this week in music

GREATER NEW YORK/WARM UP

William Cordova’s “Laberintos (after octavio paz)” is set up like dominoes ready to come tumbling down at any moment (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

MoMAPS1
22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave.
Warm Up: Saturdays from 2:00 to 9:00 through September 4, $15 (free for Long Island City residents)
Greater New York: Thursday through Monday from 12 noon – 6:00 pm through October 18
Suggested donation: $10 (free with MoMA ticket within thirty days of MoMA visit)
718-784-2084
www.ps1.org
“pole dance” slideshow

MoMA PS1’s third quinquennial, their five-year survey of contemporary art in the metropolitan area, is an engaging and involving collection of multimedia work from approximately seventy artists. Taking on everything from environmentalism and racism to marketing and celebrity, the show moves along at a breezy pace. Various artists get their own relatively large galleries, including David Benjamin Sherry (yes, you can walk through the doors), Leidy Churchman, Vlatka Horvat, and Zipora Fried, while others get their own small rooms, like Conrad Ventur, who presents the history of Shirley Bassey singing “This Is My Life” as seen through rotating crystal prisms. David Brooks’s “Preserved Forest” installation comments on the deforestation along a new superhighway in Brazil, while Gilad Ratman’s two-channel video, “The 588 Project,” features a bubbling, muddy ooze seemingly coming alive. Visitors are encouraged to add colorful strips of tape to Franklin Evans’s “timecompressionmachine” and to play the strings of Naama Tsabar’s pair of speaker walls. One of the most powerful pieces is Hank Willis Thomas’s “Unbranded,” consisting of advertising photographs tailored to the African American community, organized chronologically from the 1960s to the present, in which all text and brand names have been removed, leaving just the central image to be judged on its own. In the same room, William Cordova’s “Laberintos (after octavio paz)” collects record sleeves from an Ivy League institution that borrowed 200 Inca artifacts from Peru in 1914 and refuses to return them; the albums are arranged in a perilous maze that appears likely to collapse at any moment. As usual, there’s art just about everywhere you look or listen at PS1; Nico Muhly’s specially commissioned sound piece loops in the elevator, and Aki Sasamoto collaborated with Saul Melman on “Skewed Lies / Central Governor” in the boiler room, where live performances are scheduled September 17-19 and October 15-17. Also downstairs, in the cinema, Ronald Bronstein’s FROWNLAND (2007) continues through August 30, with Bronstein discussing the film with Amy Taubin on August 28; future screenings include works by Dani Leventhal and Fern Silva as well as Tomonari Nishikawa and Redmond Entwistle, with upcoming performances by Andrew Lampert and Trisha Baga. In addition, Dutch artist Guido van der Werve will be presenting an orchestra performance October 2 & 9.

Solid Objectives — Idenburg Liu have installed the playful, interactive “Pole Dance” in the PS1 courtyard (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The summer-long hot and sweaty Warm Up series has two Saturdays remaining, with Big Freedia, DJ Rusty Lazer, DJ Rashad, GHE20 GOTHIK DJs Venus X and Brenmar, and Traxx getting booties shaking on August 28, and House of House, DJ Mehdi, and a live set by Holy Ghost! ready to close out the season on September 4. The winner of this year’s Young Architects Program, Solid Objectives — Idenburg Liu (SO – IL), has filled the courtyard with large beach balls, overhead netting, hammocks, wading pools, and sand, where people can relax or toss around the balls while also getting sprayed with mist. Some of the poles in the section immediately to the right are linked to sound, so you can orchestrate your own concert or watch a show choreographed by Kyra Johannesen on August 28 at 2:30. You can also grab burgers, beer, and dogs at the regular Warm Up barbecue, but be prepared for some massive crowds. Summer Saturdays at PS1 have become a right of passage for New Yorkers, who are able to experience art, music, film, dance, food, sport, literature, and more, all in one fabulous setting.

YOSHITOMO NARA + YNG: OPEN STUDIO

Friday is last chance to see Yoshitomo Nara’s work-in-progress in the Park Ave. Armory (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Ave. at 67th St.
Through Friday, August 27, free, 4:00 – 7:00
www.armoryonpark.org
www.asiasociety.org
“Home” slideshow

In preparation for “Nobody’s Fool,” his major exhibition opening at the Asia Society on September 9, Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara and his design team, YNG, are constructing a special installation this week in the cavernous Wade Thompson Drill Hall in the Park Ave. Armory. When it’s finished, “Home,” a one-story living environment, will be transferred a few blocks uptown; in the meantime, visitors are invited to get a free sneak peek at the work-in-progress every afternoon from 4:00 to 7:00 through this Friday. The fifty-one-year-old Tokyo-based Neo Pop artist is most well known for his paintings, sculptures, and drawings of wide-eyed childlike characters who are not quite as cute as they first appear, evil and danger lying not too far below the surface. Nara’s punk-rock influences are evident at the armory, where a glassed-in room holds dozens of his drawings, many of which include musical elements, from a young girl playing air guitar to a Ramones postcard. Meanwhile, music blasts as workers continue building “Home” right out in the open. Don’t look too hard for Nara himself; the shy artist has done a good job of avoiding being in the spotlight so far this week. In order to enter the hall, visitors must wear closed-toe shoes, shoulders must be covered, and yellow hard hats will be given out. Be sure to pick up a card that offers two-for-one admission to the upcoming show; in addition, Nara and curator Miwako Tezuka will be at the Asia Society on Friday night for a Q&A and discussion following a screening of Koji Sakabe’s 2007 documentary, TRAVELING WITH YOSHITOMO NARA. Tickets are also now available for such related events as an artist talk with Nara and Hideki Toyoshima on September 10, a live performance by Shonen Knife on September 25, and a screening of Lewis Rapkin’s documentary about the contemporary Japanese indie music scene, LIVE FROM TOKYO, on October 29.

PLAYBOY ROCK THE RABBIT

Elizabeth Harper and Class Actress are part of sexy triple bill at Highline Ballroom (photo by Bek Andersen )

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Wednesday, August 25, $12-$15, 8:00
212-414-5994
www.highlineballroom.com
www.playboy.com

Playboy’s annual Rock the Rabbit puts together hot bands with cool designers (or is that cool bands with hot designers?) who join forces to create special-edition T-shirts for Playboy. All summer long, Rock the Rabbit bands and Playboy playmates have been showing off the new tees at the Ibiza Rocks Hotel, with concerts featuring such bands as LCD Soundsystem, Maximo Park, Florence and the Machine, Calvin Harris, Soulwax, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Dizzee Rascal. But you don’t have to head to the party island of Ibiza to join in the fun. On August 25, playmates Lauren Anderson (Miss July 2002) and Shannon James (Miss May 2007) will host a Rock the Rabbit evening at the Highline Ballroom, with a stellar musical lineup that includes Ha Ha Tonka, Class Actress, and Bear Hands. The four-piece Ozark band Ha Ha Tonka investigates the South’s “horrific past” while celebrating its reputation for “enormous hospitality” on gospel-tinged pop songs such as “Hold My Feet to the Fire” and “The Outpouring.” Brooklyn singer Elizabeth Harper unleashes sexy hooks in such synth-pop numbers as “Journal of Ardency,” “Adolescent Heart,” and “Let Me Take You Out.” And Brooklyn quartet Bear Hands are rising stars in the indie scene, scoring success with their recent three-song EP WHAT A DRAG and having recently played at the Whitney.

THE ENGLISH BEAT

Dave Wakeling will prove he’s still got the beat August 21 at Webster Hall

Webster Hall
125 East Eleventh St. between Second & Third Aves.
Saturday, August 21, $30, 8:00
212-353-1600
www.myspace.com/officialbeatspace
www.websterhall.com

The English Beat formed more than thirty years, then ruled the early ’80s with such ska smashes as “Mirror in the Bathroom” and “Save It for Later” and a killer cover of Smokey Robinson’s “Tears of a Clown.” In 1983, leaders Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger put together General Public, which had a huge hit with “Tenderness” before they broke up. There have been various incarnations of the English Beat, known as the Beat in England, over the last decade, but none that have included both Roger and Wakeling together (except for a one-off gig at Royal Festival Hall in February 2003). Wakeling is bringing the current incarnation of the band, with Rhythmm Epkins on drums, Wayne Lothian on bass, Raynier Jacildo on keyboards, Matt Morrish on saxophone, and Antonee First Class on toaster, to Webster Hall tonight, with Bad Manners and Chris Murray opening the show. Prepare to dance your ass off.

BLUES BBQ

Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King will be singing the blues at Hudson River Park BBQ fest (photo by James Bland)

Hudson River Park
Pier 54 at West 14th St.
Sunday, August 22, free, 2:00 – 9:00
www.hudsonriverpark.org

The eleventh annual Blues BBQ takes place on Sunday, rain or shine, at Pier 54 in Hudson River Park. Always a tantalizing festival, this year’s barbecued goodies come from local joints Brother Jimmy’s, Char No. 4, Dinosaur Bar B Que, and Fatty ’Cue. You can enjoy your ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, and other BBQ favorites while getting the blues from Smokin’ Joe Kubek and the Bnois King Band (2:30), Janiva Magness (3:45), Joe Louis Walker featuring Murali Coryell (5:00), Teeny Tucker Revue (6:15), and Cyril Neville (7:30).

FARM TO FOLK FEST

The Madison Square Gardeners will be part of Brooklyn benefit for community-supported agriculture (photo by Bianca Dagga)

Union Pool
484 Union Ave.
Sunday, August 22, suggested donation $12, 3:00 –8:00
718-609-0484
www.greenpoint-williamsburgcsa.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/unionpool

Sustainably conscious food and musicians will come together at Union Pool in Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon in a benefit for the Greenpoint-Williamsburg CSA’s Low Income Fund. Spreading the word about community-supported agriculture will be performers Mia Riddle, Pearl and the Beard, and the Madison Square Gardeners while everyone munches away on artisanal food from Bakesalery, the Brooklyn Salsa Company, Cheshire Canning, the DP Chutney Collective, Sour Puss Pickles, and Los Rebeldes Mexican Home Cooking. Billing itself as a “partnership of mutual commitment between a farm and a community of supporters,” the GWCSA is always looking for new members, who will be “buying into a direct link with the food you eat.” Suggested admission is $12, and you’ll feel so good about yourself if you go.

CHRISTIAN MARCLAY: FESTIVAL

Electronic musician Ikue Mori interprets Christian Marclay’s “Ephemera” score at the Whitney with pianist Sylive Courvoisier (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Wednesday – Sunday through September 26
Admission: $12-$18 (pay-what-you-wish Fridays from 6:00 to 9:00)
212-570-3600
www.whitney.org

Since the late 1970s, New York-based multidisciplinary artist Christian Marclay has been exploring the intimate connection between sound and image through sculpture, video, photography, live music, collage, and site-specific installation. His unique approach to this relationship is on view at the Whitney in the thrilling interactive exhibition “Festival,” which includes dozens of Marclay’s highly original scores, including “Graffiti Composition,” comprising graffiti scribbled on posters by passersby in Berlin; “Pret-a-Porter,” consisting of clothing that has musical notations on them; “Zoom Zoom,” a slideshow of photographs of signs that contain onomatopoeiac language; “Mixed Reviews,” translated music reviews that run around one gallery space in a seemingly endless line of text; “Covers,” a collection of empty record sleeves; “The Bell and the Glass,” a double video projection that draws comparisons between the Liberty Bell and Marcel Duchamp’s “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors”; and “Chalkboard,” in which visitors are encouraged to write or draw anything they want on a giant musical staff. All of these scores and more are meant to be interpreted and improvised by musicians, guaranteeing that no two performances will ever be the same. Live events, all free with paid museum admission, continue daily through August 27, with such upcoming “concerts” as Peter Evans and Zeena Parkins performing “Box Set” on August 18 at 1:00, David Moss taking on “Manga Scroll” on August 20 at 7:00, Kato Hideki, Zeena Parkins, Sara Parkins, and Nels Cline teaming up for “The Bell and the Glass” on August 21 at 1:30, Robin Holcomb and Wayne Horvitz interpreting “Graffiti Composition” on August 25 at 4:00, and Bill Frisell playing “Wind Up Guitar” on August 26 at 1:00. There will also be Artist’s Talks every Friday afternoon, with Moss on August 20, Marina Rosenfeld on August 27, and Guy Klucevsek on September 3 and 17. “Festival” is indeed a festival of word, sound, and image, a fascinating celebration of aural and visual language by a masterful artist whose reach knows no boundaries.

In conjunction with “Festival,” which runs through September 26, Marclay’s “Fourth of July” has been extended at the Paula Cooper Gallery in Chelsea through August 24. (Also currently at the Whitney are “Jill Magid: A Reasonable Man in a Box,” “Off the Wall: Part 1 — Thirty Performative Actions,” and “Collecting Biennials.”)