The venerable harlequin thrash-core group An Albatross (Wilkes Barre, PA) closed the Panache Booking showcase at Union Pool this Saturday, capping off a week of excellent shows during this year’s CMJ Music Marathon. An Albatross have heavy thrasher guitar riffs, deep molasses bass lines, and break-neck drumming, but their lead vocalist, Eddie B. Gieda III, exudes a crusty glam-rock swagger and screams like a depraved Steven Tyler, sweating profusely, smiling with a false propriety, punishing his tambourine as if this were the last cry for help from a torture chamber of self-inflicted mental water-boarding.

When I walked backstage after the show to talk to Gieda, I found him on a tiny set of stairs, sobbing with his head between his knees. “He always cries after his shows” a thin blonde lady friend informed me, gently fanning him with a rolled-up shirt. “What are you thinking about when you’re performing?”  I ask him. “I think of myself as somewhere between a fetus just prior to birth and a human form just about to die. And about how absolutely dehydrated and malnourished I am” he replied. This was An Albatross’s first US show this year, and kicks off a month-long tour of back-to-back shows all over the country. Watch footage of this show here.

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Tonight at 7:30pm, Pete’s Candy Store (709 Lorimer St) presents Kimber VanRy as part of their bi-monthly lecture series they call Open City Dialogue.

Few things better evoke the poetic pleasures of a Brooklyn summer than drinking a beer on the stoop on a hot evening.  Just one little thing, though: it’s ILLEGAL!  So Kimber VanRy found out last summer when he received a $25 summons for the nefarious act in his home hood of Prospect Heights.  He could have just paid the small fine–but where’s the fun in that? Mr. VanRy decided instead that he would fight for his right to party! After numerous court cases and even a New York Times profile, Mr. VanRy is ready to give the full tale!

Kimber VanRy grew up in rural Western New York State and has been a Brooklyn resident for more than 13 years. He has worked for more than eleven years in the stock footage and photography industry, and currently manages an international film-licensing partner program reaching more than 35 countries worldwide. VanRy holds a B.A. in English with a Minor in US History from the State University of NY at Buffalo and a M.S. in Historic Preservation Planning from Eastern Michigan University. VanRy , his wife and two sons currently reside in the Prospect Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Open City Dialogue  (OCD) is a bi-monthly lecture series unraveling on alternating Mondays in the backroom of Pete’s.  Short (35-40 minute) lectures are woven together from the common thread of people’s obsessions, with guests coming from allover Greater New York. Whether academic or crackpot; celebrated or unsung, our lecturers all have something to tell you…..

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OperaOggiNY

Menotti’s “The Medium”

Performances June 22 – 28

With smaller seasons at City Opera and the Met, people are finding that a surprising magic exists in small micro budget performances led by OperaOggiNY‘s artistic director Thomas Toscano and music director Bill Lewis. In the spirit of bringing affordable opera to the people, they have created a new concept in local opera performances called “Walk to the Opera.” By focusing upon the drama, text and music rather than pomp and extravaganza, they are forging an expressive repertory ensemble with up and coming young professionals. Beginning with Menotti’s “The Medium” they bring this opera to five different neighborhoods. Starting in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and with subsequent performances scheduled in Astoria, Queens, and Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Ft. Green in Brooklyn.

Soon to follow will be new productions of operas by Vaughn Williams, Lockwood, Moniusko, Puccini, and some contemporary operas by American composers as well. In addition to these, Suor Angelica, L’Oracolo and Massenet’s Sapho, all now part of OperaOggiNY’s repertoire, will be presented  in neighborhoods which have not yet experienced these performances throughout the metropolitan area.

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Make Music New York, in conjunction with music festivals around the world, takes place all over NYC—and 186 bands and musicians will be performing in Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Bushwick alone!  Complete TimeOut listings here, and Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick listings after the jump.

Now in its third year, Make Music New York, “the largest music event ever to grace Gotham” (Metro New York), is a unique festival of free concerts in public spaces throughout the five boroughs of New York City, all on Sunday, June 21st, the first day of summer. MMNY takes place simultaneously with similar festivities in more than 327 cities around the world — a global celebration of music making.

From 11 in the morning to 10 at night, musicians of all ages, creeds, and musical persuasions — from hip hop to opera, Latin jazz to punk rock — perform on streets, sidewalks, stoops, plazas, cemeteries, parks and gardens. From high school bands to marquee names, MMNY is open to anyone who wants to take part, enjoyed by everyone who wants to attend.

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While the Northside Festival played host to a number of buzzing up-and-comers (Real Estate, Kurt Vile, Woods, and many, many more), for my money, the breakout act of the festival was tUnE-YaRdS, aka Merrill Garbus. Merrill, who began recording music after her mother gave her a ukulele two years ago, recently released her debut Bird Brains, a collection of found sound collages, tape loops, rhythmic pitter patters and vocals so warm and gracious you’d think they were made of apple butter, on Marriage Records.

One of three showcases tUnE-YaRdS played was the Hooves on the Turf show at Trophy Bar on Saturday afternoon. Stripped of her band, Merrill opened her Saturday afternoon set with an accapella version of “Hatari,” which had goosebumps creeping up and down the arms of literally everyone in the room. She played the solo show completely acoustic adding an air of intimacy to the already intimate club. Intimate indeed, as Bird Brains standouts like “Fiya”, a romantic jalopy of a love song, and “When You Tell The Lions,” which, despite a lack of percussion, played out like a jungle rattling monster, were even more affecting in the cramped quarters, where Merrill’s majestic voice was truly on display.

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