Aimee Mann wouldn’t let a little thing like a big storm ruin her visit to NYC. Her Bowery Ballroom show, planned for Monday, has been moved to 7:30 (doors) tonight at the Music Hall is Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Tickets may still be available.
It seems to us that her quirky outlook may be the perfect Sandy tonic tonight.
Posted in Concerts, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Uncategorized
Sharon Van Etten’s Tramp
Sharon Van Etten has announced the release of a deluxe edition of her latest album, Tramp, on Nov. 13.
We find the repackaging of current albums with new tracks to be more than a little annoying — they often seem like desperate marketing ploys by a badly hurting record industry. But when it comes to Sharon, we’ll make an exception. She’s an amazing artist — and we’re completists when it comes to her work.
She’s making “Tell Me (Demo),” one of the bonus tracks on the forthcoming package, available to stream now. It’ll whet your appetite for what sounds like an exceptional repackaging from Jagjaguwar Records. They’re promising to include a self-portrait and liner notes about each song taken from Sharon’s journals. And for those of you, like me, who have little room for CDs, the digital version will feature a new digital booklet including the same, new liner notes and artwork.
Ugh. It’s pretty grim to realize it’s only Tuesday. And what a nasty Tuesday it has turned out to be.
But there’s something happening tonight that’ll put a drink in your hand, a smile on your face and send you back out into the world with a head full of music: Pop-Up Concerts at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre.
And it won’t cost you a dime.
Here’s the deal: One Tuesday a month, this very cool program takes over the theater for a quick, casual get-together that ends in a very cool concert. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Grab a free drink (thanks to Harlem Brewing Co.) when you get there, and hang out with fellow music lovers until the show starts at 6.
Tonight’s program is Minimalism’s Evolution. Sure, it sounds a little heady, maybe even academic. This is happening on an Ivy League campus, after all. But this series isn’t like any college course you might remember. Pop-Up Concerts let you get up close and personal with the artists in an informal performance that lasts just an hour.
Be sure to save the dates of the next two installments of Pop-Up Concerts: Nov. 13 of 120 Years of Solo Piano and Dec. 11 for John Zorn for Strings.
Tonight you’ll get three members of the awesome Ensemble Signal: Courtney Orlando on violin, Lauren Radnofsky on cello and Paul Coleman on sound.
Read on for the full program and all the details you need to get there. Continue reading
Posted in Concerts, Contemporary, Contemporary Classical, Free, Music, News
Tagged Columbia University, Courtney Orlando, Donnacha Dennehy, Ensemble Signal, Giacinto Scelsi, Harlem Brewing Co., John Zorn, Lauren Radnofsky, Louis Andriessen, Maya Beiser, Michael Gordon, Miller Theatre, Paul Coleman, Philip Glass, Pop-Up Concerts, Robert Woodruff
Stew & Heidi Rodewald of The Negro Problem. (Photo © 2012, Steven P. Marsh)
Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone‘s favorite band, The Negro Problem, is playing a gig in Brooklyn this Saturday, July 28. They’re in the hood for the fourth and final installment of the Weeksville Garden Party, a July tradition of free weekly performances at the Weeksville Heritage Center at 1698 Bergen Street between Rochester and Buffalo Avenues in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood.
The Weeksville Heritage Center itself, dedicated to the unique history of the 19th Century village of Weeksville, founded by free blacks, is worth exploring. We’d recommend arriving early — doors are at 4, with The Negro Problem set to perform at 6 — to check the place out.
Remember, it’s free. But if you like the show and the museum, they’ll gladly accept donations. We know WYMMWIG‘s readers are generous. Don’t let us down.
September is way early for sugaring season. The sap in sugar maples is at its best for just four to eight weeks in the spring.
But don’t tell that to Beth Orton. The beautiful, stylish folk-pop singer will be back with Sugaring Season, her first album in six years — supported by a U.S. tour — this fall.
Here’s the first video, for a song called “Something More Beautiful”:
During the six years since her last album, Comfort of Strangers in 2006 (the year daughter Nancy was born), the U.K.-born Beth has kept a somewhat low profile.
Sam Amidon and Beth Orton at Rockwood Music Hall in December 2011. (Photo © 2011, Steven P. Marsh)
Sharon Van Etten at the Bowery Ballroom on Feb. 26, 2012.
We’ve been away from this page for too long. But an email landed in our in box this morning that inspired us to sit down and log in.
Sharon Van Etten, who’s on Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone‘s Top 10 Artist lists, announced the dates for her fall tour today.
Van Etten at the Northside Festival, 2010.
It seems like Sharon, a wonderful, low-key Brooklyn singer songwriter has been touring nonstop since releasing her third full-length album, Tramp, on Jagjaguwar early this year. While we’re glad she’s been sharing her extraordinary voice and songwriting with audiences around the world, we have a feeling that she hasn’t spent much time at home in Bushwick, Brooklyn, just a couple of neighborhoods away — and a world apart — from Ditmas Park, the home of other musical luminaries like Sufjan Stevens and most of the members of The National.
Her new tour dates continue the marathon. It takes her to Portugal, Spain, France and the U.K. before bringing her stateside for a good long wander through the eastern half of the U.S. before wrapping up back in New York City.
Sharon’s a hard-working musician. But don’t let the volume fool you. Click through to the jump for more photos of Sharon through the years, along with her full tour schedule.
And take note of the period from Aug. 23 to Sept. 25. I don’t see any shows scheduled, do you? We can only hope that’s when we’ll be seeing her around Brooklyn.
Posted in Concerts, Folk, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Recordings
Tagged Brooklyn, Bushwick, Ditmas Park, Sharon Van Etten, The Bell House, The Bowery Ballroom, The National
Buke and Gass keep their feet busy, too. (Photos © 2010, Steven P. Marsh)
It’s been more than a year since Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? mentioned Buke and Gass. We’re overdue.
Arone Dyer on buke.
Maybe you’ve already noticed that there’s something different about this intense duo — their name. They’re now Buke and Gase, in what appears to be a slightly sad surrender to phonetics.
For those who have been paying close attention, the morphing began late last fall when the band posted this brief, cryptic bulletin on its website:
October 26 – Just played a show in Canada and our name is morphing.
But the reality didn’t sink in until we saw announcements for the band’s May 4 appearance at The National‘s Bryce and Aaron Dessner-curated Crossing Brooklyn Ferry series at BAM. We thought somebody had made a typo. On further investigation, we discovered the band had indeed changed the spelling.
Aron Sanchez on gass.
Although the pronunciation of the band name was easy to remember once you knew what it stood for — baritone ukulele=Buke, while guitar+bass=Gass — it appears the second half of the name was too often the butt of jokes rhyming with ass. So Arone Dyer, who plays the buke, and Aron Sanchez, on gass, gave in and changed the spelling.
But they didn’t change the sound, as you’ll hear on this great preview track from their next album, which they hope to release in September.
If you can’t make it to Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, or you just want more Buke and Gase, check out the lineup they’ve curated (they’re not listed as performing, just curating) through May 15 with Terry Riley‘s son Gyan Riley, at The Stone, John Zorn‘s music venue in Manhattan’s East Village.
Posted in Concerts, Contemporary, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Punk, Recordings
Tagged Aaron Dessner, Aron Sanchez, Arone Dyer, BAM, Bandcamp, baritone ukulele, Brassland, Bryce Dessner, Buke and Gase, Buke and Gass, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, curated, East Village, guitar-bass, Gyan Riley, John Zorn, Manhattan, name change, new song, preview, Terry Riley, The National, The Stone, track, typo
Read the full list of Tony nominees on the official tonys site. Click hereThe 66th annual Tony Award nominations are out this morning, with a movie remake, Once, topping the list. But another film takeoff, the just-opened Leap of Faith, also got one in the Best Musical category.
There’s lots of other news to report, including the snubbing of big stars Bernadette Peters and Ricky Martin and the revamped Spider-Man, but we’ll leave that to other reports.
The full list is here.
New York Daily News theater critic Joe Dziemianowicz‘s report is here.
New York Times ArtsBeat blog report here.
Billboard’s take here.
Playbill.com offers coverage here and reaction here.
Condola Rashad outside the Cort Theatre after a performance of Stick Fly. (Photo © 2011, Steven P. Marsh)
The Alicia Keys-produced play Stick Fly hung on at Broadway’s Cort Theatre for just 93 performances last winter. The play may have fallen a bit flat, despite every promotional effort. But one member of the cast made a big impression that has lasted well beyond that last performance on Feb. 26.
Condola Rashad (yes, the daughter of The Cosby Show alum Phylicia Rashad and former NFL wide receiver Ahmad Rashad) was that show’s secret weapon, as Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? told you back in December.
On Tuesday morning, she was nominated as Best Featured Actor in a Play.
So she’s crossed the first hurdle. The Tony nominators have joined with WYMMWIG? in recognizing this young superstar. Now, Tony judges, it’s time to vote for her and give her the award she earned and so richly deserved.
Her reaction was sweet and humble, as you’d expect from the sassy-smart young actress. She took to Twitter to tell her fans:
Funny fact about Condola: She never watched The Cosby Show when she was growing up. “I was on the set!” she says in this interview with The Associated Press:
Tagged @phloella, Ahamad Rashad, Alicia Keys, Bernadette Peters, Broadway, Condola Rashad, Cort Theatre, Joe Dziemianowicz, Leap of Faith, musical, New York Daily News, nominations, Once, Phylicia Rashad, play, Ricky Martin, snub, Spider-Man, Stick Fly, Theater, Tony Awards, Twitter, vote for her, YouTube
The first night of the two-night Benefit for Lucinda’s Kids was a great night of almost 7 hours of entertainment on Sunday, April 29 at The Bowery Electric, with a great crowd and a fantastic lineup of artists, including Marah, Jesse Malin, Jimmy Gnecco, Willie Nile (who almost missed the show because of a delayed flight from Chicago), Jim Boggia, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Michelle Casillas (Ursa Minor), Mystie and more. As of Sunday night, there were still tickets left for the second night of the benefit to raise money for the trust fund that will benefit the two teenagers left behind when their mom, super music fan Lucinda Gallagher, committed suicide last December.
Here’s the Monday lineup.
Monday, April 30, doors at 7 p.m.
Tommy Stinson (The Replacements)
HR (Bad Brains)
Alan Vega (Suicide)
James Maddock
Aaron Lee Tasjan
Tickets are $20 and available here.
And here’s what you missed on Sunday.
Jesse Malin
Many, many more photos after the jump.
Continue reading
Posted in Benefit, Blues, Concerts, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Punk, Review, World Music
Tagged Aaron Lee Tasjan, Alan Vega, Bad Brains, Benefit for Lucinda's Kids, Christine Smith, Dave Bielanko, Dave Milone, East Village, H.R., Jesse Malin, Jim Boggia, Jimmy Gnecco, Lucinda Gallagher, Marah, Michelle Casillas, Mystie, One Guitar, Philadelphia, suicide, The Bowery Electric, The Replacements, Tommy Stinson, Ursa Minor, Willie Nile
Marah: Dave Bielanko and Christine Smith perform an acoustic number mid-crowd at the Benefit for Lucinda's Kids at The Bowery Electric in Manhattan's East Village on Sunday, April 29. (Photo © 2012, Steven P. Marsh)
How many lives has the rock band Marah had?
It’s hard to say, but it’s one of those bands that has survived surviving changing lineups, internal strife, and wildly fluctuating stylistic directions, all the while being encouraged and praised by celebrities.
Marah with flugelhorn at The Bowery Electric on April 29. (Photo © 2012, Steven P. Marsh)
Started in Philadelphia, Marah quickly became notable for the stage antics of its core duo, brothers Dave and Serge Bielanko from Philadelphia suburb Conshohocken. They had a loose but seemingly perfectly choreographed stage presence together. Their sound, early on, featured rootsy, Americana-flavored rock and roll with a particular treat for anyone who has an affinity for Philadelphia: jangling banjos played in the style of Philadelphia Mummers Parade string bands.
A band version of Marah at Bowery Electric in 2010. (Photo © 2010, Steven P. Marsh)
This is a band that novelist Stephen King in 2005 dubbed “probably the best rock band in America that nobody knows.” They’ve also been the darlings of writers Nick Hornby (who did a tour with the band) and Sarah Vowell.
It’s a band that became pals with Bruce Springsteen and got him to sing and play on one of their albums. And Steve Earle liked them enough to add them to the roster of his now defunct record label.
It’s also a band whose list of former members on Wikipedia at this writing tops out at 20 — a lot for the 19-year-old a band, which generally has performed as a quartet or quintet.
In working there, they’ve discovered something magical, something that has returned the band to its roots in a way, and turned it in a new direction in another way.
Dave and Christine are working with a handful of local musicians in their Pennsylvania hideaway on a project they call Mountain Minstrelsy. (Check it out on Facebook, too.) They’re holed up in an old church that they’re using as a recording studio.
Basically, one of their musical pals in Pennsylvania showed them a book of collected lyrics, “Mountain Minstrelsy (as sung in the Backwoods Settlements, Hunting Cabins and Lumber Camps in the “Black Forest” of Pennsylvania, 1840 – 1923)” by Henry W. Shoemaker. It struck a chord, literally and figuratively, with Dave and Christine, so they set out to build an album around their new music for the found lyrics. They’ve been recording the new-old songs with some of their friends and neighbors for an album they hope to release late this year.
After the jump, read the full interview, plus a video of Dave, Christine and friends in a Mountain Minstrelsy rehearsal.
Posted in Benefit, Blues, Concerts, Country, Exclusive, Folk, Interview, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Recordings
Tagged accordion, banjo, Benefit for Lucinda's Kids, Brooklyn, Christine Smith, Conshohocken, Dave Bielanko, David Bielanko, East Village, exclusive, flugelhorn, guitar, Lucinda Gallagher, Manhattan, Marah, Mummers, New York City, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, rock 'n roll, rock and roll, Serge Bielanko, Shamokin, string band, The Bowery Electric, Tylersville
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? 