this week in music

NEW YORK CITY BEER WEEK: OPENING NIGHT BASH

Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall
89 East 42nd St.
Friday, February 21, $75 in advance only, 7:00 – 10:00
New York City Beer Week runs February 21 – March 2
www.newyorkcitybrewersguild.com
www.grandcentralterminal.com

It is highly unlikely that Plato ever said, “He was a wise man who invented beer,” no matter what the internet says, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have, because indeed, it was a very wise man who invented beer. The sixth annual New York City Beer Week, a celebration of all things suds (but not Plato), gets under way February 21 with an opening-night party in Grand Central’s historic Vanderbilt Hall. A $75 ticket, which must be purchased in advance, gets you a tasting glass and access to potent potables from more than three dozen breweries, including 508 Gastrobrewery, Brooklyn Brewery, Chelsea Brewing, City Island, Eataly Birreria, Gun Hill Brewing, Harlem Brewing, Sixpoint, Allagash, Dogfish, Finback, Ommegang, Shelton Brothers, Shmaltz, Smuttynose, and Wandering Star, along with snacks from Parmacotto, Murray’s Cheese, GUS, and Whole Foods and live entertainment from Music Under New York. Among the more than eighty restaurants hosting Beer Week specials between February 21 and March 2 are Atlantic Chip Shop, Barcade, Dinosaur BBQ, the Gate, the Kent Ale House, Spuyten Duyvil, Superfine, and Waterfront Ale House in Brooklyn, Amsterdam Ale House, Barcade, Blue Ribbon Bakery Kitchen, Blue Smoke Flatiron, Gramercy Tavern, Hospoda, Luke’s Lobster, Shorty’s, Swift Hibernian Lounge, Jimmy’s No. 43, and Waterfront Ale House in Manhattan, Austin’s Ale House, Alewife NYC, the Courtyard Ale House, Forest Hills Station House, Oliver’s Astoria, Rocky McBride’s, and Woodbines in Queens, and Bronx Alehouse and the Bronx Beer Hall in the Bronx.

In addition, the NYC Craft Beer Festival takes place February 28 and March 1 with three sessions at the Lexington Armory ($55-$125, food extra) in which attendees can get unlimited two-ounce tastings of approximately 150 American craft beers. New York City Beer Week concludes March 2 with a beer brunch at Houston Hall. New York City Beer Week is organized by the New York City Brewers Guild, whose mission, which we heartily endorse, “is to advocate for and promote awareness of its local brewing members; to increase the visibility of local beers through programs, events, and consumer education; and to foster a healthy, ethical, and growth-focused craft beer industry throughout the city.” Plato might not have commented on the invention of beer way back when, but he did claim, “No human thing is of serious importance,” and we strongly disagree with that statement, starting with the invention of beer, of course, which could not be any more significant in the annals of history.

CULINARY KIDS FOOD FESTIVAL

New York Botanical Garden hosts family-friendly culinary food fest February 17-23

New York Botanical Garden
Dining Pavilion behind the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
2900 Southern Blvd.
February 17-23, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
All-Garden Pass: adults $20, children two to twelve $8
718-817-8700
www.nybg.org

The New York Botanical Garden is taking advantage of the February school break by hosting a family-friendly culinary food festival February 17-23, part of its Edible Academy programming, which focuses on “the important connections between plants, gardening, nutrition, and the benefits of a healthful lifestyle.” The weeklong event, which takes place in the Dining Pavilion behind the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, will offer cooking demonstrations, food tastings, tips and recipes from local chefs and garden staff, workshops, hands-on activities, and live entertainment. Parents and children can stop by the Tip-Top Pickle Shop, the Cheesemonger’s Shop, the Bakery, and Spice Adventures to learn about specific parts of the food-making process and can also create seed packets to grow their own basil. On February 21 to 23, Janice Buckner will put on a food-related puppet show, and on February 23 the Bronx Arts Ensemble Family Concert will present Hansel and Gretel, in which two kids nearly end up on the menu. In addition, the garden, which should be looking lovely with all the snow, has several exhibitions on view, including “Tropical Paradise,” “Close: The Photography of Allan Pollok-Morris,” and “Four Seasons,” as well as the self-guided Winter Walk in the Forest, Seasonal Conifer Explorations, a Winter Plant & Tree Tour, and more.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: “GHOST MAN” BY BLUE & GOLD

Back in the day, we spent our fair share of time at the Blue & Gold dive bar in the East Village, crying in our PBRs as we lamented our loneliness and fading youth. But this Valentine’s Day, you’re more likely to find us at Brooklyn Night Bazaar, checking out an awesome lineup of hard rockin’, soulful, bluesy indie pop bands that includes Brooklyn’s own Blue & Gold. “We definitely have frequented Blue & Gold in the East Village,” B&G told us the other day, “and it may or may not be where our band name came from….” The group’s four-track debut EP is a fiery collection of love songs about romance gone both good and terribly wrong, with each tune highlighted by shrieking guitar solos. “I don’t want to see you leave / But I love watching you go,” Chloe Raynes sings on “Your Love,” while on “It’s Only You” Alex Kapelman opines, “It’s only you could break my heart / Forget the rest, I don’t wanna be apart.” And through it all, GG Gonzalez pounds away frenetically on the drums, taking the beats to new heights. Blue & Gold is part of a too-cool bill Friday night at Brooklyn Night Bazaar with Team Spirit, the Liza Colby Sound, Hard Nips, Lowell, and DJ Pegasus Warning.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: “SLOW BLUES” BY ALBERT CUMMINGS

On Monday night, February 10, City Winery is hosting a night of the blues, with two great coheadliners. Blues legend John Hammond, son of the Columbia Records executive who signed Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen and organized the “From Spirituals to Swing” concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938, will be celebrating the release of his new live album, Timeless (Palmetto, January 2014). Recorded at Chan’s in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, the disc pays tribute to his fifty-year career with such tracks as Jimmy Rodgers’s “Going Away Baby,” Lightnin’ Hopkins’s “Last Night,” Skip James’s “Hard Times,” Tom Waits’s “No One Can Forgive Me But My Baby,” and Hammond’s own “Heartache Blues.” Sharing the bill is Massachusetts-born singer-songwriter Albert Cummings, who was on the bluegrass trail until he discovered Stevie Ray Vaughan, turning to the blues when he was twenty-seven. An electrifying guitarist with a strong voice, Cummings has examined his life and let his six-string rip on 2002’s From the Heart, 2004’s True to Yourself, 2006’s Working Man, 2008’s live Feel So Good, and his most recent disc, 2012’s No Regrets, several of which feature Vaughan’s Double Trouble. Cummings will be opening with a full set at City Winery, so be sure to get there early; you might also want to order a specially produced bottle of Albert Cummings Zinfandel, which is described as “a fruit-driven, zesty Zinfandel from Lodi, CA. Red fruit with hints of spice & smoke, powerful and youthful, with an abundance of fresh red cherry, plum, and blackberry characteristics. Palate is big and boisterous, with red fruit offset by bright mouth feel.” That description fits Cummings as well, an engaging shredder with a unique approach to the blues.

AFTER MIDNIGHT

AFTER MIDNIGHT celebrates the music and movement of a thrilling Harlem evening (photo by Matthew Murphy)

Brooks Atkinson Theatre
256 West 47th St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
Through August 31, $60-$147
877-250-2929
www.aftermidnightbroadway.com

Initially conceived for New York City Center’s Encores! by series artistic director Jack Viertel, After Midnight is now lighting up Broadway, bringing Harlem to the Great White Way in a dazzling display of music and dance. The Brooks Atkinson Theatre has been transformed into the famed jazz clubs of the Golden Age, the Savoy, the Cotton Club, and the Sugar Cane, as a talented cast of more than two dozen singers and dancers shimmy the night away to the tunes of Duke Ellington. The show is hosted by Dulé Hill (Stick Fly, Psych), who is first seen in a too-cool white suit, leaning against a lamppost, poetically introducing the audience to a Harlem night to remember. Backed by the sixteen-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars, the performers strut their stuff for ninety glorious, uninterrupted minutes, playing directly to the audience as if in an intimate nightclub. Carmen Ruby Floyd, Rosena M. Hill Jackson, and Bryonha Marie Parham are caught “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” Adriane Lenox warns that “Women Be Wise” and later declares “Go Back to Where You Stayed Last Night,” and Julius “iGlide” Chisolm and Virgil “Lil’ O” Gadson slide their way through “Hottentot Tot.” Hill carries a red balloon in “I’ve Got the World on a String,” while he joins Daye, Cedric Neal, Monroe Kent III, and T. Oliver Reid for “Ain’t It de Truth?” highlighted by playful vertical and horizontal group shuffles.

Flashy Broadway musical honors the legacy of Duke Ellington and the nightlife of Harlem (photo by Matthew Murphy)

Director and choreographer Warren Carlyle (Chaplin, Finian’s Rainbow) channels Alvin Ailey’s classic “Night Creature” throughout the evening, the moves and grooves often made bigger than life with Isabel Toledo’s stunning costumes. Among the standout dancers are Karine Plantadit (Come Fly Away), who solos on “Black and Tan Fantasy,” and Phillip Attmore and Daniel J. Watts, who have a heated tap-off. The show features several spots for a special guest; through February 9, Fantasia Barrino (American Idol, The Color Purple) makes a star turn singing such sultry numbers as “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “Stormy Weather,” with k. d. lang taking over February 11 and Babyface and Toni Braxton on March 18. While other current Broadway jukebox musicals — Beautiful, Motown, and A Night with Janis Joplin — struggle when they focus on the narrative, the story of After Midnight is the grandeur of the music itself, resulting in a hot evening of jumping, jiving, and wailing, Harlem style.

NYC FABMANIA WEEK

On February 7, 1964, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr landed at JFK to a wild welcome as they came to America for the first time to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. New York City is paying tribute to that seminal moment in the history of the Fab Four with Fabmania Week, featuring a host of special events celebrating this golden anniversary. The centerpiece of it all is the fortieth anniversary of the Fest for Beatles Fans, taking place February 7-9 at the Grand Hyatt in Midtown ($32.50-$225). Among the many guests are Cousin Brucie (broadcasting live), Donovan, Billy J. Kramer, Peter Asher, Chad & Jeremy, Freda Kelly, Bob Guren, and Allan Tannenbaum; the Fest also features a re-creation of the Cavern Club, screenings of Ryan White’s Good Ol’ Freda, a marketplace of memorabilia, look-alike and costume contests, and yoga sessions in an ashram, in addition to book signings, art exhibitions, and other tributes. On February 6, Donovan, Asher, Kramer, Kelly, Vince Calandra, and moderator Martin Lewis will take part in the friends-of-the-Beatles panel discussion “It Was 50 Years Ago Today . . . Celebrating 50 Years of the Beatles in the USA” at the 92nd St. Y ($15-$29, 8:15). The Morrison Hotel Gallery exhibit “50th Anniversary of the Beatles’ First US Tour,” curated by Julian Lennon, opens on February 7 and runs through February 28, consisting of twenty-five images, some never before shown in public, of John, Paul, George, and Ringo taken by such photographers as Ken Regan, Charles Trainor, Curt Gunther, Robert Whitaker, Rowland Scherman, and Terry O’Neill.

Curt Gunther’s photograph of the Beatles playing with slot cars is included in Morrison Hotel Gallery exhibit curated by Julian Lennon (photo © Curt Gunther, 1964)

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will be home to the multimedia exhibition “Ladies and Gentlemen . . . the Beatles!” from February 6 through May 10, examining the effects Beatlemania had on American pop culture during the mid-1960s, comprising interviews, instruments, posters, music, and an oral history booth where fans can share their own memories; there will also be a free symposium on February 9 in the library’s Bruno Walter Auditorium with presentations by Bruce Spizer (“The Beatles Are Coming! The Birth of Beatlemania in America”), Dennis Elsas (“It Was 50 Years Ago Today — The Beatles Invade America”), Chuck Gunderson (“Some Fun Tonight! The Backstage Story of the 1964 Summer North American Tour”), Allan Kozinn (“Studio Days / Touring Years”), and Russ Lease (“The Drop-T Logo and the Most Significant Drumkit in Popular Music History”), emceed by curator Robert Santelli. On February 8, the Town Hall will hold the “America Celebrates the Beatles’ 50th Anniversary All-Star Concert” ($63-$272, 7:30), with a wide-ranging lineup playing songs by and inspired by the Liverpudlian quartet, including Melissa Manchester, Tommy James, Al Jardine, Danny Aiello, Marshal Crenshaw, Larry Kirwin, Aztec Two-Step, Melanie, along with appearances by such Beatles fans as Dick Cavett, Len Berman, the Amazing Kreskin, and Charles Grodin. And on February 8 & 9 at 1:00, the Paley Center will present “The Beatles Invasion 50-Year Celebration: See the Fab Four on the Big Screen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,” with showings of the complete Ed Sullivan Show broadcast from February 9, 1964, and the Maysles brothers’ original What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A. documentary.

JAZZ: “FAME”

Last year’s “Jazz Fame” honoree, Justin DiCioccio, will conduct this year’s LaGuardia High School tribute to Gabriel Kosakoff, featuring an impressive list of alumni performers

LaGuardia Concert Hall
100 Amsterdam Ave. at 65th St.
Monday, February 3, $35-$75, 7:30
212-595-1301
www.laguardiahs.org
www.alumniandfriends.org

Last year, the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts paid tribute to its longtime jazz teacher, Justin DiCioccio, with a special “Forty Years of Jazz Fame” concert that included performances by such former students as Kenny Washington, Don Byron, and Marcus Miller. This year DiCioccio will be conducting another collection of jazz greats honoring trombonist, WWII veteran, and class of 1944 alum Gabriel Kosakoff, who chaired the Fame school’s instrumental music department from 1969 to 1991. Among the LaGuardia graduates and parent musicians participating in the February 3 celebration at the 1,100-seat LaGuardia Concert Hall are Clifton Anderson, Larry Bustamante, Paquito d’Rivera, Bob Franceschini, Jon Gordon, Charles Gordon, Carolyn Leonhart Escoffery, Arturo O’Farrill, Jimmy Owens, Marcus Rojas, Mark Sherman, Buddy Williams, and Miller. It should be quite a treat to see so many jazz greats come together, showing what a difference music and arts education in schools can make.