It’s fall now, so it’s time for the “big releases” to start dropping again at our local big box book stores. Here’s a list of September 2010 B&N events that I thought were interesting for one reason or another:

B&N September 2010 Events (NYC)
09/07/10 Lee Houck: Yield (82nd & Bway)
09/07/10 Tao Lin: Richard Yates (Tribeca)
09/07/10 Jorge Posada, Laura Posada: The Beauty of Love (5th Ave)
09/08/10 Jonathan Franzen: Freedom (USQ)
09/09/10 Sherwood Schwartz: Brady, Brady, Brady (Lincoln Tri)
09/10/10 Paul Harding: Tinkers
09/13/10 David Levithan: Love Is the Higher Law (Tribeca)
09/13/10 Sean Wilentz: Bob Dylan In America (82nd & Bway)
09/14/10 Alexandra Lebenthal: The Recessionistas (86th & Lex)
09/14/10 Per Petterson, Runaway Dorothy: I Curse the River of Time (Upstairs at USQ)
09/14/10 Bob Blumenthal, John Abbott, Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus
09/14/10 Neil Sedaka: Waking Up Is Hard To Do (Lincoln Tri)
09/14/10 Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption (82nd & Bway)
09/16/10 Patti LuPone: A Memoir (Lincoln Tri)
09/20/10 Nick Zinner: Please Take Me Off the Guest List (Upstairs at USQ)
09/20/10 Nicholas Sparks: Safe Haven (5th Ave)
09/21/10 David Rakoff, Randy Cohen: Half Empty (USQ)
09/21/10 Robert B. Reich: Aftershock (86th & Lex)
09/21/10 Tim Gunn: Gunn’s Golden Rules (Tribeca)
09/22/10 Kristen Schaal, Rich Blomquist: The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex (Tribeca)
09/23/10 William Gibson: Zero History (USQ)
09/27/10 Jon Stewart: Earth (The Book) (USQ)
09/27/10 Jimmy Carter: White House Diary (5th Ave)
09/28/10 Ken Follett: Fall of Giants (Lincoln Tri)
09/30/10 Seussical (Lincoln Tri)

Borders September 2010 Events (NYC)
09/22/10 Guillermo del Toro: The Strain (CC)
09/23/10 Vince Neil: Tattoos and Tequila (CC)
09/28/10 Nicole Richie: Priceless (CC)
09/29 Al Jaffee & Mary Lou Weisman: Al Jaffee’s Mad Life (CC)

And one last thing… RIP Barnes and Noble Lincoln Triangle.

A release from brokerage Cushman & Wakefield confirms that Century 21 will indeed open its second Manhattan store in the space evacuated by the Lincoln Square Barnes & Noble. Century 21 had just yesterday denied rumors that the switch was afoot.
…
Century 21 will begin to develop the location in February 2011, after the bookseller moves out in January. The sure-to-be massive storefront is expected to open its doors the following fall. It will be the first branch built in Manhattan since the flagship opened at 22 Cortlandt Street in 2000. [NY Observer]

Hey folks, if you are mad because you got shut out of WWDTM live at Carnegie Hall last year, you can purchase presale tickets to the 2010 show right now by making a donation to WNYC. Tickets go on sale to the general public in a couple weeks, and if last year is any indication, they won’t be around for very long.

Wait Wait is coming back to Carnegie Hall for two shows this time, on October 7th and 8th, and as a WNYC listener, you have a chance to make sure that this time, you’re not left out in the cold.

A donation of $500 to WNYC will guarantee you two premium seats to our performance on the 7th, down front in Carnegie Hall, close enough to see the pleats on Carl’s cummerbund. Again, your $500 donation to WNYC can get those tickets only when you call 1 888 376 9692 (please, no online pledges). [Peter Sagal]

More Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! 2010 tour dates after the jump.

Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! 2010 Tour Dates
Sep 23 Civic Center Music Hall, Oklahoma City, OK (Buy Tickets)
Oct 07 Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
Oct 08 Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
Oct 28 Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA (Buy Tickets)

Now fans can enjoy a new, super radical compilation of music featured from Seasons I, II & III, YO GABBA GABBA! MUSIC IS AWESOME! VOLUME 2 hits shelves nationwide on August 31, 2010, timed with the launch of the live tour, KIA Motors Presents YO GABBA GABBA! LIVE! THERE’S A PARTY IN MY CITY. Jam-packed with Super Music Friends & all of the songs you’ve grown to love. A deluxe edition featuring bonus songs from the hit series will also be available on iTunes. Fans can get a sampling of the record with a free download of our favorite Super Music Friends – Weezer’s track “All My Friends Are Insects” at www.yogabbagabba.com/freedownload

If you’re planning on checking out the show live, there are also some deals to be had in various cities throughout the US and Canada, though unfortunately not in NYC (at least not yet). Here’s what I know about so far:

• In Chicago, you can use the code SCHOOL to get $10 off tickets through August 31 (Buy Tickets).
• In Toronto, you can get 2 for 1 tickets for September 4, 2010 early and late shows at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre over here and here. Toronto is also running Yo Gabba Gabba Live! promotions through “Pizza Pizza” and “Wonderlist”, the respective passwords for those promotions are 1111pizzapizza and wonderlist (Buy Tickets).
• In Portland, Maine you can save $5 on tickets using the code MOM.
• In Providence, Rhode Island you can also save $5 on tickets using the code MOM.

YGG Music Is Awesome Volume 2 track listing and a list of surprise YGG Live! musical guests (but not who will be appearing in what city) after the jump.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live! Surprise Musical Guests
Amanda Palmer & Jason Webley
Big Head Todd
Citizen Cope
Drive-By Truckers
Keller Williams
Kid Koala
Leslie Hall
Mates of State
Money Mark
OK Go
Pretty Lights
Steel Train
Sunbears!
The Aquabats
The Salteens
The Worsties
Toubab Krewe
Unicycle
Zac Brown
-via GabbaFriends

Yo Gabba Gabba! Music Is Awesome! Volume 2 Track Listing:
1. YO GABBA GABBA! “NAME GAME”
2. WEEZER “ALL MY FRIENDS ARE INSECTS”
3. YO GABBA GABBA! “FREEZE TAG”
4. HOT HOT HEAT “TIME TO GO OUTDOORS”
5. YO GABBA GABBA! “HOLD STILL”
6. DATA ROCK “SMILE FOR THE CAMERA”
7. YO GABBA GABBA! “ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DIFFERENT”
8. MGMT “ART IS EVERYWHERE”
9. YO GABBA GABBA! “I LOVE BUGS”
10. THE AQUABATS! “POOL PARTY”
11. YO GABBA GABBA! “BIG OR SMALL”
12. SOLANGE “MOMMA LOVES BABY”
13. YO GABBA GABBA! “HIGH FIVE”
14. JIMMY EAT WORLD “BEAUTIFUL DAY”
15. YO GABBA GABBA! “WE CAN USE OUR IMAGINATION”
16. APPLES IN STEREO “THAT’S MY FAMILY”
17. YO GABBA GABBA! “I’M A ROBOT”
18. TING TINGS “HAPPY BIRTHDAY”
19. YO GABBA GABBA! “DON’T BE AFRAID/IT’S OK”
20. YO GABBA GABBA! “GOOBYE SONG” featuring Jack Black

The NY Times (which has a little bit more pull than I do) recently announced some more details about the lineup for the 2010 New Yorker Festival. According to Dave Itzkoff, this year’s festival will also play host to Steve Carell, Seth Meyers and the cast of SNL, Stephen King and “Twilight” screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, Dick Armey, Anthony Weiner, Ken Auletta, Atul Gawande, Paul Goldberger, James Surowiecki, music critic Alex Ross and Calvin Trillin (who will be doing his regularly sold out gastro tour of Chinatown). In case you forgot, those names are In addition to the already revealed lineup of: Alec Baldwin, Joyce Carol Oates, Werner Herzog, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman), Regina Spektor, James Taylor, Patricia Clarkson and Neil Gaiman.

PS If I were a betting man, I’d wager that Jonathan Franzen will be one of this year’s guest speakers as well.

Drake’s Take: New Releases 08.24.10

Last week in August should be wasteland, which is the perfect place to drop a surprise EP on an unsuspecting audience, but there was more than just Sufjan Stevens‘ 60 minute EP to be had. There’s also the latest from Les Savy Fav, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Eels, Ra Ra Riot, Dead Confederate, !!!, The Capstan Shafts, metal purveyors The Sword, a star-studded collection to benefit New Orleans and a single from No Age. Whew!

Playlist: New Releases 08.24.10

When an album is 60 minutes long, can it really be called an EP? Sufjan Stevens’ latest stealth release (who saw it coming?) is an album length exploration into rich orchestration and self-indulgent turns with little or no cohesion between the songs. It’s manna for those who are Sufjan-starved, but after a few listens I understand why he’s calling it an EP: because he doesn’t want it to count. Essentially, it’s a single that got out of hand. If you’re patient, you’ll wait for the real album in October (The Age Of Adz), because that will count (just not towards 50 state project, aparently.

LSF has always been a tremendous live act, thanks in part to Tim Harrison’s bonzo act, but the albums never lived up to the gig until 2007′s Let’s Stay Friends, which finally put everything together for the band. Three years later and it feels like they’ve used that as a template to try expand their audience a bit towards the mainstream, and the album probably suffers a bit. But this is still LSF and the best songs (“Appetite” & “Lips & Stuff”) aren’t going to get played on rock stations. No, that honor will belong to “Let’s Get Out of Here,” which sounds like a mid-90′s alt-rock hit in the making, full of Foo Fighter hooks and Pixies twists. It will be interesting to see if the song does indeed widen their reach, but I have a feeling Beardo is still going to be for us weirdos.

Free AOL Album Stream

REISSUES
The Sex Pistols – The Great Rock & Roll Swindle / Free AOL Album Stream

Today’s On Sales: Friday, August 27, 2010
09/21 Food Will Win the War, Red Wanting Blue at Mercury Lounge (Buy Tickets)
09/23 LCD Soundsystem at Wellmont Theatre (Buy Tickets)
09/26 Pete Rock / Prince Paul at Brooklyn Bowl(Buy Tickets)
09/28 El Guincho at Mercury Lounge (Buy Tickets)
09/28 Teenage Fanclub at Bowery Ballroom (Buy Tickets)
09/30 Juliana & Evan at Mercury Lounge (Buy Tickets)
09/30 Ellie Goulding at Hiro Ballroom (Buy Tickets)
10/04 Urge Overkill at Mercury Lounge (Buy Tickets)
10/05 Teen Inc. at Mercury Lounge (Buy Tickets)
10/07 Women at Mercury Lounge (Buy Tickets)
10/08 Pierced Arrows (ex Dead Moon) at Mercury Lounge (Buy Tickets)
10/05 Pete Yorn at Bowery Ballroom (Buy Tickets)
10/15 Wormburner at Mercury Lounge(Buy Tickets)
10/15 Los Campesinos! at Music Hall of Williamsburg (Buy Tickets)
10/16 Los Campesinos! at Music Hall of Williamsburg (Buy Tickets)
10/25 Future Islands at Mercury Lounge (Buy Tickets)
10/29 40 Oz to Freedom (Sublime Tribute) at Mercury Lounge(Buy Tickets)
11/02 Omar Souleyman at Music Hall of Williamsburg (Buy Tickets)
11/02 Clinic at Bowery Ballroom (Buy Tickets)
11/03 Clinic at Music Hall of Williamsburg (Buy Tickets)
11/06 Drivin’ N Cryin’ at Mercury Lounge(Buy Tickets)
11/10 Lights at Bowery Ballroom (Buy Tickets)
11/26 JJ Grey & Mofro at Brooklyn Bowl(Buy Tickets)
11/27 JJ Grey & Mofro at Brooklyn Bowl(Buy Tickets)
12/03 Peter Hook presents Unknown Pleasures at Webster Hall (Buy Tickets)
12/08 Old 97′s at Bowery Ballroom (Buy Tickets)
12/09 Old 97′s at Bowery Ballroom (Buy Tickets)
12/10 Old 97′s at Music Hall of Williamsburg (Buy Tickets)
12/10 Phosphorescent at Bowery Ballroom (Buy Tickets)
(Buy Tickets)

On Sale Saturday, Aug 28 at 4:00PM
09/23 Spoon w/ Sean Bones at Music Hall of Williamsburg (Buy Tickets)
* Some tickets will be available at Other Music and Sound Fix Records

On Sale Monday Aug 30 at 12:00PM
09/23 John Legend & The Roots at Terminal 5 (Buy Tickets)

Hello old friends and first time readers, the iced coffee survey featured in today’s NY Daily News (Aug 27, 2010) is over here. In other related news, my 15 minutes is now officially up.

This show probably doesn’t need my help, but the lineup looks pretty cool and it literally “flew” right under my radar until a couple of days ago. Friends with a Benefit is actually a benefit for the American Bird Conservancy (aren’t we all ornithologists at heart) and its happening at NYC’s historic Town Hall on August 29, 2010. The advance publicity promises an evening of live entertainment featuring MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in conversation with PRI’s Ira Glass. The show is being hosted by 30 Rock‘s Scott Adsit and Christina Gausas and also features comedians Mike Birbiglia, Michelle Collins and Jamie Kilstein and musicians Lucy Wainwright Roche, Barkuna and Erin McKeown.

Read a little more about Friends with a Benefit after the jump.

Friends With a Benefit–An Evening of Live Entertainment at Town Hall
New York, NY
Sunday, August 29, 2010, 7pm

Please join us for Friends with a Benefit, an evening of live entertainment with proceeds going to American Bird Conservancy.

Rachel Maddow (host, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show) will join Ira Glass (host, PRI’s This American Life) for a live, onstage conversation at New York City’s famed Town Hall. Noted comedians, including Mike Birbiglia (Sleepwalk with Me), Michelle Collins (VH-1’s Best Week Ever), and Jamie Kilstein (Citizen Radio), will join acclaimed musicians Lucy Wainwright Roche, Barkuna, and Erin McKeown for an exciting line-up of comedy, music, and entertainment, hosted by Scott Adsit (30 Rock) and Christina Gausas (Adsit & Gausas). And more!

Friends with a Benefit is an evening of entertainment with ticket proceeds going to for our efforts to protect native birds and their habitats in the wake of the Gulf Coast oil disaster.

Town Hall is located at 123 West 43rd Street, New York, NY, 10036.

Tickets: $50 for Orchestra & Loge, $40 for Balcony, and are available through Ticket Master online at www.ticketmaster.com or by telephone at 1-800-982-2787.

It seems like it was just last week when Sufjan Stevens released the All Delighted People EP much to the surprise of more or less everyone on the Internet (oh wait, it actually was last week). Well today comes yet another new music announcement from the Sufjan camp, and this time it’s not just a paltry 60 minute EP, but rather his first full length album of original material in five years, The Age of Adz. The album is set to drop on October 12 on Asthmatic Kitty and is available for pre-order now until September 25, with pre-orders receiving music digitally two weeks prior to the physical release date. (Though somewhat expected, today’s news still sort of seems like it came out of nowhere too.)

The Age of Adz (pronounced “odds”) differs from Stevens’ previous works in its lack of conceptual underpinnings. The album relinquishes the songwriter’s former story-telling techniques for more basic proclamations unhindered by concepts: there are few narrative conceits or character sketches, no historical panoramas, no civic gestures, no scene, setting, conflict, resolution or denouement. Rather, the themes developed here are neither historical nor polemical, but rather personal and primal: love, sex, death, disease, illness, anxiety and suicide all figure in the songwriting.

The title The Age of Adz is a reference to the apocalyptic art of Royal Robertson (1930—1997), a Louisiana-based sign-maker (and self-proclaimed prophet) who suffered from schizophrenia. Robertson’s work depicts his vivid dreams and visions of space aliens, futuristic automobiles, eccentric monsters and signs of the Last Judgment. Portions of Stevens’ album use Robertson’s work as an idealistic springboard and a selection of Robertson’s drawings (his primary media were poster board, magic marker, and glitter) appear throughout the album art.

Album track listing and more Sufjan Stevens tour dates after the jump.

Sufjan Stevens – The Age of Adz
1. Futile Devices – 2:11
2. Too Much – 6:44
3. Age of Adz – 8:00
4. I Walked – 5:01
5. Now That I’m Older – 4:56
6. Get Real Get Right – 5:10
7. Bad Communication – 2:24
8. Vesuvius – 5:26
9. All for Myself – 2:55
10. I Want To Be Well – 6:27
11. Impossible Soul – 25:35

Sufjan Stevens 2010 Tour Dates
October 12 Metropolis Theater Montreal, QC
October 13 Massey Hall Toronto, ON
October 14 Royal Oak Music Theater (SOLD OUT) Royal Oak, MI
October 15 Chicago Theater (SOLD OUT) Chicago, IL
October 16 Orpheum Theater Minneapolis, MN
October 17 Uptown Theater Kansas City, MO
October 19 The Long Center for the Performing Arts Austin, TX
October 20 McFarlin Memorial Auditorium Dallas, TX
October 22 Mesa Arts Center-Ikeda Theater Mesa, AZ
October 23 The Wiltern (SOLD OUT) Los Angeles, CA
October 24 The Wiltern (SOLD OUT) Los Angeles, CA
October 25 The Paramount Theater Oakland, CA
October 26 The Paramount Theater (SOLD OUT) Oakland, CA
October 28 Orpheum Theater (SOLD OUT) Vancouver, BC
October 29 Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall Portland, OR
October 30 The Paramount Theatre Seattle, WA
November 1 Kingsbury Hall Salt Lake City, UT
November 2 Paramount Theatre Denver, CO
November 4 Hilbert Circle Theatre Indianapolis, IN
November 5 Bijou Theater (SOLD OUT) Knoxville, TN
November 6 The Tabernacle (SOLD OUT) Atlanta, GA
November 7 Thomas Wolfe Auditorium Asheville, NC
November 9 The National Richmond, VA
November 10 Kimmel Center Philadelphia, PA
November 11 Orpheum Theatre (SOLD OUT) Boston, MA
November 12 Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA
November 14 Beacon Theatre (SOLD OUT) New York, NY
November 15 Beacon Theatre (SOLD OUT) New York, NY