There is no better name for CMJs fest in New York than Music Marathon. First off, its NYC and nothing ever seems to stop. Combine that with 1200 bands playing in dozens of clubs, warehouses, basements, and outdoor spots and you got yourself five days of near-never-ending live music. With that said, I think I somehow only saw a total of seven songs played all week.
This was my third visit to CMJ and it definitely helps to have at least a rough idea of whats going on. With so many concerts and things to do, getting sidetracked prolly happens more than seeing shows for newbies. I can only imagine a college student from a smallish town coming out to New York for the first time during CMJ. I think the best plan, for those not working, is to go through the official and nonofficial lists of shows and pick out a handful of bands you dont wanna miss. Be sure to hit those then wander around the rest of the time and just see what happens. With not as many BIG bands here this year (like MIA, Decemberists, Spoon) and a single overhyped band (The Black Kids) it was inevitable youd be getting turned onto some new bands.
Our trip to CMJ was to help wrap up the Free Yr Radio tour which weve been slinging cream with since South By Southwest in March. The project by Toyota Yaris and Urban Outfitters was created to raise funds and awareness for non-commercial radio stations around the US. There were ten shows around the country at different Urban Outfitters (most recently The Walkmen in Miami) and Toyota donated a Yaris to each of the participating radio stations to help with their fund-raising needs. For this last stop on the tour Free Yr Radio partnered up with WVKR in Poughkeepsie. Since FYR was somewhat officially working with CMJ we were able to snag some good parking spots around town.
I flew in on Monday from Orlando where Newt and I rocked the Action Sports Tour the previous weekend. Things kicked off for CMJ on Tuesday so there was a lot to do. Most of the convention type stuff seemed to be going down around NYU and Adam had pulled up the other, GOOD, Yaris in front of Kimmel Center so by the time Bessita and I arrived, all we had to do was move a barricade and start slinging. The weather wasnt going to be friendly this week. Im guessing it was in the forties or low fifties so the cream wasnt flying out like usual. There were a lot of CMJers, students, and Washington Square Park people around so we just played the numbers. The staff with CMJ work long hours and I wanted to be sure to get them some cream so Jason from GOOD Magazine held down the fort outside while I went into the registration area and li’l convention area to make sure the staff and volunteers were taken care of.
The rest of Tuesday consisted of finding out where the party spots were so we could add them to our route for the week. CMJ put together a gifting area for artists at The Red Bull Space on Thompson and Broome so we rolled by there for a bit. Fader and Levis put together The Fort which had a solid list of day parties all week. Our best bet for all of CMJ was parking in front of Pianos. For some reason we could always get a spot there and, with Living Room and Cake Shop a couple stores down and Arlenes Grocery around the corner, there was always a lot of foot traffic and tons of great shows. We ended the night at Music Hall of Williamsburg. After giving away a few treats we headed in to catch some of Ponytail before calling it a night.
Each morning I would spend a couple hours on the computer trying to make sense of all the shows going on. Oh My Rockness was a good resource and Id also check in with Brooklyn Vegan and Todd P to round things out. With a li’l copying and pasting, Id get a rough list of day, night, and maybe shows then would email myself (so Id have on my phone) and the crew to give them an idea of where we might be slinging. Even though there are shows on Tuesday, Wednesday is when it really starts to get moving.
Without paying attention to the weather, I made the mistake of purchasing over 2500 pieces of ice cream at Kool Man in Brooklyn. Had the weather been comparable to the last two years during CMJ, it wouldnt have been tough to move that many pieces. We tried to purchase all Blue Bunny treats because theyve been helping us out all year but since it was last minute the only ones we could get were Strawberry Froz Fruit and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Wednesday ended up being the coldest day of all. It had to be in the 40s and the wind-chill, with gusts whipping through Washington Square Park then down LaGuardia, it was almost cold enough to not need dry ice for the cooler in Bessita. We kept at it though and hit up a few spots in town before getting back to Pianos at night for the Free Yr Radio show with Chairlift.
Thankfully the wind had died down a li’l by 9 at night but it was still pretty frigid. There were so many people on Ludwig St. and also folks coming to check out Chairlift that it didnt seem to matter. Kate was helping sling and we had a steady flow of customers. There were a lot of cops around and a lot of times Id have to herd the people at the truck to keep them out of the street so the cars could get by and the cops wouldnt get upset with us.
The weather was a li’l better on Thursday but nowhere near prime cream slinging conditions. We hit up the Levis/Fader Fort for a bit, rolled by Brooklyn Vegans party at Pianos (natchwith vegan pops) and hit up the Red Bull spot again. One of the best lineups of the fest was at Music Hall of Williamsburg that night with Mission of Burma, Jay Reatard, King Khan, and Duchess & The Duke. Wed hoped to sling and hand there for a bit but there was a huge recording truck parked right in front. The guys working at the Hall prolly ate more ice cream than anyone else and we made sure to take care of them before splitting. The last stop of the night was at Don Pedros where My Open Bar was throwing a great show with Vivian Girls, Women, and The Muslims. By 11 at night I think most people were more interested in the free SoCo than ice cream and Im not sure if we actually gave away any ice cream at all, even though we were double parked right out front.
I had heard it was finally going to start warming up on Friday and Saturday and had hoped to finally move some serious cream. There was more than enough at Kool Man and, with two loads a day we could move almost 800 pieces. The schedule for Friday was awesome, especially for the night. The day was mostly the same but we also rolled by the Continental Army Plaza on 4th and Roebling in Williamsburg where Todd P was throwing some free, outside day shows. Maybe the weather cut them short but we couldnt find where all the kids were so we headed over to Dumont to grub it up. After that we headed south a bit to Fort Greene where Broken Social Scene was playing at the Masonic Temple. It was mostly a JellyNYC show but CMJ had purchased a handful of tickets for badgeholders to get in. There were tons of people outside either waiting, or trying, to get in but not too many of them wanted cream. I made the rounds inside to take care of any of the workers and got to see Land of Talk for a sec before heading back to Williamsburg.
Im glad that the Music Hall had a great lineup every night because its a good place to sling (with Public Assembly a few doors down) and we could usually find a place to park. Friday was Kemado Records showcase and Cheeseburger, Dungen, The Muslims, and a bunch of other bands were playing. They even hired a catering truck to come out and serve free cheeseburgers and we were parked in front of them for a li’l bit. What a winning combination.. FREE cheeseburgers, ice cream, and rock & roll! Another Toyota project, Up the Antics, was going down a couple blocks away with The Black Lips so we stopped by there before things really got going to take care of all the of peeps there. Zebulon had some good bands playing but parking wasnt happening so we headed over to my favoritest bar, Maracuja. Charlie and Connie had recently got back from Columbia and it was nice to catch up with them and get A drink. On the way home we rolled by another Todd P joint, Danbro Studios Warehouse, in Bushwick. The lineup was NUTS with Black Dice, BARR, Women, Vivian Girls, and Ponytail but, at 1ish in the morn all we saw was one guy working the door and a couple other kids outside. I heard it was insane inside and we shoulda asked to pull Bessita in the warehouse door cuz everyone woulda loved ice cream. Ahhhh..
Saturday was the last official day of CMJ and, again, we hoped the weather would treat us nice. Friday was pretty good and Saturday was the warmest day yet but. it was wet. We started out at The Rivington Hotel for brunch courtesy of TopMan and Jelly NYC. It was a great way to begin the day and across the street was the legendary Economy Candy shop. We loaded up on some sugar free Fruit Stripes gum, mini jelly fruit slices, trading cards, and some other much-needed junk food.
Pianos was def the hot spot..again and we ran into our friend Morgan who played us some awesome, yet to be released tracks from a few bands I really, really like. That was definitely a highlight of all CMJ but who knows when Ill actually be able to rock the tunes again. There were a couple cool gigs going on in Brooklyn so we headed across the Williamsburg Bridge and stopped by Glasslands Studio on Kent for a bit. I was determined to finally sling at a Todd P joint and since the Continental Army Plaza show got moved indoors to the Monster Island Basement off Metropolitan and Kent, we headed over there and slung then saw some tunes downstairs. It was tough to decide what to do after dinner and we had a ton of cream on board but the rain was getting worse. Right before hopping back on the Williamsburg Bridge it started to downpour with marble sized raindrops and we finally we gave in. We were already borderline sick and damp and without any rain gear. Hopefully soon Ill be able to see so many of the bands I wanted to catch; All the Saints, The Muslims, Japanese Motors, Passion Pit, Phenomenal Handclap Band, The Uglysuit, Noisettes, and countless more.
Since we still had some cream left on Sunday I headed by Alpha Beta in Greenpoint where my friend Adam was throwing a Zombieville party with a bunch of bands. Its a cool graffiti supply/art store with a big room and courtyard in back which makes for a great place to throw shows. The weather had finally cleared up and giving away ice cream was going the way it was supposed to. I was happy to have that be the end of the week because I was bummed the weather was so funked up the rest of the week.
Thanks to everyone who helped make CMJ possible: Kate, Paul, Adam, and Abbey for shots. Sherman, Adam, Jason, Gregg and the 206 crew. Winifred and CMJ folks. Ernesto and Kool Man. Hopefully next year the weather will be better and we can sling more. It was a good summer New York. See ya sometime next year with a whole lotta treats.
