For more than thirty years, Southern California’s Social Distortion has been at the forefront of punk rockabilly, playing it hard, loud, and fast on such records as 1983’s Mommy’s Little Monster, 1988’s Prison Bound, and 1992’s Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell. Such powerful songs as “Story of My Life,” “Bad Luck,” “Ball and Chain,” and “99 to Life” came to define the genre, along with their killer cover of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” Following an arena stint supporting the Foo Fighters, Social D, led by original front man Mike Ness along with guitarist Jonny “2 Bags” Wickersham, bassist Brent Harding, and drummer David Hidalgo Jr. (son of Los Lobos cofounder David Hidalgo), is back out on the road headlining smaller venues in support of their 2011 Epitaph release, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, which includes the driving “Gimme the Sweet and Lowdown,” for which the Mad Twins, Olya & Vira Ishchuk, just created an animated video that makes numerous references to Ness’s real life. “I can tell you now / you’ve really gotten the blues,” Ness sings. “I can tell you now / that I’ve walked in your shoes.” Social D will be at the Roseland Ballroom on October 26 with the Biters and Lindi Ortega.
this week in music
HUDSON SQUARE MUSIC & WINE FESTIVAL: POUNDCAKE
Poundcake will close out the fourth annual Hudson Square Music & Wine Festival behind City Winery on August 28 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Behind City Winery
155 Varick St. between Vandam & Spring Sts.
Tuesday, August 28, free, 5:30
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.teddythompson.com
In May 2011 at City Winery, as Teddy Thompson fans were escorted to their reserved seats and ordered their food and drinks (including special bottles of Teddy Thompson wine), a surprisingly familiar face took the stage as part of the opening act. Announced as “Poundcake,” the three-piece band — consisting of guitar, stand-up bass, and drums — rambled through a good-time set of classic and obscure country and early rock covers, with the lead singer and the backup band making continuous tongue-in-cheek remarks about Teddy Thompson and how much the lead singer resembled the British-born, New York City-based son of Richard and Linda Thompson, who was touring behind his latest record, Bella, a deeply personal, poignant examination of a shattered relationship. In 2010, Teddy Thompson, along with his drummer, Ethan Eubanks, and bassist, Jeff Hill, started doing gigs as Poundcake, without officially admitting who their ersatz leader was. Poundcake plays engaging sets that feature such tunes as Patsy Cline’s “Why Can’t He Be You,” the Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up Little Susie,” Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right, Mama,” Chuck Berry’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” and Buddy Holly’s “It’s So Easy” and “Every Day,” the latter, that May night, sung by Eubanks after several starts in which the drummer mangled the words and Thompson harassed him for it. The trio engages in funny, self-deprecating between-song banter, making for an extremely entertaining show. Poundcake will be closing out this summer’s fourth annual Hudson Square Music & Wine Festival, sponsored by City Winery, on Tuesday, August 28, with a free outdoor concert at 5:30.
JANET CARDIFF: THE FORTY PART MOTET
Janet Cardiff’s “The Forty Part Motet” features beautiful music at MoMA PS1 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave.
Thursday – Monday through September 4, suggested admission $10
718-784-2084
www.momaps1.org
www.cardiffmiller.com
It might not quite be Carnegie Hall, but beautiful music is continuously emanating from a rather sparse white room at MoMA PS1 in Queens. For “The Forty Part Motet,” Canadian-born sound artist Janet Cardiff individually recorded forty members of the Salisbury Cathedral Choir performing Thomas Tallis’s sixteenth-century choral composition “Spem in Alium Nunquam habui” (“In no other is my hope”). Then, working with her husband and partner, George Bures Miller, who served as editor, Cardiff created an installation of forty speakers on stands, eight groups of five apiece organized in an enveloping circle, with each singer’s voice coming out of a different speaker. Beginning with coughs and whispers that kick off the fourteen-minute piece, “The Forty Part Motet” is a thrilling experience, even for those who might not generally have an ear for classical music. As visitors walk around the large room, which has natural light pouring in on two sides, they can sit in the center and let the glorious sounds wash over them, then approach each speaker to hear that singer’s unique contribution to the overall piece, resulting in a very personal, intimate connection. Cardiff, whose “Her Long Black Hair” led people on a mysterious journey through Central Park in the summer of 2004, is a master at using sound as her primary element in telling unusual and complex stories; her magnificent 2008 collaboration with Miller, “The Murder of Crows,” is currently wowing audiences through September 9 at the Park Ave. Armory. “The Forty Part Motet” is on view through September 4 at MoMA PS1, which is also showing “Lara Favaretto: Just Knocked Out,” “Jack Smith: Normal Love,” “Zackary Drucker: At Least You Know You Exist,” “Esther Kläs – Better Energy,” “Max Brand: no solid footing – (trained) duck fighting a crow,” “Wendy” by HWKN, and solo projects by Rey Akdogan, Edgardo Aragón, Ilja Karilampi, and Caitlin Keogh.
CHARLIE PARKER JAZZ FESTIVAL
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival honors legendary Bird with Strings sessions
Friday, August 24, Marcus Garvey Park, free, 7:00 – 9:00
Saturday, August 25, Marcus Garvey Park, free, 3:00 – 7:00
Sunday, August 26, Tompkins Square Park, free, 3:00 – 7:00
www.cityparksfoundation.org
Always one of the highlights of the summer, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival also comes near the end of the season, signaling that Labor Day is not far off. For its twentieth anniversary, the festival, which honors the legendary saxman who was born in Kansas City and made a name for himself here in New York City, has put together several exciting free programs taking place this weekend. On Friday night in Marcus Garvey Park, Bird with Strings teams the Revive Music Group with Miguel Atwood-Ferguson for specially commissioned compositions that reimagine Bird’s 1949 and 1950 sessions that featured a classical string section. The evening will begin with a spoken-word performance of “On the Wings of Yardbird” by Daniel Carlton, set to such Bird classics as “Ornithology.” On Saturday from 3:00 to 7:00 also in Marcus Garvey Park, poets Edwin Torres and LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs will honor Parker’s legacy, followed by musical performances by Jamire Williams and ERIMAJ, Derrick Hodge, Rene Marie’s Experiment in Truth, and the amazing Roy Haynes. On Sunday, the festivities move downtown to Tompkins Square Park, with spoken-word artists Jon Sands, Sheila Maldonado, and Nikhil Melnechuk and live performances by Gregory Porter, Patience Higgins’s Sugar Hill Quartet, Andy Milne & Dapp Theory, and Sullivan Fortner.
AFRO-PUNK FESTIVAL
TV on the Radio headlines the second day of the free Afro-Punk Festival in Brooklyn (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Commodore Barry Park
Park Ave., Navy St., Flushing Ave. & North Eliot Pl., Brooklyn
Saturday, August 25, and Sunday, August 26, free, 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
www.afropunkfest.com
www.nycgovparks.org
After the disappointment of last year’s Afro-Punk Festival being canceled at the last minute because of Hurricane Irene, we can’t wait for this year’s free celebration in Commodore Barry Park in Brooklyn. Taking place August 25 & 26, the eighth annual fest features another stellar lineup of rap, hip-hop, R&B, indie, alternative, and hot DJs, with Saturday’s roster including Radkey, the Skins, the Joe Jordan Experiment, Sinkane, Toshi Reagon, Alice Smith, Purple Ferdinand, the Memorials, and Erykah Badu with the Cannabinoids on the Green Stage and Ninjasonik, Oxymorrons, Cerebral Ballzy, Spank Rock, and Das Racist on the Red Stage. On Sunday, the Green Stage will host Inky Jack, Tess, Phony Ppl, Gordon Voidwell, Body Language, Reggie Watts, Toro y Moi, and TV on the Radio, with Flatbush Zombies, Bad Rabbits, Straight Line Stitch, Gym Class Heroes, and Janelle Monae on the Red Stage. Fifteen food trucks will fill out Bites & Beats, with such favorite mobile eateries as Mexicue, Jamaican Dutchy, Bian Dang, Fishing Shrimp, Korilla BBQ, Kelvin Natural Slush, and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. More than eighty local artisans will be selling their goods at the Spin Thrift Market, while BaJa Ukweli, RIP Josama, Nelson Cekis Rivas, Coby Kennedy, Rob Fokused, See One, and David RIMX Sepulveda will show their stuff on the Art Wall. Amateur skaters from all over the country will participate in the Nike Battle for the Streets, hosted by Alex Corporan and Billy Rohan and judged by Shawn Powers, Danny Supa, Ray Mate, and others, while a dozen custom bikes will fight it out for best in show in Brooklyn Rhapsody. There’s nothing quite like the Afro-Punk Festival, which is doing all it can to make up for last year with one helluva program this weekend.
ZEROBRIDGE
Rockwood Music Hall
196 Allen St.
Thursday, August 23, free, 10:30
212-477-4155
www.rockwoodmusichall.com
www.myspace.com/zerobridge
At the end of June, we raved about Brooklyn-based band Zerobridge as they were in the studio, rehearsing new songs with Strokes and Ryan Adams mentor JP Bowersock producing and playing guitar. Some of the results of this collaboration can now be heard here, including such propulsive pop songs as “In for a Quick Garden,” “Waiting in the Sun,” and “Run.” “Got a feeling / Can’t deny it / In the city of hills / there are no cheap thrills for sale,” lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist Mubashir Mohi-ud-Din (Din) sings on “In for a Quick Garden,” but there should be plenty of cheap thrills and more on August 23, when Zerobridge will be playing a free show at Rockwood Music Hall at 10:30, preceded by the Kin at 9:30 and followed by Emergency Service at 11:30.
TWI-NY TALK: PHIL HARTMAN OF TWO BOOTS
Phil Hartman and his son, Leon, will be celebrating the silver anniversary of Two Boots on August 23 in East River Park
TWO BOOTS 25th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT: AN EVENING OF FREE LIVE MUSIC, PERFORMANCE ART, POETRY, AERIALIST, AND FOOD
East River Park Amphitheater
FDR Drive between Grand & Jackson Sts.
Thursday, August 23, free, 5:00 – 9:00
www.twoboots.com
www.summerstage.org
Twenty-five years ago, New York native Phil Hartman and Doris Kornish opened Two Boots in the East Village, a pizzeria with a distinct Cajun flavor. In the ’90s they began expanding, adding a movie theater that screened alternative and foreign films while introducing pizzas named after fictional and real pop-culture figures. Today there are more than a dozen Two Boots restaurants, across Manhattan as well as in Brooklyn, New Jersey, Baltimore, and Los Angeles, selling specialty pies named for such favorite characters as Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs,, Andy Kaufman alter ego Tony Clifton, Newman from Seinfeld, Larry Tate from Bewitched, No. 6 from The Prisoner, Dr. John, Bella Abzug, Bette Midler, and Charlie Parker as well as the Village Vanguard. On August 23, Hartman and his son, Leon, who also works in the business, will host a free concert in East River Park in honor of Two Boots’ silver anniversary, featuring performances by Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, Mamarazzi, Odetta Hartman, Himalayas, the Whiskeyhickon Boys, Lady Circus, and the Magic Beans; the event will also include poetry from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Caroline Rothstein, Mahogany Browne, and Marshall “Soulful” Jones ) and the City Lore/Bowery Poetry Club’s POEMmobile, live art and painting by Lizzy Grandsaert and Kat Carrot Flower, the Homespun Mini-Merry-Go-Round, and informational booths from the Lower Eastside Girls Club, the Lower East Side Ecology Center, and Time’s Up. The festivities will be emceed by actor Luis Guzmán, for whom the Luisaida pie is named after, and there will be free samples of the Newman and the Larry Tate. Phil discussed Two Boots, the revitalization of the Lower East Side, and more in our latest twi-ny talk.
twi-ny: What were the initial expectations when you opened your first pizza place twenty-five years ago?
Phil Hartman: Doris Kornish (my original partner) and I had two principal motivations: we badly needed funds to finish postproduction on our first film, No Picnic, which would go on to receive an award at Sundance in 1988, and we’ve always operated under this premise at our restaurants — don’t try to cater to an imaginary audience, just do something that we really love and hope that other people agree with us.
twi-ny: How did the idea for naming pies after famous fictional characters get started? Do you need to get permission to use the names? If so, has anyone ever turned you down?
Phil Hartman: The character names didn’t start until eight years in — beginning with Larry Tate, Mr. Pink, and Newman. I’ve always loved second bananas, oddballs, and the overlooked and underappreciated. And we’ve never been turned down — we just figure we’re honoring these characters and they would be proud of it.
twi-ny: What is your personal favorite slice?
Phil Hartman: The Bayou Beast (andouille, crawfish, jalapeños, mozzarella, and sauce), which combines the best of both worlds (Italy and Louisiana) is my fave — though as their parent, you know I love all the slices.
twi-ny: Is there a specific combination that you really wanted to work but it just couldn’t come out quite right?
Phil Hartman: My biggest disappointment is that we never really made our Pizza Piazza work — Mike, being one of our all-time idols (we’re enormous Mets fans); the pie was too soupy but will be resuscitated when he enters the Hall of Fame next year!
twi-ny: On August 23, you’ll be celebrating your twenty-fifth anniversary with a free concert in East River Park. How did the lineup come together?
Phil Hartman: We’ve always loved African pop music, and given that Fela Kuti is no longer with us, we had the chance to reach out to the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars and grabbed it. Mamarazzi is an amazing local Afro-funk band, with lots of our friends in it; Odetta, our daughter, just recorded her first album, and is bringing together her band and lots of special guests; Himalayas is an awesome Brooklyn marching band, which will rock the crowd, from within the crowd; Whiskeyhickon Boys are one of our house acts — gangsta folk at its best; plus Lady Circus from House of Yes, Nuyorican Poets Cafe all-star poets, live art by 4heads Art Collective, a mini-merry-go-round, and lots more.
twi-ny: When the first Two Boots opened back in 1987, the Lower East Side was a very different place. Since then, you’ve been at the center of the neighborhood’s transformation, adding such events as the Howl! Festival and leading an influx of new restaurants, music venues, and other institutions in addition to a revitalized Tompkins Square Park. How would you compare the Lower East Side of the 1970s and ’80s to the way it is now?
Phil Hartman: We’ve lost a lot of the color and complexity, but there still are a lot of great folks and great organizations carrying on the countercultural tradition here. It’s a lot less scary, which is good if you’re raising three kids here (like I have), but also a lot more tame (which is a shame!).