Pianos
158 Ludlow St.
Monday, March 26, $8, 9:00
212-505-3733
www.paulacarino.com
www.pianosnyc.com
“I am lucky in love / I don’t need your comfort or care / I am so lucky in love / even when life is unfair / Yeah, don’t tell me life is unfair,” Paula Carino sings on “Lucky in Love,” from her excellent 2010 album, Open on Sunday, which she financed through Facebook fan donations and released on her own label, Intellectual House o’ Pancakes Records. We’re not about to tell the singer-songwriter, yoga teacher, blogger, and pop-culture columnist that life is unfair, but we don’t mind saying that if life were indeed fair, Carino would be a star. The multitalented musician has been a fixture on the New York City music scene for the better part of a decade, whether playing solo shows at the Parkside Lounge on the Lower East Side or at Freddy’s Backroom in Brooklyn (or twi-ny’s tenth-anniverary party at Fontana’s) with her backing band, which she has given such names as the Better Mind Your Own Business Bureau, the Virtually Spotless, and the Scurvy Merchants. Carino, who lately has been studying counseling psychology while working on a new album, appears to have finally arrived at a permanent appellation for her group: the Good Evening Friends, as in the Frankie Laine and Johnny Ray duet and the classic vaudeville sign-off. Carino and TGEF, featuring Nancy Polstein on drums, David Benjoya on guitar, and Andy Mattina on bass, will play their first gig under that name at Pianos on March 26 at 9:00, preceded by Jett Brando at 8:00 and followed by Teeth and Tongue at 10:00, Dope Dod at 11:00, and Rocky Business at midnight.