this week in music

MLK DAY 2014

MLK Day features a host of special events and community-based service projects throughout the city (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple venues
Monday, January 21
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-five this month, and you can celebrate his legacy tomorrow by participating in a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service project or attending one of several special events taking place around the city. BAM’s twenty-eighth annual free Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. includes a keynote speech by Angela Davis, live performances by José James and the Christian Cultural Center Choir, the NYCHA Saratoga Village Community Center student exhibit “Picture the Dream,” and a screening of Shola Lynch’s 2012 documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners. The JCC in Manhattan will host an MLK Day blood drive and “The Living Legacy of Dr. King,” consisting of the panel discussion “Leading a Socially Responsible Life” with Ruth Messinger, Harrie Bakst, and Rabbi Joanna Samuels, interactive workshops for teens, and the “Artists Celebrate the Living Legacy of Dr. King” performance with Judith Sloan, Susannah Heschel, and Joshua Nelson, the Prince of Kosher Gospel. (Admission is free but preregistration is recommended.)

The Museum of the Moving Image is screening THE NEGRO AND THE AMERICAN PROMISE on MLK Day

The Museum of the Moving Image will be open on MLK Day, with two screenings of the 1963 documentary The Negro and the American Promise as part of its “Changing the Picture” series (free with museum admission). The Children’s Museum of Manhattan will teach kids about King’s legacy with the “Martin’s Mosaic” workshop, the “Heroic Heroines: Ruby Bridges” book talk, and live performances by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem All Stars Band, while the Brooklyn Children’s Museum has such special hands-on crafts programs as “Let’s March!,” “Let’s Join Hands,” and “Dream Clouds” and live music from the Berean Community Drumline. And the Museum at Eldridge Street will be hosting a free reading of Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist’s picture book The Great Migration: Journey to the North.

UNDER THE RADAR: BRAND NEW ANCIENTS

KATE TEMPEST / BATTERSEA ARTS CENTRE ON TOUR: BRAND NEW ANCIENTS
St. Ann’s Warehouse
29 Jay St. at Plymouth St.
Through January 19
718-254-8779
www.undertheradarfestival.com
www.stannswarehouse.org

On January 16 at St. Ann’s Warehouse, British poet, rapper, and playwright Kate Tempest prefaced her performance of her breakout hit, Brand New Ancients, with a heartfelt, off-the-cuff love letter to New York City, which has adopted the twenty-seven-year-old during her ten-show run in DUMBO. She then offered up her 2010 poem, “Balance,” a parable that deals with four kids, Ambition, Talent, Envy, and Pride, that could serve as a personal mission statement for Tempest, who started rapping when she was sixteen and has experienced widespread success. Casually dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a faded T-shirt, she then began Brand New Ancients, a compelling seventy-five-minute tale that earned her the 2013 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. Backed by Emma Smith on violin, Natasha Zielazinski on cello, Jo Gibson on tuba, and George Bird on percussion and electronics, Tempest tells the story of two middle-class families brought together by lust and violence as they search for connections in a lonely world. Childless couple Kevin and Jane live next door to Brian and Mary, who have a son, Clive; Jane and Brian’s affair leads to the birth of Tommy, triggering years of problems for all involved. Tempest transforms the melodrama into a lurid yet insightful fable of superheroes and villains where the gods are everywhere and in everyone. In gorgeous, rhythmic cadences that avoid the staccato bravado so prevalent in much of hip-hop, Tempest says, “The myths of this city / have always said the same thing — / how we all need a place to belong, / how we all need to know / what’s right and what’s wrong, / and how we all need to struggle / to find out for ourselves / which side we are on.” She soon adds, “We’re the same beings that began, still living, / in all of our fury and foulness and friction, / everyday odysseys / dreams and decisions, / the stories are there if you listen.” The rapt, sold-out crowd listened to Tempest’s every word as she passed no judgment and cast no aspersions on her characters’ sins. The strings were particularly effective in Nell Catchpole’s minimalist score, while the drum solos during Tempest’s short breaks felt mostly unnecessary. Brand New Ancients, which is part of the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, is a clarion call for people to take a look at themselves, and at the world around them, and become heroes in their own everyday lives.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN IN FOCUS 1980-2012

Fans carry Bruce Springsteen during Wrecking Ball tour (photo by Debra L. Rothenberg)

Rock Paper Photo Pop-Up Gallery
Gallery 151
132 West 18th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Wednesday, January 15, free, 6:00
www.rockpaperphoto.com
www.debrarothenberg.com

Since 1980, Northern New Jersey-raised Debra L. Rothenberg has been taking pictures of hometown hero Bruce Springsteen, capturing the Boss with the genuine glee of a true fan. “My life was breathing, photography, and Bruce Springsteen; nothing else mattered,” she recently said upon the release of her first book, Bruce Springsteen in Focus 1980-2012: Photographs by Debra L. Rothenberg (Turn the Page, September 2013, $44.95). In celebration of Springsteen’s latest record, High Hopes, Rothenberg, an award-winning photographer who has contributed to such publications as Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and, since 1999, the Daily News, will be signing copies of the book at a reception for her exhibit featuring many of her best Bruce snaps at Rock Paper Photo’s pop-up spot at Gallery 151. Part of the proceeds from sales of the book will go to the Alzheimer’s Association, the Light of Day foundation for Parkinson’s research, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation. On January 18, Rothenberg will be at the Asbury Park Musical Heritage Foundation, where another display of her Springsteen photographs continues through March 2.

DAN ZHU, DODO JIN MING, AND FRIENDS

Chinese musician Dan Zhu will give a free performance inspired by DoDo Jin Ming’s “The Sky Inside” exhibit at Laurence Miller

DODO JIN MING: THE SKY INSIDE
Laurence Miller Gallery
20 West 57th St., third floor
Tuesday, January 14, free, 6:30
Exhibition continues Tuesday – Saturday through January 25
212-397-3930
www.laurencemillergallery.com
www.danzhumusic.com

In November, Chinese violinist Dan Zhu gave an impromptu solo performance at the Laurence Miller Gallery in Midtown, inspired by fellow Beijing native DoDo Jin Ming’s latest exhibit, “The Sky Inside,” which had just opened. Now that the exhibit is entering its last two weeks, Zhu is coming back, this time for an announced concert taking place January 14 at 6:30 that also celebrates the upcoming Chinese New Year. Zhu, who has played his 1763 Carlo Antonio Testore violin at festivals around the world and for such conductors as Christoph Eschenbach, Zubin Mehta, and Krzysztof Penderecki, has found inspiration in the seascapes and landscapes taken by Jin Ming, a classically trained concert violinist who gave up that instrument for a camera after seeing a Joseph Beuys show in 1988. For “The Sky Inside,” Jin Ming once again combines two black-and-white negatives to create haunting images, this time of mysterious woods and rocky shores along with, occasionally, a ghostly figure. “My pictures reflect how I feel about the world around me. They are more pictures of nature than of the landscape,” she has said about her work. “They are metaphors not description. They are like poetry and music. This is my journey, through darkness to find a way.” Zhu and Jin Ming will be making visual and aural poetry and music together on Tuesday night at 6:30, followed by a reception; admission is free.

DAVID BROZA WITH SPECIAL GUEST MIRA AWAD

David Broza brings his mission of peace, love, and understanding to the Highline Ballroom on January 14

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tuesday, January 14, $25-$45, 8:00
212-414-5994
www.highlineballroom.com
www.davidbroza.net

“Don’t want to preach to no one tonight / Just want to tell my tale,” Israeli folk legend David Broza sings on “One to Three,” the opening track of his new album, East Jerusalem / West Jerusalem (S-Curve, January 14, 2014). Broza, who was raised in Israel, Spain, and England, has a rather simple goal: helping bring peace and love to the war-torn Middle East, as displayed in such previous songs as “Yihieh Tov (It Will Be Good).” For the new record, Broza brought together a diverse group of international musicians, who gathered for eight days in Palestinian composer Said Murad’s East Jerusalem studio, where they recorded a mix of covers and originals, live and without overdubs, including the first songs Broza has ever written in English. Produced by Steve Earle and Steve Greenberg, the album features collaborations with Wyclef Jean on the title song, Arab-Israeli singer Mira Awad on the gorgeous duet “Ramallah — Tel Aviv,” Palestinian hip-hop due G-Town, Hadag Nachash frontman Shaanan Streett, and Earle on “Peace Ain’t Nothing But a Word,” and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus on Cat Stevens’s “Where Do the Children Play” and Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ’bout) Peace Love & Understanding.” Broza’s cover of Elvis Costello’s “Everyday I Write the Book” is a sly comment on how the Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs follow different holy tomes, while he references “the holy book” again in “The Lion’s Den,” an adaptation of a poem written by Judea Pearl about his son, slain journalist Daniel Pearl.

Although some of the music and lyrics, which often evoke such other singer-activists as Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, and George Harrison, occasionally border on the treacly, Broza boldly makes his point as clear as possible; he also covers Timmy Thomas’s “Why Can’t We All Live Together” as well as Pink Floyd’s “Mother.” He chose the latter as a message to Roger Waters, who has been outspoken in his support of the Palestinians and public demands for an Israeli boycott. “Regardless of his views on the issue of Israel and Palestine, Roger Waters has written one of the most anti-boycott, boundary-breaking songs ever in ‘Mother,’” Broza recently said. “So yes, not only have I recorded this extraordinary song, but I have recorded it in East Jerusalem using Israeli and Palestinian musicians. . . . Instead of shutting down communication, come to my country and engage in the open exchange of ideas that will make change happen.” The album’s centerpiece is “Key to the Memory,” with lyrics by Broza, Middle Eastern music by Murad, and verses sung in alternating Arabic, English, and Hebrew by Broza and Awad. “May the wind in your eyes / be the carrier of love / May the pain in your heart / turn into the will to survive,” they sing in three languages. Broza will be celebrating the release of East Jerusalem / West Jerusalem and sharing his dream of peaceful coexistence on January 14 at the Highline Ballroom, where he will be joined by Awad and other contributors to the record.

AMERICAN REALNESS 2014

Adrienne Truscott moves from her day job at the Kitchen to live performance at Abrons Arts Center in …TOO FREEDOM…

Abrons Arts Center and other venues
466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
January 9-19, $20
212-598-0400
www.americanrealness.com
www.abronsartscenter.org

January in New York City is a veritable feast of live performance festivals, including PS 122’s Coil, the Public’s Under the Radar, Here’s Prototype, and Winter Jazzfest. Over at Abrons Art Center, American Realness will be celebrating its fifth anniversary with seventeen new movement-based shows and encore presentations as well as several off-site events. Tina Satter’s House of Dance (also part of Coil) follows a tense tap-dance competition. Ishmael Houston-Jones and Emily Wexler team up for the world premiere of 13 Love Songs: dot dot dot, which involves deconstructing romantic lyrics by Bryan Adams, Mary J. Blige, Ja Rule, Stephen Merritt, Nina Simone, Madonna, and others. Miguel Gutierrez explores gay sex and lost love in the intimate myendlesslove. Eleanor Bauer combines text, music, and movement in Midday and Eternity (The Time Piece); she’ll also lead the “Dancing, not the Dancer” class and host the anything goes Bauer Hour on January 19. Choreographer Juliana F. May and dancers Benjamin Asriel, Talya Epstein, and Kayvon Pourazar explore the physical and emotional naked body in Commentary=not thing. The Kitchen house manager Adrienne Truscott delves into day jobs and artistic creativity in . . . Too Freedom . . . , which also features Neal Medlyn, Gillian Walsh, Laura Sheedy, and Mickey Mahar. Lucy Sexton (the Factress), Anne Iobst (the Naked Lady), Scott Heron, and DANCENOISE join forces for Prodigal Heroes: An Evening of Legendary New York. Moriah Evans and Sarah Beth Percival play with human-connection tropes in Out of and Into (8/8): Stuff. Medlyn’s King concludes his seven-part foray into iconic stars, this time taking on Michael Jackson. And Melinda Ring’s Forgetful Snow and Roseanne Spradlin’s Indelible Disappearance — A Thought not a Title will be presented together for free on January 12.

Moriah Evans and Sarah Beth Percival team up in OUT OF AND INTO (8/8): STUFF for American Realness festival

Also on the schedule are Adam Linder’s Cult to the Built on What, Michelle Boulé’s Wonder (Boulé will also lead a “Persona & Performance” class on January 17), Rebecca Patek’s ineter(a)nal f/ear, Jillian Peña’s Polly Pocket, and Dana Michel’s Yellow Towel. The festival heads to MoMA PS1 on January 10-12 for Mårten Spångberg’s four-and-a-half-hour La Substance, but in English and to MoMA’s main Midtown location on January 15-16 for Eszter Salamon’s Dance for Nothing, based on John Cage’s Lecture on Nothing. In addition, there will be art exhibits throughout Abrons (Sarah Maxfield’s “Nonlinear Lineage: Over/Heard,” Ian Douglas’s “Instant Realness,” Medlyn and Fawn Krieger’s “The POP-MEDLYN Hall of Fame,” and Ann Liv Young’s interactive “Sherry Art Fair”), and Coil, Under the Radar, Prototype, and American Realness will be copresenting free live concerts every night from January 9 to 19 in the Lounge at the Public Theater, including Invincible, Christeene, Ethan Lipton, Heather Christian & the Arbonauts, Sky-Pony, Timur and the Dime Museum, the Middle Church Jerriesse Johnson Gospel Choir, M.A.K.U. Sound System, DJ Acidophilus, and Nick Hallett, Space Palace, and Woahmone DJs.

PROTOTYPE 2014

Chamber-opera adaptation of Willa Cather’s PAUL’S CASE kicks off 2014 Prototype festival

PROTOTYPE: OPERA/THEATRE/NOW
Multiple venues
January 8-19, $15-$25
Proto Packs: $75 for five shows, $90 for seven
866-811-4111
www.prototypefestival.org

Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now, a festival of classical and postclassical musical-theater and chamber-opera works from around the world, returns for its second year, consisting of seven performances in five venues from January 8 to 19. Presented by Beth Morrison Projects and HERE, Prototype gets under way with the New York premiere of Paul’s Case (HERE, January 8-13), composer Gregory Spears and playwright Kathryn Walat’s chamber-opera adaptation of Willa Cather’s short story. Husband and wife Lauren Worsham and Kyle Jarrow’s Sky-Pony (HERE, January 10-13) investigates the four humors of Ancient Greek medicine, the Melancholic, the Sanguine, the Phlegmatic, and the Choleric, in a multimedia performance over four nights. In Thumbprints (Baruch Performing Arts Center, January 10-18), composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Susan Yankowitz follow a Pakistani woman’s fight for justice in the aftermath of a so-called honor crime. Composer Jonathan Berger and librettist Dan O’Brien’s Visitations (Roulette, January 11-13) consists of a pair of haunting one-act chamber operas, Theotokia, involving a man taunted by the mother of God, and The War Reporter, based on the real-life experience of journalist Paul Watson. In Du Yun’s multigenre Angel’s Bone (Trinity Church, January 12-15), a couple tries to turn a horrific situation to their advantage. In Have a Good Day! (HERE, January 15-19), composer Lina Lapelytė, librettist Vaiva Grainytė, and director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė go inside the minds of mall cashiers. And New York-born, Moscow-raised musician Elizaveta will give a special one-night-only performance at Joe’s Pub on January 17. There will also be a series of talkbacks following specific performances, and Prototype, Coil, Under the Radar, and American Realness have joined forces to present free live concerts every night from January 9 to 19 in the Lounge at the Public Theater, including Invincible, Christeene, Ethan Lipton, Heather Christian & the Arbonauts, Sky-Pony, Timur and the Dime Museum, the Middle Church Jerriesse Johnson Gospel Choir, M.A.K.U. Sound System, DJ Acidophilus, and Nick Hallett, Space Palace, and Woahmone DJs.