this week in music

FOUNTAIN SILENT AUCTION: A BENEFIT FOR ART CONNECTS NEW YORK

Russell Young’s “Pig Portrait” is among the Fountain works at benefit auction for Art Connects New York

Gallery Bar
120 Orchard St.
Saturday, May 7, suggested donation $10, 7:00-11:00
www.fountainexhibit.com

The Fountain Art Fair, held the last six years during Armory Week aboard the Frying Pan, will be holding a benefit on Saturday night at the Gallery Bar on Orchard St., featuring a silent auction, live performances, giveaway, a raffle, and more, teaming up with Art Connects New York, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to enrich the lives of all New Yorkers by making original visual artwork more readily available in nontraditional settings” and Lomography, “a global community whose strong passion is creative and experimental analogue film photography.” The evening will include live music by Tecla and NSR, while DJ Friendly Greg will spin tunes. Among the Fountain favorites whose work will be available are Russell Young, Chris Stain, Victor Cox, Allison Berkoy, Jason Douglas Griffin, Evo Love, Jesse McCloskey, Brian Leo, Sarcasmo, and GILF! Fountain always offers a unique experience, so this should be a fun night, and don’t be surprised if some of the art is a lot more affordable than you might expect.

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).