Wednesday, May 30th
Undercover Rabbis - 730pm
Jon Berger - 815pm
Barry Bliss - 9pm
Debe Dalton - 945pm
Yossarian Feedback - 1030pm
I would just say go. We point here at this blog but for those of you seeking reasons for witnessing the mighty confluence of strands of being going back at least 15 billion years, here is how Ben Krieger describes it:
Given that I book Sidewalk, I can hook myself up with a show whenever I feel the urge. On a rare occasion, however, I actually get *asked* to participate on a bill at Sidewalk, which is a huge honor, especially when the person who has asked is Barry Bliss. I will be performing at 10:30pm. This is a Yossarian Feedback show. It will be structured like Pink Floyd's *Animals* album (still the best thing they ever did), bookended by two songs, and a lengthy, dynamic sound collage in the middle. I may need volunteers from the audience for the furniture orchestra.I organize my CDs in weird ways. One section is entitled "Bad Ass Shit Kickers," and it has all my Joni Mitchel, Sleater-Kinney, Fugazi, and Afghan Whigs. Barry Bliss, Debe Dalton, and Jon Berger could easily be filed in this category (in fact, sometimes I misfile them there). However, they are all filed in a section known as "True Believers," which includes Bruce Springsteen, Kevn Kinney, Tris McCall and Lach. This category is reserved for artists whose music reassures me that, if pod people ever took over the planet, I could turn to them. And if they had been turned into pod people, I would know immediately and realize that the world was over. Barry is a brilliant songwriter with a world-weary, anarchist spirit and a subtle, but crucial sense of humor about himself and his concerns. Debe Dalton is widely regarded as one of the best songwriters and performers in New York. She draws from the Rise Up songbook as if her life depended on it. Her songs change people's lives. I am making a care package for some friends of mine who recently left NYC. In addition to my own songs, it is these two artists that I have chosen to include in the care package as local songwriters helping to represent my own heart.Last night, Jon Berger performed at the Monday Open Stage and took the roll-the-dice challenge that we had set up for people. He read one poem from behind the curtain. He made up one poem on the spot from a title I provided ("Rotten Burger.") He sang a poem. But when it came to the "stand on a chair" challenge, he took four chairs and, while reciting a poem, lifted one chair after another from the back to the front leapfrog style, constantly shifting himself forward so that he was able to move around the room without touching the ground. The chairs nearly collapsed under him several times and by the end of the poem he was surrounded by peers who, worried that he might seriously injure himself, were ready to catch him if he fell. He didn't fall. And as usual his poems were insightful, original, vulnerable, revolting, taboo-spitting rants of balls-on-the-bar energy. An amazing artist.The first artist on the bill, Undercover Rabbis, I do not know. I only know that every artist Barry Bliss has introduced me to has been nothing short of amazing. Yossarian Feedback, for example, would be inconceivable without Ken's Last Ever Radio Extravaganza, who Barry booked several years ago. I have not attempted to preview Undercover Rabbis and am looking forward to the surprise.
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