this week in music

TRIBECA DRIVE-IN

Mat Hoffman will take to the air onscreen and in person at special Tribeca Drive-In presentation

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
World Financial Center Plaza
April 22-24, free
Doors open at 6:00, activities at 6:30, films at approximately 8:15
www.tribecafilm.com

This year’s free Tribeca Drive-In features three films on successive nights outside at World Financial Center Plaza. On April 22, live performances by salsa bands, a dance contest, and salsa lessons will precede a screening of Francisco Bello and Tim Sternberg’s 2009 documentary, THE SPIRIT OF SALSA, about New Yorkers who take salsa classes at the Santo Rico Dance School. On April 23, a waterfront carnival accompanies Penny Marshall’s endearing comedy BIG, starring Robert Loggia, Elizabeth Perkins, and Tom Hanks about a boy inside a man’s body. And on April 24, Jeff Tremaine’s THE BIRTH OF BIG AIR, which looks at BMX competitor Mat Hoffman, will feature BMX demos before and after the movie, including a live stunt by Hoffman himself.

IMMIGRANT HERITAGE WEEK

immigration

Multiple locations
Most events free
Through April 21
www.nyc.gov/immigrants

The seventh annual Immigrant Heritage Week continues through April 21 with numerous, mostly free events across the city. Art exhibitions include “Our Heritage Through Fashion: A Showcase of NYC’s Russian-Speaking Designers” at the Russian American Foundation, “Photographs of the Mexican Immigrant Community of Staten Island” at Snug Harbor, “Art Without Borders” at El Taller Latino Americano, “Immigrant Women United in Art” at Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano, “Impractical Hats: Indie Crafts Reinvent Everyday Gear” at the Bronx Council on the Arts, “LibertyNeighborhoodStory” at the A.I.R. Gallery, “Immigrant Trail Painting” at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, and a photo exhibit of “Non-Native New Yorkers” at the Statue of Liberty. On April 20 at 6:00 at the International Center in New York, a group of Tibetan immigrants will discuss their work in “Ancient Art in a Modern City,” while on April 21 at 6:00, the Greek Museum will host “In Search of the American Dream: The Greeks of New York.” Also on Wednesday, “Voices of Liberty” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage invites visitors to share their own personal stories. In addition, there will be family programs at several branches of the New York Public Library.

At NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, the Havana Film Festival will feature New York and U.S. premieres (April 19-20), DCTV will present the Oscar-nominated documentary THE BETRAYAL (April 19), and the Turkish Cultural Center will celebrate “New York Sufi Night with Rumi” through film, performance, and poetry readings (April 20). There will also be film screenings and/or theatrical productions at the YMCA, the Maysles Cinema, the Alwan Foundation, and the CUNY Graduate Center and live dance and/or music at Michael Mao Dance, the American Composers Orchestra’s Langston Hughes Branch, and the Djoniba Dance and Drum Centre as well as a host of walking tours.

NY’s GREENEST

Rod Tryon and Anthony Cappetto will create one of their “Koi Pond” 3-D paintings as part of downtown Earth Day celebration Rod Tryon and Anthony Cappetto will create one of their “Koi Pond” 3-D paintings as part of downtown Earth Day celebration

BATTERY PARK CITY CELEBRATES THE 40th ANNIVERSARY OF EARTH DAY
Multiple locations
Through April 25
Most events free
www.batteryparkcity.org

Battery Park City is honoring the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day with a battery of special events at numerous downtown locations through April 25, with many of the events free. There will be climate change workshops at the Mercy Corps Action Center, bird watching and drawing at the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate Mary Ann Hoberman reading at Poets House, family programming at the Skyscraper Museum, and arts and crafts and more at the Battery Park City branch of the New York Public Library. The World Financial Center will be home to a pair of Earth Day-related exhibitions, Suzanne and Mathilde Husky’s “Forest” (through May 12) and Rod Tryon and Anthony Cappetto’s “Koi Pond” (April 20-25), in addition to daily 3-D drawing programs and open houses and workshops. The National Museum of the American Indian will feature daily film screenings and a “Native Views on Sustainable Foods” lecture on April 22, while on April 25 the Museum of Jewish Heritage will host “The Earth Day Worm Disco” children’s concert with ShirLaLa and a series of earth-friendly workshops.

EARTH DAY NY 2010

Grand Central Terminal
42nd St. between Lexington & Vanderbilt Aves.
April 19-25
Admission: free
www.grandcentralterminal.com
www.earthdayny.ning.com

Grand Central Terminal is celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day with a week of special events, beginning April 19 with its annual projection of Earth Day Images in the main concourse, featuring quotes and images from such artists as Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and others. In addition, the GreenShows EcoLux boutique will fill Vanderbilt Hall with ecofriendly clothing and accessories from such designers as Bahar Shahpar, Joanne Berman, Nixxi, Samantha Pleet, and House of Organic, with free food and drink provided by Divine Chocolate and Sambazon. And the EarthFair Outdoors festival will take place April 23-24 on Vanderbilt Ave., with interactive displays, booths of environnmentally friendly businesses and organizations, live performances from such groups as Metrosonics, BuzzUniverse, Devi Lim, Judah Tribe, the London Souls, and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals.

RECORD STORE DAY

record store day
Multiple locations
Saturday, April 17
www.recordstoreday.com

It’s time to break out that turntable again, as Record Store Day is back. Today record stores all over the country will be offering great deals on vinyl; among the participating metropolitan area locations are Earwax, Halcyon, Sound Fix, Bleecker Street Records, Fat Beats, Other Music, Bleecker Bobs, Kim’s, J&R, Record Runner, and rebel rebel. More than a hundred artists will be issuing special limited-edition spinning black circles for the occasion, including Bruce Springsteen, Beach House, Elvis Costello, the Beastie Boys, Julian Casablancas, R.E.M., Muse, Ani DiFranco, the Black Keys, Tom Waits, Charlotte Gainsbourg, the Apples in Stereo, Wilco, Deerhoof, the Rolling Stones, Japandroids, Gorillaz, Hole, Gogol Bordello, Jeff Beck, Neko Case, Phoenix, Sonic Youth, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Hold Steady, and LCD Soundsystem. Emerging from the grave to participate in the event are the Doors, John Lennon, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Joy Division, Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, Fela Kuti, and Elvis Presley. In addition, several acts are creating split singles, with Peter Gabriel teaming up with Bon Iver (covering each other), Let’s Wrestle with Love Language, Menomena with Helio Sequence, Jakob Dylan with Courtyard Hounds, the Budos Band with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Roky Erickson with Okkervil River, Surfer Blood with Holiday Shores, and Gabriel again with Stephen Merritt. And the Flaming Lips are joining Stardeath and White Dwarfs to cover Pink Floyd’s DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. Good luck!

THE APPLESEED CAST

The Appleseed Cast is out on the road, playing both LOW LEVEL OWL albums (photo by Forester Michael)

Gramercy Theatre
127 East 23rd St. at Lexington Ave.
Saturday, April 17, $15, 9:00
www.myspace.com/theappleseedcast
www.livenation.com

Formed in 1997 in Southern California and moving to North Carolina before setting up home base in Lawrence, Kansas, the Appleseed Cast plays languid soundscapes with poetic lyrics. They combine instrumentals with songs that feature such abstract verses as “Slow down a lighted road / a broken sign states the mile / a broken code / a simply rhyme / a smile / a fallen line / a simple song set the time” (“Mile Marker”) and “One last drop of pain / the fighting’s all in vain / one last antidote / forgotten ties on severed ropes / hanging them from poles” (the funereal “Convict”). Featuring Chris Crisci on guitar and vocals, Aaron Pillar on guitar, Nate Whitman on bass, John Momberg on drums, and Lucas Oswald on keyboards, the Appleseed Cast will be playing their ambitious, career-defining 2001 double shot, LOW LEVEL OWL 1 & 2, in their entirety on April 17 at the Gramercy in celebration of the album’s rerelease on Graveface Records. The albums roam into Pink Floyd territory on “Strings,” head into orbit with “Rooms and Gardens,” and get appropriately dramatic on “Sunset Drama King.” Momberg takes center stage on the percussion-heavy “On Reflection” and “Doors Lead to Questions,” while the band charges forward on the mini-epic “Blind Man’s Arrows” and fills “Bird of Paradise” with bursts of electronic noise. It all comes together on “Signal,” their indie pop gem. Opening the show will be Dreamend, fronted by Ryan Graveface, the owner of Graveface Records (and a part-time member of Black Moth Super Rainbow), highlighting songs from the recent release MAYBE WE’RE MAKING GOD SAD AND LONELY.

NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS

Iranian film follows the attempts of two musicians to put together an indie rock band

NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS (KASI AZ GORBEHAYE IRANI KHABAR NADAREH) (Bahman Ghobadi, 2010)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Friday, April 16
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Iranian writer-director Bahman Ghobadi (A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES) goes underground in NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS, following the plight of Negar (Negar Shaghaghi) and Ashkan (Ashkan Koshanejad) as they attempt to put together an indie band for a gig in London. Inspired by their dedication—and always out to make a buck himself—fast-talking wheeler-dealer Nadar (Hamed Behdad) takes them to get illegal passports, then introduces them to a series of bands who play in secretive underground spaces where the government and the police don’t bother them, even though it is against the law to play Western-style music. Their quest for musicians leads them to such real groups as Take It Easy Hospital and the Yellow Dogs, who regularly risk their freedom and safety by playing to excited young fans desperate to hear live, modern music. Ghobadi throws in just about every genre imaginable, from heavy metal and punk to classic rock and jazz in a stirring musical journey, turning each song into a video depicting everyday life in Tehran. The film does lapse into overheated and unnecessary heavy-handed melodrama in its final scenes, but it’s still a compelling story of the intrinsic power of music and the desperate need to make connections.

NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS opens today and will be celebrated at a public after-party at 92YTribeca beginning at 9:00, featuring live performances by the Yellow Dogs and New York City-based Iranian band Hypernova, along with DJ Loveletters. Ghobadi, who just had a two-day retrospective at Lincoln Center, will be on hand to discuss the film at the 7:35 and 9:55 screenings Friday and Saturday night at the IFC Center.