August 2010
27 posts
4 Troops @ City Hall Park
8/27/10 @ 5:00pm FREE 4 out of 10 stars rating
The J & R Music Fest is being held Friday and Saturday downtown at City Hall Park. Went on saw 4 Troops, a band which singes in Christian pop music style but sings of how great America is. Not fun.
No One @ No Where
8/26/10 @ No Time FREE 0 out of 10 stars rating
This is the first day I didn’t have a day where I had a concert to go to and I did not actively look for one. I am going to Burning Man for a week and I only have 1 pair of shorts. I went on a major shopping spree instead.
Downtown Glee Club @ Trinity Churchyard
8/25/10 @ 12:45pm FREE 0 out of 10 stars rating
I called the church and looked at the website and there was no place where it stated that the concert had been moved indoors because of the rain way earlier in the day. Oh well, have to get back to work anyway. I have a million things to do.
Times Square Bucket Drums @ Union Square
8/24/10 @ 6:00pm $3. 6 out of 10 stars rating
Since it is the end of August, every day there are fewer concerts. On my rundown list for shows; I had today as blank. But I found these 3 boys in Union Square. After cop Ali harrassed them, they were allowded to play. They had a permit to play without amplification and they still had to have a worker come and verify that it was OK for them to...
Stephen Beasley Project @ Pier 84
8/23/10 @ 6:00pm FREE 0 out of 10 stars rating
Funny how the weather was always crappy during these concerts and this is the day it is cancelled at the Clinton Concert Series. The first time it was crazy crazy humid (6/28) and the next time it had been raining earlier and the show still went on (7/26). Since those always went on, I did not check the website until I got there and found no one....
Chromeo/Kid Sister @ the pool Party
8/22/10 @ 5:00pm FREE 10 out of 10 stars rating The perfect day. I believe this might be one of the best days of the year. Had a wonderful night the day before, slept in until noon, had breakfast and coffee, wrote in my journal. Even the brief periods of rain downpour could not put me in a good mood. Kid Sister was coming back!!! Kid Sister is a super hot Chicago rapper which I saw earlier...
Chrisette Michele/Mario/Tamia @ Central Park...
8/21/10 @ 4:00pm FREE 0 out of 10 stars rating
By the time I arrived the venue was to capacity and there were around 100 people sitting near the entrance whp could not get in. I had no idea who this person is, she is an R&B singer I found out. Apparently, she has a lot of fans.
Usher @ Good Morning America
8/20/10 @ 7:00am FREE 8 out of 10 stars rating
When I got to the Rumsey Playfield at 6am, I thought I had heard someone mention Usher’s name. But since I had just awoken on 2 1/2 hours of sleep, I did not question it. But yes, Usher had replaced Rihanna. Sigh. Is it really worth it? This early in the morning? :/ I was exhausted. But good thing, unlike the diva Mary J. Blige who did...
Warren Chiasson & his multi-talented quartet @ 24...
8/19/10 @ 12:30pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating
I went to Tears For Fears at Hammerstein (which is inside) so for my outdoor show I went downtown again for a lunchtime performance. Warren Chiasson must be the man on the xylophone, awesome! Along with men on saxophone, guitar, upright bass and drums. I saw them play Caravan & My Funny Little Valentine.
Wes Morgan @ Jackie Robinson Park
8/18/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 6 out of 10 stars rating
I really like this Jackie Robinson Park, with its outdoor pool and London Plane covered bandshell patio. Tribe was giving out little hummus samples. I got this in Union Square once with a sample of pita chips. What, Harlem is not good enough for pita chips? Luckily, i had some ostrich jerky in my bag to use as a spoon. Before the opening act...
Daniel Moncion @ Highbridge Park
8/17/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 5 out of 10 stars rating
He is a singer of Bachata, which is the kind of music you would hear on a Telemundo soap opera. He has a singing register higher than mine. It is a very love ballad version of salsa. And we all know how I feel about salsa. Sigh… It’s a no go.
Fred Hammond @ Wingate Field
8/16/10 @ 9:00pm FREE 5 out of 10 stars rating
Out to the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series again for some gospel. This was more of a concert of slow love ballad songs to Jesus. I perferred Hezekiah Walker (6/10/10) which I gave 7 stars. They were suppose to start at 7:30pm and arriving at 9pm, I thought I would miss the show. But the rain postponed the show until 8:45pm so I did see most...
!!! @ the Pool Party
8/15/10 @ 6:00pm FREE 8 out of 10 stars rating
Fun Fun Fun is !!!. Lots of buzzed kids playing in the rain and watching the lead singer dance like a crazed maniac. Cool, cool, cool. :) :0 ;)
Naked Cowgirl @ Times Square
8/14/10 @ 9:00pm FREE 3 out of 10 stars rating What could I possible say… She looks like a mac truck hit her and I swear she was drunk when she was singing/chanting.
Kronos Quartet @ Damrocsch Park
8/13/10 @ 9:00pm FREE 8 out of 10 stars rating
Fantastic evening of contemporary music at Lincoln Center. I know of Kronos Quartet because they have worked with Bjork and I believe I saw them perform with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg years ago at the Met. The first violist told us the songs they were playing but I did not write them down because I was so happy that the long summer heatwave seems...
White Rabbits with Hospitality @ East River Park
8/12/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 6 out of 10 stars rating
I went down to the Lower East Side bandshell for the evening. At first the crowd was small because of the rain and location, but in the end there was a reasonable sized audience. I just could not get into it. They all know how to play their instruments but the song structure is so…typical. I feel like White Rabbits want to be Coldplay, but...
DJ Dee Wiz @ Jackie Robinson Park
8/11/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating
DJ Dee Wiz spun all the classic old school hip hop, classic R&B and lots of Michael Jackson hits. He spun from 7:00pm until 8:30pm and Doug E. Fresh was still MIA. Since he did the mixes via computer I give him a 7, if it was with vinyl it would have 8 or maybe a 9.
Bajah & The Dry Eye Crew @ Hudson Square
8/10/10 @ 5:00pm FREE 8 out of 10 stars rating
Myspace calls their music hip hop/pop/reggae, or I would say Afrobeat like Antibalas (7/22). The 3 main singers come from Sierra Leone and the Dry Eye Crew consists of various NYC musicians. Absolutly phenomenal. They played outside on the loading dock of City Winery overlooking the back parking lot. I arrvied at 5:30 and stayed for the rest of...
Old Silver Band @ Clinton Concert Series
8/09/10 @ 6:00pm FREE 5 out of 10 stars rating
They started 15 minutes late. I had to get to Forest Hills by 7pm so I only stayed for 1 song. The Hudson River Park website says it is Beachgrass music. I find it not my cup of tea. :/
Cut Copy @ the Pool Party
8/08/10 @ 6:00pm FREE 8 out of 10 stars rating
Again, I had never heard any of the bands playing at the Pool Party today, but I headed down to the Williamsburg waterfront to see the headlining band of the Pool Party. Cut Copy reminds me of Pet Shop Boys and when I look around at the hipster fashion sense I feel like I am in the 80s. Ah, to be young in 2010. Super fun.
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Harlem Block Party @ W. 117th St (Manhattan Ave &...
8/07/10 @ 7:30pm FREE 6 out of 10 stars rating
After spending all day doing the Interesting Race #5, I found myself exhausted and hanging out up in Harlem. The concert I really wanted to got to was Sharon Jones at Celebrate Brookyln, but it was so very far away. Much to my surprise, there was a block party, a block away from where I was. There was TONS of food, kids playing on the blocked off...
Hallogallo 2010: Michael Rother & Friends Play...
8/06/10 @ 9:30pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating
Was having dinner with a friend so I arrived at the last 30 minutes of the concert. It was techno like rock with the 1 song I saw lasting the entire 3o minutes. Had a big crowd and he gota a standing ovation at the end. When I got home I looked him up via Wikipedia. He is a German experimental Krautrock musician and composer. Cool.
Gil Scott-Heron @ Marcus Garvey Park
8/05/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating
I had known of Gil Scott-Heron but did not know any details until I went up to Harlem to see him at Marcus Garvey Park. He is known for his 1970s work as a spoken word performer over a musical fusion of jazz, blues and soul music. He influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. His most famous...
Robert Glasper Experiment with Q-Tip and...
8/4/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 8 out of 10 stars rating This was my first time at the Damrosch Park and the concert was taking place for Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. The music for the evening can be categorized I think as Jazz Fusion or Acid Jazz. Alot of John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock songs were playing throughout the evenings starting with José James’ Blackmagic. The headliner had Bilal...
The Dead Weather @ Celebrate Brooklyn
8/03/10 @ 7:00pm $45.90 9 out of 10 stars rating
Alison Mosshart from the The Kills, Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age, Jack Lawrence from The Raconteurs and Jack White from The White Stripes make up The Dead Weather. Headed to the Prospect Park Bandshell with Amy & Tony for one of their benefit shows. They certainly rocked the shell with a wide range of audience members. I saw a...
Salt-N-Pepa/Naughty By Nature/Slick Rick @ Martin...
8/02/10 @ 9:00pm FREE 0 out of 10 stars rating
I met a new friend for a drink so by the time I got all the way out to Brooklyn at 9pm, the police had closed the barricades to the rest of the crowd. I should have known better. I mean Wingate Field is a big area, but we are talking music by 3 well established groups. Crapola. I tried. :/
St. Vincent @ Central Park Summerstage
8/1/10 @ 6:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating
Skipped the first 2 acts and arrived at Summerstage for just the headliner St. Vincent. She used to be in the musical ensemble Polyphonic Spree and now has branched out on her own. In pics she looks to skinny, but in person her frame is quite lean. She looked very cute. Her music is spacey, dreamy and heroin like.
July 2010
32 posts
Concious Cycle @ Roosevelt Live
7/31/10 @ 1:00pm FREE 6 out of 10 stars rating So online I found some info about various Roosevelt Island having live music throughout select Saturdays in the summer. When I got off the F train I could have asked someone where the event was being held by I thought I’ll just wander about until I find it. Figured it would be either be at the northern end of the island near the lighthouse...
Sunset Jam on the Hudson: drumming circle @ Wagner...
7/30/10 @ 8:00pm FREE 5 out of 10 stars rating
I thought this was a bring your own drum hippe drumming circle, but in fact the park supplied around 50 drums for people to use. The master drummer, a lady with a blonde ponytail had a mic headset and was shouting instructions to the group. Quite impressed with the Parks Deparment. Mostly consisted of ladies with kids playing in the middle of the...
The Addams Family/Next to Normal/Wicked @ Bryant...
7/29/10 @ 12:30pm FREE 6 out of 10 stars rating
On select Thursdays, Bryant Park hosts select Broadway shows to sing songs from their musicals. Headed there at lunch time with Holly. She said they were mostly understudies singing. Another ridiculously sticky day.
Joe Thompson & The Comfortable Catastrophe @...
7/28/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating I originally went to Queensbridge Park to see Olu Dara AKA Nas’s father. But this time they had an opening band. Joe Thompson & The Comfortable Catastrophe won a five borough Battle of the Bands contest. And it seemed appropriate that they hail from Astoria and were playing in Queens. The pedal steel guitar reminded me of a Bill Plympton...
Sting @ Jones Beach Theater
7/27/10 @ 8:00pm $60.00 9 out of 10 stars rating I had never been to the Jones Beach Theater but I had seen it many times from the bus when visiting the beach. Michelle had an extra ticket for Sting with the Royal Philharmonic, so along with her sister we headed out for a week night show. The show was set to start at 8pm but didn’t get underway until 8:20pm. Michelle says she has no...
Cumbiagra @ Clinton Concert Series
7/26/10 @ 6:00pm FREE 6 out of 10 stars rating
This group played traditional Columbian folk and dance music on Pier 84, the pier just south of the Intrepid. I stayed for the entire concert but not for the music per se but the patch of grass I was resting on is the only alive piece I know of in the city. Plus the strong breeze coming in off the Hudson was so inviting I just could not move.
No one @ the pool party
7/25/10 @ 4:00pm FREE 0 out of 10 stars rating After my all day concert yesterday I ended up sleeping 11 hours, waking up at 2pm, the time of which Blindfold Test was starting its concert in the Conservatory Garden of Central Park. So at 4pm I headed down to East River State Park to see another pool party. The concerts do happen rain or shine but once there is lightning and thunder they are...
Ninjasonik/Destructo/Rye Rye/Skream + Banga/Sleigh...
7/24/10 @ 6:00pm $58.65 9 out of 10 stars rating I have been waiting for this show for so long. I bought the tickets way back in March when I only knew of M.I.A. being on the bill. Soon afterward I was very excited to see Die Antwoord would be opening for her. In the end there were 12 bands/DJs performing on 2 stages at HARD NYC at South Island Field on Governors Island. Hard Stage: 5:30 ...
Elaine Brody @ N 7th St & Bedford
7/23/10 @ 4:00pm 64 cents 5 out of 10 stars rating So… since I had plans in the early evening, my original plan of going out to Queens was abandoned. And because it was a summer Friday and I got out of work at 1pm, I roamed the streets keeping my eyes open for a band. When I arrived back in my neighborhood, there was a regular girl who I have seen in the past on the corner of the subway...
Antibalas @ Castle Clinton
7/22/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 9 out of 10 stars rating Antibalas-Spanish for “bulletproof”-is a high-energy, highly celebrated Afrobeat orchestra from Brooklyn. There were the African tribal influences of shekere, congas and vocals; brass elements of tenor sax, baritone sax, trumpet, trombone and flugelhorn; plus the rock parts of drums, synthesizers, bass, 2 guitars. All around creating a...
Burning Spear @ Rockefeller Park
7/21/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating I saw this reggae band Burning Spear about 12 or so years ago at an outdoor music festival on the West Bank in Minneapolis. The lead singer Winston Rodney who is 62 has a head has a lovely salt and pepper beard, sang about Jamaican history and Rastafarianism. The crowd consisted mostly of thick dreaded Rastasfarians and college stoners sneaking...
Metropolitan Opera @ Brooklyn Bridge Park
7/20/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 9 out of 10 stars rating
Brooklyn Bridge Park is so romantic to go to…by…myself :) Ahh. To hang out amongst the photographers with their telephoto lenses with downtown Manhattan beckoning from across the East River. I am so glad I went to see opera on this cool (83 degrees with 57% humidity) evening. This is the coolest day it has been in weeks. Susanna...
Columbia Summer Winds @ Naumberg Bandshell
7/19/10 @ 6:00pm FREE 6 out of 10 stars rating
This is the third time at Naumberg Bandshell this year. This time to see Columbia Summer Winds. There was a bit of a breeze and we were entertained by 2 twin toddlers who kept running in circles and in and out of puddles. The amateur musicians could have been a bit tighter. They looked like Best Buy employees.
Songs I heard: -Festive Overture by...
Trio 3 @ MoMA
7/18/10 @ 8:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating
For the Jazz Concert I, I arrived at MoMA at 6:45pm tmake sure I got a seat since space was limited. I was in an awkward area where I could not really see the musicians but could hear them. But actually, no matter where you sat there were sculptures or trees in the way of your view. Andrew Cyrille was on the drums, Mark Helias on bass and Oliver...
Matt & Kim/Holy Fuck @ Siren Festival
7/17/10 @ 7:30pm FREE 9 out of 10 stars rating
Two AMAZING shows, back to back. I went down to Coney Island with Amy and Tony to the The Tenth Annual Siren Music Festival. The crowd was full of drunks smoking weed so everyone was very very happy when Matt & Kim headlined the Main stage at 7:30pm. Matt sings and plays the keyboard, Kim is an amazing drummer. She ALWAYS has a huge smile on...
DJ Bill Pearis @ South Street Seaport
7/16/10 @ 6:00pm FREE 4 out of 10 stars rating The original documentation I saw for this show at South Street Seaport had only Thee Oh Sees and Golden Triangle and it started at 6pm. But when I arrived it was Bill Pearis was doing a DJ Set, and So Cow was added for 6:30pm. He was playing a playlist via his iTunes. I had just been on a work field trip from 12 noon until 5pm and it was like 100...
Brenda Lee @ Asser-Levy Seaside
7/15/10 @ 7:30pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating I did not know who Brenda Lee was until I did some online research. She has that deep gravely voice on songs “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and I’m Sorry”. She is only 4’9” without the hair but oh what sight to see with her big blonde hair and Tammy Faye eyes. She is now 65 years old and has been...
Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens @ Music on the...
Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens @ Music on the Oval 7/14/10 @ 7:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating I spent all day show hopping today. Originally, I was going to see Ryan Leslie at Springfield Park but when I realized that it was next to JFK airport I decided to look into something closer. I got an email that the noon-time show of The Dan Martin/Nick Russo Duo at Zuccotti Park was...
Igor Lumpert Trio @ Washington Square
7/13/10 @ 8:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating At first I was planning on going to Tappen Park to see Force M.D’s but when I looked up the route to get there I got discouraged. Subway to Ferry to Subway to walk. It would take 2 hours each way. So I planned on trying for the Washington Square Music Festival again but because of the rain it was again inside of a local church. But what I...
George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic & The Ohio...
7/12/10 @ 7:30pm FREE 6 & 8 out of 10 stars rating There was a serious bag inspection at the Wingate Field for the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series. In fact, the ladies were being escorted to their own line by a group of Muslim woman. Is that coming from the community or the band? Odd. I was VERY impressed with The Ohio Players performance this evening. Like Roy Ayers I had recognized...
Why? @ Williamsburg Waterfront
7/11/10 @ 5:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating
This was my official Jelly Pool Party at the Williamsburg Waterfront, the first of seven free shows being held on Sunday at East River State Park. I would describe them as Hipster Rap. Along with the keyboard, the keyboardist played a sampler and along with the drums, the drummer played a xylophone. And the drummer by the way was amazing. I have...
Yula and the eXtended Family @ N 7th St & Bedford
7/10/10 @ 4:00pm FREE 7 out of 10 stars rating Took a quick trip to the deli and saw Yula and the eXtended Family playing on the street. A lady had a singing saw and the man had an accordion, Yula was promoting the band with CDs and artwork that were placed at their feet before them. I have seen Yula with a large band at Santos House Party when I went to see Vic Thrill a few months ago. I...
Ozomatli @ Celebrate Brooklyn
7/9/10 @ 8:00pm FREE 6 out of 10 stars rating Latin music with Salsa, funk and rock influences. This time the VIP area is the entire cement seating area. There are A LOT of people here, maybe because it is semi cool compared with the scorching heat of the last 10 days, or that its Friday or that it is technically free or that they have a lot of fans. I can’t do Salsa anymore. I was...