From the writer: “It’s fantasy-based story about the president, who is a werewolf, and who has halted the spinning of the moon, so the moon’s always full and he can stay in power. He’s deposed, and with the help of his friend, who is a talking horse, he tries to find his way back to the moon and to the source of his werewolf people. It’s very much a satire and a fantasy in a humorous way, about power and corruption and environmental themes. It’s a weird blend of puppet theater and kabuki theater.”

Inspired by the deadpan theatrical works of Raymond Roussel and the puppetry–influenced plays of Alfred Jarry, as well 19th century Bowery melodrama, Matthew Thurber’s musical adaptation of his own comic is enhanced by elaborate costumes, painted backdrops, scrolls, and lo–fi special effects.

Thursday June 26
7pm at The Brick Theater, $18
579 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg

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During its heyday, the Maxwell Street Market in Chicago was the biggest and most populated open-street market in America, and a singular cultural melting-pot – it has been called “the Ellis Island of the Midwest”. Thousands of people swarmed there every weekend to shop for bargains and second-hand junk on pushcarts and in stores (Ron Popeil got his start there). They also came for the entertainment: hucksters, hustlers, eccentrics, sidewalk preachers and, most famously, the street musicians, including many of Chicago’s blues greats.

 
Mike Shea’s only film is a seldom-seen pioneering cinema-vérité masterpiece, an essential historical document of Chicago and the market as a quintessential public space (the market was dismantled in 1994 to make room for student housing). Shea, who had been a photojournalist for Life and other magazines, shot the film over 16 Sundays (the market’s busiest day) in 1964, and was often accompanied on the shoot by 21-year old Mike Bloomfield, later of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Dylan’s Highway 61-era band, who knew the street musicians and helped facilitate filming.

AND THIS IS FREE is one of the greatest documentaries of the 1960s and perhaps the liveliest portrait of American street life ever captured on film. The 50-minute feature will be supplemented by additional rare footage documenting the market and the musicians who played there.

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This is a special Gay Pride edition so put some Grace in your face and in your ears as Classic Album Sundays celebrates Gay Pride NYC, and the brand new remaster of classic club/new wave/punk funk/R&B/80s disco classic Nightclubbing!

Grace Jones recorded her fifth album (and her second New Wave inspired departure from her 70s disco recordings) in Jamaica with a stellar set of musicians known as the Compass Point Allstars. The musicians included Jamaican chart toppers, Sly & Robbie, keyboardist and silent member of Level 42, Wally Badarou, among others all under the direction of Island Records founder, Chris Blackwell and in house label producer, Alex Sadkin. The 9 song collection, 3 of which Grace co-wrote, became the biggest selling album in the Grace Jones catalog and features her most successful US single, “Pull Up To The Bumper”. Fashion, Art and Music became one and left a heavy impression for many future pop and rock superstars to take note of.

The brand new remaster of this classic club/new wave/punk funk/R&B/80s disco classic includes 4 trackes never heard before, followed by the story of the album. Then the lights go down, the volume goes up and we play the album from beginning to end on vinyl on our audiophile hi-fi sound system. Listening guidelines apply.

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For her hotly anticipated sophomore album, Nashville songstress Nikki Lane teamed up with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys for a record that turns the vulnerable singer-songwriter stereotype on its ears.

With songs that crucify ex-boyfriends, celebrate one-night stands (as long as she can bolt town right after) and proclaim that it’s “always the right time to do the wrong thing,” Lane comes across like a modern-era Wanda Jackson, albeit with more oats to sow. “My songs always paint a pretty clear picture of what’s been going on in my life, so thisis one moody record,” she says. “There’s lots of talk of misbehaving and moving on.”

WFUV Presents Nikki Lane // Max Gomez // Actual Wolf
Tuesday Jun 24, 2014
Doors: 9:00 PM (ends at 12:00 AM)
21 and over
tickets $10

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Sister Spit alumni Dia Felix (Nochita) and Beth Lisick (Yokohama Threeway And Other Small Shames) read from their new novels, take questions, and sign.

Sister Spit is a lesbian-feminist spoken-word and performance art collective based in San Francisco, signed to Mr. Lady Records. They formed in 1994 and disbanded in 2006. The group were noted for their Ramblin’ Roadshow, performing at feminist events such as the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. The Boston Phoenix described it as “the coolest (and cutest) line-up of talented, tattooed, pierced, and purple-pigtailed performance artists the Bay Area has to offer”.

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