this week in music

KAP BAMBINO / SLEIGH BELLS

Kap Bambino will be raving with Sleigh Bells at Webster Hall (photo by Kyle Ross)

The Studio at Webster Hall
125 East Eleventh St. between Second Ave. & Bowery
Saturday, November 14, $10-$12, 10:00
212-353-1600
www.myspace.com/kapbambino
www.websterhall.com/thestudio
www.myspace.com/sleighbellsmusic

“I will explode if you do not change,” Kap Bambino sings in “Breath.” Things threaten to explode tonight at the Studio at Webster Hall, where the French techno/death-metal/grunge duo of Bouvier Orion and Martial Caroline, better known as Kap Bambino, will be celebrating the upcoming release of their BATCAVES EP. You can get an idea just what you’ll be in for merely by some of the song titles on their latest full-length CD, this year’s BLACKLIST, which includes “Dead Lazers,” “Human Piles,” “Plague,” “Blood Roses,” and “Acid Eyes.” And even though the opening act is named Sleigh Bells, don’t let that lull you into thinking that there might be a mellow start to the evening. Techno heads Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss, who make up Sleigh Bells, will not be playing any Christmas hymns. Instead, they’ll be blasting their massive electronica, like the pulsating “Crown on the Ground” and “Infinity Guitars,” as well as the mesmerizing, acoustic-based “Ring Ring,” kicking off what should be a crazy late-night rave in the East Village.

NAKED SOUL: GRAHAM PARKER

: Graham Parker will get sacred and profane at the Rubin (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Friday, November 13, $40-$45, 7:00
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org/nakedsoul
www.grahamparker.net

Over the years, we’ve seen Graham Parker perform in various amalgamations, with such backing bands as the Figgs and the Rumour as well as solo acoustic, in intimate venues and loud rock clubs. Parker, the witty, acidic songwriter behind such classic tunes as “Local Girls,” “Passion Is No Ordinary Word,” “Protection,” “Stupefaction,” “You Can’t Be Too Strong,” and “Get Started. Start a Fire,” among many others, will be playing a special set at the Rubin Museum of Art as part of the Naked Soul series. Parker, who has also written the excellent short-story collection CARP FISHING ON VALIUM, is a consummate entertainer who introduces his songs with biting commentary, self-deprecating humor, and sublime intelligence that is part Richard Thompson, part Robyn Hitchcock, but all GP. If you’ve never seen him before, take advantage of this splendid opportunity to see one of music’s finest in what he is promising will be quite a unique show. As he describes it: “Where spirituality and sacrilege rub shoulders and get on very well. Yes, the prospect of this totally unplugged gig in the most unusual setting has me digging deep for material that even the GP stalwarts will be delighted with. Or confused. The thematic opportunities have blown my mind. This will be a real one of a kind!” As a bonus, admission to the Rubin is free on Friday nights from 7:00 to 10:00, so after the concert, you should check out such exhibits as “The Red Book of C. G. Jung,” “Victorious Ones: Jain Images of Perfection,” “From the Land of the Gods: Art of the Kathmandu Valley,” and “Mandala: The Perfect Circle.” It should be fascinating to see how Parker blends in the Rubin’s surroundings into his set.

update: As promised, Parker played a one-of-a-kind set at the Rubin, integrating slides of Himalayan art on view in the museum with songs and stories referencing life and death, heaven and hell, and reincarnation and religion. He boldly spoke about his lack of faith while throwing in such relevant terms as karma, meditation, transcendence, Buddha, bodhisattva, and enlightenment. In fact, at one point he talked about how he used to live on Eighteenth St., with a view of the corner where the Rubin now stands. He related how, when the building was being gutted and turned into Barney’s, he and his friends would wait for the huge rats to dash out at late-night passersby, as Parker and his fellow partiers high-fived, tossed back another, and inhaled, noting that that was the closest he’s probably ever come to enlightenment. He reached deep into his songbook, eschewing familiar hits for such rarely played tunes as “Evil,” “Pollinate,” “Carp Fishing on Valium,” “Museum of Stupidity,” “I Don’t Know,” “Last Stop Is Nowhere,” and the outrageously funny “Syphilis & Religion.” He debuted two songs from his upcoming album, including “You’re Not Where You Think You Are,” and covered Johnny Nash’s appropriate “There Are More Questions than Answers.” He also played “God’s Big Chess Game,” a song by his alter ego, YouTube “sensation” Tex Skerball. Titled “Sacred and Profane” – and yes, there were plenty of profanities, with Parker begging donors not to blame the museum for his language – the performance was perhaps the best researched and curated show we have ever seen, especially for such a one-time-only site-specific event, something that can never be duplicated. After the show, despite Parker’s cynical stance on all religions, including Buddhism, Rubin museum producer Tim McHenry still presented the ribald musician with a kata, a traditional sign of respect, which Parker gladly accepted.

DRINK UP BUTTERCUP

Drink Up Buttercup was one of the stand-outs of last month's CMJ Marathon (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Union Hall
702 Union St., Brooklyn
Thursday, November 12, $10, 11:00
718-638-4400
www.unionhallny.com
www.myspace.com/drinkupbuttercupband

When we first saw the crazy Bucks County band Drink Up Buttercup at the Mercury Lounge on July 3 of this year, we were immediately taken by their DIY charm; after the dazzling set, played with an intoxicating, reckless abandon, lead guitarist and singer Jim Harvey was stalking around, desperately looking for a small piece of missing equipment, while the rest of the band packed up their gear in the back of his dad’s rug van. (At the time, Jim and his half-brother, Farzad Houshiarnejad, who contributes keyboards, bass, and smash percussion, were working for their father part-time, selling and delivering Oriental carpets.) But since then, the band has signed with Yep Roc, which led to their own van, a relatively plain white one that bass player and keyboardist Ben Money excitedly showed us before a CMJ gig at Cake Shop, proudly beaming that it came complete with Nintendo built in. But when Harvey broke a guitar string early on at the Ludlow St. show, he had to stop the set and ask if anyone in the audience or from one of the other bands had a guitar he could use so they could continue. While waiting, he led the foursome – which also includes the still-teenage Mike Cammarata on drums – into the center of the narrow, packed club, where they sang a cappella until a replacement guitar arrived, at which time they returned to their manic set, switching instruments, banging on a trash can and toolkit, bounding dangerously across the stage, and bumping against each other and the low ceiling.

Drink Up Buttercup gets wild and crazy night after night (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

A few days later, they toned things down only a bit for an acoustic set in the scenic Delancey rooftop garden, where they powered through another stellar performance that really showed off the strength of their vocal harmonies, musical chops, and songwriting abilities – as we’ve said before, their tunes just kick ass, in whatever format they’re played. And they’ve just expanded their repertoire – which features such raucous songs as “Mr. Pie Eyes,” “Sosey and Dosey,” and “Seasickness Pills” – with their first single on Yep Roc, the groovy new “Even Think” backed with the older “Heavy Hand,” available for free download from their Web site, along with a remix of “Even Think” by Andrew W.K. One of the busiest and best bands at last month’s CMJ Marathon, DUB will be at Union Hall in Brooklyn on November 12 playing at 11:00 on a bill with Blood Warrior, Beat Circus, and Larkin Grimm that gets going at 8:00. You just have to see these guys. Really. We’re not kidding.

weekly listings nov. 11-18

Magda Tothova gets uncomfortably and romantically close to the former premier in her video “Lenin and the Maiden"

1989: THE END OF HISTORY OR THE BEGINNING OF THE FUTURE?
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd St. between Fifth & Madison Aves.
Admission: free
212-319 -3000
www.afcny.org

Wednesday, November 11 Art and Politics After the Annus Mirabilis: panel discussion on the the tumultuous events of 1989, with Marina Abramovic, Anna Jermolaewa, Thomas Draschan, Gerald Matt, and others, reservations required, 5:00

Wednesday, November 11 Video Art Comments on a Time Shift: exhibit opening reception, with live music by B3+ and presentation by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria Michael Spindelegger, 6:00

RICHARD LLOYD
The Studio at Webster Hall
125 East Eleventh St. between Third & Fourth Aves.
Tickets: $10-$12
www.websterhall.com/thestudio

Thursday, November 12 One-night-only special performance by Television’s Richard Lloyd, with opening set by Hey Battlef!eld, hosted by John Varvatos, Bob Gruen, and Legs McNeil, 8:30

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Danspace Project
St. Mark’s Church
131 East Tenth St. at Second Ave.
Admission: $5 plus two cans of food or $10
212-674-8112
www.danspaceproject.org/programs/foodforthought.html

Thursday, November 12 Thomas F. DeFrantz, Rie Ono, Chris Peck, and the Grocery & Jessica Almasy, curated by Ursula Eagly

Friday, November 13 Monstah Black, Vanessa Anspaugh, GoGoVertigoat, and Jamal Jackson Dance Company, curated by Maura Donohue

Saturday, November 14 Brad Kisicki, Travis Chamberlain, and Sheila Lewandowski in collaboration with Sarah Maxfield, and John McGrew, curated by Enrico D. Wey

David teague's animated INTIFADA NYC is part of annual doc fest at AMNH

MARGARET MEAD FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St.

November 12-15, $12-$40
212-769-5200
www.amh.org/mead

The thirty-third annual Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival once again showcases socially and environmentally conscious work from around the world.

Thursday, November 12 Opening night: COOKING HISTORY (Peter Kerekes), 7:00

Sunday, November 15 DJ SPOOKY AND THE SCIENCE OF TERRA NOVA, featuring DJ Spooky speaking and demonstrating the creation of his latest multimedia project, addressing climate change in Antarctica, 4:00

Sunday, November 15 Closing night: HAIR INDIA (Raffaele Brunetti & Marco Leopardi), with Brunetti in person, 8:00

JANIS BRENNER & DANCERS
Joyce SoHo
15 Mercer St.
Tickets: $15-$20
www.joyce.org

Thursday, November 12
through
Sunday, November 15 JB&D presents FIVE DECADES, consisting of works by Meredith Monk (BREAK, 1964), Murray Louis (FIGURA, 1978), and Janis Brenner, (GUILT, 1985, and A MATTER OF TIME, 1994), and world premiere of Brenner’s DANCING IN ABSENTIA

A HISTORY OF NEW YORK
Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden
421 East 61st St.
Admission: $15 (includes discount for Wafels & Dinges)
212-838-6878
www.mvhm.org

Friday, November 13 Dr. Michael Black discusses Washington Irving’s A HISTORY OF NEW YORK, which takes a satirical look at the early politics of the early Dutch-settled city, 6:30

PAGE TURNER: THE ASIAN AMERICAN LITERARY FESTIVAL
Multiple venues
All day pass $20 ($25 with literary awards)
www.pageturnerfest.org

Friday, November 13 Gala Kick-off Dinner with Michael Ondaatje helping to honor Lifetime Achievement Award winner Sonny Mehta, Vermilion, 480 Lexington Ave., $50 cocktail reception, $500 cocktail reception, gala dinner, signed book by Ondaatje, and more, 7:00

Saturday, November 14 Readings at powerHouse Arena, with Jhumpa Lahiri, David Henry Hwang, Jen Kwok, Professor Mae Ngai, Ed Park, Amitava Kumar, and more, 37 Main St., Dumbo, $5 each, every hour on the hour from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm

Saturday, November 14 Twelfth annual literary awards and cocktail reception, powerHouse Arena, 37 Main St., Dumbo, $10, 6:00

Guy Maddin's unique take on Dracula is part of Vampire Weekend at the Paley Center

DARK SHADOWS AT TWILIGHT: A PALEY CENTER VAMPIRE WEEKEND
The Paley Center for Media
25 West 52nd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Admission: $10
212-621-6800
www.paleycenter.org

Friday, November 13
through
Sunday, November 15 Three days of special events focusing on vampires, including F. W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU, Guy Maddin’s DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN’S DIARY, ROBSESSED (about the cult surrounding TWILIGHT’s Rob Pattison), screenings of past Paley Center events featuring the cast and crew of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (2008), ANGEL (2001), TRUE BLOOD (2009), and DARK SHADOWS (2001), as well as a panel discussion and more

ESTHER
New York City Opera
David H. Koch Theater
63rd St. & Columbus Ave.
Tickets: $12-$145
212-721-6500
www.nycopera.com

Friday, November 13
through
Thursday, November 19 City Opera presents Hugo Weisgall’s opera for the first time in sixteen years, starring Lauren Flanigan and with stage and film design by Jerome Sirlin

COLLECTORS FESTIVAL OF NEW YORK: DE LA CHARANGA AL CHARANGO
Taino Towers Cultural Building
240 East 123rd St. at Second Ave.
Admission: $10
www.cccadi.org/node/529

Saturday, November 14 Sixth annual International Latin/Tropical Music Collectors Festival, with displays, DJs, film screenings, a tribute to Charanga legends, panel discussions, a flea market, and a fiesta de cierre with live performances by La Orqesta Broadway and La Bolá con su Charangón, 1:00 – 10:00 pm

GENERATIONS: A 30-YEAR CELEBRATION
Peter Norton Symphony Space
2597 Broadway at 95th St.
Tickets: $15-$25
www.symphonyspace.org

Saturday, November 14 Thirtieth anniversary concert by the Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band, featuring works by Respighi, Shostakovich, Saint-Saens, Jerry Herman, Harold Arlen, and John Philip Sousa in addition to a world premiere of special piece by James Adler commissioned for the event, 8:00

ARTWALK NY
Skylight Studio
275 Hudson St.
Tickets: $200-$5,000
212-776-2056
www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/artwalk.html

Tuesday, November 17 Benefit for the Coalition for the Homeless, honoring artist Pat Steir, with a cocktail
party, live and silent auctions, with cochairs Richard Gere, Carey Lowell, and Alec Baldwin, 6:30

IN OUR LINGO: DJ DISCO WIZ & JAMEL SHABAZZ
El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
Admission: free with reservations at below Web site
www.elmuseo.org/en/calendar/date_all_all

Tuesday, November 17 Multimedia dialogue and mixed plate beats featuring DJ Disco Wiz and Jamel Shabazz, 6:30

DEBORAH HAY: IF I SING TO YOU
YVONNE RAINER: SPIRALING DOWN
Baryshnikov Arts Center
Tickets: $25
www.bacnyc.org

Tuesday, November 17
through
Thursday, November 19 U.S. premiere of a piece by Deborah Hay and New York premiere of work by Yvonne Rainer, part of Performa 09 festival, 7:30

De Sica classic is part of neorealist feast and film festival

UMBERTO D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952)
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
Tuesday, November 17, 8:30
Saturday, November 21, 5:30
212-875-5600
www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/italiannr.html

We don’t think we’ll ever stop crying. Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist masterpiece stars Carlo Battisti (a professor whom De Sica saw one day and thought would be perfect for the lead role; it would be Battisti’s only film) as Umberto Domenico Ferrari, an elderly former bureaucrat who is too proud to sacrifice his dignity in order to pay his mean-spirited landlady (Lina Gennari), who rents out his room by the hour while he’s out walking his beloved dog, Flag, and trying to find some way to get money and food. Umberto D. is befriended by the boardinghouse maid (Maria Pia Casilio), who is pregnant with the child of one of two servicemen, neither of whom wants to have anything to do with her. As Umberto D.’s options start running out, he considers desperate measures to free himself from his loneliness and poverty. His relationship with Flag is one of the most moving in cinema history. Don’t miss this remarkable achievement, which was lovingly restored a few years ago by eighty-six-year-old lighting specialist Vincenzo Verzini, known as Little Giotto. The film is part of Lincoln Center’s “Life Lessons: Italian Neorealism and the Birth of Modern Cinema,” which continues through November 25 with such films as Michdelangelo Antonioni’s IL GRIDO, Luchino Visconti’s LA TERRA TREMA: EPISODIO DEL MARE, and Francesco Rosi’s SALVATORE GIULIANO. The November 21 screening of UMBERTO D is part of “A Feast of Food and Film,” a special one-day event that also includes admission to Federico Fellini’s I VITELLONI, Roberto Rosselini’s VIAGGIO IN ITALIA, Luigi Comencini’s PANE, AMORE E FANTASIA, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s ACCATTONE, a tasting of Lamberti Prosecco and Rose Spumante, Italian delicacies from Sora Lella, all for $30

SPLICE: PANIC JOURNALS
Dance New Amsterdam
280 Broadway at Chambers St. (second floor)
Tickets: $12-$17
212-625-8369
www.dnadance.com
www.falldowntown.com

Thursday, November 19
through
Sunday, November 22 Ishmael Houston-Jones and Dan Safer/ Witness Relocation team up for a night of raucous performance art

GOTHAM GIRLS ROLLER DERBY
Hunter College Sportplex
Lexington Ave. at 68th St.
Tickets:
888-830-2253
www.gothamgirlsrollerderby.com

Thursday, November 19 Although the GGRD championship bout on Saturday, November 21, between the Bronx Gridlock and the Manhattan Mayhem is currently sold out, a small batch of tickets will be released on November 19 at 8:30 am

SNOW (A STUDY) and WHY I LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC

SNOW and COUNTRY MUSIC come together at the Tank

The Tank
354 West 45th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
November 9-10, $10, 9:30
www.thetanknyc.org/dance
www.brownpapertickets.com
A crowded house at the Tank was on hand for the premieres of two short pieces on November 9 that deal with memory and loneliness. (The performances continue November 10.) In the work-in-progress WHY I LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC, D. J. Mendel reads a love letter about his relationship with his father and tries to explain his love for country music as he stands in front of a screen showing old family photos. (Mendel has called it “a love poem to my father accidentally sent to a woman I used to love.”) He also shares shots with a mysterious woman in a sexy red dress (Chelsea Crowe) and goes through white envelopes, dropping pictures, nails, and other small objects onto the floor, as if discarding parts of his past. Written by Mendel and directed by Salvatore Interlandi, the well-performed WHY I LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC also features snippets of country songs, although the ending does border on treacle.

Tymberly Canale, a longtime member of Big Dance Theater who was a stand-out in the company’s recent production of COMME TOUJOURS HERE I STAND, has written SNOW, a powerful and evocative seventeen-minute study. Canale, wearing a simple trench coat over a white day dress with bright red pumps, goes for a late-night walk, where she encounters a solitary, unidentified male stranger in a long coat (Neil Harris). Canale narrates the piece with poetic text, stopping at points to move across the stage in carefully choreographed movements both solo and with Harris that are strong and heavy, wrought with emotion, the opposite of lightly falling snow. The costuming has excellent little touches, such as Harris’s bright red socks, revealed only in one sequence of movements, while a pair of videos by David Tinapple appear in unexpected places, adding to the drama. We’re looking forward to seeing more from the very talented Canale.

CAPATHIA JENKINS & LOUIS ROSEN

Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen will ache with possibility at four Joe's Pub shows

Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St.
November 8, 14, 21, 22, $20, 7:00
212-967-7555
www.myspace.com/jenkinsrosen
www.joespub.com
The dynamic duo of guitarist Louis Rosen and vocalist Capathia Jenkins return to Joe’s Pub for a four-night engagement beginning November 8 and continuing on November 14, 21, and 22 in celebration of their smashing new CD, THE ACHE OF POSSIBILITY (Di-Tone, November 10). Previously, the pair collaborated on albums with lyrics based on poems by Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Nikki Giovanni; the new record includes four songs with words by Giovanni in addition to nine originals by Rosen. Jenkins, a Brooklyn girl who sang in her family’s church choir and has gone on to perform on Broadway and toured in DREAMGIRLS, and Rosen, a Jewish guitarist and composer from the South Side of Chicago who wrote the book THE SOUTH SIDE: THE RACIAL TRANSFORMATION OF AN AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOOD, make an unusual but thrilling pair, combining for an infectious sound that grabs you and never lets go, mixing jazz, R&B, blues, cabaret, Americana, and soul in sweet ways. The expert band adds tasty flourishes, particularly Andrew Sterman on flute, saxophone, and clarinet, Richie Vitale on trumpet and fluegelhorn, and Mark Sherman on vibraphone and percussion.

New album features four songs with lyrics from Nikki Giovanni poems

Jenkins, who has quite a set of pipes, sums up the album on the finale, “Love of Song,” in which she sings, “There are songs that will move you / And songs that you move to / And prayer songs / And moon songs / Love songs / Birth songs / We fill the earth with songs,” which gets right to the point – THE ACHE OF POSSIBILITY is filled with the love of song. On an earlier tune, “I Need You,” Jenkins and Rose share the vocals, with Jenkins proclaiming, “I need you / Like pleasure needs pain,” and Rose responding, “I need you / Like confession needs sin.” Rosen himself takes over lead vocals for the shuffling “The Middle-Class (Used to Be) Blues,” in which he declares, “My shoes need soles / And my soul needs love / But my love needs money like a cold hand needs a glove / So it’s shoes or love, I guess I gotta choose.” The album gets political several times, including in the superb title track, in which Jenkins explains in a sometimes whispery voice, “Phones are tapped to ease our mind / Suddenly torture’s redefined / Terror threats to scare us blind / And still another child gets left behind.” Jenkins and Rosen make quite a pair; these Joe’s Pub shows are indeed filled with limitless possibility.

THE NEW COLLISIONS

Boston band will be embracing fans at a trio of area appearances (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Boston band will be embracing fans at pair of area shows (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Sunday, November 8, Trash Bar, 256 Grand St., 8:00
Monday, November 9, Angels and Kings, 500 East Eleventh St., $5, 8:00
www.myspace.com/thenewcollisions
www.thetrashbar.com
www.angelsandkings.com
A few weeks back, we picked the New Collisions as one of the ten bands to watch at the CMJ Music Marathon. We hope you took our advice, because the group — our favorite of the festival, along with Philly’s outrageous Drink Up Buttercup — lived up to its New England hype, putting on a great show at the Bowery Poetry Club. Barely together a year, TNC has quickly established a reputation in Boston clubs and on the road with the B-52s and Blondie. Led by its own platinum blonde, singer Sarah Guild, TNC let loose a groovin’ set of New Wave dance pop on the Bowery, with Scott Guild on guitar, Alex Stern on bass, Casey Gruttadauria on synth and keyboards, and Zak Kahn on drums. TNC was discovered by Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes, who helped out on their thrilling debut disc, INVISIBLE EMBRACES (out November 17), and has joined them onstage for such numbers as the Cars classic “You Might Think.”

The New Collisions will host a record-release listening party on November 17 at Angels & Kings

The New Collisions' debut disc is due out November 17

The band kicked off the Bowery Poetry Club show with the impossibly infectious “Parachutes on the Dance Floor,” which deserves to become a dance-hall standard, along with other tunes from the seven-song EP, including the beautiful “Beautiful and Numb,” the languid and bittersweet “Afterglow,” and the propulsive “No Free Ride,” in addition to, appropriately enough, a B-52s cover. The New Collisions will be at the Trash Bar in Williamsburg on November 8, playing with the Daily Pravda, Teen Fiction, and the Pretty Faces, then will perform a special acoustic set on November 9 at Angels and Kings.