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Live music

An Insider’s Guide to Celebrate Brooklyn!

June 26, 2019 By Sam Benezra Filed Under: Park Slope Sounds Tagged With: Celebrate Brooklyn, free events, Live music, sam benezra, summer events

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Celebrate Brooklyn!, New York’s favorite summer concert series, returns this year with a lineup that is as potent as ever. 2019’s edition features icons of indie rock, a Cuban jazz legend, and a tribute to Marvin Gaye among a host of other performances from up-and-coming stars and pop music luminaries. Here are ten performances you won’t want to miss.

6/12 and 6/13- The National / Courtney Barnett

The National are teaming up with Courtney Barnett for two consecutive nights that promise to be high notes in the Celebrate Brooklyn! concert schedule. Over the course of their two-decade career, The National have developed near-icon status in the indie rock world on the back of their compellingly melancholy sound. Providing the opening entertainment is Courtney Barnett, who returns to Celebrate Brooklyn! after a killer performance at the bandshell in 2018. The Melbourne-based singer-songwriter is known for her clever lyricism, but don’t overlook her shrewd guitar work, which, recalling at times Neil Young and/or Joey Santiago of the Pixies, is pure rock’n’roll.

Tank and the Bangas

6/20 – Tank and the Bangas / Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles

Tank and the Bangas come to Brooklyn all the way from N’awlins. Led by Tarriona “Tank” Ball on vocals, they’ve quickly risen to prominence after winning NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2017. Their new school NOLA sound brings together bouncy neo-soul with old-school funk. Ball’s spoken word vocals tie it all together in a compelling package. Not to be forgotten, Cory Henry of Snarky Puppy is a genius on the Hammond B3 Organ and a powerful vocalist to boot. With the Funk Apostles, he takes center stage as bandleader and frontman.

6/22 – Tortoise: TNT / Emily Wells with Metropolis Ensemble

Back in 1998, Tortoise changed the game with TNT, a genre-busting post-rock masterpiece that brought together hints of free jazz, rhythmic groove, funk, krautrock, electronica, and ambient music. In June, they’ll perform TNT in its entirety. Brooklyn-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells, whose forward-thinking brand of pop is no less visionary, will kick the night off backed by the Metropolis Ensemble.

6/26 – Chucho Valdés – Jazz Batá / Dafnis Prieto Si o Si Quartet

In a night that brings together the past and present of Cuban jazz, percussionist Dafnis Prieto and his quartet will open for Chucho Valdés. Valdés, the son of Bebo Valdés, himself a towering figure in Cuban music, has been performing since the early 1960s. Over the years, he has won six Grammy and three Latin Grammy Awards and helped define Afro-Cuban jazz. He comes to Celebrate Brooklyn! at the ripe age of 77 for a performance that’s sure to be unforgettable. 

Mick Jenkins

7/5 – Mick Jenkins / Leikeli47 / Leven Kali / Joy Postell

On July 5, Celebrate Brooklyn! will bring together some of the most unique young voices in hip hop and contemporary soul. Mick Jenkins has yet to reach mainstream status, but is nevertheless among the most inspired figures in hip hop. His most recent release, 2018’s Pieces of a Man, takes its name from a Gil Scott Heron album, which should show you where his ambitions lie. His production sounds fresh, even bold, but his intellectual lyricism is rooted in old school hip hop. Brooklyn native Leikeli47, who has worked with everyone from Pussy Riot to Ghostface Killah to MF DOOM, is compellingly mysterious. She is never seen in public without a balaclava or bandana masking her face. Her music is as bold as it is celebratory — her most recent album a testament to her upbringing in Bed Stuy. Down the bill, LA’s Leven Kali and Baltimore’s Joy Postell are both steadily developing a name for themselves as up-and-comers in the contemporary R&B world.

Salif Keita

7/13 – Salif Keita / Courtnee Roze

Salif Keita is a towering figure in African music. Known as the “Golden Voice of Africa,” Keita was born a traditional prince of Mali’s Keita Royal Family. Cast out of his family for his albinism, Keita began working as a professional musician in the late 1960s. By the 1980s, he was renowned across the world as one of the most recognizable figures of African music. Before he takes the stage, Courtnee Roze, a masterful percussionist who has worked with Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, J.Cole, and others, will kick the night off with a performance by her band.

Nilufer Yanya

7/25 – Surprise Headliner / Nilüfer Yanya

Celebrate Brooklyn! is keeping things mysterious with a surprise headliner on July 25. The intrigue alone makes this show worth attending, given Celebrate Brooklyn!’s pristine track record. Regardless, opener Nilüfer Yanya alone makes this a potentially special night. The prodigious British artist began her music career as a teenager. She has an exploratory ethos and a phenomenal ear for pop melody.

8/3 – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon / Lou Reed Tai Chi Day

On August 3, Celebrate Brooklyn! will screen Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a martial arts epic set in 18th century China. A phenomenal flick, no doubt, but the real show takes place before the film, with the first annual Lou Reed Tai Chi Day in honor of the late rock legend. Master Ren Guang-Yi, Lou Reed’s teacher, will demonstrate Chen style tai chi forms, to the soundtrack of Lou Reed DRONES, a sound work featuring Lou Reed’s guitar feedback, along with special guests Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Sarth Calhoun, Stewart Hurwood, and others.

Felicia Collins

8/9 – What’s Going On featuring Felicia Collins, Toshi Reagon, Siedah Garrett, Keisha Lewis, and others

For one of the final Celebrate Brooklyn! events, an all-star band led by Felicia Collins, a renowned guitarist and vocalist who performed for nearly two decades with David Letterman’s house band, will play Marvin Gaye’s 1971 classic What’s Goin’ On in its entirety. A remarkable concept album that has had an outsized influence on soul music, What’s Goin’ On, a concept album which tells the story of a Vietnam veteran returning home, remains culturally and politically relevant to this day. A once-in-a-lifetime show, to be sure!


Filed Under: Park Slope Sounds Tagged With: Celebrate Brooklyn, free events, Live music, sam benezra, summer events

The Finds / Dining in the Hood

April 18, 2016 By Beth Kaiserman Filed Under: Eat Local Tagged With: beef, beef carpaccio, breakfast, burrata, coffee, italian dishes, Live music, Local restaurants, mexican food, Park Slope, prawns, Smorgasbord, steaks, taqueria, Windsor Terrace, wine

Local Restaurants Bring Smorgasbord of Tastes

Stroll through Park Slope on a sunny day, and your eyes will usually find a restaurant you’ve never noticed. There are so many places to eat, it can be impossible to choose one. Here’s a rundown of a few unique spots we’ve found in the past year that tickled our taste buds. Have a spring adventure and check one out for yourself!

 

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Carnem — 318 5th Avenue

Carnem, which opened last May, offers up classic steaks, sauces, and seafood with a side of whimsical delights like pork belly cotton candy lollipops. Yes, it’s a delicious tender pork belly surrounded by a pink cloud of cotton candy, served on a stick. For the more straightforward meat fare, the beef carpaccio is excellent: filet mignon, served with fried capers, parmesan, oyster cream sauce, and crispy potato skins. The menu, curated by owner Jacob Krumgalz, offers a bit of fun with your standard steakhouse staples, perfect for a celebratory night out.

 

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Prawn Shop  —  669 Union Street

If you thought the closest thing Gowanus had to the seashore was the Whole Foods patio next to the canal, you’re wong. Prawn Shop has asnwered the call for local, sustainable seafood, including creative seafood boils like the Far East, with sweet potato, green curry and coconut. They source from New York and New England, and Prawn Shop aims to showcase local fish and seafood, even if the options are less widely known. Hang out at a communal picnic table outside and enjoy dollar oysters and prawns for happy hour, or try out the newly launched brunch menu. Also, the chalkboard behind the bar helps you decode the art of crab shucking using Breaking Bad references.

 

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Varrio 408 412 — 5th Avenue

The crew from Rachel’s Taqueria, two doors down, opened this spot last year, slinging fresh tortillas and Mexican fare from Tijuana. Watch them make the nicely blistered tortillas using a comal, and order meats family style for build-your-own tacos. Tacos, burritos, and mulas are also available à la carte. Don’t skip the carne asada al carbÓn, with perfectly juicy medium rare skirt steak. It’s a no-frills spot to eat some quick tacos with a homemade agua fresca, or take food to go. Visit Rachel’s Taqueria for a more sit-down experience.

 

Hugos4

Hugo and Sons 367 — 7th Avenue

On the first warm night of March, Hugo and Sons was buzzing with hungry, happy people. Andrea Taormina was running the show, seating people into slick, red booths and serving dishes inspired by his childhood in Palermo, Sicily. A delicious burrata is made light and refreshing by celery, apple, pine nuts, and parsley, with a light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. The pappardelle with sausage, fennel, and chili peppers had just the right amount of spice that sneaks up on you while you bite through perfectly cooked pasta. A fairly simple menu offers mostly Italian dishes with a few French and American foods as well. Find pizzas, pastas, salads, a full kids’ menu, and also gluten-free dough and a gluten-free bun for the burger. A fun spring activity might be working your way through their pasta selections and asking Andrea for wine suggestions, including a few unfiltered orange wines.

 

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Krupa Grocery — 231 Prospect Park West

Settle in for a nice breakfast at this charming spot right by Prospect Park, owned by the folks behind Slope Cellars and Windsor Wines across the street. Breakfast is served from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and brunch is served on the weekends. The energy was sunny as I enjoyed breakfast gnocchi with fried eggs, bacon, kale, squash, and breadcrumbs and large lemon ricotta pancakes, and neither dish was too greasy or heavy for a satisfying morning meal. But the highlight was their serious attention to the beverage program, especially the coffee from Irving Farm Coffee Roasters. Good coffee is crucial to a solid breakfast spot, and Krupa offers both a rotating hot coffee option and a rotating nitro iced coffee. The cafe portion of the restaurant is open daily for grab-and-go coffee and pastries from Ovenly. There’s also a rotating Kombrewcha on tap, and the draft lineup changes regularly. The spot’s name pays homage to the newsstand that was there for twenty years before the restaurant. (The landlords still live upstairs.) The space was then styled in honor of legendary jazz drummer Gene Krupa. Enjoy a Tuesday night dinner accompanied by live music at 8 p.m. Though it was too early for me when I visited, the panko-crusted shrimp burger is calling my name for lunch or dinner.

 

image2Shrimp Boil with Far East Sauce, Prawn Shop.

 

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Burrata with apple, celery, pine nuts, and parsley, Hugo and Sons.

 

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Breakfast gnocchi, Krupa Grocery.

 

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Beef Carpaccio with oyster cream sauce, crispy capers, potato skins and parmesan, Carnem.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Eat Local Tagged With: beef, beef carpaccio, breakfast, burrata, coffee, italian dishes, Live music, Local restaurants, mexican food, Park Slope, prawns, Smorgasbord, steaks, taqueria, Windsor Terrace, wine

A Profile In A Musical Kaleidoscope: Dawn Landes

January 28, 2016 By Florence Wang Filed Under: Friends & Neighbors Tagged With: Celebrate Brooklyn, Dawn Landes, Folk music, Live music, Prospect Park

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When the stars align, it can seem downright magical. Celebrate Brooklyn offers a unique opportunity for the musicians and audience to bond in a way that is only possible during the easy, breezy nights of summer. And Dawn Landes is the perfect performer for this type of introduction.

On a July evening, Park Slope resident Dawn Landes took the stage at the Prospect Park bandshell. She was the opening act for Jason Isbell, as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series. “Her band was tight, like they have played together for a long time,” an audience member described. Dawn’s voice and musicianship were beautiful. If you haven’t already experienced it, Prospect Park is the perfect place setting for a performance–moonlight bouncing off the grass and the trees, and the skyline of Park Slope’s beautiful architecture in the distance. By Florence Wang

If you weren’t in attendance that night, or are not familiar with Dawn Landes, she has been a busy bee buzzing around Brooklyn since alighting here eight years ago, releasing five albums and three EPs as a solo artist. Her most recent solo album, Bluebird, with songs are windows to quiet, thoughtful moments, received a nomination for “Folk Album of the Year” by MRG from its 14th Annual Independent Music Awards. Her spirited 2010 release, Sweetheart Rodeo, extends an invitation for hand-clapping and a foot-stomping. There’s something that feels very participatory in her music; and that must be due to her collaborative nature. In addition to her solo albums, she has taken the stage with an array of musicians, including Will Oldham, Sufjan Stevens, and Justin Townes Earl. These alliances have led to her expanding into new areas such as an album devoted to the French song style Ye-Ye (a pop of the 1906s), and an interactive graphic novel. She also performs as Dawn Split, one third of the all-girl pop trio, The Bandana Splits, who are incredibly reminiscent of the Andrews Sisters, and are oodles of fun.

Her love of music started at a young age. “I started making up songs before I could play any instruments. Somewhere there’s a cassette tape of a four-year-old me cooing rhymes into my dad’s recorder.” Growing up, Dawn was drawn to Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, and Lucinda Williams, who she aptly refers to as “the truth tellers.” These influences shaped her style, which could easily be described as a perfect marriage of these sounds: Ronstadt’s gorgeous soprano, Raitt’s wit, and Williams’ whimsy. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, her exploration with sound also began at home. “We had a piano that kept changing colors. My mom kept painting it. I guess I’m drawn to acoustic instruments,” she muses. “I love the sound of the banjo and a good honky-tonk piano.”

Moving to New York City from her native Kentucky, Dawn cut her teeth working at various recording studios around the city while attending NYU. She learned the ropes of production and engineering, and met other like-minded musicians. “I’m often drawn to the people first and the music second,” she says. During this time worked with the Brooklyn-based, Americana musical group Hem, playing glockenspiel. “I met Hem in the studio early on when I was assisting at Stratosphere Sound. I love collaborating, it’s like the periodic table…you take a bunch of elements and throw them together and they create a whole new thing.”

Perhaps her biggest undertaking is writing the music and lyrics for the upcoming musical, Row, commissioned by Joe’s Pub/The Public Theater. Row recounts the true story of Tori Murden, a fellow Kentuckian, who in 1998 left her job and endeavored to become the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean. Dawn followed Tori’s progress as it appeared in the news, and the story stayed with her. “I was really inspired by Tori’s memoir, A Pearl in the Storm, but it wasn’t until I met with (writer/director) Daniel Goldstein that I ever considered turning it into a musical.” Goldstein, a fellow Park Slope resident, is writing the book and she has greatly loved this process. You can find Dawn’s TED talk about Tori’s story online. Her recounting of the voyage is riveting and the song she performs is a gorgeous reflection of her thoughts and feelings. A work in progress, she debuted some of the songs in a performance at Joe’s Pub over the summer, “It’s still in development with the Public Theater and I’m very excited to share it with the world when it’s ready.” Given her previous albums, it makes perfect sense for Dawn to sing about Tori—she is a woman of strength, it must be the Kentucky spirit shining through.

Dawn is currently on tour as part of Sufjan Stephens’ quartet that The Huffington Post described as “stellar;” further writing that Dawn is a, “charming singer-songwriter whose quiet elegance added even more charm to his already class act.” When touring is complete, Park Slope is where she hangs her hat. “I moved to Brooklyn about eight years ago. As a native Kentuckian, the tree-lined streets in Carroll Gardens and Park Slope really made me feel at home. I grew up near Cherokee Park in Louisville…which is also an Olmstead park, so Prospect Park somehow feels familiar. There’s a great community of musicians and songwriters in Brooklyn.”

2016 looks to be another busy year for Dawn—in January, look out for her EP of duets on Sixth Degree Records, titled Desert Songs. As you’re thinking about gifts this season, The Bandana Splits have a holiday album coming out—the perfect soundtrack to any party. You will find it in her online store, which is stocked with fun, rodeo-themed merchandise, as well as her music on both CD and vinyl. It has been a busy year for Dawn, and I for one am looking forward to her return to Brooklyn and Joe’s Pub, and a chance to hear her live.

You can learn more about her, listen to music, and find her performance dates on her website, dawnlandes.com.

Filed Under: Friends & Neighbors Tagged With: Celebrate Brooklyn, Dawn Landes, Folk music, Live music, Prospect Park

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