this week in music

BIG APPLE BARBECUE BLOCK PARTY 2013

Nearly 150,000 hungry people are expected to line up at the eleventh annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party this weekend

Madison Square Park
23rd to 26th Sts. between Fifth & Madison Aves.
Saturday, June 8, and Sunday, June 9, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Admission: free; $9 per plate of barbecue, $3 per drink
www.bigapplebbq.org
www.madisonsquarepark.org

One of the season’s most crowded festivals, the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party will be serving up bbq from eighteen pitmasters in Madison Square Park on Saturday and Sunday, along with foot-stompin’ music, seminars, cooking demonstrations, and other events. A variety of ’cue will be prepared by Mike Mills (Memphis Championship Barbecue, Las Vegas, 17th Street Bar & Grill, Murphysboro, IL), Scott Roberts (Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, TX), Joe Duncan (Baker’s Ribs in Dallas), Garry Roark (Ubon’s Barbecue in Yazoo City), Chris Lilly (Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, AL), Drew Robinson (Jim ’N Nick’s Bar-B-Q in Birmingham), Patrick Martin (Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint in Nashville), Mike Emerson (Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. Louis), Tommy Houston (Checkered Pig in Danville, VA), Rodney Scott (Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, SC), Jimmy Hagood (BlackJack Barbecue in Charleston), Ed Mitchell (Raleigh), John Wheeler (Memphis Barbecue Co., Horn Lake, MS), and Sam Jones (Skylight Inn, Ayden, NC). The New York City entrants are John Stage (Dinosaur Bar-B-Que), Kenny Callaghan (Blue Smoke), and Charles Grund Jr. (Hill Country). The Saturday music lineup features the Spampinato Brothers (1:00), Barrence Whitfield & the Savages (2:45), and Marcia Ball (4:30), with Sunday consisting of the Myles Mancuso Band (1:00), Elizabeth Cook (2:45), and the Dirty Guv’nahs (4:30). Among the seminars are “From Tide to Table” with Chris Hastings, “Barbecue & Bivalves” with Mike Lata, “A Cure for What Ails You” with John Currence, and “Smoke, Bitters, Cucumbers, and Citrus . . . Cocktails from the Kitchen” with Joseph Lenn and Ashley Christensen. New this year is the Weber Grilling School, which will hold classes with Kevin Kolman; tickets are $30 and include a copy of Weber’s New Real Grilling cookbook. To best navigate the crowds, we suggest going with a group of friends, with each person waiting on a different line, then meeting up for your feast while listening to the live music.

BLUE NOTE JAZZ FESTIVAL 2013

Wayne Shorter will be celebrating his eightieth birthday with a special show at Town Hall as part of the Blue Note Jazz Festival (photo by Robert Ascroft)

Blue Note Jazz Club, 131 West Third St., 212-475-8592
Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th St., 212-414-5994
B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 West 42nd St., 212-997-4144
Smalls Jazz Club, 183 West Tenth St., 212-252-5091
Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Ave. 718-963-3369
The Town Hall, 123 West 43rd St., 212-997-1003
IFC Center, 212-924-7771
June 1-30
www.bluenotejazzfestival.com

The Blue Note has been bringing the sweet sounds of jazz to Greenwich Village for more than three decades, but this month is merely the third year of the Blue Note Jazz Festival, which spreads the American musical form across the city. More than one hundred events are taking place at such venues as the Highline Ballroom, Brooklyn Bowl, B.B. King’s, Smalls Jazz Club, Town Hall, and the Blue Note itself, with a wide range of performers that includes rock, pop, and folk in addition to jazz and blues and even spoken word, comedy, and film. The lineup is once again impressive, from old-timers to young up-and-comers, from legendary names to lesser-known groups worthy of more attention. Here is just a mere sprinkling of the talent involved: Gato Barbieri, the Joshua Redman Quartet, Jerry Douglas, Willie Colón, Saul Williams, Delbert McClinton, the Rebirth Brass Band, McCoy Tyner & the Latin All-Stars, Paul Mooney, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Buffy Sainte-Marie, John McLaughlin & the 4th Dimension, Buddy Guy, Wyclef Jean, Leon Redbone, Yasiin Bey, Willie Nile, Roy Haynes, and Garland Jeffreys. On June 22, Magic Man Sam Waymon will pay tribute to his sister, Nina Simone, with a free show at Lucille’s. On June 24, the IFC Center will host a screening of Bertrand Tavernier’s ’Round Midnight in honor of what would have been Dexter Gordon’s ninetieth birthday, followed by a panel discussion with Ashley Kahn, Maxine Gordon, Bruce Lundvall, Michael Cuscuna, and Jimmy Heath. On June 28, Wayne Shorter will celebrate his eightieth birthday at Town Hall with his quartet (pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade) in addition to such friends as ACS: Allen Carrington Spalding and Sound Prints (consisting of Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas). And that’s just a small taste of what will be going on all month.

CELEBRATE ISRAEL PARADE — PICTURE ISRAEL: THE ART AND THE CRAFT

Bad weather couldn’t dampen the spirit of the 2012 Celebrate Israel Parade (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

57th to 74th St. up Fifth Ave.
Sunday, June 2, free, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
celebrateisraelny.org

On May 14, 1948, “The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel” proclaimed, “The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” It’s been more than a little bumpy along the way, but Israel will be celebrating its maturation into senior citizenship on Sunday, June 2, with festivities in honor of its sixty-fifth birthday. The day kicks off with an 8:00 morning run through Central Park, followed by the Celebrate Israel Parade; the theme this year is “Picture Israel: The Art & the Craft,” focusing on “Illustrate, Create, Paint, Frame It.” The grand marshals are Long Island philanthropists Marty and Melodie Scharf and Israel Consul General Ido Aharoni, while special guests include Dr. Ruth Westheimer, journalists Harry Martin, Robert Moses, and Becky Griffith, and the Israel National Soccer Team, who will be taking on Honduras at Citi Field at 4:00. Among the many performers at the parade will be SOULFARM, the Brooklyn Jumbies, the Areyvut Mitzvah Clowns, Gilad Segev, the Barynya Entertainment Dancers, Amir Gwirtzman, the Rafi Malkiel Ensemble, Mama Doni, the BaRock Orchestra, Eyal Rob, and the Hebrew Wizards Band.

FIRST SATURDAY: LIFE, DEATH, AND TRANSFORMATION IN THE AMERICAS

“Raw/Cooked: Michael Ballou” (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Michael Ballou, “Go-Go,” acrylic board, monofilament, wire, plywood, plastic cups, rug, with soundtrackby Kurt Hoffman and David Scher, 2013 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, June 1, free, 5:00 – 11:00 (some events require free tickets distributed in advance at the Visitor Center)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum’s long-term installation “Life, Death, and Transformation in the Americas” is the centerpiece of the June edition of its popular First Saturday program, with a special focus on Peru. The free monthly program will include live performances by Claudia Acuña, Chicha Libre, Rebel Diaz, Marcos Napa, and Mariachi Flor de Toloache, pop-up gallery talks, storytelling presented by the Redhawk Native American Arts Council, a curator talk of the featured exhibit led by Nancy Rosoff and Susan Kennedy Zeller, a Hands-On Art workshop in which participants can make a clay figure, and a participatory despacho ceremony, in which Q’ero healers Don Francisco and Doña Juana invoke reciprocity and loving-kindness. The galleries will remain open late so visitors can also check out “John Singer Sargent Watercolors,” a lovely collection of nearly one hundred stunning works that are a celebration of light and color; “LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital,” moving black-and-white portraits of Frazier and her mother and grandmother; “Käthe Kollwitz: Prints from the ‘War’ and ‘Death’ Portfolios,” devastating woodcut prints by the German Expressionist artist that display the horrors of battle, influenced by the loss of her son in WWI; “Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui,” a revelatory career retrospective of the fascinating oeuvre of the African artist who uses bottle caps and found metal and wood to create fascinating pieces; “‘Workt by Hand’: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts,” comprising nearly three dozen American and European quilts; “Raw/Cooked: Michael Ballou” and “Dog Years” by the Williamsburg-based artist, who plays with light and shadow in the former, man’s best friend in the latter; and “Valerie Hegarty: Alternative Histories,” in which Hegarty wreaks havoc on two of the museum’s Period Rooms.

BUSHWICK OPEN STUDIOS 2013

Bushwick Open Studios will feature live performance, film, art, a neighborhood fair, a community mural, and more this weekend

Various locations indoors and outdoors in Bushwick
May 31 – June 2, most events free
www.artsinbushwick.org

The seventh annual Bushwick Open Studios takes place this weekend, consisting of three days of art, live performance, film, and other artistic endeavors. The official launch party gets going at 8:00 Friday night ($10) at Shea Stadium with Eula, Air Waves, Lodro, Darlings, and DJ Mr. Ad Hoc; there will also be concerts Friday afternoon at Don Pedro and Saturday afternoon at Lone Wolf. The neighborhood will come together for the public mural “How Does Food Unite People,” Hybrid Theatre Works will present an evening of performance art, Bossa Nova Civic Club will host a late-night Electronic Music Showcase, Brooklyn Fireproof East will be home to the Moving Forward concert, 3rd Ward will exhibit the group show “Walking into the Dashboard” (compiled from the World’s First Tumblr Art Symposium), CinemaSunday will include screenings followed by Q&As with the filmmakers, and Community Day in Maria Hernandez Park features arts & crafts, live music, family-friendly activities, yoga, and more.

SONG OF THE DAY: “CURTAIN CALL” BY STEEL PHANTOMS

<a href="http://steel-phantoms.bandcamp.com/album/curtain-call">Curtain Call by Steel Phantoms</a>

How can you not love a band that records a punk blowout called “Matt LeBlanc” in which they proclaim, “My love was only meant for you”? Brooklyn indie duo Steel Phantoms, consisting of former Islands drummer Aaron Harris and guitarist Jesse Newkirk, kick out the jams on that song and a half dozen others on their upcoming, eponymously titled EP, which is due July 16. The follow-up to the band’s 2010 self-titled EP and the 2011 EP Forer, the new record features a big sound with haunting background vocals and multiple melodic shifts on such tracks as “Sunflares,” “We Can’t Fail,” and the opener, “Curtain Call,” which is highlighted by rollicking drums (and takes an additional bow at the end of the closing number, “Skin Tone”). Steel Phantoms will be at Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg on May 31 with Snowden and We Barbarians.

HOWL! FESTIVAL 2013

Tompkins Square Park
Ave. A to Ave. B between Seventh & Tenth Sts.
May 31 – June 2, free
www.howlfestival.com

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” begins Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, which serves as the centerpiece for the somewhat annual Howl! Festival in and around Tompkins Square Park this weekend. The madness kicks off Friday at 4:30 with the Great Howl!, with Tyler Burba performing songs by Ginsberg, Bob Holman orchestrating a lineup of poets, and a group reading of Ginsberg’s masterpiece; among the participants are Hettie Jones, David Henderson, Jennifer Blowdryer, Lydia Lunch, Bob Rosenthal, Eliot Katz, Edwin Torres, and Nancy Mercado. On Saturday afternoon, there will be live performances on the Great Howl! Stage by Miami Rice, Anna Copacabana, Tall Pines, Ward White, Faith . . . , Richard Lloyd, and Vangeline Theater’s Mosaic. Meanwhile, the Beatification Stage will be holding a marathon poetry reading celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, hosted by Todd Colby and including Jenny Zhang, Maggie Estep, Jennifer L. Knox, Mike Doughty, Carl Hancock Rux, CA Conrad, Bo DePena, Jason Nazary, and others. There will also be a children’s carnival, live painting on canvases surrounding the park, Riki Colon’s Men in Skirts presenting And I Still Rise, and the Allen Ginsberg Magnetic Field, consisting of installations, demonstrations, interactive projects, community nonprofit organizations, and more. On Sunday, Great Howl! Stage performers include Karen Marie, Bear 54, Diane Gentile, Andy Shernoff, Jack Skuller, and the Liza Colby Sound; dance will take over the Beatification Stage (along with Marguerite Van Cook’s Rockland series); and the Great Ladies of the Lower East Side will be honored in Low Life 7: Bowery Bombshells, paying tribute to Emma Goldman, Cookie Mueller, Mae West, Slugger Ann, Ellen Stewart, Patti Smith, and others.