One of Brooklyn’s newest clubs, the Well, will be throwing a monster hip-hop party on August 10 [Ed. note: Because of expected severe weather conditions, the show has been rescheduled for September 8], with DJ Soul, Rahim the Dream, Pharaohe Monch, Paul Marz, Da Circle, J the S, LAD & Willie the Kid, and Freeway paving the way for headliners Slaughterhouse, the rap supergroup formed in 2008 by Joe Budden, Crooked I, Joell Ortiz, and Royce Da 5’9. On their upcoming album, Welcome to Our House, which is due from Eminem’s Shady Records on August 28, Slaughterhouse struts its stuff with such special guests as Swizz Beatz, Skylar Grey, Busta Rhymes, Cee-Lo, and Slim Shady himself, who is also among the producers, along with Boi-1da, Mr. Porter, AraabMuzik, and Hit-Boy. The album includes such songs as “Coffin,” “Hammer Dance,” “Flip a Bird,” “Throw It Away,” and “My Life,” the video of which pretty much sums up the group’s raison d’être. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door, which opens at 6:00; the outdoor extravaganza is scheduled to end at 10:00, if the place is still standing by then.
this week in music
VIDEO OF THE DAY: “TIME BOMB” BY SHY HUNTERS
Having spent several years backing other musicians, drummer Sam Levin and singer-guitarist Indigo Street formed Shy Hunters, went into Matt Boynton’s Vacation Island Recording studio in Williamsburg in February, and recorded two tracks of their own, a pair of moody, mysterious songs that evoke an ’80s sound wafting ominously under Street’s whispery vocals. Shahzad Ismaily joined the duo, adding Moog to “Time Bomb” and bass to “Stained Glass House.” Now in the midst of making a full album, Shy Hunters is setting out on the road, kicking things off at Glasslands Gallery on August 9 with the Building, Companion, and Aaron Roche.
FILMS IN TOMPKINS: THE BIG LEBOWSKI
The Dude will abide in Tompkins Square Park on Thursday night, with free pizza, live music, and the cult favorite
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1998)
Tompkins Square Park
500 East Ninth St. between Aves. A & B
Thursday, August 9, free, sundown
www.filmsintompkins2012.com
One of the ultimate cult classics and the best bowling movie ever, the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski has built up such a following since its 1998 release that fans now gather every year for Lebowski Fest, where they honor all things Dude, and with good reason. The Big Lebowski is an intricately weaved gem that is made up of set pieces that come together in magically insane ways. Jeff Bridges is awesome as the Dude, a laid-back cool cat who gets sucked into a noirish plot of jealousy, murder, money, mistaken identity, and messy carpets. Julianne Moore is excellent as free spirit Maude, Tara Reid struts her stuff as Bunny, and Peter Stormare, Flea, and Torsten Voges are a riot as a trio of nihilists. Also on hand are Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Huddleston, Aimee Mann, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, David Thewlis, Sam Elliott, Ben Gazzara, Jon Polito, and other crazy characters, but the film really belongs to the Dude and his fellow bowlers Jesus Quintana (John Turturro, who is so dirty he is completely cut out of the television version), Donny (Steve Buscemi), and Walter (John Goodman), who refuses to roll on Shabbos. And through it all, one thing always holds true: The Dude abides. The Big Lebowski is screening Thursday night in Tompkins Square Park as part of Two Boots’ twenty-fifth anniversary celebration, so there will be free pizza as well as a live performance by the Luddites and the East Village All-Stars. (And just for the record, the Two Boots specialty pie known as the Dude consists of tasso, ground beef, and cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, a Cajun bacon cheeseburger delight.)
ARTHUR ASHE KIDS’ DAY
Carly Rae Jepsen will be among the performers at annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Saturday, August 25, $10-$40 ($5 with promotional code WILD4TNS through August 12), 9:30 am – 3:00 pm
www.usopen.org
www.arthurashekidsday.com
The official kickoff to the U.S. Open, which runs August 27 to September 9, takes place Saturday, August 25, with the annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day celebration. Honoring the legacy of the late Arthur Ashe, the 1968 Open champion who died of AIDS complications in 1993 at the age of forty-nine, the event includes tennis skill activities, workshops, and demonstrations tailored to children, as well as face painting, storytelling, hair braiding, an obstacle course, juggling, interactive games, and more. Hosted by Jordin Sparks and Quddus, the day will feature appearances by such tennis superstars as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Kim Clijsters, Mardy Fish, and John Isner, who will be on hand to sign autographs, play exhibition matches, and hit with kids. There will also be live performances by the Wanted, Carly Rae Jepsen, Owl City, Mindless Behavior, Rachel Crow, the Love Jones Girlz, Ahsan, Caroline Sunshine, Alex Aiono, and Megan and Liz. Although admission to the grounds is free, tickets are needed for the stadium show; they go for $10 to $40, but you can get general admission promenade tickets for just five bucks if you use promotional code WILD4TNS by 11:59 pm on August 12.
SIDI TOURÉ
Saturday, August 4, Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $18, 9:30
Monday, August 6, SummerStage, Marcus Garvey Park, free, 7:00
www.myspace.com/siditoure
Amadou & Mariam might be the most well known Malian musicians around the world, but there’s another guitarist from that country who is also making a much-deserved name for himself, and both will be playing in New York City on August 4. The Blind Couple from Mali, who hail from Bamako, are headlining a free SummerStage show in the afternoon in Central Park, while Sidi Touré, an extraordinary guitarist from Gao, will be at Joe’s Pub at 9:30, followed by a free show Monday night in Marcus Garvey Park with Afro-Cuban specialists the Pedrito Martinez Group and South Africa’s Wouter Kellerman. On his full-length debut, 2011’s Sahel Folk, Touré recorded duets in his sister’s Gao home, but on his follow-up, Koïma (Thrill Jockey, April 2012), which means “Go hear,” Touré has opted for a fuller sound, heading into a Bamako studio with a quintet and coming out with ten pristine tunes built around traditional Songhaï music blended with Western folk and blues, featuring Touré and Oumar Konaté on guitar, Alex Baba on calabash, Charles-Eric Charrier on bass, and Zumana Téreta on sokou. Touré, who was born into a noble Malian lineage, is joined by female vocalist Leïla Gobi for sweet harmonies and beautiful conversational back-and-forths on such standout tracks as “Maïmouna,” “Woy tiladio (Beautiful Woman, Goddess of Water),” and “Ishi tanmaha (They No Longer Hope).” Although not related to his late fellow countryman Ali Farka Touré, Sidi Touré is well on his way to establishing himself as another Malian musician making his mark on the world music scene.
SUMMERSTAGE: AMADOU & MARIAM
Amadou & Mariam will lead their own unique celebration of world music in Central Park on August 4
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park
Saturday, August 4, free, 3:00
212-360-2777
www.summerstage.org
www.amadou-mariam.com
For more than thirty years, Amadou and Mariam, the Blind Couple from Mali, have been making beautiful music together, combining the personal with the political in singing about love, compassion, freedom, social change, and good times. Both born in Bamako, guitarist Amadou Bagayoko, who lost his sight when he was sixteen, and vocalist Mariam Doumbia, who lost hers when she was five, met at the Institute for the Blind and got married in 1980. They’ve recorded seven studio albums together since 1998, displaying their intoxicating take on world music and Afro-blues while compiling a growing list of international musicians who have recorded with them. Their latest album, Folila (Nonesuch, April 2012), which means “music,” was originally going to be two very different discs, one recorded in Bamako with traditional Mali musicians, the other in New York with indie superstars, but instead it merged into one stellar collection of twelve songs featuring such special guests as Santigold, Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters, Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, members of Antibalas, Ebony Bones, Abdallah Oumbadougou, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, and Theophilus London, among others. They also collaborated on most of the record with controversial French musician Bertrand Cantat, the former leader of Noir Désir who killed his girlfriend, popular French actress Marie Trintignant, in 2003 and was paroled in 2007 after spending less than half of his eight-year sentence in prison. On the bluesy “Oh Amadou,” one of the three songs with prominent vocals from Cantat, they sing, “There are happy days / There are miserable days / There are moments of pleasure / There are moments of suffering.” Although they do get serious, they also know how to have plenty of fun. “We’re here to cheer people up and make them happy,” they explain on “Dougou Badia,” which features Santigold, continuing, “Life’s about having fun / It’s about joy and celebration.” It all comes together most fabulously on “C’est Pas Facile Pour Les Aigles,” with Amadou and Mariam joined by Ebony Bones for a rollicking song sung in multiple languages and taking on such topics as racism and immigration. The Mali duo will be headlining a free SummerStage show in Central Park on August 4 at 3:00, on a bill with funky Kenyan quartet Just a Band and Trinidad-born Brooklyn rapper London, who is likely to join Amadou and Mariam on their Folila collaboration, “Nebe Miri.”
HONG KONG DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL
Twenty-second annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival takes place this weekend in Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Saturday, August 3, and Sunday, August 4, free, 8:30 am – 6:00 pm
718-767-1776
www.hkdbf-ny.org
More than twenty-three hundred years ago, ailing and exiled Chinese minister and master poet Qu Yuan walked into the Miluo River, intent on ending his life via ritual suicide. His followers’ race to save him, and to honor his spirit by throwing dumplings into the water, is the folklore behind the annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, taking place this weekend in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. More than 170 teams will be participating in seventy-five races over the two days, in special dragon boats that can hold as many as twenty crewmembers. The festivities also include live music and dance, martial arts demonstrations, food booths, and a family-friendly arts and crafts tent featuring calligraphy, rice doll making, kite making, origami, bead stringing, and more. The performances begin on Saturday morning at 10:30 with the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York and continue with Lion Dancers from Zhanjian at 12:45, the Bailen Brothers at 1:30, Shaolin Masters at 2:30, and Dana Leong and His Music, with MC iLLspokiNN, at 3:30. Sunday’s lineup gets under way at 10:00 with Mariachi Aguila y Plata, followed by Dance China NY at 10:30, the Lion Dancers at 11:00, Napua Davoy’s Brave New World at 12 noon, Shaolin Masters at 1:00, and Ballet Folklórico Nuevo Amanecer de Jesus Cortez at 2:00.