this week in music

IMAGENATION OUTDOOR FILM & MUSIC FESTIVAL

Chris Hair takes a look at African American style in GOOD HAIR, which opens the ImageNation Outdoor Film & Music Festival on July 12

St. Nicholas Park
135th St. & St. Nicholas Ave.
July 12- August 16, music at 7:30, film screening at 8:30
212-340-1874
www.imagenation.us

The ImageNation Outdoor Film & Music Festival begins July 12, kicking off eleven free programs of live music and film screenings held over five weeks, several nights of which are also part of the Historic Harlem Parks Coalition Film Festival. ImageNation, which “fosters media equity, media literacy, solidarity, cross-cultural exchange, and highlights the humanity of Pan-African people worldwide,” will be pairing live performances with select films, held primarily in St. Nicholas Park, in addition to one special evening in Marcus Garvey Park. The series gets under way tonight with Black Sheep, followed by Jeff Stilson’s award-winning 2009 documentary GOOD HAIR, in which Chris Rock examines African American hairstyles, and continues with such duos as STILL BILL, Damani Baker and Alex Vlack’s 2009 doc about Bill Withers, with Jeremy Jones performing live July 15 in Marcus Garvey Park; Stanley Nelson’s FREEDOM RIDERS with Nokie Henry; DJA-RARA playing on July 28 before Jeremy Robins’s 2008 documentary, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WATER, about the Haitian band; and the Bandroids rocking out prior to the August 15 screening of Bill Guttentag and Don Sturman’s SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION.

BASTILLE DAY ON 60th ST.

Large crowds will convene on 60th St. for annual Bastille Day celebration

60th St. between Fifth & Lexington Aves.
Sunday, July 11, free, 12 noon – 6:00 pm
www.bastilledaynyc.com
www.fiaf.org

One of the most highly anticipated street fairs of the year, the annual Bastille Day celebration along East 60th St. is always a fun-filled day of French food and music, sponsored by the French Institute Alliance Française. The festivities honor the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789, paving the way for the French Revolution. Among the live performers appearing on the main stage will be Michèle Voltaire Marcelin telling Haitian stories in krik-krak style, Pierre de Gaillande singing George Brassens tunes in English, and Gay Marshall channeling Edith Piaf in addition to concerts by Malika Zarra and Les Sans Culottes. There will also be stationary Tour de France bike races, the annual Garçons de Café race with waiters holding serving trays making their way down the street, a Citroën Car Show, mimes, an accordion player, and other events combining for an entertaining mix of both cool and strange. If it gets too hot outside, you can head into the FIAF gallery for ticketed wine and cheese tastings or beer and cheese pairings in the lobby ($8-$15).

TICKET GIVEAWAY: PATTERN IS MOVEMENT / GLASS GHOST

Pattern Is Movement will join Glass Ghost aboard music cruise — and twi-ny has free tix to give away

The Boat: The Star of Palm Beach
Pier 40, Houston St. & the West Side Highway
Friday, July 16, 7:00 & 10:00
Tickets: $15 ($30 for open tap)
www.marqueeconcerts.com
www.myspace.com/patternismovement

There seem to be more concerts on the water this year than ever, with at least three major promoters staging shows on board boats making their way across the East and Hudson Rivers, offering spectacular evening views of the city in addition to great music. On Friday, July 16, Philly duo Andrew Thiboldeaux and Chris Ward, better known as Pattern Is Movement, will be teaming up with Brooklyn-based duo Eliot Krimsky and Mike Johnson, who make up Glass Ghost, for a pair of sets on The Star of Palm Beach as part of the Boat series. We have a pair of tickets to give away for either of the July 16 sets of jazzy, offbeat electronic noise and thumping indie club music. Just send your name and daytime phone number to contest@twi-ny.com no later than Monday, July 12, at 3:00 pm. You must be at least twenty-one years of age to enter, and the winner will be chosen at random. Good luck!

MEATOPIA

Governors Island
Sunday, July 11, 11:30 am – 4:30 pm
Free ferry from Battery Maritime Building
Tasting tickets: $25-$150
www.meatopia.org

If the annual, ridiculously overcrowded Big Apple BBQ in Madison Square Park simply overwhelms you as it does us, perhaps you’ll find Meatopia, taking place this Sunday on Governors Island, more to your liking. For five hours, thirty chefs and bbq teams will be serving ribs, marinated steak and chicken, roasted lamb, grilled bacon sandwiches, pit-smoked brisket, smoked duck tacos, and other delicacies, from such restaurants and groups as Aureole, Hill Country, La Esquina, China Grill, RUB, Mr. Bobo’s Traveling BBQ Allstars, the Meatball Shop, the Smoke Joint, the Hurricane Club, Wildwood Barbeque, Suenos, the Food Lab, and the Harrison. There will also be live performances from Jen Larsen & North River, the Strung Out String Band, the Second Avenue Mountain Boys, Roosevelt Dime, and the Brotherhood of the Jug Band. In addition, chefs Andrew D’Ambrosi and Shaun Hergatt will do battle in a cookoff at 1:30 in the High Plains Bison tent. Admission to the food fest is free, but tasting tickets, which range from $25 to $150, are selling fast in advance.

RIVERROCKS: PHOSPHORESCENT/DAWES

Phosphorescent will headline the first of three free RiverRocks shows at Pier 54 this summer (photo by Miss Martha Jewelle)

Hudson River Park, Pier 54
West 14th St. & the Hudson River
Thursday, July 8, free, doors at 6:00, concert at 7:00
212-627-2121
www.riverrocksnyc.com
www.myspace.com/phosphorescent

Based in New York City by way of Athens, Georgia, Phosphorescent will be kicking off the free summer season of live music at Pier 54 over the Hudson River on July 8, highlighting songs from the band’s latest album, HERE’S TO TAKING IT EASY (Dead Oceans, May 2010). Led by founder, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Matthew Houck, Phosphorescent plays heartfelt Americana roots rock, with Scott Stapleton on piano, Jeffrey Bailey on bass, Christopher Marine on drums, Jesse Anderson Ainslie on guitar, and Ricky Jay Jackson on pedal steel. The new record takes listeners across the country, from L.A. (“Los Angeles”) to the South (“It’s Hard to Be Humble [When You’re from Alabama])” up north to Coney Island (“The Mermaid Parade”). “I wound up walking out by the ocean today / And there were naked women dancing in the Mermaid Parade,” Houck sings on the latter ballad. “And O Amanda, did you see me today / Watchin’ those women dancing in the Mermaid Parade /And O Amanda, did you see me today / Watchin’ those women waltz by in the Mermaid Parade.” We can’t promise there will be naked dancing women on the pier, but there should be a lot of bare skin if the brutal heat wave continues. The more rural sounding California quartet Dawes will open the show, supporting their full-length debut, NORTH HILLS (Ato/Red, September 2009). The line can get rather long for Pier 54 concerts, so get there early — and if you don’t bring a bag (which would need to be searched by security), you can usually go straight to the front. The series continues July 22 with the Antlers and Dinosaur Feathers and August 12 with Deerhunter and Real Estate. If you visit here, you can download a free sampler with songs by all six groups scheduled to play Pier 54 this summer as part of RiverRocks.

Update: Following the show, the band’s van was stolen overnight in Greenpoint, along with all of their equipment, including irreplaceable instruments. A devastated Houck soon sent out the following message:

“So many people / Friends and strangers / Have stepped forward / So quickly and with such generosity / It has transformed this thing / Into a truly amazing and heartwarming / Affirmation of community and love and spirit; / Good vibes and support arriving from far and near / And I want to express how humbled and / Tremendously appreciative / We all are.”

For those who believe in karma, all of that good energy couldn’t have hurt, as the van has been recovered, complete with all of the gear, seemingly undamaged. “Speechless right now,” Houck said.

STEVE EARLE/ALLISON MOORER & FRIENDS

Married Greenwich Village duo Allison Moorer and Steve Earle will be joined by special guests during four-week summer residency at City Winery (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

City Winery
155 Varick St.
July 8, 15, 29 & August 5, $45-$65, 9:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com

Husband-and-wife singer-songwriters Steve Earle and Allison Moorer begin a four-week summer residency at City Winery on July 8 with a sold-out show featuring Rosanne Cash, who just played a terrific set with her band on Governors Island on July 4. Earle, a fierce political activist and engaging live performer, mixes country, folk, blues, and rock on such records as GUITAR TOWN (1986), COPPERHEAD ROAD (1988), I FEEL ALRIGHT (1996), and THE REVOLUTION STARTS NOW (2004); his wife, meanwhile, is a more traditional country artist who has released such discs as CROWS (2010), MOCKINGBIRD (2008), and THE DUEL (2004). On July 15 the Greenwich Village couple will be joined by Earle’s son, Justin Townes Earle, a fine singer-songwriter in his own right, as evidenced by his excellent first two albums, THE GOOD LIFE (2008) and MIDNIGHT AT THE MOVIES (2009); his third, HARLEM RIVER BLUES, is due September 4. On July 29, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band comes up from New Orleans to take the stage with Earle and Moorer; the guest for August 5 has yet to be announced. If you’ve never seen Steve Earle live, this is a great opportunity at an intimate venue to catch one of the most underrated, controversial, and talented performers of the last twenty-five years.

OUTDOOR CINEMA 2010

Free live music and film screenings will run in Socrates Sculpture Park Wednesday nights in July and August

Socrates Sculpture Park
Vernon Blvd. & Broadway, Long Island City
Wednesdays July 7 through August 25
Live performances at 7:00, film screenings at sunset
Admission: free
718-956-1819
www.socratessculpturepark.org

For its twelfth annual summer season of free movie screenings, Socrates Sculpture Park has teamed up with the Museum of the Moving Image and Rooftop Films to “celebrate the cultural diversity of Queens” on Wednesday nights in July and August. Each evening begins with a live performance, followed by a film at sunset. The series gets under way July 7 with Todd Chandler’s road movie FLOOD TIDE, with a live score played by Dark Dark Dark. Outdoor Cinema goes to Ireland on July 14 with Tom Moore and Nora Twomey’s THE SECRET OF KELLS, with Swedish short films on July 21 and Vera Chytilová’s Czech drama DAISIES on July 28. Each night will also feature local vendors selling food from the “host” country. The August schedule has not been announced yet. Be sure to get there early, not only to get a good spot but to check out the art installation “Cityscape: Surveying the Urban Biotope,” which continues through August 1. (For a complete, day-by-day list of free summer movies in New York City, click here.)