For his debut as Son of George, native New Yorker Dave Doobinin (skywriter) worked with Steve Schiltz of Longwave, the two of them playing all the instruments in a home studio in Queens. The result is a five-track EP of shimmering, poetic, ethereal songs, enhanced by using a 1970s Electra Delay pedal to treat Doobinin’s voice. A self-described “wandering spirit, hopeless romantic, world traveler, and artistic soul,” Doobinin, who lives in Coney Island, is an empathetic singer-songwriter; he actually visited a cemetery on City Island to help inspire him for the Potter’s Field song “Forgotten Ones,” in which he sings, “There’s a place / where ‘Hallelujah’ means nothing at all . . . / Is there a way / to shoot an arrow straight into the sun / Shine a light for all the forgotten ones.” He goes falsetto on “Hummingbird” and “Summertime,” the latter also featuring a fresh guitar line. Doobinin, who has also released such solo albums as 2004’s What Your Money Wants and 2008’s The Birth of Wonder, will be at Rockwood Music Hall on April 16 at 10:00 on a bill that also includes Sarah Jarosz (8:00), Tallahassee (9:00), Air Traffic Controller (11:00), and the Queen Killing Kings (12 midnight), among others.
Fontana’s
105 Eldridge St. between Grand & Broome Sts.
Wednesday, May 18, free, 7:00 – 9:30
212-334-6740 www.twi-ny.com www.fontanasnyc.com
In April 2001, after being kicked out of an internet start-up that had promised the moon but instead delivered a pink slip, I took the two-week severance check and became a tourist in my own town, going to museums and galleries, independent films and lectures, and other cool events that make New York City what it is. I then wrote about my cultural journey, sending a short e-mail to a few dozen friends and relatives. Well, a couple of them seemed to enjoy it, including one person in particular, who convinced me to keep on doing it. Ten years later, here we are, celebrating the aluminum anniversary of This Week in New York: The Insider’s Guide to the City. On May 18, some of my favorite writers and musicians will be participating in a blowout party at Fontana’s on the Lower East Side, and every one of you is invited — and best of all, it’s free. Just sign up here to let us know you’re coming!
Disco king Giorgio Moroder is being honored this month at 92YTribeca
92YTribeca
200 Hudson St. at Canal St.
Select nights through April 30, $12 (closing-night screening and after-party $22)
212-415-5500 www.92YTribeca.org
Hansjörg “Giorgio” Moroder turns seventy this month, and 92YTribeca pays tribute to the 1970s/’80s synth-disco master with the booty-shaking series “Electronic Dreams: Giorgio Moroder Film + Music.” Moroder won Oscars for his contributions to Oliver Stone’s Midnight Express (1978), Adrian Lyne’s Flashdance (1983), and Tony Scott’s Top Gun (1986), the first two of which are part of the 92YTribeca series; he also composed scores and wrote original songs for Lyne’s Foxes (1980), Joel Schumacher’s D.C. Cab (1983), and Steve Barron’s Electric Dreams (1984), which are part of the fest as well. On April 28, a 35mm print of Moroder’s 1984 version of Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent classic, Metropolis, with songs by Billy Squier, Pat Benatar, Adam Ant, Bonnie Tyler, Freddie Mercury, and others, will be shown. The series concludes on April 30 with a screening of American Gigolo (1980) with director Paul Schrader on hand, followed by an after-party curated by Gordon Voidwell and featuring live performances by Emily Warren and the Betters and Chin Chin.
Ozark Mountain indie daredevils Ha Ha Tonka play good-time music that gets into your soul, mixing southern pop, gospel, bluegrass, country, blues, and rock on their intoxicating new album, Death of a Decade (Bloodshot, April 5). Singer-guitarist Brian Roberts, guitarist Brett Anderson, bassist Lucas Long, and drummer Lennon Bone have been developing their down-home style since changing their name from Amsterband five years ago and releasing Buckle in the Bible Belt in 2007 and Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South two years later. For Death of a Decade, they left their Springfield, Missouri, home for a two-hundred-year-old barn in New Paltz in upstate New York, where Felice Brothers producer Kevin McMahon helped shape such tracks as the jangling “Usual Suspects,” the shanty “Westward Bound,” and the propulsive “Problem Solver,” featuring plenty of mandolin and four-part harmonies throughout. Ha Ha Tonka is not content with the status quo; “We can blame it on the circumstances / At least we took the chances / We had to,” Roberts sings on “Lonely Fortunes.” On “Made Example Of” he explains, “They say that if you don’t change where you’re going / you’re gonna end up right where you’re headed.” Following a bunch of SXSW shows in March and a guest appearance on No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain that involved music, food, and target shooting at beer cans, Ha Ha Tonka is headed to the Mercury Lounge on April 13, on a bill with the Spring Standards, Lucius, and Alec Gross.
Mixing ’70s-era Bowie glam rock and Ian Dury punk with the 1980s postpunk of PIL and the more recent electronic sounds of Hot Chip and Passion Pit, New York City band Bellevue’s Finest is an idealistic sextet that knows what it wants. “I don’t wannabe wanna be a wannabe,” vocalist Frans Mernick sings on the ridiculously catchy chorus of “Wannabe,” the opening song from their November 2010 eponymous EP, the follow-up to October 2008’s five-track 10010. (Both albums can be downloaded for free here.) The electro-pop band, which includes Adam J. Sontag and David Haken on synthesizers, David Fell on guitar, David Glickstein on bass, and Orlando Trevino on drums, adds a psychedelic touch to “Echo on My Mind” and begins “Homies on My Block” with a “Psycho Killer” riff that eventually leads to a surprise doo-wop ending. On the new EP’s closing track, “In My Dreams (ur texting me),” Mernick sings, “When I got home / frequently checked my phone / hoping for a LOL or OMG / But FML / vibration never felt / The pockets in my jeans are lifeless / hope she’ll BRB.” The new EP features a more mature sound than 10010, though the earlier EP is a heckuva lot of fun, with such crazy rave-ups as “Hey! Take These Pills,” “Hipsters,” and “Unpredictable You,” while Mernick channels Johnny Lydon on “Nakedbounce” and “So Eloquent.” Bellevue’s Finest will be playing a three-week Friday-night residency at Arlene’s Grocery this month, taking the stage at 9:00 on April 8, 22, and 29, so you have no excuse to miss them.
Originally commissioned for the Sydney Dance Company in 2003, Stephen Petronio’s Underland is at last making its New York premiere this week at the Joyce, running April 5-10. The hour-long piece is set to songs by Australian musician Nick Cave, who has been telling epic tales of exquisitely choreographed sex, violence, and madness since the 1970s, first with his band the Birthday Party, then with the Bad Seeds and its raucous spinoff, Grinderman. Among the songs Petronio chose for Underland are such Cave classics as “Stagger Lee,” “Wild World,” “The Mercy Seat,” “The Weeping Song,” and his cover of Bob Dylan’s “Death Is Not the End,” not your usual fare for contemporary dance with their graphic depictions of murder and execution. “He said, ‘Well, bartender, it’s plain to see / I’m that bad motherf$%ker called Stagger Lee’ / Mr. Stagger Lee / Barkeep said, ‘Yeah, I’ve heard your name down the way / And I kick motherf$%king asses like you every day’ / Mr. Stagger Lee / Well, those were the last words that the barkeep said / ’Cause Stag put four holes in his motherf%$king head,” Cave sings in his version of the old Stagger Lee tale, from his spectacular 1996 album, Murder Ballads. No, Petronio does not do a literal interpretation with props, instead letting his powerfully muscled company display his own unique visual language, melding with Cave’s rather colorful words and intense music. Underland features projected images by lighting designer Ken Tabachnick and video artist Mike Daly, costumes by Tara Subkoff/Imitation of Christ, and soundscape by Paul Healy and is performed by Julian De Leon, Gino Grenek, Barrington Hinds, Tara Lorenzen, Natalie Mackessy, Emily Stone, Shila Tirabassi, Joshua Tuason, and Amanda Wells, with guest dancers Davalois Fearon and Reed Luplau.
Update: “This is the way art can be made,” Stephen Petronio said in a Dance Chat following the April 6 performance of Underland at the Joyce. The New York City–based choreographer was explaining the freedom — both creative and financial — he was given by the Sydney Dance Company when they commissioned the piece back in 2003. As soon as Sydney’s exclusive option ran out, Petronio snapped it back up for his own company, who was itching to perform the evening-length work, and their enthusiasm is evident in their energetic performance. Underland begins with Reed Luplau, who was brought over from Sydney, climbing down a rope ladder, making his way into the dark, demonic world of Nick Cave, his movement doubled on a three-screen video projection. Petronio then introduces the audience to Cave’s morbid sense of humor and deep voice with Julian De Leon and Shila Tirahassi dancing to a recording of Cave reading the “Mah Sanctum” section from his 1989 novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel, followed by seven Cave songs linked together by his producer, Tony Cohen, using the music’s original source material. Petronio does not literally depict the scenes of sex and violence in Cave’s lyrics, instead concentrating on the overall feel, creating an evocative, powerful mood built around vertical movement. Tara Subkoff’s costumes go from torn black tops to bright-red tutus to military fatigues as the dancers journey through such Cave ditties as “Wild World,” “The Carny,” and “The Weeping Song,” including beautiful solos by Gino Grenek, Amanda Wells, and Tirahassi and a playfully erotic quartet (Grenek, Tirahassi, Joshua Tuason, and Wells) coming to the front of the stage for “The Ship Song.” Underland — which has been pared down from eighteen dancers in Sydney to eleven here in New York, resulting in a fabulous fury of comings and goings — ends appropriately with the full company performing to “The Mercy Seat,” about an execution, and Cave’s interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “Death Is Not the End,” but instead of getting lost in the darkness, Petronio celebrates the light as an enchanting whiteness takes over. Underland is a fast-paced, illuminating night of music and dance that takes audiences into places they might not usually venture but will be glad they did.
Guy Maddin’s HAUNTINGS will be shown as part of the New School’s noir festival
Theresa Lang Student and Community Center (and other venues)
Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th St.
Admission: free www.newschool.edu/artsfestival/noir
Dark, shadowy tales filled with double crosses, murder, heated sexuality, creepy corners and alleyways, mysterious characters, flippant dialogue, shootouts, and dangerous women — there’s nothing like a good noir story. The inaugural New School Arts Festival continues this week, using the institution’s resources for a thorough cultural examination of the theme of the noir genre in film, theater, literature, music, and art. All events are free but require advance reservations via the above website. Today at 6:00, author and professor James Naremore will deliver the keynote address, followed by a screening of the Coen brothers’ 1984 neonoir classic, Blood Simple, introduced by cultural writer Kim Morgan and Hirshon Festival Director-in-Residence Guy Maddin. Blood Simple star Frances McDormand will participate in a special conversation with Cecilia Rubino following a screening of the Coens’ Fargo on Friday at 2:00, with the reservation line opening today at noon. On Tuesday at 4:00, the 1913-14 silent crime serial Fantômas will be shown, followed by a panel discussion with Geoffrey O’Brien, Howard Rodman, Luc Sante, and David White; at 6:00, Molly Haskell will deliver a paper on the femme fatale that lies at the center of the noir genre, followed by a discussion with Morgan, Susie Linfield, and Laura Frost, moderated by Bill Goldstein; and at 8:00, Robet Polito, Mary Gaitskill, and Robert Pinsky will read poetry accompanied by live improvised jazz from Ben Allison, Frank Kimbrough, and Rudy Royston in the program “Noir — Poetry, Fiction and Jazz.” On Wednesday at 4:00, Eugene Lang College students and alumni will present John Webster’s 1612 play The White Devil; blues expert Michael Gray will discuss the life and career of Blind Willie McTell at 6:30; and Maddin will screen Hauntings, his short reimaginings of lost films by major directors, then take part in a talk with Polito. On Thursday night from 6:30 to 11:30, “Noir Now” will include creative writing students reading their winning noir-inspired work, video excerpts from composer Paul Moravec and librettist Terry Teachout’s noir opera The Letter, poetry reading by Frank Bidart, and Greil Marcus and Todd Haynes discussing Haynes’s fine miniseries adaptation of James M. Cain’s Mildred Pierce, currently being shown on HBO. On Friday at 11:00 am, New School students have curated an excellent noir double feature at the IFC Center, consisting of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) and David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001), and the festivities conclude that night at 8:00 with the Dorothy H. Hirshon Film Festival: Original Script Reading Event, featuring multimedia excerpts from students finishing up their Screenwriting Certificates, followed by a public reception.
