Who: Holly Miranda
What: Northside Festival
Where: Knitting Factory Brooklyn, 361 Metropolitan Ave., 347-529-6696
When: Saturday, June 13, $15, 10:00
Why: It took five years for Holly Miranda to follow up her debut album, 2010’s The Magician’s Private Library, but her eponymous sophomore record came out in May, and it features a more wide-ranging, diverse sound, in addition to fiery lyrics. “The days are shorter but the nights are long / We could fuck in the sun and dance till dawn / and all I want is to be your girl,” she proclaims on the disc. Miranda, formerly of the Jealous Girlfriends, plays piano, drums, guitar, and bass on the record, joined by bandmates Timmy Mislock, Maria Eisen, and David Jack Daniels. Suffering from writer’s block, she wrote the tunes, which also include “Mark My Words,” “Pelican Rapids,” “The Only One,” and “Hymnal,” in the desert in Joshua Tree, then recorded them in Brooklyn. Miranda will be performing at a Northside Festival showcase on Saturday night at the Knitting Factory with Shigeto, the Landing, Lord RAJA, Coastgaard, the Fantastic Plastics, Vivid Dreams, and others; each ticket comes with a free digital download of Miranda’s new record. The Northside Festival runs June 8-14 in venues all over Brooklyn’s north side, featuring film June 8-10, innovation speakers, panel discussions, and a trade-show expo June 11-12, music June 11-14, and art walks June 13-14; among the other bands performing on June 13 are Built to Spill and Best Coast at 50 Kent Avenue, Against Me! At McCarren Park, Psychic Blood at Shea Stadium, Chargaux at the Living Room, Nude Beach at Union Pool, and Blonde Redhead at Warsaw.
this week in music
NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL 2015 VIDEO OF THE DAY: “EVERYONE ELSE” BY HELIOTROPES
Who: Heliotropes
What: Greenpointers/Supercrush Studios Showcase at the Northside Festival
Where: Bar Matchless, 557 Manhattan Ave. between Driggs & Nassau Aves., 718-383-5333
When: Friday, June 12, $7, 11:30 pm
Why: At the 2013 4Knots Music Festival at the South Street Seaport, we were blown away by Brooklyn’s Heliotropes, who were touring behind their debut album, A Constant Sea, one of the best records of the summer. Lead singer and guitarist Jessica Numsuwankijkul, bassist Nya Abudu, drummer Cici Harrison, and vocalist and tambourine player Amber Myers are heading back out on the road (with an additional guitarist), highlighting songs from their upcoming sophomore disc, and they’ll be headlining the Greenpointers/Supercrush Studios Showcase at Bar Matchless on Friday night, on a bill with the Meaning of Life, Spritzer, Shark Week, the Teen Age, and Oracle Room. The Northside Festival runs June 8-14 in venues all over Brooklyn’s north side, featuring film June 8-10, innovation speakers, panel discussions, and a trade-show expo June 11-12, music June 11-14, and art walks June 13-14; among the other bands performing on June 12 are Neko Case at 50 Kent Avenue, Heems and the Very Best at McCarren Park, Alden Penner and Michael Cera at the Knitting Factory, Beach Fossils at Rough Trade, and Crazy Pills at the Gutter.
NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL 2015 VIDEO OF THE DAY: “23 MINUTES IN BRUSSELS” BY LUNA
Who: Luna
What: Green Label Live at McCarren Park, Northside Festival
Where: McCarren Park, North Twelfth St., Lorimer St., and Manhattan Ave. between Bayard St. and Berry St. and Nassau Ave.
When: Thursday, June 11, free with RSVP, 7:30
Why: In February 2006, we caught one of Luna’s final farewell shows at Bowery Ballroom, as the too-cool-for-school indie band (when the word indie still meant something) called it quits on a stellar career that included such great understated and influential records as Lunapark and Penthouse. But now original shoegazers Dean Wareham, Britta Phillips, Sean Eden, and Lee Wall are back together again, and they’re playing a free show on June 11 in McCarren Park as part of the Northside Festival. The festival runs June 8-14 in venues all over Brooklyn’s north side, featuring film June 8-10, innovation speakers, panel discussions, and a trade-show expo June 11-12, music June 11-14, and art walks June 13-14; among the other bands performing on June 11 are Dead Leaf Echo and Monogold at Black Bear Bar, Lower Dens at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Ringo Deathstarr at the Grand Victory, and Life Size Maps at Union Pool.
EGG ROLLS, EGG CREAMS, AND EMPANADAS FESTIVAL 2015
Museum at Eldridge Street
12 Eldridge St. between Canal & Division Sts.
Sunday, June 7, free, 12 noon – 4:00 pm
212-219-0302
www.eldridgestreet.org
The fifteenth annual Egg Rolls & Egg Creams block party is adding quite a twist this year, bringing together not only the Jewish and Chinese communities of the Lower East Side but also the Puerto Rican community. Taking place June 7, the festival will include food and drink, live music (klezmer, salsa, bomba, and plena) and dance, history, culture, and lots more. Among the highlights of the festival are the kosher egg creams and egg rolls — and new this year, empanadas — as well as yarmulke and challah workshops, tea ceremonies, Yiddish, Mandarin, and Spanish lessons, Hebrew and Chinese calligraphy classes, mah jongg, cantorial songs, Peking Opera, Chinese and Puerto Rican mask making, face painting, and free tours of the wonderfully renovated Eldridge St. Synagogue, which boasts the East Window designed by Kiki Smith and Deborah Gans. In past years, the festival has included performances by the Chinatown Senior Center Folk Orchestra, Qi Shu Fang’s Peking Opera, the Shashmaqam Bukharan Jewish Cultural Group, Ray Muziker Klezmer Ensemble, and Cantor Eric Freeman, some of whom will be back again for this year’s multicultural celebration.
BELMONT STAKES DAY 2015
American Pharoah prepares for the Belmont Stakes with a workout at Churchill Downs this week (photo by Churchill Downs / Reed Palmer Photography)
Belmont Park
2150 Hempstead Tpke., Elmont
Saturday, June 6, $15-$400, first race at 12:50 am
516-488-6000
www.belmontstakes.com
For the seventh time in this young century, including three of the last four years, a racehorse has won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, with only the Belmont Stakes standing in the way of history and the Triple Crown. On June 6, three-year-old American Pharoah — yes, the second name is misspelled, accidentally — will be twelve furlongs (a mile and a half) from the elusive goal (last achieved by Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978), a prohibitive 4-5 favorite against only seven other horses: Frosted, Materiality, Madefromlucky, Mubtaahij, Tale of Verve, Keen Ice, and Frammento. The usual capacity is 85,000 to 90,000 fans at the park, but you can expect even more to squeeze in for this major sporting event; if you want to witness the excitement in person, you better get your tickets fast, because many sections are already sold out, and no tickets will be available on race day. Parking costs between $20 and $125, and the LIRR is a viable option as well; more than $5 million has been spent to improve on last year’s nightmare of getting everyone out after California Chrome got trounced by Tonalist. There’s no need to rush back to Penn Station right after the Stakes, as not only are there several races after that, but the Goo Goo Dolls will be playing a post-race concert (as well as a pre-race set). There will also be performances by the cast of Jersey Boys and the USMA West Point Cadets. Saturday’s schedule also features five other races with purses of at least $700,000. And more than thirty food trucks will be on hand, including Trusty Truck, Sanducci’s Wood Fired Pizza, Uncle Gussy’s, Hibachi Heaven, Nuchas Empanadas, Mr. Smith’s Seafood, and Mike ‘n’ Willie’s. Even with rain expected, there’s nothing quite like going to the park, where you can get up close and personal with the horses as they proudly parade around the paddock before each race; post time for the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes is 6:50; make sure you have a really wild hat.
FIRST SATURDAY: INTERNATIONAL LGBTQ PRIDE
Zanele Muholi, “Faces and Phases,” installed at dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012 (photo © Anders Sune Berg)
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, June 6, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org
The June installment of the Brooklyn Museum’s free First Saturday program celebrates LGBTQ Pride, with live performances by the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, Aye Nako, DJ Lynnee Denise, DJ Ilsa, and Junglepussy with DJ Joey Labeija; an exhibition talk by Jess Wilcox on “Zanele Muholi: Isibonelo/Evidence” and ten-minute pop-up gallery talks about “Diverse Works: Director’s Choice, 1997–2015”; a flag-making workshop; a poetry performance by Dark Matter (Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian); a literary workshop with bklyn boihood, focusing on its upcoming publication, Outside the XY; screenings of Seyi Adebanjo’s 2013 documentary, Trans Lives Matter! Justice for Islan Nettles, followed by a talkback with the director, and Dan Sickles & Antonio Santini’s 2014 film, Mala Mala, followed by a talkback with the directors and cast memebers Paxx and Joyce Puty; and a tribute to retiring museum director Arnold Lehman, with reflections and performances by DapperQ, Visual Aids, Harriett’s Apothecary, Haiti Cultural Exchange, CaribBEING, Afrika 21/Harriet’s Alter Ego, and Balmir Latin Dance. In addition, you can check out such exhibitions as “Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks,” “Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic,” “Kara Walker: ‘African Boy Attendant Curio (Bananas),’” and “Chitra Ganesh: Eyes of Time.”
SHANNON EBNER WITH DAVID REINFURT: A HUDSON YARD
Shannon Ebner and David Reinfurt’s “A Hudson Yard” public art collaboration will be celebrated on June 4 on the High Line (photo by Timothy Schenck)
Who: Shannon Ebner, David Reinfurt, Alex Waterman
What: Launch of art-project pamphlet with live music
Where: 14th Street Passage on the High Line at 14th Street
When: Thursday, June 4, free, 6:00 – 8:00
Why: From May 2014 to April 2015, New Jersey-born artist Shannon Ebner, who lives and works in Los Angeles and specializes in combining sculpture, photography, and language, added a four-by-six-foot wheat-pasted poster of different versions of the capital letter “A” in Chelsea and the Meatpacking District, giving odd, mysterious ratings to street corners, construction sites, and random walls, one at the beginning of each month, in collaboration with New York City-based graphic designer and writer David Reinfurt. Once put up, the posters remained for between one day and one week, depending on the weather or someone taking it down. On June 4 at 6:00, the work, known as “A Hudson Yard,” will be celebrated with the release of a pamphlet containing photographs and text by the artists, who will be on the High Line, at the 14th Street Passage, for its public unveiling, accompanied by “Clouds and Crowds for 12 Singers,” a new composition by Alex Waterman that will be performed at 6:30.