Lucid Culture

Tues May 15 Carol Lipnik and Jim Allen share a bill upstairs at the Living Room, 7:30 PM. Don’t know who’s playing first, but they’re both worth seeing. Allen is a growly John Prine type who at one recent show had his audience in hysterics with a deadpan, acoustic cover of the ELO roller-rink hit Don’t Bring Me Down. Lipnik has a spectacular 4-octave range, a love of classic soul/jazz and particularly Nina Simone, and her frenetic, gypsyish violinist Jacob Lawson is always good for a chill or five down the spine.

Weds May 16 at 2 (two) PM,  Hazmat Modine plays the Hoboken Spring Jazz Festival, somewhere on  Washington St. It’s the main street in town after you get off the Path train. I suspect it will be within a short walk away: follow your ears and listen for dueling harmonicas and minor keys.

Also Weds May 16 Sharon Goldman and Nina Soka share a bill upstairs at the Living Room, 7:30 PM. See the reviews page for our take on Goldman’s excellent latest effort. Soka is a darker writer, but also a hell of a singer and a great wit as well.

Also Weds May 16 Alec Stephen and his band play Luna, 10 PM. The ex-Railroad Jerk lead guitarist has been through several subsequent incarnations, and this straight-ahead rock unit is by far the best: he’s never been more rousing or melodic. And he’ll still throw in a few of theolder bluesy numbers  that he used to do so well.

Also Weds May 16, Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play  Lakeside, 10 PM. This is the rhythm section from the pretty-much-defunct Supertones, plus two decent guitarists playing oldschool surf covers, most of them Ventures or Shadows songs. If you like your surf twangy, mellow and played on authentic instruments, this is your cup of salt water.

Thurs May 17 Pal Shazar plays the Living Room, 8 PM, a duo show with guitarist Rick Norman. She’s sort of the left coast Patti Smith: fiery political sensibility, good sense of melody, and she knows all eyes are on her after all these years. Or at least she’ll try to make you believe.

Also Thurs May 17 the Roulette Sisters play Freddy’s (around the corner from the Atlantic Yards railroad terminal) in Brooklyn, 9:30 PM. Four talented women on steel guitar, Gibson hollowbody guitar, violin and washboard singing obscure sex songs from the 1920s and 30s, most of them delta blues tunes. Also some deliciously fun originals, some Carter Family, some real oldtimey turn-of-the-20th-century stuff. One of the funnest, sexiest bands on the planet. You must see them sometime.

Also Thurs May 17 Elk City plays  Luna, 10 PM. Female-fronted band that manages to bridge the gap between noise-rock and janglerock, but with more crunchy guitars. They once covered the Dream Syndicate classic Tell Me When It’s Over and didn’t embarrass themselves, which is pretty impressive. 

Also Thurs May 17 guitar genius Matt Munisteri plays Barbes, 10 PM. Born a bluegrass cat, grown to be a jazzman, a devotee of the weird and obscure, the weirder and more obscure the better. You may hear covers of both oddball Western swing genius Willard Robison, and haunting, accordion-driven French musette instrumentals.

Also Thurs May 17 Flugente (which is Jerry Adler from the Blam, solo acoustic) plays  Zebulon on Wythe Ave. in Williamsburg at 9 PM. Brilliant lyricist, nonchalantly unpretentious singer, fueled by righteous rage and unable to resist a clever double entendre. Dylan and Leonard C. lurk somewhere in the background, faraway. 

Fri May 18 Ellen Foley plays  Lakeside, 11 PM. The ubiquitous Steve Antonakos on slide guitar. Ex 5 Chinese Brother Paul Foglino on Telecaster. The bandleader, an actress and onetime cohort of the Clash looks great, sounds better than ever and tells a great story: her persona is more or less slightly dotty grand dame of obscure rock n roll, and she plays it to the hilt, singing Foglino’s slightly dotty, Americana-inflected pop songs. And she pulls out a few obscure pop tunes that were European hits for her in the 80s. 

Also Fri May 18 Luther Wright and the Wrongs play Rodeo Bar, 2 sets 10:30 PM or so. The Canadian bluegrass cat and his band are best known (and rightfully so) for their brilliant cover of Pink Floyd’s album The Wall. But their originals are first-rate as well, with the requisite sense of humor and spectacular guitar/banjo chops.

Sat May 19 Randi Russo and her band play a show early at 5:30 at Cake Shop to celebrate her bass player’s birthday, as they’ve done for three years in a row now. She’s the eerie lefty guitarist and reigning mistress of hook-driven, smoldering outsider rock anthems. Lenny Molotov on spookily virtuosic Middle Eastern-inflected lead guitar. The Wowz follow on the bill with their gorgeous 2-part harmonies, sounding something like the Everly Bros. on speed.

Sun May 20 at noon Carolyn AlRoy plays Biscuit BBQ in Brooklyn, 5th Ave. and President St., noon, free. If you miss seeing Amy Rigby when she used to play Lakeside all the time, or if you’d like to see Rosanne Cash but can’t afford tickets, this is for you. AlRoy has a similarly resigned, haunted, frequently sultry voice and has really got a handle on old-fashioned Owen Bradley-style countrypolitan. She’s also something of an anomaly, a musician who’s also a morning person so she should be in top form.

Sun May 20, 9 PM Big Lazy plays the cd release for their mesmerisingly good new one, Postcards from X at the new Luna, Metropolitan and Havemeyer in Williamsburg. The world’s most consistently interesting, haunting, improvisational reverb guitar instrumental outfit takes a break from doing indie film scores and treats the locals to what they’ve been up to lately. The new cd explores a lot of hallucinatory, nightmare-tinged 90s Southwestern gothic in the spirit of great bands like Friends of Dean Martinez. Opening act the Droves are Coldplay wannabes. Strange segue to say the least.

 Mon May 21 Jenifer Jackson says farewell to NYC – at least for the time being – with an intimate and romantic show at 8 PM at Marion’s Marquee, the throwback old-NYC steakhouse at 354 Bowery up the block from what used to be CBGB’s. Just her and sensational noir jazz lead guitarist Oren Bloedow (from Elysian Fields). She’s moving to Austin: Texas’ gain is our loss. This will no doubt  be a particularly poignant parting.