Pleasantville Music Festival: July 10th

The 6th annual Pleasantville Music Festival with take place this year on Saturday, July 10th.

Announced acts include Jakob Dylan, The Bacon Brothers (snore), and Rusted Root. It's a nice way to spend an afternoon.

White Wine Bargains

There's nothing that Westchester Live loves more than a super dry white wine on a hot summer night. Now, just to be clear, Westchester Live likes his whites in the "French" style, i.e., like sucking on a piece of limestone. Not to everyones taste, for sure.

The tragic thing about this for Westchester Live is that wines like this (usually French burgundies) cost an arm and a leg. And, as you can probably infer, Westchester Live ain't exactly rolling in the scratch these days (blogging is primarily a past time of the under and unemployed) so he's always on the look out for cheap…make that inexpensive…make that, um, value wines that he can swill for a reasonable outlay of dosh.

All of this is just a long way of saying, here are a couple of wines that he's recently found that at least approximate his platonic ideal of a white wine:

1. Oxford Landing Viogner 2008. $7.99

2. Casal Branco Vinho Regional Ribatejano 2008. $8.99. Well worth the extra dollar.

Both of these tasty whites are available at the Westchester Wine Warehouse.

Clearwater Festival: Keller Williams

One of the highlight of this years Clearwater Festival will be Keller Williams, a one man band who creates songs on stage using loops.

Bonus: he's a really nice guy!

The National: Live on WXPN / NPR

The National out of Brooklyn is one of Westchester Live's favorite bands. Here's a link to a live show they recorded for NPR affiliate WXPN in Philadelphia (one of Westchester Live's favorite radio stations!)

The National Live on WXPN

No Westchester appearance is scheduled,though, and their Radio City Music Hall show on the 16th of this month is sold out. You're next chance to see them is in Montclair, N.J. at the Wellmont Theater on the 24th of September.

And, in case you're not familiar with them, here's a good (but unofficial) video for Fake Empire from their great 2007 album The Boxer.

Copyright Abuse

You know that hilarious "Hitler Finds Out About Michael Jackson's Death" video that Westchester Live posted last year? It's been removed from YouTube because the producer of the original film, Downfall, has claimed copyright infringement. In fact, all of the "Hitler Finds Out About…" parodies have been removed for the same reason. YouTube's policy is to remove anything that someone claims to own the copyright of.

There's only one problem. Parody, of which all of these videos are, is generally protected from infringement claims by the Fair Use clause (section 107) of the Copyright Act. So shouldn't YouTube require proof of infringement before removing videos?

Just askin'.

Clearwater Festival

The Clearwater Festival is, without a doubt, the best music festival in Westchester County and a highlight of Westchester Live's year. This years event takes place June 19th and 20th at, per usual, Croton Point Park in Croton On Hudson.

The line up includes:

- Steve Earle

- Rhett Miller

- Shawn Colvin

- David Bromberg

- Buckwheat Zydeco

- Jonatha Brooke

- the subdudes

- Joan Osborne

…and many, many more.

Steve Wright? Or Steve Reich?

I always get Steven Wright (6/10 at The Paramount in Peekskill) and Steve Reich confused. In my defense, they're both minimalists.

Steven Wright:

Steve Reich:

The Paramount in Peekskill

Ya' know, Westchester Live doesn't want to be an old crank but can't the Paramount in Peekskill do something to spiff up its schedule?

Here's what's coming up:

- 6/10 Steven Wright

- 6/18 Dion

- 6/30 moe.

- 7/2 Mary Chapin Carpenter

- 7/17 Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi

- 7/21 Happy Together Tour (I assume this must have something to do with The Turtles).

- 8/6 Chris Botti

- 9/24 Get the Led Out (Led Zeppelin tribute)

- 10/23 Ronan Tynan

Now, don't get me wrong, Westchester Live has nothing against any of the above artists (okay, except for moe) but this is one, um, uninspiring, list. It's a beautiful theater with great sound, he just wishes there was more there that he wanted to see.

That being said, Steven Wright is very funny. He killed at the Tarrytown Music Hall Last year. Here's a clip from Letterman:

New Album Streams from Spinner!

Cool album streams from Spinner include new releases from Tift Merritt and Paul Weller.

Here's a video of a cat on a Roomba:

Westchester Magazine: Why Are Our Taxes So #%*! High!

You want to know what really frosts Westchester Live's butt? People who can't understand why their taxes are so high, that's what frosts Westchester Live's butt.

You want to know why our taxes are so high? Here's the secret:

We want stuff.

Yep. That's it. That's the full story. Whether it's good schools, cops, new fire trucks, local governmental bodies, whatever, the reason our taxes are so #%*! is because we want government to supply goods and services.

We might disagree on what those services are (Westchester Live thinks suburban cops are way overpaid) but we want them nonetheless. So next time you want to bitch about taxes remember this: we have met the enemy and he is us. Or something like that.

Here's a link to the full article, Why Are Our Taxes So #%*!, in this months issue of Westchester Magazine.

Drive By Truckers at Tarrytown Music Hall

This Friday the 4th (tomorrow), the Tarrytown Music Hall will be presenting the Drive By Truckers in concert. DBT is a great roots rock band that focuses on the quotidian (love that word!) concerns of everyday people. You know, stuff like hating your job, crystal meth addiction, divorce, and unemployment, to name just a few.

I know, I know, you're saying to yourself. "Westchester Live?!? WTF!!! You must be crazy if you think I want to see that!! I've got enough of that in my own life!!!!"

Well, yeah, sure, but your life isn't set to tuneful, hook driven rock that reminds Westchester Live of a cross between Springsteen, Neil Young, and Lynyrd Skynyrd (at their glorious pre-crash heyday). So take that money you'd blow on blow and head down to the Music Hall.

Here's "That Fucking Job" from their latest album The Big To-Do as performed live on Letterman (yeah, I was wondering about that too…)

Great Old Films at Great Old Theaters

Here's a chance to see great old films at great old theaters.

This summer, The Paramount in Peekskill and the Tarrytown Music Hall will be presenting classic films the way they were meant to be seen.

In their classic film series, the Paramount is presenting a Jack Nicholson film fest:

- June 2: The Passenger

- June 9: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

- June 16: The Shining

The Tarrytown Music Hall is presenting two really cool screenings:

- June 12: The Golem.

A classic silent film with live music by the great guitarist Gary Lucas (best known as Captain Beefheart's guitarist).

- July 11: Lawrence of Arabia.

If you haven't seen this classic on a big screen, you haven't seen it.

So put away the iPhone, turn off the Hulu and git your butt down to a real movie theater. For further information:

Paramount Centre for the Arts

1008 Brown Street

Peekskill, NY

914- 739- 2333

Tarrytown Music Hall

13 Main Street
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-631-3390

Nights of Cabiria at Jacob Burns

As Westchester Live said in his previous post, Fellini's Nights of Cabiria is the second saddest film ever made. It is also one of the finest. Giuletta Masina gives one of the great film performances ever. It just broke Westchester Live's heart into little tiny pieces.

It is playing at the Jacob Burns on June 4th and 6th as part of their Classic Italian Cinema series.

Classic Italian Cinema at Jacob Burns: June 4th thru 24th

Westchester Live loves him some Italian cinema!

The Jacob Burns Film Center festival of classic Italian cinema starts this Friday, June 4th. Some of the highlights include:

- Visconti's The Leopard and Ossessione (banned by Mussolini)

- Fellini's Nights of Cabiria (the second saddest movie ever made)

- Di Sica's Bicycle Thieves (the saddest movie ever made)

- Argento's The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (Westchester Live has never seen this one!)

- Leone's Once Upon a Time In the West

Here's the too cool for school trailer for Once Upon a Time In the West (Westchester Live suggests double clicking so you can view it in all its wide screen splendor on YouTube):