Tag Archives: the bongos

NOT JUST PASSING THE TIME: GRAHAM PARKER AND JAMES MASTRO SOLO AT CITY WINERY

Graham Parker and James Mastro will be playing solo gigs at City Winery on April 28 (photo courtesy James Mastro)

GRAHAM PARKER ‘SOLO’ WITH JAMES MASTRO
City Winery New York
25 Eleventh Ave. at Fifteenth St.
Monday, April 28, $38-$58 (plus $25 per person minimum), 8:00
citywinery.com
www.grahamparker.net
www.jamesmastro.net

On December 2, 2012, the Paramount in Huntington hosted a memorable show by a pair of British ex-pats. First up was the reunited Graham Parker and the Rumour, followed by Ian Hunter and the Rant Band, the latter featuring James Mastro on guitar, sax, and mandolin.

On April 28, Parker and Mastro will be at City Winery, with Parker playing songs from throughout his illustrious fifty-year-career, during which he has been backed by the Rumour, the Shot, the Figgs, the Small Clubs, and the Goldtops. His most recent album, 2023’s Last Chance to Learn the Twist, is classic GP, a phenomenal package of incisive tunes, from the bluesy rocker “The Music of the Devil” to the throwbacks “Grand Scheme of Things” and “Wicked Wit” to a love song to weed, “Cannabis.”

An expert raconteur, Parker came out of the gate with a remarkable string of records between 1976 and 1979 — Howlin’ Wind, Heat Treatment, Stick to Me, and Squeezing Out Sparks — and he has never stopped releasing terrific new music while also writing the short story collection Carp Fishing on Valium and the backstage novel The Thylacine’s Lair and acting in Judd Apatow’s This Is 40. I’ve seen him numerous times over the decades and he has never failed to work wonders; one of my favorite evenings was a house concert in New Jersey in which Parker performed one deep cut from each of his albums, in chronological order, introducing each song by talking about what was going on in the world when he wrote it.

In an interview on his website, he explains, “I can’t say I ever think I’m doing anything more with each song or each album other than throwing another pebble into the stream where it swirls around for a bit until it eventually gets picked up by the current and flows off downstream. Bye bye, thanks for helping pass the time.”

Graham Parker joins James Mastro, Ian Hunter, and the Rant Band at the Paramount in 2012 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

I’ve also had the good fortune to see Mastro play in numerous configurations over the years, with the legendary Hoboken band the Bongos, the underappreciated Health & Happiness Show, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Syd Straw, Megan Reilly, Amy Speace, and others. But last year the consummate sideman released his highly praised debut solo album, Dawn of a New Error, with Mastro taking on faith and religion in “My God,” death and loss in “Never Die,” true love in “Gangster Baby” and “Three Words,” and fake news in “Right Words, Wrong Song.”

In a February 2024 twi-ny talk, Mastro, who also runs the the Hoboken art gallery and live event space 503 Social Club, explained, “I’ve really enjoyed being a side guy all these years, and especially when you’re working with someone like Ian Hunter, or Patti or John [Cale], anyone I’ve worked with, Megan. So it’s been nice to go in and try to contribute and watch how other people work. It takes a lot of pressure off. Running a band is a pain in the ass; you gotta make sure the drummer doesn’t get arrested.”

Parker and Mastro will be more than passing the time at City Winery, and there will be no drummers needing protection from the law.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

TURN IT UP TWO!! BUSH TETRAS, THE BONGOS, TAPE HISS

Who: Bush Tetras, the Bongos, Tape Hiss
What: Free concert
Where: David Rubenstein Atrium, 61 West Sixty-Second St.
When: Thursday, August 25, free, 7:30
Why: There will be quite a hum Thursday night at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium when two quintessential local ’80s bands and a groovy new retro group come together for “Turn It Up Two!!” On August 18, Ivan Julian & the Magnificent Six, Gary Lucas, and the Veldt took the stage for “Turn It Up!!,” part of Lincoln Center’s free summer season. This week it’s New York City’s own Bush Tetras, Hoboken legends the Bongos, and the all-star Tape Hiss. The shows are curated by Hoboken musician Jared Michael Nickerson, who will also join in onstage.

“Turn it Up! is a celebration of my too-lit-to-mention ’80s New York City club scene memories,” Nickerson, who played bass for Human Switchboard, said in a statement, adding that the shows are “an acknowledgment that in 2022 there are rockers from that scene, some forty, forty-five years later, still kicking out the jams and turning it up.”

Formed in 1979, Bush Tetras initially broke up in 1983, then reunited in 1995 and 2005; original members Pat Place and Cynthia Sley — cofounder and drummer Dee Pop passed away last October, while cofounder and guitarist Laura Kennedy died in 2011 — will be accompanied by former Sonic Youth drummer Shelley and multi-instrumentalist R. B. Korbet. The band’s video for “Too Many Creeps” helped define the 1908s underground music in NYC.

Over in Jersey, the Bongos burst through with the seminal album Drums Along the Hudson and such singles as “In the Congo,” “The Bulrushes,” and “Numbers with Wings.” Cofounders Richard Barone on guitar and vocals, Frank Giannini on drums, and Rob Norris on bass, with master guitarist James Mastro, who signed on after the first record, will serenade the atrium with classic originals and some sweet covers. Tape Hiss consists of Shelley, Ernie Brooks from the Modern Lovers, and Peter Zummo from Arthur Russell and the Lounge Lizards, along with David Nagler and Pete Galub, performing songs from those bands and more.

CMJ 2013: DAY ONE

The CMJ Music Marathon begins on October 15, kicking off five days of live music, panel discussions, talks, and other special events. Below are our suggestions for the first day, including the annual New Zealand showcase, Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, the Gutter Twins), and a gig by the recently reunited Bongos, whose “Numbers with Wings” appears above, from the Maxwell’s farewell concert.

“How to Survive as a Musician in 2013,” with Mike Fordham, Seth Kallen, Travis Morrison, Josh Roth, and Joe Vesayaporn, NYU Kimmel Center, room 905/907, 12:30

What Blog?!: Owel, 1:00; Traumahelikopter, 1:45; Conjjjecture, 2:30; the Box Tiger, 3:15; Beach Day, 4:00; Ghost Wave, 4:45; Milagres, 5:30; Pianos, 158 Ludlow St.

Niall Connolly, 2:00, Rockwood Music Hall, 196 Allen St.

The Outlet Collective: Ula Ruth, 4:30; Whale Belly, 5:10; Poory Remy, 5:50; Tam Lin, 6:30; Cold Blood Club, 7:10, Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery

NZ@CMJ: Tiny Ruins, 6:00; Black City Lights, 6:35; Eden Mulholland, 7:10; Streets of Laredo, 7:45; Ghost Wave, 8:20, (le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker St.

Oh My Rockness: Big Ups, 7:00; Greys, 8:00; Ovlov, 9:00; PUP, 10:00; Kirin J Callinan, 11:00; Hunters, 12 midnight, Cameo Gallery, 93 North Sixth St.

The Bongos, 8:00, the Living Room, 54 Ludlow St.

Mark Lanegan, 9:45, Gramercy Theater, 127 East 23rd St.

Banners CMJ Party: Bored Nothing, 9:00; Total Slacker, 9:15; Honduras, 9:45; Spires, 10:00; How Sad, 10:30, Pianos, 158 Ludlow St.

Radical Dads, 12 midnight, Muchmore, 2 Havermeyer St.

RICHARD BARONE: COOL BLUE HALO 25th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Richard Barone will re-create his classic COOL BLUE HALO album at City Winery on May 4

City Winery
155 Varick St.
Friday, May 4, $25-$45, 8:00
212-608-0555
www.citywinery.com
www.richardbarone.com

On May 31, 1987, Richard Barone gathered a group of his friends at the Bottom Line and recorded the instant downtown classic Cool Blue Halo. The Tampa-born Barone, a longtime Greenwich Village resident, will be re-creating that amazing performance on May 4 at City Winery when he and the same musicians, in addition to special guests, will celebrate the album’s twenty-fifth anniversary by playing it in full one night only. Barone will reunite with Jane Scarpantoni on cello, Nick Celeste on guitar, and Valerie Naranjo on percussion and keyboard, with such special guests as Fred Schneider, Tony Visconti, Garth Hudson, the Bongos’ Rob Norris on bass, Deni Bonet on violin, Richard Kerris on drums, and Candy John Carr on bongos. A mix of old and new songs and a few covers, Cool Blue Halo features eleven tracks filled with gorgeous melodies, beautiful harmonies, and lush arrangements. Barone kicks things off with the Bongos’ “The Bulrushes” and his own mesmerizing “I Belong to Me”: “I am a face in the window / passing through another day,” he sings, continuing, “I’ve heard the cool cool music of Mingus and Miles in the afternoon / in the afternoon / I’ve felt the cold blue halo / gotten by an angel in my room / in my room.” Barone delivers lovely renditions of the Beatles’ “Cry Baby Cry” and David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” along with such other originals as the yearning “Flew a Falcon” and the lilting “Love Is a Wind That Screams” before concluding with the Bongos favorite “Numbers with Wings.” Barone is putting together a limited edition box set that will include a remastered version of the original album, a live DVD of the May 4 concert, and never-before-released bonus material that you can preorder here to help fund the project’s completion; various deluxe packages also come with tickets to the concert, handwritten lyrics, signed CDs, and other paraphernalia. Barone will be back at City Winery on May 8 for the fundraiser “Occupy This Album: a compilation of music by, for and inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and the 99%,” for which Barone contributed “Hey, Can I Sleep on Your Futon?”

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.