this week in music

NYU STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL 2011

La Guardia Pl. between West Third & West Fourth Sts.
Friday, May 6, free, 1:00 – 5:00
www.nyu.edu

NYU’s annual Strawberry Festival heads into its second quarter-century on Friday with a street fair bustling with live performances, carnival games (giant Jenga!), balloon art, a milking contest, children’s activities, ice cream, bubble tea, cotton candy, giveaways, and New York City’s longest strawberry shortcake. The music lineup includes Lightning Bolt, Peterodactyl, Ducktails, the So So Glos, and a Brooklyn vs. the Bronx DJ battle between DJ Jules Verne and DJ Juan Farrakhan as students and faculty celebrate the completion of the school year.

THE FIERY FURNACES

Eleanor Friedberger and brother Matthew are playing a pair of intimate duo shows at Rockwood Music Hall this week (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2
196 Allen St. between Houston & Stanton Sts.
May 4-5, $20, 9:30
212-477-4155
www.thefieryfurnaces.com
www.rockwoodmusichall.com

The Fiery Furnaces kicked off a brief nine-city, twelve-show U.S. tour last night at Rockwood Music Hall with an intimate nineteen-song set that revealed fascinating aspects of their creative process. Playing as a duo, with Matthew Friedberger on piano and sister Eleanor on vocals, the pair both used lyric sheets as they delved deep into their songbook, highlighting rare tunes, including several that they have never before performed in public. It often felt like they had invited people in to watch them rehearse, as they made minor mistakes, missing cues, garbling a few words, or discussing the ending. But the overall effect came off as charming and endearing, especially as the siblings, both of whose bangs were in fine form, prepare for a brief hiatus, with Eleanor touring behind her debut solo album this summer and Matthew continuing his series of solo records, each one using a different instrument. The varied setlist, which is sure to change for their second show tonight, ranged from “Black-Hearted Boy,” “Blueberry Boat,” and “Even in the Rain” to “Cousin Chris,” “South Is Only a Home,” “Nevers,” and “The Vietnamese Telephone Industry,” from “Uncle Charlie,” “Single Again,” and “The Garfield El” (the “El” stands for Eleanor, not elevated, Eleanor pointed out) to “Smelling Cigarettes,” “Wolf Notes,” and “Evergreen,” the latter set to the music of Bob Seger’s “Still the Same.” Matthew stumbled at the ivories at the beginning before settling down, occasionally contributing vocals to Eleanor’s poetic, word-strewn lead. Eleanor’s obvious comfort level kept things light and fun despite the flaws as the Fiery Furnaces once again delivered an unusual, unpredictable, and unabashedly entertaining show. It all had the feel of their wanting to do something very special, for themselves as well as the audience, before they take their break. Their friend and former percussionist Michael Goodman opened up, playing short, sweet originals and a Buddy Holly cover on acoustic guitar in a warm, funny style, particularly on a duet on which he sang the parts of both the man and the woman. Be sure to get there on time to check him out.

NYFOS NEXT: PHIL KLINE & FRIENDS

Phil Kline will lead a special Movado Hour NYFOS Next program at BAC on May 3



THE MOVADO HOUR
Baryshnikov Arts Center, Howard Gilman Performance Space
450 West 37th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Tuesday, May 3, 7:00
Admission: free with advance RSVP
212-868-4444
www.bacnyc.org

Downtown avant-garde composer Phil Kline, the man behind the annual Christmas procession “Unsilent Night,” has headed such collaborative projects as “Zippo Songs” and “John the Revelator” and has written experimental music for dance and theater. On May 3, he’ll be at the Baryshnikov Arts Center for a free New York Festival of Song NYFOS Next chamber music presentation he has put together with Steven Blier, Michael Barrett, and Benjamin Sosland. Part of BAC’s Movado Hour series, the evening will consist of David Lang’s “I Had No Reason,” “I Want to Live,” and “I Found My Enemy’s Ox,” Meredith Monk’s “Prayer II,” Corey Dargel’s “Toes,” “Hooked for Life,” and “Sincerely Yours,” and Elliott Sharp’s “No Time Like the Stranger.” Kline will also perform his own compositions “Somewhere Around Barstow,” “A Strange World,” “Football Season Is Over,” and “To Make a Prairie,” the first three of which feature text by Hunter S. Thompson, the fourth by Emily Dickinson. The cast includes sopranos Katherine Dain and Lauren Worsham, bass Matt Boehler, and vocalists Dargel and Carla Jablonski, with Ashley Bathgate on cello, Todd Reynolds on violin, and Kathleen Supové and Michael Barrett on piano.

TONY CONRAD: AT THE EDGES OF ART

Multimedia performance artist Tony Conrad will present a free illustrated lecture about his fascinating career on May 3 at the SVA Theatre

SVA Theatre
333 West 23rd St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
Tuesday, May 3, free, 7:00
212-592-298
www.schoolofvisualarts.edu
www.tonyconrad.net

For nearly fifty years, experimental sound and visual performance artist Tony Conrad has been making minimalist drone music and short films that reexamine and reinvent form, content, and structure. He has collaborated with such musicians and filmmakers as John Cale, Rhys Chatham, Tony Oursler, and Jack Smith, and he is also a faculty member of the Department of Media Study at the University of Buffalo. “My personal work feels like an oil slick on this flowing current, spreading in two or three directions at once,” he notes on his UB faculty page. On May 3, Conrad will present a free multimedia lecture at the School of Visual Arts Theatre on West 23rd St., discussing his long and varied career in a multitude of disciplines. He will also premiere newly edited versions of experimental videos he made back in the 1970s and 1980s. This is a fabulous opportunity to get inside the mind of one of the twentieth century’s most intriguing and influential underground artists.

NORTHSIDE MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL 2011

Northside Festival
Multiple venues in Greenpoint and Williamsburg
June 16-19
www.thelmagazine.com/blogs/NorthsideFestivalNews

After a terrific opening year in 2010, the Northside Festival is back June 16-19 with an even more impressive lineup of bands, including Guided by Voices, Beirut, Wavves, Surfer Blood, Sharon van Etten, Theophilus London, DOM, Takka Takka, Grooms, the Black Hollies, Pillow Theory, and dozens more, with tickets on sale now for some of the more higher profile shows (as well as festival badges [$60-$200] that will get you in to just about everything). But another component of the festival involves art and film. In fact, today (May 1) is the deadline to enter ($10 fee) the Northside DIY Film Festival, comprising shorts and feature-length works that will be screening at UnionDocs in Williamsburg and will be judged by such panelists as Rosie Perez, Ted Hope, and Todd P; features must be between 50 and 130 minutes and have a budget of $100,000 or less, while shorts must be less than 30 minutes and cost $20,000 or less, with all films having been made after January 1, 2008. The grand prize is $250, a Rooftop Films screening, and a camera rental package. In addition, Williamsburg and Greenpoint artists can register ($20 fee) through May 15 to be part of Northside Open Studios. Don’t hesitate to become part of one of Brooklyn’s most highly anticipated and growing new festivals.

WORLD NOMADS MOROCCO

Najia Mehadji’s “Mystic Dance,” from the series Volutes, will be part of multidisciplinary site-specific Moroccan exhibit at FIAF Gallery

French Institute Alliance Française (and other venues)
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St.
Le Skyroom, 22 East 60th St.
Tinker Auditorium, 55 East 59th St.
April 30 – May 31, free – $40
212-355-6100
www.fiaf.org

in its annual World Nomads celebration of global culture, the French Institute Alliance Française journeyed to Africa in 2008, Haiti in 2009, and Lebanon last year; this year’s destination is Morocco, where the festivities began April 30 with a sold-out concert featuring the Orchestra of Fes with Françoise Atlan. Special events continue throughout May, with a pair of free literature talks Sunday with Abdellah Taïa (1:00) and Mahi Binebine (5:00) at the Cooper Union, screenings of Nour Eddine Lakhmari’s controversial 2008 film, Casa Negra, which deals realistically with contemporary social problems in Morocco, on May 3 ($10), a free concert with multi-instrumentalist Brahim Fribgane and trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf on May 5 at 8:30 at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium, the New York debut of Rabat rapper Soultana at Joe’s Pub on May 6 ($15), and the installation “Untangling Threads: Soundwalk & Kantara Crafts” on May 7 that is also part of the Festival of Ideas for the New City. Other highlights include the panel discussion “Regenerating Morocco’s Architecture” on May 9 at 7:00 in FIAF’s Tinker Auditorium ($15), the May 11 keynote talk “Essaouira and Fes: Sustaining Cultures” with Royal Advisor André Azoulay and cultural critic Faouzi Skali at Le Skyroom (free with RSVP), a Master Gnaoua Musicians concert May 21 at 8:00 at Florence Gould Hall ($20, preceded by the free talk “Stories from the Gnaoua and World Music Festival”), and pianist Marouan Benabdallah performing at Zankel Hall on May 26 at 8:00 ($25). Additional screenings of Moroccan film will take place every Tuesday as part of FIAF’s regular CinémaTuesdays series, and the FIAF Gallery will hos the site-specific exhibition “Senses and Essence: Amina Agueznay, Safaa Erruas, and Najia Mehadji,” focusing on the work of three leading woman contemporary artists from Morocco (May 5-28, free).

HOBOKEN ARTS & MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011

The Baseball Project will take the field in Hoboken on Sunday afternoon, followed by Ian Hunter & the Rant Band

Washington St. between Observer Highway and Seventh St.
Sunday, May 1, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
www.hobokennj.org

One of the best double headers of the season is scheduled for Sunday, and not only does it not require separate admission, it’s absolutely free. It’s also not taking place on a grass-and-dirt diamond. The annual Hoboken Arts & Music Festival will step up to the plate with a day of cultural celebration in the city where the organized game of baseball was first played, on the Elysian Fields on June 19, 1846, with the New York Nine defeating the Knickerbockers 23–1 in a four-inning contest. On Sunday at 3:00, the Baseball Project will take the stage, an athletic supergroup consisting of R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey, the Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn, and the Pretty Babies’ Linda Pitmon, who also plays drums for Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3. The Baseball Project, the brainchild of huge baseball fanatics McCaughey and Wynn, are touring behind their sophomore album, Volume Two: High and Inside (Yep Roc, March 2011), the follow-up to their 2008 debut, Volume One: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails. While the first disc explored such legends as Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Harvey Haddix, Curt Flood, Big Ed Delahanty, Fernando Valenzuela, Jackie Robinson, and Satchel Paige, the second focuses on such characters as Reggie Jackson, Tony Conigliaro, Mark “the Bird” Fidrych, Pete Rose, Roger Clemens, Ichiro Suzuki, and Bill Buckner. The band clearly knows its baseball, detailing specific classic situations, using the correct terminology, and sharing their obvious affection for the national pastime, with pop hooks galore. One of the most entertaining songs is “Panda and the Freak,” in which they praise dozens of the greatest nicknames of all time, from Baby Bull and the Beast to the Spaceman and Will the Thrill. If they show a bent toward the Red Sox, blame it on Wynn. They even bring in guest vocalist Craig Finn of the Hold Steady to warble “Don’t Call Them Twinkies,” a ditty about his hometown team, the Minnesota Twins. (Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo, and Chris Funk and John Moen of the Decemberists also pitch in.)

Ian Hunter, Hoboken’s own Jim Mastro, and the rest of the Rant Band will close out Hoboken Arts & Music Festival on Sunday at 4:30 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

After the Baseball Project reach their prearranged pitch count, Ian Hunter & the Rant Band will be brought in to close things out. Hunter, the former leader of Mott the Hoople, is still making outstanding albums, the most recent being 2009’s Man Overboard and 2007’s Shrunken Heads (both on Yep Roc), showing that he knows how to go from a fastball to a curve to a slider like the best of them, and oh those change-ups. Songs such as “Stretch,” “Soul of America,” “Up and Running,” and “Win It All” might not actually be about baseball, but Hunter loads the bases with those newer tunes, then hits it out of the park with such longtime favorites as “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” “All the Way from Memphis,” “All the Young Dudes,” “Just Another Night,” “Michael Picasso,” and “23A, Swan Hill.” Hunter is a genuine rock star who still has Hall of Fame stuff; don’t miss this great chance to catch him and his excellent team live, and for free. (The fair itself begins at 11:00 am, with fine artists displaying their wares between Second & Third Sts., childrens’ activities in a special area on Third St. with rides, games, arts & crafts, clowns, and a puppet show, crafters showing off their handmade goods, and local restaurants offering an international selection of food. Among the many other live performers are Hudson Dance & Movement, the Fuzzy Lemons, Genesis Dance Company, and Dawnee from Peanut Butter n Jammin at the Kid Zone on Third St., Bandwidth, NYC School of Rock, Garden Street Music, Goodbye Friday, Mad Dog Mary, Gene d’ Plumber, and Frankie Morales and the Mambo of the Times Orchestra at the Sixth St. Stage, and Davey & the Trainwreck, Bern & the Brights, and the Pretty Babies at the Observer Hwy Stage.)