this week in music

CELEBRATING ISRAEL WITH TIGHTER SECURITY THAN EVER

The annual Israel Day parade will march up Fifth Ave. on May 31 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

ISRAEL DAY ON 5th
62nd to 74th St. up Fifth Ave.
Sunday, May 31, free, 11:30 am – 4:00 pm
israeldayon5th.com

On May 14, 1948, “The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel” proclaimed, “The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” Israel’s existence has been fraught with controversy since the very beginning, but especially now since the October 7 attacks by Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu’s military response in Gaza, but the nation perseveres, and on May 31 its seventy-eighth birthday will be honored with the annual Israel Day parade. This year’s theme does not back away from the growing vitriol, making a point: “Proud Americans, Proud Zionists.”

On Sunday, tens of thousands of marchers are expected to make their way from Sixty-Second to Seventy-Fourth Sts. up Fifth Ave., including members of synagogues and youth organizations, musicians, dancers, political figures (but not Mayor Zohran Mamdani), community and advocacy groups, civil servants, with lots of flag waving and singing, but the specific roster of entertainers is not being made public in advance of the event. There will be tighter security than ever, for participants as well as viewers; you can check out the details here. As a sign of the times, the grand marshal is police commissioner Jessica Tisch, who said in a press conference, “To be blunt, we are not messing around with security at this year’s parade.”

Onlookers. celebrants, and well-wishers can enter on Madison Ave. at Sixty-First, Sixty-Third, Sixty-Sixth, Seventieth, and Seventy-Third Sts.; the parade will also be broadcast on MY9 and livestreamed here.

SONGS IN THE KEY OF STEVIE: A WONDER-FUL CELEBRATION AT BAM

STEVIE: A LIFE IN THE KEY OF SONGS
Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
May 14–16, $36-$97, 7:30
www.bam.org

PoetWarrior Productions’ Black Masters Concert Series, which has paid tribute to such artists as Curtis Mayfield and Sly & the Family Stone, continues May 14–16 at BAM with “Stevie: A Life in the Key of Songs.”

On a Sunday in the fall of 1976, as part of my father’s bar mitzvah present to me — a record a week for one year — I picked up Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, and I was never the same again. The music industry, from the Billboard charts to radio airplay to live performance, would never be the same again either.

The double LP features such killer tracks as “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” “Village Ghetto Land,” and “Sir Duke” (as well as “I Wish,” “Pastime Paradise,” and “Isn’t She Lovely”) that crossed genres and racial boundaries. It was the culmination of a remarkable four-year period in which Wonder released five classic albums: Music of My Mind (1972, “Superwoman”), Talking Book (1972, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” “Superstition”), Innervisions (1973, “Living for the City,” “Higher Ground”), Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974, “Boogie On Reggae Woman,” “You Haven’t Done Nothin’”), and Songs in the Key of Life. In the middle of it all, Wonder was in a car accident that left him in a coma, and he temporarily lost his sense of smell.

The albums will be celebrated by the BRC (Black Rock Coalition) Orchestra on May 14 (Music of My Mind and Talking Book), May 15 (Innervisions and Fulfillingness’ First Finale), and May 16 (Songs in the Key of Life) at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House. The band, under the music direction of Darrell M. McNeill and LaFrae Sci, consists of keyboardist Ray Angry, vocalists and guitarists David Ryan Harris and Peter Lord, singer-songwriter Sandra St. Victor, harmonica virtuoso Gregoire Maret, guitarist Mark Whitfield, and, for the last two shows, Corey Glover and Vernon Reid from Living Colour. The setlist will also include tunes from the same period that Wonder wrote for other artists.

The Michigan-born Wonder turns seventy-six on May 13, so this should be one fabulous birthday party.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]

GLORY GLORY: LAURELYN DOSSETT AND BET WILLIAMS AT JALOPY

Who: Laurelyn Dossett, Bet Williams
What: Songwriting Studio and live concert
Where: Jalopy Theatre, 315 Columbia St. between Woodhull & Rapelye Sts.
When: Saturday, May 9, $60, 2:00; Saturday, May 9, $25, 8:30
Why: “There are secrets / Secrets I swore I’d never tell / But the ones that I loved are all good gone dead / So listen, children, listen well,” Laurelyn Dossett sings on “Run to the River” on her debut solo album, How Many Moons (August 28, Sycamore Road). The North Carolina native has written songs that have been recorded by Levon Helm and the Carolina Chocolate Drops and for the theater (Brother Wolf, Radiunt Abundunt) and has toured with Rhiannon Giddens, Alice Gerrard, and others, but she now takes center stage, joined by her longtime friend and Penn State college roommate, Bet Williams, who is currently recording a new LP, Magic Beauty Pain, the follow-up to such discs as Rose Tattoo, Elephants and Angels, and The 11th Hour. Williams and Giddens appear on How Many Moons, along with Sophia Catanoso, Kari Sickenberger, Charly Lowry, M. C. Taylor, and the Glory Glory Chorus, made up of friends and relatives singing on a family porch.

Produced by Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger), How Many Moons is an intoxicating mix of Americana, folk, country, jazz, and blues, built around Dossett’s lovely voice. “Laurelyn Dossett is a songwriter and human that I find immensely inspiring. A survivor and a wonder-er. I know she has played a huge part in the lives of so many creative people, and I’m honored to have played a part in her new album,” Taylor said in a statement.

Dossett and Williams come to the Jalopy Theatre in Brooklyn on May 9, first for a two-hour Songwriting Studio workshop at 2:00 in which they will share their musical knowledge, giving advice on tunes that participants can bring with them. At 8:30 they take the stage for a reunion concert; despite knowing each other for four decades, they have never performed together before this tour. Expect a rollicking, poetic evening of gorgeous and camaraderie, as evidenced in the below brand-new video.

“It’s all about the music, yes,” Dossett explained about the record. “But I have pulled together some stuff, and some experiences, that come from me, my friends and family, and this beautiful place I call home. It’s all of a piece of me — the music, the people I love, the land, the river, the flora and fauna. And you, the listener.”

So listen, everyone, listen well.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]

GETTING DOWN TO NUTS AND BOLTS: RICHARD BARONE AND JAMES MASTRO AT CITY WINERY

Who: James Mastro, Richard Barone
What: Nuts & Bolts Revisited Tour
Where: The Loft at City Winery, 25 Eleventh Ave. at Fifteenth St.
When: Sunday, May 3, $30-$42, 7:30
Why: Forty-three years ago, Hoboken legends the Bongos went on the road in support of their EP Numbers with Wings, the follow-up to their breakthrough debut LP, Drums Along the Hudson. The tour included a memorable gig at Columbia University that you can listen to here. During that time, guitarist and vocalist Richard Barone and multi-instrumentalist James Mastro wrote songs that they recorded with Mitch Easter of Let’s Active in North Carolina; the result was the folk/power pop album Nuts & Bolts, with one side comprising songs by Barone, the other by Mastro. Among the tunes were the former’s “I’ve Got a Secret” and “Flew a Falcon” and the latter’s “Time Will Tell” and “Angel in My Pocket.”

Mastro is one of the hardest-working musicians in the business; he just can’t put down his guitar. He has played with Ian Hunter, Alejandro Escovedo, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Megan Reilly, the Health & Happiness Show, Rachael Sage, and countless others in addition to opening Guitar Bar and art gallery/performance venue 503 Social Club in Hoboken. In February 2024, the consummate sideman released his debut solo record, Dawn of a New Error, to widespread acclaim. Meanwhile, Barone made such highly regarded albums as Cool Blue Halo, Primal Dream, and Glow, produced numerous tribute and benefit concerts, and wrote the memoir Frontman: Surviving the Rock Star Myth.

I’ve had a long connection with both of them; I’ve known Mastro since the late 1980s and have seen him play in many configurations. Around that same time, the woman who would become my wife won a signed copy of Cool Blue Halo that she presented to me, and then we went to see Barone perform a killer set at the Bottom Line, a seminal moment in our courtship.

Mastro and Barone, who have gotten together for Bongos reunions, are back on the road for a brief tour celebrating the rerelease of Nuts & Bolts on Iconoclassic Records, fully remastered and complete with such bonus tracks as a live version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from a United Nations gig. The tour started in Philly, Rhode Island, and Woodstock and comes to City Winery on May 3 before concluding in Freehold. The first set focuses on Nuts & Bolts, while the second features solo tunes from throughout their individual careers.

They’re both wonderful storytellers, so this is a terrific opportunity to catch what should be a very special show.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]

SINCE MY BABY LEFT ME: HEARTBREAK HOTEL AT DR2

Simon Leary and Karin McCracken face heartache in Heartbreak Hotel at DR2 Theatre (photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

HEARTBREAK HOTEL
DR2 Theatre
103 East 15th St. between Irving Pl. & Park Ave.
Tuesday – Sunday through April 19, $29-$56
heartbreakhotelplay.com
www.darylroththeatre.com

New Zealand company EBKM sets the tone for the American premiere of Heartbreak Hotel during the entrance music, with such songs about romantic pain and misery as Aimee Mann’s “Save Me,” Alanis Morissette’s “That I Would Be Good,” Cher’s “Believe,” and Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over” preparing the crowd for what is to come at the small, intimate DR2 Theatre.

Writer and star Karin McCracken, who cofounded the troupe with director Eleanor Bishop, comes onstage, walks to the lip, and, with the lights on, looks out at the audience and says, “I was hoping to get to know everyone a bit before we start, so I’m going to ask you a couple of questions. For the first question, you don’t need to respond out loud. If you just think your answer, and make eye contact with me, I’ll be able to tell. It’s just a thing I’m able to do. So: Is anyone here heartbroken, or grieving, or otherwise bereft?” Starting at the back, she then goes row by row, looking into the eyes of each of the ninety-nine audience members, a clever way to form an instant connection.

She then explains she’s neither a musician nor a singer but she has taken up both disciplines because she read that creativity promotes neuroplasticity and singing suppresses cortisol, relieving stress — “Unless you’re singing in an environment that would naturally promote anxiety, like live performance.”

Over the course of about seventy minutes, she shares her story directly with the audience, re-creating scenes from her character’s past. Simon Leary performs all the other roles: a tinder date, her gay bestie, a supermarket worker, a doctor, and her former partner, who she was with for six years. She also plays, on synthesizer, relevant songs by Bonnie Raitt, Sinéad O’Connor, and the Cranberries, dances, and uses such other scientific terminology as “norepinephrine,” “monocytes,” “RNAs,” “serotonin,” “oxytocin,” “Takotsubo syndrome,” and “chipotle sauce,” which serves as medical explanations regarding love and loss as well as potential excuses for why humans make certain decisions.

Karin McCracken wrote and stars in US premiere of EBKM’s Heartbreak Hotel (photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

Dressed in a country-rock-style jacket with sequins, fringe, and tassels, she deals with her situation with limited success, clearly unable to put the relationship behind her, in scenes such as “Dating While Heartbroken,” “The Science: Protest,” and “Anxious/Avoidant,” the words passing by on a semicircle of LED boxes like digital ticker tape. The production design, which also features pink shag carpeting, is by Rachel Marlow (who also did the lighting) and Brad Gledhill of Filament Eleven 11, with sound by Te Aihe Butler that ranges from a German club to a noisy bar to a quiet beach.

McCracken is engaging as the unnamed woman, imbuing her with a believable honesty, refusing to make her a victim while not afraid to reveal her flaws and mistakes. You’ll root for her to finally take those necessary next steps even as she keeps getting in her own way. Leary slides neatly from character to character, making subtle changes in each as the woman’s story unfolds.

It all leads to a powerful finale, one that resonates with Presley’s 1956 hit — “Well, since my baby left me / I found a new place to dwell / It’s down at the end of Lonely Street / At Heartbreak Hotel / Where I’ll be, I’ll be so lonely, baby / I’m so lonely / I’ll be so lonely, I could die” — but has a hopeful twist at the end, hinting that there may be a way out of the woman’s self-imposed prison.

On the way out of the theater, each audience member is given a small pamphlet consisting of notes and resources, from poetry and music influences to illustrations and acknowledgments, including one for her mum.

Early on in the show, her mother, in a prerecorded voiceover, says, “When someone is in the midst of a heartbreak, it feels like time has stopped — because they want the past and don’t want what the future holds. A state of limbo. It’s a terrible thing.”

As always, mother knows best.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

STOP THAT PIGEON: BIDDING A FOND ADIEU TO DINOSAUR ON THE HIGH LINE

Iván Argote’s Dinosaur will be flying off from the High Line soon (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

FAREWELL, DINOSAUR
High Line Plinth on the High Line Spur
Thirtieth St. at Tenth Ave.
Friday, March 21, free, noon – 4:00
www.thehighline.org

It promises to be the biggest send-off for a New York City pigeon ever.

On June 14, 2025, the High Line welcomed Iván Argote’s High Line Plinth commission, Dinosaur, with “Pigeon Fest,” a festival celebrating pigeons, urban ecology, and public art on National Pigeon Appreciation Day. The High Line is now saying goodbye to the seventeen-foot-tall, one-ton aluminum pigeon sculpture on March 21 with another party, “Farewell, Dinosaur,” consisting of games, photo ops, and more, with Argote, DJ Tommy Sparks, and Miriam Abrahams, the British multidisciplinary artist who won the Pigeon Impersonation Pageant at the opening. Visitors are encouraged to again come in feather-brained costumes as they play bingo and have Argote sign limited-edition posters.

“The name Dinosaur makes reference to the sculpture’s scale and to the pigeon’s ancestors who millions of years ago dominated the globe, as we humans do today,” the Colombia-born, Paris-based Argote said in a statement. “The name also serves as a reference to the dinosaur’s extinction. Like them, one day we won’t be around anymore, but perhaps a remnant of humanity will live on — as pigeons do — in the dark corners and gaps of future worlds. I feel this sculpture could generate an uncanny feeling of attraction, seduction, and fear among the inhabitants of New York.”

The attraction, seduction, and fear will continue through early April, when Dinosaur will go extinct on the High Line, replaced by Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s The Light That Shines Through the Universe.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]

CELEBRATING WIFREDO LAM AT MoMA WITH DANCE, MUSIC, AND POETRY

Wifredo Lam with the unfinished Bélial, empereur des mouches in his garden, Havana, 1947 (courtesy Archives SDO Wifredo Lam, Paris / photo by Ylla © Pryor Dodge)

Who: Ballet Hispánico New York, Aruán Ortiz, Yaissa Jimenez
What: A Special Evening Celebrating “Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream”
Where: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West Fifty-Third St. Between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
When: Thursday, March 19, free with advance RSVP, 6:30
Why: “I knew I was running the risk of not being understood either by the man in the street or by the others,” Cuban-born artist Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla said, “but a true picture has the power to set the imagination to work, even if it takes time.” The wide-ranging MoMA retrospective “Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream” paints a fascinating portrait of Lam, the son of a Chinese immigrant and the grandson of a Congolese former slave mother. It’s a marvelous collection of paintings, drawings, archival photographs, sketches, books, and ephemera tracing Lam’s career, which took him from Cuba, Spain, and France to Martinique, Haiti, and New York as his imagination turned to Spanish modernism, Surrealism, and Afro-Cuban tradition. Among the highlights of the exhibition, which runs through April 11, are the 1943 gouache on paper masterpiece The Jungle, a trio of dazzling abstracts, and a collection of plates.

On March 19 at 6:30, MoMA will be hosting “A Celebration of ‘Wifredo Lam: When I Don’t Sleep, I Dream,’” as Ballet Hispánico New York, Cuban-born, Brooklyn-based pianist, violist, and composer Aruán Ortiz, and Dominican writer and poet Yaissa Jimenez will perform specially commissioned new works in the exhibition galleries, paying tribute to Lam and his legacy. Admission is free with advance RSVP.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]