Head out to Governors Island for a great view—and some fabulously soul-drenched, house-oriented rhythms. This weekend's get-down features a heavy-duty lineup, with Movement Soul’s Jihad Muhammad, Tribal Wind’s Antonio Ocasio, Lou Gorbea of Vega Records, Voice of Voice’s Ali Coleman, Deepa Grooves’ Brian Burnside and Pre Party Radio’s Curly all getting a crack at the Technics. Go to myspace for more info or see individual show times.
Above are some photos from previous soul series events and a sneak peak of what your in for...
Today the New York Times had a great article about the beauties of the peaceful and green Governors Island. The Article is also complete with an audio slideshow of the Island.
Every Friday- Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., CMA runs free hands-on children's art programs out of an historic building in Nolan Park. Visitors are invited to drop by the house each day to enjoy a range of arts based activities:
Dress Up Theater
Ongoing Every Weekend Ages 3-14 The large porch of the old Victorian house will be converted into a theater, complete with curtains and a box of dress up clothes, for children of all ages to perform
Art Kit Rentals Ongoing Every Weekend Ages 6-14 CMA will rent kits filled with watercolors, brushes, colored pencils, Craypas and other art materials. GI visitors can leave a parent’s ID at the rental desk and borrow the kit to take around the island and paint landscapes. Participants will be able to rent kits for 1-2 hours.
Sidewalk Art: Collaborative Mural Ongoing Every Weekend All Ages The brick sidewalk leading up to CMA’s art outpost will come alive with chalk art as children of all ages decorate individual (or many) bricks throughout the quad.
WEE ARTs Tent Ongoing Every Weekend Ages 0-3 This tent will include tactile manipulative that allow young children to explore texture and color. The programs in this tent develop a young child's familiarity with art making materials including playdough, paints, glue, and a variety of drawing tools. Wee-Arts encourages the process of experimentation, exploration, and creative thinking.
Open Art Painting Ongoing Every Weekend All Ages On a giant roll of canvas, participants of all ages will be able to add their personal touch to a collaborative painting. The canvases will be new each day. Each canvas will be hung to decorate the art space. Participants can come back week after week to see their art.
Music Time Sat - Sun at 12:30 & 2:30 Ages 10 mos - 8 years CMA’s favorite musician, Tom Burnett, will lead participants in drumming, stories, and singing. Songs will relate to themes
This weekend theWyckoff Farmhouse Museum held an arts and crafts celebration along with an apple press where kids pressed apples to make juice! Last weekend over 500 kids pressed apples!
From Bill Clifford- "Whether you catch DSO recreating a specific historic Dead performance or simply playing their own original show (comprised of material from the Dead catalog), you're always in for a fond recollection of the music of the Grateful Dead. For many younger fans, DSO is as close as they'll get to a Dead show. As a fan who considers himself dedicated to original music, I've always struggled to find an interest in seeing and hearing a cover/tribute band. However, as a fan of the Grateful Dead who has seen that band both with Jerry Garcia and after Garcia's passing, I personally get far more enjoyment from a Dark Star Orchestra show than I do from RatDog or Phil Lesh & Friends or even The Dead. While I wasn't old enough in the seventies to have taken in a Dead show at that time, I have listened to live recordings from that era, and I always walk away from a DSO performance with the distinct impression that says, "Now that's the way a rock concert is supposed to be done." Though DSO had set up its gear and instruments between sets, there was an extended break between Williams and DSO which cut into the momentum Williams had established, but DSO wasted no time in bringing it back up, singing "Happy Birthday" to Sara, their merchandise booth host, as fans gathered on the asphalt in front of the stage.
With lightning and a downpour eminent, DSO choose to run though a classic set of up-beat, anthemic Dead tunes, charging straight ahead with a driving "Feel Like A Stranger." From the opening notes, the music was lively and the tempo was fast paced and got the crowd moving and shaking their asses. Vocalist/guitarist Rob Eaton is, if you'll pardon the pun, a dead ringer for Bob Weir vocally. Dig out your old recordings and tell me it's not so. With vigor he sang the words, "You know it's gonna get stranger/ so let's get on with the show!" bringing a rousing cheer from the crowd of roughly 2000. "Ramble On Rose," sung by John Kadlecik doing the Garcia parts, created a similar effect when he sang, "Just like New York City." I closed my eyes and listened to the music play as it segued seamlessly into "Cassidy," where vocalist Lisa Mackey singing Donna Jean Godchaux's parts really took me on a trip. That was at least until a deep and bellowing blow horn of a ferry awoke me.
"We're going to bring out our friend, Keller Williams," said Eaton, and Williams sauntered out with a guitar in hand and a beaming smile. It's no secret that Williams grew up a Deadhead, following the band from venue to venue. It was fascinating to watch him sing and play "Eyes of the World" with a full band behind him, his head shaking from one side to the other as he strummed his guitar. While he's not exactly a vocal match for Garcia, what he lacked in similarity he more than made up for in a passionate delivery. It was obvious watching and listening to him that he truly was in his element. Thinking about this performance several days later, I yearn to see him line up a full time band of his own.
DSO rambled through a few more classic New York City tunes mid-set. "Dancing In The Streets" had fans grooving with each other and the line "Up In New York City, all we need is music, sweet, sweet music," brought a holler from the feisty crowd. Though it was a slight downer in tone, "Liberty" was a fitting song choice with Lady Liberty looking on just east of the island. "Women Are Smarter" and "Cosmic Charlie" both got fans waving their hands in the air, while "Truckin" was a sing-along favorite. After a short "Drums," the rest of the band came back on stage and told us that lightning was on the way and they had to end the set a bit early. They closed the evening with a fitting, soulful and harmony rich "We Bid You Goodnight."" -Bill Clifford at Jambase.com
The Seaside Soul Series continues this Saturday night with an amazing line-up of DJs! We've had a great time the past two Saturday nights, and are happy to continue this wonderful series.
The Beatards, a NYC hip hop trio made up of band members DJO , Chuck Wildand UTK the INC will take the stage on The Beach at Governors Island next Saturday July 25. Below is there newist video Nasty Funky featuring lots of robots and black suits... definitely worth a peep. Followed by Erykah Badu (performing at the beach on Tuesday August fourth) newest video Bag Lady. Check it.
This weekend starting Saturday July 18 the beach will put on 3 free shows: Sat. 2:00 p.m.- Bastard Jazz w/ DJ DRM, Paul Digs & Erik The Red Sat. 7:00 p.m.- The Seaside Soul Series with Rich Medina and Brian Coxx Sun. 2:00 p.m.-TRADEGY all metal tribute to the BEE GEES
Below is a review by El Bicho of a night with TRAGEDY all metal tribute to the BEE GEES: Tragedy is the #1 Heavy Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees in the World and they certainly made their case in "Anaheim City" last night as they decimated Disneyland. While the notion of combining '80s metal and the Bee Gees initially sounds like a joke, and there was a lot to laugh at especially with the between-song banter, the band is comprised of serious and talented musicians who made clear that the brothers Gibb could have taken their falsetto voices to the Sunset Strip during the 1980s and scored big. The band is comprised of singer/guitarist Barry Glibb, singer/guitarist Mo'Royce Peterson, singer/guitarist/cowbell player Robin Gibbens, the powerful rhythm section of bassist Gibbous Waning and new drummer The Lord Gibbeth, and back-up singers Women's Gibb, individually known as Angelpussy and Olivia Newton-Chong. Stagehand Lance, who toweled off the musicians and sprinkled the air with handfuls of glitter, was also a contributor to the festivities.
They opened with "Night Fever" and received a raucous round of applause, which Barry Glib stated was unnecessary because the band knew it was awesome. A special treat for those who own their album We Rock Sweet Balls And Can Do No Wrong is the three-song block of non-album tracks: "Grease," which they claimed was originally entitled "Lube;" "Nights on Broadway;" and the Gibb-penned, Barbara Streisand hit "Woman in Love."
NYC's own Pete Francis (of dispatch) joins DSO this Saturday
Francis began is career with the band dispatch and played for almost ten years with them. The three members of dispatch released four studio albums, a live CD, a DVD under their own label. They gained dedicated fans without the assistance of a major record company and became pioneers in the music industry, an almost impossible feat to reach in today's world. The band went on to sell more than 600,000 albums as well as experienced three sold-out nights in Madison Square Garden in New York City, they made history as the first independent band to headline the garden. After the band split up Francis continued his philosophical musical style and released five albums as well as played large venues and festivals across the country including Langerado, Wakarusa, and the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Saturday night he will join the solo looping freak show Keller Williams as well as the "cover band for people who don't like cover bands" the Dark Star Orchestra for a night of music on the new Beach at Governors Island.
The Dark Star Orchestra Joins Keller Williams for a night on the beach
This Saturday July 11th The Dark Star Orchestra, Keller Williams, and Pete Francis (of dispatch) will gather together to kick of the Beach series of concerts on Governors Island. Using entire shows from the Grateful Dead's 30 years of extensive touring as a launching pad, Dark Star Orchestra recreates the original song for song performance set list for an entirely new generation of, as well as old school, Deadheads. Dark Star Orchestra presents its critically acclaimed live show at esteemed venues from coast to coast and internationally.
Dark Star Orchestra performs Grateful Dead classics in the same way that an orchestra interprets music of classical composers. The composer spirit is derived and channeled as the players capture the excitement and innovation of the original performances and compositions. Touring nationwide for nine years to the tune of nearly 1500 shows since forming, the band's determined commitment to "raising the Dead" has drawn national media attention.
Joining this Grateful Dead experience will be the mad scientist known as Keller Williams. He is also known as a one-man-band for the new millennium and dozens of other clever sobriquets dreamed up by fans and music journalists trying to get a handle on his uplifting and ever-shifting style of music. Williams is considered by some but not by himself, to be a master of the acoustic guitar, known for his ability to solo over layers of spontaneously created loops. He is a generous performer who plays down to earth acoustic music that defies any effort to find a convenient pigeonhole. If pressed for a definition, Williams, as adept with language as he is with a guitar pick, calls it solo, acoustic jazzfunk reggae technograss - or simply - solo acoustic dance music.
On stage, Williams exudes a restless yet mellow energy. Barefoot he dances in place, alternately spinning out long solo lines and bouncing chord clusters that draw listeners and dancers into his own private world of rhythm and melody. The songs flow like rivers, full of flickering, kaleidoscopic images revealing new shapes, colors and meanings with every listen. On the stage behind him is a forest of stringed instruments as well as a keyboard and various drums and percussion toys. Williams jumps between instruments seeking out the perfect sound, the perfect note, the perfect beat that will transport him and his audience. This will certainly be a night to remember. Below is a sneak preview of whats to come
