this week in music

TENEMENTS RESIDENCY AT FONTANA’S

Tenements will move into Fontana's for a three-week Wednesday-night August residency

Fontana’s
105 Eldridge St. between Grand & Broome Sts.
Wednesday, August 3, 10, 17, $5, 9:00
212-334-6740
www.fontanasnyc.com
www.tenementsmusic.com

In the mid-to-late nineteenth century, immigrants flooded into New York City, many of them moving into the newly built tenements of the Lower East Side. So it is only appropriate that the Brooklyn-based musical quartet known as Tenements, consisting of no native New Yorkers, will be playing a residency this month at Fontana’s on Eldridge St., celebrating the release of its debut album, Greenling. Led by Ohio native and onetime Texan Jeremy Gordon on vocals, guitar, and keyboards, Peru-born Alejandro Haaker on bass, Michigan native Steven Welbourne on lead guitar and keys, and German-born Isaac Schmidt on drums, Tenements plays harmonic-based indie pop that features lilting rhythms and robust choruses, rooted in Americana but angling into alternative psychedelic prog rock on such tracks as “Hard Heartbeat,” “Rats of the Ninth Ward,” and “Saints.” The album closes with the monster title track, which we wished went on for at least another ten minutes. Gordon’s abstruse lyrics deal with war and the future, family and a search for home, calling for action. “Give all / Give all for your cause / Give all,” he sings in “Ones and Zeros,” “it all costs something now.” In “Saints” he concludes, “Oh, sleep now, safely / Oh, sleep now, soundly / And rise, rise now.” In the anthemic “The World Is Alright” he proclaims, “We will wait for you here in the wide-eyed city’s summers”; indeed, Tenements will be waiting for you in the wide-eyed city’s summers, playing a three-week Wednesday-night August residency at Fontana’s beginning August 3 with Ella Joyce Buckley and Asphalt Green, followed by a Gypsy-acoustic set August 10 with Woodpecker, and finishing up August 17 with Two States and Kalli.

TICKET GIVEAWAY — ROOFTOP FILMS: DANGEROUS DOCS AND WHISKER WARS

SATAN SINCE 2003 is on the bill at Rooftop Films' night of dangerous documentaries

Crown Vic backyard
60 South Second St. at Wythe Ave.
Thursday, August 4, $10, 8:00
www.rooftopfilms.com

All summer long, Rooftop Films presents unusual, genre-bending independent shorts and features in wickedly cool outdoor locations, turning each event into a party. On Thursday, August 4, in the Crown Vic backyard in Williamsburg, they are hosting one of their craziest, “Dangerous Docs and Whisker Wars,” consisting of a half dozen documentaries that examine some pretty strange, offbeat characters, including former women’s professional wrestling champion Irma Gonzalez (Charles Fairbanks’s Irma), a group of dudes competing in the National Beard and Mustache Championship (Thom Beers’s Whisker Wars), the Hell’s Satans of Richmond, Virginia (Carlos Puga’s Satan Since 2003), the Guess Who’s Burton Cummings (Matthew Rankin’s Negativipeg), Polish mountain climber Piotr “Mad” Korczak (Marcin Koszałka’s Declaration of Immortality), and, well, the title says it all: the Zellner Bros.’ Sasquatch Birth Journal 2. The evening begins with live music from bicoastal acoustic folk rocker Elle King at 8:30 and is followed by an after-party at the Crown Vic.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: This Week in New York has three pairs of tickets to to give away for free for what should be a wild and crazy night. To be eligible to win, just send your name and daytime phone number to contest@twi-ny.com by Wednesday, August 3, at 12 noon. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; three winners will be selected at random.

SUMMERSTAGE BENEFIT: LYKKE LI

Lykke Li will light up the night at Central Park SummerStage benefit on August 1 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Rumsey Playfield, Central Park
Monday, August 1, $30-$35, 6:30
212-360-2777
www.summerstage.org
www.myspace.com/lykkeli

We caught Swedish sensation Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson lighting up Webster Hall back in May, returning to New York City to celebrate the release of her long-awaited second album, Wounded Rhymes. An intoxicating blend of Stevie Nicks and Sinead O’Connor, the twenty-five-year-old Li and her band were all dressed in black, Li in a shawl covering a bodysuit, her hair tightly pulled back like one of Robert Palmer’s backup singers. On a stage with long black strips of filmy cloth hanging from the ceiling, smoke machines pouring out cloudy mists, and lights continually flashing, Li put on a dazzling seventy-five-minute set that included songs from Rhymes, 2008’s Youth Novels, and such singles as “Possibility,” from the New Moon soundtrack, music steeped in synthesizers and percussion. She played autoharp on the lovely “I Know Places” and added her own percussion to “Rich Kid Blues.” Although far from a melancholic evening, many of her songs deal with loneliness and heartbreak; “Sadness is a blessing / Sadness is a pearl / Sadness is my boyfriend / Oh, sadness, I’m your girl,” she opines on “Sadness Is a Blessing,” and in “Unrequited Love” she wails, “Oh my love, I’ve been denied it / Oh my love is unrequited.” But long before she tore into the set-closing “Get Some,” from the new record, she had the crowd wrapped around her finger like a lonely lover’s charm. Li is back in town on Monday night, August 1, playing a sold-out benefit show at SummerStage, with Montreal trio Timbre Timbre, touring behind its latest release, Creep on Creepin’ On.

TWI-NY TALK: MINGMEI YIP

Artist, musician, storyteller, teacher, calligrapher, and novelist Mingmei Yip will help MOCA celebrate Dragon Boat Festival Family Day on July 31

DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL FAMILY DAY
Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre St. between Howard & Grand Sts.
Sunday, July 31, $10, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
212-619-4785
www.mocanyc.org
www.mingmeiyip.com

Mingmei Yip’s given name means “bright and beautiful,” and it couldn’t be more appropriate for the vivacious, extremely intelligent, utterly engaging Chinese-born multidisciplinary artist, who earned her PhD from the Sorbonne and has lived in New York City since 1992. Mingmei is a journalist, lecturer, tai chi teacher, illustrator, calligrapher, painter, children’s book author, and novelist, having published three well-received tales of historical fiction, Song of the Silk Road, Peach Blossom Pavilion, and Petals from the Sky.

On Sunday, July 31, at 12 noon she’ll be at the Museum of Chinese in America for the second annual Dragon Boat Festival Family Day, telling stories and playing the traditional qin. The celebration will also include a poetry workshop with author Janet Wong, gallery tours, arts & crafts, and much more. Hard at work on her next novel, Mingmei discussed her career and dragon boats with twi-ny.

twi-ny: You have been at the Museum of Chinese in Americas for many events, at both the old and the new venues. What are your impressions of the museum’s new space on Centre St.?

Mingmei Yip: I like the new place! It is very spacious for people to look around, especially the area where they display the books and the permanent exhibition. There are also large rooms for different kinds of events, such as the calligraphy workshop I did earlier this year.

twi-ny: You are a multidisciplinary artist with a wide range of talents. How did you develop such a diverse group of interests?

MY: I am very grateful to my parents — who are unfortunately no longer in this life — who sent me to take painting and music lessons at a very young age. Unlike some children who hate to practice the piano, I loved it! Later, my love of music led me to take up an ancient Chinese stringed instrument called the qin, on which I now perform professionally. I was recently invited by Carnegie Hall to play at its Ancient Paths, Modern Voices Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture. My next concert will be at Smith College on August 8. I am also doing a few storytelling events and calligraphy workshops for children.

twi-ny: Do you get different kinds of satisfactions from each artistic discipline?

MY: I do get different kinds of satisfaction from each of my artistic activities. Now my focus is on writing my novels. My third, Song of the Silk Road, just came out. It is an adventure and love story set along China’s most fabled route with the lure of a three million dollar reward.

The bright and beautiful Mingmei Yip lives up to her name in many ways

twi-ny: Might you be able to share any details with us about your next book?

MY: My next novel is The Skeleton Women, set in the thirties in Shanghai — the same era as my first novel, Peach Blossom Pavilion — to be published by Kensington Books in 2012. In China, femme fatales were known as skeleton women because their charm and scheme could reduce a man to a skeleton. For a susceptible man, the change from mansion to homelessness could happen in the blink of a mascaraed eye. In The Skeleton Women, the protagonist is known as a nightclub singer but is actually a spy for a powerful gangster organization trying to topple a rival gang!

twi-ny: Your novels touch on the changing sociocultural landscape of China on a very personal level. You were born in China; do you ever go back? What do you see as some of the positive changes occurring in China today, and what are some of the negatives?

MY: I go back to China very often, mainly to do research for my future novels or to play at qin events. I’m very glad to see that as China modernizes, things are clean and convenient. However, I am less happy to see the big cities occupied by foreign chains like McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and expensive designer boutiques.

twi-ny: You will be performing as part of MOCA’s Dragon Boat Festival Family Day. Does the Dragon Boat Festival hold any personal memories for you?

MY: The Dragon Boat Festival is to honor Qu Yuan, the patriotic poet. But what I remember from childhood is the tasty dumplings and exciting Dragon Boat races!

THE PONDEROSA STOMP: SHE’S GOT THE POWER! A GIRL GROUP EXTRAVAGANZA

Some of the greatest female singers in girl-group history will be belting it out at the annual Ponderosa Stomp at Lincoln Center on Saturday

Lincoln Center Out of Doors
Saturday, July 30, free
David Rubenstein Atrium, 12 noon – 4:00
Damrosch Park Bandshell, 5:00 – 10:00
www.ponderosastomp.com

The annual Ponderosa Stomp celebration at Lincoln Center’s summer Out of Doors festival returns this Saturday with a pair of exciting — and free — presentations that pay tribute to the classic girl groups of the 1950s and ’60s. First up is “Girl Talk,” a symposium being held in the David Rubenstein Atrium from 12 noon to 4:00 on July 30. Moderated by Sheryl Farber, Alison Fensterstock, and Lauren Onkey, the various panels will examine Ellie Greenwich’s legacy, share rare film clips of girl groups (courtesy of Joe Lauro), and include interviews and appearances by Lesley Gore, Peggy Santiglia Davison and Jiggs Sirico of the Angels, Beverly Warren, Brenda Reid, and Lillian Walker Moss of the Exciters, and others. At 5:00 everyone will head over to the Damrosch Park Bandshell for “She’s Got the Power! A Girl Group Extravaganza,” a five-hour concert featuring all of the above performers in addition to Arlene Smith from the Chantels, Baby Washington, Barbara Harris of the Toys, LaLa Brooks from the Crystals, Louise Murray of the Jaynetts, Margaret Ross of the Cookies, and Nanette Licori of Reparata and the Delrons. Oh, did we mention that the amazing Ronnie Spector and the great Maxine Brown will be there as well?

MARY HALVORSON QUINTET

The Mary Halvorson Quintet will feature new songs at Cornelia Street Café show (photo by Peter Gannushkin)

Cornelia Street Café
29 Cornelia St.
Friday, July 29, $15, 9:00 & 10:30
212-989-9319
www.maryhalvorson.com
www.corneliastreetcafe.com

Last July, we saw Mary Halvorson at the Whitney, playing one of Christian Marclay’s wind-up guitars as part of the “Festival” exhibition. An experimental avant-garde composer and musician, Halvorson has collaborated with the likes of Anthony Braxton, Marc Ribot, Jessica Pavone, Trevor Dunn, Taylor Ho Bynum, Elliott Sharp, and so many others during her fast-paced career. Born in Boston and based in Brooklyn, the barely thirty Halvorson is constantly playing in any number of bands and configurations. Last year she released the debut record of the Mary Halvorson Quintet, Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12, October 2010), consisting of Halvorson on guitar, John Hébert on bass, Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Jon Irabagon on alto sax, and Ches Smith on drums. Over the course of seven songs and more than sixty minutes, the group takes listeners on a fascinating journey, with Halvorson heading off into various stratospheres, propelled by unique twists on the horns and an adventurous rhythm section. Gorgeous tracks such as “Moon Traps in Seven Rings (No. 17),” “Sea Seizure (No. 19),” and “Crescent White Singe (No. 13)” venture out into thrilling, unexpected directions filled with myriad surprises, making Saturn Sings one of the freshest, and best, albums of 2010. On July 29, the quintet will be playing a special show at the Cornelia Street Café, concentrating on Halvorson’s compositions for their next disc, which they plan on recording in a two-day frenzy following the performance. Halvorson will also be at University of the Streets on East Seventh St. on Monday, August 1, playing guitar as part of Ches Smith & These Arches, with Smith on drums, Tony Malaby and Tim Berne on saxes, and Andrea Parkins on accordion.

CHELSEA ART WALK 2011

Bernardi Roig will help light up the night at Claire Olive as Chelsea opens its galleries late on Thursday, with many special events (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple locations in Chelsea
Thursday, July 28, free, 5:00 – 8:00
www.artwalkchelsea.com

Tonight dozens of Chelsea galleries will stay open late, with many featuring artist and curator talks, exhibition walk-throughs, film screenings, live performances, and other special events. Scott Ogden will guide visitors through his “Twisted” show at Ricco Maresca, Faith Ringgold will be signing books at ACA Galleries, Claire Oliver will host an opening reception for “The Devil Can Cite Scripture” (with works by Judith Schaechter and Bernardi Roig), Porter/Contemporary lets visitors get in the picture for “A Polaroid Moment Within a Portrait Apart” with Jeff Ballinger, Horton Gallery will screen Miroslav Tichý: Tarzan Retired, and Mark Wagner will cut up dollar bills and give the pieces away at Pavel Zoubok. You can also play Ping-Pong at Nicholas Robinson, get shaved ice at Jenkins Johnson, and check out concerts by Autodrone at Monya Rowe, Genevieve White at Freight + Volume, and an acoustic show at RARE from a mystery group, among myriad other activities. A two-sided guide to the second annual Chelsea Art Walk can be found here.