Who: Bush Tetras, the Bongos, Tape Hiss
What: Free concert
Where: David Rubenstein Atrium, 61 West Sixty-Second St.
When: Thursday, August 25, free, 7:30
Why: There will be quite a hum Thursday night at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium when two quintessential local ’80s bands and a groovy new retro group come together for “Turn It Up Two!!” On August 18, Ivan Julian & the Magnificent Six, Gary Lucas, and the Veldt took the stage for “Turn It Up!!,” part of Lincoln Center’s free summer season. This week it’s New York City’s own Bush Tetras, Hoboken legends the Bongos, and the all-star Tape Hiss. The shows are curated by Hoboken musician Jared Michael Nickerson, who will also join in onstage.
“Turn it Up! is a celebration of my too-lit-to-mention ’80s New York City club scene memories,” Nickerson, who played bass for Human Switchboard, said in a statement, adding that the shows are “an acknowledgment that in 2022 there are rockers from that scene, some forty, forty-five years later, still kicking out the jams and turning it up.”
Formed in 1979, Bush Tetras initially broke up in 1983, then reunited in 1995 and 2005; original members Pat Place and Cynthia Sley — cofounder and drummer Dee Pop passed away last October, while cofounder and guitarist Laura Kennedy died in 2011 — will be accompanied by former Sonic Youth drummer Shelley and multi-instrumentalist R. B. Korbet. The band’s video for “Too Many Creeps” helped define the 1908s underground music in NYC.
Over in Jersey, the Bongos burst through with the seminal album Drums Along the Hudson and such singles as “In the Congo,” “The Bulrushes,” and “Numbers with Wings.” Cofounders Richard Barone on guitar and vocals, Frank Giannini on drums, and Rob Norris on bass, with master guitarist James Mastro, who signed on after the first record, will serenade the atrium with classic originals and some sweet covers. Tape Hiss consists of Shelley, Ernie Brooks from the Modern Lovers, and Peter Zummo from Arthur Russell and the Lounge Lizards, along with David Nagler and Pete Galub, performing songs from those bands and more.