photos by David Andrako

Fela! party @ Brooklyn Bowl

"The musical "Memphis" emerged as the early leader in the Tony Awards on Sunday night, while the film actress Scarlett Johansson won the first acting award: best featured actress in a play for her Broadway debut in the revival of Arthur Miller's "View From the Bridge."..

...Two rivals with "Memphis" for the best musical Tony, "Fela!" and "American Idiot," won two Tonys a piece before the telecast -- "Fela!" for costume and sound design, "Idiot" for lighting and scenic design. The "Idiot" winners each profusely praised the director of the show, Michael Mayer, whose lack of a nomination surprised many in the Broadway industry...

...None of the four nominees for best musical, for instance, have been hot sellers at the box office; the one that tied for the most Tony nominations, "Fela!," about the Afrobeat sensation Fela Kuti, has even struggled to cover its weekly running costs." [NY Times]

Fela! unfortunately didn't win Best Musical, but its choreographer Bill T. Jones did take home the Best Choreography award Sunday night at the Tony Awards.

On Monday (6/7), BrooklynVegan co-sponsored a free Fela! Original Cast Recording release party at Brooklyn Bowl. The event was hosted by Fela! stars Sahr Ngaujah & Kevin Mambo and featured various performances including a DJ set by Questlove (who opened for Janelle Monae and Erykah Badu at Roseland that same night).

Jay-Z was rumored to be making an appearance at Brooklyn Bowl, but unlike at the Tonys (which he went to one night after performing at Bonnaroo), he did not show up. Many others did - the free event was "sold out" by around 9pm and went all night. More pictures from that party below...

Continue reading "Fela! didn't win Best Musical, but did get best choreography - here are the pics from the album release party "

photos by Bao Nguyen

"We wanted to make some statement from New York City -- the center of the universe," said Lou Reed in a hallway press conference for Speak Up!, an anti-war benefit held last night (March 18) at intimate Brooklyn theater St. Ann's Warehouse. While the 65-year-old NYC icon isn't in any shape to be chaining himself to a recruiting station, he certainly can gather a who's who of the lefty art-rocker geekerati: David Byrne, Moby, Blonde Redhead, Scissor Sisters, Damien Rice, Norah Jones and co-organizers Laurie Anderson and Antony, who helped conceive the event in Anderson's living room. It was a night where every song felt like a protest anthem -- even when the Scissor Sisters sang "I ain't got nothing but your seed on my face/You'll put them babies to waste." That could be about sending kids to war, right? [Rolling Stone]

Reed, Anderson, Antony and Moby opened the show with a broken version of "The Star Spangled Banner." Lou's feedback never quite nailed the notes and he mangled the words a little bit ("home of the free and the home of the brave"), but it all made perfect sense. On the fifth anniversary of a war that has been pushed off the headlines in favor of an election, our national anthem was given an appropriate luster of unease and trepidation. Norah Jones performed slinky versions of her "My Dear Country" and Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going To Rain Today." David Byrne, armed with a four-person choir, led an art-gospel sermon full of huge choruses. Damien Rice was on hand to add harmonies (and the shittiest tambourine playing since Tracy Partridge), but Byrne's mesmerizing presence kept his pair of originals spiraling heavenward. The perenially chilly Laurie Anderson pulled out the snarky electrofunk of her recent "Only An Expert," vivisecting corporations and Oprah and weapons of mass destruction and global warming in that arch, scientific, matter-of-fact Laurie Anderson way. [Rolling Stone]

More below.....

Continue reading "Lou Reed, Antony, David Byrne & other photos from the Speak Up! benefit @ St Ann's in Brooklyn"