There’s a big and interesting music series coming to Brooklyn Bridge Park starting Wednesday, July 9 called Music At The Bridge. Headliners include John Zorn, French Kicks, and Las Rubias Del Norte. The concerts will run on five consecutive Wenesdays starting at 6:30PM and a different Brooklyn musical venue “will curate a three-hour jewel of a program, taking direct aim at the musically adventurous…the premise behind the series is simple. Rather than program random acts to perform in the tent at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park’s Tobacco Warehouse, Music At The Bridge has invited five Brooklyn performance spaces—each with a limited seating capacity, but impeccable taste and a lot of heart and personality—to make the Tobacco Warehouse their home for the evening.
Here is the lowdown, per the email and press release that came our way:
The opening night, curated by Barbès in Park Slope, is a good example of the wide range of the series. From Las Rubias Del Norte (angelic harmonies set to a South of the Border beat) to The Parker String Quartet (from Beethoven to Ligeti and back) to the Mandingo Ambassadors (West African guitar music from the ‘60s), Music At The Bridge covers the musical map. With video manipulations by Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty.
Williamsburg is represented by Zebulon on July 16. The night begins with neofolksinger Sharon Van Etten, followed by jazz soloist Colin Stetson (sax player who has toured with Arcade Fire, Tom Waits, and Anthony Braxton), the Charles Gayle Trio (a free jazz master of improvisation), and Stuart Bogie/Superhuman Happiness (an atmospheric funk-pop crew featuring players from Brooklyn’s Antibalas).
On July 23, travel through time, courtesy of Red Hook’s Jalopy, from the early guitar blues and gospel-influenced sound of The Otis Brothers and the genre-busting ensemble Rob Reddy’s Tenfold to the country swing vaudeville of The Wiyos. The evening will be tied together with a nice bow by banjo-playing storyteller Al Duvall, our tour guide through the seedier side of Memory Lane.
ISSUE Project Room, located in Gowanus, presents a most adventurous program on July 30, featuring the Theremin Society (a society of theremin players, imagine!), John Zorn’s Cobra (one of the most important composers of the last fifty years presenting one of his best-known pieces), and Jonathan Kane’s February (dense guitar-driven minimalism with a big beat that sounds great).
The series closes on August 6 with Park Slope’s Union Hall—leading off with a taste of their Secret Science Club (scientific inquiry in cabaret form), followed by Tiny Masters of Today (pint-sized punks) Headlights (the indie rock pride of Champaign, IL) and French Kicks (a sharp, hip mainstay of the NYC mod-pop scene). Comedian Dave Hill (MTV, Comedy Central, VH1) will stand up between the acts.
