The Brooklyn Paper: SNA Newspaper of the Year, 2007

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Music

Hitting the high notes

Music: There are plenty of outdoor concerts happening in the borough this summer, from classical music to noise rock, but no series draws the big names — and songs — of the Borough President’s “Seaside Summer Concert Series” and “Martin Luther King, Jr. Concert Series”: Michael Bolton, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Patti LaBelle, Brian Wilson, Liza Minnelli, Huey Lewis and the News and more. Comment.

‘Girls’ wanna rock

Music: Of all the noises made by patrons after a trip to Acapulco Deli & Restaurant — a bare bones Mexican restaurant in Greenpoint — those of the Vivian Girls were surely the least expected. Comment.

Get ‘Hip’

Music: Beginning July 10, the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival will pack a whole season’s worth of programming into one long weekend. Comment.

June 14, 2008

Big country

Music: The big city is about to get a taste of the country. BrooklynCountry.com, the Web site and digital headquarters for country music artists and fans from Kings County, is celebrating its relaunching with a party at Natural Selection on June 15. Comment.

June 7, 2008

‘Celebrate’ Dylan

Music: Bob Dylan — the folk singer turned rocker turned voice of at least two generations — will perform in Prospect Park on Tuesday, Aug. 12. With video … Comments (2).

Isaac Hayes kicks off Celebrate Brooklyn on June 12: Exclusive interview

Music: When “Celebrate Brooklyn” kicks off its 30th year on Thursday, the opening night entertainment will come from R&B legend Isaac Hayes. GO Brooklyn caught up with the singer to chat about live music, ex-girlfriends and his favorite picnic food. Comments (1).

Wild ‘Liars’

Music: From her apartment in Boston, Mass., legendary punk singer Thalia Zedek’s voice is sweeter than expected. Her trademark smokey growl apparently reserved for recording sessions and live performances, the former lead singer for Come — who’s playing at Union Pool on Friday in support of her fourth solo record, “Liars and Prayers” — sounded exceptionally upbeat when she spoke to GO Brooklyn. Comment.

May 31, 2008

Today’s ‘Youth’

Music: “I’ve always been fascinated by my teenage years and by teenagers, especially because I have a lot of great memories,” Anthony Gonzalez — aka M83 — told GO Brooklyn from Portland, Ore., where he and his band had played the second show of the U.S. tour that lands in Brooklyn on Tuesday, June 3 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Comment.

’Green’ day

Music: If you saw these billboards cruising all over Carroll Gardens and park Slope last weekend, they were literally pedaling this weekend’s “Gowanus Goes Green” festival. Comment.

Dylan plays Prospect Park

Music: Bob Dylan will perform in Prospect Park on Tuesday, Aug. 12, The Brooklyn Paper has learned. With video … Comments (5).

New ‘Don’

Music: On her fourth studio album, “Brooklyn Don Diva,” scandal-plagued, Bedford-Stuyvesant–born rapper Foxy Brown doesn’t waste any time addressing the rumors that have swirled around her over the years. Comment.

‘Super’ opera

Music: Traditionally, opera doesn’t require much technology. There are no microphones, and lights are about all you need. But at the Regina Opera, the Dyker Heights–based belter’s brigade, high-tech “Super title” equipment has been installed to project an English translation of the librettos above the stage. Comment.

May 24, 2008

Sean gone

Music: Country music fans are left to cry in their beers now that Sean Kershaw and The New Jack Ramblers have announced plans to leave their weekly gig at Hank’s in Boerum Hill — after seven years. Comment.

Yard’s back

Music: The Yard’s second season on the banks of the Gowanus Canal kicks off Saturday, May 24, with a concert featuring jazzy spoken word artist Mike Ladd, as well as singer-songwriter Grey Reverend and Bushwick’s No Surrender, an electronic dance group. Comment.

May 17, 2008

‘Hop’ to it

Music: Tickets are already on sale for July’s “Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.” Comment.

April 26, 2008

Bklyn music men form supergroup

Music: Five Brooklyn nightlife mini-moguls have taken over the Galapagos site in Williamsburg and turned it into Natural Selection. It’s a Darwin joke, get it? Comment.

Isaac Hayes, Spoon and Feist help ‘Celebrate’ 30 years

Music: Celebrate Brooklyn announces its summer of 2008 lineup, which includes benefit concerts by Spoon and Feist. Tickets are on sale now for these big name shows! Comment.

Swede as sugar

Music: Emanuel Lundgren isn't from Barcelona. In fact, Lundgren — the lead singer and mastermind behind pop-rock band I'm From Barcelona — isn't even Spanish. Comment.

April 5, 2008

Japanese hybrid

Music: Perhaps it was fitting that Kagero — a Japanese gypsy rock band helmed by Bedford-Stuyvesant-based frontman Kaz Fujimoto — was playing in a Colombian bar in Queens named after an island in the West Indies. Comment.

March 29, 2008

All that jazz

Music: Beginning this Saturday, celebrities and emerging musicians alike will play all over the borough in a month-long celebration of Brooklyn’s rich jazz heritage. Comments (1).

Paul’s fare

Music: On Tuesday, April 1, Paul Simon will take the stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Fort Greene for the first of 15 nights of performances. But some funny things happened on his way to Brooklyn. Here, GO Brooklyn has charted Simon’s progress on a trip that has been 60 years in the making. Comment.

‘Brightest’ star

Music: Shara Worden’s voice vibrated into our consciousness at the Brooklyn Academy of Music earlier this year, when her band, My Brightest Diamond, opened for The National. The uninitiated can catch her on April 2, when the Sunset Park songstress headlines a show at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan before taking off on a European tour. Comment.

Culture shock

Music: “Music off the Walls,” the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s series at the Brooklyn Museum, presents the world premiere of Susan Oetgen’s “Bazm-o-Razm” on Sunday, March 30. Comment.

March 22, 2008

‘Field’ of dreams

Music: Lee Greenfeld, an owner of the Brooklyn Heights rock club Magnetic Field, was in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest last week — managing bands that were playing the music festival — but for the first time in five years, he wasn’t looking for acts to bring back to Atlantic Avenue. Comments (4).

March 15, 2008

Rock ‘n’ write

Music: As the frontman for indie rock bands like Luna and Galaxie 500, Dean Wareham has logged countless hours in a van on tour. But now that he’s released his first book, “Black Postcards: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Romance,” Wareham is rolling into Park Slope in high style. Comment.

March 8, 2008

‘Power trip’

Music: For her performing debut with the Brooklyn Philharmonic on March 8 at the Brooklyn Academy of music, musician Leila Josefowicz is going to plug in her violin. John Adams’s “Dharma at Big Sur” calls for an electronic violin, but its challenges haven’t dimmed Josefowicz’s enthusiasm for the work. Comment.

Classic rock

Music: “In our current commercial and popular culture, there may be no other rhapsody considered more celebrated than Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ “ Sun Jin Hong, artistic director and conductor of One World Symphony, told GO Brooklyn. Comment.

March 1, 2008

Oud to joy

Music: Popular Williamsburg falafel shop proprietor gives farewell concert on the oud as part of the Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival. Comment.

Hip-hop hooray: Popular DUMBO rap festival returns after apparent snub

Music: The Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival — which appeared in jeopardy after a scheduling snafu and charges of racism last year — will take place in Brooklyn Bridge Park on July 12, according to the festival’s organizer. Comment.

Doo-wop revival

Music: Fifty years ago, a teenage Kenny Vance was in attendence when Alan Freed brought his rock ‘n’ roll show to the Paramount Theater in Downtown Brooklyn, where he grew up. It was right there that Vance knew that he would be forever dedicated to the genre he fell in love with that night. Comments (1).

King of karaoke

Music: Park Slope’s new karaoke king, Craig Schoenbaum — who took home the top prize of the “Spotlight on Stardom” contest in Times Square this month — is already parlaying his newfound fame into gigs at Manhattan’s legendary clubs with his rock band, Otis. Comments (3).

February 23, 2008

‘Temple’ of rock ’n’ roll

Music: Masons — a group long associated with opaque rituals, secretive vows of brotherhood, and, of course, the Founding Fathers — are now, at least in Brooklyn, becoming associated with something more modern: rock and roll. Comments (2).

New — and cheap — concert space near BAM

BAM District: Music lovers will get to hear the likes of Lou Reed, Ben Folds Five and Dan Zanes — and not spend much money to do it — at a new concert hall being opened close to much-pricier venues near the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Fort Greene. Comment.

February 16, 2008

New ‘Blood’

Music: Blood on the Wall is breaking up. Not like you’d think, however. The band, which until recently only had to schlep across Brooklyn to play a show, is driving across Texas to play a show in Austin, and our cell phone connection is repeatedly dropped. The band returns to the borough on Feb. 22 to play the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Comment.

February 9, 2008

Super National

Music: When local rock bands begin selling out the usual venues — Galapagos, Southpaw, The Music Hall of Williamsburg — they tend to move on to the super-sized concert halls of Manhattan and stadiums across the country. The National, however, is taking a step sideways. Instead of playing for a room of wild, crowd-surfing fans — like they’ll do on tour with Modest Mouse and R.E.M. this summer — on Feb. 22 and Feb. 23, everyone who goes to see the band will be seated and a mosh pit will definitely be discouraged. Comment.

What’s up ‘Next’

Music: While The National will take the stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House on Feb. 22 and 23, there are 175 shows that comprise “Brooklyn Next,” and you can be sure to find your new favorite band at one of them. Comment.

February 2, 2008

Simon sings

Music: Superstar Paul Simon announces 15 nights of live music at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Comments (1).

Happy birthday

Music: The Brooklyn Philharmonic pays season-long tribute to Academy Award-winning composer, and Brooklyn native, John Corigliano. Comment.

Yodels and yee-haws

Music: Bluegrass and old-time string band music fans have another reason to kick up their heels: from Feb. 8 through Feb. 10, the weekend-long “Brooklyn Winter Hoedown” returns to DUMBO for a fourth year. Comment.

January 26, 2008

Lies on stage

Music: “We just wanted the most meaningless title we could come up with,” said Liars singer Angus Andrew about his band’s recently released fourth record. “And that was the name of our band.” Now Liars are returning to Brooklyn after fleeing for New Jersey, Berlin and Los Angeles. Comment.

Winsome Newsom

Music: While some of the borough’s more devout rockers might scoff at the idea of packing a club to hear an orchestra play, those in the know are clamoring to get tickets to the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s Jan. 31 show. Comment.

January 12, 2008

Hot salsa

Music: Park Sloper Jose Conde brings his Latin-tinged music to the Mondo Music Festival — and we have the dogs of Prospect Park to thank. Comment.

January 5, 2008

Out at ‘Sea’

Music: Only eight days into the new year, rock group The Shondes — the name means “shame” or “disgrace” in Yiddish — will celebrate a milestone that plenty of bands only dream of: the release of its first album.  Comments (1).
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