decemberists

Life as a musician means continual evolution. Over the course of a career, any band worth paying attention to will pursue a sound, a direction, until it triggers a different idea and they’re chasing some other distant dream. With their sixth album, The King Is Dead, The Decemberists illustrate the power that comes from this kind of creative call-and-response.

When the band completed their wildly ambitious 2009 song cycle The Hazards of Love, frontman and primary songwriter Colin Meloy said that “doing this album took a lot out of me, and I’m definitely curious what will come out now that I’ve gotten it out of my system.”   Read more...

CANADIAN CENSORS REVISIT DIRE STRAITS BAN

Canada’s TV regulator has ordered the country’s radio censor to reconsider its ban on the Dire Straits song “Money For Nothing” on local airwaves.

The CRTC did not parse its decision Friday, unlike the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, which listened to the 1980s Dire Straits hit song and concluded the use of the anti-gay slur faggot three times in its lyrics breached industry codes on human rights.

The TV and radio censor decided that “Money For Nothing” should not air on the Canadian airwaves uncut.

The ruling stemmed from a radio listener complaint about the Dire Straits song in Atlantic Canada.

“The CBSC’s decision has elicited a strong public reaction and created uncertainty for private radio stations across the country,” the CRTC said in its decision.   Read more...

Iron and Wine

When it first made a name for itself nine years ago, Iron and Wine was just another way of saying “Sam Beam” — as in, the majestically bearded bedroom folksinger whose stark, fatalistic musings were offset by soft-voiced, solo-acoustic arrangements. These days, Iron and Wine is a full band whose sound is elastic enough to feature guitar solos, backup singers and even a saxophone. Two weeks ago, Beam and a small army of supporting players performed their new album, Kiss Each Other Clean, in its entirety at WNYC’s Greene Space, and the result was a full-blown roots-rock concert.

Wanda Jackson

When Wanda Jackson, the justly crowned Queen of Rockabilly, recorded “Let’s Have A Party,” a tune she made into a hit of her own in 1958 even after one-time boyfriend Elvis Presley had released a version of it, her delivery of the chorus wasn’t so much a suggestion as a command. As the title – and, more importantly, the contents — of her latest album, The Party Ain’t Over, indicates, this feisty septuagenarian artist is as galvanizing as ever. Jackson was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, honored with a long-time-coming, Early Influence accolade for her pivotal role in the evolution of popular music, especially where female artists were concerned. As a teenager in the mid-50s, the diminutive Jackson was the first woman to perform unadulterated rock and roll – and she one-upped the boys defining this new genre, Presley included, with her exhilaratingly forthright approach. The young Jackson, an Oklahoma native, came across as both gritty and glamorous; a playfully suggestive growl to her voice matched the daring, handmade outfits she wore, short skirts and fringed dresses that have inspired would-be bad girls for decades to come. A tireless touring artist for more than 50 years, Jackson continues to win over new, young fans, including guitarist-vocalist-White Stripes founder Jack White.   Read more...

Edie Brickell

Celebrated songwriter and musician Edie Brickell has released a self-titled album on her own independent label, racecarLOTTA Records.

The first of two albums to be released in 2011, Edie Brickell, is out now, with The Gaddabouts following shortly.

Coinciding with these releases, Brickell will perform a special show with Iron & Wine on January 29th at Radio City Music Hall. Additionally, The Gaddabouts will make their live debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall as part of the WFUV concert series on April 8th.   Read more...

Gregg Allman, Low Country Blues

Gregg Allman’s first solo album in 14 years was produced by T Bone Burnett and features 11 covers of songs from legendary bluesmen Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Sleepy John Estes, and many more, PLUS an original song written by Gregg and the Allman Brothers’ Warren Haynes called “Just Another Rider.” Gregg’s backing band on the album includes Dr. John on piano, Doyle Bramhall II on guitar, and the incomparable rhythm section of bassist Dennis Crouch and drummer Jay Bellerose (from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s multiple Grammy-winning `Raising Sand’ album).

This could possibly be the Record of the Year for 2011

DIRE TRAITS SONG BANNED IN CANADA–25 YEARS AFTER RELEASE!!!

After decades of radio airplay in Canada without major incident, Dire Straits’ 1985 classic “Money for Nothing” must be edited in order to receive further play, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has decided, according to a press release from the organization.

The CBSC’s Atlantic Regional Panel determined the use of the word “faggot” in the song’s lyrics contravenes the Human Rights Clauses of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics and Equitable Portrayal Code. The word appears three times in the song.

After examining a listener complaint, the panel said in the statement, “Like other racially driven words in the English language, ‘faggot’ is one that, even if entirely or marginally acceptable in earlier days, is no longer so.  The Panel finds that it has fallen into the category of unacceptable designations on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or physical or mental disability.”

Posies

Rock ‘n’ roll has rarely been as smart, soulful or satisfying than it has in the hands of The Posies. During an on/off career that’s spanned three decades, the Seattle-rooted outfit, led by musical polymaths Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, have shaped and re-shaped their muse, creating one of the more compelling catalogues in modern pop.

From the very beginning, the band sired a succession of classic LPs – including the now seminal Dear 23 and Frosting on the Beater– that served as joyous rejoinders to a generation mired in grunge. And yet, for much of their history, the band has been playing a game of genre tag semantics, dodging facile and limiting descriptions like “power pop” and “retro pop” — terms which initially greeted their 1988 debut, Failure.   Read more...

Jamie Hoover, Most Loved Melodies

Now, Jamie Hoover has compiled a career retrospective of his music. Taking songs from his solo material, the Spongetones and his side project The Vandelecki`s, Most Loved Melodies is a 24 trax that span his career from 1982-2006 and all you have to listen above to know that there is no need for us to hype it any further beyond these words.