Current Broadway Hedwig Michael C. Hall will be part of tribute show at the Hills NYC honoring Don Hill and benefiting Road Recovery
The Hills NYC
314 Spring St.
Sunday, December 7, general admission $75, VIP $250, 8:00
www.thehillsnyc.com
www.roadrecovery.org
In March 2011, popular nightlife impresario Don Hill passed away at the age of sixty-six, and his eponymous club, Don Hill’s, closed the next month, after a failed makeover attempt by Nur Khan and Paul Sevigny. This past June, it was announced that the SoHo club, located on Spring St., would reopen as the Hills NYC, with the new owners proclaiming, “Reset, rebuilt, and refocused, the Hills NYC is here to bring back Don’s original vision of a legendary venue which showcases Rock and Roll icons and NY talent.” On December 7, a diverse group of musicians will gather to pay tribute to Don Hill and the opening of the new club in a special show also honoring Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was conceived in the original Don Hill’s by Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell. The lineup includes Hedwig composer, lyricist, and cocreator Trask; Dexter’s Michael C. Hall, who is currently playing Hedwig on Broadway; New York Dolls leader and Buster Poindexter alter-ego David Johansen; New Jersey band OURS, headed by Jimmy Gnecco; and Hedwig band Tits of Clay (Tim Mislock, Justin Craig, Matt Duncan, and Peter Yanowitz), who are putting together an EP via a PledgeMusic campaign. “The band and I couldn’t be more excited to play this show,” Trask said in a statement. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that without Don Hill’s, Hedwig probably wouldn’t exist.” The event will benefit the nonprofit organization Road Recovery, which was founded in 1998 by tour manager Gene Bowen in order to “help young people battle addiction and other adversities by harnessing the influence of entertainment industry professionals who have confronted similar crises and now wish to share their experience, knowledge, and resources.” General admission is $75, while $250 VIP tickets ($100 tax-deductible) earn you access to a special standing area near the front of the stage, a preshow meet-and-greet with the performers, and a swag bag. “Coming back to Don Hill’s with Tits of Clay to play a bunch of punk rock songs would in itself inspire nostalgic swooning for me,” Trask added. “But the fact that this show is a benefit for Road Recovery, which uses music to help at-risk youth battle off the threat of addiction, really hits home.”