Pete Rock with DJ Premier, Flatbush Zombies, Ty Segall's new band Fuzz, Femi Kuti, and Ben Howard (video above) are among the many artists performing for free in the parks around New York City this summer. Yes, it's the beginning of May and that means that all the upcoming summer music concerts and other fun outdoor events for Summer 2013 in New York City are being announced around this time. So for this New York State of Mind Amoeblog I will preview and list many of these great NYC summer (mostly all outdoor) events, which are usually free and typically with artists that you'd happily fork over good money to see. That all follows below. But first a note on something happening this weekend that prequels an event in August.

La Santa Cecilia will be performing at Amoeba San Francisco on Thursday, May 5th in celebration of their latest release, Trienta Dias.

There are two videos that caught my interest of late, dealing with the subject of immigration. One is overt and the other, a bit subtle. The first is a video from La Santa Cecilia from their new album, Treinta Dias. The song "El Hielo" (ICE) The video shows the daily lives of various undocumented immigrants as they go on their daily routine of getting ready for work and school, living in the shadows in order not to be detected. The tension of the workers as they watch the news of  ICE raids and look at photos of loved ones left behind weigh heavy on their faces. It also shows an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officer also getting ready for work. It's not the usual face one puts on the Immigration officers, rather the new faces of first or second generation Mexican Americans who often work in deporting immigrants. The tension of the video comes to the climax at the end when the work place of several of the immigrants is raided by the ICE force, who look just like the immigrants themselves.
 

 

 

Our "What's In My Bag?" series won a Webby Award today for Best Online Film & Video: Variety Show! We were up against some brilliant, funny, and thought-provoking shows by SoulPancake (who won the People's Voice Award in our category), Conan O'Brien, MIT and Fandango. It's amazing that our little series - of which we are so incredibly proud, don't get me wrong - would be nominated with those folks, let alone honored by the Webby judges with the win.

If you're not familiar with the Webbys, it's an annual international award that's been dubbed "the Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times. Some of the other winners this year include The Onion which won its 18th and 19th Webby for Best Humor Website; The Creators Project which won a Webby (and a People's Voice Award) for Best Art; Pinterest which won a Webby (and a People's Voice Award) for Best Social Media; and Dumb Ways to Die which won for Best Viral Video. Additionally, the Webbys have named Amoeba faves Grimes the Artist of the Year and Frank Ocean as the Person of the Year. See all the winners here. 

The awkwardly hilarious comedy duo Tim & Eric are some of the busiest funnymen in showbiz. Gaining legions of cult-like fans from their successful Adult Swim shows (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Tom Goes to the Mayor), Tim & Eric continue to bless us with more left field content via their popular website, timanderic.com. They also recently partnered up with fellow comedians Sarah Silverman, Reggie Watts and Michael Cera to launch the new Jash Network YouTube channel. If you simply can't be fulfilled by Internet videos, then pick up Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie. If you need even more Tim & Eric, grab the new film that stars the pair alongside LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, The Comedy. 

Tim & Eric wandered into Amoeba Hollywood in search of very specific and maybe even peculiar selections. We got it all on video for another awesome episode of What's In My Bag?. Find out which of the two is a fan of a famous Mexican comedian and which one needs two copies of a 30 Seconds To Mars album. Oh yeah, and check out their very funny impromtu cover of Smash Mouth's "All Star."

Happy Beltane!


Tonight at sundown begins Beltane (also spelled Beltain, Bealtaine, Bealltainn, Boaltinn, and Boaldyn), a Gaelic holiday marking the beginning of summer (which in the Gaelic calendar takes place at the midpoint between the spring equinox and summer solstice). Historically it was observed throughout the British Isles.



Beltane is mentioned in some of the earliest surving medieval Irish literature (eg. Sanas Cormaic and Tochmarc Emire) . It was one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals along with Imbolc, Samhain, and Lugnasadh. but was, not surprisingly, attacked by intolerant Christians. By the mid-20th century, Beltane observances had almost died out although there have been efforts to revive it.


On Beltane rituals were undertaken to ensure a good year in the fields. This was done with the burning of bonfires through which farm animals would be driven. According to 17th century historian Geoffrey Keating, animal sacrifices were made to the god, Beil, on the the hill of Uisneach in Ireland. Additionally, farmers led processions around their fields whilst carrying grains, farm implements, Beltane well water, and vervain or rowan. Rituals were performed along the way at each of the four cardinal points of the compass.