Hell yea! The Yeah Yeah Yeahs come home to NYC to play All Points West

Yeah Yeah Yeah's originated as a New York City alternative rock band right across the Hudson River from the All Points West concert site in Liberty State Park.

Some might say the band is evolving, but your rock n roll diva, Miss Liberty, is somewhat concerned that the chic Miss O would leave her urban roots and relocate to Los Angeles, the land of smog, insane traffic, and generally artificial everything. I hope you know what I’m alluding to without getting into specifics, but we’ve all seen Nip/Tuck.

Karen O has the same gritty attitude as Lady Liberty, so it threw me for a loop that she’s now creating music from the land of make-believe. What was she thinking?

I also must confess that it took me quite some time to get into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I never gave them a chance, until a friend insisted I give them a serious listen. Needless to say, It's Blitz has been repeating in my crown since its April release, and the triple Y’s are making great alternative music.

It’s Blitz is saturated with dancy synths but the band confirms to me that it, “still sound(s) like Yeah Yeah Yeahs.” Indie rock tastemaker Pitchfork calls their new dancy sound "compelling pop rock" made up of songs "in favor of detours, miniature grooves, and lengthy asides that produce the sensation of a band and a singer impulsively following their own emotional whims."

And you know how I adore anyone that follows their own independent spirit, and moves to their own damn drum beat.

I only have good things to say about Yeah Yeah Yeah’s third album, except maybe for its short duration.

Karen O is most known for her unique but stylish clothes. At this year's Bonnaroo, she was seen wearing tiger print tights and a bizarre kimono-like shirt with strange pink and blue patterns.


Regardless, she is still hot and easily today's Queen of Alternative Rock. I do believe Karen is taking her wardrobe cues from yours truly, but then again, who wouldn’t?

All Points West fans should expect more than just thrilling music from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs set this year. Besides the remarkable reviews across the spectrum of music journalism, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s were honored as musical guests on an April 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live where they played their new single “Zero” as well as “Maps” off their debut Fever to Tell.

Honestly, with all the attention the Yeah Yeah Yeahs has received in the last few months, I cannot wait for their performance on the first day of All Points West on July 31 at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ.

Karen and the gang will be playing the same day as headliners Beastie Boys, as well as other indie starlets like the Vampire Weekend, the National and Fleet Foxes.

Don’t forget Tool and Coldplay headline Saturday and Sunday respectively. For more information go here, or here and follow us on Twitter. Buy your tickets here, and tell EVERYONE you know that this truly is one of those not to be missed concerts.

Karen, I implore you. Come back home. New York City considers you a hometown girl and I promise, I’ll look after you. Leave La-La land while you still can and while you’re still young. We want you back. But even if you stay in Los Angeles, we are thrilled you are playing All Points West.

See you at the show.

Lady Liberty

Voices inside my Head

What a wonderful party last night. Wow. Thank you so much for coming out, and celebrating the birth of our United States of America.

What a show, and how about those beautiful fireworks.

I really must tell you though that Miss Liberty's highlight from the weekend was once again hearing those excited voices of little children inside my head.

So now that Miss Liberty's crown is re-opened to the public, I want you all to come out and visit with me, and to stop by Ellis Island where so many of your grandparents and great grandparents entered our country.

So come on up, and check out the view.

Your Rock n Roll diva needs to rest now. Big week coming up at The Beach on Governors Island.

I'll be raising my torch to all the deadheads coming out to see the Dark Star Orchestra show on Saturday, July 11th to worship at the altar of the Grateful Dead.

Between now and Saturday, stay tuned for more insider music news about the All Points West Music and Arts Festival and The Beach at Governors Island.

There is a lot of beautiful music coming this summer from the teeming shores of my glorious New York Harbor.

I leave you today with a small section from Emma Lazarus' beautiful sonnet "The New Colossus" written in 1883 and, in 1903, engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside yours truly.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Freedom and Justice for all.

Miss Liberty

Mother of Exiles

The Real Story of Fourth of July: It's not in the history books, it's in the lyrics

You already know the Fourth of July is the birthday of our nation, your nation, our country. You likely recall it as the day our fore-founders signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

This weekend without a doubt you will hear the verses of our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” singing in your head and first penned by the poet Francis Scott Key:

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Mister Key was a lucky man living during an unlucky time. He was on a ship observing a battle of The War of 1812 when he wrote our theme song.

Do you even remember studying the War of 1812 in sixth grade?


But you do know all three verses of that amazing song, or at least you can sing the first and hum the other two.

Mister Scott Key wasn’t a commissioned artist who was instructed to string together words of propaganda for a cause. He was a regular man observing the causalities of war as his country fought for free trade and against the British tyranny.


He was merely a man searching for peace in the middle of the night. He likely was just tired and couldn’t sleep when the words spilled out from his head onto the paper.

The “Star-Spangled Banner” wasn’t the first nor was was it the last instance of an American turning to paper to express love for his or her country.


And how about when teacher Katharine Lee Bates while traveling on a train in 1893 observed the natural wonders from state to state:

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

Bate’s word were put to music in 1910 and titled “America the Beautiful.”


You can’t go to a parade tomorrow without hearing the upbeat drum counting the rhythmic march of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”


This is what kids call going old school, but I enjoy a toe-tapping good song that captures our history in all of its red-white-and blueness.


I also like a few gold sequins on a costume.

And I definitely like watching a guy playing the drums:

Yankee doodle, keep it up,

Yankee doodle dandy;

Mind the music and the step,

And with the girls be handy.

There was Captain Washington

Upon a slapping stallion,

A-giving orders to his men,

I guess there was a million.

And then the feathers on his hat,

They looked so' tarnal fin-a,

I wanted pockily to get

To give to my Jemima

Don’t you love whistling a tune from 1755, where the lyrics include the word “Doodle” which means "fools" and the line "the girls will be handy?" You see – Patriotism is sexy and a girl magnet! The Doodles are fools and the girls are “clever” and not easy. Isn’t music grand?

I could continue connecting Fourth of July to great music closer to our day. We could weave the current events to great song writing but I think you have seen your share of Oliver Stone movies or caught a couple of VH1 Behind the Music episodes.

You know there are artists on this earth who feel the pain of others and observe the injustices of war and prejudices of many. They serve a greater purpose than merely collecting shiny awards. They are historians, witnessing the good and the bad, composing the soundtrack for us to celebrate another year as the UNITED States of America.

Happy Birthday to All my loving Rock-n-Rollers

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Freedom, Music, Forever . . .


~Miss Liberty


PS:
A little homework assignment for all who study Rock-n-Roll history of yesterday and into tomorrow:


1) APW, the second most important celebration in July kicks off July 31st, and welcomes my boys from Brooklyn, the Beastie Boys, as headliners. To read more about the lineup, visit here.


2) If you are looking to make a play list for your 4th of July picnic check out this Patriotic List. For now, I salute you. Go and enjoy your picnics and have one on me.


PSS: Thomas Jefferson Rocks !!!

Gaslight Anthem lights up the stage at All Points West with dirty and gritty Rock n Roll

I watch new bands join the party all the time. Unfortunately for the bands, there is a trend these days where critics roll out the comparisons and pigeonhole them into something they feel forced to rise above. Though I like weird music, I feel that this critics’ trend causes bands to enter the obscure and create something never heard before, which for sure sometimes has its benefits. But, it feels like artists have feared doing anything that could be considered the same old song and dance.

IMHO, fellow New Jersey inhabitants (that’s right Miss Liberty is in New Jersey NOT New York), The Gaslight Anthem said “Screw it” and made the Rock ‘n’ Roll album they wanted, and are probably thrilled with the comparisons being made.

The New Jersey foursome’s debut 2008 album, The ’59 Sound, has received all sorts of “Sounds just like…” criticism, most notably to fellow New Jersey native, and my ex-celebrity crush Bruce Springsteen, but I don’t think they care. Throughout their album, Gaslight alludes to their inspirations such as in “High Lonesome” where they quote Springsteen, Counting Crows, and Tom Petty. The lyrics of Bob Dylan and Bob Seger amongst others also make appearances throughout the album. 

Unlike those who may criticize their familiarity, I love Gaslight Anthem’s music.

The opening noise on The ’59 Sound, the crackling of a record player, as well as their title, invokes a nostalgic feel of old-school Rock ‘n’ Roll, but the band themselves are very much 2009. This is beer soaked, whisky induced Rock ‘n’ Roll the way their influences intended it to be. There is no out of control-manipulated sounds, or off count timing, or over the top stage costumes. It’s just dirty, gritty, Rock ‘n’ Roll, saturated with emotion.

We can only hope that the Gaslight Anthem will continue to record kick ass albums like The ’59 Sound, and not sway too far from what they have currently given their fans. If they give me more of the ringing power chords, pounding drums and handclapping, then I’ll be a fan for life, which when you’re a statue could be a long time.

So far the only musician to outlast me has been Keith Richards.

Over the past year, the popularity of the Gaslight Anthem has grown from a small New Brunswick, NJ band in the underground “punk” scene, to receiving notable nods from big names like super-hero Springsteen, as they opened for him and the E-Street Band in London on June 28 (Watch the boys from Jersey with Bruce here). 

They also have a full-fledged tour lined up next fall, with stops at some of the nation’s larger clubs.  Make sure you check out The ’59 Sound and their sure to be fist pumping set at All Points West on August 2, 2009.  Buy tickets here, check more events here and follow us on Twitter for all our updates. 

Keeping Rock n Roll alive,  

Miss Liberty

The Pharcyde come to our side: Playing All Points West!

All Points West couldn’t get more eclectic this year. We’ll see legends of Rap (Beastie Boys) and Hard Rock (Tool), the best up and coming Indie Rock bands, the funniest comedians, and who would have figured old-school Hip-Hoppers like my favorite from the West Coast, The Pharcyde.  My beautiful Liberty State Park will be thumping like a beat-box when The Pharcyde hits the stage.

Back in the 90s when the late Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. controlled the mainstream rap scene, Hip-Hop groups such as Jurassic 5, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and The Pharcyde were champions of the underground Hip-Hop world. These groups kept it real with their cool rhyming style and poetic lyrics.

The Pharcyde broke out with their debut album Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, featuring “Passin’ Me By” and “Otha Fish” in 1992. In 1995, they released Labcabincalifornia that featured their hits “Runnin’” and “Drop” which most people know as their biggest singles.

The group now consists of two original members, Bootie Brown and Imani, from the original foursome. This duo released Humboldt Beginnings in 2004 and now tours under their original name The Pharcyde.

When these rappers come to All Points West on Friday July 31^st , I’ll be sure to turn my crown sideways and drop my torch so I can wave my fist in the air like I just don’t care.

Peace yo.

M.C. Liberty