STAGE: The Orphans' Home Cycle

Part III of The Orphans' Home Cycle, Horton Foote's "nine play rural epic," opens this Thursday, January 7, joining Parts I & II which opened in Nov & Dec of 09. All three parts run thru the end of March. Read the Signature Theatre Company synopsis here.

SCENE: Blues, Booze & BBQ tonight @ PowerHouse Arena

Blues, Booze, & BBQ, the first book by Michael Loyd Young, documents the 150 miles of Highway 61, the famed blacktop road snaking from Memphis, TN down to Greenville, MS. At the halfway point, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, sits Clarksdale, MS, the city considered the birthplace of the blues and the location of Robert Johnson’s famed “Cross Road Blues” intersection of Highway 61 and 49.

The Delta has been home to blues legends such as Charley Patton, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Ike Turner, Cadillac John Nolden, B.B. King, T-Model Ford, Mississippi Slim, Big Jack Johnson, and Willie King, among countless others whose music has become the glue that holds these communities together as they struggle to survive. Young’s photographs, taken at juke joints, in private homes, or just hanging out, illustrate the bond blues creates between the Delta and its people. It is through this music that the people pass on their heritage and culture to future generations. (source)

T-Model Ford performs tonight (12/10) at the book launch party at the PowerHouse Arena in Brooklyn.

SOUNDS: EyeHateGod in BKLYN tonight

They've been called doomcore, sludge and stoner rock, survived line-up shuffles, label hassles and a short-lived split. And after more than a decade of creating some of the most corrosive, vile music known to man, EyeHateGod still hasn't lost the piss and vinegar that fueled them back in 1988. (source)

Jimmy Bower & co. play tonight @ Club Europa in Brooklyn.

STAGE: The Confidence Man

Playing thru 9/26: Herman Melville’s novel The Confidence Man is a colorful tale of a con man aboard a riverboat (on the Mississippi River en route to New Orleans) in the mid-19th century. The story follows the protagonist as he charms and then cheats his fellow passengers. As disarmingly relevant today as it was in the 19th century, The Confidence Man begs the question: in whom may we safely place our confidence?

The Woodshed Collective’s production of The Confidence Man will be composed of a series of interwoven and simultaneously performed vignettes, and will evoke the whirlwind of both a riverboat journey and the everyday urban chaos of New York City. The audience will choose what to see and which character’s story to follow just as one selects which newspaper stories to read, which YouTube videos to screen, or which online links to click. By allowing audience members to immerse themselves in the experience, the production seeks to blur the line between performer and patron, reclaim confidence in the power of live theater, and leave the lingering impression that the audience members themselves may not be immune to the confidence man’s charms or cons. (source)

SOUNDS: Cat Power plays Summerstage this Sunday (8/10)

Cat Power and Juliette Lewis join the Pretenders this Sunday, August 10 at Central Park Summerstage (Rumsey Field). The performance is pegged as the 2009 Summerstage Gala which raises funds for City Parks Foundation’s free year-round arts performances in parks citywide. Click here for more info.

SOUNDS: Avett Brothers Play NYC 6/12 & 13

photo by crackerfarm

If you put your ear to the street, you can hear the rumble of the world in motion; people going to and from work, to school, to the grocery store. You may even hear the whisper of their living rooms, their conversation, their complaints, and if you're lucky, their laughter. If you're almost anywhere in America , you'll hear something different, something special, something you recognize but haven't heard in a long time. It is the sound of a real celebration It is not New Year's, and it is not a political convention. It is neither a prime time game-show, nor a music video countdown, bloated with fame and sponsorship. What you are hearing is the love for a music. It is the unbridled outcry of support for a song that sings to the heart, that dances with the soul. The jubilation is in the theaters, the bars, the music clubs, the festivals. The love is for a band. The songs are honest: just chords with real voices singing real melodies. But, the heart and the energy with which they are sung, is really why people are talking, and why so many sing along. They are a reality in a world of entertainment built with smoke and mirrors, and when they play, the common man can break the mirrors and blow the smoke away, so that all that's left behind is the unwavering beauty of the songs. That's the commotion, that's the celebration, and wherever The Avett Brothers are tonight, that's what you'll find. (source)

NC's The Avett Brothers play NYC 6/12 & 13 @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza. The Second Gleam has been in stores since July 08.

SOUNDS: Standard Deluxe presents Blue Mountain 5/29

...Emerging from the post-punk Americana scene in the late eighties Blue Mountain came roarin' up out of Oxford Mississippi with a sound that practically defined Alt-Country as a genre in American Music. Band members Cary Hudson (guitar), Laurie Stirratt (bass) and Frank Coutch (drums) create beautiful music that consumes listeners with all the passion and grace of the American South. Honest and straightforward, Blue Mountain's scope of musical output has been critically linked to Neil Young and Crazy Horse, the Allman Brothers, Elvis, Tammy Wynette, Robert Johnson, and Alex Chilton among many others. Touring and recording for over a decade, the band called it quits in 2001 only to be re-born better than ever in 2007. (source)

Waverly, Alabama's full custom "real southern vernacular post modern eclectic" design/screen printing outfit Standard Deluxe is proud to host this exciting and important band. "We hope you all can make it...you don't want hear about this show second-hand!"

Friday MAY 29, 2009 at
FRED's Feed & Seed (and pickin' parlor)
6434 Stage Road in Beautiful Downtown LOACHAPOKA, Alabama

Mississippi's Legendary BLUE MOUNTAIN with BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES

SOUNDS: Bonnie Prince Billy live @ The Apollo

Post punk/indie rocker/folkie Bonnie "Prince" Billy performs live tonight (5/21) at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC baby! His latest album, Beware, was released by Drag City 3/17.

SOUNDS: Allen Toussaint @ Village Vanguard 5/19 - 24

Photo: Robert Sturman

New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint will be performing at the Village Vanguard 5/19 - 24 along with his Bright Mississippi Band.

"Allen Toussaint is one of America's greatest musical treasures. Singer, pianist, songwriter, arranger and producer, the New Orleans native has been making hit records for over forty years. His massive influence on American music reaches deep into the idioms of rhythm and blues, pop, country, musical theater, blues and jazz. Two years ago, Toussaint added yet another credit to his lengthy list of accomplishments, co-founder of NYNO Records with NY partner Joshua Feigenbaum. Toussaint was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. (source)

SCENE/SOUNDS: Dexateens Take Manhattan...

Photo: Stanton Newman

"Tomorrow marks the 50^th anniversary of the Chitlin Supper at Meek High School in Arley,AL. My mother graduated from Meek High in 1967. She had the distinct pleasure of being named the Chitlin Queen one year. This was an event that she would have to drag us to over the years. My dad graduated from Curry High just over the Walker County line. My sister and I went to Walker High, a city school for god’s sakes! Why would we be caught somewhere they serve hog guts?

I have grown to appreciate the Supper more and more over the years. There’s nothing slick about it except a few of the politicians who take the stage to pander for votes. Entertainment ranges from the awful American Idolesque karaoke to traditional gospel and country. I’ve even seen buck dancing from time to time. This year our very own Lee Bains III will grace the stage for an acoustic set. His first Chitlin Supper was last year and I’m glad it seems to have stuck.

Proceeds from the Supper go to a good cause. Meek High School marching band members are cleaning chitlns at an alarming rate at the moment. 400 or 500 pounds I’m told. After the chitlins are cleaned, they are boiled, pressure cooked and then fried. Experts encourage you to drizzle them with vinegar before taking a bite. The band will bake and fry up about 800 pounds of chicken as well for those of you too chicken to try chitlins." (Dexateens Myspace blog entry for 3/26/09).

The new Dexateens album, Singlewide, is being released tomorrow (5/12) on Skybucket Records. The band FINALLY plays NYC: 5/14 @ Pianos, and 5/17 @ Union Hall.

STAGE: August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone

"It is August in Pittsburgh, 1911.... From the deep and the near South the sons and daughters of newly freed African slaves wander into the city. Isolated, cut off from memory.... They arrive carrying Bibles and guitars, their pockets lined with dust and fresh hope, marked men and women seeking to scrape from the narrow, crooked cobbles and the fiery blasts of the coke furnace a way of bludgeoning and shaping the malleable parts of themselves into a new identity as free men of definite and sincere worth."

Lincoln Center Theater's newest production is the first Broadway revival of August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, by one of the country's most revered playwrights. Nominated for six Tony Awards in the 1988-89 season, JOE TURNER was named Best Play by the New York Drama Critics Circle.

August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE is set in a Pittsburgh boarding house in 1911. Owners Seth and Bertha Holly play host to a makeshift family of people who come to stay, some for days, some longer, during the Great Migration of the 1910s when descendants of former slaves moved in large numbers from the South toward the industrial cities of the North, seeking new jobs, new lives and new beginnings. (source)

August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE opens today (4/14) and runs thru June 13 at:
Belasco Theatre
111 West 44th Street (Between Broadway and 6th Avenue)
New York NY 10036

SOUNDS: Bonnie Prince Billy Taking Manhattan in May

Re-post from Brooklyn Vegan!

a 2nd Bonnie Prince Billy show!

I'm not sure whether Bonnie Prince Billy's May 21st show at the Apollo Theater has completely sold out yet or not, but a 2nd NYC show has been added, much farther downtown, at Santos Party House. Tickets for the the May 20th show are on sale now (thx Keith!). Lightning Dust opens.

BPB's new album, Beware, was released by Drag City on March 17th.

SCENE: VOV Music Fest kicks off today in Hot Springs, AR

Small venue, small town Arkansas, completely run by volunteers

The Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival (VOV) is gearing up for its 5th and biggest year yet with bands traveling from as far away as Australia, Canada, Israel, New York, California and all points in between. These bands make up the fabric of a global community of DIY'sters who focus on sound, measure, tempo and theme and leave the pop writing formula on the backburner, so they may be someday noted for their musical innovation and not the gross total of records sold.

But The VOV is more than the bands it attracts - The VOV is not the bloated idea of "festival" that has been defined by Lollapolooza, Coachella, or Bonarroo where 876545677896 bands play on 7654329007 stages, in front of 87887866669808708098098 people who will fight you for a spot in line at one of the 13 port-a-potties. No, The VOV is about community. We are a festival organized and run by volunteers who need something more, something raw, something real to inspire them. We hit the streets and ask for donations, grants, food, drinks, microphones, hammers, nails and duct tape - whatever it takes to make it happen just one time a year.

THIS YEAR’S LINEUP, ncludes Monotonix. Pretty & Nice, AIDS Wolf, The Queers, Poison Arrows, Pink Spiders and more.

The VOV is a 501(c)3 public charity. With the help of dedicated sponsors and volunteers The VOV has been producing original, forward-thinking and independent music in the small town of Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas since 2005. In four short years, The VOV hosted nearly 700 cutting edge, internationally touring artists who performed to a combined audience of about 7000 music lovers over the course of 6 festivals. The 5th Annual VOV will be held in March 2009 and is the perfect pit stop to those of you traveling to or from SXSW. The VOV also holds sporadic shows throughout the year.

The VOV Independent Music Festival Kicks off today (3/17/09) at Low Key Arts in Hot Springs, AR with the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade and runs thru 3/22/09.

SOUNDS: The Music of REM @ Carnegie Hall 3/11

Photo by Anton Dee/Flickr

The Music of R.E.M.
Music Education Programs for Underprivileged Youth Benefit Concert

@ Carnegie Hall - Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
TONIGHT - Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 8 PM

Featuring: Throwing Muses with Kristen Hersh, Kimya Dawson, Ingrid Michaelson, Glenn Hansard, The Apples in Stereo, Tommy James and the Shondells, Jolie Holland, Keren Ann, Guster, The dB's, Bob Mould, Vic Chesnutt & Elf Power, Rachel Yamagata, Calexico, Patti Smith, and others

SOUNDS: Allman Brothers Band @ Beacon Theatre

2009 marks the 40th Anniversary of The Allman Brothers Band who celebrate by hitting NYC for a 15 night stand @ the Beacon Theatre - March 9-10, 12-14, 16-17, 19-21, 23-24, 26-28!

The Allman Brothers Band is one of the most influential groups in America, redefining rock music and its boundaries. The band has a long tradition of blending the new and the old while mixing blues, country, rock and jazz to deliver their signature powerful extended on-stage jams.

SOUNDS: Johnny Cash Bash @ Southpaw 2/28

Well, it's sold-out but maybe you can figure a way into Brooklyn Country's bash in honor of Johnny Cash's 77th Birthday - tomorrow night (2/28) @ Southpaw in Brooklyn....featuring an all night tribute to Johnny Cash including a full rendition of "JC @ San Quentin!"

HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS: YOU F*CKED MY HOUSE UP!

“Unless I let you know ahead of time (or unless you're some shithot shit), you probably won't get very much money for playing here. If you're a band from Athens you will not get any money for playing here, and if you're from Atlanta it will probably be gas money and a little extra for some vitamins and healthy treats. If you're a touring band please let me know your expectations and I will let you know if YOU'RE DREAMIN', but the cap is 100 dollars or so. 200 MAX. 300 if you're Stevie Ray Vaughn or Cindy Crawford. Please keep in mind that I am a waitress and I only get money back for the kegs if the show does really well or its an all-local show. $$$FUMAR$$$”

The Secret Squirrel is a “residential social club” in Athens, GA. Rick says: “Mercer West hosts late night house parties that usually start after 2 am and usually last until 5 am. He probably won't answer his phone and the voice mail will say that you have reached the Money Machine. Leave a message for Mercer anyway.”

Charlotte, NC’s Yardwork plays @ Secret Squirrel Feb 27, 11PM

SOUNDS: Jason Isbell @ Bowery Ballroom 2/26

"There is a mental treatment facility here in Florence called The 400 Unit," says Jason Isbell. "About once a week they would drive downtown and take, I guess, the six or eight healthiest people in the facility and let 'em go downtown. Give 'em all like $15 apiece to go get some lunch. You'd immediately recognize who it was and why they were there; they all had nametags on, saying kinda strange stuff to everybody. And trying to get a sandwich at the same time."

"When I started thinking about a band, and how we get to a new town and everybody gets $15 and gets out of the van, goes out and tries to get a sandwich, it kinda reminded me of that."

Ex-Drive By Trucker Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit perform live @ NY's Bowery Ballroom tomorrow (2/26) night.

STAGE: Chuck. Chuck.Chuck. in Bklyn 2/26 - 28

Chuck.Chuck.Chuck. a new work by Immediate Medium

Based on Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Chuck.Chuck.Chuck. follows the family members of Addie Bundren as they leave their home to fulfill her dying wish - to be returned to her birthplace for burial. Through text, video, live music and dance, the project examines subterranean connections that exist within families and among communities. Patterns emerge from the crap shoot of history and congeal as the Bundrens go about the often terrible business of living.

The nihilists say it is the end; the fundamentalists, the beginning; when in reality it is no more than a single tenant or family moving out of a tenement or town.

all shows start at 8:30pm @ the COLLAPSABLE HOLE
146 Metropolitan Ave. at Berry, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L train to Bedford, G train to Metropolitan.
[Click for Map]

$15 door
$12 advance online purchase
www.theatermania.com
or call 212-352-3101

Immediate Medium: mission

Immediate Medium, Inc. (IM) is a non-profit performance collaborative founded in 2002 and dedicated to building a community of artists through the creation of works of art utilizing live performance and multimedia. We seek to challenge formal distinctions between performance, dance, film, sculpture and architecture in order to create new works of experiential art that engage and provoke creators and audience alike.

history

Members of the company came together at Yale while studying and exploring mostly traditional approaches to theatre, sculpture, film, photography and dance. After moving to New york, company members began to work across media and more collaboratively, not elevating one artistic medium above another.

STAGE: Blanche Survives Katrina in a FEMA Trailer Named Desire

One natural disaster strikes another! Experience the solo show sensation that took the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival by storm. Winner of the Village Voice Audience Award and FringeNYC's Outstanding Solo Show, this outrageous, politically incorrect comedy imagines Tennessee Williams’s tragic heroine has neither aged, nor left New Orleans. She was there when Katrina hit; she was sent to the Superdome; she was evacuated to Shreveport and entangled in the heartless bureaucracy of FEMA. Hers is a refugee story whose politics and pathos you have read, but one you've never experienced through the eyes of the desperately deliberately fragile, alcoholic, codependent, sex-addicted Blanche DuBois — America’s most broken woman™

Blanche Survives Katrina is playing now thru March 15 @ Soho Playhouse