Prashant Bhargava, 42

Prashant Bhargava, Filmmaker of ‘Patang (The Kite),’ Dies at 42
by Sam Roberts, The New York Times, May 18, 2015

Joe Cocker, 70 [UPDATE]

Joe Cocker, Raspy-Voiced Rock Star With Distinctive Moves, Is Dead at 70
by Ben Sisario, The New York Times, December 22, 2014

Singer Joe Cocker dies aged 70 after cancer battle

BBC News, December 22, 2014

Lois Weaver's Tammy WhyNot brings fun for all ages

Lois Weaver as Tammy WhyNot with three of her
"sexy senior divas," the WhyNets, singing backup
(photo: Jonathan Slaff)

Lois Weaver brings fun for all ages in What Tammy Needs to Know about Getting Old and Having Sex: The Concert Tour, (November 6-23 at La MaMa). The veteran, beloved performance artist from Split Britches becomes twangy alter-ego Tammy WhyNot--part-time country-western singer, part-time researcher in senior centers from Zagreb to Chelsea. (Tammy even landed in the place where I take my yoga and Zumba classes, recruiting a few of her cast members, but I missed my chance!) Her topic of deep study (aka, "intense porch-sitting")? Sex in the golden years.

The marvelous WhyNets
dance choreography by Stormy Brandenberger.
Foreground, left to right: Carmen Estrada, Jorge Escalera and Dora Chu
(photo: Jonathan Slaff)

Weaver with Peggy Shaw
(photo: Jonathan Slaff)

The hour-long variety show is a charmer--a little sugar, a little spice. Weaver doesn't so much break the theatrical fourth wall as completely ignore it, with her disarmed audience, spanning many decades in age, contributing nearly as much fresh hilarity to the content as she and co-writer/Head of Security Peggy Shaw has.

Of Tammy's songs, The Time I've Wasted, a sad tale of KMart shopping "to fill the shopping cart I call my heart" might be my favorite, but it's hard to choose. But the greatest thing about Tammy is her generous heart and her welcome to a stageful of colorful seniors--like dancers Jorge Escalera and Carmen Estrada who will wow you with their spirit and talent.

There's no resisting Tammy. Let yourself go! You have until November 23 to get your tickets--and your sexy on--right here.

La MaMa
First Floor Theatre
74A East 4th Street (between Bowery and 2nd Avenue), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Beyoncé and who defines feminism and Black feminism

Album Sparks Black Feminism Debate
The Huffington Post, December 17, 2013

When artists spoke up, sang out for South African freedom

Remember this? Lou Reed, Rubén Blades, Nona Hendryx, George Clinton...after a while, you've got to ask yourself, who DIDN'T show up in this kickass music video!

Artists United Against Apartheid was a 1985 protest group founded by activist and performer Steven Van Zandt and record producer Arthur Baker to protest apartheid in South Africa.

Jazz artist Esperanza Spalding calls for action on Guantanamo

Esperanza Spalding
(photo by Johann Sauty)

Esperanza Spalding: Guantanamo Doesn't Represent 'Our America'
by TELL ME MORE STAFF, NPR, November 22, 2013

What would Yoko do?

Think of all your movements in life as dance movements. Breathe. Watch. Listen. Touch. And move between the earth and the sky.

--Yoko Ono (on Facebook)

Lou Reed, 71 [UPDATE]

Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71
by Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, October 27, 2013

LOU REED, 1942-2013
Outsider Whose Dark, Lyrical Vision Helped Shape Rock ’n’ Roll

by Ben Ratliff, The New York Times, October 27, 2013
 

Angélique Kidjo: "The heat is killing you guys, and I'm having fun!"

Grammy-winning recording artist Angélique Kidjo at Rockefeller Park
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Ah, yes, the heat.

It's summer. That means it's River to River Festival time. And that means it's Kid-joy time when that bighearted Angélique Kidjo, performer and philanthropist, once again holds court at Manhattan's Rockefeller Park, singing, dancing, playfully making us get up from our chairs to join in the great, transformative work of being completely alive.

(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Despite this June's tropical clime--or, perhaps, because of it--last evening set the mood for joy as the Benin-born superstar and her band rolled through a 90-minute set of songs. As always, Kidjo brought us the world as she hears and loves it, drawing from the sounds of West, North and South Africa, Brazil, Bollywood, funk--that last represented by her encore, the beloved 1991 tune "Batonga"--and more. Her enthralling voice pierces the air, hooks everyone within earshot and rings us like bells.

(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Beautiful child, you are so poor

But you dance like a princess and you do as you please

The rich people in the village are furious

"What on earth is going on ?"

Because you dance like a princess and you do as you please

--from "Batonga"

Recalling her father's dedication to providing education for all of his ten children--especially his daughters--Kidjo addressed the youngsters in the audience, saying "You can make choices for yourself....You are part of this moving world." As she does so often, she spoke out against female genital mutilation and violence against women. Her most rousing message, though, came via Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" which, in her voice, becomes an optimistic and unifying call to communal action. She wears it well.

(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Every audience I've seen totally adores Kidjo, who shows no hesitation to get down off a stage and boogie her way through a thicket of admirers with smartphone cameras, or to bring as many of them up on stage as can safely fit. If you missed her this year, don't do that again. Just don't do it. If  you do, both of us will be mighty mad at you.

(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Keep up with Angélique Kidjo here.

For more River to River summer fun, click here.

Shut up....

"Shut Up" from UK post-punk band Savages 

Jehnny Beth, lead singer

Savages Website

Chinese activist artist Ai Weiwei rocks out

Ai Weiwei Has Released a Heavy Metal Video for His Song “Dumbass”
By Chloe Pantazi, Flavorwire, May 22, 2013

Tell me: Who made YOU the center of the universe?

The Black Arm Band: music of Australia's indigenous experience

"dirtsong" from The Black Arm Band on Vimeo.

NYU Skirball Center presents the U.S. premiere of dirtsong--traditional music and new songs from Australia's Black Arm Band.

Friday, February 22, 8pm 

The Black Arm Band brings together many of Australia’s premiere Aboriginal musicians. They hail from across the country and represent diverse musical, linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Performed predominantly in Aboriginal languages, against a backdrop of evocative film imagery, the U.S. premiere of dirtsong comprises a series of musical “conversations” in which the artists reflect on their country. The result is a deeply moving show that conjures not only a sense of geographical place, but encounters, memories, obligations, community and nature. Combining traditional music and newly commissioned songs inspired by the beloved indigenous author Alexis Wright (Carpentaria), dirtsong offers a conceptual and emotional map of Australia's heartland.

For ticket information, click here or call 212-352-3101

NYU Skirball Center
566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South), Manhattan
(map/directions)

"Music has always brought hope in Mali"

Malian Musicians Call for Peace
by James C. McKinley Jr., The New York Times, January 21, 2013

Jake Shimabukuro, ukulele virtuoso, to play NYU Skirball

It is rare for a young musician to earn comparisons to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis. It is even harder to find an artist who has entirely redefined an instrument by his early thirties. Jake Shimabukuro has already accomplished these feats and more on the ukulele. Yes, the ukulele.

NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts will present An Evening with Jake Shimabukuro, the blazingly talented musician who has turned the traditional Hawaiian ukulele into a sensitive instrument capable of channeling any music thrown at it--from rock to jazz to flamenco.

If you're not already hip to Shimabukuro, here are some lovely YouTube videos:

Official Jake Shimabukuro EPK

Blue Roses Falling

Official Jake Shimabukuro YouTube channel
See him on Friday, November 30 (8pm). Click here for details and tickets.

NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
566 LaGuardia Place, Manhattan
corner of LaGuardia Place and Washington Square South

(map/directions)

For all you Rosanne Cash fans

Rosanne Cash and the Many Meanings of Love
by Ron Rosenbaum, Smithsonian Magazine, June 20, 2012

Music break: Sheeler on "The New Back Alley"

www.reverbnation.com/jackiesheeler

Music break with Hazmat Modine

Official music video for the song "Mockingbird" from the album Cicada by Hazmat Modine
Film made by Mattias Gordon

HAZMAT MODINE
with special guest JIM CAMPILONGO
Saturday, May 12th, 7pm-10pm

@TERRA BLUES
149 Bleecker Street, NYC  212-777-7776

Far "Deep"

I love this sound!

Adele's Rolling in The Deep on a GuZheng (Chinese Zither)

Joe Thompson, folk musician, 93 [UPDATED]

NC folk musician Joe Thompson dies at 93
by David Menconi, charlottesobserver.com, February 22, 2012

Carolina Chocolate Drops with Joe Thompson- John Henry - YouTube
(2:57)

Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. The Carolina Chocolate Drops with 88-year old fiddler Joe Thompson doing the song "John Henry" in a small un-amplified showcase concert. July 2007

UPDATE: Read the March 1 New York Times obituary here.