New York City Live Music Calendar Plus Other Events – End of June-July 2008

Are you looking for the July/August calendar? It’s here.

Here’s a new calendar with lots of upcoming stuff for the end of June. Check our Make Music NY page for the best of what’s happening all over town on Sat, June 21. As always, incessant updates. As usual, we start with weekly events, followed by the daily calendar:

 

Sundays from half past noon to 3:30 PM, bluegrass cats Freshly Baked (f.k.a. Graveyard Shift), featuring excellent, incisive fiddle player Diane Stockwell play Nolita House (upstairs over Botanica at 47 E Houston).

 

Every Sunday, Michael Arenella & the Dreamland Dance Band play sly yet boisterous oldtimey hot jazz during a brunch set at Bar Tabac on Smith St. in Brooklyn Heights from about half past noon to 4 PM. 

 

Sundays Sean Kershaw & the Terrible Two (that’s the New Jack Ramblers minus a couple fingers & toes) play the upstairs roof deck at Rocky Sullivan’s, 34 Van Dyke St. at Dwight St. in Red Hook, Brooklyn, 1-4 PM. Free ferry from Manhattan (pier 11,Wall St.) and free shuttle buses from the F&G trains at Smith-9th St, the F,M,R at 4th Ave, and the 2,3,4,5,M,N,R at Borough Hall.  

 

Every Sunday the Ear-Regulars, led by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (usually) guitarist Matt Munisteri play NYC’s only weekly hot jazz session starting around 8 PM at the Ear Inn on Spring St.  Hard to believe, in the city that springboarded the careers of thousands of jazz legends, but true. This is by far the best value in town for marquee-caliber jazz: for the price of a drink and a tip for the band, you can see world-famous players (and brilliant obscure ones) you’d usually have to drop $100 for at some big-ticket room. The material is mostly old-time stuff from the 30s and 40s, but the players (especially Kellso and Munisteri, who have a chemistry that goes back several years) push it into some deliciously unexpected places.

 

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 in June (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 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.

 

Every Tuesday at 9 PM the boisterous and very popular brass-heavy gypsy jazz band Slavic Soul Party plays Barbes at 9. Get here as soon as you can as the opening act is usually popular as well.

 

Every Wednesday, Will Scott and drummer Wylie Wirth play mesmerizing, hypnotic, completely authentic Mississippi hill country blues along with Scott’s own melodic, tuneful blues originals at 68 Jay St. Bar in Dumbo, starting around 8:30 PM. Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and Asie Payton are sadly gone but Scott continues their tradition of music that is as danceable as it is trance-inducing, and does his influences justice.

 

Thursdays in July, through August 7 at 1 PM there are free organ concerts at Trinity Church. The new digital organ (which replaced the old pipe organ destroyed on 9/11) is virtually indistinguishable from its analog cousin, and the performers who play this series typically bring a great deal of imagination and innovation with them.

 

Also Thursdays starting July 13, there’s a series of concerts inspired by Salvador Dali in the sculpture garden behind MOMA, two sets at 5:30 and 7 PM, admission free with MOMA’s exorbitant $20 admission (see if you have any friends who have a corporate membership through their jobs). Highlights of the series are listed below in the monthly calendar.    

 

Weds June 18 the Kennedys play Madison Square Park, 7 PM. Pete is the Richard Thompson-influenced guitar god; Maura is the sultry siren with the great voice and a fine guitarist as well. Harmonically-minded urban folk with surprising bite.

 

Also Weds June 18 Stephanie White & the NJ Philth Harmonic play the Whiskey Bar on Washington St. in Hoboken at 9. Wow – somebody other than Kelly Clarkson who was on American Idol (according to her myspace, anyway) who is actually good! The zeros version of Martha Davis? Pale redhead with the potent, growly voice of a 60s soul mama. Her stuff varies from soul to funk to 80s-ish stuff not unlike the Motels.

 

Also Weds June 18, 10:30ish former Come (and Live Skull) frontwoman Thalia Zedek plays the Mercury. Dark roaring guitar-fueled intensity, one of the few truly great musicians to come out of indie rock.

 

Weds June 18 Melomane frontman Pierre de Gaillande’s other fulltime band The Snow play Sullivan Hall in the West Village, 10 PM. Just as fun, literate and tuneful as their art-rock sister band but with a more rustic, slightly jazzier feel, and keyboardist Hilary Downes’ sultry vocals and understated wit as an added plus. Their new debut cd True Dirt is excellent.

 

Also Weds June 18 Dave Smith’s The Perfect Man – jazz sextet with vocals and “freakaphone” led by the purist, bluesy trombonist (here playing electric trombone) plays Black Betty, 11:30ish.

 

Thurs June 19 whatever’s left of the original ska band, the Skatalites play a free outdoor show at Metrotech Park at noon in downtown Brooklyn. Whatever the personnel, the songs are absolutely classic if you like this kind of stuff.

 

Also Thurs June 19, half past noon Metropolitan Klezmer plays an outdoor show at the park by Washington Sq. Church, 2nd Ave. and 10th St. Their new live album Traveling Show is pretty amazing. 

 

Also Thurs June 19, 8 PM, Raekwon and Cappadonna of Wu-tang Clan are at B.B. King’s, adv tix $25 available at the box office. Be forewarned: these guys are both fine lyricists, but live Wu shows tend to be ganja-fueled trainwrecks.

 

Also Thurs June 19 brilliant guitarist Matt Munisteri – whose main gig is jazz, although he resists being pigeonholed – plays a set of his own beguiling originals at Barbes, 10 PM.

 

Also Thurs June 19 Rosie Flores plays Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Somebody we take for granted: the Texas tornado swings through town several times a year, usually at this joint. Not only is she a hell of a guitarist, she’s also a hell of a songwriter, somebody who can pull off just about any Americana style she wants with effortless grace and fire.

 

Fri June 20 an excellent double bill at 8 PM at Barbes: veteran soul sister Queen Esther, who mines a vastly more diverse, retro vein than most of her contemporaries; then at 9, the absolutely irreplaceable, romantic, Hawaiian/swing/oldtimey Moonlighters and then the always charismatic delta blues goddess Mamie Minch at midnight. Minch also headlines here at midnight on 6/27.  

 

Also Fri June 20, expat Chicago bluesman Irving Louis Lattin plays Lucille’s Bar, 8 PM. Understatement is his thing: whether he’s acoustic or electric (probably the latter), he saves his energy for when the song calls for it. Good singer, too. He’s also here on 6/27 and 7/11.

 

Also Fri June 20 Demolition String Band open for Dale Watson at Rodeo Bar, 10 PM. The former are the edgy female-fronted electrified bluegrass band who sound kind of like X doing their country thing; the headliner is an oldschool baritone cowboy singer and twangmeister, somebody who usually plays big venues for a whole lot of dough.

 

Also Fri June 20 alternately haunting and deliciously groove-driven shoegaze/dreampop rockers El Jezel play songs from their new cd The Warm Frequency at Rehab, 11 PM. Word on the street is that it’s the excellent album that Portishead should have made this year but didn’t.

 

Also Fri June 20, 11 PM Los Autenticos Decadentes (Argentinian latin ska band) play B. B. King’s, $28 adv tix available at their box office. Big horn-driven band, lyrics in Spanish: confrontational, irreverent, funny, they’ve been around forever (since 1986) and are very popular in their native land.

 

Sat June 21 is Make Music NY, aka la Fete de la Musique with free outdoor shows all day long. Too many to list here: click our Make Music NY page for a complete calendar of the best stuff we could find.

 

Sat June 21 Joe Louis Walker – one of the few remaining soulful practitioners of Chicago blues guitar – plays Joe’s Pub, early, 7:30 PM, $20 and worth it   

 

Also Sat June 21 fiery punk/pop power trio Cementhead – who have really taken it to the next level at recent shows – play Trash Bar, 8 PM followed by old-school Brooklyn punk legends FF (as in Fat Fuck). Suddenly it’s 1998 again.

 

Sat, June 21, 8 PM an engaging oldtimey bill at Barrette, 601 Vanderbilt at Bergen Street, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, a “tiki party” with the psychedelically improvisational vibraphone trio Fisherman and then the reliably fun, gorgeously romantic Hawaiian swing institution the Moonlighters.

 

Also Sat June 21 fiery gypsy dance band Zagnut Orkestar featuring both the scary-good accordionist and bassist from Ansamble Mastika plays Barbes at 10.

 

Also Sat June 21 Spanking Charlene plays Lakeside, 11 PM. Charismatic frontwoman with a searing, powerful voice, good guitarist who knows his country and punk rock and an overall sound that’s a lot like vintage X. 

 

Also Sat June 21 it’s the Cedric Brooks Extravaganza at Banjo Jim’s at 11, preceded by Burru Style (?) at 10. Could this be the Cedric Brooks, legendary falsetto frontman of the great 70s roots reggae harmony group the Congos?  

 

Sun June 22, afternoon, 2 PM the Scandia String Quartet again plays a Nordic program, this one especially intriguing, at Ft. Tryon Park in Washington Heights:

 

Kaija Saariaho: Nymphea Reflection (For string quartet)

Carl Nielsen: The Fog is Lifting (For Flute and Harp)

Ole Saxe: Summer Suite (For Soprano, Harp, Violin and Flute) (US PREMIERE)

Georg Christoph Wagenseil: Concerto for Harp and Strings

Andrew Ackers: Pastoral Peace (For Harp and Strings) (US PREMIERE)

 

Also Sun June 22 Django Reinhardt disciple Stephane Wrembel – whose originals remain impressively true to his main influence while adding tasteful influences from classical to more modern jazz – plays Barbes, 9 PM.

 

Also Sun June 22 haunting, hypnotic, electric Persian-American rocker Haale plays Prospect Park Banshell, 6ish, early arrival advised. Like a more Middle Eastern Randi Russo: passionate, intense, completely down-to-earth.

 

Also Sun June 22, early evening, 6 PM fiery original rockabilly/surf trio Catspaw plays Otto’s. From the band: “There is still no word on when Catspaw will begin recording their much-anticipated new CD, “Angry Folk Band” (any internet rumors setting the date for February 2018 are precipitous).  However, responding to criticism that they have not produced much in the way of original material since “Southbound Line”, the band is hard at work on some new songs, including the dark polkas “Brooklyn Bound Local” and “Bronx Bound Express” and the sure-to-be-classic album-length instrumental “Empire Service to Syracuse Making Stops at Hudson, Yonkers, Rhinecliffe and Albany-Rensselaer”. 

 

Also Sun June 22 Amy Allison plays Banjo Jim’s, also early, 7 PM. This time around she has killer lead guitarist Jon Graboff with her, who knows her songs as well as anybody and pushes her to play the most interesting ones (musically at least). Lyrically, there’s nobody better, and then there’s that totally unique, unearthly beautiful voice 

 

Also Sun June 22 one of the alltime great noise-rock bands, Polvo plays Maxwell’s at 10:30.

 

Mon June 23, 8-10 PM at Rose Bar on Grand St. in Williamsburg Katie Elevitch and Jonathan Maron (the amazing bass player in Groove Collective, and Greta Gertler’s funky side project the Smallz), collaborate live and debut new music during this rare double bill of both of their bands, with special guest Peter Apfelbaum.

 

Mon June 23 Daria Grace & the Prewar Ponies play Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. The bassist from Melomane and her husband Jack’s band picks up her ukulele and plays gorgeously romantic, oldtime songs (and some authentic-sounding originals) with this excellent project.

 

Tues June 24, 7 PM The Four Bags play Barbes. These guys have been around forever: to say that they jazz up the classics doesn’t give them their due. With trombone, accordion, guitar and clarinet, their imaginative rearrangements, whether of rock, folk, classical or jazz are always good for a listen and sometimes a laugh.

 

Also Tues June 24 it’s an allnight all-female country bill at Banjo Jim’s featuring Gillian Welch-influenced duo The Shithouse Lillies, at 7:30 followed by Jamie Lyn & the Red Tail Hawk Band (with special guests Sean Kershaw and Hilary Hawke) at 8, rockabilly firecracker Li’l Mo and the Monicats at 9, Hilary Hawke’s bluegrass band CatWagon at 10, country-pop band Kara Suzanne and the Gojo Hearts at 11. With the exception of L’il Mo, these aren’t the tightest bands in the world, but they’ve got talent and good energy and it should be quite a fun night.   

 

Also Tues June 24 Devi frontwoman Debra DeSalvo plays on an unusual but possibly fascinating bill at the Bitter End, 8 PM: the band is playing all originals written by a circle of several diverse songwriters. Hmmm…maybe DeSalvo can get them to do an 18-minute jam on one of her darkly psychedelic powerpop gems. 

 

Tues June 24 an amazing doublebill at the Stone starting at 8 with the Marvin Sewell Group. Sewell can be searing and intense, especially when he’s playing slide blues, but he’s just as likely to bring it way down and haunt you. With Jerome Harris on bass, the incomparable Rachelle Garniez on accordion, Satoshi Takeishi  on percussion and the Ted Williams of jazz accordion, Joe “Sonny” Barbato who will also play piano. Then at 10 it’s reedman Doug Wieselman’s Zitherine Trio. Whether on sax or clarinet, Wieselman has an understated wit, a bluesy purism and the ability to go way, way out there and somehow find his way back. With a rhythm section of Shazad Ismaily (bass) Dougie Bowne (drums)   

 

Also Tues June 24 the irrepressible, frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious and equally talented multi-instrumentalist Nan Turner of Schwervon plays Sidewalk, 10 PM. The Tanya Donnelly/Kim Deal influences are obvious, but she’s a whole lot funnier.

 

Weds June 25 Evan Schlansky plays Sidewalk, 8 PM. From the excellent, tuneful, very funny, tastefully bluesy lyrical songwriter’s email to his fanlist:  

“’There are songs, and then there are songs. Evan Schlansky writes both.’ 

– Kelefa Sanneh, NY Times. Okay I made that up.”  

 

Also Weds June 25 one of the best remaining hip-hop lyricists from the late 90s, Talib Kweli, formerly of Black Star performs along with guests at a benefit for Darfur at B.B. King’s, 8 PM, adv tix $35. 

 

Weds June 25 a Brad Jones extravaganza at the Stone: first at 8, the bassist plays songs from his Pouring My Heart In cd with his quartet; then at 10 he scales down to baby bass and plays new stuff with a completely different 5-piece “avant lounge” group.  

 

Also Weds June 25 Custard Wally play Don Pedro’s, 10 PM. Arguably the funniest band in all of rock: if Ween is a little too tame for you, meet Custard Wally. Punk energy, all kinds of dirty jokes and the humor doesn’t stop when the music starts. Their anti-trendoid diatribe Pretty Little Ponytail Boy will go over just fine here on the outskirts of trust fund land.

 

Also Weds June 25 Reckon So plays Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Danny Weiss, master of soulful country guitar gets most of his mileage out of the low strings; his wife Mary Olive Smith has a sweet, completely unaffected voice and great taste in covers. Plus some choice originals too. 

 

Also Weds June 25 noiserockers and self-described “sonic assassins” Apollo Heights play the Rockwood at midnight. The idea of this blisteringly loud if good band in the tiny space here is somewhat ludicrous (although you know the sound will be marvelous); get there early if you’re going.   

 

Thurs June 26 smashingly good, subtly hilarious early pre-rockabilly revivalist trio Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. play their monthly residency at Otto’s, 8 PM followed by surprisingly good, tastefully traditional Connecticut surf band the Clams at 10. SIT&Die are also at Rodeo Bar on 7/5 at 10:30.

 

Also Thurs June 26 Johnny Allen plays Terra Blues, 8 PM. Fiery, incisive Chicago blues guitarist and a terrific singer with a smooth, soulful delivery. You should see him sometime. He’s also here on 7/19 at 10  

 

Also Thurs-Fri June 26-27 ex-Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy plays the Gramercy Theatre, 9 PM, $35 adv tix at Irving Plaza box office and worth it. Word on the street was that the Bauhaus reunion tour was all that. And since  his criminally underrated 2002 album Dust, he’s been mixing haunting Middle Eastern melodies into his oldschool goth rock.

 

Also Thurs June 26, Elisa Flynn plays songs from her forthcoming cd Songs about Birds & Ghosts at Freddy’s, 9 PM. She rocks, sometimes pretty hard, with an edgy tunefulness reminiscent of vintage Tanya Donnelly and an impressive way of steering around pretty much any cliché that might get in the way.

 

Also Thurs June 26 Jan Bell & the Cheap Dates play the Rockwood, 10 PM. Self-described “Yorkshire lass” with a haunting wail of a voice, above-average guitar chops and Luminescent Orchestrii’s violin player. And a bunch of gorgeous original Americana songs. She’s thisclose to being hugely popular: early arrival is advised.     

 

Also Thurs June 26, guitarist Matt Munisteri and accordionist Will Holshouser’s excellent blue-collar French and Belgian barroom band Musette Explosion play Barbes, 10 PM. A lot of their stuff is very gypsyish and gorgeously haunting.

 

Also Thurs June 26 the Mercenaries play Lakeside, 10 PM. They alternate between Stonesy meat-and-potatoes rock and a more indie sound, like Guided by Voices at their most melodic.

 

Fri June 27 Inity plays Otto’s, 7 PM. Could this be the shockingly good, multiracial Inity from Connecticut, the roots reggae band?  

 

Also Fri June 27 virtuoso delta blues guitarist Lenny Molotov and his band play his own sharply literate, politically charged originals along with some classic covers at Sidewalk, 8 PM. 

 

Also Fri June 27 Brooklyn’s own answer to le Mystere des Voix Bulgares, Black Sea Hotel sing their eerie harmonic magic at Drom, 8 PM.

 

Also Fri June 27 and Sat June 28 sharp, remarkably tuneful purist jazz quintet the Flail – big in Europe but just getting started here – return to Smalls, where they recorded their excellent new live album last year. Sets at 10:30 PM and midnight.   

 

Also Fri June 27 Ohio surf rock instrumentalists Purple K’Nif play a mix of imaginative, somewhat psychedelic originals and imaginatively arranged covers at Lakeside, 11 PM. 

 

Also Fri June 27 Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad play Sullivan Hall, probably around midnight. A spinoff of the excellent roots reggae band John Brown’s Body, they play absolutely hypnotic, spacy dub reggae worthy of Lee Scratch Perry or King Tubby, 1977 stylee.  

 

Sat June 28 gorgeously tuneful, smart, twangy, Steve Earle-inflected highway rockers the Sloe Guns play Kenny’s Castaways, early, 7 PM. Their two-guitar attack has never been more interesting, their songs have never been better and they’ve finally found the drummer they’ve always needed to complete the picture. One of the best live bands in town.  

 

Also Sat June 28, 8 PM las Rubias Del Norte – the Latin American musical equivalent of the lush, romantic Moonlighters play Union Hall.

 

Also Sat June 28, there’s a Crooklyn Dodgers reunion show with Chubb Rock, Jeru the Damaja and OC at Prospect Park Bandshell, sometime in the evening: as always at this venue, early arrival advised, especially as this is hip-hop and the po-po will be out to pop-pop you if you’re not careful. This is the trio responsible for one of the alltime classics in all of rap, the theme song to the Spike Lee movie. Each by himself is a superior lyricist as well.

 

Also Sat June 28 an excellent doublebill at Bar Matchless in Williamsburg, (violinist/trombonist/chanteuse Naa Koshie Mills playing with both bands) – smart, funny outlaw country throwbacks Maynard & the Musties at 8 followed eventually at 11 by the scorchingly good, always evolving guitar-and-keyboard driven garage/pop/art-rockers the Disclaimers.  

 

Also Sat June 28 Daria Grace’s charming, oldtimey Prewar Ponies play Barbes at 8 PM followed at 9 by another one of her projects, the equally charming, quietly swaying, harmony-driven country band Kings County Queens – who might have singlehandedly invented the Pete’s Candy Store sound – playing their first live show in over two years. 

 

Also Sat June 28 lush, atmospheric art-rockers the Quavers play the Collapsable Hole, 146 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg, 9 PM. They create songs from loops before your eyes, adding layers and layers of melody and ambience til they have a song. It’s amazing to watch.   

 

Also Sat June 28 former Railroad Jerk lead guitarist Alec Stephen plays Pete’s, 10 PM. With his band the Pantographs, he put out two albums of lush, pastoral, Nick Drake-influenced songs; lately, he’s returned to his electric roots with remarkably scorching, tersely bluesy intensity.  

 

Also Sat June 28, Scott Morgan’s Powertrane feat. Deniz Tek from Radio Birdman!!!!! at Maxwell’s, 10:30 PM only $12, insanely cheap. They’re also at Southpaw the previous night 6/27 for the same price. Morgan is an interesting mix of Detroit soul singer and powerhouse Telecaster guitarist; Tek is simply one of the darkest, most intense, powerful lead guitarists of alltime and no matter whether you agree with his politics, also a hell of a songwriter. The band plays songs by both of them: their show at Warsaw in Brooklyn a few years ago is legendary.

 

Sat June 28 the Silos play Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Perhaps energized by the tragic loss of bassist Drew Glackin, frontman/guitarist Walter Salas-Humara hasn’t sounded or played so intensely and angrily in a long time. Now is the time to see these indie rock legends if you haven’t lately.

 

Also Sat June 28 the Reid Paley Trio play the Parkside, 10:30 PM. This guy has been around forever, that’s forever, since the CBGBs days. A little Screamin Jay, a lot of Tom Waits, maybe the Cramps lurking ominously over there in the corner. He means it, man. 

 

Sun June 29, afternoon, 2 PM the Scandia Brass Quartet wraps up a Nordic classical trifecta at Ft. Tryon Park in Washington Heights:

 

William Brade: Pavane

Ulrik Dahl: Music for Brass Instruments

Johan Helmich Roman: Music from Drottingholm

Jan Maegaard: Fanfare for Brass Quintet

 

Also Sun June 29 Kristen Gass plays the Rockwood, 8 PM. Sparse acoustic guitar fingerpicking, a hushed, whispery voice and some very smart, thoughtful, subtle lyrics. Her remake of the Larval Organs’ punk/metal song Ziploc Torso is amazing. Followed jarringly on the bill by Emily Zuzik, who comes across like she would have made a decent trophy wife ten years ago

 

Also Sun June 29 Agent Orange – yes, the original Dick Dale-influenced LA surf punk band – play Trash Bar, 11 PM. The old punks die off, the venues get smaller, but this trio keeps going, on the basis of one classic album, 1981’s Living in Darkness. And Mike Palm and the guys still rock after all these years.

 

Mon June 30 the Second Fiddles play Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM. Energetic, well-played oldtimey hokum blues and hillbilly music. 

 

Weds July 2 at Kenny’s Castaways, caffeinated, Dylanesque trio Whisperado play at 7, followed eventually on the bill by irrepressible, terminally extroverted soul-inflected acoustic siren Meg Braun at 9 

 

Thursday, July 3 out back of MOMA in the sculpture garden as part of this year’s Dali tribute, sets at 5:30 and 7 – Lucia Pulido’s Despecho. The Colombian singer, who specializes in a Pan-Latin-American repertoire, will sing classic tangos, waltzes, and boleros. She will also perform “Destino,” the Amando Domingues tune that served as the soundtrack to the Dalí/Disney animated film of the same name. Backed by Sergio Reyes, violin; Sebastian Cruz, guitar; Pedro Giraudo, acoustic bass. Big, stagy voice and some choice material.

 

Thurs July 3, 10 PM – from the Barbes website (how come more clubs don’t promote their acts as well as Barbes does???): VERY BE CAREFUL. The L.A. based group plays the rawest cumbias you’ll ever hear this side of Valledupar, the Colombian city where Vallenato originated.  Very Be Careful uses a traditional lineup of accordion, bass and percussion – including Guacharaca (the Colombian guiro), Bell and Caja Vallenata – but plays with the sort of energy usually associated with the urban antics of punk. The result is traditional music so thoroughly modern- sounding that its country roots seem irrelevant, even though their Cumbias are as authentic as those of Alejo Duran. i.e. if you like Chicha Libre you’ll like these guys.

 

Also Fri July 4 Rawles Balls plays Bowery Ballroom, 8PM. The legendary, satirical cover band from hell are one of the world’s funniest live acts, right up there with Ween and Tammy Faye Starlite and Tenacious D. Here’s your chance to see them do their arena rock thing at the peak of their extremely dubious powers.

 

Also Fri July 4, 9 PM Conjunto Guantanamo plays Barbes. Oldtime Cuban stuff mixed with Nuyorican salsa flavor: piano, trombone, piano, bass and lots of percussion. True to their name, played by guys who have absolutely nothing to do with terrorism.

 

Sat July 5, 2 PM it’s the sixth annual Musical Saw convention at Trinity Church , 31-18 37th Street ( 37th Street at 31st Avenue), Astoria, $10, R to Steinway Street, N/W train to Broadway. Natalia ‘Saw Lady’ Paruz brings together musical saw players from around the world for classical, contemporary, folk, gospel, pop, and show tunes accompanied by handbell choir, piano, organ and vocals. The end of the concert features the ‘Chorus of the Saws’ – all the saw players playing together.

 

Also Sat July 5, searingly psychedelic Brooklyn “sonic slayers” Apollo Heights, even more psychedelic, somewhat surfy and often utterly bizarre 60s Cambodian pop revivalists Dengue Fever and Franco-Algerian Arab punk legend Rachid Taha play Central Park Summerstage, 3 PM, recommended with considerable trepidation, early early arrival (i.e. 2:30 PM) advised for the extremely dedicated fan.

 

Also Sat July 5, 6:30 PM the NY Philharmonic Orchestra plays Tschaikovsky’s 1812 overture on Governors Island. Also on the bill: forgettable pieces by Copland and Rossini along with Rimsky-Korakov’s predictably bracing Capriccio Espagnol. One assumes the free ferry (leaving from the old Shaolin ferry terminal next to the new one downtown) will run later than usual to accommodate everyone.

 

Also Sat., July 5 a tribute to Johnny Cash featuring Danny Weiss’ and Mary Olive Smith’s soulful country band Reckon So plus San Diego JC cover trio The Cash Kings, 7:30 PM, free at the Performing Arts Center in the middle of campus, at Kingsborough Community College, B/Q to Brighton Beach and walk east.

 

Sat July 5 intriguing lo-fi horn-driven klezmer group Kotorino open the night at Barbes at 8 followed by the sensational, scorchingly intense gypsy/Middle Eastern/Greek improvisers Ansambl Mastika at 10.

 

Sun July 6 Nigel Groome of Beckenham, England plays the magnificent organ at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 4:45 PM

 

Also Sun July 6, 7:30 PM James Reams & the Barnstormers play bluegrass opening for Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Cha’s at the Kingsborough Community College Performing Arts Ctr 

 

Also Sun July 6, 10:30 PM swing revivalists the Flying Neutrinos – who along with the Moonlighters spearheaded the oldtimey music scene here in town – return to Rodeo Bar, 10:30 PM 

 

Mon July 7, early, 7 PM the Todd Londagin 5 plays Birdland. The once-and-future Flying Neutrinos tapdancing trombonist, a terrifically smart oldtime blues cat, plays his own stuff: worth checking out before he ends up on the top-shelf jazz club tour for $100 a ticket 

 

Tues July 8 Brazilian forro bandleader/percussionist Nanny Assis plays Lucille’s Bar, two sets starting at 8 PM. A forro specialist, he’s not what you’d expect to see here but he’s good.

 

Also Tues July 8 Shelby Lynne is at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, adv tix $35 at the Mercury, pricy, but she’s probably worth it. Maybe if we’re lucky she’ll play that vicious swipe upside the heads of the guys at her old record label.

 

Also Tues July 8 Stephane Wrembel plays a trio show with a rhythm section at the Jazz Standard  $20 cover, sets at 7:30 and 9:30. Wrembel has been going in a more Middle Eastern direction lately; this is a great opportunity to catch the brilliant gypsy jazz guitarist with an extra dose of his characteristically propulsive fire.

 

Tues July 8 panstylistic jazz/blues/Balkan violinist/composer Jenny Scheinman is at Barbes,  7 PM, also playing here at 7 on 7/15. 

 

Also Tues July 8, 8 PM George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars play B.B. King’s, adv tix way expensive ($37.50) at the box office. Reputedly the godfather of funk still has it, and he brings with him a typically huge band who will carry the torch should the old party animal not be up to snuff.  

 

Weds July 9 delta blues guitarist Miles Turney plays Trash Bar, 8 PM. Terrific interpreter of classic blues as well as imaginative, tastefully bluesy versions of stuff like Hank Williams and similar.

 

Thursday, July 10 in the garden behind MOMA, sets at 5:30 and 7 as part of the ongoing Dali tribute: Rachelle Garniez & Sxip Shirey: A Surrealist Tribute to Dalí. The brilliant, darkly retro Garniez has a handle on the surreal like no other performer; Luminescent Orchestrii frontman Shirey likes unusual instruments such as the Obnoxiophone and the mutant harmonica. Somewhere in the far beyond, Dali will be smiling.

 

Also Thurs July 10, lovers rock/roots reggae legend Freddie McGregor plays Prospect Park Bandshell, you know what that means, get there EARLY i.e. 5 and suffer in line if you want to get in. Watch your back: this is a reggae show, you know the po-po will have to make their quota of people peeing in the bushes. 

 

Also Thurs July 10 Chin Chin plays Joe’s Pub, 9 PM, $15. The people who book this place have no idea of what they got into with this sizzling, danceable horn-and-keyboard-driven groove band: the place will be a morass of twirling, bouncing bodies. Seats may be flying. Somewhere – the bar, maybe – the crowd will create a dance floor.

 

Also Thurs July 10 Serena Jost plays Barbes, 9 PM. One of our favorites: the ex-Rasputina multi-instrumentalist plays catchy, often pensive, impeccably crafted and very subtly funny art-rock with a great band behind her. Her new cd is one of this year’s best.

 

Fri July 11, Ljova & the Kontraband play Barbes, 8 PM. Amazingly inventive gypsy band playing all originals. Frontman/violist Lev Zhurbin is a boisterous, deviously funny guy, and a hell of a composer (he does a lot of film work, so many of this crew’s tunes have a decidedly cinematic feel).

 

Also Fri July 11 X-Man and the Boys –  Matt Miller, saxophone;  Leif Arntzen, trumpet/euphonium;  Brian Harding, trombone;  Bill Ware, vibes;  Miles Arntzen, drums;  Andrew Hall , bass play two sets at the Cornelia St. Café, sets at 8:30 and 10, $10. They swing but they also bring the funk, not something you might think the Arntzens would be into, but here they are, and Hall is an especially terse, smart bass player, the kind of guy you would want doing this stuff.

 

Also Fri July 11 the Zombies – what’s left of them anyway – play Irving Plaza, 9 PM, $33 adv tix  at their box office. Their show at Coney Island last year showed Rod Argent and the remaining crew, now in their sixties, still vital. Too bad the guitarist has to take all those wanky, grotesquely inappropriate heavy metal solos.

 

Sat July 12, 2 PM it’s the Main Squeeze Accordion Festival at Pier 1 on the upper West, all kinds of good talent: The Italian Village Dance Music, los Macondos playing vallenato, Nicu Helerea (Romanian), Patty Furlong & Coolmagort (Irish), The Raif Heyseni Orchestra (Traditional Albanian & Arabic Music), Raul Jaurena Tango Trio, Veretski Pass playing Ottoman music, and of course the lushly psychedelic 18-accordion Main Squeeze Orchestra on the bill at 3.

 

Also Sat July 12, a good jazz trio opening the night at Prospect Park Bandshell: Matt Munisteri, Matt Ray, and Tim Luntzel. Early early arrival and then a long wait in line a must, sadly.

 

Also Sat July 12, 8 PM at Barbes it’s los Cenzontles, who augment their typical Mexican banda/mariachi sound with electric bass and drums for extra oomph – or oompah. The group is currently in the studio with Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo, which makes sense.

 

Also Sat July 12 Simon & the Bar Sinisters play Lakeside, 10:15ish (early by Lakeside standards, but Simon likes to play long sets). A true original: raised on punk, addicted to surf, steeped in rockabilly, honest as the day he was born and very funny. And damn, what a guitarist

 

Sun July 13, the English Beat play Irving Plaza, 9ish, adv tix expensive ($37.50) at the box office. A nostalgia trip for the fratboy contingent from 1982 or so; these guys were one of the most musically interesting, more rock-oriented of the second-wave ska bands who came out during the punk era. Reputedly this unit has most of the original members.

 

Tues July 15-20 the Cecil Taylor Trio plays the Village Vanguard. One assumes with a rhythm section, sets at 9 and 11, reservations highly recommended. For a bop veteran who likes to use the whole keyboard and go way out there, he sure can get melodic, and restrained, when he’s in the mood. Always an interesting, exploratory night with this guy.

 

 

 

 

 

Weds July 16 Steel Pulse plays Rockefeller Park on the west side, downtown, 7 PM. Most of the original members of the best of the British roots reggae acts from the 70s remain, and although most of their studio albums since that time have been slick and soulless, their live show still scorches. Yeah mon.

 

Also Weds July 16, 7 PM at Battery Park, a klezmer concert: Pharaoh’s Daughter, Alicia Svigals Klezmer Fiddle Express, keyboard virtuoso Marilyn Lerner, The Three Yiddish Divas, Zalmen Mlotek in what the organizers call “a rousing Yiddish/Klezmer musical.”

 

Also Weds July 16 the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar (Serbian brass band) at Drom, 11 PM

 

Thurs July 17 in the garden behind MOMA as part of the ongoing Dali festival, 2 sets at 5:30 and 7: Les Primitifs du Futur, somewhat legendary Parisian musette group, playing the the French accordion music beloved by André Breton and the Surrealist crowd. This group emphasizes the danceability in this rather haunting genre; they also have a musical saw in the band (sounds like a violin).

 

Also Thurs July 17, Ted Leo plays Castle Clinton, 7 PM, you’ll need to get in line no late than 4:30 for the tix that parks personnel hand out (2 per person) for this free show. A somewhat maddening performer: somebody who’s written as many fiercely good songs as this rocker has shouldn’t have written so many clunkers. At least his politics are spot-on.

 

Also Thurs July 17, 7 PM spectacularly fast, jazzy blues guitarist Duke Robillard plays Wagner Park in Battery Park City. Note that his solo stuff is vastly more interesting and energetic than the paint-by-numbers approach of his old band Roomful of Blues.

 

Also Thurs July 17 sprawling, improvisationally-inclined, often deliriously good funk band Groove Collective play Sullivan Hall around 10:30 PM

 

Fri July 18 scorching dark rockers Ninth House play Hank’s, 11 PM. First they went deep into Nashville gothic, now they’ve discovered improvisation, and it actually works: when they give the keys, or the violin a long solo on an intro, chorus or outro, it’s often nothing short of sensational.

 

Also Fri July 18 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play Lakeside, 11 PM. If you like your surf music twangy, tasteful and on the mellow side like it was in 1964, this band – led by the former Supertones drummer – is for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weds July 16 Steel Pulse plays Rockefeller Park on the west side, downtown, 7 PM. Most of the original members of the best of the British roots reggae acts from the 70s remain, and although most of their studio albums since that time have been slick and soulless, their live show still scorches. Yeah mon.

 

Also Weds July 16, 7 PM at Battery Park, a klezmer concert: Pharaoh’s Daughter, Alicia Svigals Klezmer Fiddle Express, keyboard virtuoso Marilyn Lerner, The Three Yiddish Divas, Zalmen Mlotek in what the organizers call “a rousing Yiddish/Klezmer musical.”

 

Also Weds July 16 the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar (Serbian brass band) at Drom, 11 PM

 

Thurs July 17 in the garden behind MOMA as part of the ongoing Dali festival, 2 sets at 5:30 and 7: Les Primitifs du Futur, somewhat legendary Parisian musette group, playing the the French accordion music beloved by André Breton and the Surrealist crowd. This group emphasizes the danceability in this rather haunting genre; they also have a musical saw in the band (sounds like a violin).

 

Also Thurs July 17, Ted Leo plays Castle Clinton, 7 PM, you’ll need to get in line no late than 4:30 for the tix that parks personnel hand out (2 per person) for this free show. A somewhat maddening performer: somebody who’s written as many fiercely good songs as this rocker has shouldn’t have written so many clunkers. At least his politics are spot-on.

 

Also Thurs July 17, 7 PM spectacularly fast, jazzy blues guitarist Duke Robillard plays Wagner Park in Battery Park City. Note that his solo stuff is vastly more interesting and energetic than the paint-by-numbers approach of his old band Roomful of Blues.

 

Also Thurs July 17 sprawling, improvisationally-inclined, often deliriously good funk band Groove Collective play Sullivan Hall around 10:30 PM

 

Fri July 18 scorching dark rockers Ninth House play Hank’s, 11 PM. First they went deep into Nashville gothic, now they’ve discovered improvisation, and it actually works: when they give the keys, or the violin a long solo on an intro, chorus or outro, it’s often nothing short of sensational.

 

Also Fri July 18 Mr. Action & the Boss Guitars play Lakeside, 11 PM. If you like your surf music twangy, tasteful and on the mellow side like it was in 1964, this band – led by the former Supertones drummer – is for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also Sat July 19, speaking of killer accordion, the Will Holshouser Trio with trumpeter Ron Horton and bassist Dave Phillips plays Barbes, 8 PM. 

 

Sun July 20, the concert we’re inviting you to join us at, one of the greatest songwriters (and singers) of our era, Jenifer Jackson is playing the Rockwood at 8 PM with her longtime lead guitarist Oren Bloedow (of Elysian Fields). Her most recent album The Outskirts of a Giant Town is lush, psychedelic, haunting and beautiful: recorded live in the studio, it accurately captures how good she sounds live. Join us, won’t you?

 

Also Sun July 20, guitar genius Jeremiah Lockwood’s strange AC/DC-cantorial band Sway Machinery opens for fantastically fun, danceable Eastern European Jewish party band Golem at Prospect Park Bandshell, 6ish, you know the drill, early early.

 

Tues July 22 Jarvis Cocker plays Terminal 5 in Hell’s Kitchen, adv tix $37.50 available at the Mercury box office. Expensive, sure, but the guy was the frontman in Pulp, the best British band of the 90s. He still has that withering cynicism and simmering rage and can still write a lyric with the best of them.

 

Weds July 23, 7 PM at Rockefeller Park downtown it’s the Punch Brothers playing bluegrass, featuring Chris Thile (ex-Nickel Creek mandolinist).

 

Thursday, July 24 in the garden behind MOMA, sets at 5:30 and 7 as part of the ongoing Dali festival, Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Orchestra, a big brass band playing “voodoo jazz” from the 20s along with cartoon and silent film scores.

 

Also Thurs July 24 panstylistic rock keyboard goddess Greta Gertler plays Barbes at 8 PM followed at 10 by the Mad Jazz Hatters: “River Alexander’s smooth vocals, guitar, kazoo and chromatic harmonica are joined by Jeff Hudgins on clarinet and alto saxophone, Jonathan Royce on percussion, slide whistle and jaw harp and Chicha Libre’s Nick Cudahy on bass.”

 

Fri July 25 Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 play his old band the Dream Syndicate’s classic album Days of Wine & Roses all the way through at Maxwell’s, 10ish, $15. Recorded live in the studio in just two days, the record is one of the greatest noise-rock albums of alltime, enormously influential on scores of dirty guitar bands who came afterward. Live, drummer Linda Pitmon sings the one that DS bassist Kendra Smith sang on the album, and the rest of the band do justice to the original with an unbridled ferocity.

 

Also Fri July 25, the Brian Jonestown Massacre play Terminal 5, 10ish, adv tix available at the Mercury box office. Kind of pricy for a garage band, but these guys sound just like they stepped out of 1967, both sonically and songwise.

 

Sat July 26, there’s a Johnny Cash tribute feat. great country/rock chanteuse Laura Cantrell, oldtimey harmony group Ollabelle, John Doe of X, Jay Farrar of Son Volt, cantorial riff-rockers Sway Machinery, soul/blues siren Catherine Russell et al. at the World Financial Ctr., 7 PM

 

Also Sat July 26 an amazingly hip, free  doublebill at Kingsborough Community College Arts Performing Arts Ctr., of all places, in Brighton Beach. Rob Curto’s Sanfonia Project who open at 7:30 are another of the noted accordionist’s Brazilian jazz combos; the spectacular Sounds of Taraab, who headline, play music from Zanzibar, hauntingly slinky Arab melodies over bouncy African beats, have one of the most adrenalizing accordionists around as well as a great new album.

 

Also Sat July 26 Washington, DC blues guitarist Bobby Radcliff plays Lucille’s Bar, 8 PM, two sets. A rare player who doesn’t let his blinding speed distract him from terseness and melody. As good at funk as darkly exploratory, minor-key blues, he also bears something of a resemblance to Chewbacca the wookie!

 

Sat July 26, 10 PM, from the Barbes website: “LA CUMBIAMBA ENEYE. La Cumbiamba blends traditional instruments from the African Diaspora in Colombia, with indigenous and European instruments to play the traditional Colombian music that developed through the colonial era and continues to evolve.” I.E. this is the roots of what Chicha Libre plays: if you like them, you should go to this show.

 

Sun July 27 alternately jazzy and atmospherically haunting, female-fronted pan-Orientalist band Pharaoh’s Daughter play Pier 1 on the upper West, 7 PM, songs in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

 

Weds July 30, half past noon, singer Newsville Washington plays a free outdoor show with the former frontwoman and bassist from NY noir rock legends DollHouse (the great Lisa Lost and Frankie Monroe) at Liberty Park (Liberty btw Broadway/Church) downtown.

 

Also Weds July 30, Aimee Mann plays the Highline Ballroom, 9 PM, adv tix $35 available at the box office and worth it. What else is there to say: a pantheonic artist, probably one of the best half-dozen songwriters in the world right now. And she’s even become a damn good singer. She’s also at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, adv tix the same price but available instead at the Mercury.

 

  

 

 

Upcoming in August:

8/4 Wu Man (pipa virtuoso)  at the Schimmel Center at Pace Univ. downtown 7:30 PM free adv tix req call 212-346-1715 for box office hours.

Thursday, August 7

PAMELIA KURSTIN: THEREMIN SOLO in the garden behind MOMA

“Invented in 1919 by Russian scientist Léon Theremin, the theremin is one of the oldest electronic instruments—and the fact that it doesn’t need to be touched to produce a sound makes it perhaps the most magical. Pamelia Kurstin is widely considered one of the world’s greatest theremin players. On an instrument primarily associated with horror and science fiction soundtracks, she creates lyricism. Her pitch, technique, and taste are equally perfect. She can play microtonal puzzles and walking bass lines; she can make her instrument sound like a violin, a human voice, or an analog synthesizer. Out of what was once a symbol of modernism, she plays music of a very emotional order.”

8/7 Stephane Wrembel at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Ctr. 7 PM

8/7 trumpeter Terence Blanchard  at Castle Clinton, 7 PM

8/13 7 PM Jimmy Delgado y Orquesta featuring Renzo Padilla Wagner Park in Battery Park City

Thursday, August 14 in the garden behind MOMA

ELECTRIC JUNKYARD GAMELAN

“Inspired by Indonesian gamelan, this group has invented its own tradition: they play original groove-driven music on improvised instruments and household objects. Haunting melodies and layered, interlocking rhythms are performed on such musical contraptions as the rubarp, sitello, kachapitar, and terraphone. The experience is as visually stimulating as it is aurally exciting. Terry Dame, Julian Hintz, Mary Feaster, Lee Frisari, and Robin Burdulis.” 

8/20 7 PM Wagner Park in Battery Park City La Excelencia – Jose Vasquez-Cofresi & Julian Silva formed an orchestra performing salsa that has been compared to the New York music of the 70’s. New debut album entitled “Salsa Con Conciencia” out now.

Thursday, August 21 in the garden behind MOMA

KAMIKAZE GROUND CREW 

“Begun as a pit band for the flying Karamazov Brothers, this crew creates the ultimate mixture of high- and lowbrow—artistic music played with an anti-artistic bent. In addition to their own compositions, they perform brass arrangements of pieces by Erik Satie, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Kurt Weill, as well as traditional New Orleans tunes. Gina Leishma, saxophones, bass clarinet, accordion, vocals; Doug Wieselman, clarinets, saxophones, guitar; Steven Bernstein, trumpet and slide trumpet; Marcus Rojas, tuba; Peter Apfelbaum, tenor saxophone, Art Baron, trombone, Kenny Wollesen, drums.”

8/23 Irma Thomas at  Damrosch Park, Lincoln Ctr., 8:30 PM

8/24 Knitters/Patti Smith at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Ctr. 5:30 PMish

8/27 7 PM Ray Martinez (Latin jazz bassist w/band) at Wagner Park

Thursday, August 28

JOHN MARCUS & FRIENDS in the garden behind MOMA

“John Marcus, violinist for the acclaimed Enso String quartet, is a Julliard graduate who has performed extensively in Germany and the U.S. He will present a program of classical quartets, trios, and duos—from Bach to Ravel and Webern. John Marcus, violin; Colin Jacobsen, violin; Christina Courtin, viola; Eric Jacobsen, cello.”

9/3 Latin Giants of Jazz (Tito Puente’s backup band) Wagner Park 7 PM

Saturday and Sunday, September 13th and 14th Michael Arenella and the Dreamland Orchestra at Governor’s Island.

10 am to 7 pm