this week in music

FREE SUMMER EVENTS JULY 1-8

Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo will defend their hot-dog-eating titles at Nathan’s on July 4

The free summer arts & culture season is under way, with dance, theater, music, art, film, and other special outdoor programs all across the city. Every week we will be recommending a handful of events. Keep watching twi-ny for more detailed highlights as well.

Sunday, July 1
SummerStage: Northern Beat: Broken Social Scene, Melissa Laveaux, and the East Pointers, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 3:00

Monday, July 2
Movies Under the Stars: Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, 2017), Walt Whitman Park, Cadman Plaza East, blankets and chairs permitted, no alcohol, 8:30

Tuesday, July 3
Lincoln Sessions at Pier 17: Atlas Genius, free with advance RSVP, Seaport Square at Pier 17, South Street Seaport, 5:00

Wednesday, July 4
The Hot Dog Eating Contest, Nathan’s Famous, Surf Ave. at Stillwell Ave., Coney Island, women’s competition (four-time defending champion Miki Sudo) at 10:50 am, men’s (defending champion Joey Chestnut) at 12 noon

Peridance moves from Bryant Park [above] to Union Square Park for July 5 performance (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Thursday, July 5
Summer in the Square: including yoga at 7:00, cardio at 8:00, Art Farm in the City at 9:00, Hopalong Andrew at 11:00, the New School Jazz Trio at 12 noon, Dueling Performances with Peridance Contemporary Dance Company at 5:00, and Sunset Vinyasa Yoga at 7:30, Union Square Park, 7:00 am – 8:30 pm

Friday, July 6
Bryant Park Picnics: Contemporary Dance, with Steps on Broadway Summer Study NYC Theater/Jazz Intensive, Monteleone Dance, Tiffany Mills Company, and Jennifer Muller/The Works, Bryant Park Fountain Terrace, 6:00

Saturday, July 7
Rite of Summer Music Festival: Dither Quartet, Colonels Row, Governors Island, 1:00 & 3:00

Sunday, July 8
Laughter in the Parks, with Dean Edwards and others, Garibaldi Plaza, Washington Square Park, 2:00

BRIC CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! FESTIVAL: THE BLUES PROJECT FEATURING DORRANCE DANCE WITH TOSHI REAGON & BIGLovely

Dorrance Dance will be joined by Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely at Prospect Park Bandshell June 28 (photo by Christopher Duggan)

Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park
Ninth St. & Prospect Park West
Thursday, June 28, free, 7:00
www.bricartsmedia.org

In 2011, North Carolina–raised tap-dancer, choreographer, director, and teacher Michelle Dorrance founded the New York City–based Dorrance Dance, focusing on the past, present, and future of tap dancing, pushing the limits of the discipline in such works as Myelination, ETM: Double Down, and SOUNDspace. For more than three decades, Atlanta-born, DC-raised, longtime Brooklynite Toshi Reagon has been performing her unique mix of folk, blues, gospel, rock, and funk, joined by her band, BIGLovely, since 1996. Dorrance, a MacArthur Genius, onetime STOMP cast member, and former bassist with Darwin Deez, and Reagon, an activist whose mother is Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon and father was Cordell Hull Reagon, both founders of the Freedom Singers of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and whose godfather is Pete Seeger, joined forces in 2013 to create The Blues Project, a sixty-five-minute piece for nine dancers and five musicians, choreographed by Dorrance, Derick K. Grant, and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and featuring original music composed by Reagon, who has previously written music for the Jane Comfort Dance Company and Urban Bush Women.

The work is being presented for free June 28 at the Prospect Park Bandshell as part of the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, with Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely performing the score live. After the show, there will be a special reception with New York–based Peruvian artist Grimanesa Amorós, whose light sculpture, Hedera, was recently unveiled on the grass at the bandshell, commissioned by BRIC specifically for the fortieth anniversary of the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival. Amorós will talk about her work with BRIC contemporary art VP Elizabeth Ferrer, followed by an audience Q&A.

FREE SUMMER EVENTS JUNE 24 – JULY 1

Roger Guenveur Smith will perform Frederick Douglass Now at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival on June 28

Sunday, June 24
Porch Stomp, with more than seventy bands on sixteen stages, Nolan Park, Governors Island, 12 noon – 5:00 pm

Monday, June 25
Movie Nights in Bryant Park: The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940), Bryant Park, lawn opens at 5:00, film begins at sunset

Tuesday, June 26
Washington Square Music Festival, with Kuumba Frank Lacy Sextet and vocalist, Washington Square Park, 8:00

The Metropolitan Summer Recital Series comes to Jackie Robinson Park on June 28

The Metropolitan Summer Recital Series comes to Jackie Robinson Park on June 27

Wednesday, June 27
SummerStage: The Metropolitan Summer Recital Series, with Gerard Schneider, Gabriella Reyes de Ramírez, and Adrian Timpau performing arias and duets, Jackie Robinson Park, 7:00

Thursday, June 28
Live at the Archway: Grupo Rebolu, with DJ Dan Edinberg and live art experience by Catherine Haggarty, Water St. between Anchorage Pl. & Adams St., DUMBO, 6:00

Friday, June 29
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival: Branford Marsalis / Roger Guenveur Smith: Frederick Douglass Now, Prospect Park Bandshell, 7:30

Sunday, July 1
Shell-ebrate Oysters, Hudson River Park, Pier 25, registration recommended, 4:00

MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK SUMMER 2018

make music new york

Make Music New York is back for its thirteenth summer season, celebrating the longest day of the year with more than a thousand free concerts across the city on June 21. There are Mass Appeal participatory events, live music in parks and plazas, unique gatherings in unusual places, and just about anything else you can think of. Below are only a handful of the highlights, arranged chronologically.

Sunrise/Sunset, communal performance by composer Brian Petuch, 155 Cedar St., World Trade Center, 5:25 am – 8:31 pm

Mass Appeal Vocals: Midsummer Mozart’s Requiem, 180 Greenwich St., 9/11 Memorial Plaza, 12 noon

Mamma Mia Sing Along Truck, Times Square at 12:30, Theodore Roosevelt Park at 2:00, Old Fulton Street Plaza at 4:00, and Storm Ritter Studio at 6:00

Joe’s Pub Block Party, with Treya Lam, Migguel Anggelo, Yemen Blues Duo featuring Ravid Kahalani & Omer Avital, Mohsen Namjoo, and M.A.K.U. Soundsystem, Astor Place Plaza, 1:00 – 7:00

On the Waterfront at Pier I, classical minimalist piano pieces performed by Ethan Liang and Ella Kronman, Emily Tong and Maxim Dybal Denysenko, Joan Forsyth and Griffin Strout, Olivia D’Amato and Griffin Strout, Katherine Miller, Mary Coit, Julia Meltzer, Mia and Michelle Akulfi, Curtis Decker, Ella Kronman and Jacqueline Ramirez, Ariela Bohrod, Yusei Hata, and Jenny Undercofler, Riverside Park off West Seventieth St., 4:30

Mass Appeal Bucket Drumming, with Jessie Nelson and Shelby Blezinger-McCay, Pearl St. Triangle, 5:00

The Well-Tempered Clavier, 9/11 Memorial Plaza, 5:00 – 8:00

LIC Block Party, with Avi B Three, the Blue Dahlia, and Underground Horns, Dutch Kills St., 5:00 – 9:00

Mass Appeal Harmonicas, with Jia-Yi He, Central Park Pond Lawn, 5:30

Mass Appeal Ukuleles, with Makalina Abalos Gallagher, Central Park Ladies Pavilion, 5:30

Harlem to Broadway!, Richard Amphitheater, Marcus Garvey Park, 6:00

Mass Appeal French Horns, with Linda Blacken and the French Horn Nation, “Uptown Grand Central” community plaza, East 125th St. & Park Ave., 6:30

The Mp3 Experiment Number Fifteen, Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Harbor View Lawn, Pier 1, 7:00

Mass Appeal Guitars, with Evie Dolan, Brandon Niederauer, and Maxwell Violet, Union Square Park, 7:00

Twilight Chorus (for Humans), composed by Pete M. Wyer, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, enter at 150 Eastern Pkwy., 7:00

Swamped, with Elliott Sharp and ten canoes, the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, 125-153 Second St., Brooklyn, 7:30

Mass Appeal Mandolins, with the New York Mandolin Orchestra, Theodore Roosevelt Park, 6:30

Muscota Marsh Harmony, with singers Kristen Kasarjian, George Kasarjian, Jeff Gavett, and Nina Dante and speaker operators John Hastings, Caroline Hastings, Terrance Solomone, and Kim Blair, Muscota Marsh, Inwood Park, 7:45

Make Music New York After Party, with Supermoon and Nation Beat, DROM, 85 Ave. A, 9:00

BRIC CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! FESTIVAL: AIMEE MANN / SUPERCHUNK / JONATHAN COULTON

Aimee Mann will be at Prospect Park Bandshell for free show with Superchunk and Jonathan Coulton on June 21 (photo by Sheryl Nields)

Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park
Ninth St. & Prospect Park West
Thursday, June 21, free, 7:00
www.bricartsmedia.org

On June 21, the free BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival is hosting one of its best summer lineups at the Prospect Park Bandshell, with Aimee Mann, Superchunk, and Jonathan Coulton. For four decades, Mann has proved herself to be one of the most brilliant singer-songwriters in the business, a perceptive and immensely clever wordsmith who digs deep into the heart in intimate songs about loss, love, and hope. (She’ll break your heart over and over again in this video for “Goose Snow Cone.”) But various bad dealings with record companies have kept her from becoming the superstar she should be, although she gets plenty of critical and popular acclaim. Originally with the Boston band ’Til Tuesday in the 1980s, Mann broke out on her own in the 1990s, releasing such fab albums as Whatever in 1993 and I’m with Stupid two years later. Her most recent disc, last year’s Mental Illness, earned her a Grammy for Best Folk Album; several of the songs are based on people she knows who are suffering from various forms of mental illness. Mann collaborated on three Mental Illness songs, “Patient Zero,” “Good for Me,” and “Rollercoasters,” with Brooklyn-based SuperEgo labelmate and graphic novelist Coulton, a friend whom she describes as “an internet-famous, nerd-centric songwriter, but he’s really great.” Coulton’s latest album, 2017’s Solid State, features such wide-ranging tunes as the Beatles-esque “Square Things,” the ballad “Pictures of Cats,” and the poppy “Don’t Feed the Trolls,” referring to social media.

Chapel Hill indie legends Superchunk, who will be celebrating their thirtieth anniversary next year (including a nine-year sabbatical), are coheadlining with Mann, touring behind their new disc, What a Time to Be Alive, a punk take on the world today, with such songs as “Erasure,” “Cloud of Hate,” and “Reagan Youth.” “It would be strange to be in a band, at least our band, and make a record that completely ignored the surrounding circumstances that we live in and that our kids are going to grow up in,” singer, guitarist, and cofounder Mac McCaughan says, explaining that the album’s “about a pretty dire and depressing situation but hopefully not a record that is dire and depressing to listen to.” In many ways, Mann could say the exact same thing about Mental Illness.

NYC PRIDE 2018

Pride Island packs them in on the pier every year as part of Pride Month

Multiple locations
June 18-24, free – $300 and more
www.nycpride.org

This year’s pride festivities honor the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which set the Gay Pride movement in motion in full force. There are some new parties, while the March itself has changed its route, so pay close attention to the locations listed below. As always, the ticketed events and VIP treatment are selling out fast, so you better act quickly if you want to shake it up at some pretty crazy gatherings.

Monday, June 18
OutCinema, screening of Ideal Home (Andrew Fleming, 2018), followed by a Q&A and open-bar after-party, SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd St., $35, 7:30

LGBT Community Center Garden Party: A Taste of Pride, with seasonal bites from North Square, Underwest Donuts, Boqueria, the Standard Grill, Rice & Gold, Quality Eats, Ample Hills Creamery, Ice & Vice, Javelina TexMex, Dinosaur BBQ, Sweet Chili, Café Patoro, Eataly, Breads Bakery, Enlightened Ice Cream, the Wayfarer, Island Oyster, and Hill Country Barbecue Market, Hudson River Park, Pier 84, West Side Highway at Forty-Fourth St., $99-$300, 6:00 – 10:00

Tuesday, June 19
OutCinema, screening of Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco (James Crump, 2017), followed by a Q&A and open-bar reception, SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd St., $25, 7:30

Family Movie Night: screening of Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise, 1991), preceded by family-friendly games and activities, hosted by Miss Richfield 1981, Pier 45, Christopher St. Pier, Hudson River Park at Christopher St., free (reserved seating and other amenities $50), film at 8:30

Participants make their voices heard at the Rally and other Gay Pride events

Tuesday, June 19
through
Saturday, June 23
Pride Week at the Joyce, with a mixed program by MADBOOTS DANCE and The Missing Generation by Sean Dorsey Dance, Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Ave. at Nineteenth St., $10-$46

Wednesday, June 20
OutCinema, screening of From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet? (Marilyn Bennett, 2016), followed by a special panel conversation moderated by Tiq Milan, SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd St., $25, 8:00

Thursday, June 21
Savor Pride, immersive food-driven fundraiser, with barbecue dishes by Amanda Freitag, Michael Anthony, Zac Young, Lazarus Lynch, and Jake Cohen, God’s Love We Deliver, 166 Sixth Ave. at Spring St., $80-$100, 6:00

Friday, June 22
The Rally, with performances by the Resistance Revival Chorus, Taina Asili, Ms. White, and others and speakers Dr. Herukhuti, Jodie Patterson, and more, hosted by Danity Diamond, Stonewall National Monument, Sheridan Square, free, 5:00 – 7:00

CosPlay & Pride, sunset cruise with Phi Phi O’Hara & DJ Cameron Cole, Pier 40, Hudson River Park, West Houston & Clarkson Sts., $35-$50, 6:00

Fantasy, with DJ Eddie Elias, DJ Jared Conner, and special secret performances, Slate, 54 West Twenty-First St., $60-$230, 10:00 pm – 4:00 am

The March brings people together — and will do so on a new route in 2018

Saturday, June 23
Youth Pride, for LGBTQIA+ and ally teens, with DJs Amira & Kayla and a live performance by Bea Miller, 14th Street Park, Fourteenth St. between Tenth Ave. & West Side Highway, free, noon – 6:00 pm

VIP Rooftop Party, with DJs Boris, Dani Toro, J Warren and secret acts all day long, Hudson Terrace, 621 West 46th St., $75-$120, 2:00 – 10:00 pm

Teaze HER, with lap dance classes, a silent disco DJ battle, aphrodisiac oyster-tainment tastes, a spanking booth, electrified viola, curated tastings, specialty drink sipping, intimate burlesque, sexpert educational tips, and more, the DL, 95 Delancey St., $40-$80, 5:00 – midnight

Masterbeat Masterbuilt, construction-site party with casino, game show, university, and more, Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th St., $120-$140, 10:00 pm – 6:00 am

PrideFest street fair immediately follows the March

PrideFest street fair moves to University Pl. this year

Saturday, June 23
and
Sunday, June 24
Pride Island, with Tove Lo, Lizzo, DJ Simon Dunmore, Big Freedia, Sasha Velour, and DJ Dawson on Saturday, Kylie Minogue, DJ Grind, DJ Ralphi Rosario, and DJ Corey Craig on Sunday, Pier 97, Hudson River Park at Fifty-Seventh St. & West Side Highway, $60-$95

Sunday, June 24
PrideFest, twenty-fifth annual street fair with music, food, merchandise, and more, featuring live performances by Alex Newell, Parson James, and others, hosted by Ross Mathews, University Pl. between Thirteenth St. & Waverly Pl., free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

The March, with grand marshals Billie Jean King, Lambda Legal, Tyler Ford, and Kenita Placide, Lavender Line from 16th St. & Seventh Ave. to Eight St. & Fifth Ave. to Twenty-Ninth St. & Fifth Ave., free, 12 noon

Femme Fatale, women’s rooftop party with DJs RosyQ, Mary Mac, and Tatiana, hosted by Madison Paige, Hudson Terrace, 621 West 46th St., $30-$60, 4:00 – 10:00 pm

FREE SUMMER EVENTS: JUNE 17-24

The Breakfast Club screens for free in Bryant Park on Monday night

Sunday, June 17
New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks: Free Indoor Concert in Staten Island, Music Hall, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden, free, 3:00

Monday, June 18
Movie Nights in Bryant Park: The Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985), Bryant Park, lawn opens at 5:00, film begins at sunset

Tuesday, June 19
Night at the Museums, with free admission to and special programs at African Burial Ground National Monument, China Institute, Federal Hall National Memorial, Fraunces Tavern Museum, Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, National Archives at New York City, National Museum of the American Indian — Smithsonian Institution, National September 11 Memorial & Museum, 9/11 Tribute Museum, NYC Municipal Archives, Poets House, the Skyscraper Museum, and South Street Seaport Museum, 4:00 – 8:00

Big Daddy Kane celebrates thirty years since his debut record in Coney Island on June 20

Wednesday, June 20
City Parks Foundation SummerStage: Big Daddy Kane: Long Live the Kane 30th Anniversary, with Big Daddy Kane and the Finisher Mister Cee, hosted by Doug E Fresh, Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island, 3052 West Twenty-First St., 7:00

Thursday, June 21
Smith Street Stage: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Jonathan Hopkins, continues Wednesday – Sunday through July 1, Carroll Park, Brooklyn

Friday, June 22
Films on the Green: La Bûche (Danièle Thompson, 1999), Transmitter Park, West St. between Kent St. and Greenpoint Ave., 8:30

Saturday, June 23
and
Sunday, June 24
Figment Festival, participatory arts activities, Governors Island, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm