Asia Society presents more than 200 photographs taken by Ai Weiwei that capture the culture of 1980s New York and the lives of expatriate Chinese artists in the East Village. The exhibition, curated by Asia Society Museum Director Melissa Chiu, is the first U.S. presentation of this previously unknown archive. It will be on view from now until August 14. (Learn more about Weiwei.)

NEW YORK, June 27, 2011 — Asia Society Museum Director Melissa Chiu offers background on the exhibition Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993 and reflects on Ai’s recent release by the Chinese authorities.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The exhibition marks the first time Ai Weiwei’s New York Photographs series is being shown outside of China.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Read More

Will be updated during the week!

1. Hot & Cold

Date: June 27, 2011
Time: 10pm
Venue: Freddys Bar (627 5th Ave at 17th Street – one block from the Prospect Avenue R-stop, Brklyn, N.Y. 1215)
Ticket: $10
Genre: guitar music

Hot & Cold will premier a few works they’ve been co-writing over the last year on their electric guitars. Fusing their common love of improvisation and composition, guitarists Anders Nilsson and Aaron Dugan create musical layers that transgress denominations and -isms and embrace the universe’s constant mandate to create anew.

Read More

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gonzalo Rubalcaba (born May 27, 1963 in Havana, Cuba) is a Grammy Award-winning Cuban jazz pianist and composer. He has received 14 Grammy nominations (wining 2 Grammys for Nocturne and Land of the Sun, and 2 Latin Grammys for Solo and Supernova) including four for Jazz Album of the Year (Rapsodia in 1995, Antiguo and Inner Voyage in 1999, and Supernova in 2002), the Palme d’Or from the Music Academy in Paris in 1991 and two “Best Performer” awards for “Suite 4y20″ and “Rapsodia” in 1992 and 1993 respectively. In 2008, Gonzalo was awarded the “Vanguard Award” by The ASCAP Foundation for “charting new directions in Jazz”.

In 1986 he had a chance meeting in Havana with bassist Charlie Haden. Through Charlie Haden he came to the attention of Bruce Lundvall president of Blue Note Records, and thus began an association, first with Toshiba/EMI of Japan, and later with Blue Note in the US, which has resulted in the release of eleven albums. Due to his record releases and popularity with the Japanese ctizens he has had countless performances in Japan. When he heard about the earthquakes and the tsunami he along with other musicans became concerned about his Japanese friends and fans.  Through his concern he sends the above message in Spanish (read the English translation below).

Read More

Text by Jim Hoey

Underground, (literally underground) comedy, is alive in a Brooklyn basement known as Donny Vulture’s. To get there for some laughs and to hear probing interviews with local stars, and questions beamed in from a microwave (huh? what!?), you have to hop on the L train, hightail it to Montrose, and step out past the Dominican barbershop, the Vortex thrift store, and the Danbro music studios, to where it all takes place.

It’s by invite only (Shhhhh…), so if you are lucky enough to be on the list, or know someone who might bring you around, you’re in for a few hours of homespun laughs and giddy shenanigans orchestrated by one Jerry Haas, a mysterious personality who, judging by his accent, may have made his way to New York by way of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, or the Colonel Sanders
school for young lost reprobates. Thankfully this guy knows his way around a small, cramped stage and if you’ve ever been over to the Upright Citizen’s Brigade, or a corner by a bodega in Bushwick, you might have an idea of what level of repartee you’ll be in for. Check out the video below, where you’ll see one curious saxophone player in the spotlight at Donny Vulture’s.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Read More

Interview by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi, June 16, 2011

Remi Alvarez, a Mexican saxophonist and flutist, stopped in at Roberto’s Winds in mid June to see his old friend and owner Roberto Romeo. Just the week prior to his visit he played two gigs at the VISION FESTIVAL, here in NYC. After a short conversation, in which we discussed his musical approach of free style I decided to do a video interview with him. What follows is the summery of this interview in which I discovered a Mexico native who’s primary focus is not the typical Latin or English influences one might expect.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Read More

Date: Saturday, June 4, 2011
Venue: Town Hall (NY)

Concert review by Augusta Palmer

Photo by Hasan Sarbakhshian

Read More

1. Karl Berger’s Stone Workshop Orchestra

Read More

Text by Augusta Palmer

It was an honor and a pleasure to attend this year’s Jazz Journalists Association Awards on June 11th. The ceremony, held this year at City Winery, is a benefit for the JJA, an organization that works very hard to honor the musicians and writers who keep jazz alive. I was particularly impressed to hear about their new eyeJAZZ program, which hopes to put more visual technology in the hands of jazz writers, and thereby create better videos for all of us out there watching on YouTube and elsewhere. In keeping with this tech-savvy spirit, the 2011 JJA awards were not only live in new York, but were also streamed live on the internet and linked via webcast to satellite parties held  in Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, Nashville, Portland, Seattle, Tallahassee and Washington, D.C.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The JJA gives Awards for players of nearly every instrument in the jazz repertoire as well as to the journalists who cover them. The full list of winners, including Joe Lovano, Sonny Rollins, Blue Note Records, Mosaic Records and Ambrose Akinmusire can be found here, but I was particularly pleased to see that, among the many musicians honored, the late great Billy Bang received the award for Jazz Violinist of the year. His award was eloquently accepted by Kahil El’Zabar, a frequent collaborator.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Read More

Battle for Brooklyn explores the poorly understood phenomenon of eminent domain abuse. A feature-length documentary from filmmakers Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley, and David Beilinson, this film investigates how real estate developers, local government, community activists, and the media have clashed over the largest single-source development project ever proposed in New York City.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Widely known as the Atlantic Yards project, this undertaking has for the past four years been a major source of contention as local residents resist a billionaire developers attempt to use eminent domain to seize their homes and businesses. Done in the name of “development,” schemes such as this one eviscerate private property rights and make a mockery of the Fifth Amendment–and yet they freely exploit lucrative taxpayer subsidies, easements, and tax abatements.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Text by Sara Dotes

Photo by 稲垣元則

In 2009, .es started out as contemporary multi-media music unit based at “Gallery Nomart” in Osaka, Japan. .es consists of Takayuki Hashimoto (guitar, alto saxophone and harmonica etc), Sara (piano, cajon and dance etc ) and Satoshi Hayashi, modern art director and producer of .es. Hashimoto and Sara are multi-instrumentalists and also Sara occasionally dances with Hashimoto’s sound. Their live music performances all have a different theme and they choose instruments appropriate for each theme. All of their performances are in an improvised style.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The two members of .es (Hashimoto and Sara) came to respect and play various musical styles such as rock, punk, classical music, flamenco, and increasingly found themselves wanting to express the impulse on principles and unchangeable soul.

Read More