this week in music

MUSICAL TALES AND ADVENTURES

Neil Gaiman will get out from behind the signing table and hop onstage at the WFC to read PETER AND THE WOLF (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

PETER AND THE WOLF & AND BOLD TO FALL WITHAL — HENRY HUDSON IN THE NEW WORLD
World Financial Center Winter Garden
220 Vesey St.
Saturday, January 16, free, 7:00
212-417-7050
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com

Neil Gaiman (SANDMAN, STARDUST) has been having quite a time of late. He won the coveted Newbery Medal for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, his creepy tale CORALINE was turned into a Golden Globe-nominated film, he gets to hang around a lot with close friend Tori Amos, and he’s engaged to singer Amanda Palmer. Gaiman, the rock star of the literati, will be in New York on January 16, reading Sergei Prokofiev’s PETER AND THE WOLF, accompanied by the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra. Following that performance, the orchestra, with tenor Jason Danieley, will continue with the world premiere of Gary S. Fagin’s AND BOLD TO FALL WITHAL — HENRY HUDSON IN THE NEW WORLD, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Hudson arriving in New York harbor.

EMERGENCY BENEFIT CONCERT FOR HAITI

Patti Smith will be among the many, many participants at the annual Poetry Project New Year's Day marathon (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Patti Smith will headline one of four City Winery shows raising emergency funds for Haiti (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

City Winery
155 Varick St.
January 20, 21, 24, 25, $20-$75
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com

New York City has come together over the last week, holding numerous benefits to raise money for disaster relief in Haiti. One of the most ambitious series of events will be held at City Winery, which is looking to raise $100,000 with four nights of extraordinary performers at the intimate TriBeCa club, with all of the proceeds going to Partners in Health, Doctors Without Borders, and the Jewish Renaissance Medical Center. On January 20 ($75), the all-star roster includes Patti Smith, the Swell Season, Yo La Tengo, John Wesley Harding, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Joshua Bell, while January 21 ($50) features Lewis Black, Marshall Crenshaw, Willie Nile, Rich Pagano + the SugarCane Cups, and Vernon Reid and Corey Glover of Living Colour. Rosanne Cash headlines the January 24 show ($50), with Brian Stokes Mitchell, Tabou Combo, Madeline Peyroux, and BETTY. And more than a dozen indie artists will take the stage on January 25 ($20), among them the recently reunited Bongos, Ari Hest, NYCSmoke’s Howie Statland, Vienna Teng, and Amber Rubarth.

MEDEA AND ITS DOUBLE

Medea is split in two in South Korean reinterpretation (photo by Zita Bradley)

La MaMa First Floor Theatre
74A East Fourth St. between Second Ave. & Bowery
Thursday – Sunday through January 24
Tickets: $18
212-475-7710
www.lamama.org
www.seoulfactory.co.kr

Seoul Factory for the Performing Arts, under artistic director and founder Limb Hyoung-taek, has brought its own unique twist to Euripides’ classic Greek tragedy of a woman scorned in MEDEA AND ITS DOUBLE, playing Thursdays through Sundays through January 24 at La MaMa. Mixing in Shakespearean bravura, contemporary dance, and even some emotive Korean soap opera, Limb divides Medea into two characters: mother (Koo See-yeon) and lover (Lee Kyoung). The work begins with a way-too-long textual introduction projected onto a bloodred scrim, summarizing the tale of Medea, the heartbreaking story of the tragic marriage between Medea and Jason, of Argonauts and Golden Fleece fame. After learning of her husband’s betrayal with a wealthy princess, Medea takes out her vengeance on her two children and Jason, leaving behind a bloody mess. The introduction does set up the drama, which is performed in Korean without subtitles, but it also tries to prime the audience as to how they should react to what they’re about to see.

Medea the mother comforts Medea the lover as bloody conclusion looms (photo by Zita Bradley)

The two Medeas first appear as children, playing with Jason (Lee Do-yup) and other friends; marriage and children ensue, beautifully communicated in evocative dance. Rectangular pools with floating candles flank the stage, offering beauty and life, but once Jason returns from his dalliance, Medea divides: The lover, wearing a devilish red coat, tries to suppress Medea the mother, robed in pure flowing white, and exact her brutal revenge. Limb’s inventive production includes singers and musicians behind the scrim, adding a foreboding mood to the proceedings even though, once again, everything is in Korean. And just wait till you see how he handles the two babies. The lead actors are all excellent, particularly Koo as Medea the lover, who evolves from sexy to dangerous to psychotic while moving skillfully around the stage, incorporating Asian martial arts and Beijing Opera elements into her portrayal. This strong, emotional production deserves a bigger venue, where it can really show off its bold and inventive attributes.

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC

Dreyer classic will get impassioned screening with live music at Encounter festival

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1928)
New York Marriott Marquis, sixth floor
1535 Broadway
Sunday, January 17, $30, 8:00
www.crossroadsculturalcenter.org

As part of the New York Encounter festival, Carl Th. Dreyer’s controversial 1928 classic silent film, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, will be screened at the Marriott Marquis, accompanied by a live performance of Richard Einhorn’s “Voices of Light,” the composer’s 1994 oratorio inspired by the film. The composition will be performed by the Metro Chamber Orchestra, directed by Phil Nuzzo, and the Communion and Liberation Choir, directed by Christopher Vath. The film stars Renée Jeanne Falconetti, in her second and final movie role, as the title character, facing her final days. Dreyer (ORDET, VAMPYR) created a stunning look for the film, featuring extreme close-ups that get right in the viewer’s face. Thought to be lost, the complete film was discovered in a Norwegian mental institution in 1981 and ultimately released on DVD by Criterion.

THE HEAVY

British band the Heavy will get down and dirty in three area shows (photo by Will Cooper-Mitchell)

Tuesday, January 12, Music Hall of Williamsburg, $15-$17, 9:00
Thursday, January 14, Bowery Ballroom, $15-$17, 9:00
Saturday, January 16, 92YTribeca, $12, 9:00
www.myspace.com/theheavy73
www.bowerypresents.com
www.92y.org

Read any article or review about British band the Heavy and you’ll be hit with a flurry of musical references, from the White Stripes, Massive Attack, and Sam Cooke to PFunk, Bo Diddley, and James Brown, from the Stooges, Tom Waits, and Little Walter to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Jimi Hendrix, Gnarls Barkley, and, believe it or not, Bing Crosby. But this foursome from Noid, England – lead singer Swaby, guitarist Dan “T” Taylor, bassist Spencer “Big Daddy Spence” Page, and drummer Chris Ellul – are no mere human jukebox regurgitators. They burst onto the indie scene with 2007’s GREAT VENGEANCE AND FURIOUS FIRE, which featured such groovy hits as “Coleen” and “That Kind of Man,” and followed it up with another rousing sonic blast, THE HOUSE THAT DIRT BUILT (Counter, October 2009), ten songs that will blow your mind while you shake your booty and get plenty filthy. Tunes such as “Oh No! Not You Again!,” “Sixteen,” and “Cause for Alarm” channel garage rock, R&B, funk, blues, rap, hip-hop, and reggae, attacking your senses while satisfying your soul. The Heavy will be opening for the Hotrats on January 12 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg and on January 14 at the Bowery Ballroom (with Sean Bones), followed by a gig on January 16 at 92YTribeca with James Dean Wells of the Gay Blades. You can also catch them live on MTV Iggy on January 13 at 12 noon and on WFUV at 3:30, as well as on WNYC the next day at 2:00.

CRACKER / CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN

Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven will mix things up at the Highline on January 15 (photo by Danny Clinch)

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Friday, January 15, $22-$25, 8:30
212-414-5994
www.myspace.com/crackerhatesmyspace
www.highlineballroom.com

David Lowery will be doing double duty on January 15 as he brings both Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven to the Highline Ballroom. Cracker, the Virginia-based band that has scored such hits as “Teen Angst,” “Low,” “Get Off This,” and one of the great live songs of all time, “Euro-Trash Girl,” will be featuring songs from their latest album, the excellent SUNRISE IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY (429 Records, September 2009). Although the disc is filled with Lowery’s trademark ironic sense of humor and cofounder Johnny Hickman’s infectious guitar hooks, the songs were written for the first time as a group, with drummer Frank Funaro and bassist Sal Maida pitching in. Harking back to the sound of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the foursome packs quite a punch on such fine tunage as “Show Me How This Thing Works,” “Hand Me My Inhaler,” and the instant Cracker classic “Turn on Tune in Drop Out with Me,” getting help from such friends as Counting Crows leader Adam Duritz, Drive-By Trucker Patterson Hood, and X man John Doe along the way. Opening up will be Lowery’s seminal country folk punk outfit, CVB, whose current incarnation consists of longtime members Victor Krummenacher on bass, Greg Lisher on guitar, and Jonathan Segel on violin and other instruments, with Funaro sitting behind the drum kit. CVB is responsible for such critical cuts as “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” “New Roman Times,” “Might Makes Right,” and “Joe Stalin’s Cadillac,” with Lowery getting more specifically political than he does with Cracker. This is one of those don’t-miss shows you’ll regret not going to, so we hope to see you there.

Johnny Hickman and David Lowery have a blast at Cracker / Camper Van Beethoven show at the Highline Ballroom (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Update: Grizzly-bearded David Lowery did double duty at the Highline Ballroom on January 15, first playing a 100-minute set with Camper Van Beethoven, followed by another two hours with Cracker. The first set was a rousing look back at the history of seminal indie rockers CVB, dominated by Lowery’s politically tinged lyrics and Jonathan Segel’s virtuosic violin playing. Along with such favorites as “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” “Eye of Fatima,” and “Joe Stalin’s Cadillac,” the band covered the Clash’s “White Riot,” Black Flag’s “Wasted,” and the Status Quo’s “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” which was an MTV hit for them more than twenty years ago. After a break, Lowery returned with Cracker for a more amiable, freewheeling set as he told long stories about a grandmother requesting “the song about the whore” (“Eurotrash Girl”), performing “Yalla Yalla” in Iraq, and claiming that “Merry Christmas, Emily” was one of the only Christmas songs about a Jew. Guitarist and cofounder Johnny Hickman, looking resplendent in a dazzling white suit, led the way on “Lonesome Johnny Blues” and Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me.” The night ended with members of both bands jamming through an extended take on the Pink Floyd acid instrumental “Interstellar Overdrive.” (For a slideshow and the setlist, go here.)

CULTUREMART ’10

Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya will reprise FLOATING POINT WAVES as part of CultureMart at HERE Arts

HERE Arts Center
145 Sixth Ave.
January 11-31, $15
212-647-0202
www.here.org

The tenth annual CultureMart festival takes place at HERE Arts January 11-31, featuring twelve workshop productions and a postshow discussion series making up three weeks of experimental opera and dance, avant-garde theater and puppetry. Michael Bodel reimagines Bellini’s LA SONNAMBULA, Toni Dove examines virtual multiple personality in LUCID POSSESSION, Yoav Gal goes multimedia to retell the story of Moses in MOSHEH, and Erin Orr and Rima Fand follow DON CRISTOBAL, BILLY-CLUB MAN onstage and off with hand, large, and shadow puppets, inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca. Laura Peterson’s WOODEN takes place in a naturalistic environment of sculpted trees and metal, while Johari Mayfield’s THE VENUS RIFF looks at science and religion in regard to the stereotyping of women over the last few hundred years. We’re particularly looking forward to FLOATING POINT WAVES by dancer/choreographer Ximena Garnica and video artist Shige Moriya, who collaborated on FURNACE at last month’s Cave Butoh Festival. Tickets for all events are $15 and go fast.