this week in music

FIRST SATURDAYS: VISHNU

“Vishnu Saving the Elephant (Gajendra Moksha),” opaque watercolor and gold on paper, India, mid-eighteenth century (collection of Kenneth and Joyce Robbins)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Saturday, July 2, 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 free First Saturday program for July celebrates the opening of “Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior” with a series of special programs and events on July 2. The evening honoring the gentle god begins at 5:00 with a live musical performance by Falu and continues at 6:00 with traditional dance and storytelling courtesy of the Kathak Ensemble. Also at 6:00, Clean Penny Service will clean visitors’ dirty pennies, in conjunction with Skylar Fein’s installation “Black Lincoln for Dooky Chase.” The monthly Hands-on Art workshop (6:30-8:30) will teach attendees to sculpt a Vishnu avatar. At 7:00, curator of Asian Art Joan Cummins will give a talk on the Vishnu exhibit. But things really get going with an Independence Day dance party at 8:00 with the Freedom Party NYC and DJs Cosi, Herbert Holler, and Marc Smooth. But if that gets too hot and heavy for you, there’s also a concert of traditional Indian music about Vishnu at 8:30, courtesy of the RagaChitra Foundation. The galleries stay open until 11:00, so be sure to check out “reOrder: An Architectural Environment by Situ Studio,” “Lorna Simpson: Gathered,” Sam Taylor-Wood’s “Ghosts,” “Body Parts: Ancient Egyptian Fragments and Amulets,” and “Four Bathers by Degas and Bonnard” in addition to the above-mentioned exhibitions and the permanent collection. (Note: Some programs require free advance tickets.)

MUSIC AT CASTLE CLINTON: LAURIE ANDERSON & BILL LASWELL

Laurie Anderson will team up with Bill Laswell for an evening of musical experimentation and exploration at Castle Clinton (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL
Castle Clinton, Battery Park
Thursday, June 30, free, 7:00
212-835-2789
www.rivertorivernyc.com
www.laurieanderson.com

Last July, violinist and multimedia performance artist Laurie Anderson played an intimate show at (le) poisson rouge in support of her most recent album, Homeland (Nonesuch, July 2010), joined by Material’s Bill Laswell on bass, Rob Burger on keyboards and accordion, and Antibalas’s Colin Stetson on various saxes and other brass instruments. Anderson and Laswell, who have been playing together in myriad conglomerations since the mid-1980s, will team up yet again on June 30 at Castle Clinton for a free outdoor concert consisting of improvised beats and melodies that should be fascinating, liable to go off in any number of directions. Free tickets will be given out starting at 5:00 for the 7:00 show.

CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE

Justin Townes Earle will headline a terrific triple bill at free Celebrate Brooklyn! festival on June 30

Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park West & Ninth St.
Thursday, June 30, free (suggested donation $3), 7:00
www.justintownesearle.com
www.bricartsmedia.org

Justin Townes Earle has some good advice for this Thursday. “Tired of laying in bed, listening to the water run / Ceiling’s falling in, Baby’s dress is covered in dust / So I don’t care what it costs, Baby, dust that old thing off / It’s one more night in Brooklyn, Baby, we’re getting lost,” he declares on his most recent album, Harlem River Blues (Bloodshot, September 2010). The follow-up to 2009’s outstanding Midnight at the Movies, the latest disc is another fine collection of country bluegrass folk blues, cut from the tradition of his namesake, Townes Van Zandt, his hero, Woody Guthrie, and his father, Steve Earle. Born in Nashville and currently residing in Lower Manhattan, JTE has inherited more than just his father’s songwriting skill; like his activist pop, he has also battled drug abuse and the law. But the future is still bright for Earle, who was named Best New/Emerging Artist at the 2009 Americana Music Awards. “I’m the son of a railroad man,” he sings on “Working for the MTA,” adding, “This ain’t my daddy’s train.” Justin Townes Earle will be playing Celebrate Brooklyn! on June 30 on a terrific triple bill that also includes the Punch Brothers and the Hackensaw Boys; look for Earle to dedicate his acoustic cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Racing in the Street” to Clarence Clemons.

SONGS OF LIFE: COMPASSION IN ACTION

The National Philharmonic will be part of the second Songs of Life Festival at Lincoln Center on June 26

Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Columbus Ave at 65th St.
Sunday, June 26, $25-$65, 3:00
803-545-4167
www.songsoflife.org

Founded in 2008 by Kalin and Sharon Tchonev, Songs of Life: Compassion in Action honors the Bulgarian rescue of 49,000 Jews from the Nazis during WWII. Following performances in Washington, DC, and Boston, the organization’s latest presentation, the newly commissioned oratorio “A Melancholy Beauty,” comes to Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center on Sunday afternoon, in a production by composer Georgi Andreev, lyricist Scott Cairns, contributing author Aryeh Finklestein, and conductor Henry H. Leck. Featuring Bulgarian folk instruments, costumes, dance, and traditional and orchestral music, it will be performed by the National Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Children Choir, the Victor Valley College Singers and the Master Arts Chorale, the Philip Kutev National Folklore Ensemble, and KHORIKOS, NYC, with soloists Neli Atanasova Andreeva (soprano), Charles David Osborne (tenor), and David Kravitz (bartitone). In addition, Osborne will premiere his motet “Whosoever Saves a Single Life,” and festival conductors Leck, Jesse Peckham, and Thomas Miller and artistic director Andreev will lead an a cappella program. Songs of Life is a very personal mission for the Tchonevs; Kalin is from Bulgaria, while Sharon is an Israeli who had two grandparents among those rescued. Their goals for the event include promoting tolerance and diversity, building bridges between cultures, fighting social injustice, and “reversing the trend that seeks to erase the memory of past genocides, holocausts, and any kind of killing field.”

NYC PRIDE 2011

Gay pride weekend is always filled with lots of colorful events (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple locations
June 25-26, free – $125
www.nycpride.org

With the battle over same-sex marriage once again coming to a head in New York, expect this year’s gay pride weekend to be as political as ever, with plenty of people dressed in traditional — and nontraditional — wedding garb. Saturday night’s Rapture on the River: A Women’s Dance ($25-$75) at Pier 54 in Hudson River Park features comedians, a wet T-shirt concert, and music from DJs Susan Levine and Mary Mac. The VIP Rooftop Party at the newly renovated Hudson Terrace on West 48th St. is sold out, but there might be a few $50 tickets available at the door so you can party with Jessica & Hunter, DJs Dan DeLeon and Tracy Young, and hot dudes in sexy briefs. This year’s March takes place Sunday beginning at 36th St. & Fifth Ave. and continuing to Christopher & Greenwich, led by Grand Marshals Dan Savage & Terry Miller and Rev. Pat Bumgardner. Since 1970, the March has been an annual celebration of gay culture as well as an integral civil rights demonstration; this year’s theme is “Proud and Powerful.” Also on Sunday, the PrideFest street fair on Hudson St. between Abingdon Sq. & West Fourteenth consists of vendors, live entertainment, and special activities; among those performing at StageFest 2011 will be Grace Garland, Kylie Edmond, Luthea Salom, Nhojj, Reina Williams, Sean 360X, Robin Cloud, Dawn Tallman, JFortino, and Melissa Li & the Barely Theirs, hosted by emcee Tyler Alyxander. As always, things conclude Sunday night with Dance on the Pier ($75-$125), which turns twenty-five this year with DJs Ana Paula, Lina, and Vito Fun and an early performance by Wynter Gordon in addition to fireworks; the official after-party (free admission) will be held at the Griffin on Gansevoort St., with DJ Corey Craig and guest hosts Ted Shields, Justin Russo, Quinton Payton, Kuntu Dequian, Sasha Seven, and Wilson Cruz.

JAMS FOR JOPLIN

Tenth Rail
413 Tenth Ave. at 33rd St.
Thursday, June 23, suggested donation $10, 6:00 – 9:00
www.facebook.com/event
www.american.redcross.org

Jamband veteran Greg Merritt, whose latest project is Heavy Road, and producer and songwriter Mark Marshall (Merge, New Eye) are teaming up June 23 for a special show at Tenth Rail benefiting the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to help those affected by the deadly tornado in Joplin, Missouri. They’ll be playing acoustic covers of songs by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, and others, in addition to original improvisations. Admission is free but they are requesting a suggested donation of $10 to help the many victims of the tornado. There will also be $5 drink specials until 8:00.

SEE A LITTLE LIGHT WITH BOB MOULD

Bob Mould will shed a lot of light on his life and times June 23 at 92YTribeca (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

AN EVENING OF READING AND MUSIC
92YTribeca
200 Hudson St. at Canal St.
Thursday, June 23, $25, 9:00
212-415-5500
www.92YTribeca.org
www.bobmould.com

On his most recent record, 2009’s Life and Times, Bob Mould sang, “What the fuck, what kicked up all this dust / taking me back to the places I left behind / the old life and times.” The postpunk icon, who went from the seminal Hüsker Dü in the 1980s to the fierce Sugar in the ’90s to a solo career and nightclub DJ this past decade, further examines his life and times in his just-released memoir, See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody (Little, Brown, June 15, $24.99). In the book, Mould discusses childhood abuse, his homosexuality, drug and alcohol addiction, and his deep love of championship wrestling and music; he began writing songs when he was nine and has, thankfully, never stopped. He’ll be at 92YTribeca on June 23, reading from his book, playing songs, and talking about his life in an intimate gathering that should be simply fascinating and extremely entertaining. Whether blasting loud music till black stuff oozes out his ears or revealing unique aspects of his life, Mould never disappoints.