this week in music

STEVEN BLUSH: AMERICAN HARDCORE

The Strand
828 Broadway at 12th St.
Wednesday, December 15, free, 7:00
212-473-1452
www.americanhardcorebook.com

Steven Blush has been part of the American hardcore scene since the early 1980s, promoting shows, starting music magazines, writing the definitive book on the subject, 2001’s AMERICAN HARDCORE: A TRIBAL HISTORY, and writing and producing the 2006 documentary of the same name. He is on tour now with the second edition of the book, having expanded every chapter and added a new one, stretching it from 328 to 408 pages with new art, new interviews, and new subjects. Blush will be at the Strand tonight with Dave Smalley (Dag Nasty, Descendents) and author Laura Albert, better known as controversial writer JT Leroy, discussing the past, present, and future of American hardcore, which Blush famously declared was dead in 1986. In celebration of the second edition of the book, Blush has given us one of the great holiday presents ever, a website that offers twenty-four hours of hardcore, consisting of 911 free, downloadable songs from familiar, forgettable, and hard-to-find groups, an unbelievable collection that you can find here.

FLUX FACTORY AUCTION AND GALA

Center 548
548 West 22nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Wednesday, December 15, $15-$1,000, 7:00
718-707-3362
www.fluxfactory.org

Long Island City’s Flux Factory, “a not for profit arts organization supporting innovation in things,” will be holding its annual auction Wednesday night in Chelsea, with live performances, light food and drink, and an impressive list of artists selling works to benefit the art collective. Among the participating artists are Andrea Dezsö, Dan Colen, Kathryne Hall, Marie Losier, Molly Surno, Peter Doig, Ryan McNamara, Stefany Anne Golberg, Swoon, and Ward Shelley, with Angela Washko, Daupo, Douglas Paulson, Elizabeth Larison, Gabriela Vainsencher, Sarah Glidden, and Will Harris serving as “knock-off” live artists, creating customized copies on demand. Guests of honor Elizabeth Dee and city councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer will also be feted by a performance by Alison Ward, video art by Jaime Iglehart, Matthew-Robin Nye’s creative seating, silkscreening by Bread and Butter Collective, and DJ Sondies leading a dance party. You don’t have to attend the festivities in order to bid on the works, which are all detailed online.

PAUL WINTER PRESENTS: WINTER SOLSTICE

The Paul Winter Consort and friends will once again celebrate the solstice at St. John the Divine

Cathedral of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St.
December 16-18, $35-$80
www.stjohndivine.org
www.solsticeconcert.com

Billed as “New York’s Holiday Celebration of Music, Dance, and the Return of the Sun,” the Paul Winter Consort will once again pay tribute to the shortest day of the year at the thirty-first annual Winter Solstice concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for four shows December 16-18. A few days before the sun reaches its lowest point in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere, the six-time Grammy-winning soprano saxophonist and his group — Paul McCandless on double reed, Paul Sullivan on keyboards, Eugene Friesen on cello, Jamey Haddad and Bill Cahn on percussion, and Tim Brumfield on St. John’s pipe organ — will be joined by special guests Armenian vocalist Arto Tunçboyaciyan, gospel singer Theresa Thomason, and the Forces of Nature Dance Theatre. “For me,” Winter explains on his website, “this solstice celebration is an ever-renewing thrill — whether watching the sun gong ascend twelve stories with its player to the vault of the cathedral or hearing the ‘tree of sounds’ as it slowly turns, reflecting a myriad of lights from its hundreds of bells, gongs, and chimes.” Longtime Winter fans are in for an additional treat, as the consort will be holding the New York premiere of songs from its brand-new album, MIHO: JOURNEY TO THE MOUNTAIN (Living Music, September 2010), which features such tracks as “Words of Wish Fulfillment,” “Dawn Raga,” “Elephant Dance,” “Koto Spring,” “Singing to the Mountain,” and “Morning Sun.”

THE RED & WHITE PARTY 2010

Hank & Cupcakes headline the sizzling hot Red & White Party at (le) poisson rouge on Tuesday night (photo by Alan Lugo)

(le) poisson rouge
158 Bleecker St.
Tuesday, December 14, $15, 8:00
212-228-4854
www.lepoissonrouge.com
www.ps122.org

The sixth annual Red & White Party is ready to blow your mind on December 14, with the festivities spreading across two spaces at (le) poisson rouge on Bleecker St. In the lounge beginning at 8:00, Jomai Etu of the Tribe of Magic will be manning the turntables, joined by various special surprise guests, with Maga Bo taking over at midnight at Joro Boro at 1:00. On the main stage, Caveman gets things going at 9:00, followed by Hank & Cupcakes at 10:00, DJ Roxy Cottontail at 11:00, DJ Michael Magnan at 12:30, and Die J! Mars at 2:00. Promising a cross-section of “subversive and seductive underground sounds,” the party also suggests wearing dancing shoes and drinking helmets.

DRAW BOOK RELEASE PARTY

Karen O’s “So Trashed” is among the many works collected in DRAW

Fuse Gallery
93 2nd Ave between Fifth & Sixth Sts.
Wednesday, December 15, free, 7:00 – 10:00
212-777-7988
www.fusegallerynyc.com

In October 2006, Erik Foss and Curse Mackey curated “Draw,” an exhibition at Fuse Gallery of drawings by illustrators, skateboarders, animators, graphic novelists, musicians, tattoo artists, and others. The show traveled to Austin, London, San Francisco, and, most recently, Mexico City, where El Museo de la Ciudad de México has put together the catalog with curator Miguel Calderon. On December 15, Fuse will host a party for the launch of the book, making one hundred advance copies available for a mere $25, with posters going for $10. The 256-page book features drawings by such artists and musicians as Raymond Pettibon, Tom Sachs, Chris Johanson, Terence Koh, Dan Colen, Swoon, Ozzy Osbourne, DAZE, Karen O, R. Crumb, HR Giger, Clive Barker, Barry McGee, Rick Griffin, Ron English, Neck Face, David Byrne, Hank Williams III, WK Interact, Doze Green, Tara McPherson, Les Claypool, and Shawn Barber. Also on view in the gallery is Benjamin Bertocci’s “Stutter.”

MERRY TUBACHRISTMAS 2010

The thirty-seventh annual MERRY TUBACHRISTMAS concert will take place Sunday at Rockefeller Center

Ice Skating Rink at Rockefeller Center
50th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Sunday, December 12, 11:30 am registration
Admission: free
Participation: $5
www.tubachristmas.com
www.rockefellercenter.com/events

In 1835, the brass instrument known as the tuba was patented by Wilhelm Wieprecht and Johann Gottfried Moritz. Musical prodigy William J. Bell, who was born on Christmas Day, 1902, began playing the tuba when he was ten years old, later joined the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the NBC Symphony Orchestra (under Arturo Toscanini) as principal tuba, and then taught music at Indiana University beginning in 1961, passing away shortly after his retirement in 1971. In 1974, as a tribute to his mentor, former student Harvey G. Phillips established the annual MERRY TUBACHRISTMAS concert, which celebrates Bell and his dedication to the tuba and the euphonium by playing Christmas carols arranged by Alec Wilder, who passed away in 1980 on Christmas Eve. The Harvey Phillips Foundation, a nonprofit group affiliated with Indiana University, now sponsors TUBACHRISTMAS all around the world, “honoring all great artists/teachers whose legacy has given us high performance standards, well structured pedagogy, professional integrity, personal values, and a camaraderie envied by all other instrumentalists.” And you thought it was just a whole bunch of people playing “Jingle Bells” on tubas at the Rockefeller Center ice rink. Well, on Sunday, December 12, a whole bunch of people will play “Jingle Bells” and other Christmas classics on tubas at the Rockefeller Center ice rink at 3:30, conducted by Chris Wilhjelm and hosted by Phillips himself. If you’d like to participate, just show up to register at 11:30 in “warm, bright, festive colors” with your tuba and a music stand or lyre and be ready to rehearse at 12:30.

AS THE EYES OF THE SEAHORSE

Live music and dance collide and intersect at HERE Arts Center

HERE Arts Center
145 Sixth Ave. at Dominick St.
December 9-11, $15-$20
212-352-3101
www.here.org

Two Philadelphia groups will create a unique performance piece in the round December 9-11 at HERE Arts Center, combining indie folk rock with experimental dance in AS THE EYES OF THE SEAHORSE. Music group the Mural and the Mint, consisting of Corey Duncan, Eliza Jones, Michael Kiley, Jebney Lewis, and Joshua Ramey, and the Nichole Canuso Dance Company, featuring Nichole Canuso, Niki Cousineau, Meg Foley, John Luna, Shannon Murphy, and Christina Zani, will collaborate on a stage surrounded by candlelit Mason jars and various odds and ends. The Mural and the Mint released their debut album, PRIVATE POCKETS, in 2008, and have just made the first single from their upcoming disc (also called AS THE EYES OF THE SEAHORSE), a light-hearted song called “Ripe,” available for free online. Canuso’s previous productions include TAKES, WANDERING ALICE, and THE ROYAL WE. The collaboration is part of HERE’s hemispHEREs initiative, which brings together visiting artists and the institution’s resident artists in a series of workshops, open rehearsals, discussions, and performances.