Are you looking for the July-August calendar instead? This one is a little out of date…
Fans of surrealist art should check out Marzie Nejad’s site (she’s rocker Haale’s mom). No word on a show, but stay tuned.
Some amazing, brightly rendered images from now-nonagenarian painter Mayer Kirshenblatt: They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust is up at the Jewish Museum, Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street through 10/1. He’s 92 now, started painting from memory at 73. Some it a little schmaltzy but most of it is not, a sly, exuberant and triumphantly vital body of work.
Sundays there’s a klezmer brunch at City Winery, show starts round 11:30 AM – 2 PM, $10 cover, no minimum, lots of good bands.
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). Free drink with your entree.
Every Sunday the Ear-Regulars, led by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (frequently) 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 July 5, 12 and 19 Stephane Wrembel plays Barbes, 9 PM. The guitarist has few if any equals as an interpreter of Django Reinhardt, but it’s where he takes the gypsy jazz influence in his own remarkably original, psychedelic writing – and what he brings to the Django stuff – that makes all the difference. One of the most interesting players in any style of music, anywhere in the world. He also plays Fridays at Bar Tabac on Smith St. in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn at 8.
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.
Mondays at the Fat Cat the Heun Choi String Quartet play a wide repertoire of chamber music from Bach to Shostakovich starting at 7
Mondays at the Jazz Standard it’s all Mingus, whether with the Mingus Orchestra, Big Band or Mingus Dynasty: you know the material and the players are all first rate. Sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 (does that include tax? The club was doing that for awhile).
Mondays through the summer til September (when it moves back to Thursdays), at the Delancey on the main floor, 9 PMish Botanica frontman and master of menace Paul Wallfisch presents the edgiest weekly music series in town, playfully called Small Beast, an international mix of some of the most intelligent (and frequently darkest) performers passing through town. It’s free and there’s always some kind of drink special or freebee. If you wish Tonic was still open, Wallfisch is keeping the flame alive. He typically opens the night solo on piano, reason enough to put this on your calendar. July artists include Spottiswoode, Kerry Kennedy, Little Annie, Pete Galub and more.
Also Monday nights Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, a boisterous horn-driven 11-piece 1920s/early 30’s band play Sofia’s Restaurant, downstairs at the Edison Hotel, 221 West 46th Street between Broadway & 8th Ave., 3 sets from 8 to 11, surprisingly cheap $15 cover plus $15 minimum considering what you’re getting. Even before the Flying Neutrinos or the Moonlighters, multi-instrumentalist Giordano was pioneering the oldtimey sound in New York; his long-running residency at the old Cajun on lower 8th Ave. is legendary. He also gets a ton of film work (Giordano wrote the satirical number that Willie Nelson famously sang in Wag the Dog).
Also Mondays the free reggae show that used to be held at Rehab has gravitated to SOB’s, 9ish, free w/rsvp to rsvp@jamrockmagazine.com, 21 and over.
Also Mondays in July Cumbiagra play classic Colombian cumbias at Barbes, starting around 9:30. The cumbia world takeover starts here!
Also Mondays in July Rev. Vince Anderson and his band play Union Pool in Williamsburg, two sets starting around 11 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 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.
Tuesdays in July the Dred Scott Trio play astonishingly smart, dark piano jazz at the Rockwood at midnight
Every Wednesday, Michael Arenella & the Dreamland Dance Band play sly yet boisterous oldtimey hot jazz during a brunch set at the Clover Club, 210 Smith St. (Butler/Baltic) in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, 7:30 -10:30 PM.
Every Wednesday in July, 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.
Wednesdays in July the Doc Marshalls play rousing original cajun and honkytonk songs at Hill Country, 9 PM
Fridays there’s live Mediterranean music – Greek- Arabic, Turkish Armenian, Israeli fusion with Mike Stoupakis, Christos Zavolas, Sofia on on vocals, Elias Sarkar-oud/vocals, Kostas Konstantinou – drums, plus bellydancers at Lafayette Grill & Bar, 54 Franklin St., downtown,$20 cover, 10ish, free after 1 AM.
Saturdays in July at Spikehill terse, imaginative jazz chanteuse Calley Bliss and her band at 3 PM.
6/1, 7:30 PM fiery Hungarian gypsy violin duels with former Noir Desir collaborator Felix Lajko and Antal Brasnyo at the Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University, 3 Spruce Street, free, tix required, available after 4 PM, day of show at the box office.
6/1, 8 PM at the Douglass Street Music Collective, 295 Douglass St, Brooklyn, $10 sugg. don. On the bill: 8PM: Negative Nancy (Devin Gray, drums; Aryeh Kobrinsky, bass; Owen Stewart-Robertson, guitar; Jacob Wick, trumpet); 9PM: Carl Maguire’s Floriculture incl. Stephanie Griffin, viola; John Hebert, bass.
6/2, 5 (five) PM Consumer Feedback mix oi-punk, surf music and ska at Cake Shop.
6/2, 7 PM at Barbes Jenny Scheinman & Robbie Fulks. She’s also there doing a duo show with drums on 6/16 at 7.
6/2 Whitetree at le Poisson Rouge time TBA adv tix $20 recommended.
6/2 Koony and Carolyn Eufrasio & les Rasta Bourgeois playing classic 70s style roots reggae at Shrine, show starts at 8.
6/2-7 at Dizzy’s Club Wayne Escoffery & Veneration with Nicholas Payton, Joe Locke, Joe Martin & Lewis Nash, tix $30-35. An expensive bill but OMG what a lineup. Escoffery is part of the Mingus dynasty, Payton the reliably vivid trumpeter, Locke an Olympic-class vibraphonist and Nash simply one of the most interesting drummers around.
6/4 Zikrayat, brilliant revivalists of classic and obscure Egyptian film music from the 40s to the 60s play a highly recommended 8 PM show at Galapagos, adv tix $12 highly suggested.
6/4 the Philtons 8 PM at Arlenes – fun, tuneful purist powerpop band fronted by Phil Costello of Satanicide
6/4 original musical documentary theater with the entertainingly transgressive Eve Sicular’s J. Edgar Klezmer at the Manhattan JCC 334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th St, 8PM: one show only. “J. Edgar Klezmer: Songs from My Grandmother’s FBI Files” premiered to a sold-out house at Dixon Place last year. A musical documentary theater piece based on declassified documents, the show is set on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, examining the life and Cold War time capsule of Dr. Adele Sicular, grandmother of Metropolitan Klezmer & Isle of Klezbos drummer/bandleader Eve Sicular. Combining myriad archival finds, oral history and family gossip, this piece uses theater, multi-media projections, original music and lyrics to investigate the dealings of government agents and Eve’s pianist/psychiatrist/activist grandma. From klezmer to Kodaly to jazz, baroque to boogie woogie to gospel, from Hazel Scott’s cancelled TV show to derelict theories of homosexuality, exploring surveillance files leads in even more directions than the Department of Justice could have foreseen.” Tix $20,info & res: 646-505-5708 (Event #EAYJEK00S9)
6/4 Sxip Shirey, then Black Sea Hotel playing the cd release for their amazing debut, followed by Veveritse and the Stumblebum Brass Band at Union Pool, 9ish, wow, what a good Balkan night!
6/4 Alice Texas, Paul Wallfisch, Darren Gaines & The Key Party at Small Beast at the Delancey, 8:30 PM.
6/4 la Sovietika at Ace of Clubs 9:30 PM
6/4 King Django at Desmond’s 10 PM
6/4 Copesetic at the Goldhawk in Hoboken 10 PM
6/4 9 PM at Hill Country Lil’ Mo and the Monicats play the cd release party for her new one “On The Moon”
6/4 Carolyn Sills and the Poor Man’s Roses at Rodeo Bar 10:30 PM
6/4, 10 PM Rachelle Garniez ( songs, accordion, piano, etc.) will be playing Barbes with Matt Munisteri on guitar and Tim Luntzel on bass. The great chanteuse/raconteuse’s last show here til fall, definitely not one to miss. Atmospheric, sweeping art-rockers the Quavers open the night at 8.
6/4 the fiery, guitar-driven, Oasis-ish Royal Chains at Lit 11ish
Fri June 5, 7 PM at Arlenes – Ghost Ghost playing driving, percussive indie rock trio with a killer rhyhtm section and a dark lyrical sensibility – like early Wire with more balls
Also Fri June 5 at Banjo Jim’s subtly dark, literate pianist/songwriter Lee Feldman at 8 followed by downtown jazz/rock/new music legends 101 Crustaceans.
Also Fri June 5 at Sweet Rhythm saxophonist Oliver Lake and his Organ Quartet, sets at 9 PM, 11 and 1 AM
Also Fri June 5 pummeling, funny, fearless punk-inflected all-female buzz band Beluga at Spikehill, 10 PM.
Also Fri June 5, 10 PM at Barbes Red Baraat Marching Band, “led by international drumming sensation, Sunny Jain, it is the first and only Indian marching band in the States. Comprised of dhol (a double-sided, barrel shaped drum from Punjab), percussion and horns, this NYC-based group plays traditional baraat songs, Punjabi songs, as well as classic Bollywood numbers and originals.”
Also Fri June 5, 11 PM dance party night at Bowery Poetry Club with psychedelic funk/groove band funk Daylow, blue-eyed soul siren Steph White and the NJ Philth Harmonic and the Defending Champions
Also Fri June 5 scorching instrumental rock quartet the Howlin Thurstons - the closest thing to Link Wray we have today – at Lakeside, 11 PM.
Sat June 6-Sun June 7 Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra play 3 sets of brilliant obscure 1920s swing jazz starting around noon at Governor’s Island, $5 cover, kids under 7 free. Also: antique car rides, pie judging contest (rsvp to ladyliston@msn.com), vintage ’78 records spun on 1920s Victor Credenza phonograph machine by Matthew Hinson, junk shop clothes, special literature/ephemera booths and readings by the Dorothy Parker Society & F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, horseshoe toss, tug of war, parade of hats (Sunday only).
Also Sat June 6 artsy metal legends Blue Oyster Cult at B.B. King’s, shows at 7:30/10, adv tix $27.50.
Also Sat June 6, 7 PM at Barbes guitarist and composer Jay Vilnai hosts an evening of chamber works presented by emerging composers and performers “including selections from Kurtag’s Kafka Fragments, and Liza Lim’s Inguz. Original compositions by Vilnai and fellow composer Whitney George include Vilnai’s Pisces for string trio and setting of the “Mourning Song” from Cymbeline and George’s Stained Glass for flute, violin and percussion, and a new piece for oboe solo. The concert features veteran NYC musicians such as violinist Skye Steele, violist Leanne Darling, cellist Greg (Cosmo D) Heffernen, Ensemble AI and mezzo-soprano Fabienne Seveillac.”
Also Sat June 6 Bobby Radcliff at Terra Blues, 7 PM. Don’t let the fact that he’s white or looks a little like Chewbacca the Wookie scare you away – as fast as he is, he doesn’t waste notes and he can take your breath away with a solo.
Also Sat June 6, 7:30 PM tasteful, rustic nuevo acoustic delta blues with AA Bondy at the Bell House, tix $12
Also Sat June 6, 8 PM at BAM Moroccan and Syrian sufi music with the Aissawa Ensemble and Al Taybah Ensemble, part of this June’s Muslim Music Festival, adv tix $20-35 very highly recommended.
Also Sat June 6 soulful, fun, jangly rggae/rock with Three Legged Fox at Arlene’s 8 PM
Also Sat June 6 oldschool purist Chicago blues guitar expat Irving Louis Lattin at Lucille’s 8 PM
Also Sat June 6 one of NYC’s best bands, the ferociously literate, tuneful Jazz Funeral at Ace of Clubs, 8 PM playing stuff from their gorgeously jangly, somewhat retro 60s ep that you can download free from their site.
Also Sat June 6, 9 PM at Alwan for the Arts – haunting multistylistic Syrian expat chanteuse Gaida and Anwar Diab Agha, with another first-class multi-instrumentalist, Faisal Zedan: An Evening of Arab classics, gen adm $15, early arrival strongly advised, this is an amazing night
Also Sat June 6 fiery retro 60s female-fronted garage rockers the Nouvellas and the even more ferocious, Radio Birdman-inspired Mess Around out back of the Loving Cup Cafe in the Cameo Gallery in Wburg, 9ish.
Also Sat June 6, 9 PM Unsteady Freddie’s monthly surf extravaganza at Otto’s this time around features the artsy Commercial Interruption, the tastefully oldschool Clams, the ever-increasingly interesting Tarantinos NYC andthe rockabilly/country Matt Rae Trio.
Also Sat June 6, 9 PM at the Delancey roaring guitar/drums bluespunk duo the Courtesy Tier followed by Your 33 Black Angels who wear their 80s influences on their sleeves, but those influences – 1982-era indie to Violent Femmes to early New Order – are good; the Courtesy Tier also at the Rockwood 6/4, 9 PM.
Also Sat June 6, Electric Engine - jangly post-REM kings of the killer chorus – at Parkside, 9 PM followed by drummer Joe Dessereau’s band 56 Men.
Also Sat June 6 the Back CCs at Don Pedro’s, 9:30 PM. They’re doing all these support slots for the Mummies, so they have to be good, plus they have this evil over-the-top Cramps thing going on. But no Poison Ivy, but that’s ok.
Also Sat June 6, 10 PM Meta & the Cornerstones play Senegalese roots reggae at Zebulon
Also Sat June 6 at 10 PM, funkmeisters Baby Daddy with Irish acoustic punk hellraisers Box of Crayons and blues vets the Joe Franklins at 3 Jolly Pigeons in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Also Sat June 6 “That loopy little country-gospel chanteuse, Tammy Faye Starlite pays tribute to the original blonde wild-child of Tennessee, Miss Carlene Carter. Tammy will perform Carlene’s two sublime Nick Lowe-produced albums, Musical Shapes (1980) and Blue Nun (1981) at Rodeo Bar at 10pm with a band that includes Keith Hartel (bass and vocals), Dave Dunton (keyboards), Mike Dvorkin (electric guitar), Heidi Lieb (acoustic guitar) and Maria McKenna (drums). Songs include “Baby Ride Easy”, “Foggy Mountain Top,”, “I’m So Cool,” “Oh How Happy,” “Too Many Teardrops,” “Born To Move” and a new wave maximum-bass version of “Ring Of Fire.” ‘Twill be a fab and glitter-neon country- early ’80’s eve, replete with leather miniskirts, high-heeled Fryes and maybe even a Dave Edmunds-inspired pink tie. Carlene once famously said (at the old Bottom Line) that she’d like to put the cunt back in country, and well, Tammy Faye surely qualifies as a cunt (in the literal sense of the word only).
Also Sat June 6 Gogol Bordello style gypsy punk with Panonian Wave at Mehanata, 10 PM.
Sun June 7 the Eldridge St. Synagogue festival starts at noon on Eldridge just north of Division St. with Metropolitan Klezmer’s marching unit ?!?!
Also Sun June 7 the NY Scandia String Quartet plays Grieg, Nielsen, Sibelius and more at the Billings Lawn at Ft. Tryon Park, Washington Heights, 2 PM, free
Also Sun June 7, 7:30 PM a free performance by the 92nd Street Y Community Orchestra at Buttenwieser Hall at the 92nd St. Y, program TBA
Also Sun June 7 El Pueblo play dub reggae in Espanol at Shrine, 8 PM.
Also Sun June 7 the self-explanatory, reliably danceable Balkan Beat Box at the Bell House, adv tix $25.
Also Sun June 7 dark, smartly jangly indie rock chanteuse Elisa Flynn at Spikehill, 8 PM
Mon June 8 harmony-driven bluegrass band the NYCity Slickers, 6 PM at Pier 84 (44th Street and the water).
Also Mon June 8 haunting, artsy, keyboard-driven female-fronted pop band For Feather at Monkey Town, 7 PM $7 plus $10 min. They’re also here on 6/18 at 7 doing the cd release show for their new one.
Tues June 9-10 Sherisse Rogers’ Uprising big band at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30
Also Tues June 9 Lullapop at Arlene’s 9 PM playing torchy subtle smart European style female-fronted pop
Tues June 9 hypnotic, original acoustic guitar virtuoso James Blackshaw followed by haunting noir/goth keyboardist/chanteuse Marissa Nadler at the Mercury 9 PM
Weds June 10 garage/surf madmen the Mummies at Southpaw are $old out.
Also Weds June 10 organ soul legend Booker T Jones at Joe’s Pub, 7:30 PM $25 adv tix rec.
Also Weds June 10 Gil Scott-Heron at SOB’s, shows 8/10 PM, adv tix $22 highly recommended. The godfather of hip-hop, one of the greatest songwriters of alltime, he’s back, healthy, lucid and inspired!
Also Weds June 10 the original klezmer revivalists, the Klezmatics at le Poisson Rouge, 8 PM, adv tix $20 recommended
Also Weds June 10, 9 PM Damian Quinones plays tuneful original 60s style psychedelic pop/rock in the spirit of the Zombies at Fontanas’s
Also Weds June 10 at Smalls the haunting, amazing piano jazz group Dred Scott Trio with strings, sets at 9:00 PM & 10:30 PM.
Also Weds June 10, 10 PM Demolition String Band – who remind an awful lot of the country side of X, right down to the guy/girl harmonies, play Banjo Jim’s.
Also Weds June 10 Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. 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.
Thurs June 11, noon, N’awlins piano soul legend and Elvis Costello collaborator Allen Toussaint at Metrotech Park in downtown Brooklyn.
Also Thurs June 11, 7:30 PM Sounds of Taraab at Lafayette Grill & Bar, 54 Franklin St.between B’way & Lafayette, $10 cover, $10 minimum. African beats, hauntingly slinky Middle Eastern melodies and arguably the best accordionist in town.
Also Thurs June 11, 8:30 PM ferocious, funny Sarajevo Balkan rock legend Goran Bregovic and his wedding/funeral band – kinda allpurpose isn’t he! – at Prospect Park Bandshell.
Also Thurs June 11 a killer oldtimey trifecta with three of the smartest songwriters around: hilarious banjo-playing ragtime innuendomeister Al Duvall at 8 followed at 9 by another banjoslinger, the equally historically aware, ferociously literate Curtis Eller plus the adorable, razor-sharp Bliss Blood of the Moonlighters playing a rare solo gig at Banjo Jim’s.
Thurs June 11 & Fri June 12 at 7:30 PM at the Asia Society Wallace Auditorium, 725 Park Ave (at 70th St.) classical Iranian singer Parissa sings the words of the poet Rumi, accompanied by two instrumentalists on tar (traditional plucked lute) and daf (frame drum). Ethnomusicologists Stephen Blum and Ameneh Youssefzadeh provide a pre-performance lecture on both nights at 6. $35 adv tix ($25 stud/srs) highly recommended.
Later Thurs June 11 & Fri June 12 at 9:30 PM at the Asia Society Wallace Auditorium, 725 Park Ave (at 70th St.) oudist/chanteuse Kamilya Jubran of Palestine singing modern poetry from Palestine, Iraq, and beyond (maybe including a Hendrix cover) , $35 adv tix ($25 stud/srs) highly recommended.
Also Thurs June 11 oldschool ska with the Duppies at Otto’s 10 PM. They’re also at Shrine on 6/12 at 11.
Also Thurs June 11 the Flail – one ofthe most vividly melodic jazz combos around, driven by Brian Marsella’s sometimes intense, sometimes witty piano – at Smalls sets at 9:00 & 10:30 PM
Also Thurs June 11, 9 PM Thunda Vida play latin dub reggae at Velvet Lounge, 174 Broadway, S Williamsburg, 9 PM. They’re also at Shrine uptown at 9 PM on 6/13.
Also Thurs June 11 intriguingly imaginative cellist/composer Emily Hope Price at Pete’s, 11 PM.
Fri June 12 Reni Lane plays Esprit (a Costco style downscale women’s fashion outlet), 583 Broadway, 4 PM Apparently there are two other Esprits in NYC and she’s playing them: 6/20 at the one at 110 5th Ave at 4 and also 6/27 at the one at Rockefeller Center (?!?!) also at 4. A mishmash of styles but a little Siouxsie in there, she’s still sorting it out but there’s lots of potential here.
Also Fri June 12, 6 (six) PM frequently haunting, flamenco and Middle Eastern-inflected jazz chanteuse Tessa Souter and her band at 55 Bar.
Also Fri June 12, 7 PM at Alwan for the Arts famed Pashtun musician Haroon Bacha and friends play a benefit for war-torn Swat Valley, Pakistan, $25 cover includes food.
Also Fri June 12, 8 PM ferociously fearless, innovative pianist Katya Grineva plays standard romantic repertoire: Chopin, Schubert, Ravel, Satie, Debussy and more at Carnegie Hall, $25 tix avail, kids under 15 free with adult tix purchase.
Also Fri June 12 a killer doublebill of oldtimey sirens with sultry delta blues/ragtime genius Mamie Minch at 9 PM and then the harmony-driven oldschool country Sweetback Sisters playing their cd release show at the Jalopy Theatre $12
Also Fri June 12, 8 PM at the Knit, Black 47 - whose album Iraq topped our best albums of 2008 list – with the equally fiery Shilelagh Law opening.
Also Fri June 12,9 PM the Jason Rigby Quintet at Cornelia St, 9 PM. Good, tuneful stuff: sax player bringing an oldschool cool jazz feel to his typically groove-oriented explorations
Also Fri June 12, 9:30 PM at BAM Cafe, free, noted oud rocker Brahim Fribgane, with Kashmiri indie alternative rock band Zerobridge opening the show.
Also Fri June 12 smart, tersely literate singer-songwriter Maia Macdonald - with a first-class new cd out – plays at Sidewalk, 10 PM
Also Fri June 12 fiery, literate, ornate Joy Division-esque rockers Ninth House at Hank’s, 11 PM. When we say Joy Division we mean the real thing, not the constipated faux-JD sounds of Interpol or the Editors or their ilk.
Sat June 13, 1 (one) PM popular acoustic Nashville goths O’Death at the Music Hall of Wiliamsburg, gen adm $10, part of that stupid trendoid festival whose promoters are trying to sell badges (which don’t guarantee you access!!!) instead of tix…
Also Sat June 13, 3 PM Mike Edison, author and former High Times publisher (and inventor of the ChroniCaster, a hybrid bong/guitar, performs with his group Edison Rocket Train (including the similarly high-spirited Michael Chandler, formerly of the Raunch Hands and lately of excellent gospel/garage rock hybrid the Lost Crusaders). Plus barbecue at Freebird Books, 123 Columbia St., Red Hook, B61 bus to the end of the line).
Also Sat June 13 smart, socially aware bassist/composer Gregg August and his band at the Fat Cat 7 PM
Also Sat June 13 minimalist dirgy indie rock guy Bill Callahan FKA Smog at le Poisson Rouge, time TBA adv tix $15
Also Sat June 13, 8ish at Joe’s Pub the Georges Brassens Translation Project, $15. One of Lucid Culture’s favorite bands because we’re kindred spirits, both of us trying our hardest to popularize brilliant obscurities. Georges Brassens was and remains iconic in France, a fearless, dirty-minded anti-fascist who fought the Nazis in the Resistance and was a phenomenal lyricist. This lush, artsy noirish band band does excellent English-language covers of his songs, fronted by Pierre de Gaillande of the Snow.
Also Sat June 13, 9 PM a good oldtimey country doublebill with the Flanks and Alex Battles’ Whisky Rebellion at the Jalopy Theatre, $10
Also Sat June 13 dub en Espanol band Thunda Vida and NYC ska/rocksteady legends the Bluebeats at Shrine, 9 PM.
Also Sat June 13, 9:30 PM this $12 garage-rock tripleheader at the Mercurywith Sister Anne, the Dexter Romweber Duo and Detroit Cobras - featuring Moisturizer’s brilliant Moist Gina on bass! – will sell out, adv tix advised
Also Sat June 13, legendary NYC underground power trio Twin Turbine play 9:30 PM at the Bog in Scranton, PA. We don’t typically list shows so far out of town but this one could be worth the road trip.
Also Sat June 13, Plastic Beef night at Freddy’s starting around 9 feat. hilarious noir songwriter/keyboardist Tom Warnick, the John Sharples Band, Liza Garelik and Ian Roure (of Liza & the WonderWheels and the Larch) and funkmeisters Baby Daddy all playing the cd release show for the amazing new underground NYC band double cd compilation Beefstock Recipes.
Also Sat June 13 another excellent NY Gypsy Festival night at Drom with the always killer Raya Brass Band and Zlatne Uste, 10 PM, $15.
Also Sat June 13 delta blue/oldtimey siren Mamie Minch at Barbes, 10 PM
Also Sat June 13 Spanking Charlene - NYC’s answew to X – at Lakeside, 11 PM.
Also Sat June 13 Cudzoo & the Fagettes play filthy funny girlpunk at Arlene’s, midnight
Also Sat June 13 legendary faux-French garage rockers les Sans Culottes at Spikehill, midnightish.
Also Sat June 13, 1 AM (actually the morning of 6/14) artsy cello-fronted atmospheric metal instrumental band Blues in Space at the Rockwood.
Sun June 14 2:00-6:00 PM – A Celebration and Fundraiser for Diane Moser at Central Presbyterian Church, 46 Park Street Montclair, NJ – no admission, but donations are encouraged. Guest artists include George Cables, Mark Dresser, Anton and Nicki Denner, the Mike Kaplan Nonet, the Diane Moser Quintet, the Erick Storckman Septet, and piano students of Diane Moser to help the pianist recoup expenses following a successful cancer operation.
Also Sun June 14 the NY Scandia String Quartet plays Nielsen, Foerster and Grieg at the Billings Lawn at Ft. Tryon Park, Washington Heights, 2 PM, free
Also Sun June 14 violinist Hilary Hahn free at Town Hall, 2 PM, tix available at the box ofc at noon.
Also Sun June 14 , 7 PM El Gran Silencio one of the pioneers of 90s Mexican rock en Espanol with ska and reggaeton inflections play B.B.King’s, adv tix $30
Also Sun June 14 at Spikehill, 7:30 PM smart, haunting noir bandleader Kerry Kennedy followed eventually by legendary noir rt-rocker Martin Bisi at 9:30 PM
Also Sun June 14 jangly, lierate rock/soul siren Laura MacLean at Banjo Jim’s 8:30 PM.
Also Sun June 14, jangly sometimes hypnotic southwestern gothic-tinged rock with Tandy at Lakeside, 10 PM
Mon June 15 , 7:30 PM adventurous Americana-inspired violin virtuosity with Mark O’Connor & Friends at the Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University, 3 Spruce St., free, tix required, available at 4 PM, day of show at the box office.
Also Mon June 15 haunting, sophisticated Americana song stylist Julia Haltigan & the Hooligans at Banjo Jim’s, 7:30 PM
Also Mon June 15, 8 PM a killer ska night with the devious, female-fronted Across the Aisle, oldschool rocksteady/reggae act the Forthrights, the similarly retro Royal City Riot, the brilliantly multistylistic, dubwise King Django, and the Duppies at Trash Bar
Also Mon June 15 Israeli reggae with the Moshav Band at Southpaw, 8:30ish, adv tix $12 (otherwise $20 at the door!)
Also Mon June 15 at the Fat Cat at 8:30 PM the Flail play their really smart jazz songs without words, from ballads to bop. The Heun Choi String Quartet open the night at 7 with a set of chamber music.
Tues June 16, 7 PM singer Jen Shyu (from Steve Coleman’s band) leads her own adventurous multicultural, historically aware avant-jazz quintet at 55 Bar
Also Tues June 16 Canadian klezmer hellraisers Beyond the Pale at Drom, 7:30 PM, $10.
Also Tues June 16 the Delancey has a new residency and it’s called Zeitgeist: in the same vein as the weekly Monday Small Beast shows, the theme of this monthly downstairs event is edgy rock, and this month’s kicks off with two superb female-fronted bands: the psychedelic, guitar-stoked retro 80s new wave Liza & the WonderWheels at 8 followed by the absolutely scorching art-rock/noise/punk rockers System Noise at 9.
Also Tues June 16, 8 PM Painted on Water at le Poisson Rouge, a frequently haunting, genre-bending collaboration between chanteuse Sertab Erener and composer/guitarist Demir Demirkan (formerly of Turkish metal band Pentagram),
Also Tues June 16 Americana/jazz acoustic guitar legend and John Fahey protege Leo Kottke at City Winery, time TBA, $30 standing room tix available
Also Tues June 16, 8ish the amusingly confrontational, punkish Bambi Killers and noir piano legend Kristeen Young at Santos Party House, adv tix $10 highly recommended.
Also Tues June 16, 9 PM an excellent oldtimet bill at Zebulon with the adventurous Baby Gramps, transgressive banjo player/songwriter Curtis Eller and 60s jugband legend Peter Stampfel.
Weds June 17, 7 PM the “Godfather of Go-Go” Chuck Brown at Rockefeller Park.
Also Weds June 17, 7 PM the Manhattan Valley Ramblers duo play oldschool country and bluegrass at the P&W Sandwich Shop, 1030 Amsterdam Avenue, free
Also Weds June 17, 8 PM guitarist Chris Jentsch artfully bridges the gap between jazz and art-rock, loves a big lush sound and is responsible for the 2007 Brooklyn Suite, simply one of the most hauntingly bracing jazz albums of alltime. This time out he’s playing and videotaping a quartet show with Matt Renzi, saxophones, Jim Whitney, double bass and John Mettam, drums at Context Studios, 1 North 12th Street Greenpoint, L to Bedford Ave., $10.
Also Weds June 17 the French Exit play Local 269 (the old Meow Mix space on Houston) at 9 with their new bass player which frees up their ferociously intense guitarist for everything. Slinky noir intensity with an oldschool soul/blues underpinning and a charismatic frontwoman.
Also Weds June 17, 9 PM oldschool ska with the Duppies and then gypsy punks Stumblebum Brass Band at Fat Baby.
Also Weds June 17 Pink Floyd/early Genesis-style art-rock with Igor’s Egg at Sullivan Hall, 10 PM.
Thurs June 18-21 forget about the stupid Points West festival, the Boro 6 Music Festival in Montclair, NJ is a feast of good, diverse bands for a tenth of the price
Also Thurs June 18 Natalie John at 55 Bar, 7 PM. Up-and-coming jazz siren with great band, no relation to Elton.
Also Thurs June 18, 7 PM Bodies Full of Magic play Arlene’s. Catchy acoustic Americana-inflected, lyrical pop from South Carolina. A little earnest but ultimately spot-on.
Also Thurs June 18 7-8:30 PM Douglas Rushkoff upcoming reads from and discusses his book Life Inc. at Bluestockings Book Store, 172 Allen St. south of Stanton: “Documentary filmmaker and scholar follows the transition corporations have made from convenient legal fiction to a dominant fact of contemporary life. This journey reveals the roots of our debacle, from the late Middle Ages to today. From the founding of the chartered monopoly to the branding of the self; from the invention of central currency to the privatization of banking; from the birth of the modern, self-interested individual to his exploitation through the false ideal of the single-family home; from the Victorian Great Exhibition to the solipsism of MySpace; the corporation has infiltrated all aspects of our daily lives. Life Inc. exposes why we see our homes as investments rather than places to live, our 401k plans as the ultimate measure of success, and the Internet as just another place to do business. Life Inc. follows the history of the corporation, the way they have been integrated into our daily lives, and the possibilities of corporate change because of the current financial crisis.”
Also Thurs June 18 propulsive funk-rockers Outsly and horn-driven roots reggae unit Spiritual Rez play the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, boarding 8 PM, adv tix $20 highly recommended.
Also Thurs June 18 oldtimey acoustic guitar duels and tunes with the Plunk Brothers, 8 PM at Banjo Jim’s
Also Thurs June 18, 8 PM at Barbes Sam Bardfeld’s Up Jumped The Devil. “Sam Bardfeld plays violin for Bruce Springsteen, and the Jazz Passengers among others. His latest project is a tribute to fellow violinist Stuff Smith , one of the founding fathers of Jazz violin. Stuff Smith started playing in the 20’s, became a fixture on 52d st and played through the 60’s both as a leader and with such musicians as Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson. He is credited with first amplifying the instrument. Featuring Anthony Coleman – piano; Doug Wamble – guitar and Vocals; Sean Conly – bass and Sam Bardfeld – Violin.” Followed by guitar genius Matt Munisteri at 10.
Also Thurs June 18, 9 PM oldtimey acoustic Americana hellraisers the Woes and then Hilary Hawke’s cd release show at the Jalopy Theatre, $10. The Woes are also at the Brooklyn Lyceum two-stage thing, one assumes downstairs at 8 on 6/19 for $12
Also Thurs June 18 amazingly psychedelic sax groove jazz with the Bloomdaddies, their loops, pedals and effects at 55 Bar, 10 PM
Also Thurs June 18 darkly funny bluespunks the Five Points Band at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM
Fri June 19 sprawling, soaring country megaplex Yarn – sort of a more modern M Shanghai String Band – at the Canal Room, 8 PM, $10
Also Fri June 19, 8 PM lush, romantic, smartly funny French chanson revivalists les Chauds Lapins followed by western swing guitarist Smokey Hormel at Barbes
Also Fri June 19, 8 PM hilarious Spinal Tap-style metal/70s cliche rock parody Wet Coma at Arlene’s
Also Fri June 19, 9 PM reggae night at Sputnik in Ft. Greene with the Brown Rice Family, others, $5 cover.
Also Fri June 19, 9ish monstrous guitar-and-drum-machine Stooges revivalists Dead Combo at Santos Party House, $10 adv tix recommended because they’re opening for the useless but very popular Secret Machines
Also Fri June 19, 9:30 PM noir indie rock guitar goddess Randi Russo at the Brooklyn Lyceum, most likely upstairs
Also Fri June 19, 9:30 PM at Joe’s Pub, Americana rocker Amy Speace plays cd release show for her new one The Killer in Me which is reputedly killer, $15.
Also Fri June 19, 10 PM artsy, hypnotic, trip-hop/pop keyboard trio Mattison at Sunny’s Bar, 253 Conover St, Red Hook, B61 bus to the end of the line.
Also Fri June 19, fiery original rockabilly guitarist/bandleader Jimmy Nations at 10 PM at Hill Country.
Also Fri June 19, 10ish lush, anthemic, Radiohead-inspired, smartly politically aware art-rockers My Pet Dragon – who are reputedly totally at the top of their game these days – at the Cameo Gallery out back of the Loving Cup Cafe on N 6th in Williamsburg.
Also Fri June 19 the hilarious, occasionally haunting 60s country throwback baritone crooner Jack Grace and his band at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM
Also Fri June 19 fun, virtuosic reggae-jazz with the Superpowers at Zebulon, 10:30 PM
Also Fri June 19 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play retro, tasteful surf and instrumental covers of 69s hits at Lakeside, 11 PM.
Sat June 20 the Mermaid Parade starts at Coney Island at 2 – so nice not to have it coincide with that stupid Village Voice music festival this year, huh? – with Sean Kershaw & the New Jack Ramblers playing outside Cha Cha’s on the boardwalk at 8.
Also Sat June 20, 7 PM Vieux Farka Toure - that’s Ali’s kid – plays Malian desert blues at Highline Ballroom adv tix $17
Also Sat June 20 new music quartet Ethel & jazz adventurers Gutbucket play a live score to the Mexican schlock film classic La Nave des Mostruos at Prospect Park Bandshel,l 7:30 PM
Also Sat June 20, 8 PM at Barbes noir/surf/western swing guitar god Jim Campilongo’s Superfine Band followed by the Cuban Moisturizer, low-frequency specialists Gato Loco at 10.
Also Sat June 20 Bonga and the Vodou Drums of Haiti plus African jazz masters Kakande led by balafon master Famoro Dioubate at Drom, 8 PM.
Also Sat June 20, 8 PM Port o’ Monkeys play eclectic acoustic music from diverse sources including Celtic, Middle Eastern and American folk at Orchard House Cafe at 58th and 1st, $15, $10 stud./srs.
Also Sat June 20, Sounds of Taraab at BAM Cafe, 9 PM – haunting Middle Eastern tonalities with oud, ney flute and the most ferocious accordionist in town playing over slinky African beats.
Also Sat June 20, 9 PM, multistylistic, very popular retro country group M Shanghai String Band at the Jalopy Theatre, $10.
Also Sat June 20 at Hank’s, 9 PM Jamie Lyn & The Red Tail Hawk Band play their reliably entertaining original country stuff followed eventually by the really oldschool, rustic Rosy Nolan and band at 11 dark nuevo rockabilly singer Elsa Cross at midnight.
Also Sat June 20 Toussaint Liberator with Buru Style playing roots reggae at Shrine 10 PM.
Also Sat June 20 terse, intense Chicago blues guitarist/soul crooner Johnny Allen at Terra Blues, 10 PM
Also Sat June 20 Simon & the Bar Sinisters play their completely original, virtuosic, punk-inspired take on surf and rockabilly at Lakeside 10:15ish.
Also Sat June 20 Demolition String Band at Rodeo Bar 10:30 PM.
Sun June 21 is la Fete de la Musique AKA the all-day Make Music NY outdoor festival. Since there are so many good acts playing, we’ve listed them on a separate page.
Also Sun June 21 the counterintuitive and reliably fun Isle of Klezbos - who did a couple of Microscopic Septet covers at a recent show – play City Winery, 11:30ish for klezmer brunch.
Also Sun June 21 the NY Scandia String Quartet plays Grieg, Sjoberg and other Scandinavian composers at the Billings Lawn at Ft. Tryon Park, Washington Heights, 2 PM, free
Also Sun June 21, free at Town Hall, 5 PM, the Emerson String Quartet playing an all-Schubert bill including Death & the Maiden, tix avail at the box ofc starting at noon.
Also Sun June 21, 6 (six) PM accordionist Victor Prieto leads an adventurous jazz quartet at 55 Bar.
Also Sun June 21, 6 PM USS Yukonaughtica at Pier 66 (26th and the highway). A spinoff of This Spy Surfs: 10 piece band with horns, percussion, a belly dancer, special guest vocalists and tango dancers playing jazz, funk, surf, Brazilian and tango music.
Also Sun June 21, Tom Hood & the Trailmen play catchy 60s flavored garage and Americana rock at Arlene’s, 7 PM followed by fiery, careening bluegrass act Desperation String Band at 8
Also Sun June 21 country/roots band the Mercantillers at Lakeside 10 PM; also at 6 PM at Clinton Cove Park (55th Street and the water)
Also Sun June 21 Jack Grace’s hilariously satirical Van Halen cover band from hell, Van Hayride at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM
Also Sun June 21 Bato the Yugo plays his impressively multistlylistic Balkan guitar jazz at Nublu, 11 PM and 1 AM (yawn)
Mon June 22, 7 PM at Barbes the purist yet adventurous Michael Winograd Klezmer Ensemble
Also Mon June 22, 7:30 PM cellist Soo Bae at the Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University, 3 Spruce St., free, tix required, available after 4 PM, day of show at the box office.
Also Mon June 22 promising all-female Austin jangle/indie trio Tribella at Arlene’s at 8 PM
Also Mon June 22 one of the greatest powerpop songwriters ever, George Usher at Lakeside, 10 PM.
Also Mon June 22 gorgeous, fun, romantic oldtimey stuff with Daria Grace and the Pre-War Ponies at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM
Tues June 23 at Pier 54 on the west side – recommended with some trepidation – the smartly politically aware, early Joe Jackson-ish Ted Leo and the Pharmacists plus edgy expat Kenyan pop band Extra Golden and the original Gang of 4 ripoff, Radio 4 (who sound nothing like the PiL instrumental of the same name), gates open at 6 but the line may be blocks long
Also Tues June 23, 7 PM at Joe’s Pub cutting-edge keyboard composer/chanteuse Greta Gertler playing a chamber song collaboration with Brooklyn-based indie-classical band Build.
Also Tues June 23 at the Jazz Standard Emilio Solla’s innovative NY Tango Jazz Project, $20, sets 7:30 and 9:30.
Also Tues June 23 17-piece jazz orchestra Schumacher/Sanford Sound Assembly playing songs from their cutting-edge, downright exciting new cd Edge of the Mind at Bowery Poetry Club, 8 PM, $10.
Also Tues June 23, 9 PM fiery, literate Americana rocker Matt Keating plays Rose Bar. His most recent cd made the top ten on our best albums of 2008 list.
Also Tues June 23, 10 PM horn-driven, female-fronted “power swing” retro dance band Ever So Klever at Southpaw. Like the Moonlighters on speed – retro 20s swing, ska, latin – wild, fun, totally unique stuff. They’re also at Fontana’s on at 6/24 at 11.
Also Tues June 23 if the Shins’ decision to turn into Smiths wannabes pissed you off, check out the elegantly rocking retro 60s pop of the Kingsbury Manx at Cake Shop at 11 PM, $8
Weds June 24 ,7ish imaginative composer/violinist/singer Christina Courtin’s cd release show at le Poisson Rouge $12
Also Weds June 24, 7 PM Ian Hunter at Rockefeller Park. Legendary noirish songwriter whose long career included a distinguished collaboration with Mick Ronson and a lot of artsy, Lou Reed-inflected dark rock anthems. Maybe his pal Willie Nile will show up for a cameo.
Also Weds June 24, 7 PM legendary muse/groupie Bebe Buell plays her own perhaps shockingly good powerpop stuff at the Hiro Ballroom, $10.
Also Weds June 24 the Easy Star Allstars playing roots reggae and undoubtedly a bunch of their inimitable Floyd, Beatles and Radiohead covers at the Stuyvesant Town oval, 7:30ish, enter at 1st Ave and 16th St.
Also Weds June 24 indescribable but smartly tuneful and multistylistic Copesetic – with the imagination of a jam band but the smart compositional sensibility of 70s art-rock – at Bar Matchless, 8 PM
Also Weds June 24 acoustic jazz guitar legend Gene Bertoncini leads his Trio at Smalls, sets at 9:00 & 10:30 PM: Gene Bertoncini – guitar; Tom Kennedy – bass; Chuck Redd – drums.
Also Weds June 24 Gogol Bordello gypsy punk soundalikes Panonian Wave, 9 PM at Radegast Hall & Biergarten, 113 N 3rd Street ,Williamsburg, free
Also Weds June 24, 11 PM hypnotic, fun vocoder-and-keys-driven groove/funk rockers Chin Chin at the Mercury $10.
Thurs June 25, 7 PM vivid Armenian-born jazz pianist Vardan Ovsepian and his quintet at 55 Bar.
Also Thurs June 25 the ferociously funny, powerful Brooklyn What – whose new cd The Brooklyn What for Borough President is right now at the top of our list for best album of the year play Southpaw, 8ish , doing the ep release show for their new one, Gentrification Rock with Irish-American acoustic punk hellraisers Box of Crayons and the Warm Hats.
Also Thurs June 25 if adrenaline is your thing, go see Raya Brass Band’s wild Balkan improvisational groove at Mehanata at 9
Also Thurs June 25 9 PM Bato the Yugo & Gypsy Boogie at Radegast Hall & Biergarten on N 3rd St in Wburg
Also Thurs June 25, 8 PM at Barbes the Georges Brassens Translation Project followed by Daria Grace & the Prewar Ponies at 10.
Also Thurs June 25, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co at Otto’s, 8:30 PM. 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.
Thursday – Sunday, June 25 – 28 B3 organ jazz with the Joey DeFrancesco trio at the Jazz Standard, adv tix $25 ($30 Friday & Saturday) highly recommended.
Also Thurs June 25, 9 PM a rare Brooklyn appearance by the JD Allen Trio at Puppets Jazz Bar, 9 PM. With his forthcoming new cd Shine, the terse, no-nonsense tenor player reaffirms his status as a guy completely on top of his game, one of the most exciting and important composers in any style of music. He happens to be a jazz classicist, which means tunes always front and center and his rhythm section (Gregg August and Rudy Royston) is killer.
Also Thurs June 25 honkytonk and south Texas cajun with the Doc Marshalls at 9 PM at Hill Country.
Also Thurs June 25 at Hank’s, 9 PM D.B.C.R. – which stands for Drunken Belligerent Confrontational Rock, a new punk band featuring Jason Victor from Steve Wynn’s Miracle 3 – followed at 10 by hilarious, spot-on metal parody band Mighty High.
Also Thurs June 25. 10 PM at the Delancey a concert in solidarity with the people of Iran, brought to you by three Iranian expat acts. Singer-songwriter Ali Eskandarian alternates between low-key acoustic ballads and a more traditional, haunting sound. Bluespunk band Electric Black are riding a wave of major buzz and it’s real: these noir rockers have the same evil intensity as Reid Paley or Nick Cave at his most direct and unaffected. Headliners Hypernova are on the same page as Interpol musically, but they actually have a worldview that extends beyond their smelly suits (Hypernova probably don’t stink at all). $10 cover; the show will be twittered and youtubed to Teheran and beyond.
Fri June 26 multistylistic, long-running indie band Blonde Redhead at Prospect Park Bandshell 7:30 PM,
Also Fri June 26, 9ish jam band Plastic Beef feat. Ian Roure and Liza Garelik of the equally improvisational, fiery new wave revivalists the Larch at the Wicked Monk, 84th St. & 5th Ave. Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Also Fri June 26 Steven Bernstein’s raucous, wildly popular Sex Mob at 55 Bar, 10 PM get there early
Also Fri June 26 Cleveland surf rock legends Purple K’nif at Lakeside 10 PM
Also Fri June 26 the always fun, romantic, brilliantly retro Moonlighters at Barbes 10 PM
Also Fri June 26 the Boss Tweed Band 10 PM at Hill Country
Also Fri June 26 11 PM the edgy, multistylistic, funny, funk/jazz/hiphop Leron Thomas Group at the Cornelia St. Cafe
Sat June 27 at Central Park Summerstage, free, 3 PM, it’s the Turkish Woodstock. Serdar Ilhan has really taken things to a new level - if you love Middle Eastern or world music don’t miss this one: Istanbulive: The Sounds & Colors of Turkey, with Mazhar-Fuat-Özkan, Painted on Water with Sertab Erener & Demir Demirkan plus the NY Gypsy All-Stars with iconic clarinetist Hüsnü Senlendirici.
Also Sat June 27, 7 PM New York noir rock legend, the charismatic, porkpie hat-wearing, lyrical assassin LJ Murphy at Banjo Jim’s.
Also Sat June 27, 7 PM sophisticated countrypolitan chanteuse Julia Haltigan & her excellent band the Hooligans at the Rockwood, 7 PM
Also Sat June 27 the Ben Holmes Trio – gypsy trumpet, bass, drums – at Barbes 7 PM
Also Sat June 27 Steve Wynn plays the classic Dream Syndicate album The Medicine Show all the way through at the Bell House, 7:30 PM. Several years ago he did Days of Wine & Roses from start to finish; this promises to be equally transcendent. A man works hard all his life, and he can do what he wants to at night…
Also Sat June 27 the Rosy Nolan Band at the Rockwood, 8 PM – with banjo, guitar and pedal steel, they take the music even deeper into the woods with a bluesy edge.
Also Sat June 27 rousing, smart Americana-inflected janglerock band Girl to Gorilla at the National Underground downstairs, 11 PM. Nice to see a band this good and this original get a good slot at a good club like this one.
Also Sat June 27 8 PM the Manhattan Valley Ramblers duo play oldtime country/bluegrass at Orchard House Cafe at 58th and 1st in NYC, $15, $10 stud./srs
Also Sat June 27, the afterparty for the afternoon’s Turkish Woodstock show at Central Park is at City Winery at 9 with Brooklyn Funk Essentials featuring Hüsnü Senlendirici - released a decade ago, their now-classic album In The Buzzbag was a landmark fusion of Eastern motifs with funk, reggae, hip-hop, Latin and acid jazz. With the equally intense, always surprising NY Gypsy All-Starsat City Winery $25 in advance $30 at the door
Also Sat June 27, 9 PM Anna Anabolic of garage rockers the Anabolics burns her fake ID onstage at her bday celebratiuon show at Don Pedro’s, with a bunch of other bands starting 9PMish including ecstatically danceable gospel/garage/groove rockers the Lost Crusaders.
Also Sat June 27 smart, Steve Earle-ish highway rockers the Sloe Guns at Arlene’s, 10 PM followed eventually by equally smart, 90s Brit-style lyrically-driven, tunefully artsy rockers Special Patrol Group. Bad segue, two of NYC’s best bands in their respective styles.
Also Sat June 27 Magges at Mehanata, 10 PM, free before 10:30. All things Greek: drinking songs, dance music, ballads, the original Misirlou, ouzo shots, bellydancing, wild electric bouzouki and Susan Mitchell’s gorgeously macabre violin lines. Only Gogol Bordello rival these guys as a great party band.
Also Sat June 27 the Xylopholks at Two Boots Brooklyn, 10 PM. You may have done a doubletake running into this duo on the way to the train at Union Square: a bassist and vibraphonist in full-body, furry pink and blue monster outfits. The costumes are funny but they play old ragtime instrumentals really well!
Also Sat June 27 alt-country pioneer and hellraiser Zane Campbell 10:30 PM at Hill Country
Also Sat June 27 third-wave ska/soul legends the Slackers on the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, boarding at 11:30 PM at 41st St Pier on the westside, adv tix $25 highly recommended.
Sun June 28, 1 PM wild Balkan hellraisers Raya Brass Band at the Vanderbilt Street fest, in front of 659 Vanderbilt Ave between Park and Prospect, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, 2 to Grand Army Plaza or G to Clinton-Washington
Also Sun June 28, 3 PM the Escher Quartet make their Bargemusic debut with the Haydn Quartet #55, Bartok’s mighty Second Quartet and the first Brahms, adv tix $35.
Also Sun June 28, 7 PM the Andreas Kapsalis/Goran Ivanovic duo play blazing multustylistic gypsy/flamenco/Greek/jazz duels at Drom, 7 PM, $10. Kapsalis plays a 10-stringer, yikes!
Also Sun June 28, 8 PM Martha Davis & the Motels , the soulful belter who remains one of the most vital voices of the new wave era, at B.B. King’s, adv tix $25 highly recommended.
Also Sun June 28 9:30 PM at the Cornelia St Cafe, the Russ Johnson Quartet: Russ Johnson, trumpet; Jacob Sacks, keyboard (from the excellent White Rocket); Eivind Opsvik, bass; Rudy Royston, drums. Royston’s playing, look out! This could get wild.
Also Sun June 28 dark artsy British rock siren Carina Round at Pete’s 10:30 PM
Mon June 29, 7 PM at Barbes the Four Bags’ playful jazz/blues followed by Cumbiagra playing Colombian cumbias to continue the Monday night Barbes tradition started by Chicha Libre.
Also Mon June 29 Botanica frontman/pianist Paul Wallfisch, the riveting Vera Beren’s Gothic Chamber Blues Ensemble, cutting-edge indie chanteuse Elisa Flynn and James Ross at Small Beast upstairs at the Delancey, 8:30 PM, plus free bbq on the roof
Also Mon June 29 alt-country pioneer Robbie Fulks at the Mercury time tba adv tix $12
Tues June 30, kind of a weird setup but a marvelous doublebill at Joe’s Pub. Caithlin de Marrais plays the opening set at 7 PM – the former Rainer Maria bassist has never sung better or written better than she’s doing right now. Balthrop Alabama, who play afterward at around 9:30, have two new ep’s out, one an especially macabre collection which might be the best album of 2009. It’s $24 for both shows and worth it.
Also Tues June 30 through 7/3 Jeff “Tain” Watts 4 + 1 with special guest Nicholas Payton at the Jazz Standard – tix $25 ($30 Friday)
Also Tues June 30, 9 PM at Douglass St. Music Collective: Cowboy (Andrew D’Angelo, alto sax & bass clarinet; Aryeh Kobrinsky, bass; Mike Pride, drums; Jacob Wick, trumpet), then at 10 PM: Make a Circus (Adam Kinner, saxophone; Liam O’Neill, drums; Owen Stewart-Robertson, guitar).
Weds July 1 the Rocks Off Concert Cruise goes Balkan with Hungry March Band plus Veveritse Brass Band, boat boards 7 PM, departs 8 PM from the Skyport Marina at 23rd street & the FDR, tix $20 in advance at the box office or online for extra.
Also Weds July 1, 8ish Tift Merritt plays indoors at Stuyvesant High School auditorium due to threat of rain, to your right along Chambers St. as you walk toward Rockefeller Park in Battery Park City. Worth seeing if her writing has caught up with her absolutely spin-tingling, austere, Linda Thompson-inflected voice.
hey – the July-August calendar is here…
Thurs July 2 Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.
Also Thurs July 2 atmospheric, frequently haunting art-rock band the Quavers 8 PM at Barbes
Also Thurs July 2 the Mark Sherman Quintet featuring vibraphonist Mark Sherman with Joe Magnarelli, Allen Farnham, Dean Johnson and Tim Horner at Sweet Rhythm sets 8:30+10:30 PM
Also Thurs July 2 amazing Slovak cimbalom band Pajtasi, 9 PM at Radegast Hall & Biergarten on N 3rd in Wburg
Also Thurs July 2 Copesetic play the last show ever at the Goldhawk in Hoboken 10 PM
7/2 catchy, jangly southwestern gothic rocker Tom Shaner at Lakeside, 10 PM
Also Thurs July 2 ferocious all-female noise/punk rockers Beluga at Lit, 11 PM
Fri July 3 a free secret show featuring Lenny Molotov at 8 PM plus the Oxygen Ponies at 9 warming up for their upcoming European tour, email for venue/time/password
Fri July 3 Erin & Her Cello doing funny smart songs at Joe’s Pub, 7 PM, $12
Also Fri July 3 tuneful fun reggae-rock with Three Legged Fox at Arlene’s, 8 PM
Also Fri July 3, 8 PM at the Stone a cool avant-North African night with Leni Stern (guitars, n’goni) Brahim Fribgane (oud, cahon, dumbek) Jacuba Sissoko (kora)Makan kouyate (calabash, djembe, tama) Mamadou ba (bass) Harvie Wirth (drums)
Also Fri July 3 the Grand Masters of Gypsy Music at Mehanata, 9ish
Also Fri July 3 bluegrass/roots night at Banjo Jim’s starting at 8 with fiddler Vincent Cross followed by Uncle Monk, Pork Chop Willie and then one-man band Trainwreck Washington at midnight.
Also Fri July 3, 10 PM reggae/ska/dub expert King Django at Shrine uptown.
Also Fri July 3, 10 PM the Disclaimers at Spikehill. Two charismatic soul sirens fronting the band. Fiery lead guitar, eerie organ, jangly tunes and a mix of Elvis Costello intelligence and Radio Birdman fire. NYC’s best band? One of them, no doubt.
Also Fri July 3 the Xylopholks at the Rockwood, midnight. You may have done a doubletake running into this duo on the way to the train at Union Square: a bassist and vibraphonist in full-body, furry pink and blue monster outfits. The costumes are funny but they play old ragtime instrumentals really well!
Sat July 4, 3:30 PM Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley in Battery Park, could be a nightmare since she’s opening for that Bright Eyes moron.
Also Sat July 4 Alex Battles & the Whisky Rebellion at the Brooklyn Museum, 5 PM, free
Also Sat July 4 a killer blues doublebill at Terra Blues starting with Bobby Radcliff at 7, probably playing acoustic, followed by soul singer/sizzling Chicago blues lead guitarist Johnny Allen at 10
Also Sat July 4, 9 PM at Otto’s Unsteady Freddie’s surf rock extravaganza with the Clams, the North Shore Troubadours and a now-rare show by NYC surf legends the Supertones.
Also Sat July 4 the Stagger Back Brass Band - one of the funnest groups in town, sort of the Spinal Tap of brass bands – at Barbes, 10 PM followed by sultry blues/oldtimey siren Mamie Minch at midnight.
Also Sat July 4, 10 PM GO Percussion Ensemble at the Stone
Also Sat July 4, 10 PM Brad Vickers and his Vestapolitans play country music at Hill Country
Also Sat July 4 moody, slinky, downtempo/shoegaze trio El Jezel at Cake Shop, 11 PM.
Also Sat July 4 tuneful, meaningful, hypnotic African roots reggae with Meta & the Cornerstones at Zebulon, 11 PM
Also Sat July 4 gypsy/goth rockers Nanuchka at the Mercury, midnight, $8
Sun July 5 trombonist J. Walter Hawkes and his hellraising oldtimey band at LIC Bar, 5 PM-ish, free
Sun July 5 a killer chicha/cumbia night starring Chicha Libre with Very Be Careful opening at the Bell House, 9ish, adv tix $10.
Also Sun July 5, 8 PM cellist/composer Jody Redhage & Fire in July at Barbes
Also Sun July 5 Senegalese reggae with Meta & the Cornerstones and Philly cult punks McRad at le Poisson Rouge, time TBA
Also Sun July 5 dark melodic rockers Violet Hour at the Mercury 9 PM
Mon July 6-7 Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy at Highline Ballroom 9 PM adv tix $35
Also Mon July 6 fun, female-fronted early 80s new wave dance throwbacks Hank & Cupcakes downstairs at the Delancey, 8 PM, free
Also Mon July 6 tuneful, frequently funny songwriter Alec Berlin at Arlene’s 8 PM
Also Mon July 6, 9 PM fiery, melodic, fearless indie rock trio Cementhead at Trash
Also Mon July 6 the Wallflowers at Irving Plaza 10ish adv tix $30.
Also Mon July 6 Small Beast at the Delancey upstairs featuring Botanica master of menace Paul Wallfisch solo on the piano at 8:30 PM followed by guitar god Pete Galub, pensive European rocker Spottiswoode and then noir cabaret legend/personality Little Annie.
Also Mon July 6 clever, very smart Mostly Other People Do the Killing sax player Jon Irabagon plays a duo show with Mike Pride on drums at the Cornelia St. Cafe, worth checking out what kind of trouble he can get himself into, 8:30 PM, $10
Tues July 7 cantorial metal trio Sway Machinery in the parking lot at Spring and Varick, 5 PM, free.
Also Tues July 7-12 the Ron Carter Nonet at the Blue Note, bar seating $20, tables $35, shows at 8 and 10:30 PM.
Also Tues July 7, 8 and 10 PM at the Stone Myra Melford Happy Whistlings featuring brilliant avant jazz pianist Myra Melford, Mary Halvorson (guitar) Taylor Ho-Bynum (trumpet) Stomu Takeishi (bass)
Also Tues July 7, 9:30 PM at BAM the documentary film The Night James Brown Saved Boston which provides some backstory for James Brown’s free 1968 Boston concert the day after the MLK assassination. Includes performance footage of Brown, plus commentary by Cornel West and others.
Also Tues July 7 Andrew Vladeck’s cd release show at the Mercury 10 PM $7 – Americana/folk/blues, smartly lyrical
Also Tues July 7, 9ish Americana rock siren Karen Hudson at Indian Road Café & Market, 600 W 218 St. at Indian Road across from Inwood Park, uptown
Weds July 8, 7 PM well-liked alt-bluegrass hellraisers the Duhks at Madison Square Park.
Also Weds July 8 the wild Brazilian rainforest dance band Forro in the Dark at the Stuyvesant Town oval 7:30ish, enter at 16th St. and 1st Ave.
Also Weds July 8 amazingly retro, danceable British soul/funk/groove instrumentalists the New Master Sounds play the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, boarding at 8 PM at 41st St Pier on the westside, adv tix $25 highly recommended.
Also Weds July 8, 8ish at Drom tango nuevo with two of the best in the business, bassist Pablo Aslan & accordionist Raul Jaurena with guests Juan Cruz Masotta and Pablo Pereyra, $12 adv tix available
Also Weds July 8 artsy, smart keyboard pop band Heather & the Barbarians at Spikehill 9 PM
Also Weds July 8, 10 PM at the Stone classical metal trio Blues In Space: Edison Woods cellist Rubin Kodheli (cellos/compositions) Garrett Brown (drums) Ben Zeff (guitars)
Also Weds July 8 the Church , legendary Australian art-rock geniuses at Irving Plaza 11ish, adv tix $30.
7/9, half past noon, amazing, haunting gypsy band Luminescent Orchestrii on the World Financial Center Plaza.
7/9, 7 PM the Mark Whitfield trio at the Fat Cat
7/9 Musette Explosion at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.
7/9-12 at the Jazz Standard the Generations Band: Frank Wess and Eric Alexander – tenor; Andrew Speight – alto; Jim Rotundi – trumpet; David Hazeltine – piano; Ray Drummond – bass; Kenny Washington – drums, shows 7:30/9:30
7/9, 8:30 PM the Brew at Union Hall. Artsy pop band, sometimes a little too top 40, but they have some good tunes and hooks
7/9 Heavy Trash (Jon Spencer & Matt Verta-Ray) and Those Darlins at the Mercury 9:30 PM $10 gen adm
7/9, 10 PM Sanda Weigl at Barbes.
7/9 Daniel Bernstein at Sidewalk, 11 PM. The former Larval Organ has run the gamut from punk/metal to lush chamber rock; any opportunity to hear the dark, bleak, brilliantly lyrical songwriter is worth it.
7/9 American Aquarium’s raucous country sounds at midnight at Arlene’s
7/10, 7:30 PM at Prospect Park Bandshell rock en Espanol with Aterciopelados and Los Amigos Invisibles
7/10, 7 PM jazz vibraphone innovators Das Vibenbass opening for fun, tuneful Friggs garage rock guitarist/frontwoman Palmyra Delran and her band who play 8 PM at Arlene’s.
Fri July 10 a free secret show featuring Randi Russo at 8 PM plus Don Piper at 9 and then the Oxygen Ponies at 10 warming up for their upcoming European tour, email for venue/password
7/10 the A-Bones playing careening lo-fi retro 60s garage on the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, boarding at 8 at 23rd and the FDR, adv tix $20 highly recommended.
7/10 Jazz guitar great Gene Bertoncini performs with Ike Sturm, bass; Rich De Rosa, drums; and guest soloist, Sara Caswell, violin at the Kitano sushi bar 68 Park Ave. @ 38th Street sets: 8 & 10 PM $25.
7/10 Turkuaz funk orchestra at Bowery Poetry Club 10 PM cheaper than George Clinton
7/10 at Banjo Jim’s Carolyn Sills & the Poor Man’s Roses at 10 followed by Trainwreck Washington at midnight
7/10 Those Darlins at Southpaw 10 PM $10.
7/10 Delta Dreambox at Barbes 10 PM
7/10 Des Roar at Fontana’s
7/11 the Main Squeeze Accordion Festival at Pier One, 70th St. and the highway, 3 PM
7/11 los Fabulosos Cadillacs at Central Park Summerstage, doors at 3, free.
7/11 a great New Orleans doublebill with the Flying Neutrinos and Brother Joscephus, 4 PM at the F train station at Riverwalk Commons, Roosevelt Island.
7/11 7 PM the Gregg August Trio at the Fat Cat
7/11 8 PM a killer garage rock doublebill at Union Hall with Jesse Bates’ Flying Guitars and the Friggs, $8 adv tix available
7/11 8 PM blue eyed soul siren/lyrical rocker Juliana Nash with Matt Kanelos on keys followed at 9 by artsy keyboard pop/trip-hop trio Mattison at Pete’s Candy Store
7/11 Bobby Radcliff at Lucille’s 8 PM
7/11, 8 PM a killer garage rock doublebill at Union Hall with Jesse Bates’ Flying Guitars and the Friggs, $8 adv tix available
7/11 goth/art-rock pianist/chanteuse Kristin Hoffmann at Caffe Vivaldi 9ish
7/11 the Subhumans at the Knit, 10 PM.
7/11 Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside 10:15ish
7/11, 9:30 PM Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. followed eventually at midnight by another excellent, somewhat more serious country band, the Dixons at Southpaw.
7/11 10 PM at the Stone versatile ska/jazz/calypso trombonist Curtis Fowlkes’ new band Catfish Corner
7/11 this is so beyond barf we had to mention it: it’s Pretty in Pink prom night at the Bell House! $25 cover, music by a real live prom band phoning in all the cheesiest 80s hits ever! Dress as your favorite John Hughes high school stereotype and win an iPod shuffle loaded up with lame-ass John Hughes soundtracks! Somebody please take the band and the club employees outside, set off a stink bomb and lock the doors!
7/12 no joke – at B.B. King’s you can go see the gospel brunch in the afternoon or show up a bit later for Atheist. Or hedge your bets and do both.
7/12 Dr. Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mtn. Boys at Highline Ballroom 8 PM adv tix $30
7/12 Ninth House’s dark baritone frontman Mark Sinnis at Sidewalk 9 PM
7/12 the Flying Neutrinos at Rodeo Bar, 10 PMish. they’re also here on 7/26
7/13 7:30 PM Homeboy Steve Antonakos at Banjo Jim’s
7/13 8:30 PM Botanica’s Paul Wallfisch at the Delancey upstairs
7/13-15 Aimee Mann at City Winery is SOLD OUT
7/14 7 PM multistylistic jazz/Americana violinist/songwriter Jenny Scheinman at Barbes. She’s also here on 7/21 and 28
7/14 Barrington Levy at B.B. King’s 8 PM adv tix $22.
7/14, 8 PM Elisa Flynn at Sidewalk
7/14 at the Stone 8 PM Marika Hughes—The Picasso Commissions. Marika Hughes (solo cello) – a collection of new solo cello pieces written for Marika by composers Eyvind Kang, Charlie Burnham, Dina Maccabee, Nasheet Waits, Shahzad Ismaily, Abraham Burton, Jenny Scheinman and Todd Sickafoose.
7/14 Bliss Blood of the Moonlighters solo at Pete’s with the Tavo Carbone band
7/14-15 at the Jazz Standard Charlie Hunter/Doug Wamble/Tony Mason, sets at 7:30/9:30 PM
7/14 fiery, relevant, fearlessly politically charged Radiohead-influenced art-rockers My Pet Dragon at Trash, 10 PM
7/15, 5:30 PM Brother Joscephus and his 11-piece New Orleans funk/soul band play at Sequoia, 89 South Street, Pier 17 downtown.
7/15, 7 PM, Luisito Rosario y Su Orquesta playing salsa at Wagner Park, Battery Place and West Street.
7/15 tango night at Drom 8ish with the Haffner Tango Trust (Juan Cruz Masotta – Ivan Barenboim – Emilio Teubal – Juan Pablo Jofre – Pablo Pereyra), adv tix $12
7/15 Dagmar play the cd release show for their new cd – dark pop with guy-girl harmonies and relevant lyrics – at Caffe Vivaldi, 8:15 PM
7/15, 9 PM 101 Crustaceans at Banjo Jim’s
7/15 soul/funk siren Bethany Saint Smith & the Gun Show at Ace of Clubs 9 PM. They’re also at Arlene’s on 7/29 at 9.
7/15 the Sweet Divines at Southpaw 10:30 PM $10
7/16, noon, Alicia Svigals’ Klezmer Express at St. Mark’s Park, 2nd Ave. and 10th St., outdoors
7/16, half past noon piano jazz with the Emmet Cohen Trio in the World Financial Center Winter Garden. They’ll also be at One New York Plaza, corner of Whitehall and Water Streets, same time the following day.
7/16, 7 PM at Otto’s ukelele night with Ellen & John Monten, Pride and Joy and Dad, Khabu Doug Young, the Ukemen, Bliss Blood, Os Suaverinhos, Lei Pacifica, Moose Karloff, Sean Harvey, Josh Bisker, David Barish, Newoxtica
7/16, 7 PM Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra plays Sly & The Family Stone at Castle Clinton, tix available 2 per person, outside Castle Clinton, first-come, first-served basis starting at 5 PM day of show.
7/16 Slavic Soul Party at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.
7/16 Greek-influenced blues guitarist Spiros Soukis at Lucille’s 8 PM
7/16 8:30 PM at Sycamore Bar in Crown Heights former Come and Steve Wynn lead guitar genius Chris Brokaw plus Geoff Farina and Pete Fitzpatrick
7/16, 9 PM Brad Vickers & His Vestapolitans at Banjo Jim’s
7/16, 9 PM ska/jazz sax legend Dave Hillyard in a rare trio show at Shrine uptown
7/16 Chicha Libre at le Poisson Rouge 10ish $25 adv tix available
7/16 10 PM Ansambl Mastika at Barbes
7/17 The Sweet Divines and Robert Cray at Prospect Park Bandshell, 7:30 PM.
Fri July 17 a free secret show featuring Ed Rogers and Amanda Thorpe at 8 PM followed eventually by the Oxygen Ponies at 10 warming up for their upcoming European tour, email for venue/password
7/17 Jeanne Marie Boes at Freddy’s 9 PM
7/17 the Larch at Arlene’s 9 PM
7/17 9ish authentically lo-fi garage rockers the Organs at Don Pedro’s
7/17 Ninth House at Hank’s 11 PM
7/17 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars at Lakeside 11 PM
7/17, 11 PM Finotee play sultry psychedelic oldschool soul at Shrine
7/18, 1 PM a free concert at Bargemusic. There’s another at 1 on 7/25 and again at 1 on 8/1. Performers TBA but they all tend to be excellent. No reserved seating; matinee performances last about 1 hour with no intermission. Everyone is welcome, early arrival advised.
7/18, starting at 2 PM the 7th annual NYC Musical Saw Festival at Trinity Church, 31-18 37th Street (corner of 31st Avenue), Astoria, Queens), $10, R/V to Steinway St.
7/18, 3 PM at the Bell House, ghoulabilly/rockabilly bands in reverse order: Memphis Morticians, Psychocharger, Tombstone Brawlers, The Arkhams, The Wanda Jackson 5, The Designer Drugs, Soul Reapin’ 3, $20 adv tix
7/18 Nation Beat playing Brazilian forro music, 4 PM at the F train station at Riverwalk Commons, Roosevelt Island
7/18, 7 PM dark, pensive, smartly tuneful indie rockers Bern & the Brights at Spikehill
7/18, 7 PM jazz-inflected piano siren Elaine Romanelli at Kenny’s Castaways
7/18, 8 PM at Barbes Jim Campilongo’s Superfine Band followed at 10 by the Jug Addicts
7/18 Irish acoustic punk hellraisers Box of Crayons at the Parkside 10 PM
7/18 Demolition String Band at Rodeo Bar 10:30 PM
7/18 Spanking Charlene at Lakeside 11 PM
7/19 midnight-ish the Anti-Nowhere League at Europa $20 18+
7/19 at Central Park Summerstage, 3 PM doors, global roots reggae stars Alpha Blondy & The Solar System, Lee “Scratch” Perry & Dubblestandart Subatomic Sound System.
7/19, 7 PM Frank London’s Klezmer Allstars at Pier One on the upper west.
7/20 Kerry Kennedy at the Delancey upstairs at Small Beast
7/20 Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes, Jerry Butler, what’s left of the Stylistics and finally the O’Jays headlining at Wingate Field, Crown Heights, Brooklkyn, early arrival i.e. 7 PM at the latest highly advised
7/21 newschool Cape Verde chanteuse Lura at City Winery,9 PM, bar seat $15, tables $20
7/21 the JD Allen Trio at the Stone 8 PM
7/21 Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara play desert blues at the Lincoln Center Festival 8 PM
7/21 Copesetic at Lucky 7’s in Jersey City, time TBA
7/21 Moonlighters frontwoman Bliss Blood playing a rare solo show followed by ferocious, intense art-rockers System Noise at the Delancey, 8ish
7/21 8 PM Eek-a-Mouse/Toots & the Maytals at B B King’s 8 PM $31 adv tix rec.
7/21-26 at the Jazz Standard Terence Blanchard – trumpet; Walter Smith III – tenor sax; Fabian Almazan – piano; Derrick Hodge – bass; Kendrick Scott – drums. sets 7:30/9:30 PM
7/21 Tortoise at le Poisson Rouge time TBA adv tix $20
7/21 Kendra Smith at Lakeside, 10 PM - the Kendra Smith, bassist from the Dream Syndicate who did the freak folk thing after that, 20 years before freak folk existed?!?
7/22 psychedelic power trio Devi at Arlene’s 8 PM
7/22 Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric at Lakeside 10 PM – get there early
7/23, half past noon veteran jazz pianist Junior Mance in the World Financial Center Winter Garden. He’ll be at One New York Plaza, corner of Whitehall and Water Streets, same time the following day.
7/23 listed with some cynicism: 6 PM at Pier 54 on the west side, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists preceded by Extra Golden and long-running Gang of 4 ripoffs Radio 4
7/23 Hazmat Modine, back from another ecstatic European tour play Wagner Park just north of Battery Park on the west side, 7 PM
7/23 Ljova and the Kontraband at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.
7/23 Gladys Knight and the O’Jays at Asser Levy Park, Coney Island, 7:30 PM
7/23 grasscore with Slim Cessna’s Auto Club at the Bell House 7:30 PM adv tix $12
7/23 legendary dark rocker Ian Hunter – whose show in June at Rockefeller Park was absolutely killer – is at City Winery, bar seating $30, tables $35, 9 PM
7/23 Erin Regan at the Jalopy Theatre 9 PM $10
7/23 Delusions of Grand St. at Lakeside 10 PM
7/24 7 PM at the Knitting Factory 3 floors of ska: King Django, the Jammyland All-Stars featuring Milton Henry, Nomadic Wax’s African Underground, the Bluebeats, Bigger Thomas, Hyphen One & Daylow, Cold Spot 8, Wareika Hill + others, adv tix $17
7/24 8 PM at the Stone it’s Brandon Ross night starting at 8 with his group For Living Lovers: Brandon Ross (acoustic guitars, banjo, voice) Stomu Takeishi (acoustic bass guitar) and then at 10 Brandon Ross—If God Has Planted This Love In My Heart with Brandon Ross (acoustic guitars, voice) Aaron Stewart (saxophone) Stomu Takeishi (acoustic bass guitar) Sadiq Bey (poetry) Rubin Kodheli (cello) Tyshawn Sorey (drums)
7/24 Black Moth Super Rainbow – the Cocteau Twins meet Radiohead – at South St. Seaport, 8ish.
7/24 at Ace of Clubs a country night starting at 8 with Dock Oscar & the Ambassadors Of Love, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. Jessica Rose & The Highlife and headlining sometime around 11 Alex Battles & The Whisky Rebellion
7/24 9 PM at the Jalopy Theatre eerie deadpan ragtime songwriter W.R. Draper followed at 10 by oldtimey swing chanteuse Miss Tess & the Bon Ton Parade, $10
7/24 the Boss Tweed Band at Hill Country 10 PM
7/24 10 PM Indian wedding marching band Red Baraat Festival at Barbes
7/25 a punk show at Tompkins Square Park with Reagan Youth, others in the afternoon
7/25 Satanicide at Bowery Ballroom 10ish adv tix $12 at the Mercury.
7/25 Any Day Parade at Trash 10 PM
7/26 exciting new music from Asian underground pioneers Min Xiao-Fen on pipa, Samir Chatterjee on tabla and Masayo Ishigure playing the koto at the Queens Museum of Art, 7 train to Shea Stadium.
7/26 bellydance goddess Nourhan Sharif presents a night of classic Middle Eastern music and dance with Mohamed El Hossein & Karim Nagi at Lafayette Grill & Bar, 8ish.
7/26 uncompromising, eardrum-shattering, Radio Birdman-inspired garage punks the Mess Around at Cake Shop 8ish
7/26 the Squirrel Nut Zippers at Highline Ballroom 9 PM $25 adv tix
7/27 La Sovietika, 3 PM at Sudaca/Bronx @ Haven Arts Gallery, 50 Bruckner Blvd, Building A, 6 Train to 138th St.
7/27 Martin Bisi upstairs at Small Beast at the Delancey
7/28 Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co at Rodeo Bar 10:30 PM
7/29, 7 PM Cuban son jazz jams with Químbombó at Wagner Park.
7/29 at the Jazz Standard exceptionally imaginative piano jazz with the Gerald Clayton Trio, sets 7:30/9:30
7/29 at Drom, 8ish, tango night with Tango Fiaka, the Haffner Tango Trust and others, $12 adv tix rec.
7/30, half past noon Australian blueswoman Fiona Boyes on the World Financial Center Plaza, 220 Vesey Street, also at One New York Plaza, corner of Whitehall and Water Streets, same time the next day.
7/30, 7 PM Arlo Guthrie at Castle Clinton, tix available 2 per person, outside Castle Clinton, first-come, first-served starting 5 PM day of show.
7/30 Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens and Burning Spear at Prospect Park Bandshell, 7:30 PM.
7/30 – 8/2 at the Jazz Standard the Freddy Cole Quartet with special guest Harry Allen (7/31-8/2). Freddy Cole – piano and vocals; Harry Allen – tenor saxophone; Randy Napoleon – guitar; Elias Bailey – bass; Curtis Boyd -drums, sts 7:30/9:30 PM
7/30 8:30ish The Builders and the Butchers play mostly acoustic Nashville gothic at the Bell House, adv tix $10
7/30 Jarvis Cocker at Terminal 5, 9ish, adv tix $35 at the Mercury
7/30 9:30ish PM at the Nokia Theatre Method Man & Redman/Ghostface Killah, $35 adv tix at the box office
7/31 Polvo at South St. Seaport, 8ish
7/31 the Vivian Girls at the Whitney, 8 PM
7/31 8 PM the Six Bach Suites for Solo Cello and Beyond, Part 1 – Bach Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello in G Major, BWV 1007; Suite No. 3 for Unaccompanied Cello in C Major, BWV 1009; Suite No. 5 for Unaccompanied Cello in c minor, BWV 1011; Yoed Nir – Improvisation for Electric Solo Cello (A fusion of Middle Eastern and Jewish flavors and influences combining classical and world music) – Yoed Nir, Cello and Electric Cello at Bargemusic, $35, part 2 continues on 8/7
7/31 8:30ish the Mekons mostly acoustic at the Bell House gen adm $15
7/31 Rev Vince Anderson and band at 55 Bar 10 PM
7/31 Band of Outsiders/Certain General at the Parkside, 10 PM – weren’t they the same band, anyway?
8/1 Hawke & Owl and the Flanks playing oldtime country and Americana, 4 PM at the F train station at Riverwalk Commons, Roosevelt Island.
8/1, 7 PM Brazz Tree play fiery acoustic soul/funk at Joe’s Pub $15
8/1 Jennifer O’Connor 7:30 PM at Union Hall $12 She’ also there again on 8/22 at 8 for the same price
8/1 funk band the Rozatones at Bowery Poetry Club, time TBA. Charismatic frontwoman with a powerful soul wail, an ornate art-rock sensibility and occasional Balkan overtones. Good stuff.
8/1, 8 PM Urban Sun play funk on the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, boarding at 7 at 23rd and the FDR, adv tix $20 highly recommended.
8/1, 10 PM, $10, fiery blues guitarist John D’Amato followed by New Orleans style soul belter Jordan Valentine & her band the Sunday Saints at midnight at the Cornelia St. Cafe
8/3, 7:30 PM, Toumani Diabate (Malian kora virtuoso) at Central Park Summerstage, free.
8/5-9 Asphalt Orchestra 7 PM at Lincoln Center Plaza, free
8/5 7:30 PM Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers Large Ensemble and the Dave Brubeck Quartet with special guest soloist Simon Shaheen at Damrosch Park
8/5 Julia Haltigan & the Hooligans at Lakeside 10 PM
8/5 10 PM the Noah Preminger Quartet with Rudy Royston on drums at 55 Bar
8/6 Malian desert blues guitar goddess Rokia Traore at Metrotech Park at noon
8/6 8:30ish Nicole Atkins & the Sea at the Bell House $15 gen adm
8/6 the Boss Tweed Band at Union Hall 8 PM $10 adv tix available
8/6 Tandy at Lakeside 10 PM
8/7 7:30 PM Raul Midon and Rokia Traore at Damrosch Park
8/7 best show of the year – the Brooklyn What at Trash Bar w/Escarioka, Palmyra Delran, Warm Hats and This Blue Heaven. Very cool, succinct Brooklyn What interview here,
8/8, 7 PM at Prospect Park Bandshell Big Daddy Kane (with special guests TBA), plus a screening of the documentary BDK: The Big Daddy Kane Story
8/9, 7 PM Romashka at Pier One on the upper west
8/9, 8 PM the Electric Prunes, a Love cover band and Sky Saxon of the Seeds at B.B. King’s, adv tix $30
8/11 the Budos Band in the parking lot at Spring and Varick, 5 PM
8/11-16 JD Allen Trio at the Vanguard, sets at 9 and 11
8/12, 7 PM golden age hip-hop with Black Moon and Smif n Wessun with a live band at Brower Park, Brooklyn Ave. & Park Pl. between Kingston & Brooklyn Aves., Bed-Stuy, 3 train to Kingston Ave.
8/12 7 PM Red Baraat Festival at Lincoln Center Plaza
8/12, 7 PM the Wu-tang’s’s Raekwon on his Shaolin home turf at Mahoney Playground, Beechwood Ave., Crescent Ave., Cleveland St. & Jersey St.
8/12 8 PM what’s left of the Wailers at BB King’s $25 adv tix, note that Family Man Barrett is not on bass, but they still have Al Anderson on guitar.
8/12 9 PM Stumblebum Brass Band at Coco 66 in Greenpoint
8/13 the Donnas, Pat Benatar and Blondie at Asser Levy Park, Coney Island, 7:30 PM
8/13 Robert Gordon + Chris Spedding + Slim Jim Phantom + Glen Matlock 8 PM at B.B.King’s adv tix $25
8/14 7 PM Slavic Soul Party at Lincoln Center North Plaza
8/14 at Ace of Clubs a country/cowpunk night starting at 8 with Jason Wilder Evans, Sterling Peirce, the Dirt Luck Outlaws and I’ll Be John Brown around 11.
8/14 9 PM Pearl & the Beard at Union Pool
8/15 surf bands on the Coney Island Boardwalk including Reverb Galaxy at 4 PM
8/15 8 PM at Bargemusic the Amernet String Quartet play the Haydn String Quartet No. 14 in E-Flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2, Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 4 in e minor, Op. 44, No. 2. Tchaikovsky String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11, $35
8/17 Tim Eriksen, pioneering string player and blender of oldtimey Americana with the avante-garde plays the Blue Note, sets 8 and 10:30 PM, tix only $10 or $5 at the bar
8/18 Chico Hamilton’s Euphoria at Dizzy’s Club, 7:30/9:30 PM. $30, adv tix highly recommended.
8/18 the Breeders at Bowery Ballroom 9ish adv tix $25
8/18 Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson at Joe’s Pub – shows 9:30/11:30 $25
8/19, 7 PM Naughty by Nature on Shaolin at Mahoney Playground, Beechwood Ave., Crescent Ave., Cleveland St. & Jersey St
8/20 intriguingly psychedelic funksters Buzz Universe aboard the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, boarding at 8 at 23rd and the FDR, adv tix $20 highly recommended.
8/20 8 PM the Moody Blues at the Beacon Theatre $39.50 no svce charge if purchased at the Beacon box office
8/20 Gregory Isaacs at BB King’s 8 PM adv tix $22.50
8/20 the Silos at Lakeside 10 PM
8/21 Mystic Dub play hypnotic oldschool roots reggae/dub at Shrine, 10 PM. Theyr’e also at Sidewalk on midnight on 8/27!?!
8/22 Chicha Libre at the F train station at Riverwalk Commons, Roosevelt Island, 4 PM.
8/22 Jennifer O’Connor 8 PM at Union Hall
8/22 Burnt Sugar’s 10th anniversary show at Joe’s Pub 9:30 PM $15
8/23 los Straitjackets at Maxwell’s $13 adv tix
8/25-30 widely sampled 70s jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers at the Blue Note, bar seating $20, tables $30, sets at 8/10:30 PM
8/27 Jessica Valiente’s excellent latin jazz band las Mas Valientes play outdoors at 24 State St just east of the Shaolin Ferry terminal, half past noon.
8/27 pianist Simone Dinnerstein and cellist Zuill Bailey play the cd release show for their new collaboration Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano and Cello playing Sonatas Nos. 3, 4, and 5, time tba, adv tix $20
8/27 surf rock legend Dick Dale and his 17-year-old kid Jimmy do an acoustic/electric duo show at City Winery, bar seats $20, tables $30, 9 PM
8/28-29 a killer two day soul summit at the Bell House starting around 8 PM , $25 2-day passes available otherwise $15 adv tix per night. 8/28 is the more retro with Barbara Lynn (“The Soul Queen of the Gulf Coast”); Roscoe Robinson (“The Baron Of Birmingham, Alabama”); Hermon Hitson (“The Georgia Grinder”). All acts backed by Eli Paperboy Reed’s band. Reed also is supposedly on the bill at some point. 8/29 features Chicago blues crooner Otis Clay, Maxine Brown (“The Lovely Lady of New York Uptown Soul”) and NYC’s own retro soul harmony sirens the Sweet Divines
8/28, midnight the Live Ones at Union Pool
8/31 Anguila roots reggae/rock star Bankie Banx plays a free show at BB King’s 8 PM
9/1 Michael Franti & Spearhead at Terminal 5, 8 PM adv tix $35 at the Mercury
9/4 9 PM at Southpaw $10 the Sweetback Sisters and Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
9/9 Bill Frisell at City Winery
9/11 John Brown’s Body at Bowery Ballroom 9ish gen adm $15
9/13 the Dirty Three 9ish at Bowery Ballroom adv tix $15
9/15 8 PM Deerhoof at le Poisson Rouge, $15
9/17 Son Volt at Irving Plaza adv tix $22.50
9/18 Groundation play roots reggae at BB King’s 11:30 PM adv tix $16
9/19 And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead 10 PM at the Music Hall of Williamsburg $20 adv tix available at the Mercury
9/23 8:30ish at Bowery Ballroom the Minus 5, the Baseball Project, and the Steve Wynn IV feat. Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon, adv tix onsale 7/10 at noon at the Mercury box office
9/30 Shemekia Copeland at BB King’s 8 PM adv tix $25
10/16-18 at the Jazz Standard the Ben Allison Band: Jenny Scheinman – violin; Shane Endsley – trumpet; Steve Cardenas – guitar; Ben Allison – bass; Rudy Royston – drums
10/21-23 Richard Thompson plays all-request shows at City Winery $35 standing room tix available – this will sell out fast
10/29-11/1 at the Jazz Standard: Go Home featuring Charlie Hunter – guitar; Curtis Fowlkes – trombone; Ben Goldberg – clarinet; Scott Amendola – drums
11/6-8 the Extremely Hungary Samizdat Music Festival at le Poisson Rouge and La Mama
