this week in music

WEST INDIAN AMERICAN DAY CARNIVAL

Spectacular costumes are only part of the fun at annual West Indian American Day Carnival celebration on Labor Day (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Eastern Pkwy. from Schenectady Ave. to Flatbush Ave. Ext.
Monday, September 6, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
718-467-1797
www.wiadca.com
www.carnaval.com
2009 parade

Every year we look forward to this fabulous event, now in its forty-third year. We’ve been going for more than fifteen years, and it never lets us down, although it continues to get more and more crowded every Labor Day, with an expected crowd of more than three million in 2010. The festivities begin at 2:00 am with the traditional J’Ouvert Morning, a precarnival procession featuring steel drums and percussion and fabulous masquerade costumes, from Grand Army Plaza to Flatbush Ave. and on to Empire Blvd., then to Nostrand Ave. and Rutland Rd. The Parade of Bands begins around 11:00 am, as truckloads of blasting Caribbean music and groups of ornately dressed dancers, costume bands, masqueraders, moko jumbies, and more march down Eastern Parkway to Grand Army Plaza, soon to be joined by the glad-handing local politicians. Don’t eat before you go; the great homemade food includes ackee and codfish, oxtail stew, curried goat, jerk chicken, fishcakes, and lots of rice and peas. The farther east you venture, the more closed in it gets; by the time you get near Crown Heights, it could take you half an hour just to cross the street, so take it easy and settle in for a fun, colorful day where you need not hurry.

PARKED FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL

Joyride is one of more than ten food trucks that will be pulling into Colonel’s Row on Governors Island on September 5 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Colonel’s Row, Governors Island
Sunday, September 5, free, 12 noon – 5:00 pm
www.meanredproductions.com
www.govisland.com

Back on Memorial Day, the folks at Mean Red Productions kicked off the summer season with Parked, a gathering of many of the city’s best food trucks, all anchored at BKLYN Yard on Carroll St. To close the season, Parked will travel to Governors Island on September 5, where people can partake in the delicious delights of such mobile food servers as the Jamaican Dutchy, Rickshaw Dumpling, Green Pirate Juice, Joyride, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, Halo Berlin, Cinnamon Snail, Kelvin Natural Slush, and Hermelinda Mexicana. There will also be local craft beer, live music, DJ sets, and other activities. So forget about checking all those websites and twitter feeds to figure out where your favorite food truck is; on Sunday, it’s most likely on Governors Island.

POP TARTS SUCK TOASTED RELAUNCH PARTY

Brooklyn trio Your Youth helps welcome back Pop Tarts Suck Toasted at Piano’s on September 3

Piano’s
158 Ludlow St.
Friday, September 3, $10, 8:00
212-505-3733
www.ptst.org
www.pianosnyc.com

After having experienced various problems including alleged copyright infringement, the gang over at Pop Tarts Suck Toasted are celebrating the official launch of their latest iteration with a very cool show at Piano’s on September 3. As Staten Island–based PTST founder Patrick Duffy explains on the new site, “In 2010 the internets have not been kind to Pop Tarts Suck Toasted. February saw the deletion of the site from Google’s Blogger format, destroying the archives that had been built up over five years in the click of a button. Later in the year the domain name, poptartssucktoasted.com, was sold off without warning and I took the blog into retirement seemingly forever.” But now they’re back, at www.ptst.org, where you can find out the latest in new music releases and show listings — after first having checked twi-ny, of course. The night begins with Bermuda Bonnie at 8:00, who play lo-fi electronica with a girl-group groove. At 9:00, MiniBoone take the stage, a bunch of “Cool Kids Cut Out of the Heart Itself”; we loved how they ended their Northside Festival gig at Spike Hill with an infectious reckless abandon. At 10:00, AJ, Sean, and Miles, who make up the Brooklyn trio Your Youth, will do what they want as long as they don’t get caught, as they declare on “Diamond,” one of the songs from their engaging debut EP, ALOHA. Coney Island seven-piece Ava Luna will get orchestral closing the show at 11:00.

BRAZILIAN DAY

Everyone will be Brazilian at annual festival in Midtown (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Saturday, September 5, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sixth Ave. between 42nd & 56th Sts. 46th St. between Madison & Seventh Aves.
Admission: free
www.brazilianday.com

Although everyone wearing the green, yellow, and blue wish they had at least one more reason to party this summer — unfortunately, the Netherlands defeated Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinals back in June — more than 1.5 million people are expected to attend Brazilian Day on September 5, celebrating Brazil’s independence from Portugal in September 1822. This year’s festivities will be hosted by Luciano Huck and feature performances by Zezé de Camargo & Luciano, Carlinhos Brown, and Margareth Menezes. Brazilian Day is always one of the loudest, most crowded, and entertaining street fairs of the summer season; be prepared to get your fill of pao de queijo da mamae, bolo de goiabada, arroz farofa, guarana, empadinha, melhor que churros, enroladinho presunto e quiejo, and the country’s national dish, feijoada. The day before, on September 4, the Lavagem da Rua 46 will take place, the ritual Bahian cleansing of 46th St., with dignitaries, folklore performances, the Musa do Brazilian Day pageant, arts and crafts, food vendors, and more.

ELECTRIC ZOO

The Chemical Brothers anchor a strong lineup on first day of electronic music festival this weekend on Randall’s Island

NEW YORK’S ELECTRONIC MUSIC FESTIVAL
Randall’s Island
Saturday, September 4, and Sunday, September 5, $96/day, two-day pass $157, 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
www.madeevent.com/electriczoo

Many of the world’s mostinnovative and popular electronic musicians will bring their laptops, turntables, and other methods of sharing booty-shaking noise to Randall’s Island this weekend for the annual Electric Zoo festival. Such acts as the Chemical Brothers, Major Lazer, Pete Tong, Armin van Buuren, Diplo, John Digweed, the Glitch Mob, Sleepy & Boo, Victor Calderone, DJ Mehdi, and more than fifty others will play four stages over the course of two ear-shattering days. Each night will be followed by an official after-party at Pacha on West 46th St. as well.

CROSSING THE LINE 2010

Ryoji Ikeda’s “datamatics (ver. 2.0)” kicks off FIAF’s Crossing the Line festival on September 10-11

FIAF FALL FESTIVAL
French Institute Alliance Française and other locations
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Le Skyroom and FIAF Gallery, 22 East 60th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
September 10-27, free- $45
212-355-6160
www.fiaf.org/crossingtheline

The fourth annual Crossing the Line Festival, a multidisciplinary international celebration consisting of cutting-edge music, dance, film, theater, art, photography, lectures, and even a fair, will take place September 10-27 at FIAF as well as such other venues as the Joyce, the Invisible Dog Art Center, 3rd Ward, the Red Hook Community Farm, Dance Theater Workshop, Columbia University, the ISSUE Project Room, and Anthology Film Archives. Ryoji Ikeda kicks off the festival with “datamatics [ver. 2.0],” in which the Japanese artist and composer uses computer data, an electronic score, and strobes to present a visually dynamic performance; Ikeda’s multimedia installation “the transcendental” will be on view in the FIAF Gallery for free from September 11 through October 16. There will be a pair of exciting site-specific performance pieces, with locations to be announced, with Arthur Nauzyciel’s HETERO running September 11-14 and Daniel Pettrow’s THE SEA MUSEUM scheduled for September 18-19. Former Pina Bausch dramaturg Raimund Hoghe and Congolese dancer-choreographer Faustin Linyekula team up on September 16-18, Buddhist monk and teacher Matthieu Ricard sits down with Philip Glass on September 13 to engage in a “Conversation on Contemplation and Creativity,” and Willi Dorner will lead “Bodies in Urban Spaces,” a pair of free performance walks in Lower Manhattan scheduled for sunrise on September 27 and sunset on September 27. In addition, “Farm City: Where Are You Growing?” will explore urban agriculture around the city with a fair, film screenings, a farm tour, and an afternoon forum. The festival will also include performances and appearances by Jérôme Bel, Bertrand Bonello, Bouchra Ouizguen, Richard Garet, and Eliane Radigue. Tickets for the 2010 edition of Crossing the Line are on sale now; please note that some of the free events require advance RSVPs.

77BOADRUM

77BOADRUM (Jun Kawaguchi, 2010)
IndieScreen
285 Kent Ave. at Second St.
Wednesday, September 1, $10, 8:00
www.indiescreen.us
www.myspace.com/film77boadrum

Two years ago, on August 8, 2008, at 8:08 pm, we watched as 88 drummers, led by Gang Gang Dance, performed for 88 minutes in East River State Park along the Williamsburg Waterfront. It was a magically spiritual, wholly uplifting experience that would go on three hours later in California, led by Japanese noise specialists Boredoms, who had held a similar gathering thirteen months earlier. As we were leaving, we were kicking ourselves for having missed the previous year’s event, when Boredoms led 77 drummers playing for 77 minutes on July 7, 2007, at 7:07 pm in Brooklyn’s Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park. Thankfully, plenty of other people were there to witness it, and director Jun Kawaguchi has documented it all on 77BOADRUM, using original footage he shot as well as clips he found on YouTube and other sites. Combining the performance itself with behind-the-scenes action and interviews, Kawaguchi has created an eighty-nine-minute film that will make you feel like you were there too. In advance of the DVD release from Thrill Jockey on September 7, which will come with special photo postcards, the film will be shown for one night only at IndieScreen in Brooklyn. Part of the fun of watching the 8/8/08 event was being in the midst of a crowd, all being lifted by the beautiful percussive sounds floating through the air, so watching it in a theater with other like-minded people is the next-best thing.