Nick Lowe @ La Zona Rosa in Austin, 2013 (more by Tim Griffin)

As mentioned, Nick Lowe is playing the free Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival on August 10. Turns out that show is near the start of an East Coast tour for "Basher" that kicks off in Philly on August 8 for a stop at World Cafe Live and also includes a stop in Long Island at YMCA Boulton Center for the Performing Arts on August 9. Tickets are not on sale for that one yet.

Most shows on the tour (not Lincoln Center, though) are with Nick's Yep Roc labelmate Kim Richey. All dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Nick Lowe plots East Coast tour, playing Long Island before free Lincoln Center Out of Doors fest show (dates)"

My Brightest Diamond @ Bowery Ballroom, Feb. 2013 (more by Caroline Harrison)

The 2013 season of Lincoln Center's free Out of Doors festival happens from July 24 to August 11 at various outdoor venues in and around Lincoln Center. The centerpiece of this year's season is "KRONOS at 40" which is being dubbed "a festival in a festival," with 12 performances happening between July 24 - 28. is a series of events in collaboration with The Kronos Quartet. They include premieres and commissioned work by Kronos Quartet; Mark Dendy Dance & Theater Projects; Red, Hot + FELA LIVE!; Superhuman Happiness; Mariana Sadovska; Jherek Bischoff; Dan Deacon; Amon Tobin and performances by Asphalt Orchestra (performing The Pixies' Surfer Rosa); My Brightest Diamond; Emily Wells; The Gloaming; Found Sound Nation; Dan Zanes; Ozomatli, and more.

Other highlights include Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra, Rubén Blades, Nick Lowe, Allan Toussaint, and Jason Isbell. You can read more at Lincoln Center Out of Doors' website, and the full schedule is below.

Continue reading "free 2013 Lincoln Center Out of Doors fest ("Kronos at 40," Amanda Palmer, Nick Lowe, My Brightest Diamond & more)"

Zeus at BV-SXSW 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

In case you need a last-minute excuse to get out of town, and you're not going to the sold out Lollapalooza in Chicago, single day tickets are still on sale for the amazing-looking Osheaga Festival in Montreal this weekend. The Canadian festival lineup includes names like The Black Angels, M83, Sigur Ros, Feist, Garbage, SBTRKT, The Shins, Justice, Polica, The Walkmen, A$AP Rocky, Florence & the Machine, Austra, The Weeknd, and even Passion Pit who cancelled most other upcoming dates (but who are also playing Lollapalooza).

The Montreal festival will also feature sets by German techno composers Brandt Brauer Frick and Canada Arts & Crafts band Zeus. And though Zeus and BBF don't have much in common musically, they are both now spending a couple of pre-fest days in NYC, starting with shows tonight (Thursday, 8/2).

As previously mentioned, "Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble" will make their U.S. debut as part of Lincoln Center Out Of Doors tonight. "Strings, horns, and piano go techno with the help of a Moog synthesizer in the alchemic reactions of Germany's electro-orchestra, the Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble, in their first U.S. show." The free show also includes "On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring arranged and performed by The Bad Plus."

"Brandt Brauer Frick Trio" play Santos on Friday with Ef Es VII / 2. Tickets are still on sale.

Zeus meanwhile play the Rock Shop in Brooklyn tonight (8/2) with Robbers on High Street, and then play again at Mercury Lounge on Friday (8/3) with ARMS. Tickets for the Rock Shop show and the Mercury Lounge show are on sale now. The shows are part of a tour which brings them back to Canada to play Osheaga by Sunday. All dates are listed below.

Not surprisngly, Arts & Crafts are well represented at their country's music festival, and in honor of that they're giving away a prize pack of CDs on Facebook. Those CDs include Zeus, Feist, Dan Mangan, and Bloc Party who are signed to Arts & Crafts in Canada. Frenchkiss Records is putting out the new Bloc Party record in the US where Bloc Party visit after Osheaga for three sold out shows at Terminal 5 with The Drums. One of those shows, the 8/8 one, will stream live on Bowery Presents' Youtube channel. We have a pair of tickets to give away for the 8/9 show. Details, the trailer video for the stream, a new Bloc Party song and more tour dates, some with Ceremony, below...

Continue reading "Brandt Brauer Frick & Zeus are here; Osheaga is this weekend; Bloc Party streaming NYC show (win tix!)"

ANNOUNCING LINCOLN CENTER OUT OF DOORS 42nd SEASON
JULY 25-AUGUST 12, 2012

100 FREE PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS ACROSS THE PLAZAS OF LINCOLN CENTER

17 World, US and NY Debuts, Premieres and Commissions, Including:
* Phil Kline's dreamcitynine - festival-long GPS-based audio app installation plus live performance
* Art meets sport this Olympics summer with Kimmo Pohjonen's Accordion Wrestling
dance theater piece featuring the accordion experimentalist and ten Finnish wrestlers
Los Irreales de Ondatrópica - Quantic and Frente Cumbiero lead an intergenerational all-star gathering of Colombian musicians
* Celebrated Turkish psych-folk icon, singer Selda Bagcan, highlights Istanbulive
* The Bad Plus: On Sacred Ground - Re-envisioning Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring
* Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble - German minimal techno group's chamber orchestra
* Polyglot Theatre's Tangle - site-specific, audience-created installation and kids' "play space"

AND...
Marking the 40th Anniversary of "Soul and the Center," Lincoln Center's Landmark Festival of African-American Artists
With: * Black Rock Coalition's Pardon Our Analysis
Nile Rodgers * Lenny Williams * Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company * Otis Clay * Aloe Blacc
* Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls All-Stars * Swamp Dogg
Celebrating The Music That Shaped the Culture:
Laura Nyro, Frisner Augustin, Tite Curet Alonso, Gil Scott-Heron, Sister Songwriters, Irish American Songbook

That summary with highlights comes directly from Lincoln Center who also just posted the entire 2012 Lincoln Center Out of Doors schedule at their site.

by Jacob Blickenstaff

The Relatives @ Damrosch Park Bandshell

As any hard-living soul singer and Rebecca Black can tell you, after Saturday Night comes Sunday morning. Following the all-day Girl Group Extravaganza at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, it was time to take in some Family Day programming and Goin' to Church music. The afternoon program in Hearst Plaza on July 30th featured the Stax Music Academy and Vy Higgensen's Gospel for Teens choir. The Stax Academy tore through complex Jackson 5 songs and Stax-era staples, teaching the audience to dance the 'Funky Chicken' with delight. As for the Gospel For Teens Choir, you'll just have to check out the pics(below) to believe it. Family day did not equal 'kiddie music' by any means. Both the Stax and GFT groups displayed mature artistry via talent and determination.

The evening program featured recently rediscovered psych-funk gospel group The Relatives (who were a highlight of last year's Ponderosa Stomp) and headliner Mavis Staples who performed, one day after she appeared at Newport Folk Fest, a lengthy and thoroughly satisfying set which included a cover of Curtis Mayfield's 'This Is My Country'. Amen.

More pictures from Lincoln Center Out of Doors Sunday (day and night), below...

Continue reading "Mavis Staples, The Relatives, & 'Family Day' @ Lincoln Center Out of Doors (pics)"

by Jacob Blickenstaff

On Saturday (7/30), Lincoln Center Out of Doors in partnership with the Ponderosa Stomp, put on a remarkable day of music and music history under the name of "She's Got The Power, a Girl Group Extravaganza." Within its 10 (free) hours, the event included a 3-part, 4-hour panel of "Girl Talk" that presented Lesley Gore, members of the Angels and the Exciters, Seymour Stein (co-founder of Sire Records) and many studio musicians who worked closely with (r'n'r hall of famer) Ellie Greenwich.

The concert was organized into 3 parts covering 5 hours. First was a revue of girl group singers. Arlene Smith, of the Chantels, performed magnificently from her motorized wheelchair, commanding the stage by zipping back and forth. Then there were extended sets from headliners La La Brooks of the Crystals, Lesley Gore and Ronnie Spector (the Ronettes), and finally a tribute by the evening's artists to girl-group-godmother Ellie Greenwich.

This was not your father's PBS Doo-Wop special. Although the passing of Amy Winehouse was noted by Ronnie Spector, who performed part of 'Back to Black', it was more of a (tragic) footnote to the larger spirit of survival, brilliance, toughness and female chutzpah on parade. Many performers commented both publicly and privately that the spirit of Ellie Greenwich was the guiding force of the day. As stellar performance after performance dredged up tingly globs of our collective memory, the realization grew of just how much we owe to these artists, producers and songwriters who had just as much influence on the Beatles, Stones and other British Invasion bands as did the blues.

More about the show with lots of pictures, below...

Continue reading "it was all about the girls @ Lincoln Center's 2011 Ponderosa Stomp (pics & review)"

"numb fingertips from the guitar playing last night. .. worth it coz I get to tell people I played Lincoln Center with Billy Bragg!!" - Marsha Burnett

Billy Bragg at Lincoln Center (via Ian Jane)

Billy Bragg kicked off the FREE Lincoln Center Out Of Doors 2011 season on Wednesday (7/27) with his "Big Busk". He invited people to play and sing along to the songs, many of which were covers. I pictured it more like a parade, but he basically just played from the stage. Some in the audience had guitars. Ian Jane writes:

Bragg launched into a cover of Johnny Cash's I Walk The Line... not the greatest starting point and probably the worst song of his set. From there he covered The Monkees, Smokey Robinson, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Marley, The Weight, and most puzzlingly, Cee-Lo Green (turning 'Fuck You' into 'Forget You' as there were kids in the audience). As far as material from his own catalogue, the only tracks we got were Power In A Union (itself a cover of sorts but one of Bragg's most powerful songs) and New England (the only track that really seemed to have everyone in the crowd singing along). He came out for a quick encore and did a rock solid cover of Kristofferson's Me And Bobby McGee before finishing the night.

Check out a video of Billy Bragg covering The Band's "The Weight" below.

Lincoln Center Out of Doors continues with free outdoor shows through August 14. On Saturday (7/30), Ponderosa Stomp: A Girl Group Extravaganza will take place at Damrosch Park Bandshell with performances by members of girl groups including The Crystals, The Chantels, The Jaynetts, The Angels, and others. On Sunday (7/31), Mavis Staples performs at Damrosch Park with The Relatives who will be making their NYC debut. Blitz the Ambassador plays Damrosch Park on August 7 with Spoek Mathambo and Iyadede. Laurie Anderson and Friends play Damrosch Park on August 10 with many guests including Caleb Burhans, Conrad Harris, Yuki Numata, and others. Bettye Lavette, Ellis Hooks, and Dylan LeBlanc play Damrosch Park on August 14. Many other events will be occurring throughout the series too. Full schedule HERE (and below).

Billy Bragg plays his last of three City Winery shows tonight (7/29). That show is sold out. Video and Out of Doors schedule below...

Continue reading "Billy Bragg did his Busk, Lincoln Center Out Of Doors continues (Ponderosa Stomp & Mavis Staples this weekend)"

As previously mentioned, but in the words of a new article in the Wall Street Journal:

On Wednesday, Richard Robbins will take his two daughters, Ava, who is 5 years old, and Ella, who is 3, to the Damrosch Park Bandshell, where they will join the British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg and an anticipated crowd of 5,000 in a giant sing-along. It's called the Big Busk, and if Mr. Robbins gets his wish, one of the 10 or so tunes they'll all perform will be "Paradise City," by 1980s hard-rockers Guns N' Roses.

"Where better than Lincoln Center for Billy to release his inner Axl Rose?" asked Mr. Robbins, a 42-year-old digital strategist for a Manhattan public relations firm. The song isn't the most obvious that one would associate with Mr. Bragg, a post-punk folkie known for his activist political stances. It just happens to have a chorus that Mr. Robbins's little girls love to sing. And that's the whole idea.

To busk is to play music on the street or subway, likely with an instrument case laid open so passersby can toss money in appreciation. Mr. Bragg, who is 53 years old, supersized the venerable troubadour tradition in 2007 when he staged the first Big Busk at the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre in London. It's become a biannual tradition there, with audiences invited to bring acoustic guitars or other instruments, or simply join in the chorus, as Mr. Bragg and his band play familiar songs limited to four or fewer simple chords.

On Wednesday, Lincoln Center will launch the summer season of its Out of Doors series with an American edition of the hootenanny in Damrosch Park.

Billy will also be playing three shows at City Winery while he's in NYC. All three are now sold out though City Winery's site says "More tickets have become available. Please call 212-608-0555 Ext 472."

If on you're way out of the subway in late July you happen to notice a busker that looks a helluva lot like Billy Bragg surrounded by an army of other guitar-weilding maniacs, don't be alarmed. The spectacle is just the opening act for the two+ week Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, which will feature shows with Mavis Staples (as discussed), "Laurie Anderson and Friends", Bettye LaVette, a girl-group heavy Ponderosa Stomp, the 28th Annual Roots of American Music Festival, The Bar-Kays, and many, many others at the Damrosch Park Bandshell and other Manhattan locations from July 27th until its close on August 14th. The full schedule is below.

Billy Bragg leading The Big Busk in the UK

The Big Busk is the first performance scheduled (and it happens twice on July 27th), and will see Bragg leading a play-along concert flanked by an army of cue-cards detailing what chords he is playing. Check out a video from a 2008 'Big Busk' that took place in England, below.

Billy Bragg will also make up his cancelled dates from earlier this year around that 7/27 appearance. He'll play City Winery in NYC on 7/26 (tickets), 7/28 (tickets) and 7/29 (tickets).

All Lincoln Center festival dates and lineups, and all Billy Bragg tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Lincoln Center Out of Doors 2011 schedule announced, rescheduled Billy Bragg dates too"

Mavis Staples @ the Bell House in January (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

"Mavis Staples has no doubt about why the good Lord put her on this Earth.

"I was put here to sing," she said. "I was put here to spread the word. To bring ya'll a message. To inspire you. To motivate you. You know, that's what Mavis is about. That's my life."" [CBS News]

Mavis Staples is keeping busy. Currently on tour in Australia with the Blind Boys of Alabama (featuring Aaron Neville), she will perform at many festivals and special events betweeen now and the end of July. That includes the Doheny Blues Festival in Dana Point, CA (May 22), Jacksonville Jazz Festival in Jacksonville, FL (May 29), Mountain Jam in Hunter, NY (June 4, one day after she plays with Levon Helm at his Midnight Ramble), Bonnaroo (June 12), Essence Music Festival in New Orleans (July 1), North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam (July 10), Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island (July 30), Lincoln Center Out of Doors in NYC (a free show on July 31st), and many more which are listed, along with a couple of clips from a recent CBS News interview, below...

Continue reading "Mavis Staples playing festivals & other shows (dates)"

photos by Marcus Lauer

Mucca Pazza, going nutza @ Knitting Factory

Mucca Pazza, the opening act [at Lincoln Center], was entertaining in a novelty way: competent, fun, funny and fully entertaining. Their geeky routine consisted of knowledgeably eclectic musicians wearing high-school band uniforms, playing music and jumping about the stage accompanied by four cheerleaders. If a category had to be assigned them, perhaps it would be Om-Pa-Pa-Klezmer. [Queer New York]

Big Band bombast from Chicago's Mucca Pazza was in effect at Knitting Factory on August 6th , as the band headlined the space with an assist from from LES's Stumblebum Brass Band, and Starring. Belated pictures and video from that show are below.

If you missed the brassy madness, Mucca Pazza (who also played Lincoln Center Out of Doors while they were here) will do small strings of dates in September and October, eventually landing at Wellmont on 10/9 where they will support Primus. Meanwhile, Stumblebum Brass band are scheduled to play NYC TONIGHT as part of "The Underclass Revue" with Brownbird Rudy Relic, Orb Mellon, and Low Society at Bowery Electric. The gig is one of three upcoming gigs for the local band. They will also play Sept 11th at Rockwood Music Hall and Oct 6th at Otto's Shrunken Head.

More pictures from Knitting Factory below...

Continue reading "Mucca Pazza, Stumblebum Brass Band & Starring played Knitting Factory (pics), playing more shows (dates) "

photos by Benjamin Lozovsky, words by Andrew Frisicano

Before the headlining Neu! & Hermeto Pascoal shows, Asphalt Orchestra marched across Lincoln Center's network of plazas to perform a half-hour set of music, ending in Damrosch Park. Earlier that week the group debuted a new piece by David Byrne and Annie Clark (St. Vincent) titled "Two Ships," and they included that song in their set Friday night.

More pictures and a video of that tune is below....

Continue reading "Asphalt Orchestra played a David Byrne/Annie Clark song (and others) @ Lincoln Center Out of Doors (pics, video) "

by Andrew Frisicano

St. Vincent @ Pitchfork Fest in Chicago (more by Kate Gardiner)

David Byrne and Annie Clark are collaborating on music for a future Housing Works benefit. There's no date set for that, but Asphalt Orchestra will be debuting a version of one of the songs they've been working on...

A few months ago we had [Here Lies Love arranger] Tony Finno arrange the horns, and we performed one of the songs -- tentatively titled "Who" -- at the end of Annie's show at the Rose Room at Lincoln Center. Now, having been approached by the Bang On a Can spinoff Asphalt Orchestra, with the help of [Asphalt saxist/producer] Ken Thomson we've adapted another song called either "Two Ships" or "The Movie" for their group. This will be an instrumental version and we'll do a vocal version later. [David Byrne]

Asphalt will perform that song on Wednesday, August 4th, at the first of five free shows the avant-marching band is doing around the Lincoln Center as part of LC's Out of Doors Festival. Locations and times for the band are below.

In addition to that piece, they'll be debuting a commission by Yoko Ono; other songs in the group's repertoire include commissions by Tyondai Braxton of Battles and Stew & Heid Rodewald of Passing Strange and BAM Next Wave 2010. The 12-piece will release a seven-track CD of its material on August 3rd through Canatloupe Music. That includes a blisteringly dissonant song by Swedish metal band Meshuggah and an intricately-arranged version of Bjork's "Hyper-Ballad." There are a few more typical "ra-ra" maching band songs on the album too (Zappa in particular is already quite melodic and pompy), but the band focuses on getting unusual sounds out of the limited instrumentation. Live, they move in unique coordinated patterns, so the experience is individualized to the space and where you stand.

As an aside, this Saturday at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival is going to be particularly amazing, with the "Detroit Breakdown" lineup of Mitch Ryder, ? and the Mysterians, The Gories, Death and more.

St. Vincent has her own free show this weekend, at the Central Park SummerStage Sunday (8/1) afternoon, with openers Tune-Yards and Basia Bulat.

A video of Asphalt Orchestra doing that Meshuggah song on WNYC, and their schedule, plus a video of Annie doing a nylon-string version of "Actor Out of Work," are below...

Continue reading "David Byrne & Annie Clark collaborating for Housing Works, Asphalt Orchestra playing a song (and some shows) "

by BBG

The Gories, Amsterdam May 1992 Photo by Willem Kolvoort

The emergence of The Gories heralded a new Golden Age of Detroit rock beginning in the late '80s; a renaissance of noise and rustbelt rock which lasts through to today. Formed in 1986 by three Detroit natives, none of whom previously knew how to play an instrument -- Mick Collins, Margaret Ann O'Neill (Peg), and Dan Kroha -- they took their name from a band of the same name which appeared in the "Gidget" series of the late '50s/early '60s. Comprised of two guitarists and a drummer (i.e. no bass), the Gories concocted a primal, raw yet soulful blend of garage punk, culling a wealth of inspiration and cover material from Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, and John Lee Hooker. The three-piece also paid homage to the Keggs and Nick and the Jaguars, two other bass-less bands from Detroit.

Since the demise of the Gories, Mick Collins has continued to perform in Blacktop, King Sound Quartet, the Screws, the Dirtbombs, and has contributed to Andre Williams' Silky and The Black Godfather and Speedball Baby's Uptight. Dan Kroha spent some time in Rocket 455, but is primarily known for being one third of another Detroit bass-free rock band, the Demolition Doll Rods. Peg O'Neill recorded a few tracks with '68 Comeback and is in the Darkest Hours from New Orleans. -[allmusic]

The Gories reunited last year for a tour that included shows in their native Detroit, Memphis, and Europe with the also-reunited Oblivians. They'll hit the road this summer for a string of dates including three NYC-area shows: July 29th at Maxwell's (tickets on sale Friday at noon, ), July 30th at Bowery Ballroom (tickets on AMEX presale NOW, general sale Friday at noon) and July 31st "Outdoors at The Lincoln Center".

One of their non-NYC dates is the Ottowa Blues Festival which, over twelve days, will feature a star studded lineup of bands including Arcade Fire, Bear in Heaven, Rush, Iron Maiden, The Flaming Lips, Blonde Redhead, Weezer, Jimmy Cliff, The Swell Season, Passion Pit, Metric, Hole, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, and many others across multiple venues. For more details, check out the Ottowa Blues Festival site.

On a somewhat related note, Reigning Sound play Maxwell's on June 20th and Southpaw on June 19th, and Jack Oblivian will be back at the Brooklyn venue on July 21st.

Full Gories tour dates and some videos are below...

Continue reading "The Gories playing more reunion shows (3 in the NYC-area)"

In addition to Lincoln Center's 2010 Midsummer Night Swing which runs from June 29th to July 17th, the schedule for this year's Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival (July 28th-August 15th) has been set, and in it there's a wealth of worthy, free music.

One of the centerpieces is an all-day Ponderosa Stomp-presented lineup on Saturday, July 31st. That's split up into an afternoon show at the Hearst Plaza Stage, and a night show at Damrosch Park Bandshell, and includes music from "sixties garage icons Mitch Ryder and ? and the Mysterians, iconoclastic rockers The Gories and Death (who recently played Europa), nomadic bluesman Eddie Kirkland, stirring soul singers Melvin Davis and Spyder Turner, Motown hitmakers The Velvelettes and Dennis Coffey and R&B all stars The Party Stompers."

The July 31st shows are part of the two-day 27th Annual Roots Of American Music series that also includes a show on Sunday, August 1st with Asylum Street Spankers , Los Straitjackets, David Johansen, and Melvin Van Peebles performing a one-act version of Hamlet adapted by Shel Silverstein.

Also on the schedule are Balkan Beat Box, Kronos Quartet with Gamelan Galak Tika, and multiple appearances by Asphalt Orchestra, which debuted last year. August 4th has Robert Glasper Experiment with special guests Q-Tip and Bilal (who also plays a free show at Metrotech this summer). There's actually too much to list up here right now (Juana Molina, Tom Verlaine...) The full lineup is below...

Continue reading "Lincoln Center 2010 Out of Doors Festival (free shows include Death, Q-Tip, Ponderosa Stomp, Kronos Quartet, many more)"

If you showed up to Metrotech at noon today, you probably noticed that Rokia Traoré wasn't there. In fact, her entire U.S. tour was cancelled this time around. Zap Mama played the free afternoon show today instead, and Meshell Ndegeocello takes her place at Friday night's free Lincoln Center Out of Doors show (8/7).

Award winning performer Tanya Tagaq will embark on her first U.S. solo tour in August to showcase her unique style of Inuit throat singing....The Nunavut-born singer has gained notoriety through partnering with the world's most groundbreaking artists, including a successful 2008 tour that she co-wrote and performed with the Kronos Quartet, aptly titled "Nunavut." She also worked with the multi-talented Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle) and her latest record Auk/Blood was released through his label Ipecac Recordings (Sept. 2008). Icelandic visionary Björk took an interest early on to Tanya and brought her on her Vespertine tour in 2005. [On her solo dates] Tanya will be performing alongside SF-based drummer Scott Amendola and Vancouver violinist Jesse Zubot.

In NYC, Tanya Tagaq will be appearing on Wednesday, August 19th at Lincoln Center's Out Of Doors Festival at the Damrosch Park Bandshell. She'll also be playing the next day (August 20th) at the National Museum Of The American Indian Pavilion (near Battery Park).

Lincoln Center's Out of Doors Festival kicked off last night (8/5). Full schedule at their site. All events are free.

Check out a bunch of videos of Tanya, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq (has worked w/ Bjork, Mike Patton, Kronos Quartet...) touring US (dates), playing NYC "

by Andrew Frisicano

Steve Reich clapping

Tonight (5/22) the Undiscovered Islands/New Amsterdam Records series at Galapagos continues with two sets: Sarah Kirkland Snider's Penelope performed by Signal, guitarist Steven Mackey and singer Rachel Calloway (conducted by Brad Lubman), and an opening performance by So Percussion. Tickets are still on sale.

So Percussion, who played with Dan Deacon at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in December, was to premiere a new Deacon piece, but that debut has been postponed. Instead, Jason Treuting from So Percussion, writes...

we are playing some new music that we've been working on as meditations on the concept of city. the music has been focusing on the task oriented nature of a city and the parallel task-oriented nature of playing music. loops are made out of tasks and we have taken to transforming mundane objects into musical instruments like we haven't before. turning on lamps, writing on paper, pouring gravel, putting down ordinary objects in rhythm, etc. a few new videos by my sister jenise treuting will be busted out as well.

The other ensemble on that bill, Signal, has several other gigs coming up. They're performing Michael Gordon's Trance, for a second time, at the Bang on a Can Marathon on May 31st.

Signal just did the music of Philip Glass at (Le) Poisson Rouge on May 17th. They'll return to the venue on Friday, June 22nd for a concert and party to celebrate Steve Reich's 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Double Sextet. Reich's original Sextet (1984) will be performed at that show, presented by Wordless Music, as well. Tickets are on sale.

That gig is your only way to check out the piece (except for streaming excerpts), as there's currently no way to buy a recording of it. Reich discussed this in a recent interview...

Newsweek: I missed the premiere of "Double Sextet" last year, and when I heard it had won, I found myself upset that there was no way to buy the piece yet.

Reich: Yeah, that's just part of the recording business. When you have a 24-minute piece, the official recording hinges on finishing and recording two other pieces to go with it [on a CD]. I'm working on two other pieces right now, and have to finish writing the second one, actually. I've got a piece for all rock-and-roll people already completed, and it's going to premiere later this year. [Nico Muhly's blog]

Commenters on Nico Muhly's post about the situation rightly point out that Double Sextet should be released ASAP to capitalize on the Pulitzer publicity. The 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music, won by Bang on a Can cofounder David Lang for his the little match girl passion (streaming here), is just seeing a CD release, with four other Lang works, on June 9th via Harmonia Mundi.

Speaking of Reich and Bang on a Can, the composer will perform his own "Clapping Music" at the Bang on a Can Big Benefit Bash taking place Wednesday, June 3rd at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Other special guests include Meredith Monk, David Cossin, Wu Man, Maya Beiser, Talujon and Doug Aitken. Tickets will run you a $400 donation to the non-profit...

...which is why the regular-people-friendly festival is hosting a "Bang on a Can't Afford the Other Benefit" show at LPR later that same night (6/3) with So Percussion, Gutbucket, Newspeak and NOW Ensemble. Tickets for that are a more reasonable $20.

Speaking of new ensembles, Bang on a Can is forming a new street band called Asphalt Orchestra. That group will make its debut later this summer at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival.

Full info on BoaC's Asphalt Orchestra, and its Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival plans, below...

Continue reading "So Percussion (but not Dan Deacon) tonight, Steve Reich's Double Sextet, Bang on a Can benefits, street band & more"

Lincoln Center Damrosch Park bandshell - August 2008 (miro.m)

This year's Lincoln Center Out of Doors (LCOOD), three weeks of FREE music and dance on the plazas of Lincoln Center, will run from August 5 through August 23. The 39th annual edition of the festival will present a wide range of music and dance events by dozens of international, U.S. and local artists, highlighted by New York, U.S. and world premieres and debuts and special commissions. Out of Doors opens Wednesday, August 5 with the worldwide debut of the Asphalt Orchestra, a new marching band developed by Bang on a Can, premiering works commissioned for Lincoln Center's 50th Anniversary from Goran Bregovic, Tyondai Braxton (of Battles), and Stew and Heidi Rodewald. The band will also perform original arrangements of iconoclastic rock, jazz, and classical material--all to movement created by MacArthur Fellowship winning choreographer Susan Marshall. Asphalt Orchestra will kick-off the first five consecutive nights of Out of Doors at 7 p.m., performing in different locations across Lincoln Center's campus, with a varying playlist each night. The opening night concert at the Damrosch Park Bandshell at 7:30 is a double-bill with Out of Doors alum The Dave Brubeck Quartet (marking the 50th Anniversary of the landmark album Time Out) with guest soloist, oud virtuoso Simon Shaheen, and Iraqi-American jazz trumpeter Amir ElSaffar leading the New York debut of his Two Rivers Large Ensemble.]

The Asphalt Ochestra shows also include "world-premiere arrangements of works by: Björk, Meshuggah, Charles Mingus, Colon Nancarrow, Frank Zappa."

And Lincoln Center and Wordless Music are again planning a performance of Rhys Chatham's Crimson Grail for 200 Electric Guitars. It'll be happening Saturday, August 8th at Damrosch Park. Let's hope they've secured a rain location, or this could be an annual thing. Section leaders include David Daniell, John King, Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family) and Ned Sublette. The fest is taking applications to volunteer as a guitarist or bassist for the event. Also on the bill for that is "seminal funk-punk band Liquid Liquid."

Other highlights on the schedule are "a pairing of Malian singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré with Raul Midón", The Derek Trucks Band, and Slavic Soul Party.

Closing out the festival will be the 26th Annual Roots of American Music Festival at the Damrosch Park Bandshell, an event that'll touch on the blues (Four Women: A Tribute to Odetta, Miriam Makeba, Abbey Lincoln and Eartha Kitt), Creole music (The Louisiana Renegades), country (Texas Tornados: Tribute to Doug Sahm), and "Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos: The Lost World of Latin-Jewish Sound" with Afro-Jazz bandleader Arturo O'Farrill.

Full schedule below...

Continue reading "Lincoln Center Out of Doors 2009 lineup - another attempt at Rhys Chatham's 200 Electric Guitars included "

photos by Jason Bergman

Göttsching

"Alright I'm going to be the first to chime in here - how about telling us it was cancelled before sitting through an hour of gottsching. I respect him, don't get me wrong, but I did not go to sit through an hour of dance music surrounded by people thinking they were at bonnaroo. They should have done it unplugged, even with electric guitars, it would have sounded better than nothing." [Anonymous 1]

"i'm so effing pissed off that they made me sit through an hour of monotonous as hell gottsching. it was torture and then only to be told that the guitar performance was NOT going to happen, when the VERY well could have told us that it was cancelled before making us sit through that misery." [Anonymous 2]

Rhys Chatham announcing the cancellation

"There were contingency plans to play the whole thing in the church with a smaller audience but they kept it outside hope against hope (hi Robert Poss). Weather forecasts are more accurate now than Woodstock and I was pretty surprised at the decision." [Hugh]

"sh!t, i was one of the 200 guitarists that was supposed to play in this, and *i'm* pissed about sitting through that show. we gave up 3 nights for rehearsals, were there for soundcheck at 1pm on friday, and then stood in the rain for 4 hours...and then through that endless E2-E4 b.s. show...

there was a contingency in place (the show would have happened at st. paul) but they had to make the decision about the choice of venue at noon due to all the equipment & people involved. i still can't believe, however, that they didn't have a way of dealing with the weather. i'm no electrician, but..." [Anonymous 3]

the crowd

More pictures from last night's short 'Lincoln Center Out of Doors' show @ Damrosch Park below....

Continue reading "Gottsching, Rhys Chatham & zero guitars @ Damrosch - pics"

photos by Jason Bergman

Rhys Chatham: A Crimson Grail (2008) for 200 Electric Guitars (Outdoor Version) (World Premiere)
Commissioned by Lincoln Center for Lincoln Center Out of Doors

Next, composer Rhys Chatham and section leaders John King, Ned Sublette, David Daniell, and Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family) lead an oversized orchestra of 200 volunteer guitarists and electric bassists in the world premiere of A Crimson Grail for 200 Electric Guitars (Outdoor Version) performed not on the Bandshell stage but along the sides of the audience at Damrosch Park, to heighten the work's polyphonic effect. The work, originally composed for Paris' famed Sacré-Coeur, has been extensively revised to suit the dynamics of the Park's outdoor acoustic.

That description describes 1/3 of tonight's free show called "Wordless Music: 800 Years of Minimalism - The Spiritual Transcendent" at Damrosch Park (August 15) (part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors series). Last night there was a rehearsal at the St. Paul of the Apostle church at 60th and Columbus. Jason stopped by and took a few pictures...

Continue reading "Rhys Chatham & 200 guitars is tonight ++ pics from rehearsal"

"Come to Damrosch Park for a Lincoln Center Out of Doors season jam-packed with dynamic, free programs that offer something for absolutely everyone, from tributes to beloved cultural icons to cross-cultural collaborations that blur the lines of genre and geography.

This season is highlighted by a host of vibrant and eclectic musical experiences. Catch the rhythmic fever of a funk-filled African tribute to the late Godfather of Soul, James Brown, when Still Black, Still Proud celebrates the "hardest-working man in show business." Transcend 800 years of minimalism in a sublime triple bill presented in collaboration with Wordless Music.

Explore the power of multi-ethnic oral traditions with the return of the beloved La Casita festival, and celebrate our rich musical heritage from blues to New Orleans funk to bluegrass to punk with the 25th Annual Roots of American Music Festival.

Dance lovers will enjoy performances including the stirring Noche Flamenca, the premiere of Armitage Gone's collaboration with Burkina Electric, Summer of Love; Doug Elkins' witty take on The Sound of Music, Fräulein Maria, and David Dorfman's underground, a provocative look at political protest.

Bring the family outside this August for a lively Out of Doors season that celebrates the performing arts at a price everyone can afford -- absolutely free."

Highlights also include a Hal Wilner and Adam Dorn tribute to Joel Dorn, the WFMU show with the Ex, and the many individual performers playing the two day 25th Annual Roots of American Music Festival. Examples include Pete Seeger, The Knitter, Chalie Haden with family (Petra) and friends, Patti Smith, and many more. Please leave your 'Out of Doors' recommendations in the comments.

They needed 100 guitarists total for the performance in PA. They need 200 for the one coming up in NYC....

Continue reading "(<200) guitarists needed for a Rhys Chatham performance"