Some of my most recent favorite acts have been coming out of Baltimore, including Ponytail and Dan Deacon. Adventure(Benny Boeldt) also hails from Wham City and is one of the better 8bit musicians I’ve heard. Maybe you just needed to grow up playing Nintendo, Atari, and Sega (Hey kids, this old man remembers time before PlayStation) but I find this music really interesting. Any artist who can limit themselves it terms of sounds and still make something new and interesting ranks high in my book. As I write this Adventure just finished playing over at Todd P’s not-CMJ music thing over at Continental Army Plaza in Williamsburg, Brooklyn but unfortunately I didn’t make it over there.

Adventure – Battle Cat

Adventure – Adventure (2008) is available on Carpark Records.

so, for a variety of reasons I have been mum so far about my CMJ-week plans… well here goes:

ALL THIS WEEK! Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, & Saturday afternoons in CONTINENTAL ARMY PLAZA in Wburg – a 100% FREE & all ages miniature festival of great bands playing outside in the park, w/ no corporate sponsorships & no “vip” lists & no bullshit – just for the love of music! (and yes, there’s a rainout location!)

The venue for these parties is spectacular – CONTINENTAL ARMY PLAZA – located at the north pedestrian entrance of the Williamsburg Bridge in the heart of Wburg. The space is a turn of the century public plaza with a huge statue of George Washington on a horse. It’s been famous for years as a prime skate spot in North Brooklyn.

PLS REMEMBER: no open containers in NYC Parks! brown bagging is not enough!

The entire mini-fest was booked by Todd P & Dan O [ http://myspace.com/danoductions ], except for Wednesday’s lineup which was booked by entertainment4every1.net – all w/ muchas gracias to the NYC Parks Department!

–WEDNESDAY-3pm-to-9pm–> Future Islands . Hospital Bombers . Crystal Antlers . Ninja Sonik . Team Robespierre @ C.A.P. for -FREE-! (Wednesday’s lineup was fully booked/organized by entertainment4every1.net)

–THURSDAY-3pm-to-9pm–> Adventure . Kirsten Ketsjer . THE PHARMACY . Die!Die!Die! . Aa (aka BIG A little a) @ C.A.P. for -FREE-!

–FRIDAY-3pm-to-9pm–> Teengirl Fantasy . Shellshag . YO MAJESTY . THANK YOU . That Ghost . BEST FWENDS . WOODS @ C.A.P. for -FREE-!

–SATURDAY-2:30pm-to-9pm–> Red Dawn II . VIVIAN GIRLS . WHITE RAINBOW . Rob Walmart . DMBQ . PONYTAIL . Arbouretum . Pterodactyl . FIASCO . @ C.A.P. for -FREE-!

–AND– this Friday nite – BLACK DICE . VIVIAN GIRLS . BARR (yes, the return of!) . PONYTAIL . Women [ Ground Control Touring party ] @ DANBRO STUDIOS WAREHOUSE

–AND-ALSO– this Friday nite – SHOWPAPER HALLOWEEN DANCE PARTY w/ We Vs The Shark (playing a terrifying Nirvana B-sides set) . dj Russula (of Asa Ransom), dj Dracula, dj Slate, dance & costume contests, & Halloween-y art installations by Lara Allen, Eun Young Choi, Fabio Ernesto Corredor, Evie Falci, Ben Furgal, Alessandro Keegan, Hayley Silverman, Adam Shecter, & more! @ SCHMARKET SCHMOTEL

–AND– this Saturday nite – THE MAE SHI . PSYCHIC ILLS . DMBQ . PRE . AIDS WOLF . An Albatross [ Panache Booking party ] @ SCHMARKET SCHMOTEL

–AND-ALSO– this Saturday nite – CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE . City Center . Rob Walmart . WHITE RAINBOW . Teengirl Fantasy @ SILENT BARN

Oh, if you missed it, this is all free. F.R.E.E.E.E.E! What hurts is I already bought tickets to see a few of these bands, but then the prospect of seeing Vivian Girls 5 times in 3 days is pretty amazing. So what are you doing this weekend?

Todd P

CMJ