Hey – this isn’t the most updated concert calendar! This is. If you don’t recognize the place where a show is happening, click our Venues page. And by the way, if you see a listing here like this: Sniveling Williamsburg Wimps/Coney Island Death Squad, that means that the Sniveling Williamsburg Wimps are opening for Coney Island Death Squad, not the other way around.
First the weekly stuff, then the daily calendar.
Sundays from half past noon to 3:30 PM, bluegrass cats Freshly Baked (f.k.a. Graveyard Shift), featuring excellent, incisive fiddle player Diane Stockwell play Nolita House (upstairs over Botanica at 47 E Houston).
Every Sunday, Michael Arenella & the Dreamland Dance Band play sly yet boisterous oldtimey hot jazz during a brunch set at Bar Tabac on Smith St. in Brooklyn Heights from about half past noon to 4 PM.
Sundays Sean Kershaw & the Terrible Two (that’s the New Jack Ramblers minus a couple fingers & toes) play the upstairs roof deck at Rocky Sullivan’s, 34 Van Dyke St at Dwight St in Red Hook, 1-4 PM. Free ferry from Manhattan (pier 11,Wall St.) and free shuttle buses from the F&G trains at Smith-9th St, the F,M,R at 4th Ave, and the 2,3,4,5,M,N,R at Borough Hall.
The 2008-09 series of organ concerts at St. Thomas Church kicks off on September 14 and continues most every Sunday (certain holidays excepted) at 5:15 sharp, featuring a whole slew of world-renowned performers. Concerts continue through May 17 of next year.
Every Sunday the Ear-Regulars, led by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (usually) guitarist Matt Munisteri play NYC’s only weekly hot jazz session starting around 8 PM at the Ear Inn on Spring St. Hard to believe, in the city that springboarded the careers of thousands of jazz legends, but true. This is by far the best value in town for marquee-caliber jazz: for the price of a drink and a tip for the band, you can see world-famous players (and brilliant obscure ones) you’d usually have to drop $100 for at some big-ticket room. The material is mostly old-time stuff from the 30s and 40s, but the players (especially Kellso and Munisteri, who have a chemistry that goes back several years) push it into some deliciously unexpected places.
Sundays at 8:30 PM Sasha Dobson plays Pete’s Candy Store. Jazz chanteuse on the serious Brazilian tip: musically, she’s where Snorah Jones should hope to be in five years.
Sundays in August at 9 PM, sensational gypsy jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel – who’s been incorporating a lot of other influences, particularly Middle Eastern, into his sound – plays Barbes.
Every Sunday, hip-hop MC Big Zoo hosts the long-running End of the Weak rap showcase at the Pyramid, 9 PM, admission $5 before 10, $7 afterward. This is one of the best places to discover some of the hottest under-the-radar hip-hop talent, both short cameos as well as longer sets from both newcomers and established vets
Also Mondays in Sept. (they’re taking August off to tour) the Barbes house band, Chicha Libre plays there starting around 9:45. They’ve singlehandedly resurrected an amazing subgenre, chicha, which was popular in the Peruvian Amazon in the late 60s and early 70s. With electric accordion, cuatro, surf guitar and a boisterous rhythm section, their mix of obscure classics and originals is one of the funnest, most danceable things you’ll witness this year. Perhaps not so strangely, they sound a lot like Finnish surf rockers Laika and the Cosmonauts in their most imaginative moments.
Mondays in August (and pretty much every month, when he’s not on tour), Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play Black Betty in Williamsburg, two sets starting around 10:30 PM. The Rev. is one of the great keyboardists around, equally thrilling on organ or electric piano, an expert at Billy Preston style funk, honkytonk, gospel and blues. He writes very funny, very politically astute, frequently salacious original gospel songs and is one of the great live performers of our time. Moist Paula from Moisturizer is the lead soloist on baritone sax.
Tuesdays El Ritmo Southside plays Rose Bar in Williamsburg, 11 PM. Instrumental covers of classic, Fania-era salsa, mambo, cha-cha, rhumba etc.: Palmieri, Puente, Barretto, et al. featuring superb vibraphonist Tommy Mattioli and a rotating rhythm section.
Also every Tues in Sept., the boisterous and very popular brass-heavy gypsy jazz band Slavic Soul Party plays Barbes at 9. Get here as soon as you can as the opening act is usually popular as well.
Every Wednesday, Will Scott and drummer Wylie Wirth play mesmerizing, hypnotic, completely authentic Mississippi hill country blues along with Scott’s own melodic, tuneful blues originals at 68 Jay St. Bar in Dumbo, starting around 8:30 PM. Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and Asie Payton are sadly gone but Scott continues their tradition of music that is as danceable as it is trance-inducing, and does his influences justice.
Also every Wednesday, the Nat Lucas Organ Trio plays jazz at Lenox Lounge uptown, sets from 8 PM to midnight.
Also Wednesdays in September, the Doc Marshalls – equally good at rousing Texas honkytonk and Louisiana Cajun – are at Hill Country, 9 PM.
Fridays in September baritone Brooklyn country crooner Sean Kershaw – who’s been off on a really good Western swing tangent lately – plays Hill Country, 5 PM for happy hour.
The first major JMW Turner exhibit in the US in many moons is up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through 9/21. Now might be a good time to check it out - get there early in the day if you can.
Fri Aug 15 Willie Nile plays a super-rare acoustic set – no idea how long – at J&R Music World downtown on Park Row, half past noon. The legendary New York rock anthem writer is one of the great live performers of our time, making a trip downtown on your lunch hour well worth the trip. He’ll be signing copies of his new cd and DVD Live from the Streets of New York. Click here for samples: volcanically good stuff.
Also Fri Aug 15, 8 PM Marta Topferova plays her completely unique, haunting blend of Balkan and latin music at Barbes with accordion, guitar and a rhythm section. Pretty amazing, completely original stuff.
Also Fri Aug 15 at 55 Bar, 10 PM it’s Reverend Vince Anderson & The Whispering Thunder Blues Band. A rare Manhattan show by the amazing keyboardist/showman, as adept at Howlin Wolf as he is at funk and gospel. This band features his longtime lead instrumentalist Paula Henderson from Moisturizer on baritone sax as well as a kick-ass rhythm section of Andrew Hall and Brian Woodruff.
Also Fri Aug 15 a great tripleheader at Spikehill starting at 9 with wickedly funny outlaw country throwbacks Maynard & the Musties, fresh from the studio after recording with Ryan Adams, then tuneful, tongue-in-cheek janglerockers (you should hear their deadpan Go Go’s cover) the Somebodies followed by the Disclaimers at 11 PM. The headliners are one of NYC’s top half-dozen best live bands, blending hypnotic soul songs into their fiery, organ-and-keyboard-driven garage rock mix. Everybody in the band sings; frontwomen Naa Koshie Mills and Kate Thomason make an especially charismatic twosome with their voices and stage presence. The Disclaimers are also here on Aug 29 at 11.
Also Fri Aug 15 tastefully twangy surf instrumental traditionalists Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars are back at Lakeside, 11 PM.
Also Fri Aug 15, midnight, sensationally good, hypnotic dub reggae crew Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad play a concert cruise aboard the good ship Half Moon, adv tix $20 and very highly recommended at the box office, 630 9th Avenue Suite 602 Between 44th and 45th streets, Monday-Friday 12 noon-6pm, 212-571-3304. The boat leaves from Skyport Marina, E 23rd St & the FDR a half hour later, but you’ll want to get there early to get a good seat.
Sat Aug 16 fiery, horn-driven, often hauntingly minor-key third-wave ska revivalists Tri-State Conspiracy plays an early afternoon show at the Blackwater Inn in the Rockaways, 112-08 Rockaway Beach Blvd, 3 PM. Take the A train to Beach 116th St., the bar is 4 blocks from the subway at 112th St.
Also Sat Aug 16, 7 PM smartly literate, funny, accordion-driven somewhat oldtimey Brooklynites Pinataland play the Old Stone House at JJ Byrne Park in Park Slope, Brooklyn 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. They’re also at the Rockwood on Sun Aug 17, also early, at 7.
Also Sat Aug 16 self-described antique songwriter Mamie Minch – equally good at original, haunting delta blues, rustic oldtimey country and pop styles from a hundred years ago plays 68 Jay St. Bar at 9 with the excellent Andy Cotton on bass. Sort of like a one-woman version of the Moonlighters.
Also Sat Aug 16 scorchingly funny punk band Custard Wally play the cd release for their surprisingly diverse new one Call Me Walt at Don Pedro’s, 9 PM.
Also Sat Aug 16, 9 PM a free screening of the film “Song Sung Blue” on the lawn at Southpoint Park on Roosevelt Island, take the tram at 68th St. Summary: Lightning & Thunder, a homegrown Milwaukee husband and wife Neil Diamond cover band. They fall in love, rise to fame and suffer grave misfortune as they share the music of the “Jewish Elvis” – yeah right – with the people of Milwaukee. Preceded by live Neil Diamond karaoke, no joke (which, umm, you might want to pass on). Why is Wisconsin seemingly always the setting for all every single atrocity exhibition movie?
Also Sat Aug 16, 10ish, the Mess Around play the Shillelagh Tavern, 47-22 30th Ave., Astoria, worth a ride on the N train. One of NYC’s best, most ferocious acts, this scorching garage punk band evoke Radio Birdman in their best, furiously guitar-fueled, cynical moments.
Also Sat Aug 16 Spanking Charlene play Lakeside, 11 PM. NYC’s answer to X: guy/girl vocals, dirty Americana-punk songs along with some strikingly pretty country stuff. Frontwoman Charlene McPherson has one hell of a voice
Sun Aug 17 at Damrosch Park out back of Lincoln Center, dance and music by Ologunde, Bonga and the Vodou Drums of Haiti, and the Ivoirian Kotchegna Dance Company starting around 2ish.
Also Sun Aug 17 keyboard/horn-driven groovemeisters Chin Chin open for acclaimed hip-hop artist Aesop Rock at McCarren Pool, 3ish.
Also Sun Aug 17, a rousing season finale at Central Park Summerstage, 3 PM: Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens, the Mehahan Street Band (who share members with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, the Budos Band, and El Michels Affair) followed by the incomparable funk/soul revivalists Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings at around 5. Get there at 3 at the latest if you’re going.
Also Sun Aug 17 Michael Arenella’s Dreamland Orchestra plays the new Galapagos, 7-10 PM, $12. 16 Main St. in DUMBO. Directions from the York St. F train: walk downhill on Jay St. one block to Front St., left on Front St. four blocks to Main St., right on Main St, walk two blocks to Water St., Galapagos is on the far corner of Main and Water. Horn player Arenella and his 1920s style jazz orchestra specialize in brilliant obscurities from the early swing era and can really rip up a room when they’re in the mood.
Mon Aug 18 a Caribbean bill featuring upcoming soca star Bunji Garlin & Asylum, the ageless calypso warrior Mighty Sparrow (what is he now, about eighty?) and 90s Jamaican lovers rock star Beres Hammond (what is he now, about fifty?) at Wingate Field in Bed Stuy, free, either get there early at 7:30 PM or late at 9, otherwise you’ll be waiting in line for hours before being subjected to a Guantanamo-style security gauntlet.
Also Mon Aug 18 at the Jazz Standard, sets at 7:30 and 9:30 PM, bandoneon player/bandleader Hector Del Curto’s Eternal Tango Quintet including piano, strings and a rhythm section playing absolutely gorgeous, haunting, classic Piazzola-style compositions.
Tues Aug 19, 7 PM Middle Eastern orchestra Zikrayat plays classic Levantine dance music accompanied by bellydancers at Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens. 7 train to Vernon Blvd.-Jackson walk on 48th Avenue to the East River. The park is in front of the Citylights Building.
Also Tues Aug 19 Anthony B plays B.B. King’s, 8-ish, adv tix $20 available at the box office. The self-appointed torchbearer of Peter Tosh’s legacy is a fiery, politically charged lyricist, an intensely charismatic performer and a purveyor of an uncommonly tuneful blend of roots and dancehall reggae.
Tues Aug 19 Polka Madre, whose raison d’etre seems to be all things polka, but who mix a dark gypsyish sound with new wave-ish rock en Espanol play Zebulon at 9. They’re also at Fontana’s on 8/23 at 10, and at Hecho en Dumbo, 111 Front St. in Dumbo on 9/11 at 10 for free.
Also starting Tues Aug 19, brilliantly panstylistically noir gypsy/klezmer/neoclassical Buffalo group Casperous Vine is in town. With accordion, classical guitar and strings, they play beautifully melodic, often haunting instrumentals with titles like Requiem for Gregor Samsa. On the 19th they’re at Goodbye Blue Monday at 11; at Mehanata on Thurs Aug 21 at 8; at Vox Pop in Crown Heights at 8 on Fri Aug 22 and at Zebulon on Sat Aug 23 at 9.
Weds Aug 20, early show at 6 PM at the Rockwood it’s Patrick Glynn & the Lost Americans. Glynn, the talented ex-Rawles Balls multi-instrumentalist, has the expected sense of humor and good chops: his myspace doesn’t seem that he’s taking this new project all that seriously, which would actually be fine. Briana Winter, who knows her way around a catchy pop hit without trying to be Britney or Alanis, follows eventually at 9.
Also Weds Aug 20, 7 PM in Wagner Park in Battery Park City it’s La Excelencia, a 70s style salsa orchestra playing songs from their new cd Salsa Con Conciencia.
Also Weds Aug 20, 8 PM a good doublebill at Banjo Jim’s: excellent guitarist Steve Antonakos AKA Homeboy Steve from Love Camp 7, Roots Rock Rebel, Magges and a million other bands followed by jazz violinist/composer Jenny Scheinman, who will probably be singing stuff from her excellent, just-reviewed new cd of Americana and rock songs. Next on the bill is Jerry Dugger, a bassist who once went by the name of Slapmeat Johnson. Doubtlessly his wife or girlfriend is glad he’s decided to give that up.
Also Weds Aug 20 edgy, smart, soulful acoustic songwriter Dina Regine plays a rare solo show – hell, a rare show – at 68 Jay St. Bar in Dumbo at 9:30 PM. Opening the night at 8 is eminently hypnotic, guitarishly excellent Misssissippi hill-style bluesman Will Scott.
Also Weds Aug 20 the Vivian Girls play Death By Audio, time TBA (the venue and the band’s myspaces say 8 PM, but this isn’t a place you’d want to be at a millisecond longer than necessary). They’re back here on 9/2, at South St. Seaport on 9/6 and then at Cake Shop on 9/19. Good tunes, good energy, a totally original sound: part surf, part dreampop, part retro 60s garage.
Also Weds Aug 20, 9 PM Black Cop White Cop play Ace of Clubs. If their myspace is any indication, they’re retro, but they’re looking back to a style most bands have never heard: early 80s indie rock, with dirty, melodic basslines, fast tempos and trebly, minor-key guitar work that leaves a long trail of sparks.
Also Weds Aug 20 Carolyn Sills & the Poor Man’s Roses sing Patsy Cline covers, uncommonly well, at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.
Thurs, Aug 21 in the sculpture garden out behind MOMA as part of the ongoing Salvador Dali tribute, sets at 5:30 and 7 PM it’s Kamikaze Ground Crew playing theatrical, somewhat balkan jazz featuring a ton of killer soloists: Kenny Wollensen on drums, Peter Apfelbaum on tenor, Doug Wieselman on reeds, Steve Bernstein on trumpet and more.
Also Thurs Aug 21, $10, excellent accordion-driven noir gypsy band Guignol plays Europa, 6ish, opening for Defiance Ohio who at their best are sort of the acoustic Anti-Flag, at their worst the acoustic NOFX.
Also Thurs Aug 21 Jennifer O’Connor plays a cd release show at Mercury Lounge, 7:30 PM. Fearlessly messy, tuneful songwriter who rocks much harder than most of her other acoustic contemporaries.
Also Thurs Aug 21 Bobby Bland plays plays B.B. King’s, 8 PM adv tix $25 available at the box office. You never know whether this guy will phone it in or bring the soul, but it’s worth a shot: B.B. King’s ex-valet is a blues legend and rightfully so, and he still has that growl that brings all the ladies out.
Also Thurs Aug 21 Rev. Timmy James plays Fontana’s, 8 PM. Remarkably authentic, laid-back acoustic delta blues guitarist. If the AA Bondy show at Bowery a couple of months ago was too expensive for you, this is a good alternative
Also Thurs Aug 21 two sensational Americana specialists: Bob Hoffnar leads a quartet on pedal steel at Barbes at 8 PM followed by guitarist Matt Munisteri at 10.
Also Thurs Aug 21 speaking of cool pedal steel, Patti Smith lead player Lenny Kaye plays with smart rockabilly kitten Monica Passin at Banjo Jim’s at 9 followed by a set of his own wryly purist stuff at 10.
Fri Aug 22 the Brandos with the reliably interesting, always potentially dangerous Eric Ambel on guitar play an intimate show at 8 PM at el Taller Latinoamericano, 2710 Broadway (at W. 104th St.), 3rd Fl., New York, tix $20 at the door. Fiery, first-class highway rock like Steve Earle, the Hangdogs or Bodeans with virtuosic Tex-Mex and Irish instrumental flourishes.
Fri Aug 22, 8ish smooth-grooves jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove plays City Hall Park.
Also Fri Aug 22 sprawling, exuberant, sensationally good bluegrass/oldtime country act Bogs Visionary Orchestra play Banjo Jim’s, 9 PM. As good as M Shanghai String Band. Also on the bill: brilliant guitarist Tom Clark, the club calendar doesn’t say when: midnight? BVO are also playing Think Coffee, 248 Mercer St. (between 3rd St & 4th St) on 9/5, time TBA.
Also Fri Aug 22 the reliably romantic, wickedly smart, ever-more-exciting oldtimey Moonlighters play Barbes, 10 PM followed by Nawlins piano guy Bill Malchow (of Jack Grace’s band) at midnight.
Also Fri Aug 22 the Brooklyn What play the Brooklyn Lyceum, one assumes in the big downstairs room, 10 PM. Smartly down-to-earth, frequently hilarious, punkishly tuneful band whose signature song I Don’t Want to Go to Williamsburg has become a NYC classic.
Also Fri Aug 22 10:30 PM Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. play Rodeo Bar, possibly three sets. One of the funniest and most original bands in town, period-perfect, 1953-style with their matching suits, oldtime stage patter, harmonies and often remarkably subtly amusing pre-rockabilly hillbilly songs. All-female Stockholm country/punk trio Baskery open the night at 9ish. SITnDIE are also at Otto’s on 8/28 at 8.
Also Fri Aug 22, 11 PM scorching garage/punk rockers the Mess Around – who at the top of their game are just as wildly adrenalizing as Radio Birdman – play Trash Bar. Opening at 10 are dark, female-fronted punk/metal act Vagina Panther.
Also Fri Aug 22, 11 PM Biz Markie plays Europa, tix $25, and it’s 18-plus. No idea of how long he’ll be onstage, or whether he’ll mostly spin records – but the hip-hop legend will still make you laugh and smile even if you weren’t there to hear him rap (and sing!!!) the first time around.
Also Fri Aug 22, 1 AM (actually the wee hours of Sat Aug 23) Pennsylvania reggae-rockers Three Legged Fox play Arlene’s. Heavier on the reggae than the rock: this is cool, laid-back stuff, not lousy Sublime wannabe crap.
Sat-Sun Aug 23-24 it’s the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, starting at 3 both days. On 8/23 at Marcus Garvey Park; 8/24 at Tompkins Square Park. 8/23: pianist Robert Glasper, legendary drummer Rashied Ali, singer Vanessa Rubin and pianist Hank Jones, in order. 8/24: singer Gretchen Parlato, pianist Eric Lewis, legendary bandleader Jerry Gonzalez & Fort Apache and then headliner pianist Randy Weston.
Also Sat Aug 23 a cool outdoor show, literally and figuratively, with dark haunting siren Randi Russo playing solo at 4:30 PM on the Coney Island boardwalk in front of the Dreamland roller disco followed by the excellent, rustically noir, somewhat carnivalesque sounds of the Dead Sextons at 5:30 and then intriguingly tuneful goth/dreampop/acoustic group the Tyburn Saints an hour later.
Also Sat Aug 23 veteran two-cello-and-drums trio Rasputina plays the Hiro Ballroom, 8:30 PM, $20 adv tix avail at Ticketbastard locations at Macy’s Herald Square, Disc-O-Rama at Union Square East, Macy’s Fulton St. in Brooklyn or J&R Music World on Park Row downtown, so you can pay cash and save yourself the $100 extra it would cost you to buy tix online. Frontwoman Melora Creager is one of the few rockers with the courage to question the official verdict of what really happened on 9/11, and wrote an absolutely haunting, long suite about it. And has a vast catalog of other classically-inflected, hilariously deadpan songs.
Also Sat Aug 23 another Unsteady Freddie show at Otto’s starting 8:30ish. This is one of Freddie’s best, starting with an uncommonly good country/rockabilly band, the Long Goodbyes followed by the somewhat stylistically schizophrenic Tarantinos NYC, absolutely kick-ass surf rockers the Outpatients, scorching Dick Dale soundalikes 9th Wave (who also play killer spy themes), the similarly intense, Dick Dale-influence Nebulas and then even more reverb-drenched ecstasy with the Octomen somewhere around 2
Also Sat Aug 23 southern soul legend Irma Thomas plays out back of Lincoln Center at Damrosch Park, 8:30 PM.
Also Sat Aug 23 Amy Allison plays Banjo Jim’s, 10 PM. Good choice of Saturday night act. Pantheonic, Aimee Mann-class songwriter: great voice, brilliant lyricist, and very, very funny onstage. Country was her thing for a long time; dark pop has been her latest fixation, resulting in the best songs of her career. She’s one of Elvis Costello’s favorites, which makes sense.
Also Sat Aug 23 Johnny Allen plays Terra Blues, 10 PM. A power hitter on the guitar, with a searing, tastefully crescendoing Chicago blues style, and simply one of the most soulful singers in New York.
Also Sat Aug 23 Her & Kings County play upstairs at the National Underground, 10:30 PM. Female-fronted country band with a rotating cast of characters, anything from a tight quartet to a sprawling, four-guitar stoked twangfest.
Sun Aug 24 Liza & the Wonderwheels shoot another cool video and also play a live set, early, 3 PM at Freddy’s. Be a part of youtube history! Wouldn’t you want to see your mug in the same frame with Liza? Of course you would. And these wickedly smart, funny, politically aware retro 80s new wave throwbacks always put on a good show
Sun Aug 24 an amazing doublebill with the Knitters (which is X playing country songs and country versions of their own classics) along with Patti Smith at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Ctr., the whole thing starts 5:30 PMish but get there early because it will deservedly be a mobscene.
Also Sun Aug 24 Yo La Tengo plays the final free concert of the summer at McCarren Pool, 5:30ish, which could be cool if Ira Kaplan pretends it’s 1993 again and turns his amp up all the way for a feedbackfest. Your best bet is to get there at showtime and if they aren’t letting anyone in, go into the playground just up the block: the sound is actually better there than almost anywhere inside the pool.
Also Sun Aug 24 Catspaw plays Otto’s, 7 PM. This just in from the frequently fiery, female-fronted rockabilly trio’s publicist Svetlana Monsoon: “Renowned physicist/bassist Banj Foxx has perfected his practical application of the theory of gravitational time dilation and special relativity to build a time portal to 1959 in his basement. Having pinpointed the exact space/time coordinates of the June 7,1959 Amazing Half-Off Sale at Ralph’s Guitar Emporium in Massapequa, he has made plans to travel back in time in order to expand his collection of vintage Gibson ES-335s. His historic journey has been temporarily postponed, however, because he has been having difficulty, in today’s depressed economic climate, in obtaining a line of credit that extends beyond the normal boundaries of space/time…Erica [Catspaw’s drummer], meanwhile, has traveled to the Middle East to bail out [frontwoman] Jasmine, who reportedly was deported to Syria after an incident that may have involved inappropriate political humor. The joke in question has since been classified, and there is no official word on whether or not it was funny.”
Also Sun Aug 24 a good, dark acoustic doublebill at Spikehill. Razor-sharp, literate tunesmith Erin Regan opens the night at 9 followed by Mark Sinnis at 10. Solo, the Ninth House frontman mines a dark, rustic, terse Nashville gothic vein, more Johnny Cash than Joy Division. Regan is also at Sidewalk on 9/4 at 11.
Also Sun Aug 24, fiery rockers System Noise play Arlene’s, 10 PM. For a band this loud and ferocious, they sure are tuneful, and frontwoman Sarah Mucho is a force of nature with her sensational range and powerful pipes. Eerie, virtuosic guitar work and a great new album just out.
Mon Aug 25 Irish expat Vincent Cross & Good Company bring their authentically raw and rustic sounds to the Parkside, early, 7:15ish to kick off a night of bluegrass.
Tues Aug 26, 7 PM darkly moody, female-fronted janglerockers Noirceur play Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens. 7 train to Vernon Blvd.-Jackson, walk on 48th Avenue to the East River. The park is in front of the one of those shoddy, third world-style luxury condo complexes. Also on the bill: the Japanese-American Uzuhi, who alternate between bouncy, upbeat jangly guitar/keyboard pop and generic hardcore.
Also Tues Aug 26 panstylistic art-rock rock keyboard goddess Greta Gertler plays the Zipper Theatre at 8 PM – with a string section and special guests.
Also Tues Aug 26-31 the Kenny Barron Quartet with Dana Stevens on tenor plus a rhythm section of Kiyoshi Kitagawa and Francisco Mela plays the Village Vanguard, sets at 9 and 11. Popular pianist Barron plays with an intense, percussive physicality which is even more impressive considering how damn fast the guy is: if you like adrenaline and crescendos, this is your fun for the week.
Weds Aug 27, 7 PM Latin jazz bassist Ray Martinez plays with his band at Wagner Park.
Also Weds Aug 27 Fire in July plays two sets at Caffe Vivaldi, 7:30 and 9:30. Cellist/songstress Jodi Redhage and her band fuse jazz, classical and pop with the same quirky, artsy charm and intelligence as the Penguin Café Orchestra did 20 years ago.
Also Weds Aug 27 Alex Battles & the Whisky Rebellion squeeze into the Rockwood, 9 PM. The banjoist/guitarist is one of the best on the Cash/Hank tip right now and has a following that knows it; early arrival advised.
Also Weds Aug 27 the Doc Marshalls play Hill Country, 9 PM. Equally adept at stomping Cajun dances and Texas honkytonk, they reputedly put on quite a show.
Also Weds Aug 27 Reckon So plays Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Guitarist Danny Weiss lives and breathes in the lower registers, the most soulful part of the instrument; his wife and partner in harmonies, Mary Olive Smith has a casually enchanting voice, and the two write some fine, old-school country tunes as well. They’re back here on 9/10 as well.
Thurs Aug 28 in the sculpture garden out behind MOMA as part of the ongoing Salvador Dali tribute, sets at 5:30 and 7 PM: Enso String Quartet violinist John Marcus presents a program of quartets, trios, and duos incl. Bach, Ravel and Webern.
Also Thurs Aug 28 pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who’s created quite a buzz in classical circles, plays Bach, Beethoven and more at a cd release show at le Poisson Rouge, 6:30 PM, cheap $15 adv tix at the box office highly recommended.
Also Thurs Aug 28 the politically fearless, deliriously fun third-wave ska band the Slackers play a booze cruise aboard the Temptress, leaving 41st St. & the highway at 8, boarding at 7, adv tix $25, absolutely necessary and available at the box ofc, 630 9th Avenue Suite 602 Between 44th and 45th.
Also Thurs Aug 28 the Paul Carlon Octet plays Cachaca, 35 W 8th, 7 PM. Sax player leads Ellingtonian latin jazz band playing an impressive mix of everything from delta blues to cumbias. This is the cd release show for their new one Roots Propaganda.
Also Thurs Aug 28 at Issue Project Room, 8 PM, $10, Jozef Van Wissum who “will perform pieces from A Priori on 13 course baroque lute and pieces from Station of the Cross [by Dupre?] for Baroque Lute and manipulated field recordings made at airport lounges and train stations. A priori is minimal hypnotic trance lute palindromes. Sometimes bottleneck is applied on the lute now.” Quiet, minimalist, cerebral yet playful.
Also Thurs Aug 28 the Robert Charles Band plays Lucille’s Bar, two sets at 8 PM. Back in the late 90s this band had a real good thing going, remarkably terse and potently crescendoing, and the frontman didn’t Pearl Jam his vocals. Worth checking out to see what they’re up to now.
Also Thurs Aug 28, 8:30 PM alternately haunting and deliciously groove-driven shoegaze/dreampop rockers El Jezel play songs from their new cd The Warm Frequency at Union Hall. Word on the street is that it’s the excellent album that Portishead should have made this year but didn’t.
Also Thurs Aug 28 Queen Godis performs at the Highline Ballroom, 10ish, adv tix $22.50 at the club box office. An especially imaginative, somewhat theatrical hip-hop performer, activist and sensationally good, smart, politically aware lyricist. Opener Wayna is a hired-gun singer who’s worked with Sly & Robbie; headliners les Nubians are sort of to French pop what Erykah Badu (sp?) was to 90s American top 40.
Also Thurs Aug 28 recently reunited Austin alt-country satirists the Gourds, best known for their hilarious cover of the Snoop Dogg classic Gin & Juice play the Music Hall of Williamsburg, 10ish, adv tix $15 available at the Mercury box office.
Also Thurs Aug 28 the Mercenaries play Lakeside, 10 PM. Rock quartet who sound sometimes like Guided by Voices at their most tuneful, otherwise a cut above your average Stonesy bar band like the Izzys.
Fri Aug 29 an excellent doublebill at the Jalopy Café with Mississippi hill country-style bluesman Will Scott at 8 and Jan Bell, the British expat who’s better at hauntingly beautiful oldschool American country music than most Yanks, at 9:30. Bell is also at Riverside Park on 9/14 at 2ish for an afternoon show.
Also Fri Aug 29 blues guitarist Dave Gross plays Caffe Vivaldi, 7:30 PM. He’s tasteful, likes swing blues, has a big T-Bone Walker influence, doesn’t play everything mile-a-minute, understands dynamics and knows less is more.
Also Fri Aug 29 the Figgs play the Knitting Factory, 9ish, no discounted adv tix available. Legendary powerpop trio whose work with Graham Parker is a good indication of how many sparks they can shoot out on their own.
Also Fri Aug 29 Jerry Teel & the Big City Stompers‘ show at Don Pedro’s is CANCELLED. But they are playing Union Pool on 9/27 around 9.
Also Fri Aug 29 the Lost Crusaders bring their deliriously fun mix of gospel and garage rock to Trash, 11:15 PM sharp. Their organist is amazing, as is their debut album.
Sat Aug 30 the Motels play B.B. King’s, 8 PM, adv tix $25 available at the box office. One of the last of the “good top 40” bands, originally lumped in with the punk movement even though frontwoman Martha Davis was more of a pop siren. And she’s still got that full-throated wail. Take the L!
Also Sat Aug 30 one of NYC’s funnest party bands, badass Greek rebetika revivalists Magges play Mehanata, 10 PM. They’re also at Teneleven on Ave. C at 8:30 on 9/28.
Sun Aug 31, 8 PM at Otto’s an unlikely Unsteady Freddie show on a Sunday featuring the usual collection of superior surf bands: 8 PM, the virtuosic and improvisationally-inclined Venice Beach Muscle Club; 9 PM Hang Daddy; 10 PM brilliant, versatile, Dick Dale-inflected Connecticut rockers 9th Wave; 11 PM ageless Brooklyn purists the Sea Devils; midnight, scorching upstate trio the Octomen.
Also Sun Aug 31, 9 PM at the Nokia Theatre an uncommonly good hip-hop bill featuring allstars from across the decades: Strong Island legends EPMD, 90s NYC hardcore sharpshooters Smif N Wessun, Black Moon, Mahsinah, Shadia Mansour, Immortal Technique (this generation’s finest, most relevant lyricist, who alone is worth the price of admission), with Marley Marl, Evil Dee and others spinning before the show and between acts, adv tix $30 available at the box office.
Also Sun Aug 31 roots reggae legend Burning Spear plays Irving Plaza, 10ish, adv tix $35 at the box office and absolutely recommended. Long, hypnotic grooves, dub interludes and a vault full of classic songs: Marcus Garvey, Slavery Days, Columbus, Door Peep, the list goes on and on. Spear’s voice is still there, and his forthcoming studio album is his best in years.
Mon Sept 1, the annual Coney Island Rockabilly Festival, starting in the afternoon: Catspaw play 3-ish, many more on the bill.
Also Mon Sept 1 Mamie Minch plays Rodeo Bar, 10:30ish. Sounding like what the soundtrack to a 1920s Mississippi road movie would have been if they’d had sound back then, she plays a mean resonator guitar and has a killer new album out.
Tues Sept 2 Luminescent Orchestrii play Joe’s Pub, 9:30 PM, adv tix $15 and absolutely necessary: this will sell out. One of the world’s great gypsy bands, fresh off the Dresden Dolls tour, ready to evoke the ghost of every Ukrainian who ever died within a ten-block radius.
Also Tues Sept 2 the haunting, hypnotic East African Arab music revivalists Sounds of Taraab play Apt, 419 W.13th St. 10 PM. Their new album is amazing.
Weds Sept 3 the Latin Giants of Jazz (Tito Puente’s backup band) are at Wagner Park, 7 PM. Wow. This is the kind of act you usually see playing huge arenas. Early arrival very strongly advised if you can.
Also Weds Sept 3-7, sets at 7:30 and 9:30 PM, the McBride, Payton & Whitfield Trio: Christian McBride – bass; Nicholas Payton – trumpet; Mark Whitfield – guitar play the Jazz Standard, note that tix are “$30 plus tax.” A good mix of contrasting styles: McBride provides the oomph that terse, trad purists Payton and Whitfield need to get off their asses. Everybody in the group can write, a big plus.
Also Weds Sept 3-8 the Kenny Burrell Quintet (w/Benny Green, Peter Washington, Tivon Pennicott, Clayton Cameron) plays Dizzy’s Club at Rose Hall at Lincoln Center, ticket price TBA, sets at 7:30, 9:30 PM. Jazz guitar legend whose signature style has been imitated by thousands but hardly ever replicated. Excellent band behind him this time out, too.
Also Weds Sept 3 Spindrift play Glasslands, time TBA (both band and club sites say 8 but that’s dubious). Dark southwestern gothic psychedelic garage rock: Gun Club plus Plan 9 divided by Giant Sand, raised to the power of Morricone. Awesome stuff, and a great new vinyl ep out! They’re also at Cake Shop on Thurs Sept 4, 10 PM which is a much better bet because the club has good sound.
Also Weds Sept 3 at Kenny’s Castaways, at 9 PM Bob Petrocelli, the excellent blues guitarist from the Robert Charles Band plays a set of his own stuff followed by the Shithouse Lilies, a rousingly rustic, acoustic all-female country band.
Thurs Sept 4 Rachelle Garniez, who is just as good a piano player as she is on accordion, never tells the same joke twice (and she has a million good ones) and never plays a song the same way twice either, plays Barbes, 10 PM. Two of her albums (Luckyday and Melusine Years) are on our best-of-the-decade list; the latter was our pick for best of 2007.
Also Thurs Sept 4 a killer doublebill at Joe’s Pub with Chicha Libre and Cordero playing the cd release for their new one, 9ish. The former play intoxicatingly danceable, psychedelic Peruvian-style surf music, are just as fun live as Gogol Bordello, and you probably know all about them. The latter are Ani Cordero’s first highly-regarded rock en Espanol project (she’s also in Pistolera) which just keeps getting more and more tuneful. This will sell out, adv tix $15 at the box office absolutely essential.
Fri Sept 5, NYC’s reigning champion of authentically oldtimey ragtime banjo songs, the drop-dead hilarious Al Duvall plays Hank’s, 9 PM. He’s also at the Jalopy with CW Stoneking (see below) on 9/17 and at Pete’s on 9/18 at 9.
Also Fri Sept 5 Bogs Visionary Orchestra are playing Think Coffee, 248 Mercer St. (between 3rd St & 4th St) on 9/5, 9 PM. Deliriously good, sprawling bluegrass band, as good M Shanghai String Band and with even more energy.
Also Fri Sept 5 there’s a forro party at Barbes featuring cavaquino player Pedro Ramos, accordionist Rob Curto and special guests, 10 PM.
Also Fri Sept 5 Randi Russo plays Sidewalk, midnight. Impossible to imagine a better midnight act: dark, brooding outsider anthems, brilliant lyrics, casually graceful charisma and a voice like bloodstained velvet. One of the great songwriters of our time, end of story.
Sat Sept 6 an allday free outdoor show at South St. Seaport featuring – among others – inventive surf/garage/shoegaze trio the Vivian Girls, Hammond B3 organ jazz legend Dr. Lonnie Smith, imaginative, horn-heavy Chicago hip-hop instrumental band Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, hip-hop artist 4-Ize (whose flow is totally Dirty South even though he’s from Chicago), Icelandic folkie Olof Arnalds and Devin, the funniest man in the history of rap. Trouble is, the promoters haven’t posted a schedule. And you definitely don’t want to have to stand through sets by the likes of fifth-rate Japanese Stooges ripoff Boris, tuneless Michigan trendoids Awesome Color, tuneless Brooklyn dilettantes High Places or California nonmusicians Flying Lotus, whose computerized percussion will send you sleepwalking out onto South St. UPDATE: It appears (at least from the South St. Seaport website) that the good bands begin at around 3 with Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, followed by Dr. Lonnie Smith, then Devin at 5, Vivian Girls at 6 and emcee KRS-One headlining around 8.
Also Sat Sept 6, an allday outdoor festival at Riverside Park. Bill Popp & the Tapes – who have been around since 1977, and whom you are destined to see at least once in your life kick things off at 2 PM followed by Amanda Thorpe and Ed Rogers’ gorgeously harmony-driven Britfolk/Britpop revivalists the Bedsit Poets at 3, Irish songwriter Enda Keegan (an acquired taste) at 4, legendary Clash collaborator Ellen Foley – who has never sounded better than she does right now –at 5 and the somewhat legendary, Stones/Pogues hybrid Joe Hurley and Rogue’s March (with James Mastro on guitar!) at 6:30. The show runs till 9; 1 train to 103rd and walk toward the Hudson.
Also Sat Sept 6, 8 PM Prana, a nonet of throat singers in the style of Huun Huur Tu sing at Jivamukti Yoga Center, 841 Broadway, 2nd Floor (between 13th and 14th), proceeds to Animal Mukti, a free spay and neuter clinic serving the cats and dogs of New York City. Also available: a workshop on throat singing on 9/7, details at the center.
Also Sat Sept 6 the Plunk Bros., AKA Boo Reiners (of Demolition String Band) and Bob Jones play classic country guitar stuff at Barbes, 8 PM followed by smart, politically aware, somewhat tongue-in-cheek Americana rock duo Kill Henry Sugar at 10.
Also Sat Sept 6 reliably entertaining 60’s style country throwbacks the Jack Grace Band open for semi-legendary Canadian bluegrass band Luther Wright & the Wrongs (you know, the guys who did the bluegrass version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall) play Rodeo Bar, 9 PM.
Also Sat Sept 6 Nanuchka – sort of the Israeli Siouxsie & the Banshees – are at the Mercury Lounge, 10ish.
Also Sat Sept 6 Al Lee Wyer plays Freddy’s, 11 PM. Veteran songwriter with a low-key growl, knows his way around a tune, at his best he mines the same dark bluecollar vein as Springsteen circa the River but without the clichés. See if he’ll play Bethlehem.
Also Sat Sept 6 the Coffin Daggers play Otto’s, 11 PM. Still one of the half-dozen best live bands in New York, they’ve stripped down their sound, going back to the tersely macabre, furiously loud guitar-and-organ surf punk sound they started with ten years ago, with richly rewarding results.
Sun Sept 7, 7 PM at Barbes music journalist Elisabeth Vincentelli screens vintage footage of Abba as well as numerous Abba parodies. Could be hysterically funny. Followed by gypsy jazz guitar monster Stephane Wrembel at 9 PM. Wrembel also here on 9/21.
Mon Sept 8 Delusions of Grand Street – love that name – play Trash, 9 PM. Refreshingly down-to-earth, smart female-fronted janglepop/rock band. Defiant, funny, tuneful and indelibly New York. Out-of-towners may not get them, but we do.
Beginning Weds Sept 10, C.W. Stoneking, the hilarious and strikingly authentic Australian king of oldtimey American hokum blues and minstrel music, plays the Dives of New York Tour in support of his new album Jungle Blues which is reputedly amazing. Several shows here this Sept: 9/10 at the Rockwood, 8 PM; 9/11 at Nublu, 9 PM with Smitty from Otto’s on steel guitar; 9/13 at 9 PM at Pete’s Candy Store with Brownbird Rudy Relic; 9/14 at 9 PM at Barbes with the always excellent Mamie Minch and concluding on 9/17 at 9:30 PM at the Jalopy Theater with the equally sensational, retro Al Duvall.
Also Weds Sept 10, most songwriters-in-the-round events are a waste of time: why sit through a bunch of mediocrities so you can see your favorite player do only three or four songs? This one at the Cornelia St. Café starting at 8 PM is a rare exception. Ann Klein may be best-known for her scorching lead guitar work, but she also writes wry, tuneful acoustic pop. Mary Lee Kortes, frontwoman of wickedly smart Americana band Mary Lee’s Corvette, has the distinction of being arguably the best singer AND the best songwriter in all of rock. Trina Hamlin (time to get a drink or take a bathroom break) and Natalia Zukerman – Pinchas’ kid, with her fast, jazzy fingers and slightly Dolly Parton-esque voice – are also on the bill.
Thurs 9/11 Elisa Flynn plays Sidewalk, 8 PM. Smartly tuneful, imaginatively diverse rocker with a sense of humor, somebody who just gets better and better. Click her myspace for the killer track Soul Minor Daughter.
Also Thurs 9/11 the Boss Martians play Don Pedro’s, 9ish, opening for popular, improper, retro Bostonians Muck & the Mires. Wow, what a discovery! Radio Birdman meets the Dickies: crazy sense of humor, murderous city tunes and razorwire guitar. This is the kind of band that could become your favorite in the span of about three minutes. Next time they come through town they should do a doublebill with the Mess Around.
Fri Sept 12 brilliantly melodic southwestern gothic rocker James Apollo plays Pete’s Candy Store, 8 PM. If you can’t afford Giant Sand and missed Calexico the last time they swung through town, this is your shot of tequila. Los Angeleno opening act Erich Von Kneip, who plays at 8, mines a smokier and jazzier but no less captivatingly noir vein.
Also Fri Sept 12 Chicago expat blues guitarist Irving Louis Lattin plays Lucille’s, 8 PM. Good, terse player, whether on acoustic or electric (probably the latter here): no wasted notes, no histrionic Robert Plant bs. He’s also here on 9/26 at 8.
Also Fri Sept 12 Chet Baker revivalist trumpeter/crooner Leif Arntzen and band play a very worthwhile benefit for producer Scott Harding – who was partially paralyzed in a hit-and-run accident a couple of months ago, and didn’t have the insurance to cover the hospital bill – at the Cornelia St. Café, 8 PM. Leif Arntzen, trumpet, vocals; Matt Miller, saxophones; John Dryden, piano; Dan McCarthy, vibes; Miles Arntzen, drums; Phil Rowen, bass.
Also Fri Sept 12, 8 PM, Microscopic Septet pianist and co-founder Joel Forrester plays his imimitably witty, astonishingly diverse jazz songs at Barbes, $10 cover, followed at 10 by les Martines playing haunting, danceable musette instrumentals along with “a mixture of high energy contemporary French chanson mixed with Cuban, Yiddish, Italian, Argentinean and musette standards..
Also Fri Sept 12 fiery highway rockers the Sloe Guns play Arlene’s, 9 PM. A lush, twangy Gibson/Fender guitar attack and some anthems that get into your DNA and won’t get out.
Also Fri Sept 12, 9 PM one of the Wu-tang Clan’s frontline lyricists, GZA performs his best album, Liquid Swords all the way through at Irving Plaza, adv tix $25.
Also Fri Sept 12, if you like your surf music authentically jangly and low-key, Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play classic and brilliantly obscure covers at Lakeside, 11 PM. If you get lucky they’ll do the formerly obscure Ventures classic Ginza Lights.
Sat-Sun Sept 13-14 Michael Arenella and the Dreamland Orchestra bring their brilliant, obscure 20s hot swing jazz to Governor’s Island, sets on 9/13 at a quarter to one, 2:30 and 4 PM (with free pie at 3:30!); 9/14 the Boilmaker Jazz Band plays sets at 11:30 AM and 12:45 PM followed by the Dreamland Orchestra at 2, 3:15 and 4:15, the free ferry leaves from the old Shaolin ferry terminal, right next to the new one at the Battery. Be aware that alcohol is strictly prohibited and that you may be searched rigorously prior to boarding the ferry (bring a thermos, that’s how we did it).
Also Sat Sept 13 the haunting, psychedelic, danceable Arab/African band Sounds of Taraab play Bush Baby, 1197 Fulton St at Bedford Ave in Bed-Stuy, 8 PM.
Also Sat Sept 13 intriguing and imaginative Mexican acid jazz band los Musicos de Jose play Joe’s Pub, 9:30 PM, adv tix $12 recommended.
Also Sat Sept 13 twangy, rustic Americana rockers the Felice Bros. and impressively terse, zeros-generation delta bluesman AA Bondy play Maxwell’s, 9:30 PM, $15.
Also Sat Sept 13, 10ish at Rodeo Bar it’s a Loretta Lynn Tribute featuring The Lonesome Prairie Dogs and the incomparable comedienne/chanteuse/troublemaker Tammy Faye Starlite – the missing link between Lenny Bruce and Jello Biafra, except that she’s way better looking.
Also Sat Sept 13 Simon & the Bar Sinisters play Lakeside, 10:15ish (early by Lakeside standards, but Simon likes to play long sets). A true original: raised on punk, addicted to surf, steeped in rockabilly, honest as the day he was born and very funny. And damn, what a guitarist.
Sun Sept 14, early, 6 PM guitarist Jim Campilongo – spooky composer equally adept at western swing, surf and eerie soundtrack-style instrumentals – plays with his trio at 55 Bar.
Also Sun Sept 14, 8 PM Paul Shapiro’s Ribs and Brisket Review plays the cd release for their new one Essen at the Cornelia St. Café. Exuberant, over-the-top Yiddish jazz featuring Cab Calloway and Slim Gaillard covers plus similar originals. Obviously this is not a dairy band, although it’s a good one: Paul Shapiro, sax, clarinet, vocal; Babi Floyd, vocals; Cilla Owens, vocals; Brian Mitchell, piano; Booker King, bass; Tony Lewis, drums..
Also Sun Sept 14 somewhat legendary Mexican ska rockers Maldita Vecindad play the Gramercy Theatre, 9ish, adv tix $37.50 available at the Irving Plaza box office. They’ve got one of the world’s greatest sax players and a vast back catalog of haunting, somewhat Dead Kennedys-inflected songs.
Mon Sept 15 Ani Cordero’s relatively new, beautifully rustic, driving rock in Espanol band Pistolera opens for popular, jazzy Mexican ranchera singer Lila Downs – playing with both her band and with the Mariachi Academy of NY at the Town Hall, 8 PM, adv tix $25 at the box office.
Also Mon Sept 15 fast-fingerered Rhode Island swing jazz axemeister Duke Robillard opens for petite but potent blues vocal powerhouse Shemekia Copeland at B.B. King’s, 8 PM, adv tix $25 available at the box office.
Also Mon Sept 15 long-running Brooklyn faux-French garage rockers les Sans Culottes – featuring the sensational Francoise Hardly (AKA Moist Gina from Moisturizer) on bass, play the Mercury, 9:30, a $15 benefit for Planned Parenthood.
Also Mon Sept 15 The 80s Go South play satirical country covers of schlocky 80s hits – Tears for Fears, etc. – at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Has country become the new punk? Apparently so.
Tues Sept 16, early, 7:30 PM the world’s only (mostly) all-female, (somewhat) lesbian klezmer group Isle of Klezbos play a free show in the community garden at 346 East Houston St, btw Avenues B & C. This wild, ecstatic crew play a dazzling and danceable mix of alternately rousing and haunting originals and classic, sometimes very obscure covers.
Also Tues Sept 16, 10ish, Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson play the Highline Ballroom, adv tix $25 at the box office. This Australian couple look like trendoids but their stock in trade is gorgeously retro 60s American country music. One of Steve Earle’s kids opens, earnestly.
Weds Sept 17 popular, somewhat noir 90s melodic janglepop band the Dandy Warhols play Terminal 5, 10 PM, adv tix $27 available at the Mercury box office.
Thurs Sept 18 Greek oud virtuoso/composer Mavrothi Kontanis plays Mehanata, 9 PM with his astonishingly good band. Dark, haunting rebetika anthems, sly, tongue-in-cheek drinking songs and a lot of impressively diverse originals. Kontanis – who has two brilliant new albums out – is a hell of a soloist, but it’s his sax player who’s his secret weapon, equal parts Coltrane and refugee from Smyrna.
Thurs-Fri Sept 18-19 the Hangdogs reunite to play a benefit for Iowa flood survivors at Rodeo Bar, 10ish. Five years ago, they were arguably the best band in New York, the missing link between the Bodeans and the Dead Kennedys, a scorchingly hot twangy rock outfit with a spot-on, politically-fueled sense of humor. Their most recent (one hopes not final) cd Wallace ’48 remains one of the decade’s very best.
Also Fri Sept 19 Matt Keating plays Housing Works Bookstore on Crosby just south of Houston, 8 PM. Fiery, cynical, often devastatingly literate janglerock songwriter riding the wave of his new, best-ever album, a double cd of the kind of tuneful broadsides Elvis Costello used to write before he decided to be a jazz guy.
Also Fri Sept 19 Musette Explosion featuring killer accordionist Will Holshouser and reliably excellent guitarist Matt Munisteri (who also plays banjo in this unit)plays Barbes, 8 PM. Musette is dark, gypsyish, blue-collar barroom music from France and Belgium from the 20s and 30s.
Also Fri Sept 19, Squeeze plays Radio City, 8ish, adv tix. very expensive ($39.50 at the box office). No idea how much they have left as a unit, but guitarist Glenn Tilbrook still wails and his co-writer Chris Difford can still write. One of the best of the British new wave bands, they have a massive back catalog of classics: Pulling Mussels, Another Nail in My Heart, Slightly Drunk, and, oh yeah, that wretched hit single that they didn’t write..
Also Fri Sept 19, 9 PM Ververitse, an anarchically fun, improvisationally dazzling Balkan brass band featuring members of Ansambl Mastika, Hungry March Band and Romashka play the Jalopy Café.
Also Fri Sept 19 retro 60s garage psychedelic throwbacks the Brian Jonestown Massacre plays the Music Hall of Williamsburg, 10ish, tix $25 available at the Mercury box office.
Also Fri Sept 19 twangy, growling, somewhat Steve Earle-inflected former Backslider Chip Robinson plays Lakeside with the Roscoe Trio, 10ish – expect a long set.
Sept 20, early, 6 PM an excellent all-country bill at Southpaw featuring upbeat vintage 60s style cats Alex Battles & The Whiskey Rebellion, the alternately hilarious and haunting Jack Grace Band, the fiery, spirited Jessica Rose & The High Life, western swing/rockabilly guys Sean Kershaw & The New Jack Ramblers, the sprawling and impressively diverse M Shanghai String Band and Dock Oscar & The Ambassadors Of Love.
Also Sat Sept 20, 8 PM at Symphony Space, Rupayan plays North Indian desert music featuring percussion, Sufi songs, sarangi (bowed lute) and algoza (double flute), tix $30 available at the World Music Institute box office.
Also Sat Sept 20, 8 PM at Barbes: “Paris-based Balval ((”the wind” in Romanes,) blends East and West, Latin, and Oriental music with traditional Roma songs and puts their own musical compositions to the words of contemporary Roma poets. Featuring Awena Burgess – vocals; Rosalie Hartog – violin; Daniel Mizrahi – guitar; Benjamin Body – bass and Bachar Khalife, percussion” Followed by ex-Johnny Cash sideman Smokey Hormel’s Roundup, an excellent cast of characters playing western swing, including Charley Burnham – fiddle; Tim Luntzel – string bass; Konrad Meisner - drums.
Also Sept 20 the gorgeously violin-and-guitar-driven Sadies (who frequently back Neko Case, and have Douce Gimlet’s old drummer) play the Highline Ballroom (looks like that place is getting all of the best acts that used to play Luna), 8 PM, adv tix $17 at the box office. Headliners Blue Rodeo were the first of the 80s alt-junkie Velvets wannabes.
Also Sat Sept 20, 8 PM the Ureuk Symphony plays Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony Op.8., the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor Op.64 and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C Major Op.56 at Merkin Concert Hall, tix $30.
Also Sat Sept 20 Spanking Charlene play Lakeside, 11 PM. NYC’s answer to X: guy/girl vocals, dirty Americana-punk songs along with some strikingly pretty country stuff. Frontwoman Charlene McPherson has one hell of a voice.
Sun Sept 21, an afternoon concert at Symphony Space, 4 PM Leon Botstein & the American Symphony Orchestra play Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs (he didn’t plan them to be, but these saturnine, often haunting works are among his finest), tix $25.
Also Sun Sept 21 Julie Fowlis, the “first Gaelic crossover artist” sings beguiling, tasteful traditional Scottish songs from across the centuries at Joe’s Pub, 9:30 PM, adv tix $20 and highly recommended at the box office.
Also Sun Sept 21 Miss Tess & the Bon Ton Parade play the Jalopy Café, 9 PM. Contralto chanteuse/guitarist fronting an oldtimey band playing everything from ragtime to rockabilly. Historically aware, funny and fun: she’ll take you back for a brisk ride through several decades that were better than this one.
Also Sun Sept 21 one of the original haunting Southwestern gothic units, Giant Sand play the Gramercy Theatre, 9ish, adv tix relatively cheap, $15 at the Irving Plaza box office.
Mon Sept 22 Kal (Roma for black) plays Drom, 8 PM. Fiery, haunting, politically and historically aware gypsy band from the suburbs of Belgrade. Keenly aware that they’re keeping a great tradition alive in the face of the encroachment of computerized disco and prejudice on all sorts of levels, fired by righteous anger. Could be very intense and just as fun.
Also Mon Sept 22 Toots & the Maytals play B.B. King’s, 8 PM, adv tix $26.50 at the box office. Toots Hibbert was there when ska morphed into rocksteady and then into reggae: story is that his off-the-cuff hit Do the Reggay gave the style its name. Still a vital and intense performer in his sixties, with a huge back catalog of classics (Pressure Drop, Get Up Stand Up, 54-46 Was My Number) and a good band who will vamp on them for fifteen minutes at a clip.
Also Mon Sept 22 Tidawt, an excellent, hypnotic yet upbeat Tuareg desert blues/rock band from Niger plays the Highline Ballroom, 9 PM. More melodically varied, driven by dynamic shifts and less outright haunting than Tinariwen or Toumast. They can undoubtedly reaffirm that there was no uranium destined for Saddam Hussein in their native land.
Also Mon Sept 22 lush, atmospheric female-fronted dreampop group This Reporter plays Lakeside of all places, 10 PM.
Also Mon Sept 22 the Silos play Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM, probably gearing up for a tour. Indie rock legends with a new bass player in place of the late, much missed Drew Glackin but missing none of their usual Americana-inflected guitar fire and snarling melodicism.
Tues Sept 23, 7 PM at Barbes it’s Bob Hoffnar’s Mood Illusion: “deconstructed lounge music, sub-standards from the pre-rock era and Bee Gees tunes.” Ron Caswell – Tuba; Andrew Borger – Drums; Samoa – vocals; Bob Hoffnar – pedal steel.
Weds Sept 24-30 it’s the Droma Gypsy Festival at Drom featuring a whole caravan of good bands, details TK.
Also Weds Sept 24 the reliably romantic, musically sensational Hawaiian/swing/blues/all things retro stars Moonlighters play at 9 at Fort Greene strip club Barrette, 601 Vanderbilt Avenue at Bergen St., 2/3 to Bergen or C to Clinton/Washington.
Thurs Sept 25 Botanica plays Europa, 8 PM, insanely cheap at $8. Menacing, urbane, noir rockers with a fiery, charismatic keyboardist/frontman and eerie reverb guitar, who offer some of the most beautifully anguished moments of transcendent, epic grandeur you will ever experience at a rock show.
Also Thurs Sept 25 at Barbes, 10 PM: Jay Vilnai’s Vampire Suit – “Combining elements from jazz, world music, classical and other musical traditions Vampire Suit creates a musical blend of that takes you from the tribal dances of Northern Africa to the marshes of the Balkans to the cotton fields of the Delta.” Wild, intense stuff. With Jay vilnai -Guitars ; Skye Steele – Violin; Gary Pickard – Reeds; Greg Heffernan – cello and Rich Stein– Percussio.
Fri Sept 26 it’s the Dumbo arts festival with country siren Jan Bell, many others on the bill, times TBA.
Also Fri Sept 26 Junior Brown plays Maxwell’s, 7:30 PM, adv tix available at Other Music. One of the great guitarists of our time, he plays his own custom-made “guit-steel” on which he proves equally astounding doing country, western swing, surf and Texas blues. Plus he’s one hell of a singer and not without a sense of humor either. He’s also at the Highline Ballroom on Sat Sept 27, 8 PM, adv tix $25, an all-ages show.
Also Fri Sept 26 Prasanna plays classical South Indian music on electric guitar plus Hendrix covers, accompanied by a percussion ensemble at Symphony Space, 8 PM, tix $28 avail at the World Music Institute box ofc.
Also Fri Sept 26 (semi) classic hip-hop album night with Black Moon performing Enta Da Stage and Smif N Wessun doing Da Shinin at the Knit, 9 PM, adv tix. $15 at the box office.
Also Fri Sept 26, 9:30 PM bassist Bruce Foxton & drummer Rick Buckler of the Jam are at the Gramercy Theatre, adv tix $29.50 at the Irving Plaza box office. Admittedly this is something akin to the Dead Kennedys without Jello, but Paul Weller hasn’t written a good song in 25 years and didn’t want to tour. And this is one of the alltime great rhythm sections, playing all the classics: That’s Entertainment, Private Hell, Down in the Tube Station at Midnight…the list goes on and on.
Sat Sept 27 there’s another free punk show at Tompkins Square Park, details TK
Also Sat Sept 27 Pierce Turner plays Joe’s Pub, early, 7 PM, adv tix pricy ($23) available at the box office. Irish singer/songwriter who’s something of the missing link between the Pogues and the Moody Blues, a tremendously good singer and high-voltage live performer.
Also Sat Sept 27, charming, slyly innuendo-driven French chanson revivalists Les Chauds Lapins at le Poisson Rouge, 7:30 PM, $25.
Also Sat Sept 27 punk/new wave legend Wreckless Eric – who has a million great stories – plays with the brilliantly dark and funny Amy Rigby at Southpaw, 9 PM.
Also Sat Sept 27 an excellent doublebill at Union Pool, 9ish with the totally punk, frequently very funny Headless Hookers along with brilliant country band Jerry Teel & the Big City Stompers (featuring Jerome O’Brien from the Dog Show on bass),not sure who’s playing first but they make a good, fun segue.
Sun Sept 28, an intriguing afternoon recital, 3 PM at Merkin Concert Hall with former Victor Borge collaborator Sahan Arzruni playing Armenian piano music.
Also Sun Sept 28, 7 PM at Barbes: the Tarras Band, who dedicate themselves to the repertoire of the legendary Yiddish-American clarinetist and composer Dave Tarras. Michael Winograd (cl), Ben Holmes (tpt), Jim Guttman (bs), Richie Barshay (drums), and featuring klezmer legend and long-time Tarras accompanist Pete Sokolow (piano).
Also Sun Sept 28 Ljova & the Kontraband play the cd release for their new one Mnemosyne at Joe’s Pub, 7:30 PM, adv tix $18 a must (this will sell out). Frontman/violist Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin is an astonishingly diverse, talented composer who does a ton of film work and has arranged for lots of people including Kayhan Kalhor. This is his exuberant, classically inflected, ecstatically multistylistic string band with something of a cinematic feel, simply one of the very best bands in town.
Also Sun Sept 28, 8 PM classical Persian music by the ensemble Oumoumi at Symphony Space, balcony and rear orchestra seats $30 which will sell out fast, available at the box office Tues-Sun noon-7 PM. Especially well-timed considering the threat of a Bush regime hail-mary pass (or hundred) headed straight at the people of Iran.
Mon Sept 29 Daria Grace & the Prewar Ponies play their beautifully lush, romantic, oldtime country/ragtime/pop at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.
Tues Sept 30 Jack Grace and his band play Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM, with strippers. Daria, you might want to talk to your husband about this.
Upcoming in October and afterward:
10/1 Frederick Teardo plays the 1830 Appleton Organ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 3:30 PM in the musical instruments section, free w/museum adm.
10/3-4 Stereolab at Irving Plaza, adv tix $25 available at the box office
10/4, 11, 18 and 11/8, 15 and 22 John Scott plays a marathon of the complete organ works of Messiaen at St. Thomas Church, 4 PM.
10/8 the Wedding Present at Bowery Ballroom, time TBA
10/9 the Wedding Present at Southpaw, time TBA cheaper than Bowery but the sound isn’t as good.
10/11 Simon & the Bar Sinisters Lakeside 10 PM
10/11 Rosalia at BAM, 8 PM; on 10/12 at Barbes at 7: superb Spanish-born jazz/classical/all-around adventurer guitarist/songwriter
10/15 Vivian Girls Bowery Ballroom 9:30ish adv tix $10 at the Mercury
10/17 the Ventures at B.B. King’s, adv tix. $36 at the box ofc
10/17 Method Man & Redman at the Nokia Theatre, adv tix $35 available at their box office open Mon-Sat noon-6 PM
10/18 legendary, artsy, psychedelic rock en Espanol band Jaguares at the Nokia Theatre, adv tix $37.50 available at their box office open Mon-Sat noon-6 PM
10/18 Kayhan Kalhor at Carnegie Hall, 8:30 PM, adv tix $36 available at the World Music Institute box office
10/18 Spanking Charlene at Lakeside 11 PM
10/23 Metropolitan Klezmer at Jalopy Café, 8 PM
10/24 Los Straitjackets/Laika & the Cosmonauts at Maxwell’s, tix $13
10/25 Los Straitjackets/Laika & the Cosmonauts at Southpaw, 9 PM, adv tix also ridiculously cheap at $13 on sale now.
10/27 George Usher at Lakeside 10 PM
10/30 Cypress Hill at the Nokia Theatre, time TBA, adv tix $36 available at their box office Mon-Sat noon-6 PM
10/31 the Superpowers at the Blue Note, 1 AM
11/1 at the Knit, 8ish, “3 floors of ska” incl. the Toasters, Pietasters, Hub City Stompers, Deals Gone Bad, Sonice Boom Six, Kofre, Warsaw, The Void Union, Green Room Rockers, Los Landrones, Unlikely Alibi, Jonny Meyers, adv tix $17 at the box office
11/1 Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad at Sullivan Hall, 11 PM
11/6 Bad Brains (original members? dunno) at Irving Plaza, 8:30 PM adv tix $26.50
11/6 John Brown’s Body at Bowery Ballroom, 10ish, $15 adv tix at the Mercury
11/9 the Turtle Island String Quartet plays Coltrane’s A Love Supreme at Merkin Concert Hall, tix $30
11/12 Susan Tedeschi at Irving Plaza, 9ish, adv tix expensive $31.50 at the box office
11/14 8:30 PM Nicole Atkins & the Sea at Bowery Ballroom, adv tix $16 at the Mercury
11/15-16 Rev. Horton Heat at the Gramercy Theatre, adv tix $26 at the Irving Plaza box office
Black 47 dates at Connolly’s: Saturdays Nov. 15/21; Dec. 6/13 and 31st (New Year’s Eve).
11/20 Liu Fang (Chinese pipa virtuoso) at Symphony Space, 7:30 PM, adv tix $28 at the World Music Institute boxoffice
11/23 Huun Huur Tu at le Poisson Rouge
1 response so far ↓
Delusions Of Grand Street ( Jodie) // August 26, 2008 at 9:44 am |
Hey LC. First off, thanks so much for your spot-on and cleverly written review of our band last month. Appreciate the press. And Now I see you’ve listed our next gig amongst other excellent August/Sept shows. The show is actually Monday Sept 8, not Tuesday Sept 9 though….. 9pm. Thanks!