On the second Monday of every month the BTK Band commandeers the stage at Under St. Marks in the East Village to play their unique form of rock, story telling and improv to the intimate crowd. And it is awesome! It started with a cool, nerdy comedian followed by a medley of well known rock songs, followed by some improv, followed by a story about buying pot in nyc in the company of cops and , well I could go on. This is a video of one song the band improvised about the life of Christy, one of the women in the audience.
Every Sunday evening, you can, for free, sit in a cabaret style bar and listen to dozens of performers sing show tunes. The songs range from the well known to the sublimely obscure and the talent ranges from good to ‘oh wow, you just happened to have the night off Broadway and decided to come and sing here!” Grab a drink, bring someone you love and enjoy a wide array of music.
The first half of the show is planned around one or two composers. But the second half is open to anyone with the guts to sign up and select one of the thousands (yes, thousands) of songs the pianist, Caleb Hoyer, can play by sight.
Enjoy this video of a song by one of the composers being featured this particular evening.
The three finalists have been chosen from the seven groups competing to represent The Bronx (see the video here). When you are ready click here to vote.
And the finalists are:
Finotee
Finotee: The Poly-ethnic train to funky town.
Led by a dynamic pair of glamourous ladies, Finotee was the poly-ethnic train to funky town. This band was made up of mature musicians who clearly are comfortable making music together. They have more than 100 years of music experience between them and it all culminated in a rich, if somewhat lyrically unintelligible, song on Friday night.
Just A Lil Bit
Representing Co-op City, Just A Lil Bit left no doubt as to their musical prowess.
Representing not only the Bronx, but more specifically Co-op City, Just A Lil Bit showed the crowd what a band of virtuosos could do. From the funkadelic guitar riffs to the sizzling saxophone solo to the outstanding drummer the song was a tour through the band’s musical abilities. Just A Lil Bit has also been playing together for many years. These guys practically grew up together. One member of the band said, “We know what works because we don’t only know each other’s styles, we know each other’s personalities.
The Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra
Let's all get up and dance to the wonderful music of the Steven Oquendo Orchestra.
While it’s not fair to compare this amazing orchestra to the other six groups, they were clearly the most outstanding. This is the type of group that you hire if you are wealthy and your daughter is getting married. This is the type of group you hire for civic events honoring foreign dignitaries. The whole time they played, I just eyed the floor in front of me debating whether they would be bothered if Kenya and I started dancing. I refrained, but not because they left me wanting. This band is outstanding.
The best parades, not least of all because they are short and to the point, don’t always happen on fifth ave. This one took us by surprise today walking down Metropolitan Ave in Brooklyn. And, Kenya got the first Easter egg of the season out of it.
Last night seven groups competed to represent The Bronx this year in the Battle of the Boroughs sponsored by WNYC at The Greene Space. More commentary to come — for now, dig into this short video showing a little taste of each group.
Don’t forget the free Clifton Anderson concert at BAM tonight. Hope to see you there!
On this blog, in a previous incarnation, I had a weekly feature where I posted the top 3 coolest things to do each weekend. I have decided to bring it back. Why? Because too often I am talking about once a year or once in a lifetime events in the past tense. Too often I’m hearing, “Oh, I wish I had known about that!” If I can’t find 3 great things to do in a weekend, if it is a particularly dry weekend, than I’ll just suggest whatever I do find.
For this weekend, I recommend the following:
April 1st: Battle of the Boroughs
This amateur music competition does not disappoint.
Battle of the Boroughs is back with the Bronx edition. In case you don’t know, Battle of the Boroughs brings together bands from a single borough to compete for the opportunity to perform at summer stage. With Brooklyn and Queens already decided, Bronx is up for this Friday! The Queens edition of this event was the best amateur musical competition I have ever seen.
This event will be held at the absolutely wonderful Greene Space at:
44 Charlton Street (at Varick Street)
New York, NY 10013
Hudson Square
Tickets for this event are $15 per person with one drink included or $30 for an open bar option. Not only is seating limited, space is limited. Both Brooklyn and Queens sold out. Buy your tickets here.
Here is a video of Mala Reinz, one of the Bronx artists who will be competing Friday night:
April 2nd: International Pillow Fight Day
The softer the better, that way the feathers just explode as soon as you hit someone.
There are two really wonderful ways to enjoy this event. Either get yourself a pillow and come prepared to slug it out, or take a seat in the armchairs overlooking Union Square on the fourth and fifth floor at Filene’s Basement. Either way, this is an unforgettable and totally enjoyable sight. Its supposed to be a whopping 49 degrees cold. But if you move toward the center of the fight, believe me — you will not be cold.
Cost: Bring your pillow.
Time: 3:00pm
April 2nd – BAM Cafe
This and every Friday and Saturday, the cafe at BAM hosts awesome performing artists (who ever is doing the booking leans toward jazz). The shows are always free and take place in a wonderful open hall. You’ve got a top flight bar behind you, cool music in front of you and awesome people all around you.
On Saturday Clifton Anderson will be performing. Here is a video of him:
The address is: At Lafayette and Ashland in Brooklyn
That line, from a song by Sia, fits perfectly over todays topic: The Limelight. This deconsecrated Episcopal church-cum-nightclub-cum-shopping mall opened last May. It has steadily added unique one off vendors becoming a “Festival of Shops”. It was really fun to wander through it last weekend. It’s an amalgamation of a Hobbit’s home and the kind of malls I grew up with in Southern California.
The view from the entrance; not sure what part the astro turf path plays.
One of the many shops peddling unnecessary amusements.
I recommend going when the weather is warmer. With a jacket on, I felt like I was always at risk of knocking expensive things over.
Every nook and cranny where saints did pray and sinners did lay, now you too can play if you are willing to pay.
It was a pleasure to squeeze and nose my way through this church. There was plenty to see, taste and try. Expect to pay more than you do in non-ex-religious shopping venues. Check out the Limelight website.
Movement of the hands of Composer Pierre Boulez while conducting the London Symphony Orchestra
In the great flurry of all things artistic that is Armory Week, I had the opportunity to meet artist Morgan O’Hara in her Manhattan Studio. Like so many artists, at first glance, her work is meaningless. Many of her drawings look like a ball of gray yarn so thoroughly tied and tangled up, as to be beyond all usefulness. I almost walked straight out of her studio.
Instead, I asked her if she would explain, or better still, help me understand her work. She began by explaining that her pieces are created in real-time as some action is taking place. This action could be almost anything from a concert pianist playing a concerto to traditional noodle makers kneeding flour. As she watches them, she draws with both hands simultaneously. Her movements are loose records of the actions she is observing. Take this piece for example:
Martha Argerich playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto #4, Live-Transmission drawing by Morgan O'Hara
It looks like childish scribbling across a loosely defined axis. What it is though is a live transmission of the movement of the hands of pianist Martha Argerich playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #4. Each one of Ms. O’Hara’s drawings then, is an organic record of what took place over a small period of time. After being armed with this information, I could see the movements of the pianist in the drawing. I could hear the flourishes and crescendos of this concerto in the longer, more dramatic lines of the drawing.
Here is a video of Ms. O’Hara at work in China. She comes into the video after about 45 seconds.
If you are anything like me, you might have felt, well, nothing, for the majority of art you saw last weekend. While I think there are a lot of culturally bankrupt artists out there, many of whom receive lots of attention regardless, sometimes, our lack of appreciation and enjoyment of art stems from a lack of understanding. And this understanding, can often only come from the artist. Many artists, as it were, are codifying their own languages. When we don’t immediately understand it, we dismiss it. It is often much more valuable to spend a modicum of time to at least get a glimpse of the artists intention and then, judge their work accordingly.
You can check out more of Morgan O’Hara’s work on her website.
If you are just coming to the blog for the first time, you’ll want to note that this post is the final post regarding the Battle of the Boroughs series presented by WNYC. Read about it here.
Max Demers, Phillip Drennen, Dan Scott
The last band of the evening was by far the most polished and appealing group. The XYZ’s had been appealing, the Charanams had been polished and surprisingly cool but Astoria Boulevard was the synthesis of both. Founded by Phillip Drennen and Dan Scott while on tour with a theatrical production, they started writing songs with a single ukulele. Eventually they added a mutual friend, Max Demers, in to the mix playing guitar. All three write and sing. Finally to round out the band they added a bass player and drummer.
Astoria Boulevard closes the Battle of the Boroughs show.
Their music is driven by catchy melodies and romantic sentiment. The influence of musical theatre (something they have all worked with from a young age) is clear in every song. Lyrically, the narrative of the song takes precedence over rhyme and rhythm. The harmonies are carefully wrought two and three part harmonies in the vocal arrangement. The instrumentation takes a lot from classic folk songs but again, pays homage to musical theatre with an extremely expressive violin used in several songs.
They sight Simon and Garfunkle as an influence which is especially clear in songs such as ‘Napa, Ca‘. The speaker ruminates about a better life in Northern California through beautiful two part harmonies. Their most notable song, ‘One Of These Days‘ is equally sentimental. The speaker promises to create a ‘tiny fortune’ for he and his love some time in the future. In every song you get the feeling that the composers are so consumed with creating beautiful music that perhaps they never really will get to California and maybe making that tiny fortune can wait a few more days. Who has time to drink in Napa, or chase after money when there are so many beautiful songs and harmonies to be composed and performed?
Astoria Boulevard will be playing on March 13 at The Living Room at 8pm.
