Though I risk breeching our laser-focused charge of covering drawing / illustration / photography and other visual arts, I felt a certain urgency in pointing out a few of the incredible FREE, live, high-quality music events in NYC this summer.
The New Pornographers (June 25)- First off, in my home borough of Brooklyn, Canadian smartie-pants indie-rockers The New Pornographers will be playing at my beloved Prospect Park on Saturday, June 25th at 7:30pm. Don’t forget that one-fifth of The New Pornographers consists of honky-tonk siren Neko Case, who is a powerful force of nature in her own right. Backing up the Pornographers are two other quality canuk bands, Stars and The Sadies.
Yo La Tengo / Malkmus ‘n Jicks (July 4)- Just a short stroll away from WSJ HQ in Battery Park City, a meeting of two indie juggernauts: Hoboken’s own Yo La Tengo and former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus with his band The Jicks. Also preforming is Nashville’s crooner Laura Cantrell (who I’ve heard nothing but good things about!). Show starts @ 3:30pm, and sadly I’ll be missing this incredible lineup.
Calexico (July 14) – Also performing on the southernmost tip of the city is the concert I am most looking forward to right now. Tuscon, Arizona’s Calexico will be performing at the Castle Clinton National Monument (never even heard of this before…just east of the Staten Island Ferry). Calexico is a very difficult band to describe. I’ll take a stab at it: gringo-mariachi-alt-tex-mex-folk-country-latin-indie-tamale. In a word, they are amazing. They will be performing at 7:00pm, and I will definitely be there for this one.
I couldn’t seem to find the listings for Central Park’s Summerstage. Their site is up, but no artists listed yet. I’m sure they will have a killer line up.
ALSO, Upcoming.org has a great listing of all the upcoming shows in the area. Mac users be sure to check out their cool iCal button that subscribes you to that calendar, automatically marking up your iCal calendar on you Mac with the dates of good shows you don’t want to miss.
Heres some more info on Prospect Park and the WFC Arts & Events listings:
Link: Prospect Park / Celebrate Brooklyn Performing Arts schedule
Link: World Financial Center – Schedule of free music performances


UPDATE: Duh. Also don’t forget the Village Voice Siren Festival on Saturday July 16th. Rain or shine. Coney Island. No final lineup yet, but do check their site for details…and you’ll see our own PA’s fine illo handiwork all over this gala event…