November 19, 2004
Rock/Pop Listings
selective listing by critics of The Times: New or noteworthy rock and pop concerts in the New York metropolitan region this weekend. * denotes a highly recommended concert. Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music.
BADLY DRAWN BOY, Town Hall, 123 West 43d Street, Manhattan, (212) 840-2824. Self-editing is not among the stage skills of Damon Gough, or Badly Drawn Boy, whose quiet, smoky burr makes his albums sound casually intimate. His live shows tend to be long, rambling affairs, as he plays whatever songs come to mind — his own or other people's — until the effect of his best material is almost completely diluted. Tomorrow night at 8, with Adem opening; tickets are $25 and $30.
JON PARELES
* JANE BIRKIN, Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Place, Greenwich Village, (212) 992-8484. Jane Birkin was the sweet-voiced counterpoint — and the longtime lover — of Serge Gainsbourg, France's growling, chain-smoking, beloved bad-boy songwriter. Her tribute to him is called "Arabesque," and with musicians from North Africa, it brings touches of Gypsy and Arabic modes to Gainsbourg's melancholy songs about the endless mismatches of love and lust, the ravages of time and the sadness that follows bliss. Tomorrow night at 8:30; tickets are $40. PARELES
DAMON AND NAOMI/JIM O'ROURKE, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East Side, (212) 358-7503. Damon and Naomi used to be in Galaxie 500, and on their own they have held onto the old group's hushed tone and searching simplicity; their group includes Kurihara from the Japanese band Ghost. The guitarist Jim O'Rourke, now a member of Sonic Youth, has been a producer and collaborator with Wilco, Tortoise and others putting a surreal streak into their music. Tonight at 8, with Nmperign opening; admission is $10. PARELES
* ANI DIFRANCO/TOSHI REAGON, Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway, at 74th Street, (212) 496-7070. Ani DiFranco's articulate, uninhibited songs and poems are about staying true to her complicated self: feisty and vulnerable, polysexual, uncompromising and politically engaged but never humorless. She can strum a guitar and sling words at hyperspeed or swerve toward jazz and funk; for this tour, she's accompanied by Todd Sickafoose on upright bass. In business (she runs her own label, Righteous Babe Records) as in her music, she's as independent as they come. Toshi Reagon, opening the show, also sings about love and politics, with a voice steeped in the blues. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $43.
PARELES
MINNIE DRIVER/PETER HIMMELMAN, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111 or (212) 260-4700. Yes, it's the actress, but she was singing before her movie career took off. On her new album, "Everything I've Got in My Pocket" (Zoe), she places herself somewhere between Dido and Natalie Merchant. Peter Himmelman's folk-rock songs can be wry or painfully earnest; they're rescued by clear-cut melodies and by stage banter that shows he doesn't always take himself as seriously as his songs' narrators do. Sunday night at 8:30, with Rusty Truck opening; tickets are $15.
PARELES
* EL GRAN COMBO, Copacabana, 560 West 34th Street, garment district, (212) 239-2672. El Gran Combo was formed in 1962 and has been consistently on the Latin charts ever since. By now, it's an institution, still singing about matters close to the heart of Puerto Ricans on the island and far away. Tomorrow night from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.; admission is $25. PARELES
THE FEMM NAMELESS/WUNMI, Makor, 35 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 601-1000. A double bill of transplanted Nigerian music. The Femm Nameless is a band of women that plays Afrobeat, the burly, horn-driven funk invented by Fela Kuti. Wunmi, a singer and dancer who was born in Nigeria, has brought an African touch to the dance-floor hybrids of Soul II Soul and Masters at Work. Tomorrow night at 9; tickets are $15.
PARELES
EMM GRYNER, Fez (downstairs at the Time Cafe), 380 Lafayette Street, at Great Jones Street, East Village, (212) 533-2680. Emm Gryner is a Canadian songwriter along the lines of Sarah McLachlan, letting love sweep her away as her melodies crest. Tonight at 7, with Holly Palmer opening; admission is $12.
PARELES
RICHIE HAVENS, B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Times Square, (212) 997-4144. An unswerving 1960's holdout, Richie Havens is still strumming his guitar with untrammeled momentum, still singing in his grainy baritone and still bringing earnest drama out of protests and stubborn optimism. Tonight at 8, with Raúl Midon opening; tickets are $30. PARELES
* THE HIVES, Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village, (212) 533-2111. The Hives, a sharp retro-rock band from Sweden, raise expectations so high that no one blames them for falling short. How could their new album, "Tyrannosaurus Hives" (Interscope), possibly be as great as the lead single, "Walk Idiot Walk," which throws sneering insults ("See the idiot walk! See the idiot talk!") on top of a thin, wild guitar riff? How could the supremely natty members possibly sound as cool as they look? Tomorrow and Sunday night at 7:30; tickets are $20.
KELEFA SANNEH
JACK OFFICERS, Lit, 93 Second Avenue, near Sixth Street, East Village, (212) 777-7987. Uh-oh. Gibby Haynes, leader of the once-infamous Butthole Surfers, comes to one of the city's most cheerfully seedy hipster bars to revive the Jack Officers, his proto-electronica side project. Whatever happens, it's sure to be a mess — with luck an entertaining one. Tomorrow night at 9, with Jesse Diamond and the 1,000, Swiss Auto Club and Dream Bitches; admission is $7. SANNEH
MASON JENNINGS, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700. Folk-rock from a songwriter in the John Mayer and Dave Mason mold, sometimes quiet and plaintive, sometimes working up to jam-band peaks. Tonight and tomorrow night at 10:30, with Jesse Harris (tonight at 9:30) or Cerys Matthews (tomorrow night at 9:30), and Haley Bonar both nights at 8:30; admission is $15. PARELES
TOM JONES, Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800. The Welsh pop singer Tom Jones learned a lot from American blues and soul, and he seems as amused as anyone by his long-established image as a sex symbol; after all, he did sing Prince's "Kiss" with the Art of Noise. Whether or not anyone hurls lingerie during this concert, he's still got lungpower and a long string of hits to exercise it. Tonight and tomorrow night at 8; tickets are $65.
PARELES
EROL JOSUE, Satalla, 37 West 26th Street, Manhattan, (212) 576-1155. A Haitian songwriter who is also a voodoo priest, or houngan, Erol Josue leads a band, Regleman, that is rooted in voodoo rhythms but also includes the rambunctious jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd. Tomorrow night at 10; admission is $20.
PARELES
STEVE KIMOCK BAND, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111 or (212) 260-4700. Steve Kimock is a Jerry Garcia disciple who jams with liquid guitar solos that can be thoughtfully reticent or jazzy and light-fingered. He has played with the elite of the Grateful Dead diaspora, including the Other Ones, Phil Lesh and Friends and Bruce Hornsby. His band leans toward jazz-rock. Tomorrow, two sets beginning at 10 p.m.; tickets are $25.
PARELES
IGOR KRUTOI GALA CONCERT, Madison Square Garden, 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue, Manhattan,(212) 465-6741. One of Russia's most beloved songwriters, Igor Krutoi, will be joined by more than a dozen of his colleagues, including Valery Leontiev, Verka Serduchka, Raymond Pauls, Maria Rasputina, Igor Nikolaev and Laima Vaikule. Tomorrow night at 7:30; tickets are $39.50 to $504.50.
PARELES
* LITTLE FEAT, B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, Times Square, (212) 997-4144. In the 1970's, Little Feat merged the South and Southern California, spinning together blues and country, gospel and funk with some surreal Hollywood twists. The death in 1979 of its founder and conceptualizer, Lowell George, broke the band up for nearly a decade, but the other members regrouped in 1988. They have added an old friend, the guitarist Fred Tackett, and a female lead singer, Shaun Murphy, and are wrapping up a tour with these shows. Tomorrow night at 8 and 10:30; tickets are $25.50 in advance, $30 tomorrow.
PARELES
MARACATU NEW YORK, S.O.B.'s (Sounds of Brazil), 204 Varick Street, South Village, (212) 243-4940. The maracatu beat from Recife has driven carnival music and the funk of innovators like Chico Science. Jorge Martins, a percussionist from Recife, leads Maracatu New York. On Sunday night, there will be a film about the roots of maracatu at 7:30, followed by the band at 8; tickets are $12 in advance, $15 on Sunday. PARELES
* EMELINE MICHEL, S.O.B.'s (Sounds of Brazil), 204 Varick Street, South Village, (212)243-4940. Emeline Michel is one of Haiti's most important singers, musically buoyant and socially engaged. Her sets are like tours of her country, as she draws on local styles from across the island, and her voice can be sweetly sensual or almost operatic as she soars above the beat. Tonight at 11, she shares the bill with Mozayik; admission is $22. (Related article, Page 3.) PARELES
* ALI AKBAR MORADI, Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400 or (212) 545-7536. Ali Akbar Moradi is a Kurdish musician from Iran who is a master of the tanbur, a three-stringed lute used for spiritual music. He will be playing the meditative improvisations of sacred music associated with the Yarsan people of western Iran, who follow a mystical faith associated with Sufism. Tomorrow night at 8; admission is $30, or $26 for World Music Institute members and $15 for students. PARELES
PALLADIUM REUNION, Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street, garment district, (212) 255-4223. Nightclub culture often doesn't leave behind a trail of archival material — often, what happens between midnight and morning on a crowded dance floor stays there. This nostalgic dance party gives dance-music veterans a chance to remember the exuberant (sometimes sordid) spirit of the Palladium, a downtown institution that was eventually swallowed up by another downtown institution: New York University. Charlie Casanova, Merritt & Big Ben are the DJ's, to be joined by Romeo Romeo on the microphone. Tomorrow night 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.; tickets are $45 and $65. SANNEH
RUPEE, Vue, 151 East 50th Street, (212) 802-7267. This summer, Kevin Lyttle had a crossover smash hit with the sublime soca song "Turn Me On." Now this soca singer has a smash with another, noticeably less sublime (but not charmless) soca song, "Tempted to Touch." He is scheduled to perform at this dance party, put on by DJ Cypha Sounds, but don't be surprised if his brief set is less memorable than the D.J.'s, who are to spin the sort of exuberant, eclectic multi-ethnic dance music that New Yorkers are lucky enough to be able to take for granted: hip-hop, reggae, reggaeton, salsa, merengue and more. Tonight after 9; advance tickets are $15 before noon, from www.wantickets.com; expect to pay more at the door, especially if you're male. SANNEH
* RICHARD SHINDELL, Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village, (212) 539-8778 or (212) 239-6200. Richard Shindell has emerged as one of the folk circuit's most quietly lucid songwriters, with a compassionate intelligence that gleams through his songs. He writes character studies in which finely observed details gradually add up to a larger perspective on love, war and faith. Recently he has been living in Argentina, and his most recent songs have soaked up both rhythms and history there. Tonight and tomorrow night at 7, sharing a bill with Eliza Gilkyson; admission is $20. PARELES
* THE SIX PARTS SEVEN/THE COMAS/HOPEWELL, Pianos, 158 Ludlow Street below Stanton Street, Lower East Side, (212) 505-3733. The Six Parts Seven play instrumental rock that unfolds with deliberation and inexorable grace, working through minimalistic guitar-picking patterns and gradual buildups that quickly become mesmerizing. The Comas and Hopewell, who share the bill, are part of the wing of indie-rock that also includes the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. Both look back to the majestic side of psychedelia, wafting high tenor voices over stately songs with wah-wah ripples at the edges. Tomorrow night at 8:30; admission is $8. PARELES
STEPHAN SMITH, Fez (downstairs at the Time Cafe), 380 Lafayette Street, at Great Jones Street, East Village, (212) 533-2680. Stephan Smith — with his reedy, nasal voice, his acoustic guitar and a constant stream of earnest topical songs — recalls Bob Dylan in his early days as a Woody Guthrie acolyte. Tonight at 7; admission is $10. PARELES
TAKING BACK SUNDAY, Roseland Ballroom, 239 West 52nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 777-6800. This Long Island emo band plays modified pop-punk songs, adding hints of ferocity and chaos to its rather straightforward songs. The group's appealing 2002 album, "Tell All Your Friends" (Victory), included a handful of frantic but fizzy songs like "Cute Without the `E' (Cut From the Team)." The group has lost a pair of key members since then; perhaps not coincidentally, the follow-up, "Where You Want to Be" (Victory), isn't quite as infectious. But it does include "A Decade Under the Influence," an appealingly underhanded love song that unfolds as a swirl of bad-faith pick-up lines: "To hell with you and all your friends!" "Anyone will do tonight." "Close your eyes, just settle." And, over and over: "I've got a bad feeling about this!" Tonight at 7, with Atreyu, Like Yesterday, and the ferocious British emo band Funeral for a Friend; tickets are $20. SANNEH