Sean Paul cancels free MLK show

As per a press release I just received from the Borough President's office, dancehall superstar Sean Paul -- currently touring relentlessly behind his new album, Imperial Blaze -- has canceled a free show at Wingate Park in Crown Heights tonight due to a throat illness. It is believed that the extended tour contributed to his medical condition. According to the performer, "I am really disappointed that I will not be able to appear. I've been working very hard these last few weeks, to deliver the album to my fans. I was looking forward to performing the new tracks in Brooklyn." Trinadian soca king Machel Montano will be taking his place on a bill that also includes his direct progenitor, calypso pioneer Mighty Sparrow. With the humidity finally relenting today, don't miss this show!

Todd P. featured on NPR, going legit

When someone writes the definitive chronicle of the 2000s Brooklyn music explosion in fifteen to twenty years, promoter Todd Patrick will stand in the foreground as one of its most integral -- and humble -- scenemakers. The idea of putting on a semi-illicit $5 show with unknown artists in desolate industrial spaces almost reeks of cliche in music geek circles, but through a mixture of equanimity (there's no clear "Todd P." or "Brooklyn sound" a la the San Francisco bands championed by Bill Graham forty years ago, even if his programming leans closer to noise rock than dance music) and Teutonic precision (see the man running around a venue thirty minutes before showtime and you'll wonder why he isn't working for Goldman Sachs, a decided lack of business acumen notwithstanding), he's made underground music palatable to the mainstream -- or at the very least, the higher-browed culturati.

While this NPR profile of the man is hardly revelatory, there is one interesting tidbit -- after years of summonses, increasing visibility and last-minute show changes, Todd P. is opening a "fully legit rock club" in the fall. No word on where the venue will be, but with the Knitting Factory finally completing their move across the East River in a couple weeks, expect much in the way of good local live music throughout the winter.

Knitting Factory re-opens in Brooklyn with Les Savy Fav

Since the late 80s, Tribeca's Knitting Factory has hosted postminimalist composers like Elodie Lauten and Arthur Russell, my friends in the Mighty Handful (who recently broke up due to the usual extenuating circumstances), Allen Ginsberg (who read his Selected Poems in a celebrated five-night engagement mere months before his death), scores of ska bands, Sixties commune ensemble YaHoWah 13, and even esteemed academic/Hudson Valley folk legend Harry Stoneback. It's the kind of curatorial diversity that you seldom see at Brooklyn shows these days, which is what makes the venue's upcoming move to Williamsburg so exciting.

After months of anticipation that built to a crescendo when the So So Glos announced a performance in their fall tour itinerary, it appears that local indie rock veterans Les Savy Fav are christening the new space on September 9th. One of the few groups anthologized on the seminal This Is Next Year: A Brooklyn-Based Compilation (2001) that are still active, "beardo" (as per his Pitchfork TV show) Tim Harrington's merry band of understated musicians are nothing less than a living history of local alternative music at this juncture. From the anarchic post-hardcore of early efforts like 3/5 to the dance-inflected art punk of 2007's Let's Stay Friends, they've always been ahead of the trends. Don't miss this.

Clay Cole and the Paramount Theater

Although this blog is mainly geared towards contemporary music, one would be remiss in dismissing Brooklyn's storied musical heritage. Long before the borough's ascendancy in the popular eye of the 2000s, the Paramount Theater -- located at the intersection of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues on the border between Fort Greene and the downtown district -- served as the premier venue for three generations of pop acts in a reign that spanned the jazz and rock eras. From a celebrated Duke Ellington performance in 1931 to Miles Davis's flippantly cool jazz to the theater's halcyon days in the late Fifties, when Little Richard and Chuck Berry regaled northern audiences with their provocative fusion of country and R&B music, the Paramount was nothing less than a microcosm of the pop charts. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and 47 years ago this August 23rd (as per Eagle historian John Manbeck), the redoubtable theater closed, having been purchased by Long Island University in 1960 as the cornerstone of their Brooklyn campus. (Soul progenitor Jackie Wilson, "Mr. Excitement" himself, was the final performer.) Although the 4,124-seat Paramount was equipped with full theatrical facilities, films were the bread and butter of the theater's profits; as ticket sales began to be eclipsed by television, the behemoth movie palaces of yesteryear simply couldn't compete with the new medium.

After a legendary payola scandal destroyed the career of rock and roll factotum Alan Freed in 1958, Clay Cole stepped into the void as one of New York's most recognizable musical ambassadors. Described as a more urbane version of American Bandstand and the Buddy Deane Show (the inspiration for Hairspray), the Clay Cole Show introduced audiences to Chubby Checker (who first performed "The Twist" on the program), Brooklyn's own Neil Diamond, and late comedians George Carlin & Richard Pryor in their pre-countercultural incarnations. Cole also took over promotional duties at the Paramount, with his ten-day 1960 Christmas spectacular breaking the venue's all-time box office record. It would not be an understatement to say that Cole played an integral role in keeping the nascent flames of rock and soul alive when so many of their initial exponents had been neutralized.

Disenchanted with psychedelia, Cole left the music business in 1968 to pursue a behind-the-scenes career as an Emmy-winning director of television specials. Although he has retired to North Carolina, Cole returned to Brooklyn this past March for a symposium and revival show honoring the Paramount Theater at Long Island University (while the theater now functions as the university's gymnasium, enough of the original structure -- including the cherished Wurlitzer organ -- has been preserved to allow for occasional concerts featuring many of the same performers who played there 50 years ago). And, most intriguingly of all, the former impresario is releasing his memoir -- Sh-Boom! The Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll (1953-1968) -- this October. If the accompanying publicity is any indication, local fans can expect plenty of Paramount stories in this essential addition to the body of rock literature.

Titus Andronicus and So So Glos confirmed for new Knitting Factory

Since galvanizing the local live music cognoscenti last year with news of their impending move to Brooklyn, the proprietors of the Knitting Factory have been -- ahem -- taking their time. The Leonard Street venue has remained opened in a diminished capacity throughout the summer, and as per this report, renovations of the erstwhile Luna Lounge space have been occurring at what can best be described as a leisurely pace.

However, it seems that relief is finally in sight. Bushwick-via-Bay Ridge indie punks The So So Glos are teaming up with New Jersey rabblerousers Titus Andronicus for a September sojourn that culminates on October 15 at the new Knitting Factory. (For those who simply can't wait for this pairing of the prolific bands, the tour begins on September 2nd at Monster Island Basement in Williamsburg.) Whether this will be the premiere event at the club is unknown as of yet, but Brooklyn Music will have all the details. In any case, both of these groups are among the best currently operating in the oft-overhyped medium of indie rock, so be sure to give them a listen or two.

Merce Cunningham: 1919-2009

Although he wasn't a musician, renowned choreographer Merce Cunningham -- who died of unspecified causes at his Manhattan apartment Sunday night -- had an indelible impact on the development of experimental music in the late 20th Century. As the life partner of John Cage from the late 1940s to Cage's death in 1992, Cunningham served as one of his most important patrons; concurrent with and after his lifelong collaboration with Cage, Cunningham would choreograph dances to music by David Tudor, Takehisa Kosugi, Gavin Bryars, Mikel Rouse, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Radiohead and Sonic Youth.

It was only natural that Cunningham's musical palette would err towards the abstruse and experimental. As a theorist, he shared Cage's dogged beliefs that dance and music should be extricated from their mutual underpinnings in other mediums, and frequently applied the I Ching-and-Zen-informed chance operations devised by his companion to his own work. "It's a very easy way to make decisions -- very simple," Cunningham said in a 1998 interview. "If you can't make up your mind about something, toss a coin and then accept it. Accept it." But in spite of these aleatoric leanings, Marc Swed of the Los Angeles Times described him as an "excellent and extravagant storyteller" not necessarily beholden to the Modernist leanings that shaped his early career. Cunningham's approach was eventually validated by the academy with the Kennedy Center Honors and National Medal of Arts, awards that the intractable Cage was never considered for. Throughout it all, the choreographer maintained his trademark magnanimity. When a party acquaintance lambasted Brooklyn-based Mark Morris -- arguably the heir to Cunningham's legacy as the most visible exponent of experimental contemporary dance -- for his rhythmic, music-based work, Cunningham simply rejoindered that Morris was his friend.

Having collaborated with the New York City Ballet, the Zurich Ballet, and myriad other organizations, Cunningham's company developed a close relationship with the Brooklyn Academy of Music in recent years, premiering important new works in 2003 (Split Sides) and 2009 (Nearly Ninety, performed on his 90th birthday) at the Lafayette Street venue. With Nearly Ninety eliciting some of the best reviews of Cunningham's career, it goes without saying that he will be missed.

Venue Spotlight: Littlefield; Kaki King gets artsy

The economic downturn has had an adverse effect on the local concert scene this summer. At least three major venues (Studio B, Vanishing Point, and the oft-maligned Shank) have either suspended operations indefinitely or closed for good. And while the D.I.Y. spaces -- places like the Market Hotel, Monster Island Basement, and Death by Audio -- continue to draw large (albeit slightly homogeneous) crowds, their programming seems to have ossified into the same retinue of musicians. On the other side of the coin, more business-oriented venues like the Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bell House have severely curtailed their schedules, underscoring the gravity of the situation. It seems absurd to think of a $10 or $15 ticket as a luxury item when even the more respectable heritage acts (such as Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson, whose minor-league ballpark tour is unfortunately bypassing KeySpan Park) charge upwards of $200 for a single seat, but such is the curse of the zeitgeist. Until the storm finally begins to dissipate, it seems that the Brooklyn scene will lie in an odd form of stasis, still the subject of endless media inquisition -- at least until something grander rolls around -- but unable to truly live up to the "music capital of the world" appellation recently bestowed upon the borough by David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet.

Yet even in these trying times, the muses continue to be heard. The heretofore derelict industrial town of Gowanus seems to be supplanting the north Brooklyn corridor as the center for local live performance these days (quite thankfully for south Brooklynites who don't value interminably long late-night subway trips), with the Bell House, Old American Can Factory, and Issue Project Room all in the area. Recently joining their ranks is Littlefield, a performance and art space at 622 DeGraw Street. Like many of the new crop, music is only a part of a multifarious business plan that extends -- according to owners Julie Kim and Scott Koshnoodi -- to "art exhibits, literary events, and film screenings." Over the course of the next month, they will be hosting concerts by the likes of Bernie Worrell's SociaLybrium (July 29th and 30th), teen math-rock stalwarts Fiasco (August 2nd), and local singer-songwriter/busker Kaki King's The Exhibition (August 7th). According to the press release,

Sprung from the idea of using paint to visually represent the wide range of movement of King's virtuosic guitar playing, The Exhibition has now grown to involve much more than just paint. Each artist/fan was given the blank canvas of a guitar to shape, break, build, and form around the theme of a Kaki song of their choice. Hailing from all corners of the United States, each artist has taken his or her guitar in wildly different directions that range from ant farms, to delicate etchings and even to creating an explosion! Many are also incorporating Kaki's hand movement into their design. Follow their progress at the Facebook page.

For more information, click here.

Free Concert Roundup

Although midsummer is rapidly approaching, there are still many free -- and local -- performances that can quench your musical thirst in these tough economic times. Here are some of the more intriguing selections that I have yet to cover here.

Met in the Park:

Coffey Park (Red Hook)

Friday, August 14, 2009 at 7 p.m.

Joyce El-Khoury, soprano ; Keith Miller, bass; Vlad Iftinca, pianist; Damon Gupton, host

No, it is not a full-scale Metropolitan Opera performance, but the opportunity to see two of the world's finest opera singers in a Red Hook park should not be disavowed. The repertoire is still TBA, making it even more of a delectable surprise.

CityParks Foundation:

Red Hook Park & Recreation Center

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 7 p.m.

DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Danny Castro

One of the seminal figures of contemporary turntablism (Premier) teams up with underground hip-hop's finest producer (Pete Rock) for what should be an exhilerating performance.

Brower Park (Crown Heights)

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 7 p.m.

Wayne Wonder

The progenitor of reggae/dancehall's cross-pollination with R&B earlier this decade, Wayne Wonder was an important influence on Shaggy and Sean Paul. You may remember his 2003 hit "No Letting Go".

Marty Golden's Summer Concert Series:

Shore Road Park (Bay Ridge -- 79th Street entrance)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 7 p.m.

France Joli

Best known for her 1979 hit "Come to Me", France Joli -- whose career received an unanticipated boost when she was asked to fill in for Donna Summer at a Fire Island party -- was one of the last disco divas.

Jazz continues at Alta Voce

Just a reminder that Park Slope's Alta Voce restaurant (318 5th Avenue) is continuing to offer live jazz on Wednesday nights from 8:00 to 10:30. This week, vocalist Tierney Ryan is performing with accompanists Yuki Yamiguchi (piano) and Chris Davidson (drums). After a performance by Ayako Shirasaki and Sanae Kojima next week, the venue will be hosting return engagements by the Audrey Silver Trio, Nell Rumbaug, and Christian Nourijanian. There is no set cover, although management asks that patrons maintain a two drink minimum at the bar or a $15 tab in the restaurant area. For more information, click here.

Full BEMF line-up announced

After reports surfaced that such notables as the Juan MacLean and RJD2 would be playing the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival last week, it seemed like the yearly shindig was coalescing into a major event. And while the latter artist has been dropped from the bill for unspecified reasons (either way, it doesn't augur well for future hip-hop/dance collusions...) the full bill adequately compensates for the loss by adding some of the borough's best emerging dancefloor mavens. Granted, Young Love -- who err more towards rock and are arguably best known for enlisting Terry Richardson to direct a video several years ago -- are something of a baffling choice, but Designer Drugs' patented neo-Mudd Club sound is sure to figure heavily in the post-electro haze. The indoor/outdoor event -- held at the Old American Can Factory in Gowanus -- will also feature such Studio B staples as DJ Ayres and Rosie Cottontail, and the commentators on BrooklynVegan are already speculating that LCD Soundsystem, The (long-defunct) Rapture, or even Daft Punk may be among the surprise guests. (Because of the MacLean presence, we're betting on the first... but who knows.) Tickets for the 12-hour event are priced at a reasonable $25, so it may be a worthwhile investment for the budget-conscious.

More information about It Came From Brooklyn

As I reported quite tentatively last month, It Came From Brooklyn is a new monthly program at the Guggenheim that will showcase the best writers and musicians from what is already being heralded as "the Brooklyn renaissance". The first event, scheduled for August 15th, will pair veteran stalwarts The Walkmen with Bed-Stuy-based experimental duo High Places, best known for touring with the likes of Ponytail and Dan Deacon. Rounding out the bill is the BAM-funded, internationally-acclaimed Brooklyn Steppers Marching Band (in a nice acknowledgment that not all of the artistic fecundity in the borough is inextricably tied to the hipster scene) and writers Colson Whitehead (who will be reading some Walt Whitman in between the musical performances) & Leo Allen.

In response to earlier reports about Grizzly Bear having been tentatively scheduled for the event, Guggenheim special events director Bronwyn Keenan said that "Grizzly Bear were never confirmed for August or since. They were the one item on our wish list that had the misfortune of ending up on our website under our 50th activities for literally 24 hours. As it goes, it was picked up as a story and the rest is history." Keenan promises "a great line-up" for the September showcase, so stay tuned.

Marty Markowitz approves Issue Project grant

Borough President Marty Markowitz's affinity for music is well known. Beginning in his State Senate days, Markowitz began sponsoring the free summer concert series that eventually mutated into Celebrate Brooklyn, bringing artists as disparate as Beth Orton, David Amram, MGMT, and King Sunny Ade to Prospect Park. While his trademark opening histrionics may elicit snarls from jaded transplants at these concerts as of late, there's something truly ineffable about what Markowitz does. Occassional blunders like the Atlantic Yards farrago notwithstanding, he's arguably done more than any other individual to -- if I may paraphrase another city's anti-gentrification slogan -- "keep Brooklyn weird" in spite of major obstacles.

As reported on this blog last month, Gowanus avant-garde performance space Issue Project Room faced an uphill battle in renovating their new home at the erstwhile Board of Education headquarters at 110 Livingston St. Despite successful benefits and strong word-of-mouth, the project seemed doomed to fall behind schedule until Markowitz -- as reported by the New York Times -- recently approved a $1.13 million grant to the institution, covering all but a few hundred thousand dollars estimated for the project to go forward. According to Brooklyn Vegan, the grant was allocated from a $37 million capital fund, monies from which are distributed at Markowitz's discretion. Here's a video of the ever ebullient beep talking about the venue a few months back. It may be a far cry from the days when borough presidents wielded tremendous political leverage as members of the Board of Estimate, but decisions like these demonstrate that he's far more than a glorified cheerleader.

With the cash-straddled Brooklyn Philharmonic relegated to backing indie bands these days, the Issue Project Room is one of the few venues of its kind in the city. Kudos to him for this generous gift, and let's make sure that these spaces thrive.

Full Siren Festival Preview

While hardly the most influential or intriguing Brooklyn musical event of the year, the annually fledgling Siren Music Festival (scheduled for next Saturday) invariably draws legions of fans. To avoid the pedestrian and potential rail gridlock at Stillwell Avenue, here are the scheduled set times for each artist, along with my picks.

Main Stage (@ West 10th and Surf Avenue):

1:00 PM: Tiny Masters of Today
2:00 PM: Micachu & the Shapes
3:00 PM: Japandroids*
4:00 PM: Frightened Rabbit
5:00 PM: Grand Duchy (* -- with qualifications)
6:00 PM: The Raveonettes*
7:30 PM: Built to Spill

Stillwell Stage (at the subway complex):

1:30 PM: The Blue Van*
2:30 PM: Bear Hands*
3:30 PM: Thee Oh Sees*
4:30 PM: Future of the Left
5:30 PM: A Place to Bury Strangers
6:30 PM: Monotonix*
8:00 PM: Spank Rock*

Reverent indie elder statesmen Built to Spill are headlining the main stage, relegating The Raveonettes -- critical darlings of the mid-2000s, hanging on by a thread today -- to the secondary spot. Frankly, their piquantly postmodern take on Spector far outshines the deafening Wall of Sound of likeminded local gents A Place..., so be sure to catch their set. Japandroids are oversaturating the market fo sho, but their atavistic garage rock has captured my soul in a manner not seen since the breakthrough of the Vivian Girls nearly a year and a half ago. My advice -- acquiesce to their charmingly discomforting lack of charm. As Frank Black's songs were first inculcated into my impressionable brain nearly two decades ago, the sentimentalist in me will likely scope out his new Grand Duchy project -- even if his hoarsened voice and newly pliant countenance suggest middle-aged ennui. Monotonix and The Blue Van are both out to demystify the ineffable funk of 50s R&B, but The Blue Van wear their Small Faces pride on their sleeves -- I fully expect them to be the breakout act of the festival. And local heroes Bear Hands are among the more underrated acts of the Brooklyn renaissance.

My suggested itinerary:

The Blue Van
Bear Hands
Japandroids
Hit the beach
Grand Duchy (or continue swimming)
The Raveonettes
Spank Rock

Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival returns with starrier line-up

Last year, the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival attracted a motley but devoted retinue to The Yard, near Carroll Gardens. While there are plenty of free concerts this summer, this year's iteration of the festival -- announced last week for August 8th -- may be worthy of those additional $25 laying around in your penny jar. Confirmed thus far for the fledgling festival, moved indoors this year to the Old American Can Factory (232 3rd Street), are instrumental hip-hop pioneer RJD2 and the live incarnation of the Juan MacLean, whose last album (The Future Will Come) earned favorable notices in Music Junkie earlier this spring. While I would reserve from buying tickets until more headliners are announced, this is shaping up to be an interesting event!

The "Pool Parties" are safe!

After weeks of scaremongering by alarmists, the JELLYNYC-organized Pool Parties (sponsored this year by the rarefied likes of Bud Light, Converse, and... oh yes, Cafe Bustelo) will indeed be commencing at East River State Park in Williamsburg on July 12th with a previously announced Mission of Burma/F***ed Up*/Ponytail concert. Since most of these shows have been logged on social networking tour itineraries and the like for the past two months, there were genuinely few surprises, but the Dan Deacon/Deerhunter/No Age bill will indeed be a round robin (a peculiar Baltimore-originated hipster phenomenon that involves each artist taking turns instead of playing continuous sets... seemingly ideal in the attention-addled nonlinear age, but not so perfect for an incongruous lineup that features a glorified LA punk band, some moody psychonauts from Georgia, and an artist whose shows are akin to 5 year old birthday parties). The addition of Girl Talk -- a rumored longshot, given his newfound resonance with everyone from latter-day Deadheads to Yale students and all in between -- was a pleasant surprise, as his recent hip-hop based sound will hopefully spice up a quality line-up that is, ahem, pretty milquetoasty for a town known as a bastion of diversity. Whatever your thoughts may be about this issue, the schedule is nevertheless attached here.

Seaside Summer Concerts at Asser Levy Park

Well off the beaten path, the little-publicized Seaside Summer Concerts at Coney Island's Asser Levy Park (as always, sponsored by The Man) are a great way to catch quality oldies-but-goodies acts for free. Last year, I caught Brian Wilson and Liza Minnelli (don't laugh) at the park, which will soon (?) be home to a new ampitheater that -- in the pipe dreams of the city fathers, at least -- may rival Jones Beach and the Westbury Music Festival as a premier destination for long-in-the-tooth cash cows. (And likely render the free shows a dream of the past.)

Before the quality of the programming likely depreciates into the kind of stuff that is the norm at Westbury (two syllables: doo-wop), this year promises to bring an unexpectedly satisfying line-up. On July 16th, Creedence Clearwater Revisited (the cringeworthy rhythm section of Creedence Clearwater Revival) will be headlining, but opening act John Sebastian makes the series' "tribute to Woodstock" a worthwhile pick. Disco and soul is on the menu the following week (July 23rd), when Gladys Knight and The O'Jays play sets that will likely be heavy on standards like "For the Love of Money" and "Midnight Train to Georgia". The Four Seasons (with Frankie Valli) and Connie Francis will make July 31st a quintessentially Brooklyn evening, while Hall & Oates -- in a festival coup -- are bringing their signature blue-eyed soul to the series on August 6th. I'm personally anticipating the Blondie and Donna Summer performances on August 13th and August 27th (respectively, of course); although both artists can't resist the financial allure of the oldies circuit, their recent albums ably demonstrate that they haven't lost sight of innovation in their later years. All in all, a good time is sure to be had by many.

Jazz at Alta Voce

For some reason entirely unbeknownst to me, Brooklyn's jazz scene hasn't exactly been all that vibrant in recent years. Of course, part of this is because the idiom appeals to steadily decreasing audiences; while its influence may be pervasive in numerous genres, jazz (especially traditionalist subgenres that employ a minimum of amplified instrumentation) is perceived by many as antediluvian as Gilgamesh these days. Which is a shame, for while the current indie rock scene hardly stands on the vanguard of pop music, its adherents number in the hundreds of thousands. Jazz, on the other hand, is consigned to the dinner crowd.

Stepping into this massive void, Park Slope's Alta Voce (on 5th Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Street) is committed to presenting younger and off-the-radar jazz talents, albeit in the dreaded restaurant/dinner context. Tomorrow evening, jazz wunderkind Christian Nourijanian will be playing with his quartet. Having played at such disparate venues as the Apollo Theater, Groove, and Pianos, Nourijanian should be very interesting. Performers in the coming weeks include the popular Kazuko Mausner Trio (July 8th), the Marianne Solivan Trio (July 15th), the Tierney Ryan Trio (July 22nd), and the duo of Ayako Shirasaki & Sanae Kojima (July 29th).

Brooklyn musicians support renewable energy

Even in the midst of a recession, it's amazing how there's always a surfeit of free shows in New York City... and Brooklyn in particular. While there's usually plenty to do in the borough proper, next weekend's Citysol festival in Stuyvesant Cove Park (adjacent to the East River and Stuyvesant Town) features many talents in the namer of a very pertinent cause -- urban sustainability. All acts will be performing in a solar-powered tent, while you can enjoy discounted drinks if you bring your own cup. Among the Brooklyn talents trekking across the river for the musical portion of the program on July 12th are the So So Glos (whose patented punk will go down favorably in what are sure to be humid conditions), Fiasco, electro fiends Love Like Deloreans (in what will be their homecoming apperance after a long tour), Shilipa Ray and Her Happy Hookers, and agitprop hip-hop duo Dead Prez (who are actually from Tallahassee but play here often enough that they may as well be native sons). Check it out!

Studio B is closing (as of right now)

After nearly a year of equivocation and voiciferous community opposition, it appears that venerable Greenpoint nightspot Studio B is finally closing after July 12th; according to BrooklynVegan, a 2 Live Crew soiree planned for July 25th is currently looking for a new home. This would account for the venue's leviathan of a 4th of July bash, which some commentators are already describing as a final kiss-off to the venue's ornery neighbors. This is by no means the first time that the proprietors of Studio B have nearly pulled the plug -- shortly after a Lindstrom concert that was billed as the club's penultimate event in January, they began to resume full operations after a month of diminished programming. But the recent Sunset Rubdown farrago at the Northside Festival, where frontman Spencer Krug enjoyed a Mexican standoff with the sound crew that lasted for nearly a half hour, didn't endear the venue to its remaining indie constituents, while no self-respecting househead would pay a $20 cover -- the standard in recent weeks -- just to dance for 3 or 4 hours. (That figure is the norm at quasi-illicit, after-hours shindigs like Refuge and Danger in Bushwick, but such events usually extend well past 4 AM and feature less homogenous music.)

Although Studio B was a nightclub before its mid-2000s rebranding, there is only an infinitesimal chance of new ownership taking the space after the current owners installed an illegal roof garden last year (see my coverage in the Eagle archives), much to the consternation of nearby residents. That was on top of the overly boorish behavior of its patrons, who seemed confused about the layout of the neighborhood and quickly became pariahs of the local community board. The club, incidentially, straddles the border between the seemingly deserted remnants of the Williamsburg industrial zone and a working-class block of Cayler Street.

Even though Studio ultimately overstayed its shelf life, for a brief glimmering moment in 2007, it ably demonstrated that a legal dance club could thrive in Brooklyn and arguably make -- to quote Todd P. in a contemporaneous Gothamist profile -- "the most intelligent electronic curatorial choices in this country." While the closure of the club offers renewal for a scene all too readily condemned to verbal flagellations of rock snobs, the reopening of the Knitting Factory and the ascendancy of indie into the mainstream are harbingers of the future that is to come.

Loud, Fast, and Out of Control: The Coney Island Rockabilly Festival

Although I'm a college student and probably blissfully unaware of some aspects of Brooklyn's musical past, from what I do understand, this was more of an R&B and doo-wop town than a rockabilly mecca back in the 50s. Nevertheless, since the Cramps released the Alex Chilton-produced Songs the Lord Taught Us in 1977, the genre -- not to mention an associated subculture of hot rod enthusiasts, Bettie Page-loving vamps, burlesque performers, and other connoisseurs of weird -- has enjoyed a steady international revival. (The pedant in me would like to remind people that aside from some unusual proclivities, the late Ms. Page was a Baptist in good standing with little to no interest in rock and roll -- indeed, her career preceeds the rock era -- while latter-day burlesque performers were usually backed by jazz musicians. That said, cultural syncretism and revisionist history can be quite interesting if rendered tastefully, and most of these 50s revivalists are very dedicated to their craft.)

If neo-burlesque, twangy vocals, and doghouse basses are your thing, the third annual Coney Island Rockabilly Festival is most certainly for you. Sponsored by local businesses like Gretsch Guitars and Coney Island Lager for a change, the festival -- centered around legendary Cha-Chas on the boardwalk -- will play host to over 20 bands over Labor Day weekend. Arguably the centerpiece of the festival, the Big Burlesque Blow Out on September 5th will feature such local talents as La Maia, statuesque newcomer Magdelena Fox, and Public Assembly regular Coco La Pearl. Among the local bands being showcased, Guitar Bomb's bluesy music recalls the earlier efforts of the White Stripes and the Von Bondies, albeit with extra twang (catch them at rockabilly haven Hank's Saloon on August 14th for a preview), Rockets Red Glare are straight-up psychobilly, and... uh... Brooklyn electro DJ duo Designer Drugs are ostensibly soundtracking the Miss Pin Up Coney Island contest on Labor Day proper; hopefully I'm completely wrong here. (There is a rockabilly group out of Boston using that moniker, but as far as I know, they haven't relocated to enemy turf.) By the way, I love Designer Drugs, but the idea of them playing a rockabilly festival is just a little incongruous. In any case, there will also be a performance by the world famous Coney Island Sideshow augmented by extra burlesque performers on September 4th.

While it would be nice to see some more local performers, kudos to Cockabilly Records and their partners for keeping Coney Island weird (to paraphrase Austin's anti-gentrification slogan) during this period of transition. That this festival is entering its third year is a testament to the fact that people from all over the world love the seaside neighborhood just the way it is, a message that will hopefully reach the suits at Thor Equities.