Lincoln Center Out of Doors lineup announced!

It’s here and it’s awesome. Clear you calendars and pray for good weather. This year’s edition of free music at Lincoln Center Out of Doors kicks off Aug. 5, and may be the best yet! Among other things, it features the debut of Bang on a Can’s Asphalt Orchestra — performing, in a special treat for Passing Strange fans (Strange Freaks), the world premiere of a piece by Stew and Heidi Rodewald — the Dave Brubeck Quartet, another shot at Rhys Chatham‘s A Crimson Veil for 200 electric guitarists, which was canceled at the last minute last year, PLUS a performance by Stew and Heidi and The Broadway Problem!

Now that I’ve had time to chew on the schedule all day, I have to point out a few more not-to-be-missed performers: the amazing Liquid Liquid — the NYC post-punk combo whose percussive sounds have long been club faves and whose track “Cavern” formed the heart of Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel‘s “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” — The Derek Trucks Band, Plastic People of the Universe, and Otto, the Brazilian singer and percussionist who brought the house down at the Red, Hot + Rio 2: The Next Generation of Samba Soul show at BAM last December.

It’s Bill Bragin‘s second season as director of public programming at Lincoln Center, a position he took in January 2008 after more than six years as director of Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater downtown. His uptown job makes him responsible for Lincoln Center’s two major alfresco programs  — Midsummer Night Swing and Lincoln Center Out of Doors — but keeps him involved in other projects as well.

Bill’s choices for both series were great last season. And his proprietorship of the outdoor programming brought with it an emphasis on interactivity and lots of online features including links to information and sound samples and videos of the artists and thorough background on how to get there, what to bring and what to do in case of bad weather.

His outdoor dance program, Midsummer Night Swing, (free to listen, $145 for a season pass onto the dance floor, with single tickets priced at $15) has already been announced. It kicks off on July 7 with Kermit Ruffin and the Barbecue Swingers, and just gets better as the month goes on.  Chubby Checker is in the mix, along with Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, Samba Mapangala & Virunga and closing the dance season on July 25 with the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra. Bill worked his downtown connections last year to bring artists like Nellie McKay to the outdoor dance floor in a swing-combo format.

Last year’s OOD lineup ranged from the likes of Soledad Barrio, flamenco company Noche Flamenca, “gypsy jam” guitarist Stephane Wrembel to the 25th Annual Roots of American Music Festival, which includeded Music Maker Blues Revue from New Orleans, Irma Thomas, “Soul Queen of New Orleans,” the debut of bassist Charlie Haden’s all-star  traditional country project and rock goddess (and soon to be Meg White’s mother in law) Patti Smith.

His most ambitious idea last season, a highly anticipated all-star program titled “Wordless Music: 800 Years of Minimalism-The Spiritual Transcendent,” was marred by heavy rains. The weather forced Bill to make a crushing last-minute decision to pull the plug, quite literally, on the advertised performance of Rhys Chatham’s A Crimson Veil, played by 200 electric guitarists. But Bill’s taking another shot at the weather gods, and has included it in this year’s schedule.

See the complete lineup (NOW IMPROVED AND EASIER TO READ!) after the jump:

MARCHING INTO SUMMER!
LINCOLN CENTER OUT OF DOORS ’09 – AUGUST 5 – 23

39th Season of FREE Performances Announced!

OPENING NIGHT FEATURES DEBUT OF BANG ON A CAN’S ASPHALT ORCHESTRA WITH WORKS COMMISSIONED FOR LINCOLN CENTER’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY AND CONCERT FEATURING THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET WITH GUEST SIMON SHAHEEN
AND THE NY DEBUT OF AMIR ELSAFFAR’S TWO RIVERS LARGE ENSEMBLE

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.

Among the other highlights of this year’s Out of Doors, the second festival under the direction of Bill Bragin, Lincoln Center’s Director of Public Programming, are:

●Hip Hop Generation Next, a showcase of transnational b-boy culture presented in collaboration with Dancing in the Streets, featuring award-winning dancers and martial artists from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Seoul, South Korea, and a rap crew from Sierra Leone, Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew (August 6, Josie Robertson Plaza);

●Rhys Chatham’s Crimson Grail for 200 Electric Guitars (2008) Outdoor version (commissioned by Lincoln Center Out of Doors) and seminal funk-punk band Liquid Liquid, a double-bill presented in collaboration with Wordless Music (August 8, Damrosch Park Bandshell). As with last year, Lincoln Center and Wordless Music are conducting an open-call for volunteer guitarists and bassists to join the guitar and bass orchestra (section leaders David Daniell, John King, Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family) and Ned Sublette,) for this world premiere performance conducted by the composer. Information about how musicians can apply by June 15 can be found at http://www.LincolnCenter.org/wordlessmusic.

●An evening of string virtuosos: The Derek Trucks Band featuring the band’s namesake slide guitar prodigy and Allman Brothers scion, ukulele innovator Jake Shimabukuro, and North Indian classical and jazz double-neck mandolinist Snehasish Mozumder (August 13, Damrosch Park Bandshell)

●Tony Award-winner Stew and his long-time collaborator Heidi Rodewald of The Negro Problem and Passing Strange deconstructing some of their favorite Broadway show tunes—and performing some of their own—in Stew and Heidi present The Broadway Problem on a surprising shared bill with post-modern Inuit throat-singer Tanya Tagaq. (August 19, Damrosch Park Bandshell)

● Building on Out of Doors roots as a street theater festival, starting with Asphalt Orchestra (August 5 through 9), street bands of all types and stripes will be on the march from 7 to 7:30 p.m., taking over the plazas of Lincoln Center on many evenings throughout the festival, and gathering exuberant crowds in their wake. In addition to Broadway Plaza (the new lower plaza in front of Alice Tully Hall), bands will visit and perform at a number of locations recently renovated as part of Lincoln Center’s on-going Redevelopment Project, including the re-designed Revson Fountain on Josie Robertson Plaza and the new Barclays Capital Grove, the elegant, raised, seating area on the Hearst Plaza (formerly the North Plaza). Scheduled to be on the march are: Red Baraat Festival! a Brooklyn-based brass and Indian wedding-style band (August 12); Slavic Soul Party!, New York’s Balkan meets gypsy meets jazz extravaganza (August 14); Harlem Samba (August 20) with its driving all-percussion bateria made up of young musicians from Frederick Douglass Academy who bring the wild exuberance of Rio’s carnival bands to New York’s streets; and Frevo Bombastico (August 21) a group of New York’s finest salsa, Latin and jazz players performing frevo, the super-charged carnival music of Recife in Northeastern Brazil.

●Out of Doors closing weekend, August 22 and 23: 26th Annual Roots of American Music mini-festival, celebrates legendary folk-singer/activist Odetta and cultural creolization, in performances on Hearst Plaza and the Damrosch Park Bandshell. August 22, In the Spirit of Odetta, includes artists: Lizz Wright, The Holmes Brothers with special guest Marie Knight, Tommy Sands, Calypso Rose, and additional headliners to be announced. August 23 focuses on musical hybrids and includes: the BRC Orchestra’s Four Women: A Tribute to Odetta, Miriam Makeba, Abbey Lincoln and Eartha Kitt, presented in collaboration with the Black Rock Coalition; Tex-Mex pioneers Texas Tornados paying tribute to Doug Sahm; and The Louisiana Renegades, a coming-together of Creole and Cajun musicians featuring members from Balfa Toujours along with collaborators from the Zydeco scene, building on last year’s music video Presidential campaign sensation “Oui, On Peut! (Yes, We Can!)”. Closing things out for the season is Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos: The Lost World of Latin-Jewish Sound, featuring The Arturo O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Sextet with special guests Irving Fields (Bagels and Bongos), Fania legend Larry Harlow (“El Judio Maravilloso”) and others, recreating the legendary 1961 jazz label Riverside Records release, an album of “Yiddish favorites in a Latin tempo.” The concert is presented in collaboration with the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation and Reboot.

This year’s Out of Doors will also include: a pairing of Malian singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré with Raul Midón (August 7); an evening exploring music of the Indian sub-continent in diaspora, with Susheela Raman and Brooklyn Qawwali Party (August 12); a double bill of Eastern European rockers Plastic

People of the Universe, the Prague-rock band that was a lighting rod for Czechoslovakia’s “Velvet Revolution,” sharing the stage with Russian art-rockers Auktyon with bassist Vladimir Volkov and jazz-jam keyboardist John Medeski (August 14); and some of the major architects of Recife, Brazil’s influential mangue-beat scene including Otto, and Blind Date, the worldwide debut collaboration between DJ Dolores and rabeca (fiddle) player Siba (of Mestre Ambrosio and Siba & the Fuloresta) (August 21).

Dance programs at Out of Doors include: a shared bill by two salsa-rooted modern dance companies: New York City’s ABAKUÁ Afro-Latin Jazz Company and Los Angeles’ CONTRA-TIEMPO (August 9); a double-bill pairing two outstanding post-modern dance groups: Dendy Dancetheater, in its first NY performance in nine years dancing the New York premiere of Mark Dendy’s Preliminary Studies for Depth, the upper half of high and low and Ben Munisteri Dance Project with Turbine Mines, Tuesday, 4 a.m. and a world premiere, Catalog (August 15); and Jawole Jo Willa Zollar’s Urban Bush Women kicking off their 25th anniversary season on a bill with rising star, Afro-Spanish flamenco vocalist Buika (August 20).

Returning to Out of Doors are presentations in conjunction with community partners, including: Heritage Sunday (August 16 at 3) focusing on African and Afro-Caribbean dance and music from Cuba, Guinea and Peru, co-presented with The Center for Traditional Music and Dance; and Ba M’buta: Ancestral Connections From the Kongo to the Americas (August 16 at 7:30) featuring Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca, Pedrito Martinez’ Ibboru, and Africa Aye, co-presented with The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.

La Casita returns for its 9th edition (August 9; with additional performances in lower Manhattan-August 10- and the Bronx-August 11 and 13) celebrating oral traditions from a broad range of cultural backgrounds in verse and music, ranging from 2009 inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander to young hip-hop MCs and performance poets, Korean pansori, Mexican son jarocho, Cuban son, Sephardic folk music and more.

Debuting on the afternoon of August 15, as part of Out of Doors’ Family Day, is a brand new giant puppet pageant commissioned by Lincoln Center, Beautiful Princess Rat of the MTA, created and performed with colorful costumes, masks, and musicians, by the Puppeteers Cooperative in collaboration with the Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center and the Red Hook Community Center. Family Day will also feature Bubble do Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a 30-piece kid-friendly rock orchestra recreating the album that re-defined rock music.

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE and take place on the Lincoln Center campus—Damrosch Park, North Plaza, South Plaza, Josie Robertson Plaza and Broadway Plaza–located between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues, West 65th Street to West 62nd Street.
Visit http://www.LCOutofDoors.org for complete schedule or call 212-875-5766 to request a brochure.

Programs and artists subject to change.

LINCOLN CENTER OUT OF DOORS
AUGUST 5 – 23, 2009
(Artists generally listed in order of appearance. Programs and artists subject to change)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5
7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
BROADWAY PLAZA

ASPHALT ORCHESTRA (Debut)
Performing world-premiere commissions by: Goran Bregovic, Tyondai Braxton, Stew and Heidi Rodewald
With world-premiere arrangements of works by: Björk, Meshuggah, Charles Mingus, Colon Nancarrow, Frank Zappa
Band movement choreographed by Susan Marshall
Costumes designed by Elizabeth Hope Clancy
Program will vary nightly.

Commissioned by Bang on a Can with generous support from The Rockefeller Foundation’s New York Cultural Innovation Fund and by Lincoln Center for Lincoln Center Out of Doors in celebration of Lincoln Center’s 50th Anniversary.

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

Amir ElSaffar’s TWO RIVERS LARGE ENSEMBLE (NY Debut)
THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET
with special guest soloist SIMON SHAHEEN, oud

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
JOSIE ROBERTSON PLAZA

Hip Hop Generation Next
Community Cipher led by:
BRANDON “PEACE” ALBRIGHT/ILLSTYLE & PEACE (Philadelphia/USA)

7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
HEARST PLAZA
ASPHALT ORCHESTRA
See August 5

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL
Hip Hop Generation Next
FULL CIRCLE (New York City/USA)
FootworKINGz with CREATION (Chicago/USA)
CHINESE AMERICAN ARTS COUNCIL MARTIAL ARTS SOCIETY
(New York City/USA)
LAST FOR ONE (Seoul/SOUTH KOREA)
LEE IN SOO DANCE PROJECT (Seoul/SOUTH KOREA) (U.S. debut)

Concert by:
BAJAH + THE DRY EYE CREW (Bajah, A-Klazz, & Dovy)
(Freetown/SIERRA LEONE)

Presented in collaboration with Dancing in the Streets. Hip Hop Generation Next is a citywide series that is produced by Dancing in the Streets (www.dancinginthestreets.org) and sponsored by Bloomberg.
Additional support provided by the Korean Arts Management Service and the Chinese American Arts Council

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
JOSIE ROBERTSON PLAZA

ASPHALT ORCHESTRA
See August 5

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

RAUL MIDÓN
ROKIA TRAORÉ

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8
7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
SOUTH PLAZA

ASPHALT ORCHESTRA
See August 5

7:30 – 10: 00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

Wordless Music
RHYS CHATHAM’S CRIMSON GRAIL FOR 200 ELECTRIC GUITARS (Outdoor version) (World premiere)
Section leaders: David Daniell, John King, Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family) and Ned Sublette
Outdoor version commissioned by Lincoln Center for Lincoln Center Out of Doors.

LIQUID LIQUID
Presented in collaboration with Wordless Music

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9
12 noon – 5:00 p.m.
HEARST PLAZA

LA CASITA: A HOME FOR THE HEART / UN HOGAR PARA EL CORAZÓN
with spoken word and musical artists (order to be announced):
Elizabeth Alexander, Estudiantina Boliviana, Hernán Bravo, José Conde, Don Fallo Figueroa and Grupo Son Candela, Bonnibel Fonbuena, Griot 3, Zora Howard, Moon Oak Joo, Sarah Kay, Cynthia “Ceez” Keteku, La 21 División, Matou featuring Soni Moreno & Ata Papa, Oveous Maximus, Pharaoh’s Daughter, Bonafide Rojas, Cenzi Stiles
MC: Rich Villar

ADDITIONAL SITES FOR LA CASITA PERFORMANCES:
Monday, August 10, 5:30 p.m.
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
One Bowling Green, Manhattan
Estudiantina Boliviana, Griot 3, Bonafide Rojas,
Sarah Kay, Matou feat. Soni Moreno & Ata Papa

Tuesday August 11, 5:30 p.m.
The Point CDC 940 Garrison Ave., The Bronx
Pharaoh’s Daughter, Bonafide Rojas, Sarah Kay, Griot 3, Estudiantina Boliviana

Thursday, August 13, 5:30 p.m.
Teatro Pregones 571-575 Walton Ave., The Bronx
Pharaoh’s Daughter, Bonafide Rojas, Sarah Kay, Griot 3, Estudiantina Boliviana
La Casita is sponsored by PepsiCo, Inc.
Additional support is provided by The Reed Foundation, Inc.
Produced in cooperation with Claudia Norman, Claudia Norman Management
Co-curated by: Bill Bragin, Lincoln Center Out of Doors; Melody Capote, Caribbean Cultural Center; Lillian Cho, Asian American Arts Alliance; C. Daniel Dawson; Eliana Godoy, Carlito’s Café; Claudia Norman, El Museo del Barrio; Shawn Termine, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian; Richie Villar, Louder Arts
Presented with support from the Mexican Cultural Institute and in collaboration with the Americas Society and Queens Theatre in the Park.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 (CONTINUED)
7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
BROADWAY PLAZA

ASPHALT ORCHESTRA
See August 5

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

CONTRA-TIEMPO
Against the Times and Plastico

ABAKUÁ AFRO-LATIN DANCE COMPANY

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12
7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
JOSIE ROBERTSON PLAZA

RED BARAAT FESTIVAL!

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

BROOKLYN QAWWALI PARTY

OuterIndia presents SUSHEELA RAMAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13
6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

SNEHASISH MOZUMDER & SOM
JAKE SHIMABUKURO
THE DEREK TRUCKS BAND

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14
7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
HEARST PLAZA

SLAVIC SOUL PARTY!

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

AUKTYON with VLADIMIR VOLKOV and JOHN MEDESKI

PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
HEARST PLAZA

FAMILY DAY
Puppet Pageant
BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS RAT OF THE MTA
Puppeteers’ Cooperative with
Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center and Red Hook Community Center
Commissioned by Lincoln Center for Lincoln Center Out of Doors and created by members of the Puppeteers’ Cooperative in collaboration with neighborhood groups, including Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center.

3:00 p.m. FAMILY DAY
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL
BUBBLE do BEATLES: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Family Day is sponsored by Disney

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

BEN MUNISTERI DANCE PROJECT
Turbine Mines, Catalog (World premiere), Tuesday, 4 a.m.

DENDY DANCETHEATER
Preliminary Studies for Depth, the upper half of high and low (NY premiere)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16
3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

HERITAGE SUNDAY
La Mora’s OYU ORO AFRO-CUBAN DANCE

SIDIKI CONDE AND TOKOUNOU

CARACUMBE
Presented in collaboration with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

Ba M’buta: Ancestral Connections From the Kongo to the Americas
AFRICA AYE

IBBORU

RICARDO LEMVO & MAKINA LOCA
Presented in collaboration with the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19
7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

TANYA TAGAQ
Presented in collaboration with the Americas Society.

STEW AND HEIDI PRESENT THE BROADWAY PROBLEM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20
7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
JOSIE ROBERTSON PLAZA

HARLEM SAMBA

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

BUIKA
URBAN BUSH WOMEN
25th Anniversary Kick-off
Give Your Hands to Struggle (1998) and Shelter (1988)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21
7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
SOUTH PLAZA

FREVO BOMBASTICO

7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

BLIND DATE with DJ DOLORES & SIBA (Debut)

OTTO

SATURDAY, AUGUST 22
2:00 – 6:00 p.m.
HEARST PLAZA

26TH ANNUAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL
In the Spirit of Odetta

TOMMY SANDS and FIONAN and MOYA

CALYPSO ROSE

THE HOLMES BROTHERS with special guest MARIE KNIGHT

And additional artists to be announced

7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL

LIZZ WRIGHT
And additional artist to be announced

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
3:00 p.m.
DAMROSCH PARK BANDSHELL
26TH ANNUAL ROOTS OF AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL

BRC ORCHESTRA: Four Women: A Tribute to Odetta,
Miriam Makeba, Abbey Lincoln and Eartha Kitt
featuring Jayne Cortez, Tamar-Kali, Abena Koomson, Alkebulan, and more. Curated by La Tasha N. Nevada Diggs, Musical Direction by Onel Mulet
Presented in collaboration with the Black Rock Coalition

THE LOUISIANA RENEGADES
Featuring Christine Balfa, Dirk Powell, Kevin Wimmer of Balfa Toujours
and additional Creole artists tba

TEXAS TORNADOS: Tribute to Doug Sahm

Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos: The Lost World of Latin-Jewish Sound
featuring THE ARTURO O’FARRILL AFRO-CUBAN SEXTET
Arturo O’Farrill, Music Director, arranger
with special guests IRVING FIELDS, LARRY HARLOW and additional artists tba
Presented in collaboration with the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation and
Reboot.

Lincoln Center Out of Doors 09 Performance Locations:

BROADWAY PLAZA
Corner of Broadway and West 65th Street (new lower plaza in front of Alice Tully Hall)

DAMROSCH PARK
West 62nd Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenue.

HEARST PLAZA (formerly North Plaza)
North of the Metropolitan Opera House, in front of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Lincoln Center Theater.

JOSIE ROBERTSON PLAZA
Main plaza of Lincoln Center, fronting Columbus Avenue, between 63rd and 64th Street.

SOUTH PLAZA
South of The Metropolitan Opera House, (the rear section of Damrosch Park), West 62nd Street