» 2007.12.18

Elysian Fields will be playing Friday, 21 December, at 9:30 PM at Joe's Pub in New York. The band will include Glenn Patscha, Byron Isaacs and Matt Johnson and special guests.

» 2007.10.06

La Mar Enfortuna (Elysian Fields' "Sephardic side project") has added three new tracks to its MySpace site. Their titles are "La Puerto del Rio," "Aman Minush," and "Ghazal." All three tracks include vocals by Jennifer Charles and presumably instrumentation by Oren Bloedow. The new Mar Enfortuna CD will be titled Convivencia.

» 2007.08.10

Because the lyrics to Bum Raps and Love Taps have never been officially released, Elysian Fields has very kindly allowed BlackAcres.net to provide them to fans. So here are the lyrics to Bum Raps and Love Taps.

Elysian Fields will be playing at Joe's Pub in New York on 7 Sept 2007.

» 2007.07.26

Elysian Fields will be playing Joe's Pub in New York on 26 July 2007 at 11:30 PM. The band for tonight will consist of Jennifer Charles, Oren Bloedow, and James Genus on bass.

» 2007.05.31

Elysian Fields opens tonight for The National at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. (I can't make the gig, so if anyone goes, please send an email letting us all know how it went.)

Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow both contributed to Ben Perowsky's Moodswing Orchestra CD, El Destructo Vol 2. Oren plays on a number of tracks and Jennifer contributes vocals to two songs, "Dolly" and "Birds on Fire" (my favorite). The CD appears to have been self-produced and officially came out in 2006. It's a really, really interesting disk -- a mix of jazz, ambient, and world music. I highly recommend EF fans to pick up this CD, which you can do at Ben Perowsky's web site.

» 2007.04.14

Tonic, an important venue for experimental music in New York city, is closing due primarily to "market forces." Tonic has been a significant supporter of Elysian Fields over the years. I've personally seen the band play there at least four or five times.

There is an online petition to save Tonic. You'll see that Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow and all of the various members of Elysian Fields have signed the petition. I have too. If you are a fan of the band, please sign the petition. (You don't even have to live in New York.) Thanks!

» 2007.04.06

According to a news account, Elysian Fields played "Streets of Fire" at last night's Bruce Springsteen tribute at Carnegie Hall. Anyone happen to see the show?

» 2007.03.23

Elysian Fields will be playing tonight, 23 March 2007, at Joe's Pub at 11:30 PM. The band will consist of Jennifer Charles, Oren Bloedow, Thomas Bartlett, Matt Johnson, and Jeff Hill. Enjoy the show!

» 2007.03.19

Oren Bloedow will be playing tonight with Ed Pastorini's band 101 Crustaceans at 8PM at Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, New York.

» 2007.03.13

In addition to the upcoming Elysian Fields show at Joe's Pub on 23 March, the band will be joining the "all-star tribute to Bruce Springsteen" at Carnegie Hall in New York on 5 April 2007. The show is a Music for Youth Benefit Concert sponsored by the UJA-Federation of NY Initiative Program to Support Music Education for Underprivileged Young People.

Fans will recall that Elysian Fields have performed "Dancing in the Dark" at live shows in the past, though it doesn't necessarily mean they'll play it at this concert.

» 2007.02.27

If you missed this weekend's gig, you can also catch Elysian Fields at Joe's Pub in New York on 23 March 2007, 11:00 PM.

Additionally the Brooklyn Vegan lists Elysian Fields as playing with The National at Bowery Ballroom on 31 May 2007. (Thanks to Jay for the heads up.)

» 2007.02.26

After missing every Elysian Fields gig (except for the Mar Enfortuna one last fall) for the last year, I finally got to see the band this weekend. Oren announced that Elysian Fields is indeed working on a new record, and to put the proof in the pudding more than half the set featured new songs. See the Gigography for further details.

Also, I just happened to notice that Bum Raps and Love Taps is finally available on the US iTunes store. I'm not sure how that happened, but rejoice that you can now buy this tremendous disk by Elysian Fields — my personal favorite — without waiting three weeks for it to ship from France.

» 2007.02.19

Oren Bloedow will be appearing tonight, 19 February 2007, at Marion's on the Bowery in New York.

Elysian Fields will also be playing at Tonic in New York on 24 February 2007.

Did anyone get to the Valentine's Day gig? I couldn't go myself, but I'd love to hear how the show went. Thanks!

» 2007.02.09

Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow will be playing a special Valentine's Day jazz gig at 11 PM, 14 February 2007, Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction, New York. Buy tickets at the Mo Pitkin's web site.

Jennifer and Oren did this gig last year on VD too, and it was amazing. I highly recommend that you attend with that special someone in your life.

An archive of the New Year's Eve gig featuring Jennifer Charles with Steven Bernstein's Millenial Territory Orchestra is available at npr.org. You can hear Jennifer do "You'se a Viper" and "Auld Lang Syne" with the band.

» 2007.01.20

Oren Bloedow will be playing at Tonic in New York on 24 January 2007. Special guests include Jennifer Charles, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Matt Johnson, Sun Singleton and Keyontia Hawkins, vocals.

On his MySpace page, Oren lists half a dozen other dates he'll be playing around New York with Ed Pastorini's 101 Crustaceans, Elysian Fields, Me'shell Ndegeocello and Jenifer Jackson. You can also listen to three of his new tunes there at MySpace.

» 2007.01.01

Last night Jennifer Charles appeared with Steven Bernstein's Millenial Territory Orchestra to ring in the new year at Tonic. She sang "You'se a Viper," the Prohibition-era drug classic, and "Pennies from Heaven." Afterward the MTO launched into an incredible cover of Prince's "Darling Nikki" and then, following the midnight countdown, Jennifer sang "Auld Lang Syne." Here's an mp3 of "Auld Lang Syne" taken from the broadcast on WBGO. (If anybody has a better recording, please let me know!)

It was a really fun show, the MTO was incredible, and Jennifer as awesome as ever. Congrats, Jennifer, and Happy New Year to you, Oren, the rest of the Elysian Fields troupe, and all your passionate fans.

At Elysian Fields' gig on 22 December, the band played a brand new song apparently written right before they left for the show. Thanks to Vitor, you can hear it on YouTube. (It was too dark to get a good video image, but you can hear the song clearly.) Thank you, Vitor!