this week in music

CHANNELING CHILTON

The late Alex Chilton will be honored with benefit tribute show at City Winery on July 28

A NIGHT OF ALEX CHILTON’S MUSIC
City Winery
155 Varick St. between Spring & Vandam Sts.
Wednesday, July 28, $28, 8:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com

In 1987, Replacements lead singer Paul Westerberg sang, “Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes ’round / They sing ‘I’m in love. What’s that song? / I’m in love / with that song.’” People by the hundreds will be singing for Chilton this Wednesday night at City Winery in a special benefit tribute as a diverse group of musicians who were influenced by and/or played with Chilton will come together and play his songs, with the money raised going to the Gulf Restoration Network. Chilton, a founding member of the Box Tops and Big Star and one of the most respected songwriters of the last forty years, died suddenly in New Orleans in March at the age of fifty-nine, right as Big Star was set to play a showcase at SXSW, a festival usually reserved for up-and-coming bands. Among those who will be on hand to honor Chilton are Yo La Tengo, Marshall Crenshaw, Doug Garrison, René Coman, Alan Vega, Jon Spencer, Fran Kowalski, Lesa Aldridge, Jay Proctor, Bill Cunningham, Terry Manning, Evan Dando, Jesse Malin, Danny Kroha, Ronnie Spector, original Cossack Chris Stamey, former Box Top Gary Talley, and Big Star’s own Jody Stephens and Jon Auer. Expect to hear such classics as “Thirteen,” “September Gurls,” “The Letter,” “I’m in Love with a Girl,” “In the Street,” and “Cry Like a Baby” and other songs you didn’t realize were affiliated with Chilton in one way or another.

WE GIVE OURSELVES AWAY AT EVERY MOMENT

The legacy of Merce Cunningham will be honored with one-of-a-kind tribute in Rockefeller Park



AN EVENT FOR MERCE
Rockefeller Park, Battery Park City
Esplanade Plaza, West St. at Liberty St.
Monday, July 26, free, 6:00
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com

In honor of the first anniversary of legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham’s passing, Annie B Parson and William Knapp are curating a unique program tonight in Battery Park City, at the same location where Cunningham posthumously held his final Event, last August 1-2 in Rockefeller Park. Choreographers Lucinda Childs, Bill T. Jones, Susan Marshall, Jon Kinzell, and Faye Driscoll will present both new pieces and excerpts from their repertoire that have been adapted to meet Cunningham’s site-specific, event-driven criteria. In addition, cellist David Eggar, experimental guitarist Geoff Gersh, and laptop specialist Kotchy will perform live music based on the chance compositions of John Cage, Cunningham’s longtime collaborator and partner. The production will take place in the round, further testing both the choreographers and the audience in this don’t-miss tribute.

STANTON STREET SUMMER SUNDAYS

Lower East Side Summer Sundays finale is chock-full of free family-friendly activities

Stanton St. between Allen & Ludlow Sts.
Sunday, July 25, 12 noon – 5:00 pm
Admission: free
www.lowereastsideny.com

The Lower East Side Summer Sundays series comes to a conclusion today with another afternoon of free family-friendly activities. The festivities include tastings from Meatball Shop, Boubouki, and La Newyorkina, face painting, skateboarding lessons, belly dancing, canine nutrition tips, palm readings, live performances by Jessica Delfino, Lily Sparks, and Jamie Bendell, booths sponsored by the NY Fire Department, the Museum at Eldridge St., the Educational Alliance, the LES Ecology Center, and Green Mountain Energy, and much more.

NEW MUSEUM BLOCK PARTY 2010

New Museum will be hosting annual block party Saturday in Sara D. Roosevelt Park

Sara D. Roosevelt Park, Houston & Chrystie Sts.
New Museum, 235 Bowery at Prince St.
Saturday, July 24, free, 12 noon – 5:00 pm
212-219-1222
www.newmuseum.org

This Saturday, the New Museum will be hosting its annual block party, an afternoon of art and family activities held in Sara D. Roosevelt Park and the museum theater on the Lower East Side. There will be live performances by poet and storyteller Pappa Susso, beatboxer Adam Matta, dance company LoVid, and Hisham Akira Bharoocha in addition to workshops, a walking tour of the neighborhood focusing on art and architecture, screenings presented by the REDCAT International Children’s Film Festival, and more. Free passes to the museum will be given out in the park, good for that day only, so you can head over to the Bowery and check out the current exhibits, including “Rivane Neuenschwander: A Day Like Any Other,” “Brion Gysin: Dream Machine,” and “Amy Granat: Light 3 Ways.”

RECLAIM THE COAST

GULF COAST OIL SPILL BENEFIT
City Winery
155 Varick St.
July 23, 25, 30, $15-$22
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com

Pete Seeger might be ninety-one years old, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to slow down anytime soon. The activist folksinger has just penned a new song that includes the timely phrase “When drill, baby, drill turns into spill, baby, spill,” and he’ll be performing it Friday night at the first of three benefit concerts at City Winery. Raising funds for the Gulf Restoration Network and Global Green, the shows will feature Seeger with Richard Barone, Julie Gold, Freedy Johnston, the Roches, Mike Doughty, Elysian Fields, and others on July 23; Ian Axel, Ed Romanoff, the Madison Square Gardeners, the Wellspring, Rich Pagano, and more on July 25; and Vienna Teng, Jay Nash, Martin Rivas, Christina Courtin, and Among the Oak and Ash on July 30, with more performers to be added for each night.

BATUSIS

Batusis will be playing good old-fashioned bluesy punk rock at Europa on July 23

Europa
98 Meserole Ave. at Manhattan Ave.
Friday, July 23, $12, 9:30
www.myspace.com/batusis
www.europaclub.com

Named after Batman’s version of the watusi, famously resurrected by John Travolta in PULP FICTION, the Batusis come to town for their only area show on their first-ever tour. Tired of seeing band members and friends dying all around them — Sylvain Sylvain has suffered through the loss of former New York Dolls Arthur “Killer” Kane, Jerry Nolan, Billy Murcia, and Johnny Thunders, while Cheetah Chrome has had to deal with the death of Rocket from the Tombs head Peter Laughner and Dead Boys leader Stiv Bators — the two longtime friends have formed the new group, which is on the road supporting its eponymously titled four-track debut EP (Smog Veil, May 4, 2010). The EP features four garage-glam tunes: “Big Cat Stomp,” “What You Lack in Brains,” a cover of Davie Allan & the Arrows’ “Blues Theme,” and, appropriately enough, “Bury You Alive.” Filling out the rockin’ band are Blackhearts Enzo Penizzotto on bass and Thommy Price on drums, holding down the rhythm. Batusis will be at Brooklyn’s Europa club on July 23, with Pioneers of Seduction and Sister Anne; earlier that day, they will also be holding an in-store meet and greet with fans at Generation Records on Thompson St. at 3:00.

THE JIM JONES REVUE

The Jim Jones Revue will blast their way through three area shows in three nights (photo by Nathan Seabrook)

Thursday, July 22, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston St., $10, 9:30
Friday, July 23, Maxwell’s, 1039 Washington St., $10-$12, 10:00
Saturday, July 24, Knitting Factory Brooklyn, 361 Metropolitan Ave., $10-$12, 9:00
www.myspace.com/thejimjonesrevue

There’ll be a helluva whole lot of shakin’ goin’ on this week as the Jim Jones Revue hits the town for three area shows. Former leader of the UK band Thee Hypnotics, Jim Jones has been fronting the Jim Jones Revue since 2007, playing thrashing punk rhythm & blues loud and fast. The five-piece features Rupert Orton joining Jones on guitar, Elliot Mortimer on piano, Gavin Jay on bass, and Nick Jones on drums. They know how to rip it up and spit it out, melding Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley with a raw punk aesthetic, highlighted by Mortimer absolutely killing on the keyboards. Their psychotic brand of raucous rock and roll shrieks and shouts on such triumphant tunage as “Princess & the Frog,” “The Meat Man,” “Another Daze,” and, justifiably, “Rock n Roll Psychosis.” The band’s eponymously titled debut album, which came out in England in 2008 but has just been released on vinyl in the States this month, was recorded over forty-eight straight hours on a four track, with no overdubs, succeeding in capturing the frantic energy of their live shows. The Jim Jones Revue will be at the Mercury Lounge on July 22 with Hunters, at Maxwell’s on July 23 with the Ribeye Bros. and Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers, and at the Knitting Factory Brooklyn on July 24 with Des Roar and Stalkers.

Saturday night’s show should be particularly hot, with New York City’s Des Roar one of the opening bands. The quartet, led by singers Ben Wolcott (guitar) and Lyla Vander (drums), is on the road with their debut album, MAD THINGS (December 2009), a potent combo of surfer rock and 1960s guitar pop and harmonies. Just try not to fall for those all-too-familiar riffs on “Ted Bundy Was a Lady’s Man” and “Ballad of Lil Bangs.” Really. We dare you.