Spiegelworld NYC - 2008 concert schedule announced

Welcome to Spiegelworld… the world’s most beautiful travelling venue.

With its opulent decor of mirrors and brocade, the intimate 350-seat spiegeltent is the venue for two of the hottest shows in town, ABSINTHE and DESIR. This year we will bring you a second theatre complete with our late night extravaganza, GAZILLIONAIRE’S LATE NITE LOUNGE, and an incredible line-up of live music performances from around the world like you’ve never seen them before.

With breathtaking views, sit back with a cocktail at sunset in our Green Fairy Garden, snuggle up in our full-service on-site restaurant, and after the show, dance under the stars with our eclectic DJ sessions, every Tuesday to Sunday night. [Spiegelworld]

Spiegelworld opens in August this year. The music lineup includes shows by the Dodos, Deerhoof, Tim Fite, Amanda Palmer, Nellie McKay and many more. All of it is below…..

* OPENING NIGHT *
August 10 @ 10 pm
Meow Meow & Justin Bond: Heavy Petting
A Spiegelworld Exclusive!

Celebrating the opening of the third annual Spiegelworld Concert Series, Meow Meow & Justin Bond take the stage together for the first time. Get your inoculations against Cat Scratch Fever and prepare yourself for some Pet Sounds as Tony-nominated performer Justin Bond and international cabaret diva Meow Meow set off a feline frenzy at the Spiegeltent inaugurating the “Heavy Petting” sessions led by Emmy-Award winning Lance Horne.

Join two of the most infamous darlings of the cabaret cogniscenti as they join forces to disgrace the stage together for the first time in an evening of claws out caterwauling -an outpouring of lust and love gone wrong. This will be a love-fest of explosive vocal pyrotechnics and surreptitious fondling — a hot and heaving one night only not to be missed affair!

August 11 @ 10 pm
Amanda Palmer
Spiegelworld Exclusive!

Amanda Palmer of the “Brechtian punk cabaret” duo The Dresden Dolls, brings her electrifying solo repertoire in a reprise of her legendary Spiegeltent engagements across Europe and in celebration of her forthcoming album, “Who Killed Amanda Palmer” produced by Ben Folds.

August 12
BUST Magazine 15th Anniversary Celebration!
(Details tba)

August 19 @ 10 pm
Laura Cantrell plus Very Special Guests presents
“Now Let Us Praise Famous Women”
A Spiegelworld Exclusive!

Laura Cantrell leads an impressive crew of musicians and featured vocalists presenting an evening celebrating “lost” heroines of American Music. Having made an art form of finding and re-presenting forgotten gems with her band or on the radio, Cantrell now turns her attention to some of the most inspiring yet obscure, misunderstood, or disregarded female artists of the 20th Century. Laura will be joined by guests performing celebratory interpretations of songs from across the landscape of American music, conjuring the gingham, glitter and greasepaint of yore.

August 24 @ 10 pm
STEAL THIS TICKET! A Musical Tribute to Abbie Hoffman
Agents of Mayhem: Steve Molitz (Phil Lesh & Friends, Particle), Jon Gutwillig (the Disco Biscuits), Michael Travis and Jason Hann (String Cheese Incident, EOTO), DJ Logic (MMW), and very special guests.
Spiegelworld Exclusive!

Making his Spiegelworld debut, Molitz leads an all-star cast in celebration of the anniversary of Hoffman’s crashing of the New York Stock Exchange in 1967, creating a frenzy by throwing dollar bills onto the trading room floor from the viewing deck above, considered one of Hoffman’s greatest social commentaries on America’s insatiable obsession with excess. This Counter Culture celebration, promising a Late Night of live improvised dance music, performance art, mischief and mayhem. The festivities kick off with a set from EOTO, followed by DJ Logic, and closing with the Agents of Mayhem (Molitz, Gutwillig, Travis, Hann, DJ Logic, and very special guests).

August 26 @ 10 pm
Ute Lemper “Angels Over Berlin”
By Popular Demand!

Ute Lemper and band returns to the venue that best suits the visionary worlds of this acclaimed singer. If you missed her unforgettable sold-out 2007 Spiegelworld premiere engagement – do not miss your chance!

September 7-9 @ 10 pm
The Citizens Band presents “The Panic is On”
Spiegelworld Premiere!

Spiegelworld is proud to welcome visionary cabaret cohorts The Citizens Band for a three-night blow-out residency. The Citizens Band is a sexy, ribald musical troupe renowned for their dazzling song and dance performances. “The Panic Is On ,” their sixth original show, finds the troupe trapped in makeshift bomb shelter where they’re forced to find common ground and hope in a terror filled world. Performing a spirited mix of classic songs and original compositions they ponder such issues as fear mongering, war, immigration, xenophobia, poverty and their own dreams for political change.

September 14 @ 10 pm
WAU WAU SISTERS in All U Can Eat!
Spiegelworld Exclusive!

NYC’s bawdiest duo of Southern ease, rock and acrobatics bring the NY premiere of their latest and greatest.

September 15 @ 10 pm
David Yazbek and His Warmest Regards – An Evening with the Monkey Man
Spiegelworld Debut!

“The songwriter David Yazbek is a daredevil juggler catching spiked pins in the traveling carnival of his imagination. The nihilism in his deceptively rollicking songs is sometimes so pungent that you wonder how much of his own bile he can stomach before he shrugs and allows those pins to bop him on the head.” – Stephen Holden, NY Times

Making his highly anticipated Spiegelworld debut, David Yazbek is a long-time cult favorite–a recording artist, vocalist and pianist known for his thrilling live performances and irreverent style. He is a two-time Tony Award nominee, whose shows The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels have played in over 20 countries. His first album, The Laughing Man, won the N.A.I.R.D. Award for Best Pop Album of the Year. He is also a Grammy-nominated record producer and an Emmy-Award winning TV writer (for Late Night with David Letterman).

September 16 @ 10 pm
TBD

FAMILY CONCERT!
September 20 @ 1 & 4pm
The Sippy Cups LIVE
Celebrate Music Together
featuring NYC performer/teachers from the International early childhood music program.

A high-energy rock and roll experience for families! Imagine a show where Blue Man Group meets the Flaming Lips. The Sippy Cups were born in 2004 at a community fundraiser for a playground in a coastal town just south of San Francisco. Early childhood music teacher and lead singer Paul Godwin invited two other neighborhood dads – guitarist Mark Verlander and juggler Doug Nolan – to help raise the spirit for the park. They found themselves morphing Nirvana’s disillusioned tirade “Smells like Teen Spirit” and Syd Barrett’s “Bike” into a hilarious rallying cry for a freewheeling tricycle playground mash-up. The concept caught on quickly with sold-out shows at local clubs and enthusiastic press coverage. Parents as well as their kids can go nuts enjoying the Sippy Cups playing their distinct brand of real rock and roll!

September 21 @ 10pm & Monday, September 22 @ 10 pm
Yard Dogs Road Show w/ Special Guest Indigo
By Popular Demand!

A Spiegelworld return engagement following last year’s unforgettable sold-out performance and featuring belly dancing phenomenon Indigo, The Yard Dogs Road Show is a hobo cabaret, a living patchwork of vaudeville and rock and roll. They lead the modern hobohemian on a visual and sonic journey through part of history that may or may not have existed – followed by an ambitious return to the emotional challenges of our punch-drunk contemporary world. It’s a true story on stage: sword swallowers, dancing dolls, fire eaters and sunset hobo poetry – all animated by the live sounds of the Yard Dogs cartoon heavy band.

September 23 @ 10 pm
Benevento-Russo Duo
w/ Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra
Spiegelworld Premiere!

An evening of music not to be missed! The acclaimed organ and drum pioneers Benevento-Russo Duo take the stage at Spiegelworld with Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra for an unforgettable evening of instrumental music plus very special guests. The Benevento/Russo Duo formed in 2002 when Russo and childhood chum Marco Benevento combined forces in NYC’s underground club scene. With hardly any written material at first, the band made a virtue out of necessity by converting loose sketches into improvisations. They are an indie-rock band that jams – a jazz-combo that rocks. Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra is an 18-piece, genre-bending jazz orchestra that has successfully fused the pop music world with the stylistic and improvisatory concepts of modern jazz. Arranged and conducted by the saxophonist Travis Sullivan, The Bjorkestra performs the music of visionary pop artist Bjork, spanning her entire catalogue as a solo artist, truly creating a big band sound for the 21st Century.

September 28 @ 2:30 pm
Mor Karbasi
Presented in Association with World Music Institute
Spiegelworld Premiere!
Described by London’s Jewish Chronicle as a purveyor of “Spine tingling Gypsy Music”, young London-based Israeli singer and pianist Mor Karbasi sings in Ladino, Spanish, Hebrew and on rarer occasions, English. Mor is single-handedly bringing Ladino songs from as far back as 1492 to a wider public. Her writing has been considerably assisted by her interesting lineage. She is directly descended from both Moroccan and Persian Jews. She has been and indeed is, an avid supporter of Flamenco which provides a strong flavour throughout all her songs.

September 29 @ 10 pm
The Dodos
Spiegelworld Premiere!
Throw together a country-blues-loving guitarist and a metalhead drummer and you get the Dodos, a fascinating psych-folktronic duo. Following an appearance at this year’s Siren Festival and the release of their second album Visiter, San Francisco’s The Dodos band bring their ecelctic sound influenced by West African Ewe drumming, progressive metal and country blues fingerpicking enhancing the syncopated rhythms coming from the acoustic guitar to create one of today’s most unique sounds.

September 30 @ 10 pm
The Bird & The Bee
Spiegelworld NYC Exclusive!

Making their Spiegelworld debut, The Bird and the Bee are an indie-pop/electronica duo from Los Angeles, CA comprised of Inara George on vocals and Greg Kurstin , who have carefully built a musical concept that hides new surprises within every nook of Tropicalia, Shibuya-kei and French Pop. The Bird and the Bee have bravely managed to break the aging mold of indie-pop while beckoning enticingly from the genre’s periphery.

October 4 @ 10 pm
Midnight Milonga
Spiegelworld Premiere!

October 5 @ 10 pm
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra
Spiegelworld Premiere!

True, some bands are simply meant to lead, and Brooklyn’s Antibalas — as tough and diverse as the city that birthed them nearly a decade ago — has continued to do just that. The group, whose name means “bulletproof” in Spanish, has indeed proved they possess the mettle to not only survive but also thrive by employing a musical arsenal that has become known worldwide. Initially using the revolutionary blueprint of afrobeat as a launching pad, the dozen-strong members of Antibalas weave a rich tapestry of latin, jazz, classical, funk and soul into their horn-driven mix.

October 6 @ 9:30 pm
TBD

October 7 @ 10 pm
Tim Fite & Mike Relm
A Spiegelworld Exclusive!

Spiegelworld is proud to present two of today’s most unique and progressive music and multi-media performers. The singular skratch musician phenomenon Mike Relm continues on the road much less traveled. Sharing the stage with nothing more than two turntables, a DVJ, a mixer, and a microphone, Mike Relm defies any preconceived notions of what a solo DJ can achieve musically and visually. Making his Speigelworld return, Tim Fite is a lo-fi lone wolf from Brooklyn, living somewhere between folk and hip-hop, and with his latest album — a harsh indictment of consumerism and the American dream of selling out — he has made himself into a cultural gadfly.

October 12 @ 10 pm
TBA

October 13 @ 10 pm
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club plus very Special Guest
Spiegelworld Debut!

Engaging, riveting, sad and humorous; demanding the audience to participate both live and while listening to their albums; Slim Cessna’s Auto Club has been branded with every musical description possible. This seems fitting, as SCAC describes their music as American (Is that not what America is and has been, a mixture of every one and thing resulting in something new?); and after a decade of working and living as SCAC, they have created their own genre.

October 14 @ 10 pm
Nellie McKay
“Songs of Fear and Longing: Nellie McKay Covers the Classics!”
Spiegelworld Debut!
Making her long awaited Spiegelworld debut, Nellie McKay has become one of downtown’s most eclectic favorites. Critics and audiences aren’t the only ones struggling to describe Nellie McKay’s music. The accomplished singer, songwriter, actor and activist struggles with labels as well, calling her approach ‘schizophrenic voodoo.’ Schizophrenic because she jumps genres – from Tin Pan Alley pop and cabaret to reggae, rap and jazz – voodoo because these elements mysteriously gel with her evocative, playful, and bold lyrics.

Sunday Matinees!
October 19 @ 2 & 5 pm
TBA

October 19 @ 10 pm
John Kelly & Dargelos

In a Spiegelworld premiere concert comprised of German cabaret songs, French chanson, art song, and original video, John Kelly explores his vocal ID through Dargelos, the brother of Kelly’s muse (and former alter-ego) the Greek-American contralto Dagmar Onassis. This performance follows Kelly’s recent appearance in London’s Tate Modern, where he collaborated with and performed live for the photographer Nan Goldin’s “The Other Side” slide show. John Kelly’s Spiegelworld debut brings a new collection of work by Kurt Weill and other Weimar composers to the fore following his now legendary interpretations of the music of Joni Mitchell.

October 20 @ 10 pm
Jollyship the Whizbang
Spiegelworld Return Engagement!

The return of one the most notorious and naughty pirate puppet rock band in the world. No other pirate puppet rock band is quite like this. They are the true leaders of the phenomenal movement of pirate puppet rock bands worldwide. Brooklyn’s nautical rock wunderkind Jollyship the Whiz-Bang is (alternately or simultaneously) a puppet troupe, rock band, and theater production company. They have performed in festivals the world over, invited on the renown of their legendary live shows, which incorporate music, puppetry, video and comedy in elaborate spectacles.

October 21 @ 10 pm
TBA

October 26 @ 10 pm
TBD

October 27 @ 10 pm
TBD

October 28 @ 10 pm
TBD

November 2 @ 10 pm
TBA

Spiegelworld’s DJ Series

Wednesdays – La Rumba
7:30 pm
This long running NYC salsa party will present live salsa dance performances and salsa lessons.

Thursdays – Headphone Disco
DJ Bruce Tantum (Nightlife Editor of Time Out NY) and Danish DJ Peter Munch will play side by side with UK Headphone Disco DJ’s Cameron Craig, Bryan Roseman and Grahame Ferguson.

Fridays – Planet Circus
Featuring some of the best NY House music DJ’s including Kenny Summit, with live performances by Lady Circus all summer long.

Saturdays – RainDanceNYC
AfroBrazilian House Music at its very best, featuring some of the best local NY dance parties, including TurnTables on the Hudson, Afrokinetics, Globesonics, Rich Medina, and Six Degrees with resident DJ Sid LVaga. Live percussion all summer long with live performances by GROOVEHOOPS, NY’s sensational Hula Hoop troupe.

Sundays – PLAYA
5 pm
Featuring some of NY’s best classic soulful dance parties including The Melting Pot, Benny Soto, Rob Fernandez and Basic NYC.

The DELUXE Series (Featured Acts)
Sunday, September 7 @ 8 pm
HUMOR ABUSE
What happens to a boy whose Dad is a clown ? Humor Abuse. Created by Lorenzo Pisoni (Pickle Family Circus, Cirque Du Soleil, now in Equus on Broadway with Daniel Radcliff) and Erica Schmidt (As You Like It at The Public, Debbie Does Dallas at the Jane Street) , this solo performance tour-de-force is about coming of age in the circus; learning the tricks of the trade — literally — and surviving the relationship between father and son.

September 15 – Saturday, September 27
Susan Marshall & Company “Sawdust Palace”
in THE DELUXE!
NYC Premiere!

Elegance and humanity balance the unexpected in Susan Marshall & Company’s surprising Sawdust Palace, a 90-minute suite of 20 “acts” created to be performed in a spiegeltent but suitable for any thrust or theater in the round. In this mix of tender and entertaining dances, the sensuality and sexual tension always present in Susan Marshall & Company’s work gets blended with a heavy dose of vaudeville, cabaret and humor. The music for the show ranges from live piano selections to popular cabaret and contemporary electronic, while the acts include aerial dances, feather plucking, and intricate waltzes all articulating a contemporary viewpoint in a music hall setting. Despite the absurd and sometimes feverish proceedings, these dances possess the same rich emotional subtext for which the company’s work is best known.

September 14 @ 3:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Norvak Poderoso DeMente: A Hypnotelekineticparanormal Show
Presented by Celebrate México Now 08 Festival

A delightfully wacky fusion of pantomime, clowning, and theatrical cabaret, Norvak Poderoso DeMente (Norvak, The Powerful Mind Reader) is the creation of Andrés Aguilar and Artús Chávez, graduates of the Clown College of Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus. In his Hypnotelekineticparanormal Show, Norvak Poderoso DeMente demonstrates his hypnotic, telepathic, clairvoyant and telekinetic capabilities, but he is constantly interrupted by a volunteer from the audience, Don Domingo, who resists being hypnotized and ultimately reveals a life-changing secret. Since its premiere in 2006, the show has enjoyed month-long runs at ‘El Péndulo’ and Centro Cultural Helénico in México City, and has been presented at the 9th Festival of Pantomime, Circus and Clown RODARA (Puebla, Mexico), Festival of Tenerife Clownbaret (Canary Islands, Spain), and Apallasa’t (Barcelona, Spain).

September 15 @ 8:00 pm
Mike Edison Presents
No-Holds-Barred Literary Battle Royale

Author Mike Edison (I Have Fun Everywhere I Go) referees an unprecedented spoken word battle among some of New York’s most dangerous authors including Adam Rapp and a host of others. Backed by a dangerous A Team of rock’n’roll and jazz musicians, each reader will tell stories or read from their work in a mano a mano face-off, the winner to be decided by the audience.