this week in music

THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: SUMMER HD FESTIVAL

HD festival gives opera lovers the chance to catch free screenings of recent Met performances

Lincoln Center, Josie Robertson Plaza
Columbus Ave. at 63rd St.
August 29 – September 5, free, starting time between 7:15 and 8:30
212-769-7028
www.metoperafamily.org

Hurricane Irene might have forced the cancellation of the first two nights of the Met’s Summer HD Festival, but the fat lady has not sung quite yet. Every night from August 29 through September 5, the Metropolitan Opera Guild will be presenting a free screening by the fountain in Josie Robertson Plaza of a previous Met performance, each one preceded at 3:00, 4:00, or 6:00 by an indoor ticketed lecture ($8-$12) given by a member of the Community Programs staff. (Many of these talks are already sold out, so be sure to get your tickets in advance.) Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra were stormed out, so the festival gets under way Monday night, August 29, at 8:30 with Susan Graham and Plácido Domingo in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, recorded live this past February. On August 30, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna star in Puccini’s La Rondine (8:00) from January 2009, while August 30 features a February 2011 performance of John Adams’s Nixon in China (7:45), a collaboration with Peter Sellars. On September 1, Elīna Garanča and Alagna appear in Bizet’s Carmen (7:45), directed by Richard Eyre, from January 2010. The next night, Deborah Voigt gives her all in a January 2011 performance of Puccini’s La Fanciulla Del West (8:00). Stephen Wadsworth’s new production of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, from October 2010 with René Pape, will be shown on September 3 (7:15), with Natalie Dessay in Mary Zimmerman’s version of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (8:00), from March 2011, screening on September 4. The series concludes on Labor Day at 7:15 with Verdi’s Don Carlo, directed by Nicholas Hytner, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and starring Alagna, Marina Poplavskaya, Ferruccio Furlanetto, and Simon Keenlyside, filmed on December 11, 2010.

CANCELED: AFRO-PUNK FESTIVAL 2011

Das Racist was supposed close Saturday’s Afro-Punk Festival on the Bites&Beats Stage, but the two-day festival has now been canceled because of the hurricane

Commodore Barry Park
Park Ave., Navy St., Flushing Ave. & North Eliot Pl., Brooklyn
Saturday, August 27, and Sunday, August 28, free, 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
www.afropunk.com
www.nycgovparks.org

[ed note: We have just gotten word on Friday at 11:00 am that both days of the Afro-Punk Festival have been canceled, with further information on possible rescheduling to come.]

With the approach of Hurricane Irene, most outdoor events in the city taking place on Sunday have been canceled in advance, but as of this writing the seventh annual Afro-Punk Festival is on for both days this weekend, with an amazing lineup of acts and special activities. Held in Commodore Barry Park in Brooklyn, the free festivities include live performances on Saturday by Ninjasonik, Bad Rabbits, Reggie Watts, Gordon Voidwell, Toro y Moi, Gym Class Heroes, Das Racist, and Santigold, with Sunday’s roster highlighted by Cerebral Ballzy, Kenna, Fishbone, Res, Janelle Monae, Joi, Tamar-kali, Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely, and Cee Lo Green as well as lots of the city’s hottest DJs. There will be a market with booths from the Brooklyn Circus, Coup D’etat, Harriet’s Alter Ego, Freedom Star, Nakimul, Daf.Nei, Montgomery, Metal Taboo, Hot Trash Vintage, Noir A-Go Go, and more, and the Bites & Beats Food Trucks will feature noshes from such mobile eateries as Joyride, Mexicue, Cookies n Cream, Frites ‘n’ Meats, Desi, Two Pitas in a Pod, Rickshaw Dumpling, Kelvin Natural Slush, Taim, Eddie’s Pizza, Bian Dang, Green Pirate Juice, Schnitzel & Things, and Wooly’s Ice. And hotshots will fight it out in the Nike Battle for the Streets Skate and BMX Competition, with Nigel Sylvester and P-Rod on hand. Meanwhile, artists such as Coby Kennedy, Alice Mizrachi, Toofly, Rimx, Rob Fokused, Rip Josama, Baja Uk Weli, Lichiban, and See One will contribute to a wall mural over a large-scale photograph of Afro-punk kids taken by Barron Claiborne, and the Afro-Punk Denim & Chrome Custom Bike Show & Calendar Shoot will collect some awesome rides.

RYAN TRECARTIN: ANY EVER

Ryan Trecartin’s “Any Ever” consists of unique viewing environments in which to watch his rather unique films (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave.
Thursday – Monday through September 5, 12 noon – 6:00 pm
Suggested admission: $10 (free for MoMA ticket holders within thirty days of ticket)
718-784-2084
www.ps1.org
summer open house sneak peek

Texas native Ryan Trecartin has come along at just the right time, the go-to artist for the YouTube / reality TV generation. The thirty-year-old multimedia artist makes color-drenched, amateurish films featuring himself and his friends in wacky outfits, speaking in high-pitched voices as they comment on various sociopolitical themes in crazy ways. For “Any Ever,” his exhibition at PS1 that continues through September 3, Trecartin has created individual viewing environments for seven of his films created between 2007 and 2010 in Miami, made in collaboration with Lizzie Fitch. Divided into two sections, Trill-ogy Comp, consisting of K-CoreaINC.K (section a), Sibling Topics (section a), and P.opular S.ky (section ish), and Re’Search Wait’S, comprising Ready, The Re’Search, Roamie View: History Enhancement, and Temp Stop, the exuberant films are set amid a partying world that celebrates gender identity and individuality while attacking global corporate culture, transumerism, and market research. The works are projected in sculptural viewing areas that often incorporate elements of the films, including airline seats, a white conference table, bleachers, comfortable raised couches, and other playful milieus. With “Any Ever,” Trecartin has created a loud, frenetic, in-your-face world that is one heckuva fun party, even if it gets repetitive when taken in all at once.

Don’t let the calm, relaxing entrance area fool you; Ryan Trecartin’s “Any Ever” multimedia installation is about to get a lot crazier (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

On August 31, MoMA PS1 will host a PopRally closing party for the exhibit, with MC Akeem_Ouch, live performances by AraabMUZIK, Glass Popcorn, and #HDBOYZ, guided tours of the show led by Veronica Gelbaum (who plays “Ready” in Re’Search Wait’S), appearances by Spicee Cajun, Raul de Nieves as Lindsay Lohan, DJs Telfar, Physical Therapy, and Fatima Al Qadiri, and other very strange guests. You can also catch “Any Ever” — as well as “Francis Alÿs: A Story of Deception” (through September 12) and “Summer School presents Gus Van Sant and James Franco: My Own Private River” (through August 29) — at the final Warm Ups of the season, with Tanlines, NguzuNguzu, Teengirl Fantasy, Sun Araw, and Physical Therapy on August 27 (which has just been canceled, as PS1 will be closed on Saturday and Sunday because of Hurricane Irene) and Horse Meat Disco, Midnight Magic, Justin Miller, and BICEP on September 3, taking place in Interboro Partners’ “Holding Pattern” courtyard installation.

STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS: FREE ACOUSTIC IN-STORE PERFORMANCES

Thursday, August 25
Academy Annex, 95 North Sixth St., 718-218-8200, 6:00
Other Music, 15 East Fourth St., 212-477-8150, 9:00
www.matadorrecords.com

On “Tigers,” the opening track on Mirror Traffic (Matador, August 23, 2011), the brand-new album from Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Malkmus sings, “Trust me because I’m worth hating.” We’ve been trusting the king of indie pop since the early 1990s, when he was blowing our minds with such records as Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain as leader of the seminal band Pavement. We hated when that group broke up, but they recently got back together and are rereleasing expanded editions of their classic discs, so it’s all good again. It’s also good that Malkmus’s fifth album with the Jicks, which currently also includes guitarist Mike Clark, bassist Joanna Bolme, and drummer Jake Morris, is another terrific effort, filled with pop gem after pop gem. On “Senator,” Malkmus may claim, “My duty to the Republique / is to use double speak because the Halo’s off,” but there’s little double speak by the indie god on these fifteen songs, from “No One (Is As I Are Be)” and “Brain Gallop” to “Stick Figures in Love” and “Gorgeous Georgie.” The songs travel all over the indie spectrum, sometimes within a single song, courtesy of another indie god, Beck, who produced the record. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks will be at Terminal 5 on September 26 with Holy Sons, but you don’t have to wait that long to see them, as they’ll be doing free in-store acoustic performances on August 25 at Academy Annex in Williamsburg at 6:00 and Other Music at 9:00, first come, first served. And as of this posting on August 24, you can stream the new album for free on NPR by clicking here.

U.S. OPEN QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT & MORE

The U.S. Open will turn on the lights for this year’s qualifying tournament August 23-27 — and admission is free (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Qualifying tournament: August 23-27, free
Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day: August 28, $10-$44
U.S. Open Championship: August 29 – September, $52 – $1,013
www.usopen.org
www.nywatertaxi.com/tennis-ferry

The draws are just about to be announced for the 2011 U.S. Open, which runs August 29 through September 11, but you don’t have to wait until then to see some fine tennis. The qualifying tournament gets under way today at 11:00 am and continues through Friday, with 128 men and 128 women from around the world trying to play their way into the annual championship, and admission is free, a far cry from the lofty prices for the real deal beginning next week. You can also get ready by attending Saturday’s sixteenth annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, with special children’s activities, autograph sessions, tennis clinics, and appearances by tennis stars as well as actor Bradley Cooper and Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony and musical performances by Jason Derulo, Cody Simpson, Diggy Simmons, Jessica Jarrell, Mindless Behavior, Girls Nite Out, Action Item, Jacob Latimore, and others. And on Sunday, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will be open for free, allowing fans to walk the grounds and check out the players getting in their final practices before the tournament gets under way on Monday. To continue the less expensive side of the U.S. Open, Delta has teamed up with New York Water Taxi to offer free Tennis Taxi rides from the South Street Seaport and East 35th St. throughout the championship (August 29 – September 11), leaving twice a day, at 9:30/9:45 and 5:30/5:45, with large-screen TVs on board and special cocktails available. (If you want to guarantee a seat, you can reserve a ticket online for a $1 fee.)

CROOKED FINGERS: BREAKS IN THE ARMOR

Crooked Fingers’ Breaks in the Armor is due from Merge Records on October 11 and the band will be at Maxwell’s on November 3 and Mercury Lounge on November 4, but you can check out the album trailer above right now. For more on Crooked Fingers, click here.

BLUES BBQ 2011

New Orleans funksters Bonerama headline August 21 Blues BBQ on Pier 54

Hudson River Park, Pier 54
West 14th St. & the Hudson River
Sunday, August 21, free, 2:00 – 9:00
www.hudsonriverpark.org

Rain or shine, the twelfth annual Blues BBQ will be held this afternoon on Pier 54 in Hudson River Park, featuring a slew of good eats and good music. Blues performances kick off at 2:30 with Marquise Knox, followed by Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley (3:45), Walter Trout (5:00), Shakura S’Aida (6:15), and New Orleans brass funk rockers Bonerama (7:30), who have been known to cover such great tunes as the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and “Yer Blues,” Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin’” and “Let the Four Winds Blow,” the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post,” and the Grateful Dead jam “The Other One > Dark Star.” Providing the smoked meat treats are such local favorites as Brother Jimmy’s BBQ, Daisy Dukes BBQ, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, and Ember Room.