Etta James

Daptone's Neil Sugarman On The Sweet Return Of The Sugarman 3

In an industry that rewards greed and egocentrism, tenor saxophonist Neal Sugarman has made a career out of selflessness. On record and onstage, Sugarman plays only what is needed: a big, percussive horn blast here, a raw R&B riff there. And career-wise, he has done much the same: in 2001, when both ... More >>

HELLO. . . .

Is it Lionel Richie you’re looking for?

'11th Annual A Great Night in Harlem'

100 & Single: fun., Gotye, M83, EDM, And The Beginning Of The Hot 100's Spotify Years

How do you know when you're at the dawn of a new pop era? It's not like someone sends a memo. Sure, occasionally there's a well-timed cultural event that offers a hint—the disastrous Altamont festival in December 1969, which signaled that the flower-power dream was over, or Comiskey Park's Di ... More >>

Getting the Drop on the Hammerstein with the Cosmic Opera

Turntables are nice, but aerialists are even nicer

Live-Blogging The 2012 Grammys: Tributes, Tribulations, Skrillex, And The Return Of Adele

via Cats Who Look Like SkrillexWill this cat win Best New Artist?​Welcome to Sound of the City's liveblog of the 54th Annual Grammys, coming to you live from a couch in Astoria. There are quite a few questions lurking around tonight's ceremony. Will Adele sweep the three major categories in wh ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Flo Rida's Accidental Posthumous Tribute To Etta James

The late Etta James remained an active recording artist right up to the end, releasing her final album, The Dreamer, just two months before her death on January 20. But she hadn't been on a Billboard singles chart since the '70s, when a cover of Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart" from her 1978 come ... More >>

Etta James, R.I.P.

​Etta James used to tell a story about meeting Billie Holiday in which Holiday told her—fatherless wild child to fatherless wild child—not to let the bad men and drugs that were going to come her way destroy her. Something about that brief conversation must've stuck, because despit ... More >>

Live: Avicii Pumps (And Pumps) The Crowd At Lavo

​Avicii Lavo Saturday, January 21 Better than: Sensory deprivation. Anthropologically it was worth it; logistically a lot less so. Arriving to Lavo, on East 58th Street, at 11:45 on Saturday night is risky enough—it's a high-end bottle-service superclub, the kind dance snobs tend to a ... More >>

Dumbstruck: Ventriloquism Doc Without Much to Say

Shemekia Copeland

Justin Bieber: A Vague Presence in His Own Origin-Myth Doc

Christina Aguilera Stripped of Her Assets in Burlesque

Download Holly Miranda's Set Sunday Night At In Vino

​We are not immediately predisposed to the Vino in Vino concert series -- which "matches artists with winemakers for a night of music and vino" -- but we are fortunately extremely predisposed to sharp-edged dream-pop belter Holly Miranda, whose show at Bowery Ballroom a few months back was one ... More >>

Interview: Sleigh Bells Confirm That Treats Is Good For Exercise

Phil KnottDerek Miller and Alexis Krauss Sleigh Bells, the Brooklyn duo of former school teacher Alexis Krauss and former waiter/Poison The Well guitarist Derek Miller, have a rather apocalyptic presence, as we've previously noted. Hearing Treats for the first time, you might think this is somebody ... More >>

Download: Holly Miranda Tears Up Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind" At Bowery Ballroom

Pic by Sterling Taylor​The mighty NYC Taper was present at Brooklyn dream-pop ingenue (and expert record-sneaker) Holly Miranda's pretty fantastic Wednesday-night Bowery Ballroom show, and was kind enough to pass along an MP3 of the set's highlight, a blistering, stupendous cover of the Etta J ... More >>

Week in Review: Uniformly Awful

In yr face. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne​In the week the world learned how dangerous a truffle-flavored french fry really can be, we watched in horror as the New York Times Magazine penned a brutal takedown of M.I.A.--who retaliated by going after the journalist who wrote it, of course. Were you pe ... More >>

Live: Holly Miranda Decimates Bowery Ballroom With Some Help From Kyp Malone, A Horn Section, And Etta James

​Unhinged, raucous, gigantic. Pics by Sterling Taylor.​"I enjoy a good sleep," Holly Miranda told us yesterday, discussing the distinct snooze motif running through the Jealous Girlfriends singer's new woozy, eerily ethereal solo record, The Magician's Private Library, leading one to exp ... More >>

Chatting With Patricia Williams Cooking for Jazz Fans at Smoke, the Dreaded Jazz Brunch, and the Similarities Between Dancing and Cooking

Patricia Williams​Patricia Williams has been cooking in New York for almost 30 years, and her resume includes many restaurants that made a significant imprint on the city's dining scene, including Barry Wine's Quilted Giraffe, Arizona 206, and Sarabeth's Kitchen. And after spending time behind ... More >>

Who Do You Love? Goes from Awful to Insufferable

Cadillac Records has been here, done it better

Live: Gemma Ray and Jerseyband Confuse Pretty Much Everyone at Mercury Lounge

​"The light is all wrong," sighed London retro-pop singer Gemma Ray, by way of explaining of her glum set. "I have some psychedelic songs but they won't be right in here." She was onto something--the vibe was unfocused at Mercury Lounge on Monday night, with a perplexing lineup that skipped fr ... More >>

Rise of the Anachronauts

On Dan Hicks, Leonard Cohen, Etta James, and other fearless time travelers

This Week's Voice: Ciara and Chrisette Michelle, Bob Dylan, Outrage, Ben Greenman's Please Step Back, Stephin Merritt's Coraline, and More

In this week's Village Voice Music Section, Rob Harvilla takes a trip to the r&b salt mines with Ciara and Chrisette Michelle. Edd Hurt on Bob Dylan's Together Through Life, during most of which Dylan apparently carries a gun. Justin Farrar laments the end of USA Is a Monster. Brad Cohan anticipa ... More >>

This Week in the Voice

Is it Trekalicious? Or Trek Jerky? Robert Wilonsky weighs in on the Star Trek movie, in which Spock is a "tormented youth in revolt." Ward Sutton does the funny cartoon version. We're accustomed to think of William Thompson as Mr. Clean. But he's a friend of William Howell, and as city comptrol ... More >>

Barack and Michelle Dance to Beyoncé's "At Last"; Nation Looks For Scrolling Credits, Other Signs of Unreality

This clip of Beyoncé singing Etta James's "At Last" at last night's ABC-televised inaugural ball while Barack and Michelle Obama sway giddily on a spotlit stage seems more like the final, triumphant credit-rolling frame of a movie than real life, but then again, this is our next four years. I thi ... More >>

On the Method Behind Beyoncé's Multiple-Personality Madness

The importance of being Sasha Fierce

Fun Drag Show, Folks!

Cadillac Records Turns the Label's History into Another Downer Soap Opera

Larry Keigwin and Monica Bill Barnes Do Up August

Summer flings with water, towels, and a romp in the park

Gypsy Caravan

The Summer's Pop Videos

Outdoor Concerts & Music Festivals

If Diana Krall Played a Ukulele, Would She Win a Grammy?

Angels at Work

From Soho to Clinton, some dancers are out of this world; others just pretend to be

From the Big Island With Love, Leis, Ukelele, and Hunks in Grass Skirts

Diffusion Rools

Nothing Major

Time Will Reveal

Salaam

Looking for Better Than That

Figuring Out Who’s in Tune as the Smoke Clears

Letters

Haikus and Atmospheres

Give the Gift of UniMoth

Music

Bottlemania