this week in music

MEET THE BEATLES

Saturday, January 15, Carnegie Hall, 881 Seventh Ave. at 57th St., $17.50-$80, 212-247-7800, 8:00
Saturday, January 15, 6:00, and Sunday, January 16, 12 noon, Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Ave. at North 11th St., $10
www.carnegiehall.org
www.1964thetribute.com
www.brooklynbowl.com

Back in May 1977, the Beatles took over Broadway. Well, not exactly. Actually, BEATLEMANIA opened at the Winter Garden, declaring itself to be “not the Beatles but an incredible simulation.” Beatlemania is back on the rise with the recent release of the Fab Four’s catalog on iTunes, and although a Beatles reunion is an impossibility, perhaps the closest you can come these days is “1964” . . . the Tribute. For nearly thirty years, “1964” has been re-creating every aspect of a Beatles concert, from the look and the sound to the feeling and the energy. The mop-topped quartet will be shaking it up, baby, at Carnegie Hall on Saturday night, but remember that this is 1964, so don’t go expecting to hear songs from SGT. PEPPER, ABBEY ROAD, the White Album, etc. For a very different kind of Beatles experience, Roger Greenawalt will be leading a host of musicians, including Nellie McKay, Danny Ross, the Ramblers, Thinking in Pictures, Nat & Alex Wolff, Julian Velard, Deni Bonet, Terry Radigan, and unannounced special guests, through the complete Beatles catalog on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Brooklyn Bowl — with all songs played on ukulele. If you have a uke and want to participate, just show up an hour before showtime and you get in free as part of the uke mob.

ONE STEP BEYOND WITH MATT AND KIM

Matt and Kim will play a DJ set at the American Museum of Natural History’s Friday night One Step Beyond party (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

American Museum of Natural History
Rose Center for Earth and Space
Western Pavilion, Columbus Ave. at 79th St.
Friday, January 14, $25, 9:00
www.myspace.com/mattandkim
www.amnh.org

Technically, the Ecstatic Music Festival gets under way next week, but it’s going to be hard to find a more ecstatic event than the January edition of the monthly One Step Beyond dance party at the American Museum of Natural History. Held in the Rose Center for Earth and Space, the festivities include drinks, dancing, live bands, and DJs beginning at 9:00, twenty-one and over only, please. The stars underneath the stars for Friday’s gathering are Brooklyn darlings Matt and Kim, who generally have about as much fun in their public performances as is legally and humanly possible. Although Matthew Johnson will not be behind the keyboards and Kimberly Schifino will not be at or on top of her drum kit, the Pratt pair will be manning the DJ table, blasting out hot sounds on a cool night. Also on the bill are twenty-one-year-old Dipset producer and MPC master AraabMUZIK; Nacey, known for his Nouveau Riche parties in DC; and One Step Beyond faves Activaire DJs.

AMERICAN SONGBOOK 2011

The Carolina Chocolate Drops will dip into the American Songbook at Lincoln Center on February 2

The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall
Broadway at 60th St.
January 13 – February 20, $35-$75
212-721-6500
www.americansongbook.org

Lincoln Center’s annual celebration of American music takes place January 13 – February 20 at the Allen Room, featuring sixteen performances that range from cabaret, folk, and jazz to pop, alternative, and opera. The Low Anthem will turn things up on January 13, followed by “Lance Horne: First Things Last” on January 14, an evening of musical theater with Horne, Alan Cumming, and Cheyenne Jackson. The diverse schedule also includes Mary Chapin Carpenter (January 15), Bebel Gilberto (February 3), Raul Esparza (February 18), and Herb Alpert and Lani Hall closing the series on February 20. Among the other highlights are “The Songs of Shara Worden” (of My Brightest Diamond) on January 27, “John Doe: Americana” on January 28, the always exciting Carolina Chocolate Drops on February 2, Joan Osborne performing “Love and Hate — A Song Cycle” on February 4, and “Stephanie Blythe: We’ll Meet Again — The Songs of Kate Smith” on February 16.

THE ENGLISH BEAT

Dave Wakeling leads the English Beat through a groovy gig at Webster Hall last summer (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Sunday, January 9, $30, 8:00
212-414-5994
www.myspace.com/officialbeatspace
www.highlineballroom.com

We have to admit that we were forced to catch the English Beat last August at Webster Hall, figuring them to be just another once-hot ’80s retread living off the past, playing warmed-over versions of ancient hits, with only one original member in tow. Damn, were we wrong. Instead, we had a rollicking good time as Dave Wakeling led the Beat through a thirtieth-anniversary celebration of their seminal album I JUST CAN’T STOP IT, along with a few covers and even a new song. The dance party never stopped as a comfortable and relaxed Wakeling shared funny stories about crazy nights in New York City way back when and how most of the band now downs coconut milk in lieu of the harder stuff, referring to Rhythmm Epkins on drums, Wayne Lothian on bass, Matt Morrish on sax, Raynier Jacildo on keyboards, Musashi “Moose” Lethridge on guitar, and Antonee taking the First Class Toaster part made famous by Ranking Roger. The generous setlist ran the gamut from such EB classics as “I Confess,” “Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” “Twist & Crawl,” “Hands Off, She’s Mine,” “Stand Down Margaret,” “Tears of a Clown,” and “Mirror in the Bathroom” to a cover of the Staples Singers’ “I’ll Take You There.” Running long, Wakeling cut a General Public tune, making a sly jab at RR. The Birmingham native, long since relocated to California, also added a snippet of Pearl Jam’s “Better Man” to “Save It for Later,” just as Eddie Vedder has been adding a snippet of “Save It” to PJ’s performances of “Better Man” for years. The band also featured the new “The Love You Give Lasts Forever,” part of a benefit project for Acoustic for Autism; in fact, they’re readying the first English Beat studio album since 1982’s SPECIAL BEAT SERVICE, so don’t be surprised to see other fresh tracks tonight, when EB plays the Highline Ballroom with the Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata, Toubab Krewe, and the Lost Fingers. Tickets are half price if you bring in an unemployment stub and present it at the box office. You know you want to go. So just go. Plus, it’s Sunday night, so what else do you have to do?

globalFEST 2011

The chamber music of Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Ségal will be part of globalFEST at Webster Hall January 9

Webster Hall
125 East 11th St. between Second & Third Aves.
Sunday, January 9, $40, 7:00
www.globalfest-ny.org

The eighth annual golbalFEST, which brings together international music from all over the world, returns to Webster Hall on January 9 with an impressive lineup of thirteen performers across three stages. This year’s participants are India’s Rhythm of Rajasthan, Hawai’i’s Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole, the Creole Choir of Cuba, Brazil’s Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda, New York/Cuba’s Pedrito Martinez Group, the Mali-France duo of Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal, Haiti’s RAM, Senegal’s Yoro Ndiaye, Egypt/New York’s Zikrayat Colombia’s LA-33, the Congo’s Diblo Dibala, Peru’s Novalima, and New York/India’s Red Baraat. The show runs from 7:00 to 12:15, and tickets are $40.

CULTUREMART ’11

Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya's FLOATING POINT WAVES is part of HERE's annual Culturemart festival

HERE Arts Center
145 Sixth Ave. at Dominick St.
January 7-23, $15
212-647-0202
www.here.org

Culturemart, the annual festival of workshop productions by HERE’s resident artists, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year with another slate of diverse experimental shows incorporating theater, dance, film, music, and audience interaction. Things get under way January 7-8 with Laura Peterson’s GROUND, the second part of her Wooden trilogy, in which a dance quartet performs within living grass and trees. Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya, artistic directors of the New York Butoh Festival, will present the immersive, multimedia FLOATING POINT WAVES. Betty Shamieh makes the murdered Arab from Albert Camus’s THE STRANGER the main character in the mysterious THE STRANGEST. A community of artists — as well as the audience — are all part of the interactive LUSH VALLEY, which seeks to reclaim the American dream. THE VENUS RIFF riffs on the Venus Hottentot. Democracy takes center stage in Aaron Landsman’s participatory CITY COUNCIL MEETING. Deborah Stein and Suli Holum investigate a woman who is her own twin in CHIMERA. Kamala Sankaram’s chamber opera MIRANDA mixes reality television with hip-hop and Hindustani classical music. And Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith uses puppetry to look at the sacred in EPYLLION, among other shows running through January 23, with all tickets a mere $15.

THE ROCK & ROLL CIRCUS

Under the Big Apple Circus Tent
Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center Plaza
Monday, January 3, free, 7:00
Tuesday, January 4, mezzanine $25, ringside $30, 7:00
www.rockandrollcircusparty.com

On December 11, 1968, the Rolling Stones hosted the Rock and Roll Circus, an unpredictable mix of music and mayhem with the Who, Marianne Faithfull, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, clowns, a fire eater, a flying trapeze act, and the one-night-only supergroup the Dirty Mac, consisting of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards. Vance Garrett Productions, Jessica Resler of Muffin Cupcake, and visual artist Adarsha Benjamin are trying to recapture some of that old magic with a new three-ring extravaganza of music and acrobatics they are also calling the Rock and Roll Circus. On January 3 at 8:00, Japanther, the Pharmacy, Voxhaul Broadcast, the So So Glos, and Electric Tickle Machine will team up for a free concert under the Big Apple Circus tent in Damrosch Park, while Ariel Pink, Amazing Baby, Aska + Nick Zinner, and Saint Motel will be part of a ticketed show ($50) January 4 that will also include acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, balancing acts, and other performers from the Big Apple Circus, led by ringmaster Acid Betty, the Fiercest Hybrid Drag Queen in New York City. (OK GO were initially scheduled to headline Tuesday night but have been replaced by Ariel Pink, whose HAUNTED GRAFFITI disc has made many year-end top-ten lists.) Both nights will feature local food trucks, various specialized pop-up shops, sponsored bars, and other booths. While it might not quite be the Stones, the Who, and other musical legends, this Rock and Roll Circus 2.0 is a cool collection of hot indie bands worth checking out. The Big Apple Circus, comprising an international roster of acts from the United States, Bulgaria, China, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mongolia, and Russia, continues at Lincoln Center through January 9 before heading to Boston April 2 – May 15 and then coming to Queens May 21 – June 12.