this week in music

TWI-NY TALK: DICK VALENTINE OF ELECTRIC SIX

Dick Valentine and Electric Six ride into the city in support of latest album, MUSTANG

ELECTRIC SIX
Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St. between Bowery & Christie St.
Sunday, September 29, $18-$20, 9:00
212-533-2111
www.electricsix.com
www.boweryballroom.com

For nearly fifteen years, unpredictable Detroit band Electric Six has been having a blast, playing wild and crazy live shows and releasing such intoxicating albums as Danger! High Voltage, Señor Smoke, the splendidly titled I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being the Master, and Heartbeats and Brainwaves. Although they’ve gone through numerous personnel changes, Tyler Spencer, aka Dick Valentine, has always been front and center, the group’s primary songwriter and lead vocalist. On their new record, the galloping Mustang (Metropolis, October 8), Valentine, guitarists Da Ve and Johnny Na$hinal, bassist Smorgasbord, drummer Percussion World, and keyboardist Tait Nucleus? take listeners on a rollicking journey through multiple genres, from the opening blast of “Nom de Plume” to the yearning ballad “Iron Dragon” to the Nick Cave/Roxy Music-like finale, “Cheryl vs. Darryl.” Electric Six brought its “Save the World, Save the World” tour to the Bell House this past Wednesday and will next be at Bowery Ballroom on September 29 with My Jerusalem and Les Sans Culottes. While in town, Valentine discussed with twi-ny the new record, Adam Levine, and the misspelling on the cover of Mustang.

twi-ny: Mustang explodes out of the speakers in a burst of heavy metal, punk, funk, hard rock, prog rock, black metal, disco, dance pop, and other styles. What is your songwriting process like? Do you set out to tackle specific genres in advance?

Dick Valentine: We just knew that having just done a synth and drum machine record for our previous studio release, we wanted to have a lot of guitars on this album. And live drums on every track. I have to say of all the albums we’ve done, this was the one where I came with the least amount of concrete ideas and finished songs on my end, so the rest of the guys, especially John Nash, really stepped up and got it done.

twi-ny: On “Adam Levine,” you tell the Maroon 5 frontman and “The Voice” coach to “burn in hell, motherfucker”; tell us, how do you really feel about him? Are personalities like Adam Levine good or bad for the music industry?

Dick Valentine: This song is not actually about Adam Levine. . . . That’s a popular misconception. It’s about feeling awful and then feeling worse because you know it will just continue. I’ve never met him, but he seems like a fine example of a human being. A human being who grew up in Beverly Hills. As far as his impact on the music industry, you’d have to ask Donny Osmond because that’s where this shit started.

twi-ny: In the past, you’ve said that your songs are “about absolutely nothing,” so should we not read any political metaphors into “Late Night Obama Food,” especially when you say, “We are starving, but we’re eating more than we ever did before”?

Dick Valentine: Yeah, that’s right.

twi-ny: Going back to “I Buy the Drugs” for a moment, what actually happens if you send a self-addressed stamped envelope to P.O. Box 900, Los Angeles, CA 90212?

Dick Valentine: I have heard it has something to do with FOX broadcasting. That was not intentional, but that makes sense as I believe that ZIP Code does in fact cover Century City and Westwood.

twi-ny: In “Gimme the Eyes,” you say, “When you come to New York see what your money buys.” You played the Bell House on September 25 and will be at Bowery Ballroom on September 29; what do you spend your money on when you’re here in the city?

Dick Valentine: Diapers. In a Park Slope parent way, not in a David Vitter way.

twi-ny: We can’t let you go without asking about the cover of Mustang; what was your initial reaction when you saw that the band’s name was misspelled on the back of the woman’s jean jacket?

Dick Valentine: We were elated.

DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL 2013

Micah Stansell’s “Inversion (with Water)” combines sound and image in the Manhattan Bridge Archway & Anchorage

Multiple venues in DUMBO
September 27-29, free
www.dumboartsfestival.com

More than two hundred thousand visitors are expected to take part in the seventeenth annual Dumbo Arts Festival this weekend, running Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. The streets and galleries will be home to three days of art, music, site-specific installation, workshops, open studios, and live performances, with everything free. The New York Photo Festival will be hosting the New York Photo Awards at 37 Main St., Gleason’s Gym is sponsoring “The Art of Boxing” at 77 Front St., “DADA’s Playground” will include family-friendly sculptures in the Kidlot, Mighty Tanaka welcomes people to the work of street artist Skewville in “Welcome to Skewville,” United Photo Industries’ “Photoville” continues on Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5, Anthony Heinz May’s “Appropriation of Nature” can be found on the park’s John St. Path, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s “Ship of Tolerance” sails into East River Cove, Abhaya Yoga will hold “Live Beats & Yoga Flow” at 10 Jay St., Clifford Ross & Taikoza’s “Immersive Harmonium Video and Japanese Drums” and Micah Stansell’s “Inversion (with Water)” take advantage of the Manhattan Bridge Archway & Anchorage, Andrey Bartenev and Mei Ann Teo’s “Bubbles of Hope” will roam all around the area, Amelia Marzec’s “New American Sweatshop” repurposes electronic waste into communication devices at 85 Washington St., dancers Jake Bone, Lynda Senisi, Damani Pompey, Ellyn Sjoquist and Alessandra Delle Grotti will perform Kensaku Shinohara’s “Math Time” on Main St., and CAM, DALeast, Eltono, Shepard Fairey, Faith47, MOMO, Stefan Sagmeister, and Yuko Shimizu will decorate DUMBO Walls in Bridge Park Two.

Andrey Bartenev and Mei Ann Teo’s “Bubbles of Hope” will roam around DUMBO on Saturday afternoon

There are lots of interactive installations, including the Heather Hart Experience’s “Bartertown (Trading Post Xi: The Magic Feathers),” in which participants can exchange objects, ideas, and just about anything else; Daina Taimina’s “Hyperbolic Hyperbolic Hyperbolic,” involving crocheting and paper cut-outs; Samuel Jablon and the Underpass Poets’ “Poet Sculpture” will feature readings on movable crates (by Steve Dalachinsky, Yuko Otomo, Vito Acconci, and many others, as well as an open mic); Rev. Lainie Love Dalby will bless festivalgoers as part of “HUMBO (Hope Under the Manhattan Bridge Underpass): A Blessing Performance to Burst Open Your He(art)”; the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective will present “Sublime,” interactive performance art pieces by Monica Jahan Bose, Ruby Chishti, Anjali Deshmukh, Swati Khurana, and Sunita S. Mukhi; and Kaloyan Ivanov’s “Void Simulacrum” invites the audience to work on a fifty-foot-long piece of fabric by Jane’s Carousel.

BAM NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL: ANNA NICOLE

Sarah Joy Miller is front and center in glamorous production of ANNA NICOLE at BAM (photo by Stephanie Berger)

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Through September 28, $25-$235
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.roh.org.uk

If Anna Nicole ends up being New York City Opera’s final presentation, then the organization (founded in 1943 and dubbed the People’s Opera by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia) is certainly going out with quite a, well, bang. Commissioned by London’s Royal Opera House and originally performed at Covent Garden, Anna Nicole is a playfully entertaining pop operetta based on the life of celebrity diva Anna Nicole Smith, following her life from her early years as Vickie Lynn Hogan in Mexia, Texas, through her apprenticeship as a stripper in Houston and then her success as a model in print ads and as Playboy Playmate of the Year. Composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, librettist Richard Thomas, and director Richard Jones tell the tale chronologically as Anna Nicole (Sarah Joy Miller) argues with her mother (Susan Bickley), marries and divorces her first husband, Billy Boy (Ben Davis), visits Doctor Yes (Richard Troxell) to get a huge pair of golden Winnebagos, meets and marries billionaire octogenarian J. Howard Marshall II (Robert Brubaker), and becomes a tabloid regular and reality TV superstar. It’s all bright lights and flashy colors on Miriam Buether’s wonderfully cheesy sets and Nicky Gillibrand’s riotous costumes while the cast, which includes sixty-six members of the New York City Opera, belt out self-referential, tongue-in-cheek lyrics that contain the kind of language not usually heard at opera houses around the world, highlighted by F-bombs galore and a host of naughty nicknames for breasts. The story skips around in often confusing ways, too much time is spent on some relatively insignificant sections just for shock effect (for example, the stripper scene), and Thomas, who cowrote Jerry Springer: The Opera, never really gets inside Anna Nicole’s head, which keeps the audience at a distance. In addition, Miller doesn’t quite embody Anna Nicole, and it is occasionally hard to interpret what she’s singing, forcing the audience to read the surtitles, which is not necessary for all the vocalists. The standout performers are Bickley and tenor Brubaker, who is a hoot, especially in his glam outfit. This coproduction with BAM continues at the Howard Gilman Opera House through September 28; it would indeed be a shame if this were New York City Opera’s swan song, as they are willing to take on challenges that other companies wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot (stripper?) pole. (You can contribute to keep their 2013-14 season alive here.)

THE DAN BAND

The Dan Band continue their residency at Stage 48 on September 27 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Stage 48
605 West 48th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Friday, September 27, $26, 8:00
Residency continues October 26 and December 12
www.thedanband.com
www.stage48.com
the dan band slideshow

Actor and comedian Dan Finnerty has carved out quite a niche for himself. Finnerty, who has appeared in such stage productions as Hair and Stomp, has spent the last decade heading the Dan Band, an outrageously funny group that specializes in covers of songs originally performed by women. On August 15 the Dan Band, who made a name for themselves by appearing in a trio of Todd Phillips movies, Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and The Hangover, began a four-show, four-month residency at Stage 48 on the Far West Side. Backed by a live band, Finnerty, wearing a mechanic’s outfit and a backward-facing baseball cap, and his two nerdy cohorts, Gene Reed and John Kozeluh, glided their way through such gems as ABBA’s “Fernando,” Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell,” Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle,” Vanity 6’s “Nasty Girl,” Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner,” Irene Cara’s “Flashdance (What a Feeling)” and “Fame,” and the pièce de résistance, Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” complete with non-radio-friendly bonus lyrics. They closed with their cult hit, “Candy Shop,” a raunchy original in which Finnerty sings, “You be a nympho / I’ll be a nympho / Got the magic stick / I’m the love doctor.” Finnerty walked across every inch of the stage, joined the suited Reed and Kozeluh in some corny choreographed moments with bells, Hula hoops, and other objects, and wandered into the audience numerous times, establishing a funny rapport with some of the fans up front. Finnerty, who has been married to actress and comedian Kathy Najimy since 1995, is in the process of recording the band’s third album, following 2005’s all-covers The Dan Band Live! and 2007’s all-original Ho: A Dan Band Christmas, featuring such key tracks as “I Wanna Rock U Hard This Xmas,” “Get Drunk & Make Out This Christmas,” and, of course, “Ho Ho Ho.” Though seemingly a one-trick pony, the Dan Band has so far avoided becoming overly gimmicky, as the shtick still works; they put on one damn entertaining show. The Dan Band will be back at Stage 48 on September 27, October 26, and December 12, so if you’re looking for some stupid fun, then this is the place to be.

MARCO BENEVENTO PRESENTS: A CIRCUIT BENT PIANO ROCK PICTURE SHOW IN EXPLODING COLOR

Marco Benevento will combine music and images at special presentation at the Winter Garden

Brookfield Place Winter Garden
200 Vesey St.
Thursday, September 19, free, 8:00
212-945-0505
www.brookfieldplaceny.com
www.marcobenevento.com

Pianist Marco Benevento, who has melded jazz, pop, and indie on such records as Between the Needles & Nightfall, Me Not Me, and his latest, the just-released TigerFace, will be at the Brookfield Plaza Winter Garden on September 19 for the special free presentation “A Circuit Bent Piano Rock Picture Show in Exploding Color.” Benevento will be joined by bassist Dave Dreiwitz (Ween), drummer Andy Borger (Norah Jones, Ani DiFranco), and video artist Jay Cooper, playing original songs to projections that will include new images as well as their previous videos. Benevento is entering another phase of his career, reaching the point where he can do exactly what he wants. “It’s nice to try to create with people who are in the same boat as me – they’re kind of doing well, but they’re also kind of trapped in this vague cloud of ‘what kind of music are you?’” he explained in a statement. Formerly known as the World Financial Center, Brookfield Plaza has been home to numerous productions that have combined live music with projected images, from DJ Spooky’s “Rebirth of a Nation” to the Alloy Orchestra performing to Buster Keaton shorts, so this evening should add to that welcome tradition.

MIXER READING AND MUSIC SERIES: LUCY CORIN, ALINA SIMONE, AND RAYYA ELIAS

Rayya Elias will read from her memoir and play a twenty-minute set at free Mixer series at Cake Shop on September 18 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Cake Shop
152 Ludlow St.
Wednesday, September 18, free, 7:00
212-253-0036
www.cake-shop.com

Hosts Melissa Febos and Rebecca Keith have put together another eclectic collection of writers for this month’s edition of the Mixer Reading and Music Series, taking place September 18 at 7:00 at Cake Shop. Lucy Corin will be reading from her new collection, One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses (McSweeney’s, August 2013), Alina Simone will share parts of her latest novel, Note to Self (Faber & Faber, June 2013), and Rayya Elias will be delving into her debut, Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk from the Middle East to the Lower East Side (Viking, April 2013). In addition, Elias, who has been a hair stylist to the stars, a punk rocker, a homeless woman, a drug addict, and an incarcerated prisoner during her remarkable life, will be playing a twenty-minute set of songs that serve as the soundtrack to her book.

FIAF FALL FSTVL: CROSSING THE LINE

Eliane Radigue and Xavier Veilhan’s SYSTEMA OCCAM kicks off FIAF’s seventh annual Crossing the Line festival

French Institute Alliance Française and other locations
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Le Skyroom and FIAF Gallery, 22 East 60th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
September 19 – October 13, free – $30
212-355-6160
www.fiaf.org

Curators Lili Chopra, Simon Dove, and Gideon Lester have once again put together an impressive, wide-ranging program for the Crossing the Line festival, now in its seventh year. Sponsored by the French Institute Alliance Française and taking place there as well as at other venues around the city, CTL features cutting-edge art, dance, music, theater, discussion, and more from an international collection of multidisciplinary performers, with many events free and nothing costing more than $30. The twenty-five-day festival begins September 19 with electronic music composer Eliane Radigue and artist Xavier Veilhan collaborating on Systema Occam (Florence Gould Hall, $30), a multimedia performance installation that is part of CTL’s “New Settings” series, a joint venture with Hermès; the fashion company will be hosting Martine Fougeron’s “Teen Tribe” photo exhibition at the Gallery at Hermès from September 20 to November 8. In Capitalism Works for Me! True/False (September 20, October 6-9, free), Steve Lambert will keep score in Times Square as people vote on whether capitalism indeed works for them. The award-winning Nature Theater of Oklahoma presents episodes 4.5 and 5 at FIAF of their massive undertaking, Life and Times (September 20-21, $30), accompanied by the FIAF Gallery show “10fps,” consisting of 1,343 hand-colored drawings (September 21 – November 2, free). For “The Library,” Fanny de Chaillé invites people to FIAF’s Haskell Library on September 24 and 26 and the NYPL’s Jefferson Market Branch on September 27 (free), where they can choose books that are actually men and women who will share their stories verbally one on one.

Boyzie Cekwana and Panaibra Canda look at postcolonial Africa in THE INKOMATI (DIS)CORD

In The Inkomati (dis)cord (September 25-26, New York Live Arts, $20), Boyzie Cekwana and Panaibra Canda use contemporary dance to examine postcolonial Africa. De Chaillé teams up with Philippe Ramette for Passage à l’acte / Acting Out (September 26-28, Invisible Dog, $30), using absurdist human sculpture to “rationalize the irrational.” Dancer and choreographer Nora Chipaumire will perform the CTL-commissioned solo piece rite riot (October 3-5, Le Skyroom, $30), exploring African stereotypes, collaborating with writer Teju Cole and visual artist Wangechi Mutu. Pascal Rembert’s large-scale A (micro) history of world economics, danced (October 11-13, La MaMa, $20) features New Yorkers discussing how the financial crisis impacted their lives. The festival also includes works by Annie Dorsen, Ernesto Pujol and Carol Becker, Bouchra Ouizguen, Tim Etchells, and Kyle deCamp and Joshua Thorson, in addition to a series of talks and conversations.