this week in music

SING FOR HOPE PIANOS

A woman plays a Sing for Hope piano in front of the Old Stone House in Brooklyn (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

FIT grad Nina Allen chose a floral design for her piano, which can be found in front of the Old Stone House in Brooklyn (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple locations in all five boroughs
Through June 16, free
www.singforhope.org

You can tickle the ivories in some unusual places through June 16, as Sing for Hope Pianos dot the landscape of the city in both color and, of course, black and white. Founded in 2006 by Juilliard-trained sopranos Camille Zamora and Monica Yunus, Sing for Hope “activates artists as agents of transformation in underserved areas and promotes the ideal of art for all.” There are eighty-eight specially designed pianos across the five boroughs, in parks and public spaces where anyone can just take a seat and play, amateur or professional, first-timer or Carnegie Hall veteran. As opposed to three years ago, when all the pianos were designed by multidisciplinary British artist Luke Jerram for what he called “Play Me, I’m Yours,” this year’s pianos are by such artists as Paolo Pecchi (Central Park Tennis Center), Maxine Nienow (Times Square), Michael Scoggins (Little Red Square), Jennie Booth (Jackson Heights Post Office), William Raynolds (Soundview Park), Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post Team (Thomas Jefferson Park), Stefan Sierhej (Brooklyn Bridge Park), Laura Ricciardi (South Street Seaport), Brenda Hyungyung Bae (Governors Island), Care Bonewitz (Grand Army Plaza), and Nina Allen (Old Stone House). You can read about each artist and piano on the official website, which also has a map so you can track down keyboards near wherever you are. Among the special events still to come are a Beaches and Barbeques party in Prospect Park’s Grand Army Plaza on June 8 at 2:00, a Trains, Boats, and Automobiles Tour at Brooklyn Bridge Park on June 8 at 4:00, a Manhattan Borough Tour meeting at Riverside Park’s Pier 1 on June 13 at 5:00, and the River View Photo Challenge at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal on June 14 at 4:00, among other local gatherings. At the end of the program, the pianos will be donated to public schools, health-care facilities, and community organizations.

EGG ROLLS & EGG CREAMS FESTIVAL 2013

Annual Egg Rolls & Egg Creams fest flies into the Lower East Side on June 9 (photo by Kate Milford)

Museum at Eldridge Street
12 Eldridge St. between Canal & Division Sts.
Sunday, June 9, 12 noon – 4:00 pm
Admission: free
212-219-0302
www.eldridgestreet.org

The thirteenth annual Egg Rolls & Egg Creams block party once again will bring together the Jewish and Chinese communities of the Lower East Side on June 9 for what is always a fun day of food and drink, live music and dance, history, culture, and lots more. Among the highlights of the festival are the kosher egg creams and egg rolls, yarmulke and challah workshops, tea ceremonies, a genealogy clinic, Yiddish and Chinese lessons, Hebrew and Chinese calligraphy classes, mah jongg, cantorial songs, Jewish paper cutting and Chinese paper folding, face painting, and free tours (in English and Chinese) 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.

EP OF THE DAY: THE MAGIC’S GONE BY THE HAIRS

Not to be confused with French electropop trio the Hairs, Brooklyn trio the Hairs have been having a blast since 2010, putting out such lo-fi pop ditties as “Duh! X 12,” “I Remember Alien Gonzales,” and “Scabies Babies,” which can all be heard in the Bandcamp compilation hAIRS mAKE mUSIC, along with the acoustic-based single “Hellninja,” which was inspired by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series. Their new EP, the four-track The Magic’s Gone, is a big, bright burst of fresh air, as the group ratchets it up more than a notch on a quartet of songs that evoke the diverse range of They Might Be Giants, Guided by Voices, the Beach Boys, Thunderclap Newman, the Cure, Nirvana, and Peter Bjorn and John. “It’s tragic / I need a doctor / How will I survive this?” Hairs leader Kevin Alvir sings on the title track, which is as buoyant as a summer breeze. The EP also includes the well-named “Tennis Penis,” the apologetic “Bury the Hatchet, the Chainsaw, and Whatever Else,” and the poetic “Birds Shit Then Sing,” on which Alvir declares, “I need some release / I need some release / Birds shit then sing on key.” The Hairs will be celebrating the release of The Magic’s Gone at Cake Shop on June 8 with Radical Dads and Hippy, then will be back again on June 14 with Small Reactions, Gold-Bears, and Literature.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: “STORMBREAK” BY KINGS DESTROY

Kings Destroy in not the motto of Game of Thrones; instead, it’s a Greenpoint-based five-piece that likes things hard and loud. With a pedigree that hails from such bands as Killing Time, Breakdown, Uppercut, and Electric Frankenstein, lead singer Steve Murphy, guitarists Carl Porcaro and Chris Skowronski, bassist Aaron Bumpus, and drummer Rob Sefcik have followed up their 2010 debut, And the Rest Will Surely Perish, with A Time for Hunting (War Crime, June 3, 2013), which features such heavy tracks as “Decrepit,” “Shattered Pattern,” “Blood of Recompense,” and “Stormbreak.” You can stream the album for free here. Kings Destroy will be at St. Vitus on June 7 for a record release party, on a bill with Windhand, Clamfight, and Belus.

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.