Soul singer Aretha Franklin has pulled out of two upcoming performances because of health issues, the two concert venues said on Monday.

Franklin, 71, canceled a May 20 concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a May 26 solo performance at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.

“It was canceled for medical reasons,” Foxwoods spokeswoman Dale Wolbrink said, declining to say what health issues caused the “Queen of Soul” to pull out of the May 26 show.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra said Franklin canceled her performance due to a “doctor’s recommendation for treatment during the time frame of May 20 and 26.”

R&B singer Janelle Monae will fill in for Franklin with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the organization said in a statement.

Franklin’s publicist did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Franklin, a towering figure in popular music during the 1960s and 1970s with such hits as “Respect” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” was forced to cancel a concert tour in 2010 to undergo surgery for an undisclosed health issue.

The singer is still scheduled to perform at two concerts in Canada and one in Michigan in June.

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Relax with Eric Roberson at Underground Arts
Credit: Eric Roberson

In an age of distant, aloof and withdrawn music stars, R&B standout Eric Roberson is anything but.

Roberson, the South Jersey resident headlining the Acoustic Soul Experience at Underground Arts on Thursday, makes it a point to be as social as he can on social media. For instance, he recently posted a photo of his two toddlers on the road with him.

“I keep some things private but I’m very happy and I’m very proud about my kids,” he says. “I put good energy out there and I get good energy. I stay mindful of not posting my address but at the same time I’m not hiding. It’s not been in my nature.”

The silken-voiced Roberson has become just about the biggest name in the R&B world without a major-label recording contract. He studied music at Howard University and started working in the industry in the 1990s, penning tracks for Dwele, Musiq Soulchild, Vivian Green and Will Downing, among others. Since then, Roberson has performed around the world and twice been nominated for a Grammy. He’s one of music’s leading storytellers of affairs of the heart — in the style of Pendergrass and Gaye — who not only presents top-rate grooves but also riveting tales of intrigue, fallibility and humanity.

“I was a guy lucky doing music and I’m lucky to be in front of people when I didn’t have a big-time label situation,” he says. “I walked out of the audience and got on stage to perform.”

These days, you can sometimes see him on stage in the new vocal supergroup United Tenors, also featuring Fred Hammond, Dave Hollister and Brian Courtney Wilson. UT has just released its eponymous debut album.

Yet, there’s still plenty of time for him to headline his own shows, as he’s doing at Underground Arts. Guitar-playing R&B singer Algebra is also on the bill.

“This is a little different acoustic show,” Roberson says. “I have some electric toys and pedals that lets me have the option of playing older songs as well as new songs.”

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The small, boyhood home of rock legend Little Richard has been spared the wrecking ball and will be moved to make way for an interstate highway, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The piano-pounding performer who became internationally known for his 1950s songs, “Tutti Frutti” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” was born in Macon, about 90 miles south of Atlanta, during the Great Depression. Known for his pompadour hairstyle and flamboyant costumes, he is now 80 year old and living in Tennessee.

The two-bedroom home in a poor neighborhood of Macon was facing demolition for an interstate highway expansion but will be purchased by the Georgia Department of Transportation and moved three blocks where it will be converted into a neighborhood meeting place, state transportation spokeswoman Natalie Dale told Reuters.

The renovated home will include historical information on the lives of Little Richard, whose real name is Richard Penniman, and other prominent people in the Pleasant Hill neighborhood, said Sam Henderson, executive assistant to Macon Mayor Robert Reichert.

The two-bedroom, 850 square-foot home, was constructed in 1920 and is valued at $21,781, according to Bibb County property tax records. By contrast, Little Richard’s current home in Lynchburg, Tennessee has 5,900 square feet of space, is on 13.9 acres and is valued at $367,000, according to Moore County, Tennessee property records.

Little Richard was among the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 along with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and James Brown.

On Saturday, Mercer University in Macon awarded Penniman an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree.

“He is a hero to this community,” Henderson said.

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The sisters of the band Haim, pronounced like the word ‘time’, are a bunch of California girls.

Este, Danielle and Alana Haim are typical 20 somethings. They love Kendrick Lamar and throw dance parties – only their dance-offs involve Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine.

They just started releasing music last year and are already blowing up. They’re currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on their first studio album.

“We can only have one first album,” Este, the oldest sister, tells Metro from her Los Angeles home. “We want to make sure we love it.”

The new album will include some singles from previous EPs as well as new music. Once it’s done, they embark on tour and hit up some of the major summer music festivals.

In the United States, they’re playing Governors Ball in New York City, Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee and the Made in America festival in Philadelphia. The sisters will also travel across the pond to play festivals in the United Kingdom such as the Glastonbury.

For the Haim sisters, music is a family affair.

Their dad played the drums and their mom was a guitar player and singer. Their grandmother was a piano teacher. The family would gather in the living room playing oldies such as “Brown Eyed Girl.”

“Our dad put us on the drums as soon as we could hold our heads up,” Este says. “At that point we were just banging on things.”

As high schoolers, the girls tinkered with other bands.

“When I was in high school I was in a couple of bands and simultaneously in a band with my family,” Este says. “Nothing ever felt as good as when I played with them. My sisters are much better musicians than the dudes I played with.”

Este has a hard time describing Haim’s exact genre of music.

They’ve been compared to Fleetwood Mac. Este says the music Danielle, the middle sister, first wrote resembled that of Michael Jackson.

The girls have an eclectic taste in music. They listened to the oldies radio stations, and when they were good, their parents let them listen to Top 40. While helping their mom with dishes, they listened to the ‘Saturday Night Fever’ soundtrack. With their dad, it was nothing but funk.

“We grew up listening to everything,” Este says. “We take from so many genres of music and time periods … we can’t describe our music as one genre. The lines are kind of blurred now.”

In addition to the band, the sisters are also inseparable friends. Este and Alana live together in a Los Angeles home Este is convinced is haunted.

“Things inexplicably fly off walls,” she says. “Our house is inhabited by Casper.”

Their other sister Danielle lives a five-minute walk away.

“We work together, but the thing is, when we’re not working, we’re still hanging out,” Este says. “We spend a lot of time together and it’s not because we have to but because we want to. We always have the most fun when we’re together.”

If you go

New York
June 8
Brooklyn Bowl
61 Wythe Ave., Brooklyn
(718) 963-3369
brooklynbowl.com

June 9
Governos Ball –Randall’s Isand
governorsballmusicfestival.com

Philadelphia
August 31
Made in America Festival
www.madeinamericafest.com

Follow Mary Ann Georgantopoulos on Twitter @marygeorgant

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Teenage pop star Justin Bieber appears to have given up on his pet monkey, which was seized by German customs officials in March, according to the animal shelter looking after Mally.

The 19-year-old singer has until Friday to hand in the necessary paperwork to retrieve his capuchin monkey, which was seized at Munich airport during a concert tour.

“Bieber’s lawyers have indicated they would like to leave the monkey,” said Judith Brettmeister, spokeswoman for the shelter caring for Mally. “From an animal rights perspective, it would have been better to do that before, as he is being kept well here but not with other members of his own species.”

Brettmeister says Mally, who was around 14 weeks old when confiscated, had been taken away from its mother too early and needed to receive veterinary care.

“But it is now jumping around, learning slowly to climb and to use its tail,” she said.

Franz Boehmer, from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation said Bieber had only a few days left to retrieve Mally before he automatically became German property.

Mally will be transferred from the shelter to a zoo to learn to get along with other monkeys, Boehmer said.

“I’m afraid we can’t reveal details on where Mally will be taken, as we are worried about the hype surrounding the monkey,” said Boehmer. “We want to calmly integrate the animal into a group of its own species.”

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A poll of America’s musical tastes says the nation cannot stand Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, although it has more time for Adele and Beyonce.

Meanwhile, if we had to choose a star to be president, it would be Justin Timberlake. And Republicans have not yet forgotten the political activism of John Lennon and prefer 1950s music above all others, according to the polling carried out by Public Policy Polling.

The organization split its polling into two sections.

Day one of the survey showed widespread support for a variety of music genres among the American public — but pretty solid agreement that Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Chris Brown were no longer in favor. PPP found that only 20% of those asked liked Bieber, against 54% who said they positively did not. The remainder were undecided.

Lady Gaga’s disapproval rating was 29-50, while Chris Brown’s was even worse, 13-57. Jay-Z (25-44) and Rihanna (30-39) also fell into negative territory. But for Bieber, it got worse, as his disapproval crossed party lines. Neither Republicans nor Democrats could stand him, with his ratings standing at 23-54 among Democrats, 17-52 among Republicans and 18-56 among independents.

When asked who they’d most like to see as president if given the choices of Adele, Bieber, Beyonce, Brown, Jay-Z, Timberlake, Gaga or Rihanna, 34% chose Timberlake, with Adele (19%) and Beyonce (14%) also receiving double digits, followed by Jay-Z (9%), Gaga (9%), Bieber (8%), Brown (5%) and Rihanna (2%).

Classical music (77 favorable-13 unfavorable), country (71-23), jazz (71-20), pop (59- 26), R&B (58-27) and rock music (65-26) all received favorable reviews from voters. Respondents were less charitable towards rap (19 favorable-68 unfavorable).

Dubstep received a 14 favorable and 38 unfavorable rating, with 47% not sure. Voters were split in their opinion on “today’s popular music”, with 45% rating it favorable, 37% unfavorable and 19% not sure. When asked their favorite musical genre, 24% chose country, 22% classical, 16% rock and 12% pop, with R&B and jazz each earning 6%, dubstep 2% and rap 1%.

Day two of the poll asked respondents for their opinions of the biggest music stars of the past few decades.

Here, distinct political differences started to emerge. When asked which decade of music they preferred, Republicans voted for the 1950s while Democrats went for the 1960s.

PPP noted: “Voters overall have extremely favorable reviews of Elvis Presley (73-14), The Beatles (76-15), The Rolling Stones (61-26) and the Beach Boys (74-16).”

But they have split favorability perspectives on Michael Jackson (48-44). Kurt Cobain, overall, is unpopular (25-44), and Madonna also falls the wrong side of the divide (36-51).

But there’s a political divide over opinions of Jackson and Madonna.

“There’s a massive 54-point party divide on Michael Jackson – Democrats have a favorable view of him at 59-30, Republicans are flipped and view him unfavorably by a 34-59 margin. The same with Madonna – Democrats narrowly view her favorably (43-41) while Republicans strongly dislike her (21-68),” said PPP.

Paul McCartney is the favorite Beatle (41% chose him), with 29% opting for John Lennon, 12% for Ringo Starr and 11% for George Harrison. But even this vote showed a political divide.

“The party disagreements even extend to favorite Beatle – Democrats choose John over Paul (39-36) while Republicans strongly prefer Paul over John (49-15) – it seems Republicans still haven’t forgiven Lennon for his strong political activism. Overall, Democrats (84-10) like The Beatles more than Republicans (66-24),” said PPP.

Most voters (30%) chose Lennon and McCartney when asked who they thought was the best songwriting partnership of all time.

Just 14% of voters admit they have illegally downloaded music from the internet, while 86% claim to have not.

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OCD: Moosh and Twist are driving audiences here in their hometown crazy.

“We played the First Unitarian Church [in December] and it was awesome but we were literally three songs into the set and somebody pulled the fire alarm,” says DeQuincy “Moosh” Coleman-McRae. “The fire department came and the owner had to shut down the show.”

A February show at Union Transfer didn’t fare much better.

“We sold that out and it got shut down, too” Coleman-McRae says. “There were drunk kids and a bunch of fights. At the moment it was terrible but people ended up talking about it and anybody talking about you is, for the most part, good.”

Overall it’s been a good run so far for OCD: Moosh & Twist, and the future looks bright. The rapping, singing duo  — Coleman-McRae and Oliver “Twist” Feighan — hit the scene with 2010′s “City Kids,” a burst of effervescence and street slyness that sampled Journey. “City Kids” was viewed more than 1.5 million times on YouTube and set the foundation for their uplifting sound. The pair, independent to this point, recently released the free mixtape, “Back to the Basement.”

It’s all about elevating your circumstances.

“We’re having fun,” Coleman-McRae, 20, says. “There’s positivity there because we’re following our dream.”

They’ve been touring the eastern half of the U.S. with Huey Mack and are gearing up for a performance May 16 at the TLA. We’re hoping they’ll do a full set this time.

“One of the things we like the most is performing and looking out in the crowd and seeing kids singing and rapping along to the verses,” says Feighan (aka Twist), also 20. “It’s such a crazy feeling. They might be stressed out or dealing with a girlfriend or family issues, but then they see us perform for 45 minutes and they forget about everything going on.”

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Earl Sweatshirt

With a name inspired by Blanket Jackson, Odd Future’s Earl Sweatshirt is street credible to the level of sewers. Videos have the feel of Old Dirty Bastard as a Gummo character. Test him and he may ollie right up on you. Like the rest of the Odd Future family, Earl is a young beast on a skateboard infecting the crowd with a silly blend of humor, decrepit gore and violence and adolescent machismo. His show will be a (lowlife) highlight of DT:NYC.

Ratking

When Ratking played an in-store performance last fall, frontman Wiki was all New York street kid, missing front teeth in a ragged, dirty T-shirt, dogfighting with the microphone. His energy was massive and his spitfire flow delivered what the crowd expected — a raw, exposed street kid on the verge of disaster, if not already swimming in it. With heady lyrics coming out of a body that looks about 15, Wiki and the rest of Ratking are the future, through an Armageddon lens.

Trash Talk

The band Trash Talk is skate punk thrash in the vein of Black Flag and Bad Brains. Sweat and bass and pounding riffs with a crowd that brawl-moshes through their set and stays hungry for more Trash. From backyard parties in Los Angeles the boys bring their brand of street grime under palm trees to Gotham.

Kilo Kish

Like posh street wear, Kilo Kish manages to be fashion friendly and street credible all at once. See Metro’s Kilo Kish: Downtown pretty.

Sky Ferreira

Sky Ferreira has a lot of pop in her sound but there’s a serious element of concrete jungle in her eyes while she melodically laments a broken heart. Maybe it’s the black lace and bleach job but there’s something lowbrow about her glazed-over, jaded expression that screams street savvy. With sticky hooks and a tight band she plays DT on Friday night.

Visit thedowntownfestival.com for tickets and schedule

Odd Future’s Earl Sweatshirt is street credible to the level of sewers. Credit: Odd Future

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South Korean rapper PSY said he “partied hard” when his dance number drew its first 10 million views on YouTube last summer. Little did he know “Gangnam Style” would become the most-viewed video in the online service’s history, with a global following and nearly 1.6 billion views as of Thursday.

“I partied hard to celebrate 10 million views!” PSY told about 1,000 people at Harvard University on Thursday evening, as he recalled his reaction when the song took off, making him a cultural phenomenon and leading to meetings with Los Angeles record producers.

“This is so unrealistic!” he recalled thinking.

Formally dressed and speaking in sometimes-halting English, PSY spoke for more than an hour and occasionally lapsed into signature dance moves such as grasping the reins of an imaginary trotting horse.

PSY’s talk was partly a homecoming as he recalled his days as a student in Boston in the mid-1990s. But it was also a seminar about the star’s surprise worldwide cultural appeal and the economic influence of East Asian culture.

Harvard professor Alexander Zahlten introduced PSY, whose real name is Park Jae-sang, as a global figure who has shown the ability of Korean music stars, video-game programmers and other entertainment figures to find overseas popularity through Internet channels.

“He’s a global citizen, and in turn influences people all over the world,” Zahlten said. “He’s deeply connected to digital culture.”

After “Gangnam Style” set records, the video for PSY’s follow-up song “Gentleman” received more than 20 million hits in the first 24 hours after its release last month, easily beating the previous record of 8 million views for Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” in the first 24 hours.

PSY, 35, told the audience at the Ivy League school that music trumps national divides. “Music makes everyone united,” he said, “something beyond language.” At some performances, he said, “I’m so proud. The crowd doesn’t know what the lyrics are about, but they look so happy!”

Later he said the word for “style” conveyed similar meanings in all languages, and that he wrote the lyrics for “Gentleman” hoping they would find a similar worldwide resonance. “Really , it was linguistics,” he said.

PSY also poked fun at his own less-than-stellar academic record. He said his nickname in college was “WWF” for his grades, “withdraw, withdraw, fail.” He said he kept thinking big and poked fun at his robust midsection.

“I dreamed someday, some Korean artist would be well-known in the U.S.,” he said. “I dreamed about it but didn’t dream that was me, because as you see I have a very special body type.”

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Buy a bus ticket with your concert ticket. If you only go to one concert this summer, you’re probably going to want to see as many acts as you can — which is why it’s worth it to get a little muddy.

The Great GoogaMooga
May 17-19, Brooklyn
The second annual Great GoogaMooga takes over the Nethermead Meadow in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, uniting passions for food and music. The Flaming Lips headline, Chairlift will do a DJ set or two, and locals the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Matt and Kim are also on the bill.
www.brooklyn.googamooga.com

Boston Calling
May 25-26, Boston
Amid the brutalist architecture of Boston’s once-maligned Government Center, this inner city festival marks its first year with performances from fun., The Shins, The National and The Walkmen, as well as locals Caspian and Bad Rabbits. The festival is co-curated by The National’s Aaron Dessner.
www.bostoncalling.com

Roots Picnic
June 1, Festival Pier, Philadelphia
In the sixth annual installment of this festival, The Roots have really hit their stride. Headliners include Gary Clark Jr., Grimes, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and, oh yeah, The Roots!

Governor’s Ball
June 7-9, Randall’s Island
How can so many big name superstars squeeze oversized egos onto one little island? The third annual Governor’s Ball Music Festival on Randall’s Island includes Kings of Leon, Guns N’ Roses and Kanye West. In addition to three days of music onsite, various satellite afterparties around town will feature bands (Haim, Dinosaur Jr., Japandroids).
www.governorsballmusicfestival.com

Bonnaroo
June 13-16, Manchester, Tenn.
You never who you’ll meet at Bonnaroo: According to legend, Kings of Leon drummer Nathan met his wife Jesse in the potty line. Needless to say, it’s huge and romantic, and this year’s three-and-a-half-day lineup includes desert drifters Calexico, Paul McCartney and Wu-Tang Clan’s Friday night spot is high on many to-do lists.
www.bonnaroo.com

Electric Daisy
June 21-23, Las Vegas
America’s other city that never sleeps hosts this dance music-oriented event at a nearby speedway. (You can almost feel the sunburn from here.) This year’s 17th annual Electric Daisy Carnival includes latter-day sainted dance celebs like Diplo’s Major Lazer and Dillon Francis, as well as veteran DJ/producers Calvin Harris and Carl Cox.
www.electricdaisycarnival.com

Newport Folk Fest
July 27-28 , Newport, R.I.
This onetime purist folk fest in Fort Adams State Park features Beck, Feist, Will Oldham and Dawn McCarthy, who recently released an album, “What the Brothers Sang,” inspired by the Everly Brothers, and much folk music inbetween.
www.newportfolkfest.net

Lollapalooza
Aug. 2-4, Chicago
The granddaddy of the modern festival once again draws the biggest names to the Windy City. Goth originators The Cure, stoner rockers Queens of the Stone Age and Manchester ravers New Order are joined by soulman Charles Bradley and new folkies The Lumineers.
www.lollapalooza.com

Outside Lands
Aug. 9–11, San Francisco
Golden Gate Park will once again host this food and music festival, which features onetime rap rock rebels the Red Hot Chili Peppers, pop-soul singer D’Angelo, Willie Nelson and Family, and Daryl Hall and John Oates. That’s some variety show, but don’t miss the brilliant Thao and the Get Down Stay Down.
www.sfoutsidelands.com

Rock the Bells
Aug. 17–18, Aug. 24–25 and Aug. 31–Sept. 1(Projected)
San Bernardino, Calif., Mountain View, Calif. and Holmdel, N.J.
This semi-transitory hip-hop fest celebrates its 10th year and, oddly or not, the lineup is not on the website – yet. There’s a launch party at the House of Blues in Los Angeles on Tuesday, where participating artists will be announced.
www.rockthebells.net

Made in America
Aug. 31-Sept. 1, Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia
This festival, commonly known as Jay-Z’s festival due to his input and headlining status in its inaugural year, finds Mr. Carter once again curating the line-up, which includes Beyonce, Deadmau5 and Phoenix mixing it with hip-hop, both young and veteran, including Wiz Khalifa and Public Enemy.
www.madeinamericafest.com

Bumbershoot
Aug. 31 – Sept. 2, Seattle
The onetime small city arts festival is now an international Labor Day Weekend institution at the Seattle Center, ‘neath the Space Needle. Along with big name headliners in all genres, there’s buzzworthy and breaking artists playing smaller stages. This year, the three-day weekend includes local rockers Heart and Death Cab for Cutie. There’s also a great film program as part of the festival. Previous year’s premieres have included “Trainspotting” and “LA Confidential.”
www.bumbershoot.org

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Whether you’re tailgating before the show or rocking out inside the venue, summer concerts are a ready-made soundtrack that is just awaiting your participation to build memories. Here are the biggest and best bets for your concert dollar.

Hot 97 Summer Jam
While we usually use this space to lightly make fun of a concert bill, there’s just so many great acts on here that we need to use all of the space to tell you who’s playing: Wu-Tang Clan, Chris Brown, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, Miguel, Wale, Fabolous, A$AP Rocky, French Monatana and Joe Budden!
June 2, MetLife Stadium

Paul McCartney
Ellen DeGeneres once introduced Sir Paul at the Grammys by saying, “The next performer needs no introduction.” True to her word, she left the stage and let it be for one of the last living Beatles. We’d like to do the newspaper equivalent.
June 8 and 10, Barclays Center

One Direction
If seeing the New Kids/98 Degrees/Boyz II Men show bummed you out, go see a boy band that includes actual boys.
June 28 and 29, Nikon at Jones Beach

Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars has turned his “Unorthodox Jukebox” into a 1980s time machine, which works out just fine for his opening act, Fitz and the Tantrums, who have also set the dial for the 1980s with their brand new “More Than Just a Dream.” Wear your neon jams and join them.
June 29, Barclays Center

Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z: 20/20 World Tour
Arguably the biggest tour of the summer, it remains to be seen how Jay-Z and JT will split the stage on The 20/20 World Tour. We can only hope that there are 20 songs from each artist, rather than a staged recreation of the best moments of ABC’s most popular investigative journalism TV show. That said, it would be awesome if they did that for the first few shows and then switched it up by the time they got here.
July 19 and 20, Yankee Stadium

Americanarama Festival of Music
For a genre that takes itself a little too seriously when at its worst, these three giants of Americana prove that a sense of humor is necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. By calling their tour Americanarama, Bob Dylan, Wilco and My Morning Jacket are having a good ole time.
July 27, Nikon at Jones Beach

Justin Bieber
Who would have thought at this time last year that the Justin Bieber tour would become the equivalent of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 tour in terms of rumored debauchery? We can only hope he’s still around for his own 50 and Counting tour in 2060.
Aug. 2, Barclays Center

Beyonce
Beyonce was going to release a new album this year. Remember that? Seems like she might not have remembered either, as Mrs. Carter sets out on the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour before her new songs have even hit the market. It’s kind of like when it’s the end of the school year, and absolutely all of your friends are psyched to be done with exams, but you’ve still got one left that you totally forgot to study for. But in this case, Beyonce can just say, “I’m Beyonce, I don’t have to take the final.”
Aug. 3, 4, 5, Barclays Center

Under the Influence of Music Tour
Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, B.o.B. and Trinidad James are a stellar lineup, but we have to wonder: Now that marijuana is pretty much totally legal, when are musicians going to stop giving their tours titles with little winking references to weed?
Aug. 6, Nikon at Jones Beach

Kenny Chesney
One thing that has not changed in America for the past 100 years: Cowboys are still really good at herding large groups of mammals into confined open-air structures. Eric Church, Eli Young Band and Kacey Musgraves round out this rootin’-tootin’ bill.
Aug. 10, MetLife Stadium

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Whether you’re tailgating before the show or rocking out inside the venue, summer concerts are a ready-made soundtrack that is just awaiting your participation to build memories. Here are the biggest and best bets for your concert dollar.

KISS 108 FM Concert
While we usually use this space to lightly make fun of a concert bill, there’s just so many great acts on this bill that we need to use all of the space here to tell you who’s playing: Demi Lovato, Cher Lloyd, Ne-Yo, Olly Murs, Krewella, Sammy Adams, Jason Derulo, Chris Wallace, Icona Pop, Ariana Grande and Emblem3.
May 18, Comcast Center

Paul McCartney
Ellen DeGeneres once introduced Sir Paul at the Grammys by saying, “The next performer needs no introduction.” True to her word, she left the stage and let it be for one of the last living Beatles. We’d like to do the newspaper equivalent of that introduction.
July 9, Fenway Park

The Rolling Stones
Ah, from a Beatle to the Stones. Both visit the Hub in July. It is impossible to refute naysayers’ complaint that the Stones are old. Their current string of shows is celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary of their formation and first album. But it’s also impossible to refute that the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band is still worth seeing. Switching up sets to dip into obscurities in their deep catalogue, you’ll get to hear some classic tunes. Whew! We did that without using either a “Satisfaction” or “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” reference.
June 12 and 14, TD Garden

Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars has turned his “Unorthodox Jukebox” into a 1980s time machine, which works out just fine for his opening act, Fitz and the Tantrums, who have also set the dial for the 1980s with their brand new “More Than Just a Dream.” Wear your neon jams and join them.
June 26, TD Garden

One Direction
If seeing the New Kids/98 Degrees/Boyz II Men show bummed you out, go check out this British boy band. It’s a boy band with actual boys in it!
June 26, Comcast Center

Americanarama Festival of Music
For a genre that takes itself a little too seriously when its at its worst, these three giants of Americana prove that a sense of humor is necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. By calling their Americana tour Americanarama, Bob Dylan, Wilco and My Morning Jacket are not taking theselves too seriously. The only bummer is that this is on the same night as Bieber. So many people in this city will be so torn! This is tougher than deciding between Bruno Mars and One Direction!
July 20, Comcast Center

Justin Bieber
Who would have thought at this time last year that the Justin Bieber tour would become the equivalent of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 tour in terms of rumored debauchery? We can only hope he’s still around for his own 50 and Counting tour in 2060.
July 20, TD Garden

Beyonce
Beyonce was going to release a new album this year. Remember that? Seems like she might not have remembered either, as Mrs. Carter sets out on the Mrs. Carter Tour before her new songs have hit the market. It seems almost like when it’s the end of the school year, and absolutely everybody’s psyched to be done with exams, but you’ve still got one left that you totally forgot to study for.
July 23, TD Garden

Taylor Swift
It wouldn’t be summer without a stadium and TaySwi (people call her that, right?) This year she brings with her that lovable British muppet Ed Shearan as well as Austin Mahone and Joel Crouse.
July 26 and 27, Gillette Stadium

Under the Influence of Music Tour
Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, B.o.B., Trinidad James are a stellar lineup, but we have to wonder: Now that marijuana is pretty much totally legal, when are musicians going to stop titling their tours with little winking references to weed?
Aug. 7, Comcast Center

Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z: The 20/20 World Tour
Arguably the biggest tour of the summer, it remains to be seen how Jay-Z and JT will split the stage on the 20/20 World Tour. We can only hope that there are 20 songs from each artist, rather than a staged recreation of the best moments of ABC’s most popular investigative journalism TV show. That said, it would be awesome if they did that for the first few shows and then by the time they got here, they were playing the hits, because wouldn’t that create some great tension?
Aug. 10 and 11, Fenway Park

Kenny Chesney
One thing that has not changed in America for the past 100 years: Cowboys are still really good at herding large groups of mammals into confined open-air structures. Eric Church, Eli Young Band and Kacey Musgraves round out this rootin’-tootin’ bill.
Aug. 23 and 24, Gillette Stadium

The post Summer Music Preview: Hottest tickets for summer concerts appeared first on Metro.us.

Whether you’re tailgating before the show or rocking out inside the venue, summer concerts are a ready-made soundtrack that is just awaiting your participation to build memories. Here are the biggest and best bets for your concert dollar.

Kenny Chesney
One thing that has not changed in America for the past 100 years: Cowboys are still really good at herding large groups of mammals into confined open-air structures. Eric Church, Eli Young Band and Kacey Musgraves round out this rootin’-tootin’ bill. June 8, Lincoln Financial Field

The Rolling Stones
It is impossible to refute the naysayers’ complaint that the Stones are old. Their current string of shows is celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary of their formation and first album. But it’s also impossible to refute that the world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band is still worth seeing. Switching up sets to dip into obscurities in their deep catalogue, you’ll get to hear some classic tunes. Whew! We did that without using either a “Satisfaction” or “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” reference. June 18 and 21, Wells Fargo Center

Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars has turned his “Unorthodox Jukebox” into a 1980s time machine, which works out just fine for his opening act, Fitz and the Tantrums, who have also set the dial for the 1980s with their brand new “More Than Just a Dream.” Wear your neon jams and join them. June 24, Wells Fargo Center

One Direction
If seeing the New Kids/98 Degrees/Boyz II Men show bummed you out, go see a boy band that includes actual boys. June 25, Wells Fargo Center

Justin Bieber
Who would have thought at this time last year that the Justin Bieber tour would become the equivalent of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 tour in terms of rumored debauchery? We can only hope he’s still around for his own “50 and Counting” tour in 2060. July 17, Wells Fargo Center

Taylor Swift
It wouldn’t be summer without a stadium and TaySwi (people call her that, right?). This year she brings with her that huggable British muppet Ed Sheeran, as well as Austin Mahone and Joel Crouse. July 19 and 20, Lincoln Financial Field

Beyonce
Beyonce was going to release a new album this year. Remember that? Seems like she might not have remembered either, as Mrs. Carter sets out on the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour before her new songs have even hit the market. It’s kind of like when it’s the end of the school year, and absolutely all of your friends are psyched to be done with exams, but you’ve still got one left that you totally forgot to study for. The only difference is she has the ability to say, “I’m Beyonce. I don’t have to take your damn final!” July 25, Wells Fargo Center

Americanarama Festival of Music
For a genre that takes itself a little too seriously when at its worst, these three giants of Americana prove that a sense of humor is necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. By calling their tour Americanarama, Bob Dylan, Wilco and My Morning Jacket are quite obviously not taking themselves too seriously. July 28, Susquehanna Bank Center

Under the Influence of Music Tour
Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, B.o.B. and Trinidad James are a stellar lineup, but we have to wonder: Now that marijuana is pretty much totally legal, when are musicians going to stop giving their tours titles with little winking references to weed? Aug. 2, PNC Bank Arts Center

Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z
Arguably the biggest tour of the summer, it remains to be seen how Jay-Z and JT will split the stage on The 20/20 World Tour. We can only hope that there are 20 songs from each artist, rather than a staged recreation of the best moments of ABC’s most popular investigative journalism TV show. That said, it would be awesome if they did that for the first few shows and then switched it up by the time they got here. Aug. 13, Citizens Bank Park

John Mayer
We still don’t like the dude’s music, but we can appreciate that his body is a wonderland. Lookin’ good, Johnny! Aug. 23, Susquehanna Bank Center

The post Summer Music Preview: Hottest tickets for summer concerts appeared first on Metro.us.

What may be most moving about the footage of Beth Hart performing at the Kennedy Honors concert in December is watching the members of her audience realize what a powerful moment they’re witnessing. Hart nonchalantly walks out onto the stage to join guitarist Jeff Beck to sing “I’d Rather Go Blind,” a song made famous by the late Etta James. The segment is to honor blues great Buddy Guy, who is transfixed from the first note Hart sings. Later in the song, the camera pans to the Obamas, who are deep in reverent head-nodding that transcends any possible polite pretending for the camera. And when she finishes, the members of Led Zeppelin are among the first to their feet for a standing ovation.

“I remember I sat myself down and I was like, ‘Don’t miss enjoying this amazing experience that’s coming your way by being nervous. Just focus and do your gig,’” recalls Hart, who had been releasing records for more than 15 years before she took the stage that night.

Hart says she didn’t actually watch the performance until she was home for the holidays with her family.

“To have my mother watch that and see that — she’s just like the center of my life — it was really something else, definitely the highlight of my life,” says Hart.

Dancing barefoot

Enjoying a bit of a renaissance with her latest album, “Bang Bang Boom Boom,” and receiving accolades is bittersweet for Hart, as she tours the U.S. for the first time in a decade. Her career almost went off the rails after years of drug abuse.

“This is my first time being clean for the United States, and I’m just having a ball,” she says, joyfully, before adding one of the few memories she held onto from her darker days. “I was playing at a venue where Patti Smith was playing and I’m just the most hugest Patti Smith fan and we walk in and as we cross the floor I go, ‘Oh my God, I remember coming out here in my bathing suit and taking a shower with a hose!’ And it kind of freaked me out for a minute. It kind of bummed me out. And then I thought, ‘Hey, you know what? You’ve grown a lot. You’re human. It’s cool. Forgive. Move on.’

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From the Central Square offices of Together’s headquarters, marketing manager Charles Mazzola looks out and imagines what Cambridge could look like in the near future. “Imagine this block,” he gestures with a broad sweep of his hand. “Every door packed.”

It’s a plausible estimate that Together 2013 — an international celebration of music, art and technology — will bring in 50,000 people. Will that make this year’s edition, the fourth overall of the electro-fest, the biggest and best one yet? That’s a question that Mazzola and managing director Alexander Maniatis answer with a resounding “Oh yeah!” Electronic music (and hip-hop, and electro-pop, etc) is more than just their passion. It’s their mission.

The Together team has deep roots in the Boston scene, and in many ways, it embodies the many virtues that enabled the EDM explosion. They are young, quick to use any emerging technology and able to connect to their dedicated fanbase with a unlikely grassroots approach: word of mouth.

“This is different than a big outdoor thing,” says Mazzola, explaining how Together’s ground tactics — namely infiltrating all the clubs — make the whole thing work. “We have no big stage that holds 50,000 [people] to pay the bills.” But that doesn’t mean the talent pool the fest pulls from is small.

This year, Together presents some of its biggest showcases yet, including performances from cross-over acts like Canadian synth-pop duo Crystal Castles, experimental electronic/jazz artist Flying Lotus and UK house superstar Duke Dumont. These genre-bending artists represent what Mazzola and Maniatis consider the biggest trend in EDM — music that breaks barriers.

“This festival loves to exploit that,” says Maniatis. “Before, there were people who only listened to house music, people who only listened to drum ‘n’ bass, etc. But now you have producers such as Four Tet who are producing really experimental music, but also making banging house tracks. Or you have people like Scuba who are dubstep producers who are now leading the charge for house music.”

Those interested in more intimate venues might check out Thursday night’s show at Middlesex, where patrons of Make It New will get a chance to hear the down-tempo grooves of Detroit underground legend, Andres.

Andre Obin

Searching for a playground

Part of Together’s mission is to present Boston’s best talent alongside reps from the vibrant international scene. This helps to get EDM acts on historic stages (such as the Middle East downstairs, which dedicates an entire week to the festival) as well as to establish a need for new mid-level, electro-friendly venues.

Soulclap’s Eli Goldstein built an internationally-known house/funk act from Cambridge’s Phoenix Landing. According to the producer, Boston has places for the huge acts, but lack spaces for “the really cool shows that aren’t as commercial,” like UK avant-electronic artist Four Tet and Canadian house-producer and Turbo Records-founder, Tiga (both Together highlights).

One of Boston’s fastest rising acts, electronic-based songwriter André Obin, agrees. While his live instrumentation and vocals work well in Boston venues, Obin would love to see a venue with “that perfect combination of DJ culture and live acts that would make modern performers feel more comfortable.” If you build it, they will come.

Whether you want to dance, watch, listen or learn, one thing about this particular fest remains true: We’re all in this Together.

Don’t miss

Soul Clap
Dancing On The Charles: Crew Love BBQ
With Wolf+Lamb, Tanner, Slow Hands, NRP
May 19 from 2 p.m.-8 p.m.
The Central Quad
Corner of Landsdowne and Auburn Streets, Cambridge, Mass.
$20
togetherboston.com

André Obin
With Hooray for Earth, Mean Creek, Guilermo Sexo
May 15 @ 8 p.m.
Middle East Downstairs
$12
mideastclub.com

Together runs May 12-19 at venues across town. Festival passes are $150; $225 VIP. 

The post From all corners of the EDM scene, artists and fans come Together appeared first on Metro.us.

With his new Fisher-Price CD “A Father’s Lullaby,” Nick Lachey found a way to combine two of his greatest loves: music and his son, Camden. But his latest solo project and his 8-month-old baby aren’t the only projects keeping him busy these days: He’s also readying for a summer tour with the reunited 98 Degrees, hopping state-to-state with Boyz II Men and New Kids on the Block for an arena tour appropriately dubbed “The Package.” On top of that, 98 Degrees have just released a new album, their first in more than a decade. We caught up with Lachey before he started rehearsals for the summer shows.

We hear you’re gonna bring Camden on the road with you this summer.
I am, yeah. I don’t wanna miss anything. He changes so much and I don’t wanna miss a moment, so selfishly I’m gonna bring him on the road. We’re all gonna tour as a family. [My brother] Drew and I are gonna share a bus. My family will be out for a while and his family will come out for a while. The cool thing about doing it with the group again is that we’re at different times in our lives. We get to share it now with our families and with our kids, which is cool.

With all those babies, is it gonna be a gigantic, kid-friendly party on the bus?
Well, between the three bands on this tour we have about 30 kids combined. There’s gonna be quite a few kids and quite a few nannies running around.

When you reunited with the group, was it easy to pick up where you guys left off?
It all kind of felt like it just fell back into place. It was really natural and it almost seemed like it was yesterday. That felt good. It’s been a lot of fun, and as long as we’re having fun the rest is easy.

You guys will be dancing, we hope.
We will be dancing. Some people call it dancing. Other people may call it convulsing. The music’s changed a lot over the course of the last 12 years. With this new album, I think we’ve done a good job of changing with the times but also staying true to who we are. It’s a lot more up-tempo stuff on this record because that’s kind of where music’s at, but we’re excited to introduce everybody to it and we’re excited for people to hear the record.

So kids’ music is not the final be-all, end-all of Nick Lachey’s career?
[Laughs] If that were gonna be the case, I’d be fine with that. I loved making that record, but no. It’s cool to be able to do different things. The lullaby project was very different from the 98 Degrees project and very different from other solo projects. Each one has their own vibe and their own process and they’re all fun in their own right.

Did you and your fellow bandmates keep in touch while you were on your hiatus?
Oh yeah, we talked all the time and we saw each other quite a few times. I saw Justin a lot more because we all live in Cincinnati. We all remain very good friends. As far as the reunion goes, we always kept the door open on that. [With] timing and fitting everyone’s schedules, I think now is the time that makes the most sense.

So there was always a plan to keep a reunion on the books?
Well, we were very careful to never say we were broken up or quitting. It was just a hiatus. I think we all knew in the back of our minds that this day would come. We just didn’t know exactly when.

Are we gonna see some shirtless singers on this tour?
I would go out on a limb and say at some point, someone’s shirt will be off. We’re very competitive so if everyone else is taking shirts off, we gotta show what we got.

Last time the New Kids hit the road, they teamed up with the Backstreet Boys. Will you and NKOTB team up for some songs?
We’re all gonna perform our own sets, but there’s still some discussion and decision-making to be done in terms of when we do a collaborative moment between the three groups.

Is your songwriting process different nowadays, being married to someone not in the music industry?
Sure, it’s different, but my wife was very much in the music industry in terms of being on “TRL” for years. It’s not something that really crosses my mind very often.

Let’s talk about your lullaby album. How did it come about?
When you find out you’re pregnant and you have all these emotions and stuff going on, music’s always been the place for me that I’ve channeled all that stuff. And I hadn’t really ever heard of a guy, a dad, doing a lullaby record so I was interested in exploring that. I did some research and found out that Fisher-Price and Mood Records had done a lullaby project with Jewel so I reached out to them to see if they’d be interested in collaborating with me on it, and they were and here we are.

Is Camden a good sleeper?
I’m not just saying this for the benefit of my record but he is literally the best sleeper I’ve ever heard of. He goes to sleep at 7:30, wakes up at 7:30, sleeps 12 hours straight every night, he takes great naps — we’re really lucky with him. He’s been a great sleeper for about the last four months.

Do you play the record for him?
Well, when I was recording it in the studio I’d bring home demos and kind of test them out on him to see which ones he responded to, but now I just sing the live version to him. One in particular is a song that I actually used to hum to him while he was still in the womb and it’s called “Sleepy Eyes.” Now that’s the one I sing to him every night before he goes to sleep. He knows when he hears that it’s time to wind down. He’ll start smiling, he puts his hand on my face, it’s just a really sweet moment for him and me.

Is bedtime your favorite part of the day with him?
I do put him down sometimes, but a lot of times Vanessa puts him down and more often than not I wake him up. So, that’s been our time. We’ll have the morning time together. I change him and get him his bottle. We eat breakfast together and hang out for a little bit. It’s kind of like the guys’ time. He, I and the dog read the paper and have some coffee and all that good stuff.

So you’re on diaper duty too — how’s that going?
Oh yeah! That’s the easy part. You do them for a week and you become a pro at it. I have the diaper thing down, that’s no problem.

You had some practice when Drew’s babies were born.
I actually managed to not change any diapers with my niece and nephew. I did that pretty good, but I couldn’t dodge that bullet with Camden.

Sounds like you’re right in there in the thick of it getting the full fatherhood experience.
I’ve wanted to be a dad for a long time so I don’t wanna miss out on any aspect of it, even diapers.

Did anything really surprise you about becoming a dad?
I think, if anything, just the fact that it changes everything in your life. You know your life’s gonna change but I never expected everything to change. It just affects everything you do in every possible way, which is a good thing. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so broad sweeping, if that makes sense.

If you go

The Package Tour: New Kids On The Block With Guests 98° & Boyz II Men
May 28, 29, 31; 7:30 p.m.
Mohegan Sun Arena
Uncasville, Conn.
$59-$79
www.ticketmaster.com

June 2, 3, 7 p.m.
TD Garden
Boston, MA
$27-$89.50
www.ticketmaster.com

June 1, 7:30 p.m.
Nassau Colliseum
Long Island, New York
$24.50-$94.50
www.ticketmaster.com

June 16, 8 p.m.
Barclays Center
$59.50-$99.50
www.ticketmaster.com

June 13, 7:30 p.m.
IZOD Center
East Rutherford, N.J.
$26-$96
www.ticketmaster.com

June 15, 7:30 p.m.
Wells Fargo Center
Philadelphia, Pa.
www.ticketmaster.com
$29.50-$92.50

Follow Meredith Engel on Twitter @MeredithAtMetro

The post Nick Lachey talks “Package” tour, lullabies and diapers appeared first on Metro.us.

To hear Youngblood Hawke’s Sam Martin talk, you might imagine him some kind of environmentalist, rather than the frontman of a swiftly rising indie-pop outfit. “I think it’s important to conserve nature and take care of our earth, because we’re blessed and fortunate to have it,” he says. “I feel like one day we’re going to look, and it’s going to disappear on us, and we’re going to wish that we had lived a little bit differently.”

He’s talking about the inspiration for the music video for the band’s single “We Come Running,” which was filmed entirely underwater and features the band members swimming alongside live sharks. “At the time there were a lot of shark attacks in California and we wanted to shed light on these animals because they were getting slaughtered by the millions,” he says. “We wanted to show people that they weren’t these man eating killers. They attack surfers occasionally because they think they’re fish … but once they know what you are, they’re not evil manhunters. We can’t keep slaughtering these animals at the rate we’re doing it because we’re going to completely wipe them out. And the ocean would die.”

Indeed, Martin says that if he weren’t making music he’d probably be working in the great outdoors, “maybe a tour guide in a national park or something.” Luckily for Martin (if not visitors to Yellowstone) he’s otherwise employed — making infectious, up-tempo electro-rock with one of his best college buds, producer Simon Katz.

Martin and Katz have been collaborating musically ever since the two decided to move from their college town of Boulder, Colo., to L.A. and start their first band, Iglu & Hartly. The band enjoyed moderate success, scoring a Top 5 hit in Europe, before dissolving suddenly — and painfully, says Martin — due to strained relationships with the other band members. “Simon and I felt like we didn’t really have a voice in the project … and it wasn’t a happy environment for us to be in anymore,” he says. “When you’re making music, but it’s not the music you want to make, there’s really no point. We felt like we could no longer express ourselves, and everything just fell apart.”

The two took the considerable angst of that loss and channeled it into the songs that would become Youngblood Hawke’s debut album, “Wake Up.” “We were really in a dark place and I think, looking back, we really wrote these songs to cheer ourselves up,” he reflects. “We were sitting in our living rooms, dead broke, trying to figure out what to do with our lives. We’d invested eight to 10 years of our lives [in Iglu & Hartly] and then one day it was completely gone. I think it was important to lift ourselves up, I think it was a cathartic experience. We were writing to make ourselves feel better. Definitely the songs have kind of an upbeat feel but I think that if you listen to the lyrics it gets really dark at points.”

When asked to describe the band’s sound, Martin hesitates. “I feel like describing music is like trying to describe a color,” he says. “There’s rock, there’s dance, there’s definitely synth, and there’s some pop elements to it, definitely. But I think what separates us is that we have some weirder lyrics that we balance out with the pop choruses.”

Martin might find their genre difficult to define, but he clearly articulates the band’s unofficial mission statement. “We’re all kind of excited about life,” he says. “In a live show we just like to give people a great experience. I feel like, they come to a show and buy a ticket, they should walk away feeling like we gave all of our effort to entertain them. We walk offstage and we have nothing left. We like to leave it all on the stage for the audience.”

When asked if he ever fears the specter of the one-hit wonder, a fate that befalls many young bands who burst onto the scene with that one catchy hit single and just as quickly fade away, he’s quick to dismiss it. “I feel confident in our album and our songwriting abilities. I think we’re just fortunate to be in this position right now, we’re taking it one day at a time,” he says. “Some bands don’t even get a song. We’re going to continue to write and evolve and get better, so I don’t think that’s something that really freaks me out at all.”

Youngblood Hawke stops in Boston and New York on a club tour before hitting the festival circuit this summer.

NEW YORK
May 13, 8 p.m
Santos Party House
96 Lafayette St., New York
$13-$15
ticketweb.com

BOSTON
May 14, 9 p.m.
Brighton Music Hall
158 Brighton Ave., Allston
$12
ticketmaster.com

The post Youngblood Hawke soars high and swims in the deep appeared first on Metro.us.

The Roots will serve as the house band, but Jimmy Fallon isn’t coming.

“He does his own thing on the fourth,” Tariq “Blackthought” Trotter said Thursday.

The musical group, which usually serves as the house band for Fallon’s late-night talk show, were on hand Thursday as city officials read the lineup for the Wawa Welcome to America! festival.

This year The Roots will be joined by John Mayer, Ne-Yo, Demi Lovato, Ben Taylor, J. Cole, Grace Potter and Jill Scott.

Mayor Michael Nutter billed the event, which will take place on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on July 4, as “the largest party in America.”

Despite requests, Nutter said he wouldn’t take the stage.

“I know my limitations,” he said.

Other events throughout the seven-day festival include:

- “Silver Linings Playbook” to play at Rittenhouse Square at 9 p.m. on July 1.

- National Constitution Center offers free admission all day July 2.

- Wawa, the title sponsor of the event, will distribute four tons of free hoagies at the Independence Visitor Center Lawn on Market Street between Fifth and Sixth streets from noon to 2 p.m. on July 2.

- Peter Nero and Philly Pops! perform free concert at Independence Hall at 8 p.m. on July 3

- Day-long Party on the Parkway starts at noon and ends at 10 p.m. with a fireworks display over the Philadelphia Museum of Art on July 4.

- Taste of Philly extends from July 5 through July 7.

The post Welcome America! 2013 festivities revealed appeared first on Metro.us.

The Delaware waterfront might not have quite the panache that some city planners and developers were hoping for — let’s call it a work in progress — but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy a cocktail and listen to live music while gazing out at river views.

Morgan’s Pier, the beer garden/restaurant/music venue on Columbus Boulevard, reopened for the season Thursday with a new menu for its 100-seat dining area (another 300 seats are available for casual a la carte eating.) But while Chef George Sabatino’s move from the East Passyunk foodie favorite Stateside over to Morgan’s Pier is getting all the attention, what we really want to know is what we’re going to be dancing to.

“There’s no constant theme — it’s lots of different artists,” says R5 Productions’ Sean Agnew, who books musicians for every intimate Philly venue you’ve ever heard of. He’s also part-owner of Morgan’s Pier and in charge of bringing in the nightly DJs. His good friend David Pianka, aka Dave P of Making Time fame, also owns a piece of the Pier. Pianka has been busy lining up bands for the free Wednesday night concerts happening June through August.

This summer’s entertainment calendar features bigger names than they brought in last year — including a few as-yet-unconfirmed ones Pianka says he’s “really excited about” but won’t disclose.

What we do know is that the DJs spinning electronic beats on the weekends — like Claude VonStroke and Julio Bashmore — are “a lot bigger, a lot more popular,” Pianka says. “These are international DJs who usually sell out huge clubs.”

The same holds true for the bands, which include We Were Promised Jetpacks, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Cold Cave, Small Black and Woods. “The shows we have on Wednesdays are going to be really popular,” says Pianka. “Some of them are bands that would sell out at Union Transfer. And this is free.”

Thursday nights will feature a rotating residency of DJs playing a mix of funk, soul, hip-hop, disco and house. As for Sundays, that’s “the infamous Sundae party with guests like Questlove,” Agnew says.

The post Morgan’s Pier reopens for the summer season appeared first on Metro.us.

The word that Thomas Mars sings the most on the new Phoenix album is “alone” (we stopped counting after 25 times!) It might seem strange that with such solitary subject matter, these four guys from the French suburbs are reaching the biggest audiences of their career.

“When you make an album, you have to be disconnected,” says Mars. “You have to make this for yourself. And then when you’re on tour, you feel something else suddenly. It’s distinctively different.”

To witness the band translating the songs from the April-released “Bankrupt!” to the masses, this distinct difference is striking. While Mars sings “I’d rather be alone” on the refrain of lead-off single “Entertainment,” he’s jumping into the audience and demonstrating that he’d actually rather connect on a universal note with people who have obviously felt the same way.

While the band looked quite comfortable headlining Coachella last month, playing for about 180,000 people over two weekends, this bigger stage show has not been without its growing pains.

“It’s a discovery for us,” says Mars. “When we started we weren’t sure of that possibility, to make those monster shows. And then at some point after a few experiments, we saw some sort of poetic value or some kind of Roman Empire quality to it: something grand, something bigger than music.”

But part of how Phoenix achieves this grand scale is by maintaining an intimacy. Mars says he has been going into the audience to sing since the band began before the new millennium.

“There have been a few shows I remember when we played, when there was not even a stage,” he says. “We were the same height as the crowd and you show that you’re really immersed into it. So I think that’s something that we miss and we try to always have that, even to this day.”

The past is always present

“Bankrupt!” feels very much like a summer album. Its dense layers provide new discoveries upon repeated listens, a sunshine soundtrack to make a mundane summer job less mundane, with melodies ready for group singing in the car with friends. The sound is decidedly more synth-based than the guitar-heavy tracks that put the band on the map with 2009’s “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.” There’s also a feel of the music of the band members’ youth, as they steal a drum sound directly from Prince. But this is definitely not retro music.

“There’s a lot of late ’70s analog keyboard and the digital keyboards from the ’80s and drum machines,” explains Mars. “And then there’s all the new stuff. But the thing is all this new stuff, they don’t really have color. They will all sound like something from 2010 or 2013 in a few years. But right now they don’t have any identity in a way.”

Daft Punk is not playing at my house, but R. Kelly is

Rumors ran rampant that Phoenix would include their childhood friends Daft Punk in their Coachella performances. But they had done that already, in 2010 at Madison Square Garden. The band didn’t want to give in to predictable expectations, but they also didn’t want to disappoint by not having a special guest. After last year’s Virtual 2Pac, they knew the bar had been set high for special guests. Their solution was to do exactly what nobody would ever consider: ask R. Kelly. Click here to hear Mars’ account of what happened behind the scenes.

The post Phoenix hit the jackpot with ‘Bankrupt!’ appeared first on Metro.us.

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury -the global head of the Anglican church – said the video was ‘juvenile’ and urged Christians to ‘rise above it’.

But he also couldn’t resist having a dig: “I doubt that Bowie would have the courage to use Islamic imagery – I very much doubt it.”

And Jack Valero, of the Catholic Voices Group, told the Telegraph newspaper that the video was ‘desperate’, adding: “He used to be famous – just what is he trying to achieve?’

The video contains a sequence of Bowie in a bar in robes, striking a Christ-like pose. Gary Oldman, of ‘JFK’, ‘Batman’ and ‘Harry Potter” fame, and Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) are also featured. Oldman is dressed as a priest, while Cotillard is in her underwear, with blood spurting from two wounds in her hands.

Youtube initially took the video down, but it was later reinstated after the company said an error had been made. Users have to provide proof of age before they can see it.

Lord Carey told the Telegraph: “If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery perhaps Christians should not worry too much at such an exploitation of religious imagery.

“I doubt that Bowie would have the courage to use Islamic imagery – I very much doubt it.

“Frankly, I don’t get offended by such juvenilia – Christians should have the courage to rise above offensive language although I hope Bowie will recognize that he may be upsetting some people.”

Bowie has been increasingly reclusive in recent years after a series of health problems. It is understood he spends much of his time living in New York City and he controversially missed an opportunity to appear in a bonanza of British musical talent that was held to close last year’s London Olympic Games.

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Not since Carrie Bradshaw hauled her collection of Manolos to the big screen has a film’s wardrobe received as much hype as Daisy Buchanan’s Prada-designed dresses and Jay Gatsby’s Brooks Brothers suits have. So as “The Great Gatsby” finally hits theaters, we’re revisiting our favorite fashion movies of all time — because the runways might give birth to the trends, but it’s the movies that determine which ones will become iconic.

1. ‘Grey Gardens’
“It’s very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present, awfully difficult,” Little Edie says in the film, ironically predicting how she’d impact the fashion world.  Depending on who you ask, “Grey Gardens” is not so much a documentary about two recluses related to Jackie O. as it is a 100-minute trend machine. Little Edie’s head scarves, Big Edie’s sorbet-colored house coats, the long furs, the wacky layering, the wild print-mixing: It’s all in style right now. And these women — not Anna Wintour — created the look.

2. ‘Rear Window’
It’s hard to overstate Alfred Hitchcock’s influence on fashion. Alexander McQueen famously built a collection around his movies. And you see hints of Grace Kelly’s Edith Head-designed costumes in “Mad Men.” In “Rear Window,” Kelly only wears five outfits, each one memorable and relentlessly copied.

3. ‘Funny Face’
“Take the picture!” Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn sealed their relationship as one of the movie world’s greatest duos with a single scene: Audrey running down a staircase in the Louvre, her red sash floating above her mimicking Winged Victory.  Givenchy created costumes for four of Hepburn’s movies, all of which we were tempted to put on this list.

4. ‘Bonnie and Clyde’
Faye Dunaway’s mid-length skirt suits, knit tops, berets and silk scarves are iconic, making this the second most referenced movie in fashion history.

5. ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’
Coco Chanel is credited with creating the Little Black Dress, but Audrey Hepburn popularized it. The satin Givenchy sheath she wore as Holly Golightly was undisputedly the most famous LBD of all time.

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Duke Fakir (seated) and the Four Tops will play at the Keswick.
Credit: Keswick Theatre

When Motown’s Four Tops wanted to make it big in the U.K., they looked for a little help from a new friend: Beatles manager Brian Epstein. He booked the Tops at his London Saville Theatre in 1966 in a performance that has since become legendary in England.

“He told us that he had seen us perform, and if you give me your top performance, I’ll guarantee that when you come back, you’ll be front-page news,” says Four Tops founding member Duke Fakir. “We did do one of our best shows and he was so happy, he was almost crying. The audience was standing in the aisles calling for more and more and he said, ‘You guys did it!’”

“When we came back, we were front-page news, and it was like that for years.”

The concert is regarded as a transition point in the U.K. from the Chuck Berry-ish rock of the early British Invasion bands to the more soulful and sophisticated pop sound which would soon emanate from England.

Epstein, who would pass away the following year at the age of 32, threw a party for the Tops at his home following the Saville triumph.

“Everybody was there — The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Small Faces, you name it. Anybody who was doing anything in England,” Fakir says. “They respectfully asked us questions about our music and it was almost like a loving thing — they really embraced us.”

The rest of the world has also embraced the Four Tops. The gentlemen of Motown have a catalog of enduring hits: “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Bernadette” and more. The Tops — Fakir is the last surviving original member — come through the area with the Temptations in a show at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside.

If you go

The Four Tops
Friday, 8 p.m.
SOLD OUT
http://www.keswicktheatre.com

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Every summer New Yorkers look forward to the mostly free Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival.

The concert series held annually in Prospect Park’s bandshell highlights a variety of artists to please the taste of all music lovers.

This year, Celebrate Brooklyn! is bringing some of us back to high school by showcasing the Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five and Guster on July 30. This is one of the shows that will require a ticket.

For those nostalgic of the early 2000s, Shaggy, of “It Wasn’t Me” fame, will perform on August 9.

Other performances to look forward to include Belle and Sebastian on July 11, Beck on Aug 4 and the live score of to Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild by Dan Romer, Benh Zeitlin, & The Wordless Music Orchestra on August 8.

They Might Be Giants will bring Celebrate Brooklyn! to an end on August 10.

For the full summer lineup click here.

See you all in Brooklyn this summer.

Follow Mary Ann Georgantopoulos on Twitter @marygeorgant

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Madonna will be honored at the Billboard Music Awards show this month for her 2012 MDNA tour, the highest-grossing concert tour of the year, organizers of the awards show said Wednesday.

The singer will accept the Top Touring Artist award at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 19 for the tour that grossed more than $305 million from 88 sold-out shows and attracted an audience of 2.2 million people.

“A cultural icon, Madonna is one of the most successful and influential entertainers of all time and was recently named Billboard’s Top Money Maker of 2012,” Billboard said in a statement.

The chart-topping singer holds numerous other Billboard awards, including the record for the most Top 10 singles (38).

In addition to her music, Madonna is also an avid art collector. On Tuesday she sold a 1921 painting by the French artist Fernand Leger, “Trois Femmes a la Table Rouge,” for $7.16 million to raise money for the nonprofit Ray of Light Foundation, to fund girls’ education in poor countries.

The mother of four, including two adopted children from Malawi, is planning to build 10 schools in the African nation.

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Storm Large will be making her Carnegie Hall debut when she sings with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra tonight. But it’s the edgier Philly-area show you don’t want to miss.

Large, who got her start on the CBS reality show “Rock Star: Supernova,” will be performing with the Storm Large Band at the Keswick Theater on Saturday. And it will be a totally different type of evening than what she’ll bring for a buttoned-up Carnegie Hall crowd.

“People have told me … what to do for a long time. I never listen. I do what I want to do and it has worked out,” she says. “Think of my performance as a ride in the back seat of a nice car. I pass through several boundaries and tickle the final boundary as long as I can.”

She’s planning a blend of original materials and covers, from the Pixies to Cole Porter, for the no-holds-barred, cabaret-style show.

Large is “more proper and wears a gown” for her regular appearances with the group Pink Martini, which plays classical and jazz music. On a recent break from touring with them, she filmed scenes with Geena Davis for an-as-yet-unnamed TNT series.

How’s that for mixing it up?

“The audience should not expect a band that simply plays music in a dark room. I talk to the audience. I get as raunchy as the audience lets me,” she says. “It’s like I am on a first date with the audience. I have to take the temperature of the room so I don’t know ahead of time how far I can go.”

Book club

Oprah chose Large’s memoir, “Crazy Enough,” as one of her Book of the Week selections.  The musical version of “Crazy Enough” attracted sold-out crowds in Portland for months.

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Fellas, if you’re trying to impress a girl consider picking up a guitar. It turns out ladies love a guy with a guitar.

A study straight out of France, you know, the most romantic place in the world, found that a man is more attractive to the opposite sex if there’s a guitar in his hand.

The results confirm a similar study from Israel published last year.

From PS Magazine:

“One sunny Saturday afternoon, in the shopping district of a medium-sized French city, this good-looking guy approached 300 women (aged approximately 18 to 22). He introduced himself, declared, “I think you’re really pretty,” and asked for her phone number so they could arrange to have a drink. For one-third of these brief encounters, he was carrying what was clearly a guitar case. For another third he was holding a sports bag; for the final third, he was empty-handed.

The implication that he was a musician dramatically increased the actor’s appeal. When he was carrying the guitar case, 31 percent of the women gave him their number. This compares with nine percent when he was carrying the sports bag, and 14 percent when he was carrying nothing.”

The French researchers believe playing music is “perhaps associated with physical and intellectual abilities.” It also implies a work ethic.

Need more proof of the validity of the study? Just look at John Mayer. He carries a guitar and we’ve lost track of how many women he’s dated.

Follow Mary Ann Georgantopoulos on Twitter @marygeorgant

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It was instant creative chemistry when Sebu Simonian and Ryan Merchant met through Craigslist a few years ago — which is fortunate, because Merchant was the only one who responded to Simonian’s post.

“He was looking for a producer to help him with his solo project,” Simonian says. “He sent me some samples of his songs, which were really good. When we got together, we collaborated immediately.”

The pair spent a couple of years writing TV commercials, but they always had other projects floating around, too. “We collaborated on all kinds of stuff and putting together ideas,” says Simonian. “We realized all that repertoire was prime material to start a band.”

So they did just that, starting the band Capital Cities in 2010 and putting out an EP the following summer. Their debut album, “In a Tidal Wave of Mystery,” comes out June 11.

As for describing their style, Simonian says Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd and The Beatles are among their influences. You could call it alternative-pop, or techno, or alternative-dance with a blend of upbeat, catchy tunes — or something else altogether. The indefinable quality is “somewhat intentional.”

“It doesn’t matter to me what we’re categorized,” Simonian says. “Ryan and I try to make good music. Overall, we definitely like to make it dance-y — electronic in your face, fun and upbeat and joyous — but we do try to venture into the dark side sometimes with experimental sound. Sometimes the lyrics takes turns, and we try to balance it out with depth and more edgy and dark moments.”

From Pink Floyd to 2Pac

Capital Cities went bold with the decision to cover Pink Floyd’s classic “Breathe.” Then they went bolder, adding in a little Tupac Shakur.

“To be quite honest, it was a spur of the moment inspirational experiment,” Simonian says. “We spontaneously thought it would be nice if we could throw a rap person in here somewhere. The idea kept bubbling — we searched the Internet for a cappellas from some of our favorite rappers. We stumbled upon this amazing short little verse that he raps over another song, which was I thought was perfectly fitting.”

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Yo, Adrian, LTJ Bukem’s coming to town.

Yep, it’s a fact. The U.K.-based drum-and-bass legend is one big “Rocky” fan.

“Ahh, yes, the Italian Stallion,” says LTJ Bukem, aka Danny Williamson, via email. “Rocky … goes the 15 rounds and looses. [It's] Rocky showing his guts, falling in love, proving that anything-is-possible attitude. ”

Williamson, who performs May 9 at The Blockley, has a bit of that anything-is-possible attitude, too. He’s the one who put the drum-and-bass genre, a style of electronic dance music, on the map in the early ’90s.

“I was 9 when ["Rocky"] came out and remember running round school laughing, shouting ‘Adrian!’ at any given opportunity,” Williamson says. “Yea, stupid I know. I also read a while back it was created for under a million dollars and made over $200 million — amazing.”

That’s the business man in Williamson talking. He founded his own record label, “Good Looking Records,” in the early ’90s and has since played around the world, making Philly a regular stop.

Williamson has remained a steady draw despite the vicissitudes of the mainstream American public when it comes to electronic music. The latest EDM blip on the pop radar was dub step.

“New musical genres are always exciting, and there’s been so many over the last two decades,” Williamson says. “There’s fans of each … with each you either love it or hate it, or love it all!”

His music is electronic at its core but infused with the aura of live music, especially jazz and soul. It’s fitting that a concert by jazz great Chick Corea put a young Williamson on his musical path.

“When I was 10 my then-piano tutor took me to see Chick Corea at the Albert Hall in London,” he says. “Indeed he was responsible for inspiring and influencing my musical direction, which lead to drum and bass.”

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In between moves from the Midwest to Ireland and back again, Peter Mulvey came to rest briefly in Boston, where he found a home for his music.

“I moved to Boston in the autumn of 1992 and became a regular busker at the Davis Square and sometimes the Harvard Square T stops,” says Mulvey. “I quickly got things up and running. My touring life began right around then and I went on the road full time in 1994-1995 — and moved back to the Midwest — but ever since then I’ve always thought about that time.”

Despite his departure, Mulvey has always referred to Boston as his musical headquarters. His 2002 record, “Ten Thousand Mornings” was recorded entirely at the Davis Square T stop, and the members of his backing band, the Crumbling Beauties, all hold Massachusetts zip codes. “It’s become a second home,” says Mulvey. “I live in Milwaukee, but my career lives in Boston. Once you’re on the road, you can live anywhere.”

Though he’s touring across the country promoting his own work, Mulvey returns to town this week to play the Tom Waits’ masterpiece, “Rain Dogs” in its entirety in a special two-day stint at Club Oberon.

“We enjoy this record so much,” says Mulvey. “It’s like a Shakespearean play. No matter how many times you do it, you’re still going to discover something new. There’s a whole world in this record. Have you ever been to a museum and seen people painting a Picasso? That’s kind of what happens when you sit down and learn these tunes. Part of it is the mechanical fascination of this crazy chord progression. Then you get dazzled by all those couplets. In some ways it’s just a songwriter boasting and telling a tall tale, but then there’s a metaphor that goes into surrealism.”

Released in 1985, “Rain Dogs” is Tom Waits’ eighth record — and his biggest push away from traditional piano balladry to avant garde songwriting and obscure instrumentation. It would become the album that provided a new beginning and an artistic redefinition for Waits that would forever alter his work to come.

Mulvey and company have performed the record yearly, and somewhat secretly, at Atwoods Tavern since 2007, but this marks the first time the gang will be backed by the burlesque dancers of Babes in Boinkland — and their first time performing the endeavor at the high-profile Oberon. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to do anything different.

“We don’t rehearse,” admits Mulvey. “We’ve done one rehearsal in our lives. We don’t play the record identically to the way it was recorded. I don’t sound like Tom Waits. The instrumentation is all over the place and our ensemble is just six people. In a way, we approach it like an improvised story. We’re not just playing the songs; we’re trying to capture the spirit. We’re not out to be a tribute act, if that makes sense. It’s more like this is what we do.”

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