this week in music

NEW YORK CHILIFEST

The fifth annual New York City ChiliFest returns to Chelsea Market on January 31

Chelsea Market
75 Ninth Ave. between 15th & 16 Sts.
Sunday, January 31, $50-$70, doors open at 6:30
chelseamarket.com
www.nychilifest2016.com

You can get ready for the February 7 Super Bowl by getting down and dirty with some badass chili at the annual NYC ChiliFest, taking place January 31 at Chelsea Market. The fifth annual competitive celebration of hot meat will feature dishes from Bark Hot Dogs, Untitled, La Palapa, Resto, Toro, El Vez, Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer, Talde, Untamed Sandwiches, Fleisher’s Craft Butchery, Hill Country Barbecue, Fletcher’s Barbecue Brooklyn, Hecho en Dumbo, Littleneck, Glady’s, Mŏkbar, El Original, Los Tacos No.1, Speedy Romeo, Bar Truman, the Brooklyn Star, and Chelsea Creamline, battling it out for the Golden Chili Mug. The food, which uses meat from responsibly raised animals provided by Dickson’s Farmstand Meat, can be washed down with four specially selected Samuel Adams beers or Mister Katz’s Rock & Rye cocktails from New York Distilling Company. Judging it all will be such chefs, entrepreneurs, and food writers as Adam Sachs, Martin Tessarzik, Brady Lowe, Bill Telepan, Lior Lev Sercarz, Alex Raij, and Catherine Lederer. In addition, there will be live music by Brooklyn band the Defibulators. The basic ticket price is $50, which comes with unlimited chili; for $60, you get unlimited booze as well, and for $70, you get the chili, the booze, and a copy of the Chelsea Market Cookbook. Ticket proceeds benefit Wellness in the Schools, whose mission is to “inspire healthy eating, environmental awareness, and fitness as a way of life for kids in public schools.”

ECSTATIC MUSIC FESTIVAL 2016

John Colpitts and Man Forever will kick off the sixth annual Ecstatic Music Festival on January 29 with Tigue (photo by Lisa Corson)

Who: Man Forever, Tigue, Phil Kline, Judd Greenstein
What: Ecstatic Music Festival kickoff
Where: The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC and WQXR, 44 Charlton St. at Varick St.
When: Friday, January 29, $20, 7:30
Why: The sixth annual Ecstatic Music Festival, sponsored by the Kaufman Music Center, gets under way January 29 at the Greene Space with the pairing of Man Forever (Ryonen, Pansophical Cataract), led by John Colpitts (aka Kid Millions), and Brooklyn-based trio Tigue (Matt Evans, Amy Garapic, and Carson Moody, joined by Tristan Kasten-Krause and Ben Seretan) teaming up for a new look at Louis Thomas Hardin’s 1971 album, Moondog II. The evening will be hosted by Phil Kline (Unsilent Night), with discussions and Q&As with the artists and curator Judd Greenstein. “The Ecstatic Music Festival brings together artists who don’t typically work together and gives them the opportunity to create something completely new on the stage of an intimate chamber music hall,” Kaufman Music Center executive director Lydia Kontos explained in a statement. “The result is invigorating and often genuinely surprising concerts audiences would not be able to experience anywhere else.” Greenstein added, “This year’s festival is as varied as any we’ve ever presented, with collaborators coming from areas of the musical spectrum that are new to the Ecstatic Music Festival.” The festival continues through March 19 with more than four dozen sonic artists playing Merkin Concert Hall; a festival pass is $150, while other packages are available at various discount levels. Among the shows to look out for are Rachel Grimes and Longleash on February 10, Yo La Tengo and Alvin Lucier on February 17, Lee Ranaldo and Dither on March 2, and William Tyler, Quindar, and Nick Hallett on March 17.

WORKS & PROCESS: COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE BY JOHN ZORN

John Zorn returns to the Guggenheim for Works & Process program

Who: John Zorn
What: Works & Process: “Commedia dell’arte” by John Zorn
Where: Peter B. Lewis Theater, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th St., 212-423-3500
When: Sunday, January 24, $20, 9:00
Why: Innovative avant-garde composer, musician, and native New Yorker John Zorn will be the special guest at the next Works & Process program at the Guggenheim, in which artists perform and discuss upcoming pieces. Zorn, who has played on hundreds of albums and with creators from across the artistic spectrum, will be premiering his five-miniatures suite “Commedia dell’arte,” each one inspired by a different character from the sixteenth-century Italian improvisational theatrical art form: Colombina, Harlequin, Pierrot, Pulcinella, and Scaramouche. (In 2013, Zorn premiered two works inside the James Turrell installation at the Guggenheim.) This one-time-only presentation will be followed by a later Works & Process event in which the music will be set to new choreography. The Works & Process spring season continues through May 9 with such other participants as members of the cast and crew of Shuffle Along, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Malpaso Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre, Ryan McNamara, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO: INFLUENCE AND EXPERIENCE

Alejandro Escovedo pays tribute to some of his musical influences at City Winery this week (photo by Todd V. Wolfson)

City Winery
155 Varick St. at Vandam St.
January 21-23, $35-$50, 8:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.alejandroescovedo.com

Texas-based Mexican American guitar slinger Alejandro Escovedo will let his influences show this week at three special shows at City Winery. On January 21, Escovedo will be joined by guitarist Jason Victor, bassist Tony Shanahan, guitarist and keyboardist Derek Cruz, cellist Brian Standefer, drummer Randy Schrager, and singer Karla Manzur for “The Lou Reed Influence,” consisting of songs from Reed’s solo career as well as with the Velvet Underground. “It’s the best catalog to work with; it covers every thought and every emotion,” Escovedo explained in a statement. On January 22, Escovedo turns his attention to one of Canada’s greatest for “The Leonard Cohen Influence,” with guitarist Mitch Watkins; saxophonist Elias Haslanger, bassist Daniel Durham, pianist Sean Giddings, and drummer Scott Laningham from Church on Monday; and Standefer and Manzur. The three-night stand concludes January 23 with “Experience Retrospective,” in which Escovedo, who has released such albums as 2012’s Big Station, 2006’s The Boxing Mirror, and 1992’s Gravity, will go deep into his own catalog in addition to paying tribute to other influences, joined by Watkins, Haslanger, Laninghan, Durham, Giddings, Standefer, Manzur, and, perhaps, some surprise guests.

BROADWAYCON

Lin-Manuel Miranda and other members of the cast and crew of HAMILTON will take part in the first annual BroadwayCon (photo by Joan Marcus)

New York Hilton Midtown
1335 Sixth Ave. between 53rd & 54th Sts.
January 22-24, $50 Explorer Pass, $95 Day Pass
www.broadwaycon.com
www3.hilton.com

The first-ever BroadwayCon is being held January 22-24 at the Hilton in Midtown, with dozens of Great White Way stars participating in panels, workshops, autograph and Q&A sessions, meet and greets, and live performances. Weekend passes are sold out, but you can still get single-day tickets to see cast and crew members from such shows as Fun Home, Hamilton, Spring Awakening, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Les Misérables, Rent, Wicked, School of Rock, and many others. Below are only some of the highlights.

Friday, January 22
Something Wonderful: A Look Behind The King and I, with Christopher Gattelli, Donald Holder, Scott Lehrer, Bartlett Sher, Michael Yeargan, and Catherine Zuber, moderated by Ted Chapin, Beekman, 2:00

The BroadwayCon 2016 Opening, with surprise guests, MainStage, 3:30

History Is Happening in Manhattan: The Hamilton Panel, with Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Christopher Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., and Phillipa Soo, moderated by Blake Ross, MainStage, 5:00

Autograph Session: Rent, Nassau, 9:00

The BroadwayCon Jukebox, with Kerry Butler, Jenn Colella, Anthony Rapp, Ryann Redmond, Stark Sands, and Alysha Umphress, moderated by Ben Cameron, MainStage, 9:30

Saturday, January 23
Autograph Session: Fiddler on the Roof, Americas Hall I, 10:20 am

Master Class: Anthony Rapp, Gramercy West, 11:00 am

A Conversation with Sheldon Harnick, MainStage, 12:30

Dance, Ten: Broadway’s Choreographers, with Christopher Gattelli, Lorin Latarro, and Kathleen Marshall, moderated by Michael Gioia, Nassau, 3:00

Divas, Darlings, and Dames: Women in Broadway Musicals of the 1960s, with Stacy Wolf, Beekman, 4:00

Sunday, January 24
Audition Q&A with Bernie Telsey, Gramercy West, 9:00 am

Obsessed! Live: Disaster! Edition, with Roger Bart, Kerry Butler, Kevin Chamberlin, Max Crumm, Lacretta Nicole, Adam Pascal, Faith Prince, Jennifer Simard, and Rachel York, moderated by Seth Rudetsky, MainStage, 11:00 am

I Can Do That! Broadway Siblings, with Karmine Alers, Yassmin Alers, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Maggie Keenan-Bolger, Sutton, 12 noon

The “Pippins and Wickeds and Kinkies, Matildas, and Mormonses” Singalong, Sutton, 3:00

The First Annual BroadwayCon Cabaret, with Nick Adams, Alex Brightman, Jeremy Jordan, Lesli Margherita, and Krysta Rodriguez, moderated by Rob McClure, MainStage, 11:00 pm

MLK DAY 2016

Multiple venues
Monday, January 18
www.mlkday.gov

In 1983, the third Monday in January was officially recognized as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, honoring the birthday of the civil rights leader who was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Dr. King would have turned eighty-seven this month, and you can celebrate his legacy on Monday by participating in a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service project or attending one of numerous special events taking place around the city. BAM’s thirtieth annual free Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. includes a keynote address and book signing by Michael Eric Dyson, live performances by the Brooklyn Interdenominational Choir and Kimberly Nichole, the NYCHA Atlantic Terminal Community Center student exhibit “Picture the Dream,” master of ceremonies Eric L. Adams, and a special film screening. The JCC in Manhattan will host “Artists Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.,” with a screening of Aviva Kempner’s documentary Rosenwald at 5:00, followed by a Q&A with the director, and “Idealism and Activism: A Conversation with Bill T. Jones” at 7:30 ($5, benefiting Saturday Morning Community Partners).

The Harlem Gospel Choir will play a special matinee at B.B. King’s on MLK Day

The Harlem Gospel Choir will play special matinees at B.B. King’s and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan on MLK Day

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan will teach kids about King’s legacy with the “Heroic Heroines: Coretta Scott King” book talk at 10:00 and 2:00 and the World Famous Harlem Gospel Choir at 3:00 and 4:00, while the Brooklyn Children’s Museum hosts the special hands-on crafts workshops “The Art of Protest” and “Protest Prints,” a noon screening of Rob Smiley and Vincenzo Trippetti’s 1999 animated film Our Friend, Martin, and the toddlers program “Storytime & Civil Movements.” The Museum at Eldridge Street will be hosting a free reading of Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom’s picture book What Do You Do with an Idea? along with a mural workshop. The Harlem Gospel Choir will also give a special MLK Day matinee at 12:30 ($22-$26) at B.B. King’s in Times Square, while Big Daddy Kane will take the mic with a live band at 9:00 ($15-$30).

FELIX BERNSTEIN: BIEBER BATHOS ELEGY

Felix Bernstein and Luke Smithers, Bieber and the Elder (promotional photograph for Bieber Bathos Elegy), 2015. Photograph by Luke Smithers

Felix Bernstein and Luke Smithers, “Bieber and the Elder” (photo by Luke Smithers)

Who: Felix Bernstein, Shelley Hirsch, Gabe Rubin
What: Bieber Bathos Elegy
Where: Whitney Museum of American Art, Susan and John Hess Family Theater, third floor, 99 Gansevoort St., 212-570-3600
When: Friday, January 15, and Saturday, January 16, $10, 8:00
Why: Poet, essayist, and author Felix Bernstein has some artful fun at the expense of the Beeb in Bieber Bathos Elegy. Bernstein, a twenty-three-year-old performance artist who has written such tomes as Burn Book (due out February 2) and Notes on Post-Conceptual Poetry, incorporates cabaret, opera, poetry, and more as he deconstructs such notions as anticlimax and mawkishness, turning the twenty-one-year-old “Baby” singer into a prophetic angel. He’ll get help from Brooklyn-born composer and vocalist Shelley Hirsch, installation artist Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, and director Gabe Rubin, who made the short film Boyland with Bernstein last year. Be on the lookout for such tunes as “Tomorrow” from Annie and Cole Porter’s “Every Time We Say Goodbye.”