Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? has been distracted this summer. There’s been a lot going on, musically speaking, around NYC and environs so far. As a result, we’ve neglected our friends at Midsummer Night Swing at Lincoln Center.
But on Monday night, the start of MNS’s final week for 2010 — hard to believe — Femi Kuti & The Positive Force are taking over Damrosch Park. And we can’t fail you this time. Even if you think you can’t dance, you should be at this show. It’s hard not to at least feel like you can dance when Femi Kuti takes the stage. His version of Afrobeat — he’s one of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s two musical sons, the other being Seun Kuti who inherited his father’s band Egypt 80 — has an insistent beat and a joyous feel that can get anyone to dance. (Fela Kuti, you may recall, is the subject of the fantastic Broadway musical, Fela!, directed by Bill T. Jones.)
With his rotary valve flugelhorn (no, it's not a trumpet!) slung jauntily over his shoulder, Beirut frontman Zach Condon is a devil-may-care showman. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)
If you felt old at last night’s Beirut show at The Music Hall of Williamsburg, there was a reason. Elise, a fan in the crowd at my side pointed this out, saying that she felt like the oldest person in the room, even though she appeared barely older than the band’s 24-year-old frontman Zach Condon.
The boys of Beirut.
The explanation is simple: The first night of the two-night, sold-out stand at Beirut’s home venue was essentially designated youth night. Beirut’s record label, BaDaBing, arranged for Monday night’s show as an 18-and-older gig and a block of tickets was sold at the box office only for the bargain price of $9.99 to give young fans a chance to see what one critic has dubbed “the best indie rock band of the 19th century.”
BaDaBing head Ben Goldberg, explains:
Hey everyone, the first show on July 5th is an 18+ show, the second is 21+. We wanted to make sure all those of you without credit cards of your own or superspeed internet connections are able to potentially get tickets, hence why the $9.99 is only available at the box office and won’t carry any handling fees.
Looking forward to seeing all you pale skins’ post-Independence day sunburns!
–ba da ben
Last night’s show was simply amazing. Beirut played a solid 90-minute set, kicking things off with “Elephant Gun” and romping through a sing-along set of all the band’s best-loved songs. It seemed far too short, but satisfying all the same. (And selling out @MusicHallofWB for two nights in a row seems like quite an accomplishment for a band that hasn’t released a proper album since 2007 and probably won’t have the next one ready until Spring 2011!)
Zach exudes a charm and confidence that belies his age. He appears comfortable onstage and has the swagger of a latter-day Sinatra. He’s not so much electrifying as he is charming and seductive. His warm style and the band’s tightness won a lot of love from the audience.
If I had ever imagined that flugelhorn and trumpet would someday become this hip, I might have thought twice about giving up playing brass after high school. Zach and his bandmates are among a number of influential young musicians who have managed to make the rock world safe for old-school instruments — French horn, trumpet, flugelhorn, accordion, ukulele and trombone.
We didn’t shoot any video last night, but lots of other concertgoers had video cameras. Here’s one of “The Penalty” posted by a fan known on Twitter as @projectnrm. The sound quality doesn’t really do the performance justice, but no matter, the enthusiasm is there:
WOOM is always in motion. The band's scrappy, bare-knuckled sound is irresistible.
Openers WOOM, a silly but joyous husband-and-wife band, charmed the crowd with a nice set of DIY beats coupled with Sara Magenheimer‘s vocals and Eben Portnoy‘s scratchy guitar riffs.
In addition to their usual repertoire, they debuted their version of Elizabeth Cotten‘s folk tune “Freight Train” last night. Though it had some rough edges, it was an intelligent and entertaining deconstruction of a song that’s been covered by many artists over the years, including Joan Baez, the Grateful Dead and even Laura Veirs, with the highly recognizable chorus: “When I die, Lord, bury me deep/Way down on old Chestnut Street/So I can hear old No. 9/As she goes rolling by.”
WOOM’s first full-length album, Muu’s Way, is out today on BaDaBing. It’s available from Amazon.com and other music outlets.
Click through to the jump for more photos from last night’s show. Continue reading →
The World Financial Center Winter Garden was packed for last year's Bang on a Can Marathon. (Photo copyright 2009, Steven P. Marsh)
Every year, the Bang on a Can Marathon brings a wide range of new music and spectacular performers to New York City to perform in a massive free concert — and this year is no exception. The Marathon is coming up in just two weeks, from noon to midnight on Sunday, June 27, at the World Financial Center Winter Garden at 220 Vesey Street in Lower Manhattan.
Burkina Electric, an African band organized by composer Lukas Ligeti (second from right) is just one of the great acts at the Bang on a Can Marathon.
This year’s program will, as always, feature Bang on a Can’s house band, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and a host of other great acts, including Living Colour’s eclectic guitarist Vernon Reid, African band Burkina Electric, John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Signal ensemble and Gamelan Galak Tika.
Bang on a Can has been presenting these marathons since 1987 at various locations around NYC. Since moving to the WFC, thanks to the generosity of co-presenter Arts World Financial Center and the River to River festival, admission has been free. The Marathon turns the Winter Garden into a big, 12-hour party, with people coming and going and the mood shifting with the performers and the changing natural light pouring through the glass walls.
Click here to check out photos and coverage of last year’s Marathon by Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?
Click to the jump for the full list of performers and schedule.
GlobeSonic Dance System's DJs: Fabian Asultany, Bill Bragin (aka DJ Acidophilus) and Derek Beres.
Looking for a way to enjoy the great outdoors today and get your dance on? Check out the free GlobeSonic Sound System dance party in Riverside Park today. The party starts on the early side, at 4 p.m., and runs until 11 on the Hudson River pier at 68th Street. This is the sixth season of GlobeSonic parties on the pier.
All you need to bring is your dancing shoes. And did I mention that admission is free?
GlobeSonic features three DJs, Fabian Alsultany, Derek Beres and Bill Bragin (director of public programming at Lincoln Center and former director of Joe’s Pub), plus Duke Mushroom on percussion.
We’ve been to GlobeSonic parties before, and they’re always a great mix of beat-heavy international tracks. Today will be our first time seeing GlobeSonic on the pier. It should be a wild party.
If the smash Broadway musical Fela! gave you the itch to hear more Afrobeat music, Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing lineup for this summer, announced today, will help you scratch it. Fela Kuti’s son Femi and his band Positive Force are scheduled to perform on July 12, with a a lesson in how to dance to the driving African beat taught by Maija Garcia, associate choreographer of the musical and a DJ set by Sahr Ngaujah, the actor who created the title role in Fela!
Femi Kuti
And if Afrobeat’s not your cup of tea, there are plenty of other styles of music and dance on offer during the 15 nights of performances at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.
The cutting-edge programming by Lincoln Center Director of Public Programming Bill Bragin features the New York debuts of four bands: narcotango from Argentina, The Time Jumpers from Nashville, New Orleans’ Moonshiners, and Salsa Band La-33 from Columbia.
Bragin says: “The series offers an array of dance music styles including salsa, swing, disco, and tango. For the first time this summer we are presenting a night of bhangra, the frenetic, hypnotic dance music from India by way of London and New York. Famed DJ Rekha will spin bhangra and Bollywood beats with her special guest Red Baraat for a dance party like no other on July 8th. Another highlight will be an appearance by Femi Kuti & Positive Force on July 12th. Kuti, the son of Fela Anikulapo Kuti of FELA! on Broadway fame, extends the tradition with his contemporary Afrobeat sound.”
The shows start at 6:30 pm with a dance lesson, followed by live music and dancing from 7:30-10.
Tickets and passes are on sale now. Multi-evening Swing Passes are priced at $90 for six nights, and $160 for the full season. Tickets for individual evening events are $17.
The Swing box office is located in the lobby of Avery Fisher Hall, Broadway and 65th Street. Tickets for individual events and passes can be purchased in advance or on the night of the event at a box office in Damrosch Park. Tickets and passes can also be purchased through CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500, or online. Twitter users can follow Midsummer Night Swing @LCSwing for ongoing news and updates.
Click through to the jump for more info and the full lineup: Continue reading →
Patti Smith is just one of the artists who will perform for Haiti relief at City Winery. (Copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)
Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? will be at the first of four nights of fantastic Haiti-relief. I’d like to make all four, but I’m not sure I have the cash (it’s $75 minimum, but it’s worth as it’s for an important cause!) or the free time to do that. But everyone who cares about music and about the tragedy in Haiti should try to make it to at least one of these shows. It’s a great way for music fans to make a contribution.
All four nights are shaping up to be amazing. Patti Smith, Yo La Tengo, John Wesley Harding, comedian Lewis Black, Vernon Reid, Corey Glover, Roseanne Cash, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Carolina Chocolate Drops and many more entertainers of all types. City Winery promises that more will be added.
The third night (Jan. 25) in particular, should be a great party given that U.S-based Tabou Combo (misspelled on the poster as Tambou Combo), one of the longest-running bands specializing in an irresistible Haitian dance music called compas (or konpa direk), is on the bill. I haven’t seen TC in years, but by all accounts it remains an amazing dance band.
City Winery’s goal is to raise $100,000 for Haiti relief over the four nights. Tickets ($75 general admission, $200 for Big-Hearted Donor tickets, which include a bottle of special wine) are tax deductible. Proceeds are being split among three charities: Wyclef Jean‘s Yele Haiti Foundation, Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health.
Click here for more info and to buy tickets. As of this posting, it seems that tickets are still available for all four shows. Showtimes vary slightly from 8 to 9 pm, so check the time when you buy tickets. Unlike many City Winery shows, these shows are all general admission — although the $200 ticket will get you into the VIP area. My advice to you is to ignore your New York concert-going instincts to arrive late. If you want a good spot, arrive on time. Or even early! The good people at City Winery assure me that the kitchen will be open for all four shows, so you’ll be able to pass the time until the show starts with eating as well as drinking.
City Winery is at 155 Varick St., New York, NY 10013. Call (212) 608-0555 or email info@citywinery.com for more information.
Sergio Diás and Bia Mendes leading Os Mutantes through a rollicking set at NYC's Webster Hall. (Photos copyright 2009, Steven P. Marsh)
The Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? team has no real excuse for missing out on the original incarnation of Os Mutantes— except for the fact that the whole team (that would be me) never went to Brazil, was kept in a cage for most of the Sixties and was only allowed to listen to baseball games on they tiny transistor radio his grandmother gave to him after extracting a promise that he wouldn’t use it to listen to “the devil’s music.”
So it was a revelation when the legendary psychedelic band reunited in 2006 (after a hiatus that started in 1978) and I started listening to the original recordings. The sound was of its time, but not dated, spectacularly playful and inventive. And the reunited band — which at that time included both founding brothers Sergio Diás and Arnaldo Baptista — did not disappoint when I saw them at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2007.
That show was full of pomp and circumstance in a formal theater. The audience was seated, and stayed that way pretty much to the end. Os Mutantes is a rock band, and I didn’t feel I got the full impact sitting through that show, no matter how strong it was musically.
So I was thrilled to see Os Mutantes (with a new lineup, as Arnaldo has left the band and the awesome and earthy Bia Mendes has stepped in as the female singer, replacing Zélia Duncan, a somewhat chillier vocalist who during the early part of the reunion replaced original singer Rita Lee) booked at Webster Hall last Thursday. Although it’s not my favorite place to see a show, at least it was a real rock club, which somehow seemed more fitting for such a rockin’ band.
We were not disappointed. Sergio — the proud 58-year-old who rocked out like he was half that age — and company put on a fantastic show.
For more photos of Os Mutantes, Brooklyn-based opener DeLeon, and an Os Mutantes video, click through to the jump. Continue reading →
Are you in a string quartet? Are you 18 to 35 years old? Would you like to learn the repertoire (and maybe some of the secrets) of Kronos Quartet, the granddaddy of all post-modern, genre-busting string quartets?
Well now is your chance to try to make the dream a reality.
Kronos is doing a string-quartet workshop at Carnegie Hall next spring. Three young quartets will be selected to work directly David Harrington and company from March 17-21. And because pipa master Wu Man is a guest instructor during the workshop, one lucky young musician who specializes in the Chinese string instrument will also be selected to participate.
Applications are being accepted through Oct. 26. Click here for more info.
African singer Vieux Farka Touré put out his first album in 2006, the year his father, legendary world-blues singer and guitarist Ali Farka Touré died.
Since then, Vieux has been carrying on the family tradition, mixing the sounds of his native Mali with other influences from around the world. He’s stopping in NYC for a show this weekend, and it promises to be good one.
In a great new Q&A with The Ithaca Journal, Vieux talks about his influences and carrying on his father’s work:
I come from that tradition [of Malian music], I must be respectful of it, and I love it, too. But then, I’m 28 years old and I listen to music from everywhere like a lot of young people: bangra, reggaeton, hip hop, blues, rock and roll. Now this always surprises people, but I really like Phil Collins!
So obviously all that shows up in my music …that said, I will always have one foot firmly planted in Mali’s traditional music, and one foot in all kinds of new music. Our musical traditions are so rich and so vast, and I think all Malian musicians know that we have a responsibility to share this wealth with the rest of the world.
Vieux Farka Touré performs at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th Street, Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets. $17 in advance, $20 day of show.
Youssou N'Dour in the spotlight at Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 5. (Photos by SPM)
It’s rare to see Youssou N’Dour onstage without finding the audience dancing, but that’s what happened at first at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last night when the Senegalese superstar and his band performed on the opening night of the Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas festival.
The evening started off a bit slowly, with speeches from the the likes of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, followed by Quranic recitations and an ensemble playing a gentle Salaam Suite.
But things always get amped up when Youssou takes the stage.
Ultimately, last night, that came to pass — ever so slowly. With a bit of prompting, a few members of the audience came to dance in front to the infectious guitar lines produce by Jimi Mbaye and Omar Sow, a few jumped onstage (to the consternation of the ushers) and one even tossed some cash at Youssou as a tip.
Finally, after a lot of prompting, the beat got to the audience and the house vibrated from all the dancing.
I never dreamed it would take that much prompting.
Youssou N’Dour returns to the BAM stage tonight, for a 60-minute performance following the screening of his 2008 film, I Bring What I Love: Youssou N’Dour.
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? 