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Directed by two-time Academy Award® winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Best Documentary, Short Subject: Saving Face, 2012; A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, 2015) and Andy Schocken, the acclaimed documentary Song Of Lahore opens in select theaters and is available on DVD, VOD and Digital HD May 20. Featuring the music of The Sachal Ensemble of Pakistan and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Song Of Lahore examines the lives and the cultural heritage of Pakistan’s classical musicians as they prepare for a concert in New York City.

The theatrical release of Song Of Lahore begins on Friday, May 20, exclusively at Village East Cinema in New York City and Laemmle’s Music Hall in Beverly Hills.

Song Of Lahore was an official selection at numerous film festivals in 2015, including the Tribeca Film Festival, Melbourne Film Festival, Hamptons Film Festival, Idfa Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival and the Heartland Film Festival.

The 58th San Francisco International Film Festival opens tonight with Alex Gibney's Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. There'll be awards for and special evenings with Richard Gere, Guillermo del Toro, Douglas Trumbull, Paul Schrader and Kim Longinotto. Rachel Kushner will introduce a screening of Barbara Loden's 1970 classic Wanda. Cibo Matto will perform their new score for Yoko Ono's Fly. Plus: Jean-Gabriel Périot's A German Youth, Stanley Nelson's The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon's Best of Enemies and more picks and previews. » - David Hudson...

The 58th San Francisco International Film Festival opens tonight with Alex Gibney's Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. There'll be awards for and special evenings with Richard Gere, Guillermo del Toro, Douglas Trumbull, Paul Schrader and Kim Longinotto. Rachel Kushner will introduce a screening of Barbara Loden's 1970 classic Wanda. Cibo Matto will perform their new score for Yoko Ono's Fly. Plus: Jean-Gabriel Périot's A German Youth, Stanley Nelson's The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon's Best of Enemies and more picks and previews. » - David Hudson...

Every year, Knitting Factory/City Winery founder Michael Dorf hosts a tribute concert at Carnegie Hall benefiting music-education programs. And the honoree of this year’s 11th annual show was a true (honorary) New York legend: David Byrne. Featuring performances from the likes of CeeLo, Amanda Palmer, and Billy Gibbons from Zz Top, it was a night of yelpy singing, jittery dancing, and at least one comically oversize suit. Here’s a rundown of the night’s highs (high high high high hiiiiighs … sorry) and lows.Performer: Cibo Matto featuring Nels ClineSong: “I Zimbra” Well, this was wonderful: a perfect pairing of performers and song. Clad in all-white everything, the recently reunited Japan-by-way-of-nyc food-pop duo Cibo Matto expertly walked that very Byrne-ian tightrope between artful self-seriousness and goofy, unadulterated joy. During the instrumental part, they did a series of synchronized dance moves that recalled a cross between air-traffic controllers and...

Music video director Tom Jobbins has a thing with stop motion, color and cardboard. And all these things come together for tUnE-yArDs' new video, for "Real Thing." Hold onto your limbs and take a deep breath: you'll be going inside a box with mastermind Merrill Garbus and a trove of packing peanuts, inside a mannequin shipping plant. "Real Thing" is featured on "Nikki Nack," tUnE-yArDs' smashing 2014 album. Keep your ear open for some Garbus real talk on dress sizes, the problems with fame and a side-eye at the Redskins and Braves names. Here are tUnE-yArDs' tour dates: 10/07 – St Louis, Mo @ The Ready Room 10/08 – Louisville, Ky @ Headliners Music Hall 10/09 – Nashville, Tn @ Marathon Music Works 10/11 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits 10/12 – Mexico City, Mx @ Corona Capital Festival 10/14 – Atlanta, Ga @ Variety Playhouse 10/15 – Athens, Ga @ Georgia Theatre 10/16 – Carrboro, Nc @ Cats Cradle 10/17 – Charlottesville, Va @ Jefferson Theatre 10/18 – Millvale, Pa @ Mr. Smalls Theatre 10/20 – Columbus, Oh @ Newport Music Hall 10/21 – Pontiac,...

Summer is a Bummer? Not on your Noah and Nelly. The sun comes out. Lazy weekends sitting in the garden or the park with an ice cool beer or wine. Long, warm nights when the sun doesn't go down till 10. What could be better? For the residents of Sunnydale, however, it seems that Summer ain't all that. Xander's restless. Hank Summers is forced to cough up multiple dollar bills for his daughter's extensive shoe collection. Buffy herself is on another planet. Mentally speaking, of course. Possibly, the doom of a dormant Hellmouth subtly hypnotises people into thinking that the gloomy misery of Winter is a preferable choice to sunny, carefree days.

When she was bad sees us back for the shiny and new term at Sunnydale. You can tell that it's a new chapter in the big Buffy book, given that there's a few new subtle tweaks. Xander and Buffy have had haircuts.

The Yoko Ono Plastic Band is releasing "Take Me to the Land of Hell" on Sept. 17, but fans will be pleased to hear that Yoko Ono will post one track on the album on the band's website each week, where it will remain until it is replaced by another on the following Monday.

"Cheshire Cat Cry," which features Lenny Kravitz, follows the previously teased single "Moonbeams" as the first track to debut as part of the great unveil. On the song, Ono sings, "We, the expendable people of the United States, hold these dreams to be self-destructive."

In an interview about the album and her continued efforts in activism and the arts, Ono told HuffPost Entertainment that she was delighted by the idea of debuting the songs in such a manner. "That wasn't my idea, someone here thought of it but I love that idea," the 80-year-old said. "I thought,...

Polarizing 80-year-old artist Yoko Ono is set to release a new record with her Plastic Ono Band later this year. Take Me To The Land Of Hell is out Sept. 17 and features guest appearances from tUnEyArDs, Questlove, Wilco’s Nels Cline, and Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt. That's in addition to the members of Cibo Matto and Cornelius who are already in her group. Take Me was produced by Ono's son Sean Lennon and Cibo Matto’s Yuka Honda. The record will include remixes (of tracks that are also on the record, probably?) by Cornelius and Beastie ...

hitRECord, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's "open collaborative production company" (i.e. a website where people can collectively contribute to others' artistic projects), has announced the release of a double LP. The album, Move On The Sun, is the product of 78 different artists, including Wilco's Nels Cline, Cibo Matto, and Gordon-Levitt himself. Since profits are split 50-50 between the site and the contributors, everyone involved gets a piece of the pie—even hitRECord user jeffpeff, who is credited for providing "claps" on the title track. Congrats, jeffpeff.

Martha Wainwright has announced details of her upcoming third studio album. Come Home to Mama will be the follow-up to her 2005 self-titled debut LP and 2008's I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too. The album will be released on October 15. It was recorded at Sean Lennon's studio in New York City, and was produced by Yuka C Honda of Cibo Matto. Nels Cline of Wilco appears on guitar, while husband Brad Albetta plays bass. Speaking about the record, Wainwright said: "This record is a culmination of my life experiences so far. Everything changed for me a couple of years ago and this record is a representation of that and a return to the reason I started writing songs." On working with Honda, she added: "Making this record was a totally different (more)...

Gen Y super fan recalls stumbling upon Beastie Boys' 'So What'Cha Want' and falling for 'three men from New York who rapped and rocked.'

By Rya Backer

Adam Yauch

Photo: Bertrand Guay/ Getty Images

On Friday (May 4), news broke that Adam "McA" Yauch had died at age 47 and I found myself working on what is easily the most difficult piece I've ever had to write. Because it's something I've never wanted nor intended to write.

You see, the Beastie Boys are my favorite band of all time. I stumbled upon the "So What'Cha Want" video when I was very young and impressionable and maybe a little too mature for my age, and remained steadfastly obsessed with the three men from New York who rapped, rocked and sometimes just played their instruments.

They were my band, and I related to them, perhaps at the most base level: We're all...

Chicago, Il - Cinema/Chicago announced today that rising star Anthony Mackie will be honored Chicago at the annual Black Perspectives tribute on Saturday, October 15th. The 47th Chicago International Film Festival’s Black Perspectives Committee will celebrate this gifted actor with film highlights from his most memorable performances and a discussion about his career. Mackie will then be presented with the Artistic Achievement Award by Michael Kutza, the Founder & Artistic Director of the Chicago International Film Festival. Robin Robinson (Fox News, Chicago) will be the emcee of the evening.

In just one decade, Anthony Mackie has built an impressive acting resume with standout roles in Academy Award® Best Picture winners Million Dollar Baby and The Hurt Locker as well as Half Nelson, The Adjustment Bureau and Notorious. Mackie has won two Black Reel awards, a Gotham Award, two Independent Spirit Awards and a Screen Actor.s Guild Award. Mr.

Chicago – A mere glance at the pedigree of this action comedy causes one’s expectations to soar: the director of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” joins forces with the writers of “Superbad.” How cool is that? Michel Gondry’s childlike sensibilities would appear to be an ideal match for Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s infectious whimsicality.

What initially makes “The Green Hornet” a letdown is the fact that none of the major players brought their A-game to the project, which is admittedly unnecessary to begin with. The film feels more like a collaboration between the director of “Be Kind Rewind” and the writers of “Pineapple Express,” but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Despite its excessive running time (119 minutes) and sluggish first act, the film does offer enough hearty chuckles and flashes of brilliance to warrant a rental (if not a purchase).

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

The ever-enjoyable yet...

With Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two due in stores today, we look back to 1998, when the Beasties rode the wheels of steel with 'Scratch.'

By James Montgomery

The Beastie Boys' Mike D in 1998

Photo: MTV News

In 1998, the Beastie Boys had entered a new phase in their career. Buoyed by the success of 1992's Check Your Head and '95's Ill Communication, they had become a respected, downright revered act, the kind capable of doing whatever they want, with whomever they saw fit. They had certainly earned that right, and on their Hello Nasty album, they were determined to take full advantage.

And while we can only speculate how songs like "I Don't Know" (featuring Miho Hatori, then of Cibo Matto, on guest vocals), the Krautrock-indebted "And Me," the jazzy, bossa-nova instrumentals-laden "Sneakin' Out the Hospital" and "Song for Junior" ended up making the cut, we know...

Patti Smith and Yoko Ono will perform Tuesday night in Manhattan to raise funds for Japanese relief. Photographs from PatrickMcMullan.com. Tuesday night, Manhattan’s Le Poisson Rouge will host “To Japan With Love,” a benefit concert featuring avant-garde multi-media artist Yoko Ono and a few special friends. The Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band will perform songs from their 17th album, Between My Head and The Sky, with guest Antony; Patti Smith will be dancing barefoot with Tony Shanahan; and Sean Lennon’s getting the band back together—literally—with a reunion set by Cibo Matto. All proceeds from your $100 ticket will go toward Japan relief efforts. Whether it’s the inspirational music or the empowerment of helping those who need it most, Yoko says it best: “I’m going away smiling.” (For other events in New York City that are raising funds for Japan, please see our comprehensive guide...

Two huge charity concerts are currently being organized to raise money for victims of the unfolding disaster in Japan.

March 27 will see Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Sonic Youth and a host of music acts including Mike Patton, Cibo Matto, Mephista, Marc Ribot, Uri Caine, Aleph Trio, John Zorn and many more play a Japan Benefit Concert at Miller Theatre at Columbia University in New York.

More than a dozen innovative artists at the intersection of indie rock, contemporary jazz, and avant-garde performance will come together at Miller Theatre to present a benefit concert to support recovery efforts in Japan.

Read more...

Michel Gondry has directed a creative new video for indie trio The Living Sisters — who are not actual sisters — in which the ladies overcome a series of catastrophic events including accidents, fires, shootouts, airplane turbulence, and an earthquake as they travel to a hospital to celebrate the birth of a baby. Becky Stark, Inara George (of The Bird and the Bee, who was four months pregnant at the time of the shoot) and Eleni Mandell each have their own panel in the triptych format, which recalls movies like the original Thomas Crown Affair and Woodstock. The contrast of the jaunty, pleasant harmonizing with the apocalyptic destruction surrounding them (as well as the Matchbox cars) immediately marks it as Gondry's goofy, winking style. Gondry fans might also be put in mind of the split-screen video he directed for Cibo Matto's "Sugar Water" [...]...

Members of Snow Patrol, R.E.M. and Belle and Sebastian aren’t the only musicians forming supergroups these days. Pitchfork reports that Mike Watt (Minuteman and Stooges bassist) has teamed up with Nels Cline (guitarist for Wilco), keyboardist Yuka Honda (formerly of Cibo Matto) and drummer Dougie Bowne (Iggy Pop/Brian Eno/John Cale collaborator), to create Floored by Four....

Erykah Badu has spent the last few days turning heads with her new video for "Window Seat," which shows the singer walking down the street in downtown Dallas (in the same area where John F. Kennedy was shot) and gradually stripping down to total nudity. It's reminiscent of Matt and Kim's award-winning clip for "Lessons Learned," which saw the pair strip down in the middle of Times Square and which gets a shout-out at the top of Badu's clip.

Those two videos actually have more in common than just bare flesh, as they were both shot in a single take. The single-take video is always challenging but typically rewarding — especially when artists and directors get inventive with their concepts and presentation. Badu's clip immediately joins "Lessons Learned" and these other eight one-shot videos as the best ever made.

Weezer, "Undone (The Sweater Song)"

Spike Jonze has contributed a number of...

The well-connected director is very good at getting his own way, hence his family unfriendly take on kids' classic, Where The Wild Things Are

Ten years after Being John Malkovich, there are still few people's heads you'd pay to spend 15 minutes inside as much as Spike Jonze's. It would be easy to imagine life from his perspective as a continual flow of way-cool experiences: "Here I am dashing off another era-defining music video. Here I am hanging out with Karen O/Kanye/Mia/the Coppolas. Oh look, I've got another bunch of Oscar nominations. I think I'll pop into Vice magazine and do some cool shit. Now I'm just scrolling through the contacts on my iPhone and thinking how phenomenally well-connected I am." That's the movie version, but real life hasn't been quite so straightforward for Jonze of late. Over the past five years, a random visit to Jonze's...

Today marks an interesting cosmic date in the universe of the Beatles, as it is the birthday of the late John Lennon. Born in Liverpool in 1940 (in the middle of a German air raid at the height of World War II), Lennon lead a hardscrabble childhood but loved music (especially early American rock and roll) and ended up fronting the most inventive and important bands in the history of pop music. As the recent release of "The Beatles: Rock Band" has proven, the band's influence still runs quite deep, from Pearl Jam to Silversun Pickups to Jack White to TV on the Radio. Lennon was tragically cut down in 1980 by a disturbed guy named Mark David Chapman. Lennon was survived by his wife Yoko Ono (who just released a new album) and his two sons, Sean and Julian.

Strangely, today is also Sean Lennon's birthday (he turns 34 today). He...