this week in music

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.)

SAKURA MATSURI: CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL 2011

The annual two-day Sakura Matsuri will beautify Brooklyn this weekend (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
900 Washington Ave. at Eastern Parkway
Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, $10-$15
718-623-7200
www.bbg.org

For many New Yorkers, it isn’t really spring until the cherry blossoms are in bloom at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The spectacular trees should be gushing this weekend for the annual Sakura Matsuri, two days of Japanese art, food, and culture that usually is jam-packed with families, photographers, and other celebrants. The weather is currently forecast as partly cloudy with a high of sixty-seven, perhaps not ideal but a whole lot better than rain. There will be special events held throughout the beautiful botanic garden, including a children’s Suzuki recital, anime stand-up comedy, Butoh dance, cosplay cabaret, origami workshops, an ikebana flower exhibit, an interactive tea installation, a vintage kimono display, fish-printing demos, enka poetry, manga and anime artist and book signings, logic puzzles and other games, numerous bonsai events, garden tours, Japanese karate demonstrations, and much more, with such special guests as April Vollmer, Godfather of Sudoku Maki Kaji, Jack Schwartz, Fumiko Allinder, Michele Brody, Grandmaster Kaicho T. Nakamura, and Pokémon voice artist Veronica Taylor; below are some of the recommended highlights.

Saturday
Hanagasa Odori: Flower Hat Dance Procession, Japanese Folk Dance Institute of NY, Osborne Garden North, 1:00

Nihon Buyo Classical & Ryukyu Buyo Okinawan Dance, Dancejapan with Sachiyo Ito, Cherry Esplanade Stage, 1:15

BBG Parasol Society Promenade, with live music by happyfunsmile, registration 11 a.m.–1 p.m. behind Cherry Esplanade Stage, parade from Cherry Esplanade Stage to Osborne Garden, 3:00

Traditional Tea Ceremony, Urasenke Chanoyu Center, A.T. White Amphitheater, 3:30

Split Spirits/Spirit Splits: A Samurai Drama, Samurai Sword Soul, Cherry Esplanade Stage, 4:15

Sunday
Taiko Drumming, Soh Daiko, Cherry Esplanade Stage, 12 noon

Origami Paper Folding with Jeremy Aaron Horland, Lily Pool Terrace, 1:00

Butoh Dance, Dean Street FOO Dance, Osborne Garden North, 2:00

Cooking Demonstration: Authentic Dashi Making, with Momo Sushi Shack’s Chef Makoto Suzuki and Phillip Gilmour, A.T. White Amphitheater, 3:00

Cosplay Fashion Show, hosted by Uncle Yo, with live music by Morning Musuko, Cherry Esplanade Stage, 6:15

THE ESCAPE ARTIST

John Kelly examines the chiaroscuro world of Caravaggio in THE ESCAPE ARTIST at Performance Space 122

Performance Space 122
150 First Ave. at Ninth St.
Through April 30, $15-$25
www.ps122.org

Visual and performance artist John Kelly, who recently embodied Austrian painter Egon Schiele in the final presentation of his multimedia piece Pass the Blutwurst, Bitte at La MaMa and has previously examined such figures as Antonin Artaud, Jean Cocteau, and Joni Mitchell, is delving into the shadowy world of Italian Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) this weekend at PS 122 in the solo work The Escape Artist. The 2010 Ethyl Eichelberger Award winner has collaborated with avant chanteuse Carol Lipnik on several original songs for the show, including “The Dazzling Darkness,” “Cara Viaggio,” and “Beauty Kills Me,” as well as versions of the James Bond theme “You Only Live Twice” and Monteverdi’s “Oblivion Soave,” with arrangements by John DiPinto, who also plays the piano, accordion, and flute, Nioka Workman on cello, and Justin Smith on violin. The three-channel video design is by Jeff Morey. The Escape Artist was previously performed in various workshop and work-in-progress productions at Dixon Place, the Park Ave. Armory (where Kelly is an artist in residence), Galapagos, MASS MoCA, and the San Diego Art Museum; the run at PS 122 is its official world premiere. A limited amount of tickets are still available for tonight’s 8:00 performance and tomorrow’s 8:00 and 10:00 shows, which conclude the two-week schedule, but you better grab them fast or they’ll be gone.

Update: In The Escape Artist, John Kelly portrays a man who, shortly after being blown away by seeing paintings by Caravaggio in a museum, suffers a serious trapeze accident that lands him in the hospital with a possible broken neck. Kelly spends the majority of the seventy-five-minute multimedia production flat on his back on a table that represents a gurney, his head immobilized, as he ponders his future through songs and images influenced by works by the daring Italian Baroque artist. Kelly often stares into a camera above that projects him onto the center of a three-channel video installation, making it appear that he is looking directly at the audience as he shares his fears while drifting in and out of consciousness, his dreams and an out-of-body experience projected onto the screens. Kelly is often flanked by videos of characters re-creating actual canvases by Caravaggio, but with such additions as a rope that represents the trapeze accident; the men occasionally sing backup, their prerecorded vocals melding perfectly with Kelly’s often live projection in the middle. Kelly also adds wonderful touches of carefully controlled movement, lifting his legs slightly, raising an arm, pointing a finger, that signal his desperate need to be free of his physical (and mental?) constraints and return to the art of creation. Despite a questionable finale in which he brings out an electric guitar, The Escape Artist is another splendid evening of experimental theater from one of New York City’s most adventurous artists.

2011 FILM PRESERVATION HONORS AND 40th ANNIVERSARY BENEFIT CONCERT

Albert Maysles is one of the honorees at special Anthology Film Archives program at City Winery

City Winery
155 Varick St. at Vandam St.
Wednesday, April 27, $40-$200, 7:30
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.anthologyfilmarchives.org

Anthology Film Archives was founded in 1969 for the express purpose of preserving, studying, and exhibiting independent, experimental, and avant-garde film and video. In 1992, they began honoring artists, individuals, and organizations who have made a difference in appreciating and understanding film heritage in their annual Film Preservation Honors program. As part of its continuing celebration of its fortieth anniversary, Anthology will be hosting a special event on April 27 at City Winery, paying tribute to documentarian Albert Maysles, Harvard Film Archive founding director Vlada Petric, film scholar Tony Pipolo, Technicolor (for the restoration of Max Ophüls’s Lola Montes), and the Library of Congress (for its creation of the National Film Registry). Hosted by one of Anthology’s founders, Jonas Mekas, and with musician Richard Barone serving as master of ceremonies, the evening will feature live performances and appearances by Harmony Korine, Marina Abramović, Ólöf Arnalds, and Transgendered Jesus, in addition to such speakers as Andrew Sarris, Lola Schnabel, Ed Bland, and Stuart Liebman. There will also be an auction of custom-made Anthology Film Archives wines. Tickets are only $40, although if you splurge for the $200 benefit admission you’ll get VIP seating, light food and wine, and other amenities.

THE PROMISE: THE MAKING OF DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN

City Winery
155 Varick St. at Vandam St.
Monday, April 25, $10, 8:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.brucespringsteen.net

After the breakout success of Born to Run in 1975, Bruce Springsteen became embroiled in a lawsuit over control of his music that prevented him from going into the studio to make the highly anticipated follow-up. Springsteen found himself at a crossroads; “You didn’t know if this would be the last record you’d ever make,” he says in the revealing behind-the-scenes documentary The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town. Combining archival footage of the Darkness sessions shot by Barry Rebo with new interviews with all the members of the E Street Band in addition to producers Jimmy Iovine, Jon Landau, and others, editor and director Thom Zimny melds Bruce’s past with the present, delving deep into Springsteen’s complex, infuriating, and fiercely dedicated creative process. “I had to disregard my own mutation,” Springsteen says at one point, regarding his battle to avoid getting caught up in the hype that came with Born to Run, so he decided that his next album would be “a meditation on where are you going to stand.” Rebo captures Springsteen and the E Street Band — from a bare-chested Bruce to a bandanna-less Steve Van Zandt — rehearsing and recording alternate takes of familiar songs as well as tunes that would later wind up on such albums as The River and Tracks, opening up Bruce’s famous notebooks and examining his intense creative process, which included throwing away dozens and dozens of songs that he believed just didn’t fit within his vision of what Darkness should be. Two of the most fascinating parts of the The Promise involve Patti Smith discussing “Because the Night,” which is about her waiting for her boyfriend at the time, Fred “Sonic” Smith, to call her, and Toby Scott talking about mixing the Darkness record to get the sound pictures in Bruce’s head onto vinyl. The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town is screening April 25 at 8:00 at City Winery as a benefit for the American Red Cross, with all proceeds going to Japanese tsunami and earthquake relief; the screening is just one of many being held around the country over the coming week, all of which will include special giveaways.

GDP

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Sunday, April 24, $14-$16, 8:00
212-414-5994
www.g6d6p6.com
www.highlineballroom.com

On his third album, Useless Eaters (Run for Cover, March 29), white Jersey hip-hopper Matt Miller, better known as GDP, throws down plenty of mad rhymes and F-bombs, rapping about sex, drugs, and bling as well as the government, the environment, and the economy, set to beats by Frozen Gentleman, Aoi, DOS4GW, and the Empty Cup. But GDP is not necessarily celebrating the seedier side of street culture, nor is he preaching against it. In the record’s opener, “Neural Circuitry,” he proclaims, “What kind of future could I possibly hope for / when every pen I write with doubles as a coke straw / and every night’s a close call / when Oxycontin is triple what dope costs? / What kind of person could I possibly become / when my personality is dependent on a drug / usually more than one / because too much of anything is never enough?” The song’s refrain, “Too high to die,” feels all too real. In “Biathanatos” he says, “Looks like freedom / feels like death / It’s something in between, I guess / Jesus saves and the doctor takes the fee / It’s a dog-eat-dog world / Bon apetit, mother&*ker.” The follow-up to 2009’s Realistic Expectations, and 2007’s Involvement, Useless Eaters features guest appearances by Pistol and Young Zee and a diverse series of references, from Willie Nelson, YouTube, Eddie Murphy, and Google Earth to George Carlin, Muddy Waters, Jay-Z, and Umberto’s Clam House on such songs as “Carbon Footprint,” “Holy Grail,” and “Don’t Worry About the Government.” GDP’s aspirations might still surpass his output, but he’s on the right track (as opposed to “the wrong side of the track mark,” as he notes on “Little Boxes”). GDP will be at the Highline Ballroom on April 24 laying it down with Roach Gigz and Andre Nickatina.