this week in music

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE & THE NOSE

The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center
Between West 62nd & 65th Sts. and Columbus & Amsterdam Aves.
March 5-25, $15 standing room – $375
212-362-6000
www.metoperafamily.org

In spring 2007, William Kentridge’s magical production of Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE dazzled audiences at BAM. Now, as part of numerous events across the city celebrating the multifaceted career of the South African artist, his highly anticipated adaptation of Shostakovich’s version of Gogol’s 1836 short story THE NOSE will have six performances at the Metropolitan Opera this month. The multimedia presentation, conducted by Valery Gergiev and featuring baritone Paulo Szot as Kovalyov and tenors Andrei Popov as the police inspector and Gordon Gietz as the Nose, was designed by Kentridge with Sabine Theunissen. Tickets are going fast in the lower-priced sections, so act quickly if you’d rather pay $150 or less rather than as much as $375. In addition, Kentridge’s NOSE-related drawings and collages are on view at the Gallery Met, his limited edition SHEETS OF EVIDENCE book is on display at Dieu Donné through April 24, he will be in conversation with Paul Goldberger discussing “Learning from the Absurd” at the New York Public Library on March 12, “Sounds from the Black Box: The Music of Philip Miller for the Films of William Kentridge” screens at the World Financial Center, with live music by Ensemble Pi, March 21-22, and the major retrospective “William Kentridge: Five Themes” runs at MoMA through May 17.

COU-COU BIJOUX: POUR VOUS

Cou-Cou Bijoux will perform pour vous at Dixon Place this weekend

Dixon Place
161A Chrystie St. between Rivington & Delancey Sts.
March 12-13, $10-$12, 9:00
212-219-0736
www.dixonplace.org

Chanteuse Cou-Cou Bijoux, one of the stars of this past winter’s Magnetic Cabaret at the Bubble Lounge, goes solo for two nights at Dixon Place this weekend, presenting a two-act show directed by Luke Harlan, with musical direction by Brooks “Babyface” Hartell. Written and performed by Cou-Cou alter ego Raquel Cion and with original songs by Dan Kilian, POUR VOUS promises an evening of bawdy burlesque and torch songs as Cou-Cou takes on “love and other misfortunes.” As she says, “It’s all pour vous!”

THE WILD DEER

The Wild Deer will run free at Local 269 on March 11

The Local 269
269 East Houston St. at Suffolk St.
Thursday, March 11, free, 8:00
212-228-9874
www.myspace.com/thewilddeernyc
www.myspace.com/thelocal269

The Wild Deer — singer Heath Mensher, guitarists Anthony Mullin and Ed Fingerling, bassist Ron Oestreicher, and drummer Brad Gunyon — take audiences on a bluesy ride through soulful classic rock sounds on such tunes as “Rise,” “River of Soul,” “God’s Eyes,” “Grass,” and “Your Way.” Not necessarily avid hunters, their name comes from poems by William Blake and Hafez and, according to songwriter Fingerling, “symbolizes our defenselessness to predators like corporate or government aggression.” Lead vocalist Mensher, who plays the blues harp in the band, also sings the blues about fatherhood on his Web site, Having a Baby Totally Sucks, or the Things They Are Scared to Tell a New Father, where he describes how much he loves his wife and daughter while sharing the hidden truths that come with being a new dad.

UNDER GREAT NORTHERN LIGHTS

THE WHITE STRIPES UNDER GREAT NORTHERN LIGHTS (Emmett Malloy, 2009)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
Wednesday, March 10, 8:00, and Thursday, March 11, 7:00 & 9:00
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.whitestripes.bside.com

In the summer of 2007, Jack White and Meg White, better known as the White Stripes, celebrated their tenth anniversary as a band by touring Canada for the first time, intent on playing every province. Their cross-country journey was documented by video director Emmett Malloy, with guitarist Jack and drummer Meg often setting up their instruments in offbeat, surprising venues, including their infamous one-note show. Although the film is having its official U.S. premiere this week at the SXSW festival in Austin, there will be sneak peeks at theaters across America, including three screenings at the IFC Center, in advance of its March 16 release on Blu-ray and DVD and as a live CD. One of the best bands in the world, the White Stripes recently saw several of their records (ELEPHANT, GET BEHIND ME SATAN, ICKY THUMP) named to numerous best-of-the-decade lists; now you can see them before everyone else does in what promises to be one damn cool concert film.

ARMORY ARTS WEEK: SITE FEST ’10

sitefest2

Multiple locations in Bushwick
March 6-7, 1:00 – 9:00 (music continues past midnight)
Suggested donation for certain events $5, day pass $10, weekend pass $20
www.artsinbushwick.wordpress.com

For something a little different during Armory Arts Week, head out to Brooklyn for two days of open studios, gallery openings, live performances, and more at the second annual SITE Fest. Organized by Arts in Bushwick, the festival has three primary theater, dance, and performance art hubs — 3rd Ward on Morgan Ave., Chez Bushwick on Boerum St., and the Grace Exhibition Space on Broadway — while Goodbye Blue Monday will be home base for much of the live music, curated by ionSOUND. Among the performers scheduled to appear are Kung Fu Crimewave, Larkin Grimm, Meng-Hsuan Wu, Homunculus Mask Theater, Yoo & Dancers, Jenny Vogel, Synthesis Dance Project, HoverBound, the Movement Farm, Ling-Fen Chien, and the Omen Project. There will also be site-specific installations, interactive performances, artist talks, film screenings, sketch comedy, and panel discussions at such satellite sites as the Bushwick Starr, English Kills Gallery, the Petri Space, Bushwick Music Studios, House of Yes, Brooklyn Fireproof Gallery, and many others.

ARMORY ARTS WEEK: THE INDEPENDENT

Be sure to take a page from Michael Dean as part of “The Floor Is the Object” (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

548 West 22nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
March 4-7, free
www.independentnewyork.com

Elizabeth Dee and Darren Flook have joined forces to bring the free Independent art fair to Chelsea during Armory Arts Week, examining the way art shows are curated and viewed. The fair will take over the West 22nd St. space previously occupied by Dia and then the X Initiative, featuring work from more than forty galleries along with special installations, including Claire Fontaine’s neon “Please God Make Tomorrow Better,” which will be project on the outside doors. There will also be book signings, panel discussions, film screenings, and a live performance Saturday night by Dirty Mirrors.

UPDATE: The Independent is an extremely well organized fair, with plenty to see and do. Feel free to play Ping-Pong on Rirkrit Tiravanija’s “The Future Will Be Chrome” installation, accept a torn page from Michael Dean’s “The Floor Is the Object,” take a seat in the cage in Ryan Trecartin’s “P.opular S.ky (section ish),” create your own dialogue while investigating the artistic dialogues created by moss and Westreich-Wagner, and enjoy the milk-filled soda bottles marching their way through Jordan Wolfson’s twenty-minute CON LECHE film, but don’t enter Eve Sussman’s meticulous re-creation of Yuri Gagarin’s office.

ARMORY ARTS WEEK: SCOPE ART SHOW

Ukrainian artist Victor Sydorenko goes red at Mironova Gallery at Scope (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Lincoln Center Damrosch Park
62nd St. at Amsterdam Ave.
March 4-7, $20
www.scope-art.com

Some fifty international galleries will be exhibiting at this year’s edition of SCOPE, being held once again under a big tent in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park. In addition, the fashionable Markt will be back, with displays by such designers as Chicks on Speed, Graham Tabor & Miguel Villalobos, and Shari Pierce. Special cinematic events include Martha Colburn’s “Political Revolution in My Basement” on March 4, “A Shaded View on Fashion Film” on March 5, Zach Layton’s “d.i.y. sci-fi” on March 6 (with a live performance by the Fair Use Trio at 4:00), and Columbia University’s “The Interruption” multimedia installation on March 7. And if you need a shuttle to the Armory Show or Pulse, you can hop aboard Pratima Naithani’s “The Sweet Shop” mobile project.

UPDATE: SCOPE is more manageable than it’s been in past years, with a better selection of artwork as well. We particularly recommend EVOL’s cardboard pieces at Anonymous, Noelle K. Tan’s dark photographs at Civilian Art Projects, the one-dollar art gumball machine at jackie paper, Noh Ju Hwam’s typeset sculpture at Kwanhoon, Daniel Glaser and Magdalena Kunz’s talking cinematographic sculptures at Gagliardi Art System, Victor Sydorenko’s red Levitation series at Mironova, Asako Shimizu’s beautiful “On Her Skin” series at Wada Garou, and just about everything at Galeria Christopher Paschall.