Binki Shapiro of Little Joy has gotten a TON of top-notch musicians, artists, and celebrities to contribute custom made artwork and items for her Crafts for a Cause auction. All proceeds will be donated to Artists for Peace and Justice, a charitable organization started by filmmaker Paul Haggis.

The online auction will begin on March 15th, but for now you can check on Binki’s Tumblr blog for the event which features teaser shots of some of the goods that will be for sale. Contributers are a who’s who of popular indie rock and mainstream musicians (Daft Punk, The Strokes, Norah Jones, No Doubt, Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Mark Ronson, Adam Green, SIA, Grizzly Bear, Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, just to name a few!!!) and film celebs (Spike Jonze, Natalie Portman).

Photo of Fab Moretti and Nick Valensi with the signed bag from The Strokes from the Crafts for a Cause site

You’ll find hand-drawn artwork, signed canvas bags, designed t-shirts, embellished guitars, and much more.

Sounds like an amazing collection of artists helping out for a great cause. Don’t forget — March 15th the auction starts online!

Here’s a video of SIA creating the wallet she donated:

SIA for Crafts For A Cause! from binki shapiro on Vimeo.

Plenty more info on the Crafts for a Cause website or on Binki Shapiro’s Twitter

Superfriends musician Lissy Trullie and blogger/model/party girl Corey Kennedy (EDITOR’S UPDATE: Nope, it sure looks like Corey Kennedy, but apparently it’s not. Corey is in the lookbook wearing the same shirt, but in t-shirt form, apparently this girl is wearing the tank-top version. The girl in the photo is an unnamed friend) and a female buddy are showing of their joyful affection for one another with a playful lip lock (below) in the latest lookbook for Chrissie Miller’s S/S 09 line for Sophomore shot by Cass Bird.

As faithful readers of Corey’s blog will know, she and Lissy have become fast friends as Corey has tagged along during the Lissy/Virgins tour.

Speaking of… The Virgins are also featured in the lookbook… and singer Donald Cumming was a model for the Fall 2008 Sophomore line.

A newer member of the NYC-music centric circle is Mr. Adam Green (formerly of the Moldy Peaches), who has even done a cover version of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” with Lissy:

SOURCE: Pedestrian News (for more photos)

In preparation for his tour to promote his second album, “Como Te Llama?,” Albert Hammond Jr. performed at an invite-only concert at the Mercury Lounge last night (July 1).

Luckily, the event was not overrun by media hounds.

As a supportive crowd of friends, family, and devoted fans cheered on, Albert and his new band played around thirteen tracks–a mix of old (“In Transit,” “101,” an acoustic version of “Blue Skies” played while standing on the right-hand side row of seats at the beginning of the set) and new (the album’s first single, “GfC,” “Rocket,” “Miss Myrtle”), playing live for the first time in almost a year. The set had it’s problems like consistent feedback from the microphones–which Albert stated, “you’ll be hearing a lot of that” at the top of the set”–and the wrong note (or two) strummed out on a guitar, but overall a fine showing.

My favorite song of the evening was a track of the new album, which drops July 8th, entitled “Victory at Monterey.” I love the chorus–it’s slightly dancey, but in a good way. Check out the video:

Famous faces sprinkling the crowd included actress Kirsten Dunst, AH Jr possible main squeeze Agyness Deyn, Adam Green, James Iha, and Nick Zinner. Surprisingly unseen–any members of the Strokes!

Setlist: Blue Skies, EGAS, In My Room, Lisa, Holiday, GfC, Rocket, VAM, In Transit, Miss Myrtle, G Up, 101, Borrowed Time, Postal Blowfish

Couldn’t make it to the show tonight? Have no fear–Albert will be performing for FREE at Virgin Megastore Union Square on it’s release day, July 8th at 8pm.

Adam Green at Town Hall tonight was hilarious, entertaining, and uplifting. Decked out in a long-sleeved black shirt with white fringe and white jeans, Adam pranced around the stage like a giddy boy practicing being a rock star in his bedroom–self-continuously chuckling at the audience.

Humorous inter-song banter included comments about Chris O’Donnell (“I feel like Batman’s Robin. Like Chris O’Donnell. He never quite made it to being successful…unlike myself.”) and shouting from the audience (“Are you guys Italian? I love Italian people.”).

During “Dance with Me” a throngs of kids bum-rushed the stage–one kid even made it onto the stage before being asked by security to get down.

The guest list included friend Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes, Catherine Pierce, singer-cum-model Agyness Deyn, and the Five O’Clock Heroes’ Anthony Ellis.

More over at The Music Slut

Did you see Adam Green and Kimya Dawson in all their Whoopi Goldberg-loving glory on The View yesterday? If not, here’s the video. Watch it before the piracy trolls get to it:

I’m so happy that the Peaches are finally getting their due! Bravo to them. Kimya was beside herself, telling Whoopi that she loved her as she gave her a hug, and Adam went for it–giving Whoopi a kiss at the end of the segment. They were both able to promote their solo stuff on the show as well. Hooray!

Here’s a lovely little photo of Kimya, Panda (her daughter), and Whoopi from Kimya’s LJ. Feel the love.

In order to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, The Moldy Peaches will be making an appearance on The View on January 21st–surely due to the fact that the Peaches are featured all over the soundtrack of hit movie, Juno. That is SO crazy!

UPDATE: To see video of the Peaches on The View, check out this post.

According to Peaches co-founder, Kimya Dawson‘s Live Journal: “i am going to meet whoopi goldberg. that’s like owning 20 danny devitos. and you know how much i love danny. it’s pants poopin time.”

Never in a million years would I have imagined the rag-tag kooky group I saw for the first time at Mercury Lounge in 2001 (the openers were this small little band called the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) would ever end up heavily featured in the number one movie in America.

Here’s to seeing Adam Green and Kimya back together–on national television!

In related news, Adam’s 5th solo record, Sixes & Sevens, (is that an Evita “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” reference?!?!) will be released by Rough Trade Records in Europe on March 7th, 2008. A few days later, on March 10th, it will be released in the UK, followed closely by a US release of March 18th!

Thanks to Alyse for the heads up!

I’ve been going through all my first posts, trying to categorize them and re-format them so they don’t look all wonky, and I’ve been reading some of THE MOST HILARIOUS posts ever.

You know, I started this site over five years ago when I was in college, and it’s just so amusing to read the types of things I was writing about and how I reacted to them. It seems as though in 2001 I *REALLY REALLY* liked The Strokes and White Stripes… Hahah. What a shocker.

Here are some of the more interesting posts I’ve come across. Relive “the good old days” with me, will ya?

The White Stripes signed their V2 Record deal in November 2001, taking them off indie label, Sympathy for the Record Industry.

The first time I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, they were opening up for the Moldy Peaches at the Mercury Lounge.

I found a photo of Julian Casablancas’s parents.

I used to really hate Ryan Adams. Then one night I was so impressed by his idiocy that I began to like him. It’s amazing…you can see the exact moment I switched over to loving Ryan Adams.

I got stabbed at a Strokes show on Long Island.

I had been semi-boycotting going to any CMJ shows this year because after going to Iceland Airwaves (which I still have yet to finished writing about), I had my fill of concert-going to last me a few months. So you can imagine how un-excited I was to break that streak when I found out that Albert Hammond Jr. (guitarist for The Strokes) would be doing a warm-up show to his solo UK tour at Mercury Lounge here in NYC on Friday night.

Although I hated to break my boycott, I figured I wouldn’t be allowed to continue to have a website called “The Modern Age” if I didn’t head out to the show.

Surprisingly enough, Mercury was running pretty much on time, so Albert hit the stage with “101″ “In Transit” around 12 midnight to a packed house–sprinkled with the usual suspects like bandmates Julian Casablancas and Nikolai Fraiture, girlfriend Catherine Pierce, Steve Aoki, and Adam Green all on hand to support him. The crowd was really enthusiastic, and upbeat. Albert and his backing band sounded pretty good, his blend of Beatles/ Beach Boys/ The Jam-influenced music rang true and you could tell how serious and heartfelt Albert felt about being able to perform his solo music.

After his 30-minute set was over the vibe reminded me that of the early years of The Strokes. Albert was packing up his own gear and talking to kids standing at the front of the stage. The other band members hung back by the bar, talking, chatting, and saying hello to old friends.

You can catch him next weekend at Maxwell’s.

The little gossip birds have been speculating that Julian Casablancas finally tied the proverbial knot with Juliet Joslin this weekend. If you are skeptical about the validity of this, The Moldy Peaches’ Kimya Dawson just happened to attend a wedding this weekend where they danced to Milli Vanilli and then headed downtown to party. Draw your own conclusions.

In other Peaches news, Adam Green’s freshman yearbook photo.

Rough Trade is hawking those Adam Green September 11th ‘zines for one pound. I’m laughing so hard.

In other Moldys news… another local show: Feb 17 @ N6 with French Kicks and Mink Lungs and Feb 26 Kimya and Toby doing solo sets at the Sidewalk.