this week in music

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.

BANNERS & CRANKS: A CANTASTORIA FESTIVAL

Cantastoria festival harkens back to the old days of storytelling June 22-26 at HERE

Here
145 Sixth Ave. at Dominick St.
June 22-26, $20 (festival 2-pass $30)
866-811-4111
www.here.org

The downtown venue HERE often highlights cutting-edge experimental theater and dance, but it is going back to the technology-free past with Banners & Cranks: A Cantastoria Festival. Curated by Theater Oobleck’s Dave Buchen and Bread & Puppet’s Clare Dolan, the series runs June 22 to 26, consisting of old-fashioned storytelling using home-made costumes, arts & crafts, puppets, and live music. Divided into such thematic sections as “Boom or Bust,” “Beggars & Choosers,” “Slap & Tickle,” “Phobia & Fetish,” and “Sink & Swim,” the lineup includes the Dolly Wagglers, Chinese Theatre Works, Ramshackle Enterprises, the Bros. Harrell, the Whiskey Spitters, Great Small Works, Possibilitarian Puppet & Mask Theater, Mouth of the Wolf, and other individuals and companies. Tickets for all shows are $20, but if you use the discount code CRANKY15 they’re only $15 for a limited time.

TICKET GIVEAWAY — ROOFTOP FILMS: HOME MOVIES AND COMMERCIAL KINGS

Rooftop Films will be presenting a sneak peek at Rhett & Link’s new IFC series, COMMERCIAL KINGS, Thursday night in Williamsburg

Crown Vic backyard
60 South Second St. at Wythe Ave.
Thursday, June 23, $10, 8:00
www.rooftopfilms.com

Since 1997, Rooftop Films has been screening shorts and feature-length works, paired with live indie music, in outdoor areas all around New York City, from parks and high school lawns to open spaces and, yes, rooftops. The nonprofit’s 2011 summer season is once again filled with international works curated into thematic programs. Next up is Thursday night’s “Home Movies and Commercial Kings,” held at the soon-to-open backyard of the Crown Vic in Williamsburg, an evening of self-documentation films that offer unique, personal views of life and family, including Giancarlo Iannotta’s My Big Red Purse (Chicago), David Levy’s Grandpa Looked Like William Powell (Brooklyn), Charles Fairbanks’s Wrestling with My Father (Massachusetts), Dustin Guy Defa’s Family Nightmare (Salt Lake City), Mikhail Zheleznikov’s For Home Viewing, (Russia), Jenn E. Norton’s Wee Requiem (Canada), Paul Shoebridge and Michael Simons’s Welcome to Pine Point (Canada), and a sneak peek of Rhett & Link’s new IFC series, Commercial Kings. Au Revoir Simone’s Erika Spring, whose first single, “6 More Weeks,” is due out next month, will play a live set at 8:30, with the films following at 9:00 and an open-bar after-party at 11:30. Chairs are limited, but you are encouraged to bring a blanket to sit on.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Tickets are $10, but twi-ny has ten pairs to give away for free. To be eligible to win, just send your name and daytime phone number to contest@twi-ny.com by Wednesday, June 22, at 5:00 pm. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; ten winners will be selected at random.

THE BOTTOM LINE PRESENTS NEW YORK ON MY MIND

Rosanne Cash will think back on the great days of the Bottom Line at special free show June 22 in World Financial Center Winter Garden (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

River to River Festival
World Financial Center Winter Garden
220 Vesey St.
Wednesday, June 22, free, 7:00
www.rivertorivernyc.com
www.bottomlinecabaret.com

In April 1974, childhood friends Allan Pepper and Stanley Snadowski, who used to book acts at Folk City, opened the Bottom Line Cabaret, at the corner of Mercer & West Fourth St., with a series of shows by Buffy Sainte-Marie. For nearly thirty years, the club hosted some of the best in rock, pop, jazz, blues, and country, with a specialty in unique singer-songwriters. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played a historic set of concerts at the Bottom Line in August 1975, Lou Reed recorded his scathing Take No Prisoners live album there in 1978, and other performers over the years included Miles Davis, Tom Waits, Barry Manilow, Melissa Etheridge, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Emmylou Harris, Muddy Waters, Patti Smith, Taj Mahal, Gil Scott-Heron, Steve Earle, Bob Mould, Richard Thompson, Captain Beefheart, and David Johansen, both with the New York Dolls and as lounge lizard Buster Poindexter. On June 22, the River to River Festival will pay tribute to one of New York City’s greatest-ever music venues, which was forced to close in 2004 when NYU took over its lease, with a free show featuring a cast of Bottom Line vets at the World Financial Center Winter Garden (the venue has moved from Rockefeller Park because of the weather). The stellar lineup includes Rosanne Cash (who first played the club in March 1981), Marshall Crenshaw (June 1982), the GrooveBarbers, Garland Jeffreys (May 1978), Willie Nile (April 1980), Martin Rivas, Suzzy and Lucy Wainwright Roche (April 1978), Catherine Russell (December 1999), “Idiot’s Delight” host Vin Scelsa (1990-95’s “In Their Own Words: A Bunch Of Songwriters Sittin’ Around Singing”), Loudon Wainwright III (August 1974), Dar Williams (June 1994), and additional guests to be announced, with Cash’s husband, John Leventhal, serving as musical director along with Mojo Mancini. The evening will be hosted by Sirius XM’s Meg Griffin, who first hosted a Bottom Line show back in April 1982, when she was a DJ at WNEW-FM. Titled “New York on My Mind,” this night promises to be a very special event, and you don’t have to worry about a post blocking your view — although with the change of venue indoors, a palm tree might get in your way.

SUMMER OPEN HOUSE

PS1 will celebrate summer with an open house today (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave.
Sunday, June 19, suggested admission $10 (free for LIC residents and MoMA admission ticket holders), 12 noon – 5:00 pm
718-784-2084
www.ps1.org
summer open house sneak peek

MoMA PS1 opens its summer season with an open house today, featuring art, music, drinks, and more. They will officially unveil the new courtyard installation, a fun and fancy-free design by Interboro Partners & WHATAMI by start called “Holding Pattern” that includes Ping-Pong, foosball, kiddie pools, a sandbox, oak and plum trees, white ribbons, and a cool mirror area, nearly all of which will be donated to the local community at the end of the summer. Today is also the opening of “Ryan Trecartin: Any Ever,” a series of wild rooms displaying Trecartin’s unique films that take an unusual look at contemporary culture. Among the other exhibitions on view is Laurel Nakadate’s “Only the Lonely,” in which the New York-based photographer and filmmaker comments on femininity, loneliness, sexuality, and desire, centering on human contact that is disappearing in this age of social media; her “365 Days: A Catalogue of Tears,” comprising large-scale photographs she took of herself crying every day for a year, is simply overwhelming. If you’ve never seen Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1973 highly spiritual freak-out, The Holy Mountain, PS1 is screening it daily at 12 noon, 2:00, and 4:00 through June 30, accompanied by the cult filmmaker’s wacky annotated screenplay. PS1 pays tribute to early female video pioneers in “Modern Women: Single Channel,” comprising seminal work by such cutting-edge artists as Lynda Benglis, Dara Birnbaum, VALIE EXPORT, Joan Jonas, Pipilotti Rist, and Carolee Schneeman, many of whom frequently turned the cameras on themselves well before there was any such thing as American Idol, Survivor, or The Amazing Race. It’ll be hard not to think of the Gimp from Pulp Fiction as you make your way around “Nancy Grossman: Heads,” comprising Grossman’s black-leather-wrapped bondage-like life-size head sculptures from the late 1960s and early 1970s. And the second half of the dual MoMA/PS1 exhibition “Francis Alÿs: A Story of Deception” is highlighted by the magnificent film Guards and a collection of camera guns in the café that you are allowed to pick up. Music will be provided by DJ Total Freedom, and artist Clifford Owens will give a special musical performance held all around PS1.

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL: DAY FOUR

Shark? made a big splash at last year’s Northside Festival and are back for more on Sunday (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Northside Festival
Multiple venues in Greenpoint and Williamsburg
June 16-19
www.northsidefestival.com

The Northside Festival is back June 16-19 following an outstanding launch last year. The festival features four days of indie music at venues all over Greenpoint and Williamsburg, in addition to film screenings and open art studios. There are hundreds of bands, so don’t get too frustrated if one of the shows you wanted to see is already sold out; festival badges are gone as well, but there’s still lots to choose from. We’ll be featuring highlights and recommendations every day of the festival; here are today’s as the festival comes to a close:

East River Ferry, East 34th St. and the East River to North Eighth St. in North Williamsburg, approximately every twenty minutes from 9:00 am to 8:30 pm, free through June 24

DIY Film Festival: Mumford Farms: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Soybeans (Anna Mumford) and Echotone (Nathan Christ), followed by Q&As with the directors, UnionDocs, 322 Union Ave., $9, 8:00

PopGun presents Doris Cellar (8:00), Cookies (8:45), Blair (9:30), Air Waves (10:15), Asobi Seksu (11:00), Glasslands Gallery, 289 Kent Ave., $15

NYCTaper & Pop Tarts Suck Toasted present the Loom (9:00), Shark? (10:00), Household (10:45), Neighbors (11:30), and Young Adults (12:45), Public Assembly back room, 70 North Sixth St., $10

Northside Open Studios: India Street Art Festival, with Strand, Snowmine, Appomattox, Conversations with Enemies, and Photon Dynamo & the Shiny Pieces, India St. between West St. & the East River, free, 12 noon – 5:00

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL: DAY THREE

Eleanor Friedberger will preview songs from her upcoming solo album tonight at Europa as part of the Northside Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Northside Festival
Multiple venues in Greenpoint and Williamsburg
June 16-19
www.northsidefestival.com

East River Ferry, East 34th St. and the East River to North Eighth St. in North Williamsburg, approximately every twenty minutes from 9:00 am to 8:30 pm, free through June 24

The Whatever Blog presents Small Mountain Path (3:00), Hooray for Goodbye (4:00), Little Wolf (5:00), the Senors of Marseille (6:00), and Nico Blues (7:00), with DJ Jesse Elliott of These United States, Red Star Bar, 37 Greenpoint Ave., $8

Smorgasburg, Brooklyn Flea food vendors including Queen’s Dahn Tu, Shorty Tang & Sons, La Buena, King’s Crumb, Nana’s, Tin Mustard, Speedy Romeo, and more, 27 North Sixth St., free admission, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Ground Control presents the Babies (4:00), Surfer Blood (5:00), Wavves (6:00), Guided by Voices (7:00), McCarren Park, the Steve Madden Stage, $35

Sundance Selects presents Tabloid (Errol Morris, 2010), IndieScreen, 289 Kent Ave., $10, 8:00

Tell All Your Friends presents Emil & Friends, the Yellow Dows, Thee Oh Sees album release show for Castlemania, plus surprise special guest, $10, doors at 6:00

Northside Open Studios Launch, with Crest Fest and Brooklyn Street Art, featuring Snowmine, Balún, Merrickans, DJ Liam Andrew, Walrus Ghost, Home Land installation by Sara Sun, Honesty Box Facebook confessional by Eva Navon, Metaforeign screening series curated by Sasha Summer, Rooftop Bikini Reading Series by Boomslang, and more, the End, 13 Greenpoint Ave., $7, 7:00 – 12 midnight

POP Montreal presents Spectre Folk (7:00), Rebecca Gates (7:40), Ida (8:20), special secret guest (9:00), Eleanor Friedberger (9:40), Europa, 98 Meserole Ave., $17