Category Archives: Art

Bang on a Can cello star performs at at GARNER Arts Center Friday

Posted on November 8, 2015 | 1 comment

(Ashley Bathgate/Facebook)

If you have an itch to hear one of the best New Music cellists around but hate the thought of traveling to Manhattan or Brooklyn to do it, Nov. 13 is your lucky day — even though it’s a Friday the 13th!

Ashley Bathgate, a member of the groundbreaking Bang on a Can All-Stars, brings her talents to the county’s own repurposed historic factory complex, the GARNER Arts Center at the Garnerville Arts &  Industrial Center. for a one-night-only performance.

Ashley Bathgate performs at GARNER Arts Center on Friday, Nov. 13.

Ashley Bathgate performs at GARNER Arts Center on Friday, Nov. 13.

If I weren’t committed to working late that evening, I’d be the first in line to get a good seat for what is sure to be an exciting performance by one of my favorite string players.

This won’t be her first time playing in an industrial space like GARNER. Bang on a Can members are quite used to such a setting. They run a summer music camp every year at MASS MoCA, the modern art museum that occupies an old factory complex in North Adams, Massachusetts. GARNER has a similar vibe.

Ashley will play amid  light and sound installations, including projections by downtown Manhattan art icon M. Henry Jones during the performance.

Check out these videos of Ashley in action. (Scroll past videos for venue and ticket information.)

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Ashley Bathgate, cellist

WHEN: 6:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. Opening at 6:30, performance at 7:30. Click here for more information.

WHERE: GARNER Arts Center, 55 W. Railroad Ave., Garnerville.

TICKETS: $15. $13 for seniors, students, military. Buy online by clicking here.

1 Comment

Posted in Art, Classical, Concerts, Contemporary, Music

Tagged , , , , ,

Visual artist Doris Laughton finds inspiration in New City

Posted on September 2, 2015 | Leave a comment

Doris Laughton in her studio in New City. (Photo: Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal News)

Doris Laughton in her studio in New City. (Photo: Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal News)

I had the great opportunity to finally get to chat with Doris Laughton, a wildly creative multimedia artist and notable neighbor on South Mountain Road in New City.

Her “splat” sculptures have earned her the nickname of “splat lady,” but her work — with her art and her dedicated stewardship of her unique home, designed by 20th century painter and potter Henry Varnum Poor, who also lived on “The Road” — goes well beyond that. The house has been owned and occupied by artists for all but a couple of years in the five-plus decades since it was built — first Judith Freedman Deming, who was Poor’s niece and a  founder and longtime proprietor of Fiberworks in Nyack, and, since 2008, Laughton.

Go to lohud.com to read the full interview with Laughton.

Leave a comment

Posted in Art, Interview, lohud.com

Tagged , , , , , ,

John Cohen: ‘I’m drowning in my past’

Posted on March 10, 2015 | Leave a comment
John Cohen (Photo: Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal News)

John Cohen (Photo: Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal News)

I got the chance recently to spend an hour or so talking to John Cohen, one of the legendary figures of the musical and artistic scene of Greenwich Village in the 1960s, for The Journal News/lohud.com.

Cohen, the founder of the New Lost City Ramblers is still making music — now with a trio of much younger musical traditionalists in the Down Hill Strugglers — promoting his documentary films, working creating a cultural center in his hometown of Putnam Valley, New York, and preparing to start painting again.

The 82-year-old says he has explored so many ways of expressing his creativity over the years that “I’m drowning in my past.”

Check out the full interview online at lohud.com by tapping or clicking here. Or pick up a copy of the Tuesday, March 10, edition of The Journal News.

Leave a comment

Posted in Art, Books, Folk, Interview, Movies, Music, World Music

Tagged , , , , , ,

Tim Fite’s been hacked

Posted on May 1, 2014 | 1 comment
Time Fite (Photo © 2009 Steven P. Marsh)

Time Fite (Photo © 2009 Steven P. Marsh/willyoumissme.com)

 

Tim Fite's Phoney Store at the Beam Center in Brooklyn. (Photo © 2014 Steven P. Marsh/willyoumissme.com)

Tim Fite’s Phoney Store at the Beam Center in Brooklyn. (Photo © 2014 Steven P. Marsh)

Tim Fite‘s a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and social commentator who’s proved his humor and fluency in a number of styles, from pop, to country, to rap.

He got onto my radar back in 2008 or so when he started performing in the persona of a well-groomed, seersucker-suit-wearing, bumpkin-ish country singer. His shows in the late ’00s usually featured backup videos layered with multiple versions of himself on various harmony vocals and instruments, sometimes including a backpacker guitar.

Tim Fite with two Phoneys, the product of his latest project. (Kickstarter)

Tim Fite with two Phoneys, the product of his latest project. (Kickstarter)

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Art, Music, News, Pop and Rock

Tagged , , , , , ,

Jihae gives her music a kick, launches Kickstarter campaign today (videos)

Posted on September 4, 2013 | Leave a comment

New project gives Fans a chance to support the sultry singer for as little as $1

Jihae, the Seoul, South Korea, -born Renaissance woman has shifted the spotlight back onto her musical career.

Jihae performs at the Mercury Lounge in 2012. (Photo © 2012, Steven P. Marsh)

Jihae performs at the Mercury Lounge in 2012. (Photo © 2012, Steven P. Marsh)

Best known to many as one of the distinctive faces of the Eileen Fisher fashion line, the mononymic Jihae (full name: Jihae Kim), has for years worked as a singer, multi-instrumentalist and operator of a small indie music label, Septem.

Her performance style is slinky, sexy and mysterious, with overtones of earthiness signaled by her penchant for leather biker jackets.

This morning she launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund completion of her 4th album, Illusion of You, and the tour to support it.

Project involves Dave Stewart, Leonard Cohen, more

Dave Stewart of Eurythmics is the executive producer, plays on several tracks and makes a guest appearance in the Kickstarter video. He says Jihae’s latest work “reminds me of something like [David] Bowie whispering secrets to the Velvet Underground.”

The album, due out in January if this campaign goes well, features a song co-written by Jihae, Stewart and the venerable Leonard Cohen. Jihae’s press kit calls that track, titled “It Just Feels,”  an “epic orgasm-themed song.”

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Art, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Recordings, Video

Tagged , , , , ,

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion bring Wassaic Way to Saturday’s Wassaic Festival

Posted on August 2, 2013 | Leave a comment
Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion at Wilco's Solid Sound Festival in 2011. (Photo © 2011, Steven P. Marsh)

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival in 2011. (Photo © 2011, Steven P. Marsh)

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion are making a Hudson Valley appearance on Saturday, Aug. 3 at the all-free Wassaic Festival in Dutchess County, which starts today and runs through Sunday (Aug. 2-4).

There’s something nice about hitting the namesake town in the early stages of touring their latest album, the seriously charming Wassaic Way. The husband-and-wife-duo (she’s daughter of Arlo Guthrie and granddaughter of Woody Guthrie) are really proud of the self-released album (which is to be released Aug. 6) they made with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Pat Sansone.

Stay tuned for a full interview with the creative couple. But for now, I just wanted to alert you to their gig coming Saturday. I’ve never been to the Wassaic Project, a center that aims to create context for art making and strengthening local community by increasing social and cultural capital through inspiration, promotion and creation of contemporary visual and performing art. It’s at the very last stop on Metro-North Railroad’s Harlem Line. This is the sixth year for the festival, a free, three-day event featuring art, music, dance, and community featuring over 100 artists, 25 bands, film screenings, dance performances and more.

If you go

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug 3.,  on the Luther Barn Stage. The Wassaic Festival began today (Aug. 2)  with various art events. Music and dance start around 6 p.m. This wrap up Sunday with a community breakfast, kids events and more music.

The Wassaic Project is at The Maxon Mills,  37 Furnace Bank Road , Wassaic, NY 12592. It’s in walking distance of the Wassaic Metro-North station with connections from Grand Central Terminal. ADMISSION IS FREE, but tickets are required for some events. Check the full schedule here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Art, Blues, Concerts, Folk, Music, News, Recordings, World Music

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bangin’ it up at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival

Posted on July 22, 2013 | Leave a comment
To call Mark Stewart a guitarist would be a disservice. The multi-talented redhead leads participants at MASS MoCA in making some noise with some of his homemade tubes during the 2010 Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival. (Photo © 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

It’s a disservice to call Mark Stewart a guitarist. He leads a group at MASS MoCA in making some noise with some of his homemade tubes during the 2010 Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival. (Photo © 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

18 days of fantastic summer music in the Berkshires

Today’s subject: MASS MoCA.

I’ve written a lot lately about the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, especially in the last month or two because of Wilco’s splendid Solid Sound Festival, held on the museum campus in North Adams, Mass., in late June.

When Wilco announced the inaugural Solid Sound back in 2010, I pretty much knew it would be great because I had already seen MASS MoCA host many, many editions of the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival — colloquially known at Banglewood.

If you’ve been a regular reader of Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?, you already know something about the Bang on a Can program. This summer’s program is the 12th annual festival on the beautiful industrial MASS MoCA grounds.

But maybe you’re not a musician, or at least not one who wants to participate in the festival. How does this matter to you?

Rain on the MASS MoCA campus. (Photo © 2011, Steven P. Marsh)

Rain on the MASS MoCA campus. (Photo © 2011, Steven P. Marsh)

That’s easy. Festival participants do their learning in public, putting on recitals six days a week and participating in a public Marathon concert on the final day. There’s also a performance of Bang on a Can co-founder Julia Wolfe‘s Steel Hammer, a full-length piece that weaves together the many variations of the John Henry folk legend.

So there’s plenty of professional-quality entertainment  for people who are just interested in listening and looking at some modern art. (Click through to the jump for schedule and ticketing information.)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Art, Classical, Concerts, Contemporary, Contemporary Classical, Folk, Jazz, News, Pop and Rock, Recordings, World Music

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jon Langford and a Maxwell’s memory lapse

Posted on July 10, 2013 | 2 comments
The Jon Langford Threesome, from left, at Maxwell's: Tony Maimone, Steve Goulding, Jon Langford. (Photo © 2013, Steven P. Marsh)

The Jon Langford Threesome, from left, at Maxwell’s: Tony Maimone, Steve Goulding, Jon Langford. (Photo © 2013, Steven P. Marsh)

Jon Langford looked truly puzzled on the stage of Maxwell’s.

The Jon Langford Threesome's set list at Maxwell's. (Photo © 2013, Steven P. Marsh)

The Jon Langford Threesome’s set list at Maxwell’s. (Photo © 2013, Steven P. Marsh)

The Welsh-born rocker has played at the Hoboken, N.J., club many times — “37 1/2… the half because tonight’s not done yet” — over the years in many bands, from the Mekons to the Three Johns.

On Tuesday, July 9, his show was billed as “Jon Langford’s Threesome feat. Tony Maimone and Steve Goulding performing Mekons, Waco Bros. and Jon Langford songs from throughout the centuries

“Did the Waco Brothers ever play here,” he asked, during a portion of the set where his cranked out several of that band’s best-loved tunes.

“Three times!” came the cry from the crowd.

The crowd gathers in the back room at Maxwell's for the Jon Langford Threesome. (Photo © 2013, Steven P. Marsh)

The crowd gathers in the back room at Maxwell’s for the Jon Langford Threesome. (Photo © 2013, Steven P. Marsh)

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Art, Blues, Country, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Review, RIP

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ticket price for Wilco’s 2013 Solid Sound Festival increases $25 on March 11

Posted on March 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

blast-image-3-5-levinson

You have less than a week to buy your weekend passes to this great festival before the price goes up

Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? has told you before, and is taking this opportunity to tell you again: Solid Sound, Wilco’s music and arts festival at MASS MoCA is one of the best music festivals ever. We’ve attended the first two editions and have no intention of missing V3 this year — on June 21-23 at the museum in North Adams, Mass.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Art, Blues, Concerts, Contemporary, Country, Folk, Jazz, Music, News, Pop and Rock

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Jihae, the coolest Eileen Fisher model ever, will sing for you tonight

Posted on December 4, 2012 | Leave a comment
Jihae 4

Jihae and her “Fire Burning Rain” cast at (Le) Poisson Rouge. (Photo © 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

We have no idea what exactly what Jihae was trying to do when she made a musical with playwright John Patrick Shanley out of her Fire Burning Rain album a couple of years back.

When we saw it at (Le) Poisson Rouge in 2010, we were thoroughly entertained by its A Midsummer Night’s Dream-like characters and just as thoroughly puzzled by its inscrutable plot.

But it certainly was ambitious. That’s a word that seems to apply to just about everything Jihae (birth name Jihae Kim) does.

Jihae in an Eileen Fisher ad.

Jihae in an Eileen Fisher ad.

You may know her better as the lanky, dark-haired model for Eileen Fisher’s clothing. She’s been featured in Fisher ads for years, and is the most recognizable non-supermodel we can think of.

Tonight she’s back to music. She has an album coming out in the spring, featuring collaborations with her wide circle of friends, including the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. But who knows what she’ll be performing at the Mercury Lounge for an early show tonight. She’s made three albums and one EP in her career, so she’s got plenty of material to draw from.

This could well be one of most unusual shows you’ve ever seen at the Mercury.

Jihae 1

Jihae at (Le) Poisson Rouge in 2010. (Photo © 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

Or it could turn out to be a classic girl-with-guitar gig.

If the rehearsal pictures are any indication, she will have a string section on stage for at least part of the show.

While we wouldn’t count on Stewart making this show, you never know who might show up — whether someone from the fashion world or from her wide circle of musical and theatrical friends.

7ef4a0623b5111e29c1122000a9f1283_7

“Rehearsal for next Tues show at Mercury Lounge (Credit: jihaemusic on Instagram)

It’s an early show, with doors at 6:30 and the music scheduled for 7:30, with the Doorbells as her opening act. Tickets are just $12. Snap them up online or at the door. You’re in for a real adventure.

Leave a comment

Posted in Art, Concerts, Music, Opera, Pop and Rock, Theater

Tagged , , , , , ,