Hailing from Verona, NY, Fritz’s Polka Band has released their 20th recording, The Hands of Time, on October 1, 2021. Recorded at SubCat Studios in Syracuse, the new album features 11 original tunes features appearances by Utica blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa and drummer Deen Castronovo, and a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower.”
Fritz’s Polka Band (FPB) was formed in 1978 by lead accordionist, the late Fred Scherz Sr. and his eight-year old son, Fritz, for whom the band was named. Despite Fred’s death in November 2009, Fritz’s Polka Band has vowed to carry on his legacy, playing everything from modern-style polka to country, rock and even blues.
Performing an eclectic mix of musical styles, Fritz’s Polka Band is not an oom-pa-pa band or a stereotypical “polka” band, but rather broke the stereotype regarding Polka music, performing at Woodstock ’99, and was inducted into the Syracuse Area Music Hall of Fame in 2010.
The first ever gig for Fritz’s Polka Band on October 14, 1978, at Beck’s Grove in Rome, NY. Via FSB Facebook page.
Songs on the album fit the mold of a Polka band, with titles “Chicken Wing Breakdown,” “Hey!,” “Come Home Safe” and “Oktoberfest Is Here Again.” Notably, the late Fred Scherz Sr. is featured, alongside Joey Miskulin, on “Tommy’s Lendler.” Fritz told the Utica Observer-Dispatch “One special guest I’m extra excited about is my son, Freddy, who’s just 7 years old. He played so nicely on a Swiss tune that his grandpa – my Dad – Fred wrote!”
I’m so thrilled this recording has finally been released. My band has been playing some of the tunes that appear on this album at gigs and they’ve really been going over quite well with the various audiences we’ve played for. I think the fact that the styles of songs on this album being so eclectic is a good thing, because there’s basically a tune for every mood someone might have.
If you’re in the mood for a festive, party-type song, then a song like “Oktoberfest Is Here Again” will fill that need. If you’re saddened by the loss of a loved one or close friend, then a tune like “The Hands Of Time” and/or a ballad like “I Know I Should” will resonate with you. The special guests on this album really made it extra special, too! Whether folks choose to buy the CD at a gig, via mail order and/or download, I hope they enjoy it as much as my band enjoyed recording it!”
Fritz Scherz
FSB appears on the DVD of “The Manchurian Candidate” (2004) and had two songs – “Grandparent’s Polka” and “Here Is Fritz’s Polka Band” – included in two episodes of “Breaking Bad.” The group was nominated for a Syracuse Area Music Award (SAMMYs) for their 19th album, Hey, and in autumn 2019 were nominated for Band of the Year as well as New, Original Polka Song by the Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame. Additionally, Fritz Scherz was nominated for Musician of the Year and Button-Box: Artist or Duo awards.
You can find more info on Fritz’s Polka Band on their website and order The Hands of Time at various on-line outlets here.
The Capital District welcomed Los Lobos once again, as the Southern California Chicano rock group performed at The Egg on Sunday, September 26, 2021.
The group, who recently released Native Sons, an album featuring a selection of covers that serve, as Pitchfork puts it, an autobiography told through other people’s words. The album is a tribute to their hometown of Los Angeles, with songs chosen to represent the soul of the city, and the different sounds and cultures that lie within its wide borders.
A tight show of only 80 minutes was all the band needed this evening. A cover of the Beach Boys’ “Sail On Sailor” highlighted the covers from Native Sons, with drummer Louie Pérez noting they hadn’t practiced that one in a while.
The jump/swing with sax of “I Got Loaded” had the audience engaged, singing “Tonight I might get loaded, on a bottle of wine.” To close the night, the band returned to the stage for “Mas Y Mas” and a jam on their classic, “La Bamba.”
Catch Los Lobos this December as they return to New York City for three nights at City Winery. More info and tickets can be found here.
Los Lobos at The Egg, September 26, 2021 – photos by Chris De Cotis
National Hispanic Heritage month is now and Celebrate Mexico Now (CMN) longstanding 18 years tradition remains unbreakable so their festival pushes on. CMN remains to be the first and only independent festival in New York City devoted to spotlighting contemporary Mexican artistry. Throughout October and November there will be a season of six free live and streaming events to celebrate.
CMN continues to celebrate the diversity of Mexican culture, this festival will explore contemporary dance, music, film, visual art, feminist history and arts business. Dance films will be featured in this program, created by prominent choreographers before this lockdown. Leaders of Mexican performance venues will discuss the struggles of persevering throughout the pandemic, we will hear from singer-songwriter Renee Goust with an in depth conversation involving the role of the Indigenous woman in Mexican history. While more events are still being announced, you can count on the screening of two short documentaries on elders within the community and a conversation with their directors.
We must thank Claudia Norman who founded CN Management in 2004 and for her award-winning curation and production. Over hundreds of native Mexican artists, sculptors, musicians, poets, chefs, filmmakers, actors, painters, and directors have been welcomed to perform at venues like The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, New York University, Columbia University from her hard work. Ms. Norman aims to present and preserve Mexican traditions which is why celebrating this year is vital while continuing to keep viewers safe. Due to COVID there will only be one in-person event which will still showcase ancient traditions and vibrant new ideas in Mexico’s vital arts including works from Mexican and Mexican-American creators with US artists who appreciate and embrace Mexican traditions. While this event will take place in New York thousand avid streams come from Canada, Europe, Central and South America.
While we all very much miss the live experience, the silver lining of an online festival is the opportunity to expand our audience beyond New York City. It was important to us to continue presenting this festival even under extreme duress and a closed border. First and foremost, we must make sure that this vital cultural interchange continues in a way that prioritizes the safety of our participants and audiences.
Claudia Norman
Come help bring CMN to life, celebrating and supporting NYC and Mexican families during Hispanic Heritage month.
All 2021 Celebrate Mexico Now events will be streamed free via the festival’s website at MexicoNowFestival.org and Facebook Live. The films Yolik (Despacio) and Tote/Abuelo will be available to view through October 31; all other programming will be fully available after the premiere date.
The complete Celebrate Mexico Now schedule follows below.
On Wednesday, September 22, The Fugees reunited at Pier 17 in Manhattan, with Lauryn Hill, Pras and Wyclef performing together for the first time in 15 years. The trio was three hours late for their 45 minute performance, but who can complain when a classic 90s hip-hop/reggae group reunited for an intimate performance for lucky fans. Watch footage from the show below.
Hip hop supergroup, The Fugees, will be making a return to arenas and stadiums across the world in celebration of their magnum opus, The Score.
The group – who broke up shortly after the success of 1996’s diamond-certified sophomore effort – will be performing together for the first time since 2006. Their last major reunion tour – following another reunion at Dave Chapelle’s Block Party – ended in disarray as members had to grow accustomed to different dynamics within the group. Such as, Ms. Lauryn Hill’s amplified stardom. The friction led to an abrupt end to the tour as group members traded jabs.
But, to put it nicely, it’s dead. Me and [Wyclef Jean], we on the same page, but Lauryn [Hill] is in her zone, and I’m fed up with that s**t. Here she is, blessed with a gift, with the opportunity to rock and give, and she’s running on some bulls**t? I’m a fan of Lauryn’s, but I can’t respect that.
Nonetheless, the group’s lasting power within hip hop has left fans clamoring for a return despite the members differences. After releasing their experimental debut, Blunted on Reality, the trio found their groove on, The Score. Recorded in the now-infamous “Booga basement,” the album was curated as an actual film and score all-in-one. Like most feature presentations it provided plenty of social-political commentary while it’s “main characters” got a chance to develop through dialogue laden lyrics and skits.
Upon its release, it peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 charts and earned the group two Grammy Awards. Fugees were also the first hip-hop group ever to be nominated for Album Of The Year. It pawned the hit singles “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “Fu-Gee-La” as well as “Ready or Not” and instantly turned the Brick city natives into the biggest hip hop act in the world. It was also the platform on which Hill emerged as the group’s undeniable star, which — along with her deteriorating romantic relationship with Wyclef – served as a divisive seed that set the group on the path to disbandment.
And now with the album’s 25th anniversary upon us, the group has decided to commemorate the occasion with another world tour. Presented by Diaspora Calling and produced by Live Nation, the 12-city international tour will kick-off tomorrow, September 22nd with an intimate pop-up show in New York City, at an undisclosed location. The rest of the tour will commence November 2nd at United Center in Chicago and will make stops across the globe in Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Paris, London, and more, before finishing the tour in Africa, with the final shows taking place in Nigeria and Ghana.
The Fugees have a complex but impactful history. I wasn’t even aware the 25th anniversary had arrived until someone brought it to my attention. I decided to honor this significant project, its anniversary, and the fans who appreciated the music by creating a peaceful platform where we could unite, perform the music we loved, and set an example of reconciliation for the world.
Ms. Lauryn Hill
As I celebrate 25 years with the Fugees, my first memory was that we vowed, from the gate, we would not just do music we would be a movement. We would be a voice for the un-heard, and in these challenging times, I am grateful once again, that God has brought us together.
Gogol Bordello, the legendary gypsy-punk collective known for their high-energy shows and genre-bending music, touched down in Vermont on Wednesday, performing at Higher Ground in Burlington, VT.
The show replaced a Montreal tour date that was rescheduled due to shifting COVID regulations. But Gogol Bordello has a long history in the Burlington area. Frontman Eugene Hutz moved to the area with his family when they first came to the states, as political refugees from Ukraine in 1992. Already an avid guitarist, Hutz formed popular local punk band The Fags before eventually moving to New York, where he would form Gogol Bordello in 1999.
The anticipation among the crowd at Higher Ground matched that long, storied history. Concertgoers of all ages mulled around the venue, often greeting each other with a smile and asking “you ready?” A worthy question– it’s hard to be fully ready for the kind of breakneck, immersive experience that is a Gogol Bordello show.
Nu Folk Rebel Alliance, a duo of Gogol Bordello member Pedro Erazo and guitarist Leo Minimum Tek, opened the show. A frequent associate of Gogol Bordello, Nu Folk Rebel Alliance shares their passion for blending global folkloric traditions with a punk rock twist. Pedro Erazo proves a charismatic presence, as arresting on vocals and percussion as in front of a DJ table. An electro-influence cover of “Working Class Hero” cemented the band’s power-to-the-people message, along with original “Fronteras,” an immigration anthem which Erazo addressed to “our brothers and sisters at the border.” Fronteras features a spaghetti-western guitar riff over heavy bass, nimbly blending the old with the new. The song bitingly addresses those who “wash their hands with corruption/ Making our lives miserable/ Miseducating our hoods.” Sung in Spanish and English, “Fronteras” urges immigrants of all nations to rise up in international solidarity and fury.
The humming Romani melodies signaling Gogol Bordello’s entrance began echoing before the group even stepped on stage, mesmerizing the crowd. The longer it lasted, the more voices in the audience called for them: “We want you!” A security guard tapped me, warning “you might want to be ready to get out of the way. Just in case there’s crowd surfers.” What exactly was I in for?
What I was in for, it turned out, was a rousing, electric and moving performance; a “gypsy punky party,” as Eugene Hutz declared. Once they began performing it proved impossible to look away. Their musical capability is astounding; just drums, violin and an acoustic guitar can give the impression of the center of a thunderstorm. Each song seems to feature a new instrument offering the perfect final tough; bongos, or bells, or an enormous marching bass drum.
The band’s unity, creativity and technical skill make thundering tracks like “Wonderlust King” and “Immigraniada” feel stadium-worthy. But the close environment of a club offered Gogol Bordello an opportunity to highlight their other grand talent: engaging an audience. Hopping from platform to platform and teetering at the edge of the stage, the band treats the stage like a playground and encourages the audience to adopt the same mentality. Many times, Hutz spun his hands as the crowd energy grew and grew, literally stirring the pot.
What felt most revolutionary about the performance was its embodiment of the Gogol Bordello’s mission: breaking boundaries, emphasizing global solidarity, and rejecting the norm. Even the band itself was somewhat shifted; Gogol Bordello announced on Tuesday members Ashley Tobias and Boris Pelekh had tested positive for COVID-19 and were quarantining. Leo Minimum Tek stood in for Pelekh with the rousing support of Hutz, whose unfettered, wiley joy seems utterly unsinkable. Waltzing across the stage in an open, tasseled bolero jacket, twirling his guitar as casually as the bottle of Brazilian rum he brought onstage, Hutz couldn’t be less bothered. His demeanor of carelessness seemed to say: Hey, the world is fucked, but we can have fun with it, together. The emotion is as intoxicating as their breathless musical pace.
Furthermore, crowd participation isn’t optional with Gogol Bordell. Hutz’s gutterall yells and ad-libs always include a microphone to the crowd, and occasionally a tease to get louder. But the chaos of their music never loses you, as the mind-boggling technique kill violinist Sergey Ryabtsev specifically catches you and doesn’t let go. His mesmerizing violin brings to mind a lived-out version of The Devil Went Down To Georgia, the classic tune where a musician plays for his life. Ryabtsev could surely beat the devil at this game, even in his own territory.
The band came out for a lengthy, rowdy encore after an hour-long set, performing classics like “Start Wearing Purple,” and new track “Roaring 2020s.” As wild moshing continued in the pit, a couple on the edge of the crowd waltzed together, twirling furiously. No one wanted the party to end.
However, all parties must end, and before they headed offstage Gogol Bordello stood together, extending their arms to the crowd. Though they had been the ones to bring their wild breed of freedom, we had all shared in the moment, and they thanked us. Hutz left the audience with a final, affecting message: “Don’t believe the hype, don’t believe the anti-hype. Stay fucking centered.”
Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” played as the crowd trickled back out into the night. Whatever had been released in that theater left, in its place, a free and easy feeling; the performance had captured the angst, energy and possibly fleeting joy of this moment in time. When Gogol Bordello say they ‘confront the jaded and the irony-deseased,” they mean it. Their inspiring message of international-mindedness, righteous fury and pure fun is enough to leave the most jaded of souls with hope for the future. That is, a future with lightning rods like Gogol Bordello in it.
Kicking off Hispanic Heritage month, The UAlbany Performing Arts Center will be presenting two programs the weekend of Friday, October 1.
On October 1, an Evening of Flamenco Music and Film featuring a solo set from Flamenco guitarist Maria Zemantauski will be followed by a screening of Flamenco Vivo’s 6Hilos (6Threads) focusing on the Golden Age of flamenco. Several artists will perform live alongside Flamenco Vivo. Saturday, October 2 will feature a presentation of Tablao Flamenco, with both performances starting at 7:30pm
Founded in 1983, Flamenco Vivo uses flamenco as a power to build bridges between people all over the world. With bases in New York City and Durham, NC it is one of America’s premier flamenco companies. While performing high quality dance works for Hispanic Heritage Month, Flamenco Vivo also provides arts education promoting the next generations of Spanish dance artists and educators.
Guitarist and composer Maria Zemantauski is based in Upstate New York where she is a teacher, lecturer and performer, and performs across Europe and the continental U.S. Zematauski is on the faculty in the Department of Fine Arts, Theater Arts & Digital Media at Hudson Valley Community College where she has also been the Coordinator of Cultural Affairs since 2004.
6Hilos (6 Threads) recently premiered in New York City three months ago to show city goers how artists are forced to persevere during this pandemic. Flamenco Vivo’s work pays homage to singers of the “Golden Generation” who have left a legacy of more than 50 years and marked the golden age of flamenco.
Tablao Flamenco pays homage to Spain’s flamenco cafes. Tablaos are popular places to see flamenco. These performances involve lots of improvisation, the call and response dance offers a neat look into the intersection of music and dancing.Admission to An Evening of Flamenco Music and Film is free. However tickets to the Flamenco Vivo’s performance are $15. Find more information about tickets here.
Punk rock collective Gogol Bordello will perform two New York regional shows this week, at Empire Live in Albany on Tuesday, September 14 and Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont on Wednesday, September 15 The Burlington show replaces a Montreal date, which was previously postponed due to new COVID-19 protocols.
Formed on the Lower East Side in 1999, Gogol Bordello’s boundary-breaking combination of punk-rock, cabaret and Romani musical traditions is truly unlike anything out there. Anchored by Ukranian frontman Eugene Hutz, members of the always-evolving collective hail from around the world. In a handwritten mission statement on their website, Hutz writes: “From where we stand, it is clear that world’s cultures contain material for endless art-possibilities, and new mind-stretching combinations, raw joy and survival energy.” This mission has led them to receive critical acclaim and fans across the world, with former Village Voice Chief Music Critic Robert Christgau calling them “The world’s most visionary band.”
Gogol Bordello are known for their dramatic performances, which they describe as a mix of “music, theatre, chaos and sorcery.” Although they have not released a new album since 2017s Seekers and Finders, Gogol Bordello have remained a consistent touring act. The band averages 200+ shows a year, and has supported diverse bands from Flogging Molly to Cake. Their most recent single, an Adrian Sherwood remix of their song “Lifers,” dropped back in April. Sherwood offers clean, electronic production, grounding the maniacal rawness that has become Gogol Bordello’s hallmark. They are currently recording the album’s follow-up.
The new Burlington date will complete the Northeastern leg of Gogol Bordello’s Lifers 2021 tour. The band is no stranger to Higher Ground, where they most recently played in 2020, describing it as an “all time fav.” Attendees will have to provide proof of full vaccination, or a negative COVID test from the past 72 hours paired with a photo ID, aligning with Higher Ground’s policy. To purchase tickets, visit here.
FreshGrass 2021 will be hitting Mass MoCa’s multiple stages despite the delta variant of COVID-19 raging on. The festival will take place September 24-26, 2021 for it’s 10th anniversary.
The 2021 FreshGrass festival takes place annually at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art or more commonly known as Mass MoCa in North Adams, MA. The festival is a three-day bundle of fun that highlights bluegrass and progressive roots music. The festival is dispersed across the 16 acres sized museum which has 4 stages.
This year is featuring: Dispatch (acoustic), Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Béla Fleck My Bluegrass Heart (featuring Michael Cleveland, Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, and Bryan Sutton), Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange), Sam Bush, Steep Canyon Rangers (FreshGrass Artist-in-Residence), Sarah Jarosz, Aiofe O’Donovan, Watkins Family Hour, Noam Pikelny, Bonny Light Horseman, Alison Brown, Amythyst Kiah, Darol Anger, Hawktail, Dedicated Men of Zion, A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe featuring Felicia Collins, Willi Carlisle, CJ Field, and more.
FreshGrass is also hosting other programming apart from the live concerts including: FreshScores (a silent film with original live music), FreshGrass commissions and world premieres, instrument and industry workshops, pop-up performances and retail, and local Berkshire food and spirits vendors.
Tickets are on sale now. 3 Day pass general admission weekend passes and single-day general admission day passes are available. A full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 test will be required to attend the FreshGrass festival this year due to the ongoing pandemic. Tickets can be purchased here.
For more information on the 10th annual FreshGrass festival visit their website here.
Angélique Kidjo will return to Carnegie Hall on November 5, headlining the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. This special one-night-only presentation is entitled Mother Nature: Songs For New York and the World Beyond. With a setlist focused on Kidjo’s just-released and trenchant new album, Mother Nature, and special guests, the performance will pay timely tribute to resilient New Yorkers and also serve as a rallying cry for the planet.
The Carnegie Hall performance will be the first full New York City performance for Angélique Kidjo in nearly two years. In March of 2020 she was slated to perform at Carnegie Hall as part of her four-concert Perspectives Series at the legendary venue, but just a day before she was set to take the stage, it was cancelled as the city went into lockdown due to the pandemic.
Kidjo has had an impressive summer, releasing Mother Nature, her first album of original music in seven years to widespread international praise. The album represents the remarkable influence that Kidjo has had on younger generations of musicians, and features collaborations with a host of budding stars including Burna Boy, Sampa The Great, Yemi Alade, Shungudzo, Ghetto Boy, Earthgang and others. Together they address a host of complex issues, from political upheaval to the destruction of the environment, that in Kidjo’s hands transform into music that is radiantly joyful.
This one-of-a kind performance of Mother Nature: Songs For New York and the World Beyond, will feature world renowned artists including Josh Groban, Andra Day, Cyndi Lauper, Philip Glass, EARTHGANG, and Ibrahim Maalouf. The programis a musical rallying cry for our planet, exploring the great importance of human beings to each other and to the natural world.
Kidjo also represented the continent of Africa during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Opening Ceremony, singing “Imagine” alongside John Legend, Alejandro Sanz and Keith Urban. She will also perform from Paris as part of the 24-hour Global Citizen Festival broadcast event on September 25.
Tickets are on sale here for Angélique’s show at Carnegie Hall on November 5.
Angélique Kidjo International Tour Dates 2021-22
Friday September 10, 2021: Parc Des Expositions L’ile Aumone in Mantes-la-jolie, France Friday September 11, 2021: Parvis des Chais Magelis in Angoulême, France Thursday September 23, 2021: Théâtre de Cornouaille in Quimper, France Sunday September 26, 2021: Palace of Arts and Congress in Vannes, France Saturday October 23, 2021: Flynn Center For The Performing Arts in Burlington, VT Friday October 29, 2021: Remain in Light in Berkeley, CA Friday November 5, 2021: Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY Wednesday November 17, 2021: Rosey Concert Hall in Rolle, Switzerland Friday November 19, 2021: Kilden Performing Arts Centre in Kristiansand, Norway Saturday November 20, 2021: Bærum Kulturhus in Sandvika, Norway Thursday November 25, 2021: Hall Vigean in Eysines, France Saturday November 27, 2021: Festival un Weekend Avec Elles 2021 in Le Garric, France Tuesday November 30, 2021: The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Netherlands Monday December 6, 2021: Wiener Konzerthaus in Bezirk-landstrasse, Austria Saturday December 18, 2021: Théâtre du Jura in Delémont, Switzerland Tuesday January 11, 2022: Chateau Rouge in Annemasse, France Friday January 14, 2022: Espace Malraux in Joué-lès-tours, France Tuesday March 8, 2022: L’Ancienne Belgique in Toulouse, France Friday March 11, 2022: La Faïencerie in Creil, France Wednesday March 16, 2022: Musikverein in Wien Austria Thursday March 17, 2022: Festspielhaus St. Pölten in St. Pölten, Austria Saturday March 19, 2022: Theater of Chelles in Chelles France Thursday March 24, 2022: Theatre of the Vesinet in Le Vésinet, France Friday March 25, 2022: Arsenal in Metz, France Sunday April 3, 2022: Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts in Scottsdale, Arizona Saturday April 23, 2022: Yemandja in Berkeley, CA Saturday April 30, 2022: Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH Thursday May 12, 2022: Bass Concert Hall in Austin, TX Thursday May 26, 2022: Africa Festival in Würzburg, Germany Saturday June 11, 2022: Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris France
The Kitchen has reached the organization’s 50th year of vanguard programming, continuing its work in highlighting experimental artists and composers. The Kitchen was actually among one the very first American institutions to embrace fields of video and performance when it was founded in 1971.
The Kitchen continues to be one New York City’s oldest non-profit spaces that has shaped countless careers by being a powerful force to help define the American avant-garde. This season will feature residency-performances that go beyond the limitations of art-making and presentation. Both celebratory and introspective, these events push the audience to revisit The Kitchen’s pivotal work throughout history. As this season begins, Legacy Russellstarts her role as Executive Director & Chief Curator, while Tim Griffinleaves his position after a decade.
Nevertheless, The Kitchen houses two residencies this upcoming fall. First, a comedian, artist, and writer named Sophia Cleary will be performing her standup material, One & Only. This material will delve into the relationship between audience and performer. Next, we’ll hear from Alex Tatarsky’s residency. With overwhelming reviews, Rachel James in BOMB describes her as an “artist, poet, absurd ranter, and avid lover of trees, clowns, and dirt.”
In addition, The Kitchen will also feature the multifaceted musician, poet, and visual artist Moor Mother. She celebrates the release of her album Black Encyclopedia of the Air. Without a doubt, this evening will be filled with music from the synth duo Anteloper featuring their trumpet, drums, and synths (obviously). Also Undoing Language: Early Performance Works by Brian O’Doherty will celebrate the 93-year-old artist. During this performance you can also hear from vocalist and composer, Holland Andrews, not to mention Claire Chase who has finally released Density 2036 part viii after 26 years of commissioning. In the exhibition In Support, we’ll hear features from Fia Backström, Francisca Benítez,Papo Colo, and Clynton Lowry.
The Kitchen’s anticipated Annual Benefit Gala, will be held September 14, 2021. Of course, the event honors CindyShermanand Debbie Harry. These two artists are known for their impact on photography and music history. It’s easy to forget that both of these artists are actually The Kitchen veterans. After all, Sherman made her New York debut with Untitled Film Stills at The Kitchen in 1980, and Harry performed in Dubbed in Glamour the same year. Unfortunately these tributes were postponed from last year’s gala due to the pandemic. However, the event will also welcome artists like singer/songwriter and hip hop violinist Bri Blvckand L’Rain. Their work has been described as having “wearied landscapes of synth, air horn, strings, and saxophone [that] distill a suite of low moods … into resilience and hope” (Pitchfork).
The gala also provides an opportunity to introduce Legacy Russell and recognize Tim Griffin’s relentless work. Russell’s background with The Studio Museum in Harlem includes leading the organization’s renowned Artist-in-Residence program and organizing numerous exhibitions. Furthermore, her academic, curatorial work, and research have revolved around the intersection with Black and queer visual culture.
Virtual programming from last year has led to new Video Viewing Room presentations. This monthly series showcases recent and archival video alongside contextualizing media and writing. The first months of the season will feature a new video short by Jen Liu. This video poses as a response to archival materials surrounding Fred Ho’s opera Warrior Sisters: The New Adventures of African and Asian Womyn Warriors, which was conveniently staged at The Kitchen in 2000. Recent video work, text, images, and research references are from Ilana Harris-Babou.
Fall 2021 Schedule and Descriptions
The Kitchen Gala Benefit
Honoring Debbie Harry and Cindy Sherman
And Welcoming the Next Avant-Garde with Performances by Bri Blvck, L’Rain, and More
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
512 W. 19th St.
The Kitchen and a star-studded, wide-ranging benefit committee including JiaJia Fei, Doreen Garner, Tyler Mitchell, Antwaun Sargent, Chloë Sevigny, and Qualeasha Wood, to name a few, gather supporters to celebrate Debbie Harry and Cindy Sherman, The Kitchen’s vast, rich history, and the future of the avant-garde. The milestone event begins at 6pm with cocktails, followed at 7:30pm by dinner and a program featuring special performances from Bri Blvck, L’Rain; a welcome to Legacy Russell; and a tribute to Tim Griffin. April Hunt and Stretch Armstrong DJ the after party, from 9:30pm-12am.
Moor Mother
Sunday, September 19, 7pm. $15
512 W. 19th St.
Multifaceted musician, poet, and visual artist Moor Mother returns to The Kitchen with a new electronic set to celebrate the release of Black Encyclopedia of the Air (ANTI- Records), an album that speaks to “memory and imprinting and the future, all of them wafting through untouched space like the ghostly cinders of a world on fire, unbound and uncharted, vast and stretching across the universe.” Trumpet, drums, and synth duo Anteloper (Jaimie Branch and Jason Nazary) shares the evening. Organized by Lumi Tan, Senior Curator.
Sophia Cleary: One & Only
In residence September 20–October 2
512 W. 19th St.
Sophia Cleary is in residence to develop a stand-up comedy show for an audience of one person. Developed from the comedic material she has performed in recent years, Cleary uses the frame of the black box theater to explore the limits of connection between performer and audience using intimacy as her medium. One & Only is a performance series where each show is borne of the unique connection between Cleary and her audience. Each performance simultaneously celebrates and upsets 1:1 power dynamics, and asks: “How does the apparatus of theater support or disrupt a relationship?” Directed by Sara Lyons. Lighting Design by Madeline Best. Organized by Matthew Lyons, Curator.
Video Viewing Room: Jen Liu >< Fred Ho /// Electropore >< Warrior Sisters Available to view beginning the week of September 27, 2021
Online: The Kitchen OnScreen
Artist Jen Liu premieres a new video short, Electropore, as part of her ongoing project Pink Slime Caesar Shift (2017–present). Through this new piece, Liu responds to the work of composer, baritone saxophonist, and activist Fred Ho (1957– 2014), whose foundational concepts—political revolution through artistic form, Black and Asian American coalition building, matriarchal socialism, and capitalism as biotoxicity—continue to resonate today. Liu will present Electropore in tandem with archival materials related to the sci-fi opera from which it draws inspiration: Warrior Sisters: The New Adventures of African and Asian Womyn Warriors, by Ho and librettist Ann T. Greene, staged at The Kitchen in 2000. The Video Viewing Room will also feature working materials that draw out Liu’s conceptual affinities with Ho and her reframing of the original opera within an anonymous and electrified/digitized paradigm, as the extension of her own explorations of contemporary labor activism, grassroots genetic engineering, and femme filiation. Organized by Alison Burstein, Curator, Media and Engagement.
Undoing Language: Early Performance Works by Brian O’Doherty
Friday, October 8, 7pm. Tickets $15
512 W. 19th St.
This program brings together early performance works by artist, art critic, poet, and novelist Brian O’Doherty that engage with the breakdown of language into vowels that are isolated from meaning and enunciated as bodily sounds. It will include the first-ever performance of Vowel Chorus for Five Voices (1968) by the vocal ensemble Ekmeles; the movement and sound work Vowel Grid (1970) for two performers; and a new commission by vocalist and composer Holland Andrews, who will unpack the layers of the O’Doherty’s vowel performances and poems in a soundscape. At age 93, this program recognizes O’Doherty’s role as an artist who created a substantial body of performance works when he made works engaging with the performativity of language and how it interacts with the performance of the “self,” but also led the first national funding for performance and media art at the National Endowment for the Arts in 1970s, making an indelible mark on the New York performance art scene. Guest curated by Lucy Cotter.
Alex Tatarsky
In residence October 20–November 22
512 W. 19th St.
Performance artist Alex Tatarsky will create a laboratory for performance research, thinking through the opportunity of a residency as a home—a “residence”—to revisit latent ideas and cultivate unhinged processes within the framework of an institution, a context that can often inhibit individual values and experimentation. Taking inspiration from Palace of Depression, a mansion constructed of detritus in Depression-era New Jersey, Tatarsky imagines constructing an opulent home for one’s darkest feelings. Principles of assemblage shape improvisations guided by discarded objects and materials to probe our relationship to decay, and the things we push out of sight. Tatarsky will work with a group of collaborators who will provide performance prompts, or give insights into their process in order for Tatarsky to potentially inhabit their practices. Each week, the public will be invited in for studio visits and guided tours, which additionally serve as performative acts. Organized by Lumi Tan, Senior Curator.
Video Viewing Room: Ilana Harris-Babou
Available to view beginning the week of October 25, 2021
Online: The Kitchen OnScreen
Artist Ilana Harris-Babou presents recent video work, along with related materials such as text, images, and research references. In the artist’s words, her work “speaks the aspirational language of consumer culture, using humor as a means to digest painful realities. Her work confronts the contradictions of the American Dream: the ever unreliable notion that hard work will lead to upward mobility and economic freedom.” Organized by Alison Burstein, Curator, Media and Engagement.
In Support
Group exhibition featuring works by Fia Backström, Francisca Benítez, Papo Colo, and Clynton Lowry
Opening November 2021
512 W. 19th Street
The word support commonly appears in language describing the aims and activities of mission-driven, nonprofit institutions like The Kitchen. This exhibition invites four artists to reflect on what this term means in practice within institutional contexts, asking: How do institutions rely on cycles of providing and receiving support? In what ways do institutions position themselves in support of people, projects, or causes? Is support inherently good? Participating artists will create new works that animate the interlocking structural, fiscal, interpersonal, and ideological systems underpinning institutions. Highlighting interstitial spaces in which artists, staff, and audience members commonly enact or accept support in its manifold forms, these works will be installed in sites such as The Kitchen’s lobby, production workshop, administrative offices, and roof. While realizing In Support, the artists and the institution’s staff members will work collaboratively to negotiate the opportunities—and grapple with the limitations—of how support functions within and beyond The Kitchen. Organized by Alison Burstein, Curator, Media and Engagement.
Claire Chase: Density 2036, part viii
December 9–11
512 W. 19th St.
Celebrated flutist Claire Chase returns to The Kitchen to perform the world premieres of new compositions by composers Ann Cleare, Matana Roberts, Lu Wang, and Bora Yoon, commissioned by Chase as part of her 26-year Density 2036 project to find radical, new musical terrain for the flute and its community in the 21st century. Organized by Matthew Lyons, Curator.
