this week in music

HIGH LINE ART: PIANO MAGIC LIVE Q&A

Song-Ming Ang will discuss his High Line Art video installation “Piano Magic” in live, online Q&A on April 6

Who: Song Ming Ang, Melanie Kress
What: Live online artist talk
Where: The High Line Zoom
When: Tuesday, April 6, free with RSVP, 1:00 (exhibition continues through April 28)
Why: In the 2019 interview “A New Understanding of Place” for the High Line blog, associate curator Melanie Kress explained why video was part of the elevated park’s continuing celebration of site-specific public art. “When we think of public art, most of us think of murals and sculptures. But to fully showcase the range of mediums that artists are working in today, video is indispensable,” she said. “Video also has the ability to cross back and forth between many different worlds and forms at the same time — between advertising, social media, film, documentary, documentation, television, music videos, and more. It provides a really interesting place for artists to play with viewers’ expectations. In a public space, visitors aren’t necessarily expecting to encounter art — especially video art — so those lines can be blurred in all the more challenging and creative ways.”

The latest video art installation to screen on the High Line Channel at Fourteenth St. is Singapore-born artist Song-Ming Ang’s “Piano Magic,” which consists of 2014’s Backwards Bach, in which Ang, who is based in Singapore and Berlin, plays Johann Sebastian Bach’s C Major Prelude from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier on the harpsichord both forward and backward, and 2011’s Parts and Labour, in which he fixes a disused piano. On April 6 at 2:00, Ang and Kress will discuss the project, which continues through April 28, in a live Zoom Q&A. Ang is also represented at the Asia Society Triennial with the multimedia site-specific installation True Stories, twelve music stands with text and images that explore the demise of societal norms, which he detailed in the Instagram Live program “Talking Dreams: A Conversation with Artist Song-Ming Ang.”

WOOFSTOCK AT THE WINERY: EMMYLOU HARRIS AND STEVE EARLE

Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle are teaming up for livestreamed benefit concert from City Winery in Nashville

Who: Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle
What: Livestreamed benefit concert
Where: CWTV from City Winery
When: Saturday, April 3, $15, 9:00
Why: City Winery is now hosting live concerts in its new space on Eleventh Ave. at Hudson River Park, including shows by Rhett Miller, Willie Nile, and Rufus Wainwright this month, but it is also still streaming performances on its CWTV platform from its locations in New York City and Nashville. Next up is “Woofstock at the Winery: Emmylou Harris & Steve Earle,” a benefit at City Winery Nashville for Bonaparte’s Retreat, a nonprofit dog rescue organization founded by Harris in 2004 to care for “the neglected and forgotten — senior dogs, large dogs, or dogs in need of imminent medical care or surgery,” and Crossroads Campus, which fosters “the healing power of the human-animal bond.” Earle and Harris are longtime friends and musical colleagues; on his 2019 tribute album to Guy Clark, Earle is joined by Harris (and Rodney Crowell) on “Old Friends,” on which they sing together, “Old friends / They shine like diamonds / Old friends / You can always call / Old friends / Lord, you can’t buy ’em / You know it’s old friends after all.” An early, in-person show at 5:00 Nashville time was added and sold out quickly, at $125 a pop; tickets for the one-time-only livestream at 9:00 New York time are $15.

AFTERWARDSNESS

AFTERWARDSNESS
Park Ave. Armory
643 Park Ave. at Sixty-Seventh St.
May 19-26, $45 (limited tickets go on sale April 1)
www.armoryonpark.org

I’ve been tentative about the return of live, indoor music, dance, and theater, wondering how comfortable I would feel in an enclosed area with other audience members and onstage performers. Many of my colleagues who cover the arts are steadfastly against going to shows right now as things open up, while others have been having a ball going to the movies and eating inside. But when I received my invitation to see Afterwardsness at the Park Avenue Armory on March 24, I surprised myself with how much immediate glee I felt, how instantly exhilarated I was to finally, at last, see a show, in the same space with actual human beings. But my excitement was broken when it was announced that several members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company had tested positive for Covid-19 and the show, which had sold out quickly, had to be postponed. But now it’s back as part of the Armory’s Social Distance Hall season, running May 19 to 26; original ticket holders will get first dibs, with remaining tickets going on sale to the general public April 1. “Creating new, body-based work at a time when physical proximity is discouraged is no small feat,” Jones said in a statement. “However, as is often the case when artists are forced to push through limitations, this is when things get really good. Having the drill hall, this grand and glorious space to create and dance in, was quite liberating. The armory is a space like no other in New York City—and if it’s like no other in New York City, then it’s pretty unique in the world.”

The sixty-five minute show, named for Freud’s concept of “a mode of belated understanding or retroactive attribution of sexual or traumatic meaning to earlier events,” will take place in the fifty-five-thousand-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall, where one hundred audience members will be seated in chairs nine to twelve feet apart in all directions as the action unfolds around them. The hall has been updated with air-refreshing methods that exceed CDC and ASHRAE standards; there will be onsite testing and strict masking and social distancing policies. The work explores the isolation felt during the pandemic as well as the impact of the George Floyd protests and BLM movement. The choreography is by Tony winner Jones, with a new vocal composition by Holland Andrews, whose Museum of Calm recently streamed through the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Musical director Pauline Kim Harris will perform the violin solo “8:46” in tribute to Floyd, and there will also be new compositions by company members Vinson Fraley Jr. and Chanel Howard as well as excerpts from Olivier Messaien’s 1941 chamber piece Quartet for the End of Time, written while he was a POW in a German prison. The lighting is by Brian H. Scott, with sound by Mark Grey. The inaugural program at the armory is now Social! The Social Distance Dance Club, a collaboration between Steven Hoggett, Christine Jones, and David Byrne that runs April 9-22 and gives each audience member their own spotlight in which to move to choreography by Yasmine Lee.

SHOMYO: BUDDHIST RITUAL CHANT MOONLIGHT MANTRA

Who: Shomyo no Kai — Voices of a Thousand Years
What: An evening of shomyo Buddhist ritual chant
Where: Japan Society and University of Chicago
When: Tuesday, March 30, $12-$15, 8:00 (available through April 30)
Why: Japan Society and the University of Chicago have teamed up to present a concert by the vocal group Shomyo no Kai — Voices of a Thousand Years, which specializes in rarely heard early chanting rituals. On March 30 at 8:00, the company’s performance of a new work, Moonlight Mantra (Tsuki no Kogon), by female composer Yu Kuwabara, will premiere, available on demand through April 30. Part of Carnegie Hall’s “Voices of Hope” festival, the concert was held in the eight-hundred-year-old An’yo-in Temple in Tokyo, with the group, founded in 1997 by Rev. Yusho Kojima and Rev. Kojun Arai of the Shingon sect and Rev. Koshin Ebihara and Rev. Jiko Kyoto of the Tendai sect, wearing traditional monastic robes and moving slowly throughout the sacred space. (In March 2014, Shomyo no Ka made its North American debut at St. Bartholomew’s Church as part of a tour organized by Japan Society.) The online premiere will be followed by a live Q&A. In addition, there will be a “Shomyo for Everyday Wellness” online workshop on April 8 ($5, 8:30), in which participants can practice shomyo with the monks. “Voices of Hope” continues through April with such other events as “Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic,” “Ephrat Asherie Dance: Odeon,” “Different Strokes / Different Folks: Queer Artists of Color Paint the 21st Century,” “Voices of Hope: True Stories of Resilience, Recovery, and Renewal,” and “American Voices: Selected Piano Works by Black and Native American Composers.”

BROADWAY BACKWARDS 2021

Who: Chasten Buttigieg, Ariana DeBose, Debra Messing, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Tony Shalhoub, Ben Vereen, Stephanie J. Block, Deborah Cox, Lea Salonga, Amy Adams, Debbie Allen, Matt Bomer, Brenda Braxton, Len Cariou, Glenn Close, Loretta Devine, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, James Monroe Iglehart, Cheyenne Jackson, Cherry Jones, L Morgan Lee, Raymond J. Lee, Aasif Mandvi, Eric McCormack, Michael McElroy, Debra Messing, Ruthie Ann Miles, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Javier Muñoz, Kelli O’Hara, Karen Olivo, Jim Parsons, Bernadette Peters, Eve Plumb, Roslyn Ruff, Sis, Elizabeth Stanley, Tony Yazbeck, Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, Robin Roberts, Robert Creighton, Danyel Fulton, Eileen Galindo, Sam Gravitte, Sheldon Henry, Diana Huey, Aaron Libby, Nathan Lucrezio, Melinda Porto, Shelby Ringdahl, Vishal Vaidya, Blake Zolfo
What: Benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Where: Broadway Cares and YouTube
When: Tuesday, March 30, free, 8:00 (available on demand through April 3)
Why: Mayor DeBlasio has announced that he expects Broadway to reopen in September, but that doesn’t mean the forty-one official theaters will be hosting shows come the fall. In the meantime, we have to keep quenching our thirst with Zoom readings, filmed stagings, and virtual gala celebrations. Next up is “Broadway Backwards,” premiering March 30 at 8:00 and available on demand through April 3. The benefit for Broadway Cares and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City, which honors gender diversity and love, began in 2006, raising $7,325, rising each year until it reached $704,491 in 2019; the 2020 edition, scheduled for March 16, was canceled because of the coronavirus.

It has now returned with a vengeance, featuring clips from previous shows (Tituss Burgess, Len Cariou, Carolee Carmello, Darren Criss, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Debra Monk, Andrew Rannells, Chita Rivera, Lillias White, more), appeals from Chasten Buttigieg, Ariana DeBose, Debra Messing, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Tony Shalhoub, and Ben Vereen, and new performances from such major names as Stephanie J. Block, Amy Adams, Debbie Allen, Glenn Close, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cheyenne Jackson, Cherry Jones, Eric McCormack, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Kelli O’Hara, Karen Olivo, Jim Parsons, and Bernadette Peters. This year’s edition is centered around Jay Armstrong Johnson portraying a lonely New Yorker navigating the Covid-19-riddled city with the help of a late-night TV host played by Jenn Colella. The show is written and directed by event creator Robert Bartley, with Mary-Mitchell Campbell as music supervisor, Ted Arthur as music director, and Eamon Foley as director of photography and video editor. It’s free to watch, but donations will be accepted to help members of the LGBTQ community and others who have been significantly impacted by the health crisis and pandemic lockdown.

THE JACKSON C. FRANK LISTENING PARTY W/ SPECIAL GUESTS

59E59 Theaters: Plays in Place
New Light Theater Project
March 29 – April 11, pay-what-you-can (suggested donation $15)
www.59e59.org
www.newlighttheaterproject.com

In addition to watch parties, where people from around the world gather online to experience streaming content together, from old TV shows to theater productions and Zoom cast reunions, listening parties have taken off as well. One of my favorites is Tim Burgess’s Twitter edition, in which he spins classic records, sometimes joined by members of the band who talk about the making of the album. Melding that idea with Kanye West’s 2018 Wyoming media listening party for Ye, New Light Theater Project and 59E59 Theaters have teamed up for The Jackson C. Frank Listening Party w/ Special Guests, a virtual show running March 29 to April 11, an interactive listening party for Jackson C. Frank’s eponymously titled 1965 record, which was produced by Paul Simon. Written by Michael Aguirre and directed by Sarah Norris, the eighty-minute show is hosted by Allen, who is still upset that he could not make it to Kanye’s party, so now he is putting on an event to outshine all others, while also sharing the story of his missing brother. The cast includes Aguirre as Allen, Bethany Geraghty as Mom, Dana Martin as Grandma Woodstock, and Sean Phillips as Simon, with film and sound editing by Hallie Griffin.

After purchasing your ticket, you’ll receive a link to download the record and instructions on how to make the official event cocktail, Hippie Juice. The folk album, originally released in 1965, features ten songs remastered in 2001, from “Blues Run the Game,” “Don’t Look Back,” and “Kimbie” to “I Want to Be Alone,” “Just Like Anything,” and “You Never Wanted Me.” It was the Buffalo-born Frank’s only record during a tragic life; when he was eleven, he suffered severe burns across half his body in a fatal fire at his elementary school, was given a guitar while being treated at the hospital, and later recorded Jackson C. Frank in England in six hours. He lost a child, was shot in the eye by a pellet gun, was homeless, and battled debilitating mental health issues; he died in Massachusetts in 1999 at the age of fifty-six, having never released another album (although a box set of his complete recordings came out in 2014). Despite his influence on many musicians, he has faded away into history, now to be resurrected at a virtual, interactive listening party, using his intimate songs to explore contemporary society.

HISTORIC UNCLE FLOYD SHOW WATCH PARTY: THIS WAS THE UNCLE FLOYD SHOW

Uncle Floyd and Oogie are back on Tuesday nights in weekly live clips show

Who: Uncle Floyd, Scott Gordon
What: Live watch party
Where: StageIt
When: Tuesday nights at 8:00, $5
Why: I was aghast to learn that there will be a live, online watch party of great moments from The Uncle Floyd Show on Tuesday, March 30, at 8:00. What made me so upset was not that the event was happening at all but that it was the eighth presentation, meaning that I had missed the first seven. The horror! I spent a significant part of my childhood dedicated to The Uncle Floyd Show, a super-low-budget pseudo-children’s show beaming out of New Jersey, available on cable station WHT, Wometco Home Theater, and U68. The host, onetime circus entertainer Floyd Vivino, was a warped version of Soupy Sales, in a checkerboard suit, bowtie, and porkpie hat, cracking jokes from before your grandparents’ time, along with double and triple entendres, delivered by a madcap group of characters that included Scott Gordon, Craig “Mugsy” Calam, Richard “Netto” Cornetto, Jim Monaco, Art “Looney Skip” Rooney, Charlie Stoddard, David “Artie Delmar” Burd, Clark the Wonder Dog, Bones Boy, and Oogie, the Uncle Floyd’s ever-present hand-puppet sidekick. They performed ridiculously silly skits (oh, how I loved the Dull family) and musical parodies (Bruce Stringbean, Neil Yuck, “Deep in the Heart of Jersey”) and had such famous guests as the Ramones (who name-check Uncle Floyd in “It’s Not My Place [in the 9 to 5 World”]), the Boomtown Rats, the Smithereens, Marshall Crenshaw, Tiny Tim, Squeeze, Cyndi Lauper, and David Johansen lip syncing to their hit songs. My favorite was vaudeville veteran Benny Bell playing his 1946 novelty classic “Shaving Cream.” I even went to see the gang perform live at the Bottom Line, and so did David Bowie, who was turned on to the show by John Lennon; the Thin White Duke’s song “Slip Away” is actually about Uncle Floyd. The Uncle Floyd Show was a nostalgia act with no past, instead predicting the future of DIY variety series and internet programs, an early version of Instagram and TikTok.

The Uncle Floyd Show ran in one form or another for nearly twenty-five years. Fortunately, Gordon preserved more than seven hundred hours of excerpts and complete broadcasts, and he and Vivino are now streaming them on Tuesday nights at 8:00 for five bucks on the StageIt platform, as Uncle Floyd and Scott’s Video Clip Club, with live, interactive discussions. This week’s edition features the full New Jersey Network show from January 8, 1985, with additional segments from the WHT broadcast from May 12, 1980, including a song from a group from Whitestone that had a hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for seventeen weeks and on the R&B charts as well. (For more fun, engineer Gordon and Vivino also team up Sunday mornings at 9:00 for the WFDU-FM 89.1 radio show Garage Sale Music.) “Once a time they nearly might have been / Bones and Oogie on a silver screen / No one knew what they could do / Except for me and you,” Bowie sings on “Slip Away,” continuing, “Don’t forget to keep your head warm / Twinkle twinkle, Uncle Floyd / Watching all the world and war torn / How I wonder where you are.” Now you know: They’re on StageIt every Tuesday night. See you there. And don’t forget to snap it, pal.