this week in music

soloNOVA ARTS FESTIVAL

Performance Space 122
150 First Ave. at Ninth St.
May 5-22, $20 per performance, $55 passport for any five shows
Festival Pass: $100
After-parties: $10
212-352-3101
www.ps122.org
www.terranovacollective.org

The seventh annual soloNOVA Arts Festival begins this week, featuring eight one-person shows and three late-night after-parties. This year’s lineup ranges from bilingual theatrical cabaret (Karina Casiano’s ROOTLESS: LA NO-NOSTALGIA) and musical comedy (Erin Markey’s PUPPY LOVE: A STRIPPER’S TAIL) to storytelling and song (Shontina Vernon’s WANTED) and dance theater (Jesse Zaritt’s BINDING). Daniel Berkley gets personal delving into his schizophrenia and addictions in REMISSION, Avery Pearson takes on sixteen characters in the thriller MONSTER, Brian McManamon is an odd collector in the Frigid NY favorite IT OR HER, and comedian W. Kamau Bell attacks racism in THE W. KAMAU BELL CURVE: ENDING RACISM IN ABOUT AN HOUR. In addition, there will be three Ones at Eleven after-parties at P.S. 122, highlighting music on May 8, comedy on May 15, and storytelling and spoken word on May 22. And on May 21, terraNOVA Collective will honor Nilaja Sun as soloNOVA Artist of the Year at a benefit with clips, food, drink, and more ($30, 8:00).

TWI-NY TICKET GIVEAWAY: AMERICAN IDIOT

Everyone is looking to win the latest twi-ny contest: tickets to see AMERICAN IDIOT on Broadway

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; among its breakout tunes were “Jesus of Suburbia,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” Green Day has now collaborated with Tony Award–winning director Michael Mayer — as well as Tony Award– and Pulitzer Prize–winning composer and orchestrator Tom Kitt (NEXT TO NORMAL), Olivier Award–winning choreographer Steven Hoggett (BLACK WATCH), and Tony-winning actor John Gallagher Jr. (SPRING AWAKENING) — to bring AMERICAN IDIOT to the stage, where it is currently dazzling audiences at the St. James Theater on Broadway.

Tickets are selling fast, but twi-ny has three pairs to give away for free. Just send your name and daytime phone number to contest@twi-ny.com by Thursday, May 6, at 12 noon to be eligible. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; three winners will be selected at random.

WORLD NOMADS LEBANON

Bernard Khoury will give a free talk on Lebanese architecture and public space at FIAF on May 6

French Institute Alliance Française
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St.
Le Skyroom, 22 East 60th St.
Tinker Auditorium, 55 East 59th St.
May 1-29, free – $40
212-355-6100
www.fiaf.org

This year FIAF’s annual spring journey heads to Lebanon for a month of live performance, film screenings, art, talks, and more. The festival, which covered Africa in 2008 and Haiti in 2009, begins May 1 with the Bassam Saba Ensemble playing in Florence Gould Hall, followed on May 2 by three consecutive free talks at Le Skyroom, with writers Elias Khoury, Rawi Hage, and Alexander Najjar in conjunction with the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. On Tuesdays from May 4 through May 25, CinémaTuesdays will present such films as Maroun Bagdadi’s HORS LA VIE, Jocelyne Saab’s ONCE UPON A TIME: BEIRUT, and Simon El-Habre’s THE ONE MAN VILLAGE in Florence Gould Hall. Meanwhile, the Film Society of Lincoln center will be hosting “The Calm After the Storm: Making Sense of Lebanon’s Civil War,” more than thirty films that give a fascinating overview into the history of the embattled nation. On May 21, Wajdi Mouawad and Jane Birkin will team up for staged readings of his “Je t’embrasse pour finir” (in French) and “La sentinelle” (in English); admission is free but advance reservations are required; author, actor, and director Wajdi will also be giving a free talk May 19 in Le Skyroom. World Nomads will also feature a trio of architecture talks on successive Thursdays, with Bernard Khoury on May 6, “Public Space: Memory, Boundary, Catastrophe” on May 13, and “Modern Architecture in Beirut: Reconstruction & Cultural Identity” on May 20. During the festival, the FIAF Gallery will be displaying “Cedrus Libani: Roots & Memory,” an exhibition of new and old work by Lebanese-American artist Nabil Nahas, while “My Umi Said . . . New Work from Lebanon” features multimedia pieces by five progressive Lebanese artists, held off-site at Kleio Projects (May 7-28, 153½ Stanton St.).

VOX 2010

CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN OPERA LAB
Skirball Center
566 La Guardia Pl. at Washington Sq. South
Friday, April 30, 6:00 – 11:00
Saturday, May 1, 12 noon – 5:30 pm
Limited free tickets given out day of show
212-870-5570
www.nycopera.com

New York City Opera is hosting two days of special programming at NYU’s Skirball Center, promising a preview of the future of opera with panel discussions and presentations from emerging and established composers and librettists, including Daniel Crozier and Peter M. Krask’s WITH BLOOD, WITH INK, Du Yun’s ZOLLE, Missy Mazzoli’s SONG FROM THE UPROAR, Julian Wachner and Alexis Nouss’s EVANGELINE REVISITED, and Michael Gordon and Deborah Artman’s ACQUANETTA. Now in its eleventh year, the festival has introduced many works that went on to have full productions around the world. Although online reservations are closed, a limited number of free tickets will be given out shortly before each opera.

SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS

Sharon Jones moves from city parks to the Apollo this weekend (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Apollo Theater
253 West 125th St.
Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, $37.50, 8:00
212-531-5300
www.apollotheater.com
www.myspace.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings

We’ve been singing the praises of spitfire soul singer Sharon Jones since we first caught her explosive act in Madison Square Park back in 2005; three years later she was headlining a massive show at SummerStage in Central Park. Well, this weekend she moves from free shows in the park to the legendary Apollo Theater, where she’ll take the stage for two highly anticipated shows in support of her fourth and most widely reviewed album, I LEARNED THE HARD WAY (Daptone, April 6, 2010). A onetime Rikers Island prison guard born in Georgia and raised in Brooklyn, Jones always gives it her all; having cut her chops in churches and mimicking James Brown, she just knows no other way. The new record opens with a blast of horns from the Dap-Kings, kicking off a dozen trips into the sensational sound of ’70s soul, twelve funky forays into love and heartbreak that will get your booty shaking and your mojo working overtime. “If I give you my love, are you going to give it back,” she asks on “Give It Back.”; onstage, Jones always gives her love, and audiences give it back in droves (especially a lucky fellow or two who might get pulled onstage to dance with her).

SAKURA MATSURI

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
900 Washington Ave. at Eastern Parkway
Saturday, May 1, and Sunday, May 2, $10-$15
718-623-7200
www.bbg.org/sakura2010

There is nothing quite like hanami in Brooklyn, the annual cherry blossom viewing at the botanic garden. More than two hundred flowering Japanese cherry trees are expected to be in bloom this weekend for the Sakura Matsuri, a two-day festival of dance, music, art, workshops, food, workshops, and nature that always attracts large crowds excited to experience the pure beauty of it all. Among this year’s participants are Soh Daiko, Nihon Buyo Classical & Ryukyu Buyo Okinawan Dance, the Spring Street Haiku Group, happyfunsmile, Samurai Sword Soul, poet Enta Kusakabe, Dean Street FOO Dance, Kagero Japanese Gypsy rock, Pokémon voice artist Veronica Taylor, DJ Saiko Mikan, stand-up comic Uncle Yo, woodblock artist April Vollmer, children’s Taiko drummers Genki Daiko Team, Masayo Ishigure and the Miyabi Koto Shamisen Ensemble, and the Japanese Folk Dance Institute of NY. Special events and activities include a Mataro Ningyo dollmaking demonstration, a Sohenry-style tea ceremony, the Manga & Anime Artist Alley, a cosplay fashion show, origami paper folding, ikebana flower arranging, a children’s tattoo parlor, a high tea with the Parasol Society, Japanese hot-pot cooking, bonsai advice for home gardeners, and so much more. It’s really one of the best weekends of the year, a must-see for every New Yorker that will become an annual ritual once you experience its charm.

TWI-NY TALK: GRAHAM PARKER

Graham Parker creates his own kind of very different television on his website and new album

GRAHAM PARKER AND THE FIGGS
City Winery
155 Varick St.
Friday, April 30
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.grahamparker.net

It’s hard to believe that it’s been thirty-four years since British rocker Graham Parker first made a name for himself with the 1976 double shot of HOWLIN’ WIND and HEAT TREATMENT, two seminal albums that laid the groundwork for a complex, vaunted career that has also included such highly praised records as SQUEEZING OUT SPARKS (1979), THE MONA LISA’S SISTER (1988), and DON’T TELL COLUMBUS (2007). Over the years, Parker has written such pop gems as “Hey Lord, Don’t Ask Me Questions,” “Protection,” “Local Girls,” “Discovering Japan,” “Passion Is No Ordinary Word,” and “You Can’t Be Too Strong” as he toured the world solo as well as with a series of backup bands ranging from the legendary Rumour and the Small Clubs to the Shot and his current group, the Figgs.

Parker is out on the road these days supporting his latest release, IMAGINARY TELEVISION (Bloodshot, March 2010), a genius concept album containing eleven tunes that slide comfortably into the impressive Parker songbook, featuring inciteful and insightful, biting, ironic, and genuinely funny lyrics. Last year Parker was asked to write two theme songs on spec for a pair of television pilots; after both songs were rejected, Parker decided to create his own television network, consisting of eleven invented programs and movies for which he would write the theme songs. The result is the fabulously creative and entertaining IMAGINARY TELEVISION, which comes with a synopsis of each show instead of a lyric sheet: “Weather Report” is about an agoraphobic man obsessed with the Weather Channel, “Bring Me a Heart Again” follows the “potential cataclysmic depression” of private eye Nate Rimshot, and “Not Where You Think You Are” details the dramatic story of David “Dibby” Hrdlicka, who is participating in a government experiment testing “a substance that apparently occurs naturally inside the inner linings of lost golf balls left outside in the rough for over ten years.” The shows might sound ridiculous, but the songs are anything but, told in the classic Parker style.

Parker and the Figgs will be at City Winery on April 30; we recently caught up with him for a brief e-mail chat about his new album, his talented generation (Parker will turn sixty later this year), and life in general.

A Graham Parker show always promises a good time for all (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

twi-ny: Prior to being asked to write the two TV theme songs that eventually got rejected, what was your relationship, if any, with television? Were you a lover or a hater?

Graham Parker: I was about eleven years old when we finally got TV, just in time for THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW and 77 SUNSET STRIP and all those Westerns like GUNSMOKE. This is what we grew up with in England. They were probably the first shows I watched. TV is the greatest medium there is in my view.

twi-ny: City Winery seems to attract a certain brand of British-born wise-guy guitarist/songwriter with wry, cynical senses of humor; recent shows have featured Richard Thompson and Robyn Hitchcock, and Ian Hunter will be there shortly after you are. What keeps that generation of musicians still so vibrant, making exciting new records and playing terrific shows long after musicians half their age have petered out and faded away?

GP: It’s funny, my agent recently said to me that ’80s and ’90s acts can’t get arrested but ’70s acts are flying out the door. Hopefully, it’s the strength of the songwriting and the rich understanding of multiple musical styles. We were able to mine the ’60s musical explosion more adeptly because we were so much nearer to that period than people born in the ’70s.

twi-ny: Among the songs on the new album is “Always Greener.” A visit to your website, which includes a video of you and your son playing in the snow, makes it look like you’re pretty darn happy, not worrying about the color of anyone else’s grass. How’s life these days?

GP: I’m affected by the world around me, of course, and it brings me down like everyone else, but as I get older I find myself living in an imaginary landscape like the one you see in “Sunglass(es) The Graham Parker Show.” I think I’m losing my mind, but it’s not as bad as it’s cracked up to be.