this week in music

THE MERMAID PARADE

The Mermaid Parade will march into the Coney Island sea on June 18

Coney Island
Parade starts at West 21st St. & Surf Ave., free, 2:00
After-party: New York Aquarium, $25, 7:00 – 11:30 pm
www.coneyisland.com

Whether you’re marching in it or just playing spectator, there is nothing quite like the Mermaid Parade. An annual tradition since 1983, harkening back to the Coney Island Mardi Gras, which was held from 1903 to 1954, the parade begins with classic antique cars before giving itself over to scantily clad sea creatures and very strange floats, making their way from West 21st St. & Surf Ave. at 2:00 and winding east to West 10th St., turning south to the boardwalk, and heading to Stillwell Ave., where King Neptune and Queen Mermaid will lead their minions into the sea. This year’s regal pair, following in the footsteps of such famed New Yorkers as David Byrne, Roz Chast, Harvey Keitel, Queen Latifah, David Johansen, and Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, are the Travel Channel’s Adam Richman and Talk Stoop’s awesome Cat Greenleaf. The Mermaid Parade Ball after-party will take place on the oceanic deck of the New York Aquarium, featuring members of the Coney Island Sideshow, burlesque performers (Little Brooklyn, Creamy Stevens, Lefty Lucy, Kat Mon Dieu, Princess Pat, Fem Appeal, Nasty Canasta, and Miss Dixievon Trixie), mermaids (Bambi the Mermaid, Julie Atlas Muz, Sita Lange, and Sasha the Fire Gypsy), live music (the Moto-Wrays and Labretta Suede and the Motel 6), go-go dancers (LaMaia, Mary Cyn, Dangerrr Doll, Evelyn Vinyl, Sarah Hassan, Celia Next Time, Fifi Dupree, and Marni Halasa), hula-hoopers (Justina Flash, Cosmic Swirl, and Sasha Fire Gypsy), magicians (Danny T, Gary Dreifus, and Lee Alan Barrett), the Gotham Synchro-Synchronized Swim Team, and other bizarre participants and activities.

CREST FEST ’11

The Crest Hardware Art Show, which has quickly become a Williamsburg tradition, kicks off its fourth year with a bevy of special activities and live performances on June 18 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Crest Hardware
558 Metropolitan Ave. between Lorimer & Union
Saturday, June 18, free, 1:00 – 7:00
Exhibit runs through July 30
www.cresthardwareartshow.com
2010 slideshow

You don’t have to know anything about hammers and nails, buzz saws and socket wrenches, to love the Crest Hardware Art Show. For the fourth year, the Brooklyn hardware store has invited more than one hundred artists to fill the fifteen-thousand-square-foot indoor and outdoor space with site-specific works, many of which use the tools of the trade in their compositions. So before reaching for that room freshener, lightbulb, or toilet seat, you better look twice, because it might not be your standard model; it could be a work of art. It’s a blast walking up and down the aisles and through the back garden, finding all the specially created pieces that appear on the shelves and on the walls like regular merchandise and are for sale, at relatively affordable prices. Curated by store manager Joe Franquinha, the son of the original owner, Manny, the show, which runs through July 30, kicks off June 18 with Crest Fest ’11, an afternoon of live music, food and drink, and various activities that benefit the City Reliquary Museum. This year’s music lineup features the Suzan, Emefe, Little Victory, and Gunfight!

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL: DAY TWO

CMJ and Siren veteran Dom will headline a special early show at Brooklyn Bowl tonight as part of Northside Festival (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:

Dom and special guests, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Ave., $7, 8:00 (free entry before 7:00)

Idolator presents Strike Me Down, with Deluka (11:00), Rye Rye (12 midnight), and Oh Land (1:00), Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Ave., $10

Animation Block Party presents short films, including Switch Today (Arjun Rihan), Orderly Confusion (Rob Bohn), Zombie (Garrett Koeppicus), Ledo and Ix Goes to Town (Emily Carmichael), Zombie Too (Jacob Ospa), T-Shirt Movie (Dane Smith), Book Girl (Jane Wu), WASP (Mari Jaye Blanchard), Pukebug (Jeremie Duval), In the Beginning (Choom), Vincent the Security Guard (Ashley Holzwasser), Mustache Contest (Mike Hollingsworth), Pinhead (Matt Lee), SEED (Ben Richardson and Daniel Bird), Progress as Promised (Ben Meinhardt), and The Poet (theAMIGOunit), followed by a Q&A with Mari Jaye Blanchard, Matt Lee, Rob Bohn, Josh Hetzler, and others, IndieScreen, $10, 6:00

PopGun presents Regal Degal (9:00), Sherlock’s Daughter (10:00), Brilliant Colors (11:00), and Frankie Rose (12 midnight), Glasslands Gallery, 289 Kent Ave., $12

Kanine Records presents Dream Diary (7:30), Zambri (8:15), Xray Eyeballs (9:00), Pepper Rabbit (9:45), Grooms (10:30), Eternal Summers (11:15), Surfer Blood (12 midnight), Knitting Factory, 361 Metropolitan Ave., $14

Heartfast Records presents Starscream (8:45), Hard Nips (9:30), Soft Circle (10:20), PIKA ☆ (11:15), Union Pool, 484 Union Ave., $8

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL: DAY ONE

Eternal Summers headlines NYC Popfest show at Bruar Falls June 16 at Northside Festival

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:

Tiger Mountain presents Hospitality (7:30), Lady Lamb the Beekeeper (8:20), Indian Rebound (9:10), Radical Dads album release show for Mega Rama (10:00), and Pursesnatchers (10:50), Union Pool, $8

Rooftop Films Presents: This Point in Time, including the short films Broad Channel (Sarah J. Christman), Train (Darius Clarke Munroe), The Voyagers (Penny Lane), Block (Chadd Harbold), Door Man (Andrew Goldman & Andrew Blackwell), Love Lockdown (Nadia Hallgren), and Welcome to Pine Point (Paul Shoebridge), followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers, IndieScreen, $10, 6:00

NYC Popfest presents Seapony (8:30), the Secret History (9:15), Reading Rainbow (10:00), and Eternal Summers (11:00), Bruar Falls, $10

Art & Real Estate: The Love/Hate Relationship, panel discussion about North Brooklyn arts community, with District Councilmember Stephen Levin, Hrag Vartanian, Marisa Sage, Jackie Moynahan, Ryan Kuonen, and David Pincus, Causey Contemporary, free, 7:00

HoZac Records presents Making Friendz (9:30), My Teenage Stride (10:30), Xray Eyeballs (11:30), K-Holes (12:30), Shea Stadium, $8

JUMP INTO THE GOSPEL

Jump into the Gospel is playing a Wednesday-night residency at Piano’s in June

Piano’s
158 Ludlow St.
Wednesday, June 15, 22, 29, $8-$10, 10:00
212-505-3733
wwwww.myspace.com/jumpintothegospel
www.pianosnyc.com

No, Jump into the Gospel is not a religious fundamental group trying to recruit new conservative zealots. Instead, it’s a crew of five dudes who play exhilarating synth power pop rooted in ’80s grandiosity. And rather than striving for the ultimate redemption, they only want what most of us do: a little wealth and success. “I like my investments / I want my humvee mansion / I steal all the children / goddamn, I need a pension,” Louis Epstein declares on the funky “Humvee Mansion,” from their self-titled debut EP that came out this past February (and is available for free download here). On “Photovoltaic,” guitarists Epstein and Ben Vescovi, bassist Lakis Pavlou, drummer Chris Stein, and keyboardist Erik Tonnesen play a ridiculously catchy hook that you’ll swear you’ve heard before, but don’t think too hard about it and just let it take you away. On their recently released pre-apocalyptic single, “2012,” Epstein sings, “The end’s not your friend”; no, for this up-and-coming New York City band, the beginning is looking a lot friendlier. JITG will be continuing a 10:00 Wednesday-night residency at Piano’s, where they’ll be playing June 15 with Imaginary Cities, the Stationary Set, Living Days, and the Twees, June 22 with Sleepy Vikings, the Stationary Set, the Rassle, and Prospector, and June 29 with Evan Donahue, Sleepy Vikings, the Stationary Set, Fort Lean, and the Hussle Club.

BIG APPLE BARBECUE BLOCK PARTY

Perhaps the weather will cut down the ridiculously long lines at annual Big Apple Barbecue in Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Madison Square Park
23rd to 26th Sts. between Fifth & Madison Aves.
Saturday, June 11, and Sunday, June 12, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Admission: free; $8 per plate of barbecue, $4 per dessert
www.bigapplebbq.org
www.madisonsquarepark.org

When it first began nine years ago, we were instantly addicted to the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, in which BBQ experts from around the country offered their delectable delights in a city starving for good ’cue. But soon the crowds became so ridiculous, the lines hours and hours long, that it just wasn’t worth it. And then the Union Square Hospitality Group, which sponsors the event in Madison Square Park, began selling a Fastpass a few years ago, a ticket that allows you to pay extra to cut the line — and then those lines started getting long as well. It all left a bad taste in the mouth, but we’re willing to give it another shot, all in the anticipation of fine barbecue; we’re also thinking that maybe the weather will keep a lot of people away. This year’s pitmasters include Joe Duncan from Baker’s Ribs in Dallas (St. Louis-style ribs), Mike Emerson from Pappy’s Smokehouse in St. Louis (baby back ribs), Chris Lilly from Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur (pulled pork shoulder), Patrick Martin from Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint in Nashville (western Tennessee-style whole hog), the ever-popular Mike Mills of 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro (baby backs), Raleigh’s Ed Mitchell (whole hog, all-natural whole turkey barbecue), Jimmy Hagood from BlackJack Barbecue in Charleston (pulled pork shoulder), Tommy Houston from the Checkered Pig in Danville (St. Louis-style ribs), Myron Nixon from Jack’s Old South in Unadilla (beef brisket), Garry Roark from Ubon’s Barbeque of Yazoo (pulled pork shoulder), Drew Robinson from Jim ‘N’ Nick’s Bar-B-Q in Birmingham (smoked sausage), and Michael Rodriguez from the Salt Lick Bar-B-Que in Driftwood (beef brisket sausage). There are also several booths from New York City, but we never understand why people would wait two or three hours to get a small plate of food from a restaurant they can go to anytime they want. Bambi Kino, Guitar Shorty, and Dale Watson will perform on Saturday, with Doug Wamble, Those Darlins, and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears playing on Sunday. Among the free seminars are “Corn: The Great Comrade,” “Dips & Drinks,” “The Raw Deal: Killer Sides from Raw Ingredients,” “Southern Living Fourth of July Feast,” “Kentucky Toast,” and “To Live and Die in Avoyelles Parish.”

BROOKLYN FOLK FESTIVAL 2011

Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC)
499 Van Brunt St.
June 10-12, $20 per day, $55 weekend pass
718-596-2506
www.brooklynfolkfest.com

Brooklyn’s vibrant grass-roots music scene is on display this weekend at the third annual Brooklyn Folk Festival, which will feature both old-school performers from the golden age of 1960s folk as well as newer acts, with styles spanning the folk spectrum, from bluegrass and old-time string band to jug band, acoustic blues, and world music from Africa, Mexico, and Eastern Europe. The festival got under way Friday night at atmospheric local hot spot Jalopy with a full lineup that included such legends as Peter Stampfel and Tommy “Uncle Monk” Ramone in addition to the prolific Feral Foster, host of the venue’s weekly free “Roots and Ruckus” series. On Saturday and Sunday the action shifts to the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, a spacious gallery located in a Civil War-era warehouse at the end of Van Brunt St. in Red Hook. The diverse roster of musicians appearing throughout each afternoon and into the evening reads like a veritable who’s who of local talent. Among the many acts performing are Brooklyn’s reunited Roulette Sisters, acclaimed bluesman “Blind Boy” Paxton, the infectious male/female amplified guitar ‘n’ drums duo Boom Chick, and North Carolinian banjo player Clifton Hicks, who specializes in traditional Appalachian mountain music. There will also be screenings of films by John Cohen and from the archives of Alan Lomax (free with day or weekend pass), a Hazel Dickens Singing Workshop, Beginning and Intermediate Old Time Jamming with Alan Friend, Songs of the Sea and Tavern group singing with Heather Wood, and Banjo: Tunings and Styles in Old Time Music with Down Home radio host Eli Smith, each an additional $10.