NYC Live Music Calendar for July-August 2009 Plus Other Events

Daily updates. As usual, weekly events first, followed by the daily calendar. Because we get some of this info weeks in advance, it’s always good to check with the club (see our venues page) to make sure the show you’re interested in seeing is still happening…check out the weekly shows too, lots of good stuff going on! Apologies for the occasional crazy spacing and fonts - Microsoft Word and WordPress still not speaking to each other…

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.

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.

Thurs July 2 fiery clarinetist 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 anthemic psychedelic rockers 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 delta blues/ragtime guitar god 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 Tommy Ramone’s bluegrass project Uncle Monk, haunting Mississippi hill country blues guitarist Pork Chop Willie and then one-man roots 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 in the afternoon Sylvia Gordon of Kudu’s latest project Betty Black which sounds a lot like her other band: sort of a more metal, American Siouxsie with southwestern gothic tinges. At Rose Bar in Williamsburg, starting around 3, free. 

Also Sat July 4, 3:30 PM Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley – the poor man’s Aimee Mann – 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 innovative avant cellist/composer Jody Redhage & Fire in July at Barbes

Also Sun July 5 Senegalese reggae with Meta & the Cornerstones and oldschool Philly cult punks McRad at le Poisson Rouge, 6 PM, $7 gen adm

Also Sun July 5 dark melodic rockers Violet Hour at the Mercury 9 PM

Also Sun July 5, 11ish Bato The Yugo & Gypsy Boogie at Nublu  

Mon July 6-7 goth legend and Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy - whose more recent Middle eastern inflections border on transcendent – 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 keyboardist/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 underrated, still-tuneful, anthemic 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  - a favorite project of the iconic bassist/composer – 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 & bandoneonist Raul Jaurena (who apparently won a grammy – not that it matters, but what the heck) with guests Juan Cruz Masotta and Pablo Pereyra, $12 adv tix available

Also Weds July 8 artsy, moody, soul/Americana band Heather & the Barbarians at Spikehill, 9 PM

Also Weds July 8, 10 PM at the Stone ferocious, atmospheric 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.

Thurs July 9, half past noon, amazing, haunting gypsy band Luminescent Orchestrii on the World Financial Center Plaza.

Also Thurs July 9 , 7 PM purist jazz guitarist Mark Whitfield and his trio at the Fat Cat

Also Thurs July 9 accordionist Will Holshouser and guitarist Matt Munisteri’s amazing 1930s style Belgian barroom instrumental band Musette Explosion at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.

Also Thurs July 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

Also Thurs July 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

Also Thurs July 9 Heavy Trash (Jon Spencer & Matt Verta-Ray’s noirish lo-fi garage band) and then the fetchingly oldtimey, harmony-driven  Those Darlins at the Mercury 9:30 PM $10 gen adm

Also Thurs July 9, 10 PM haunting, innovative gypsy-inflected chanteuse Sanda Weigl at Barbes.

Also Thurs July 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.

Also Thurs July 9 American Aquarium’s raucous electric country sounds at midnight at Arlene’s

Also Fri July 10, 7:30 PM at Prospect Park Bandshell rock en Espanol with Aterciopelados and Los Amigos Invisibles 

Also Fri July 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

Also Fri July 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.

Also Fri July 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.

Also Fri July 10 sprawling  funk orchestra Turkuaz at Bowery Poetry Club 10 PM – cheaper than George Clinton

Also Fri July 10 at Banjo Jim’s bassist Carolyn Sills & the Poor Man’s Roses doing spot-on at 10 followed by Trainwreck Washington at midnight

Also Fri July 10 Those Darlins at Southpaw 10 PM $10.

Also Fri July 10 Moonlighters frontwoman Bliss Blood’s ecstatically fun barrelhouse blues band Delta Dreambox at Barbes 10 PM

Sat July 11 the Main Squeeze Accordion Festival at Pier One, 70th St. and the highway, 3 PM. This all-day festival is an A-list of accordion and accordion-fronted bands from all over the world. Bring a hat and shades because the sun over the river is intense!

Also Sat July 11 ska/punks los Fabulosos Cadillacs at Central Park Summerstage, doors at 3, free. Vamos bailar toda el dia.

Also Sat July 11 a great New Orleans doublebill with the Flying Neutrinos and Brother Joscephus and his big horn-driven band, 4 PM at the F train station at Riverwalk Commons, Roosevelt Island.

Also Sat July 11, 7 PM the Gregg August Trio at the Fat Cat. The bassist is fearlessly socially aware and has a great feel for latin rhythms and soaring melodies.

Also Sat July 11, 8 PM a killer garage rock doublebill at Union Hall with the frequently hilarious Jesse Bates’ Flying Guitars and the recently reunited and reinvigorated, all-female Friggs, $8 adv tix available

Also Sat July 11, 8 PM blue eyed soul siren/lyrical rocker Juliana Nash makes a welcome return trip to her old stomping ground, Pete’s Candy Store with Matt Kanelos on keys, followed at 9 by artsy keyboard pop/trip-hop trio Mattison

Also Sat July 11 fiery blues guitarist Bobby Radcliff plays electric at Lucille’s, 8 PM

Also Sat July 11, 8 PM a killer garage rock doublebill at Union Hall with the frequently hilarious Jesse Bates’ Flying Guitars and the recently reunited, reinvigorated, all-female Friggs, $8 adv tix available

Also Sat July 11 goth/art-rock pianist/chanteuse Kristin Hoffmann at Caffe Vivaldi 9ish

Also Sat July 11 impressively diverse, occasionally reggae-inflected punk vets the Subhumans at the Knit, 10 PM.

Also Sat July 11 surf/rockabilly/soul/punk guitar genius Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside 10:15ish

Also Sat July 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.

Also Sat July 11, 10 PM at the Stone versatile ska/jazz/calypso trombonist Curtis Fowlkes’  band Catfish Corner

Also Sat July 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!

Sun July 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.

Also Sun July 12 bluegrass patriarch Dr. Ralph Stanley &  the Clinch Mtn. Boys at Highline Ballroom, 8 PM, adv tix $30

Also Sun July 12 Ninth House’s dark baritone frontman Mark Sinnis at Sidewalk 9 PM

Also Sun July 12 the Flying Neutrinos at Rodeo Bar, 10 PMish. They’re also here on 7/26

Mon July 13, 7:30 PM versatile, entertaining Americana guitarist/rocker Homeboy Steve Antonakos at Banjo Jim’s

Also Mon July 13, 8:30 PM Botanica’s Paul Wallfisch at the Delancey upstairs  

7/13-15 Aimee Mann at City Winery is SOLD OUT

Tues July 14,  7 PM multistylistic jazz/Americana violinist/songwriter Jenny Scheinman at Barbes. She’s also here on 7/21 and 28

Also Tues July 14 popular 90s reggae crooner Barrington Levy at B.B. King’s 8 PM adv tix $22.

Also Tues July 14, 8 PM smart, pensive indie chanteuse Elisa Flynn – whose show last month at Small Beast absolutely kicked ass – is at Sidewalk

Also Tues July 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.

Also Tues July 14 Bliss Blood of the Moonlighters solo at Pete’s with the Tavo Carbone band

Also Tues July 14-15 at the Jazz Standard Charlie Hunter/Doug Wamble/Tony Mason, sets at 7:30/9:30 PM

Also Tues July 14 fiery, relevant, fearlessly politically charged Radiohead-influenced art-rockers My Pet Dragon at Trash, 10 PM

Weds July 15, 5:30 PM Brother Joscephus and his 11-piece New Orleans funk/soul band play at Sequoia, 89 South Street, Pier 17 downtown.

Also Weds July 15, 7 PM, Luisito Rosario y Su Orquesta playing salsa at Wagner Park, Battery Place and West Street.

Also Weds July 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

Also Weds July 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

Also Weds July 15, 9 PM 101 Crustaceans  at Banjo Jim’s

Also Weds July 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.

Also Weds July 15 the Sweet Divines at Southpaw 10:30 PM $10

Thurs July 16, noon, Alicia Svigals’ Klezmer Express at St. Mark’s Park, 2nd Ave. and 10th St., outdoors

Also Thurs July 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.

Also Thurs July 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

Also Thurs July 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.

Also Thurs July 16 Slavic Soul Party at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.

Also Thurs July 16 Greek-influenced blues guitarist Spiros Soukis at Lucille’s 8 PM

Also Thurs July 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

Also Thurs July 16, 9 PM Brad Vickers & His Vestapolitans at Banjo Jim’s 

Also Thurs July 16, 9 PM ska/jazz sax legend Dave Hillyard in a rare trio show at Shrine uptown

Also Thurs July 16 Chicha Libre at le Poisson Rouge 10ish $25 adv tix available

Also Thurs July 16 10 PM Ansambl Mastika at Barbes

Fri July 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

Also Fri July 17 Jeanne Marie Boes at Freddy’s 9 PM

Also Fri July 17 the Larch at Arlene’s 9 PM

Also Fri July 17 9ish authentically lo-fi garage rockers the Organs at Don Pedro’s

Also Fri July 17 Ninth House at Hank’s 11 PM

Also Fri July 17 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars at Lakeside 11 PM

Also Fri July 17, 11 PM Finotee play sultry psychedelic oldschool soul at Shrine  

Sat July 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.

Also Sat July 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.

Also Sat July 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

Also Sat July 18 Nation Beat playing Brazilian forro music, 4 PM at the F train station at Riverwalk Commons, Roosevelt Island

Also Sat July 18, 7 PM dark, pensive, smartly tuneful indie rockers Bern & the Brights at Spikehill

Also Sat July 18, 7 PM jazz-inflected piano siren Elaine Romanelli at Kenny’s Castaways

Also Sat July 18, 8 PM at Barbes Jim Campilongo’s Superfine Band followed at 10 by the Jug Addicts

Also Sat July 18 the boisterously oldtimey 2 Man Gentlemen Band at Public Assembly, time TBA

Also Sat July 18 Irish acoustic punk hellraisers Box of Crayons at the Parkside 10 PM

Also Sat July 18 Demolition String Band at Rodeo Bar 10:30 PM

Also Sat July 18 Spanking Charlene at Lakeside 11 PM

Sun July 19 at Central Park Summerstage, 3 PM doors, global roots reggae stars Alpha Blondy & The Solar System, Lee “Scratch” Perry & Dubblestandart Subatomic Sound System.

Also Sun July 19, 7 PM Frank London’s Klezmer Allstars at Pier One on the upper west.

Also Sun July 19 midnight-ish the Anti-Nowhere League at Europa $20 18+

Mon July 20 Kerry Kennedy at the Delancey upstairs at Small Beast

Also Mon July 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

Tues July 21 newschool Cape Verde chanteuse Lura at City Winery,9 PM, bar seat $15, tables $20

Also Tues July 21 the JD Allen Trio at the Stone 8 PM

Also Tues July 21 Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara play desert blues at the  Lincoln Center Festival 8 PM

Also Tues July 21 Copesetic at Lucky 7’s in Jersey City, time TBA

Also Tues July 21 Moonlighters frontwoman Bliss Blood playing a rare solo show followed by ferocious, intense art-rockers System Noise at the Delancey, 8ish

Also Tues July 21 8 PM two generations of reggae – dancehall pioneer Eek-a-Mouse and then the ageless, still charismatic Toots & the Maytals at B B King’s, 8 PM, $31 adv tix rec.

Also Tues July 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

Also Tues July 21 popular downtempo psychedelic instrumentalists Tortoise at le Poisson Rouge, time TBA, adv tix $20

Also Tues July 21 Kendra Smith at Lakeside, 10 PM - the Kendra Smith, legendary bassist from the Dream Syndicate who did the freak folk thing after that, 20 years before freak folk existed?!?

Weds July 22 psychedelic power trio Devi at Arlene’s 8 PM  

Also Weds July 22 the sharp, literate duo Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric at Lakeside 10 PM –  get there early because he packed the place the last time he played there solo.

Thurs July 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.

Also Thurs July 23,  listed with some cynicism: 6 PM at Pier 54 on the west side, the fearlessly political punkish  Ted Leo and the Pharmacists preceded by psychedelic afropop band Extra Golden and long-running Gang of 4 ripoffs Radio 4

Also Thurs July 23 sprawling, rustic  Balkan/blues/reggae/klezmer improvisers Hazmat Modine, back from another ecstatic European tour play Wagner Park just north of Battery Park on the west side, 7 PM

Also Thurs July 23 fascinating multistylistic classical/Russian/tango string band Ljova and the Kontraband at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.

Also Thurs July 23 ancient soul/gospel singer Gladys Knight aong with Philly soul pioneers the O’Jays at Asser Levy Park, Coney Island, 7:30 PM

Also Thurs July 23 grasscore with Slim Cessna’s Auto Club at the Bell House 7:30 PM adv tix $12

Also Thurs July 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

Also Thurs July 23 Erin Regan – equally adept at jaunty ragtime as well as haunting, brooding tales from the dark side – is at the Jalopy Theatre 9 PM $10

Also Thurs July 23 wickedly sharp female-fronted janglerock,pop band Delusions of Grand St. at Lakeside 10 PM

Fri July 24, 7 PM at the Knitting Factory 3 floors of ska (plus hip-hop): 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

Also Fri July 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). Maybe if we’re lucky he’ll break out his invention the pencilina, a sort of cross hetween a dulcimer and lapsteel.

Also Fri July 24 Black Moth Super Rainbow – the Cocteau Twins meet Radiohead – at South St. Seaport, 8ish.

Also Fri July 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

Also Fri July 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

Also Fri July 24 the Boss Tweed Band at Hill Country 10 PM

Also Fri July 24 10 PM Indian wedding marching band Red Baraat Festival at Barbes

Also Fri July 24 one of our favorite bands, the wickedly literate, counterintuitive, 90s Britrock-style Special Patrol Group at Lakeside 11 PM

Sat July 25 a punk show at Tompkins Square Park with Reagan Youth, others in the afternoon

Also Sat July 25 Satanicide at Bowery Ballroom 10ish adv tix $12 at the Mercury.

Also Sat July 25 Any Day Parade – who mix twangy electric country with a louder paisley underground guitar rock sound – play at Trash, 10 PM

Sun July 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, time TBA.

Also Sun July 26 And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead at the Williamsburg Waterfront, on the river between North 8th and 9th Sts., free, guessing around 6 PM. Since the space is considerably bigger than McCarren Pool, the likelihood of getting shut out of this seems pretty nonexistent. Here’s hoping they do more of the pensive noirish ballads than the blaring anthems that stop just this short of emo.

Also Sun July 26 the Be Lee Festival at Joe’s Pub, 7 PM: some of this era’s finest songwriters Amy Allison, Jim Allen, Dan Bryk, Kevin Corrigan, Pete Galub, Greta Gertler, Henry Hample, Carol Lipnik, Chris Moore, Alon Nechushtan and others play songs by the brilliant, subtle, multistylistic composer/songwriter/pianist and birthday boy Lee Feldman, adv tix $12 recommended

Also Sun July 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.

Also Sun July 26 uncompromising, eardrum-shattering, Radio Birdman-inspired garage punks the Mess Around at Cake Shop 8ish

Also Sun July 26 first wave oldtimey reivalists the Squirrel Nut Zippers at Highline Ballroom 9 PM $25 adv tix

Mon July 27 the deliriously fun Afro/Latin/Caribbean dance stylings of la Sovietika, 3 PM at Sudaca/Bronx at Haven Arts Gallery, 50 Bruckner Blvd, Building A, 6 Train to 138th St.

Also Mon July 27 Botanica keyboardist Paul Wallfisch followed by excellent noir art-rocker Martin Bisi upstairs at Small Beast at the Delancey

Tues July 28 Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co at Rodeo Bar 10:30 PM

Weds July 29, 7 PM Cuban son jazz jams with Químbombó at Wagner Park.

Also Weds July 29 at the Jazz Standard exceptionally imaginative piano jazz with the Gerald Clayton Trio, sets 7:30/9:30

Also Weds July 29 at Drom, 8ish, tango night with Tango Fiaka, the Haffner Tango Trust and others, $12 adv tix rec.

Thurs July 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.

Also Thurs July 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.

Also Thurs July 30 Naomi Shelton &  the Gospel Queens and Burning Spear at Prospect Park Bandshell, 7:30 PM.

Also Thurs July 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

Also Thurs July 30 8:30ish The Builders and the Butchers play mostly acoustic Nashville gothic at the Bell House, adv tix $10

Also Thurs July 30 Jarvis Cocker at Terminal 5, 9ish, adv tix $35 at the Mercury

Also Thurs July 30 9:30ish PM at the Nokia Theatre Method Man & Redman/Ghostface Killah, $35 adv tix at the box office 

Sat July 31 legendary noise-rockers Polvo at South St. Seaport, 8ish

Also Sat July 31 compellingly jangly garage/shoegaze/surf rockers the Vivian Girls at the Whitney, 8 PM

Also Sat July 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

Also Sat July 31, 8:30ish the Mekons mostly acoustic at the Bell House gen adm $15

Also Sat July 31, Rev Vince Anderson and band at 55 Bar 10 PM 

Also Sat July 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

8/22 the New Collisions at the Bitter End 11 PM

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

NYC Live Music Calendar for June-July 2009 Plus Special Events

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

NYC Live Music Calendar For May-June 2009 Plus Special Events

Hey! This isn’t the latest NYC live music calendar! This is. Daily updates, more as the summer series announce and update their schedules (Summerstage is pretty lame this year; South St. Seaport, the other downtown parks and Lincoln Center Out of Doors  still don’t have a final calendar out yet, stay tuned). As usual, weekly events first, followed by the daily calendar. Because we get some of this info weeks in advance, it’s always good to check with the club (see our venues page) to make sure the show you’re interested in seeing is still happening…check out the weekly shows too, lots of good stuff going on! Apologies for the crazy spacing and fonts - Microsoft Word and WordPress still having hissy fits, they just won’t behave…

 

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 5/10-10/1. 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.

 

Fridays & Saturdays, May 8, 9, 15, 16, 22 and 23, the Woman Artist’s Journey – an evening of plays by members of the Brooklyn Playwrights Collective at the WAH Center, 135 Broadway in South Williamsburg, a short 3-minute walk from the J/M train. Three weekends, six performances, Friday and Saturday, dir. by Peter Dizozza. Tickets for the performances are only $10, only available at the theater box office.

 

Sunday 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.

 

The 2008-09 series of organ concerts at St. Thomas Church continues most every Sunday (holidays excepted) at 5:15 sharp, featuring a whole slew of world-renowned performers. Concerts continue through May 17.

 

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 in May 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 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).

 

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 May the Barbes house band, Chicha Libre plays there starting around 9:30. 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. They’re also playing a Rocks Off cruise around Manhattan on May 15, leaving from 23rd St. and the East River at 7 sharp.

 

Also Mondays in June 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. When Black Betty closes at the end of June, they’ll be at Union Pool on Mondays.

 

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.

 

Every Tuesday in May Marcellus Hall plays Pete’s Candy Store at 9. The former Railroad Jerk and White Hassle frontman is one of the great songwriters of our time, a hilarious, surreal, wickedly literate lyricist who’s never lost touch with his country-punk roots, equal parts Dylan and Costello. Even though he doesn’t write down half of the things that he should, and he knows it.

 

Wednesdays in May Brother Joscephus and his 11-piece New Orleans band play 7 PM at Sequoia, 89 South Street, Pier 17 downtown.

 

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 May, 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. He’ll be off on UK tour in June.

 

Wednesdays in June country/western swing band Sean Kershaw & the New Jack Ramblers play at Hill Country, 9 PM to midnight.

 

Thursdays in May, 8 PM reliably rousing guitar-and-keyboard-driven country act the Basement Band plays upstairs at the National Underground…wait a minute…shouldn’t they be playing downstairs instead???

 

Every Thursday, 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. May artists include And the Wiremen, Reid Paley, Mattison, Little Annie, Darren Gaines & the Key Party, Alice Texas, and Dan Kaufman of Barbez.

 

Fridays 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.

 

Fri May 1 at Barbes – Balkan vocal duo AE blend their beautiful voices at 8 followed at 10 by the absolutely brilliant and frequently hilarious Stagger Back Brass Band - the Spinal Tap of brass bands, with a sensational new album out.

 

Also Fri May 1, 8 PM Americana siren Jan Bell with spectacular Luminescent Orchestrii violinist Rima Fand at the Puffin Room 435 Broome St Manhattan, in SoHo between Broadway and Crosby, $5

 

Also Fri May 1 fiery, upbeat canjun and honkytonk with the Doc Marshalls at Zebulon, 10:30 PM.

 

Also Fri May 1 long-running Spinal Tap-style hair metal spoof rockers Satanicide at Mercury Lounge, midnight, $12.

 

Sat May 2 classical pianist Sophia Agranovich plays a free recital at Bargemusic, 1 PM, first come first served, early arrival (i.e. half past noon) advised.

 

Also Sat May 2, 2-3:30 PM at Galapagos, a discussion/performance “combining sounds of popular music with those of the street and the bayous, jazz changed not only music, but other art forms which borrowed its phrasing, rhythm, structure and aesthetics. Jazz critic Gary Giddins joins forces with American poets Jayne Cortez and Bill Zavatsky to explore the birth and life of jazz and how it relates to the written word. With musical accompaniment by the Diane Moser Quintet; moderated by composer Carman Moore.” $10/$8 PEN members/students.

5/2 5-6 PM free mint juleps at the Bell House. That’s drinks, not a band.

 

Also Sat May 2, 7 PM NYC’s own hypnotic Indonesian gamelan orchestra Gamelan Dharma Swara at Drom $10, also at the Indonesian Consulate, 5 East 68th St., 5/9 at 8 PM and 5/10 at 2, $15/$10 stud/srs.

 

Also Sat May 2 wild, crazy and dark retro garage stuff with King Khan & The Shrines/Mark Sultan at Maxwell’s $12 adv, also at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on  5/1 PM for $3 extra, and at Santos Party House for $15 with “Georgiana Starlington” opening at 7.

 

Also Sat May 2 edgy skits and comedy at Moonwork ,9 PM at the Children’s Aid Society, 219 Sullivan Street between Bleecker & West 3rd, $20 feat. Giulia Rozzi, Rich Brooks, the Carnies, Michael Somerville and Shayna Ferm. 

 

Also Sat May 2 a great doublebill at the 92YTribeca with Christopher Hoffman’s cinematic, edgy cello jazz at 9:30 and then darkly hypnotic, haunting Iranian-American rocker Haale and her band, $12

 

Also Sat May 2 oldschool jazzy ska with Arusha at Shrine, 11 PM.

 

Also Sat May 2 the dark Nashville gothic and ornate art-rock sound of Ninth House at Don Pedro’s, 11 PM.

 

Also Sat May 2, 11 PM unbelievably tight, slightly jazzy funk band Baby Daddy at the Parkside.

 

Also Sat May 2 wild art-punk-noise rockers System Noise at Iridium, midnight, with the talented Michael Isaacs guesting on piano, $10 w/flyer (email noxes [at] verizon.net to get one). By far the loudest band who will ever rock this timid joint!

 

Sun May 3 oldtimey blues/ragtime siren Mamie Minch at Spikehill, 9 PM.

 

Also Sun May 3 the Scott Reeves Quintet at 55 Bar sets at 9:30/11. Their new live cd is one of the most hauntingly beautiful melodic jazz albums of recent years. Pianist Jim Ridl is the powerhouse here.

 

Mon May 4 rock and ska en Espanol with the fiery, gypsyish Escarioka at Mehanata, 9ish

 

Also Mon May 4 noir songwriter/chanteuse Kerry Kennedy  - part David Lynch femme fatale, part Paisley Underground bandleader – is at  Zebulon, 9ish. She’s also at Fontana’s at midnight on Thurs 5/7.

 

Tues May 5 gypsy dance and guitars with St. Petersburg, Russia’s Drago Ensemble at Drom, 8 PM.

 

Also Tues May 5 -10 at the Jazz Standard the Branford Marsalis Quartet, sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $35.

 

Also Tues May 5 -10 at the Vanguard the Brad Mehldau Trio with Larry Grenadier on bass, Jeff Ballard on drums.

 

Weds May 6 the hilarious and lushly psychedelic seventeen-piece all-female accordion combo Main Squeeze Orchestra at the Bell House, 8 PM.

 

Also Weds May 6 the Parker String Quartet plays Barbes, 8 PM, no idea what’s on the program but they’re excellent, $10 cover.

 

Also Weds May 6 the NYU Community Orchestra plays Brahms and Rimsky-Korsakov at the Loewe Theatre, 8 PM sharp, 35 W 4th St., free.

 

Also Weds May 6 lyrical French tenor player Gael Horellou leads his quartet playing compositions from his new cd Pour la Terre at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30.

 

Also Weds May 6, 10 PM John Doe of X & the Sadies play originals and country covers at City Winery, $15 bar seats, $20 at tables.

 

Also Weds May 6, 11 PM at Otto’s – Los Beardos Raviolis, Americana chanteuse/bassist Carolyn Sills’ surf band.

 

Thurs May 7, 6-8 PM at the Terminal Warehouse, 269 Eleventh Avenue between 27th and 28th Street it’s the opening night of a very promising group show feat. the artists Jeana Baumgardner, Tyler Coburn, Christina Gundersen, Rebecca Hackemann, Peter Kreider, Chris McCaw, Trever Paglen, Ryan Sullivan, and Mary Temple.

 

Also Thurs May 7 a night of good bands and ridiculously jarring segues at Spikehill. Hog Trio plays, 8 PM with baritone sax, bass, and drums, instrumentals exactly like Moisturizer, pretty funny too. Followed by the catchy retro 60s psychedelic pop of the Tamboureens at 9, the smart, Hendrix-inflected early 70s funk/metal of Agents of Karma at 10, the retro new wave bass/dums/vox sounds of Hank & Cupcakes at 11.

 

Also Thurs May 7 the Quavers start the night at Barbes at 8 with their sweeping, atmospheric, loop-driven art-rock – watching them do this live, laying down one after another and they playing over them is fascinating to watch. Followed at 10 by new Friggs bassist Rachelle Garniez, who among other things plays accordion, piano, guitar, some wind instruments, is very funny onstage, writes darkly literate songs in pretty much every retro style and has two albums in our best-of-the-decade list.

 

Also Thurs May 7 pianist Jeremy Denk plays the Goldberg Variations at Symphony Space, 8 PM adv tix $30.

 

Also Thurs May 7, 8:30 PM at Symphony Space – Americana rocker Amy Speace and Lucinda Williams soundalike Kristy Kruger, $10 VIP tix available here, save $20 off cover, make sure to mention discount code RNT392.

 

Also Thurs May 7, 8 PM at Merkin Concert Hall –  up-and coming N’Awlins piano jazzcat Jonathan Batiste and the innovative, fearlessly crescendoing  Imani Winds playing the NY premiere of pianist Jason Moran’s Cane plus works by Wayne Shorter and Lalo Schifrin, tix $25 at the box office. 

 

Also Thurs May 7 menacing noir Botanica pianist/frontman Paul Wallfisch and then haunting, twangy southwestern gothic band And the Wiremen at Small Beast at the Delancey, 9 PM.

 

Also Thurs May 7 haunting, sophisticated Americana chanteuse Hope deBates & North Forty at Hill Country, 9 PM.

 

 Also Thurs May 7 atmospheric yet intense and socially aware Radiohead-inflected art-rockers My Pet Dragon at the Jalopy Theatre, 10 PM.

 

Also Thurs May 7, 10:30 PM at the Parkside the darkly literate, smartly Tom Waits-ish Darrin James Band.

 

Fri May 8, early, 7 PM, the reliably tuneful, fun all-female retro garage rockers the Friggs – featuring the great accordionist/songwriter Rachelle Garniez on bass – followed by the Chrome Cranks reunion show at Santos Party House, $15. The Chrome Cranks are also at Glasslands on 5/15. This is a big deal in NYC rock history, arguably the most ferocious of the noir, bluesy LES bands of the early 90s back together again with all the original members and reputedly as darkly snarling and intense as ever.

 

Also Fri May 8, 7 PM the Open Music Ensemble, a cooperative of improvising acoustic musicians, presents their fourth and final “Musical Meditation” from 7-9 PM at Tibet House, 22 West 15th St.. “The evening program will begin in silence. After a brief introduction to meditation, members of the audience will be invited to place their attention on the sounds and silences created for the group by the Ensemble, or to engage in any other quiet practice they might prefer, such as yoga or movement, while the musicians perform. After the musicians have finished playing there will be a short period of silence after which the participants will be invited to share their experiences with others present. The program is open to beginning, intermediate, or advanced meditators [question - if you fall asleep does that indicate a high degree of advancement?]. There is a requested donation for this portion of the evening in the amount of $10.  If planning to attend kindly RSVP by phone M-F 10 AM – 5 PM to Tibet House at 212-807-0563.”

 

Also Fri May 8 more good stuff (and awful segues) at Spikehill starting at 8 with the Royal Chains’ Oasis-style anthemic 90s guitar-driven Britrock, followed eventually at 11 by Tall Tall Trees which is a bunch of jazz guys playing country, pretty well and then epic violin-and-driven art-rock band Igor’s Egg at midnight

 

Fri, May 8, 9 PM the McCarron Brothers cd release party at Nublu: guitarist Mark McCarron, saxophonist Paul Carlon, bassist Doug Largent and drummer Russ Meissner: “urban and rural American styles through the compositional talents of McCarron and Carlon, and through choice covers of great songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Wayne Shorter, and Radiohead.”

 

Also Fri May 8 devious vocoder-and-keys groove/soul/funk band Chin Chin at Union Pool, 10ish, $10.

 

Also Fri May 8  ghoulabilly with the Memphis Morticians at Maxwell’s, 10ish, $10.

 

Also Fri May 8, 10 PM the encyclopedically and brilliantly retro Carolyn Sills plays solo – on bass? at Pete’s – could be anything from country to swing to surf.

 

Also Fri May 8 at Small’s 10:30 PM and midnight – Jay Collins and The Kings County Band. check out this lineup: Jay Collins – Tenor Sax , Dred Scott – Piano , Scott Sharrard – Guitar , Jeff Hanley – Bass , Diego Voglino – Drums , Moses Patrou – Percussion.

 

Sat May 9, 3 (three) PM purist jazz/blues chanteuse Calley Bliss with her band at Spikehill. She’s also here on 5/16.  Demander eventually play at 10 – female-fronted guitar band that veers in and out of focus with occasional noir tinges that they ought to pursue more deeply.

 

Also Sat May 9 Neil la Bute and cast members from Reasons to Be Pretty conduct a perfornance/discussion at Borders Books & Music, Columbus Circle, 2nd Floor, 5 PM.

 

Also Sat May 9 guitarist to the stars Homeboy Steve Antonakos plays hiw own clever Americana-inflected stuff at Banjo Jim’s, 7 PM

 

Sat May 9 at 7:30pm in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, the world premiere of Niña Dance by pioneering violist/composer Ljova Zhurbin. The program also features new vocal cycles by Paola Prestini, Matti Kovler, and David T. Little.  “Niña Dance features the Argentine jazz vocalist Sofia Rei Koutsovitis, and scored for a chamber ensemble comprised of trumpet, guitar, accordion, two percussionists, laptop, and Zhurbin performing on the 6-string “famiola”. It is a meditation on the disappearance of women & children in Juárez, Mexico, the poverty and drug-ridden border town, a tribute to victims of femicide throughout history.”

 

Also Sat May 9 sharply literate, ferociously funny songwriter Joe Pug at the Bell House, $12, 7:30 PM. He’s also at Joe’s Pub at the same hour on 5/12.

 

Sat May 9, 8 PM deviously multistylistic, sometimes intense, sometimes sultry art-rock keyboard goddess Greta Gertler opens for another equally devious art-rock band, Pierre de Gaillande’s dark, rustic The Snow who play at 9.  She’s also at City Winery on May 10 at 9 opening for fellow artsy, politically aware Australian David Bridie (whose rock stuff sounds like vintage Midnight Oil!).

 

Also Sat May 9, 8 PM Paul Zunno (ex Wilson Pickett lead guitarist) plays acoustic blues at Roy Arias Theater Center, 300 West 43rd Street at 8th Ave, $10.

 

Also Sat May 9 Persian jazz with Cyminology - Cymin Samawatie (vocals) Benedikt Jahnel (piano) Ralf Schwarz (bass) Ketan Bhatti (drums) – playing compositions from their new CD, As Ney at 9 at Alwan for the Arts

 

Also Sat May 9, 10 PM Anguile & the High Steppers play hypnotic, smart, 1970’s style Francophone roots reggae at Shrine.

 

Also Sat May 9, 10 PM  intricately jangly, lushly psychedelic, sharply literate 60s throwbacks Love Camp 7 followed at midnight  by the LMFAO cover band from hell, Rawles Balls at the Parkside. Love Camp are also at Southpaw on 5/20 at 8 PM for $7.

 

Also Sat May 9 second-wave garage and classic 1976-era pub rock with Eddie and The Hot Rods at Maxwell’s, time TBA, midnight-ish, $12 adv.

 

Also Sat May 9 Tammy Faye Starlite’s hilariously obscene, politically aware Stones cover band the Mike Hunt Band at Lakeside, 11 PM.

 

Also Sat May 9, 11 PM Gaucho, the Bay Area’s #1 gypsy band are back in Brooklyn at Pete’s. They absolutely slayed earlier this year at Barbes.

 

Sun May 10, 7 PM at Barbes – The Three Sopranos – Judith Berkson, Allyssa Lamb and Emily Hurst (from las Rubias del Norte) return to their roots singing  motets by Palestrina, Lassus and Josquin, songs by Schubert, Elizabethan rounds and airs, Hebrew chant, and new works written for the three singers. Followed at 10 by the reliably astonishing and increasingly psychedelic gypsy guitar genius Stephane Wrembel.

 

Also Sun May 10, 8:15 PM at Otto’s Paranoid Larry & His Imaginary Band who are actually anything but paranoid or imaginary and have a great new snide, cynical political tune on the new Beefstock anthology cd.

 

Mon May 11 hypnotic ambient instrumental soundscapes by 5707 at Spikehill at 8 followed at 9 by Matt Wigton and his melodic, catchy Budos Band-style jazz compositions and then the Douglas Bradford Group’s playful, exploratory, Ralph Alessi-inflected guitar-and-tenor jazz.

 

Also Mon May 11 Will Scott plays his hypnotic, fiery Mississippi hill country guitar blues at LIC Bar, 8 PM, 45-58 Vernon Blvd, LIC, Queens. He’s also at Two Boots Brooklyn on May 16 at 10.

 

Tues May 12 Letizia Romiti of Turin Italy plays the organ at Central Synagogue, half past noon, free.

 

Also Tues May 12 a songwriter circle with three of the best: Mary Lee Kortes, Amanda Thorpe and Tom Clark at the National Underground, 8 PM. The former gets props for her unearthly powerful voice but is also a brilliant lyricist and tunesmith, whether writing Americana or any number of other styles; Thorpe alternates between moody Britfolk and a cerebral jazziness; Clark is one of the great rock guitarslingers around and writes a mean tune as well. 

 

Also Tues May 12 multistylistic violin jazz/Americana composer/singer Jenny Scheinman is Barbes, 7 PM followed by Slavic Soul Party at 9 for a $10 cover.

 

Also Tues May 12-17 at the Vanguard the Bill Frisell Trio with Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums. Just the basics, the loop pedal, a great room and you.

 

Also Tues May 12  Federico Aubele playing swinging, reggae-inflected, electrified tangos and boleros from his new cd Amatoria at Joes Pub, 9:30 PM, $16 adv tix highly recommended.

 

Also Tues May 12 Erin Regan at Sidewalk, 10 PM. Terse, vividly imagistic, brilliantly literate lyricist, strong singer, and just when you think that everything she writes is in some way a portrait of clinical depression, she’ll hit you upside the head with a jaunty, fun ragtime song.

 

Weds May 13 best band name/concept: the Ludes, a Carpenters cover band at Kenny’s Castaways.

 

Also Weds May 13 the Harlem Parlour Music Club which is a bunch of A-list players doing an acoustic blend of Applachian music crossed with vintage 60s soul. Members include Mary Lee Kortes, Ann Klein and Andy Burton. At the recently reopened Village Underground, 130 W 3rd St., 8 PM.

 

Also Weds May 13 Blue Number Nine play horn-driven funk with lush soul harmonies at R Bar, 8 PM.

 

Weds May 13 at Spikehill hellraising female-fronted country bands starting at 9 with the Hillary Hawk Band, the Rosy Nolan Band at 10 and then Serena Jean at 11.

 

Also Weds May 13 at le Poisson Rouge ,7:30 PM Lady Gag’s Haitian-American violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) does his starkly atmospheric trip-hop instrumental thing, $15.

 

Also Weds May 13 the French Exit at 9:30ish at Local 269, 269 E Houston at Suffolk (the old Meow Mix space). With distant echoes of avenging blues abgels like Bessie Smith, this smoldering noir trio deliver pitchblende intensity with goth-ish keys and eerie reverb guitar.

 

Thurs May 14 Vlada Tomova’s Balkan Tales at Trinity Church, 1 PM.

 

Also Thursday May 14 Fernández-Guy-López which is Agustí Fernández – piano, Barry Guy – bass, Ramón López – drums putting an imaginative Catalan spin on jazz at the Jazz Standard, $20, sets 7:30/9:30.

 

Also Thurs May 14, 8 PM at Banjo Jim’s an excellent bill with three compelling acts bending oldtimey sounds and instrumentation with the here-and-now. Robin Aigner writes smashingly literate period-perfect songs, knows her history and has a period-perfect voice to match. Curtis Eller is a wild, physically intense performer, also with a wicked lyricism and an absolutely unforgiving memory for all things fascist. Thinguma Jigsaw who play at 10 do ominous and ccaptivating, rustic-tinged things with banjo and musical saw.  

 

Also Thurs May 14 at Spikehill at 8 PM Lily Claire Nussbaum, who does captivating jazz-inflected nuevo-pop similar to the Secret History followed eventually at 10 by smoky, potently literate up-and-coming jazz/soul star Natalie John and her talented band.

 

Also Thurs May 14 blues guitarist Spiros Soukis, equally influenced by late 60s British blues and his own Greek heritage  at Lucille’s, 8 PM

 

Also Thurs May 14 the always surprising Botanica frontman Paul Wallfisch, smart retro-pop keyboard stylists Mattison and the ferocious, fearless noir force of nature Reid Paley at Small Beast at the Delancey, upstairs, 9 PM.

 

Also Thursday May 14 Die Pretty play fun, chirpy female-fronted bubblegum punk at R Bar, 10 PM.

 

Also Thurs May 14 the Damned at Irving Plaza, 10ish, adv tix $29 at the box office. No idea who’s left, which version (the punks, the goths or the lame pop banfdthey were at the very end back in the mid-80s) or how much they have left in the tank.

 

Also Thurs May 14 veteran indie Americana rockers the Silos – who’ve had Roscoe Ambel on guitar lately – at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Also Thurs May 14 alt-country/Americana siren Jan Bell at Barbes, 8 PM.

 

Also Thurs May 14 the Howlin Thurstons play fiery surf music and Link Wray-influenced instrumentals at Lakeside, 10 PM.

 

Fri May 15 the world’s best chicha band (there, we said it) Chicha Libre plays the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, leaving at 7 sharp from 23rd St. and the FDR, adv tix $20 absolutely necessary, this will sell out.

 

Also Fri May 15, 7 PM pioneering string ensembles the Knights (celebrating the release of a live DVD of Beethoven’s Pastorale Symphony) and Brooklyn Rider play Osvaldo Golijov’s “She Was Here”, as well as music by Beethoven, Ives, Glass and Schubert. Hosted by Fred Child of Performance Today. Free, at the Angel Orensanz Foundation (Norfolk betw. Houston/Stanton), early arrival advised.

 

Also Fri May 15 the OAM trio with Aaron Goldberg – piano, Omer Avital – double bass and Marc Miralta on drums at the Jazz Standard, sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $20.

 

Also Fri May 15, 7:30 PM Vanessa Fadial, piano, plays Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Schoenberg at the Third St. Music School Settlement, free.

 

Also Fri May 15 terse, soulful blues guitarist Irving Louis Lattin at Lucille’s, 8 PM.

 

Also Fri May 15 the Grand Masters of Gypsy Music at Mehanata, 9 PM. They’re also here on 5/29.

 

Also Fri May 15, 10 PM, spectacular, wrenchingly potent yet very subtle Syrian song stylist Gaida and her Ensemble play what they call “Levantine Indulgence,” i.e habibi music with an edge with special guest Liz Longley at Bowery Poetry Club, $12 adv tix highly rec.

 

Also Fri May 15  This Spy Surfs play subtle, intriguing surf, spy and movie theme-style guitar instrumentals at 10 PM at Lucky Mojos, 514 51st Ave., Long Island City, Queens, 7 to Vernon-Jackson Aves.

 

Also Fri May 15-16 the Yosvany Terry Big Band at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30.

 

Also Fri May 15, 9 PM Buffalo play virtuosic grasscore and quieter acoustic Americana at Shrine

 

Also Fri May 15-16 second-wave ska with what’s left of iconic punk-era British band the English Beat at Maxwell’s, 10ish, $25. You know, Mirror in the Bathroom, Save It for Later etc.

 

Also Fri May 15 roots reggae with International Generation at Coco 66, 10 PM.

 

Also Fri May 15 oldtimey guitar god Lenny Molotov at Sidewalk, 10 PM doing ferociously smart, literate originals, classic delta blues and songs about baseball and boxing.

 

Also Fri May 15, 10:30 PM at le Poisson Rouge – Slavic Soul Party and Scott Kettner’s Forro Brass Band, $15 adv tix very highly recommended.

 

Also Fri May 15 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play tasteful classic and obscure surf songs and instrumental versions of iconic 60s pop hits at Lakeside, 11 PM.

 

Sat May 16 at Spikehill jazz chanteuse Calley Bliss at 3 with her band followed eventually at 10 by noise-rockers Reminbi who rip off every conceivable 80s band from Sonic Youth to the Cure but do it energetically and entertainingly.

 

Also Sat May 16 powerful, fearless blue-eyed soul siren and incorrigible extrovert Meg Braun plays the cd release show for her new one at Kenny’s Castaways, 7 PM.

 

Also Sat May 16 the astonishingly spot-on retro 60s country and occasionally haunting, Waits-ish sounds of the Jack Grace Band at Joe’s Pub, 7:30 PM, $15. They’re also at Barbes on 5/22 at 10.

 

Also Sat May 16 the eerie and intense “new flamenco sound”  with the Chano Domínguez Quartet at the Jazz Standard with Chano Domínguez – piano; Blas Córdoba – cantaor; Israel Suárez, Piraña – cajón; Tomasito – dance and palmas, sets at 7:30 & 9:30 PM, $30.

 

Also Sat May 16 and 23 virtuoso blues axemeister Bobby Radcliff – who sounds nothing like Eric Clapton –  at Lucille’s, 8 PM.

 

Also Sat May 16, 8 PM at Bargemusic, repeating May 17 at 3 PM – the Haydn String Quartet No. 43 in G Major, Ravel Sonata for Violin and Cello and Beethoven String Quartet No. 4 in Cm played by Mark Peskanov, Violin; Andy Simionescu, Violin; Dimitri Murrath, Viola; Matt Haimovitz, Cello, $35 adv tix advised as this may sell out. 

 

Also Sat May 16, 8 PM at the Stone: the ethereal, lushly atmospheric Metal Mountains feat. Helen Rush (vocals, guitar) Samara Lubelski (violin, bass) Pat Gubler (guitar), $5.

 

Also Sat May 16, 8:45 PM wild, scorching, retro garage punk in the style of Radio Birdman with the Mess Around at Trash, followed eventually by the equally soulful, slighty quieter garage/gospel Lost Crusaders at midnight .

 

Also Sat May 16 New York’s most ferociously smart, funniest new band, the punk-inflected, multistylistic, mischievous Brooklyn What at Mehanata, 10ish. Their new cd The Brooklyn What for Borough President is at the top of the Lucid Culture list for best album of 2009 at this point. Smart, catchy, politically aware acoustic/Balkan/Irish punks Mischief Brew open the night at around 9.

 

Also Sat May 16, 10ish, ferocious, tuneful, guitar-fueled semi-punk all-female rockers Beluga at Public Assembly. A big buzz band, see ‘em now before the trendoids discover them.

 

Also Sat May 16 the Secret History play artsy, European-style keyboard-driven female-fronted pop at the Bell House, 9 PM, $16.

 

Also Sat May 16 8-10 PM noir rockers Darren Gaines & the Key Party at the Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27th St. btwn 5th and Madison, $10 all ages, free wine (21 plus) with Paul Wallfisch of Botanica opening the show solo on piano playing Paul Bowles songs!

 

Also Sat May 16, 8 PM  an adventurous, boisterous Argentinian-flavored night at Drom with Avanganto’s Pablo Aslan and his own band and also pianist Roger Davidson playing new original jazz tango compositions, adv tix $12 highly recommended.

 

Also Sat May 16, 8-piece gypsy rockers Panonian Wave - who’re a dead ringer for Gogol Bordello – play their “world music meltdown” at Nublu, 9 PM.

 

Also Sat May 16 an amazing night of Arab music and improvisation with Souhail Kaspar  on percussion and Rachid Halihal, vocals and oud plus special guests at Alwan for the Arts, 8:30 PM, $20/$15 stud.

 

Also Sat May 16 another loud, fearless, fun band, all-female punk/noise/indie rockers Beluga at Public Assembly, 10ish.

 

Also Sat May 16 roots reggae with John Brown’s Body at Southpaw, 10ish, $15 gen adm.

 

Also Sat May 16 alt-country pioneer and wildman Zane Campbell at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Also Sat May 16 roaring, wailing Americana punk rockers Spanking Charlene at Lakeside, 11 PM.

 

Also Sat May 16, 1 AM  (actually the wee hours of 5/17) cello metal rockers Blues in Space at the Rockwood, 1 AM 

 

Sun May 17 Metropolitan Klezmer plays Jewish Museum Family Day, 2 sets starting half past noon, free w/museum adm. – $12, $10/srs./$7.50 stud., under 12 free.

 

Also Sun May 17 the 5th Ave (Brooklyn) Street fair feat. Chin Chin in front of Southpaw, plus others all afternoon.

 

Also Sun May 17, 3-5 PM the Americana Family Jamboree at Rodeo Bar, free, members of Demolition String Band playing country/bluegrass classics. Get the kids listening to this before they hear Nickelback so they can tell what’s good.   

 

Also Sun May 17 noir-ish cabaret-tinged chanteuse Jeanne Marie Boes brings her powerful contralto and piano chops to LIC Bar in Long Island City where she’s playing the cd release for her new one, 7 PM.

 

Also Sun May 17 psychedelic purist Spanish jazz with the Jordi Rossy Trio plus special guests Félix Rossy & Chris Cheek:  Jordi Rossy – piano (ex-Bloomdaddies); Albert Sanz – Hammond B3 organ; R.J. Miller – drums; Fèlix Rossy – trumpet Chris Cheek (also ex-Bloomdaddies) on tenor sax at the Jazz Standard. sets 7:30/9:30 PM, $25 adv tix very highly rec.

 

Also Sun May 17 an excellent Americana night at Spikehill starting at7 with Frankenpine playing pretty, Pete’s Candy Store-style oldtimey folk/bluegrass at Spikehill, followed eventually by at 9 by Bobtown, who go for dark and haunting and usually succeed – and they kick O’Death’s ass – then Cady Wire doing more pleasant, wistful Pete’s Candy Store country at 10 and finally at 11 a detour way way deep into the Balkans with Veveritse Brass Band who are a hundred times more haunting than anything else on the bill. 

 

Also Sun May 17, 9 PM at Drom – Newpoli playing little-known southern Italian folk music, mainly from Campania and Puglia, integrating a wide variety of styles such as Tarantella-Pizzica, Tammuriata, etc., $10.

 

Also Sun May 17 and 24 Sean Kershaw & the New Jack Ramblers - who’ve been mining a purist Western Swing thing like Smokey Hormel recently – at Hank’s, 9ish.

 

Also Sun May 17 alt-country siren Alana Amram & her killer band the Rough Gems at the Loving Cup Cafe in the Cameo Gallery out back, 9ish.

 

Mon May 18 at Ace of Clubs, 8 PM, Out Of Print: An unauthorized evening with the “Cheney Family” as they read excerpts from Lynne Cheney’s fairly PG-rated lesbian pulp novel novel “Sisters,” $10.

 

Also Mon May 18  8:30 PM at the Cornalia St. Cafe – the Jacob Garchik Trio with  Jacob Garchik, trombone (Slavic Soul Party) ;  Jacob Sacks, piano (White Rocket);  Dan Weiss, drums. Could be scary and Balkan.

 

Also Tues May 19 New York noir rock legend LJ Murphy Banjo Jim’s is CANCELLED due to illness. One of the great charismatic performers of our time, and a hell of a song stylist. Young Republicans, masochists and people who lie – to themselves or anyone else – do not fare well in his dark, blues- and soul-inflected songs. He’ll be back, no worries. 

 

Also Tues May 19 twisted Southern garage rock with SCOTS and mile-a-minute surf rock with los Straitjackets at Bowery Ballroom, 9:30ish, adv tix $18 at the Mercury box office.

 

Also Tues May 19 oldtimey hellraisers the Asylum St. Spankers – whose fearless, ferociously funny new double live album is amazing – are at the Bell House. Sultry delta blues/oldtimey star Mamie Minch opens the night at 7:3oish, adv tix $20 recommended.

 

Also Tues May 19 and 20 sly, subversive pianist/crooner Michael Isaacs in “Michael Isaacs: Isaacs Shmisaacs” covering Nilsson songs with the incomparable Bobby Peaco on piano plus Kristine Zbornik directing, System Noise’s Sarah Mucho playing guitar at Don’t Tell Mama, 9:30 PM, $12, 2 drink min., res. very highly rec. to 212-757-0788.

 

Weds May 20 Gail Archer plays her continuing series Mendelssohn in the Romantic Century featuring organ pieces by Felix (and Fanny, if you’re lucky) along with their 19th century contemporaries at Central Synagogue, 7:30 PM.

 

Also Weds May 20 Mattison play their tasteful, smart, sometimes plaintive Greta Gertler-esque keyboard pop at 8 at Coco 66 in Greenpoint.

 

Also Weds May 20, 8 PM at Merkin Concert Hall, Elaine Comparone, harpsichord & the Queen’s Chamber Band play a program including Alan Broadbent’s Distant Music, Thomas Pasatieri’s Concerto for Harpsichord, Harold Farberman’s Three Pieces for the Queen’s Band, Christopher Lyndon-Gee’s Études Canoniques for 2 Violins, Cello & Harpsichord and David Shohl’s Two Poems for countertenor and instruments; as well as selections from J. S. Bach’s the Art of the Fugue, $25 adv tix highly recommended.

 

Also Weds May 20 the Five Cents play retro 60s psychedelic pop with BJM/Coral overtones at Spikehill, 10 PM.

 

Also Weds May 20 all kinds of good country and bluegrass styles with the M Shanghai String Band at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Weds May 20 iconic Dead Boys and Rocket From the Tombs axeman Cheetah Chrome at Maxwell’s, 10ish, $10 like the old days.

 

Also Weds May 20 at Black Betty, 11 PM adventurous groove jazz with the Perfect Man feat. Dave Smith (electric trombone), Jeremy Wilms (electric bass), Yusuke Yamamoto (moog synth), and Greg Gonzalez (drums).

 

Thurs May 21 fiery Metropolitan Klezmer spinoff Isle of Klezbos - sort of the female Gogol Bortdello of oldtimey Eastern European Jewish drinking music – at Trinity Church, 1 PM. 

 

Also Thurs May 21 mesmerizing, hypnotic dub reggae with Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad and the Easy Star Allstars (including some psychedelic Beatles covers from their new Sgt. Pepper cover album, no doubt) at BB King’s, 8 PM.

 

Also Thurs May 21 the New Collisions play the Delancey, downstairs,  9 PM. Absolutely killer new wave throwbacks from Boston with chirpy, infectious, defiant vocals, sly 80s synth, fiery guitar and some of the best tunes you’ll hear this year. Their show last month at Arlene’s was deliriously fun, one of the best of the year so far.

 

Also Thurs May 21 upstairs at the Delancey,  9 PM it’s Small Beast, NYC’s edgiest weekly live show, this time opening with MC/master of menace Paul Wallfisch of Botanica solo on piano, followed by brilliant cellist Peter Lewy, brilliant Pacific Northwest gothic songwriter Whiting Tennis (ex-Scholars) and Dan Kaufman of the eerie, Balkan-inflected Barbez.

 

Also Thurs May 21 jazz guitar great Matt Munisteri at Barbes, 10 PM.

 

Also Thurs May 21 darkly funny bluespunks the Five Points Band at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. If you miss the Cramps, they deliver the same kind of vibe.

 

Also Thurs May 21 McGinty & White play the release show for their predictably sensational debut cd at Bowery Electric (the old Remote Lounge), 11 PM. They’re doing what Costello tried to pull off on that Bacharach cd except these guys succeed at it.

 

Also Fri May 22 , 7 – 10 PM,  jam band fun and intensity with Plastic Beef, Liza & The Wonder Wheels, supertight funksters Baby Daddy  & others at the Wicked Monk, 84th St. & 5th Ave., Bay Ridge, Brooklyn   

 

Fri May 22 saxist Jacam Manricks plays the cd release for his new one Labyrinth (featuring jazz quintet and 40-piece chamber orchestra, on the cd at least)  at Smalls, 9/10:30 PM sets, $20 includes a drink ticket.

 

Also Fri May 22 sizzling electric bluegrass guitar, X-ish guy/girl vox and fiery mandolin with the Demolition String Band at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Also Fri May 22, 11 PM Roots Vibration play…can you guess?…at Shrine – roots legend Judah Eskender Tafari on vocals.

 

Sat May 23 at Sullivan Hall a ska fest with Bigger Thomas, Kofi,  The Rudie Crew, Across The Aisle, and Animus, early, 6 (six) PM.

 

Also Sat May 23 Thomas Piercy on clarinet, Pablo Aslan – of Avantango -on double bass and Claudine Hickman on piano playing classic and obscure Piazzolla tangos at at Caffe Vivaldi, 8 PM. Reviewed here last year playing a similar program, they were extraordinary.   

 

Also Sat May 23, 8 PM, repeating Sun May 24 at 3 PM at Bargemusic the Bach Sonata in b minor for Violin and Piano, Beethoven String Trio No. 1 in G Major, Fauré Piano Quartet No. 1 in Cm played by Mark Peskanov, violin; Jeanne Mallow, viola; Barbara Mallow, cello; Doris Stevenson, piano, adv tix $35.

 

Also Sat May 23 multistylistic, haunting yet deliriously exuberant traditional Greek party monsters Magges – with the incomparable Susan Mitchell on violin – play Mehanata, 9 PM. 

 

Also Sat May 23, 10 PM, QQQ play every light and dark shade of Scandinavian-inflected Americana with guitar, violin and viola at Pete’s, 10 PM.

 

Also Sat May 23 Special Patrol Group at Lakeside, 11 PM. Not the typical band you find here – they’re more like vintage, mid-90s Blur, with an ornate, artsy Btitrock feel, tricky time changes, smartly sardonic lyrics and an effortlessly compelling frontwoman.

 

Sun May 24 Electric Junkyard Gamelan - whose imaginative take on Indonesian music on homemade instruments is both fascinating and funny – play at Barbes, 8 PM 

 

Also Sun May 24, 9:30 PM Cape Verde chanteuse Maria de Barros at Joe’s Pub $20

 

Also Sun May 24 the Passport to Taiwan festival at Union Square Park featuring the wild and ferocious metal instrumental sounds of the Hsu-Nami, show starts at 1 PM.

 

Mon May 25 romantic oldtimey ragtime and hillbilly music with Daria Grace & the Prewar Ponies at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Tues-Weds May 26 – 27 at the Jazz Standard purist trumpeter and frequent Bill Frisell collaborator Ron Miles with his Quartet featuring Jason Moran on piano, Todd Sickafoose on bass, Matt Wilson on drums. sets 7:30/9:30 PM.

 

Also Tues May 26-30 8:30 & 11 PM ;egendary sax monster Pharaoh Sanders at Birdland, $35 gen adm.

 

Also Tues May 26 multistylistic rock goddess Jenifer Jackson plays bossa, Beatlesque pop, haunting Nashville gothic and more at the Rockwood, 9 PM.

 

Also Tues May 26 catchy virtuosic fun oldtimey hokum blues with the Second Fiddles at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Weds May 27 at Galapagos, 8 PM Hans Tammen & Third Eye Orchestra and Jason Hwang & Spontaneous River, $10.

 

Also Weds May 27 Brooklyn’s own haunting, innovative all-female Balkan a-capalla quartet Black Sea Hotel - who have an amazing debut cd coming out – play Union Hall, 8:30 PM, $10. Toronto chanteuse Melissa McClelland opens at 7:30 with her fearlessly intense, smart Americana stylings – anybody who refers to tourists as “American scum” gets out thumbs-up. We got ‘em here too, honey, and most of them live in Williamsburg. 

 

Also Weds May 27 fiery Japanese gypsy music – see, Fishtank Ensemble aren’t the only ones doing it – with Kagero at Caffe Vivaldi, 9:30 PM.

  

Also Weds May 27 reliably rousing bluegrass with Vincent Cross and Good Company at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Thurs May 28  the world-class, adventurous, pioneering NY Scandia Symphony at Trinity Church, 1 (one) PM, free, playing the N.Y. premiere of C.E.F. Weyse’s Symphony No. 6, (baroque) and the U.S. premiere of Gunnar Berg’s Hymnos (honoring the centennial of the composer’s birth) along with Friedrich Kuhlau’s The Robbers Castle Overture and Johan Halvorsen’s Suite Ancienne.

 

Also Thurs May 28 kick-ass purist garage rock with the sometimes soul/funk infused Nouvellas and the legendary, undiminished Fleshtones on the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, boarding at 7 at 23rd and the FDR, adv tix $20 highly recommended

 

Also Thurs May 28 legendary rocksteady/roots reggae crooner Gregory Isaacs at B.B. King’s, 8 PM, $22.50 adv tix at the box ofc.

 

Thurs May 28 at Bargemusic, 8 PM jazz pianist Liz Magnes $35 , $30/srs/$20 stud. 

 

Also Thurs May 28 the JD Allen Trio at Smalls 9/10:30 PM  with JD Allen – tenor sax , Gregg August – bass, Rudy Royston – drums. Simply one of the most exciting things happening in jazz right now. Their most recent cd I Am I Am is a haunting, thematic masterpiece.

 

Also Thurs May 28 upstairs at the Delancey,  9 PM it’s Small Beast, NYC’s edgiest weekly live show, this time opening with MC/master of menace Paul Wallfisch of Botanica solo on piano, plus noir cabaret chanteuse/legend Little Annie plus others

 

Also Thurs May 28 Band of Outsiders – who were doing the drony neo-Velvets thing 20 years before Brian Jonestown Massacre – at Lakeside, 10 PM.

 

Fri May 29 multistylistic, devious art-rock keyboard goddess Greta Gertler plays at 7PM at the Brooklyn Society For Ethical Culture Good Coffeehouse Music Parlour (longest venue name in town!), 53 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, F to 7th Ave. 

 

Fri May 29 Damian Quinones plays Beatlesque, psychedelic chamber rock with latin tinges with his band at Tillie’s in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn, 7:30 PM. 

 

Also Fri May 29 at Galapagos, 8 PM the World Premiere of innovative keyboardist/composer Missy Mazzoli’s Song from the Uproar operetta featuring NOW Ensemble and films by Stephen Taylor.

 

Also Fri May 29 Libby York and her band at the Metropolitan Room, 10 PM, with understatedly compelling, uncluttered vocals reminiscent of Chris Connor or June Christy – or Bliss Blood for that matter. Res. recommended to 212-206-0440, $20

  

Also Fri May 29-31 John Ellis’ Dreamscapes big band at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30

 

Also Fri May 29-31 X at Bowery Ballroom 9:30ish adv tix $27 at the Mercury

 

Also Fri May 29 3 floors of ska, 8ish at the Knitting Factory, adv tix $17 with ska punks Mustard Plug, 60s style reggae/ska from DC by Eastern Standard Time, the similarly inclined Void Union and Shaolin’s very own Royal City Riot, the Hub City Stompers (not from Boston), multistylistic and hypnotically dubwise King Django, fiery ska/hardcore outfit Brunt of It, and more beautifully retro horn-driven stuff with Silver Dollar. Good show!

 

Also Fri May 29 Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra - who mine the archives for some of the most ferocious, fun and occasionally haunting 1920s swing jazz obscurities you’ll ever hear – at Barbes, 8 PM followed by Smokey Hormel’s Roundup playing western swing at 10 

 

Also Fri May 29 smart, funny, lyrically-charged, quintessentially New York, female-fronted purist popsters Delusions of Grand St. at Trash, 9 PM.

 

Also Fri May 29 the Disclaimers at Spikehill, 10 PM. The best rock band in Brooklyn? Maybe. Two charismatic sirens fronting the band, two guitars, keys, and a ferociously smart bunch of songs that run from Costello clever to Big Star catchy to Syd Barrett eerie.

 

Also Fri May 29 scorching original punk-infused rockabilly and surf music with Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside, 10:15ish. 

 

Sat, May 30, noon – the Three Orchestras Concert at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery (10th Street & 2nd Avenue), no idea of what’s on the bill, but these shows tend to be very adventurous.

 

Also Sat May 30 oldtimey country hellraisers Alex Battles & the Whisky Rebellion, 4 PM at the F train station at Riverwalk Commons, Roosevelt Island.

 

Also Sat May 30 the Manhattan Valley Ramblers (Bill Christophersen and John Saroyan) play bow bending fiddle tunes and ballads at the Morningside Bookshop (SW corner of Broadway and west 114th St)  this Saturday some time between 6 and 8; the shop is closing sometime soon so if this is your hood it’s a last chance to say goodbye…

 

Also Sat May 30 at Vox Pop in Crown Heights a wild night starting at 8 with Raya Brass Band, the Brazilian sounds of the Old Goats, Luminescent Orchestrii frontman Sxip Shirey and the brass and banjo punk intensity of  Apocalypse Five & Dime.

 

Also Sat May 30 at Merkin Concert Hall, 8:30 PM: Writing Jazz: string quartet the Lark Chamber Artists, Zephyros Winds, and pianist Anthony de Mare doing genre-bending jazz/classical including the premiere of a commissioned work by David Rakowski.

 

Also Sat, May 30 brilliantly lyrical harmony-pop duo the Sweet Bitters cd release show Kenny’s Castaways, 7 PM.

 

Also Sat May 30 smart, somewhat noir garage rocker/chanteuse Peg Simone at Trash, 8 PM just in time for open bar.

 

Also Sat May 30, 9 PM Amy Allison plays the cd release show for her reputedly best-ever new one (featuring Elvis Costello among others) Banjo Jim’s. 

 

Sat, May 30 legendary Armenian reed player Souren Baronian and Taksim at Alwan for the Arts, 9 PM, $20/$15 stud.

 

Also Sat, May 30, 9 PM Tortoise at the Bell House, adv tix $20 recommended.

 

Also Sat, May 30, 9:30 PM haunting, goth-tinged art-rock pianist/chanteuse Kristin Hoffmann at Caffe Vivaldi.

 

Also Sat May 30 the gorgeously harmony-driven, hauntingly pan-American las Rubias del Norte at Barbes, 10 PM, $10 cover.

 

Sun May 31 the Bang on a Can Marathon for all you new music types starting at no0n – yawn – and going til midnight at the World Financial Center Winter Garden, performances by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Bill Frisell, Tortoise, plus others ,and  compositions by Gavin Bryars, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Evan Ziporyn, et al.

 

Sun May 31, 12 noon at Joe’s Pub Barbara Maier presents: Depression Brunch – Idol Idle Idyll Worship Sacred and Profane featuring Justin Bond, Tammy Faye Starlite and Toby Keith Hartel, Our Lady J, and Lisa Faith Phillips who will bring their sure-fire spirit-lifting performances to help you through these dark days. Enjoy songs of depression, despondency and despair, and also get tips on how to become a successful mistress (a gal’s gotta make a living – witness Rielle Hunter). Hosted by Miss Tammy Faye Starlite (who will explain why Jesus hates Obama). Bring your own brown bag brunch! Come be a part of the solution – not the problem. P.S. – This counts as church.

 

Sun May 31 Ann Marie McDermott plays Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev and others at Town Hall, free, 5 PM, early arrival advised, tix at the box ofc at noon.

 

Also Sun May 31 the Ben Holmes Trio at Barbes,7 PM. Balkan trumpet and rhythm section, could be scary good.

 

Also Sun May 31 Mark Sinnis at Pete’s 9:30 PM after Sasha Dobson. Good segue – two world-weary, old souls with some good original tunes, hers saloon jazz, his Nashville gothic including some gems from his band Ninth House.

 

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.

 

6/4 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 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, 9 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…

 

6/5 Beluga at Spikehill, 10 PM.

 

6/5 the Howlin Thurstons at Lakeside, 11 PM.

 

6/6-7 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).

 

6/6 artsy metal legends Blue Oyster Cult at B.B. King’s, shows at 7:30/10, adv tix $27.50.

 

6/6, 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.”

 

6/6, 7:30 PM AA Bondy at the Bell House, tix $12

 

6/6, 8 PM at BAM Moroccan and Syrian sufi music with the Aissawa Ensemble and Al Taybah Ensemble, adv tix $20-35 very highly recommended.

 

6/6 Three Legged Fox at Arlene’s 8 PM

 

6/6 the Jazz Funeral at Ace of Clubs

 

6/6 the Nouvellas and the Mess Around out back of the Loving Cup Cafe in the Cameo Gallery in Wburg 9ish.

 

6/6, 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.

 

6/6 Electric Engine at Parkside 9 PM followed by Joe the drummer’s band from Philly, 56 Men.

 

6/6 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.

 

6/6 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).

 

6/6 Gogol Bordello style gypsy punk with Panonian Wave at Mehanata, 10 PM.

 

6/7 Eldridge St. Synagogue festival starts at noon with Metropolitan Klezmer’s marching unit ?!?!

 

6/7 El Pueblo play dub reggae in Espanol at Shrine, 8 PM.

 

6/7 Balkan Beat Box at the Bell House adv tix $25.

 

6/7 Elisa Flynn at Spikehill

 

6/8 harmony-driven bluegrass band the NYCity Slickers, 6 PM at Pier 84 (44th Street and the water)

 

6/9-10 Sherisse Rogers’ Uprising at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30

 

6/10 garage/surf madmen the Mummies at Southpaw are $old out.

 

6/11, 7:30 PM Sounds of Taraab at Lafayette Grill & Bar, 54 Franklin St.between B’way & Lafayette, $10 cover, $10 minimum.

 

 

6/11, 8:30 PM Goran Bregovic and his wedding/funeral band – kinda allpurpose isn’t he! –  at Prospect Park Bandshell.

 

 

6/11 Bliss Blood solo at Banjo Jim’s with Curtis Eller & Al Duvall, 8:30ish

 

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.

 

6/12, 8 PM 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.

 

6/12, 9:30 PM at BAM Cafe, free, noted oud rocker Brahim Fribgane,, with Kashmiri-born indie alternative rock band Zerobridge opening the show.

 

6/12, 8 PM at the Knit,  Black 47 with Shilelagh Law opening.

 

6/12 Maia Macdonald at Sidewalk, 10 PM

 

6/13, 8ish at Joe’s Pub the Georges Brassens Translation Project, $15

 

6/13 the Bluebeats at Shrine, 10 PM

 

6/13 Plastic Beef night at Freddy’s feat. Tom Warnick, the John Sharples Band, Liza Garelik and Ian Roure and Baby Daddy.

 

6/13 Spanking Charlene at Lakeside, 11 PM.

 

6/14 violinist Hilary Hahn free at Town Hall, 5 PM, tix available at the box ofc at noon.

 

6/15, 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 after 4 PM, day of show at the box office.

 

6/14 Laura MacLean at Banjo Jim’s 8 PM.

 

6/16 Beyond the Pale at Drom time TBA

 

6/17, 7 PM the “Godfather of Go-Go” Chuck Brown at Rockefeller Park.

 

6/18 Natalie John at 55 Bar, 7 PM. Jazz siren with great band, no relation to Elton.

 

6/18 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.

 

6/18 Paul Wallfisch and the Snow at Small Beast at the Delancey, 9 PM.

 

6/19, 9:30 PM Randi Russo at the Brooklyn Lyceum 

 

6/19, 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.

 

6/19 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play retro, tasteful surf and instrumebtal covers of 69s hits at Lakeside, 11 PM.

 

6/20 Ethel & Gutbucket play a live score to the Mexican schlock film classic La Nave des Mostruos at Prospect Park Bandshell 7:30 PM

 

6/20 Bonga and the Vodou Drums of Haiti plus Kakande led by balafon master Famoro Dioubate at Drom, 8 PM

 

6/20 Toussaint Liberator w/Buru Style at Shrine 10 PM.

 

 6/20 Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside, 10:15ish.

 

 6/21 Isle of Klezbos at City Winery 11:30ish for brunch.

 

6/21 is the all-day Make Music NY outdoor festival – we’ll set up a separate page when we know the full schedule. Some highlights: the French Exit at Goodbye Blue Monday, 2 PM. Also Punk Island at Governors Island starting around noon, be careful, no alcohol allowed on the ferry, they search very thoroughly.

 

6/21 free at Town Hall, 5 PM, the Emerson String Quartet, tix avail at the box ofc starting at noon.

 

6/22 the Mercantillers 6 PM at Clinton Cove Park (55th Street and the water)

 

6/22,  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.

 

6/22 George Usher at Lakeside, 10 PM.

 

6/23, 7 PM at Joe’s Pub Greta Gertler playing a chamber/song collaboration with Brooklyn-based indie-classical band Build.

 

6/24, 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.

 

6/25 the Brooklyn What at Southpaw, 8ish,  - Gentrification Rock EP release show/party with Box of Crayons and Warm Hats who are also both good.

 

6/25 Paul Wallfisch, Marni Rice and Elisa Flynn at Small Beast at the Delancey, 9 PM.

 

6/26 Blonde Redhead at Prospect Park Bandshell 7:30 PM 

 

6/26 Purple K’nif at Lakeside 10 PM

 

6/26 the Moonlighters at Barbes 10 PM  

 

6/27 at Central Park Summerstage, free, 3 PM, 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, Mazhar-Fuat-Özkan, Painted on Water featuring Sertab Erener & Demir Demirkan plus the NY Gypsy All-Stars with Hüsnü Senlendirici and special guests.

 

6/27 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

 

6/28, 8 PM Martha Davis & the Motels at B.B. King’s adv tix $25 highly recommended.

 

6/30 Caithlin de Marrais/Balthrop Alabama at Joe’s Pub, 7 PM, $24 for both shows.

 

6/30, 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).

 

7/1, 8ish Tift Merritt plays Rockefeller Park. Worth seeing if her writing has caught up with her absolutely spin-tingling, austere, Linda Thompson-inflected voice.

 

7/2 Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.

 

7/4, 3:30 PM Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley at State Street and Battery Place downtown. The show organizers weren’t clear whether she’ll be inside the park or not – if yes, could be a disaster. Just FYI.

 

7/4 Alex Battles & the Whisky Rebellion at the Brooklyn Museum, 5 PM, free

 

7/5 Meta & the Cornerstones and McRad at le Poisson Rouge

 

7/6 the Wallflowers at Irving Plaza 10ish adv tix $30.

 

7/8 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.

 

7/8 the Church at Irving Plaza 10ish.

 

7/9, half past noon, amazing, haunting gypsy band Luminescent Orchestrii on the World Financial Center Plaza.

 

7/9 Musette Explosion at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.

 

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 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 the Subhumans at the Knit, 10 PM

 

7/13-15 Aimee Mann at City Winery bar seating $30 time TBA.

 

7/14 Barrington Levy at B.B. King’s 8 PM adv tix $22.

 

7/14 Bliss Blood of the Moonlighters solo at Pete’s with the Tavo Carbone band

 

7/15, 7 PM, Luisito Rosario y Su Orquesta playing salsa at Wagner Park, Battery Place and West Street.

 

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 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.

 

7/17 The Sweet Divines and Robert Cray at Prospect Park Bandshell, 7:30 PM.

 

7/18 Nation Beat playing Brazilian forro music, 4 PM at the F train station at Riverwalk Commons, Roosevelt Island

 

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

 

7/23, 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 Ljova and the Kontraband at the Jewish Museum, 7:30 PM, free with $15 museum adm.

 

7/24 half past noon legendary jazz pianist Junior Mance at One New York Plaza, corner of Whitehall and Water Streets.

 

7/24 Black Moth Super Rainbow – the Cocteau Twins meet Radiohead – at South St. Seaport, 8ish

 

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.

 

7/27 La Sovietika, 3 PM at Sudaca/Bronx @ Haven Arts Gallery, 50 Bruckner Blvd, Building A, 6 Train to 138th St.

 

7/29, 7 PM Cuban son jazz jams with Químbombó at Wagner Park.

 

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 Jarvis Cocker at Terminal 5, adv tix $35 at the Mercury  

 

7/31 Polvo at South St. Seaport, 8ish

 

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, 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.

 

8/3, 7:30 PM, Toumani Diabate (Malian kora virtuoso) at Central Park Summerstage, free.

 

8/7 best show of the year – the Brooklyn What at Trash Bar w/Escarioka, Palmyra Delran, Warm Hats and This Blue Heaven.

 

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

 

8/20 intriguingly psychedelic funksters Buzz Universe aboard the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, boarding at 8 at 23rd and the FDR, adv tix $20 highly recommended

 

8/22 Chicha Libre at the F train station at Riverwalk Commons, Roosevelt Island, 4 PM

New York City Live Music Calendar April-May 2009 Plus Special Events

Hey, this isn’t the latest calendar! Here’s the latest May-June calendar with all kinds of free stuff…

As usual, weekly events first, followed by the daily calendar. Because we get some of this info weeks in advance, it’s always good to check with the club (see our venues page) to make sure the show you’re interested in seeing is still happening…check out the weekly shows too, lots of good stuff going on! Apologies for the crazy spacing and fonts - Microsoft Word and WordPress are both having hissy fits.

 

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.

 

The 2008-09 series of organ concerts at St. Thomas Church continues most every Sunday (holidays excepted) at 5:15 sharp, featuring a whole slew of world-renowned performers. Concerts continue through May 17.

 

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 in April 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 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). 

 

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 whaat 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.

 

In April the Barbes house band, Chicha Libre will be on tour with Dengue Fever. But they will be playing at Barbes on 4/6 and 4/13 at around 10, and a Rocks Off cruise around Manhattan on May 15.

 

Also Mondays in April (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.

 

Also Mondays in April Kotorino plays darkly rustic, sometimes atmospheric gypsy-flavored stuff at Pete’s Candy Store, 10:30

 

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.

 

Sophisticated, jazz-inflected Americana chanteuse Julia Haltigan and her excellent band the Hooligans play 11th St. Bar every Tuesday in April 9:30 PM except for Apr 21 when she’s at Union Hall. Or you can catch her at Rodeo Bar at 10:30 PM on 4/22.

 

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 April and May, 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. He’ll be off on UK tour in June.

 

Also virtually every Wednesday at Drom (check the club calendar to make sure) it’s Cuban night with a new, hot dance band every week, 9:30 PM – 2 AM, just $12 at the door.

 

Every Thursday, 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. April artists include Carol Lipnik, Larkin Grimm, Steve Wynn, Kerry Kennedy, Sally Norvell, Alice Texas, and Vera Beren.

 

Weds Apr 1 semi-legendary alt-bluegrass guys the Gourds (who did the bluegrass cover of Gin & Juice), at Mercury Lounge, $15 gen adm

 

Also Weds Apr 1 Gail Archer plays another recital in her continuing series Mendelssohn in the Romantic Century at Temple Emanu-El 5th Ave (65-66), 7:30 PM.

 

Also Weds Apr 1 in case you haven’t seen the flyers at every abandoned luxury housing site/future crackhouse, the Brian Jonestown Massacre plays at 10ish at Terminal 5, $24 adv tix at the Mercury.

 

Thurs Apr 2 Duo Firenze, composed of violinists Brooke Quiggins and Elizabeth Young at Trinity Church, 1 PM, free.

 

Also Thurs Apr 2, 8 PM, Karla Bonoff plays BB King’s, adv tix $25. A long time ago there were two raven-haired top 40 sirens. One was Mexican-American, didn’t write her own songs, had a beautiful wounded voice and was named Linda Ronstadt. Another was Jewish, wrote her own songs, played piano, had a beautiful wounded voice and hasn’t disowned her past as Ronstadt has. That siren is Karla Bonoff. If beautiful women of a certain age appeal to you, this is where you will find them.

Also Thurs Apr 2 the Quavers followed by Rachelle Garniez at Barbes, 8 PM. The former call themselves “porch techno” but are as far from computerized as you can possibly get: the only techno in their music is the hypnotic loops that come back again and again as they build big sweeping anthems before your eyes. The headliner is the greatest songwriter of our time. And also probably the best singer, and one of the most dynamic live performers around. And plays accordion, keys, guitar and writes dark, lyrical songs in pretty much every style except for pitchfork.com-style indie rock.

Also Thurs Apr 2 haunting, hypnotic Egyptian film music revivalists Zikrayat at Public Assembly, 7 PM $15 with special guest artists percussionist Faisal Zedan and chanteuse Mariyah.

Also Thurs Apr 2, 8 PM Bang on a Can Allstars with special guests Lee Ranaldo and Alvin Lucier at Merkin Concert Hall playing Lok Yin Tang: Distorted Indulgence; Kate Moore: Ridgeway; Fred Frith: Snakes & Ladders; Alvin Lucier: Canon; Lee Ranaldo: How Deep Are Rivers? (A Map is a Good Piece of Paper), lots of world premieres and NYC premieres. 

Also Thurs Apr 2 at the Delancey it’s Small Beast night with Botanica frontman/keyboard master of menace Paul Wallfisch followed by another equally haunting presence, noir cabaret chanteuse Carol Lipnik with her spine-tingling four-octave voice, show starts at 9ish.

Also Thurs Apr 2 biting, edgy female-fronted jazz-pop band the Secret History at the Bell House, 8ish. This era’s answer to Everything but the Girl…or the American Autour de Lucie?

Fri Apr 3 – speaking of great songwriters – Mary Lee’s Corvette plays a rare duo acoustic show (frontwoman/chanteuse Mary Lee Kortes and husband Eric “Roscoe” Ambel on lead guitar) at the Postcrypt Coffeehouse located in the basement of St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, 1160 Amsterdam Ave. at 116th St., 9 PM, free.

Also Fri Apr 3 Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird play radical klezmer punk at Barbes, 10 PM 

Fri-Sun Apr 3-5 it’s Mudfest AKA Beefstock, a weekend of music and recreation in the Catskills, Valley View Road, Big Indian NY, a great chance to watch and socialize with some of NYC’s most exciting underground musical artists artists in a completely intoxicated, carefree, typically rain-sodden environment.  On the bill – jam rockers Plastic Beef; chanteuses Erica Smith & the 45 Cent Dreams (the full 99 weren’t available), Rebecca Turner and Paula Carino, the carnivalesque Tom Warnick, politically charged folk artists Gillen and Turk, psychedelic 80s throwbacks Liza & the WonderWheels, the Larch, Baby Daddy, Livia Hoffman, the John Sharples Band, many more, watch this page for updates.

Also Fri Apr 3-5 4/3-5 aggressive, adventurous pianist/composer Dan Tepfer performs with smooth jazz saxist Lee Konitz April 3 – 5 at Village Vanguard and then on April 7 with his trio at the Jazz Standard. This is a guy who approaches Giant Steps and the Goldberg Variations with equal aplomb and panache.

Also Fri Apr 3 NYC’s most romantic band, timeless Hawaiian/swing/jazz retrophiliacs the Moonlighters at Shrine, 8 PM.

Also Fri Apr 3 happy, upbeat ska/reggae with the Brown Rice Family at Zebulon, 9 PM.

Also Fri Apr 3 Our Vision at Ace of Clubs, 10 PM. Artsy, anthemic two-guitar janglerock band with lots of vocal harmonies and some great tunes. At the top of their game they sound a lot like legendary Australian art-rockers the Church.

Also Fri Apr 3 soaring country chanteuse Alana Amram & some of her twangy bandmates the Rough Gems at Banjo Jim’s, 11 PM.

Also Fri Apr 3, 11 PM dark, anthemic rockers Ninth House  – equal parts Joy Division and Johnny Cash, at the absolute peak of their ten-year career – play Berlin in Astoria, 37-27 32nd St., Astoria, N/W to 39th Ave., or V/R to 36th St., $8. 

Also Fri Apr 3 Jennifer O’Connor plays Cake Shop, 11 PM with the reliably fiery, eerie Chris Brokaw on lead guitar. Not an everyday thing that you see two players this captivating sharing a stage. Now add terse, dark, pensive lyrics and a literally chilling vocal range. Makes us wish we hadn’t gone out of town.      

Sat Apr 4 expat Cuban guitarist/crooner Alex Cuba opening for Colombia’s most popular rock export, the fiery, female-fronted Aterciopelados at Highline Ballroom, 8 PM, adv tix $20.

Also Sat Apr 4 fiery Balkan blasters Raya Brass Band, Brooklyn’s own haunting, feisty, innovative Bulgarian female vocal quartet Black Sea Hotel and Fishtank Ensemble – whose ferociously virtuosic acoustic gypsy music with Japanese instruments is completely unique – at the Ukrainian National Home, 140 2nd Ave, 8 PM, $15

Also Sat Apr 4, 8 PM Gamelan Dharma Swara presents an evening of traditional and experimental shadow theater, “Wayang Kali,” a collaborative and experimental work for music and shadow puppets at Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia (5 E. 68th St.), $15/$10 stud/srs. Moving through the silence without motion, waiting for you?

Also Sat Apr 4 snarling, smart NYC underground rock eminence grise Willie Nile - whose new cd is reportedly sensational – playing a rare trio show with Brad Albetta on upright bass and Frankie Lee on drums, opening for his usual backing band the Prisoners of Second Ave. at Bowery Ballroom, 8:30 PM. 

Also Sat Apr 4 fiery Steve Earle-esque two-guitar highway rockers the Sloe Guns at the National Underground, 9 PM.

Also Sat Apr 4 funny, virtuosic surf, rockabilly and punk with Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside, 10:15 ish.

Also Sat Apr 4 El Jezel plays Bowery Poetry Club, 10:30 PM. Moody, atmospheric but groove-driven shoegaze rock with a 80s edge, guitar and keys and guy/girl vocals.

Also Sat Apr 4 tersely lyrical, tuneful powerpop siren Patti Rothberg at Ace of Clubs, midnight 

Sun Apr 5, 3 (three) PM one of the world’s great violists, Ljova joins a wonderful chamber group of Edward Arron, Soheil Nasseri, Harumi Rhodes and Sharon Roffman for a performance of Brahms and Dvorak piano quintets at Bargemusic.  Also Sun Apr 5, 7 (seven) PM all seventeen women with accordions who make up the charming, devious, psychedelic Main Squeeze Orchestra at Highline Ballroom, adv tix $12 recommended.

 

Also Sun Apr 5, 7 PM ex-Blow This Nightclub bandleader Dan Sallitt’s lyrically stinging 2-guitar band the Toneballs play Rocky Sullivan’s, 24 Van Dyke St., Red Hook, corner of Dwight – the B77 bus stops in front of the club, no cover. They promise a brand new Richard Thompson cover too.

 

Also Sun Apr 5 alternately haunting, plaintive and fiery Americana chanteuse Jan Bell with sensational violinist Rima Fand from Luminescent Orchestrii at the Jalopy Theatre, 8 PM.

 

Mon Apr 6, long-running late 60s oldtimey revivalists Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks (not all orig. members) at BB King’s, 8 PM gen adm $25

Also Mon Apr 6 noir piano jazz combo the Dred Scott Trio plays the Blue Note, $5 at the bar, $10 for a table, 8 and 10:30 PM.

 

 

Also Mon Apr 6, 11 PM fiery, fun somewhat psychedelic country/Americana rock band Any Day Parade play Death by Audio.

 

Tues Apr 7, early, 6 (six) PM at Zebulon Rothko Trio violinist Cliodhna Ryan plays Partita No.1 in B minor by J.S. Bach followed at 7:30 by the dark snarling guitar alchemy of the Ulrich Ziegler trio feat. Steve Ulrich from Big Lazy and Balkan Beat Box’s Itamar Zeigler.

 

Also Tues Apr 7 Metropolitan Klezmer’s 15th anniversary show, 7:30 PM at Drom, $10, where they prove themselves the most versatile and arguably most ferociously entertaining klezmer act around.

 

Also Tues Apr 7 at Barbes, 7 PM: “Tamevate Kapelye. Straight from the orchestra pit of the Folksbiene National Yiddish Theater (the longest running Yiddish theater in America) this klezmer quartet plays traditional melodies and songs from Eastern Europe, America, and beyond. With Dmitri ‘Zisl-Yeysef’ Slepovitch – clarinet; Louisa Strouse Boiman -violin; Taylor Bergren-Chrisman – bass and Joshua Camp – accordion/piano.”

 

Also Tues Apr 7 original, noirish 80s-inflected keyboardist/chanteuse Kristin Hoffmann at the Canal Room, $12, 8 PM. 

 

Also Tues Apr 7 Veveritse brass band (featuring members of Romashka, Hungry March Band, Zlatne Uste, The Woes, Ansambl Mastika, and Stagger Back Brass Band) opening for the amazing Asian/Gypsy group Fishtank Ensemble at the Jalopy, 9 PM.

 

Also Tues Apr 7 dark, snarling, LES glam noir rocker Sousalves at Corio, upstairs, 11 PM  

 

Weds Apr 8, 9 PM, dark, intense yet sometimes tongue-in-cheek rocker Elisa Flynn – who has a great new album out – plays at Sidewalk.   

 

Also Weds Apr 8 legendary Elvis Costello pianist Steve Nieve – the only keyboardist who deserves mention in the same sentence as Paul Wallfisch – is at City Winery, 9 PM, bar seating $30 (forget anything else).

 

Also Weds Apr 8 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 Apr 9 fearless double entendre specialist/oldschool acoustic rocker Joe Pug is at BB King’s, 7 PM opening for long-running oldschool alt-country supergroup the Flatlanders.

 

Also Thurs Apr 9 Americana siren Hope DeBates and North 40 – one of the most sophisticated and unique voices in town, equally captivating at jazz and country, with a band to match – plays 55 Bar, early, 6 PM.

 

Also Thurs Apr 9 a string quartet plays Haydn and Dvorak at Pete’s Candy Store, 7:30 PM.

 

Also Thurs Apr 9, 9 PM Selim Sesler – the “Coltrane of the clarinet” –  & the NY Gypsy Allstars at Drom, free.

 

Also Thurs Apr 9 this week’s Small Beast extravaganza once again features Botanica’s Paul Wallfisch along with noir chanteuse Larkin Grimm  - one of the most extraordinarily intense, unique voices in any kind of music right now – at the Delancey, upstairs 9ish.

 

Also Thurs Apr 9 catchy, jangly, danceable rock en Espanol band Cordero plays Southpaw, 9:30 PM.

 

Also Thurs Apr 9 smart, literate, subtly amusing oldtimey siren/multi-instrumentalist Robin Aigner plays Freddy’s, 10 PM.

 

Fri Apr 10th at Glasslands an intriguing, cheap jazz show, only $5 starting at 7 with Planet Dream: Steve Swell (trombone), Rob Brown (alto sax), Daniel Levin (cello); 8PM – Sex Mob: Steven Bernstein (slide trumpet), Briggan Krauss (alto sax), TBA (bass), Kenny Wollesen (drums); 9PM – Glassband: Dave Sewelson (bari sax), Brad Farberman (guitar), Dee Pop (drums). Wow. Supposedly TBA is a great bass player.

 

Also Fri Apr 10, 7-9 PM the Open Music Circle at Tibet House, 22 West 15th Street, 7-9  PM, $10 req. donation. Acoustic musicians, vocalists, dancers are welcome; no musical or other agenda, no director. Each circle is an exploration, an adventure. Participants start in silence, someone begins, then participants listen to each other and play, vocalize or move accordingly, ending with silence; musicians respond to dancers and dancers to musicians. Now and then there are exercises to build skills. Also on Apr 12 from 8 PM sharp to 10 PM at the New York Insight Meditation Center, 28 West 27th Street, 10th fl., take the elevator up at 8 PM. Marianne Giosa will be facilitating

 

Also Fri Apr 10 fiery mandolinist/Americana chanteuse Elena Skye’s birthday bash at Banjo Jim’s starting at 7:30 with another soaring singer, Drina Seay with Fred Cash Jr., then Charlene and Mo of Spanking Charlene at 9, Skye’s own Demolition String Band at 10 followed by Live Band Kuntry Karaoke with a free shot of Jack for all karaoke singers. Click for the list of available songs.

 

Also Fri Apr 10, 8 PM Overlord plays the Bell House, the show is NOT sold out like the club says, email for tix info. They’re better than the New Pornographers plus they have the formidable Kerry Kennedy in the band. Sonic Youth/Oasis ripoffs the Wrens, who occasionally score one or two, are on later in case you’re not worried about getting home.

 

Also Fri Apr 10 killer bassist Gregg August (from JD Allen’s powerful trio) leads his own ten-piece Large Ensemble at the Jazz Gallery, sets at 9 and 10:30 PM, $15. The theme explores race relations through compositions inspired by (and ostensibly sometimes including) poetry; a ton of great talent on this bill including JD Allen on tenor, Sam Newsome on soprano sax, Jaleel Shaw on alto and others.  

 

Also Fri Apr 10, 10 PM las Rubias del Norte play Barbes. Slipping further and further into dark minor keys, the two womens’ voices induce deeper and deeper chills as the band saunters through pretty much every south-of-the-border style you could ever want.

 

Also Fri Apr 10, 10 PM fiery, funny Irish punks Box of Crayons at the Parkside.

 

Also Fri Apr 10 unusually tasteful, terse and surprisingly dark blues and oldtime R&B with BBQ Bob & the Spareribs at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Also Fri Apr 10 NYC’s most wild, intense, improvisationally-inclined bluegrass band Thy Burden at Connolly’s, 11 PM.

 

Also Fri Apr 10, midnight the Brooklyn What and legendary Dead Milkmen frontman Joe Jack Talcum reunite once again at Fontana’s. The band have put out the best rock record of the year so far, The Brooklyn What for Borough President, a fearless, funny, brutally honest and impressively multistylistic tour de force, and they played the best rock show any of the Lucid Culture crew witnessed last year. This could be a specially good night. 

 

Sat Apr 11, 1 (one) PM, a free concert at Bargemusic, performer/performers and program TBA but the last one was excellent! Get there no later than half past noon!

 

Also Sat Apr 11, sets at 3 and 8 PM, legendary acoustic blues guitarist and former Jefferson Airplane axeman Jorma Kaukonen at City Winery, bar seating $25.

 

Also Sat Apr 11, early, 6 PM,  the comedic, virtuosic Erin & Her Cello at the Rockwood.

 

Also Sat Apr 11 a killer blues-ish doublebill with the minor-key flavored Hazmat Modine followed by Chicago style lead player/crooner Johnny Allen at Terra Blues, 7:15 PM.

 

Also Sat Apr 11, 7:30 PM at le Poisson Rouge it’s African night with the guitar-fueled Extra Golden, soulful 70s roots reggae throwbacks Meta & The Cornerstones, and the film ‘African Booty Scratcher’, $15 gen. adm.

 

Also Sat Apr 11 bluesy, soulful frontman Vic Ruggiero of the Slackers plays a rare solo acoustic show at the recently reopened Knitting Factory, 8:30 PM, $10.

 

Also Sat Apr 11, 10ish ex-Raunch Hand Michael Chandler’s insanely catchy, rocking, utterly inimitable organ-and-guitar-driven gospel/garage rockers the Lost Crusaders play Don Pedro’s.

 

Also Sat Apr 11 sprawling, politically aware reggae-jazz hellraisers the Superpowers at Zebulon, 10 PM.

 

Also Sat Apr 11 all-purpose Greek party band Magges, with Chuck Metaxas’ fiery guitar, electric bouzouki and Susan Mitchell doing her inimitable intense gypsy viola thing at Mehanata, 10 PM,  free before 10:30 PM, show up early for ouzo!

 

Also Sat Apr 11 at Shrine, 10 PM ska jazz sax legend David Hillyard & the Rocksteady 7.

 

Also Sat Apr 11 Kelli Rae Powell – transcendently captivating, frequently hilarious, sometimes chilling oldtimey songwriter/chanteuse at the Jalopy Theatre, 11 PM. The sly, historically aware and equally good Al Duvall opens the night at 9.

 

Also Sat Apr 11, 11ish at le Poisson Rouge (separate admission from the earlier reggae show), the always deliriously fun NY Gypsy Festival featuring the NY Gypsy All-Stars with special guest Selim Sesler (the “Coltrane of the clarinet”), Romashka’s wild Balkan/Russian funk and dance music and Frank London, legendary trumpeter of the klezmer underground.

 

Also Sat Apr 11 Love Trio feat. Ilhan Ersahin, Jesse Murphy, Kenny Wollesen plays 11ish at Nublu.

Also Sat Apr 11 Demolition String Band play amped-up country and bluegrass in the spirit of X with guy/girl harmonies and ferocious, virtuoso guitar and mandolin at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

Sun Apr 12 virtuoso noir surf/western swing/jazz guitarist Jim Campilongo with his trio at 55 Bar, early,  6 PM.

 

Also Sun Apr 12 fiery, fun ska rockers Across the Aisle at Trash, 9 PM  

 

Also Sun Apr 12 politically charged 90s British lo-fi rockers Comet Gain at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, 9:30 PM adv tix $13 at the Mercury. 

 

Mon-Tues Apr 13-14 the inimitable and indomitable Neko Case at the Nokia Theatre, adv tix $30.

 

Also Mon Apr 13 multistylistic guitar genius Homeboy Steve Antonakos – from Love Camp 7, Ellen Foley’s band, Magges and countless others – plays his own stuff at Banjo Jim’s, 7:30 PM.

 

Also Mon Apr 13, 8 PM multistylistic, latin jazz-inclined chanteuse Marta Topferova at Barbes.

 

Also Mon Apr 13, 8 PM alt-bluegrass hellraisers the Duhks at Highline Ballroom, 8 PM, adv tix $15.

 

Tues Apr 14 noted recitalist Eric Plutz at the Casavant Freres organ at Central Synagogue, half past noon.

 

Also Tues Apr 14 multistylistic violinist/chanteuse Jenny Scheinman at Barbes, 7 PM. She’s back here on 4/28. The night continues at 8 with AE (Aurelia Lucy Shrenker and Eva Salina Primack), a world music vocal duo equally skilled at vintage Americana and Balkan sounds, the fascinating and danceable Balkan/Mexican group El Haru-Kuroi, Balkan singer Dorian Wood & hellraising LA Balkan band  Petrojvic Blasting Company at Barbes. The show repeats the following nigh 4/15 at Trophy Bar in South Wburg at 8ish.

 

Also Tues Apr 14 a Darfur benefit at B.B. King’s with Immortal Technique and other hip-hop acts, show starts around 8, $20 all ages, adv tix at the box office.

 

Also Tues Apr 14 Also Tues Apr 14 rockabilly/Americana siren Monica Passin hosts a Loretta Lynn tribute night feat. Laura Cantrell, Amy Allison, Elena Skye and Boo Reiners from Demolition String Band at Banjo Jim’s, 8:30 PM, $10 cover    

 

Tues Apr 14 – Apr 19 sets at 9/11, $30/$35 on the weekend plus $10 min. innovative, playful percussionist Paul Motian and Octet + 1 at the Village Vanguard: Steve Cardenas-gtr, Tim Miller-gtr,Chris Cheek-sax, Bill McHenry-sax, Matt Maneri-vln, Thomas Morgan-b, Jerome Harris-b, Jacob Sacks-p.

 

Also Tues Apr 14, 9 PM at Rose Bar – Drive By Leslie  feat. keyboardist Adam Klipple, Keith Carlock, Chris Tarry and guitar genius Marvin Sewell.

 

Also Tues Apr 14 Balthrop Alabama - who have two new ep’s out, including a morbid one which is a solid contender for best of the year – play Southpaw, 9:30 PM, $8

 

Weds Apr 15-19, 7:30/9:30 PM latin jazz chanteuse Claudia Acuna and her Quintet are at Dizzy’s Club playing cd release shows for her new one En Este Momento.

 

Also Weds Apr 15 legendary, politically-charged Parisian-Algerian rocker Rachid Taha with his band at le Poisson Rouge $25, time TBA. Last time in town he was completely loaded and unusually vitriolic, even by his standards. Sober or not, he remains a compelling performer.

 

Thurs Apr 16, 1 PM at Trinity Church, rustic string band Blue Moose & the Unbuttoned Zippers playing Scandinavian and original tunes.

 

Also Thurs Apr 16, 7 PM Tammy Faye Starlite at Joe’s Pub, $15: “Tammy Faye Starlite, country chanteuse-cum-evangelist, brings her sweet gospel chansons to the stage of Joe’s Pub in order to pray for our country in these dark, black, negroid times and implores the Lower 48, in the words of the estimable Carter Family, to “hold fast to the right.”

 

Also Thurs Apr 16 at Barbes. 8 PM: “Deborah Karpel, the sultry voice of Isle of Klezbos and Metropolitan Klezmer. She will be singing material from her new cd, La Promessa, a geo-classical assortment of folk, theatrical and popular songs sung in several languages. With a killer band including Rachelle Garniez, accordion, piano, claviola; Stephanie Griffin, viola and Debra Kreisberg, clarinet.” Followed at 10 by charming, romantic, innuendo-driven French chanson revivalists les Chauds Lapins.

 

Also Thurs Apr 16, 8 PM funk/ groove jazz improvisers Ambient Assault open for noir rockers Darren Gaines & the Key Party (whose new cd is excellent) at the Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27th St. btwn 5th and Mad, $10 all ages, free wine (21 plus)

 

Also Thurs Apr 16 it’s the weekly Small Beast extravaganza with Botanica keyboardist Paul Wallfisch, REM sideman Ken Stringfellow, brilliant southwestern gothic rocker Kerry Kennedy and noir cabaret chanteuse Sally Norvell at the Delancey, 9 PM.

 

Also Thurs Apr 16 the fiery Raya Brass Band – featuring members of just about every other excellent Balkan brass band in town – at Mehanata, 9 PM, $10

 

Also Thurs Apr 16 the growling, twangy, Steve Earle-esque ex-Backslider Chip Robinson with the Roscoe Trio at Lakeside, 10ish.

 

Also Thurs Apr 16 a fiery, psychedelic jazzy funk triplebill with Flearoy, Captain Coconut and Shwizz starting at 10 and going late at Bowery Poetry Club.  

 

Fri Apr 17 the first annual New Music Bake Sale, 7 PM – midnight (doors at 6:30), performances by So Percussion, Lisa Moore & Martin Bresnick, Lukas Ligeti, Newspeak, ACME, JACK Quartet, Dither, Loadbang Ensemble, & Ensemble de Sade at First Presbyterian Church 124 Henry Street, Brooklyn Heights, $15 admission at the door includes 2 drink tickets & re-entry, not bad for all this stuff.

 

Also Fri Apr 17, 7 PM subtly torchy retro 50s jazz chanteuse Sarah DeLeo at Bello Sguardo Jazz Room, 410 Amsterdam Avenue (between 79th and 80th Streets), NYC. Sets at 7 and 8:30 p.m. Lerner & Loewe to a darkly swinging White Stripes cover. “The art of the empire at its apex?” You decide. Show free with dinner res. or drinks.

 

Also Fri Apr 17, 7 PM virtuoso pianist Karine Poghosyan - whose recital this past weekend at Bargemusic was a revelation – performs a trio performance on with Bela Horvath, violin and John Popham, cello at the Yamaha Piano Salon, 689 Fifth Avenue (at 54th Street).

 

Also Fri Apr 17 soaring, romantic oldtimey classics and originals with Daria Grace & the Pre-War Ponies followed by the smartly understated, politically aware Americana duo Kill Henry Sugar at Barbes, 8 PM.

 

Also Fri Apr 17, 8 PM at Symphony Space:  masters of Hawaiian slack key guitar & hula Keola & Moana Beamer, $28/18 studs.

 

Also Fri Apr 17, 9 PM charmingly authentic retro 60s white soul siren Lisa Burns followed eventually by what’s left of the Shirts – Annie or no Annie? Dunno – at Rocky Sullivan’s in Red Hook, B61 bus to the end of the line, 34 Van Dyke Street (at Dwight).

 

Also Fri Apr 17 punk/metal thrashers Vagina Panther at Trash, 10 PM.

 

Also Fri Apr 17 virtuoso delta blues guitarist/all-purpose literate Americana songwriter Lenny Molotov plays Pete’s, 10 PM.

 

Also Fri Apr 17 fiery, riff-rocking garage band 18 at Port 41, 10ish.

 

Also Fri Apr 17 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play twangy, purist, traditional surf classics and obscurities at Lakeside, 11 PM.

 

 Also Fri Apr 17 Gato Loco (the large band version with horns) at Tea Lounge in Park Slope, 11ish

 

Sat Apr 18, 7 PM Amir Vahab & Soroosh Ensemble play classical Persian music at Drom with saz, tambour, oud and percussion, $10 gen adm, early arrival very highly recommended.

 

Also Sat Apr 18, 7 PM pianist Xiayin Wang performs evening of classical piano works by Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin, Hayden, Wanghua Chu and Peixun Chen at the Queens Theatre in the Park, tix $25, $15 stud/$23 srs.

 

Also Sat Apr 18, 8ish the completely original, impeccably tuneful groove-jazz Hypnotic Brass Ensemble plays Santos Party House, 18+, gen. adm. $10  

 

Also Sat Apr 18 at Kenny’s Castaways guitarist/soundman extraordinaire Freddie Katz presents a night of cool diverse oldschool punk-inspired stuff including  the 413’s featuring longtime Joe Jackson/Graham Parker bass powerhouse Graham Maby, accordionist/chanteuse Marni Rice & Le Garage Cabaret, Vera Beren’s self-explanatory and very potent Gothic Chamber Blues Ensemble, the Johnny Black Band playing punk covers and Buddy Bowzer from the original NY Dolls?!? Dunno who’s playing first, (probably the older guys) but it’s all worth checking out.  

 

Also Sat Apr 18 virtuoso noir surf/western swing/jazz guitarist Jim Campilongo and oldtimey barrelhouse blues rockers the 4th St. Nite Owls at Barbes, 8 PM.

 

Also Sat Apr 18, 8 PM Elisa Flynn at the Roots Cafe, 5th Ave. bet. 18th & 19th St. in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her hellraising bluegrass homies the Shithouse Lilies.

 

Also Sat Apr 18, 9 PM, free at BAM Cafe – tuneful, politically conscious bass-rich funk with Shelley Nicole’s blaKbüshe.

 

Also Sat Apr 18 impressively multistylistic ska/reggae/dub rockers King Django at Two Boots Brooklyn, 9ish.

 

Also Sat Apr 18 sophisticated, entertaining urban country with Miller’s Farm – the crew who wrote that funny, spot-on song about the L train – at Hill Country, 10 PM.  

 

Also Sat Apr 18 roots reggae revivalists Meta & the Cornerstones at Zebulon, 10:30 PM.

 

Also Sat Apr 18 Spanking Charlene – NYC’s answer to X – at Lakeside, 11 PM 

 

Also Sat Apr 18 Brooklyn’s own adventurous, innovative, absolutely haunting all-female Bulgarian vocal quartet Black Sea Hotel’s cd release show at the Bell House is CANCELLED. Watch this space for upcoming shows.

 

Also Sat Apr 18 latin jazz guitarist (and Red Sox nemesis) Bernie Williams’ cd release show at the Nokia Theatre, adv tix $24.50 very highly recommended at the box office, this will sell out very fast. See if he can play in a different kind of big league.

 

Sun Apr 19 and also Apr 26 sophisticated Americana chanteuse Hope DeBates & North Forty at Wildwood BBQ, 1-5 PM, 225 Park Ave S (18/19).

 

Also Sun Apr 19, Willie Nile plays a duo acoustic show with Frankie Lee at Ray’s Place, Staten Island, $20, afternoon concert, very intimate setting, email Ray for more details.

 

Also Sun Apr 19, 7 PM saxophonist/clarinetist/composer Steve Elson will be performing music from the new CD Mott & Broome with Pete Smith – guitar; Scott Latzky – drums; Yasushi Nakamura – bass; Jennifer Griffith – vocals and special guests. at the Dixon Place Theater, 161 Chrystie Street between Rivington and Delancey, $15/stud/seniors $10.

 

Also Sun Apr 19 funk band Shwizz plays drummer Greg Evans’ senior recital at Manhattan School of Music, 8 PM, 120 Claremont Ave. 10027 free. They do a cool, horn-driven cover of Have a Cigar by Floyd. They’re also at Bowery Poetry Club in the wee hours of 4/17.  

 

Also Sun Apr 19 sprawling ska-gypsy-punk rockers World Inferno at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, 8:30 PM, gen adm $20.

 

Also Sun Apr 19 the fiery, haunting Raya Brass Band - featuring members of just about every good Balkan brass band in a ten mile radius – at Union Pool, 9ish

 

Mon Apr 20 pianist Hye-Yeon Park and her quartet the Atria Ensemble at St Paul’s Chapel downtown, 1 PM.

 

Also Mon Apr 20 the Famous Accordion Orchestra f.k.a. the Accordion Angels at Barbes, 7 PMish.

 

Also Mon Apr 20 the countryfied Van Halen cover band from hell, Van Hayride at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Tues Apr 21 Sivan Magen plays classical harp music, Bach to the moderns, at Merkin Concert Hall, 2 (two) PM, inexpensive, $15.

 

Tues Apr 21 Nicholas Howard plays Drom, 6 PM, early – real oldschool gospel-fueled soul singer with a light, understated touch. John Legend only wishes he was Nicholas Howard. If you come home late at night and blast Sam Cooke, or Howard Tate, or Smokey, this guy will soothe your ache. Somebody get this guy on tour with Eli “Paperboy” Reed.  

 

Also Tues Apr 21 QQQ - two composing couples playing rustic, innovative, multuistylistic violin-driven instrumentals – at Barbes, 7 PM.

 

Also Tues Apr 21, 7:30 PM by far the best night that Union Hall has ever had (and probably will ever have) starting with smart, soaring Americana chanteuse Julia Haltigan & The Hooligans, the utterly unique, amusing and socially conscious, oldtimey Americana/hiphop stylings of Tim Fite, rousing oldtimey band the Woes playing the cd release show for their new one and then the scorching Balkan Veveritse Brass Band, $10.

 

Tues Apr 21 a very cool reggae show at Sullivan Hall with Three Legged Fox, Emergency Service’s reggae/hiphop  and Soldiers of Jah Army at Sullivan Hall, 9 PM.

 

Also Tues Apr 21 Das 3 (of German vibraphone jazz innovators Das Vibenbass) at Rose Bar, 9ish.

 

Weds Apr 22, a panel discussion on the future of the art world at 7 PM sharp at Katie Murphy Auditorium, FIT (27th St. betw 7/8th Ave.) with Paul Morris, co-founder of the Armory Show, Lowell Pettit, art advisor, Walter Robinson, critic and editor of Artnet, Yvonne Garcia, director of development of the Bronx Museum, and Florence Lynch, curator and director of Florence Lynch Gallery. “Following years of wild expansion and commercial vitality, the last six months in the art world – as in all business sectors – have seen rocky auction and art fair sales, abrupt gallery closures and publicly expressed dealer woe. The panel, moderated by FIT adjunct faculty member, independent art consultant and co-founder of NADA, Sheri Pasquarella, will attempt to assess where things stand and what the long-term picture might look like.”

 

Also Weds Apr 22 at Sullivan Hall-  a ska show, absurdly cheap at $10 starting around 8 with the Bluebeats featuring Michael Drance (founding member of the Scofflaws), Across The Aisle, ska punks On Display, and oldschool-style rocksteady guys the Forthrights.

 

Also Weds Apr 22 fiery, tuneful, guitar-driven female-fronted power trio Devi at Shrine, 9 PM with tropicalia siren Patrizia Ferrara.  

 

Also Weds Apr 22 haunting, ethereal, atmospheric minimalist chamber rock ensemble Edison Woods and noir cabaret chanteuse/personality Little Annie with her brilliant collaborator, Botanica keyboardist Paul Wallfisch at Joe’s Pub, 9:30 PM.

 

Also Weds Apr 22 lead guitarist to the stars Pete Galub is at Lakeside, 10 PM doing a very cool show with special guest Jason Victor of Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3, another ferociously potent player.

 

Also Weds Apr 22 catchy, upbeat ranchero rock with Cordero at Mercury Lounge, $10, 10:30 PM.

 

Also Weds Apr 22 artsy, atmospheric, soulful singer-songwriter Jessi Robertson at the Rockwood, 11 PM.   

 

Thurs Apr 23 QNG (Quartet New Generation, innovative German flute quartet) at Trinity Church, 1 PM.

 

Also Thurs Apr 23, 7 PM the New Collisions play Arlene’s. Absolutely killer new wave throwbacks from Boston with chirpy, infectious, defiant vocals from frontwoman Sarah Guild, sly 80s synth, fiery guitar and some of the best tunes you’ll hear this year. Their show last month at Public Assembly really opened some eyes.

 

Also Thurs Apr 23 politically conscious 60s soul legend the Mighty Hannibal AKA James Shaw plays with the infectious, harmony-driven Sweet Divines at Joe’s Pub, 7 PM $12 adv tix very highly recommended.    

 

Also Thurs Apr 23 it’s Small Beast time again with Paul Wallfisch followed by the incomparably tuneful, purist songsmithing duo McGinty & White and the growlingly haunting guitar stylings of the Ulrich/Ziegler Duo at the Delancey, 9 PM  

 

Also Thurs Apr 23 classic-style roots and dub reggae with Soldiers of Jah Army and John Brown’s Body at Maxwell’s, 9ish, $15

 

Fri Apr 24 “the world’s most popular African band,” hypnotic Tuareg desert rockers Tinariwen – who have a killer new live DVD out – at le Poisson Rouge, 7:30 PM, $25 and worth it, this will sell out fast, adv tix available at the club box office

 

Also Fri Apr 24 eardrum-smashing Radio Birdman soundalikes the Mess Around - equally adept at chromatically-charged originals and oldschool R&B-inflected madness – at Otto’s, 8 PM

 

Also Fri Apr 24 scorching, powerful, frequently very funny, no-BS all-female rockers Beluga play the Loving Cup Cafe in Williamsburg in the back gallery space at 8 PM.

 

Also Fri Apr 24 the David Binney Big Band at the Jazz Gallery, sets at 9/10:30.

 

Also Fri Apr 24 oldtimey hokum blues/hillbilly revivalists the Wiyos – whose recent show at Joe’s Pub absolutely slayed – play the 92YTribeca, 9:30 PM, $12.

 

Also Fri Apr 24 big, highly regarded Brooklyn country band Yarn – who have a horn section, which actually works sensationally well – play Hill Country, 10 PM.

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Also Fri Apr 24 the French Exit show at Fontana’s is CANCELLED. Watch this space for this smartly lyrical, haunting band’s next gig.

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Also Fri Apr 24, 8 PM at Bargemusic: the Goldberg Variations arranged for string trio played by Jonathan Crow, Violin; Douglas McNabney, Viola; Matthew Haimovitz, Cello, tix expensive, $35, early arrival advised.

 

Also Fri Apr 24 Special Patrol Group at Arlene’s, 9 PM. Clever, allusive lyrics; catchy tunes; tricky time changes; a frontwoman who’s working her way into more and more of the songs because her Sonya Madan-esque voice is so good. Another one of the best bands in town.

 

Also Fri Apr 24 darkly swaying, sometimes quirky shoegaze rockers El Jezel at Trash, 9 PM.   

 

Also Fri Apr 24 all-female janglerock en Espanol group Pistolera at Joe’s Pub, 10 PM, $12 adv tix w/flyer – where do you get one?

 

Also Fri Apr 24 country/Americana chanteuse Alana Amram & the Rough Gems with their sprawling, lusciously jangly/twangy sound at Southpaw, 11 PM $10.

 

Sat Apr 25, 4-6 PM the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, 135 Broadway on the south side hosts the opening for the second of their two group shows this year dedicated to women artists. Last year’s was astonishingly good.

 

Also Sat Apr 25, 8 PM Robert Sirota’s riveting, haunting 9/11 commemoration Triptych performed by the American String Quartet along with works by Henry Cowell and Walter Piston at Bargemusic, tix $35/ $20 stud/srs. The program repeats on Sun 4/26 at 3 PM.     

 

Sat Apr 25 noir chanteuse Marissa Nadler opens for Nashville gothic duo the Handsome Family at Highline Ballroom, 8 PM, gen adm. $15

 

Also Sat Apr 25 low-register retro Cuban band Gato Loco – with baritone guitar, baritone sax, bass and tuba – play classics and Moisturizer-ish originals at Barbes, 8 PM.  

 

Also Sat Apr 25 hilarious metal parody band Mighty High at Trash, 8 PM.

 

Also Sat Apr 25, 8 PM there’s a free Bach Society concert at St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia, 116th and Broadway, no idea who/what’s on the bill but it sounds enticing and the sonics there are to die for.

 

Also Sat Apr 25 at Banjo Jim’s Jamie Lyn’s Honky Tonk Angels monthly festival of NYC’s hottest female country and Americana talent starts at 7 with country songstress Rachel Lee Walsh, the frequently hilarious bluegrass band the Havens at 8, the rousing Jamie Lyn & the Red Tail Hawk Band at 9, the quieter Kara Suzanne & The Gojo Hearts at 10, honey-voiced siren Drina Seay at 11 and at midnight Serena Jean & The Whisky Trippers.

 

Also Sat Apr 25, 8PMish at the recently reopened Knitting Factory, a killer triple bill with darkly danceable rock en Espanol monsters Escarioka, the gypsy punk-flavored Outernational (soon to go out on Warped Tour) and straight-up no BS punk Consumer Feedback, insanely cheap at $5.

 

Also Sat Apr 25 the Marvin Sewell Group play dark, fiery, tastefully virtuosic guitar-fueled blues at the Jalopy Theatre, 9 PM $15.

 

Also Sat Apr 25 International Generation play soulful, smart poliically conscious 70s style roots reggae at Shrine, 9 PM.

 

Also Sat Apr 25 smartly filthy, often hilarious punk rockers Custard Wally - with a strikingly multistylistic new album out – are at Don Pedro’s, 9 PM.  

Also Sat Apr 25, 9:30 PM at Joe’s Pub smart, tasteful Americana songwriter Matt Singer and then dark, noirish chamber rockers Pearl & the Beard’s cd release show, $14 adv tix very highly recommended, this may sell out. Followed by a separate show (try hiding somewhere, it may work) by classic style roots reggae artists Meta & the Cornerstones at 11:30 for $15.

 

Also Sat Apr 25, 10 PM the slinky, haunting acoustic duo the Gypsy Nomads at Coco 66, 66 Greenpoint Ave, $8.

 

Also Sat Apr 25 ferocious yet uber-tasteful Americana guitarist/rocker Tom Clark & the High Action Boys at Lakeside 11 PM.

 

Sun Apr 26 3 (three) PM, the free Americana Family Jamboree at Rodeo Bar which is basically Demolition String Band acoustic covering Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Stephen Foster, The Carter Family, Buck Owens, Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers, Ola Belle Reed, and more featuring Dave Post on upright bass, Diane Stockwell on fiddle, Boo Reiners on acoustic guitar and banjo, birthday babe Elena Skye on acoustic guitar, mandolin and banjo.

 

Sun Apr 26 a benefit for the Jazz Gallery, sets at 8/10 PM, $85 or $50/members an especially interesting, potentially alchemical group: Roy Hargrove – trumpet; Lionel Loueke – guitar; Esperanza Spalding – bass; Jeff “Tain” Watts (whose new cd is reputedly smashingly good) on drums plus special guests. We don’t usually list shows that cost this much, but if you’re one of the dwindling few with this kind of ducats, this is a worthy way to spend them.

 

Mon Apr 27, 7 PM Janine Nichols (who produced the Leonard Cohen doc I’m Your Man, and sings in Flutterbox) – at Barbes followed by Frank London’s Brazilian Brass Band ?!?

 

Also Mon Apr 27 virtuoso pianist Karine Poghosyan plays a free solo show at 7 PM at Steinway Hall, 109 West 57th Street featuring works by Mozart, Chopin, de Falla, Sirota and Stravinsky.

 

Also Mon Apr 27 Alec Berlin plays Arlene’s, 8 PM. Tuneful, pleasantly consonant, Beatlesque songwriter with a sense of humor

 

Also Mon Apr 27, 8:30 PM at Cornelia St. Cafe it’s Ljova and the Kontraband. That’s one of the world’s foremost violists (and composers) Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin on viola and custom-made “famiola,” his wife, Romashka frontwoman Inna Barmash on vocals, the fiery Patrick Farrell on accordion, Mathias Kunzli on percussion, Mike Savino on bass and Sofia Rei Koutsovitis guesting on vocals. Multi-stylistic, classically-inspired, gypsy-fueled, jazz-oriented, haunting and cinematic string music. True pioneers and very intense live.

 

Also Mon Apr 27 ex-Moonlighter Daria Grace & the Prewar Ponies play similarly swoony, gorgeously romantic harmony-driven oldtimey songs at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM 

 

Tues Apr 28, 8 PM at Merkin Concert Hall – Lingua Appalachia: Mark O’Connor, Ida Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, Matt Haimowitz doing string quartets with a rustic country flavor, $25 adv tix very highly recommended.

 

Also Tues Apr 28, 9 PM, rousingly lyrical Pete’s Candy Store-style acoustic Americana rockers Salt & Samovar play Southpaw, $10.

 

Also Tues Apr 28 phantamagorical, carnivalesque chanteuse Carol Lipnik plays with her equally eerie virtuoso pianist Dred Scott at the Rockwood, 11 PM followed by a set by Scott and his excellent jazz trio.

 

Weds April 29 an excellent artsy rock doublebill with cellist/multi-instrumentalist Serena Jost and then pianist/guitarist Matt Kanelos playing full-band shows le Poisson Rouge, 7 PM.

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Also Weds Apr 29-May 2, 8 PM a workshop of John Kelly: The Escape Artist – New music by chanteur/chanteuse John Kelly and the incomparable, phantasmagorical Carol Lipnik at MTG 10 Jay, 10 Jay Street, 9th Floor, Dumbo, $20. “He adds new music to his video/performance work-in-process, inspired by the bad-boy baroque painter Caravaggio, baroque music and the artist’s journey through Italy, examining the parallels between the unbridled creative urban artist of the 17th century and today.”

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Weds April 29-May 2, 8:30/11 PM jazz chanteuse Karrin Allyson - seriously on the Brazilian tip for awhile now – at Birdland.

 

Also Weds April 29- intriguing, totally unique Japanese gypsy rockers Kagero play Caffe Vivaldi, 9 PM.

 

Also Weds April 29 somewhat dark, tuneful, smartly lyrical Billie Holiday soundalike Maya Caballero at Sidewalk, 10 PM.

 

Also Weds April 29 baritone sax and bass-driven groove rockers Moisturizer debut their brand new five-piece lineup at Black Betty, 10ish, last show for awhile since bassist Moist Gina is going off on Detroit Cobras tour!

 

Thurs Apr 30, 7 PM 87-year old band leader/percussionist Foreststorn “Chico” Hamilton premieres multi-genre works off of his latest album Twelve Tones of Love at Borders Bookstore @ the Time Warner Building, 10 Columbus Circle, free but early arrival strongly advised.

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Also Thurs Apr 30 klezmerites the Shul Band followed by Belgian barroom gypsy jazz revivalists Musette Explosion at Barbes, 8 PM.

 

Also Thurs Apr 30 Evan Lurie plays Issue Project Room, 8 PM, $15, no idea who the ex-Lounge Lizard has on the bill with him but it could be a lot of fun.

 

Also Thurs Apr 30, 8:30 PM Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. play Otto’s, two 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.

 

Also Thurs Apr 30 theatrical, uniquely entertaining spooky parody band Witches in Bikinis at Public Assembly in the back room, 9 PM.

 

Also Thurs Apr 30 it’s Small Beast time again – tonight’s show is an especially sensational one with Paul Wallfisch, Steve Wynn and Vera Beren’s Gothic Chamber Blues Ensemble at the Delancey, 9 PM.

 

Also Thurs Apr 30 gypsy jazz with Matt Darriau’s Paradox Trio at Nublu, 9 PM, $10.

 

Also Thurs Apr 30 Reid Paley plays Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Finally, finally, the Rodeo has found someone who can silence the “happy hour douchebags,” as one of the great guitarists of our time calls them, that musicians despise so much. Paley is a force of nature: if you miss Lux Interior – or Screamin Jay – this guy will hit the spot, head on.

Hey, are you looking for May? Here’s the May calendar:

5/1-2 the latin-inflected Jason Lindner Big Band at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30.

5/1 fiery, upbeat canjun and honkytonk with the Doc Marshalls at Zebulon, 10:30 PM.

 

5/1 long-running Spinal Tap-style hair metal spoof rockers Satanicide at Mercury Lounge, midnight, $12.

Sat May 2 classical pianist Sophia Agranovich plays a free recital at Bargemusic, 1 PM, first come first served, early arrival (i.e. half past noon) advised.

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5/2, 2-3:30 p.m. at Galapagos, a discussion/performance “combining sounds of popular music with those of the street and the bayous, jazz changed not only music, but other art forms which borrowed its phrasing, rhythm, structure and aesthetics. Jazz critic Gary Giddins joins forces with American poets Jayne Cortez and Bill Zavatsky to explore the birth and life of jazz and how it relates to the written word. With musical accompaniment by the Diane Moser Quintet; moderated by composer Carman Moore.” $10/$8 PEN members/students.

5/2 5-6 PM free mint juleps at the Bell House. That’s drinks, not a band.

 

5/2, 7 PM NYC’s own hypnotic Indonesian gamelan orchestra Gamelan Dharma Swara at Drom $10.

 

5/2 wild, crazy and dark retro garage stuff with King Khan & The Shrines/Mark Sultan at Maxwell’s $12 adv, also at the Music Hall of Williamsburg 5/1 PM for $3 extra, and at Santos Party House for $15 with “Georgiana Starlington” opening at 7

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5/2 oldschool jazzy ska with Arusha at Shrine, 11 PM.

 

5/2 the dark Nashville gothic and ornate art-rock sound of Ninth House at Don Pedro’s, 11 PM.

 

5/2, 11 PM unbelievably tight, slightly jazzy funk band Baby Daddy at the Parkside

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5/2 wild art-punk-noise rockers System Noise at Iridium, midnight, with the talented Michael Isaacs guesting on piano, $10 w/flyer (email noxes [at] verizon.net to get one). By far the loudest band who will ever rock this timid joint!

 

5/3 oldtimey blues/ragtime siren Mamie Minch at Spikehill, 9 PM

 

5/4 rock and ska en Espanol with the fiery, gypsyish Escarioka at Mehanata, 9ish

 

5/4 noir songwriter/bandleader Kerry Kennedy at Zebulon, 9ish

 

5/5 gypsy dance and guitars with St. Petersburg, Russia’s Drago Ensemble at Drom, 8 PM.

 

5/5-10 at the Vanguard the Brad Mehldau Trio with Larry Grenadier onbass, Jeff Ballard on drums.

 

5/6 the hilarious and lushly psychedelic seventeen-piece all-female accordion combo Main Squeeze Orchestra at the Bell House, 8 PM

 

5/6 lyrical French tenor player Gael Horellou leads his quartet playing compositions from his new cd Pour la Terre at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30.

 

5/7 pianist Jeremy Denk plays the Goldberg Variations at Symphony Space, 8 PM adv tix $30

 

5/7 Botanica frontman Paul Wallfisch and And the Wiremen at Small Beast at the Delancey, 9 PM

 

5/8, early, 7 PM, the reliably tuneful, fun all-female retro garage rockers the Friggs followed by the Chrome Cranks reunion show – !!! – at Santos Party House, $15. The Chrome Cranks are also at Glasslands on 5/15. This is a big deal in NYC rock history, arguably the most ferocious of the noir, bluesy LES bands of the early 90s back together again with all the original members and reputedly as darkly snarling and intense as ever.

 

5/8 at Small’s 10:30 PM and midnight – Jay Collins and The Kings County Band. check out this lineup: Jay Collins – Tenor Sax , Dred Scott – Piano , Scott Sharrard – Guitar , Jeff Hanley – Bass , Diego Voglino – Drums , Moses Patrou – Percussion.

 

May 9 at 7:30pm in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, the world premiere of Nina Dance by pioneering violist/composer Ljova Zhurbin. The program also features new vocal cycles by Paola Prestini, Matti Kovler, and David T. Little.  “Niña Dance”, features the Argentine jazz vocalist Sofia Rei Koutsovitis, and scored for a chamber ensemble comprised of trumpet, guitar, accordion, two percussionists, laptop, and Zhurbin performing on the 6-string “famiola”. It is a meditation on the disappearance of women & children in Juárez, Mexico, the poverty and drug-ridden border town, a tribute to victims of femicide throughout history

 

5/9 sharply literate, ferociously funny songwriter Joe Pug at the Bell House, $12, 7:30 PM. He’s also at Joe’s Pub at the same hour on 5/12.

Fri, May 8, 9 PM the McCarron Brothers cd Release Party at Nublu: guitarist Mark McCarron, saxophonist Paul Carlon, bassist Doug Largent and drummer Russ Meissner: “urban and rural American styles through the compositional talents of McCarron and Carlon, and through choice covers of great songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Wayne Shorter, and Radiohead.”

5/9 Saturday May 9th, 8 PM Paul Zunno (ex Wilson Pickett lead guitarist) plays acoustic blues at Roy Arias Theater Center, 300 West 43rd Street at 8th Ave, $10.

 

5/9, 10 PM Anguile & the High Steppers play hypnotic, smart, 1970’s style Francophone roots reggae at Shrine

 

5/9 second-wave garage and classic 1976-era pub rock with Eddie and The Hot Rods at Maxwell’s, time TBA, probably late, $12 adv.

 

5/12 Letizia Romiti of Turin Italy plays the organ at Central Synagogue, half past noon, free

 

5/12-17 at the Vanguard the Bill Frisell Trio with Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums. Just the basics, the loop pedal, a great room and you.

 

5/12 Federico Aubele playing swinging, reggae-inflected, electrified tangos and boleros from his new cd Amatoria at Joes Pub, 9:30 PM, $16 adv tix highly recommended.

 

5/13 at le Poisson Rouge 7:30 PM Lady Gag’s Haitian-American violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) does his starkly atmospheric trip-hop instrumental thing, $15.

 

5/14 Vlada Tomova’s Balkan Tales at Trinity Church, 1 PM.

 

5/14 Paul Wallfisch, Mattison and Reid Paley at Small Beast at the Delancey, upstairs, 9 PM.

 

5/14 alt-country/Americana siren Jan Bell at Barbes, 8 PM.

 

5/14 the Howlin Thurstons play fiery surf music and Link Wray-influenced instrumentals at Lakeside, 10 PM.

 

5/15 Chicha Libre plays the Rocks Off Concert Cruise, leaving at 7 sharp from 23rd St. and the FDR, adv tix $20 absolutely necessary, this will sell out.  

 

5/15 This Spy Surfs play subtle, intriguing surf, spy and movie theme-style guitar instrumentals at 10 PM at Lucky Mojos, 514 51st Ave., Long Island City, Queens, 7 to Vernon-Jackson Aves.

 

5/15-16 the Yosvany Terry Big Band at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30.

 

5/15, 9 PM Buffalo play virtuosic grasscore and quieter acoustic Americana at Shrine

 

5/15-16 the English Beat at Maxwell’s, 10ish, $25.

5/15 roots reggae with International Generation at Coco 66, 10 PM.

Fri May 15, 10:30 PM at le Poisson Rouge – Slavic Soul Party and Scott Kettner’s Forro Brass Band, $15 adv tix very highly recommended.

 

5/15 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars at Lakeside, 11 PM.

 

5/16 the Jack Grace Band at Joe’s Pub 7:30 PM $15.

 

5/16, 8 PM at the Stone: the ethereal, lushly atmospheric Metal Mountains feat. Helen Rush (vocals, guitar) Samara Lubelski (violin, bass) Pat Gubler (guitar), $5

 

5/16 the Secret History play artsy, European-style keyboard-driven female-fronted pop at the Bell House, 9 PM, $16.

 

Saturday, May 16th 8-10 PM noir rockers Darren Gaines & the Key Party at the Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27th St. btwn 5th and Madison, $10 all ages, free wine (21 plus) with Paul Wallfisch of Botanica opening the show solo on piano.

 

5/16 roots reggae with John Brown’s Body at Southpaw 10ish $15 gen adm.

5/16 roaring, wailing Americana punk rockers Spanking Charlene at Lakeside, 11 PM.

5/17 Metropolitan Klezmer plays Jewish Museum Family Day, 2 sets starting half past noon, free w/museum adm. – $12, $10/srs./$7.50 stud., under 12 free.

 

5/17 noir-ish cabaret-tinged chanteuse Jeanne Marie Boes brings her powerful contralto and piano chops to LIC Bar in Long Island City where she’s playing the cd release for her new one, 7 PM.

 

5/17, 9 PM at Drom – Newpoli playing little-known southern Italian folk music, mainly from Campania and Puglia, integrating a wide variety of styles such as Tarantella-Pizzica, Tammuriata, etc., $10.

 

5/18 at Ace of Clubs, 8 PM, Out Of Print: An unauthorized evening with the “Cheney Family” as they read excerpts from Lynne Cheney’s fairly PG-rated lesbian pulp novel novel “Sisters,” $10

 

5/19 the Mike Hunt Band at Lakeside 11 PM.

 

5/19 twisted Southern garage rock with SCOTS and mile-a-minute surf rock with los Straitjackets at Bowery Ballroom, adv tix $18 at the Mercury box office

 

5/20 Gail Archer plays her continuing series Mendelssohn in the Romantic Century featuring organ pieces by Felix (and Fanny, if you’re lucky) along with their 19th century contemporaries at Central Synagogue, 7:30 PM.

5/20, 8 PM at Merkin Concert Hall, Elaine Comparone, harpsichord & the Queen’s Chamber Band play a program including Alan Broadbent’s Distant Music, Thomas Pasatieri’s Concerto for Harpsichord, Harold Farberman’s Three Pieces for the Queen’s Band, Christopher Lyndon-Gee’s Études Canoniques for 2 Violins, Cello & Harpsichord and David Shohl’s Two Poems for countertenor and instruments; as well as selections from J. S. Bach’s the Art of the Fugue, $25 adv tix highly recommended.

 

5/20 Cheetah Chrome at Maxwell’s time TBA $10 like the old days.

5/21 mesmerizing, hypnotic dub reggae with Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad and the Easy Star Allstars (including some psychedelic Beatges covers no doubt) at BB King’s, 8 PM.

5/22 saxist Jacam Manricks plays the cd release for his new one Labyrinth (featuring jazz quintet and 40-piece chamber orchestra, on the cd at least)  at Smalls, 9/10:30 PM sets, $20 includes a drink ticket

 

5/22 11 PM Roots Vibration play…can you guess?…at Shrine – roots legend Judah Eskender Tafari on vocals

 

5/23 scorching original punk-infused rockabilly and surf music with Simon & the Bar Sinisters at Lakeside 10:15ish

 

5/24, 9:30 PM Cape Verde chanteuse Maria de Barros at Joe’s Pub $20

 

5/26 multistylistic rock goddess Jenifer Jackson plays bossa, Beatlesque pop, haunting Nashville gothic and more at the Rockwood, 9 PM

 

5/28 the NY Scandia Symphony at Trinity Church, 1 PM, most likely playing American premieres of excellent, under-the-radar Scandinavian composers.

 

5/28 legendary rocksteady/roots reggae crooner Gregory Isaacs at B.B. King’s, 8 PM, $22.50 adv tix at the box ofc

 

5/28 the JD Allen Trio at Smalls 9:00 & 10:30 PM  with JD Allen – Tenor Sax , Gregg August – bass , Rudy Royston – drums. Simply one of the most exciting things happening in jazz right now. Their most recent cd I Am I Am is a haunting, thematic masterpiece.

5/28 Band of Outsiders – who were doing the drony neo-Velvets thing 20 years before Brian Jonestown Massacre – at Lakeside, 10 PM

 

5/29 at Galapagos, 8 PM the World Premiere of innovative keyboardist/composer Missy Mazzoli’s Song from the Uproar featuring NOW Ensemble and films by Stephen Taylor.

 

5/29 Libby York and her band at the Metropolitan Room, 10 PM, with understatedly compelling, uncluttered vocals reminiscent of Chris Connor or June Christy – or Bliss Blood for that matter. Res. recommended to 212-206-0440, $20

  

 5/29-31 John Ellis’ Dreamscapes at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30

 

5/29-31 X at Bowery Ballroom 9:30ish adv tix $27 at the Mercury

 

5/29 3 floors of ska, 8ish at the Knitting Factory, adv tix $17 with Mustard Plug, Eastern Standard Time, The Void, We Are the Union, Royal City Riot, Hub City Stompers, King Django, Brunt of It, Silver Dollar

 

5/29 Delusions of Grand St. at Trash 9 PM

 

5/30 at Merkin Concert Hall, 8:30 PM: Writing Jazz: the Lark Chamber Artists/Zephyros Winds/Anthony de Mare – genre-bending jazz/classical including the premiere of a commissioned work by David Rakowski.

 

Saturday, May 30, noon – the Three Orchestras Concert at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery (10th Street & 2nd Avenue)

 

5/30 the Sweet Bitters cd release show Kenny’s Castaways 7 PM

 

6/4 Darren Gaines & The Key Party at Small Beast at the Delancey 10ish

6/6 Blue Oyster Cult  at B.B. King’s, shows at 7:30/10, adv tix $27.50

6/6, 8 PM at BAM Moroccan and Syrian sufi music with the Aissawa Ensemble and Al Taybah Ensemble, adv tix $20-35 very highly recommended.

6/9-10 Sherisse Rogers’ Uprising at the Jazz Gallery, sets 9/10:30

6/10 the Mummies 10 PM at Southpaw $15

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.) Kamilya Jubran of Palestine singing modern poetry from Palestine, Iraq, and beyond, $35 adv tix ($25 stud/srs) highly recommended. 

 

6/12, 9:30 PM at BAM Cafe, free, noted oud rocker Brahim Fribgane,, with Kashmiri-born indie alternative rock band Zerobridge opening the show.

 

 

 

 

 

6/13 the Bluebeats at Shrine, 10 PM

6/13 Plastic Beef night at Freddy’s feat. Tom Warnick, the John Sharples Band, Liza Garelik and Ian Roure and Baby Daddy

 

6/20 Toussaint Liberator w/Buru Style at Shrine 10 PM

 

6/27 at Central Park Summerstage, free, 3 PM, 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, Mazhar-Fuat-Özkan, Painted on Water featuring Sertab Erener & Demir Demirkan plus the NY Gypsy All-Stars with Hüsnü Senlendirici and special guests.

 

7/8 the Church at Irving Plaza

 

7/10 Those Darlins at Southpaw 10 PM $10

 

7/11 los Fabulosos Cadillacs at Central Park Summerstage, doors at 3, free

 

7/13-15 Aimee Mann at City Winery bar seating $30 time TBA

 

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.

 

 

 

8/3, 7:30 PM, Toumani Diabate (Malian kora virtuoso) at Central Park Summerstage, free

 

 

 

 

 

New York City Live Music Calendar March-April 2009 Plus Other Events

Hey – this isn’t the latest NYC Live Music Calendar here.

This is.

Daily updates. As usual, weekly events first, followed by the daily calendar. Because we get some of this info weeks in advance, it’s always good to check with the club (see our venues page) to make sure the show you’re interested in seeing is still happening…check out the weekly shows too, lots of good stuff going on! Apologies for the crazy spacing and fonts - microsoft word and WordPress aren’t speaking to each other right now.

 

If you can’t make it out of the house Rifffin’s Rundown is on the air weekdays at 8:35 PM at Newstalk 93 FM featuring both new and classic reggae, jazz and global sounds. Irie mon! 

 

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.

 

The 2008-09 series of organ concerts at St. Thomas Church continues most every Sunday (holidays excepted) at 5:15 sharp, featuring a whole slew of world-renowned performers. Concerts continue through May 17.

 

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 Sasha Dobson plays Pete’s at 8:30 PM. Warm, casual, tropicalia-inflected jazz-pop. Imagine Norah Jones but mature and battlescarred with both a bossa nova and Americana fixation.

 

Sundays in March 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 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). 

 

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 whaat 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 most Mondays the Barbes house band, Chicha Libre plays there starting around 9:45 (check the club calendar to be sure). Chicha Libre are the sole American practitioners of chicha, a style popular in the Peruvian Amazon ghettos in the 70s and currently experiencing a renaissance thanks to these guys. With electric accordion, cuatro, surf guitar and a boisterous rhythm section, their hypnotic, reverb-drenched mix of obscure psychedelic surf/cumbia/rock classics and originals is one of the funnest, most danceable things you’ll witness this year. Lately they’ve expanded their repertoire to include not only their often hilarious, hypnotic originals and covers of period pieces along with chichafied rock songs. If you get lucky they’ll play their amped-up version of the Clash classic Guns of Brixton.

 

Also Mondays in March (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 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.

 

Sophisticated, jazz-inflected Americana chanteuse Julia Haltigan and her excellent band the Hooligans play 11th St. Bar every Tuesday in March at 9:30 PM.

 

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, 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 Wednesdays through March 25 the John McNeil Group featuring Noah Preminger has a residency at Puppet’s Jazz Bar, 481 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn.  Joining trumpeter/composers McNeil and Preminger are drummer Jochen Rueckert and bassist Mike McGuirk.  Three sets from 9 – 1 AM along with an ”intermission piano player” each week, $6.

 

Also every Wednesday at Drom it’s Cuban night with a new, hot dance band every week, 9:30 PM – 2 AM, just $12 at the door.

 

Every Thursday, 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. March artists include Serena Jost, Jennifer O’Connor, the Crass Brass, Mark Steiner, Frederic Blasco and Ed Pastorini.

 

Fridays in March, 10:30 PM sensational Greek oud player Mavrothi Kontanis performs with bouzouki specialist Antonis Tsimounis, Giorgos Kolias and fellow oudist Sotiris Tsourekis for a late night of wildly beautiful, authentic Rebetika, Entehna, and Smyrneika sounds at the wonderfully named ELO restaurant, 12-14 31st Avenue, Astoria.

 

Sun Mar 1 Mostly Other People Do the Killing play brilliantly satirical improv jazz at at Zebulon, 9:30ish

Tues Mar 3 one of our favorite jazz guys, tersely smart guitarist Bill Frisell plays a rare duo show with violin at Barbes, 7 PM, get here EARLY i.e. 6 if you want to see this show. Is this cool or what? Slavic Soul Party follows with their wild, haunting Baltic brass band show at 9ish for $10.

Also Tues Mar 3 loud, tasteful, abrasive noir/glam rockers the Bellmer Dolls at Lit, 11 PM.

Also Tues Mar 3, 10:30 PM Emilie Cardinaux plays Ace of Clubs. She mines the same ground as Norah Jones but with infinitely better songs and a similarly oldtime Americana jazz touch.

Also Tues Mar 3, 11 PM the Sweetback Sisters playing catchy original oldtimey 40s/50s style country songs with soaring harmonies at Pete’s 11 PM.

Weds Mar 4 a killer triplebill at Ace of Clubs starting at 8. Opening act Beboluz are self-styled practitioners of “musica bastarda,” which in their case means dark Maldita-inflected rock en Espanol, a little Manu Chao and hypnotic, groovy funk. If you like the idea of Vampire Weekend but hate the band, check out the 9 PM act, La Sovietika, who virtuosically and ass-shakingly blend funk, reggae, soukous and salsa with Spanish lyrics. Headliners Dr. Snagarelli & the Evil Sex Scientist play their somewhat bizarre but smart. imaginative and unmistakably original funk at 10.

Also Weds Mar 4 excellent oldschool country band the Dixons play the Bell House, 9ish, $10.   

Also Weds Mar 4, 9 PM it’s Baltic brass band night (which usually means a good party) with Raya Brass Band and Veveritse at Trophy Bar in South Williamsburg.

Also Weds Mar 4 noir art-rock siren Marissa Nadler, Joe’s Pub 9:30 PM includes a 1-yr subs to NY Magazine. Who knew. Desperate times for the magazine, huh?

Thurs Mar 5, 7:30 PM Iraqi refugee oud virtuoso Rahim AlHaj at Symphony Space, adv tix $25 highly recommended.

Thurs Mar 5 the Quavers create slow, sweeping, atmospheric art-rock (as well as some catchy Americana-inflected songs) with loops at Barbes, 8 PM followed by bluegrass/klezmer legend Andy Statman at 10, separate admission, $10.

Also Thurs Mar 5, 7:30 PM, $10, Divahn frontwoman Galeet Dardashti at Santos Party House: a Persian Jewish Carnival of the Bible’s Elusive Women. from the press release: “Galeet Dardashti Gives Voice to the Unnamed and Unknown. The Queen of Sheba’s shaven legs. A witch’s bitter prophecy. The female superheroes who saved Moses. These stories make up The Naming, singer and composer Galeet Dardashti’s exploration of the little-known lives of the Bible’s phantom women. Of Persian Jewish descent, Dardashti unites the Persian classical music that made her grandfather an icon in Iran with her family’s deep connection to Jewish poetry and song.”

Also Thurs Mar 5-8 the Dr. Lonnie Smith Quartet playing delicious Hammond B3 organ jazz at the Jazz Standard, tix $25 or $30 Fri-Sat, sets 7:3-/9:30 PM

Also Thurs Mar 5 at the Delancey, 8:30 PM it’s the weekly Small Beast show with guest host Franz Nicolay of World Inferno (Paul Wallfisch will be on tour w/Botanica) plus brilliant, devious, subtle, classically inspired art-rock composer/chanteuse Serena Jost along with smart, fearless acoustic rocker Jennifer O’Connor.

Also Thurs Mar 5 another good triplebill at Ace of Clubs starting at 8 with the Jason Berman Group, self-styled “jazz musicians playing singer/songwriter music,” smartly and tastefully with a good female singer. Followed by Stratospheerius at 9 doing high-energy, late 70s style Jean Luc Ponty type jazz fusion with electric violin. Then at 10 there’s the equally interesting 5Mach5, their thoughtful, interesting, jazzy guitar and weird samples. Stratospheerius are also at Fat Baby on 3/25 at 10.

Also Thurs Mar 5, pan-latin guitar genius Aquiles Baez at the Jazz Gallery, $15, sets 9/10:30 PM. He’s also at Rose Bar on 3/10 at 9.

Also Thurs Mar 5, 9 PM subtly hilarious, peroid perfect 1953-style hillbilly pop trio Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. plays Otto’s, 9 PM.

Also Thurs Mar 5 sophisticated countrypolitan chanteuse Carolyn Sills at Pete’s, 9 PM.

Also Thurs Mar 5 indie guitar genius Pete Galub and then rustic, often haunting chamber-pop band Pearl & the Beard at Public Assembly in the back room, 9 PM, $7

Also Thurs Mar 5, El Lay noir chanteuse Eleni Mandell - you know her, right? You don’t? You have been deprived. She’s at Joe’s Pub, 9:30 PM.

Also Thurs Mar 5, charismatic, tuneful, multistylistic and very funny punk rockers the Brooklyn What – the band who’ve occupied the #1 position on our weekly Top ten for weeks now – are at Don Pedro’s, 10ish.

Fri Mar 6, reception at 7:30, show at 8 sharp, free, Richard Garet performs Electrochroma, “a video/sound kinetic performance that consists of the manipulation of light in real time through various analog and digital processes that consequently translate the voltage signal produced by the light into sound.” At at Solar/Elga Wimmer PCC, 526 West 26th St. Peep the visuals, check out the sound, see if they converge or make any sense whatsoever.

Also Fri Mar 6 lush, romantic, poignantly funny French chanson revivalists les Chauds Lapins at 8 followed by Bill Carney’s long-running and reliably entertaining Jug Addicts at 9:30ish at Barbes.

Also Fri Mar 6, 10:15 PM Cudzoo & the Fagettes play funny, punked-out girl group pop at Don Hill’s. This is the band responsible for Oops I Fucked Your Brother.

Also Fri Mar 6 Patti Rothberg, powerpop siren at the absolute top of her game plays Arlene’s, 9 PM.

Also Fri Mar 6 excellent, female-fronted roots reggae/skaband the Big Takeover plays the Rockwood, 11 PM  

Fri Mar 6 at Ace of Clubs: at 11 Indonesian expat metal band Suaka, blending a hypnotic gamelan-inflected style with crunchy guitars – don’t laugh, they’re good! – followed at midnight by the raging, tuneful, riff-oriented metal/punk group Same Four Walls.

Also Fri Mar 6 Katie Elevitch plays Banjo Jim’s, midnight. Impossible to think of a better midnight Friday night show – dark, unearthly, primeval intensity with one of the best albums of the decade recently completed.

Also Fri Mar 6 Dave Fiuczynski’s Kif plays the Blue Note, 1 AMish (actually the wee hours of 3/7), $10. About ten years ago this metalish, Middle Eastern tinged jazz guitarist was all the rage; worth seeing what he’s up to now.    

Sat Mar 7,  4-6 PM it’s this year’s group show opening at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center (WAH Center) 135 Broadway, J/M to Marcy Ave. This year’s theme: women artists, looks very promising.

Also Sat Mar 7, an excellent blues doublebill with fast but elegant Bobby Radcliff at 7 followed by incisive Chicago-style crooner/guitarist Johnny Allen at 10 at Terra Blues. 

Also Sat Mar 7, brilliantly mulstistylistic oldtimey blues/country/ragtime band the Wiyos are at Joe’s Pub, 7:30 PM, $15

Also Sat Mar 7, minor-key Balkan/reggae/gypsy/klezmer hellraisers Hazmat Modine  do a doublebill with the similarly inclined Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra – a murderer’s row of edgy jazz cats – at le Poisson Rouge, 7 PM

Also Sat Mar 7, 8 PM one of the greatest musicians of our era, oud and violin virtuoso Simon Shaheen plays songs from the golden age of Arab music at the Town Hall, $25 adv tix available at the box office or at the World Music Institute.

Also Sat Mar 7 at Barbes, 8 PM: the Ahn Trio, Juilliard-trained piano/violin/cello sister act who for a second were People Magazine’s token intellectuals (don’t hold it against them), specializing in new music with nods to jazz, minimalism and the avant garde (check out the absolutely beautiful Dies Irae on their myspace). Followed by Red Baraat Festival, an Indian marching band, at 10.

Also Sat Mar 7, 9 PM Unsteady Freddie’s monthly surf music show at Otto’s starting with Connecticut’s sensational, pummeling 9th Wave with Mike “Staccato” Rosado on guitar at 9 followed by the often improvisational, psychedelic Venice Beach Muscle Club, the Octomen and purist, retro cover band Mr. Action & The Boss Guitars somewhere around midnight. Mr. Action (that’s the drummer) and the boss guys are also at Lakeside at 11 on 3/20.

Also Sat Mar 7 Buzz Universe play their imaginative, catchy, latin-inflected jammed-out funk at Ace of Clubs, 10:30 PM   

Sun Mar 8 the Klez Dispensers play klezmer brunch at City Winery, 2 sets starting at 11 AM (yawn) $10 adm. kids under 13 free!

Also Sun Mar 8, 2 (two) PM at Highline Ballroom Reverend Billy and the Life After Shopping Singers, gen adm $12

Also Sun Mar 8, 7 PM, AE (Aurelia Lucy Shrenker And Eva Salina Primack), world music vocal duo equally skilled at vintage Americana and Balkan sounds at Barbes opening for the reliably excellent, equally multistylistic Russian/soundtrack/classical/jazz ensemble Ljova & the Kontraband

Also Sun Mar 8, 9 PM-ish Jewdyssee which is basically noir-ish chanteuse Maya Saban’s downtempo Berlin groove/dance/downtempo project plays the Jewish Music Cafe, 401 9th St. in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY F train to 7th Ave, $10.

Also Sun Mar 8, 9:30 PM-ish growling, Steve Earle-ish ex-Backslider Chip Robinson with the always guitarishly excellent Roscoe Trio at Lakeside.

Mon Mar 9, 8 PM The Oriental Music Ensemble of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine feat. Suhail Khoury, nay (flute) and clarinet; Ahmad Al-Khatib, oud; Ibrahim Attari, qanoun; Yousef Hbeisch, percussion at Miller Theatre, Columbia University, 116th and Broadway, $25 and worth it.

Also Mon Mar 9 scathingly funny, fiery punk/garage rockers Des Roar – the guys (and girl) responsible for the classic Ted Bundy Was a Ladies Man – play a free show, 10 PM at Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery at 2nd St. in the old Remote Lounge space.

Tues Mar 10 and also 3/24 the incomparable Jenifer Jackson at Rockwood Music Hall, 8 PM with special guests. The expat NYC chanteuse effortlessly blends elements tropicalia, Beatlesque pop, classic 70s style soul and jazz and delivers them with a warm, sometimes hypnotic delivery that is sometimes pure solace and sometimes pure adrenaline. You should see her sometime. Blue-eyed soul siren Juliana Nash, who made Pete’s Candy Store what it was in its late 90s heyday follows at 10 with a now-rare NYC show, don’t miss her either.

Also Tues Mar 10 the French Exit plays Lit, 9 PM. One of Lucid Culture’s favorite bands, this noir trio play slashing, dark, brooding dirges that take their roots from classic blues and soul music, often with roaring guitar or lush keyboard orchestration. Get to know them now before it costs you an arm and a leg to see them.

Also Tues Mar 10 devious, psychedelic  keyboard-and-talkbox-driven funk/groovemeisters Chin Chin play the release show for their latest cd at Union Pool, 10 PM-ish.

Also Tues Mar 10 thoughtfully ambient, atmospheric classical/soundtrack instrumentalists Charles Atlas play Pete’s, 11 PM    

Weds Mar 11 organist Gail Archer continues her sensational series Mendelssohn in the Romantic Century at 7:30 PM at Central Synagogue in midtown, free. If you saw her previous recital here in January, she’s doing a different program every time out, with predictably excellent results.

Also Weds Mar 11 jazz guitarist Ron Jackson and his funky James Brown-style Hammond organ group at Rose Bar in Williamsburg, 9 PM

Also Weds Mar 11 a killer triplebill at Arlene’s with Abbie Barrett at 8 PM, a purist, rustic soul-tinged songwriter from Boston. A little smoky, a little psychedelic. Good stuff. Followed at 9 by oldschool 60s style soul/funk family Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds and then Lana Mir at 10 with her aptly described warm analog sounding jazzy retro European style pop.

Also Weds Mar 11 haunting, slowly undulating but playful  groove/trance/downtempo rockers El Jezel at Spikehill, 10 PM. 

Also Weds Mar 11, 11 PM at Ace of Clubs Elextra blend rock en Espanol and dub with a mix of samples and live guitars: it’s eerie and weird and pretty loud and works way better than you might think.  

Thurs Mar 12, 1 PM the NY Scandia Symphony at Trinity Church, program TBA (they often premiere new works by Scandinavian composers).

Also Thurs Mar 12 smartly politically aware Americana rocker Amy Speace at Joe’s Pub, 7 PM playing stuff from her reputedly darkest and career-best forthcoming cd The Killer in Me.

Also Thurs Mar 12 at the Bell House, 7:30 PM, classic soul music with the Sweet Divines/Eli Paperboy Reed & The True Loves, $12 gen adm.

Also Thurs-Sun Mar 12-15 saloon piano jazz legend Mose Allison – Amy’s dad – plays the Jazz Standard, tix $25 ($30 Fri-Sat), sets at 7:30 and 9:30 PM

Also Thurs Mar 12 art-rock multi-instrumentalist siren Serena Jost plays Barbes, 8 PM, followed by exhilarating Balkan brass band rockers Ansambl Mastika, led by one Greg Squared, a fiery, Ivo Papasov-influenced reed player.

Also Thurs Mar 12 at 8 PM at Merkin Concert Hall (part of the New Sounds Live shows hosted by WNYC’s John Schaefer) – Notes On The War: The Piano Protests. Pianist Sarah Cahill commissioned a group of today’s leading composers to write a collection of pieces reacting to the war in Iraq, including Frederic Rzewski, Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, Yoko Ono, Pauline Oliveros, Peter Garland, Phil Kline, Jerome Kitzke and Kyle Gann. The result is a group of short piano works intended as a vivid response to the seemingly never-ending war.

Also Thurs Mar 12 the Microscopic Septet play le Poisson Rouge 8:30 PM $15. This is a big deal for jazz fans since the Spinal Tap of jazz composition hardly play out ever, in fact only once since their most recent cd Lobster Leaps In. Since their early 80s inception, they remain absolutely undiminished and as devious as ever, with very few lineup changes. If you’re not going with us to Musicians vs. the War, you won’t go wrong with this show.  

Also Thurs Mar 12 the Hot Club from Hell’s Kitchen plays gypsy guitar jazz Mehanata, 9 PM. They’re also at the Jalopy in Red Hook at 11 on 3/19.

Also Thurs Mar 12 Sean Kershaw and the New Jack Ramblers - who lately have been on a western swing kick – play Hill Country, 9 PM  

Also Thurs Mar 12 Skyebat - with guitar monster Stu Newman from Joy Ryder’s band – play stylistically diverse, cosmopolitan, European-flavored jazzy female-fronted pop at Ace of Clubs, 9:30 PM

Also Thurs Mar 12 the Throwing Muses at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, time TBA, adv tix $20 at the Mercury, no idea if it’s Kristin and Tanya or one or the other or both…

Also Thurs Mar 12 the excellent, female-fronted Big Takeover play original ska and reggae at Arlene’s, 10 PM  

Also Thurs Mar 12 excellent janglerock/Americana guitarist Chris Erikson & the Wayward Puritans at Lakeside 10 PM.

Fri Mar 13 at Arlene’s at 7 PM: Mahina Movement, politically aware all-female soul trio – good stuff – followed a little after 9 by decent, predictably upbeat loud funk band Earthdriver.

Also Fri Mar 13 lush, orchestrated weird Americana-obsessed “historical orchestrette” Pinataland plays Barbes at 8.

Also Fri Mar 13 Kings County Queens – who in many ways invented the Pete’s Candy Store Sound, with their fetching harmonies and quietly thoughtful country songs -followed by the Reid Paley Trio , who are 180 degrees away from that, with their explosive, careening noir blues sound, downstairs at the National Underground, 9 PM.

Also Fri Mar 13 the reliably amusing Balthrop Alabama play the cd release show for their two new eps at the 92Yribeca with the Moonlighters and the Ukuladies opening, 9:30 PM , $10, should be fun.

Also Fri Mar 13 and also Thurs Mar 19 the Grand Masters of Gypsy Music at Mehanata, 9 PM.

Also Fri Mar 13, 9:30 PM brilliantly psychedelic, fearlessly political 80s new wave throwbacks Liza & the WonderWheels at Rocky Sullivan’s in Red Hook, 34 Van Dyke Street at Dwight, B61 bus to the end of the line. You can catch the B61 going south on Driggs in Williamsburg, or at the corner of Court and Atlantic among other places.

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Also Fri Mar 13 dark, rustic, frequently haunting chamber pop/rock band Pearl & the Beard are at the Rockwood, 10 PM.

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Also Fri Mar 13 the Georges Brassens Translation Project are at Galapagos, 10 PM, $10. Pierre de Gaillande from Melomane put together this excellent, hauntingly artsy noir cabaret group to revive the boisterous, ribald work of the iconic French singer-songwriter from the 50s and 60s who isn’t nearly as well known here. Yet.

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Also Fri Mar 13 the excellent reggae/rock/ska band 3 Legged Fox at Arlene’s, 11 PM.

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Also Fri Mar 13 jazz guitarist Chris Jentsch leads a big band feat. trumpeter Mike Kaupa playing compositions from Jentsch’s utterly uncategorizable, symphonically adventurous new cd the Cycles Suite at Tea Lounge, 10ish.

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Also Sat Mar 14 New York noir rock legend LJ Murphy – one of the most lyrically stunning, charismatic performers of our time – plays a rare duo show with with Jacek Mysinski on the piano at Banjo Jim’s, early, 7 PM.

    

Sat Mar 14, 7 PM at le Poisson Rouge Joe Hurley’s 10th Anniversary Celebration of the All-Star Irish Rock Revue, $20 adv tix at the box ofc., usually a good cast of characters (in both senses of the word), watch this space for details.

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Also Sat Mar 14 Goli - female marimba/cello duo with vocals – play Caffe Vivaldi, 8 PM.

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Also Sat Mar 14, 8 PM, repeating Sun Mar 15, 3 PM the St. Petersburg String Quartet plays,the Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44, No. 1; Shostakovich String Quartet No. 13 in b-flat minor, Op. 138; Schubert String Quartet No. 14 in D min, D. 810, “Death and the Maiden” at Bargemusic tix expensive, $35, early arrival advised.

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Also Sat Mar 14, 8 PM sometimes jazzy, sometimes classically-inclined chanteuse Marta Topferova plays Barbes.

 

Also Sat Mar 14 at Arlene’s at 8 PM: snotty, fun bubblegum punk with bassist Sarah Paige and her band Die Pretty, the Runaways met Motorhead.

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Also Sat Mar 14, 8 PM noir rockers Darren Gaines & the Key Party play the cd release for their excellent new one My Blacks Don’t Match at the Gershwin Hotel, $10 and worth it. If you missed Nick Cave last time out or can’t afford Tom Waits every five years, this will hit the spot.

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Also Sat Mar 14 Mascott at Union Hall, 9 PM, $8. One of Lucid Culture’s favorite bands – frontwoman Kendall Jane Meade has a smart, subtly funny purist pop sensibility that always results in what feels like a million warm, thoughtful songs that you’ll be humming all the way home. Mascott’s latest cd Art Project ranked high on our Top Ten Albums of 2008 list.

 

Also Sat Mar 14 oldtimey, quirky chanteuse Jolie Holland at City Winery, 9 PM, bar seats $20.

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Also Sat Mar 14 longtime third-wave ska/rocksteady favorites the Bluebeats followed by trumpeter Kevin Batchelor & ska sax legend Cedric Brooks at Shrine, 9 PM.

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Also Sat Mar 14 The New Familiars play their wild, improvisational, acoustic blend of grasscore and delta blues at Public Assembly, 9ish. Warning: this is “best moustache/beard night” so there may be a lumberjack-bearded trendoid contingent in the house drinking on their parents’ credit cards.

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Also Sat Mar 14 Greek party hellraisers Magges at Mehanata, 10 PM.

 

Also Sat Mar 14 absolutely kick-ass, uncommonly smart, rocking female-fronted country band Any Day Parade play the cd release show for their new one (that we just reviewed, ha) at Spikehill, 10 PM.

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Also Sat Mar 14 Simon & the Bar Sinisters play their completely original, virtuosic, punk-inspired take on surf and rockabilly at Lakeside 10:15ish.

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Also Sat Mar 14, midnight-ish dark, haunting, atmospheric Iranian-American rocker Haale plays Bowery Poetry Club, adv tix $12 at the box office very highly recommended.

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Sun Mar 15 mischievously virtuosic klezmer group Isle of Klezbos plays a brunch show at City Winery, 11AM – 2PM, two sets, $10, kids under 13 free! Brunch menu (no minimum order) with the usual stuff (wonder if they have wine for any of us hungover types).

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Also Sun Mar 15, 7:30 PM in his Merkin Concert Hall debut, $15, a benefit for the America-Israel Cultural Foundation with Eliran Avni, piano playing Avner Dorman: Sonata No. 3, “Dance Suite”; For Jenny (World Premiere); Alexander Scriabin: Three Mazurkas from Op. 3; Béla Bartók: Sonata for Solo Piano; Igor Stravinsky: Three Movements from “Petrouchka.”

 

Also Sun Mar 15 oldschool hip-hop with Public Enemy at BB King’s, 8 PM adv tix $25.

 

Also Sun Mar 15 veteran Irish songwriter Andy White – yet another survivor of the “next Dylan” curse, although he kinda brought it on himself - is at the Rockwood at 8 PM followed eventually at 11 by the thoughtful and civilized Heather & the Barbarians, who do not have a one-armed drummer.

 

Mon Mar 16  7 PM at Barbes, 7 PM the Bob Jones/John Sholle Duo – Jones was Andy Statman’s guitarist in his legendary klezmer quartet and currently plays with Boo Reiners in the Plunk Brothers and with the Danny Kalb Trio; guitarist/luthier Sholle was a member of the David Grisman Quintet and has also released two solo albums on Rounder. Followed by the always excellent Chicha Libre at about a quarter to ten.

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Also Mon Mar 16, 9 PM at Rose Bar – David Lynch-style noir soundtrack jazz band Beninghove’s Hangmen – lots of eerie twangy surf guitar and slinky sax. They’re also uptown at Shrine on 3/20 at 9.

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Also Mon Mar 16 at Arlene’s at 10 PM: Envy playing alternately atmospheric and assaultive GBV-style dreampop from Japan.

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Tues Mar 17 absolutely hilarious metal parody band Mighty High at Europa, 8:30 PM. If you’re really lucky they’kll do their rap-metal spoof which is called T.S. Eliot. There is a Thin Lizzy cover band playing sometime after them. Just so you know.

   

 

 

Tues Mar 17-19 Norwegian siren Ingrid Olava plays Cake Shop, 10 PM. Best night is 3/18 bookended by two dark, noir acts, Randi Russo at 9 and then Mark Steiner with phenomenal gypsy violinist Susan Mitchell at 11.

 

Also Tues Mar 17 and 24 alt-country pioneer Robbie Fulks acoustic followed by the reliably excellent, darkly fiery Slavic Soul Party at Barbes, 7 PM.

 

Also Tues Mar 17 Irish art-rock crooner Pierce Turner at Joe’s Pub, $23.

 

Also Tues Mar 17 Black 47 – the group responsible for our pick for best album of 2008, with their latest one, Iraq – play at BB King’s, 7 PM $25 adv tix.

 

Also Tues Mar 17 country Van Halen parody band Van Hayride – there are no words for how funny they can be – at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

Weds Mar 18 AC/DC parody band Wet Coma play Ace of Clubs – woops, almost said Don Hill’s! – at 8, as funny as you would hope them to be.

 

Also Weds Mar 18 a killer doublebill at the Delancey withscorching, female-fronted art-rock band System Noise and the equally fun, upbeat female-fronted ska band Across The Aisle, 9 PM.

 

 

Also Weds Mar 18 the Dirty Jerz’s most popular hip-hop act Naughty By Nature are still going strong, 20 years after O.P.P. at Southpaw, 10ish, $25.

 

 

 

Also Weds Mar 18, 11 PM at Arlene’s:  Angil and the Hidden Tracks – weird French avant jazz indie pop with hip-hop lyrics- phantasmagorical, surreal, funny and intriguing.

 

Thurs Mar 19 a killer brass band night with the innovative, hip-hop-inspired, incredibly tunefully jazzy Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and then Harlem’s own McCullough Sons of Thunder at Aaron Davis Hall, Convent Ave/135th St., east side of the street, free, max 2 tix per person, rsvp to 212-281-9240 X 19 or X20, you must pick up your tix by 6:30 PM with ID that night in order to guarantee entry, all ages.

 

Also Thurs Mar 19 at Arlene’s a night of excellent acts and awful segues starting at 7 with oldschool rockabilly crew Rhythmbound and then Polish-American pop siren Lulla at 8, then multistylistic pianist Sam Ben-Meir at 9, later at 11 Miami powerpop band Ex Norwegian - imagine an anatomically correct, masculine  Fountains of Wayne (hard to do but just try)  and then at midnight Rhode Island Pogues-influenced acoustic band the Skinny Millionaires.

 

Also Thurs Mar 19 Greek-American blues guitarist Spiros Soukis plays Lucille’s, 8 PM.

 

Also Thurs Mar 19 this week’s Small Beast extravaganza at the Delancey starts around 9ish with Botanica frontman Paul Wallfisch triumphantly returned from yet another European tour along with the equally dark, brilliant, Nick Cave-inspired Mark Steiner, whose solo debut made the top ten in our Best Albums of 2007 list.

 

Also Thurs Mar 19  jazz guitar genius Matt Munisteri  at Barbes, 10 PM.

 

 

Also Thurs Mar 19 the dark and bizarre bluespunk crew the Five Points Band – possibly the closest thing to the Cramps that we have at this point – are at Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM.

 

 

 

Also Fri Mar 20 Boston band Splinters and Sparrows mix outlaw country with a boozy Son Volt  Americana rock vibe and they really rock. They’re at Arlene’s at 7 PM followed at 8 by Danish oldtimey Americana/ragtime/blues band Brothers Moving , then at 9 by Impostor Syndrome, who resemble a smoother, somewhat less assaultive PJ Harvey and have an excellent singer in frontwoman/guitarist Kristen Persinos.

  

Fri Mar 20-21 Inna Barmash and Ljova’s ferociously fun, intense Balkan band Romashka are at Hungarian House, 213 E 82nd St. (Lex/3rd Ave.), 8 PM and then at Mehanata on Saturday at 10ish with the ska-inflected Stumblebum Brass Band.

 

Also Fri Mar 20 terse Chicago expat blues guitarist Irving Louis Lattin plays Lucille’s, 8 PM.

 

 

Also Fri Mar 20 the Brown Rice Family - fun, upbeat, tuneful expat Filipino reggae band with a ukelele – plays Caffe Vivaldi , 8 PM.

 

 

 

Also Fri Mar 20 original, interesting, multistylistic, loud all-female rockers Beluga play the cd release for their new one at the Loving Cup Cafe, in the back past the bar, 9PMish.

 

 

Also Fri Mar 20 the NY Gypsy Allstars, led by haunting, powerful clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski are at Mehanata, 9 PM.

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Also Fri Mar 20 fiery garage/punk rockers the Mess Around at the Charleston, 9 PM.

 

Also Fri Mar 20 smart, politically aware, tongue-in-cheek Americana rockers Kill Henry Sugar  play Barbes 10 PM.

 

Also Fri Mar 20 the New Collisions at Public Assembly, 8:15 PM sharp. Fiery female-fronted powerpop/new wave revivalists from Boston. Frontwoman Sarah Guild, “a 21st century Deborah Harry meets Poly Styrene” has the same kind of big powerful pipes as Martha Davis of the Motels but with more of a funny, quirky edge: if what’s on their myspace is any indication, they kick ass live. You can dance to this.

 

Sat Mar 21, at ABC No Rio 3 (three) PM surf/punk/rockabilly guitar intensity and wiseass songwriting from Simon & The Bar Sinisters, then scorching, polirically charged, Middle Eastern-inflected punk rockers Roots Rock Rebel, Masonry (instrumental metal/punk) and Futurex (punk).

 

Also Sat Mar 21, 4 (four) PM, if you missed  great noir NYC rocker LJ Murphy’s show last week, he’s doing a free solo acoustic gig at Passout Records in Williamsburg, 131 Grand Street between Bedford and Berry.

 

 

Also Sat Mar 21, 7 (seven) PM at Joe’s Pub dark, snarling, keyboard-and-reverb-guitar-driven art-rockers Botanica return from yet another European tour to put on what might be the best show of 2009. New album out, new lineup, a must-see show if  literate artsy rock is your thing.

 

Also Sat Mar 21, 8 PM at Barbes: Jim Campilongo’s Superfine Band  - Campilongo and Jon Graboff in the same band, wow!!! followed by Nation Beat’s multistylistic rustic psychedelic danceable madness at 10.

 

Also Sat Mar 21, 8 PM at Merkin Concert Hall: Duo-logues: the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo,  Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams playing two classic works: Igor Stravinsky’s own four-hand arrangement of his orchestral masterpiece The Rite of Spring and Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen, tix $25 and so worth it.

 

Also Sat Mar 21 Braxton Parker plays Arlene’s, 8 PM – a pop/rock songwriter with a good band and a lot of Irish inflections who’s opened for a whole slew of wretched corporate acts – Dashboard Confessional, Yellowcard and Bon Jovi – and probably blew them all off the stage. Commercial? Yes, but what we used to call good top 40.

  

Also Sat Mar 21 the amazing  minor-key Balkan/calypso/blues improvisers Hazmat Modine at Shrine, 9 PM.

 

Also Sat Mar 21 the Jack Grace Band play Hill Country, 9 PM. One of Lucid Culture’s favorite bands. Grace is a fiery, incisive lead guitarist, a great lyricist, a very funny guy and can hold his liquor. His band features his wife Daria, an excellent bassist, a jazz drummer and other equally good players. Together they do country music like it was 1965. Or 1956, sometimes with an eerie bluesy edge.

 

Also Sat Mar 21 brilliant retro ragtime songwriter/banjoist Al Duvall – sort of an older, less out-of-control, more pun-inclined version of Curtis Eller - plays Otto’s, 9 PM.

 

Also Sat Mar 21, 9 PM excellent oldschool roots reggae band Meta & the Cornerstones at BAM Cafe.

 

 

 

Also Sat Mar 21 completely kick-ass. occasionally Balkan-inflected bluegrass jammers Thy Burden at Hank’s, 9:30ish.

 

 

Also Sat Mar 21, 10 PM, DMZ plays Southpaw, $15. That’s Jeff “Mono Mann” Connolly’s old band before the Lyres, back during his Iggy phase. Worth seeing what he has left after all these years.

  

Also Sat Mar 21 ballsy, Tom Waits-influenced (but not in a cliched way) rockers Community Gun at Trash, 9 PM.

 

Also Sat Mar 21 smart, piano-based, slightly goth artsy songs by Kristin Hoffmann at Caffe Vivaldi, 10 PM.

 

 

Also Sat Mar 21 latin jazz keyboard monster Jason Lindner’s Now Vs. Now at the Fat Cat, 10 PM.

 

Also Sat Mar 21 Spanking Charlene at Lakeside, 11 PM. Fiery frontwoman with a big, sometimes unearthly voice and some gritty Americana punk songs that at their best are as good as X.

 

 

Sun Mar 22 tight but psychedelic power trio Devi - doing a rare show with keyboards, which should make the interplay even more intense – at the Mercury, 9 PM. Debra their frontwoman is as powerful on vocals as she is on lead guitar. 

 

Also Sun Mar 22 noir guitarist Jim Campilongo’s Superfine Band with some incredible player including pedal steel monster Jon Graboff are at the Rodeo, 10ish.

 

Mon Mar 23 drummer Rudy Royston - terrifically smart, interesting player from JD Allen and Bill Frisell’s bands – and his Sextet play the Jazz Gallery, sets at 9 and 10:30 PM, second set is just $10. Adam Klipple on piano, Nir Felder on guitar, Shane Endsley on trumpet, Stacy Dillard on sax, Josh Ginzburg on bass.