Joe's Pub Announces Upcoming Events
By: Kelsey Denette Jan. 09, 2012
Joe's Pub has announced the following upcoming events:
DAVID WAX MUSEUM / PARKINGTON SISTERS / BHI BHIMAN
January 9 at 7:00pm
$18
Recently anointed as Boston’s Americana Artist of the Year (2010 Boston Music Awards), the David Wax Museum has been called “pure, irresistible joy” (Bob Boilen, NPR) and hailed by TIME.com for its “virtuosic musical skill and virtuous harmonies.” It is no surprise that its acclaimed performance at the 2010 Newport Folk Festival was hailed as one of highlights of the entire weekend by NPR. The Museum fuses traditional Mexican folk with American roots and indie rock to create an utterly unique Mexo-Americana aesthetic. Combining Latin rhythms, call-and-response hollering, and donkey jawbone rattling, they have electrified audiences across the country and are “kicking up a cloud of excitement with their high-energy border-crossing sensibility” (The New Yorker).
Born to each other, a band raised from the beginning, the Parkington Sisters create an aural experience that is both magnetic in its delivery and genuine in its emotional impact. Seeded from a generation of musicians, Rose, Nora, Sarah and Ariel Parkington were raised in a wildly musical household where every room sounded with a spark of song, naturally inspiring their individual hearts and hands to find their own instrumental avenues.
Bhi Bhiman is an American original, yet he seems transported from an era in which songs were more important than the pretty faces that delivered them. His rich, bellowing tenor can soothe or explode at a moment’s notice. His lived-in, knowing delivery belies his years. His songwriting, too, is quick to captivate: a mix of humor and deep empathy puts him in the company of distinguished (and much older) lifelong songsmiths like John Prine, Nick Lowe and Randy Newman. And Bhiman’s technical, emotive guitar playing rises to the challenge that his striking voice presents.
Lady Rizo WITH DIRECTOR Niegel Smith: ORDAINED
NY VOICES SERIES ENCORE PERFORMANCE
January 9 at 9:30pm
$15 Advance / $20 Door
Lady Rizo has recently been ordained by the temple of glitter. Aggressively feminine and possessing a distinct absence of inhibition, she will lead you in a night praising the power of song, giggles, madness and glamorous glances in this new collaboration with director Niegel Smith (FELA). The 'Cabaret Superstar' (New York Magazine), comedienne and chanteuse revives the genre by creating vintage arrangements & theatrical explorations of pop songs from every decade. Lady Rizo (nee Amelia Zirin-Brown) co-created the cult caburlesque spectacular Lady Rizo & the Assettes in 2005 and has been in residence with Joe's Pub with her sold out monthly show for over two years. She has collaborated on albums with Moby and Yo Yo Ma; and in 2010 won her first Grammy on an album with the acclaimed cellist. She is the Mistress of Ceremonies for current hotspot The Darby, a decadent modern supper club in the West Village.
January 10 at 7:30pm
$15
Falu is a classically trained Indian vocalist whose diverse musical repertoire captures both her traditional roots as well as her unique ability in combining Hindi music with an inventive rock sound. Her live performances from both genres have been featured nationally on Fox television and internationally on National Geographic TV, while her voice has been captured in multiple films including Angelina Jolie's directorial debut A Place in Time. One of Falu's most stunning recent performances was at the Time 100 Gala where she was invited to perform a duet with Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman in front of the one hundred selection of Time Magazine's most influential people in the world of 2008, which not surprisingly included First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.
THE EASY TELLS / Christian Gibbs
January 10 at 9:30pm
$12
In 2010, singer-songwriter Matthew Crosby and guitarist Ryan Mackstaller, both members of NYC-based rock band, The Majorleans, began collaborating on alternative arrangements of Crosby’s songs as well as new material and a handful of covers. Mackstaller recruited drummer Keith Robinson (Marcia Ball, Charlie Robison) and later bassist Matt Brandau (The Old Ceremony), recent transplants from Austin and Chapel Hill respectively, and by early 2011 the foursome were gigging consistently around the Lower East Side and Brooklyn as The Easy Tells, honing a sound centered in American Rock, and influenced by artists like Wilco, Stephen Stills, and Elliott Smith, though not without a healthy nod across the pond.
Christian Gibbs is a songwriter, musician, and producer who has released over eight albums under the names Lucinda Black Bear, C.Gibbs, and Morning Glories. His projects have ranged from indie rock to gothic americana and have been praised in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, NBC News, and other notable media. His current project, Lucinda Black Bear, was recently featured on NPR's All Songs Considered (#4 on NPR's "Top 10 Great Unknown Artists of 2007"). Gibbs began his rock and roll career at age 20 when he arrived in London for a semester abroad, answered a help wanted ad for a guitarist, and promptly fled college to assume employment as Modern English's guitarist. The young man's parental nightmare subsequently took him to posts playing with Jim Thirlwell's Foetus, fronting New York rock trio Morning Glories and settling into a solo career signing to Atlantic for one album.
HAPPY ENDING MUSIC AND READING SERIES
FEATURING Diane Williams, HARI KUNZRU, Adam Rapp, MUSICIAL GUEST IAN AXEL
January 11 at 7:00pm
$15
The consistently sold out, Happy Ending Music and Reading Series, chosen by New York Magazine and NY Press as the best reading series in NYC, and singled out by the New York Times Magazine for helping to "Keep downtown alive," features the most interesting storytellers, writers, musicians, raconteurs and personalities, and requires the readers to take one public risk, while the musicians, who perform two short sets with their original, lyric-driven music, are required to play one cover song and try to get the audience to sing along. Called the “most vital authors’ series in the city,” by Time Out NY, and known for its consistently good taste, Happy Ending has launched careers and proudly, ended none.
Hari Kunzru is the author of the novels The Impressionist (2002), Transmission (2004), My Revolutions (2007) and Gods Without Men (2011), as well as a short story collection, Noise (2006). His work has been translated into twenty-one languages. In 2003 Granta named him one of its twenty best young British novelists. He is Deputy President of English PEN and a patron of the Refugee Council. He lives in New York City. Diane Williams newest book of fiction is Vicky Swanky is a Beauty published by McSweeney's in January 2012. She is the author of seven books, including a collection of her selected stories. She is frequent contributor to Harper's as well as a wide array of literary journals. She's been awarded three Pushcart Prizes. She is also the founder and editor of the literary annual NOON. Adam Rapp is a novelist and playwright. His novels include 33 Snowfish (Candlewick Press), Under the Wolf, Under the Dog (Candlewick Press), a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize, Punkzilla, (Candlewick Press) a 2010 Michael J. Printz Honor Book, The Year of Endless Sorrows (F.S.G.), and the graphic novel Ball-Peen Hammer (First Second). His play Red Light Winter was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2007 he was awarded the Benjamin H. Danks Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters.
Last year Ian Axel released his debut album This is the New Year, the title track of which appeared in Garry Marshall’s New Year’s Eve film and had an associated video wrack up over one million YouTube hits. As a live proposition, Ian appeared on the Rachael Ray Show, completed his first national tours and opened shows for Ingrid Michaelson and Glee star Matthew Morrison -- none of which is as notable as his actual performances which feature a warm, engaging interplay reminiscent of the intimacy and energy of performers like Regina Spektor, Randy Newman and Elton John.
Bridget Everett & THE TENDER MOMENTS
January 11 at 9:30pm
$20
Bridget Everett has been dubbed “Wynona Judd meets Melissa Etheridge, via the local bar floozy, on a rocket ship out of Twin Peaks” by The Village Voice’s Michael Musto. Having grown up in Manhattan, Kansas, Bridget received her degree in vocal performance at Arizona State University. Soon after, she promptly abandoned it all to move to New York, sing karaoke and work as a waitress. Bridget has most recently been collaborating with Kenny Mellman (Kiki and Herb) and Michael Patrick King (“Sex and the City”) on At Least It’s Pink. At Least It’s Pink has played at Ars Nova, Joe’s Pub, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and the Aspen United States Comedy Arts Festival. Bridget played Lynn Chenney in Taylor Mac’s Red Tide Blooming at p.s. 122. She is the cohost of Automatic Vaudeville at Ars Nova, has performed on the Murray Hill show at Mo Pitkins, sung with the Isotoners, with Jim Andralis and Larry Krone, and plays R Kelly’s sister in the show Neal Medlyn Plus Kenny Mellman Equals R Kelly. You can also catch her wearing gold lame in Times Square along side the Varisty Interpretive Dance Squad in Moby’s latest music video “New York, New York.”
THE NEW YORKER “THE BIG STORY”
January 12 at 7:00pm
FREE
Is Television the New Cinema? Join the New Yorker writers Richard Brody, David Denby, Emily Nussbaum, and Kelefa Sanneh for a conversation about the changing entertainment landscape, moderated by the magazine’s editor, David Remnick. Richard Brody began writing for The New Yorker in 1999, and has contributed articles about the directors François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, and Samuel Fuller. Since 2005, he has been the movie-listings editor at the magazine; he writes film reviews, a column about DVDs, and a blog about movies, The Front Row. He is the author of the book “Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard.” He lives in New York. David Denby has been a staff writer and film critic at The New Yorker since 1998. His first article for the magazine, “Does Homer Have Legs?” published in 1993, grew into a book about reading the literary canon at Columbia University. Two other essays in that book, on Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and on Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” also first appeared in The New Yorker. Recently, he has written on subjects ranging from the Scottish Enlightenment to the writers Susan Sontag and James Agee. Emily Nussbaum is an editor-at-large at New York Magazine. Previously, she was the Culture Editor at New York, and before that, she was Editor-in-Chief of Nerve. She's written for numerous publications including New York, The New York Times, Slate, and the late lamented Lingua Franca. Kelefa Sanneh joined The New Yorker as a staff writer in 2008. Prior to that, he was the pop-music critic for the New York Times, beginning in 2002. Before covering music for the Times, he was the deputy editor of Transition, a journal of race and culture, based at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, at Harvard University. His writing has also appeared in The Source, Rolling Stone, Blender, the Village Voice, and Man’s World (“India’s classiest men’s magazine”).
Travis Sullivan’S BJORKESTRA
January 12 at 9:30pm
$15 Advance / $18 Door
Travis Sullivan¹s Bjorkestra is a genre bending jazz orchestra that interprets the music of Bjork Gudmundsdottir, one of the most influential pop artists of the past 20 years. The Bjorkestra transcends the boundaries of popular music and modern jazz, and continues to thrill and mesmerize audiences with its engaging blend of improvisation, brilliant arrangements, and danceable grooves. Whether you are a fan of Bjork or jazz, the Bjorkestra offers something for anyone interested in listening to innovative, creative music while having fun in the process. Travis Sullivan employs a traditional big band instrumentation augmented by vocalist Becca Stevens and laptop drum programming wizard Ian Cook. A live Bjorkestra show is a unique listening experience that impacts both the sonic and visual senses. The Bjorkestra pays homage to their muse, Bjork, through invention not imitation.
January 13 at 7:00pm
$20 Reserved / $50 Premium
The Shrine Big Band is a 15 piece ensemble that performs original compositions in the idioms of jazz and experimental music. The band presents a unique perspective on modern music with inspiration drawn from 20th century classical, straight ahead jazz, swing, and the avant garde. In addition to a monthly residency at the Shrine in Harlem, they perform around the New York City area. The Bronx Charter School for the Arts Advanced Band features 4th and 5th grade students from Hunt’s Point, performing jazz, world, and popular music. Students improvise extensively and work in the format of a professional band while stretching musically to find new potential within a student band format. Together these ensembles offer a distinctive take on today’s music, be it music in the schools or from the clubs of New York City. Both groups will perform in support of the Bronx Charter School for the Arts band program - its students deserve to continue to receive top flight music instruction throughout their time at Bronx Arts.
The Civilians: LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU
January 13 at 9:30pm
$15
Following The Civilians’ first sold-out Occupy Wall Street cabaret in October, Civilians’ artists continued to conduct interviews with demonstrators about the movement’s recent events, including the mass police action that cleared the protests out of Zuccotti Park and what the movement’s future holds. The upcoming cabaret features entirely new material exploring why people are protesting, hopes for Occupy 2012, and how the dynamic movement has evolved over the last three months. This one-night-only performance of monologues and songs by Michael Friedman (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) crafted from interviews in The Civilians' entertaining and thought-provoking style, offers a unique glimpse into the personal stories behind this current exercise of democracy that will leave its mark our nation's history.
STUDENTS OF PROFESSOR WILLIAM RILEY
January 14 at 7:00pm
$25
William Riley is a world-renowned Voice Trainer, an award-winning classical singer and recording artist, a stage director, and has been a consultant or served on faculties of the Voice Foundation Symposia, The American Academy of Otolaryngology (for 20 years), The Actors Studio, The New School University, Westminster Choir College; He has been consultant in Voice to Grabscheid Voice Center (Mount Sinai Hospital), Lenox Hill Hospital, The White House, and The Metropolitan Opera. He recently has been invited to teach on the subjects of voice, vocal health and opera at over a dozen institutions in the U.S. and abroad, including Yale University, and the Universities of Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Maine, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has been an invited speaker at the Second World Voice Congress Brazil, the World Voice Congress 3 in Turkey, and the joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America/Japanese Acoustical Society. He was selected by Live at Lincoln Center producer John Goberman to be a central on-camera expert in the series “Backstage Lincoln Center” starring Luciano Pavarotti.
FEATURING DAVID KRAKAUER, MATT HAIMOVITZ, & SOCALLED
January 13 at 7:00pm
$20 Reserved / $50 Premium
In this reframing of Olivier Messaien’s masterpiece Quartet for the End of Time, clarinetist David Krakauer, praised internationally for his astounding ability to play in a myriad of music genres with “prodigious chops” (The New Yorker) and “soulfulness and electrifying showiness” (The New York Times), and musical pioneer cellist Matt Haimovitz, described as “one of his generation’s great classical cellists” (The Hamilton Spectator) and known for his “relaxed intensity and improvisatory flair” (Detroit Free Press), have created an evening of great emotional power. Akoka: The End of Time is comprised of Krakauer’s own Akoka, Messiaen’s masterwork Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time), and Socalled’s Meanwhile.
Quartet for the End of Time was composed and premiered in a prisoner of war camp during World War II in the midst of tremendous upheaval. Henri Akoka was the Jewish clarinetist in the prison camp who performed the world premiere. This program has a musical focus on Akoka’s story, bringing out the human aspect of this composition as seen from the perspective of someone caught in terrifying events beyond his control. Quartet for the End of Time will be performed in its entirety between the two new works – Krakauer’s being a raw structured improvisation that takes as its point of departure some of the musical gestures of the Messiaen - and the closing piece by Socalled made up of sequences and samples of the acoustic recording of the Messiaen combined with sound images that illustrate the violence and turbulence of the piece.
Akoka: The End of Time lifts Messiaen’s original work out of the polite context of a chamber music concert and places it in a dramatic setting that drives home its gravity and impact, while bringing it into the 21st century. As the forces of fundamentalism, intolerance and violence intensify in today’s world, this particular mounting of the great work seems all the more timely.
January 14 at 11:30pm
$12
One guy who sings. Four girls who play. But that’s just the tip of the Titanic-sinking iceberg that is Roma! - one of the newest and most original rock bands to rise from the steamy streets of the city that never sleeps. With a sound that falls somewhere between The Velvet Underground and Queen – and a neo-noir look that’s equal parts Federico Fellini and Raymond Chandler – Roma! is poised to crack the mainstream with their flamboyant brand of art rock.
January 15 at 7:00pm
$20
Taylor Mac and band are working on a 24-hour concert called "The History of Popular Music" to be performed in the spring of 2013, which will consist of over three hundred songs from the last twenty- four decades. He's using Joe's Pub gigs to learn and perform some of the material for the first time (he premiered the 1970's, 1930's and 1880's in Oct/Nov). For this performance he'll be singing songs from the 1770's. He is a playwright, actor, singer-songwriter, and sometime director and producer. Time Out New York has called him, “One of the most exciting theater artists of our time” and American Theater Magazine says, “Mac is one of this country’s most heroic and disarmingly funny playwrights.”
January 15 at 11:30am
$12
Inspiring kids to rock on-stage and in life, School of Rock offers music lessons and music camps for kids age 7 to 18. Every season each school around the country puts together different tribute shows dedicated to some of Rock's biggest and most influential artists. This year, led by show director Armand Aviram, School of Rock Roslyn offers a unique show, as they present a tribute to the popular 90's TV show MTV Unplugged. Performing some of the best tunes from one of MTV's most iconic and culturally significant programs, this group of young kids, ranging from 13-17, will be running through songs from Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Eric Clapton, Paramore, LL Cool J, and many, many more. This will be the first time any School of Rock has ever put on this show and SOR Roslyn is thrilled to be playing at one of the best venues in New York City, Joe's Pub.
January 15 at 9:30pm
$15 Advance / $20 Door
Alexander Zhurbin is Russia's pre-eminent composer of musical theatre, film soundtracks and popular song. His career launched overnight in 1975, when he wrote Russia's first rock-opera, "Orpheus & Eurydice", which went on to be the longest continuously running theatrical production in Russia, after 2500 performances. Since that day, he has written scores to over 60 films, 30 musicals, symphonies, ballets and concert works. Thanks to his wide-ranging output and activity, he has often been compared to the "RussIan Leonard Bernstein". Together with his wife, Irena Ginzburg-Zhurbin, they have been co-writing songs and performing internationally for over 30 years -- Alexander at the piano, and Irena singing. For this extremely rare New York appearance, Alexander and Irena will be joined on stage by their son Lev Zhurbin (better known in New York as Ljova, leader of his ensemble Ljova and the Kontraband), their daughter-in-law Inna Barmash, as well as special guests.
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Check www.JoesPub.com for a complete list of shows
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