this week in music

THE MUSIC OF THE WHO

musicofthewho

Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
881 Seventh Ave. at 57th St.
Tuesday, March 2, $45-$130, 8:00
www.carnegiewho.com

Over the last several years, music impresario Michael Dorf has gathered together a remarkable cast of characters to pay tribute to master musicians, all in the name of charity. Past honorees have included Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, and R.E.M. This year, twenty artists will be singing the music of the Who on March 2 at Carnegie Hall, with 100% of the proceeds going to such organizations as Fixing Instruments for Kids in Schools, Music Unites, Young Audiences New York, the Church Street School for Music & Art, the Pinwheel Project, and the American Symphony Orchestra. Performers who will be reaching deep into the Roger Daltrey / Pete Townshend songbook include Bob Mould, Nicole Atkins, Bettye LaVette, Mose Allison, Living Colour, Robyn Hitchcock, the Smithereens, Willie Nile, Sondre Lerche, the Gaslight Anthem, Jason Isbell, Raul Midon, and Bobby McFerrin. We’ve been to several of these events, which are always fun, especially if the performer being honored just happens to show up, as Bruce Springsteen did at his and Michael Stipe and Peter Buck did at theirs. The night before, March 1, City Winery will be hosting a live rehearsal show with house band Rich Pagano & the sugarCane Cups along with Nile, Mould, Atkins, Isbell, and others who will be appearing at the Carnegie Hall benefit on Tuesday.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK

Legendary flaneur Robyn Hitchcock will play a special gig at City Winery, joined by friends Sean Nelson and Lenny Kaye

City Winery
155 Varick St. at Vandam St.
Sunday, February 28, $35-$55, 8:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.robynhitchcock.com
flickr slideshow

The inimitable Robyn Hitchcock is part of the same British singer-songwriter school that has brought the world such endlessly entertaining musicians as Richard Thompson and Graham Parker, playing ironic, cynical, highly intellectual, and downright hysterical songs while filling their live shows with ironic, cynical, highly intellectual, and downright hysterical off-the-cuff chatter. From his days with the Soft Boys through his backup bands the Egyptians and the Venus 3, Hitchcock has put together a remarkable collection of pure pop pleasure, Beatles-esque with touches of Bob Dylan and even flashes of early Pink Floyd, commenting on the state of contemporary culture and romance like no one else can. Last year Hitchcock released two discs, I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS IN NEW YORK (Yep Roc, November 2009), which documented his live show re-creating his 1984 album I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS, and GOODNIGHT OSLO (Yep Roc, February 2009), another delightful grab bag of dazzling tunes, including the catchy “Saturday Groovers” and the beautiful “Hurry for the Sky” that fit in well with such classic Hitchcock as “Balloon Man,” “Madonna of the Wasps,” “So You Think You’re in Love,” “My Wife and My Dead Wife,” “Man with the Lightbulb Head,” “Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl,” and “Give Me a Spanner, Ralph.” In addition, Hitchcock — whose cutting-edge Web site, the Museum of Hitchcock, was one of the first to integrate music and merchandise in clever ways while creating an intimate fan community — has developed a long-term relationship with director Jonathan Demme, beginning with the music documentary STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK (1998), in which Robyn played in a empty window space in New York City, and continuing with soundtrack work and cameo appearances in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (2004) and RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (2008). Hitchcock, who will turn a youthful fifty-seven next week, will be joined by Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger) and the great Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group) for this very special gig at City Winery, where Thompson played last year and Parker will be performing in April. Hitchcock will also be participating in the March 2 Carnegie Hall benefit concert “The Music of the Who,” with such artists as Mose Allison, Bob Mould, Willie Nile, Bettye LaVette, the Smithereens, the Gaslight Anthem, and many others covering the career of Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon.

PURIM 2010

Masks and Mayhem is only one of many Purim parties taking place all over the city on February 27

The Jewish holiday of Purim is a time of rejoicing, celebrating the defeat of the Persian leader Haman, who, serving under Persian king Ahasuerus in the fifth century BCE, sought to kill all the Jews. There will be Purim parties all over town on Saturday night, when people will gather with noisemakers and good grog, partaking in the triangular delicacy known as hamentashen, and reading from the Megillah. Chris Noth will host the Aish Center’s “Masks and Mayhem” in the Sony Atrium, with food from Eli Kirshstein, a free drink, music by DJ Roy Baron, and a costume contest that can earn you a pair of first-class tickets to Israel or a Private Chef’s Table for Ten at Solo. The Shushan Channel will be going crazy at 92yTribeca with their eighth annual Purim spiel, “Lady Graga,” led by Daily Show creator Lizz Winstead and taking on pop culture as only they can. JDub records will be getting down at the CSV Cultural Center with a Hamanbashin costume contest and party featuring live performances by the Shondes, Can!!Can, and Gangsta Rabbi, DJ sets by Ultragrrrl and Matt Elkin, and Patrick Aleph delivering the whole Megillah channeled through Sid Vicious. Israeli hip-hoppers Hadag Nahash will be partying late into the night at (le) poisson rouge. At City Winery, Storahtelling presents Bloody Esther, starring Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross, better known as the First Lady of Judeo Kitsch. And in Brooklyn, Heeb magazine has teamed up with 3rd Ward for the Pour ’em Party, featuring Team Facelift, the Shining Twins, Dirty Fences, and DJs Johnny Tropical, Drew Heffron, and Kool Jew, while the Sway Machinery will headline the third annual Purim Bash at Littlefield, along with Djarara.

CHOPIN 200

Chopin bicentennial will feature 200 hours of music at the World Financial Center March 1-5

Chopin bicentennial will feature 200 hours of piano music at the World Financial Center March 1-5

AFICIONADO OPEN MIC
World Financial Center Winter Garden
220 Vesey St.
March 1-5, free, 9:00 am – 12 noon
212-417-7050
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com

In honor of the 200th birthday of composer Frédéric François Chopin, the World Financial Center is hosting Chopin 200: A Bicentennial Celebration of the Composer and His Music, presenting 200 pianists playing 200 hours of Chopin music March 1-5, from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. While they already have 150 virtuosos and highly praised students lined up, they have left 50 spots open to the general public. So if you’re still trying to figure out what to do with those piano lessons you took as a kid or your dreams of playing Carnegie Hall were shattered when you went to business school instead of conservatory, head on down to the WFC between 9:00 am and 12 noon and sign up to join in the fun, first come, first served. This unusual open mic will give music lovers the chance to play one of four grand pianos: a Sauter Omega 220, a Shigeru Kawai SK-6, a Wilhelm Steinberg W212, or an Art Case Steinway Model B. This is a great opportunity for mini-maestros to show off their Chopin chops, whether it be a sonata or a waltz, a rondo or a scherzo, a nocturne or an étude, a mazurka or a concerto.

METAL MAD

Tom Forget’s untitled painting is part of heavy-metal-inspired show at Giant Robot

AN ARMY OF ARTISTS PAYING HOMAGE TO HEAVY METAL
Giant Robot
437 East Ninth St. between First Ave. & Ave. A
Through March 3, free
212-674-4769
www.grny.net

Harder-edged than usual, Giant Robot’s current show, “Metal Mad,” features more than fifty works from twenty-six artists, all paying homage to the heavy metal aesthetic in their own unique ways. Skulls, violence, monsters, pentagrams, and paeans to the Prince of Darkness and Doom prevail, as well as a few pretty funny vignettes. French, Aeron Alfrey, Skinner, and Paul Lyons revel in evil demons, while Matt Nelson and Bigfoot turn to KISS for inspiration (an embroidered Gene Simmons?). Metalheads will also be proud of Aaron Brown’s homage to guitar god “Yngwie Mangosteen.” A wry sense of humor lies behind Matt Furie’s “Chainsaw Dad” and Albert Reyes’s untitled swordfight between Ronald McDonald and a guy on the run with his girlfriend, while Buff Monster goes for the jugular with his cyclopean nurse shooting laser beams out of her eye in front of a pink background. Among the more accomplished — and expensive — works are Prodip’s “Monster Pit,” Tom Neely’s “Wolves in the Throne Room,” and Tom Forget’s untitled portrait that is half beauty queen, half rotting skull, ranging from $800-$1,500. Meanwhile, we can’t believe that Joe the Artist is selling his excellent black-and-white works for a mere $60 to $100. As always when you visit Giant Robot, be sure to check out the latest graffiti books, cool T-shirts, Ugly Dolls, and Japanese toys.

TIBET HOUSE US BENEFIT CONCERT

A performance by monks is always part of Tibet House benefit

Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman stage
881 Seventh Ave. at 57th St.
Friday, February 26, $30-$85, 7:30
212-247-7800
www.tibethouse.org
www.carnegiehall.org

Tickets are on sale and going fast for the twentieth annual Tibet House US Benefit Concert, this year displaying another amazing, eclectic lineup, including artistic director Philip Glass, Gogol Bordello, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Tenzin Kunsel, Regina Spektor, Pierce Turner, and Jesse Smith & Michael Campbell. The Carnegie Hall show will be highlighted by one-of-a-kind collaborations and performances, all to raise money and awareness for Tibet House, whose mission is to protect, preserve, and promote Tibetan culture and heritage; the organization began at the behest of the Dalai Lama in 1987. Past shows have features such performers as the Drepung Loseling Monks, Ray Davies, Laurie Anderson, Steve Earle, Vampire Weekend, Angelique Kidjo, Band of Horses, Lou Reed, Sigur Rós, Sufjan Stevens, the Beastie Boys, Emmylou Harris, David Byrne, Debbie Harry, Allen Toussaint, Yo La Tengo, Moby, David Bowie, Allen Ginsberg, Gyuto Monks, and many others. We’ve been to a few of these benefits, and they’re always a wonderful mix of great music and cultural tradition.

FEBRUARY RESIDENCY: BLUEBRAIN

Bluebrain will play Monday-night residency at Pianos this month

Pianos
158 Ludlow St.
Monday nights at 10:00 through February 22
Admission: free
212-505-3733
www.pianosnyc.com
www.myspace.com/bluebrainbluebrain

Last June, Bluebrain — brainchild of brothers Hays and Ryan Holladay, formerly of the Brooklyn-based band the Epochs — played their first show ever, in their hometown of Washington, DC. In 2009 they also released a five-track EP, CULT FOLLOWING, which will be followed on February 9 by their debut full-length, SOFT POWER (both on Lujo Records). In celebration of the new disc, the brothers will be playing three free shows this month, in residency Monday nights at Pianos on the Lower East Side. Onstage, the Holladays each stand behind their own podium, as if they are holding a press conference or a debate, pumping out their dynamic, mellifluous electronic dance music while strange images are broadcast behind them, sort of the Yes Men meet the Butthole Surfers meet 1980s dreamy synth pop, or something like that. In “Ten by Ten,” which features a sweeping, swirling riff that will take over your whole body, the brothers repeat, “I can never make it alone”; in that vein, Bluebrain will be joined on February 8 by Riffle Recoil and on February 22 by Spiderfang and George Positive.