As I mentioned previously, Friday night there was a twofer at The Living Room.  First up was Sydney Wayser.   And then it was Emily Zuzik‘s turn.  Pictures of those two shows which featured electrifying performances from Sydney and Emily are posted here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

Emily Zuzik and James Maddock have each released new albums.  Emily’s is titled The Wild Joys of Living and the new one from James is Wake Up and Dream.  Read the review of both new records at Now I’ve Heard Everything here.  Then see them live: James is playing a CD release show at The Rockwood Music Hall tonight, read the details here.  Emily has her record release show tomorrow night.  Check Now I’ve Heard Everything tomorrow for more information.

–Eliot Wagner

.For nearly 30 years starting in 1974, The Bottom Line at West 4th Street and Mercer Street was rock central in New York City.  There were other venues, sure, but it seemed that every act that was or was going to be important played there.  Bruce Springsteen‘s week of shows there in 1975 broke him out of the pack.  The place was an institution which came to an end in early 2004 as the result of a dispute with its landlord, New York University (the space occupied by The Bottom Line is now NYU classroom space).

But tonight’s show at Rockefeller Park, The Bottom Line Presents New York on My Mind is made up of a number of performers who graced The Bottom Line’s stage at one time or another and includes: GrooveBarbers, Rosanne Cash, Marshall Crenshaw, Garland Jeffreys, Willie Nile, NRBQ, Martin Rivas, Suzzy and Lucy Wainwright Roche, Vin Scelsa, Loudon Wainwright III, Dar Williams, Catherine Russell featuring music director John Leventhal with Mojo Mancini and hosted by Meg Griffin.   Additional musicians may perform as well.  In case of rain, this may be moved into Stuyvesant High School.  For more details, see Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

Update: I’ve now heard from two reliable sources that the rain site for this show is The World Financial Center Winter Garden.

Update: It’s official.  The show has been moved to The World Financial Center Winter Garden.

–Eliot Wagner

I heard that Clarence Clemons had died while at The Mercury Lounge Saturday night, right after the early show had finished.  Although it was a shock, it was not unexpected given what I had heard about his stroke earlier this week.  Clarence had been part of my musical world since Bruce Springsteen‘s Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ was released (which is close to 40 years ago now).

The New York Times has a pretty comprehensive obit here which will give you the facts of Clarence’s life.  But facts are one thing, the music is another.  So musically, when I think of Clarence, the first song I remember is the version of Kitty’s Back from The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle.  The sax solo at the end was amazingly long; it seemed that Clarence didn’t need to breathe.

So I’ll say goodbye to Clarence with a video of that song from a live performance in early 1974.  I’ve posted it at Now I’ve Heard Everything, click here to see it.

–Eliot Wagner

On my first listen to Kings and Queens, the new album from Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, the song Black Sheep, a duet with Serena Ryder, jumped out at me.  You can see the video of it produced by The Canadian Broadcasting Company over at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

There were many good shows on Tuesday night, but for my money, the place to be was The Living Room.  There Canada’s Blackie and The Rodeo Kings played a crisp, loud and commanding one hour set in celebration of the release of their newest record, Kings and Queens.  Blackie is made up of three singer/guitarists, Colin Linden, Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson, plus bassist John Dymond and drummer Gary Craig.  See photos of that show at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

Writers from Nigeria, the Virgin Islands and Trinadad

Brooklyn Reading Works at the Old Stone House in Park Slope presents “Coming to America” on June 16 at 8PM. This exciting reading curated by novelist Martha Southgate brings together three new and acclaimed authors, Teju Cole, Tiphanie Yanique, and Victoria Brown, who came to America from Nigeria, the Virgin Islands and Trinidad respectively. There should be an interesting Q&A after the readings.

When: June 16 at 8PM

Where: The Old Stone House in Park Slope on 3rd Street between 5th and 4th Avenues. Note: due to construction in park enter from west side of the house. What else: $5 suggested donation includes wine and refreshments.

About Teju Cole:

“Open City is an indelible novel. Does precisely what literature should do: it brings together thoughts and beliefs, and blurs borders…A compassionate and masterly work.” —The New York Times

“Beautiful, subtle, and finally, original…What moves the prose forward is the prose—the desire to write, to defeat solitude by writing. Cole has made his novel as close to a diary as a novel can get, with room for reflection, autobiography, stasis, and repetition. This is extremely difficult, and many accomplished novelists would botch it, since a sure hand is needed to make the writer’s careful stitching look like a thread merely being followed for its own sake. Mysteriously, wonderfully, Cole does not botch it.” —James Wood, The New Yorker

About Tiphanie Yanique:

“The effects of colonialism throb in Yanique’s vivid debut collection. . . Yanique penetrates the perils and pleasures of lives lived outside resort walls.” —Publisher’s Weekly

About Victoria Brown:

‘Nanny lit’ may have turned heads years ago in the publishing world, but there’s a new voice – and a new book – getting people excited about the genre. Trinidadian immigrant Victoria Brown worked as a nanny on the Upper East Side, and she talks with us about her new book, Minding Ben, as well as her own path to motherhood. -The Takeaway

r in her employ.

Yesterday’s show by Carrie Rodriguez and her band at The Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 was the first with this band Carrie.  But you’d never know it as the half Brooklyn, half Austin ensemble (Luke Jacobs – electric, acoustic and pedal steel guitars, Sammy Baker – drums, and I think that it was Kyle Kegerreis on bass) spend nearly 90 minutes playing songs from Carrie’s several solo albums, plus a few new songs as well.  And the old songs all pretty much sported new arrangements.  I’ve posted six photos of the show at Now I’ve Heard Everything, just click here to see them.

–Eliot Wagner

Tonight two OTBKB Music favorite bands are playing in Williamsburg, something you should take advantage of.  First up at 9pm is Harper Blynn, a four piece band featuring high energy pop rock, lots of  hooks and good harmonies.  Then at midnight, see Hobson’s Choice, the band through which guitarist Thomas Bryan Eaton plays his songs (he plays in lots of other bands too).  You’ll find mostly rock with a bit of alt country thrown into the mix and which has a bit of a 70s feel to it.  Click here to see all the details about these shows waiting for you at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner