Jerry McGill: a Confederate flag–wearing, self–described “Yankee killer”, the legendary wild man featured in William Eggleston’s Stranded in Canton, and a true moonshine–drinking, pill–popping saint of Memphis rock’n roll. Decades ago, Jerry spurned a promising music career for a life of crime, robbing banks and running from the FBI, all while touring incognito with legends of country music.

Jerry McGill sings a Mickey Newbury song, accompanied by Jim Lancaster & filmed by William Eggleston, in this exclusive out-take from Very Extremely Dangerous.

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From the inbox: “On behalf of the members of Iktus Percussion, we are pleased to announce the 2014 installment of The Firehouse New Music Series. As one of the featured highlights of our concert season, Iktus will host some of New York City’s most cutting edge, diverse, and electrifying experimental new music ensembles and performers. We are looking forward to performances from Mariel Roberts, Jessica Meyer, Angelica Negron, Quiet City, David Smooke, Karl Larson, Aaron Siegel, Richard Kamerman, Uptown Girls, TIGUE, What Where, and The [kaj] Ensemble.”

Based in New York City, Iktus Percussion is an ambitious, dynamic young ensemble committed to expanding the boundaries of the percussion genre. Iktus is a collective-based operation, featuring an array of industrious and multi-talented percussionists with Chris Graham, Justin Wolf, Josh Perry, and Piero Guimaraes at the core. As a group with strong ties to the local artistic community, Iktus is dedicated to collaboration with emerging artists, having commissioned over fifty new works for percussion from such composers as Angélica Negrón, Aaron Siegel, Lisa R. Coons, Jenny Olivia Johnson, Stefan Weisman, and Billy Martin (of Medeski, Martin and Wood), among others.

With an exciting and diverse range of repertoire, Iktus has performed at such venues and festivals as the Bang on A Can Marathon, Galapagos Arts Space, Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, Issue Project Room, Symphony Space, The Tank, and Trinity Church. Iktus has been appointed to several residencies including SUNY Purchase College (where they performed Laura Kaminsky’s Terra Terribilis, a concerto for percussion quartet and orchestra), CUNY Brooklyn College, and the Pre-College Music Program at Stony Brook University. As performer-educators, Iktus has also performed concerts and hosted master classes at the Eastman School of Music, Oberlin College, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Michigan, University of Western Michigan, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, William Paterson University, Western Washington University, University of Washington, and Onondaga Community College, as well as various public schools.

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From the inbox: Local hero Lianne Smith will be teaming up with an excellent and likeminded lineup for a show in Brooklyn on January 25 at E Gallery (459 Vanderbilt Ave). That lineup includes ’70s/’80s-era cult folk singer Kath Bloom, who has been fairly active as of late, in addition to Ember Schrag. The show starts at 9:00 p.m. and admission is $10 at the door.

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