NYC Live Events Calendar 10/3-20/07

Newcomers to this site will find about just about all the places where the acts listed here are playing under Venues, located in the Categories section to your right.

 

Weds Oct 3 dark, eerie chanteuese Nina Nastasia plays with Jim White of the great, jangly atmospheric instrumental trio the Dirty Three at 11 PM at the Mercury. Her 2002 album The Blackened Air, with its layers and layers of ominous strings, TOTALLY hits the spot for anyone who had to live through 9/11 and its aftermath. Which is probably most of us. As a special bonus Secretary feat. Big Boss (Moisturizer frontwoman Paula Henderson’s beguiling soundtrack-style instrumental project) opens the night at 9:30.

 

Later Oct 3, 11 PM, Alice Lee plays 169 Bar. Her 2005 album Lovers & Losers is a landmark in good songwriting: imagine Fiona Apple with a sense of introspection, or Nina Simone updated for the zeros with a little bit of hip-hop. She’s that good: it’s sometimes hard to tell whether she’s playing originals or soul classics from the 60s. 

 

Thurs Oct 4,  7 PM New School professor and author Jocelyn Lieu reads from What Isn’t There at Mo Pitkins, free. Her book is one of the great works of post-disaster journalism, in this case a post 9/11 chronicle. Also on the bill: humorist Mort Zachter

 

Thurs Oct 4 Rachelle Garniez plays Barbes as she does the first Thursday of every month at 10 PM. Accordionist who’s been playing a lot of piano these days. She’s a throwback in the sense that she’s A) fond of pretty much every retro style from ska to jazz to salsa B) a formidable musician and C) one of the most mesmerizing (and funniest) live performers of this era. You must see her sometime. Get here early if you’re coming.

 

Fri Oct 5th at the Baggot Inn it’s the annual bluegrass festival featuring the Y’all Stars at 8PM, Demolition String Band doing their killer acoustic set at 9 PM, the Cheatin’ Hearts at 10 and Chris Thile and The Tension Mountain Boys headlining at 11. Expect a big crowd.

 

Also Fri Oct 5 barrelhouse blues monsters the 4th St. Nite Owls play Barbes, 9 PM. The guitar and keys in this band are exceptionally good, and they know their ragtime too.

 

Also Fri Oct 5 tastily twangy Steve Earle soundalikes the Sloe Guns promise to play a set of all-new material at Arlene’s, 9 PM. These guys have all been around awhile and if they have the organ with them, it’ll be an even more exceptional show. If you’re really lucky they’ll do the dueling guitar thing which is literally breathtaking.

 

Sat Oct 6 sprawling bluesy behemoth Hazmat Modine plays Joe’s Pub, 7:30 PM. Charismatic frontman; dueling blues harps; eerie minor key melodies; New Orleans marches, klezmer dances, sly ballads and a bizarre calypso monstrosity, the title track to their excellent latest album. This is a party, folks.

 

Also Sat Oct 6 amazingly authentic 60s psychedelic throwbacks Love Camp 7 play the  Parkside, 10 PM, hot on the heels of their best-ever album. Dave Campbell – arguably the best rock drummer out there right now – swings the band around him while the guitar and bass swirl and mingle and take all kinds of unexpected twists and turns. Devious, sirenesque, politically charged, guitarishly excellent 80s throwbacks Liza & the WonderWheels headline at 11

 

Also Sat Oct 6 at Barbes at 10: FORRO FOR ALL. From their website: “Led by accordionist Rob Curto, the band plays the classic brazilian Northeast forros of Luis Gonzagua and Jackson do Pandeiro. Forro comes from the African word “forrobodó” which means big party. Mispronounced by the English railroad workers in Brazil, Forró became For All. Forro Updating the traditional setting, Forro For All uses Accordion, Zabumba (a bass drum strapped on at an angle) and Triangle; Cavaquinho (ukulele-size steel string guitar), a 7-String Guitar (which plays the bass lines), and percussion such as Snare Drum, Agogo and Pandeiro.”

 

Sun Oct 7 the haunting, spectacular Carol Lipnik & Spookarama with her four-octave vocal range, killer gypsy violinist and percussionist plays downstairs in the big room at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 8 PM. The 7 PM opening act is Trevor Exter, a cello-weilding songwriter, reputedly pretty good.

 

Also Sun Oct 7 and every Sunday 8-11 PM expert trumpeter Jon Kellso plays with his frequent sparring partner, the absolutely brilliant Matt Munisteri on guitar and special guests at the Ear Inn, 326 Spring St.

 

Sun Oct 7 also at Barbes, 7 PM it’s the Quavers, purveyors of two very different styles: lush, haunting, orchestrated violin-driven art-rock and charming, lo-fi country tunes with sweet guy/girl harmonies. They build these songs live by laying down layers and layers of loops on top of each other, an effect that is as spectacular to watch as it is to hear. Virtuoso gypsy jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel plays afterward at 9 PM.

 

Also Sun Oct 7 the Van Halen country cover band from hell, Van Hayride plays Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Now that David Lee Loserface is back with the band and Eddie V.H. is out of rehab at last, you know these guys will be especially amped and probably drunker than usual. They are hysterically funny especially if you ever were forced against your will to become familiar with their source material.

 

Mon Oct 8 Pete Best – that’s the Beatles’ drummer – appears at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Not sure if he’ll be singing, playing, or just hanging out at the bar, but all the Beatlemaniacs will be there.

 

Also Mon Oct 8 the Pipettes play Irving Plaza, 10 PM, adv tix available at the box office. Their shtick is that they’re cockney gangster girls playing authentically charming 60s American girl-group pop, except with dirty/hostile lyrics. It works surprisingly well.

 

Also Mon Oct 8 pan-American acoustic/electric surf instrumentalists Chicha Libre are back at Barbes, 10:30 PM continuing their Monday residency this month.

 

Also Mon Oct 8 Rev. Vince Anderson plays his weekly Monday residency at Black Betty, 2 sets starting around 10:30 PM. A legend in the making: killer keyboardist equally adept at blues, gospel, country and Billy Preston-style funk, brilliant showman, as spiritually (and politically) spot-on as he is funny. Liberation theology with a libido and a great backing band featuring Moisturizer’s Moist Paula.

 

Weds Oct 10 the sprawling oldtimey M. Shanghai String Band rock the Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM

 

Thurs Oct 11, one of the greatest voices of our time, frontman Sam Llanas of the Bodeans plays an extremely rare solo show at Luna, 7:30 PM. Over the last 20 years, this powerful, soulful baritone singer has delivered some of the most intense, passionate and amusing rock anthems you’ll ever hear. He also writes dark, sparse, powerful Americana-inflected singer/songwriter material. Here’s your chance to hear both. See ya there.

 

 

Thurs Oct 11 Devi, which is scorching yet introspective and increasingly psychedelic lead guitarist Debra DeSalvo’s power trio plays Arlene’s, 9 PM

 

Also Thurs Oct 11 Her & Kings County play Hank’s, 11 PM. Her voice – whatever her name is – is a full-throated country wail, and the acoustic/electric band behind her kicks up a tasty blend of twangy textures.

 

 

Also Thurs Oct 11 monster surf/twang guitarist Jim Campilongo plays with his trio at Barbes, 8 PM. Your rare chance to see him outside his usual residency at the odious Living Room. If you like Big Lazy you’ll like this guy too.

 

Also Thurs Oct 11 Demolition String Band plays the Monkees along with special guests at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. I have an idea: is Steve Jones in town? Maybe they can do Stepping Stone. I’d definitely show up for that one.

 

Fri Oct 12 at 7 PM Moonlighters frontwoman Bliss Blood’s charmingly authentic acoustic delta blues project Delta Dreambox plays a double bill with the M Shanghai String Band at the soon-to-be-defunct Mo Pitkins, $12 and worth it.

 

Also Fri Oct 12 tremendous saxophonist Dave Hillyard & his ska jazz band  the Rocksteady 7 take over the Magnetic Field, 8 PM. Coleman Hawkins is his big influence, but it’s the wild, scary, later-period bop-oriented Hawk that this guy channels. And his originals are pretty damn good too. The band is every bit as good as the material.

 

Also Fri Oct 12 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play Lakeside, 11 PM. Ten glorious years ago, the rhythm section in this band was part of the Supertones, whose Saturday night residency at the old Luna Lounge is the stuff of legend. When I first saw this new band I thought they were just spinning their wheels, but they’re really pulled it together. Surf music is their thing: instrumental versions of 60s pop hits, rare Ventures classics and an ever-growing repertoire of great dance tunes, done tightly and with a remarkably self-aware sense of humor.

 

Also Fri Oct 12 the Jack Grace Band plays Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. This guy books the place, so he gets first dibs at weekend shows here, and he’s worth coming out to see if you’re in a party mood. They do the occasional hilarious Led Zep or Bee Gees cover along with Grace’s surprisingly dark, haunting, potent new Merle Haggard/George Jones flavored material. If old-school country is your thing, this is your man.

 

Also Fri Oct 12 minimalist Americana rockers Kill Henry Sugar play Barbes, 10 PM. Just guitar or lapsteel and drums: smart, understatedly funny songs with an apt political sensibility when they feel like injecting it into the set.

 

Also Fri Oct 12 Ninth House roar into Hank’s, 11 PM. Nashville gothic with an increasingly improvisational streak: the keys, lead guitar and violin are playing off each other more and more. This might be the best-ever version of this long-running unit.

 

Sat Oct 13 the incomparable Amy Allison plays Banjo Jim’s, 7 PM, early. She’s back from more recording. Her most recent album has some devastatingly good songs on it, and although it’s in many respects the darkest thing she’s ever done, she’s still hilarious onstage. No doubt she’ll be taking requests. She hasn’t played much this summer (still feels like summer, right?) so get there early and beat the crowd.  

 

Also Sat Oct 13 Boston garage revival legends the Lyres play the Magnetic Field,  9 PM. Not sure how lucid their frontman/organist Jeff Connolly is at this point, but at one point, like the Fleshtones, nobody did old-school 60s garage punk better than that guy and his rotating cast of characters.

 

Also Sat Oct 13 oldtimey “historical orchestrette” Pinataland and their faux-gospel choir theTemple Of Reasons Singers play a rare gig at Barbes, 10 PM. Their frontman David Wechsler has a superb new solo cd out, and they may do some stuff from it.

 

Also Sat Oct 13 Zane Campbell, who pretty much invented alt-country by himself in New York 20 years ago plays the Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. He’s a real throwback and something of a hellraiser, and has a whole lot of good songs and a pedigree to go with it: if memory serves right, he’s Ola Belle Reed’s nephew.

 

Also Sat Oct 13, the Roscoe Trio plays Lakeside 10:30 PMish. Since Eric Ambel is Steve Earle’s powerhouse lead guitarist, this band will never shortchange you. Expect a long set of very smart, surprisingly subtle, stylistically diverse twangy guitar shit. And maybe a Yayhoos song if you’re lucky. Baby I love you, just leave me the fuck alone so I can enjoy the show.

 

Also Sat Oct 13 the Moonlighters – NYC’s best-known and arguably best old-timey band – play at 9 PM at the Jalopy Cafe, 315 Columbia Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn, B61 bus to the end of the line.

  

Mon Oct 15 acoustic songwriter David LK Murphy – an uncommonly fine lyricist – plays the Magnetic Field  in Brooklyn Heights, 9 PM

 

Also Mon Oct 15 the deliriously danceable Peruvian-style surf rock band Chicha Libre play their home base,  Barbes, 10 PM.

 

Tues Oct 16 violinist Jenny Scheinman and her group play Barbes, 7 PM. A rare opportunity to see this excellent, frequently haunting, stylistically diverse writer. She gets pigeonholed as jazz but she delves into chamber music and soundtrack stuff and gets all evil and gypsy from time to time.

  

Weds Oct 17, 8 PM Matt Munisteri’s Brock Mumford – his stunningly original, lyrically dazzling jazz group – plays John Zorn’s new space the Stone at Ave. C C/2nd St. where all the old Tonic outsider jazz suspects have gravitated. If distant memory serves right, isn’t this that big, cavernous space that used to be the World ages ago and more recently was a latin dance joint?

 

Also Weds Oct 17 former Industrial Tepee frontman Tom Shaner plays Lakeside, 10 PM. His old band was a frequently haunting, rousing southwestern gothic unit. He also knows his country and rockabilly and Byrds. Worth checking out to see what he’s up to now.

 

Thurs Oct 18, 8 PM at Barbes the Plunk Bros – which is Bob Jones and Demolition String Band lead guitarist Boo Reiners doing their dueling acoustic guitar madness – open for Matt Munisteri and his group which this time around includes the amazing jazz accordionist Joey Barbato

 

Fri Oct 19 Randi Russo lead guitarist Lenny Molotov plays fiery, authentic fingerpicked delta blues along with his potent, original, politically charged songs at Sidewalk, 8 PM. You could call him the American Richard Thompson: his songs are as good as his sizzling chops.

 

Also Fri Oct 19 the martini cowboy Jack Grace, whose latest songs have taken on a haunting, George Jones/Merle Haggard intensity plays Barbes, 10 PM. Not to worry, he still does the funny stuff too.

 

Also Fri Oct 19 Custard Wally, hot on the heels of one of the filthiest albums released by any rock band in recent memory play Hank’s, 11 PM. These guys are hilarious and a hell of a lot smarter than you’d think from their lyrics.

 

Also Fri Oct 19, Ninth House frontman Mark Sinnis plays an acoustic set of his dark, country-inflected songs featuring Erica Smith’s bass player on piano and, if we’re lucky, the dazzling Suzy Mitchell on violin 

 

Sat Oct 20 the brilliant, effortlessly sexy Les Chauds Lapins – which is Roulette Sisters lead guitarist and ex-Ordinaires frontman Kurt Hoffman playing innuendo-laden French songs from the 1930s and 40s – play Barbes, 8 PM, followed by Howard Fishman, who used to be good but now sounds like Dave Matthews. Get there early if you’re going.

 

Also Sat Oct 20 Boston garage rock legends Muck & the Mires play the Magnetic Field, 9 PM, early arrival strongly advised if you’re going.

Also Sat Oct 20 the Stay-at-Homes play Lakeside, 10 PM. This is the excellent all-female garage/punk band Sit N Spin fronted by the incomparably funny Tammy Faye Starlite playing Runaways covers. The Runaways were an all-female, teenage LA concept band created by D-list celebrity Kim Fowley back in the 70s. They spawned the careers of both Joan Jett and Lita Ford (and Cherie Currie, if you call that a career). The Stay-at-Homes play their Live in Japan album note for note, word for word and it is absolutely hysterical. You don’t have to know the source material to laugh your ass off.