Franz Nicolay will be playing various different types of shows all over town in September (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Thursday, September 2, Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th St., $10-$12, 8:00
Wednesday, September 15, the Tank, 354 West 45th St., 7:00
Sunday, September 26, Vivo in Vivo, 215 East Fourth St., $25, 8:00
www.myspace.com/franznicolay
www.sinkingshipproductions.com
In a recent interview with novelist Peter Bognanni for InDigest magazine, Brooklyn musician Franz Nicolay mentioned “restlessness” as one of the reasons why he never stays too long in one band and keeps trying new things. He is one restless dude, because over the last ten years or so he’s been part of the art collective Anti-Social Music, the World/Inferno Friendship Society, Against Me!, Guignol, and, most famously, the Hold Steady. He plays the piano, accordion, guitar, mandolin, saw, and harmonica. He wears funky hats and has a weird mustache. And he makes a lot of great music. His solo work has included the January 2009 full-length MAJOR GENERAL and the October 2009 EP ST. SEBASTIAN OF THE SHORT STAGE, and he and Guignol teamed up with Philly’s Mischief Brew on the outstanding FIGHT DIRTY, packing them in at Shea Stadium (the tiny Brooklyn club) for a great night of Gypsy punk last December. This month, Nicolay will be all over the place, celebrating the upcoming release of LUCK AND COURAGE (October 12, Team Science/Sabot), a terrific concept album about a nation of two that we’ve been listening to a lot more than we have the last few Hold Steady records. Influenced by Kurt Vonnegut, Cormac McCarthy, and Nicole Krauss, the literary-minded Nicolay, who also writes short stories for InDigest and participates in the Bushwick Book Club mash-up of books and music, called in lots of his friends to contribute to LUCK AND COURAGE, including drummer Brian Viglione from the Dresden Dolls, bassist Yula Be’eri from the World/Inferno Friendship Society, and pianist Maria Sonevytsky from the Debutante Hour, in addition to Gutbucket saxophonist Ken Thomson, Demander guitarist Jared Scott, Son Volt pedal steel guitarist Mark Spencer, Lazarus Quartet trumpeter Ben Holmes, and Pearl and the Beard cellist Emily Hope Price. Nicolay & Major General will be at the Highline Ballroom on September 2 with Eddie the Gun and Yula Be’eri; Nicolay will then be doing Talking Heads covers with puppets at the Tank’s Puppet Playlist on September 15 before playing a solo gig September 16 at the wine salon Vivo in Vivo. And who knows what’s next…