this week in music

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL: THURSDAY TIPS

The Sundelles will be at Spike Hill on opening night of the Northside Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple venues
Thursday, June 24
Admission: free – $19, badges $50
Northside Festival Thursday Schedule

The opening night of the Northside Festival features some ninety bands playing eighteen venues, so we’ve filtered through the madness to single out five shows that we think stand out from the crowd.

The Sundelles, Spike Hill, 8:00: Brooklyn trio opened last weekend’s Crest Fest with a solid set of semi-psychedelic indie pop (also Friday at 9:00 at Public Assembly).

The New Deal, Brooklyn Bowl, 9:00: Canadian threesome play funky electronica that Ray Parker would be proud of.

These United States, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 9:45: Jesse Elliott’s quirky voice leads the way through intelligent indie alt-country from DC.

Au Revoir Simone, Warsaw, 11:00: Keyboardists Heather D’Angelo, Erika Foster, and Annie Hart offer delightful pop minimalism on infectious ditties.

Mr. Dream, Coco 66, 12 midnight: Brooklyn trio melds techno, Brit pop, and power chords while offering up knick knacks, knuckle sandwiches, and other fancy things.

NEW YORK EXPO

Two tickets to see Eddie Money in a Bronx paradise will cost only ten bucks

Yankee Stadium
Saturday, June 26, $5, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
www.cbsradioexpo.com

Frustrated by the price of tickets to Yankees games? Tired of all the hype associated with hip indie bands? In the mood for some good old-fashioned entertainment? On Saturday, June 26, the New York Expo comes to Yankee Stadium, an all-day festival of sports and music that costs a mere five bucks (parking is only five dollars more). WFAN and WCBS-FM will be broadcasting live from the Stadium, with such radio personalities as Joe Benigno, Steve Somers, Mr. G, Craig Allen, Ed Randall, Bob Shannon, and others on hand to meet and greet fans. There will also be free autograph sessions with such local heroes as Darryl Strawberry, Carl Banks, Doc Gooden, Luis Tiant, Sean Landeta, Graig Nettles, John Starks, John Franco, Ron Blomberg, Kris Jenkins, and Mark Gastineau. Exhibiting booths will be giving out information about home improvement, colleges, and more. And the live music roster includes AMERICAN IDOL’s Kris Allen, Kat DeLuna, Macy Gray, and the one and only Eddie Money, offering up very inexpensive tickets to a Bronx paradise.

CAREFUSION JAZZ FESTIVAL NEW YORK

McCoy Tyner will lead his quartet in a free performance on June 23 at SummerStage as part of the CareFusion Jazz Festival

Multiple venues
Through June 26
Admission: free – $100
www.nycjazzfestival.com

The CareFusion Jazz Festival heads into its final days with some of its best programs still ahead. At SummerStage on Wednesday, June 23, the McCoy Tyner Quartet, featuring Ravi Coltrane, Esperanza Spalding, and Francisco Mela, will be headlining a stellar free evening of jazz in Central Park along with the Stanley Clarke Band, with special guest Hiromi. On Thursday, Herbie Hancock will be celebrating his seventieth birthday at Carnegie Hall with such friends as Joe Lovano, Bill Cosby, Terence Blanchard, Wayne Shorter, Derek Trucks, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, and others ($35-$100). Also on Thursday, James Cotton will host a Blues Summit at Frederick P. Rose Hall with Taj Mahal, Pinetop Perkins, Shemekia Copeland, and others ($35-$100). On Friday night, “Habana/Harlem” at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse presents pianists Henry Butler and Osmany Paredes in “Cultural Fusion: Past, Present, and Future,” followed on Saturday night with the Pedro Martinez Project’s “Uptown Nights” ($15 each). Other events are scheduled for the Jazz Standard, Symphony Space, Zebulon, (le) poisson rouge, and the Jazz Gallery.

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL

We Are Country Mice are among the growing lineup of excellent bands hitting Williamsburg this week for the Northside Festival (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Multiple locations throughout Williamsburg & Greenpoint
June 24-27
Admission: free – $19, badges $50
www.thelmagazine.com/blogs/NorthsideFestivalNews

The second annual Northside Festival is like a mini-CMJ, featuring a great lineup of mostly local bands — including the Fiery Furnaces, Takka Takka, Au Revoir Simone, Savoir Adore, Pillow Theory, Grooms, We Are Country Mice, Wavves, White Hills, High Places, Titus Andronicus, Ribbons, the Black Hollies, Les Savy Fav, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Harper Blynn, and Islands, among dozens of others — packing them in at Coco 66, Europa, Glasslands Gallery, the Knitting Factory, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Pete’s Candy Store, Public Assembly, Red Star Barn, Shea Stadium, Spike Hill, the Trash Bar, Union Pool, and Warsaw. In addition, Northside Film at IndieScreen will show such works as Zeina Durra’s THE IMPERIALISTS ARE STILL ALIVE, Ry Russo-Young’s YOU WON’T MISS ME, Todd Solondz’s LIFE DURING WARTIME, James Franco’s THE FEAST OF STEPHEN, and Neil Marshall’s CENTURION as well as host an animation block party, shorts programs, and more. And Arts at Northside includes exhibitions and special events, including Conrad Ventur’s “Screen Tests Revisited” at Momenta Art, Rob List’s collaborative dance at Parker’s Box, and live music by Party of Virgins and Live Footage at the opening of Liubo Borissov’s “Crowdsource” at Eye Level BQE. Expect massive crowds, an unusually high hipster quotient even for Williamsburg, and lots of awesome music. Keep watching twi-ny for specific recommendations and must-sees over the next few days.

MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK



Everyone is invited to participate in annual free Make Music New York festival

Multiple venues
Monday, June 21
Admission: free
www.makemusicny.org

It’s no coincidence that Aaron Friedman, president and founder of Make Music New York, holds his annual event on June 21, the longest day of the year; he is determined to squeeze in as much free music as possible all over the city, taking advantage of every second. This year’s whirlwind festival features more than one thousand bands playing indoors and outdoors, at major venues and in parks, at small art spaces and marching through the streets. It’s an awesome opportunity to sample a new group or location, catching up on the ever-widening music scene across the five boroughs. Among the special programs is a celebration of Greek composer Iannis Xenakis in Central Park; Mass Appeal, in which anyone can join in on the fun, bringing their accordion to Washington Park, bagpipes to Herald Square, cello to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, flute to the Bethesda Fountain Tunnel, gong to Merchants’ Gate in Columbus Circle, and other instruments to specific locations; and Second Line New Orleans-style parades in Hudson Square, Lincoln Square, and Harlem. In addition, British artist Luke Jerram has placed sixty pianos across the city for his installation “Play Me, I’m Yours,” which continues through July 5.

AMERICAN IDIOT

Green Day’s seminal album is now a Broadway hit

St. James Theatre
246 West 44th St. between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
Tickets: $49-$252
www.americanidiotonbroadway.com

In 2004, Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool, and Mike Dirnt, better known as Green Day, released AMERICAN IDIOT, considered by many to be one of the best records of the first decade of the twenty-first century. An unblinking examination of life during the post-9/11 Bush era, AMERICAN IDIOT unleashed a breathtaking suite of songs that held nothing back. Green Day has now collaborated with Tony Award–winning director Michael Mayer (SPRING AWAKENING), Tony Award– and Pulitzer Prize–winning composer and orchestrator Tom Kitt (NEXT TO NORMAL) and Olivier Award–winning choreographer Steven Hoggett (BLACK WATCH) — to bring AMERICAN IDIOT to the stage. Whereas the album borrowed generously from Mott the Hoople, the Alarm, the Sex Pistols, the Rolling Stones, and even Bryan Adams, the Broadway musical borrows just as generously from HAIR, ROCK OF AGES, WEST SIDE STORY, and TOMMY. The show follows Johnny (John Gallagher Jr.), Will (Michael Esper), and Tunny (Stark Sands) as they try to break out of their hellish suburban existence only to discover that the world is an unkind, uncaring place. While Johnny falls in with drug-dealing demon St. Jimmy (Tony Vincent) in the big city and Will gets sent to Iraq, Tunny remains home in the mind-numbing suburbs with his pregnant girlfriend, Heather (Mary Faber), with happiness to be found nowhere. Green Day successfully worked with the actors and musicians to make sure the songs did not become overly Broadway-fied, which is a prime reason why this rock opera is so enjoyable. Hoggett’s choreography is energetic and, at times, inventive and thrilling, and Christine Jones’s Tony-winning multimedia set design is appropriately grungy, but the production feels long even at a mere ninety minutes, and it doesn’t really add much to what Green Day has already said on record. The book, written by Armstrong and Mayer, is riddled with clichés, and several new songs fall flat. Still, the staging is wonderful, featuring inventive uses of a bed, hospital gurneys, and a fire escape, and songs such as the title track, the “Jesus of Suburbia” suite, “21 Guns,” and “Whatsername” sound great, even in a Broadway theater.

VISION FESTIVAL XV

Abrons Arts Center and other venues on the Lower East Side
466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
Sunday, June 20, through Wednesday, June 30
Admission: free – $25 (festival pass $150)
www.visionfestival.org

The 2010 Vision festival gets under way June 20, kicking off eleven days of avantjazz at venues on the Lower East Side, with the Abrons Arts Center serving as home base. Run by the nonprofit group Arts for Art, this year’s event will honor Muhal Richard Abrams, naming him Master of the Rightful Arts of Music with a special series of programs June 24 at Abrons. Each day generally takes place at a single location, beginning with poetry and music at Gathering of the Tribes on June 20, a free outdoor concert with Little Huey’s Sextet & Children and the Roy Campbell Trio on June 21 at Campos Plaza Playground, followed by the Darius Jones Trio, the Lowest Common Denominator, Crackleknob, and the Bradley Farberman Ensemble at the Local 269. Among the other shows (at Abrons unless otherwise noted) are Frank London’s Kali Krew at Drom on June 22, Rob Brown’s New Quartet on June 23, contemporary dance choreographed by Jason Jordan on June 25, 28, and 29, Amiri and Amina Baraka with Thulani Davis and others on June 26, Billy Bang’s Spirit of Sir One on June 27, a drum tribute to the late Rashied Ali on June 29, and William Parker’s Southern Satellites at (le) poisson rouge on June 30. Many evenings will also include postmidnight jam sessions at Clemente Soto Velez. In addition, Abrons will host a related multimedia art installation June 23-29.