this week in music

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.

HARLEM DAY: NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Sunday, August 21, 10:00 am – 7:00 pm
West 135th St. between Fifth Ave. & Malcolm X Blvd.
www.harlemweek.com

Harlem Week, which actually runs through July and August, presents Harlem Day on Sunday, featuring a full slate of diverse activities, most of them free, with the theme “New York, New York.” On the schedule are the Small Business Expo, the Upper Manhattan Auto Show, the International Exhibitors & Vendors Village, the NY City Health Village, and the NY City Children’s Festival. Among the live performances on the Fifth Ave. and St. Nicholas stages will be a thirtieth anniversary celebration of KISS-FM, with musical tributes hosted by Felix Hernandez, while the YMCA stage will include an Open Line KISS-FM radio broadcast, a Back to School fashion show, dance, spoken word, R&B, jazz, reggae, and more. Harlem Week continues this month with a Jazzmobile screening of Oscar Micheaux’s 1920 silent film Within Our Gates with a musical score by Wycliffe Gordon on Friday night at the Miller Theater, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival on August 27 in Marcus Garvey Park with Toots Thielemans, James Carter, Tia Fuller, and Cecile McLorin Salvant, the ImageNation Outdoor Film Festival screening of the Michael Jackson film This Is It in St. Nicholas Park also on August 27, and several special Amateur Nights at the Apollo.

JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD

Jake Orrall, shredding it up last year at Santos Party House, will be at (le) poisson rouge with brother Jake on Sunday night (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

(le) poisson rouge
158 Bleecker St.
Sunday, August 21, $18, 7:00
212-228-4854
www.myspace.com/jeffthebrotherhood
www.lepoissonrouge.com

Nashville duo Jeff the Brotherhood, consisting of Orrall brothers Jamin on three drums and three cymbals and Jake on three-string guitar, play a dizzying blend of psychedelic postpunk garage power pop that explodes on record and onstage. Making music since their high school days ten years ago, JTB is on the road in support of their latest disc, the instantaneously affecting We Are the Champions (Infinity Cat, June 2011), the follow-up to their 2009 breakthrough, Heavy Days. Featuring such killer tracks as “Cool Out,” “Bummer,” “Mellow Out,” “Stay Out Late,” and “Shredder” (and no hint anywhere of the overused Queen classic), the brothers Orrall, well, shred their way through thirty-four minutes of unabashed rock-and-roll fury, evoking the Ramones and the Replacements (and even Weezer) as they cut it loose and fast. On “Ripper” they repeat, “I don’t wanna,” but you’re definitely gonna wanna check them out when they play (le) poisson rouge on August 21, curiously sandwiched between legendary doom metal band Pentagram, which just released Last Rites, their first record in seven years, and North Carolina heavy metal acolytes Valient Thorr. When we saw JTB last year at Santos Party House, they tore the place apart, with Jake ripping it up on top of the bar and going deep into the crowd as Jamin kept pounding away on his kit. Sure, they’re playing on a Sunday night at LPR, but as they say on the new album, “I know everybody stays up late,” so don’t worry about work Monday morning and have a blast.

SUMMER STREETS 2011

Fifth annual Summer Streets program opens up thoroughfares from Park & 72nd to the Brooklyn Bridge (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge
Saturday, August 20, 7:00 am – 1:00 pm
www.nyc.gov

The final of three Summer Streets days takes place today from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm, as walkers, runners, bike riders, joggers, skateboarders, and other people not using motorized vehicles (we’re not sure about Segways) can travel from Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge without having to navigate through buses, taxis, cars, trucks, and other gas-guzzling traffic menaces. Beginning at Park Ave. & 72nd St. and making its way down Park Ave. to Lafayette St. before turning toward the bridge, Summer Streets will feature five rest stops with special activities, including tai chi classes, salsa and bachata lessons, and a live performance by Still Saffire at Park & 51st; safety demonstrations, a picnic area, and bike helmet giveaways at Park & 25th; a health and fitness zone at Astor Pl. & Lafayette; an adventure zone with a rock climbing wall, yoga, and flat fixing workshops at Spring St. & Lafayette; and sand sculpting, music and dance performances (Les Racquet, Still Saffire, NJ Nets Dancers, National Double Dutch League), and FringeNYC sneak peeks at Foley Square (Duane & Centre Sts.), among other events at each location. Even if you’re not interested in any of the special activities, just getting outside and looking down a Park Ave. filled with people enjoying the six hours of freedom is energizing and contagious.

ICEAGE

Scandinavian teenage postpunk quartet Iceage is back for two area shows promoting debut album

Saturday, August 20, Cake Shop, $10, 8:00
Monday, August 22, Mercury Lounge, $10, 9:30
www.myspace.com/egaeci

Speeding by at Ramones-like speed, Scandinavian postpunk quartet Iceage’s debut album, New Brigade (What’s Your Rupture?, June 2011), consists of eleven propulsive tracks that clock in at barely more than twenty-five minutes. The Danish teens play a furious mix of Joy Division, the Clash, the Pogues, and the Black Lips, adding in a flurry of black metal, on such songs as “White Rune,” “Teeth Crush,” “Total Drench,” and “Collapse.” Elias Bender Rønnenfelt sings in English, accompanied by Johan Surrballe Wieth on guitar, Jakob Tvilling Pless on bass, and Dan Kjaer Nielsen on drums. Chaotic flourishes power “Eyes” and “Broken Bone,” while a sirenlike wailing guitar sears across “Never Return.” And through it all, Nielsen’s slightly muffled, exhilarating drumming pounds away at your body. “I lie in a pool of spit and fear / But I won’t stay weak or hurt or shattered,” Rønnenfelt sings on the album closer, “You’re Blessed,” and it’s impossible not to get caught up in his youthful exuberance. Iceage will be playing Cake Shop on August 20 with YOU. and Frank (just Frank) and Mercury Lounge on August 22 with Hoax and Hank Wood and the Hammerheads.