The event, which starts at 6:30 PM ET has already sold out (due to limited capacity in the theatre) but will be presented via livestream on the Museum’s website and Facebook page for audiences unable to attend. You can stream it here.
The series continues outdoors on Thursday, June 24, at 6:30 PM (ET) in Wagner Park with The Beary Brothers Featuring Psoy Korolenko, Zisl Slepovitch, And Ilya Shneyveys. The eclectic trio explore a diverse background of cultures, musical styles, and languages, from Russia to the Maghreb, as well as Renaissance music to modern.
The next installment of the Music of the Jewish Diaspora takes place on Sunday, July 11, at 3:30 PM (ET) with The Noga Band Featuring Avram Pengas. New York musician Avram Pengas is a virtuoso guitarist and singer whose music is rooted in the Mediterranean tavernas of Athens. His career began in Athens performing in clubs, leading to his arrival in New York City in 1970. A popular performer in the local Greek, Sephardic, and Mizrachi communities, Pengas and his Noga Band bring a mixture of rhythms and modes spanning Greece, Turkey, Armenia, and more.
Tickets to the Music of the Jewish Diaspora series are free with a suggested donation. Limited tickets for in-person attendance to Sarah Aroeste with Shai Bachar: Ladino Music from Yesterday to Today will be available for $20 for the public and $10 for museum members. Tickets to attend any event virtually are $10 for the public and free for museum members.
To find out more information about the summer concert series, visit mjhnyc.org/current-events.
Today marks what would have been Tupac Shakur’s 50th birthday. 25 years after his tragic death, Shakur is still relevant within pop culture as his influence has paved the waved for the generations that followed. Born, Lesane Parish Crooks, in the East Harlem Section of Manhattan, Tupac is widely recognized as one of the most influential rap artists of all time and was even named on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Artists.
Every rapper who grew up in the Nineties owes something to Tupac. People either try to emulate him in some way, or they go in a different direction because they didn’t like what he did. But whatever you think of him, he definitely developed his own style: He didn’t sound like anyone who came before him.
— 50 Cent
Despite hailing from New York, Shakur’s ambitions were never rooted to the City, attending performing arts school in Baltimore, alongside Jada Pinkett, later moving out West in pursuit of his dreams as a rapper. Shakur would link up with hip hop group Digital Underground in 1991, going from dancer to roadie to band member. Much of his early solo work was produced by Shock G, Digital underground’s frontman.
Riding around in the car headed to a workout with Bronny listening to 2pac “Makaveli” is pure joy to me! “Hold Ya Head” just went off followed by “Against All Odds”
Here we can see a young Tupac Shakur performing live on the Arsenio Hall Show alongside Shock G during the height of the group’s popularity, serving on backup dancer duty.
Shakur was placed in the center of the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry in the mid-1990’s. On November 30, 1994, after arriving at the world-renowned Quad Studios for a recording session, Tupac was ambushed by a group of stick up kids looking to relieve the rapper of his jewelry. Shakur shot himself in the groin while reaching for a gun to protect himself. The Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy were at Quad Studios at the time of the attack. Tupac subsequently blamed them for setting him up, and thus began the rivalry that would eventually prove fatal to both sides.
Shakur’s parents had been active Black Panther Party members in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A month before Tupac’s birth, his mother Afeni was tried in New York City as part of the Panther 21 criminal trial.
Watch How Tupac Influenced the popular book, The Hate You Give
Tupac’s first stage name was MC New York, in 1989. Shakur’s discography includes eleven albums, seven of which were posthumously released. Greatest Hits, a collection of Tupac’s most popular songs is currently the best selling rap-compilation album of all time
Watch Tupac And Biggie Preform in Brooklyn
Tupac is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, selling over 75 million records worldwide. In 2002, he was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible.
Watch Tupac Roam the Streets of NYC
During Shakur’s film career, he starred in the movie Juice, which was written and shot in NYC.
25 years after his death, Tupac and his music is still a significant impact in our society. Tupac’s birthday is celebrated by hip hop and music lovers worldwide.
On September 7, 1996, Tupac Shakur was fatally shot after leaving a boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At approximately 11:15 pm, a white Cadillac pulled up next to the BMW sedan that was escorting Tupac and fired several shots. Shakur was hit four times and the driver — Death Row head honcho, Suge Knight — had a bullet lodged in his head. Shakur remained on life support for six days after his shooting. Eventually passing on September 13, 1996.
Whats your favorite Tupac Song? Let us know in the comments below.
Fans can celebrate Tupac’s career by listening to his music here on Spotify.
Irving Plaza reopened on Saturday, June 12 with a performance by The Strokes in front of a fully vaccinated crowd, in support of Maya Wiley’s campaign for Mayor of New York City.
John Mulaney started the night with a stand-up, not far from his run of sold-out City Winery show. Wiley and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez both spoke from the stage prior to The Strokes set.
photo via The Strokes Twitter
Guitarist Nick Valensi was unable to make the show, and had Longwave’s Steve Schlitz fill in for the night. Dev Hynes from Blood Orange joined The Strokes for âOne Way Trigger” amid a 16-song setlist that spanned the group’s discography. Check out videos from the night below.
photo via The Strokes Twitter
photo via Maya Wiley Twitter
The Strokes – Irving Plaza, NYC – June 12, 2021
Setlist: Juicebox Someday, The Adults Are Talking, One Way Trigger (w/ Blood Orange), You Only Live Once, Hard to Explain, Ize of the World, The Modern Age, 12:51, Is This It, Bad Decisions, Take It or Leave It
Encore: Automatic Stop, Last Nite, Ode to the Mets, Reptilia
Bryant Park Picnic Performances season of free, ticketed live performances continues on June 18 at 7 pm with New York City Opera andPride in the Park, a celebration of LGBTQ culture and excellence on the occasion of Pride Month in NYC. The evening of performances will be sung by a quartet of stars from City Opera’s Pride Series.
Photo Credit: Angelito Jusay
New York City Opera’s annual LGBTQ Pride concert will feature a diverse program of selections from opera and musical theater. They will close this performance with a special new arrangement of the finale from Stonewall, Iain Bell, and Mark Campbell’s opera which was commissioned by NYCO and given its world premiere in 2019.
For anyone unable to attend in person, a free live stream broadcast of this selection of classic opera and contemporary theater will be available nationwide via Bryant Park’s website and social media platforms.
Vaccinated or negative-tested audience members will be able to attend the performance live. Vaccinated audience members will be offered open seating on the world-famous Bryant Park Lawn with ample space to distance themselves. In line with current CDC and New York State guidelines, attendees may remove masks at their own discretion once within the fully vaccinated areas of the lawn. Once it is the perfect place to bring a blanket to sit on to enjoy the performance or one of the many park chairs.
Attendees presenting a negative COVID-19 test will be seated in a separate, socially distanced section with masks required. Although there will be food purchases from vendors there you can also bring your own food.
Although this is a free event tickets are still needed and can be acquired atbryantpark.org/picnics.
Wynton Marsalis, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, recently released a recording of “Blues Symphony (Symphony No. 2)” for The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Cristian Macelaru. This is the second symphony from Marsalis, who is a Pulitzer Prize-winning director.
The symphony has seven beautiful movements, taking the listener through American history and folklore. There is a movement reflecting the beginnings of jazz in New Orleans as well as one that portrays the big city soundscape of the Great Migration. It is a celebration of American blues and is a kaleidoscopic history of music in our country.
Marsalis is the genius behind the symphony, and his imagination shines through in his work for The Philadelphia Orchestra. On the recording, Marsalis says, “The blues helps you remember back before the troubles on hand and in mind…and they carry you on the wings of angels to a timeless higher ground.” His music is powerful and is an exquisite ode to the blues and America’s musical roots.
This recording was from a live performance in 2019 in Verizon Hall at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. It builds upon the legacies of Scott Joplin, James P. Johnson, George Gershwin, and other American masters.
“Blues Symphony (Symphony No. 2)” is available globally on all digital platforms from Blue Engine Records.
Blues Symphony (Symphony No. 2) movements:
Born in Hope
Swimming in Sorrow
Reconstruction Bag
Southwestern Shakedown
Big City Breaks
Danzón y Mambo, Choro y Samba
Dialog in Democracy
About Blue Engine Records
Blue Engine Records, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s platform that makes its vast archive of recorded concerts available to jazz audiences everywhere, launched on June 30, 2015. Blue Engine Records releases new studio and live recordings as well as archival recordings from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s performance history that date back to 1987 and are part of the R. Theodore Ammon Archives and Music Library. Since the institution’s founding in 1987, each year’s programming is conceived and developed by Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis with a vision toward building a comprehensive library of iconic and wide-ranging compositions that, taken together, make up a canon of music. These archives include accurate, complete charts for the compositions – both old and new – performed each season. Coupled with consistently well-executed and recorded music performed by Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, this archive has grown to include thousands of songs from hundreds of concert dates. The launch of Blue Engine is aligned with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s efforts to cultivate existing jazz fans worldwide and turn new audiences onto jazz. For more information on Blue Engine Records, visit blueenginerecords.org.
Bruce Springsteen will return to Broadway this summer for a limited run of “Springsteen on Broadway” performances at Jujamcyn’s St. James Theatre (246 W 44th Street). Shows begin Saturday June 26, with additional performances taking place through September 4.
Credit: Rob DeMartin
Based on his worldwide best-selling autobiography ‘Born to Run,’ “Springsteen on Broadway” is a unique evening with Bruce, his guitar, a piano, and his very personal stories. The show’s original run included 236 sold-out performances at Jujamcyn’s Walter Kerr Theatre, beginning in October 2017 and concluding in December 2018. Springsteen earned a Special Tony Award for the performances, which were later adapted into a film and a soundtrack album.
Proceeds from Opening Night of the show at the St. James Theatre will be donated to a group of local New York and New Jersey charities including the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Food Bank for New York City, Fulfill (Monmouth & Ocean Counties Foodbank), Long Island Cares, NJ Pandemic Relief Fund and The Actor’s Fund.
Anyone planning on seeing this show will be required to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination in order to enter the theater. Tickets for “Springsteen on Broadway” will go on sale Thursday, June 10 at 12 pm ET through the show’s official ticketing provider SeatGeek.
On Tuesday’s The Tonight Show, Lin-Manuel Miranda joined Jimmy Fallonfor a musical tribute to all the Broadway shows they’ve missed in the last 16 months, and were joined by stage veterans during their song.
Filmed before a fully vaccinated audience in Studio 6B,”Broadway’s Back” paid homage to more than a dozen musicals, including Aladdin, Book of Mormon, Chicago, A Chorus Line, Come From Away, Company, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, The Lion King, Moulin Rouge, Phantom of the Opera, Six, West Side Story and Wicked.
Fallon and Miranda were joined by Kristin Chenoweth, Christopher Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, and Laura Benanti were on hand to join in for a reinterpretation of Hamilton‘s “You’ll Be Back.” Also joining the performance were Jimmy Smits and Olga Merediz who star in the film adaptation of Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights, which releases in theaters and on HBO Max on Thursday, June 10.
Live music will return at Madison Square Garden as Foo Fighters will play New York City’s first full capacity concert since March 2020 on June 20 at MSG and they are certainly ready to rock.
Photo by Andreas Neumann
The Garden will be at 100% capacity and will require all audience members to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination for admission.
The Garden is ready to rock. We’ve been waiting for this moment for 15 months and are excited to finally welcome a packed house of roaring, fully-vaccinated Foo Fighters fans to Madison Square Garden.
James Dolan, Executive Chairman and CEO of MSG Entertainment.
Foo Fighters–Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee–are not new to headlining the Garden. They sold out the venue back in 2008 on their Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace tour, again in 2011 on their Wasting Light tour and most recently in 2018 for a two-night stint on their Concrete and Gold tour.
We’ve been waiting for this day for over a year, and Madison Square Garden is going to feel that HARD. New York, get ready for a long ass night of screaming our heads off together to 26 years of Foos.
Dave Grohl, frontman.
The New York show will not only kick off performances at the Garden but will also kick off Foo Fighter’s new tour following the release of Medicine at Midnight earlier this year. All tour dates and links for ticket purchase are listed on their website.
Tickets to the Foo Fighters at MSG on June 20 will go on sale to the general public on June 11 at 10 AM through Ticketmaster. Prices will range from $50 to $119.
Pioneering new wave band Devo will mark their return to the stage on September 21 and headline Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan.
The Ohio-based band, founded by brothers Mark and Robert Mothersbaugh and Gerald and the late Robert Casale, catapulted to global stardom back in the 80s with their electronic rock sound, quirky live performances and iconic music videos, including MTV hit “Whip It”.
Devo’s central concept of “devolution,” the premise that the human race has finished evolving and is now regressing into a less civilized state — was first developed by Casale and Lewis in the late 60s, while both were students at Kent State University. This concept expanded after the pair met the Mothersbaugh brothers, and took on a new level of seriousness in the wake of the Kent State shooting of four unarmed student protesters on May 4, 1970. This event would serve as a key moment in the band’s formation.
Devo’s Radio City show will be the band’s first performance in many years and one of only two headlining North American concerts. The other show will take place at the Performance Venue at Hollywood Park in Los Angeles on September 25.
We look forward to performing live again. It’s been quite a while since we’ve performed live and we’re excited to be able to bring our music to our fans in New York and Los Angeles this fall.
Devo
Tickets for the New York and Los Angeles shows go on sale June 11 on Ticketmaster.
The Eagles have added six new concert dates to their upcoming 2021 tour, produced by Live Nation. The tour will now kick off in New York on August 22 at Madison Square Garden. After two shows at the Garden, Eagles will travel to Boston’s TD Garden and Washington D.C.’s Capital One Arena.
These new dates are especially exciting because the Eagles will be performing the entirety of their iconic Hotel California album–the third best selling U.S. album in history. Founding members Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt will be joined on tour by Deacon Frey (son of the late Glenn Frey) and Vince Gill.
The album playthrough will feature accompaniment by an orchestra and choir. The rest of the show will finish out with a full set of greatest hits, a must-see considering the band’s album, Their Greatest Hits: (1971-1975), narrowly beats out Hotel California and stands as the number one best selling U.S. album in history.
Photo by George Holz
Tickets for the tour go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 18 at 10 AM local time. American Express cardholders have early access to tickets from June 14 at 10 AM to June 17 at 10 PM. All new dates are listed below and the full list of dates can be found here.
Sunday, August 22: New York, NY, Madison Square Garden
Tuesday, August 24: New York, NY, Madison Square Garden
Friday, August 27: Boston, MA, TD Garden
Saturday, August 28: Boston, MA, TD Garden
Tuesday, August 31: Washington, D.C., Capital One Arena
Wednesday, September 1: Washington, D.C., Capital One Arena
