As that little banner I grabbed off their site says, tickets go on AmEx presale today (4/12) for Tribeca Film Festival movies. To be more exact, starting at 11am, "Single Tickets on sale exclusively for American Express® Cardmembers (Online, Phone, and Ticket Outlets)." Tickets then go on sale to "downtown residents" starting at the same time on Sunday. General public can grab tickets starting Monday, April 18th.

Music-related films this year include Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, Mama Africa (about Miriam Makeba), The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, Crash&Burn, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, Sing Your Song (about Harry Belafonte who will also be on hand for a conversation moderated by "noted broadcaster" Tavis Smiley), The Swell Season (a documentary about Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova and their film Once), The Union (about Elton John & Leon Russell), When the Drum is Beating (about Haiti's 20-member band Septentrional), Roadie (about a roadie for Blue Oyster Cult), and Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon.

Elton John will also be performing live on opening night, April 20th...

"The first big piece of news about the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival has broken, and it's a doozy. To open the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express®, we've assembled some serious talent: award-winning director Cameron Crowe, seminal rock keyboardist Leon Russell, and Elton John, with the latter performing live on April 20!

What do these three men have in common? Well, in 2009, Elton John teamed up with his longtime idol Russell to make an album called The Union, produced by the legendary T-Bone Burnett. Director Crowe--himself an avid music fan, having explored the musician's life in such classics as Almost Famous and Singles--decided to film their collaborative process, from writing through recording. The result is a documentary of the same name, the world premiere of which will be shown as the opening night film on Wednesday, April 20, 2011.

"As a longtime fan of both artists, it was a pleasure to spend a year filming their collaboration," said Cameron Crowe. "We can't wait to show it to one of the greatest audiences in the world, the Tribeca Film Festival."

What's more, with this year being the 10th edition of the Festival, opening night will be a free, outdoor screening--as a sincere thank-you to the New York City community for its ongoing support. After the film screens at the North Cove at the World Financial Plaza, the legendary Elton John will perform live for the audience. How cool is that?...

....Details will follow about how YOU can join us on opening night. We can't wait to share The Union with you!" [Tribeca Film Fest]

Other special events include the Tribeca Drive-In with free films at the World Financial Center Plaza, and the April 30th Family Festival. A clip from "The Union" is below...

Continue reading "Tribeca Film Fest begins 4/20, tix on sale today, Elton John to perform live, lots of music-related films"

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.]

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 "

Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who became a world famous symbol of the anti-apartheid movement, died this morning, apparently of a heart attack after performing at an anti Mafia concert in southern Italy.

The 76-year-old singer died after being brought to the Pineta Grande Clinic at Castelvolturno at the end of a concert in support of Roberto Saviano, an Italian journalist threatened with death by the Naples Mafia, because of his exposure of the mob in his bestselling book. [Times Online]

Sibongile Khumalo

Continue reading "Miriam Makeba injured, Sibongile Khumalo will take her place"