this week in music

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.”)

DETROIT COBRAS

Rachel, Mary, and the Detroit Cobras will help fans get their rocks off on August 20

ROCKS OFF CONCERT CRUISES
Skyport Marina, 23rd St. & FDR Dr.
Friday, August 20, $20-$25, 8:00
www.rocksoff.com
www.myspace.com/thedetroitcobras

Garage-band heroes the Detroit Cobras are working on a new record, which is great news, because we dug their last outing, their first new record in three years, TIED & TRUE (Bloodshot, 2007), thirteen covers of old-time rock-and-soul tunage by such songwriters as James Brown, Gerry Goffin, Eddy Grant, and Bob Elgin — but avoiding overly recognizable hits, instead making these relatively unfamiliar songs their own. With original bad-girl members Rachel Nagy on vocals and Mary Ramirez (previously known as Maribel Restrepo) on guitar, the Cobras rip through such gems as “Nothing But a Heart Ache,” “Leave My Kitten Alone” (complete with meows!), and “(I Wanna Know) What’s Going On,” propelled by Kenny Tudrick’s rollicking drums. If the jaunty “On a Monday” sounds familiar, that’s because when Johnny Cash recorded it, he called it “I Got Stripes.” The Cobras have just reissued their first two albums, MINK RAT OR RABBIT and LIFE, LOVE AND LEAVING, in imited-edition vinyl pressings; the records include covers of songs by Mary Wells, Otis Redding, Jackie DeShannon, and Clyde McPhatter, with such raw rave-ups as “Cha Cha Twist,” “Bad Girl,” “Midnight Blues,” “Shout Bama Lama,” and “Hey Sailor.” The Cobras will be playing aboard the Half Moon on Friday night as part of the Rocks Off Concert Cruises, with Nashville quartet Heavy Cream opening up.

HIROMI: SOLO PIANO

Japanese jazz superstar Hiromi will be playing solo at the Blue Note August 17-22 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Blue Note
West Third St.
August 17-22, bar $20, table $30, 8:00 & 10:30
212-475-8592
www.bluenote.net
www.myspace.com/hiromimusic

With her exciting live concerts and award-winning albums, including ANOTHER MIND, BRAIN, SPIRAL, and TIME CONTROL, Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara has become one of the most popular jazz musicians in the world, pounding away on her keyboards while both sitting and standing, playing solo and with her group, Sonic Bloom. The thirty-one-year-old international star is coming to the Blue Note for a dozen intimate solo shows August 17-22, which are being filmed for an upcoming DVD release. In June, Hiromi revved up the SummerStage crowd with her explosive virtuosity, joining the Stanley Clarke Band for an evening of thrilling contemporary jazz. Her run at the Blue Note promises to be special as well.

SALUTE INDIA: CELEBRATING THE SPIRIT OF INDIA

New York will salute India at thirtieth anniversary parade and festival on August 15

2010 INDIA DAY PARADE
Madison Ave. from 38th to 28th Sts.
Sunday, August 15, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
www.fianynjct.org

The world’s largest India Day Parade takes place on Sunday, August 15, as thousands of marchers and spectators will gather along Madison Ave. between 28th & 38th Sts. to see the floats, check out live performances, taste Indian cuisine, and take in special cultural programs and activities marking the event’s thirtieth anniversary. This year’s grand marshal is Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, who has starred in such films as ARMAAN, SALAAM NAMASTE, KABHI ALVIDA NAA KEHNA, and HEAVEN ON EARTH.

SEAPORT MUSIC: THE WEDDING PRESENT / SAVOIR ADORE

The Wedding Present will close out summer season of free shows at the seaport

River to River Festival
South Street Seaport, Pier 17
Friday, August 13, free, 6:00
www.myspace.com/theweddingpresent

While River to River’s Seaport Music festival specializes in bringing buzz bands and rising stars of the indie music scene to Pier 17, over the years they have also reintroduced such old-timers as Wire, Suicide, and Superchunk. This Friday, their ninth season closes with quite a gift, British legends the Wedding Present. For twenty-five years, the Wedding Present has gone through constant change, with band members joining, quitting, rejoining, getting fired, and, as a whole, taking a long sabbatical. But founder, guitarist, and lead singer David Gedge has always been front and center, through such albums as GEORGE BEST (1987), BIZARRO (1989), SEAMONSTERS (1991), WATUSI (1994), SATURNALIA (1996), and TAKE FOUNTAIN (2005). (Gedge also made several records as Cinerama beginning in 1998.) The band’s most recent official release was EL REY (Manifesto, May 2008), and the current touring lineup consists of Gedge along with in-and-out guitarist Simon Cleave, bassist Terry de Castro, and drummer Graeme Ramsay. The Wedding Present’s songs are filled with great guitar-laden hooks, melding pop, punk, and alternative that you’ll swear you’ve heard before and probably have — or else you’ve heard their licks stolen by just about any indie band you can think of.

Savoir Adore will open final Seaport Music show of the summer (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer claim that they started a band as an “accident,” that they were fooling around with some songs, shared them with friends, and eventually became a little more serious about it. Briefly known as Les Frogs, Muro and Hammer renamed themselves Savoir Adore and are touring in support of their debut full-length, the lush, adventurous IN THE WOODED FOREST (Cantora, September 2009), joined by David Perlick-Molinari (who, with Hammer, is part of YouTooCanWoo Prod.), bassist Sasha Brown, and drummer Tim McCoy (who leads the Papercuts). A mix of pure pop delights and sweet instrumental-heavy tunes that walk the fine line between nature and technology, the infectious album features two of the best-titled songs of last year, “The Scientific Findings of Dr. Rousseau” and “Transylvanian Candy Patrol,” but Savoir Adore is about a lot more than just unusual names (even though their first EP was called THE ADVENTURES OF MR. PUMPERNICKEL AND THE GIRL WITH ANIMALS IN HER THROAT). “We Talk Like Machines” has a hook most bands would kill for, with the chorus of “Early Bird” right behind it. “The fires burning bright, everyone’s out tonight! 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, the starry night’s our disco ball!” Muro declares on MERP, which is a good description of Savoir Adore itself.