Category Archives: Concert And Event Reviews

Event review: “Killer Road” by Soundwalk Collective, Jesse & Patti Smith and Blake Carrington…a dynamic and invigorating performance that felt like a purgatorial line between reality and the afterlife

Crossing The LineDate: October 2, 2014
Venue: French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF)
Review by Dante Mann
Photos courtesy of FIAF

Ushering the summer into the fall New York’s premiere French cultural center, French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) presents its annual fall festival Crossing the Line.

Killer Road w. Patti SmithI was lucky enough to catch a one night only performance of Killer Road a hypnotic meditation on the idea of perpetual motion and the cycle of life and death. The live performance featured Patti Smith reciting poetry written by Nico, with daughter Jesse Paris Smith, Soundwalk Collective, and a visual installation by Blake Carrington.

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Event Review: FlickerLab and Sosala Ask “Are We Already Gone?”

Flickerlab LogoDate: September 21 through September 28, 2014
Venue: FlickerLab (NY)
Review by Dawoud Kringle

ARE WE ALREADY GONE? Artists on the Art of Leaving is an exhibit / art installation held at FlickerLab, curated by Negin Sharifzadeh. FlickerLab held its final showing in Soho from September 21st – 28th 2014 (before astronomical rents forced them to move to Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood).

Ahmed Issawi, Director of Alwan for the Arts, says, “In so far as art should reflect its environment or contend with the problematics of representation, Are We Already Gone, curated by Negin Sharifzadeh, a variable composition of installations, sculptures, and conceptual visual and sound pieces, is emblematic of a world of impermanence, of wondering whether one has wandered away or is still here. Not merely are the works themselves concerned with incompletion, sculptural or architectural suspension, identity not as a notion bequeathed through birth rather as a transformative ongoing process of migration and exile, but more so in where the “art” is displayed: in closets, on kitchen counters, workplace, home, if we know what home is anymore. There is a bifurcation of the notion of time and space. We are already gone for certain, but where we are going or are going qua going is the way it is going to go, is perhaps what Sharifzadeh, an Iranian in Brooklyn, New York, subconsciously trying to explore.”

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Concert Review: Brooklyn Raga Massive presents Paula Jeanine Bennett.’s Melody Sky

Photo courtesy of Paula J. Bennet with Lee Boice

Photo courtesy of Paula J. Bennet with Lee Boice

Date: October 1, 2014
Venue: Art Cafe (NY)
Concert review by Dawoud Kringle

On Wednesday, October 1st, the first real chill of autumn filled the Brooklyn night was swept up with the sound of a Rumi-esque poem leading the way into a serene flowing song. The vocals ecstatically glided through the crystalline guitar harmonies and sitar melodies.

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Concert Review: Brooklyn Raga Massive presents Terry Riley’s “In C” – a Unique Perspective on a Unique Musical Performance

terry riley cDate: September 24, 2014
Venue: Art Cafe (Brooklyn)

Concert review by Dawoud Kringle

On Wednesday, September 24th, the Brooklyn Raga Massive (held, as of this writing at Art Cafe in Brooklyn) presented a performance of Terry Riley’s In C. The piece consists of 53 musical phrases, lasting from half a beat to 32 beats. Each phrase may be repeated an arbitrary number of times. Although the melodic content of each part is predetermined, each musician has control over which phrase he or she plays. The musicians are encouraged to play the phrases starting at different times, even if they are playing the same phrase.

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Concert Review: Kiosk Leads Iranian Invasion of Drom (NY)

Photo by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Photo by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Date: September 28, 2014
Venue: Drom (NY)
Concert review by Dawoud Kringle

Kiosk, the pioneer of Iran underground contemporary Persian music, was described by BBC as “stinging political satire hidden within the blues and folksy sound that highlight the paradoxes of Iranian society and the incompetent political system” presented with a unique blend of musical styles. Kiosk is Arash Sobhani (vocals, guitar), Ali Kamali (bass), Ardalan Payvar (accordion, keys), Mohammad Talani (guitar), Tara Kamangar (violin), and Yahya Alkhansa (drums)

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