The New Jersey super rock band Bon Jovi will be in Central Park on July 12th to perform a free concert. According to the Associated Press, the concert is supposed to be the prelude to the July 15th All-Star baseball game, which will also highlight the final season at Yankee Stadium.

Bon Jovi performing for free at Central Park is sure to bring throngs of fans and onlookers alike. We’re sure this is going to be a popular show, so make sure you get there early to secure a good spot on the lawn.

Personally, I’m hoping they play “It’s My Life”. What about you? What is your favorite Bon Jovi song?

I first saw Bo Diddley at the Safari Motel in Daytona Beach, Florida. It was Spring Break of 1965 or 1966. Bo and his band set up on the second floor balcony and all of us middle-class white kids danced around the pool. As well as I can remember, Bo just did two songs– “Hey Bo Diddley” and “Say Man” — but he did them for hours.

I often wondered what he thought of us. I know what we thought of him — he was the coolest thing any of us had ever heard. When I got back to college, I bought every album I could get my hands on. To my surprise, the albums had the same spontaneity and humor as his live performance. I must confess that I’ve never listened to Bo Diddley on CD because I’m afraid that the warmth of his sound would be compromised.

But if you have a turntable (or even if you don’t), grab a handful of Bo Diddley records and have a party. Bo’s music lends itself to a party like none other, and from what I have read about Bo the man, he’d be overjoyed that you were partying to his music.

An Ivy League education, preppy clothing and a penchant for hip-hop lyrics, that’s what the dynamic duo of Naledge and Double-0 (better known as Kidz in the Hall) bring to the table. Originally from Chicago, they met at a talent show in the University of Pennsylvania and have been rhyming ever since.

Well, the Kidz are all grown up and have just released their sophomore effort titled The In Crowd. They were here at J&R to promote the album, and MTV was here to capture it all on tape. (See it here)

With guest appearances from hip-hop heavyweights like Bun B, Pusha T, Buckshot, Masta Ace, and others, the album is sure to please even the most discriminating hip-hop fan. The lead single off the album, ‘Drivin’ Down The Block’ is sure to be a favorite jam for those hot summer rides. Be sure to grab the album, it’s a stunner.

Check out the rest of the photos from their appearance on our Flickr account.

The title of Death Cab for Cutie’s second release for Narrow Stairs, is actually quite deceptive for anyone postulating the musical direction this Washington state indie-pop quartet has pursued on their sixth album. Though it would seem to imply a tightness and confined, perhaps, claustrophobic feel to the music, Narrow Stairs is, in fact, a spacious, loose album that reflects a different approach to writing and recording it from its two predecessors. Though Transatlanticism and Plans launched the band’s national success, they also saw Death Cab for Cutie—guitarist/vocalist Ben Gibbard, guitarist Chris Walla, bassist Nick Harmer and drummer Jason McGerr—somewhat inadvertently veer from their original trajectory.

Narrow Stairs became the foursome’s opportunity to reconnect as musicians and bandmates, with one of the biggest changes being simply the way that they recorded it—basically live in the studio, with minimal overdubs. “The core of the album is still very much Death Cab for Cutie,” assures Harmer, “but I think that this record has a more immediate quality and a different kind of energy captured in these performances than the previous two albums.”

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Frank Sinatra grew up in Hoboken, N.J., just across the river from J&R. Crooner, singer, actor, Rat Pack leader, American icon, Ol’ Blue Eyes is rightfully considered a national treasure.

On Tuesday, May 13, Frank Sinatra, Jr. will appear at our Macy’s store, J&R Express, to autograph the brand-new Frank Sinatra collection Nothing But The Best, which is specially priced at $9.99. This is a single-disc compilation of the best of Sinatra’s Reprise years, and features 22 remixed and remastered classics, including the previously-unissued “Body And Soul”. And, as a special bonus, each CD will include a limited-edition commemorative USPS first-day-issue stamp. The stamp is being issued one day before the 10th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s death.

So mark your calendar for May 13. Frank Sinatra Jr. will be autographing his father’s new album, “Nothing But The Best”, at J&R Express, in the basement of Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street in New York City starting at noon. If you can’t make it to Macy’s, stop in to J&R Music World, 23 Park Row, and purchase “Nothing But The Best” in our Pop Music outlet.

In the meantime, check out some of Ol’ Blue Eyes’ best live performances:

Come Fly with Me
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Luck Be a Lady
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Platinum debut albums are both a blessing and a curse. Panic at the Disco have already reaped the advantages of their million-selling first release, 2005’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out: big tours, sold-out dates, adoring fans. While crafting their sophomore follow-up, Pretty. Odd., the Las Vegas quartet experienced the flip side of debut success, namely trying to make lightning strike twice.

“In the back of our minds we’ve all had this feeling of, ‘Wow, what’s going on?’” admits bassist Jon Walker. “We’d been going non-stop up until starting to write the next record. We spent pretty much all of ’07 writing the record and it was probably the first time we’d stepped back and actually realized what had happened.”

During Panic’s nearly two solid years of touring (Walker, a roadie for The Academy Is…, replaced original bassist Brent Wilson in mid-2006), the band talked about their sophomore album having the structure of a short story and the possibility of a conceptual thread running through the songs. After a six-week break at the end of ’06, Panic spent the next three months working out song sketches along those lines.

“We didn’t get any songs done, but we got like 8-10 ideas for songs that never got finished,” says Walker. “It took us some time to get used to writing songs and actually having the time to search and discover what we wanted to be doing.”

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We asked a few hardcore Asia fans to submit questions for the band, in preparation for today’s instore appearance. You can check out the bands’ responses below.

You can also check out photos from today’s performance on our Flickr account.

Enjoy!

How does it feel to see a classic-era Asia fan bring his or her child to a concert, to know that your music is spanning generations?

Geoff Downes: That’s one of the really rewarding sides of touring and taking our music to the people. Last night in New York State where we played, a young kid (and his dad) on the front row, had a huge grin on his face and was smiling at me the whole time during the show. I guess I made him laugh with my antics, or just amused him because he thought I looked like some kind of a clown!

How do you feel while viewing a 1983-era Asia music video, 25 years later?

Geoff Downes: It’s kind of nice that period of your life has been captured in vision - an extension and memories of the music made at the time, no less. So I reckon that’s a good thing. I think it also helps remind people of what was - like flicking through an old family photo album. But the real downside is that some of the ludicrous outfits and embarrassing hair-styles can come back to haunt you in a big way! “Did I really think I looked cool in that”?! No way!

Although prog rock fans are stereotypically male, Asia had more than its share of female fans in the 80s. Did you get ladies’ underwear thrown at you on stage, and does that still happen today?

Geoff Downes: Fortunately this doesn’t happen these days. The sizes would be undoubtedly larger than 25 years ago, and the offending items considerably more baggy! Ouch! Did I really say that? But seriously, most ladies at our shows are dragged along by their partners - thankfully, for the most part they seem to enjoy the experience. Some of the female fans look too young to have been around in the 80’s though…(flattery will get you everywhere, so I’m told!)

What prompted the reunion of the 4 original members of Asia?

Carl Palmer: 25th Anniversary started the idea.

Once the reunion was announced, it seemed that the band would be content to feature the classic Asia material on tour. What led to the decision to record a new full-length album?

Carl Palmer: We were all on the same page for the first time in 23 years. It was a natural move for us.

How have the advances in recording technology affected the crafting of Asia songs in the studio?

Carl Palmer: Makes it all that much quicker to record albums.

Many 40-ish year old progressive rock fans discovered their love for the style upon hearing Asia. Please comment on Asia’s place in the history of this much maligned genre.

John Wetton: We’re not really a progressive band. We came from progressive bands but we were making the transition into the 80s, with more of an emphasis on the song. What we did when we first came out was to offer the musicality of progressive music, without all the fat. We trimmed it down and made it more accessible.

Will you be playing classic songs from Yes, ELP, King Crimson, UK etc. while on tour?

John Wetton: We do a few. Steve offers up “Roundabout;” Carl does “Fanfare For The Common Man,” Geoff does “Video Killed The Radio Star” and I contribute “Court Of The Crimson King”. It feels natural to do some of the stuff from the other bands this time around, and the fans seem to love it.

Over the past 10 or so years there has been an underground resurgence of prog rock, through various websites and fan-promoted festivals. Are there any “unknown” prog bands you’ve heard recently that our readers should check out?

John Wetton: Goldfrapp from the UK, they’re incredible.

How has your recent heart surgery and recuperation affected the lyrical tone of the new album?

John Wetton: It has to a certain degree. It is very much about living within the moment and living within the day, and not relying too much on tomorrow, as exemplified in the song “Extraordinary Life,” which we will be doing on this tour. Among one of the most prominent themes of the record is that of “gratitude and re-birth.”

The Flight of the Conchords are a brilliant musical comedy duo from New Zealand. And I know, musical comedy brings up bad thoughts of Weird Al and other assorted unfunny “comedy” music groups, but these guys are different. The stars of both a critically acclaimed series on the BBC radio and then on HBO, these guys are the real deal. They write songs that stand on their own musically while also being laugh out loud funny. It’s something you can keep enjoying again and again, not having to worry about the jokes getting old.

And now you can enjoy all the songs from their hit series on a CD, allowing you to listen in the car or on the subway without having to tote a portable DVD player around with you. Just grab their new self-titled release and you’ll be set. It’s got all their hits, from Business Time to Robots to Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous. Trust me on this one: comedy albums don’t get much better than this.

There’s no better way to celebrate Record Store Day than to hear live music in our record store. Join us at J&R on Saturday, April 19, and hear R&B/blues artist Danielia Cotton at 12:30pm. Then at 2pm, singer/songwriter Matt White will be performing. And they will both stick around to sign autographs.

Danielia Cotton brings her soulful brand of rock & blues to J&R’s Pop Store stage. She’s been wowing audiences for several years now with her infectious energy and exciting voice. Her EP, Small White Town, is available at J&R. Danielia Cotton’s new album “Rare Child” releases on 4/20.

Geffen Records artist Matt White is another up-and-comer. He writes, sings, and plays piano and guitar. His debut recording, Best Days, is available now– buy it at J&R. Matt will soon be going on tour with Sheryl Crow.

On April 19, artists will perform their music in record stores all over the country to celebrate independently-owned stores, the bedrock of the record industry. For more info, log on to www.recordstoreday.com.

Did you and Danger Mouse form Gnarls Barkley to be an ongoing group rather than a one-off project?

Cee-Lo: It wasn’t that initially, so in that sense [debut LP St. Elsewhere] was a concept record. But this might be one of the most organic pieces of work I’ve ever done. We thought other cool people would get into it, and that would be it. It’s surpassed both our expectations. But now, with what it’s become, we’d like to see what we could do if we really, really focused.

Where did you come up with the name, anyway?

Cee-Lo: Gnarls Barkley began as joking around. It’s not a very big deal at this point; I guess the most we talked about it was that a peculiar, unique sound deserves a peculiar, unique name.

One gets the sense that the two of you operate with an “anything goes” kind of philosophy.

Cee-Lo: Well, yeah. When I set out to do music, I definitely don’t perpetuate parameters at all. If there are some, I guess I could make amends with them, but as far as anything else is concerned, I would much rather have wide-open spaces.

How do the two of you collaborate to create music?

Cee-Lo: It’s a duet, so to speak, because the production makes a statement itself. I’m inspired by the production—the sound, the texture, the sentiment of the records. It really did inspire me to be very reflective and introspective and it just really compelled quite a few emotions from me. That’s basically the core. It’s honest. It’s not conceptualized or contrived at all. We don’t really talk about music; we more or less talked to each other about each other and music in general in hopes to just contribute what we could.

Were the two of you aware of how many other artists were covering “Crazy” after it came out?

Cee-Lo: Kind of. I heard Kanye did it. I heard the Raconteurs did it and I love Jack White, so I’m very flattered about that. I heard about Nelly and all sorts of other folks so… I’m glad that it’s everybody’s song, because it was too much to just be mine, you know what I’m saying?

Gnarls Barkley’s latest release, The Odd Couple, is out now.